Aang getting so, uncharacteristically angry when Appa was taken by the sandbenders wasn’t just because of his love for his sky bison. Of course, that was a big part of it. Appa is more than just a pet to him, he’s his best friend and soulmate, someone who’s been around since Aang was very young and is meant to be a “companion for life”.
But, Aang ran away on a random Tuesday, got caught in a storm and it changed the whole trajectory of his life. He ran away because he was upset his life was changing so rapidly, he suddenly had all this responsibility at 12 years old that he wasn’t ready for but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gone back. We don’t know what would have happened; he could have needed a few days to cool off, he could have seen the start of the war and stepped up (from what we know of Aang, there’s no way he would have ignored it for his own needs), but that didn’t happen.
He got caught in the ice for 100 years and when he woke up he discovered that not only was everyone he knew and loved were dead, but brutally murdered in an act of power. That everyone from his teachers, friends (children, like him) and animals, were gone. Not only that but his whole culture; traditions, foods, clothing, music… everything important was eradicated and possibly most of the documentation of the culture, too. He’s suddenly handed this new responsibility on top of being the Avatar, trying to uphold this culture (as literally the last airbender alive) and grieve at the same time.
And Aang grieves very privately, in fact, does he even give himself a chance? He discovered the horrible truth and his immediate response it so go have some fun, maybe because he knows if he thinks too hard about it and gives into the pain, he’ll turn into something he’s not, he’ll forget what the monks taught him and he can’t let that happen.
So he tries to channel all his grief and anger into being the Avatar, even if he still has his reservations, and by his side is Appa. The only thing keeping him tethered to his life 100 years ago and his culture. He’s been with him through everything, and will continue to be, like I said “companion for life”.
And then he’s gone, he’s taken, and all of a sudden Aang cannot keep the crushing weight of his loss at bay anymore and he… snaps, he loses control. He gives into the avatar state because not only is everything he knew and loved gone, taken from him for nothing more than political gain, but now his soulmate that represented everything he lost is gone, too and he doesn’t know what happened to him. Is he dead? Is he scared? Is he fed? Who knows.
Aang losing Appa with the final straw and his grief, something he was ignoring and refusing to deal with, was brought to the forefront when he lost Appa, making it impossible to ignore and if it wasn’t for us friends trying to ground him and remind him of who he was, who knows what would have happened.
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“I know the world needs him but doesn’t he know how much that we need him too?” - Katara. The Awakening
I know the show focuses on the part of that sentence that talks about Katara’s dad and I love that moment. Seriously, one of the most heartbreaking in the whole show.
But since I’m experiencing a Kataang brain rot right now, all I can focus on is the part of her talking about Aang. And I feel like this line defines how she feels about him and their relationship going forward. I feel like she would ground him and say - “Hey, I know you belong to the world, but don’t forget that you belong to me too.” Saying I know you have to be there for the people and you have to give all of yourself to the world, but don’t forget that you have to come back to me at the end of the day.
And I can see them, after a long day of trying to solve all the problems in the word, she’d say - that’s enough worrying about the world for today, now shower me with attention and Aang’s all like “YES MA’AM!”. Cause I know after years of being the Avatar he’d became more serious and burdened, so Katara is the one to bring him fun and joy, and remind him of who he is, just like he did to her when they first met. She’d remind him he’s not just the Avatar, he’s also Aang, her Aang.
Ok I’m gonna go cry now.
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Flirting with the Enemy
Read now on Ao3 at
https://ift.tt/knP4r3j
by Milk_Tea_Fantasy
“That’s ridiculous,” the prince says, avoiding his eyes and blushing. “You’re ridiculous. What are you even doing?”
“Flirting with you. I thought that was obvious?”
The prince blushes harder. He really is quite sweet, like a little tigerdillo kitten trying to act fierce. Sokka may have to keep him.
Instead of trying to fight Zuko during the second episode, Sokka does the one thing he’s actually good at- He flirts.
Poor Zuko doesn’t stand a chance.
Words: 957, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Categories: M/M
Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Additional Tags: Sokka’s bad pick up lines, Zuko is an awkward turtle duck, Wingman Iroh, This pure crack and I make no apologies, A dash of touch-starved Zuko as a treat
Read it on Ao3 at https://ift.tt/knP4r3j
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What Aang’s Relationship With His Kids Tells Us About His Relationship With Katara
Bumi: “Oh, boo-hoo. Must've been real hard for you, flying around the world with dad, riding elephant-koi all day.”
Tenzin: “Oh, so that's what this is all about.”
Kya: “That's what it's always been about. You think you're some savior who has to carry on dad's legacy.”
Tenzin: “Who else is going to do it?”
Kya: “How about all of us?”
Bumi: “Yeah, we're Aang's kids too.”
The whole problem with this family is, Aang didn’t believe that.
Aang has a long, undeviating track record of never questioning anything he believes about the Air Nomads. Who the hell has a perfect and complete understanding of their society, government, international relations, education system, religion, morality, genetics, and reproduction at age 12? According to Aang? He does.
The entire lynchpin of Aang’s Book 3 arc is all about how Air Nomads are pacifists and cannot ever under any circumstances harm a life. (We’re going to ignore the body count Aang’s already wracked up over the first two seasons for the sake of preserving his feelings because those were soulless NPCs or something.)
And yet Aang never questions this…
Monk Gyatso’s bones surrounded by a pile of Fire Nation soldier bones. The picture doesn’t fit Aang’s image of Air Nomad peace and harmony, so he ignores it entirely. It NEVER comes up despite its overwhelming relevance to Aang’s internal conflict and the sorts of advice he seeks from authority figures in the third season (despite Monk Gyatso being the penultimate authority figure in Aang’s life).
Another thing Aang never questions?
There’s no such thing as a non-airbending Air Nomad. They’re just all born that spiritual. And spirituality is the golden key that unlocks bending. (Because Bryke said so.)
Despite Guru Pathik not being a bender. Despite the fact that Zhao, literal spirit murderer, is one. Despite Toph—the most un-spiritual, cynical, feet-on-the-ground-head-nowhere-near-the-clouds member of Aang’s friend group—being the most powerful bender of the lot. Despite Hama being a waterbender equal to none but Katara while completely cut off from her culture and turning her back on everything we believe about water bending’s inherent ties to community, connectedness, and love (Iroh’s words). Despite Azula mastering the god-tier lightning technique BECAUSE she’s practically dead inside and values life least of all things. Despite the fact that Princess Yue has the literal MOON SPIRIT THAT IS THE SOURCE OF ALL WATERBENDING living inside her, and yet she still somehow manages to not be a bender.
Despite the fact that Air Nomads roam all over the world, sewing their wilds oats throughout every nation, yet no airbending toddlers ever crop up in Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom preschools.
Despite the fact that non-monogamous societies where men have multiple partners father more children and boost the population faster than in societies that favor “attached” relationships, yet the all-airbending Air Nomads still somehow have the smallest population of any ethnic group in the world.
Despite the fact that Aang’s twin, Ty Lee, is RIGHT. THERE. with her unparalleled aura-seeing, chakra blocking spirituality and her GRAY EYES in a world where color coding is ~totally~ not a thing… *sigh*
But nope. Air Nomad parentage = airbending child. Always.
So when Katara births a child that is… not an airbender? Not any kind of bender at all, in fact. There’s only one logical conclusion (in Aang’s mind).
That is not Aang’s child.
Aang never had a problem traveling with non-airbenders before. He was non-exclusionary by nature. Katara and Toph and Zuko were welcome. Sokka and Suki were welcome. The more, the merrier, in fact. Because Aang loves nothing as much as he loves an adoring audience.
Yet Bumi never travelled with Aang.
Bumi’s as old in this picture as Aang was in the first series. He had an entire decade in which he should have been the most important thing in his parents’ lives. His personality was already more or less formed (not completed, but the groundwork was laid) by the time Tenzin came along. Bumi’s inferiority issues began long before there were any airbending children around to siphon Aang’s attention for training purposes.
Aang and Katara didn’t have another child until Bumi was on the verge of adolescence because Aang was convinced that Katara cheated. And I’m guessing it took Mr. “Let Your Anger Out, And Then Let It Go” about ten years to forgive his wife and give her the chance to get it right. (Which is at least four years longer than he gave her to forgive her mother’s murderer, in case you forgot.)
Acolyte: “Sorry, I thought you were the servants.”
Bumi: “We’re Tenzin’s brother and sister!”
Acolyte: “Avatar Aang had other children? The world is filled with more airbenders?!”
Kya: “We’re not airbenders.”
Acolyte: “Oh… I’m so sorry.”
The Air Acolytes—whose whole identity, purpose, lifestyle, and religion center around every detail of this man's life and beliefs—didn't know Aang had more than one child.
The best case scenario here is that Aang simply pretended his older children didn’t exist because he was ashamed of them and made Katara keep them shut away at all times.
And maybe that could have worked… If Aang and Katara had ever had any privacy in their relationship. But they didn’t.
The Air Acolytes have been following Aang and Katara since the comics. They’ve been there at every step of Aang and Katara’s life together. Observing. Fangirling. Emulating. Diefying. Looking for weaknesses in the relationship because Katara was only his “first girlfriend.”
Yet, somehow, they didn’t know Aang had three children.
I can’t imagine a way for them not to know unless Aang actively told people, “Those aren’t my kids,” and let Katara bear the shame and stigma of having the world believe she was unfaithful.
All because Aang couldn't entertain the idea that he was wrong about some facet of a society he never understood clearly.
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