#i need more stuff about these ideas with zuko's crew

[agnisleftpec]

i present my stupidly long reactions/opinions post to all of natla. i wrote it all as i watched, and i got more and more words in my head as i went, so it gets long. no i will not be editing this. i am not a review blog, i just have opinions ajhgsfjkf

ep 1 good: -gyatso. i love him so much -overall this was a good enough intro, but not much really stood out to me as good?? it's. kind of a weak intro asjdhgsfh

bad: -fire nation helmets trying to look a little less dopey by adding angles to the eye sockets is stupid af. like i can understand why they might have thought the circle eyes looked dopey, but personally, it felt eery and othering to me, like there aren't people behind those masks. also it's closer to a skull motif than the weird angular half cirlce shape. -aang being able to basically superman fly?? and hover?? it looks really weird, and i also kinda breaks some potential future plots?? like, he can just. hover up into the air and fly away without his staff. and they seemed to have replaced aang's jumping with it. now he just starts hovering. -i dont like that katara doesn't bend aang out of the ice in rage. i dont really care about sokka dropping the blatant sexism, but i still think they should've been fighting about SOMETHING. even without the comparison of their jobs at home, they already had something to bicker about before losing the boat, they should've kept that up. katara's angry bending was such a good way to communicate her character as well as show viewers her raw power and that bending is effected by emotions, i really dont like that they dropped it. -there's a heavy lean into sokka's relationship with aang that's probaly a result of the writers knowing how much the fandom loves sokka lately, but also. it really feels like it's overshadowing katara's role in aang's new life. like, if i hadn't seen the original show, i would assume that the main relationship is aang and sokka from this episode.

overall a servicable intro i guess, but i was. boring. it was really boring asjhgsfh

ep 2 good: -zuko is an artist and they stole his fucking journal im screamin. this is so funny. he's so mad that he lost his fckin diary and aang is using it to figure out his next steps. im just. i love this -actually really liked that waterbending scroll as a gift from gran gran, it makes it a lot more personal and very smoothly sidesteps the original plot for the scroll, which you gotta admit is a lot of screentime that they dont have -sokka trying to impress and relate to suki and looking like a gotdamn fool while doing it. he's fucking smitten. i love this. AND SUKI STARING AT HIM WITH HIS SHIRT OFF LATER. yeah. yeah i like this better than the original episode actually -sokka's dialogue overall is amazing, mostly because he's funny. the funny dialogue is overall pretty good i my opinion. which leads into a bad point: most of the serious and heartfelt dialogue feels pretty unnatural. the actors are overall pretty inexperienced, but the script is doing them no favors

bad: -Lt. Jee has a topknot. how fukcing dare they -they just used "VIP" in a sentence. i dont like the acknowledgment of a latin alphabet. why do they have an acronym for an english phrase using the latin alphabet when we've seen no latin letters anywhere -aang meeting with kyoshi first was fun, but the weird filter they have over the spirit world (?)/the whole scene genuinely makes it hard to look at -NO UNAGI??????? NONE??? NOT A SINGLE GIANT EEL FISH???? -did momo just make a chimpanzee sound. im going. to lose it.

neutral: -zuko and iroh don't know zhao yet… that's fucking wack

a MUCH better episode than the first one, this actually got me excited for stuff

ep 3 good: -love this internal resistence. very cool aspect to explore that i think the main show was missing -CABBAGE MERCHANT -fire nation terrorists in omashu is kind of terrifying. i like it -ok the casting and costume design for the freedom fighters is actually spot on, i love it. also jet's weapon use is so faithful to the original, it's gorgeous -OOOOOOH, sokka's warrior vs engineer, hakoda vs machanist father figure is so good, i love this -THAT FUCKIN LADY WHO JUST STARTED SMACKING ZUKO. im fuckin choking -i did actually really like the fight scene between all the cloths and scaves and stuff, it was short but it was fun. honestly i love every zuko and aang in this episode, it's very good

bad: -did. did they say attitude control on the airship? …did they mean altitiude control…? is attitude a common problem with airships?? (maybe it is, idk shit about air travel terms. mybe attitiude means something else entirely. but i don't think so) -WHy. why are the fire nation spies wearing RED. wh

neutral: -putting teo and the mechanist ("sai" now) in omashu is a pretty decent way to combine plots, but im not sure if i like that it probably wont get aang's grief over his cultural home being changed and partially desstroyed. i always thought that was a super important to aang's character, but also the narrative does have other chances to lean into aang's cultural grief -putting JET in omashu. that's a choice. -Lt. Jee as an informant for zhao… that's wack

side note, this is the point where i really started to notice that the music is… boring. it's super boring. we go from what feels like basically background noise style western orchestral music which really isn't that notable to the credit role remaster, and it's jsut so jarring. have they not been using the og soundtrack?? i can remember hearing the fire nation motif, but like… not much else. might need to go back and listen. what's the point of remastering the soundtrack if you aren't gonna use it?

ep 4 good: -FLOPSY STATUES -im lovin zuko's infiltration thing, it's amusing to watch. but also, maybe a bad point, cuz he's not… very good at it. blue spirit who?? i suppose needinng to talk to people lowers his stealth exponentionally. there's a reason the blue spriit doesn't talk. im leaving this point here cuz im having fun, but it's still got problems -OOOOH they're using this as the iroh captured and zuko choosing to sasve him or find aang, that's clever. the whole "make a choice" thing from that guard was a bit on the nose though. -sokka and katara bonding and chatting about expectations is great. i really like them bonding a lot. HOWEVEER. there is a LOT of focus on sokka's burdens, we haven't once touched on what katara's been doing. this is. an unforseen consequence of removing sokka's (blatant) sexism, isn't it. they cant figure out how to give katara's role the same amount of value without someone to act like it isn't important.

bad: -the implication that sokka is scared of haunted tunnels. why would he be scared, this bitch does not believe in spirit nonsense. unless he does now. natla sokka is supersticious. -i really dont like the mad hatter's tea party vibe from bumi. like, bumi was always off his rocker, but this brand of kooky feels off. -while i like the conversation of soka not trusting katara, i really dont like the seeming personality reversal in the tunnel. it's minor, but it's just so weird to see sokka sasy stuff like "woo love leads the way" without mocking it, and katara beig the one who says that's stupid. -how did they manange to make zuko look older for his flashback. good lord. oh no. -bumi: "you vs me, to the death." im fucking. im so done. i hate this bumi i hate him. i understand him being upset that aang vanished, but he is so fucking mean in this. -ok i. do not like them giving the zhao v zuko agni kai ending to iroh. i really dont like that at all. we lose the point of zhao being a fuckin bastard, about zuko being the type to give mercy (which the show has already thrown out twice now from zuko almost blaasting fire in someone's face after they we on the ground and basically defeated. dont really like that change in character. they added all this awkwardness and these comments about what an honorable soldier shouldn't do, and yet they do this?? dumb), and having iroh defend him with ease. innstead it's replaced with "dont show mercy to earthbenders." ok. -the badgeermoles. sense feelings. and react to them. FEELINGS. im.

neutral: -THE SINGING NOMADS??? i thought this tunnel plto sounded like it could be similar to the cave of two lovers, but i really did not expect to see the singing nomads here. i do love them though -look, i dont care about shipping, but OOF. the poor kataang shippers. they're just throwing out all the kataang scenes but not building up an actual friendship in its place. i'm not a fan

bad episode. did not like this one. there were some goo parts, but overall it was just so disappointing compared to the original. on its own, i supposes it's a servicable episode, but so far, none of the others have really let me down this much in terms of expectations.

ep 5 good -ooooohh. i know this one is going to be controvertial, but i actually love the part where ozai corrects azula in the fact that zuko found the avatar, not zhao, and that he's displaying desireable traits in an heir that she seems to be lacking. like, i wish this came AFTER we had some blatant examples of ozai's favortism towards azula, but i do love the idea that ozai is driving their competition between each other. also that ozai is actually able to be proud of zuko IF he achieves those impossible goals he sets. but we still need more azula favoritism set up. -DID JUNE. FUCK ME, there was so much in two seconds hold on. the western whistle thing. june saying "your dad's kinda cute." she thinks iroh is cute, and she thinks iroh is zuko's dad. im. im fine. -WAN SHI TONG????? WHAT IS HE DOING HERE. my child. i did not expect to see my child in s1. overall, i'm relatively happy with him? wish his face was smaller or the resof him was bigger - he had a lot more poof to his head in the original, in imo a smaller face on the head would help make him look larger in solo shots. he looks pretty scrawny. also the voice is a bit too much old man for my tastes? but i'm picky about this bird. now im just super curious if there will be a library episode if s2 comes, and what that'll look like.

bad: -nothing has exemplified my problems with the changes in this show more than katara not throwing the acorn at aang's head. it's just. her attitude is gone, any whimsy that isn't sokka is gone, and they struggle to meld serious topics with humor. -actual gyatso in the spirit world?? maybe?? first of all, if it is actually gyatso, i dont think they did a good job of prooving that. second, why??? i'm really not a fan of aang actually getting that relief from grief and guilt. guilt is such a huge part of aang's character, i just.. idk, it feels less impactful when he gets actual gyatso telling him its ok instead of learning to manage his guilt on his own, nevere knowing really what gyatso would think og him now, like very other person who loses a loved one. it's just. it feels cheap

neutral -im not sure if i like koh as an actually malicious force in this story. like, it works fine for the narrative presented, but i really liked how koh was in the original, threatening and scary and trying to trick aang into making an expression for snack time, but not actually doing anything but helping aang when asked.

not the best episode, but not the worst. we just did that. it's kind of an in between, so idk if there's much to comment on. overall, im not a huge fan of the plot choices here, but i don't think they're actually bad choices, just not my style.

ep 6 good: -roku: im here to help you with anything you need aang: it has to do with koh roku: …anything but that roku has so much fuckin attitude, i kind of love it -zhao ignoring aang to correct the notetaker guys notes and make he gets his facts straight is both funny and an effective way to show off zhao's ego. also "what are you doing, dont write that down" is makin me think of that one kig who fell of his horse while hunting and said "dont let the historians write about this" and guess what fucking happened -the convo right after was really good imo. aang basically doing a lil test to prove that he and zuko could be friends with their boring old conversation was great. zuko getting mad about compassion is heartbreaking, woohoo. pretty much all around a fun scene, except that last line from aang was a little too on the nose. but at this point, im used to it in this show. -also the journal thing is still great. and i could be totally wrong, but i feel like zuko being super kowledgable about avatar stuff is a fanon thing?? well supported, but i'm pretty sure it doesn't actually come up often how much zuko knows about the past avatars, and fandom kind of took the idea that he MUST know a bunch given his search, and has freuently applied that to aus that turn zuko into this avatar specialist that actuallyhas a lot of info that aang needs. i swear that's a fanon concept, and i kind of love that it's happening here. -Ooohh. omg. the 41st as zuko's crew is DEFINITELY something i've only seen in fanon. the crew NOT KNOWING they were the 41st is completely new, and i honestly adore it.

bad: -not the fuckin mother of faces statue spinning around in his hand like a fuckin loading screen object -zhao yelling "cel - la - brate" like a fuckin party rock song, im. i cant. -blue spirit mask looks plastic. also why'd they make it angrier. i mean, i gujess it doesn't matter, but i dont think it adds anything either. that's a design you shouldn't touch in my opinion, it's too iconic. -the fucking music. the music is so fucking boring. you can't give me one fucking blue spirit motif?? wh. please. i need it -why. why did it take so long to do the whole "i need the avatar alive" and then swords to aang's throat. like. i could deal with that short moment of realization leadinng to a pause, but the actual action of zuko putting his swords to aang's throat feels like it takes forever. the whole shock from the animation was how fuckin immediate zuko's reaction was, how there seemed to be no hesitation from allies with the avatar to betting his life on escape. dont care if they have to speed up the footage, that whole sequence shouldn't have given us time to think. it was too slow from the second zhao told his soldiers to stop. -the agni kai. hm… ok. there's a lot here. at its most basic, i absolutely hate that zuko fought back here, because it feels so incredibly counter to the message of the animated show. like, there's a lot of fuckin weight to zuko's line of "i won't fight you." basically any fanfic can tell you a bunch of different ways this is important. it struck a chord for a reason. zuko fighting back just feels wrong. that said, i don't think it's a god awful scene. it's disappointing and abandons half of the origial meaning, but on its own in the context of the show as we've seen it, it works. we still get the trauma, zuko learns the idea that compassion is weakness, and it's still horrifying in the end. but compared to the original, it does feel like the writers here missed the point of zuko refusing to fight in the original, and that's the most frustrating part.

neutral: -torn on how i feel about zhao tagging along with zuko instead of them being phsycially separate. like, i guess it works, but zhao feels more slimey and less powerful this way. like, i'm not constantly reminded that zhao has more influence and more resources through this partnership. but then again, this episode also kind of solves that issue? i guess it doesn't matter, i just didn't like it. -zuko is a very vocal fighter, and he also makes a good amount of noise during his blue spirit fighting. i guess it doesn't really matter, especially cuz we dont have dante basco's crazy recognizable voice to deal with, but it still feels a bit disappointing for the blue spirit to make noise when we're used to dead silence

i might be going crazy, but i swear i heard some of the original guard grunts from the show when zuko's beating up the guards in front of his cell. i might be crazy, but fuck. ANYWAY. overall i did like this episode. going off the last episode, it still had a lot of plot bits i didn't care for, but overall it's good. yes there are issues, but im honestly more impressed by the things they introduced than i am annoyed with the things they changed. im still thinking about the 41st, like fuck

ep 7

good: -zuko's "ship" blew up!! that's an intersting change, but i think it's a clever one! though i do wonder what will become of zuko's actual ship considering it's fine. my favorite character, alive and well. have fun drowning, zuko. but also, this seems much more brutal to me?? cuz like. jee and iroh were trying to save zuko, and they ended up putting himself in danger in doing so. that's worse than just not being around when danger happened like in the animation, imo. -YUE HAS A FURSONA????????????? -i do love that whole scene of azula putting her foot down and refusing to do more of ozai's dumb little tests of strength. like, maybe not true to her animation arc, but i do like it -honestly the change where katara "wins" the fight with pakku not cuz pakku has a crush on her grandma but because everyone else who watched her figt thought she was badass was really nice. crowd vote says fuck pakku

bad: -OOF THAT FIRST SHOUT OF THE NORTHERN WATER TRIBE. oh that is not good. i haven't mentioned the cgi yet, but this is. oh dear. technically it's eas to miss, but still. -im so sorry, im sure she's lovely, but the first short of yue is so bad, she looks like she does not want to be here at all. i actually startedlaughing out loud wtf -oh i forgot momo existed. but now thtat he's here, he's ugly. i dont like him. -sokka and katara look so fucking pale next to hahn and arnook. i hate it

neutral: -im still neutral about azula and ozai's whole tough love thing. azula's lack of confdence and anger at not feeling good enough really feels like a zuko thing instead of an azula thing. she really doesn't come across in the original as worried at all about how she holds up next to zuko. in a vacuum, i don't think it's a bad choice, but compared to the original it is a jarring shift

overall pretty good. i dont like aang's protective behavior, but i do like that it's showing off some of aang's more negative qualities. we didn't get a bato episode or a intro to the storm episode here, so we haven't really encountered that yet. also im happy katara got to be sort of mad. a little.

ep 8 good: -i do like the early war balloons i think, it feels more reasonable that zhao snuck into the city vs got all the way back to the spirit oasis on komodo rhinnos withou being stopped or followed like they did in the original. -katara mastering waterbending literally without instruction is kind of badass. that whole exchange of "you've found a master haven't you" "yes, it's me" was pretty fun. idk how realistic it is, but like. in the original, she also masteredd waterbending in a matter of days, so. niether are that realistic -i kind of like how fuckin visceral the moon spirit getting stabbed is. like, minor change, doesn't matter, but still. that one shot of the bloody bag with a knife sticking out of it was lovely -ok that's spooky as fuck, the "there is no aang" thing with koizilla. like, the idea that this isn't just aang being possessed or lending his aide, this is him straight up giving up his life to la in that moment -that whole thing about zuko just beig a tool ozai uses to motivate azula was really well done actually. great acting, basically all that fanfic worthy revelation emotion, it was super good. like i was kinda thrown by ozai giving all control around hunter the avatar to zhao after seeming so impressed that zuko found the avatar in the first place, but really, i been played a fool. he doesn't care, he's manipulating azula. this is what the favoritism looks like. yikes. -also obsessed with the visual they talked about with aang/la wandering the world forever in search of a partner they wont find. this new context that koizilla really wasn't just a fuck you to the fire nation, it was meant to be permanent. like, fuck, i love that

bad: -OH THEY GOT RID OF ZHAO GOING TO THE SPIRIT LIBRARY i hate everything. what's the point. they're just gonna nix the library all together. wan shi tong is never coming back. sokka v wan shi tong will never happen. my entire career is over. -kuruk just appearing in a random doorway is wack -koizilla looks bad. baaaaaaaaaaad. where's the glowly lines -ok great yay we got zuko turning his back on zhao and getting attacked, but first of all that meant nothing cuz zuko DID ttry to kill him, zhao just dodge, and second, la should've taken zhao. i just. it's a more satisfying death for him, and also zuko's whole take my hand thing is super fuckin important too. but zuko in this show as a traumatic aversion to compassion, so whatever i guess.

pretty good finale, entertaining and got some good emotion stuff. better than most of the episode's emotions honestly

overall good: -before i speak i need you to look at my icon. scroll down the blog a bit. just take that in. ok? ok. i think zuko kind of carried the story here. overall i was very impressed by his acting, and yes, it was much more awkward and tear-ready than animated zuko, but also that's my fuckin jam. he's out of character in a lot of ways, but all the characters are, and like. lets be fucking real, this is fanon zuko. this is how the majority of fandom characterizes him. -set design was very nice in my opnion. casting choices (minus the water tribe sibs) were amaing visually, maybe no so much in terms of talent but we deal. while the costumes look too new and fee fake, it's not the worst. if you go into this expecting camp and trashy fun, you'll enjoy it. you can't set your standards high -once again, take a scroll through my blog. ok. i love how often aang is just like. clearly dissappointed with zuko's lack of desire to change, how much he wants to connect to zuko but zuko wont stop fuckin hissing and spitting. if aang got to have personality in this script, he'd basically be pointing at zuko like "that's my emotional support enemy," i swear to fuck. i might be pushing it on how much they were really like this in the narrative, but i dont care, im having fun asgjhdfh

bad: -momo and appa both look creepy. they give me realistic pokeon vibes, and not in the detective pikachu type of way. like, detective pikachu is what i was hoping for, something that preserved the cute and still felt semi real. this didn't do that. momo is weirdly top heavy and his eyes scare me, and appa has weird, ever present droopy lips, especially at the corners. it's just uncanny -i dont like how bending looks. it's okay i guess, but it's got so many extra busy particle effects that it feels uncontrolled. i always pictured masterful bending as being really smooth and pretty unnatural looking- smooth water bubbles, fire with weirdly contained flickers and not much smoke, earth without a bunch of crumbling pebblees, air without dust everywhere you dont want it. the wobbly water and earth bending with so many fuckin shards of debris and the firebening with so many sparks is disappointing cuz i would've worldbuilt that to be a lack of mastery thing. anyway. it's fine. -aang is not happy and excitable, and katara isn't angry or sassy. they have the personalities of cardboard boxes. rip.

i actually liked that a lot. lots of good and lots of bad, but overall i had fun and that's what matters. maybe not something i'd rewatch if i didn't have atla brainrot, but not fuckin god awful. the characters were pretty different from their animated counterparts, and that's very frustrating in its own way, and the script was full of poorly written dialogue, and the acting kinda of sucked in a lot of places, but. but. i had fun, and im probably gonna rewatch it, and im gonna enjoy applying these ideas to fanfic and fanart. overall, im glad it exists. it's not going to replace the original, it's not meant to, but it's just trashy fun. i love trashy fun.

#oofda #im tired #i had fun but good lord #i do want a s2 though #but mostly i want to see people apply show ideas to fanfic #i need more stuff about these ideas with zuko's crew #i cant stop thinking about that #natla #natla spoilers #atla la #but i gotta go change that tag cuz it's not the standard now

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 6 - Masks (1/5)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

This is a LONG one, so strap in for many parts. I have essays.

Opening with Zuko's side of The Storm animated episode was amazing. The way the camera starts from behind and Iroh's voice-over talking about masks and former excitement to show the world your true face - before that joy is beaten out of you - was such a strong way to introduce the themes explored in this episode. A new watcher wouldn't initially know that's Zuko, and the shock of seeing him without the scar was a great reveal that this is a flashback. Iroh already stepping into the mentor position with Zuko, helping him with his armor and giving him advice just fleshed out their connection even more. The way Dallas Liu played young Zuko was so great - from the way he walked, how easily he smiled, and even the different inflection of his voice, you immediately saw this was a younger, less tormented Zuko than we had seen before. Which then perfectly seeds in the dread of finding out what turned him from this tolerably happy kid into the surly, hurt boy we've seen in the other episodes.

Zhao's take-over of the Avatar hunt is so good. All the emotions racing across Zuko's face, the way Zhao clearly never respected Zuko and then the crew letting loose their frustration at the way Zuko treats them. Even though we've been primed to 'root' for Zuko (even in the animated series, we had that weird desire to see Zuko beat out Zhao), everyone's reactions to him make perfect sense. Of course Zhao isn't going to see Zuko as an equal - he's 16 years old! And Zuko HAS been treating his crew like shit, so their anger and lack of loyalty to him is justified. The show did such a great job at adding layers even within the ranks of the bad guys.

The Crescent Island looks PERFECT! All the sets are fantastic and I adore how Aang just assumes that even though the sages are fire nation, they'll respect him because he's the Avatar. After all, that's what they're supposed to do - but how Ozai has a tapestry of himself in the temple of the Avatar, we see the hints of how the Fire Nation has been led to treat the Avatar. I really like the addition/clarification in the live-action that the fire lords have placed themselves above the Avatar as the spiritual leader of the world - they've undermined the authority of the Avatar, no doubt due to Sozin's anger at Roku for standing against his bid to colonize the world. Even cultures where religion is seen as all-important, corrupt leaders have no problem co-opting that religious devotion and placing themselves in the position of power and adulation. Of course, as with all societies that try to do that, there will always be those who condemn mortal leader's attempts to usurp the power of the divine and hold to the 'old ways'. Love how we see that in the fire sages and the one who aids Aang - fulfilling the 'true' purpose of their order rather than the twisted one the leaders of the fire nation have turned it into.

Having a devout fire sage collect relics of past Avatars to keep in Roku's temple, I think was a great addition. It also makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS exclusively searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense. I'll get to why I also think it was a good choice to have to attack them on a specific moon phase with a specific knife once those episodes come around.

The other fire sages truly believing that Ozai is the only one who can 'bring balance' is an interesting philosophical idea that the fire lords have implanted into the culture of the nation - and their ability to skew what 'balance' even means is really great work too. Not to bring Star Wars into this, but when one group tries to dominate the world (galaxy) fully so that they can control everything that happens, that's NOT 'balance' and forces will rise up to upend that system of control. Like Ozai said in episode 3, the way they've all been taught to 'create balance' is actually just an intense form of law and order where they control everything. It's an argument used liberally today that many fall for as well, so clarifying that here in season one instead of waiting all the way to season 3 like the animated show did really grounds the story in reality and lets viewers sit with the lessons and interrogate how they see it happening in their own lives for 3 seasons rather than just a few episodes.

It is a bit iffy world building from the animated show to have Aang only be able to talk with Roku on the solstice in his temple when later in the story, he can just connect to his past selves as long as he's meditating, in their clothes, or in a spiritual place - I think the animated show just really wanted to add in the temple and manufactured a reason for Aang to have to go there specifically on that date in the animated show. Not bad, but also makes the 'connecting to Avatars at their temple anytime' fit with the worldbuilding just fine. Like many first seasons (or books) of series that aren't all pre-written, the world building of early installments is usually a bit shaky and ironed out in later seasons, so I like that they've already started to do that here.

Roku, like Bumi, was another character that they shifted the tone of for the live-action. I think they chose to introduce Roku as a more fun-loving Avatar to really contrast him with Kyoshi (and later Kuruk) as well as most of the adults who've interacted with Aang so far. I think Gyatzo took the role of the more serious mentor that Roku had in the animated show and the live-action Roku really needed to be a stark contrast from the adults in Aang's life who blamed him for what happened with the war. I think they may have overdid the jokey nature of Roku a bit but as we see in the flashbacks with him in season 3 Roku always had been a more fun-loving guy. He does get serious and gives Aang some good advice - even though part of that advice is like Kyoshi's and Kuruk's that Aang needs to be careful about his friends. Though, his advice is distinctly different from Kyoshi's or Kuruk's in that he doesn’t say Aang can't have friends or let them help him, but rather that they can become liabilities and Aang will need to make decisions that sometimes could harm his friends for the sake of the world - not letting the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many. Including lore about the Mother of Faces (full disclosure, I've never read any of the comics or books, so I just heard about that stuff second-hand) was really cool - and also ties back into the theme about identity and masks this episode is going hard on.

I also love how each of the Avatars Aang talks with have different ways they fulfilled their duties: Kyoshi through force and combat, Roku though diplomacy, and Kuruk through protecting the veil between the spirit world and the material plane. While they each caution about needing to be more than a singular thing, we can see Aang identifying more with Roku and his mention of diplomacy - as evidenced by his plan to use the Mother of Faces statuette to bargain rather than to lure Koh out and use force to try to kill or restrain him as Kyoshi might or further anger him like Kuruk. Aang always leads with kindness and understanding, even to his enemies who've harmed him and his friends. There's no reason for him to immediately jump to giving Koh what he wants, but the fact that that's what he thought of first really says a lot about his character. Yes, he was warned about not being strong enough to 'defeat' Koh, but that he didn't initially think about tricking Koh or trapping him shows us who Aang is - and that same kindness and urge to talk it out with enemies is echoed at the end of the episode with him talking to Zuko.

Removing the comet deadline I think was a smart move for the live-action both for practical and storytelling purposes. It would add a whole lot more things the characters are needing to do prematurely - let's focus on getting to the north and figuring out the Avatar state first, then we can put a timeline on Aang's bending journey, plus irl kids age - it's just a fact of life and it's taken like, 3 years to cast, film, and get this season out onto Netflix and they haven't even started season 2 yet, so who knows how much older the kids will look once we get to season 3. Having Roku instead provide a different take on what the Avatar's personality can be, warning him about friends, and giving him the answer to the issues Aang is facing with the spirit world was justification enough to have him show up the way he did, even if he didn't give Aang the info on the comet.

Though I do miss Roku going apeshit on the fire sages who have forgotten what they're supposed to stand for, I understand through the storytelling aspect why they shifted that and didn't allow Aang to escape the temple unscathed. Again, due to the episodic nature of the animated show, every 20 minutes ends with the characters no longer in danger, having escaped certain doom. That structure doesn't flow when you only have 8 episodes, so continuing the danger from the fire temple right into June having caught up to Aang (like she did in Bato of the Water Tribe in the animated show) makes the story flow better. In the animated series, Aang gets caught as he's zipping around a mountain looking for frozen frogs to heal Sokka and Katara from a fever. Random guards see him, send a message to Zhao, and he sends in the Yuyan archers. For such a pivotal episode as The Blue Spirit is, the events that kick it off don't really connect to much - very episodic in nature. I think having it all connect with Zuko coming THIS CLOSE yet again to capturing the Avatar and regaining his place in the Fire Nation was a good choice.

Love that not only do we combine June into these episodes so it's her skill that once again finds and captures the Avatar, we also get more view points of people around the world through this time of war. In the animated series, much like Suki, June is just there to be hot, useful, and the muscle for the main male leads (plus she was there to be creeped on by Uncle Iroh in what I feel is one of the worst writing of his character of the whole show). The live-action, like with Suki, gave June an actual character - she had motivations and goals that had nothing to do with the male characters and more depth than just 'want money'. She's jaded and accepted the war, she's going to use it for her advantage.

It's also another view we get to see of how people in the world have adjusted to the lack of the Avatar for 100 years. They've had to make do without him, so the fire nation has placed the Fire Lord on that pedestal, and people like June have decided the Avatar isn't really necessary - after all, why would you think they would be if you've lived your entire life without one and have never seen a world where the Avatar does keep balance. It's hard to imagine a fundamentally different world that you've never seen.

#natla #natla positivity #avatar netflix #netflix avatar #avatar live action #avatar the last airbender

[nexstage]

So, I've read Aaron Ehasz’s ideas for Azula’s redemption arc if there was a possibility for one but sadly there wasn't, and I like it, partially though. Why? Because there is only one tiny, backfiring and nagging problem with it: Zuko as Iroh 2.0 for Azula.

Like, ok, if there were another season of Avatar for Azula to be redeemed, I would love to see her trying to fix her relationship with Zuko and understand his POV while he does the same for her even with all the angsty fights, and a lot of trauma to recover from.

What I don't think it's a good idea is to have Zuko in the position of a second Iroh to help Azula recover and make amends with the people she has hurt. And I have a good explanation for this.

Number 1: Zuko is not emotionally ready

Look, he might have redeemed himself but the job of helping his sister whom he has a deeply complex and chaotic relationship is beyond his league. Heck, it was bad and irresponsible enough from the writers to free Iroh from any responsibility and put Zuko on the throne even though he has spent the majority of his time chasing Aang and then surviving in the Earth Kingdom which neglected his studies about politics and militia of the Fire Nation.

And don't make me start with the emotional baggage and other stuff he really needs to work on. There is a lot he still must take care of himself before having such a responsibility as the “redemption path” for Azula.

Besides, for him to be ready what Zuko needs is some time for himself to figure out who he is and what he wants. What's his purpose or the choices he has? The same goes for Azula. They need time and space for each other to find themselves after being abused and pitted against one another by Ozai for years. Because having your identity based on being superior to your sibling to not be punished or reach an unrealistic expectation is not healthy at all.

Number 2: Redemption arc or Plot Device arc?

In one of the ATLA posts I've made on Tumblr, I talked about how Azula’s framing in the show didn't let her be a relatable character or be genuinely complex because the ATLA crew wanted her to be just a standard cool villain; therefore, her tragic backstory and complexities were just accessories that could enhance others’ arca but not hers. Well, I think that post can be applied here because what would Azula’s redemption be if given the chance to be made for a new season? A proper way to deepen Azula’s character or just a way to put Zuko on a higher pedestal than the one he has?

I think the second option is the most plausible. Of course, it is speculation but with the show's framing of her character, her treatment by the hands of the comics, and how people have described her as irredeemable, evil, and sadistic while ignoring the environment, factors, and people that have made her this way, I doubt this redemption arc had been made for her character only and not to enlighten someone else.

And with how Ehasz has described it, my doubts have increased too: “At the deepest moment in her own abyss, she would have found: Zuko”, “Zuko -patient, forgiving, and unconditionally loving”. Yep, this seems more like an attempt to turn Zuko into Iroh 2.0 and Azula into Zuko 2.0, and her redemption arc into Zuko’s redemption arc 2.0.

Number 3: Showing off Zuko’s questionable traits

“Zuko -patient, forgiving, and unconditionally loving”, honestly, I don't know if Ehasz knows Zuko’s character at all and his dynamic with Azula from A to Z.

First, patient? Sure, Zuko has matured and it's normal to relapse in moments of stress but since when he is patient? He wanted to enter a storm in The Storm episode despite how dangerous it was and even fought one of his crew members when he scolded him for his recklessness. He attacked Aang for not training hard enough and not taking Ozai seriously even when Zuko didn't tell the Gaang about his father’s plans to burn the whole Earth Kingdom sooner. And let's not talk about how his character was handled in the comics.

Forgiving? This one is a bit difficult. I could just put that Zuko criticized Aang’s air nomads' beliefs about forgiveness and how forgiving the man that killed Katara’s mother was the same as doing nothing but I also take into account that Zuko said to Aang that he was right about violence not being the answer Katara needed to heal.

Forgiveness and Zuko are very complicated. Zuko has all the right to not forgive Ozai for all the pain he put him through or Azula for the animosity between them, but it would be interesting if he forgave her to have a new chance at siblinghood or just to have his own chance at healing.

However, it's a hard question to answer if he is forgiving. Let's not forget that Zuko, as the Blue Spirit, attacked the man that humiliated Iroh when they became EK refugees. But there is also the fact that even after Azula attacked Iroh in The Chase, Zuko didn't tell him “Uncle, we have to find Azula so we can avenge you”, instead he said, “I know what you're going to say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her”. Now, according to this phrase, Zuko thinks Iroh has a better way to deal with Azula that doesn't involve violence even if he knows that if he doesn't improve his firebending, his chances against her will be slim. And because Iroh is the most amicable of the older fire brothers, Zuko trusts his judgment and experience about siblinghood.

Last but not least, unconditionally loving. That is very complicated to answer too because the only source of supposedly unconditional love was Ursa before she disappeared and then Iroh took her place but both favored Zuko over Azula for different reasons which isn't the best example for an impressionable child about how unconditional love is or should be.

Look, I’m not saying that Zuko cannot be any of those things but it takes time and effort, and perhaps that’s why Azula’s redemption is important for Ehasz because it would give Zuko the chance to show forgiveness, patience, and unconditional love when it should be about Azula and how she becomes a healthier and better person instead of being the plot device to show off Zuko’s traits.

Number 4: If not Zuko, then who?

Azula has been failed by the adults of her family in so many ways. Ozai abused her by turning her into a soldier and weapon; Ursa favored Zuko over her because he was easier to deal with and Ursa couldn’t find a common ground between them to understand her daughter; Iroh barely cared about her and then told Zuko to fight her two times even when the second one he had said earlier than if he fought Ozai it would feed the cycle of violence. Hypocrisy at its best, uh?

While Ursa is still hiding, I think the best option is Iroh as crazy as it is. Despite the bad blood between them, Azula and Iroh have a lot in common: they are the cunning, successful, and powerful prodigies of their fathers. Both were favored by Ozai and Azulon respectively. Both were affected negatively by the war: Azula’s whole childhood was robbed by Ozai when he started to mold her into a weapon, and Iroh lost Lu Ten which broke his will to fight in the Ba Sing Se Siege. Both create their own firebending moves and are excellent fighters.

It would be great to see how Iroh’s opinion of Azula gradually changes from negative to sorrowful and positive after understanding that she was also a victim of Ozai’s machinations and that her talents were twisted and abused for his gain and not the crazy girl that needed to be taken down like some kind of final boss from a video game or rabid animal.

It would also be fun a comradeship and respect between two jaded prodigies of the FN royal family. He could tell Azula about his adventures in the Spirit World and what he learned from the other nations, his adventures in the Earth Kingdom with Zuko as refugees which could be emphasized by Zuko explaining how terrible the war had affected the people.

About Ursa, if the comics didn't exist and the discovery of where she was and what she has been doing since her disappearance had been handled much better, I bet she would be distraught that one of her children had ended up in an asylum and her mental state is in such disarray. It would be the start for Ursa to reach out to Azula to make up for her shortcomings as a mother and have a common ground between them, to form a solid and healthy mother-daughter relationship.

And while Iroh and Ursa would be responsible to take care of her emotionally, she could meet other people in the Fire Nation to help her see the error of her ways and the wrongness of the war.

Her friends Mai and Tai Lee could be part of the team if they meet again and reconcile so Azula doesn't have to travel only with Iroh and Ursa but also with people her age. And the Gaang can be of help for her redemption too, though it will be much more difficult after what happened in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se.

All in all, those are the reason why Zuko as Iroh 2.0 for Azula’s redemption arc is a bad idea. I mean, he can be a part of her redemption arc, but if he is put on such a pedestal it would backfire for both of them. Better if she has a net of support and builds her own path post-war instead of being the copy-and-paste of Zuko’s redemption arc just to make him look better.

#ATLA meta #Zuko redemption arc #Azula redemption arc #zuko #azula #Aaron Ehasz critical

[eurydicees]

Yes please! I'm always looking for good atla fics

oh bestie i GOTCHU !! i'm only gonna give u three for each category bc i have too many bookmarks and this list started getting insane not gonna lie to u. i tried to do ones that i haven’t seen on rec lists before bc i feel like there are, like, ten of the same ones on every single list and i wanna give some love to other fics. these are just in the order that i bookmarked them in. if ur looking for anything more specific or anything for another fandom PLEASE hmu again !!!

atla genfic faves

fault line by beachtablecloth

“So. Prince Zuko. Are the rumors true?”

Zuko freezes, chopsticks halfway to his mouth.

“Depends what you heard.”

oh man oh man oh man. LOVE a good 41st division-related fic. love a good zuko’s scar fic. love a good toph & zuko friendship fic. oh man. HIGHLY recommend this. 

things lost in the fire by earlygreylover98

The wanted poster had the scar on the wrong side.

Maybe he didn’t care enough to look at the poster before it got sent out. Or maybe, Ozai didn’t actually remember which side of his son’s face he had burned off all those years ago. Zuko wasn’t sure what was worse. Ozai had know which side the scar was on. He had to remember. Right?

----

In which Zuko isn't sure Ozai knows which side of his face he burnt off and it sends him spiraling.

yeah. when it comes to atla fics i have a Type. what abt it. 

this is a Really good take on the “scar on the wrong side” thing. it’s passed off as a joke in canon and it’s a total throwaway line, but like, this fic takes that and runs with it and it’s beautiful. love love love. 

It takes a village by MrSpockify

Ultimately, Zuko started off his banishment as a thirteen year-old child who had just been severely traumatized. This is a collection of stories revolving around the idea that Zuko's crew, a bunch of full-grown adults, would absolutely see him and immediately feel an overwhelming urge to nurture this poor kid.

8 part series, i rec every single one of them. GREAT platonic relationships between zuko & the crew, quality slice of life in pre-canon, and a really great look at zuko as a character pre-canon. 

yes i have a favorite character shut UP 

zukka faves 

everybody’s asking what you are to me by starkidpatronus 

“Well, go knock ‘em dead, tiger,” Sokka says with a sigh. It’s rare they get to see each other for purely social occasions these days. But it can’t be helped—they both have important jobs and it’s a busy time and that’s just the way it is.

“Wanna’ have drinks in my chambers tomorrow night?” Zuko suggests. He has a meeting that he’s sure will run late tonight and an important dinner with his Head Imperial Engineer tomorrow, but he should be free afterwards.

Sokka lights up at the offer. “Sounds great!”

Zuko smiles and leans down to press a kiss to Sokka’s lips. “See you then.”

He steps into the palace, which is where reality crashes into him.

~~~

Zuko and Sokka start kissing. As friends. Really.

it’s exactly what it sounds like and boy is it delicious 

blue and gold by lesmiserablol 

Sokka had heard about soulmates meeting for the first time, but nothing could have prepared him for the way that, as he began his attack to defend his tiny village, the world instantly burst into color. He and his soulmate, the boy getting off the Fire Nation ship, locked eyes and stared at each other for several moments. Sokka’s eyes were wide in disbelief, while his soulmate had a blank look of shock on his face that turned into steely resolve as he kicked Sokka off the gangway in one smooth motion.

GREAT soulmate stuff. we all know i love a good soulmate au and man does this one provide! 

Strange Young World by CSHfic, VSfic

In the weeks following the war, Zuko faces a gauntlet of Agni Kai challengers. Sokka worries.

yeahhhhhh babyyyyyy this is the GOOD fire lord zuko angst

misc atla faves

fear by doctrpepper

“we need to fly the rest of the way,” sokka warns as the gondola comes to a halt, and it's only then that he realizes that, in all the time he and the others had known zuko, none of them had ever seen his wings

or, in which i think wing fics are cool and try to work the mechanics into the atla universe

this slaps so hard. it’s tagged as pre-relationship zukka, which is why i put it here, but it can pretty much be read as platonic imo if you’re not into the whole zukka thing! i like this fic bc i think wing aus slap and there aren’t enough of them, but also bc it has quality zuko angst, and i like sokka’s characterization here

teach myself how to die by sinkburrito 

They have a quiet understanding. There is no love in the Fire Nation, not in Azula’s city, and certainly not between two girls. They are not in love, because love does not exist here, and even if it did, there would be no talking of it. Instead, they have a wordless bond, one that manifests in the way that Ty Lee can read Mai like a book and how Mai always knows when Ty Lee is upset. Azula’s blue fire scorches everything that could burn brighter than itself, so Mai and Ty Lee very deliberately do not burn. And if they did, they would hide that little light, hide it from the wind and the fire and the horrible storm that rages around them. But they don’t, and they aren’t, so it doesn’t matter.

(a look at mai and ty lee and how they got to the boiling rock)

makes me feel a lot of feelings. the kind that burn a little bit but also sting at ur eyes but also make everything feel a little lighter. 

As the Tides Recede by TheMadHatterOfficial

Slices of life after the war, with maybe some from during the war as well.

It’s been a hot sec since i’ve read these not gonna lie but i remember having, like, visceral human reactions of angst to each of them. gonna give these a reread now myself actually brb

finally, reccing my own fics bc i’m full of myself and want attention :P 

maybe before the world ends (can we be brave?) 

Love is a kind of bravery, and Mai isn't sure if she has it anymore. There was a time when the two of them could be together, but getting caught and separated between city and circus and Azula has a way of changing things like that.

While chasing the Avatar, Ty Lee finds her in her room, and Mai tries to find courage again.

honestly y’all slept on this fic :( 

another word for wanting

Sokka begins to dream of his soulmate when he's eleven years old, and it just gets harder from there. Or, 125 moments soulmates share, and none of them come easy.

(In which your dreams are your soulmate's memories, and Sokka dreams of an all-consuming fire, growing and eating at his soulmate until it burns up the connection between their souls. In which they find love anyways.)

by FAR my most popular fic. like. it’s not even a contest at this point. and i think that’s hilarious. not even my best atla fic tbh but here we are. i’ll put it on here ig 

the cycling of fire

Aang is twelve years old, and somehow the world doesn't care about that. Aang is a child, and somehow the world is not showing him mercy.

Or, Zuko reflects on the fact that Aang is a child, and they have too many nightmares in common.

yea this one’s my best atla fic and i stand by that

#ask #atla #fic rec #fic recs

[azucanela]

HOME PT. 1 | ZUKO

HOME MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: In which Zuko has a chance to go home.

WORD COUNT: 2.9k

WARNINGS: blood, weapons, fights, death threats

A/N: we love zuko in this house, also send stuff into my ask box im bored and need ideas to write kashdkfkjasdhlf 

When Zuko was banished, it seemed that Ozai was more upset that Y/N intended to go with him, than at the pain he had caused his son. She was a talented firebender, capable of defeating even Azula, his prodigal daughter, in an Agni Kai. Her tactics and strategies, despite her young age, proved effective time and time again. She had the makings of a great General for the Fire Nation Army, and Ozai saw it as a waste for her to search for someone who would likely never be found. Not when Y/N L/N had so much potential. 

Y/N just saw it as proof that Ozai never truly cared for his son. His recognition of the impossible task he had bestowed upon his own child.

At the end of the day, her loyalty lied with the prince, so she set sail alongside him and his Uncle, in search of an avatar that had been gone for a century. They had known each other since they were children, when Ozai had taken interest in her natural talent for firebending. She had been raised alongside Zuko and Azula, training with them. But as most knew, Azula had an affinity for inflicting pain to those around her in her free time, so when the time came for a sparring match between Y/N and Azula, the results were deadly.

Ozai decided Y/N would stick around a little longer when she managed to beat Azula that day.

Zuko had never been competitive, not like Azula was. Though he’d asked her for tips on how to improve, and she’d graciously assisted him. And so, a friendship blossomed in the fire of their youth. She became his sparring partner, and as they grew older, his right hand.

She never regretted stepping onto the boat with Zuko the first day of his banishment. But she was beginning to regret ever speaking with him in the first place. He had no goal other than finding the Avatar, it was his sole purpose at this point, even after nearly three years of searching. But there were moments in which she found him rather… peaceful. He was almost the same boy who Y/N had played tag with as a child all those years ago. And in these moments, when she caught a glimpse of the real Zuko, she couldn’t help the warmth that blossomed in her chest each time they had an actual conversation. 

One that wasn’t about his never ending quest to find the Avatar.

The conversations they had in the middle of the night, when sleep failed to reach them. The ones they never mentioned when the night was over. Because what happened in Zukos’ room at night, stayed there.

Y/N had only ever needed to knock once and Zuko was opening the door to his room on the ship. She gave him a tight lipped smile as she slipped inside, hoping no one noticed because they both knew what it would look like from an outside perspective. Not that she cared what others thought. What happened between her and Zuko was their business, though nothing ever really happened. He would try to make tea, they would dump the tea because of how bad it tasted, Y/N would remake the tea, and then they would talk.

Sometimes she wished it was more than that though. 

It was a foolish dream to have, she recognized that as she took the teapot before he could even make an attempt to boil the water. “You couldn’t sleep either?” She asked as she began to heat the water with her firebending, holding the pot above her free hand.

Zuko scoffed, sitting back on the mat he referred to as a bed, “no, I just knew you’d be awake.” 

Y/N frowned, “you should’ve gone to bed.” She places the tea leaves into the steaming pot, moving to sit with her legs crossed, across from him on the floor.

“And put the entire ship at risk?” Came his response, his brow raised. 

Y/N laughed lightly, “what are you talking about?” Her head tilts as she looks at him in confusion, grabbing the two solitary teacups on his desk. 

“Last time you were left unattended you nearly blew up our only means of transportation.” He deadpanned. 

She rolled her eyes, looking to him as she spoke, “that was one time-”

Zuko was smiling now, “remember the time you nearly killed that man with a cabbage cart because he-” 

“Okay! I get it, you can stop now.” Y/N exclaimed, cheeks warming as she recalled the event. She handed him his cup of tea, and for a moment she could even forget that the only reason that they were on the ship in the first place was to find the Avatar, for a moment she could forget that Zuko had changed 

His hand grazed hers as he took the cup, mumbling a small, “thank you,” before he took a sip. Looking out the small window of the ship, he realized he would never forget his banishment. His home. He quickly brought his attention back to Y/N, only to realize she was already looking at him. 

She brought herself closer to him on the floor, “what are you thinking about?” She recognized the look on his face, the nostalgia, the pain. 

If he was honest, he was now thinking about the small amount of space between them since she’d moved to be seated beside him on the mat. Though he responded, “home.” 

Y/N hummed in response, taking a sip of her tea, “you miss it?” She asked.

Zuko scoffed, “that’s a dumb question. Of course I miss it. Why wouldn’t I?” Y/N was tempted to tell him that he shouldn’t miss the home that cast him aside for thinking of the best interest of the people. The home that was ruled by the man who scarred him for life. The man he still seeked validation from. 

Instead she shrugged, placing her tea onto the floor of his room, “well I don’t.”

His head snaps up, eyes meeting hers, he looks to her incredulously, “what do you mean you don’t? We’ve been away for so long!” He exclaims, his temper beginning to show. It was rare for him to explode at her like he tended to with other crew members, Iroh had pointed it out to him, and though Zuko shut him down quickly, nobody could deny the accuracy of the statement. But they had grown up there, together. All of his happy memories, all of his dreams, his past and hopefully his future, were all there. Had that all meant nothing to her?

“The Fire Nation was never my home, Prince Zuko.”

He almost flinches when she uses his title. And she quickly changes the subject, though she can feel it lingering in his mind as they have their tea. 

She ended up falling asleep in his cabin after they talked for the rest of the night, awakening in the room she internally groaned, knowing what it would look like when she set foot outside of his room. Being on this ship for so long, she knew her fellow crewmates were looking for some gossip to spice up their lives a bit. Looking around, Y/N realized he wasn’t there. She brought a hand up to rub her temple she sighed when she sat up, deciding she’d go back to her room and get dressed before heading up to the deck.

They’d been coasting around Earth Kingdom waters that recently been put in Fire Nation control, and as she entered the deck of the ship, Y/N realized they had docked on one of the piers. The sea of people around the market made her wonder what the area could have to offer as she turned to look back on the deck, where Iroh had been seated with his Pai Sho board, along with several other crew members loitering in the area. “Good morning Iroh,” she said with a smile as she made her way towards him, “do you happen to know what we’ll be doing today?”

He smiled up at her, gesturing for her to take a seat as he responded, “well Prince Zuko was not very pleasant this morning, so perhaps something more violent.” He took the teapot on his side, “you should probably go look for him before my nephew does something unwise.” Iroh explained with a sigh, refilling his cup. 

Y/N gave him a tight lipped smile, suddenly grateful she hadn’t gotten comfortable and taken a seat when he’d offered it, “of course. He likely intends to do something irrational and stupid.” She cracked her knuckles, aggressively securing her dagger at her side as annoyance bubbled up inside her, “I’ll see you later Iroh.” 

She decided that if thugs hadn’t attacked him yet, she would, stepping off the ship and into the crowd. She slipped between the people with ease, making her way to some of the stands, shopkeepers yelling out deals as they tried to sell some of their products.

And then Y/N got distracted. It started out with a new dagger for her growing collection, then a new holster for said dagger which was now strapped to her leg along with the weapon. Would you look at that, with all this new stuff she was getting she’d definitely need a bag to carry it. Right? Right. Then it was some rare tea leaves for Iroh and new cookbook for the chef that lived on the ship, though it only served as a reminder that she was yet to eat. 

Making her way towards the part of the market that specialized in foods, the aroma filled her nose. Holding the strap of the bag tighter as she maneuvered through the busy market as she’d spotted a stand with a variety of foods. Y/N inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet smell as she reached the stand before picking out what she wanted to purchase. In the corner of her eye she saw cabbages and couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto her face. Bringing out her small pouch of money, she went to hand the shopkeeper some coins, but the old woman shook her head.

“The young man over there paid for your things already Miss.” She explained, “scary guy. Just shoved this bag of money at me and told me to keep the change while you were on the other end of the stand shopping.” Though she ended up pointing in the direction of this elusive ‘young man,’ Y/N already knew who it was as she turned around and saw Zuko brooding against a wall in one of the emptier parts of the market.

She sighed, “thank you ma’am. Have a nice day.”

The old woman nodded, and Y/N put the foods into her bag as well, grateful for the variety of pockets within it as she made her way to where Zuko stood. “She had cabbages. I’m shocked you didn’t attack her.” 

Y/N rolled her eyes, “where have you been all morning?” She pulled two of the bite-sized pastries she’d bought from the old woman, handing one to Zuko that he begrudgingly accepted as they began to walk down the empty street before taking a bite out of her pastry.

“Around.” Came Zuko’s response as he ate the small pastry. “I just wanted to browse the marketplace.” Y/N took another bite of her pastry as she listened, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. 

She scoffed, “Zuko, I swear.” They were entering a plaza, with a fountain in the center, “it’s my job to know where you are. I’m here to make sure you don’t die during your search for the Avatar, because I’m your right hand, remember?” She exclaimed, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she got side tracked in her search for him,

“You were my right hand. At home. Not that it was your home.” He corrected her pointedly. It was quickly becoming clear that her statement had bothered him, and he wasn’t going to let this go. 

She looked at him incredulously, throwing what was left of her pastry at his chest, causing him to roll his eyes and throw what was left of his own at her face, though she dodged it. Y/N raised her brows, taken aback by this statement and action. He continued to walk as she stopped, dead in her tracks, “oh, is that what this is about? Because if you wanna talk about that we can-” A deep exhale escaped her, followed by silence. 

Zuko’s brows furrowed, “what? Don’t wanna finish the sentence?” He asked as he turned around, only to find that she had a knife pressed to neck, and was surrounded by a group of men.

Of course it had been thugs.

One of them reached to the pouch on her side, yanking it from its place on her belt while the other looked up to Zuko, “you’re going to give us your money, or your little girlfriend is gonna die.” He threatened, pressing the knife harder onto her neck, drawing blood.

Inhaling sharply, Y/N managed to let a bitter laugh escape her despite the situation, “in case you didn’t notice, we had just been arguing. I doubt he has a problem with my death at this point.”

Zuko glared at her, “could you shut up for one minute?” He exclaimed.

“Oh, I think I’m about to be shut up permanently but okay Zuko.” She replied, a sarcastic smile on her face as he narrowed his eyes at her.

He quickly returned his attention to the thugs, who had exchanged looks due to the strangeness of the exchange they were witnessing. “Here’s what’s actually going to happen. You are going to let her go, and if you don’t, you’re going to die.” 

The man with a knife against her throat laughed, “and how are you gonna manage that?” He asked, his four companions moving forward to form a circle around Zuko, weapons in hand. “We’ve got the upper hand.”

“Well, I’m not going to kill you. My little girlfriend will. And,” Zuko paused, eyeing the men surrounding him as he cracked his neck, “you don’t have the upper hand. Not while I have Y/N.”

The man was about to speak when a dagger suddenly pierced his leg, causing him to yelp in pain, dropping the knife he’d held into Y/N’s free hand. She threw the blade in Zuko’s direction and he caught it with ease as he dodged one of the men that lunged at him. 

Y/N kicked her captor’s injured leg, causing him to fall to the ground and allowing her to slip her bag off of her shoulder, wrapping the strap around his neck as she rammed the hilt of the dagger onto his head, effectively knocking him unconscious. Turning around to assist Zuko, she had a deadly realization.

One of the men was missing. 

Everything happened rather quickly after that, she extended her hand, preparing to begin firebending at the man that was attempting to sneak up behind Zuko, except no fire came out. Instead, a whip of water extended from the fountain, slamming him into a nearby building. 

The other three men exchanged looks, stopping their movements momentarily, then taking a few steps back before breaking into a sprint in the opposite direction.

Y/N was still staring at her hand in shock, though her eyes soon rose to find Zuko staring at her as well, the look in his eyes unreadable. A shaky breath escaped her, “guess that conclude your search.” She swallowed nervously, squeezing her eyes shut as she continued, “you can go back home now.” 

“We should get back to the ship.” Came his response. “You need medical attention.” Moving towards her, she took a step back.

“Zuko-”

“You aren’t the Avatar, Y/N.” He stated firmly.

“Really?” She exclaimed, disbelief clear in her voice, “because it sure does look like I am. No one else is capable of bending more than one element!” She pointed out. 

Zuko shook his head, “the Avatar is an Airbender. You were born and raised in the Fire Nation.” He rationalized. “It’s not possible for you to be the Avatar, even if the Airbender is dead, the next Avatar would be from one of the Water Tribes.” Zuko opened his mouth to continue speaking but Y/N cut him off.

“Zuko.” Her voice came out as a whisper. “What are you doing?” 

In that moment he is silent, and she wonders if he’s reconsidering his choice. In actuality, a million thoughts are running through his mind, maybe he could fake her death? Tell them that she died in this town, let her live out her life in peace while he continued a false search for the Avatar. Maybe this was a fluke, or there was a Waterbender hiding in the shadows that saved their lives. Or maybe he was in denial.

The only thing he was sure about was that Y/N wasn’t going back to the Fire Nation a prisoner. 

“Protecting the only home I have left.” 

Because sometimes home isn’t a place. It’s a person. 

You can imagine their shock when they discovered the last Airbender.

a/n: are there two avatars? maybe. is the reader a dual bender? maybe. will we ever find out? idk

#zuko x reader #prince zuko x reader #zuko #zuko atla #avatar the last airbender #atla #lok #legend of korra #prince zuko #prince zuko atla #atla x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader #iroh makes an appearance #zuko atla x reader

[allnewalldifferentwildspider]

Since I’ve decided that the AtLA comics are complete crap, the writer in me has been thinking about post Sozin’s Comet story arcs. I thought of one I’ve decided to call “Katara of the Fire Nation.”

In a meeting at the Fire Nation, Katara becomes an ambassador maintaining relations between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation, being friends with Zuko and all. Zuko promises to send aid to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe and even gives Katara a ship and crew in addition to her new title. She goes home on her new ship and even though the people of the SWT aren’t trilled to see a Fire Nation ship on their shores, it does get personalized since it’s Katara’s and Zuko has told the crew and soldiers that they work for the ambassador now.

The real trouble starts when the aid Zuko promised becomes lesser and fewer. The people of the SWT think it’s Zuko going back on his word, so Katara goes to the Fire Nation to talk to Zuko about it. There, Zuko explains that he’s made no changes to the aid he promised, so they have to go to the port where the aid is physically being sent.

The Fire Nation governess in charge of the port says they’ve had to make cuts to the aid they send to the SWT because they’ve been using it to help their own citizens. Zuko thinks there has to be some way to do both, and Katara wants to see if she can help the people in the city. She remembers the way some of the Fire Nation citizens lived during her travels before the eclipse. Zuko goes back to the capitol to see what he can do and Katara stays behind. Zuko tells the governess to give Katara whatever she needs, but the governess is very passive aggressive about it.

Katara tries talking to the Fire Nation citizens, and they’re not very welcoming at first. They’re not big on a waterbender poking around, asking questions and telling them what to do. Eventually Katara wins them over, even teaching a non-bender girl who to defend herself from unwanted advances. Katara learns that during the war, most of the city’s resources had to go to the war effort. Zuko passed reforms when the war ended, but the governess hasn’t implemented them yet. The Fire Nation citizens are angry because they think all the money and stuff is going to the SWT, but Katara tells them that the SWT has actually received very little aid. The only one who would know would be the governess.

Katara confronts the governess, who reveals her true racist tendencies. She attacks but is no match for Katara until her goons come in and Katara is out numbered and runs away. The governess’s guards are looking for Katara but she’s taken in by the non-bender girl’s family that she helped earlier. 

The girl’s father works in one of the governess’s factories and is having a meeting with her business partners. They’ll disguise Katara as a factory worker and sneak in. Inside, Katara sneaks in close enough the hear the governess and her business partners in their meeting. They have profited off the war, but now Zuko is forcing them to give their profits and products for aids and taxes. They plan to frame Katara into being their scapegoat and turn the citizens against her while they embezzle the money for themselves. The girl’s father also overhears them and causes a scene. He and Katara rally the factory workers to protest. While the factory workers clash with the guards, Katara chases the governess back to her manor.

Katara confronts the governess, telling her that she’s going to turn her over to Zuko. The governess reveals that the war helped make the elite of the Fire Nation become rich as powerful so long as they supported the war. She and the other Fire Nation governors are making plans to remove Zuko from power. Katara and the governess’s fight destroys the manor, and ends up attracting the attention of the citizens. The governess demands that the citizens capture Katara, but the citizens refuse. The governess surrenders having lost her power over the citizens.

Zuko arrives the next day and apologizes to Katara. Katara tells Zuko of the plot to remove him from power and they agree to work together. The story ends with the city saying goodbye to Katara as she returns home with more aid for the SWT.

And that’s my idea for a post Sozin’s Comet Katara only adventure. What do you guys think? 

#zutara #Zuko #fire lady katara #katara #anti kataang #anti bryke

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

Zukka Soulmate AU part 4

@mypureessence

@chaoticidiott

@ari-shipping-stuff

@knightedbot

@idkhowbutimgayer

@swampy-beans

"Something blue huh?" Jee asked from behind Zuko once they separated from his uncle

"Yeah" was all Zuko gave as an answer

"I know why, I've seen the boy y'know." After Zuko shot him a glare he put his hands up "I won't ask anything much but... you do know he knows right?"

What? Zuko paused for a moment "Im sure he doesn't, and even if he does why would he care?" Jee tapped his own left cheek "again, why would he care? If he hasn't said anything he clearly has no reason to actually care about that let alone me"

Jee tapped Zuko's hand when he spotted a little market with a good amount of blue items. "Not sure, but given that you're always attacking his friend perhaps he wouldn't want you to know or maybe its because you're firenation? The kid looks like he lost alot to the war"

Walking to the market Zuko was quiet, thinking over what Jee said. He really was always attacking Aang wasn't he? Of course he was, that has always been what he needed to do, that's what he set out to do over two and a half years ago.

Zuko looked over the many blue items before landing on a small hair ribbon long enough to also be worn as a necklace or a bracelet if one would want to. The ribbon was a deep blue with a smooth amber stone in the center surrounded by small pearls. Jee leaned over "that would look nice, perhaps he'd notice it too? Maybe even realize you're not as against the idea as you seem to be?"

Zuko turned to Jee with a flushed face "shut up" but he did buy it, spent a good four gold pieces on it and let Jee tie his hair up for him before heading out to find where Iroh went.

Once they met up with Iroh Jee headed back to the ship and Iroh took notice of the hair piece, praising Zuko for his good eye spotting such a lovely blue. After said praise the duo went looking for a string instrument for music night on the ship, finding themselves on a pirate ship with several clearly stolen items.

"Im glad you're starting to admit he's yours nephew"

"Im not admitting anything" Zuko pouted to which Iroh geave a chuckle

"Of course not"

A scrawny looking pirate wearing green walked pst them with an irritated expression "we lost the water tribe girl boss, and the bald monk she was traveling with"

The avatar. Zuko turned to them and gave a smirl "this bald monk... did he have an arrow on his head?"

"Why yes... he did... why?"

"Ive been searching for him and the two watertribe kids with him for a while now." He looked between the captain and the scrawny man. "What did they take?"

"A waterbending scroll" the captain spoke with a grumble.

"I can help you find them"

And that he did, finding Katara along the water practicing her bending when she fled the pirate and ran into him he tied her necklace around her throat whispering "I'm sorry" before his dramatic line of "I'll save you from the pirates"

Of course he had her tied up, she was a waterbender, and a strong self taught one at that, sure she was struggling with a move but given the water around them he wasn't taking any chances. She was giving him a sympathetic look without any answers to his questions.

"Where is he?" He growled at her "where is the avatar?"

"Did he burn you?" She asked in a voice only loud enough for him to hear

"What?" He took a step back

"Was it firelord Ozai? Was he the one that hurt you and my brother?" She spoke a little louder "I know you've noticed, I know he has, but gods he's so stubborn and... and so are you! Just give up on the whole chasing Aang gig and just..." she trailed off

"Just what? Join you? Betray my nation even more than I-"

"A nation thats willing to burn and banish their prince deserves to be betrayed!" She shouted at him just before the pirates managed to bring Aang and Sokka.

"Katara!" Aang shouted

"Zuko?" Sokka whispered

"Good job" Zuko turned to the pirates to negotiate but had a moment of thought when he saw them hesitate to hand Aang over. He leaned to Katara "think you can outrun them?"

"What?"

"How far is your bison?"

"Uh, not sure, but Aang has a whistle?"

He nodded before stepping to the side and slipping the scroll into her hands and cutting the rope "hold onto the rope for a second" he whispered before stepping towards them "hand over the boy" he shouted at the pirates

"The scroll first!"

Come on Sokka, you're always quick with words "you're really handing over the avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" That's the ticket.

And the argument ensued before Zuko shot two overly controlled flames at Sokka and Aang to cut their ties loose and jumped into the smoke formed by the pirates. "Go!" He shouted to Katara who hesitated

"What about y-"

"Im just doing you a favor, get lost!"

And so she did. The trio managed to escape and Zuko left the pirates not only empty handed but bruised and lost in the woods with no boat.

Back on his ship Zuko laid on the deck while Jee, Iroh and the rest of the crew played music in a circle around him. He wasn't sure why he let them but he wasn't about to tell them to stop in the middle of their song.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #prince zuko #zuko #atla zuko #atla sokka #sokka #zukka #i will die on my endless soulmate au hill #soulmate alternate universe #soulmates #zuko x sokka #sokka x zuko #atla katara #katara #atla aang #avatar aang #aang #uncle iroh #atla iroh

[zutaraangsupremacy]

Fanfic about Zuko and Iroh during his banishment years

Iroh leaves with him, obviously. He doesn't have to but he does because he loves his nephew and understands that this kid is going to die if he doesn't

He gets his most trusted war buddies to accompany them. They're apprehensive but they like Iroh and they trust him so they come with him

Some servants from the palace come because they've been with zuko since he was little and have taken care of him and they don't want to see him off. They weren't prepared for it to be like this or this soon

These war buddies begin questioning the sanity of their fire lord. Like, zuko deserved a punishment of some kind, but this is crazy

But no one can voice that without upsetting Zuko. He 100% believes he deserves this. There's no getting to him

Iroh knows this is a wild goose chase, so he does everything he can to go on little side quests that are just meant to be fun bonding moments

Like going to a hole in the wall earth kingdom restaurant he likes in some shabby coastal town ("I know the owner and his wife. They're lovely people." "This place is filthy." "Not filthy, loved. Used by people." "It's a mess.")

(turns out the current owners are not the same ones he knew, they get chased out for being fire nation)

They go to all the same places the gaang will eventually travel

"Ah, the Great Divide! It's the largest canyon in all the earth kingdom. It will take a two days and one night to cross." "Unless the Avatar's in there, I'm not interested." "We still have to cross nephew." "This is ridiculous"

Zuko gradually begins doing more to help out on the boat. At first no one expected him too because of his injury (they spend a lot of time reminding him to lay down and rest or else he won't heal properly) but then he's good enough to walk around and then he's good enough to train

He's a prince and he's not used to doing stuff like chores. At first hes a spoiled lil shit and refuses to help do anything, but then he starts feeling guilty

His mom wasn't royalty growing up and she always helped out the servants with cleaning up after herself and after her kids

His mom wouldn't want him to sit around be and so callous to people who willingly banished themselves alongside him and are actively trying to help him

So he goes up to the helmsman and asks if there's anything he can do to help

Iroh is so proud of him

Zuko learns how to do basic shit like washing the dishes and tying knots and steering a ship

He makes a lot of mistakes but he's transparent about it, and he doesn't put the blame on others because he's a good leader

Iroh contacts the white lotus. He has an idea of what they can do to depose the fire lord if only they're ever given the opportunity

Lots of flashbacks to Lu Ten, who was not a good leader, but a good person. Family was most important to him, even if he likes parties and girls. And he was brave. He was a good soldier though and a talented fire bender

And zuko feels really guilty because though he was sad that Lu Ten died he was super excited about being the new crown prince, to the point where it overshadowed his grief

Especially since if Lu Ten was somehow still alive, he wouldn't jumped into the Agni Kai without hesitation. He would've lost sure, but he could never just sit there and watch something like that happen. He believed in fair fights, not scare tactics

Plus he loved his lil cousins and would do anything for them, even if he would exclude azula from things because it was "boy stuff" (ie, azula actually had friends and zuko didn't, and he didn't want zuko to get lonely)

Meanwhile Iroh is also feeling super guilty because the one time he should've stepped in to defend zuko, the one time it mattered most, he didn't and know he has to make up for that

More weird side quests. They go to defend a small village from pirates because Zuko couldn't stand to see them get hurt. He told himself it was because the pirates had fire nation weapons and he needed to take them away because what if they fall into the wrong hands?

They kidnap guru pathik and Iroh and him have a long talk about life and it's meaning, even after Zuko has beat the shit out of him because he thought he was the Avatar

But pathik can let it go. He understands. He leaves peacefully

The crew all becomes Zuko's adopted dad's, even if he doesn't acknowledge it

They all take turns keeping watch over the deck at night because Zuko is young and volatile and they don't know what he might do

They fight off a serpent attacking some fishermen even though it wrecks their ship and they're stuck in some coastal village while they do repairs and are shunned by everyone

Iroh has a bad gambling problem and zuko is not fucking having it ™

Iroh calls him his "sweet prince" and pinches his cheeks. All. The. Fucking. Time. And it's super embarrassing

he likes the affection tho

But also zuko is still the worst ™ and super bratty. He just wants to be left alone doesn't want help doesn't need advice

He loses his temper frequently for small things

The crew feels like Iroh doesn't discipline him enough but they don't understand that zuko gets visibly frightened when people even just raise their voices near him and how sensitive he is and—

Iroh makes a lot of excuses for the way he spoils his nephew. He knows it won't help him in the long run but he'd do literally anything to make him happy

He buys him all sorts of gifts: swords, scripts, scrolls on bending forms, lil knick knacks and zuko doesn't really want any of it at all but Iroh doesn't give up. He gets it. Gets why he's so impossibly unhappy and angry and moody.

He's still a good leader tho. Still throws himself into any fight and it hurts Iroh because that's just what lu ten would do if he were here now

Also he's terrified of Zuko getting hurt, ever. There's times where he can't sleep because all he hears are his nephews terrified, heartbreaking screams and he knows damn well that if he ever sees his little brother again, he will kill him, without hesitation (even though he's sworn off violence unless absolutely necessary)

(and then all he can think about is what was lu ten doing in his final moments? Did he know Iroh loved him?)

They're a big dysfunctional family built around this one traumatized lil kid who acts all big and tough but also animal cruelty legitimately makes him cry like actual tears

Like he SOBS man he fucking loses it

Zuko's all angsty about missing Mai and the crews all trying to give him really terrible love advice

Just like. I need this. I need Iroh & zuko content in my life

#long post #i got carried away #atla #atla iroh #iroh #uncle iroh #atla zuko #zuko #headcanon #fanfic ideas #lu ten #lu ten atla #avatar the last airbender #can yall tell im passionate about this shit? #& have given it way too much thought #zuko and iroh remind me of my godfather and i #because im a fucking zuko kinnie

[adellamuriel]

my ideal azula redemption arc

i think azula’s arc mirrors iroh’s a lot more than any other person in the atla verse.  the reason why iroh changed his ways and turned is back on the fire national ideology was due to the death of his son, iroh  went into the spirit world and came back a changed man. 

i think it would be a good redemption arc for azula to  go on a trip to the spirit world to find ursa; for azula to change and fully be redeemed then her mind set needs to change, she needs to understand that the fire nation committed atrocities against the other nations and that she was toxic to zuko.

she needs to see that ozai wasn’t right and in fact was an abusive asshole, she would get that ideally with reconciling with ursa. 

@eshusplayground created an azula redemption (that i would love to read); my headcanon is based of her stuff. 

- zuko’s like wait a second azula’s 14 and she didn’t have a good adult to guide, unlike him, this make him sad. he thinks wait, i changed when i was exiled with iroh. so like zuko exiles azula and send her out to find ursa.

- she’s given a crew and a old ship, she ditches them as soon as she gets to the next port 

- azula goes ursa’s hometown in hira’a starts to searching where ursa can be 

- she talks to the locals and tries to find out more about her mother from the local folk, she doesn’t tell them who she is 

- she meets this man, who was her mothers friends. guess what, its ikem from the comics (i still don’t like the comics, but i will gladly use certain characters), he tells her everything about her mother. he recognises her as ursa’s daughter but doesn’t tell her; he tells her that ursa went to spiritual world to find a way to get back to her children. 

- he tells her the only to get in, is when the barriers are weakened in the summer solstice and the winter solstice; she had just missed the date, so she can stay with him during that time. 

-  she agrees... she stays and gets into a routine with ikem, she’s forced to do manual labor, wear uncomfortable clothing and eat poorly. she misses her home. 

- she doesn’t know what to think of ikem, he doesn’t like her at all, she suspects he knows of her and her reputation but he doesn’t chuck her and feeds her food. 

some more stuff happens, i cant think off and...

- time has come, azula goes to the spiritual world, she thanks ikem 

- when in the spiritual world, she can’t bend. she panics, she tries to leave but she meets some spirits and is forced to carry on forward. 

- she meets a spirit who shape shifts into ozai and calls her a failure, she could not defeat her brother, he’s cruel. traumatised, she tells him that she tried her best but... he interrupt her “good is not perfect.”

- she asks him why he’s treating her like zuko, she argues she was better than zuko. 

- he attack her and she’s forced to fight her father, this brings back memories of zuko’s agni kai, she loses and is forced to retreat. 

i don’t have anything else from there, anyone else want to contribute

also, i like the idea of ursa trying to contact her children from the spiritual world and kind of succeeds with azula 

i also like the idea of her bringing back dragons to the fire nation 

#azula redemption arc #princess azula #azula #atla #avatar the last airbender #Zuko #ursa #ozai #firenation royal family #mother bear ursa #ikem #rushed notes #my headcanon #the search does not exists

[hella1975]

I honestly don't know why some people get so mad about a story having angst and characters having or going through different forms of trauma. Like I get being sad a bit, but you have to realize that the angst isn't there for no reason- it's essential to the plot, character development, etc. of a fanfic (or just a normal novel). Zuko getting kidnapped is a big part of the story Hella wants to tell, and yes it's been four months which is a long time, but it's also changed Zuko and the swt a lot, which'll change the outcome and relationships of the rest of taob. Obviously atla has lots of time skips in the show, so the period of four months is probably an accurate amount of time passed to skip to the point in the show where Hella would want Zuko to (excape/get rescued/etc). Sometimes authors like to joke about sad stuff to the readers cuz their responses are funny, but it's not like they write sad things just to fuck with people.

Then there are some people who get really upset about the things that happen and even try to get the writer to change the story- and not at all in a joking sense. If the author wanted the story to be different, they would have written it that way. Lanse is dead, and that happened for symbolic reasoning and to give some character dynamics to Zi se, and Zuko's time in the prison would serve the purpose of an accurate time skip, a change in Zuko's character, a change in the ulaakut crew and Toph, and who knows what else.

I get that some people get upset jokingly but I feel like other people just really cant get over some things and if they really have a problem with the way things are going they either need to try and get over it, avoid reading the story, or at least NOT harass the author for what they choose to write.

I'm not saying that anyone is really harrassing Hella, because I obviously don't know everone who talks with her, but I think it's a good point to make so that people remember not to hurt the feelings of ANY writers for writing the stories they want to tell and letting certain events play out how they want, even if the things that happen are unfortunate. Not every story is a happy fluffy love trip where all the characters' problems are immediately solved.

I remember a long time ago I read a facfic and the readers got really angry at the direction in which the fic turned and the author was so upset that they discontinued it. Fanfic authors write their fics because they have a story they're willing to share with other people without pay, and for people to get upset at them for not writing what they'd like just seems rude to me.

Sorry this got kind of long lmao

hi hello i love you. your presence on earth is a blessing. i wasn’t sure whether to post this or not at first because i don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, but i think it’s quite important especially in regards to that end bit. to be clear; i have never felt like you guys are harassing me. there might have been times when you were being serious and it went over my head because i’m stupid like that, but majority of the time i really love the balance of humour and deep-thinking we’ve all got going here. like i’m probably more proud of the atmosphere in the Cult™ than i am of taob itself. i truly do love you all as HUMILIATING and GROSS as that is.

however, op got some good points in that sometimes - especially over anonymous - readers can get very .... passionate. now i personally have a very mean sense of humour so i either bounce off that, or if i see an ask i don’t vibe with in this regard, i delete it and don’t think twice about it after that. however some fanfic authors won’t be like that. the people writing these stories are, at the end of the day, human. i’ve seen authors who are literally fifteen or sixteen years old having to tackle really quite aggressive asks when i know for a fact they’re actually very sensitive people. i’m not saying you guys need to never be passionate ever, and i’m not even really talking to you guys personally because i’ve genuinely not encountered a single asshole through taob (touch wood), but in a general sense in the community as a whole.

just remember to be nice to your fic writers <3

(i however will continue to bully you all so im giving you a free pass to bully me back, it’s only fair. you were already doing it anyway but Just So We’re Clear)

[callioope]

Continuing my reactions to Avatar: The Last Airbender

This post is about Book 3. See my overall impressions and thoughts on Book 1 here. See my thoughts on Book 2 here.

ETA: crap i forgot the keep reading line initially SORRY if anyone saw this before i edited. anyways. please see the tags as a disclaimer before reading. gosh it’s late i need to go to bed.

General

Starting S3 now and dang Katara & Toph have gotten so powerful!!!!!

I literally recorded ZERO reactions from Chapter One through Chapter Twelve. And my first reaction is basically my excitement that Zuko is finally with the Aang crew! But let me try to skim through an episode list to recall my reactions.

You may have already seen my post expressing shock that MARK HAMILL voiced the Fire Lord. Still not over that revelation.

So, ultimately, I binged this show in less than a week. I think I started on Monday? And finished Saturday afternoon. That alone should speak to how much I enjoyed it! 

Aang

Okay, a bit weird to have barely any thoughts under Aang when he’s literally the protagonist, but I think (since I wrote other sections before this) that I touch on some of my thoughts on him under other characters. 

I will say, his journey really intensifies in this season. First, when he awakens after being unconscious for several days and has no idea what’s going on, and is still healing and more helpless than he’s probably ever felt in his life. I did really like his arc in this season, but what a stark contrast to the Aang of Book 1. He has to grow up so fast. I gotta say, a lot of Aang’s journey reminded me just a little of Ender in Ender’s Game. 

I do say this later, but his final decision about how to handle Ozai was amazing. I loved every second of his journey to get there, and I was rooting for him to find a path that felt true to him — and not what everyone else kept telling him he had to do. 

There was one small thing that bothered me, which was that his eventual regaining of the Avatar state did not really seem to come about through intentional action of his own. After he goes down at the end of Book 2, sorta feels like they never even talk about him going into the Avatar state again and he doesn’t until the final moment. That moment doesn’t seem a conscious choice on his part; the scar on his back collides with a rock jutting out and seems to jolt him into the Avatar state. I would have liked to see a little more agency on his part in regards to the Avatar state. 

Sokka

My boy! My boy Sokka! Truly the mother of the group. IDK why they pretended in the beginning that Katara was the mom because it’s definitely Sokka. His maps! His scheduling! He is ridiculous and I love him for it. 

I adored that he got his own training master episode! He got to learn some sword stuff and even got to make a fancy space sword! Everyone else got super powerful with their bending and I’m glad Sokka got his own arc of self-improvement. He has come a LONG way from episode 1. He couldn’t really hold his own at all that early, and now look at him! Planning battle strategies! Taking down the Fire Lord’s air fleet! He’s come so far and I’m so proud!

Oh, you know, I just realized that I didn’t really talk about ships with Sokka in Book 2 but he did continue to have the most active romance arc. It was nice to see Suki return in Book 2, and I am glad we found out what happened to her. I liked Sokka and Suki, I have nothing against it. I was very surprised that so little happened with Toph and Sokka. There did seem to be moments where it seemed like Toph might actually harbor a crush on Sokka, but nothing came of it and she certainly didn’t say anything about it. That felt a little odd to me. Why hint at something but then make nothing of it? 

Katara

Sigh. This is early in the post, but probably one of the last parts of it that I’m actually writing. I’ve definitely been putting it off. Unfortunately most of what I have to say about Katara is about shipping, and I’m really not happy about that, but then it’s what comes to mind over anything else. Which is sort of ironic considering some of her lines in the theater episode...

So in the theatre episode, Aang confronts Katara about how nothing has happened in their relationship after they kissed. She responds by saying she is “confused.” I had some issues with the script here, to be honest. It seems to imply that she’s confused about her feelings for Aang. But she also says that she’s been more focused on the war, and that totally makes sense. I really would support this moment if that’s where they left it: “I don’t have time to think about romance, my mind is preoccupied with the war.” 

But no, they say she is “confused.”

This is pretty baffling to me, and honestly seems to come out of nowhere. Book 1 it was very obvious that both Katara and Aang have feelings for each other, and Book 2 might have backed off a little from that but then we get moments where Katara is so keyed in to Aang’s struggles with the Avatar state and also the only one who can bring him out of it. Now, all of a sudden, she is saying she is confused? Where is this coming from? 

I could definitely see people argue that it’s because she has feelings for Zuko. If I shipped them (I don’t, but I also Get It), I could point to numerous moments in the series as ‘clues/support’ for this ship. Zuko and Katara have a moment at the end of Book 2 where they talk about the loss of their mothers. (“We’re both sad about what happened to our mothers!” not really a foundation for a relationship, but Katara is the most betrayed and distrustful of Zuko when it comes to the idea of letting him join their crew and it is because of this moment. She obviously begins to feel some kind of connection — I’d argue platonic but ship and let ship.) 

And yeah, Zuko and Katara have their bonding adventure, but again I don’t think this has to be read as romantic. Clearly the idea here is that Zuko “understands” a part of Katara that Aang doesn’t — except that in the end, Aang is the one who is right about her. She cannot give in to revenge. It’s not her, and Aang knows that. I mean, they’re both right — Katara had go to on the journey to learn that about herself, and it was important that Zuko was the one who helped her. But still. 

Finally Zuko and Katara go together to face Azula. Again seems like plot is pushing them together for Tension. They definitely work together here and Katara heals him and all that but she’d have healed anyone. (Like yeah if you ship it of course you’re gonna be excited over those moments.)

But.

Like. The thing is. When the dust settles? Zuko and Mai return to each other like moths to a flame. I could believe that Katara might have had feelings for Zuko, but I don’t think he ever returned them. I think it was always Mai for him. 

I don’t really want to fan the flames of ship wars — I’m trying to walk a fine line of “I totally understand why people ship this, but I don’t,” and hopefully I’m succeeding, but I’m sorry if I’m not. 

My main gripe is how the show handled this dynamic. It seemed like they half-heartedly thought about creating a love triangle, but then they didn’t follow through. I don’t particularly like love triangles, so I’m not actually mad that there wasn’t one. But what bothers me is that the Aang and Katara moments are so heavy handed in the beginning, that a sudden subtle take on how Katara feels in Book 3 feels strange. It feels like if she was having feelings for Zuko, it should have been more blatant. The depictions are inconsistent — if the writers were even ever intending for Katara to have feelings for Zuko in the first place.

Like, I really can’t tell if those moments implying Zuko and Katara were intentionally trying to start a love triangle OR if it was just sort of a mistake OR if it was maybe creators trying to address and then negate Zuko and Katara as a ship? I mean it’s weird because the play episode really emphasizes Zuko and Katara but then that play is really supposed to be all levels of inaccurate and get under the characters’ skins. 

So, I don’t know. Obviously we all bring different interpretations to a piece of media and I am by no means saying anything here is a “correct opinion” (because I hate that attitude when it comes to story interpretations). Sorry if you don’t agree, hope I didn’t make anyone mad. Ship what you like! You do you, man. 

On that note, please see further disclaimers about shipping and canon at the end of the “Zuko and Mai” section below.

Toph

Loved how Toph was the first to warm up to Zuko. It made a lot of sense. I mean obviously they were looking for a fire bender to teach Aang and it was like “Hello, powerful fire bender on a silver platter!” but also, Toph is someone who joined the crew later on. The group had to adjust to her, and she probably knows what it feels like to be an outsider. Now, granted, she was never alienated from the group in the same way that Zuko (rightfully) was. But she can also understand Zuko’s position as someone who comes from a wealthy family, the sort of pressure that comes from that. None of this was really addressed explicitly, and it might not have really fit then and there, but it was what I was thinking as she was standing up for Zuko.

Um, and also, on that note? Huge bummer Toph did not get her special bonding adventure with Zuko. Toph, I’m with you on that one! Why did Sokka get two episodes for his? 

Zuko

No “& Iroh” on this post because — Iroh spent much of this season in jail, and then the next half just ??? who knows where. 

So, I believe I stated in the last post how shocked I was at Zuko’s betrayal. Knowing he eventually joins Aang’s crew, it seemed like his time in the prison with Katara would ultimately lead to that, and then NOPE! He has this nice heart to heart about his mother, and then… it really shocked me.

But.

As I watched this season, it became clear that this has to be Zuko’s journey. He has to go back to the Fire Nation. He has to win the approval of his father. He has to get everything he wants in order to realize that it really isn’t what he wants. This is integral to his ultimate revelation and redemption and he couldn’t have stayed truly good without verifying and knowing how empty the win of his father’s approval is.

Realizing this, I loved it and appreciated the moments we get. Zuko’s visits to Iroh. Even when Zuko is being cruel, you can see how hurt and lost he is. And Iroh gives him the cold shoulder he deserves, even though of course this is breaking Iroh’s heart, too. 

Now, I absolutely must discuss the Fire Kids Beach Party episode! Because as ridiculous as parts of it are, it provides such an important and necessary insight to all four characters (Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee). You see the privilege that they’re all used to, it’s good that no one knows who they all are. (although maybe a little surprising because Zuko’s scar certainly reveals who he is but anyways.) 

and it’s funny how you almost end up rooting for them before you’re like “no no no. they are bad people doing some bad things.” I mean, almost rooting for them. And sure, the campfire scene is a bit Breakfast Club-y but I do think it’s important. And I just loved the moment Zuko admits he’s angry at himself, how his burst of fire as he says it almost covers it up, it’s so hard for him to say. Fabulous character development going on here, fabulous. 

[Uh, side note, so apparently Zuko is descended from Avatar Roku! This is ridiculous but can we get Zuko calling Aang great-grandfather, mainly to get on his nerves?! O:-) this would amuse me greatly]

And GOSH the catharsis when Zuko finally realizes his father’s approval is not what he wants and not worth it! It’s so well earned. It’s so satisfying. I was so excited and just like, so anticipating Zuko going to meet up with the crew. Zuko practicing his speech in the woods to the frog? Amazing. Endearing. I love him so much. 

And despite that and because of it, I also loved how difficult it was for him to earn their trust. It had to be difficult. It would not be believable if it wasn’t. Every character regarded him exactly as you would expect them to, exactly as he deserved. And Zuko tried so hard to be sincere and contrite, and it was hard for him, but he was doing pretty well all things considered! And still, they distrusted him. Yes. This was good and right. And I loved it. 

AND ANOTHER THING I LOVED was that once that initial barrier was surpassed, Aang actually warmed up to Zuko pretty quickly. This is not surprising; he’d reached out to Zuko in the past. First when Zuko (masked) rescues him, and Aang says they could have been friends. Later, at the end of Book 1 when Zuko again kidnaps him, there’s just a moment… I think when Aang spares him. It’s like, my impression is that Aang can sense that their destinies are connected, and he’s not really sure how but he knows that Zuko is important. Also, I mean, Aang just doesn’t kill people and revenge is not his way. 

Each character getting their own side story with Zuko was also integral to his arc — perhaps moreso, theirs, though. Because it was necessary for them to overcome their distrust and forge the bonds necessary for the Avatar’s crew to function. Bummed he didn’t get one with Toph. Toph was robbed.

And side note, but I really would have like an Aang and Sokka bonding episode? Like, Book 1 is all Aang and Katara and Sokka, but some 1:1 time would have been nice. There was almost a chance when Aang flew Sokka to his father and the water tribe (and at the time I was like, “Oh? Aang and Sokka bonding?!”) But then it was really only a few minutes. But yeah, that said, it does make sense to focus on carving out 1:1 time for Zuko and each member of the crew to ease him into the group.

Sokka: You happy now?

Zuko: I’m never happy.

This made me sad. And also made me go “classic Zuko.”

Every time Zuko was like, “What would uncle say?” And then say the most ridiculous thing? Fantastic. Amazing. Fuel for the fire that was my love for this show.

Zuko and Mai

Mainly the Beach Party episode was important in helping me warm up to Mai. Once Zuko is back in the Fire Nation and they’re together, I was of the mindset that Mai would have to do something pretty big in order for me to enjoy seeing their relationship become canon. This episode is not that episode, but it is an important insight into Mai’s character that explains some of her actions. The fact that she’s basically internalized apathy because she’s been forced to repress her emotions. It wasn’t enough for me but we get more later, this is an important stepping stone. 

It’s also important in establishing just what Zuko and Mai’s dynamic is. It’s a bit shaky in this and they end up breaking up but then they just get back together like immediately (moths to a flame…) In hindsight, I just think they’re behaving like normal teens who care about each other but are still navigating what it means to be in a relationship. At this moment in time, their relationship is not good, but by the end of the show I can believe as they mature that it could be a good relationship.

So the actual moment that I was like, “Okay, officially supporting Mai and Zuko now” was when she helps them escape Boiling Rock. I don’t think we’re ever told the full contents of Zuko’s letter to her, but considering what she says to Zuko earlier in this episode, it doesn’t seem likely he explains himself very well. At least not for Mai to understand. And he still isn’t able to explain himself well to her as they talk face to face. Then he locks in a cell and flees! He leaves her again. 

You wouldn’t blame Mai for hating Zuko. You wouldn’t blame her for actively working against him. But is this what happens? No. Not at all. She helps them get away. She betrays Azula for Zuko. Azula!!! Azula who is very powerful and very scary! This is a clear and distinct line in the sand, and … it almost comes out of nowhere, but what it demonstrates is how she really feels about him. She’s decided to trust him and put her faith in him when she really would have been justified in not doing so. 

I’m also going to say that despite some rather odd implications of Zuko and Katara in parts of the series (namely with other characters who really don’t know them), I never feel like Zuko is interested in Katara. I would buy interpretations that Katara might have considered Zuko, the way some parts of her story are portrayed, but I don’t get anything on Zuko’s side and that is all the more reinforced by how he acts around Mai, especially in the end of the series when they’re reunited. 

(Now, that said — because I don’t abide ship wars, ship and let ship, and power to multi-shippers — I can totally 100% see the appeal of shipping Zuko and Katara, and I would contend there is even some canonical implication of it. And I can’t blame people for not totally loving Zuko and Mai. Now, I do think the canonical implications are sort of muddied and confusing, but though I have actually not written it yet, you’ll have read my thoughts there in the Katara section already. OH, and OF COURSE, MORE IMPORTANTLY — ships being canon should not matter! Ship what you love! Who cares if it’s canon! Finding canon justification for ships should not be necessary for shipping! It can be a fun exercise but should never ever be a reason for approving or disapproving of a ship, it’s just a cherry on top!)

Azula

We get some pretty interesting insights into her character this season. I’ve already mentioned the Beach Party episode, and there was some good stuff in there for her. I particularly appreciated the moment that she admitted she knew her mother thought she was a monster, that she even admitted to being a monster, and then admitted that it still hurt anyways. Honestly that’s probably her best moment.

I also thought her breakdown at the end was well done. Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal just broke her. She probably knows her attitude puts people off, but those two were the only ones she ever really got on with. And it turns out, she really didn’t get on with them, they’d only ever been intimidated and manipulated into being her friends. She has no one, she pushes everyone away. Literally — and it is ultimately her downfall. 

It’s an interesting contrast to her brother. We literally get an episode “Zuko Alone,” and then it turns out the theme of “Azula Alone” is such an integral part of her arc, as well. The last person she has is her father, and he leaves her, too. Sure, he tells her it’s because she’s to stay behind as the new Fire Lord, but honestly Ozai was never truly close to anyone, either. But yeah. Iroh spends a lot of time and effort trying to help Zuko redeem himself. He never tries with Azula? I think, maybe it would have been nice to see him try with her, and be just utterly rebuffed. Now, Zuko also rebuffed him a lot, too. So Azula’s rejection of Iroh would really have to be something. This is the kind of stuff I’d look for in fic. Speaking of fic: I mean, I’d really love Zuko to find his mom, mom to come back, and then maybe some kind of attempt at reparations between mom and Azula. It doesn’t have to work, I just want to see the effort, you know?

Final Thoughts: Ending & Denouement

I loved Aang finding a different way to defeat the Fire Lord. I loved how every past Avatar he talked to was like “no dude just kill him.” And I loved that that was not enough for Aang. He’s pushing himself and ultimately the spirit of the Avatar to think harder, to try harder, to seek a different way. And that mercy was so integral to Aang’s character, and important to his arc that he struggled so much with it. And he’s just a kid! Oh, Aang. And I loved that he was able to find the answer he needed, the fact that it was taking away Ozai’s fire bending. Yes. Perfection.

I was a little disappointed by how little we got post-Ozai’s defeat. I was hoping the epilogue might have shown a little more in the years and decades following. It would have been nice to see glimpses of everyone prospering as they got older. 

Also, as I was watching Zuko’s coronation, I was sorta like, “uhh wait that’s a little too easy.” Now we don’t know when that happens so it’s possible some bit of time has lapsed and I’ll take that. But I thought there would have still been some trouble with some of the Fire Nation troops. Some of them would have remained loyal to Ozai. Many of those general had probably committed war crimes and would have needed to be rounded up and put on trial and put in prison. There’d be so much work to do!

That said, I do understand that we want to see our heroes with a happy ending, ultimately. I guess just a simple like “X years later” before the ending scenes would have sufficed for me to be satisfied that enough time had passed for those things to have been dealt with. IDK, I can probably suspend disbelief enough to headcanon that myself. I’m just saying. Some acknowledgement of resolution and reconstruction as a *process over time*, albeit unnecessary, would have been nice to have!

On that note, we don’t actually find out what happens to Azula. Presumably she is also in prison with her father. 

More importantly, we were Robbed of a Zuko and Ursa reunion scene!

#avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #atla #i'm gonna tag my ships now #so you know what to expect before opening the CUT TAG #if you don't like reading posts about ships that you do not support then you should probably not read this #i'm warning you now #if you make the choice to click the read more tag even tho u don't like the ships i'm tagging #well that's on you #katara x aang #zuko x mai #sokka x suki #(the last one is honestly pretty brief and the lesser but warning just in case) #now in this house we support multi shippers and i have nothing against anyone ships other ships #because that would be ridiculous #ship and let ship i say #the tags are here so that people can protect and curate their own fandom experience

[recurring-polynya]

Loved reading your comments on that Izuru post, especially about how people write teasing. You gave some great examples of things to definitely avoid; do you have any tips or general thoughts on writing good teasing?

I have never wanted to talk about anything more in my life.

Teasing is a form of dysfunctional communication that reveals a lot about all the parties involved. It can be layered and complicated, and it can both establish a lot about the relationships of your characters, and provide jumping off points for both bonding and miscommunication.

The most important things to think about when writing teasing are:

What is the teasing character trying to evoke? (this may be conscious or subconscious)

What are the sore points/not sore points of the character being teased?

What am I, the writer, trying to accomplish here?

Let’s start with a very easy example:

Draco Malfoy wants to make Harry Potter mad, so he teases him about his dead mom. J. K. Rowling’s goal as a writer is to convince you that Draco is a dick. It’s super-effective.

It’s a low-blow. It’s deeply mean. There’s no subtlety. This is just bullying. We have all experienced this, we know it when we see it. I don’t think this is the kind of teasing you were asking about, but it’s important to establish this as a baseline, because this is what teasing can turn into, if done wrong.

We can tweak this a little to a very different effect:

Draco wants to make Hermione upset, so he calls her a mudblood. 

Harry doesn’t know what this word means, is confused.

Herminione knows this is an insult, but most plays it off. It’s not culturally significant to her and also, she DNGAF about Draco.

Ron goes spare. This is a huge insult to him, he loves his friends, and he has no chill.

Draco is still a dick, but he’s also kind dumb and focuses on insults that would be insulting to him because he doesn’t know his enemy very well and also is not good at thinking outside of his own head.

Now we have fit in exposition and a ton of character-building. Neat!

Let’s move on to friendly teasing. Here are some positive roles teasing can play:

Replacing uncomfortable tension in a group. Often you may have one character in the group who is an outsider for some reason. Perhaps they were a former antagonist, or someone who has some fundamental difference between the characters. Teasing, particularly over something incredibly low stakes and stupid, gives a reason for the outside character to be mildly irritated with the others, which makes it easier for them to relax the actual tension they feel by being in a group where they don’t belong. Think Aang shouting “Flameo, Hotman!” at Zuko or everyone making fun of Uryuu’s cape.

Finding comfort in being marginalized. This is closely related to self-deprecating humor, and a character shouldn’t say something about someone else if they wouldn’t say about themself. Also, characters are going to have different comfort levels with this. I will make jokes about how bisexually I dress and the way that I sit, but I don’t go around shouting “Oh my God, that’s super gay!” although I certainly have gay friends that do. This is a way you can establish how comfortable a character is in that identity, but it can be fraught, and if you don’t have some personal experience with the identity you’re writing about, I would avoid going too hard. In Bleach, I will often have characters from Rukongai bond a little more easily, and make fun of some of the more formal aspects of life in the Seireitei when there are no nobles around. Further, Rukia and Renji super low-class, even among the Rukongai crowd (only Zaraki and Yachiru are lower, and I have never once read a fanfic of Kenpachi and Renji bonding over this, and I’m mad about it), and so when I have them calling each other trashbags and lowlifes, it’s a case of “I can make fun of you because we come from the same mudpit, but I will cut anyone else who says this about you.”

Allowing characters to present in a way that they choose.  We sometimes invent roles for ourselves that we want others to see. I do this a lot with Renji-- when he comes to the big city, he’s a big, rough, scary dude. I am 100% sure he broke peoples’ limbs in Inuzuri. But he wants to be liked and he wants to be approachable, especially now that he’s a vice-captain, so he puts on kind of a big dumb oaf routine, and all his friends support him in this by making jokes about skipping leg day and calling him a dope and a goob. These are not hurtful insults, because this is how he chooses to present himself.

Leveling group dynamics.  Related to the previous item, a lot of times, friend groups require people to fulfill different roles in order to keep everything running smoothly. Take for example, the Renji - Momo - Izuru - Shuuhei friendship. They come from a lot of different backgrounds, they’ve each had a lot of different personal challenges, and the friendship has lasted a loooooong time. Izuru has a lot more money and class than the rest of them. Shuuhei is the oldest. I bet Momo got extremely full of herself when she became Aizen’s vice-captain. Renji lagged the rest of them in becoming vice-captain, but then, he came out of the Aizen debacle in better shape than everyone else. We can’t all confront all these complex interpersonal dynamics all the time, sometimes you just wanna hang out at the bar and drag each other a little, and it’s comfortable and relaxing to just fall back on personas. Everyone teases Renji for being dumb and strong, Shuuhei for being hot and dramatic, Izuru for being pasty and poetic, Momo for being organized and congenitally unable to break a rule. A great place to insert drama is when you have a character who has outgrown these dynamics, who is sick of playing a role within a friend group-- old jokes that used to gloss over uncomfortable matters are suddenly causing the discomfort.

Play. A lot of teasing is honestly just for fun. Scoring points on your friends. In this case, the teasing can be as harsh or soft as you like, although the harsher you go, the more you risk actually hurting someone’s feelings (again, story hook!) I love this as an example:

Ichigo tries to tease Orihime over old bread of all things. Orihime is fireproof, she knows Ichigo loves her old bread and also is incapable of delivering a sick burn, but then Ishida and Chad just pile on, suck it, Ichigo, we all know who runs this group of nakama.

As a writer, this is your chance to show off your humor chops! The purposes of these scenes is not just to show your friendships, but to have fun and be funny! Having characters just call each other names is not really funny. In this example, Ichigo is trying to be cool, and his crew, none of whom are remotely cool, all hit the OBJECTION button hard at the same time and it’s hilarious.

Giving friendships age.  People you have been friends with for ages know things about you. Have characters bring up embarrassing stories. Tease each other about the way they used to be, but no longer are. This is also a powerful way to distinguish between an old friendship that is still going strong, and one that has gone stale, but persists, perhaps for nostalgia reasons, where the teasing rankles. Maybe your story wants to resurrect this friendship, or maybe you want to show a character moving on. This is also a way to add exposition: Say Character A, who is usually very casual, dresses up for a fancy event. You can have Character B rib them about how they have never seen them looking so good. Then you can have Character A react in a number of ways: self-conscious or defensive, perhaps, or they could be flirty and brag about how nice they clean up, it’s up to you!

Giving friendships depth.  Best friends can say things that other friends and casual acquaintances can’t, in part because they have a keen understanding of how to hurt each other (and how not to). A key in portraying different levels of friendships is boundaries, and a great dramatic tool is bumping up against those boundaries. In general, I have Renji let Rukia tease him about nearly everything, but occasionally, she’ll bring up what a glory-hound he was in their school days, and he freezes up every time. She can’t really figure this out, because he’s usually game for letting her pick on his dumbass teen boy behavior and she can’t figure out how this is any different. The thing is, he’s never told her that the reason he was busting his ass was to impress her and to be able to get a good job and provide for her, and it blew up in his face, and he can’t very well admit that now, without having to admit a lot of other stuff, too. ::holds fist in the air:: This is the good stuff.

A corollary, tired jokes.  Rukia is 4’9” tall and she must be sick to death of hearing about it. It’s so obvious and so lame. It sucks being short, it’s a huge inconvenience on a daily basis, especially when your job involves trying to be tough and intimidating. It’s not like she chose this for herself. This is the lowest possible hanging fruit of teasing. But that doesn’t mean we need to ignore it completely. I have characters like Ikkaku, who doesn’t know her all that well, and is also an ass, throw it at her a lot, and mostly she either sighs and rolls her eyes, or she insults him back. Now, if Renji never mentioned it, it would feel like he was tiptoeing around it, which Rukia would be offended by. She’s not humorless, just tired. So, instead, I will only have him make short jokes if a) they are actually funny, or b) it’s a situation where the joke is really obvious and they’ll usually follow up with something like “I had to.” The idea is that, as best friend and chief trash talker, he’s contractually obligated to make the joke, but he finds it almost as tired as she does. Also, I turn it around a lot by having her make fun of him for being tall, as though being 6’2” is some sort of embarrassment and that he did it on purpose, and he just takes it.

This is real. My husband and I were in a very similar professional field, and he makes more than me, even though I have more education and work harder, and he lets me make fun of what a useless white dude he is, but if he sees it coming, he will definitely make a “you can’t do math because you’re a woman” joke, which he obviously doesn’t think is true. Only he is allowed to do this. It is very cathartic. We also make jokes about how he will never truly be successful because he is short.

I don’t write Ichigo as much, but I approach this a little differently with him, a) because he hasn’t been friends with Rukia for as long, or on such a day-to-day basis that he knows how much this irritates her, and b) he’s a teen. Instead, I try to have him actually put some effort into his jokes, like calling her Shorty McCaptainface. “Shortstack” and fun-sized/travel-sized/adventure-sized (for your convenience) are much more gentler and playful. 

Please, please, I beg you, do not use “midget.” It’s not a nice word and it’s so, so tired.

All of this goes generally for other types of characters with the kind of physical characteristics that tactless people feel free to comment (being fat, wearing glasses, having prominent teeth, etc), or experience structural discrimination. Just think about how you would like your best friend to handle it.

Arright, it’s time to hit the elephant in the room: Teasing that leads into romance.  This was such a huge trope when I was a kid, I grew up steeped in this idea of “a boy teases you because he likes you,” and I’m honestly glad we’re starting to move past this as a culture. You can still have a fun and teasing relationship without being mean, which I will get to, but let’s start with the OG couple of teasing because they like each other: Ranma and Akane. Now, as it happens, I have been re-watching Ranma ½ with my husband, who had never seen it, and on one hand, this show is a pioneer, it is amazing in terms of comedic beats, but on the other hand, it’s aged quite a bit and smacks of “I hate my wife” Boomer humor with a heavy helping of “no homo!” slathered on top. So, here’s how it works:

Ranma and Akane have been forced into an engagement by their fathers. Despite the fact that they have pretty similar and compatible personalities, they get off on the wrong foot, compounded by the fact that they are each deeply insecure about their gender presentations. They are each also profoundly stubborn. So, what happens, every single episode, is that one or the other will do something kind or heroic for the other, and the other’s heart will go “oh SHIT I like them but to reveal so would be to present vulnerability” so they insult each other instead. The insults that Ranma and Akane fling at each other are deeply hurtful and they are super-effective. Now, the one who has taken the risk of going out on a limb for the other has now been lambasted for their efforts, and responds with more insults. This is the fundamental tension of the show: they like each other and are terrified to admit it, so they force the other apart.

Now, as the show progresses, my memory is (and forgive me if I get this wrong, we’re still pretty close to the beginning, and as far as the long game goes, I am sure my memory is contaminated by too much fanfic), far, far down the road, when they eventually come to understand each other better, when Ranma tells Akane she’s an uncute, tomboy, she’s able to parse that as “I like you so much and I want to say so, but seriously, you know how ridiculous my upbringing was,” and when she responds with “You pervert!”, Ranma knows she is really saying “I know that, and also, you do not need to feel self-conscious about your girl form, I’m kinda into that.”

This is essentially a slow burn tactic. You need a tremendous amount of time to build out this kind of relationship. A lot of people try to skip straight from “characters insult each other!” to “characters are in love, they just couldn’t admit it!” and it does not work, especially if you reader is a person who has ever been in a shitty relationship. I would not want to be with someone who called me hurtful names. The fact that they were trying to cover up the fact that they did it because they liked me is not romantic. It says to me, “this person does not treat the people they love well.” Writers, we can do better.

Teasing creates tension, as I said, and it is often that case that we use it to trade a feeling we can’t handle for one that we can. For Ranma and Akane, they are trading attraction for combativeness. They can’t admit they like each other because they are deeply stubborn and also because they are very, very immature.

Conversely, characters may tease to deflect their feelings because of outside forces that they have no control of. 

Rukia is fundamentally uncomfortable expressing her feelings. She had no parents. She has no experience with unconditional love, which is pretty essential for healthy childhood development. I’ve talked before about my Rukongai headcanon that it was taboo to openly express affection, because it is a brutal and dangerous town and to love is to show weakness. In this case, teasing can play a fundamental role. As children, if she started to express something that strays too close to an earnest emotion or attachment, Renji might respond with “Aaah, shut up, you sap.”

This is not mean-spirited. Renji is acknowledging that he hears her, he recognizes her feeling and prevents her from breaking the taboo. The teasing helps Rukia to save face. This creates a blind spot in their friendship, however. They know each other extremely well, they have a thorough read on each other’s moods and motivations and body language, but because they’ve never, ever been able to talk frankly about their emotions, they are both stuck in this place where they can’t tell if they like each other romantically and they don’t know how to bridge that gap. They don’t need to be mean to each other, but they are unable to progress because they keep blowing off the difficult conversations they ought to be having.

Keep in mind, I am keeping the teasing at low to medium stakes. It’s also difficult, because they’ve been apart for so long, that there are some topics that aren’t safe anymore, and sometimes they don’t realize that until after they’ve accidentally hurt each other’s feelings, again, an opportunity for some mild plot drama that’s based on misunderstanding, rather than these people are assholes.

Rukia’s relationship with Ichigo is very similar. Ichigo is also terrible at expressing feelings, partly because of his mom’s death, his dad is his dad, and he is a teen. I have read a lot of arguments that he’s neurodiverse, and frankly, I’m for that, too. I tend to characterize their friendship as very intense. They haven’t known each other very long, but they just have a lot of feelings, OKAY?! They have saved each other’s lives in very dramatic ways, they feel that they owe the other in ways they can never repay, and they just friggin’ like the heck out of each other, but their lives are also fundamentally incompatible, starting with the fact that Rukia is dead and Ichigo is alive. 

So, when I am writing them bantering, one of my go-tos is to have them make fun of each other’s chosen planes of existence. “Why do you keep juice in boxes?” Rukia demands, as if it’s somehow Ichigo’s fault. “You can’t even ride a bike, you idiot,” Ichigo might rib her, as if she even knows what a bike is. What they are really doing here, is pushing against the fact that they have chosen to live separate existences and they’re honestly a little upset about that. “It’s dumb that we can’t hang out all the time,” is what they are saying. “I understand your decision, but I’m still gonna make fun of you.” This is incredibly low-stakes dragging, and also it’s a good place to be funny. I’m sure you have had someone make fun of your school or your job or your town in a way that you feel the need to defend it, and then you’re like “why am I defending this, it really is dumb, actually?” 

One last thing, which is to think a lot about the word choices you use in your teasing, and try to organize them by intensity. My go-tos are “dummy” and “dumbass” because they get the point across, but they aren’t particularly mean and they are very generic. I also like slightly silly ones like “dunderhead” or “lunk” or “goob” or “doofus.” Paired insults are fun-- have one character greet another as “What’s up, nerd?” and have the first respond with “How’s it hanging, jock?”  “Stupid” is slightly meaner, but I will often use it if one character is being self-deprecating, I will have the other respond “don’t be stupid,” or something like that, where it’s reassurance disguised as trash-talk. You can temper harder insults with tone: e.g., “You moron,” Rukia said affectionately. 

Some people call their friends “bitch” humorously, and that’s a kind of friendship you can certainly choose to portray, but think hard about if that fits your characters and your writing style first. I try to avoid gendered insults; sometimes I’ll have villians use them, but even so, do we need to? Maybe not. Don’t use hurtful words unless your teaser actually intends to hurt (whether or not it’s effective).

And remember, you don’t even need to use insults to tease (or to hurt, for that matter)! Think about how your character would react to be called “fancy.” Or “cute.” Or “rustic.” Tease them about the apron they wear for cooking, or the fact that they don’t know how to use a cell phone, or their terribly out-of-style footwear. Also, it can be just as fun to have your character respond to teasing by leaning into it, or laughing back, or riffing, they don’t have to just get pissed off. 

This post is so long. I am so sorry. Go write some teasing. Have fun. I can’t wait to read it.

#long post is long #god i hope the cut works correctly on this post #asks #on writing #thank you for this ask #i love pretending like i know anything about writing #i am just a kind housewife #i came in 2nd place in a one-act playwriting contest once

[zuzuslastbraincell]

Ty lee (i feel like i havent seen many of you ty lee thots)

honestly love her!! tbh i don’t have many that others haven’t said more clearly and more interestingly

Why I like them

she’s a character with lots of hidden motives, depths, and complexity, who guards her true thoughts and opinions quite closely, but simultaneously *is* what she advertises herself as: a happy-go-lucky girl. like i don’t think her cheerfulness and her enthusiasm for auras and spirituality is entirely inauthentic - it’s just that she’s adept at using her own enthusiasm to mask her real feelings and thoughts. like there’s a lot to her there.

Why I don’t

i mean, she props up an imperialist coup of ba sing se by stealing the disguises of warriors who honour the avatar. objectively not good. 

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

oh, the beach, hands down. we finally get to see a glimpse of what troubles and upsets ty lee, and how she struggles. we also get to see her angry, instead of hiding negative emotions through evasion.

Favorite season/movie

book two. oh sure book three adds depth and complexity but we barely see her. book two just has so many good lines and moments - the clumps or tufts debate, the first time we see how devastating chi blocking is, the match against the kyoshi warriors (underrated), all the stuff with the drill... classic honestly.

Favorite line

okay if i’m honest “you’re not prettier than us!” at the kyoshi warriors cracks me up. i know it’s a line that is almost definitely written by misogynists who believe beauty/prettiness is central to girls/women and how they see themselves and how they should see themselves, but when you remove that context it’s just so jarring and it screams baby gay to me, or some kind of issues that need to be sorted out.

Favourite outfit

oh she looks great as a kyoshi warrior! love her there :)

OTP

okay i love mailee and tysuki equally for different reasons.

mailee i love because the whole concept of love being about communication and building your own language and finding ways to speak only to each other is key to it, especially given the toxic environment they are in s2-3 with azula, they’re incapable of being honest with words and have to communicate in other ways. but also i think there’s a lot of good angst potential. as well as hiding it from azula, they have so little time to themselves, and are so often surveilled, that it is difficult to ascertain each other’s feelings. they’re not sure of whether they can trust *each other*, and there’s a sense of them wanting to reach out and confirm but not being able to... this is complicated further by mai’s relationship to zuko, which does ty lee read as genuine or as one of azula’s manipulations? when mai betrays azula for zuko, does ty lee ever expect to be loved back? the idea of them together is super sweet like goth/pink gfs rights but there’s depth there... complexity

as for tysuki, it’s like... this is very much an *interpretation* of how it could go down, but i love the idea that ty lee is able to find a sense of home and belonging and identity and selfhood in the kyoshi warriors, to build roots, to not just find herself but build herself, despite her expectations that it’d last six months to a year. and i love the idea of suki having an equal, who can take her in a fight, who can help her shoulder the difficulty of teaching and organising but brings some levity and mischief and fun back, after it feels like the war has sapped it out of them with responsibility after responsibility. i think suki’s groundedness could be exactly what ty lee needs and i think suki could do with a partner who can pull her own weight but also, make her smile. i like the idea too of ty lee really finding a place to call her home after all of the mess in the fire nation between her family and azula, away from all of that... it’s a little idyllic, but it’s what she needs. 

Brotp

oh ty lee & zuko!! there’s potential here, for sure. like zuko would need to see ty lee as more than ‘azula’s friend’, but they’re both emotional people who are outspoken about how they feel - it’s just zuko’s earnest and honest and wears his heart on his sleeve, whereas ty lee uses her reputation of ‘wearing her heart on her sleeve’ to hide it, & similar to how i think zuko’s inability to lie/emotional honesty is a big comfort and help to mai, i think it would similarly help ty lee. i really love the idea of these two in particular being able to talk about being hurt by azula together and help each other heal. but also i just like the ‘unlikely friendship’ dynamic of these two, and the possibility of zuko being able to overlook ty lee’s reputation to get to know her for real. they’ve both been overlooked/undervalued in their respective families, and both left the fire nation because of it (albeit in very different circumstance), are both well travelled and very independent for their respective ages, there’s definitely ‘on the road’ stories they could share, and both have struggled to find themselves in different ways. there’s a lot of common threads.

also i think ty lee & aang would be wonderful as well :) i think a lot of aang’s initial gaang - zuko, katara, and sokka - would probably want to head home after their adventures in the war, and i imagine aang ends up finding new companions to travel with. i like the idea of ty lee, after the kyoshi warriors, being one of these.

Head Canon

she’s a lesbian! :^)

just based off ‘the beach’ episode mainly, and how reluctant she seems around boys in that.

Unpopular opinion

hmmm i don’t think i have any?

A wish

asides from being happy and contented in general? would love to see her join aang’s second group of companions. i think toph, ty lee, aang, & potentially two new characters would be a really fun (and chaotic) little crew :^). also would just love her to realise the brotp potential with aang and zuko as outlined above, and get to date a nice girl of some kind.

OH I would also love more family background on her & exploration of the possible air nomad heritage ty lee theory, i’d love to see some of that. would make aang’s relationship even more meaningful (but potentially, complicated! having heritage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re part of that group).

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

being azula’s designated healer and makes-her-redemption-arc happen. i already outlined today why that’d be bad for zuko and i think, while their relationship is different, it would be a negative experience for ty lee as well. azula is her peer, a peer who has hurt her quite deeply through the manipulation she pulled to get ty lee to give up her dreams and come along and uses manipulation as a primary way of interacting with people (even if like, i think they might have had a genuine friendship as kids, that poisons a relationship quickly), then tried to kill mai when turned against her... like, ty lee has good reasons to want to stay away from her, and honestly ty lee needs to heal as well, needs time and space. she should not be responsible for her well being full stop, but especially in this situation. i’m not ruling out the possibility of reconciliation but ty lee and azula would need to ‘hard reset’ their relationship and that would mean plenty of time apart, azula coming forward with apologies, azula making amends, and slowly, over time, building up trust. but honestly, even if azula is genuine in wanting to make amends, i’m not sure risking her wellbeing for that process would be best for ty lee anyway - i’ve personally cut people off in my life for my own wellbeing for less (although really what decision is best depends on your personality outlook how comfortable you feel your support network etc. a multitude of factors). regardless of your interpretation of their dynamic, ty lee does not exist for azula, and should not exist to further her character development but also as a character in her own right at this point.

5 words to best describe them

cheerful, chaotic, complex, perceptive, pink! 

My nickname for them

“prettier than you <3” (after the kyoshi warriors line, but with a pink heart emoji because of course she would, but also because it’s just funny, lol. ty lee has a mean streak)

#ty lee #sorry this took aaages #sissyspacex123

[kristenbeeapples]

@apple-scrumper‘s tags on this post about Zuko and Azula having the same vibes as Adaine and Aelwyn got me thinking about an a:tla au for fantasy high, and it spiralled out of control into this super long post. Enjoy!!

Adaine’s family are Fire Nation and are Important Advisors to the Fire Lord Kalvaxus. Adaine and Aelwyn have that sibling rivalry going HARD – Aelwyn has already mastered lightning-bending and Will Not Shut Up About It. Really, Adaine, it’s not that difficult, I don’t understand why you can’t do it? (Adaine punches her)

Adaine is invited to sit in on a war meeting and has a panic attack when she realises the evil things they’re all up to, embarrassing her parents. They send her on what they think is a futile quest to find the Avatar to regain her Honour. She is accompanied by Arthur Aguefort, another advisor to the Fire Lord but one who is... a problem, to say the least. Two birds with one stone for the Fire Nation!

Kristen is from the Northern Water Tribe and is a pretty powerful waterbender, with a focus on healing. Her parents are super involved in this weird bloodbending cult but she’s pretty sure it’s normal, right??? 

She also has some kind of connection to the Spirit World, which makes her extremely vulnerable to the weird end of days sacrifice Daybreak is doing to try and reopen the spirit world.

Fig lives in the Earth Kingdom in a town that’s been conquered by the Fire Nation and joins some other rebels pretty much as soon as she can walk. She’s sure she’s going to be an earthbender like her mom and kick some serious Fire Nation butt, but then it turns out she can firebend? Gilear’s not her dad? Her mom slept with someone from the Fire Nation??? How could she???

(It’s only when they visit the Fire Nation several shenanigans later and meet Ayda that she’s like.............okay I get it now.)

The Thistlesprings are metalbenders, and live in the same town as the Faeths. They adopted Gorgug from a village that was destroyed in a fire nation attack and aren’t super sure where his parents were from. Gorgug can’t bend, but he’s happy to be just a Guy with an axe helping out Fig and the other rebels.

UNTIL one time in the heat of battle his axe is knocked away from him and there’s a Fire Nation soldier going for an injured Fig and he doesn’t think, just reacts on instinct and his axe flies through the air and knocks the guy tf out. So seems like he is a metalbender after all? Cool!

He’s not super great at it yet, so he sticks with his axe while he’s learning, and mostly uses it to enhance his attacks by bending the axe head to hit a target more accurately. 

Fabian is technically Water Tribe through his dad and Air Nomad through his mom but Bill and Hallerial have spent the past twenty years being a scourge of the seas to all the nations indiscriminately so they might have disowned him. He thinks he’s a non-bender like his dad and gets by with his sword and athletic ability. 

It’s not until later in their adventures, after his dad dies and he has a brutal encounter with some of his ex-crewmates, that he visits one of the Air Nomad temples (which aren’t as destroyed in this au I guess lol) where his grandfather is an airbending monk teacher (for teens, ofc). Telemine teaches him to dance and helps him figure out he can airbend like his mom! 

Like Gorgug, he mostly uses it to enhance his swordfighting ability rather than being a primary bender, but starts using his sheet to glide and do other airbending stuff while fighting!

Riz and Sklonda live in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, and both of them are earthbenders. Sklonda works for the earthbender guards but on the side she’s trying to work out what’s going on with the Dai Li, which Pok was investigating before he died. (Riz thinks his dad was killed by the Fire Nation.) 

Riz begins investigating the same thing without his mom knowing when his best friend/babysitter Penny Luckstone goes missing, presumed captured by the Fire Nation. His bending is this very precise form where he uses little rocks to go at high speeds like bullets and just fucking obliterate people, since in the middle of a crowded city there aren’t a tonne of places to practise with big rocks. 

The story begins properly when the rebels get word that very important people from the Fire Nation are visiting a nearby town. Fig and Gorgug lie in wait to ambush them and capture them for leverage.

Before they can attack, however, a pirate ship swings into the harbour, led by Bill and Fabian Seacaster, and opens fire. They don’t care about politics, they just want that fancy Fire Nation shit.

The rebels (read: Fig) decide, fuck it, we’ll attack with the pirates, and then the Fire Nation crew waiting on the shore go to fight them and it’s all extremely chaotic. 

Adaine is having a Very Bad Time.  She hasn’t found the Avatar, she’s no better at firebending, Arthur Aguefort is So Much All The Time, and now she’s being attacked by pirates??? Her life sucks. 

Fig, Gorgug and Fabian all end up in a standoff against her in the lower decks of the ship. Because it’s Adaine, she’s not going down without a fight, and she goes to blast the pirate-y looking dude with fire.

Except it’s not fire that comes rushing out. It’s air. 

Oh shit.

She’s the Avatar. 

Whilst she’s panicking about that, the rebel crew and Fabian agree that they need to get her away from the Fire Nation, and take her to Gorgug’s parent’s boat. Arthur Aguefort blows up the Fire Nation ship to let them get away and everyone thinks he died (spoiler: he didn’t)

Cue a series of insane shenanigans as Fig and Gorgug decide to adopt Adaine and take her around the world to learn other types of bending so she can restore balance to the world and kill her piece-of-shit abusive father (the Fire Lord, too, but the Abernants Are A Priority once Adaine warms up enough to them to talk about her parents). 

Fabian helps them escape but doesn’t join them straight away. They keep running into each other in weird places until eventually they’re like do you... just want to come with us?? Fabian: No. (Yes.) 

They save Kristen from this weird sacrifice thing whilst visiting the Northern Water Tribe, and she agrees to teach Adaine waterbending. She also helps her out with the spiritual side of being the Avatar.

Riz becomes Adaine’s earthbending teacher when they meet him in Ba Sing Se and help him figure out what the fuck is up the Dai Li. 

Once the Abernants and the Fire Lord hear what happened, they send Aelwyn after Adaine and the gang to finish what her sister started, not realising she’s the avatar. An epic sister/sister rivalry and eventually redemption on the levels of Azula and Zuko begins.

Stray thoughts

The entire point of this long-ass post was for me to say that Jawbone is Uncle Iroh in this au. He Just Is.

Tracker is a Kyoshi warrior. Kristen still has some weird internalised sexism going on from being raised in this cult and is like, women shouldn't fight!! They’re too soft and pretty!! Tracker helps her learn to let go of that, and then also kisses her and sends her into a gay panic.

Kalina is a bloodbender working with the Dai Li and is DEFINITELY involved in Pok’s death.

The Hangman as a Sky Bison! Boggy as Momo! (Adaine picks him up in the Swamp) 

This au is inherently funny to me bc Aang is a pacificist and struggles so much with whether or not to kill the Fire Lord, but if Adaine was the Avatar she would have absolutely no such qualms. Murder? Sign me up! 

The idea of Adaine, the avatar, with command over all four elements, bridge to the spirit world, still just decking someone when she gets mad is also really fucking funny.

So she learns waterbending from Kristen, earthbending from Riz, airbending from Telemine, and firebending from Ayda. I think she learns firebending properly last - it turns out the reason she struggled with it so much is because her parents taught her it comes from anger and hatred, and she needed to find and learn love before she could use it properly. 

Fabian gets the Zuko eye scar from being attacked by a firebender (Dayne) instead of it getting cut out. 

Gorthalax is a Fire Nation commander who rebelled and fled to the Earth Kingdom where he met Sandralynn. He got recaptured which is why he wasn’t around in Fig’s life, but they eventually find him in prison and set him free.

Gilear is the ‘my cabbages!’ guy, but he sells yoghurt. 

#fantasy high #the bad kids #a:tla!au #this got..........very long lol #whoops!! i just think it's neat!! #fair warning i haven't watched atla in a while so i may be misremembering some key details #i should rewatch it tho...... #i think probs the vibes of fantasy high would fit better with korra actually bc of technology #but the story fits better w the original series imo #my posts #also..................should i write this yay or nay #adaine #gorgug #riz #kristen #fabian #fig

[itslucyluna]

Fan Fic Tag Game 2020

Thank you @ailec-12 for tagging me! 

Ao3 Name: Lucy_Luna

Fandoms: I was active in the HP, Spider-Verse, and ATLA/LoK fandoms this year.

1. Fic that was the hardest to write/you spent the most time on: The fic I’ve spent the most time on is Long Way From Home, the eighth story in my Severus has a little sister AU series. It’s not really been difficult to write per se, just time-consuming. There’s just been so much I’ve had to write to tell the story.

2. Fic you spent the least time on/easiest to write: I think it’s no surprise the stories I’ve spent the least time on this year are the one-shots I’ve written. Like My Ancestors Behind Me, Names, The Sky is Wrecked and Full of Rotting Clouds. However, I would say my easiest to write has been To Make The Bridge. Once @ailec-12 gave me the idea for it, the story just really came together in no time. It’s essentially all written except for an epilogue I’m still deciding on.

3. Longest fic: The longest fic I have worked on this year is They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds. I haven’t really written a lot for it this year though. I would say the longest story I’ve put the most work into this year is Long Way From Home.

4. Shortest fic: My Ancestors Behind Me. It’s 836 words.

5. Fic you were nervous to post: I really don’t get nervous before posting. However, I think the story I felt most uncertain about before posting was The Prince's Return. I wasn’t sure what kind of audience there would be for it. However, now that I’ve posted, there does seem to be a small amount of intrigued readers, so I’m happy!

6. How do you choose your titles: I really don’t have a set way of doing it. Like, I guess I just try to find something that sort of tells what the story is about. For example, with my Spider-Verse stuff, there’s one story called An Unexpected Visitor. Surprise surprise, during the story someone unexpected visits. Lots of the stories written in that fandom have uncreative titles like that.

7. Fave fic you read: I think I’ll pick a one-shot and a multi-chapter. I discovered and really enjoyed pretend you don't have one by TheTartWitch. It’s an AU nonlinear one-shot about Severus Snape from the start of his time at Hogwarts until I wanna say shortly before Harry becomes a student. My favorite multi-chapter is Salvage by MuffinLace. It’s an atla AU where Zuko ends up on Hakoda’s ship and ends up basically being adopted by him. I absolutely loved and am loving seeing Zuko become his kid and a part of the crew.

8. Fave fic you wrote: That’s hard. I don’t think I could say I have an all-time fav. I liked writing everything, but To Make The Bridge was especially enjoyable. It’s been a really relaxing story to put together actually.

9. Fave comment: This one from @ailec-12:

“AHHH, the feelings of this chapter! Finally, Sirius realises that Severus's odd behaviour is a consequence of the abuse he suffers (suffered) at home. I like that we have the same headcanons regarding how Sirius reacted when arguing with his parents. I think it fits him a lot that he felt better for "earning" his punishments without giving up on doing something to fight them.

Snape had never taken anything from him or James or anyone else lying down. Why would he do the same with his parents? What made them so different? Just because they were supposedly authority figures he let them belittle and hurt him for no good reason? That didn't sound right. Sometimes, even with the professors, Severus would row with them over detentions and lost points.

Ohhh, but this quote. I, too, think that the reason why Severus never backed down from a fight at Hogwarts is to regain some control. Whether it was fighting the Marauders even outnumbered or confronting professors, he was convincing himself he was not a coward, he could start some fights and win them. As always, this is my headcanon, since we hardly have any information about day-to-day affairs in the Marauders' Era. It's so fun to try and guess, though! Especially when you see some of your guesses reflected in a fic.

Also, Sirius realising that he's behaved somewhat similarly to his own parents with Severus and, right away, feeling crushed by guilt is everything I needed to read today. His apology is another big step to improve their relationship further. I love reading character development and I wonder how sixteen-year-old Severus would react to it —whether he would still be willing to accept that apology or would firmly believe it's all a trap.

The scene with the chocolate frog card was adorable and just the cherry on top Sirius's apology needed. It also reminded me I'd sorta forgotten about them in my fic, hahaha. I'll have to introduce them as a tribute to your story!

He'd have to find a way to make the friendship he made with this boy-Snape stick and pull him over to the right side of things when they were the same age.

Yesssss. Now, I can't stop picturing the Marauders (plus Lily) introducing Severus to Remus's parents. So freaking adorable.

And that cliffhanger after all the wonderful feelings!!! I can't wait to keep reading!”

Without it, To Make The Bridge would not exist. And as I said before, it’s been a lot of fun writing it. So this is my fav comment this year :)

10. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: I won’t, but I guess if there’s any story I’d rewrite ever it’s They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds. It’s a hundred chapters. I think I could definitely go back and combine a lot of chapters and practically halve the length as well as just improve what’s there to be more fleshed out. As for what I could definitely expand on, it’d be my Severus has a little sister AU series. I already have plans for a story after Long Way From Home, but that story has already got me thinking about even more stories for the series. 

11. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning: Ah so many choices. I’ve been writing a little bit here and there for all of my WIPs lately. Here’s a little something from what will be the second chapter of The Prince's Return:

“I can’t say I know what happens after this for you, but it seems to me whatever negotiations Jinora and Tenzin have with the spirit world on your behalf will end well and everything will be put right again,” he concluded, smiling in reassurance at the nonplussed boy.

Zuko stepped back and out of his grip. “Nothing ever goes that smoothly for me,” he declared like a threat — or, maybe, a warning.

Iroh showed his palms to the boy. “I don’t know what to say to that,” he said. His grandfather had never seemed that unlucky to him. In fact, Iroh had thought he was always very lucky. Against all odds, he’d changed the world for the better.

12. What was your goal for your fics this year? Did you meet it?: I didn’t have any hard goals really. I wanted to finish a few things, which I did. However, I also started a few things, so, I’m not really writing less. Which is actually okay. That was also something I hoped I would do this year. Write more than I didn’t. 

13. What is your goal for your fics next year?: Finish Long Way From Home, To Make The Bridge, and The Prince's Return.

14. Highlight of your fandom year: The new season of The Umbrella Academy? That was fun and I liked checking out the new fanfics that came out after it too. Also, The Haunting of Bly Manor was fun to binge around Halloween.

15. Highlight of your personal year: I finished a couple of traditionally published books, as well as a cross-stitch and am halfway done with another.

#tag game #fanfiction #hp fanfiction #atla fanfic #lok fanfic #my fanfic #Family Branches #TDKWWS #Give in to Friendship #fanfic rec #Writer's Stuff

[bloodraven55]

She Ra Avatar AU Notes

I’ve seen so much blessed art of this AU recently and it inspired ideas in me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get round to trying to write this fic and these are just rough starter notes since the planning is far from finished but I figured I’d share my thoughts so far to see what people think. It’s been a while since I watched Avatar and the Legend of Korra, though, so please tell me if I’ve been a dumbass somewhere cause I really need to rewatch sometime lmao.

Characters:

Adora - currently the Avatar (of course lol) but formerly the favoured ward of the Fire Lord

Catra - the neglected and mistreated other ward of the Fire Lord

Shadow Weaver - a powerful advisor to the Fire Lord who’s working towards her own agenda

Hordak - the Fire Lord bent (haha yeah forgive my shitty pun) on conquering the world

I haven’t got round to figuring out the others much yet, okay, but I promise they’d be there, leave me alone.

Plot:

I’ve stuck kind of close to canon for the most part but obviously adapted to fit the alternate setting and with some other tweaks.

Catra and Adora were both taken in by the Fire Lord after they were found as orphans in a poorer part of the Fire Nation. He took them in because he has no biological children to succeed him and so he raises them both to continue his legacy. They’re pitted against each other constantly since there can only be one heir to the throne but they develop a strong friendship regardless much to Hordak and especially Shadow Weaver’s displeasure.

As they grow up Catra is progressively treated more and more like second best despite their similar levels of ability. She assures Adora it’s fine and she doesn’t care about becoming the next Fire Lord. She’s telling the truth that she doesn’t care about having a position of power, but lying that it doesn’t bother her that Adora gets such different treatment. Adora takes her at her word and Catra’s resentment and isolation grows which eventually leads to her choosing not to leave with Adora when Adora escapes the Fire Nation. I'm sure this all sounds very familiar but we’re getting to some more exciting stuff now, I promise.

Speaking of Adora running away from the Fire Nation, let’s move onto that. Shortly after she arrives at the Fire Nation palace the Fire Lord and Shadow Weaver realise that Adora’s the Avatar since she can bend all the elements, not just fire. So to try and prevent her from ever figuring that out for herself they punish her for bending any elements other than fire and avoid giving her any information about the Avatar. They hope they can use her full power for their own ends in the future once they've slowly convinced her of what they’re planning.

However, when she’s around 18 Adora eventually stumbles across a well-hidden book in a room in an out-of-the-way part of the palace while looking for Catra cause Catra be good at hiding when she don’t want to talk lmao and discovers the truth of who she is. With her whole world suddenly turned on its head she realises she can’t stay in the Fire Nation and so she leaves, but not before pleading with Catra to come with her and well we all know how that goes.

Anyway thus Adora escapes to Republic City where she meets and befriends Bow and Glimmer along with the rest of the crew and eventually rallies the people to stop the Fire Nation’s quest to control the world.

Meanwhile with Adora gone Catra is suddenly being treated more nicely but it’s a double-edged sword as she’s also landed with more responsibility. She climbs to the top before realising she doesn’t actually want to be there, and there’s a whole slow burn redemption arc where she ends up working with Adora to sabotage the Fire Nation from the inside. Basically she sort of fills the roles of Zuko, Azula, and the Blue Spirit all in one.

Those were the things that came to me right away but I got a lot more stuff to work out lol.

Random ass details:

There would definitely be Catradora later in the story cause I am trash. No, it’s not just because I love the idea of Adora sneaking into the Fire Nation palace at night to see Catra and I cannot get the classic scenario of Shadow Weaver almost walking in on them making out when she comes to shit on Catra cause let’s be real she has no other hobbies and Adora having to hide under the bed while Catra awkwardly tries to pretend there was no one else there out of my head. Not at all.

#she ra #spop #catradora #catra #adora #shadow weaver #hordak #she ra catra #she ra adora #she ra shadow weaver #she ra hordak #spop catra #spop adora #spop shadow weaver #spop hordak #she ra au #avatar the last airbender #atla #zuko #azula #atla zuko #atla azula