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#and katara is just . universally fun to draw. i love her so much

asfearlessasamango · 2 months

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here i ammmmm i hope this isnt the longest ask ever lol but i cannot overstate how GORGEOUS i find your prose. the phrase “tiredness curls up in each joint like old cats in old corners” is so absolutely evocative and paints such a melancholic, beautiful, rich picture in my mind every time i remember it. i could actually get it tattooed thats how seriously beautiful i find it. most of all i loooooooove the amount of social norms, architectural details, cultural differences etc etc you infused in the story to fill in the gaps of the canon universe. the choice of using of rice paper vs. glass and all the reasoning behind it is the example that comes to mind, but im sure that if i knew more about east asian cultures, i could identify more and more details you scattered throughout the plot to turn this make believe world into a truthful parallel of the real one we have. i can only say bravo. and if you have any recommended reading for homework, i’d love to know more about these references! now back to your writing! one of thee strongest points of the story, for me, is how believable these characters are as people. they feel so fully fleshed out that sometimes it was like intruding on someone’s most private thoughts - even a little painful to keep going, and i mean that in the best way possible! i especially loved the subtle addition of zuko’s ingrained sexism and prejudice against other nations, things that ofc he’s never had reason to unlearn in this universe. he is compassionate, but can be very unkind - seems like a delicate balance, but in your story, it just flows naturally. you inhabit their heads, strengths, flaws and life experiences so well, like sokka’s blind defensiveness when he thinks of himself as helpless, his brashness and ingenuity when he sees zuko more as a puzzle to solve than a person. that goes even people who haven't gotten that much plot attention yet - like azula wearing blue lipstick (!!!!) foaming at the mouth from the thought. OFC she would!!! shes bold, shes confident and shes here to shine + now she allows herself to have fun! do “ugly” and “imperfect” things for fun! and all the parallels between this redeemed azula and the canon zuko we know. your oc who is zuko's guardian, who he calls grandma, hasn't even shown up yet and i already love and miss her. uncle iroh!!!! zuko assuming malice from uncle iroh who only wants the best for him - but ofc he doesnt know that! but we do, and it hurtssss katara and aang!!! the bath scene with aang, zuko’s forced vulnerability, their honesty, aang’s absolute grace towards zuko. suki and the kyoshi warriors! i trust they will get their turn to kick some ignorant prince ass. and the thing that draws me the most to this genre: the exploration of trauma in its aftermath. your storytelling is wonderfully brutal here. like… you draw a white picture by filling in all its shadowy contours…. if that makes sense. all the ways zuko’s life was affected by his father add up to the shape of his hurt. him not eating fatty foods to stay fit and "bend better". recognizing azula in his own reflection instead of himself. wearing his mom’s night clothes. im going feral feral feral whew! in my heart all this would’ve been a very pretty glittery letter sent to your author p.o. box. i love your story and it lives constantly in my imagination - thank you so much for sharing it with the world!!!

ohhhmg.... thank you for this!! i sat on it for a whole minute to respond right! i'm so glad you like it!! i love that you love all these characters' new lives <3 <3

there are so many Very Careful Lines to Walk in doing an ATLA au bc the original characters and cultural stories are really so complex. and i am FAR from an expert on east asian history / cultures but here are a few sources that I found helpful / interesting:

jinian qian's writing for The Millions, especially the articles "The Moon Is Beautiful Tonight: On East Asian Narratives" and "Light in the West and Shadows in the East"

chaoyang trap, which is not at all about ancient china but about very modern chinese cultural existence, especially on the Internet / social media / fandom. I can't say this has directly provided me with a lot of relevant info but it does help me figure out attitude / approaches / how things "translate" into western contexts

and of course there are so many A:TLA blogs that really keep the analytical conversations going and make ao3 as vibrant as it is-- @atlaculture, @boybff, @volkswagonblues, @azularedemptionarcwhen, @chitsangenthusiast, @azulasnailtech, @visit-ba-sing-se, @marriedzukka, @bleekay, @ash-and-starlight, @sokkagatekeeper, @azulapropaganda, @zukkababey, @comradekatara, @ofherlionheart, @chaoticsandstorm

okay i will stop blasting this post into all of atla tumblr's notifs but the above blogs are total Gs, 10/10, would not be as deep into my MFA in a:tla without these trailblazing scholars who went before me

have a lovely vintage kermit meme, mwah

#thank you!!#asks #atla

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icommitedcrimesasatoaster · 10 days

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Welcome to my hell (I made for myself) (AU MASTER POST)

Welcome to my shitshow. This entire thing originated from a dream. Had a vision in the gacha artstyle about 6 people from different universes being stuck in jail and here we are.

The AU focuses on 5 characters

Cody: My guy. I love torturing him more then i should.

Marshall Commander of the GAR and the responsible adult. If you ignore him kicking droids..

Katara: Too young, you never realize a character is young until you put her in a room with slightly older people.

A proficient water bender with a track record of fighting and ending a war in like 5 months with a bald child, her brother, The greatest earth bender of all time™ and an angsty teenager.

Kanade Yoisaki: My friend has been making fun of me for that one LMAO

A musical composer in the group 25-ji, Nightcord de. who she is a lader off, her skills include somehow surviving off of nothing except ramen noodles, somehow having enough money to not go into an orphanage and just in general rolling all 1's and still surviving

Tommyinnit: YOU DIDN'T EXPECT THAT ONE DID YA????? (unless if you looked at the tags.)

Your average traumatized teenager who went trough hell and back AND death and back. He has seen it all. Also chaotic little bastard that will see you in the vents.

Technoblade: I love him <3 (ignore the dead people)

A man known throughout the lands he has stepped on ,leaving a bloody trail behind him. Every ruler who wants him dead either isn't here or is too scared to voice it. Also he is socially awkward 6'5ft man who says "You too" to a waiter

There will be a one shot fic soon , when ill post it ill update it so its on the top. But right now its not so eh

Because I had a lot of stress for the past month my brain pulled itself to this au like a magnet (And another one i may post about on a later date)

So enjoy now what I have gathered aka my collection of shitposts, images and charts.

THE CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS (this may change, as i made it first)

Made by me

Tommy artist: IDK (please tell me)

Technoblade artist: I also don't knwo (im bad at tracking it)

The gang! (Aka me looking trough the "Draw your gang" tag.)

Full post here:

Chart! Can't get enough of them!

Post 1:

Post 2:

Incorrect quotes , MY FAVORITE! (kill me.)

Post:

MISCELLANEOUS (i had to google how to spell that one-)

art+ dagger.

...well-

thats basically how i describe this post-

you don't realize how far you brainrotted until you have 11 pages of wip that you basically haven't started, a massive file and countless messages to my victim (Ash I am so so sorry.)

..uh enjoy?

#masterpost #commander cody #katara #technoblade #tommyinnit #kanade yoisak #avatar the last airbender #sw tcw #project sekai #dream smp #au in progress #crossover #just a giant brainrot for all you to enjoy... I may update this if i like #get more shit #eh

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jemstone55 · 1 year

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Ideas list

Picture is drawn by me- it's my oc✨ it's pretty much an old drawing :P

This is a list of anime character as readers that i wanna write.

1. Mitsuri Kanroji!reader

2. Obanai Iguro!reader

3. Muichiro Tokito!reader

4. Reader is a witch from Harry potter universe that got isekai into Avatar universe

5. Modern world!Isekai!reader

6. Uta! daughter!reader (already started)

*it's a bizarre story idea of mine lol. Also, i am in love with Uta's character,she sings so good and her personality is fun and overall an interesting character imo. Plus i want to have a singer!reader-*

7. Mikan!reader

*i used to be very obsessed with Mikan!reader story/fanfics/ideas*

8. Todoroki Shoto!reader

9. Nezuko!reader (already started)

10. Katara!reader

*someone requested it i think*

11. Patissier!reader

*I'm just wondering how the na'vis are gonna react to sweets*

12. Moana! Isekai!reader

*I think Moana could fit in with the Metkayina clan and the Omaticaya clan. She loves the sea and is good at doing land stuff idk- plus she's like the Tsahik in her world*

13. Camilo Madrigal!reader

*How could is shapeshifting!?✨*

14. Kanao Tsuyuri!reader

*Thinking about a remake-*

15. Rengoku!isekai!reader (not sure)

*Rengoku!reader did die but went to another word and just weirded people out but brightens up everyone's day all the time*

That's all i guess-

I love demon slayer characters and characters from other animes that i can't remember i had loved and watched-

You can request any characters but would have to wait for a while.

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whentheynameyoujoy · 3 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.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

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

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.

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.

youtube

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

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ruhrohimrorny · 4 years

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What Subjects I Think LOK Characters Would Teach:

Lin: PE, obviously. Dating Kya and all the kids are happy cause there’s a noticeable shift in Lin’s mood once they start dating. She no longer forces kids to run a mile every day and instead does it once a week now, so the kids are hoping her and Kya stay together. She also coaches Golf and Lacrosse.

Kya: Waffled between MILF Math teacher, MILF Science teacher, and hippy/chill Music teacher, but decided on MILF Science Teacher. Getting strong Biology vibes. Very fun labs and not strict at all. Her and Zhu-Li are super passionate about leading the Science Bowl team. Seeing these young people be so passionate about STEM and helping their fellow teammates makes her hopeful for this young generation.

Tenzin: He kinda gives math teacher vibes, but a large part of his character in the show is about him keeping his history alive, and teaching others abut learning and respecting history, so I feel like he’s a History teacher. His class is a lot of notetaking but he plays quiet music and does a five minute meditation in the middle of class to encourage kids to relax, so students really like him and actually listen to him. Also, he’s kind of gullible so they make up fake trends to tell him. He once spent a week addressing people as “brony” cause students told him thats what people say now instead of bro. Kids got a good laugh out of that one. Him and Pema are another favorite teacher couple.

Bumi II: Def gives off eccentric/unhinged English teacher vibes. Very interesting and informative conversations in his class, but things get off topic very quickly. Whenever kids ask about Bum-Ju, he gets distracted and will talk the entire rest of the period about what to dress Bum-Ju up as for Halloween. Probably plays a lot of videos. And students don’t worry about if they read the books Bumi II assigns cause they don’t think he’s even read the books he assigns. When having discussions about the books in class, sometimes kids will make up stuff and say it’s in the book and for the most part, Bumi II goes along with it cause he doesn’t know what actually happens in the books.

Varrick: Also gives off eccentric/unhinged English teacher vibes, but because he’s a businessman/war profiteer, I’m gonna have to say he teaches Econ and gives students lots of unsolicited financial advice. Also supervises the Engineering and Robotics Club.

Zhu-Li: Science teacher, probably Chemistry. She’s very good at explaining and getting kids to follow her instructions. Not only is she a co-supervisor for the Science Bowl team, she helps Varrick run Engineering and Robotics Club, cause if it were only Varrick running it, no kids would come. His intensity and eccentricity scares them.

Iroh II: He’s definitely the young Math teacher everyone has a crush on. Very chill and doesn’t give a lot of homework. Kids love when he shows pictures of his dog to the class and eventually he brings in the dog cause admin think the dog is too cute to say no to.

Tonraq: Resident DILF History teacher. Kind of a hardass but also a nice dude so most everyone passes his class. Probably that History teacher that is also a football coach, so during fall he doesn’t give a FUCK about whether anyone actually turns anything in. Him and Senna is the teacher couple that seems like opposites but actually are pretty similar and balance each other out.

Senna: That English teacher that every mentally ill student becomes emotionally attached to. You know what I’m talking about. She’s so sweet, funny, and chill so all the kids love her class. Tries to include memes in her presentations to seem “with it” but they’re like, doge memes from 2014. But the kids appreciate the effort.

Pema: Definitely the sweet English teacher that occasionally has a mental breakdown when the students test her patience. Otherwise very chill. Also teaches the Childhood Education and Development class. Her, Senna, and Bumi II run the school newspaper.

Bataar: Drafting. Pretty chill, very skilled, and def smokes on the weekend. Also, him and Suyin are that teacher couple that everyone likes.

Suyin: Dance. Super nice and always has like to of those smelly plug in things going so her room smells good and has a “good vibe that evokes emotion”. Always plays EDM or weird 80s rock to get the kids moving. She runs the school dance team. When Bataar has prep period, he sometimes drops in to see Su dance, cause she’s mesmerizing to watch. All the kids think that, coupled with the fact that they eat lunch together every day, makes them the cutest couple ever.

Amon: Drama. He loves directing kids on how to totally live a role. If you can imagine, he sometimes gets a little overdramatic about drama, forgetting that these are just highschool kids, not Oscar winners, but his passion makes the class more enjoyable. Runs Drama Club with Tarrlok.

Tarrlok: Probably Physics. A difficult class, but he’s pretty good at explaining so most kids don’t struggle too much. His main focus is running student government, which he takes pretty seriously. Sometimes too seriously.

Unalaq: Teaches Psychology. The most pretentious teacher on campus. It’s literally so bad, that even other teachers avoid him. Amon abandoned his coffee still being brewed in the machine in the staff room cause Unalaq walked in and he didn’t want to be in a room with Unalaq again after he said that Amon’s outfit “looked like something stolen from the lost and found of a funeral home”. Unalaq sees it as “telling it like it is”.

Zaheer: Government and Politics. Tries to teach the class very well but also injects his own opinion into teaching a lot. The students find him scary but some also kinda think he’s hot. Also does Yearbook. Him and Senna run Mock Trial. Replaced the old Government and Politics teacher Hou-Ting after she retired. She was that one old teacher that made it a hobby to harrass students and constantly reminisced about when you could smack students.

P’Li: Math teacher. Much scarier than Zaheer. Plays her trash ass music very loudly while the kids work. Def yells at kids. She’s kind of funny when she’s in a good mood tho, and when she roasts kids it’s really funny cause it’s usually dead on. Her and Zaheer are those teachers that flirt a lot and you know they’re sleeping together.

Ming-Hua: Art. Loves drawing and, you guessed it, watercolor painting. Very chill and plays soft music but lets you listen to your own music. Super sarcastic and all the students eat it up. Literally a universal favorite. She runs Art Club and Fashion Club.

Ghazan: Guitar. Pretty cool teacher that definitely has some weird stories. All the students know he has a crush on Ming-Hua cause they flirt constantly, but he denies it. Runs E-Sports Club. Idk why I think that, it just feels right. Him and Ming-Hua are also the kinds of teachers kids become emotionally attached to.

Kuvira: Government and Politics also. Seems calm and reasonable, but is a total ass. Makes kids give up their phones, allows almost no talking, gives out more detentions a week than most teachers do in one year, and doesn’t allow for much discussion. Everyone wants her class cause she’s hot but most drop within the first week, to the point that counselors have to say no to some kids so they don’t have to get rid of the class altogether.

Bataar Jr.: Computer Lit teacher. None of the students respect him so they’ll play Minecraft the whole time or play inappropriate videos really loud. Doesn’t really put much effort into teaching, which for some kids is a dream, but for others is an annoyance. Him and Kuvira are the teacher couple that makes everyone say “wtf”. Literally no one knows why they’re together.

Izumi: Secretary/Attendance. Pretty much remembers everything and is super organized. She is the glue that holds the school together. Most students don’t know her name though cause she’s super quiet and works mostly behind the scenes. Whenever Zuko sends anyone her way though he reminds them of her name and to say thank you cause he recognizes how hard his daughter works to keep everything running smoothly. Izumi catches on to this and always manages to thank her dad with a nice tea and a hug.

Toph: Vice Principal. Scary as fuck. Doesn’t ever call kids’ parents cause she efficiently scares the shit out of every kid, so they never do whatever bad thing they were doing again. When she has to work dances, Katara always tries to get her to dance with her. She resists every time, but she always gives eventually. She’s happy to though, cause although she’ll never say it out loud, seeing Katara this happy at her old age warms her heart.

Katara: Health Clerk. Very sweet and everybody loves her. Sometimes kids pretend to feel sick just to talk to her. She doesn’t mind though cause a kid that has a tummy ache and a kid that needs to talk are both kids that need help, and she’s happy to offer whatever support she can. She also always offers to supervise dances when the school has them and always manages to bust a move.

Zuko: Counselor. Wants to be to students what his uncle was to him. Aang and Sokka were counselors too, some years ago. And while they could give some good nuggets of advice and offered the kids amazing support, they also would totally fuck up student’s schedules by accident cause those numbskulls were exactly that- numbskulls. So usually Zuko would have to fix that. He misses fixing their messes and, more importantly, he misses them (they aren’t dead, just retired). He hopes to retire soon too, cause he’s getting too old for this, but he secretly doesn’t want to retire just yet cause working at school allows him to see and spend time with Izumi. Since they’re both working, it’s not like they have too much time together, but even just her popping into his office to bring him tea or check in on how he’s doing that day brings a smile to his face that doesn’t leave for the rest of the day.

Raiko: Principal. After Toph stepped down cause she’s “too old for this shit” (her words), Raiko stepped in. The students aren’t a fan of him but he’s not terrible. And since Toph is still Vice Principal, she keeps him in check.

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someobscurereference · 3 years

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horror question again! (i love hearing you talk abt horror ok) what would you define as "horror" as a genre ? where do you draw the line between fantasy with horrifying bits and actual horror? wht's your personal take on ir?

I love horror questions so please always feel free to ask away, lol. But this is a tough one! It's hard to pick a hard and fast definition of horror as a genre because I think so much of it is flexible. Horror is grotesque; its tragic; it elicits shock and dread and disgust; it makes you look at things that could never be possible and twists your stomach; it makes you look at all the nasty aspects of yourself and what they Could Be. Gothic romance like Crimson Peak has horror elements, but it's not necessarily scary. Nor is NBC's Hannibal. But I think they both count for the horror genre just as much as movies like Alien or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), which might make you gasp and make your heart pound in a different way! And there are so many other elements to horror that I haven't named here either! I think all genres are very flexible. If something elicits a response from you ranging from fear to dread to grotesque fascination or even something very different from any of those, I think all of that can fall under the "horror" umbrella and more.

The line between fantasy with horror parts and horror fantasy blurs a lot too. I think author Maggie Stiefvater did a great job of explaining why they are so similar in her tweet:

[Image ID: A tweet from author Maggie Stiefvater that reads, "To me, horror and fantasy are such wonderful siblings. They share parents: Broken Rules and Possibility. If you break the rules of the world, all kinds of things become possible, and if they are good, we call it magic, and if they are bad, we call it horror." End ID]

A great example of this is her Raven Cycle series [mild spoilers ahead], which is primarily a realistic book with magic in it. And the magic is all fantastical and cool until the last book, The Raven King, where all the magic is suddenly Bad and some body horror shit happens and Magic becomes a frightening thing the protags are running from. Is that whole series a horror series? No. But is the last book in the series a horror book? Or a fantastical book that gets scary? That's hard to say. I think a lot of that depends on your personal boundaries and definitions of horror vs fantasy and what predates the events. When I read the Raven King, I remember thinking to myself, "This is a horror!" and being Delighted at the turn the plot had taken. But that may not be true for everyone who reads it. (And I may even feel differently reading it now as opposed to reading it in my freshman dorm in college; its been several years, after all.)

Another example: Ghosts in H*rry P*otter aren't scary. Iirc, they're never really an antagonist in the books. But ghosts in Poltergeist are definitely the horrific villains! Was there a version of Poltergeist where the ghosts could have been less horrifying and more fantastical? Was there a version of H//P where H*rry is more directly haunted (in the literal or metaphysical sense) by his connection to the man who attacked him that fateful night? Haunted by his parents? I think both the fantasy version and the horror version of these stories exists in the same universe.

Put it another way: Everything can become horror if you look at it from the right angle. In every fantasy worldbuilding scenario, there is an element of the world that is fun and light or taken for granted--and if you really dig down deep into it, it can be as dreadful or normal as you perceive it to be. [TAZ spoilers] Barry and Lup as liches in TAZ are fun and lighthearted until you get to liches in another d&d story, and then their situation is very scary--and often antagonistic to the "good guy's" goals, which can be as mild or intense as the story and roll of the dice allows. [ATLA spoilers] Katara being able to bend anything with water in it is great--until you remember humans are made of water and get to bloodbending. These features are present in each of these stories, but they are not the main focus of these stories, even if they are briefly prominent plot points. By shifting the focus of the story and nothing else--not the characters, not the setting, just the lens--can these now be horror stories existing in a fantasy universe? Absolutely they can.

But your question is "At what point is the line drawn?" When is there too much horror spilling over the fantastical line in the sand? When is this no longer a fantastical story and instead something that keeps you up in the middle of the night? (Though I'd have to say, shouldn't every good story do that no matter the genre?)

First off, I think the answer depends on what the story chooses to focus on, not what elements may exist in the periphery. But that's not a hard and fast rule; lines get blurred a lot.

Secondly, the answer always depends on you, the viewer!

#over the garden wall is a modern gothic horror #to me at least #you don't really get the reveal of what's going on until the last episode or so #does that make this a fantasy story with horror elements or a retroactive gothic horror?#that depends on the viewer!#but i still say gothic horror #taz spoilers #the raven cycle spoilers #horror #my text #asks #just in case #queue

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zkfanworkweek · 4 years

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ZFAW Content Creator Interviews: @PokiDokies

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the fourth interview in this cycle, we have up-and-coming artist Lev, aka @pokidokieships - she can also be found at @pokidokies on Instagram and @zk_dokies on twitter!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

Zutara has been a ship that I have loved for a long time, but it wasn’t always that way haha. When I first watched the show, I was really young and I just went with kataang because it was canon in the end. When I got a bit older and rewatched the show, I was instantly drawn to zutara and the incredible wasted potential it held. I discovered tumblr and read tons of well written meta (because I am a nerd) that explained why their relationship worked so well. I also noticed what had become of Katara, a character I admired very much growing up, and wasn’t too happy about that. Zutara portrays such a balanced and dynamic relationship, with mutual growth on both ends. It is a relationship built on redemption, understanding and sacrifice and I just think that’s beautiful. It also involves a strong brown female character, and I would have loved to see her in a relationship with someone who treated her as an equal. Someone who was willing to help her get closure regarding something so traumatic in her life and even risking his life for her. I’m a Katara stan first and I feel like zutara is a healthy relationship that does not take away her agency as a character. She is allowed to be angry and hurt, and I liked that we got to see that side of her and see that Zuko did not judge her in that state, and be there by her side. We have also seen how Katara is emotionally supportive when Zuko is in doubt. I believe Zuko and Katara deserve the best and that is each other.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The revival of the ATLA fandom made me fall back really deep into this ship. Unfortunately, I noticed that it was getting a lot of hate and there wasn’t much new content being generated for this ship. I also noticed a lot of people misunderstanding why people like this ship, stating very shallow reasons and using it as an excuse to bash people who like it. So, I decided to create the zutara content that I wanted to see. I like to Katara and Zuko in a really cute and healthy relationship in my art, because these kids have been through so much. I never expected so many people to like it though! That was such a pleasant surprise and I could not be more thankful! I got really involved with the zutara fandom and made so many friends through my art and mutual love for the ship. This support, along with my love for this ship, inspires me everyday to make content for the pairing. Happy to announce that there will be a lot more zutara art to come!

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

To be honest, if anyone wrote fanfiction based on one of my drawings I would be over the moon! Most of my drawings of the pair are scenes that I make up myself or are based on popular zutara headcanons. I would love to see someone write a fic that incorporates those scenes/headcanons and expand on them a little more. If anyone ever decide to do that, let me know

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

My advice would be, no matter how nervous you are, just post it. Just put it out there! I guarantee that your work would make, at the very least, one person super happy. If you love a fandom/ship/character and create something out of that love, it will show in your work. People will appreciate that. Another important thing is to make content that YOU want to see! Sometimes, you gotta feed yourself because nobody else caters to your niche interests. Trust me, it makes everything more fun when you look at it that way.

5. What is your favorite Zutara-related thing you’ve made and why is it special to you?

My favourite Zutara art that I’ve made is one that I drew for day one of Zutara Week 2020. The prompt was “Reunion”. I had made a few zutara drawings before this one, but I especially loved this because I was able to create an expression of utter love on Zuko’s face as he held his arms

out to embrace Katara. I also loved how Katara looks so excited to see him haha. For some context, Katara and Zuko barely interacted in the comics that came after the show ended (and we all know why). So, I decided to draw these two in the outfits they wore in the comics! This was also the first prompt of Zutara Week 2020, so I wanted to make it really special. Realistically, these two would be so busy after the war. They probably write letters to each other and when they finally reunite, they would be ecstatic. I drew a second picture of them already embracing as a little treat hehe. The soft colours and the fondness between the two makes it the favourite drawing I’ve ever done!

6. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven’t gotten around to making?

There’s actually so much that I have planned! One good thing about zutara not being canon is that the fandom has come up with so many cute headcanons! Zutara is a ship filled with so much potential so there’s just so much content to make. I haven’t gotten around to designing their steambabies yet, so I have that planned. Mama Katara and Papa Zuko is a concept that cann be so personal to me. They would make such good, loving parents. You can definitely look forward to some cute family drawings in the future. Maybe draw the whole family playing with some turtle ducks by the pond? Their kids would be so beautiful too I can’t wait to design them! I have more stuff planned of course, but this is a concept that I have been wanting to do for a while now hehe.

7. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so, want to give us a hint as to your plans? 👀

I am not sure if I’m going to participate in ZFAW, only because I may be busy with university projects at the time. However, I may try and do one or two of the prompts if I have the time! I plan to make everything cute and fluffy as usual, and maybe a little angst too.

#interviews #zfaw #zutara fanworks appreciation week #zutara #pokidokieships

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muertawrites · 4 years

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Two Halves - Chapter Fourteen (Zuko x Reader)

Chapter 13

Word Count: 2,400

Author’s Note: I’m not gonna say much about this one other than a few fun little tidbits from my creative process. I have a headcanon that the Firelady would’ve ended up with Kuei if she hadn’t married Zuko, and I wanted to make Druk’s collection forks, but since there are no forks in the Avatar universe (which is a strange little statement), I had to change it. Enjoy (and also I’m sorry [not sorry]).

~ Muerta

You awake in Zuko’s arms, his head nestled heavily within the crook of your neck. For a moment, your mind wanders, groping about the unfamiliar space around you as it tries to make sense of its surroundings. The bed cradling you isn’t yours, the sheets twined around your legs feeling entirely new; the large windows to your right and crimson canopy fluttering in the breeze they admit don’t belong to your bedroom. This is Zuko’s room, where you fell asleep the previous night after returning to the palace.

You sigh sleepily as you extend your arms and legs, stretching your muscles while your memory aligns through your grogginess. Nightmares rocked your sleep not long after you hit your mattress, and you crawled into Zuko’s bed seeking his comfort. He hushed and held you and eased you out of your terror, forming a fortress around you with his tall, strong body. He made you feel safe. He made you feel loved.

“Firelord Zuko!”

Rina’s shrill, panicked chirping from the other room breaks you from your haze. Zuko, light sleeper that he is, wakes with a start, blinking in a fluster before sitting up, immediately alert.

“I can’t find her!” Rina cries, her voice drawing nearer. “The Firelady’s missing! She’s not in her room, and the servants-”

She halts as she thrusts open the doors to Zuko’s bedroom, her fearful expression dropping into one of wide-eyed surprise and embarrassment. She falters only for a moment, however, composing herself as quickly as she fumbled and bowing apologetically.

“Forgive me,” she says, keeping her gaze cast downward; you manage to glimpse the tail of a smirk as it curls around her cheek. “I wasn’t aware she was with you.”

“It’s alright, Rina,” Zuko yawns, relaxed once again now that the threat of possible danger is gone. “Good morning.”

Rina straightens her back, making a point of looking only at you. You hadn’t noticed it last night when you joined him, but Zuko is naked from the waist up; the realization makes you blush, the skin all over your body raising to a fever.

“Will you require me to help you prepare for the day?” Rina asks you. Amusement still twitches in her lips, a taunting gleam in her eye; you fight the urge to grab the pillow nearest to you and fling it at her.

“I’ll meet you in my room in ten minutes,” you tell her, and she nods, bowing once more as she slips from the room. You know she’ll want the details of your night with your husband, and you prepare yourself for her disappointment when you break to her that the circumstances were entirely innocent.

Zuko falls back into the sheets, burying his face in his pillow in an attempt to make the most of the last dregs of his slumber; he reaches for you, his arm wrapping around your middle and pulling you in, compelling you to do the same. You let out a quiet breath of laughter as you comply, noting the way his expression eases when your body meets his.

“Do we have to do this?” you whisper as the day’s impending events form in your mind.

He hums, pressing his nose back into the space it occupied before his sleep was interrupted; his lips graze your neck, your skin rising in millions of minute peaks at the sensation.

“Yeah,” he grumbles. “Unfortunately.”

You run your fingers pensively through his hair, loose from its typical knot and falling in cascades of black ink around his bare shoulders and back. He shivers, his hand finding the exposed skin of your thigh under your night dress and stroking his thumb tenderly over the flesh.

“Don’t let them force me,” you plead. “I won’t do it. I don’t think I even can.”

“You’ve never given into them before,” Zuko reminds you. “This won’t be any different.”

Beside your setting at breakfast, you find a letter addressed from Kuei. You grin as you read it, instantly missing his gentle sarcasm and subdued demeanor, but finding comfort in your thoughts of him.

My dearest Firelady,

I've just heard of Aang and Katara’s wonderful announcement and had to write my congratulations. How exciting it will be to have a little niece or nephew! I've already sent forth gifts on behalf of my kingdom and myself.

However, I do also write my concern. Having met your council, I can say quite honestly that I do not trust them - I fear that in the wake of such pivotal news, your advisors may attempt to steer you into decisions that aren't theirs to make.

Firelord Zuko loves you dearly, that much is clear to me. I trust in my heart of hearts that he's caring for you in his uniquely attentive way. I also love you dearly, and it is with this love that I inquire about your health. Are you taking precautions? Are you standing your ground in regards to your actions? (I know you are.) Are you caring for yourself as much as we who love you care for you? Please answer in detail - I cannot stand the worry.

On a more serious note (or perhaps no less serious, but an entirely different vein of seriousness altogether) we have heard of your meeting and its subsequent revelations from the warden of Azula’s compound, and have begun tracking and arresting as many Dai Li as we can in order to question them. Those in custody have given us very little, and our informants within have revealed possible collaborators with the former princess, though we have no strong leads. We've even launched an investigation into Ozai’s prison, but have come up with nothing as of this moment in which I write to you which connects him to any of the matters at hand.

My sweetest little friend, I fret for you so. I think of you always, and have taken to consulting daily with the Spirits after the well-being of yourself and your husband (a practice you know I have never engaged in, but as of late, it feels like the only thing I can do).

Promise me you will keep safe and sound, but in the fearless way I so admire you for.

Sincerely and forever yours,

Kuei

Zuko huffs as he reads over your shoulder, biting into his meal with a bit too much force.

“He talks to you like he's your lover,” he mutters.

You smirk, folding the letter into the breast of your robes.

“I thought you liked Kuei?” you needle, taking a slow sip of your tea.

“I do,” Zuko replies. “I just like him better when you're not around.”

As you enter the meeting room, you make a point of keeping your chin held upright, your gaze steady. Advisor Qiang watches you in his typical, scrutinizing way, while Advisors Sung and Yong greet you kindly. Zuko takes your hand as he lowers himself into his place beside you.

“Firstly,” Yong opens, “I want to give my congratulations to the both of you on your new addition to the family.”

“Thank you,” Zuko replies with a nod. “We’re all very excited.”

“Of course,” Sung interjects, “the announcement also raises questions about your own heirs, and when you plan for them to arrive.”

“Yes,” Yong agrees. “In typical royal marriages, children would already be on their way; but we all understand that yours is not a typical royal marriage.”

She gives a pointed look towards the international affairs advisors and their aids, which is met with a sharp twitch of Qiang’s brow.

“The question remains one of public reception,” he quips. “I, for one, believe it would enrage those among the Fire Nation population who remain purists.”

“But, of course, domestic concerns are my responsibility,” Yong counters, “and I believe a child would bring more cohesion to the image of our Lord and Lady’s marriage - especially to those who are doubtful.”

“You all seem to forget,” Zuko chimes in, his voice smooth and calm, “that none of you will be carrying or raising this baby.”

Each of the council members turns their heads towards you, as if suddenly remembering you're there.

“Whether or not we have children is our decision,” you state, “and our decision alone. We won’t allow the people we bring into this world to be used as political pawns.”

“Political involvement is unavoidable,” Qiang scoffs, glowering at you. “You're foolish to think you can dictate whether the inheritants of the nation remain neutral.”

“We can,” you contest, meeting his belittling tone with one of soft determination. “Firelord Zuko and I wish that royal children no longer inherit their station - successors to the throne will no longer be elected by blood, but by vetting from the council.”

The room falls deathly silent. For an excruciating moment, your advisors stare at you in shock, their bodies frozen as if carved in stone.

“That has never been done before,” Yong finally says.

“Neither has a Firelord’s marriage to a member of another nation,” Zuko replies. “The war is over. We can't continue to live as if it isn't.”

“Why would you want to change the operation of the government so drastically?” Sung wonders.

“Because our rule is not a dictatorship,” you answer. “In the Water Tribe, the chief is always appointed by members of the community - we choose who will govern us for the benefit of everyone. Since the Firelord’s council is chosen by the people, we believe it will best decide who should take over the throne upon our retirement.”

“We don't want to continue the system my father and grandfathers created,” Zuko adds. “Putting a vetting process in place will ensure that nothing like the Hundred Year War ever happens again. And even besides that, we all know that trying to live up to a title was what destroyed my family. I don’t want to repeat that cycle.”

“The Fire Nation has always been a monarchy,” Qiang resists. “The global repercussions of such a drastic change could be catastrophic - you’ll look weak.”

“They’ll look compassionate,” Yong tosses back. “Our people already benefit from having a Firelord who wants to lead for the sake of leadership; distributing the power further will help to erase Ozai’s mark on history. I think it's excellent.”

You return your attention to Qiang, fixing him with the same searching, calculating gaze he's so accustomed to using. Though his expression remains stoic, the glare of his pupils reveal rage, their wild, acute fizzling back and forth conveying a panic that you're certain isn't for the sake of his government or his people. After a moment he nods; you know his surrender is only temporary.

“It will take time,” is all he says.

He shares a glance with Sung. Beneath the table, you grip Zuko’s hand in a vice.

The evening is cool; cool enough that Zuko bends a sizable fire in the hearth of your sitting room to fight the chill. You curl up with him on a gathering of blankets and cushions at the mouth of the flames, leaned back against his chest as you share your nightly pot of tea. Druk nuzzles his way between you into Zuko’s lap, dropping a flat, round stone onto his leg. He chuckles as the dragon disappears under a table in the corner, emerging with another, similar stone which he presents to you.

“He's starting a collection,” Zuko explains. “Uncle sent me some of his old books on dragons. They keep collections of different things. Apparently Druk likes rocks.”

You smile as Druk shimmies once again into the space between you, purring contentedly as he burrows into the fabric where your robes meet. Zuko absently scratches at the space behind his ears.

“We should take a honeymoon,” you suggest.

“A what?”

You turn to face him, furrowing your brows in confusion.

“A honeymoon,” you repeat. “It's something that newlyweds do - after the wedding, the bride and groom go on a trip together so they can spend time alone as husband and wife.”

“Is that a Water Tribe thing?” Zuko asks.

You smirk, shaking your head.

“They do it in the Earth Kingdom, too,” you tell him. “Sorry, I forgot that the Fire Nation spent a century without anything nice or fun.”

Zuko pinches you in the side, causing you to erupt with giggles. He grins at the reaction, reaching to brush a few stray locks of hair away from your face.

“We should do that,” he agrees. “We can go to Ember Island. My family has a house there where we used to go in the summer. It's where we stayed before the comet.”

His expression becomes wistful, and you lay a hand on the side of his neck, tenderly stroking his skin; you can tell the memories are as painful as they are warm.

“I would love that,” you murmur, chastely kissing his lips. “Maybe we can pretend we’re normal for a few days.”

Zuko chuckles, then with a sigh rests his forehead against yours; he gazes at you for a long moment, his hands resting on your hips and gripping just a little bit tighter, pulling you just a little bit closer.

“Kiss me again,” he whispers. “... For real.”

You search his eyes, looking for anything that will spark your doubt; all you find is exaltation, so quiet and yielding you can hardly bring yourself to fight him. You don't think twice about the command, your lips finding his in the scant space between you.

As you kiss him, your body lights with fireworks. Every one of your senses seems heightened, your body rippling with embers of a flame that grows stronger the nearer he gets. His lips are soft against yours, the taste of his skin sweet on the edge of your tongue; his chest presses firmly to yours, his hands on your back attempting to pull you nearer despite the impossibility of such an act. You can feel his breath quickening to match his heartbeat, each movement aligned with your own.

You're broken apart by the rapping of knuckles on the sitting room door, followed immediately by Rina’s entrance. She bows hurriedly simply out of respect - her lack of reaction to your intimate position piques a deep, hollow dread in your gut.

“Firelord Zuko,” she addresses him. “I’m sorry to come to you so late, but the head of the royal guard just received word from the warden - Azula is dead.”

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zukofenty · 4 years

Text

always be my maybe

➜ Summary: The one where Zuko and Katara could never quite get their timing right. Especially when the universe throws a lost condom, thousands of miles, and a baby in their way.

“I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me.”

➜ Genre: Modern!AU, Celebrity Chef!Katara, Doctor!Zuko, Love, Rosie!AU

AO3 @zutaraweek

“Go a couple rounds, leave Zuko’s dick up in a casket!” Toph screams into the microphone, undeterred by the various guests who stare up at her, mouth open and half-chewed, dry-as-fuck chicken spilling out. It wasn’t her fault, really! As soon as Zuko handed the mic off to her, he basically gave her free reign to spit a Megan Thee Stallion verse in his honor. “Sing with me, bitches! Look up the lyrics on Genius.com, Cheryl!”

“Sit down !” Katara squeezes out from clenched teeth, ripping the device out from the girl’s grip.

“I didn’t even get to the chorus, you fucking whore .” A bridesmaid nervously plucks the mic from their table and avoids eye contact with both of them. “What’s going on with you, bitch?” Toph asks quietly. She could tell Katara’s been doing her fake smile for the last twenty minutes. The girl was practically going to break her face open with how hard she was grinding her teeth.

“Just thinking.” Katara wants to smack herself in the face, pinch a nipple and bring herself to reality. Everything felt too real, and Toph could sense it. She’s the type to somehow sense when Katara shifts in her seat a certain way to covertly satisfy a cooch itch, and then buys her Monistat the same day.

She hates that she could never hide any emotion from her. Toph could always figure out the puzzle pieces that were Katara. One of the few to know the real her, besides Zuko.

Sometimes Katara thinks the younger girl knows her better than him. At least now. Especially now.

“About?” Toph takes an experimental sip from the wine glass, and gags. The juice tasted like Gatorade and cum. “Why the fuck would anyone want a dry wedding? Weddings are the only time you get to see your alcoholic uncle vomit all over the bride’s shoes, and then your closeted aunt has to wipe up the puke and her reputation from the floor while thinking of her secret girlfriend at home watching Tiger King .”

“That example was extremely specific and extremely unnecessary.” Katara brushes a crunchy curl, doused in hairspray, from her eyes.

“Sorry, I got distracted. I had dick on the brain, or whatever Rihanna said,” Toph mumbles, risking a bite of the chicken.

Katara turns to see him at the couple’s table in the center of the extravagant wedding, and sighs. “And for your information, I was just thinking when will he penetrate my esophagus? You know, just girly things.”

Toph has the gall to slap the girl on the cheek.

Katara holds her stinging face, eyes narrowed in an unspoken threat for fucking up the parts of her face she didn’t set with powder (she was going for a dewy look, sue her). “Not fair! You were the one who called my throat the baby chute earlier today!”

“Ok, throat goat. One, he’s getting married. Two, you’re sick.”

“My therapist will most likely cosign that,” Katara sighs. Toph holds Katara’s hand and leans her head on her shoulder as they watch Zuko mingle with guests.

This is the happiest day of his life.

Her best friend of twenty odd years was getting married. He looked so handsome, so happy. A suit that looked like it would cost someone’s rent and a half casually hugging his muscular frame. A blinding smile on his face, cheeks flushed from champagne and excitement.

When he turns her way, his smile grows impossibly wider. Toph clinks on a champagne glass with a fork, breaking it a la Princess Diaries , and Katara could feel the stares of nearly everyone in the room, ready for her speech.

It should be the happiest day of my life, too.

Right?

Katara thinks she wants to cry.

Now, how come none of those Judy Blume, coming-of-age books have a chapter on how to write a Best Woman speech for your best friend getting married to another woman, even when you were struggling with the fact that you might have been in love with him for the past two decades?

Bitch, what the fuck do you even start that Google Doc with?

Does she start at 4 years old? When Katara thinks Zuko is an annoying piece of shit?

But, you know, he’s her piece of shit.

Guys have hepatitis, or cooties, or whatever Sokka said, she couldn’t exactly remember. All she remembered was Zuko sucked. He stole her crayons and made fun of her Hello Kitty backpack on the first day of school. He was the stupid one, not Hello Kitty . Never Hello Kitty . She’d shoved his face into the playground’s wood chips, threatened to cut off his peepee for breathing down her neck with his retainer breath, and even stuck his head in between two slices of white bread and lovingly referring to him as an ‘idiot sandwich’ (Sokka let her watch too many Gordon Ramsey hosted shows while their dad was working late).

Zuko and Katara were practically inseparable ever since.

Or 10, when you were asking for trouble if you fucked with Zuko.

He was a tiny kid, glasses too big for his head. Hair shaggy, clothes too oversized for him (just the way he liked it). His dad had tried beating it into him that it showed weakness by not making waves, not being loud and proud. But, he was quiet by nature. For him, it was just easier.

Not stirring the pot, being the observer, looking in from the outside. He was just Zuko , he liked Wonder Woman comics and figuring out what other words besides BOOBIES he could spell with his calculator instead of actually doing his math homework, because he was bad at math. Bad at everything, really. Everything but band class. Even if he did hate that stupid fucking tsungi horn.

His mom would hide his report cards from his dad, especially the ones noting how shy he was (Mrs. Kim had used the exact words ‘very antisocial, very easy to bully’). Even when Ursa would ask him to try, try to make friends outside of Katara, he was always a stubborn little thing. Something you got from your father , she would say, the smile slipping off her face just the slightest.

It was just more fun being by himself, the only exception he made was Katara. He spent his recess scribbling down a plot for a Love Amongst the Dragons Fanfiction and listening to Katara’s iPod he’d steal from her, just because he could , after she snuck it out from her backpack for the 10 minute break they had. It was the iPod she spent the last two Christmases saving up with Sokka for. Zuko insisted he could master Ludacris’s rap in Usher’s “Yeah!” and practiced the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays she had custody of the device.

Some days, Katara would sit beside him in her signature puffy blue jacket, struggling to fold herself to fit on the blacktop beside Zuko. The patented jacket her grandmother forced her to wear every single day obstructing her abilities. He snickers, but keeps quiet, content with plotting out a story that he would hopefully get to type out on the school library’s computers if his mom picked him up late again. She usually did, much to the dismay of the ladies at the front office. They typically hissed at him (which made him cry, to which they would have to offer him a cherry Otter pop so they wouldn’t face a lawsuit) and called his mom words he couldn’t repeat without getting in trouble (“Whore”).

Katara would babble on about her day, sometimes thinking of ways for his characters to die a painful death, or cooking up Fanfic plots for Beyoncé and Britney Spears to find love among the chaos of a zombie infestation. She always insisted she brought the creative range to their friendship. Some days though, Katara forgets all about him and plays handball with all the most popular girls in school.

Zuko’s jealous.

(Sometimes.)

She’s my best friend! He wants to scream in their faces. At the end of the day, he thinks he’s going to lose her. The day she realized she was too good, too cool for the likes of him.

“Chan, stop it!” Zuko squeaked, his notebook snatched from underneath his nose. The boy was always picking a fight. Your dad buys you a Motorola flip phone and suddenly you think you’re the shit.

The boy sneers at Zuko, flipping through the pages. “What do we have here? Are you drawing Shrek with boobies? You’re gonna jack off to that later, freak?”

Before Zuko could get a word in and defend his honor, Chan’s entire body was shoved to the ground, a dainty foot cased in a light up, white Skechers sneaker pressing into his face. Zuko couldn’t help his glee as Katara could barely be peeled off and stopped from repeatedly slamming Chan’s face into the hopscotch chalk court. “It’s all ogre now, bitch!”

She made sure to pin her detention slip to her Bratz backpack with pride. Zuko buys two treats that day from the student store before he walks her home.

“You’re my best friend, forever and ever,” Katara declares, head held up high. Zuko saw through it, though. He knows she’s scared of what Hakoda has to say, what Gran Gran has to say. So, he holds her hand tight, trying to relay his gratitude in the touch.

He licks at his Spongebob popsicle. The eyes had melted off and looked more like someone’s worst nightmare than an icy treat. Katara had wanted his cherry Otter pop, and he happily handed it over. “Pinky promise?” He holds out his finger.

Katara hooks her finger around his, dwarfing his tiny digit. Her outstretched smile stained orange. “I’ll break yours if you ever forget.”

At 15, Katara came to the realization that men have the emotional intelligence of a Souplantation crouton (may Souplantation rest in peace).

Growing up, with their dad and grandma always at work at their store, Katara was always in charge of cooking. No matter how many times she’d try to get Sokka to do it, he always insisted he was far too busy with taking out the trash, killing bugs, hating women. So, she was stuck with it, and honest-to-Rihanna, really liked it. Not that she’d ever let Sokka ever get the satisfaction of knowing it. It was her time to be alone, gave her the space to pop in a Cheetah Girls CD and pretend she won Masterchef with the struggle meal straight out of a Spam can she had to pound on a few times to get it to squeeze out from its gelatinous casing, or a whitewashed recipe she tried replicating whenever she catches a Rachael Ray rerun.

Though, Katara’s favorite time was chopping up the green onions under Ursa’s careful eyes, a hand always just there in realign the knife just in case she’d carelessly cut the green onions too big to garnish. Then, Ursa would then take out scissors because nobody had time for that. When his dad wasn’t home, Zuko’s mom opened up their doors across the street to the siblings, rambling about the next big painting she was planning as they scarfed down a home cooked meal.

Zuko was similar to his mom in that regard. They were the type of people who managed to make everyday moments larger-than-life, made it infectious, too. When it’s nighttime and he’s snuck into and snug in Katara’s room, he’d tell her dreams too big for anyone’s comprehension. Sometimes he dreamed he had tits that would leak chunky chicken noodle soup. Sometimes he’d ramble until her eyes are flitting shut and he’s left talking to himself and measuring his hand with hers, securing the leg she instantly throws over his waist. He’d like to think he was her only exception in the Souplantation crouton narrative.

Her bed is starting to smell like him, too. His favorite Costco brand shampoo and conditioner that he leaves in her bathroom, permeating her nostrils when she pulled him close. She even let him put up a Drake poster right next to her plethora of Rihanna ones, but only after he let her draw a penis on both his and Drake’s face. What he didn’t account for was her using a permanent marker, or the fact he couldn’t scrub it away from his cheeks for the next two days.

It was easy like this, just the two of them.

He’s there for all the birthdays and Halloweens and Christmases that left her not quite feeling whole. When things were hard, when things fucking sucked, when she wanted nothing more but to die. He was there, (stupidly) holding out his hand and willing to be the eye to her hurricane.

At 15, Zuko decides Katara feels home.

At 18, Zuko had already been Katara’s many firsts.

He was her first buffet partner, and brought back his Justin Bieber haircut just to pretend he was 12 so they could qualify for children's rates and a complimentary Oreo cheesecake because they were always celebrating his “birthday.”

Her first clubbing partner the second she turned 18, rubbing her back when any Beyoncé song with a Jay-Z feature came on because the second he cheated on Beyoncé, he cheated on everyone in the Beyhive. The first one to have to hold her as she hurled on his shoes, the first one to have to take her to get her stomach pumped.

The first person she tried to roll a joint with.

“I don’t need to learn that.”

Katara purses her lips. “And why not?”

He gestures to his face. “I’m too pretty. Only ugly bitches know how to do that . ”

Sokka thinks he needs to intervene when he hears Zuko’s tsungi horn case being chucked across the room .

The first person she (almost) fucked.

His family life was, for lack of a better word, fucked up. Katara had been witness to the drinking, the drugs, the crying. The nights where she sometimes didn’t know if the person standing in front of her was Zuko. She just wanted one night away from it all, just one night out on the town.

“That was kind of terrible,” Katara admits easily, wincing because she was sure he spilled Papa John’s garlic dipping sauce in his shitty Corolla’s air filter last Tuesday. He tried positioning his arm naturally underneath her head while their half naked bodies were pressed together, but he ended up smacking off her glasses. He even had the audacity to contently sigh as though he accomplished something, rather than just tangle her hair and give her a tension headache.

She felt lied to! Cheated! Bamboozled! Hoodwinked! All the Shrek and Y/N stories on FF.net could not prepare her for the fact that there weren’t any tongues fighting for dominance, or any mouths that tasted like cinnamon or musk or shit like that. It was just retainer to retainer and smelled distinctly of her awkward friend (cheese). It was sweaty and a lot of weird humping and felt like a visit to the gyno.

“Hey! I thought it was pleasantly average.” He clears his throat. “You know, besides the fact you farted mid-insertion and I started crying after 20 seconds.”

“You mean right after you came, right?” She says matter-of-factly.

He glared. “Is it my fault you have a gorilla grip pussy? Is it?”

“Zuko, you’re so fucking — ”

“What happens when you put a hot dog in the microwave for 2 minutes?” He crosses his hands and folds them over his lap like a professor waiting for a volunteer to answer the equation on the board.

“So in this metaphor, are you calling my pussy a microwave?”

But in true Zuko and Katara fashion, it was clumsy and a mess and could be erased with an emergency Burger King outing where they ate in silence and pinky promised never to speak of it again.

She wonders if Zuko should’ve been her first date to prom, too.

She wants to stop feeling so bothered . She couldn’t quite pin it, but lately everything he did frustrated the shit out of her. How he was taller than her now. How he didn’t need her to fight his battles because he goes to the gym now and wears a fake Gucci belt because he’s just so cool (brooding Asian guy is the trend, and Zuko thinks he’s the blueprint). How he said yes to going to prom with Mai, the prettiest girl in their grade.

“Don’t look in there!” Katara yelps, a blush creeping on her cheeks.

“Why?” Zuko questions, taken aback. He was entirely too comfortable in her room.

“Um. Maybe I don’t want a freak going through my dirty underwear pile!” Her eyebrows are halfway done, and she only has one eyelash glued on. She was stressed, scared her dress might not fit with how many of Sokka’s cookies she stress-ate because she just wanted the night to be perfect .

“Relax, what are a few discharge stains going to do to me, huh? If anything, it gives your pussy some much-needed personality.” Zuko wasn’t going to stop until he found his fake Gucci belt in Katara’s closet.

“Zuko!” Katara screams at the top of her lungs.

“Do I have to remind you about the time you broke our friendship bracelet while masturbating and I dug the bead out of your vagina like the good friend I am?”

She shoves him back from the closet, crowding in his space. That belt was going to remain in its rightful place. “Oh, fuck you! I took the fall for you when you opened your laptop in history class and forgot to exit from your “VIBRATING PANTIES” porn tab!” She pushes him before plopping on her bed.

Katara buries her face in her pillow at that point, too entirely embarrassed and body too hot to continue to look at his nonchalant face. He doesn’t quite remember when exactly Katara became so cute .

Pretty? Definitely. Fearless? For sure.

But blushing Katara, embarrassed Katara, cute Katara?

He thinks it’s because they rarely saw each other now, despite his patented place in her bed. His band, Hello Zuko, was aiming for at least a few dive bar performances to build a reputation, especially with their new title track “Tennis Ball.” Katara was a familiar face at their town’s soup kitchens.

“Where are you going?” he would sleepily mumble as he tried taking his midday nap before late night performances.

Katara’s hands are full with ingredients, swaying side to side and eyes red and drowsy. “Trying to temper chocolate. Why? What’s up?”

She never misses a performance, though. Comes to them with a sparkly poster doused in glitter, and t-shirts with his face on them and everything. He never misses a fundraising event, making sure to bring a steaming thermos filled with tea because Katara was never the type to remember to take care of herself, and always buys out her fundraising goodies (even her overbaked brownies.)

He pulls her up by her ponytail, cupping her face in between his hands.

“You look cute.”

“You look like the human equivalent of toeless socks,” Katara mumbles, face squished in between Zuko’s hands. “Why are you giving my clit piercing a kiss kiss right now? What do you want?”

Zuko shakes her head in between his hands. “Pinky promise me you’ll drop all penises to dance with me if they play any Usher song?” It was like he was in fifth grade all over again. “Call me a Nissan because I just want you Altima-self.”

She lets out a cackle, the sound nearly deafening. “Don’t worry, the DJ will get us falling in love again in no time.”

“Do you have to go with Jet?” He asks, pouting. He lays his head in her lap, too entirely preoccupied with picking at her pilling sweatpants to look at her questioning eyes. They promised they were going to be each others’ dates at the beginning of the school year. It was more fun going to dances with Katara. She knew how to do the worm and every lyric to every Rihanna song out there (but she refuses to sing any with Chris Brown parts).

“What? You know I like my men stupid.” She runs her hands through his locks, undoing the crunchy gel job that Iroh had painstakingly spent time on. Zuko didn’t have the heart to tell him it made him look like a youth pastor.

“You do like your communal meat thermometers.” He wants to keep the hurt out of his voice.

She shoves him off her, getting up to put on the dress hanging off her closet’s door handle. “You’re going with Mai, remember?” She yells through the closed closet door.

“But the thing is, I’m not planning to fuck her afterwards at the shitty hotel like it’s some type of CW show with some old bitches playing teenagers!”

“Just say XOXO, Gossip Girl .”

He still resents her for getting him invested in Blair Waldorf’s headband collection. “It’s not my fault Jet looks old. He looks like he’s at least 27 for fuck’s sake!” His face grows more distressed as he spits out each word. He only said yes to going with Mai after finding out Jet asked Katara using some shitty poster that said “my heart is always running when I see you” with a box of Nike outlet sneakers after English class.

“I think you’re just jealous that I emptied my intestines for someone who is about to be in it within the next three hours. When have I ever done that for you?”

Zuko’s about to retort something until Katara slams open the door, flooding his eyes with a dusty blue, curve hugging dress that did weird things to him. Like make his heart beat out of his chest, and his throat all dry when he’s searching for the words to say. Looking for the right words that say he thinks it’s impossible someone’s smile could make sunsets brighter, make the stars twinkle even more, make the unthinkable just a fingertip’s grasp away.

“Can you see the outline of my underwear and/or desperation from the back?” Her spin has him bumbling like an idiot.

He wishes it was Katara that night. Letting him shyly press his sweaty fingers into her waist as Katy Perry’s “E.T.” pierced their eardrums. He knows she would have pinched his nipples as punishment, all things considered. But the fluorescent lights of the disco ball would’ve highlighted how her pretty flush would dust her cheeks, and he would hold her close to his beating heart despite her complaining her foundation would stain his Target dress shirt, and everything would make sense.

“Did you cum?” Jet was absolutely pretty with an oh-so fat horse cock. Too bad he was like the Justin Timberlakes of the world, and always spoke unprovoked.

Katara scoffs. “Yeah, I came to my senses.” She flicked his forehead. “How would I do that? Tell me. How the fuck would a few thrusts and you panting your Sweet and Sour sauce breath in my ear get me off?” She shoves the sweating boy off her. “Can I say jk and will it make me a virgin again?” The hotel room had scratchy sheets and smelled like a waterpark bathroom.

He groaned. “I’m sorry .” He’s completely unremorseful. “Your tits smell like Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls and I couldn’t help myself!” Katara is about to cut his dick off for breathing in the same vicinity as her, before a gasp stops her entire world.

“Zuko!” she screeches, opening the hotel door with the same devastation as when Britney Spears discovered Ryan Seacrest wasn’t gay painting her features.

“You know what they say.” Zuko’s smirking, entirely ignoring Katara fuming. “Chlamydia is the powerhouse of the cell.”

“You’re. A. Dick!” She says in between smacks to his head. Jet makes a speedy exit, still pantsless and clutching his suit to his chest, while Zuko mouths a ‘ call me’ to Mai, who amusedly waves goodbye to Katara.

“Oh god, this is exactly like the bead incident all over again.”

“ You’re not helping! ”

“Maybe we’ll find Atlantis up there too,” Zuko murmurs, concentrating on positioning the hotel’s mirror under her legs.

“Please, Rihanna. Have mercy on me.” Katara’s hands are in prayer mode as Zuko turns on his phone’s flashlight. “I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me. All those times I took an extra gummy vitamin were a joke . I never wanted to die, I just wanted to feel a little thrill in my life. Please—”

Zuko screams when the squelch of the condom splatters onto the mirror.

“You’re wearing underwear under there right?” He likes the look of his blazer draping over her, buttoned to look like a chic, oversized dress and not because it was the easiest thing to throw over Katara to run and grab Plan B.

“No, because I would obviously let my fat cooter out, cute and bare and vulnerable in a Walmart.”

“A simple yes would have sufficed.”

She’s reaching for the box and wincing at the price when she feels a gentle nudge on her arm. “Ma’am, your entire pussy is out in a Walmart,” the employee breathes out pathetically.

“I am well aware.” She ekes out.

The employee eyes her up and down with a gaze that practically calls her a whore . “Please put her away.” Zuko’s face grows beet red as he tries holding back a laugh.

It was always easy like this. When the world was just Zuko and Katara, holding hands in her driveway while they watched the sun rise in his shitty Corolla. She’s still wrapped up in his blazer, he’s since loosened his cheap tie and his hair is sticking every which way. She likes his smile, especially now that it comes so easy.

He’s smiling a lot more now that his father is gone. Ozai essentially told Azula and Zuko to fuck off , and ran off to some big city to steer a hospital with too many controversies and too many white guys at the helm. Iroh came back from his meditation sabbatical, enthusiastic to take care of the siblings. Zuko seems a lot happier with Iroh around, and even spends nights sleeping in his actual bed. (Katara’s a little hurt, but keeps that to herself).

She wishes she could bottle up these moments with Zuko up and just hold them in her hands. Moments when they were still young and curious and still had time to wait for life to figure itself out. She wants to find a way to make these a permanent fixture, instead of memories that would fade with age. “Let’s get out of here,” he offers up, eyes starry.

“Yeah?” She folds her knees up to her chest, and he taps her under her chin to level their gazes.

“ Republic City . We can make something out of lives. Medical school, culinary school. Get out of this shithole. Get away from our past.” His smile is contagious. “Best friends, forever and ever, right?”

She’s so pretty, her wide eyes sparkling as they take in the rays of sun. She returns his smile. “Best friends, forever and ever.”

Katara remembers how Ursa would say Zuko always dreamt too big, his heart always wanting so, so much .

“It’s a blessing, but more of a curse,” she would note, with the wisdom only mothers are capable of possessing. Sometimes, Katara selfishly thinks the day Ursa left hurt her more than it hurt Zuko. They were impossibly close, to the point where Zuko even had to intervene when Ursa started siding with Katara during their arguments (he knows in his heart his Mother’s Day macaroni portrait of her was better).

She would wonder how the world could let her live like this, dangling something she’s always wanted right in front of her face, only to snatch it away. Wonder if it was easier to die, than live with a hole in her heart that seemingly doubled in size overnight.

“Zuko, please look at me.”

He’s mad, she could tell. With his pout and the way he was forcibly trying to squeeze his eyes in a glare. He’s been sitting in the same spot in her bed, eyes trained on tutorials on how to convincingly persuade your doctor to give you an adderall prescription and “who bit Beyonce” conspiracy videos.

“Well, what if I just wanted you to respect my privacy! For the first time in 15 years! Maybe I needed space!” She yelps after twenty minutes of the silent treatment.

Zuko sends her a look that has her freezing up on the spot. “Katara, you had a whole baby .”

She felt thoroughly scolded, but she was stubborn. “And? What about it?”

“You had an entire one, and didn’t even bother to tell the godfather? When was I supposed to find out?”

Katara didn’t think that one through, to be honest. It was easy to forget, in between diapers that smelled like a fish sauce and an expired Vagisil smoothie, and balancing work. She lays down beside him, thoroughly exhausted after putting her little girl, Yue, down for a nap. “One, who made you the godfather? And two, I guess we’re just not close like that.”

“Look, I literally have your social security number memorized, and have practically given you a Pap smear. You really want to say ‘ we’re not close like that ?” He sends her a look that has her resolve faltering the slightest. “You did your pregnancy announcement like a Sailor Moon transformation sequence with before and after pictures of you being pregnant, and you didn’t think to fucking tell me?”

Katara gasps. “I had you blocked !”

“Azula’s a snitch!” He also got a glimpse of the photo of Katara in her hoe time dress that barely fit over her belly with the caption: how the mighty have fallen . He pauses, sucking in a breath of air for strength. The hurt flashes in his eyes and the only thing she could think to do was wrap him up in a familiar embrace.

At 19, Katara is so incredibly lost, and just wants her best friend by her side.

He’s busy, the summer before everything Republic City. Everytime she tries their house, Azula answers, rolling her eyes while clad in a Harry Styles shirt, because it’s a girl’s rite of passage to go through a One Direction phase and wear badly made merchandise from Hot Topic. He’s usually busy packing, or fucking Mai until she sounds like a car alarm during Fourth of July fireworks.

“Azula, no . You cannot kidnap Mai’s younger brother and trade him in for concert tickets to send a message.”

“Not even for floor ones?” Katara’s glare summed up her answer. “I used to look up to you,” Azula retorts, returning to her stan Twitter.

She waits, waits, waits. The moans keep coming and she just rolls her eyes. Her stomach churns, mainly because she thinks Mai called Zuko’s dick The Pussy Penetrator every time he hit her g spot (you know what, good for her). But also because her scholarship to the university was less than she expected, and Hakoda didn’t want to cosign on a loan. She just wanted her best friend to be there for her.

She feels sick, sick enough to vomit in one of Iroh’s plants, while Azula rubs small circles into her back.

“You should’ve swallowed,” Toph reminds, bundling Katara’s thick hair into a ponytail as the girl hurled up her California roll. She’s so exhausted, she even leans her head against the Walmart toilet bowl, five positive pregnancy tests tossed carelessly beside her.

“Think it’s too late for that,” Katara grits out. “What are you doing?”

The last thing she expected was Toph’s hands gathering together in prayer formation. “Praying to Rihanna your period comes.”

Like many people her age, having a mental breakdown during a pregnancy scare and praying for a miracle in a public restroom was normal. But for the first time in her life, besides the time Rihanna willingly twerked on Drake at the 2011 Grammys, Ms. Robyn Fenty herself failed her.

“Fetus deletus that bitch! Fuck them kids !” She brings herself eye-level to Katara’s stomach. “Read the womb, bitch!”

“Did you just call my unborn baby a bitch?” Katara’s eyes are bleary from the smell of vomit and her future going down the drain.

“You should’ve kept that bitch-baby in the drafts,” Toph sweeps the stray hairs from Katara’s watery eyes. “My cousin saved up for her abortion by running a pyramid scheme. I can get you her number.”

Katara wanted to die. “I think I’m just going to crawl in this toilet and die. Call my brother if I don’t get flushed down all the way.”

“Again, I’m just a Walmart employee,” Toph snickers, helping the girl up. She’s rarely left her side since then. Their friendship just works, a pair of fuckups. The girl with the accident baby, and the Walmart security guard trying to figure out her own shit after running away from home.

“I should’ve been there!” Zuko reminds, tone heavy with betrayal.

Katara remembered the few moments before he boarded the plane to Republic City. She wanted to be selfish. She wanted to tell him to not get on the flight, to keep holding her like he did at the entrance of the gate. She had a kiss ready on her lips that he wasn’t ready to give, backing away when their faces were too close, when she was too close. He just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving with regrets.

“I should’ve been there holding your hand, letting you call me names, and fighting nurses if they breathed too close to this precious angel,” Yue holds his pinky with her little fingers, almost as though it was a natural reaction. His heart simply seizes up at the gesture, and he holds her tighter to his body. She was wailing after waking from her nap, colic crackling her throat for the last three months and causing her middle of the night wakeups to be painful and frequent. But with Zuko, she’s all calm and perfect and polite and beautiful and angelic.

“Didn’t know you liked kids this much,” Katara shrugs. She leans in, and Zuko throws his free arm around her.

“I’ll have you know I am the resident expert in telling children’s stories,” Zuko insists.

“Like?” Katara quirks up her brow.

“Like Rumpleforeskin, the mythical man who can weave majestic golden fleece from the ends of his pubic hair.”

She smacks him upside the head. “You’re disgusting .” She curls in deeper into his embrace. He had that twinkle in his eye that could mean he was going to masturbate to this moment in the shower later, or he was in love. It renders her breathless every time

She hopes when he looks at her he doesn’t see the eye bags, or the titty milk leaking everywhere, or the permanent crease in her brow. She hopes he could still see her, underneath it all. When she was just Katara .

“I guess, not telling you was just my way of keeping our dream alive.” She pauses, stroking Yue’s barely there hair. “I keep thinking that one day I could find the time to go to Republic City, and I don’t know. Get a chance to just be me .”

“Do you regret it?” Zuko’s rubbing circles into her back until she gets sleepy and her heart feels too full.

“I don’t know.” She tries, quiet, almost ashamed. “I don’t know.”

At 21, Katara feels like she’s at the top of the world.

Not only did she get promoted from girl wearing a dumpling costume outside handing out 15% off coupons that only worked if you left a Yelp review, to a server in a shitty dim sum restaurant, she was also accepted in the culinary program at the local university. It wasn’t Republic City per say, but Yue could attend the nearby preschool and go to the university-run childcare program afterwards while Katara was working.

She even got a hold of Jet, who refused to disclose his location or job. But judging by the copious child support mandated by some judge who hated men as much as Katara did, he was doing well. He sometimes Venmos Katara a few extra dollars on Yue’s birthdays.

Sokka and Hakoda, while hesitant to the little girl’s presence early on, spoil her absolutely rotten. When they think Katara’s passed out after her 14 hour days, they’re red in the face, screaming at Zuko over the phone about who was going to get Yue the Peppa Pig Playhouse (complete with flashing lights) she always talks about.

Hakoda even tries at therapy, wanting to be there for the apple of his eye. Sometimes, Katara’s hurt he never tried for her, tried in her childhood. She’s happy for him, nonetheless.

(Mostly) everything was working out.

“How are both my girls doing?” Zuko would always sing-song during his nightly Facetime calls. Yue would scream and snatch the phone from Katara’s hands, delighted at the sound of her one and only Uncle Zuzu. He’s an extravagant gift giver, regularly sending Yue glittery Hello Kitty and Wonder Woman backpacks. He even buys her a whole iPad for her fourth birthday, already coming with child safe settings on and YouTube loaded with her favorites (namely, Barbie: Fairytopia ). He’s guilty he couldn’t come home, but then again, he rarely ever did. Too consumed with work, grad school applications.

Katara can’t help but feel her heart pulse the slightest bit faster during those calls, even if she shuts it down as quickly as it comes.

He’s so good to her .

She used to cherish those moments he used to tell her secrets, dreams, everything in those hours early in the morning before high school would start. With approximately 3,209 miles between the two of them, she wakes up to texts instead.

Zuko: I dreamed that I was being held at gunpoint by one of those thicc caterpillars from A Bug’s Life , and if I didn’t finish the MCAT in approximately 20 minutes, they would shoot me in the face. The dump truck ass of those ants were the bullets

Katara: Please block my number

Zuko: No. <3

He’s all gentle smiles and eyes squeezing into little half moons just like Yue’s after he plays a game of Facetime patty cake and messes up on the beat just to hear the little girl laugh.

The next month, Zuko had decided enough was enough . He missed his girl.

His hospital, for the first time in a year, was letting him have the weekend off. So he books Katara a ticket straight away, because he thinks he’s going to die if he has to be around people who don’t know who Megan Thee Stallion is.

“Boys only speak two languages. English and emotional manipulation,” Toph reprimands, hugging Katara so tight she could barely get in a word. “Please remember that.”

It was her first time leaving her hometown in her life, her first time on an airplane for God’s sake. She’s jittery though, the cushioned seats Toph somehow upgraded her ticket to (after covertly whispering with the gate attendant) doing nothing to alleviate her nerves.

When she jumps in his arms in baggage claim, he breathes in deep. Her hugs have always warmed his insides, and he didn’t realize how much he craved it until he was greedy, pressing into her and refusing to let go despite her many protests.

“Come here often?” he mumbles, smiling into her shoulder.

Her cheeks grew hot at his touch. “Occasionally.” She whispers back.

He decided there and then in front of Gate 3 they needed to make up for lost time as quickly as possible.

The college party is entirely too sticky, entirely too messy for a proper (extremely) late 21st birthday celebration. Her crop top and big earrings and glittery eyeshadow and endless curves has Zuko wondering how much he’s missed in the last few years. When she hugs him close to her and screams out Nicki Minaj lyrics, he doesn’t remember her being so soft and even prettier. Beautiful. Breathtaking, knocking the wind out his lungs if she as so much blinked.

She looks like any 21 year old, without a care in the world, just figuring out their life. He wonders what this version of Zuko and Katara was.

Maybe they got to go to Republic City together. Maybe they work in the same building, and are just letting steam off from work. Maybe they loved each other. It was dangerous though. He feels as though she’s caging him in, that grip on his heart sparking up again without his permission. Her fake lashes he saw her glue on in the airport bathroom flutter about, hands coming up to accentuate her words every time she tries to scream something in his ear over the pulsating music. He just grips her waist harder between his hands, holding her tight.

In a perfect world, all she saw was him. She wishes it was him. She sometimes thinks she sees Zuko’s eyes in Yue. She sees his smile. She sees his heart.

While they’d spent the entire night stumbling through the city, his girlfriend was home. Barefoot, pregnant. Looking like the cover of some women’s lifestyle magazine, stray curls escaping her bun to frame her face in all its angelic glory. Glowy and flawless and every bit beautiful. Different from the girl Katara caught crying in the kitchen. “You can hate me all you want, you can talk shit about me all you want. But I love him,” Jin insists. “I’m his girlfriend , for fuck’s sake.

Katara has to stop herself from recoiling. She had a specific vision of their future. One that included doing taxes together and matching sweaters and teaching him her new macaroon recipe and Yue balanced on his lap.

But one look at Jin, and it becomes glaringly obvious how little she fit in with his new life.

“I don’t hate you, Jin.” It’s every bit sincere, but the girl doesn’t look convinced.

Jin rolls her eyes. A pointed look freezing Katara in her place.

“Ok, I might’ve complained once or twice about your VSCO filter choice.”

“Yeah, Zuko sent a screenshot of your texts to me instead of you by accident.”

“God, you know he always fucking does that? To be fair though, M05 is too orange and is not a good look on anyone. You can do better, I know you can.” The two girls laugh. It was devoid of any genuine emotion, just meant as an attempt to fill the empty space between them. “If I had known. Fuck, if I had just known, I’m sorry, Jin.” She had no idea Zuko had a kid on the way, that they were still living together and determined to co-parent while their relationship was in a weird limbo. If she was Jin, she would’ve kicked someone’s pussy and made a scene and set something on fire. But Jin wasn’t that type of girl. Jin was soft and pretty and looked like she smelled like an interior designer's perfectly bleached asshole.

“Do you love him?” Jin seemed to shrink into herself, small enough Katara might miss her in a blink of an eye.

Katara couldn’t quite decipher the meaning behind the question. She thinks she’s too scared to.

Katara doesn’t know how to respond. She didn’t trust herself to speak. This Zuko wasn’t the Zuko she knew. She loved the Zuko who would steal people’s Netflix passwords off of 4chan, and cosplay as Todoroki at Anime Con to make a few bucks. Not the one who can afford sky rises in the big city.

He didn’t even tell her that his big internship in the city was for his father’s hospital, and he was next in line to running it. “You’re a lawyer with health insurance and your own Netflix account! You’re good for him, Jin.” Katara falters the slightest. “I just want to see Zuko happy.”

“Me too.” Jin says quietly.

“Whatever, fuck Zuko !” She tries at extending the olive branch. “I can’t believe you’re preggers!” She puts a gentle hand on Jin's belly, and her vagina immediately winces. “You know, your vag will never look the same, and you might grow a third boob in your armpit.”

“You’re lying .”

“Yeah, a lump of breast milk can form there, too!” Katara is about to scroll to the photo in her phone when Jin laughter breaks through the night.

“I hope your dick gets bitten off mid-blowjob!” She whisper-screams, struggling with her suitcase until it smacks all at nearly every corner and edge. She was just making noise for the sake of making noise, but it made her feel better.

He didn’t expect waking up to a charge on his card for a flight booked in the last ten minutes, or Katara shoving his good mixer in her suitcase.

“You hate it don’t you?” He always loved it when Katara went into Hulk mode anytime a bully dared test her protective nature. While it was never entirely directed at him, he now understands exactly why Chan peed his pants. Katara was terrifying .

“What?” Zuko’s confused, rubbing an eye booger away.

“You loved it when I’m crying over Jet, crying over something, fucking something up in my life. Being mad at the world. You hate that I’m better, and making something of myself now!” She’s angry and grasping at straws.

Zuko furrows his brows, not sure where to progress from here. “Ok, run that by me again?”

The air vanishes when her stare cools over to absolutely icy. “There’s nothing else I can give. So what the fuck do you want from me?”

He laughs, all hollow and almost mocking . “You know, I was afraid of you coming here.” He lies.

She stops in her tracks. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I thought...I thought you wouldn’t get this new me, because it’s different!” He protests. “See, this is exactly the reason why! You’re mad I can afford real Gucci !”

Katara recoils, looking embarrassed for him. God, were men so fucking stupid, and so proud of it, too. “Are you fucking serious.”

Zuko’s frustrated, running his hands through his hair. “What the fuck are we doing, Katara?”

“You tell me!” She demands. “I’m not that kind of girl, Zuko! I’m not that kind of girl that is going to break up a fucking engagement, or whatever the fuck you weirdos are doing!”

He throws up his hands. “I’m not happy! We’re not happy.”

“What? You think now that you’ve sold your soul to your piece of shit dad and you can buy jewelry that won’t turn your fingers green that I’m going to fuck you?”

“No! I’m not saying that—”

Katara scoffs. “Then what the fuck are you saying? Grow up, Zuko. Grow the fuck up and just leave me the fuck alone .”

“You’re still Katara.” He throws his hands up in the air, trying to stop her. Even if he felt like his entire world was falling apart, there was one thing he would always be certain about. “I’m still Zuko. The same Zuko who loves you .”

Katara turns her head, not willing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. “The thing is, this isn’t you, Zuko.” Katara says with finality. “It isn’t you .”

When she gets home, she spots it right away. On their dining table, white paper folded neatly, Yue was the type of little girl who looked to both sides of the street before crossing, repeating it two more times to be safe. She always took extra care to make everything even, never a wrinkle in sight on her homework.

The Crayola family portrait that brought to life everything she’d imagined and more. Katara doesn’t have the heart to look for longer than a second.

At 27, Katara’s pretending that it’s the happiest day of her life.

She didn’t think he would listen to her, you know, men rarely did anything right. Zuko, though, heeds her warning and only calls exactly two hours before Yue’s bedtime like clockwork. There weren’t any surprise texts to wake up to anymore, no more evidence of Zuko in her life. She doesn’t even find out about Jin’s affair with one of those Axe commercial guys until months later.

When she goes to unblock his number and text him, to try and talk to him, she gasps. She sees those grey iMessage bubbles, and she’s ashamed her heart splutters, awakening a feeling she thought she’s dampened. She puts her phone down for milliseconds, before checking it again and again and again. She finally threw the damn thing across the room when a week passed.

She thinks it’s for the better, especially when she was sure she finally got things right with Jet.

“ We’ll make this shit work together.” Jet reassures, gathering her close to him she could see every little detail of him. “Like Kanye said, ‘you’re a MILF, and I’m a mother-fucker.”

She covers her ears, pushing him into the restaurant’s glass door. “No thank you. No more non consensual reciting of Kanye verses.”

“Yeezy, breezy, beautiful, baby. Get into it.” Jet winks, and Katara feels herself gagging again.

Then again, Katara always had a thing for stupid. And for three easy payments of $Penis.99, he had an all access experience to her pussy and her trauma.

“And he bought me those carrot cake cupcakes I always look at when we go to the supermarket but I never want to chance it because it could have raisins instead of nuts and I think I hate raisins more than I hate white men named Nathaniel.”

Toph jabs Katara in the forehead. “Wow, he spared $5 on some dry pastries, and your pussy was suddenly screaming pick me, pick me !”

“They were gluten free, too,” she points out. “Plus, my pussy doesn’t scream!”

“Oh right, my bad! It whispers!”

“ Toph !”

“Last night I heard it go wash me! Wash me!”

It felt good with him, though. It felt good to see him help Yue with math homework, making dinner in their little kitchen, pressing kisses to her in the morning despite her breath smelling like Khloe Kardashian’s earring backing pussy. Someone to come home to.

“Piece of shit, I’ll fucking kill you!” She was punching him over and over again until her knuckles were ripped raw, sitting straight on his throat. Beating him stupid in the middle of her shift. He thought he could get away with it. With Katara now stuck in the kitchen as one of the head cooks, and the fact he had a reservation in one of the private rooms for him and his secretary to go over...numbers, he didn’t think much of it.

Too bad Toph was too invested, and had a friends-to-lovers storyline to live vicariously through.

“Scram, fuglies!” Toph screamed to other customers who had already started chanting “WorldStar!”

Katara lost her job, lost her mans, lost a section of her eyebrow because Toph accidentally tried helping and swung the wrong direction.

“Catch me outside, how ‘bout that!” She yelps triumphantly, despite the fact Katara was cradling her own bloodied face.

And here she was, about to lose her best friend, too.

She accidentally Facetimed his old number, and spent the last hour mulling over her feelings with an executive of a porn studio who picked up mid-shoot. “Just tell him you love him!” The balding man is exhausted.

“What do I even say? Do I tell him, ‘I think I’ve always loved you?’ Is that too cheesy? You know that feeling when your heart just—Oh my fucking god! Is that Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob ?!” She screams, slamming her hands over her eyes. The squirrel’s melons-for-tits would never be erased from her memory.

He only has fear in his eyes when he looks at her. “You didn’t see anything.” Robert bites out, promptly hanging up.

In her post-Jet purge, she realized she wasn’t the type of ex dead set on destroying his things. After all, she was selling his light-up keyboard to pay for Toph’s birthday boob job. Her residual anger was instead, spent hacking away at the drawer he always kept locked. Until she found it.

A letter from him.

“ I’ve always been afraid that our friendship would’ve spilled over until all I could do is categorize it with four simple letters .” Katara whispers, eyes frantically scanning the paper. “And I’m done being afraid .”

“The four letters he’s talking about is D-U-M-B B-I-C-T-H . Dumb bitch. The ‘bitch’ is silent.” Toph insists. “I can’t believe you let a balding bum, whose credit score tanked because he invested his entire savings in Shake Weight Milkshake making machines, knock you up instead of Zuko.”

“It was innovative at the time,” she whispers.

“Fill the void in your heart, not your pussy.”

She's whipping out her shitty MacBook Air, and praying his email still worked. But when she calls all she sees is her.

“You told me to come to Republic City and find him!” Mai exclaims, holding up her hand where a big ring blinding the fuck out of her.

She feels her heart crumble at the same time she crushes the letter in her hand.

“I did do that, didn’t I?” Katara winces. The time the model stopped by in their hometown, Katara was still happy and getting her pussy pounded regularly and let that shit get to her head. She thought it would be a blessing in disguise, and wanted to help Zuko out, too.

"Fuck."

Their wedding looked ripped out of a 2014 Basic Bitch Pinterest board, and she’s definitely sure she couldn’t be happier.

“Why is her name spelled like ‘Mai’ and pronounced ‘May?’ Like, shouldn’t it be spelled like ‘Mei?’”

“Katara, you’re just being a bitch,” Toph reminds while Katara stares at the sign with their wedding hashtag in front of the photobooth with all the ‘YOLO’ signs and 2013 mustaches.

“I am well aware!” She asserts, chin jutting out.

Mai’s New York Fashion Week ready body was gorgeous, perfect in Zuko’s hold.

Katara wished life was like a rom-com. Where she could burst through the doors, declare her love, piss on him in her ugly, big bridesmaid dress and mark her territory once and for all.

But life wasn’t a movie. Life was just this shitty piece of dumpster fire shit and was always fucking her over like the Target self-checkout line camera.

What could she do? Deliver some long-winded speech about how she would go to realign the stars in the heavens if it meant a chance to rewrite their fate? That she hoped she visits his dreams before his mind could settle into reality, the same way he visited hers and overstayed his welcome every single time? Make everyone uncomfortable and wonder if they boned?

Then again, she was never going to be the one to block her best friend’s blessings. Not on the happiest day of his life.

“I think this is the happiest day of my life.” Katara says seamlessly.

Zuko sees it though, sees right through her and has to stop himself from reaching out to her.

“It wasn’t ever easy being Zuko’s best friend. I mean look at him now, getting married to someone perfect . He’s not even in the same ballpark, league, or hell, stadium porta potty as her!”

Zuko ducks his head with a brief pout that breaks Katara’s heart. Everyone laughs in spite of him, until he joins in, too. “You know, it’s easy to pretend that finding love is easy. You could find love in all the little things in your life. All the people, all the details. It’s easy to say you always, completely, truly love someone. Because that’s what we want love to be, right? At the surface, sure.” She folds the flimsy paper she had on hand, nothing was written on it anyways. “You want it to be perfect.”

“But the love everyone works so hard to get, is the love that’s hard . It’s the love that isn’t safe. The love that challenges, excites you, the love that will never have limits. The love that’s messy and beautiful all at the same time.” She looks at him, truly looks at him for the first time in years and all she could do was smile.

“It’s easy to find love, but it’s near impossible to find a soulmate.” She raises her glass. “Join me in a toast to the bride and groom. I wish you a lifetime of happiness.”

And while everyone is gathered out on the dance floor, she’s sobbing pathetically and smearing the winged eyeliner she worked so hard to perfect on the car ride there. Trying to stop any of the pain from consuming her.

She’s out on the rooftop of the venue, the cold air whipping her face as she tries lighting up a blunt.

“Are you getting high at my wedding !” Zuko is incredulous, and shocks Katara enough to drop the joint off the roof.

“On all things Fenty Beauty, bitch what the fuck?” Katara wipes the tears from the corner of her eyes.

“The flower girl wanted to see her mommy.” But Katara sees right through Yue’s little act. Pretending to sleep so she could be held by Zuko (me too, girl. Me too).

It felt dangerous, the way she could toy with his heart, his own personal defibrillator shocking it back to life. She’s pretty even with red-rimmed eyes, with the fake smiles he knew was trying to appease him to leave her alone. If anything, all it does is make him want to kiss her until her troubles are gone.

He wanted to do a lot of things at that moment. He wanted to feel the warmth of her skin, tell her that above all else, he missed his girl the most. But, he had everything on his plate and then some.

“The chicken was dry as fuck.” He blurts, wiping the sweat from his face. Only Katara could send him back a few decades. “I wish you could’ve catered it.”

“Yeah?” She laughs and wants to call him out for stalking her company’s Facebook page. “Remember you tried my new recipe and you vomited all over the front row at your fourth ever Hello Zuko performance?” She misses his messy hair, when he didn’t look so clean cut and rich bitchy.

“I didn’t know you weren’t done cooking it!”

She shoves his head, and he joins her, dangling his feet precariously off the roof.

When she’s here with him, when he has her in his hold for the first time in years, he sees his whole life with just a glimpse in her eyes. And all he wants to do is build a machine and reverse all the time that’s passed them by.

“I made a mistake.” Zuko breathes out, eyes nervously darting around.

As sure as he was that Nicki Minaj deserved a Grammy, he was sure he loved her.

“W-What?” Katara blinks at him.

“I made a mistake, Katara.” He laughs nervously, scratching the back of his neck, carding his hand through his hair. Looking every bit devastatingly handsome. “I realized something. After the speech, after just, everything.”

“I realized I just can’t have my cake and eat it, too.”

Just like that, just with the way he built her up, it comes tumbling down.

“So what are you saying?” Her heart was on the verge of cracking in half and he didn’t even know it. Because all he could pin her with a look she couldn’t read, and she thinks if he was a smarter man he would’ve at least pretended that it hurt him to hurt her.

But it did.

It broke him, ripped him in half to see her face turn to steel right before his eyes.

“What I’m saying is, after all these years.” He doesn’t have it in him to face her. “I think I have to finally let you go, Katara.”

#Zutara #Zuko #Katara #Zutara Week #atla #zutara fanfiction #avatar the last airbender #zutara week 2020

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moderndaygaang · 3 years

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tagged by @praetorqueenreyna woohooooooo

To see the fics I’m talking about, here’s my ao3 ! (I’m including a WIP or two in this that i am THIS CLOSE to being done with and plan on posting before the year is out and I don’t have much else 🤷‍♀️)

Which Of Your Fics...

Did you think would get a bigger reaction/audience than it got: HONESTLY I was expecting “Hit And Run” to get more hits. It got way more genuine love in the comments than I ever expected from the people who did read it (including so many writers I admire *swoon*) so who cares, truly! I just forget how few people actually ship zutaraang.

Is your funniest: i actually think my korrasami WIP is very funny but that’s because i think Korra has a good sense of humor and her banter with Bolin is like the first half of the fic lmao. Out of my published stuff I would say “Better Left Unsaid” is more consistently funny throughout, but i did actually laugh out loud writing “Hit And Run” because of the ending!

Is your darkest/angstiest: none of my published/complete work because it’s not quite my style, but I have a Rangshi WIP that will be posted soon that is quite angsty and depressing feat. What if Rangi and Kyoshi didn’t get together and Rangi fucked with Kyoshi’s emotions because of her internalized homophobia ???? why am i writing it? Good question.

Is your absolute favorite: i love all my children equally i refuse to answer this (i actually just can’t decide)

Is your least favorite: mmm probably my most recent one “watch it spin”, which is actually not ATLA but a SPOP fic focused on Catra and Perfuma becoming friends (a big hc of mine) and getting high together (based off some funny fan art). I only say it’s my least fave because it’s not my best work, but it is very niche and self-indulgent and I’m glad it’s in the universe for my own sake!

Was the easiest to write: “Better Left Unsaid”! That one only took a couple of hours. Started as just a warm up for something else and then I was like ‘oh this is cute’ :)

Was the hardest to write: “Wanna Follow Your Voice...”! It was the first fic I had written in YEARS, first for ATLA, and I had never done anything with chapters before. I spent a lot of time on it! Just figuring out the pacing and the events I wanted to include and trying to maintain a consistent tone over time was not easy.

Has your favorite line/exchange/paragraph (share it): gosh this is so hard!!!! I have favorites from all of them. I really was proud of how in “Wanna Follow Your Voice” zuko connects flashes from his dreams to his actual interactions with Aang (too much to share here). But have this bit from “Hit And Run” because it’s peak romcom imo —

Before even Aang can react, heat bursts from Zuko’s finger tips, lighting the poor, unassuming bartender’s beard on fire.

“Shit,” Zuko mutters, and jumps up. The bartender is screaming now, haplessly batting at his own chest to try and stop the flames from spreading.

Katara reacts in time with Zuko, pulling him towards the door while the other customers around him clamor to help the bartender, Rin and Aang included.

Zuko takes the opportunity to grab Aang’s wrist, dragging him away from the scene.

Luckily, no one realized where the flame came from, so their timely exit goes unnoticed. By the time Rin stops and looks for ‘Lee’, they’re already out the door and scaling the building next door to get out of sight.

When they reach the rooftop, they all collapse on their backs and catch their breath. Aang pulls off his bandana and wipes it across his brow.

“Well that’s one way to claim your territory,” Aang grinned. The three of them burst out laughing simultaneously.

When their laughter settles, Katara shoves Aang’s shoulder.

“Hey, you’re a little too good at charming the pants off of our enemies. Tone it down a notch next time.”

“I can’t help that the people love me.” He throws his hands up in resignation, drawing out another laugh from Zuko and Katara.

“I have to say Zuko,” Aang starts as he sits up, leaning back on his hands. “You must really love me if you’re willing to set someone on fire out of jealousy.”

Zuko covers his face with his hands, and an embarrassed groan pushes past his lips before he can stop it. “I didn’t mean to set anyone on fire!” he exclaims.

Have you reread the most: “hit and run” but only because people left the most kind and detailed comments about stuff that I genuinely forgot I put in there so I would go back to refresh my own memory LOL

Would you recommend to someone reading your work for the first time: “Better Left Unsaid”, most likely. It’s short and simple, lighthearted, not too shippy, but still captures my writing style well I think.

Are you most proud of: mmmm “Hit And Run” because I really like the way it turned out. It required the most ‘world building’ (so to speak) which is really not something I feel confident doing, but I think I did well with it! Plus it has an OC who I actually loved creating and would totally write about again.

So fun. Gunna tag @kuchee @jaystrifes and @flerkenkiddingme to do this ♥️🥰

#about me #fic rec #rec’ing my own shit LOL

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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!

#atla #avatar the last airbender #masks rpg #aang #zuko #sokka #katara #toph #suki #AtLA x MASKs #superhero au #i have thoughts and opinions #occasionaly i share them #now i want to play masks with these characters #let me tell stories about the adventures of boomerang man and the blind bandit #the kyoshi warrior and the painted lady #the avatar and the blue spirit #it would be epic #that's all i'm saying

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bloodieash · 3 years

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oc trope challenge Feb 23- fake dating

“Hey Zuko!” A loud voice cut through the low chatter of the Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop and cafe. Zuko would recognize that voice anywhere, Sokka. Zuko finished serving the tea on his tray and then turned to where most of his friend group had crammed themselves into a booth.

“I thought we talked about this.” He said as he approached them. This being Sokka shouting loud enough to wake the dead while inside the tea shop, not them showing up to talk to him while he was on shift.

“Did we? I don’t remember that.” Sokka said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Suki was tucked under his other arm, but she had this look on her fact that could only spell trouble. Zuko decided to head her off before she could ask.

“No the Kyoshi warriors can not use the Jasmine Dragon as a training ground.”

Suki’s grin only widened, reminding him of Azula whenever he walked right into her trap. “Uncle Iroh already said we could after closing time so long as we clean up after ourselves.” So what had that look been about?

“Actually,” Katara cut in, drawing Zuko’s attention to the other side of the booth. “We were wondering if you’ve seen Emiko.”

Worry shot through him. Why would they ask him he he’d seen her? She was really good about keeping appointments or letting people know if she was going to be late. Plus he was sure Katara got a weekly printout of her work schedule.

“Her shift ended fifteen minutes ago.” Zuko answered.

Toph groaned and let her head thump against the table. “I’m not chasing her around town all day. I’ve got things to do.” She grumbled.

“Oh? Like Earth Rumble 18?” Katara teased.

“Yes!” Toph shouted, her head shooting up again. “Why couldn’t Jet deliver his little love letter himself?”

Jet? Love letter? Jet had written a love letter? For Emiko? That was impossible. There was no way. Jet and Emiko were always at each other’s throats. They didn’t even like each other so it was utterly ridiculous to think Jet loved Emiko.

“It’s not a love letter Toph.” Sokka argued. Zuko hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath until it came out of him in a rush. Thank Agni for Sokka.“Just just wants to make sure Emiko gets his number. For a project I think.”

Katara scoffed. “Come on Sokka. We all know how Jet operates. It’s not a project he wants to work on.”

That was worse. So much worse. It was one (impossible) thing for Jet to be in love with Emiko. It was a whole other thing for Emiko to become just another one of Jet’s conquests.

Sokka sighed and dug something out of his pocket. “Zuko buddy.” He started, like he knew this was going to be the biggest favor he’d ever asked of Zuko. “Can you give this to Emiko?” He asked as he slid the something across the table to Zuko.

It was a Jasmine Dragon napkin with Jet’s number scrawled on it. Underneath the number was a little drawing of a winking Jet and a heart. It was so much like the numbers and little love notes from Zuko’s admirers. Which Emiko had collected and pinned to a cork board in the back to tease Zuko.

“Yeah sure.” Zuko’s voice sounded dull in his ears and he could only hope the others didn’t hear it. He took the napkin and walked to the back, past the employees only door.

Zuko looked down at the napkin in his hand. He couldn’t let Emiko get hurt. He burned the napkin and washed the ashes down the sink.

When the group (sans Zuko) returned to the dorm it was to yelling. They couldn’t make out the words, but the fact they could hear it at all from the ground floor meant it was bad.

“Gee I wonder who that could be.” Toph muttered sarcastically. Sokka grimaced. This was not going to be fun. The group headed for the second floor, the shouting leading them to Sokka and Jet’s room.

Sokka opened the door and was nearly swept off his feet. Emiko had whipped up a wind so strong Sokka was surprised the room was still in tact.

“Emi stop, you’re going to hurt someone.” Suki cried. She darted into the room and grabbed the airbender. She held her close even as the wind died down enough everyone else could enter the room.

“I told you I should have been the fake boyfriend.” Sokka told Jet smugly. At least then Emiko wouldn’t have felt the need to make an indoor tornado.

Jet scoffed. “Like Zuko would have bought that.”

“We’ll be lucky if he buys the number ploy. Twinkle Toes decided to be suspiciously quiet.” Toph complained.

“I don’t like lying to Zuko.” Aang defended.

Emiko shook her head from where she was still clinging to Suki. “I didn’t ask you guys to. I was against the whole thing remember?”

“It had to be done.” Jet argued.

“Yeah Emi, Sparky will never get his head out of his ass otherwise.”

Emiko finally let go of Suki to throw her hands up in the air. “I’ve told you guys. He doesn’t like me like that. And that is the last Time I’m saying it because I”m tired of sounding like a twelve year old.“

“You don’t sound like a twelve year old.” Katara assured her.

“Yeah you sound like an idiot.” Toph said.

“Look, just, pretend to date Jet for two weeks. If nothing comes to it we’ll drop it, forever.” Sokka reasoned.

Emiko groaned, dropping her fact into her hands. “But why Jet?”

“Because Sokka and Suki are both taken.” Jet said smoothly, earning a glare from Emiko. “And I’m the biggest threat.”

“Oh honey, if you were a threat you’d have your own wall of fangirl napkins.” Emiko said. Jet scowled.

Zuko felt like he’d fallen into an alternate universe. Emiko had walked into the Jasmine Dragon for her shift with Jet Of all people. It wasn’t unusual for someone to talk with Emiko from Ba Sing Se University, but she was usually squished Sokka and Suki. Or with Katara and Aang. Even Toph sometimes. Jet just wasn’t a factor.

Zuko followed them back tot he locker room on autopilot.

“So I’ll see you later?” Emiko asked as she dropped her bag into her locker.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Jet said, looking at Emiko like she was his entire world. It was like the worst kind of sucker punch, stealing Zuko’s breath away.

Jet brushed a stray strand of hair behind Emiko’s ear and leaned in for a kiss. Emiko turned her head and spotted Zuko.

“Hey.” her voice was so soft and gentle. “Are you alright? You don’t look so good.” She left Jet to move in front of Zuko. It took Zuko a moment to realize the feeling in his chest was smug vindictiveness. Why?

Jet scowled at him when Emiko put her hand on his forehead. Her touch was cool and as soft and gentle as her voice.

“I’m fine Emi.” Zuko took her hand. He just intended to get it off his forehead, but he couldn’t seem to make himself let go.

Emiko didn’t seem to notice. “Come on. OUr shift starts any minute now.” Her hand slipped from Zuko’s when she went back to her locker to get her apron. Somehow Zuko felt its absence down to his very soul.

“What the hell was that?” Emiko hissed as Jet walked her back to the dorms after a long shift made longer by his presence and constant hovering.

“What was what?” Jet asked, seeming cool as a cucumber.

“You tried to kiss me.”

Jet sighed. “Kissing is a part of dating.”

“Not if I don’t want it to be.”

“Wow, no wonder Zuko hasn’t made a move yet.”

Emiko looked down at the sidewalk, her fingers twitching with the urge to airbend Jet into a wall.

Jet spoke before she could give into the urge. “Hey, listen. I’m working the opening shift tomorrow and Zuko has the lunch shift. I”m thinking you should swing by and we’ll do brunch. If Zuko doesn’t make a move by then then this whole thing is a lost cause.“

Emiko huffed out a breath. She just had to hang on a little longer.

Jet held Emiko’s hand on top of the table. She would love nothing more than to take her hand back, but everyone Had told her to follow Jet’s lead on this. After all he seemed way more invested in this little play than Emiko was. Briefly she wondered what Jet got out of all this, but then promptly decided she was better off not knowing.

“What are you doing?” Zuko hissed as he joined them at their table.

“We’re on a date obviously.” Jet answered with his usual smug smirk.

Zuko scowled at Jet before turning to Emiko. “Emi?” And damn it! She couldn’t lie to Zuko.

“It’s a fake date alright. The others got it in their heads that you like me back. Which is stupid.” She never should gone along with this.

“Well it’s not that stupid.” Zuko whispered, looking down at the table.

“Wait what?”

Distantly Emiko was aware of Jet leaving the table, but he wasn’t important.

#ocappreciation #oc trope challenge #oc trope challenge 2021 #atla #atla au #atla oc

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comradekatara · 5 years

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What’s you 70 years ideal for azula, mai and ty lee?

ANON. I HAVE LEFT THIS TO SIT FOR 20 DAYS. I AM SORRY.

here is what i have to say about azula, mai and ty lee

ty lee (copied from here, where i wrote it up separately):

over the years of peace and relative prosperity, ty lee gets to be a lot of different people and live a lot of different lives. she has a ton of fun with the kyoshi warriors, and the friends (with benefits) she meets there stay in her life forever. the warriors have such a trusting relationship with one another. they help her feel safe after she spent a long time feeling unsafe, and she’ll always be grateful.

when that starts to get old, ty lee feels confident and ready to go back to the circus. she wants to do it before she gets too old, as she assumes she’ll start to lose some of her skills soon. but it turns out that she’s as good as she ever was; better even, because 14 is nobody’s physical peak. sometimes ty lee forgets that she’s very young, and she’s always been young.

on her travels with the circus, sometimes she’ll meet someone who draws her interest, so she’ll stay in town for a while. her bosses rely on her so much that they would never tell her no, and as long as she catches up with them when she’s done with her detour, she has free rein to come and go as she pleases. she never takes for granted how it feels to have that kind of freedom, and she knows she’ll never again put herself in a position where her freedom is restricted.

her travels are fun, but the lone wolf thing is starting to get old, so when she’s nearing 30 she hands in her notice and sets out to find mai. they haven’t seen each other in person in years, though they’ve written letters periodically, whenever they could. the reunion is emotional. they promptly uhaul and for a long time they’re just inseparable. ty lee knows their bond is more than just the relief of being seen by someone who witnessed all the same stuff she lived through all those years ago. it’s just that it’s mai. ty lee will always love her the most.

and suddenly ty lee is back in the old fire nation rhythms, and even though it feels weird and sometimes a little anxiety-provoking to be back, she has a handle on her nerves because she’s wiser and more capable now. so when she sees azula on a visit to the fire palace, ty lee is equipped to handle her. instead of feeling triggered and panicky, she feels empathetic. like all the rest of them, azula is still healing from the war, and she’s not as far along as ty lee is. but she’s making her way there. her aura is unrecognizable–an unmistakable sign of the work she’s already done. ty lee tells azula that the past is forgiven and she can see in azula’s aura how much that means to her. what’s even more surprising to ty lee is that it wasn’t a lie. she hasn’t lied in a while, actually, and it’s been a long time since she consciously thought of herself as someone who lied for her own benefit. she hasn’t needed to.

the rest of her life is spent alternating between domesticity and wild adventures, usually with mai at her side. she follows her heart from place to place, and when her heart isn’t telling her to go somewhere new, she follows mai’s. when ty lee gets very old, she lives a life a lot like king bumi’s - always seeking thrills and never holding herself back. true to her word, she never takes her freedom for granted, and she maximizes every moment.

mai:

after the war, mai gets the fuck out of the fire nation. she basically french exits the whole country. she’s a little bitter that ty lee up and joined the kyoshi warriors without a word to her, and so she decides she’ll show ty lee the same kindness and leave with no warning.

the time alone is really good for her. it’s been a hard half a year, surrounded by azula and ty lee and zuko all the time. all that time she thought traveling was exhausting. but traveling the world when there’s no one watching her and telling her what to do, and no immediate danger from people who want her dead… it’s actually not tiring at all. it’s freeing.

she charters a boat and teaches herself how to use it. she audits a class at a university in the earth kingdom and remembers how much she loves studying. she meets toph, quite randomly, and spends a few nights just hiking with her and discovering all the things they have in common. she visits a tiny town with a world-famous orchestra and whimsically learns to play an instrument. she visits one of the air temples and just breaks down under the weight of the silence. the independence is refreshing and allows her to think long and hard about what she deserves from the people around her, and from herself.

so she returns to the fire nation with plans to live well. she’s going get a degree, she’s going to find something she loves to do, and she’s going to get some closure on the relationships she left hanging. she is owed some serious apologies and she intends to hear them out.

she’s almost surprised when both azula and zuko give her the apologies she deserves. she doesn’t get apologies from her parents, but she wasn’t expecting that. she won’t be communicating with them more than she has to anymore–though she is newly resolved to give tom-tom some better role models than the two he was born with. and then she enrolls in school and starts learning again and she just feels better. more in control of herself and more purposeful. that’s the mindset she’s in when she sees ty lee again.

mai realized in her travels that she owes it to herself to be not just forgiving, but also flexible. and she quickly remembers how much being with ty lee makes her happy. mai gets her degree, and then some more degrees, and after that, they chase happiness together. they go to see a lot of different places and make a lot of friends. (it’s almost weird to see toph again when she’s in such a different mindset than she was in her earlier travels, but the rapport they had is still just as sparkling.) they become happily domestic wherever they go, always planting a garden and cooking favorite recipes and collecting really weird art to hang on the walls. mai always has a project to work on and she follows her passion every day. she feels fulfilled.

azula:

ooh boy. how much time do you have?

azula recovers slowly, with the help of a village.

after the agni kai, she’s kept locked up in accommodations that she knows zuko hand-selected to give her as much comfort as possible. but she doesn’t feel comfortable. she feels gutted. she believes with all her heart that it would have been more honorable to die.

for a long time, she wallows. it doesn’t help that she has barely anyone to talk to. zuko visits infrequently but he never knows what to say, and azula refuses to start talking about the weather or the clothes he’s wearing just to make him feel at ease. but then - she’ll never know why - he starts sending other people to keep her occupied. a series of teachers to teach her languages, advanced calculus, parts of world history she never bothered to learn. a pai sho master to play with her. a pottery maker to give her a lesson (okay, that one’s a bust, because azula finds it simply too funny to even bother to feign interest). the visitors are always heavily guarded, but azula doesn’t have the strength to fight them anyway. she’s so starved for companionship that she applies everything she has to learning as much as she can from them.

eventually, someone else starts showing up too: zuko’s tiny blind friend whose name azula never bothered to remember. she has to be told once more before she learns it. toph.

azula loves it when toph visits because toph takes her outside. sometimes toph will talk on and on about some stupid adventure she went on with her friends, and sometimes she’ll just be quiet and let azula experience the crisp morning air. usually whatever toph intuitively decides to say or not say is the right fit for azula’s mood. and while at first azula is simply too humiliated and angry to engage, over time, she starts speaking back. having a conversation. she was desperately lonely before toph showed up. toph is witty and engaging and tells a great story. she also won’t let azula have the last word, ever. it’s refreshing and exhilirating to have a conversation with someone like that.

when toph tells a story about her lonely and repressive childhood, azula is surprised to find herself compelled to commiserate. of course much later she’ll realize that that’s exactly what toph wanted her to do. but that’s how it starts, and before long, azula spends a fair amount of toph’s visits talking about herself and how she feels, or felt at different times in her life. toph is gentle and understanding, but doesn’t coddle her. now that the floodgates are open and azula can talk freely, she finds that a lot of her anger about the past is fading. toph can sense it too.

that’s how azula is gradually restored to full privileges in the fire nation. she has a lot of apologies to make, and with great difficulty, she makes them. she expresses her great regret to mai and ty lee and suki gives them all the space they need. over a very long time, she comes to build relationships with katara and aang too, and she learns that she admires both of them greatly. she discovers that she absolutely adores sokka, and over time, she and toph and sokka become a little friend group. (it turns out that friend groups where everyone has equal say are, in their own way, quite pleasant.) she works hard on restoring her relationship with zuko, and after a great deal of trial and error, she is even able to offer him counsel that he sincerely appreciates.

forming these bonds and maintaining them is hard work. learning to value herself for matters outside of her prodigious bending is harder. but azula finds other talents and dedicates herself to developing them. she reads constantly. she develops a habit of taking in feral cats and nursing them to health, much as this horrifies her servants. she learns how to build things with her hands. she plays pai sho with her friends. she engages in debates.

when zuko is sure she can be trusted, he takes her to learn proper firebending from the dragons. it rocks her worldview to learn that fire can be something other than oppressive discipline and hate. it can be beautiful. after all the change she’s gone through, she values herself more than she values the strength of the flames she can produce, and she reserves firebending for the moments when she knows she can fully appreciate its beauty.

she sees the world and comes to develop great respect and love for the cultures that she always thought the fire nation was meant to punish and reform. she helps zuko and aang develop a curriculum for the fire nation schools that will honor that. she also appoints herself in charge of raising funds from the nobility to support the decolonization efforts, and her commanding presence and natural way with words help her to extract unprecedented amounts of money from the notoriously stingy nobility.

by the end of her life, azula has a lot to be proud of, and a lot of people who love her. she regrets the things she did when she was young, but she also has a great deal of respect for the person she’s grown into, and she appreciates that she got to become this person. she never takes a thing for granted. every time she feels relaxed or at ease, which is a surprising portion of her life these days, she really appreciates it.

#the things i needed to do today were: write this and make a kugel #KUGEL TIME BITCH!#asks #anon #ty lee #mai #azula #maixtylee #postwargaang

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emletish-fish · 6 years

Text

Worst Prisoner Swamp notes:

ff.net

ao3

Notes:

This chapter covers the swamp to the start of the blind bandit.

So the swamp shows you people you love, irrespective of time (ie Aang seeing Toph in the swamp before meeting her. Hands down, I thought they were foreshadowing eventual Taang and I was so pleased. Much older Toph and Aang could actually be so good for each other. Aang needs grounding and Toph needs someone to help smooth those super abrasive and defensive edges and brave enough to climb over her defensive walls.)

Katara and Zuko first bonded about their mothers and I wanted to elaborate on a conversation about that, but I couldn't really find a place for it in book one. I felt like it would be perfect here as a flashback. Mostly because the swamp brings up a lot of issues for Katara, but also because by this point, I missed writing my drama llamas together. Just look at them, they are beautiful together.

Zuko's mum: So I think Ursa tried. However, I think she would have enjoyed Zuko's company more. Hands down that woman loved both those kids, but one of them was infinitely easier to be around than the other. She probably concentrated on teaching Zuko more, because he was receptive. Whereas I think Azula got more scoldings from her mother.

The flipside of this, and goodness have I seen it countless times, is that when there are two or more children, and one is very challenging – the “good one” is put under enormous pressure to always be “good”, because the adults don't want to deal with two difficult ones. I think that Ursa would have been quick to correct any behaviour Zuko showed that she didn't like. She would have done this lovingly, but she would have still done it, because she needed one “good” and “manageable” kid.

I am not at all with the Azula apologists who blame Ursa for 'withholding affection' and that's why Azula is the way she is. In the flashback we see Ursa scolding Azula a lot and that is because Azula's behaviour is deserving of a scolding. Ursa is trying to set boundaries. Azula is not an easy kid to raise right, but lordy is that woman trying. Azula is a product of her environment while also being responsible for herself and her choices.

I think Azula loves Zuko and her mother, deep down, in one big, hellish tangled ball of complicated feelings – which I will delve into when we get to it. Katara sees them as complete opposites, because in her mind Zuko = good, friend and Azula = evil gremlin. She doesn't want to see any similarity between them – but those two have more than a nose in common.

I can see Ursa trying to give them a more rounded knowledge of the world and an appreciation of the things she loved, like music. I chose tacky dramatic plays – because my goodness, both Zuko and Azula are ridiculously dramatic. I hate the comics and pretend they don't exist. I think rather than Ursa being a common actress, she was a noblewoman who was just really into the theatre. Zuko and Azula both learned that being super dramatic got their mother's attention and brought her amusement.

I also think the Ember Island Players were always that terrible.

Anyway, Zuko can remember a lot more fine detail about his mother, purely by virtue of being older before she vanished. Katara was young when her mother died. She was what? Seven? How much can the average person remember from when they were seven? I think this is why Katara couldn't interact with the vision of her mother more completely and why there was no sound/dialogue between them. She doesn't exactly remember what her mother's voice sounded like.

It's also really clear to me that Katara and Sokka don't really talk about her together. Katara brings her mother up will all and sundry random dudes, but Sokka looks really taken aback whenever she brings up Kya around him. I can't even say it's because it's old grief, as Katara is still hurting. My best guess is that as Katara assumed a more motherly role in Sokka's life, they talked about Kya less. Tragically, I think th thing Katara remembers the most clearly about her mother is how her mother died, because it was traumatically burned on her memory. Poor girl.

So the shared dream – give me this tacky trope lovely readers. I know, I know. It is tacky. But ATLA had gifted me a magic “everything is connected” tree and I am going to use it. That's why I had Zuko explicitly mention that he was sleeping under an banyan tree last chapter – because the trees are connected and...the trees know they miss each other and give them a dream hook-up, and...spiritual mumbo-jumbo, etc. Just give me this tacky, romantic trope.

So Zuko has given up/lost nearly everything. He's had to completely give up his identity, and his quest and everything he defined himself by. It just makes sense that his bending would be affected. So I have brought his season three storyline forward. Iroh's wisdom from under lake Lagoai is also brought forward. So Zuko will be on a quest to find what really matters. You go, you soft little bean. I’m sure it will be fun for you.

The thieving vigilante bit: I think this was an important milestone for Zuko, and while he didn't steal Song's ostrich horse in the last chapter, I still think he needs to get his vigilante on and explore some of his lower impulses. He's low-key ashamed of it (because his mama raised him better than to be a common thief, and that is why he is always lying to Iroh), but he is learning a lot about himself through it.

So swamps typically symbolise low points in character's journeys and places where a hard truth is learned, or properly understood. Poor Zuko is getting pretty close to rock bottom at this point. I think it would make sense that he would resist his Uncle's hopeful musings – because he has no hope and he thinks there is no point in being optimistic. There really isn’t much more left for him to lose. Soon we will see Zuko beginning to build himself back up, from scratch, away from his abusive environment and discovering things that really matter to him. He'll regain his sense of identity and purpose away from the terrible influence of his father and sister.

Honest Confession time: I think Yang Chen and Kyoshi were the bomb, and also infinitely better at being the Avatar than Roku and Kuruk. Both those women were so competent.

Look at her! Look at what she did!

If Aang can commune with his past lives, Kyoshi and Yang Chen would serve him much better as mentors. Because, hands down, Roku could have made life, the universe and everything one thousand times easier for Aang if he had just had the gonads to do his duty. Aang is very different from Kyoshi, but goodness does she have wisdom for him.

I think Kyoshi and Yang Chen had the best wisdom for Aang. I didn't like how he dismissed her in Sozin's comet. I thought it was a bit disrespectful to be honest. I don’t think Aang means to, but it has cornered himself into favouring letting a tyrant live and thousands of others die, because he doesn’t want to do his duty for personal reasons (just like Roku).

If Aany only draws wisdom from one source (Roku) it becomes rigid and stale. Aang needs to learn from his other past lives. I wanted Aang and Kyoshi to have a conversation, and get to hash out their differences and come to understand each other better. I wanted Aang to see the human side of Kyoshi, and her to thaw a little towards Aang and give him a break and encourage him.

When Aang confesses he didn't want to be the Avatar, I think Kyoshi would have known exactly how that feels. It's a pretty mixed blessing being the avatar. Anyway, I've always wanted to write a more philosophical conversation between those two, and so I am indulging myself a bit here, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Next Chapter: TOPH!!! (she needs the caps).

#the worst prisoner #Emletish rants #emletish writes #emletish fic #Azula #Zuko #Katara #Zutara #Sokka #Aang #Toph #taang #Iroh #Kyoshi

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kristallioness · 6 years

Text

21 Questions about ATLA

I was tagged by @atypicalkataangist. Wow, thanks for including me in this quiz! I've seen others reblog a list of numbered questions similar to these, expecting to receive some asks that they could answer in return. But now I get to do them in one go.

1) Who's your favourite male character?

I'm unoriginal and gonna say it's Aang. Not only because of him being the main character, but also because he was the first boy in the show who I immediately started to like (Sokka was second, Zuko was third in the beginning since he was a villain and I grew to love him more and more along with his character development), the way he balances his carefree, childish personality with his more mature, responsible side, his back story and peaceful culture.. Most importantly, without him, there wouldn't be the second half of such a lovely couple like he and Katara are.

2) Who's your favourite female character?

Katara. She's not only my favourite female character, but favourite character of them all, right from the start and until the end. The moment I saw her I fell in love since she looked really pretty and she wore a braid, just like me. Seeing what a caring, motherly, fierce personality she had (like mine) only fuelled my love for her.

3) What's your favourite quote?

Since Katara's my favourite character, then my first choice would be: "I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" Because that's sort of who I am and what I'm like, too. It's almost like a motto that I live by without thinking about it twice. I'm self-sacrificing and try to help my friends whenever they need it and as much as I can. I just remembered another good one, a quote that affected me on a more personal level. I'm pretty sure that only 0.0000000001% of the fandom would choose this one: "I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am." The best part is, this is something that Toph says to Katara after she's been made fun of for her appearance by a bunch of prissy Upper Ring Earth Kingdom girls. How did this affect me? I started crying when I first saw this scene. Why? Because this was something that I'd been struggling with for years. I'd been bullied for my appearance at school. It used to make me feel worthless, unlovable, alone, probably also the reason why I turned into such a quiet person who doesn't know how to be around real friends. Hearing a blind, tomboyish, badass earthbender say what I needed to hear all along made me understand that it's not true - my appearance does not define my worth or who I am inside.

4) What's your favourite fight?

I knew you answered Katara and Pakku's duel @atypicalkataangist (and that one came to my mind, too, since it is one of my favourites because of reasons), but since I recently rewatched "The Serpent's Pass", I'm gonna pick Aang and Katara beating up that huge serpent. That was some awesome bending teamwork there! I went through all of the episodes in my head, and I gotta say that I also really like the duel between Aang and Zuko in "Bato of the Water Tribe". And one of the first ones where Haru and his father Tyro, along with the rest of the earthbenders, fight their way to freedom in the prison. The ending of that episode always leaves me with such a powerful feeling.

5) What's your favourite episode?

The big finale, "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang". I sobbed practically throughout the entire episode when I first saw it. The soundtrack playing in the end is so beautiful to listen to and it still brings tears to my eyes. This episode concludes everything the show set up in the most unexpected ways possible. I mean, did any of us foresee Zuko being crowned the new Fire Lord (after you watched the first episode)? Did our hearts break into a million pieces when Katara and Aang kissed and became a couple in the end? Enough said.

6) From which nation would you like to be?

I'm not sure whether this is cheating or not, but since the story of ATLA continues in the comics and during Korra's time, I'd really love to be from the United Republic of Nations. I just love how it's a nation of mixed cultures, I am in LOVE with Republic City (as well as its 1920's aesthetic) and the capital reminds me of my own (Tallinn is also near the sea, has a marvellous silhouette, 4 seasons). Or if not, then my choice would definitely be the Water Tribes. I've explained it pretty well under the description of this drawing of mine.

7) Which element would you like to be able to bend and why?

Easy, I'd pick water since my 2nd choice when applying for university 5 years ago was to become a doctor. I'd like to use my healing abilities to cure people and my graceful waterbending to battle bad guys like Katara!

8) Favourite animal in the Avatar Universe?

I'm probably unoriginal, but I'm torn between the sky bison or the dragons. Oh, and the ostrich horses!

9) Who would you like to be your teacher and why?

I'm thinking it could be either Katara, Aang or Zuko, in this exact order. Katara and Aang would both be really supportive and I consider Zuko to be really wise (remember what he said to Korra before departing? he learned so much throughout the years).

10) What was the saddest moment in the show?

I have an entire list of the scenes/moments that made me cry, let me check.. *reads* Which sad moment made me cry the most, I'mma pick that one.. Okay, I can't decide because there are a few, let me name them: * the ones that stand out the most are all 3 finales * when Katara thought that her mother was alive in the swamp * when Aang enters the Avatar State and wants to kill the sandbenders, but Katara doesn't run away and instead grabs his hand and pulls him back down into her embrace and they cry together * Iroh singing the lullaby to his deceased son on his birthday (my parents have always said that one of the worst things a parent can live through is the death of their own child, so when I saw this scene, I understood what they meant and started crying) * Jet's death * Aang unlocking his heart chakra * almost the entirety of "The Awakening" (because everything seemed so hopeless and going the wrong way, when Katara and Hakoda talked), seriously, this is the most depressing episode in my book and that's why I love it so much * Sokka talking to Toph about how he's forgotten what his mother looks like and Katara is the one who's taken her place * when the invasion fleet was defeated on the Day of Black Sun and Katara knelt down beside Aang to comfort him * Zuko and his uncle Iroh's reconciliation and his speech to Team Avatar before they departed

11) What was the most shocking moment in the show?

You answered the same way: Aang getting shot with lightning. It came out of nowhere. When I saw Katara's face full of hope I thought that now they were going to make it since Aang had the power to face the Dai Li as well as Zuko and Azula. In a split second, everything changed and took a turn for the worst.

12) What was the funniest moment in the show?

There are so many good jokes, how do you expect me to pick just one??? Okay, umm.. when Sokka tried to fight against the villagers who believed too much of Aunt Wu's fortunes with logic and rational thinking (I can relate to him, poor Sokka).. How Aang messed up and unintentionally made Katara upset by insulting her instead of giving her a compliment when they were lost in the caves. Or the time Sokka and Katara had to pose as Aang's parents to go to the principal's office after school.

13) What was the most unforgettable moment in the show?

Maybe the whole scene before Zuko's coronation starts, "Peace" playing in the background, we see friends and family reunited, happy, alive. We witness something few of us could've predicted: the last person we ever thought, who went through and learned so much, is crowned the new Fire Lord. It's such a victorious moment and never leaves me without emotion.

14) Which one is your favourite book?

I have a weird system concerning this. Book 1 was sort of like the start of their journey, the world was slowly being built and introduced to us. Book 2 became much more serious, the characters gained more depth and the stakes began to rise. When I thought it couldn't get any better, I was proven horribly wrong. Book 3 became far more emotional than I ever could've imagined. So it's like my love grew with each book, and I kind of love the last one the most for this reason.

15) Who had the greatest character development in the show?

Everybody developed so much, but I'd definitely say it was Zuko. At first, I didn't really care much about him. Just another villain trying to capture someone for his own personal gain, I figured. But that all changed when I saw his back story in "The Storm". I started to look at him from a completely different angle. I began to understand where he came from, why he was doing this. I saw how much he struggled, how many wrongs he committed. The climax was when he faced his own father and told him: "No! I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own. Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was! The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation! They don't see our greatness, they hate us! And we deserve it." This is what he learned by spending time as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, by witnessing firsthand what his nation, what this war was doing to others. And he was determined to set things right by joining Aang and his friends, teaching him firebending and stopping his own homeland from going down this path.

16) What do you love most about Avatar: The Last Airbender?

The story that Bryan and Michael came up with. I have NEVER cried so much, laughed at so many original jokes, heard such gorgeous instrumental music made by Jeremy Zuckerman, the raw emotion behind the voice actors.. every little bit is what makes this story and this series so amazing, fulfilling and perfect.

17) What do you hate most about Avatar: The Last Airbender?

I don't hate anything about the show per se, perhaps more about the way the fandom can act sometimes.

18) With which character do you identify most?

Like I answered in question 2, Katara. Her personality reflects mine the most, we share similar values in life, I love her family (Hakoda and Sokka) because they have such loving relationships with each other (Katara and Hakoda made me emotional several times, and they only had a few scenes together!).

19) Is Avatar: The Last Airbender your favourite cartoon/anime?

Ever since I discovered it, and I think it'll remain as my favourite cartoon for the rest of my life. Nothing can ever impact me as much as Avatar has.

20) Would you want to be the Avatar?

Thinking just how messed up our own world is right now, how my aggressive eastern neighbour has occupied parts of 2 independent countries, how helpless and angry I feel that I can't do anything about it - Y E S. I want to bring peace and balance back to our world, too. And if I had my own loving, supportive partner (like Aang) by my side, I'd do it again in a thousand lifetimes.

21) What's your favourite ship?

I personally ship everything that has been or is currently canon. My OTP is obviously Kataang, though I'm also one of the few friendly multishippers out here. Which means that I don't mind seeing beautiful stuff about Zutara either, for instance. (Seriously, you should check out my tag, there are so many lovely gifsets there, be it romantic or platonic.)

To sum up, thank you once more for tagging me! I'm not gonna tag anyone specific, but if any of you would like to do this, too, then go ahead! It was really fun to reflect back on why I love this show so much.

#personal #shards of Kristal #ATLA

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