#Am I writing Mailee fic?

[zukkaoru]

the most (only) important post-canon arc for mai is her learning to let herself be vulnerable. learning that she does not have to spend the rest of her life suppressing both the good and the bad - she is allowed to be sad and angry, and she is also allowed to be happy and loved. mai spent her entire life perfecting an apathetic demeanor, perfecting a persona that does not care about anything. and, therefore, turning herself into someone who not only bottles up the negative emotions but also shuts out the positive ones. at boiling rock, she finally makes a move that puts her true feelings on display, and that paves the way for her to open herself back up to all of the feelings she has spent her entire life ignoring.

post-canon, mai's arc is not only about learning she's allowed to be sad, she's allowed to be angry, she's allowed to react to the trauma she went through. it is also about her learning that she is allowed to have good things. she doesn't have to punish herself for craving affection and love. she is allowed to want, and she is allowed to want whoever she wants. she does not have to hide her feelings for ty lee, does not have to suppress her attraction to women, does not have to assume that whatever marriage she is forced into will feel like a chore at best and a life of torture at worst.

mai has gone her entire life not receiving affection. even her relationship with zuko was stilted and forced, neither of them quite sure how to show that they cared for the other because they didn't care for each other in a romantic way. it was awkward and messy, and while mai might hate zuko for running, she's also grateful because she hated it too. so when, post-canon, she and ty lee end up together, it takes mai a while to understand how to accept ty lee's affection. it takes mai time to be used to someone who kisses her cheeks, her forehead, her hands spontaneously; someone who calls her lovely and starlight; someone who will hug her whenever she needs it and also whenever she wants it. it takes mai a long time to accept all of the love ty lee has for her - to realize that she doesn't have to earn every hug, she doesn't have to be on the verge of a breakdown for ty lee to kiss her forehead, she doesn't have to spend her life trying to be worthy of affection. this affection is hers to have and to keep and to cherish and ty lee is freely offering it to her, no strings attached.

mai's arc is about learning to be vulnerable, learning to be loved, and learning to be held. it is about falling asleep next to the girl she loves and not tensing up when ty lee pulls her close. it is about mai learning to open herself up and trust ty lee. it is about ty lee's arm over mai's torso, mai's back pressed to her chest, finally, finally letting herself be held. finally letting herself be loved. finally letting herself be at peace. it is about the fact that she no longer shies away from affection, no longer fighting with the voices in her mind that tell her to break free from ty lee's arms because she does not deserve this love. for mai, vulnerability is not only crying and being angry and breaking down - it is embracing the (physical) affection that her friends and girlfriend want to give her. it is falling asleep in ty lee's arms, sleeping soundly through the night, and waking up to mid-morning sunlight, all without doubting how worthy she is to call this happiness hers.

#mailee #okay yeah this post has been swirling around in my mind for a while now but i finally managed to like. put my thoughts into words #anyway. this is why i believe in little spoon mai supremacy <3 #uhhh this isn't technically my entry for day 5 of mailee week but it wasn't not inspired by the cuddling prompt so #shosh if you see this and you would like to rb to the mailee week account feel free but also you don't have to skdgfkj #i am still working on an actual fic but i needed to dispel these thoughts before i could continue skdhjgfkh #atla #mai #ty lee #avatar: the last airbender #atla headcanons #ALSO please know this is NOT attacking anyone specifically!! tbh i think they probably switch who is the big and little spoon #i just think mai is more often the little spoon #because it's very important to me that she gets to be held and she gets to know that she doesn't have to feel guilty for it #um. yeah anyway #gonna throw this out into the void. see y'all later #if this post starts mailee sp00ncourse i'm deleting my account #/j #grace's writing tag #(not exactly but i want it in that tag) #hello grace here

[entityupdates]

2023 Fanfic Summary

I posted 10 new fics this year, finished 2 fics from previous years, and I have 5 unposted.

I started the year by finishing a few WIPs. Specifically,

The final installment of my Rook Gets the Omnitrix AU series

A continuation of my ATLA fic The Spirits Threw Down Their Spears And Watered Heaven With Their Tears

I then wrote a few oneshots:

Synapses, a Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon platonic soulmate au

Death Comes In Threes, an ATLA fic focused on Zuko's reactions to Lu Ten, Azulon, and Ursa's deaths

I Want You In My Life (But Not Like That), an mcu fic about Clint and Natasha's (queerplatonic) relationship

We're Not Star-Crossed, another ending to Puss In Boots: The Lass Wish. Soulmates!

Around April I said I wasn’t going to write any more fanfiction and instead I was going to write some original works but that didn’t happen because I was then immediately consumed by Submas and began writing a Hisuian Zoroark Ingo fic.

Masking (complete), the main fic. Ingo becomes a Hisuian Zoroark and returns to Unova

Whoops, We Forgot To Tell Iris (oneshot), an unused epilogue to Masking

Boss, Warden, Alpha (oneshot), another unused epilogue to Masking

Destructive Interference (incomplete), a spin-off to Masking where Ingo gets caught by Rei

Between finishing Masking and starting Destructive Interference, I wrote two other fics:

Immortality Is Hard On the Mind (complete), a submas fic where Volo befriends the twins before Ingo's disappearance

We're Not the Monsters of Your Dreams (incomplete, unposted), a Submas werewolf/vampire/monster AU of PLA.

Some other things I wrote/worked on during the year:

Who Am I?, a oneshot for that new Superman cartoon except Superman is trans in this one

Hypoxia, a short (ATLA) Mailee Hanakaki AU

Currently untitled Miraculous oneshot (unposted) where Gabriel doesn't make the wish in time and instead tells Adrien everything

Currently untitled/unposted longfic Miraculous/MCU crossover

I also continued to work on the fourth (fifth?) rewrite Naruto/Young Justice crossover fic that I have never mentioned on ao3 or tumblr but has been in the works for nearly five years and I still have no plans to post it anytime soon

By my estimate, this is around 230K words.

#fanfiction #pokemon #fanfic #ao3 link #subway master ingo #warden ingo #subway boss ingo #zoroark #miraculous fanfic #miraculous #miraculous fanfiction #ben 10 #rook blonko #superman #my adventures with superman #atla #mailee #bbt #big bang theory #the big bang theory #pibtlw #pib the last wish

[bluespiritshonour]

Are you a pro-shipper?

I think I'll call myself ship-neutral.

Like, I don't have strong feelings about ships. I join fandoms because I like character beats in the original—ships are just icing on the cake and I can do without them.

I'm a basic bitch that likes all canon ships. Kataang and Maiko and Sukka in ATLA. Even though I believe it wouldn't have mattered if Maiko and Kataang didn't end up together; they were all so young anyways. Plus it didn't have THAT much narrative significance. They could've hinted at Kataang being a thing in the future and Maiko could have used a LOT of better writing as well. I love them together though, goth babies. But I can accept that they didn't have the best writing. I personally have a lot of problem with how their relationship was written although I do ship them.

But still, I like those ships. And Suki and Sokka are absolutely adorable, I don't have any complains regarding Sukka.

And on top of them you throw Zukka, Zutara, Mailee, Sukko (I guess that's what Zuko/Sokka/Suki is called) fanworks at me and I'll eat them up. But I also wouldn't mind if ATLA didn't have any ships at all and they were all platonic. Anything goes and I don't like all the drama that comes with shipwars.

And I'm an absolute sucker for platonic relationships.

For example I'd take an Azula redemption arc and reconciliation with Zuko over any kind of ship content anyday.

I'd take a “the Gaang realises Katara takes on a lot of adult responsibilities (which they do realise) and tries to mitigate that because she's also a kid like them and she doesn't have to” anyday over some romantic plot. Like, am I making sense?

It's the same with Batman. BatCat or Brutalia? Dickkory or DickBabs? Um, can't I like both? On top of them I have a huge list of favourite SuperBat and GhostBat fics.

But what I'd actually like to see is not the ships but Bruce having some character development and learning to be a good father. Which would never happen so I'm over Batman.

TLDR: I'm ship-neutral. I care more about characters and their relationships with each other, romantic or otherwise. But ships are nice for enjoyment and I don't hate them.

Edit: if this ask was in reaction to my writing “antis DNI” in my blog description then what I meant by that was DNI if you're, like anti-Aang, or anti-Mai or if you constantly compare Sokka and Katara and pit them against each other—or if you pit Zuko and Azula against each other (come on you ain't Ozai!). Like, I understand comparing their characters—that's media analysis. But like, it doesn't have to be a contest. So and so is better than so and so. That kinda thing. I love all the babies. Both of team Avatar and team Azula. They're all well-written, three-dimensional characters.

The only kind of anti I am is anti-Bruce Wayne. He's also a very well written, three dimensional character and he's also a cunt. I know I just contradicted the previous paragraph. So what? What of it?

#atla #batman #avatar the last airbender #shipping #ps: don't drag me into shipwars not my cup of tea #im here for an entirely different reason #it's pretty art and mild character analysis #and before someone comes at me with the fact that canon did deal with the fact that katara takes care of everyone #like sokka acknowledges it and is grateful for her #but id have really liked it if she too learned to let go and be a child #like if slowly she didn't have to do that all the time #she's still caring and compassionate #but the gaang can help her relax #argh I'm bad with words #anonymous letters

[angellknives]

are u gonna post any fics for mailee week? love ur writing btw

I definitely am! And thank you so much!! That means so much to me💜. Here is a little snippet of the first chapter of a mailee fic I’m working on!! It’s a continuation of ‘too good to be true’:

Mai lingers by one of the fold out tables, barely looking up when Ty Lee ducks beside her, beaming.

“Hi, Mai.”

Her black lips purse, matte and unaffected by her time in the pool, and it’s barely a frown; a twitch of undisguised disinterest, but it’s enough for Ty Lee to grasp onto with delight.

“I like your hair tonight,” Ty Lee says, twisting her own braid between two fingers. There’s a flutter of nervousness pooling in her stomach, an unfamiliar weight she’s rarely had the burden of carrying. But Mai is ethereal under a red glare of light, flickering from poorly hung LEDs.

“It looks very pretty when you wear it down,” Ty Lee continues, when Mai maintains a stony silence, eyeing the last bottle of pink gin with intrigue.

Before she can make a grab for it, Ty Lee plucks it up, hiding it behind her back with a wide grin.

Mai’s thin lips curve, and she turns, finally meeting Ty Lee’s eye, a scowl twisting the delightfully red apples of her cheeks.

“What?”

There’s few others who could make irritation sound so severe, like a gust of exasperated wind, fed up with everything in its path.

“Is it alright if we share?” Ty Lee asks eagerly, brandishing the bottle with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle, “gin is my favourite.”

It’s not a lie, either. Any drink tinged with pink ends up cradled by her hands at some point during the night, always sweet and light, instead of the disgusting tang of expensive whiskey that Azula favours.

“I’ll find a different drink,” Mai says flatly, turning on bare feet to stalk into the crowded kitchen. Ty Lee follows, ducking under an elbow half blocking the doorway, easily keeping sight of Mai’s head, hovering over almost everyone. Billows of smoke erupt from a poorly wrapped joint, dangling from the fingers of a grinning Jin. It wafts with the breeze from the open windows, and Mai is a hazy figure disappearing through the cased opening.

“Hi, Ty,” Jin calls, though Ty Lee only spares her a jubilant wave, skipping lightly on her feet until she catches sight of Mai again, scowling down at a harassed looking Sokka.

“Stop playing garbage,” Mai is saying when Ty Lee sidles up next to them, eyeing the expensive record player that’s hooked up to an array of large speakers.

“Does Zuko know you have that down here?” Ty Lee asks, curiously.

There’s a sticky cup dangerously close to the glimmering case.

“It’s not garbage,” Sokka snaps hotly, “it’s classic.”

“It’s boring,” Mai says impatiently, apathetic to the offence painted across Sokka’s face, “if I have to listen to one more song by Kiss-“

“Let’s sit by the hot tub,” Ty Lee urges, when Sokka begins to turn an infuriated red, “it’s finally empty!”

Mai glances down at her, lingering briefly with guarded eyes, before snatching the bottle of gin back with a heavy sigh.

“Fine.”

She turns to Sokka, who opens his mouth, reconsiders, and shuts it again.

“I’ll change it, I’ll change it,” he grumbles, “impatient, gloomy-“

The rest of his sentence is muffled by the raucous crowd that parts as Ty Lee tugs Mai through it, floating through the swaths of people as if they were a field of swaying flowers. A few people wink, some leer, and she recognizes a few girls from the gymnastics team, who whistle drunkenly at her, tittering at their own genius.

Ty Lee merely grins.

If there’s anyone who would know about her horrendously large crush on Mai, it would be the Kyoshi girls she gossips to as they warm up, stretching their legs and laughing about their coaches malinger (a headache, apparently, but more obviously a hangover, if her Snapchat story the previous night was anything to go by.)

#mailee #my writing #too good to be true #mailee week #thank you again anon!! you are so sweet

[maaaxx]

my wips are stressing me out so you guys have to hear about it

or not i dont care

Cots

literally fighting for my life out here with this new wip. I could have the first chapter (???) out in like a few days but like,,, i dont want to do that

but im also not getting any immediate dopamine from this so im having trouble working on it.

Im also scared of having a new audience because like aside from a set few people most of my mutuals know me from ihiap and yall are nice and new people scare me

I even gatekeep ihiap, like if you dont know me from ihiap your not allowed to know about ihiap

a lot more people read that fic than i thought and it stresses me out

off track

i do genuinely think cots is going to be better than ihiap because ive had like two years now to figure out how to interact with fandom and im friends with other writers not and have more of a grasp of my writing style than i did before.

so im really excited about this

but i have enough trouble updating ihiap idk about doing two fics at once

but if i wait until im done with ihiap thatll take like two more fucking years

and ill lose focus

and wont do this fic

again, getting off track.

theres still so much that im not sure about with this fic. Like Zuko I think is the main character

But Sokka is EXTREMELY relevant

so i think im going to split the povs

But theyre at opposite ends of the world at any given time and sokka isnt going to (physically) be doing much.

so im not sure how to approach that

also i have no clue what the fuck kataras doing

like miss girl has two options and what she chooses will DRASTICALLY change the story like SHE controls the plot not me.

Sokka and Zuko are just there for the ride

Azula is also going to be relevant

like the story is about them 4 no one else matters

except aang maybe but like hes actually the avatar in this so thats a given

my first story where aangs the avatar!!!

also outlines are hard

and prologues are hard.

Ill be back with more complaints later

Ihiap

I have a love/hate relationship with ihiap. The characters in it are amazing theyre my favorite people ever. Some might make a cameo in cots, i havent decided yet.

REasons i hate ihiap:

-I accidentally stole half my ocs i talk about this a lot and ive been reassured but im not going to get over it. I hate myself

-Its so badly written like half the time There are some parts that i absolutely love and some that make me want to delete the entire fic. Like ive actually considered it multiple times. I hate it so much, so much second hand embarrassment. Is it second hand embarrassment if I'm the one who wrote it???? -Zuko is so ooc he might as well be an oc

-I dont even know twf azula is doing Azula and Mailee is one of the plot holes that drives me nuts. Because like I wrote Ty Lee into a scene but miss girl is supposed to be in the circus by now. I forgot about that part. Also Theres a certain detail about Azula and MaiLee thats going to be very prevelant near the end of book 3 but i forgot to imply or write that in so thats going to come out of no where. -most major events were impulsive and had no value to the actual plot Examples: That stupid soldier dude, the islands thing. I hate these parts and im going to write them out eventually -PLOT HOLES Reasons why Ihiap is the best piece of literature ever written:

-Relationships and characters

So the thing is despite the fact that theres so many things im bad at doing in writing/havent had enough practice yet, there are things that I know that I am great at writing.

One of these things is delevoping relationships.

I'm really good at making people and relationships very complex and this isnt something that someone can change my mind over, like this is something that i love the way i do it.

This is one of the only redeeming qualities of ihiap.

-I love the plot.

I really want to redo this to do the plot justice because i do think it has potential.

Overall i think that ihiap has more good than bad but the mad really does bother me. If your ever rereading and there seems to be some stuff missing or changed its because im eventually going to go through and edit the shit out of it.

As of now the next chapter (chapter 14) has like 600 words. Chapter 15 has i think 445 and chapter 16 is completely done, chapter 17 had like half a sentence, then were done with twbb.

Chapter 16 is where stuff gets interesting.

Im perfectly aware that TWBB is boring but it was meant to be. I needed it to be for Zuko to not go insane and then also develop Tomnooks relationship (because believe it or not theyre not COMPLETELY self indulgement and they are important) and also Sokka and Katara and Zuko needed that sibling relationship. So i needed like a 17 chapter book in between the two main books for that stuff.

I'm so excited for the next book. Especially like the second half. Its also (most likely) going to be updated a lot more frequently than twbb. Twbb was a pain in the ass because there was very little actual plot and it was just day to day stuff. So i had nothing to go off us.

Like Book 1 was all about the crew and Zuko to kind of learn and build relationships and shit and Book 3 is going to be a lot easier because it has a lot of actual plot and a goal and shit.

Totp

" idk about doing two fics at once" miss girl you already are supposed to be doing two fics at once.

Im not even trying with this fic, if your invested, im sorry. I've thought about deleting it but i decided against it just in case i want to come back to it.

Its not looking good though.

This is what happens when i dont outline my fics

#did anyone ask for this? #no #but its how i sort my head out and i supposed it wouldnt hurt to share with you how this stuff is going #just in case you want to know. #cots #ihiap #totp #uhh what else #twbb #max thinks shes relevant

[homeagainrose]

I give you dear readers! The Fire Prince Who Loves Me!

It's my Bridgerton meets Avatar fic solely because of this quote: “If we find nothing, I shall offer myself up for your target practice.”

This is our tale:

Fire Prince Zuko - son of Lady Ursa and deposed Ozai - has decided it is time to marry. He's present at the same courting season his younger sister Azula must endure. He will find a bride and he will keep his family intact.

Katara is determined to find her best friend, Yue, a husband. She needs one to take the Northern Throne. She just never expected the gentlemen to be this useless.

Mashed up world. No prior knowledge of Bridgerton required. Even though we know you can see the end.

I love them so much. Zutara comes with YuTen, Sukka, Mailee, Teoaang, and Jetzula. Slow perhaps but when has that gone wrong?

Should I be writing other things? Yes.

Am I writing the shiny new the muses like? Also yes.

Cheers and enjoy!

This fic is not rated for those under the age of consent in your country. It is meant for adults and we wish this to be respected

Also adults, wouldn't read at work. Well after this chapter.

#zutara #YuTen #atla sukka #teoaang #mailee #jetzula #ships coming #slow burn #Bridgerton influenced #fanfic

[juniperhillpatient]

deep fic writer asks

4, 5 (I think I know the answer), 10, 11, 20

4. what fic of your own do you read for comfort?

hmm, I don't really go back & read my own fics too much but...maybe The Things We Leave Behind? That fic I'm quite proud of the romances & I wrote some scenes for Azutara, Jetko & Mailee that do make me smile as well as some of the Azula & Zuko moments & the friend group as a whole

5. what fic of your own won't you read?

I don't know...I mean there's nothing I wrote that I WON'T read I did write it after all but yeah probably No Amount of Freedom Gets You Clean is the fic of mine that I made a lot of choices I wouldn't now & went pretty dark with it so it's a little hard to go back to.

10. how has writing positively impacted your mental health or overall mood?

I guess in that it's an escape. It also gives me purpose & something to feel validated over. I feel proud of my writing like I don't over anything else I do. & that's not in a depressing "I'm not good at anything else" way I think I am good at other stuff it's just that I don't have that passion for anything else.

11. has a fic you’ve written ever caused issues/controversy?

Well, the recent controversy over Zucest on this blog comes to mind lmao. I'm not even pretending to skirt around that anymore, a lot of people (or perhaps just one person) didn't like me joking about/making insinuations about incest in Buffy Au. Oh well xD Also, I got a lot of shit for the last names in my TVD AU because they were "white" last names despite them being based on the characters in the AU. Lol other than that I don't think so

20. What’s the greatest gift you’ve gotten from your writing?

Okay, I'm not sure if this one means like gifts other people have gotten me? Because of my writing? Hm. A few come to mind. Someone made really cool fan art of Azula & Katara in Cold Feet & they also made fan art of the severed feet in that fic. I can't find the art anymore though sadly :( Also, someone made a cake that said "RIP TVD AU" when TVD AU ended & submitted a pic to me & I found that iconic & hilarious. Kyoruchi also made fan art of Azula inspired by TVD AU & that was also super cool! And then of course there are wonderful comments from people like yourself that I just absolutely live for & that keep me going

Thank you so much for the ask!!! <3

#asks #answered #theo #writing #ask games #this was fun to think about

[southsidestory]

Do you ever see an image and think "every single person pictured here is astoundingly queer"?

#atla #atla headcanons #mailee #mai x ty lee #bisexual Zuko rights #bisexual Azula rights #queer headcanons #Am I writing Mailee fic? #maybe #and by maybe I mean yes #Mai also gives me bi vibes #And possibly demi #Ty Lee is 1000% pansexual #I will not be taking questions at this time #atla humor #top posts #400+ #500+ #600+

[hello-yue-here]

"cherry" a mailee oneshot now posted on AO3!!!

remember when i said i would write a mailee oneshot for when i hit 200 followers and then i never finished it?

well here i am at nearly 300 followers later and i finally finished it!!!

nothing but mailee fluff and a minor zukka subplot for comedic effect here. i hope you enjoy it!!!

read "cherry" here!

#mailee #mailee fic #mai #ty lee #mai x ty lee #this is the fic that i would not shut up ab that i said i would promise to finish #i did it #someone give me a gold star #anyways #im proud of myself #ending could be better i might edit that in the future but for now i am satisfied #atla #avatar the last airbender #my writing #this is the good good #atla fic #avatar fic

[zukkaoru]

sits. hello grace. give me the top five fics ur most proud of

oh this is. so hard uhmm

1. (i am) the whisper of a memory - this has to be number 1. this is probably my favorite fic i've ever written. i don't want to spoil it but i made some risky stylistic choices and i think they really really paid off bc it turned out so good and i've had multiple people tell me it is THE megumi fic of all time and that is a badge i wear with great pride

2. the body i'm in - my akutagawa siblings character study fic!! also known as body dysmorphia: the fic. this fic was actually a really early idea i had shortly after i got into bsd so i'm proud that i not only managed to write it but also that i was happy with how it turned out after daydreaming about it for so long

3. alive & free (look at me!) - i've only had this fic finished for about a month but. wow. i really wrote 22k words about two characters i previously hardcore struggled with in one week. there's something so very wrong with me but at least it's mildly entertaining for a handful of people on the internet

4. the things all come and gone - my geto with sleep issues character study fic!! this got way longer than i expected but i think it turned out so well and i had so much fun writing it

5. this ultraviolet morning light - i think this one has to go on the list bc it's the longest fic i have published sitting at a pretty 86k words and i still can't believe i actually did that

honorable mentions: to know i am real (yuki & riko canon divergence au) brushed pink with false fire (utahime character study ft. shokohime) of all the stars, the fairest (mailee fake dating) a little bit of you & a little bit of me (modern au jinora character study)

#i'm proud of a lot of my fics for different reasons so this was. challenging dfgfhgjhkj #like there are so many more i could have included.. #you're a cage without me ; where the fields are painted gold ; entertain my faith ; if one of us dies ; etc etc #but anyways yes i think these are some of my best works from over the years lol #the writing in some of the older ones could be a bit better imo but i'm biased #bc i know how i can write now and i know i've improved significantly #ty for the ask!! #louie tag #asks

[firelord-boomerang]

The Holiday Zukka & Mailee AU

About Sokka

A year after ending his longest relationship, successful entrepreneur Sokka decides to take a break from his busy everyday life and enlists on a home exchange program.

He sees a charming but absolutely posh house in the foreign countryside and immediately asks for a swap.

The person on the other end agrees no questions asked. Suspicious, yes. Will he ask? No. The other person doesn’t even ask about the house, which only had the picture of the exterior.

Sokka gives a short notice to his friends and family about him leaving for a couple of weeks to another country and to not be alarmed by the stranger residing in his home in the meantime. 

About Mai

Mai is bored out of her mind and really wants to get out of the countryside living. She was only supposed to stay in the province to handle business for her parents for a few months, but it’s been years and she can’t seem to leave.

She’s stuck in a rut and she so desperately wants to have a new adventure but isn’t sure how to go about it. Cue the home exchange program.

The request has no information other than it’s in a city and country she’s never been before. She doesn’t need other details, she accepts immediately.

She tells no one about her leaving. She just packs up and leaves to another country no plan in place.

About Zuko

Zuko is a single father who is raising his daughter with the help of his uncle. He’s a lawyer who really has time for two things work and family. Also, he only has one friend and that’s Mai, who he occasional visits without warning but he’s sure she appreciates that (she kind of does).

His Uncle Iroh is always asking when he’ll settle down and find someone because he’s worried about his Nephew and Zuko keeps saying that he’s not interested in anyone (but really it’s because he’s scared for fall in love again).

He does not know that Mai left the country so one day he drops by her house after a long day at work in the city, and he’s also a little drunk because corporate attorneys know how to party. He goes to her house to sleep off the alcohol and because he doesn’t want his daughter to see him a tipsy.

He is baffled when the person who answers the door is not Mai, but instead of wonderfully handsome stranger.

About Ty Lee

Ty Lee is one of Sokka’s closest friends and also has been having some existential trouble as of late trying to find her place in the world. But she doesn’t let that faze her and everyone thinks she’s fine.

She tries so hard to keep up appearances but she really needs someone to talk to right now.

She drops by Sokka’s house because he gives out great advice sometimes but instead of her trusty friend, she meets a beautiful but awfully serious looking woman who probably wants nothing more than to be left alone.

After figuring out what was happening and getting to know each other, she realizes that Mai is a kindred spirit and thinks that they could be wonderful friends.

#zukka #mailee #my post #what i do instead of writing fics #rip yall #droo by the asks #for more hcs #or gimme ur hcs #or u know what maybe i will write this #ill write all of the wips #lols #who am i kidding #anyways #here ya go

[oceansabove]

hey guys I wrote a MaiLee fic! check it out :)

#avatar the last airbender #mailee #mai #ty lee #avatar renaissance #mailee fic #atla #i guess i am kind of an avatar blog now might as well use it to promote my writing

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

#fandom crit #longpost #like seriously long post strap in #misogyny #death tw #murder tw #abuse cw #sexualization of minors #ableism #racism #fandom racism #zukka crit #swearing tw #suki #yue #katara #ty lee #mai #toph #azula

[shifuaang]

If you want to…Zukka! And Ursa/June 👀 (yes I really just want you to say more about them)

Hello friend!

Let's rant about Zukka for a moment, shall we?

I have a lot of issues with the ship itself, one of them simply being that I don't see the chemistry. Sokka liked Zuko for a total of seven episodes in the series and even then was using him as a punching bag most of the time. Most of their conversations are about their respective girlfriends. There are some ships that I genuinely dislike that are more believable and have more of a canon basis than Zukka. They should have stayed a rarepair.

But the main grievance I take with Zukka is with the shippers themselves.

This doesn't go for all Zukka shippers of course, but I feel like a lot of it is rooted in misogyny and the pairing of two mostly traditionally masculine, conventionally attractive men which happens a lot in fandom. As a result of this, they end up projecting A LOT of Aang's traits onto Zuko or Katara's traits onto Sokka and exalt Zuko and Sokka as the most progressive characters when Aang is the least gender conforming and Katara is the feminist heroine of the story. The people they're shipping simply aren't Zuko and Sokka in any capacity. And it's super frustrating how these shallow, fabricated versions of genuinely great, well-written characters have become so pervasive in the fandom. Zuko is not a pathetic femboy who needs a 'manly man' to take care of him. This, coupled with the spicy hot headcanon that 'Zuko taught Sokka how to read', offers a small insight into the racist takes that are unfortunately and uncomfortably popular among Zukka shippers.

They flood the tags and saturate every inch of the fandom even where they aren't invited. They have the mentality of 'our ship has explicit canon proof and if you don't like it, you're homophobic' and were the ones who started the 'Katara is a homophobe' headcanon. (Which a lot of them have backpedaled on and called a joke, but there are like pages of meta dedicated to it on tumblr.) I've seen them blame the writers of 'queerbaiting' them, and the false crusading for gay rights really bothers me.

Zukka shippers also HATE Jet, and there are a lot of Zukka fics that make Jet Zuko's abusive ex for no other reason other than there is canon evidence that Jet possibly had a crush on Zuko and Jetko was the main mlm Zuko ship before Zukka took over. They tend to sideline or demonize Mai, making her a surrogate for Zuko and Sokka so that they can have a kid or 'shipping' Mailee or [insert interchangeable wlw ship here] just to get her out of the way. They similarly sideline Aang and have a very limited understanding of his character, assigning significant Zukaang moments to Zukka instead (ie interactions with the Blue Spirit and rainbow fire).

So yeah, I generally really dislike Zukka sans a handful of shippers who liked them before the ATLA Renaissance and respect the fact that Zukka was only ever meant to be a fun lil crackship.

MOVING ON

Ursa x June is my next big brain venture! I'm so excited to write about them, and the possibilities are endless. I am always a sucker for reluctant travel companions falling in love. The tension, the yearning, the close proximities... I can't get enough of it! And I think June would offer and represent this sense of freedom, individuality, and authority that Ursa ached for growing up under certain restrictions and expectations. And June being Zuko's stepmom is honestly the funniest shit ever.

#anti zukka #just to be safe lol #ask meme #ursa x june #ladytortillachip #long post #rant

[babydotcom]

mai? ❤

may: i just think mai and i would have a lovely relationship. i could watch her throw her knives and we could listen to shitty emo music together and- i'm totally kidding (but am i?) but seriously

mailee: just. duh. it's about the way they're opposites but it goes deeper than the goth gf x pink gf dynamic. aesthetically, they are divine. but my favorite thing about them is that they have such different but complimentary responses to their similar traumas-- ty lee gets to express every emotion while mai expresses none, and they both step in to protect each other from azula in really subtle ways. they're there for each other first and foremost, and the betrayal at boiling rock is evidence of that. i genuinely gasped out loud, because by god they fucking put that act of devotion on display for all to see. yes, ty lee was also protecting azula from herself, but the way they are there for each other throughout their run on the show makes my heart happy. i like that they're both fucking terrifying in different ways and they compliment each other like puzzle pieces and this really isn't articulated very well at all but you know what i mean

maiki: liiisten. this one's pretty rare but i like it. so. much. grace i think u were the one who put me on or rbd an art about them but. they're just such a calm, quietly powerful pair and i think suki would see really well through mai's exterior and get her to open up a bit, and mai would have an appreciation for suki's devotion to the warriors and her connection to her "family" in the warriors and a cause she really believes in. it's almost like if you toned mailee down a couple notches and removed all of the baggage. idk. it's nice. plus i started a mailee fic a while back that was supposed to have maiki as a stepping stone but i realized while writing it that it just works somehow.

maiko: as i said in my post for zuko, i like it for what it is when it is and not much more.

send me a character and a heart emoji and i'll tell you all my ships for them

#multishipper ask game #ask games #mai #mailee #maiki #maiko #atla #mine

[ofherlionheart]

hi! I wanted to ask, just because, what are your top 3 atla ships??

ooooh shit i've never thought abt this? obvi s and z gotta be up there. how crazy would it be if i were writing this many fics about them and they WEREN'T in my top 3

after that it's maybe kaatang and mailee? i'm fascinated by the thought of kataang growing older/growing into each other, and i do think about mailee sometimes (esp in the like the sun context — where did their friendship begin? how much of their relationship's course was run by azula? how do they come to recognize they're queer, first within themselves and then to each other, and when does their relationship develop into a romantic one?)

ik this probably isnt a very exciting answer :( what can i say. i am basic sometimes

#if we're going beyond atla it would def be zukka korrasami and rangshi tho #korrasami but with the version of asami that lives in my head #i have literally never read the kyoshi novels but i vibe so hard w the fanart #okay WAIT THO also miz pencilscratchin's version of piandao and jeong jeong #im obsessed w them #atla