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#we can also get into the whole part where Aang's whole culture separated parents from their kids
swan2swan · 9 months
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Annual reminder that Aang wasn't a terrible dad, that one episode was badly written and had poor perspective. Aang was a busy, working dad who had a lot of stuff to do, and then suddenly his third kid was a full-on Airbender and he was literally the only one qualified to teach this baby, so then he finally had an excuse to put his family before his duties ("My family IS my duty now, suckers!!!"), and so Kya and Bumi were all "What the heck, Dad???" because they were now teens (iirc) and they missed out on all that stuff.
It was basically Aang going from "my family has 20% of my time" to "my family has 40% of my time". Still not enough, probably, but Aang could finally go and explore his own culture without feeling guilty about leaving the rest of the world to fend for itself.
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whentheynameyoujoy · 4 years
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So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?
Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.
And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.
(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)
Rasta Iroh
Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.
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Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded
Yue’s hair
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No.
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Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.
The Blue Spirit’s mop
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Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?
First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.
Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.
And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.
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Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?
Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.
But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.
It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.
The music slaps
James Newton Howard is too good for this.
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Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe
I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.
Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.
Dev Patel
No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.
And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.
Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.
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Ba dum tss
What can I say, the guy’s good.
Showing vs telling
OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.
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See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.
All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.
Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.
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It’s genuinely efficient and just good.
No Cataang
Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.
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Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.
Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.
And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.
Yes Zutara
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I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.
I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.
Celibate Avatars
I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.
I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.
Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.
At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.
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I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?
But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.
So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.
Multiracial Air Nomads
Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.
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See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.
Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.
Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.
And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.
And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.
Because they’re everywhere.
You know.
Like air.
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halfpint55 · 4 years
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A Defence of Kataang with regards to how they are portrayed in TLoK (it’s long but there’s headcanons at the end)
Note: This is not about shipping wars. This is a safe zone. This is not about Zutara vs Kataang. This is me defending Kataang and the characters themselves...from the writers. 
I initially wrote this as a response to a post that got me heated. My reblog just made it too long so here it is as its own post. 
Now this post ripped apart Kataang as a couple but more than that said some stuff about Aang himself that hurt my heart. I didn’t really want to pick on this post but its condemning of Kataang was based almost entirely in what we know of them as parents in TLoK and honestly it’s that lil nugget of canon that I take issue with. It has bothered me from the get go because it doesn’t make sense from a writing and story perspective, and it’s been pissing me off since I watched it.
TL;DR nice and early bc this post is gonna be a long one:
This particular condemnation of Kataang rests almost entirely on the SHITTY way they were portrayed as parents by the writers of LoK, and in all honesty, on this particular topic, canon should be ignored.
Overall Kataang parenting is of my biggest gripes with LoK because in terms of writing it’s totally incongruous - it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t align, and it makes zero sense for what we know of those characters, and I don’t know if I can ever forgive the showrunners for allowing it to be written it into canon.
I will also preface this by saying I like LoK - love it. I had a scroll through the comments and reblogs on this post, and a lot of the hate towards this portrayal of Kataang ended up being blamed on the “terrible writing of LoK” which is not where I stand at all. That being said I am so angry at the writers for this one.
The other portion of the concurring comments that were very hateful towards Kataang came from Zutara shippers and honestly for me, although I do ship Kataang, this not a just a Kataang issue. I’m of the belief that Zutara would’ve just as easily been written to have similar issues due to very similar dynamics - Zutara also would have been two powerful benders from very different cultures, and with Zuko/Aang (whoever you ship w her) having a massively important global leadership role that is embedded in who they are, and therefore impossible to ignore as a factor in their relationship.
Now let me be clear, my desire to reject canon on this front is by no means me wanting to believe the best of my faves, and not wanting to hear a word against Aang. It’s not even necessarily a defence of Kataang bc I ship it that hard (I mean I do but I can set that aside for the sake of argument if that’s what you need from me here). 
The first, and main issue people have with Aang/Kataang in Korra, is the first point of the original post:
So why in hell would [Katara] be okay with Aang ignoring TWO of their children’s complete existence once he found out they had an airbending son?
And I agree with the post on this front; Katara would not have allowed her children to each be treated differently by their father. I had the same initial thought when watching LoK, and it’s the reason I hate and want to ignore the canon of LoK so badly. 
As much as it hurts to think of, we have to accept that Aang wouldn’t have been able to stop his preferential treatment for Tenzin from bleeding through into his parenting just out of a desperate desire to save his culture (which is absolutely understandable - doesn’t make it okay, but it’s understandable; Aang suffered an incredible loss, a massive cultural trauma which he alone carries the burden of). So of course he wasn’t able to hide how excited he was, and forgot to be mindful of his attitude and behaviour towards Kya and Bumi. So this aspect of canon Kataang? Yeah, I’m with it. So far so good. EXCEPT the most unrealistic element of canon is now that Katara would let him. I simply do not believe for a second that Katara would’ve allowed Aang to be the kind of parent LoK painted him to be.
However, I do not think it would’ve been a point of contention between the two of them! Katara would pull him aside, Katara would gently (but firmly) point out what Aang mightn’t be able to see for himself - he’s focusing too hard on Tenzin.
And Aang would listen.
All throughout A;tLA the two of them often help the other sort through their stuff. Aang has a great track record of being receptive to Katara’s advice and help (calming him down when discovering Monk Gyatso’s body, The Desert when he Appa is stolen, Serpent’s Pass when he’s bottling his feelings about Appa being missing). He’s also just so receptive to others’ ideas - he just goes with it and trusts in his friends (think of his trust in Katara’s plan to rescue Haru, his trust in staying behind with Sokka in the library to get the eclipse info). Aang’s humility is one of the most incredible things about him and it’s at the core of who he is. He would absolutely be able to hear Katara telling him he’s focusing too hard on one child - he would be open, and he’d listen.
So to me now canon just does not make sense at all. it does not align with their established character traits. And yes, people change as they get older and grow into adulthood but honestly, the elements of their respective personalities that we’re talking about here are pretty core elements of who these two people are.
Katara has always been fiercely protective of those she loves, strongwilled, stubborn, and ready to (vocally or physically) fight for what she believes is right and that wouldn’t disappear as she gets older. She wouldn’t let Aang’s preferrential treatment slide.
Aang has always been, and chose to be despite his loss, an optimistic, kind, believe in the best of humanity kind of person. He’s open to all points of view, he’s a good listener, he always tries his absolute best to find solutions that are good for everyone. And again his humility, his willingness to love, is who he is.  He believes all humans (including fkn OZAI) and all life are sacred, he believes in the absolute right to life. The kid is a vegetarian for crying out loud.
Now the parts of the take in the post that hurt my heart to read about what OP thinks of Aang:
“Aang never made an attempt to establish anything resembling a real familial unit with Katara, basically just stayed around until she popped out an Airbender [...] she was treated like some trophy wife to give birth to airbenders and that’s it!”
I wasn’t going to address this in this post until I read the comments in the notes, because people seem to agree. They share the sentiment that Katara was reduced to “just a love interest” by the two ending up together.
However I do very much take issue w the notion that Aang “basically just stayed around until she popped out an Airbender” (and honestly that entire paragraph - we don’t actually know that Aang didn’t make an effort to establish a family unit). As much as the LoK writers fucked up in their portrayal of Kataang as parents, this is a much harsher judgement of Aang’s character as a husband and father than anything implied by Aang and Katara’s children. I just don’t buy that Aang would view Katara (or anyone he married, even if you don’t ship Kataang) as a trophy wife, whose only role is to have airbender children. He never has viewed her that way - he has always looked at her like she’s the sun, and the most important person to him after she pulled him out of the iceburg. He loves her the most of anyone on the planet. It does not align with his character, his values or beliefs that he’d think of her (or any partner) that way. He is so besotted with Katara for who she is it HURT me to read that part of your take. Aang simply would never. Look at how he looks at her! 
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What’s more is the unwavering respect and deference he shows Katara as his waterbending master - he recognises and loves her as the whole, complete, three dimensional, TALENTED POWERFUL INCREDIBLE WOMAN that she is. She is NEVER “just” a love interest for Aang. (But ALSO, do we respect Suki any less for being Sokka’s obvious love interest??? No. suki is written to be so badass that Sokka is HER love interest and I think Katara has equally badass energy but I digress).
Moving on!
OP made an excellent point that there would’ve been culturally different values between the two but I don’t think it would’ve been family that was the clashing point. Yes the airbenders value spirituality and enlightenment. But they lived together in massive communities! They supported and raised one another. Their community and culture was strong, and they were bonded in their spirituality! They value love, as well as enlightenment, peace, and the lives of all.
Now, again the points they made about the cultural divides within the Kataang family unit are valid, but also again I dislike how they chose to portray this in LoK. It would definitely be a struggle they faced as a couple. However I think they really missed an opportunity here with where they took it. Because they do at one point in the comics have Katara bring up the fact that their family will be a blend of two cultures, and she brings it up because Aang is trying so hard to bring balance back to the world by means of seperation.
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They’ve known from the get go of being a couple that they’re going to have to navigate being a culturally blended family unit.
So I find it so shitty that they wrote it so that Kya got to learn the waterbending culture, Tenzin got Air and bumi got…nothing? It’s dangerously close to the way Disney does the “the girls are carbon copies of mum, and the boys are carbon copies of dad” thing (think Lady and the Tramp). It’s lazy. Especially when we had that “separation is an illusion” episode, AND things like Zuko learning different nation’s styles and applying them to his firebending, and Sokka learning an element of strategy or fighting from every nation. 
So give us Kya using Airbending moves with her waterbending (maybe she invents the water scooter)! Give us Tenzin doing more grounded moves that Aunty Toph (or Lin, while they were together) taught him from earthbending.
There are much more creative ways to illustrate the bumps and troubles Kataang might have run into in trying to navigate incorporating equal parts of their cultures in their children and family unit. Even just smaller scale issues like food and meals - how do they figure out how to do mealstimes with Aang’s vegetarianism with Katara’s culturally significant Water Tribe meat dishes? And then even taking into account how picky little kids can be!
Give me a scene where they literally just ate moon pies for a week because toddler Kya would scream if you put anything else down in front of her.
Maybe Bumi demanded sea prunes over and over but Katara and Bumi are the only ones who like them, and Bumi bonds with his mother this way - they go on little one-on-one outings to water tribe restaurants in Republic City, searching for the most authentic sea prunes!
Kya maybe likes the water tribe fashions the most because it helps her connect with her namesake BUT Kya also has a playful sense of humour - not unlike Monk Gyatso - Aang sees how much she loved moon pies and teaches her to throw them with waterbending.
We know Tenzin was a calm, quiet, and possibly shy child. Maybe he loved to hole himself away learning crafts. Give me Tenzin learning to tattoo, Tenzin learning to carve (and carving his first glider - it crashes of course), but also Tenzin learning to carve water tribe adornments and necklaces. Katara tries at first but when she gets busy Sokka comes in and teaches Tenzin to break all the carving rules Katara has laid down (”it doesn’t need to be perfect my little pupil - let the creativity flow!”)
Tenzin may not be able to waterbend but that doesn’t mean he can’t learn other means of healing. As the littlest he spent a lot of time watching Katara work - she teaches him to tie splints, dress wounds, and yes deliver babies.
If you made it here I love you so much for reading. I love sharing my thoughts so HIGH FIVE YOU MADE IT, ur now my friend - the friendship is non-refundable sorry 😌😌
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marginal-notes · 3 years
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TLOK Episode One a.k.a. Korra immediately goes on a rampage
So, as mentioned, I’m finally getting around to watching The Legend of Korra with all of my terrible tastes and general thoughts. 
Don’t give me spoilers, my indignation will be funnier without them. 
What I Know About Korra Going In:
If the show can have all of Aang’s bending teachers still around for the audience’s nostalgic pleasure, Suki better be alive and kicking too or I am going to throw a fit
Technology progressed pretty intensely in ways that I will want to pick apart later
Listen, what the fuck is Republic City. Why. Why does this exist. Show you better answer me fast with why this exist for a legitimate in world reason that isn’t just: “The audience is a bunch of American kids and teenagers and we want to uphold the liberal ideals of democracy because of course that’s the motives of the victors after a global war of probably unprecedented scope despite like, Zero (0) indication that the idea of democracy was rattling around anyone’s heads in ATLA.” 
If this is the reason, I’m going to quit watching. Disgraceful. Disgusting.
Something involving anti-bender sentiment.
Something involving something called the Red Lotus which I am side-eyeing the shit out of 
Bloodbending?????
Spirit World shenanigans and Avatar backstory that’s on thin ice with me. 
Love triangles. UGH. TERRIBLE. WHY DOES MEDIA DO THIS. WHO FINDS THIS INTERESTING. PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND SO YOU CAN EXPLAIN TO ME. 
Alright, here we go. 
WELL, 30 SECONDS IN AND I GOT MY WISH FOR AN EXPLAINATION ABOUT REPUBLIC CITY.
Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations, a society where benders and nonbenders from all over the world could live and thrive together in peace and harmony.
Okay. I’m.... I’m going to withhold judgement for now until I watch like, literally more than 30 seconds to fully form my thoughts about this move. I THINK IT’S A DUMB MOVE AND IF THIS IS WHY PEOPLE KEEP HAVING FIRE NATION DEMOCRACY FICS I QUIT.
So. We get a panning shot into this city. Very urban city that’s the product of the industrialization and like whatever the hell that propaganda voice over is talking about. 
As a method of setting the scene and immediately letting the viewers feel and know the passage of time between ATLA and TLOK, I love this shot. There’s no mistaking this for being immediately after ATLA. We’re listening to one of Aang’s kids. There are skyscrapers. The Fire Nation palace in ATLA probably counted towards the architectural development towards urban skyscrapers, but that architecture is fully formed by TLOK. Brilliant. 
I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!
What a cute brat. Her poor parents, oh my god. 
Also, is she supposed to be a prodigy. 
Again with immediately setting contrasts against ATLA. Very cool demonstration, extremely effective distinction between Aang’s journey around the world trying to find teachers and learning how to bend in the middle of a war vs. Korra at peacetime with a whole entire facility dedicated to her. 
Not sure about how I feel regarding the White Lotus’s presence. 
IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE KATARA????
That's your grandmother, Meelo.
Does he not visit his parents. It can’t be that hard to swing by for like. Yearly festivals if the Water Tribe has those. I don’t see why not. Maybe something for when the winter night ends, I can see that being festive. 
Tenzin do you like. Not call? Not write?? Sir???
Oh my god, Pema. I hope she really likes kids, despite how rowdy they are. 
Wait. How old is Tenzin. Thirties to forties? 
How old is Katara. 
Is this going to be a repeat of the Fire Nation royal miracle babies. 
I get that, but I don't think keeping me locked up in this compound like a prisoner is what he had in mind.
Going by the episode title, I bet we know what Korra has in mind. Speaking of this compound, where’s the Southern Tribe? The aerial shots look like it’s in the middle of nowhere. Is she so far removed that she doesn’t even spend time with the tribe she was born into? Cause that sure as hell wasn’t how Aang was raised. 
Honestly fascinating as these contrasts keep coming. The bizarre presence of the White Lotus. The way her teachers come to her instead of her seeking her teachers the way Aang and Roku did. 
The Avatar must have always been a special political figure, without any good contemporaries to our world, to be honest. Back in ATLA, we see that Roku isn’t beholden to Fire Nation citizenship - he seems to transcend that. And it honestly seems important that Roku and Aang went out to the world, experienced the other nations and their ways of life. I think Aang does have a line regarding this. 
Because Korra’s situation? Can easily turn into a nightmare, given the realities of what being the Avatar could easily mean. 
OKAY THIS SHIP. Very cool looking, very neat, I continue to love every visual manifestation of the passage of time between ATLA and TLOK. One small question. What’s with the rigging poles. 
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To be fair, this is a battleship from the British navy, but aesthetically I think we can say this is a fair inspiration. From what I remember while researching the coal fic, the rigging and poles there serve no function. It’s aesthetical. At best, there’s a limited function, but it’s predominantly for aesthetics in the transition into the ships like the Titanic with no rigging at all. 
Which raises my question about WHY ON EARTH?? The Fire Nation navy in ATLA??? Were clearly way past this stage in design? Literally during Sozin’s time too??? Almost two hundred years before this current shot in TLOK? Why would the ship design regress like this??? The Water Tribe ships probably wouldn’t evolve into the designs that Europe used? Earth Kingdom ships would probably be more inspired by East Asian designs which also wouldn’t end up with this system for sails? 
Where does this aesthetic come from. 
IS THAT A CAR. 
....
.......
..........
I am not qualified at all for dissecting the potential social and cultural explanation for the western influenced aesthetics appearing. I am but an ignorant banana, I don’t know shit. 
.......
oooooooh this is going to slowly annoy me isn’t it.......... 
That will be twenty yuans.
[Jaws theme]
The city's huge. I bet we could find a place to rustle up something to eat.
You know, I’ve seen plenty of weird shit in Central Park and around NYC before. Korra, you are so unprepared.  
Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists!
Oh boy. Let’s.... let’s put a pin in this thought. I’ll come back to it once I know more about what’s going on. Because. This will either be fun. Or I’m going to have to create a second spite fic folder. Please, show, don’t give me reason to create a second spite fic folder. 
On a different note though, I really do love the choices so far for setting up this show’s forward path. There’s no way to mistake this as a rerun of ATLA. This is it’s own separate story and I love that. I really do respect that. The way the different threads are emerging feel really smooth: 1) the impact of Korra’s isolation towards her culture shock in the giant city - which must smell and sound REALLY weird to her; 2) her prodigious talent in the physical, exciting parts of bending meshing with her teenage nature and also clashing with the spiritual parts of being the World Bridge; 3) the absolute hot bed of chaos every part of Republic City must be. 
Kinda funny that people would still have sideburns in the same style as from like. Seventy years ago. Vintage. 
Mr. Chung, please tell me that you have my money, or else I can't guarantee I can protect your fine establishment.
My terrible taste in interests rears its head again. Listen, you cannot imply something like the mafia or the triads exist in universe and not have me immediately ALL OVER THAT. Republic City, you are such a mess. Like, for this alone, I might write a single fic for TLOK that’s just about trash collection and disposal. And corruption. And- 
I am fascinated by the genetics and molecular/cellular biology behind the yellow and white eyes in this universe. 
Police! Freeze where you are!
Bitch what the fuck. How many of these rigid airships are part of the police. Are all of them for the police? Are the police literally patrolling people from the sky? 
Also, that better be helium in those ships instead of hydrogen by this point in time. I’ve already made my post about the fleet of hydrogen ships in Sozin’s Comet. 
How much property damage is being inflicted thanks to these couple minutes. The police just. Stab the brick work. There have got to be so many bitchy lawsuits about that. 
This poor girl’s culture shock. 
HEY I HOPE THAT POLICE OFFICER SWUNG THEMSELF ON A CLOTHLINE, NOT AN ELECTRIC LINE LIKE I FIRST THOUGHT. 
HEY YOU CAN RIP SOMEONE’S SCALP OFF LIKE THAT. 
HEY WHAT IS WITH THIS WHOLE SCENE. 
HOW ARE THEY JUST RIDING ON THOSE WIRES, HOW MUCH TENSION IS IN THAT STUFF. 
HOW DOES THAT ZEPPLIN MOVE THAT FAST AND LIKE. AGILE. 
YALL. 
WHY DOES THE POLICE STATION LOOK LIKE THAT
Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together.
Oh this bit is fascinating, I love it. It’s only been 18 minutes, but the level of sheer propaganda everywhere trailing after Aang is really cool. There’s so much I want to know now about how Aang got from the end of ATLA, where he probably wasn’t thinking AT ALL about this kind of cult legacy forming around him, to this. 
Lin Beifong’s shut down of Korra’s attempt to use her status as Avatar is great. Just because Korra’s born into this elite role and then locked up and probably pampered in her compound, where everyone is well aware of her status and what it means, it doesn’t mean she gets to strut around with no idea how stuff works or the context behind what she’s seeing and then doing whatever she wants. 
Contrasts, love ‘em. 
On a different note, the design of this room. 
As far as I can tell, it’s a dim, doorless room, which is honestly. Really terrible design. And it says something about the way the Republic City police functions and how that reflects on the chaos of the city itself. 
Putting someone dragged into the police station in a dim room without any door as a sign of a possible escape is just a terrible idea. The only thing you’re going to succeed in is making the person tenser and more belligerent. Your suspect or witness gets more nervous, gets more combative, gets more unreliable in this kind of environment. In turn, the police probably starts feeling more and more entitled to harsher retaliation. Conflict resolution? De-escalation? That really doesn’t look like its in the core of the city police. They’re wearing armor for god’s sake. 
Everything so far in this first impression of the police is really damning about their attitude and Lin Beifong’s leadership. Rather than using a rappel line down from the airships, they damage buildings. In chasing Korra, they further damage property. The armor, this freaking room. The fact that so much about the active police shown so far depends on metalbending, which implies that very few people can join the field police. The fact that for the gang to be so blatantly in the open about their presence and territory, there must be dirty cops on their payroll. 
There has to be so much Lin Beifong hate in this city. 
I have done my best to guide Republic City toward the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It has fallen out of balance since he passed.
If anyone tries convincing me Republic City was ever in “balance” they’re a punk ass liar. I don’t think the city could have ever been in balance, whatever that is. The way it was created, the speed it expanded, the life that must be lived there - balance? Don’t kid me with that propaganda. 
Tenzin could be trying to find a balance alright. I just wonder how many people vehemently disagree with his idea of balance. 
Hello? I'm Korra, your new Avatar.
Well, TLOK is definitely in the era of mass distribution of news and the idea of public sentiment at a level never seen before. This is going to be very interesting for its populist implications, along with other developments regarding politics. 
Oh Korra. Did no one try rehearsing this with you? This is a terrible first impression for you to give to people. 
Also, what is this building. Is this like a city hall? Why is the roof on the building to the side slanted like that. That’s an angle I’d expect from like. Snow concerns. In northern Europe. 
Love that Avatar Aang propaganda. Starting to feel like we’re going to see a lot of it going forward. 
Oh my god, everything about this press briefing (?) is highly concerning. This rampaging teenager suddenly appearing without any warning or announcement. The clear lack of script or practice. The open location just to anyone instead of to a select set of journalists who would be sympathetic/under government control. Lin fucking Beifong and Tenzin being the only people accompanying Korra on the stage. 
What a disaster. 
FINAL THOUGHTS
You know, I’m enjoying this more than I expected to. The general writing is great, the use of visuals and other small details to set the time and place is excellent, the worldbuilding implications are rich in potential. I’m looking forward to exploring where the plot threads introduced so far will lead towards!
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donvex · 4 years
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zuko honestly doesn’t need to be left alone after the war. he has a whole country to clean up, and the fight isn’t over, so i think it makes sense that more of the gaang would stay with him. they’d be good advisors, good in meetings until council members can be replaced with trustworthy ones. i personally headcanon that part of zuko’s reform would include bringing in teachers from the other nations so that their education could include the kind of outside perspective that was so important to him in his journey, and the gaang would help bring that kind of outside perspective initially - past just education, but also straight into laws and ways of life and how to bring back traditions.
and aang would be so pivitol in this.
listen, i love ambassador sokka. its my favorite trope. that post about katara taking up zuko’s agni kai’s had me living. toph would straight up take residence there, we all say this. her parents were shit and even if she travels, she’d come back to her own room in the nation. the kyoshi warriors stay with zuko.
the gaang is the first group of friends that zuko has had, the first people near his age that street him with kindness. they’re the whole REASON zuko was able to change. i think he’d need them around; not that without him he’d lose his way again, but that keeping them close would be a good active reminder on who he chose to be and why and just how important it is that his people, that the fire nation, gets the same kind of second chance he did.
but we don’t talk about aang enough !!! aang and zuko went on to become best friends. and that’s possible with distance, sure, but it makes so much more sense if they stay close together for a while. and i had this kind of realization - aang doesnt have a home to go back to. the way we all say toph doesn’t have a home to return to, because fuck her parents? aang REALLY doesn’t. his home is empty. 
i could see aang wanting to stay by katara’s side, of course. and maybe she needs to go help rebuild the swt, i don’t know. but i think it’s possible she was want an active part in rebuilding the fire nation anyway, AND i think that aang would be willing to at least spend the first year after the war not living at the swt if thats where katara needs to be. and she may not live there anyway, she has her own plans !! and rebuilding the air nomads culture is so important - but they’re kids. they aren’t going to fly up the the temples and start there. while they’re young, what i could see them DOING is bringing back pieces of culture through festivals, through physical things, through education and long documents of how they lived. aang could even get in touch with a past airbending avatar if he worries he’s missing things, if he wants someone to double check what he’s saying. but who’s going to take that knowledge and make it into something?
zuko.
because zuko’s the fucking firelord, he’s the one who has the power to DO something with this information. to make laws around it, to create textbooks with it, to make sure air customs are taught in schools and put in libraries and not forgotten. he’s the one who can make sure relics from the temples can be taken and preserved, in archives or museums if need be, so that they aren’t lost to time. he can make sure all of this stuff kept safe until their time is useful and theres more airbenders. and if there never are more airbenders, because they cant KNOW. then at least the knowledge will be preserved and passed on.
so yeah. i think there’s plenty of reason for aang to stay at the fire nation for a long while, and as a bonus it’s a great look into how zuko and aang could grow to become best friends even more so. because zuko needs friends, i will always be willing to go off on a separate tangent about how he shouldn’t be left by the first friends his age who are actually nice to him, but aang needs a home
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analysisofavatar · 3 years
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People are so incredibly quick to judge and take an immediate interpretation that Aang was a terrible father who didn’t pay attention to two out of his three kids. Aang was not a bad father. He did not neglect Bumi and Kya opposed to Tenzin. Here are reasons with explanation:
“He was so focused on saving the world and doing his duty...that he never had time for us” -Kya
To start off I can totally grasp where Kya is coming from— having a parent that is usually gone all the time due to anything and as a result you barely get time with, can be degrading and hard for the child(ren). But Aang was the Avatar, that in itself is a hard job that comes with numerous and challenging tasks. Him going off and saving the world is his duty, it’s not that he can simply put it off.
Yangchen told Aang before Sozins Comet, “... your sole duty is to the world.” As the Avatar, your literal job is to take care of the world as a whole, protect it, and deal with the things within it. So- understand that the job of the avatar is not do and done. It’s a hard, rigourious job, that includes much more than fighting a few bad guys every other day and talking to spirits.
Now, add on the fact that Aang was the last airbender. That is until Tenzin came into the world and showed that he was born with airbending abilities as well. I feel like people seriously do not even think about how much time it took for Aang to, not only teach Tenzin to airbend and master airbending, but to also teach him the culture of the air nomads, the history, those thousands and thousands of years of air nation history, and everything else Tenzin needed to know in order to pass down the entire culture of a nation onto his shoulders.
So- the vacations. Back to what was mentioned- Aang was busy and heavily pressured as the Avatar as well as last airbender. The time he spent with Tenzin was not just father/son. Moreover, it was teacher/student or master/pupil. The purpose of those trips was not solely to ride elephant koi. Aang had a purpose for those trips he took with Tenzin. I have a personal example. My family did a similar thing. My mom and I took a trip, just the two of us. On our separate trip, of course we had fun and did activities. But there was a main reason for why we were there. My mom took a trip with just me because there were lessons that she wanted to teach me while we were there. Just because my mom took me without my brother doesn’t mean she loves me more than my brother. And same with Aang. Aang needed that time alone with Tenzin in order to teach Tenzin what he needed to know. But Aang made the experiences memorable for Tenzin so that he grew up remembering those times.
“Dad was under a lot of pressure” - Tenzin
I feel like people don’t talk about this either, but here’s something to think about. Tenzin knows at least some of the pressure that Aang had. Tenzin was the last airbender after Aang died for a few years until Jinora was born. And Tenzin knows what it’s like to have to train and teach the next generation of the only few airbenders that were left. Kya and Bumi would pick on Tenzin for being an airbender and that he was supposedly “Aang’s favorite child,” yet people tend to forget the amount of pressure that weighed itself on Tenzin’s shoulders.
Now please don’t get a misinterpretation of what I’m saying about all three of the kids. I love all three of Aang and Katara’s kids. And I also love when Kya and Bumi said this to Tenzin-
Tenzin: Whos else is going to [carry on dads legacy?]
Kya: How about all of us?
Bumi: Yeah, we’re Aang’s kids too.
Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin are all apart of Aang’s legacy. When we talk about Aang passing down his culture to Tenzin, we don’t mean the same could’ve been done for Kya and Bumi. Tenzin is specific because of his bending abilities, because of the fact that he is an airbender himself. But that never ever discludes Bumi and Kya. Kya and Bumi are also apart of who Aang was and who Tenzin is. Bumi walked up to Aangs statue and apologized to Aang for not being an airbender, yet he hoped he still made him proud of what he did for the world. Standing right behind him, Kya tells Bumi “of course he’d be proud of you.” Kya and Bumi understood that Aang loved them. And they understood the circumstances. They also came back to Tenzin after arguing and all apologized to each other- recognizing each other’s faults and misunderstandings. But here is the part where I can’t understand why people think Aang truly was a terrible father...
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Kya, Bumi, Tenzin... all fondly looking at a picture of their family. “That’s one happy family.” I don’t know a kid who would look at a picture of their family and smile happily at it if their childhood was full of neglection and heartbreak. No, Katara and Aang’s family wasn’t perfect. And Katara and Aang were not perfect parents... but I can say with 100% conviction they were great parents, loving each of their children equally and fully.
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You can’t tell me that this girl wouldnt put Aang in his place if he even did do something wrong. Katara is not a stand by type of person. If Aang really was a terrible father and he treated their children unfairly, she would’ve done something about it.
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And we can say that Aang obviously grew up to be more mature. But you cannot tell me this boy grew up to be a failure of a father to his own children who he raised with the love of his life. Aang holds the concept living things sincerely in his heart, and I have the hardest time believing that he didn’t love each of his children just as completely and equally as the other one.
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havendance · 4 years
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The Gaang as MASKS Playbooks
(Because I am nothing if not a creator of niche content when I actually make stuff.)
This is for the Alternate Universe where they’re all superheroes because I love both MASKS and Avatar and I have opinions that I’m going to share. There’s at least two potential playbooks for each character because there’s a lot of possibilities and different playbooks can focus on different aspects of the characters. Plus, more option is always good. 
Anyway, without further ado (under the cut because this got long, I have a lot of thoughts on this matter apparently) the Gaang as MASKS playbooks:
Aang
The Legacy - This is the one that makes the most sense to me and the one that I feel most reflects Aang’s core internal conflict in the show. The legacy is all about bearing the weight of previous generations and their accomplishments and actions. Aang is just the latest in a long line of heroes known as The Avatar who can wield all four elements. For the portion of the playbook that’s about interacting with previous members of the legacy, you could either go with him talking with the past lives like we see in the show or, alternatively, the past couple Avatars could still be alive and kicking. Either way, they’re still watching what he’s doing and trying to push him in what they think is the right direction.
The Nova - This one fits a little less but could still work. The Nova playbooks’ about having a huge amount of power that you can’t necessarily control. For the most part in the show, we don’t see Aang worrying about not being able to control his bending, but this playbook would play more into his fear of losing control in the Avatar state and his worries about hurting someone with firebending.
The Outsider - Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch since the playbooks’ weighted in favor of the hero being an alien or from another dimension. But! I feel like you could definitely hack the playbook to accommodate Aang just being from a hundred years in the past as well if you want to play with that aspect of canon Aang. This playbook would definitely lean more into the whole ‘a lot has changed in a hundred years’ thing. (The Innocent playbook is explicitly from the past, however, it also has a future, supervillain version of yourself running around which, while could be cool for Aang, also deviates a lot from canon
Katara
I’m going to be honest, Katara was the hardest one for me to come up with. None of the MASKS playbooks’ particular flavors of teenage angst really jive with Katara’s drive and passion to help people and make the world better after it hurt her. I’m going to toss out a few options here, but if anyone else has any better ideas here, feel free to add on.
The Legacy - Katara as this playbook would really play into her status as the last Southern Waterbender. It’d take tweaking of the playbook but you could shift it so it’s about this legacy of heroes and more about the legacy of her culture. So it’s less about the outward pressure to uphold the legacy and more about the inward pressure from herself to uphold it.
The Protege - The Protoge playbook has a specific mentor who’s trying to shape the hero into their vision of how a hero should be. Using this playbook, you could definitely really examine her relationship with Pakku or Hama. However, it’d definitely be exploring more of a niche of Katara than her overall character.
The Soldier - Once again, this recommendation is based less on canon and more on stories that would be potentially interesting to tell. The Soldier playbook focuses on the relationship between a hero and the larger organization that they’re a part of (the generic on the game gives is a SHEILD equivalent). I could see Katara being a passionate member of a similar organization (possibly one White Lotus themed since this is the Avatar version of MASKS) and trying to change the world through that. I feel like this is one where Katara’s character could definitely shine, however, it’s definitely a setup that doesn’t have a lot of basis in canon so if you were wanting to play Avatar more straight in MASKS it wouldn’t work as well.
Sokka
The Beacon  - Sokka is a textbook beacon. The beacon is a low-powered hero who’s in the heroing business because it’s fun and exciting and a lot of their angst draws from the fact that they aren’t really sure if they belong in a world of superpowered individuals. Sokka’s got his boomerang, he’s got his sword, and he’s got his tactical mind. All of his friends are like crazy powerful. He’s the Beacon.
The Joined - The joined is a playbook that shares a lot of the material of another playbook; the two characters have a close relationship. Now, I’m not saying that Sokka’s just playing second fiddle to Katara. What I am saying is that it was Katara’s idea to become a superhero in the first place and she dragged him along with her into it. Did Sokka want to be a hero? No, he want to stay home and focus on taking care of his family. He didn’t want to be the Painted Dude or whatever Katara said his hero name should be. But does his sister listen to him? No.
Suki
I, unfortunately, have less to say about Suki. We should’ve gotten more of her in the show, that’s what I’m going to chalk it up to.
The Protege - Okay. I will admit, this one is purely what I think would be cool and isn’t actually based in canon. But imagine: Suki as the protoge of Avatar Kyoshi who’s still alive, still kick ass, and still very opinionated. Can’t you see the glory? The potential?
The Soldier - This playbook would probably reflect her most accurately. She’s a member of the Kyoshi Warriors first and foremost in the show and her interactions with the Gaang are always affected by that. In a superhero setting, I could definitely see her and the other Kyoshi warriors being some sort of superhero squad that works throught the SHEILD equivalent
Toph
The Janus - The Janus is the spiderman playbook. You’ve got a mundane life, you’ve got a secret identity, and you’ve got to balance them. Toph is rich heiress of the Bei Fong family by day, and notorious vigilante The Blind Bandit by night. This is the perfect playbook to explore the dual life Toph led before she straight up joined the game. Her parents are super annoying, her life’s a drag, at least as a hero she can be free and who she really is.
The Delinquent - The Delinquent is, in essence, a rebel. Try and tell me that that’s not Toph ‘Let’s break some rules!’ Bei Fong. I mean, just look at some of those playbook moves: Troublemaker, I don’t care what you think!, Team? What Team?, Mary Contrary. Those are such Toph moves.
Zuko
Okay, Zuko has a lot of possibilities. I’m going to blame it on the sheer amount of angst that boy has packed into him.
The Soldier - Okay. I know that I’m using the soldier a lot (it’s because they’re all child soldiers) but hear me out. This would be Zuko if you wanted to play with him going through his redemption. In this case, the Fire Nation wouldn’t super obviously supervillains. They’d probably be some sort of organization that looks outwardly good but is secretly fishy. Ozai’s at the top and of course Zuko’s loyal to them. They’re the good guys. (They aren’t.) The soldier isn’t specifically about breaking away from your organization but it definitely can be.
The Reformed - This playbook fits post redemption Zuko like a glove. The Reformed playbook is one where you were specifically a supervillain previously. You’ve done villainous things, but now you’re a good guy and it’s complicated. I don’t think I really need to explain why this playbook is Zuko. It just is.
The Janus - This is for all of you Blue Spirit!Zuko needs. Look, his life sucks, his Dad’s a jerk. There’s way too much expected of him. At least he can put on this Blue Spirit mask and go out and do vigilante stuff.
The Scion - I’m going to be honest, I’m not super familiar with this playbook but I feel like I have to mention it because it’s about being the child of a supervillain. So I’m tossing it out there. Other people who actually know about this playbook can talk about whether or not it actually fits Zuko.
Bonus:
Mai - The Beacon. She’s the least enthusiastic Beacon you’ll ever meet, but look at her and tell me that she’s not in this because being a hero is the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to her. Her life was so boring before Ty Lee walked up to her and was like hey, let’s be vigilantes together. She’d never admit it, but she loves being a hero.
Ty Lee - The Star. The Star playbook is all about being flamboyant, showy, a celebrity. Being a hero is what separates her from her sisters and she’s going to milk it up. She’s still non-powered for the first part, only having her martial arts and auras, but she knows how to play it up. She definitely has a huge social media following.
Finally, The Outsider playbook could work for any of the characters if you just want to play it straight as a character from the Avatar universe getting dragged into this alternate world of superheroes.
Feel free to discuss and share any ideas you have!
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selfshipstuff · 4 years
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💡 give me all the fandoms ~Audrey
SBDJSJS ALL OF THEM???? I MEAN I GUESS IF YOU'RE SURE??
@tsundere-doods
ARROWVERSE (The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl)
In all Arrowverse AUs, my SI is a metahuman from Earth-1 with energy-based powers. I primarily exercise control over electricity, movement, and gravity, but with practice I could probably expand my repertoire to include light, heat, elasticity, radioactivity, sound-- all sorts of things. During my time on Teams Flash and Arrow, I go by the moniker Switchboard, and then in my Team Arson AU, Lonnie and Astra (@astralshipper) call me Sparks. 
In The Flash, my primary f/o is Cisco Ramon, and we have that best friends to lovers thing going on. I also love Becky Sharpe, although I don’t talk about her much! She’s girlfren, and I’m poly with the two of them in my Flash-centric Arrowverse AU-- she’s not dead, hush, I save her life and canon can eat my entire ass tbh.
I don’t have a romantic f/o on Arrow, but John Diggle is like a brother to me. I don’t have an AU that focuses solely on Team Arrow, because it’s not a primary thing for me, but when I’m on the team, it’s because I’m taking a break from Team Flash.
In my Supergirl-centric AU, instead of joining Team Arrow after leaving Team Flash, I actually use some of Cisco’s tech to hop on over to Earth-38 to make a new life for myself. Eventually, I end up helping out Team Supergirl, because once you start superheroing it’s not really something that has an off switch, and that’s how I meet Winn Schott. He and I click almost immediately and we have a best friends to lovers type thing similar to what Cisco and I had. I also have a small crush on both Lena Luthor and Mon-El, but I haven’t decided if I’m gonna do anything about it yet.
Finally, there’s the Team Arson AU, which isn’t really based on any of the shows in particular, but rather on one of the villains of Arrow: specifically, Lonnie Machin. This AU starts after I leave Team Arrow because of Oliver, John, and Felicity’s actions toward the newer team members; incensed by the hypocrisy of my fellow heroes, I run into Astra (@astralshipper) and Lonnie, who have turned into sort of an anti-hero team, and I join forces with them. This sometimes leads to problems when my ex-teammates come after us, but we handle it.
And last but not least, I actually forgot to mention, but there is an offshoot AU of the Team Arson storyline; it doesn’t have a catchy name, so I just call it the Team Arson and Michael AU, because it’s essentially the same thing as the regular Team Arson one except it incorporates Michael Collins from The Uniques as a new hero. In this AU, I eventually leave Team Arson to form a power-couple duo with Michael and go back to being a hero, mostly.
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (A:TLA)
Not totally sure what my whole deal is going to be here, but I’m definitely an airbender. I know in canon they’re wiped out, but I’m just saying, there could definitely be a few in hiding; who’s to say all of them were at the air temples when the Fire Nation attacked? The air nomads were a highly mobile people, so yeah, while those were the hubs of activity, I don’t see it being where every single one of them would’ve been. 
Anyway, I don’t have a romantic f/o in this series, but the Gaang in general is just a little family I’d like to be a part of. In particular, Aang has little brother vibes, and I’m definitely gonna take him under my wing; I think it would be good for him to have another airbender around, and it would be cool to see how a traditional air nomad would interact with one whose views and values have been shaped by a century of other cultures dominating the world. It’s definitely sad, because cultural loss is a huge part of genocide, but it would be neat to see how the surviving families passed down that culture and mixed it with that of the world around them. Like, it would be a little bit of home for Aang, but also sort of like... a hope for something new, I guess? I dunno, I’m spitballing here
CRIMINAL MINDS
My SI timeline isn't the most well-defined for this one yet, but one thing I've decided on is that I pretty much end up adopting, fostering, and taking in kids that need help. Currently, it's sort of just... been the kids that are victimized during the team's cases, but that's a byproduct of the source material rather than a conscious decision.
In Criminal Minds, I ship with Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss, who are my boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively; we’re poly, but they’re not dating each other. They are queerplatonic, though! Fun fact, I’ve adopted Hotch and Rossi as my dads; Hotch is the primary father figure, and Rossi was kind of like, uncle vibes? Until I realized how much romantic tension there is between the two of them, and now he’s like, stepdad. Hotch already sees Spencer as a son, and he’s close with Emily, so this works out really well.  
EVER AFTER HIGH
In EAH, I’m the eldest child of the White Rabbit-- yes, the one you know from the story of Alice in Wonderland. (Don’t ask how that works, because I don’t know.) Anyway, I was born and raised in Wonderland, along with my younger sister, Bunny. (Yes, her name is Bunny Rabbit.) Things were alright until sometime in my early teens when the Evil Queen tried to basically destroy the world of wonder; it was crazy and chaotic, and very few Wonderland folk managed to escape to Ever After before the Brothers Grimm closed the portals between the two worlds. I was among the handful that escaped: my sister, father, and friends were not. I was all alone in an unfamiliar world, and man, was that scary. Luckily, I was still school-aged, so it was easy enough to get a place to stay at the Grimms’ school-- Ever After High. 
I’ve got crushes on Raven Queen, Alistair Wonderland, Dexter Charming, Chase Redford, Northwind, and Cedar Wood, but no established romance.
HARRY POTTER
Okay, so there are a few different timelines and AUs for this franchise. We’ll start with the most established one. Obviously, I’ve got the obligatory AU where I’m there for everything from the very beginning, but there’s also one I thought of back in middle school which goes something like this: I’m newly orphaned, so I’ve been sent to live with a relative in the UK. It’s the year of the Quidditch World Cup, not that I know anything about it, because my parents were Muggles and so is the great-aunt-twice-removed or whomever it is I now live with. I’m out for a walk, trying to clear my head and familiarize myself with the new neighborhood; out the back of the house, there’s a forest in the distance, hills, and marshland which seem suitably spooky and melancholy for my mood, so I head out exploring that way. After a while, I hear noise, like celebration and shouting, so I head over to check it out and stumble across the tent-grounds for the World Cup. 
Obviously, it’s a lot to take in at once, because it’s clearly magic-- but I’ve always believed in magic, in a sense. So I just grin and start exploring, getting friendly with the kids my age in the area, lie to the adults when they ask where my parents are (”oh, our tent is over there”) and nobody even thinks twice about my accent because people from all over the world are here for the event. Of course, I’m only 15, and eventually I run into one of the people who actually coordinates the grounds, so I’m found out fairly easily; cut to me being interrogated and scared half to death by the magical authorities before who else but Dumbledore swoops in and quietly talks to them. It’s a lot, and it’s too quiet for me to hear all of it, but I manage to take away something about me obviously being magic if I found the place-- and then suddenly, this old man is offering his hand and escorting me out, telling me about a whole other world I didn’t know I could be a part of. 
I do go to Hogwarts, and I have to do a LOT of remedial studying to catch up to the other students, but it helps that I love to read about magic and studying over the summer isn’t a problem. 
In some AUs, I’m poly with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley; in others, I’m with Fred and George Weasley. Sirius Black ends up taking me under his wing along with Harry, and he doesn’t die in my canon-- neither does Fred, Remus Lupin, or Tonks.
I also have a pretty big crush on Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I haven’t got my AU timeline figured out for him yet.
MCU
Agents of SHIELD: This show is a separate AU from my other Marvel stories, but I have the same energy powers as usual. Basically, I’m an Inhuman on SHIELD’s watchlist for a long time, even before they know what Inhumans are; unlike some of the other individuals on the list, I’m friendly, cooperative. I consult on cases from time to time, mostly as needed until Phil Coulson starts putting together his dream team: that’s when he reaches out to me, asks me to be a permanent consultant to his team. I’m sort of hesitant, because permanence is restrictive when it comes to organizations like his, but I agree on my own terms. I find myself fitting in and warming up to the team more than I thought I would, and I even find myself crushing on Fitz and-- to a lesser extent-- Skye. When she gets her powers, it’s frickin’ neat as hell, but I end up fighting with the team for treating her so poorly afterward. 
Spider-Man (Tom Holland): Originally, I’m not even in New York, but rent in our area is going up, and the frequency with which certain areas in NY get destroyed leads to their rent actually being more appealing in an attempt to get people to move back. So, with everything going on, my family weighs their options and we move. It’s the end of summer when we get there, and it’s a different school district, so they make me take all sorts of tests to see where I’ll best fit in-- eventually, they put me into some prestigious school my parents are thrilled about and which I’ve never heard of. Of course, I’m much more thrilled after the first week or so: the classes are more engaging, and the students seem to know their stuff. Other than the classist rich kids, it’s paradise for nerds! And that’s before I develop a crush on a classmate (Peter Parker) and start paying attention to news about a local superhero. Around this time is when my powers start to show themselves; sparks fly, literally, and I find myself getting done with things faster than anyone else. It all comes to a head when, on my way home from school, someone falls from the upper floor of a building and I somehow manage to slow their fall so they land safely. Thoroughly freaked out, I start experimenting with my powers, seeing what I can do-- eventually, I put together my own suit and start helping out the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. (We end up dating out of costume.)
MIRACULOUS LADYBUG
So, in the ML universe, I’m an American exchange student in Paris, and I end up figuring out the identities of the local heroes fairly quickly, which leads me to help out in the crises a lot more. After a while of this, Master Fu decides to gift me with the Mouse Miraculous, which has a different power than in canon, because I developed this before the debut of Kwami Buster and honestly I kind of think Multimouse has a stupid power? Anyway, as Souris Gris, I have the power of stealth. I realize pretty quickly that my accent is gonna be an easy identifier, so I take up Langue des Signes (French Sign Language, or LSF) to use while transformed-- as a bonus, it adds to the stealth thing. Meanwhile, as my civilian self, I’m still adjusting to using conversational and situational French 24/7.
Adrien Agreste (also known as Chat Noir) is my primary f/o from this, but there’s also an AU where we’re poly with Marinette Dupain-Cheng (also known as Ladybug), who we’re both dating. 
OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB (OHSHC)
Okay, in the past with this one I’ve 100% focused on the romance, so I’m gonna make something up on the spot. I still would’ve been born to a lower middle-class family in Midwestern America-- flyover country-- but at some point in my youth, a family member wins the lottery-- literally, and not just as a figure of speech. It’s a big one, and instead of spending it, they invest; as I grow up, things start to look up for us. I’m a creative kid, and I’m bugging my parents to let me design and make my own books, games, and toys. Eventually, they cave, and that’s the story of how I become a “self-made” millionaire. 
At first, the products only really sell in North America, until a knock-off line comes out in Japan, and we release them there to curb the competition. The sales skyrocket in the Japanese isles and surrounding countries, so sometime in my preteens, my family moves to Japan to better oversee the majority of the business. After a lot of private tutoring and language classes, I beg my parents to let me go to a real school. Now, my parents, who are quickly becoming the snooty rich folks they used to curse, take some convincing, but we finally agree as long as they choose the school, which is how I end up enrolled at Ouran Academy. 
I eventually find myself meeting the host club and befriending them, which... also leads to me dating Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the notorious twins. We’re all lowkey crushing on Haruhi, but none of us do anything about it. 
THE UNIQUES
I still haven’t decided how I end up on the team to begin with, but I do know that my powers are pretty much the same in The Uniques as they are in the Arrowverse. (This is mostly because that’s my default when it comes to superpowers. Energy powers are frickin’ neat, okay?) Again, they primarily cover electricity, movement, and gravity, but in this universe I also have a little more experience bending light and manipulating heat. 
One of my f/os from this is also mentioned in the Arrowverse section because of an AU, and that’s Michael Collins. He and Scout are my boyfriends, and they’re best buds. The rest of the team (the New Guard) are our best friends, so they’re platonic f/os.
WALKYVERSE (It’s Walky!, Shortpacked!)
Technically, the Walkyverse also includes Roomies!, which comes before It’s Walky! sequentially, but I don’t even really think about that part of the comic tbh. Basically, I’m an alien abductee, so I have powers-- neat!-- and I’m an agent of SEMME-- less neat. We’re a secret government agency fighting a hostile race of aliens known only as “aliens”, which I guess are separate from other extraterrestrial races because Martians are specified as a separate race within the comic...? Anyway. I’m a SEMME agent, and I have enhanced abilities like super-strength due to my status as an abductee. Originally, I was a part of a different squad, but a mission went south, leaving me as the only surviving member. 
By the time the retrieval unit showed up, most of my teammates were already dead, and I was just barely holding up a fallen building which would have crushed me had I let go. Upon my return to SEMME HQ, I was asked to wait outside an office for a moment while the Big Boss and some poor agent tasked with debriefing him duked it out behind the closed doors. There were whispers about me, being the sole survivor of my unit and having held up a building, and people had their suspicions, but it didn’t matter. The fact was that I was the only agent that had made it through a suicide mission, which is a feat in and of itself, disregarding the valuable intel I had gathered; Big Boss eventually reassigned me to Squad 128, the most infamously effective team on payroll, and sent me off to get checked out by medical. 
My main f/o in Walkyverse is Mike Warner, a fellow SEMME agent and abductee. I’m also FWB with the titular character before he gets married-- David Walkerton (Walky)-- and Marcie. 
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sasuhinasno1fan · 7 years
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How Keith found out he was the Avatar
@shewhoridesonrainbows, I’m you backup Santa for @voltron-ss. Sorry you had to wait so long to get this, but it’s finally here. So ATLA was one of my fav shows and I always like AUs of it, especially for this fandom. I’m surprised I never actually wrote a story for this, maybe since I didn’t have an idea. Anyway, there are a bunch of places that could have given me a lot of inspiration but I decided to go with @inkandowl’s avatar au. I know they have Keith was meeting Lance to get laid, but since you asked for no NSFW, I’m gonna change it up a bit, you know to avoid getting yelled at. Also, just a heads up, I have not watch Ledged of Korra season 2-4. I’ve been meaning to but I haven’t, so a lot of the stuff, which I’m assuming means like spirts just waltzing around from what I’ve read, won’t really be in here, but I will mention a few of the cannon things I do know about. It was going to be longer but what I had written after, just didn’t seem to flow. I hope I still did ok though, enjoy.
Republic City was nothing like the Ba Sing Se. it felt livelier and there was no separation with the walls and the mixture of cultures was so much more evident. Keith couldn’t help but look around like a little kid while following his brother near the centre of town.
“Hey, keep up Keith. I don’t want to have to lose you.” Keith paid attention, focusing on his brother’s uniform. Shiro was part of the Republic City police, a prodigy firebender and Keith’s brother. Keith had been living in Ba Sing Se with his mother until she died but Shiro didn’t force Keith to move unless he wanted to. He missed his brother and Ba Sing Se just didn’t feel like home anymore without his mother, so he told his brother he’d be there and boarded the first train out.
Eventually Shiro stopped in front of a large statue. Keith stared up at it, the clenched fist shooting out flames. He looked down at the plaque that read ‘Fire Lord Zuko’.
“Here we are, essentially the centre of the Republic City. Everyone knows this place so they say it the centre, so if you get lost, just ask someone to direct you here. What do think?”
Keith looked around. It was strange how quickly it felt like home. Like, this was where he was supposed to be. “It’s amazing.”
“And in other news, the Order of the White Lotus has once again failed to find the Avatar.” Keith heard a newscaster from a passing car’s radio, “the Order estimated that the Avatar, now within the Fire cycle, was born almost 20 years ago but to the day, cannot be found. With the growing knowledge of the anti-bender, pro-Sozin fire nation era group known as the Galra, people are starting to wonder if they’ll find the Avatar in time or if they’ll be ready to help them.”
Keith didn’t have to look at Shiro to know he was tense. Galra influence of removing all benders and putting the fire nation back in charge had been seeping into Ba Sing Se when Keith left. Republic City had its fair share of similar influencers, like Amon during the time of Avatar Korra.
“I really hope the Avatar can be found soon. I’d hate to find out that this Avatar will have to be thrown into this, years down the line if the Galra aren’t stopped.” Shiro said. “It’s also not fair to the teachers that were chosen.”
“The teachers?”
“The Order of the White Lotus finds skilled benders that they believe will be good teachers for the new Avatar. I actually got to know them. A bit of a ragtag group, but I think it’s been proven with our last few Avatars that ragtag is what the Avatar works with best. One of them is working at the Jasmine Dragon nearby, want to meet him?”
Keith nodded and followed his brother further down the street. His thoughts went back to the Avatar. Honestly, he wondered how it had been so long that the Avatar had avoided detection. The only reason Aang had done so was because he was frozen in ice for 100 years. Korra had been found at a young age and the Earth cycle of the Avatar, Alfor, had been found only a few months old. The Fire Nation always tried to prove that they wouldn’t fall back to the ways during Sozin’s rule but with the Avatar missing and the threat of Galra, they were in the public’s constant eye. It seemed even fire benders would be given glares, like it was their fault the Avatar hadn’t appeared yet.
Shiro approached a well light shop and slid open the door, letting out the smells of tea and pastries come out into the street. Keith followed him in, feeling comfortable at the familiar scene. The floor was filled with evenly spaced out tables and chairs, the bar only occupied by one man but moved swiftly enough to do the work of 3. He sent a waitress out with a tray of tea and continued doing something that the counter blocked.
“Hunk!”
The dark skinned man looked up, his brown eyes brightening at the sight of Shiro. He had his brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a yellow bandana tied across his forehead.  “Shiro, hi. I didn’t think you’d be in today. Weren’t you picking up your brother day?”
Putting his hand on Keith shoulder, Shiro answered, “Already picked up. Hunk, this is my brother Keith. Keith, this is Hunk. He was brought in to be an Earth Bending teacher for the Avatar but since they haven’t been found yet, he’s been wowing the public with his cooking skills here.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.” Hunk said, rubbing the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “It just didn’t feel right allowing the monks at the Air Temple to take care of me when I wasn’t even really doing the job I was hired for. But hopefully soon.”
“Hopefully. Think we can get two cups of your spring tea? I sent the bag you gave me to Keith here and he liked it.”
“Sure. I’ll bring it over, go have a seat.”
Shiro lead Keith over to a free table and let Keith look around. He worked at the one in Ba Sing Se, so it was interesting to see how this one worked.
“Think you might want a job here? Familiar ground and all that.”
“Maybe. I need to get used to the place first.” The door to the shop opened and being curious, Keith looked over his shoulder. A tall man, his dark skin suggesting he was from the Water Tribe along with his blue eyes, walked in. his clothes were fitted to his body, showing off his physic.
“Hey Hunk.” The man called
Hunk was just coming around from behind the bar when he saw him. “Lance, hey. Off on your break?”
“Yeah. I can’t wait till the Avatar is finally found, some of these kids are horrible.” The man followed Hunk as he came over to their table and place the two cups down. “One actually asked if I was even qualified. Like, brat, your parents hired me, not the other way around. You’re not getting it right cause you’re not listening, not cause I’m a bad teacher.”
“Seems like you got your work cut out for you.” Shiro said. The man brightened slightly at the sight of him.
“Shiro, hey. Didn’t think I’d see you hear. A bit far from your station isn’t it?”
“I came to pick up my brother from the station and I’m showing him around. Keith, this is Lance, the waterbending teacher for the Avatar.”
“Though at the moment, it’s teaching snot nose brats who have their parent’s money wrapped around their fingers how to waterbend. Probably why they can’t do the moves. Nice to meet you.” Lance shook Keith’s hand. They felt cool against his usual warm skin. Being this close, he could see Lance’s eyes were bright, more than a usual person from the Water Tribe. “How are you liking it so far here?”
Keith shrugged, “ok I guess. It’s beautiful but I don’t know the whole area yet.”
“Well if Shiro here can’t take you around, I’m more than willing to show you around. I can take you to all the best places.” Keith blinked. Was Lance?
“Lance, stop flirting with my customers.” Hunk whined.
Lance just smiled and shrugged, “what, I flirt with good looking people, I can’t help it. He sent a wink in Keith’s direction, making the firebender red. He normally didn’t get so easily flustered but Lance was cute and he had never really had a guy he was interested in flirt at him before. He could see Shiro’s knowing smirk and was glaring at him Shiro’s radio went off.
“Galra forced spotted in the centre of Republic City, near the Fire Lord Statue. All available units, please respond.”
Shiro got up, “Keith, stay here. These guys go after benders and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Wait, what about you?” his brother could get hurt.
Lance put his hand on his shoulder, “hey your brother’s one of the best officers on the force. He can handle himself. Not like we can go anywhere either.” Right, Lance and Hunk were benders. They were qualified but if Keith knew his brother, they already knew that Shiro wouldn’t want them out there.
“I’ll be fine. Stay here till I get back ok?” after Keith gave a nod, Shiro ran out the door, leaving the shop quite silent. It was easy to see people were tense.
“Hey,” Lance said patting Keith on the shoulder and nodded to behind the counter, “come on. We can wait upstairs.”
Not wanting to be around all the tense people, he followed Lance behind the counter and through the door. The stairs lead up into a small living room with an attached kitchen. Lance told him to sit at the low coffee table while he got them water. While sitting in silence wasn’t the best, it was better than being around so many tense people. There were times where he wanted to search for this Avatar and shake them, reminding them they had a duty to the people. Avatar Korra almost lost her bending completely trying to stop Amon, who views had sparked the Galra’s. But she stood up and fought to help. It also wasn’t fair to people like Lance and Hunk. Both had been chosen to be teachers for someone who wasn’t even there and had to spend their times here, doing other things to keep them occupied. Lance put a glass of water next to Keith and plopped down in front of him.
“Shiro will be fine. He knows what he’s doing.”
“I know. I just wish this Avatar would be here already to do their job.”
“Fair point, but if I didn’t have so much free time on my hand, I wouldn’t get to see the amazing things the city had to offer.” Lance winked at Keith again and this time he could control his blush. Flirting wasn’t something he usually did but he definitely wanted to try on Lance.
“If I can show you something even more amazing, think you’ll take me around like you promised?”
Lance looked a bit surprised, like he didn’t think Keith would actually react, but quickly gained a smile, leaning in a bit closer. “All right fire boy, wow me. Show me some of your firebending skills.”
Keith felt confident. He could do this, he’d seen other firebenders show off for interested parties. He could do this.
And he did, just not like he thought. He hadn’t even noticed, keeping his eyes on Lance, until Lance looked down and looked stunned. He then let out a small laugh and poked at Keith’s hands. “I thought you were going to show me firebending.”
Confused, Keith looked down to see water, not fire in his hands.
“Well, you certainly showed me something even more amazing.”
Avatar. Keith was the Avatar. When Shiro finally came back, a bit bruised but still fine and had found out what Keith and Lance had discovered, he quickly took him over to the Air Temple Island, where members of the Order of the Lotus had been staying. A few tests later and it had been confirmed. Keith was the Avatar. His attempt to impress Lance had triggered his waterbending.
“But how come it was never triggered earlier?”
“The Avatar spirt works in different ways. Mostly, we’ve seen that they come out when necessary or when they know they’ll need to train early. Perhaps the Galra finally attacking helped.”
Keith wanted to agree but he had known about the Galra even before coming to Republic City. He had been trying to impress Lance when he waterbended for the first time. He was sure that was the trigger.
“So, what happens now?” Shiro asked.
“He’s going to have to train. I assume you’ve mastered your firebending?” Keith nodded, “if we had more time, you’d be trained in each element until you’ve mastered it, but people need their Avatar with the Galra around. You’ll have to be trained in all of them at once. Things will not be easy I’m afraid.”
That was an understatement. He meet Allura, his airbending teacher and Pidge, a plantbender who was supposed to help him with his connection to the Spirt World because of the connection of the swamp she lived in had to the spirt world. Training was hard. Hunk was a good teacher, making things clear. Allura was rather harsh for an airbender. He always pictured them to be calm but that didn’t seem to be the case with her. Pidge wasn’t as bad. She had been impressed when he was able to send himself to the spirt world so quickly. It was a matter of mastering meditation techniques and understanding how to roam around the spirt world.
Lance, well…he wasn’t a bad teacher. Waterbending wasn’t bad, it was just that Lance took every opportunity to remind Keith he had unlocked his abilities trying to impress him. Keith usually shot him down saying it was a lapse of judgement.
Keith collapsed on a bench. Allura was standing in front of him, glaring down at him.
“This is not the time for a break. You haven’t even been able to properly bend air. You get waterbending fine and I saw you moving rocks yesterday.”
“This isn’t exactly easy for me.”
“If you don’t get some sort of control soon, the Galra are going to be able to wipe the floors with you.”
“Allura, a few weeks ago, the Galra were just a group of people with some messed up views. If they tried to bother me, yes I’d react. I didn’t expect to come to Republic City and find out that I’m the Avatar that’s been missing for almost 20 years and I’m getting thrown a fight with this group. I am not Avatar Aang, he had more time before the war became a thing to master this. I don’t have that time, so lay off!” Keith stomped back inside and collapsed in his room.
He missed Shiro and the easiness of Ba Sing Se. he missed his mom. He just wanted things to go back to normal. He heard a knock on the door and Hunk called his name.
“Keith, can we come in? The monks are talking to Allura so she’s not here.”
“We want to make sure you’re ok.” Lance. Lance wanted to check up on him. Keith might brush off Lance’s reminders during training, but actually, he liked Lance. Watching him bend was amazing and whenever Keith would get a move right, Lance’s face would bright up. He was sure the more time spent together, the more his crush would grow.
His door swung open and Pidge came strutting in, Lance and Hunk still on the other side.
“Pidge! You can’t just walk into a guy’s bedroom like that. He might want to be alone.” Hunk said.
“And we’ll just worry if we leave him. Get in here.” Pidge replied.
They still looked hesitant so Keith called them in. they closed the door behind them and all sat by where Keith had his head, looking concerned.
“I take it you heard?”
“Heard, saw, in Hunk’s rock vision case, felt.” Pidge said.
“I know I should be getting this, but it’s not really easy. I barely move rocks as it is. Waterbending is just easy cause it’s the first one I could do.”
“It’s not your fault. You’re being asked to learn 3 new types of bending in a short amount of time. Plus you’re being thrown to the Galra, so.” Hunk said.
“But you want to know something?” Lance put his hand on Keith and looked right at him, “we’re right here. You’re not going into this fight alone. You’ve got 4 amazing teachers who are right behind you.”
“Wow, a compliment that included other people than you. I’m impressed.” Pidge said, earning her a glare.
But Keith felt thankful. These people had every right to be mad at him for taking so long to appear but they had been nothing but encouraging.
“Anyway, you might not have as much time as Avatar Aang did, but we’re not going to stop training you.”
“You’ll be ready to fight the Galra. On sight approach tends to work much better anyway.” Pidge commented
“And don’t worry about Allura. She’s as worried as you are which is why she’s pushing so hard. But like Lance said, we’re not going anywhere.” Hunk said.
He remembered that when Allura came to apologize. He remembered it during his training, getting better at controlling all the elements. He membered that when news of the Fire Nation being taken over by the Galra came. The Fire Lord had been over thrown, his bending taken and thrown in his own kingdom’s cell. The Avatar was to go to the Fire Nation to stop the Galra, stopping at any village that needed help along the way. Keith had tried not to panic when Shiro told him he was coming with him.
“You are my brother and I promised mom I’d take care of you. I don’t care if you’re a master of all the elements now, you’re my brother and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The night before they were meant to leave, Keith was sitting out by the dock trying to calm his mind, which is where Lance found him. He sat next to him and kept quiet until Keith finally spoke.
“I don’t know if I can do this. All these other Avatars had help and better control. How am I supposed to help people if I barely know what to do myself?”
“Remember when you yelled at Allura cause she kept expecting you to get airbending in a snap and you stomped off to your room? Remember what I told you then?” Keith shrugged, though the words kept resounding in his mind. Lance took his hand and Keith couldn’t help but look at him, “you’re not going in this alone. We’ll be right there with you, every step of the way. Besides, I still need to show you around Republic City.” Keith felt stunned. Show him around, did Lance? Lance just left him with a secretive smile and told him to get some rest.
When Keith did return to his room, he didn’t feel nervous anymore. He had people behind him, helping him. He’d stop the Galra, and when it was all over, he’d get Lance to show him around like he promised. He would definitely try and impress him one more time, if it got another date from him.
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