#i also feel the need to clarify: I LOVE KATARA

[oneatlatime]

The Siege of the North Part 2

Last episode of the season! I'll post some season round up stuff over the next few days.

The last episode ended super abruptly, so a refresher: -Aang and Zuko are in a snowstorm and Aang is currently hypnotised by a Yin Yang fish -Katara, Sokka and Yue are in the spirit oasis moping about losing Aang to Zuko -There’s a big fuck off Fire Nation Armada parked out front -All current trends point to the Northern Water Tribe being a finely ground and toasted paste by the end of the day

Episode Time!

I don’t know, did Katara really do everything she could? She could have called for backup. Although given Zuko’s track record with taking out scores of guards when the plot requires (hello Blue Spirit episode), I guess it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.

Ignore Momo for a minute and look at this grass texture. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's certainly doing... something?

Is this the spirit world? I'm loving the colour pallette. Since Aang's dreams tend to be sepia-toned, does that mean he dreams in the spirit world?

This monkey guy has so much personality. I love how our first look at this sacred, spiritual, mystical place is an antisocial jerk. Lovely subversion of expectations.

Roku has unparallelled jumpscare abilities.

I have to say the sound design on the ice cracking under Zuko's feet is spot on. That oddly hollow yet muffled thud is exactly the noise ice sheets make when they go.

Poor Aang getting dragged like a kitten. He's got to have frozen skin by now. Should have taken Iroh's advice and covered his ears.

I don't think Aang moves once during Roku's speech about the spirits crossing over. I think he's a freeze frame of animation, something which this show usually avoids.

Judging by the musical sting it's supposed to be a serious line, but the way Roku feels the need to clarify that the Face Stealer will steal your face got a laugh out of me. Was anyone expecting him to do anything else?

"They call him Coe, the Face Stealer. Be careful, or he will validate your parking."

Where did he get fuel to burn? And why does he feel the need to monologue? And if struggling and fighting is what made you into who you are, maybe you should give being lucky a chance, because you're not exactly well-liked or very good at what you're supposed to be doing.

Inclusivity win! These non-benders get to torch the water tribe too!

Ballistic water canon portholes - that's neat.

Those long range grappling hooks are probably the fire nation's most effective weapon.

Please die please die please die please die please die please die

How rotten do you have to be inside, that when you find a giant underground hidden library, you use it to find out ways to wipe out civilisations? And celestial bodies? Zhao is honestly so pathetic. Ruthless, and somewhat effective sure, but you're gifted a giant underground secret library and all you can think to do with it is use it to kill people? Pathetic.

This spirit world stuff is so neat. The scale, the lighting, the animals, everything is slightly off in a way that feels deeply alien. I like.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

The squealing strings in the spirit world are fantastic. The composition of this shot, also fantastic. The colour pallette; fantastic. I would love to live in the spirit world if I wasn't in danger of losing my face.

The face stealer recognising the avatar is chilling. Really adds a sense of the ancient. And whoever is voicing him had the time of their life. Deliciously evil moustache twirling stuff, but still with an underlying very real threat.

I love Sokka's logic here. Co-opt enemy's strength; make it serve you. Zuko being persistent means that there will still be an avatar to save once Sokka catches up to them.

This whole encounter with the face stealer is a cut above. They really pulled the stops out for this finale.

I don't think this is the Blue Spirit, but it's close.

I KNEW those fish were thematically relevant. What a completely unexpected reversal too! Those spirits you're asking for help? Actually, they're asking you.

It pays to be nice! This is why Aang has to stay such a nice boy! See? It pays off!!!

Looks like someone was a little slow with the whole 'conquering the enemy before their main source of power turbo charges them' thing. We've got floor is lava: tank edition, ice machine guns, and Poophead turning a whole row of soldiers into popsicles. Good stuff.

I absolutely hate Poophead but I have to admit it's satisfying watching him go 1 v dozens in tornado mode and kick fire nation butt.

That panda has some powerful breath. And I love that morphing effect between big cuddly guy and horrors beyond description.

"Oh No! Where's my body?" That's pretty funny. I don't think it's supposed to be, but it is.

Forget about the panda, Aang has powerful breath. He just wallpapered Zuko to the cave wall and travelled like 100 feet in the opposite direction.

Keep inching along buddy.

"That won't be enough to escape" "Appa!" "That probably is."

Forget about Aang wallpapering Zuko, Katara just turned him into a floor mat from 40 feet up. How many concussions has Zuko had in the last week?

If that rope is so quality, why did you cut through every loop rather than untie it and save it for later?

Of course Aang has to bring Zuko back. Aang is a nice little boy. That's what nice little boys do, and they get repaid for their kindness down the line with things like rides from giant pandas.

Imagine if Zhao had grabbed the wrong fish? It's a good thing that the moon spirit has a built in indicator light. What would the ocean do if it was in trouble? Get more blue?

Yue exposition. Yue is a moon horcrux. Oh this won't end well.

How long do you think Zhao spent composing his little speech? How many crumpled up parchments did he go through before he had the words just right? Do you think he practiced in the mirror while holding up a sock in place of the moon fish?

Get his ass Momo! I love how the guard in the back is like "nah, I'll let the lemur do his thing. Dude deserves it honestly."

Could we have some more specific examples of consequences beyond "balance" and "Chaos" for killing the moon? I don't think Zhao the asshole is going to pay attention to consequences unless they directly affect himself.

Zhao is way too fond of the word traitor. That's two people he's called traitor who are actually just people he personally dislikes.

You know you done goofed when kindly tea uncle promises to beat your ass. Zhao, meet consequences that directly affect you.

The face of a man realising he has, in fact, done goofed.

That's twice now these fish have yanked Aang around. Powerful fish. Did the fish call upon the Avatar or was Aang so angry that he went glowy and the fish took advantage?

FISHMAN

oh boy these guys are dead. So dead.

Tired of failing at capturing the Avatar, Zuko instead turns to trying to kill Zhao. Brightest idea he's had all season.

"Then at least, you could have lived!" Bold talk for someone who's already lost one duel to this guy and is currently losing the second. Unless you meant to flop backwards off that bridge?

Ooof. But she was always on borrowed time, wasn't she?

He just batted them away like balls on a pool table. So casually cutting through tonnes of steel and people. Fishman is killing thousands. I bet Aang's not too happy about that.

Ouch. More Sokka trauma!

Fish spirit dropping Aang off like he's bumming a ride to school, not killing probably 10 000 + people.

How am I supposed to take this seriously when Zuko's doing silly little summersaults?

Zhao is such a baby. I sincerely hope he's dead now too.

Bit of an abrupt tonal change. And yes, it's LONG past time you helped out the south. I hope Kanna is informed in exacting detail of her grandaughter's Pakku-bahsing exploits. She'd be so proud.

This scene should have come before the scene with Katara and Poophead. Would have avoided the tone switch. Also is that a tree to the right?

"So proud. And sad." OUCH.

Not-fun fact: there are four humans in this screenshot.

I'm guessing that was the firelord? I suddenly see where Zuko gets his muppet voice.

Mark Hamill?!?!

Final Thoughts

Where is the line between self-sacrifice and suicide? Because I have to say, Yue was very determined to do her duty. I guess that's one way to get out of an arranged marriage.

So glad to not see her fiance again, because then I can pretend he drowned. I bet he and Zhao are having fun out asshole-ing each other at the bottom of the sea.

Sokka!!! Somebody needs to give him a hug and get him into the care of a trusted adult immediately because the last thing he needed was MORE duty-related trauma. I bet he views what happened as him failing in his duty to the northern chief. He pretty much says as much when Yue chooses to save the moon. Obviously, there was rationally no way out of that one, but since when are emotions and trauma rational?

Yue describes her saving the moon as her duty, but it was also her choice, and I bet that's the first free choice she's ever gotten to make. Sokka didn't prevent her; he let her choose to do her duty. He definitely had objections, which he voiced, but he let her go once she brought up duty. It's so awful that Yue's first time having her choice respected (dare I say, having her own agency respected) is when she chooses to die.

She is dead, right? Her body evaporated and she's in the moon now. On the moon? Is she the moon? Did she replace the old moon? Or did the moon let her have a few seconds as a ghost for closure before she went to the afterlife? I don't know the mechanics of this.

Poor Aang just killed thousands of people, even if he was fish-possessed at the time. Katara's about the only person who emerged from this episode ok. She got to one-shot Zuko.

Fish possession-induced mega-fishman is not a solution I could have ever predicted to the problem of a whole fleet that needs getting rid of. It totally fits, despite it being a strange idea to contemplate in isolation. Aang pulls (rather, the fish pulls) a move straight out of Pacific Rim and it works.

The spirit world was really capably done. Creepy yet alluring, seemingly detached and untouchable yet both in tune with the real world and vulnerable to the things that go on there. And how clever was it to have Aang go to the spirits for help, only to find out that the spirits need his help? I love that reversal. It really ups the stakes. In any other fantasy story an appeal to the council of higher beings of whatever would either result in help or a refusal. Imagine calling up your godly bosses with a problem only to have them beg you for help? It's kind of chilling. Both in how close things came to disaster, and in the fact that humans in the real world actually have the power to pose that much of a threat to the spirits. Again you see why it's important to have a bridge between the real and spirit worlds: because traffic either way poses a threat to both sides.

What is up with Zuko? He failed the whole season at capturing the avatar (a task at which he was outclassed by episode 3), and now he doesn't have the resources to even try. So he's no longer a villain (not the he was ever good at it), he's no longer even a threat. He's a concussed vulture's meal on a raft. Is he even going to be in the next season of the show? What role could he possibly fulfill? He'll be just... there.

I had tone problems with this episode. A couple of places where I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to laugh, I did. And there were a couple of pretty corny set up lines. Yue discussing how there was no hope gave me Helm's Deep flashbacks. I think maybe this episode should have been a little longer in order to make the tone switches more gradual. And I get that, as a kids' cartoon show, they have to end the season on a happy note, but was there anyone in the main or background cast that didn't have a reason to end this episode seriously bummed out? Momo maybe. Appa's empathetic enough to be sad that Aang is sad. Yes, the North is saved, but the princess is dead, there are presumably thousands of enemy corpses bobbing around beyond the wall, and who knows how many water tribe people got crushed by fireballs.

The last three episodes have really been one big story. Katara's part was really over by the opening scene of the siege of the north part 1, which is about where Aang's part began. The real through line that ties these three episodes together is Sokka and Yue. These last three episodes have been low key Sokka episodes (and Yue episodes by extension). I think it's a sign of good writing and engaging characters, that the season finale of a show named after its main character can put a huge amount of focus on someone who isn't the main character and still have it feel natural.

Turn Sokka into a girl and beat him down with the expectations women face in a patriarchal society, and you get Yue. They are each others' mirrors, which is partially why they connect (the other reasons being Sokka is a breath of fun fresh air and Yue is gorgeous and desperately lonely). While I would give an arm and a leg for a version of the show where Yue joins the Gaang and travels around the world with them, being exposed to opportunities for growth and adventure and becoming her own person rather than an extension of her tribe's will, I think it also makes sense that Sokka and Yue ultimately can't be together. I'm having trouble putting this into words, so bear with me, but I think because Yue and Sokka are mirrors, and largely mirrors of the more burdensome aspects of their lives (ie duty), then wouldn't them getting together limit them? Halt their growth as characters? Would they not drag each other down? Under the right circumstances (like peace) they could help each other grow, but in war time it's probably not a good idea to have two self-sacrificing members on your team.

I know Aang had some crazy stuff happen to him this episode (and last episode too), but so much of what happened to him literally happened TO him. He had no say in the matter. He got yanked around by spirits, fish, and Zuko. Which is why the Sokka x Yue storyline was more interesting to me. Poor Aang may have a hell of a time processing all that yanking around, but that's not in this episode. Sokka and Yue actively making choices are in this episode, and their storyline has had three episodes to develop, so the payoff feels more earned.

The soundtrack was great this episode, especially in the spirit world. Deliciously creepy stuff.

Visuals were gorgeous. I especially liked the beige palete of the spirit world and grey-blue palette during the mega fishman scenes. The creeping blue veins were a good way to express the scale of mega fishman's power without just colouring the whole frame bright blue.

Zhao honestly got exactly what he deserved. It must have been a fitting end for his character because it left me highly satisfied.

Yue deserved better, but if the chief is to be believed, predestination is both a thing and unavoidable in this world, so she got the only end she could ever have. I love characters with quiet strength, but I love them more when they don't have to die.

Overall a good episode! It had to wrap up so many storylines that it ended up going all over the place, with some necessarily expository dialogue that felt clunky. Poor Aang featured surprisingly little in his own show's finale, if you discount when he's fish-possessed. Sokka got his heart ripped out and stomped on, as did the chief. Pakku has hopefully set himself up for a hearty slap from Kanna. Zuko and Iroh survived, but that's about all that can be said of them at the moment. I feel like maybe Katara will be carrying the Gaang for the next few weeks.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #the siege of the north part 2 #avatar the last airbender

[kizzyking]

I've been forcing myself to read a terrible book, with the help of a friend, because I spent to much on it not to read it. I've been reading it aloud to my friend and we've been discussing all of the things we hate about it, one of which is that the author named a group of people 'shamanfolk' and their magic users 'shaman' then made them violent extremist outsiders experiencing genocide. I need to share a conversation we just had about it. The conversation turned to Avatar the last Airbender because the book was advertised as "a fantasy book for people who like zuko/katara vibes, written in a brandonesque way"

Here is the Convo;

(me) I found good words for why the use of 'shaman' in this book upsets me, beyond the way it uses an existing word with cultural ties extremely inappropriately

(me) This part of a post is from Tumblr explains it; If you want to make a metaphor for racism, you have to remember that racism is literally based on nothing. Africans weren’t enslaved en masse because the Robo-Musa threatened to destroy the world, they were enslaved because it was economically rewarding and politically convenient. If at any point your allegory for racism includes “so <oppressed group> did this major catastrophe and” then you have not only missed the point but you are literally reinforcing the ideas that racism have let racism self-perpetuate (that e.g. black people are naturally dangerous and violent and must be contained or begrudgingly accepted by the Nice White People)

(Friend) But its not even used only as an insult Its literally the only word used for them

(me) I might have phrased poorly, I mean that I felt my issue with using shaman to label a group of people went beyond just the insensitivity of using a real word that isn't his and using it incorrectly. I've now realized that it made it hard for me to get distracted from the racist undertones through the book

(Friend) Ah yes I understand, Its the white "romanticism" of it

(me) Yeah exactly, leaning way to heavy on the perspective some people have of zuko being kataras oppressor

In my opinion

I don't think he has the skills to back up what he's planning, like having an engaging romance and working to improve the society

(Friend) Kataras "oppressors" is the entire watertribe as a whole. What do they mean its Zuko?

(me) Do you mean fire nation? And the men in their society in general perpetuating misogyny but the ones actually killing them are zukos people. But not zuko himself!(unlike migo) the main pushback I see against zutara online is from people of color who feel that katara would never fall for a fire kingdom prince of she respects herself and that anyone who thinks she would has drank too much white savior koolaid

(Friend) Did you forget how sexist Soka was in the beginning? He didn't think Katara could do anything or be a good bender because she was a girl. And did you forget how when they went to the Northern Watertribe, she was completely barred from learning fighting?

(me) You're right that there are many forms of oppression throughout the show, from all sides really. I just meant to clarify that 'opressor' is referring to the fire nation specifically within the specific complaints people make against zutara.

(me) Also I'd say personally, I believe that word refers to the ruling class subjugating a people, not every ism within intersectional bias

(Friend) I honestly don't have the energy to debate over a kids show

That's where the conversation ended but I am still very frustrated by it the next day and if anyone has an opinion I'd love to hear it. I felt like my friend riled me up and then cut it off when I didn't agree with them and left me with so many questions

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zutara #zuko x katara #media literacy

[bluespiritshonour]

IDK why Azula stans hate acknowledging the fact that Azula is both abused and an abuser? Do you know why?

Okay. I gotta make one thing clear: I really like Azula. Is she terrible? Yeah. Is she iconic? Uh... Also yeah.

I really like Azula and I have no problem acknowledging that she's a terrible, terrible person. And a villain.

This is not aimed at you for asking the question, anon. I just wanted to clarify that I absolutely love both Azula and Zuko. 😅

And for that I've often had people come at me for posts that slightly favoured one over the other like—guys, I like them both? They both also have flaws? They both also did horrible things and committed war crimes?

The only difference is that Zuko got a redemption arc while Azula didn't. But... Pointing out one's mistakes in one post doesn't mean I'm trashing them.

Azula did abuse Zuko. She was also abused by Ozai. She and Zuko were both abused by Ozai and in some ways, Zuko had a support system that she didn't.

They both also suffered. But in different ways. Azula had her father's approval but never his love. Her abuse was psychological. While Zuko's was physical and psychological. They're both children abused by a terrible father.

After Zuko breaks free of his need for his father's approval you see that he doesn't hate Azula anymore. Pre-redemption Zuko would've rejoiced winning an Agni Kai against her.

(Which he would've never won because pre-redemption Zuko would also never have accepted Katara's help and she's technically the one who defeated Azula).

But Zuko that has matured simply feels bad for her because no one knows better than him what growing up with their father is like.

Azula looks out for him too. Like, when she knows he's visiting Iroh in prison and doesn't rat him out. She warns him to be careful. She's a lot more brainwashed than he is—but she's also younger!

It's just... complicated.

As someone who loved Azula because she was efficient—and who also loves Zuko because of everything!—like, damn that kid faced the consequences of his actions, didn't he?—well, it doesn't have to be a fight?

To answer your question, I've seen both Azula stans and Zuko stans that do not want any sort of nuance.

I think it has to do with internet extremism and purity culture. People no longer think “I don't like it”—they have to put a “this is morally wrong” spin on it.

I like Azula and she's a terrible person. Doesn't mean she's irredeemable though. I'd love to see an Azula-redemption arc. Since she's a kid and she deserves to heal.

But I can also say that Azula and her war crimes are fictional, I think she's cool. What she does is wrong. People forget that you're allowed to like villains. You're allowed to like grey characters. And most of all, people really need to learn to distinguish between fiction and reality and where what is acceptable.

Which is why a present day piece of media can never pull off a redemption arc like Zuko's. Because of internet purity culture. Like, fuck it, people can barely handle Taigen!

It's okay to like Azula. You don't have to justify her actions for it. You're not a coloniser sympathiser for liking her as long as you realise what she did was wrong and accept it.

—Yours Sincerely,

A citizen of a formerly colonised country who's very painfully aware of the harms of imperialism.

Trying to use her abuse as an excuse isn't the way to go. Same for Zuko! I love ATLA because when Zuko apologies to the gaang, he doesn't once bring up his tragic past. It's not an excuse!

Anyways, anon. Thanks for the ask. I really needed to rant. Sorry it became this behemoth though. Haha.

TLDR: the reason is internet purity culture. People feel guilty for liking a villain. Trust me, liking a fictional bad guy—or a morally grey—or complicated guy—does not make you a bad guy. People need to learn to distinguish between fiction and reality.

And even then, in real life you need to learn what makes criminals if you're to stop crime. For example: how poverty leads to crime and eliminating poverty would go a long way in stopping crime than incarceration does. Like, how probably education and societal change where rape is as unthinkable as cannibalism would do more to prevent rapes than purity culture would. If you get what I mean.

#atla #zuko #azula #avatar the last airbender #anonymous letters #rape mention #for those who might want to filter the tag

[juniperhillpatient]

Lake Laogai

It's not even remotely a secret that I'm incapable of being unbiased or objective about this episode. I love Jet, & I think killing him off was a huge mistake & a waste. I wrote a post explaining in more detail why I specifically think that Jet's death was a writing mistake HERE.

This re-watch has been interesting because it's really nice to re-watch a fave show & re-evaluate my opinions after spending a lot of time engaging with the fandom. I don't know, maybe it's just my annoyance with the fandom's pushing for a Katara/Aang/Zuko love triangle but this re-watch has made me take a firm stance that Jet should've lived, & become part of the Gaang, & dated Katara. "But Rose, don't you prefer Katara with girls?" I mean yeah, I like to write that more, but I'm talking about what I think should've happened in the actual show, which is entirely separate.

[ID: two pictures from different angles of Katara & Jet in the streets of Ba Sing Se]

Katara & Jet have the whole contentious complicated past & I'm always gonna be a sucker for the dynamic where the girl is violently angry & the guy is just like "I'm so sorry I've changed please accept me" like, I'm just being honest that's a good dynamic. Jet's already pretty strong redemption arc could've been concreted & we could've had a new, needed perspective in the Gaang from someone who was a victim of colonization in a similar way to Katara & Sokka but with a very different experience & reaction.

I will try not to spend this whole post being salty though, that's why I made a separate post. The brainwashing under Lake Laogai is very creepy, & it is one of the aspects of the show that stuck with me the most upon first viewing & for good reason. All the Joo Dees speaking in unison is genuinely terrifying. Long Feng is also a well-written villain. He's sly, manipulative, & just creeps me out.

The other thing that I wanted to ponder on with this episode is Zuko saving Appa, & Zuko & Iroh's discussion. I want to make it clear that I think Zuko's redemption arc is incredibly well-written overall. I only criticize Avatar because I love it so much & have thought about it so much. There are a lot of popular Avatar hot takes on Tumblr about how Zuko's redemption arc is poorly written, nonexistent, or whatever, & I simply strongly disagree. I have to get that out of the way & be clear about it or I'll worry I'm being misinterpreted. I also like Iroh, although I feel like I don't always understand what's going on with him & this episode is an example. That's another thing I wanted to clarify because I don't want to come across as anti-Iroh. I don't know, maybe I worry too much about how I come across lol but anyway -

Iroh: And then what!? You never think these things through! [Points at him.] This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!

Zuko: I would have figured something out!

Iroh: No! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death! Zuko I know my own destiny, Uncle! Iroh Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you? Zuko Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!

This scene specifically & the entire framing of Zuko's unhappiness about the teashop is very interesting. I have said before that I dislike Zuko as Firelord in the end, but that's not necessarily a firm stance...I guess I just dislike the inconsistency with how it was built up. Others who are willing to be much harsher than I am have often pointed out that Zuko went from following his father's orders & vision to following Iroh's vision of his destiny, & I think there's some truth to that. But what bothers me more than that, is that we don't actually get firm foreshadowing on what Iroh's vision for Zuko's destiny even is.

This is the first time we see Iroh really yell at Zuko & go off on him but it's unclear what he wants from Zuko. I mean, okay, he wants Zuko to be happy serving tea. I guess that's fine, but it doesn't quite work knowing that later, Iroh completely does a 180 on this stance & it's sorta like...What happened? Ya know? It's just inconsistent. And characters can be inconsistent, people change their minds, but we're not really given much information about Iroh's internal struggle concerning what he wants from his nephew so it just comes across as confusing to me.

Zuko's character arc is all about discovering what it is that he wants & acting on it. I've said before that my issue with Zuko's ending on the show is that Zuko always wanted to be Firelord & then he....becomes Firelord. That's not really a change? This scene between Zuko & Iroh feels like it was building to something larger with Zuko's arc, but it really....isn't.

That said, I do love Appa's return! Aang & Appa's reunion & Appa getting to be a badass is just amazing.

[ID: two pictures of Aang & Appa hugging, one from up close & one from a bit of a distance.]

I definitely enjoyed Appa's reunion with the Gaang the most out of all the parts of this episode.

Well, I enjoyed Jet's parts up until his death too. I also wanted to point out that Sokka teases Katara about her thing with Jet, but doesn't seem that angry at Jet himself & is quite willing to give him another chance. And it's Aang who breaks Jet out of his brainwashing by reminding him that they are friends. So, Katara is not the only one in the Gaang with any connection with Jet. Again, they should've addressed --- ah, whatever, I'm done.

That's all I have for this episode.

#oh jet gets...idk...2000 iconic behavior points for BREAKING OUT OF BRAIN WASHING & also using his dying breath to reassure Katara #lake laogai #atla re watch #atla book 2

[spacecasehobbit]

I keep struggling to write up Zuko meta around the Crossroads of Destiny and after, mainly because I don't want to start up a bunch of arguments about Katara vs. Zuko and who was more wrong. And I still very much don't want that. (I love a good faith debate about fictional stories, but those good faith and fictional stories bits are key.)

There is one piece I need to toss out into the void to get it out of my head, though, because I see it all the time and disagree with it so completely.

Zuko didn't betray Katara in Ba Sing Se.

Betrayal is a violation of someone's trust, and yes Katara had started to trust Zuko. However! Zuko never promised Katara anything. Her tentative trust was based on her own lack of understanding of Zuko's situation.

Katara yells at Zuko and accuses him of working with Azula. She tells him that he's the Fire Lord's son, so "spreading violence and hatred is in [his] blood." Zuko tells her that she doesn't know what she's talking about, to which she responds by telling him that the Fire Nation had taken her mother. Zuko reaches out to Katara and shares how he lost his mother, too.

Katara apologizes to him for yelling, and then talks about how she used to picture his face as the face of the enemy. Zuko assumes that she's talking about his scar, to which she clarifies that's not what she meant. Even so, Zuko shares with her that for a long time he viewed his scar as, "the mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

Some important things here, from Zuko's side. This is Zuko saying that he's growing to accept his scar, and to accept that it doesn't control him. He has not said that he's chosen a new side in the war, or even that he knows what destiny he will choose now that he feels free to choose.

At this point, Katara still doesn't know the whole story of Zuko's scar. What she does know, is that he saw it as the mark that cursed him to chase Aang forever. Zuko is already realizing that his scar doesn't have to control him, but it does still weigh on him. So Katara offers to heal it, thus "freeing" him of the destiny of chasing Aang.

And Zuko doesn't take her up on it immediately. He is clearly considering it, but he hasn't agreed or promised Katara anything when they are interrupted by Aang and Iroh's arrival. When Aang shows up, the moment between Katara and Zuko is shattered and Katara runs over to hug Aang in relief, while Aang glares at Zuko in distrust over her shoulder.

Katara may have thought that she was, "giving Zuko a chance," and that he betrayed her trust, but Zuko has already lampshaded the truth for us with his first line to Katara - she doesn't know him, she doesn't know the full context of his situation or motivations, and she doesn't get to tell him who he is or how he feels about the world. She has made a lot of assumptions, some kind and some less so, but the first genuine question she asks is what Zuko would do if she healed his scar. That is a question Zuko never gets to answer before they're interrupted, and thus Katara only had her assumption of what his answer would have been and what it would have meant.

(Which is in character for Katara! She's a young girl who has very strong opinions and morals and is willing to stand up for what she believes is right, but who is still in many ways lacking experience with the wider world (yes, she's traveled a lot with Aang, now, but S3 shows us that she still has things to learn, especially about the Fire Nation, and about herself and the kind of person she wants to be when she has the power to choose). She is also very compassionate, and she clearly wants people she feels any kind of sympathy for to be on her side. The flip side of those things is that she also tends to assume things about other people without confirming the truth, and then act as though her assumptions are facts.)

Katara's assumptions being wrong, however, does not constitute a betrayal on Zuko's part.

#atla #zuko meta #zuko positive #crossroads of destiny #atla meta #not putting this in the katara tag because I'd rather avoid internet fights #it's not even really katara critical or anything to my mind #but i also think katara is a more interesting character #when the narrative engages with her youth and tendency to assume things about other people #without actually knowing the truth #she's a great character #and has many extremely valid reasons to be angry with zuko #and to assume the worst from him! #he has absolutely caused her a lot of harm #but she also makes assumptions and ascribes things to him that he didn't do #and her flaws make her a more well rounded and realistic character! #someone who is actually a lot like zuko in many ways #such as her tendency to conflate a lot of unrelated things when she gets angry #and cling to her version of the truth as a method of self defense against being hurt again

[loopy777]

Loopy, I love your work and your tight plotting, and I've found I seem to be not good at planning stories out - I can write a 2-5 page snippet, but nothing long form. How do YOU approach planning a novel, and to what degree is it planned and to what degree is it improvised as you go?

Well, first I need to clarify that I had to actually build up my writing "muscle" in order to do novel-sized stuff.

I started writing fanfic with short stories, averaging a couple thousand words. I worked my way up to 3-chapter ditties that were getting as high 6-7k words. Then I participated in a Big Bang which required a minimum of 20k. I thought it would be easy if I gave myself enough time and paced myself, but I found it to be agony. I was mentally exhausted by the time I had written two-thirds of the first draft, and as a result, the original ending was terrible, something I spat out just to finish the dang thing. Fortunately, I had a good beta-reader who was able to call out the precise problems, and after taking a break from writing completely for a couple of weeks, I was able to completely rewrite the ending (it was the same plot events, just presented in a completely different way) and make a vast improvement.

A key point in that little anecdote is that my rewrite contained the exact same plot events. I didn't have to second-guess the structure of the story because I had fully outlined it ahead of time and knew exactly what the theme of the story was and how all the happenings play into it.

For me, that's the benefit of having a plan. Writing is not so easy that I can do it while also figuring out the story I want to tell. The more planning I do up front, the smoother the writing process is for me. Those who don't struggle so much with the writing might not get the same return on investment from a detailed plan.

So your problem could be that you haven't built up your "writing muscle" yet- your ability to mentally focus on a plot, tone, style, theme, and feeling. The most writing you do and the more you stretch your word count, the more your ability will grow. But there's no pain without gain, and there will be mental struggle sometimes.

But that doesn't get into what I mean by a plan or outline. Yet!

My concept for a story always starts with a premise, which is essentially the story's beginning: "AU where Mai finds Aang instead of Katara" or "Mai and the Blue Spirit meet during Season 2 before Ba Sing Se" or "Azula discovers that she's immortal and is bothered by it," etc. The next part I like to decide is how that premise is resolved, which is essentially the story's ending: "AU Aang saves the world thanks to his connection to AU Mai" or "Mai and the Blue Spirit part with a new familiarity with each other that sets the foundation for their getting together between Books 2 & 3" or "Azula is able to die again but her certainty about herself and her path is shaken," etc.

The way I work, those are my beginning and my destination, and from there I outline my journey. I start with some brainstorming, figuring out scenes I'd like to do or characters I'd like to involve or locations I want to visit or even lines of dialogue that sound good. That's like, when planning a journey, figuring out what stops you want to make on the way; sure, you might get to your destination faster if you keep driving or go a more efficient route, but it's more important to you to get off on Exit 42 and visit that great restaurant before picking up the highway again. And that comparison isn't random- you should try to fill your story with stuff you'd enjoy as much as visiting a favorite restaurant. This is a hobby we do for fun and writing is hard, so it's important to make it as enjoyable for yourself as possible.

The brainstorming portion is surprisingly critical, and it needs to be done correctly. You don't want to throw away any ideas at this point, and you want to come up with as many ideas as possible. Put yourself into a heightened creative state by listening to your favorite music beforehand. Riff on each idea. Steal from other stories. Tell yourself you can't have lunch until you fill a page with ideas. Talk to yourself in your notes. Pose ideas in the form of questions (that you don't have to answer yet). Imitate your favorite characters and do bad impressions of them. Make yourself smile even if you don't feel like it.

Then, using those brainstormed ideas, I figure out my exact route from beginning to destination. This is a more practical portion, because if you just have a jumble of roadside stops you want to make, you're never going to get to your destination. You need to bridge the gap between your beginning and your ending, use your brainstorming stuff as the box of building blocks that will form the foundation of your bridge. What really helps here is that I have read so many books/stories in my life, I know the shape that I'm aiming for. I know what a basic mystery, adventure, romance, etc look like. A romance, for example, starts with our pairing separate and lesser for it, has them meet, then they overcome an initial conflict, they grow closer, a bigger conflict forces them apart, and then they overcome that conflict to be together forever or at least until the credits finish rolling. There are variations to it, but that's your basic shape. The more familiar you are, the more you can twist it unrecognizably without losing its support structure.

And the story feels more continuous if each of the points in that shape lead into each other. They're not a bunch of towers standing next to each other, they're an arch held together by each stone leaning against the others. Something happens, and then as a result of that something else happens, and then as a result of that something else happens, etc. Even a bunch of random, unconnected events can become a continuous story if the main character is affected in a progressive way by those events. A decision the main character makes is different from what they would have otherwise done without having experienced recent events. I often find that an interesting plot can be made out of simply asking what the worst possible outcome is of the current dilemma and seeing how the characters would react to that.

So, using that romance structure with the BlueSpirit/Mai idea I had above, I can create something out of the ideas I'd brainstormed that looks like this:

Mai is on the way to buy/procure Azula's tanktrain, worried about Zuko being a traitor and having to catch him, when she is robbed by Zuko during his Bandit Blue Spirit thing.

Zuko, inching towards his slightly healthier mental state in Zuko Alone, somehow learns what Mai is doing and wants more information since Azula is a danger to him. So he follows Mai to her destination.

Mai's destination is an army base where they build tanktrains.

Mai's aunt runs the place.

Zuko is caught during his infiltration and takes Mai captive to escape.

Blue Spirit and Mai are stranded in the wilderness for a bit as kidnapper/captive.

They work together to survive and learn a bit more about each other's characters.

There's an attraction.

They work out a deal to team up and both get what they want.

They enact a scheme to steal the tanktrain.

The scheme goes wrong.

They fight their way to safety and are forced to go their separate ways, still drawn to each other but unfulfilled.

Epilogue: They meet up in Ba Sing Se.

Note how vague it gets towards the end there. (Also note that this doesn't exactly match up with the story I wound up writing. I believe the meme goes that this is a secret clue for later.) The "scheme" bit is something that I would later do extensive planning for, because that's a plot-heavy part of the story. At the final level, I like to have things broken down by scene, such as:

Scene MAI POV: Mai fakes her way out of attending the inspection and sets off the explosion in the chemical depot

Scene ZUKO POV: Blue Spirit fends off attackers while failing to figure out that he needs to remove the bolts

Scene MAI POV: Mai works her way to the tanktrain, obtaining the spare mask from the rebels on the way. When she meets up with Zuko, she tells him about the bolts

Zuko removes the bolts and the tanktrain runs away. Maiko chases it. Zuko gets onboard. The rebels get onboard. Mai gets onboard to fight the rebels. The train leaves the fortress. Everyone fights. They approach the ravine. Everyone jumps off the train.

Notice how that last bullet point isn't a scene like the others. Sometimes, even in my final detailed outlines, I do like to leave myself freedom to change things with scene transitions to manage the pacing as I write, and with action scenes especially I don't bother working out all the details. It impossible to plan how many punches you're going to wind up needing.

But these bullet points are from the final chapter(s) of my story. Do I really work out the scene-by-scene breakdown of my entire story before writing anything? It depends on the size of the story. For a short, I'll do the full breakdown. But for anything multichapter, especially a novel, I'll only do a chapter-by-chapter summary before doing any writing. Those summaries will be about a paragraph or two long. Each chapter will get its scene-by-scene breakdown when it's time to write it.

So, to answer your original question, the amount of planning I do for a novel-sized story before writing is a chapter-by-chapter outline. Each chapter will get a 1-2 paragraph summary, and that can include very short descriptions of important scenes and sometimes even a line or two of dialogue I want to make sure I include. And then, as I work through the chapters, I get into even more detailed outlines with a scene-by-scene breakdown with notes about whose POV is commanding each scene.

I like to leave that gap because it's where the improvisation comes in. I don't treat even my scene-by-scene breakdowns as something I have to stick to. I readily combine, cut, or alter scenes based on how things go as I'm writing. (One time, I turned a dud of a chapter into a banger of a chapter simply by reordering and combining some scenes, minimal rewriting required.) Changes are allowed to creep in. I might even radically alter major planned plot points. Having a detailed plan doesn't inhibit that. If I know where my ultimate destination is, I know how I need to alter my route to accommodate the unplanned detour I'm taking. And by holding off on doing the scene-by-scene breakdowns until it's time to write that chapter, I'm not doing a lot of work that I'll have to throw away if I make any major changes to the plan.

Even if I don't make changes, I'll often develop details during the writing that I might want to make further use of in a major way. Even if it doesn't change my plot at all, that type of thing can definitely change how the scenes go, so again, it saves work not to have to throw away plans that detailed.

But, overall, I find it's better to over-plan. It's easier to throw work away than it is to try to figure out what's next. My 'current' project is going slow because I did inadequate planning, thanks to some indecisiveness that has persisted through the writing. If you have a solid path through your whole story, there's no such thing as writer's block. When I have a good plan, the only thing that pauses me is wondering, "What hook of a first sentence should start this scene?" or, "What really strong line of dialogue should finish this dialogue exchange?" I can focus on the writing, not the plotting.

And that's really the big guideline. I do as much planning as I need to so that I can write without also trying to figure out the story. A scene-by-scene breakdown does that for me, since I do like switch POV around and do scene transitions that lead into each other rather than stop things, but for people who have more intuition about scenes or who don't go for that level of connectedness, it might not be necessary.

And, of course, it's not necessary for every writer to do plot-heavy novel-sized stories. I just often set out to do a short story, do somet thinking, and then find that I have way too much plot because I overthink everything. ;)

#klikkat

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Vicarious (Part 29)

It has been a good while since they have switched back and Sokka is still finding small things to cherish, things that he hadn’t imagined would mean the world to him. Things that might irritate other people, but bring him joy. Things like listening to Azula complain about how much she hates the jungle and the rain and the mud.

“A princess shouldn’t have to live like this!” She declares. Nevermind that she has certainly gone on adventures like these before. Granted, that tank she had chased them around in probably had several luxuries that she doesn’t have now. 

“My socks are soggy, my clothes are dripping–they feel so heavy when they are wet, it’s annoying.” She continues. Sokka can tell that Zuko is growing tired of the complaining but it makes him smile. 

He thinks that the crinkling of her nose as she steps over a puddle of mud is precious. “I think I have mud in my shoes too…”

“Do you want me to carry you?” He offers. 

“What?” 

“Through the mud, do you want me to carry you? So you don’t have to worry about getting any more mud in your shoes?” Really he just wants an excuse to carry her, he hasn’t had the chance to do so yet. 

Azula hums. “Yes. Carry me.” 

And he scoops her into his arms. She fits rather perfectly in them. He likes being able to lift her off of her feet, he certainly couldn’t do that when she was him. “Is this better?” He asks. She drapes one arm around his neck. 

She nods. “I suppose that it’s a little better. I’m still soaked though.” 

“Yeah, rain does that.” Zuko mutters. 

Azula sniffs and Katara snickers. 

“Personally I love a good rain!” Hakoda declares, throwing his arms out wide. “It’s refreshing, makes a man feel alive.”

“Maybe if that man is from the Water Tribes.” Azula grumbles. “It makes firebends feel exhausted.”

After a while it makes him feel a little sleepy too but he doesn’t put Azula down, she seems very comfortable and she has finally stopped complaining. He doesn’t have the heart to ruin that for her. At any rate, it makes him feel much better to have someone to hold again. Jin had her own perks and wonderful traits but she didn’t like being carried.

Azula, of course, has her down sides. Namely that she is rather high maintenance. She is stubborn and intimidating. But she is also very sweet when she wants to be and she knows how to connect with people better than she realizes. She only needed a little nudge in the right direction. 

“You can put me down now.” She mentions. There is less mud in this stretch of their hike. He carefully places her feet back on the ground and she reaches for his hand. Her hand is warm and soft. Very pleasant to hold and he counts himself lucky that he is one of the few who have gotten to do it. One of the few who knows what it feels like to hold her hand. “Thank you.” She says. “For carrying me. I don’t like mud.” 

“Consider it an apology for the whole drill thing.” 

“The drill thing…that was the Avatar’s fault.” 

“It was actually my idea!” He declares proudly, earning himself a glare. 

“We’re almost there.” Katara declares. To Azula she clarifies, “there’s this small shrine up ahead.”

“Kind of hidden and out of the way.” Zuko adds. 

“It’s where Sokka encountered the spirit that I think could be responsible for what happened to the two of you.” 

Azula’s face conveys the exact degree of unease that he feels. Grant his unease is steadily increasing with each step closer. This is a spirit that he had been hoping to never see again. One who probably doesn’t want much to do with him either. And based upon the look that she is giving, he is wanting to say that Azula isn’t particularly friendly with spirits either. He wonders if she had had any personal run ins, if it is secondhand dread, or if she has simply always been weary of the spirits just as some people are weary of closed spaces and heights. 

“It’s a pretty shrine.” She comments. 

She is off to a better start than he had been on his first go around.

#avatar the last airbender #azula #sokka #sokkla #fanfiction

[supernovaa-remnant]

please i desperately want to know why dream is katara that is such a cool thought

anon I am so happy you asked me this question. I'm going to approach this from two angles: one being simply the similarities between dream and katara's character, and the other being fandom perception and treatment.

so, first off, traits. they're both incredibly kind and compassionate, but also very strong willed and passionate about what they believe in. they're also both willing to see the best in people (I don't think dream needs an explanation for this, and with katara this was evident in the fact that she was the first person to trust zuko.. she also got that trust broken by him which I could also connect to dream but </3)

katara is always helping the gaang with so many things; she's often considered the mother of the group, which in part comes from her own trauma of losing her mother, but it also just comes from taking care of the gaang and making sure they're okay and sometimes even leading them to where they need to go. dream has been praised by his friends so often. I feel like I don't need to get into much detail—he's constantly looking out for his friends and lifting them up, and it's no secret that he's a sort of leader within the dream team lol.

also, katara is very protective with her friends. this doesn't always translate to fully attacking people, but, for example, when those girls made fun of toph, katara made sure toph was okay. dream is always speaking highly of his friiends, making sure they know they're loved, defending them, etc.

they've also both been through a lot. like, obviously there's differences, but the point is they've both been hurt and are both doing their best to continue living despite this hurt. this, of course, leads to them making mistakes or overall just showing normal human emotional reactions to things, but here's where fandom comes into play.

I never realized how much people held katara to a different standard when I first watched the show. But on the internet, there's so many jokes about her mother being all she talks about, about her emotional reactions to things, etc etc. But you watch the show, and she talks about her mother a pretty reasonable amount, and when you consider everything she's been through, her emotional outbursts make sense. because she's just human (she's actually just a kid.. 14 is so so young), but the fandom puts her up against such high standards, like she must be the most rational person ever when it comes to processing her emotions..

does that sound familiar to anyone? anyway, I'm not saying dream's never made mistakes (he has he has), but ultimately we're all human and we all make mistakes, and what really matters is how you respond after making those mistakes, whether you apologize and rectify them or buckle down etc etc. and we all know dream isn't really ""allowed"" to express emotions otherwise he's being manipulative or he's reactionary or he needs to be medicated, etc. y'know, despite the fact that dream has been put through an amount of scrutiny and has been facing a hate campaign that literally no human is built for. because we're not built to be known by such large quantities of people. and yet we are and we're all making do with what we have, but when you have so much of that attention being negative, sometimes you won't have perfectly reasonable thought out responses to things, and that's just part of being human. because he's not a pr machine—he's human, but he's so often not allowed to be.

uhhhh anyway sorry if that was kinda incoherent feel free to ask clarifying questions <33

#stella answers #anon #discourse #<- I feel like I touched a bit on that in the last paragraph oops

[paintedlady-bluespirit]

okay, so, idk if anyone has discussed this before but more evidence, at least in my mind, that zuko and katara are oma and shu reincarnated is this…

ever heard of offering someone an olive branch? is that not exactly what this looks like? why else would she be holding that? seems a bit random if not intended to be a peace offering? (also, it’s interesting to me that even when oma wears clothes that aren’t red, something associated with her is still that specific colour… it’s almost as if… *gasp* they colour coded for a reason??) I mean, it’s clear how one could very easily draw a parallel to this scene…

“I’m sorry, that’s something we have in common.”

just like oma, zuko is the one to reach out and offer that proverbial branch to katara (before it all hits the fan of course lol)… but let’s also not forget to mention that someone actually had to have made the creative choice to depict them symbolically, if not literally, ‘divided’ by war in this shot:

obviously I could be reading too far into this/interpreting something that isn’t there or was never intended, but food for thought I guess :)

#zutara #zuko #katara #they’re oma and shu #it’s canon and the hill I’ll die on #edit: I feel the need to clarify that I don’t think she’s holding a literal olive branch lmao #just that she’s symbolically making an offer of some kind (peace/understanding/love/whatever) #there’s so much more evidence of course but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else specifically talk about this? #I guess you could also interpret katara as oma and the spirit water as the branch but I prefer zuko as oma #it just makes more sense to me I guess #atla #avatar: the last airbender

[blindbeta]

Something I frequently see in atla fanfic is Toph rolling her eyes and other characters being surprised she can do that. (“Who taught her that?” Is a very common sentence.) I wonder if this is realistic? Obviously, with some forms of blindness, rolling your eyes is no problem. But would Toph, blind from birth, be able to roll her eyes? I’m sorry if this question is hyper-specific. I see this trope in at least half of all fics with Toph in them. (Thanks for your amazing blog and all you do.)

I welcome hyper-specific questions here! Especially about A:TLA and Toph, where fandom is both a nice break from ableism and a very ableist place.

With the resurgence of Avatar, there were an agonizing amount of comments like this online. Although they were more about how unrealistic it was for Toph to have facial expressions, how the animators messed up by having her eyes move, etc. The “Who taught her that?” trope about eye-rolling is simply another manifestation of that.

It is hard to explain my frustration with questions like these, even if no offense is meant. These questions bother me partly because they assume certain things that make it clear they have never met a blind person, nor bothered to research before commenting, endlessly, on what is or is not possible for blind people.

Also, as I explained in this post about myths, even the ignorance behind expectations like these can be harmful. In assuming Toph cannot have facial expressions, a blind person who makes expressions or gestures may be assumed to be faking. This puts a lot of stress on a blind person, who may be refused help, harassed, or even attacked. Plus they are just annoying. In this post, I go over how some of these assumptions carry over into jokes, something the Avatar fandom is also not exempt from.

Jokes are fine. Questions even more so. As long as someone is genuinely asking and not coming from a bad place. For example: “I wonder how Toph learned to make facial expressions as a blind baby” is easier to answer than “OMG Avatar is so unrealistic and ridiculous because Toph, a blind girl, makes the same kinds of expressions as the other characters!”

Facial expressions are instinctual and innate. There are basic expressions that many people can make and understand — with some exceptions — which have evolutionary implications. For example, making a face of disgust could have indicated that something was poisonous. A face of fear could have alerted others to danger. Eye rolling is not quite so useful or ancient, but it has been referenced in older literature as a way to express contempt or rejection.

I would put eye rolling in with the gestures category. By this I mean research shows blind people gesture just like others who speak the same language. Because gestures are culturally specific, they can differ depending on language. Even people who were blind since birth gesture the same way others do. Eye rolling is not much different. No one would need to teach Toph how to roll her eyes, although she probably would have heard about it verbally eventually as she aged, such as when Azula teased her by saying, “And since you can’t see, I should tell you I’m rolling my eyes.”

So the “Who taught her that?” question is not very realistic as far as I’m concerned.

I will say that sometimes people have rapid eye movement and difficulty controlling the muscles in their eyes. Before I had surgery, I would have uncontrollable eye movements in one eye and since I couldn’t see my own eye, I have no idea if rolling my eyes actually looked like it is supposed to. And because I can’t see other people very well, I’m not sure if I’m the best person to give details about this.

But the real issue behind the other characters being surprised Toph can roll her eyes isn’t so much about the ability to do so, so much as just knowing about it. Again, the same question comes up about facial expressions and gestures.

I also want to clarify that the ableism in the Avatar fandom isn’t really about mean words or even rude assumptions. It is the attitudes and beliefs behind these questions. It is a rudimentary understanding of ableism that causes people to claim Katara is ableist so they can hate her, while similtaneously complaining that Katara and Zuko talk about their trauma too much. While simultaneously sharing art and GIFs and videos of Toph without image descriptions. While saying very little about the show’s lack of audio descriptions when it was added to Netflix initially, or even assuming blind people couldn’t or wouldn’t watch the show at all. Not because of a lack of accessibility, but because people simply assume we don’t like television or films.

If you think about these attitudes and beliefs, you start to notice a pattern. One that isn’t only in the Avatar fandom, but it is made all the more frustrating because the show has a popular blind character in it. You would think people would be interested in learning about blindness, but the overwhelming love for Toph sometimes comes across as exploitive without this interest.

That said. Toph is one of my favorite characters and I love that the fandom loves her too. I love fanfics with her in them. I don’t blame one person for not adding an image description to their art, because image descriptions are not as normalized as they should be, and were certainly not normalized years ago. When I talk about ableism in the Avatar fandom, I don’t mean any one person. I mean the wider problem as a whole that has been going on for over a decade. I mean people who have “ableism” in their vocabulary and yet don’t change their ways when someone gently asks them to. Ableism is in our society and fandom, especially those with blind characters, are no exception, despite whatever hopes I might have.

There are absolutely wonderful people in the Avatar fandom. The fandom is improving on reblogging things with image descriptions or adding their own to older posts, especially art of Toph. While I sometimes feel things are stagnant, there are people like you, anon, asking the good questions. I appreciate you and anyone else who is doing the work to learn and also for supporting this blog. While I have some problems with the fandom, there are wonderful people here and progress is being made every day.

If you want help writing Toph, @mimzy-writing-online has an excellent post with advice. I highly recommend fanfic writers read it for a richer story.

So that’s my wishy-washy Avatar post with some slight education thrown in. Thanks for the question, anon!

If any blind people want to chime in about this, feel free.

I hope this helped some.

-BlindBeta

#atla toph #atla #avatar the last airbender #toph beifong #writing #blind #blind characters #toph #ableism #how blind people. x #blind people- facial expressions #atla fanfic #atla fandom

[flameohotwife]

kataang 19 for the ask fluff T_T

19. "You know, I think my parents would be proud if I brought you home."

This *also* turned super long, and a little sad in parts though I still think (hope) it's adequately fluffy. I am apparently incapable of ficlets at this point. I'm sorry! Read here or on ao3. Rated G. 3k words.

Katara was freezing. She had only been gone from the Southern Water Tribe for a year and already she had forgotten how cold it was there. They had decided to take a quick trip to Katara’s home to officially tell her father they were together after finalizing the Harmony Restoration Movement in Ba Sing Se, and were quickly approaching the South Pole on Appa. She wrapped her parka more tightly around her, shivering.

“Aang, don’t worry,” Katara comforted from the saddle. Even from this distance she could see his nervous fidgeting. He gave Appa instructions and climbed back to join her and Sokka and Suki. Toph had just recently found her first metalbending student, and was not about to leave Yu Dao to go to “a block of ice I can’t see or bend on.” So the two couples journeyed southward, with a lot of talk of “oogies” from Sokka, a lot of snippy comments about the thinness of tent walls from Katara, and a lot of unsure glances from Aang and Suki.

“Yeah, Aang,” Sokka chimed in as the airbender settled in next to his girlfriend. His girlfriend! It still felt strange to call her that. It seemed too informal for all that she meant to him, but anything more would sound ridiculous coming out of a thirteen-year-old’s mouth. “Don’t worry about the tribe. They already love you, remember? The kids are just going to want a bunch of rides down Appa’s tail again.”

“Oh! They haven’t gotten to see him fly, yet!” Katara added excitedly.

“Plus, you’re the Avatar,” Suki said, rolling her eyes. “You stopped the hundred-year war! If that doesn’t endear you to everyone, I don’t know what will.” Suki rubbed her arms over the green parka Katara had made her, looking down uncomfortably.

“You helped, too, Suki,” Katara reasoned, leaning over to place a hand on her friend’s arm. “And Dad already knows you’re together and definitely approves. You helped break him out of prison!”

Suki smiled back at her in thanks while Sokka wrapped an arm around his girlfriend proudly. “The truth is,” he started, “Katara and I couldn’t have picked better people to pair off with, and the Southern Water Tribe has been starved for happiness for a long time, now. Neither of you have anything to worry about. They’ll be proud to know you. I bet there’ll even be a feast!” He rubbed his belly with his free hand.

“But, I let all those warriors get captured… on the Day of Black Sun,” Aang said. He had kept his guilt over that day to himself for so long, but Katara knew. She knew it had hung heavy on his heart since the moment she found him crying on Appa, and she knew that he needed to clear that pain away.

“Aang, look at me,” she said, taking his face in her hands. “The Fire Nation knew we were coming that day, but you couldn’t have known that. None of us did. We trust you as the Avatar and we trust you as Aang—that hasn’t changed. Warriors are led into danger all the time. That’s what they train for. Nobody blames you.”

Aang took a deep, clarifying breath. He tried to remember what Guru Pathik had told him about accepting the bad things that have happened and forgiving himself. He had to keep the pools of his chakras flowing, and while this guilt hadn’t accumulated to the point of blocking his water chakra, he knew it could if he didn’t keep it in check. He released his breath, feeling much warmer and more confident than he had a moment ago, and smiled at Katara.

“Thank you, Katara.” The way he looked at her caused her breath to catch; she still wasn’t used to the pure, unadulterated devotion in his eyes. Her heart swelled with it, and she went in for a hug.

She expected Sokka to call out “Oogies!” but he just sat back with his girlfriend and rolled his eyes. Her brother was much more used to these displays of affection than she gave him credit for, anyway. She had hugged and touched and even kissed Aang on the cheek so many times throughout their journey to end the war, and he hadn’t batted an eye. Kissing seemed to be what brought the cries of protest out, but even those seemed half-hearted the more he was forced to witness it.

Katara felt that telltale swoop in her stomach as Appa started his descent, and separated from Aang, grinning widely. They were here! She could hardly contain her excitement, and Aang fed off of it. He would do anything to make her happy. He jumped back to Appa’s head to steer him towards the center of the village.

The children who had been outside playing all gathered together when they saw the large shape of Appa in the sky. Some of them even recognized him—shouts of “It’s the sky bison! It’s Aang! It’s the Avatar!” could be heard as the group approached. The ensuing ruckus drew adults out of their huts as well. Katara noticed there were more snow huts than tents, now, probably thanks to Pakku and the benders he’d brought from the North when he sought out her grandmother, who was just joining the throng of people. She saw her father’s face among the crowd, as well, and her heart soared.

She and Sokka were leaning over the edge of the saddle, waving to everyone and sporting wide, toothy grins when they finally landed. As soon as Appa’s feet touched the snow they both jumped down, rushing to greet their family. Aang and Suki hung back a moment, unsure of their place, until Hakoda pulled back from his children to open his arms to them, smiling.

“It’s so good to see you Aang, Suki,” he said, embracing them all in a group hug. His voice was warm and strong and he hoped it was welcoming, too. Whatever his feelings about his kids growing up and moving on, he wanted their partners to feel safe and loved and cared for here.

When they all pulled back—some a little teary eyed from the reunion—they saw Kanna and Pakku making their way over. Gran Gran was smiling in a way Katara wasn’t sure she had ever seen before. She looked so happy. So at peace. She had lived her entire life in the war and had been the one to tell Katara (and Sokka, when he would listen) the stories about the Avatar when they were younger. Katara supposed this all must be like a dream come true for her as well. She hugged each member of the group in turn.

“It’s good to see you again, young airbender,” she said to Aang, before turning to Suki and the others. “And it’s wonderful to meet you, Suki. Pakku tells me you’re quite the warrior, from what he could tell while you all were camped outside Ba Sing Se. I’m so proud of all of you for stopping this war.”

They seemed to remember the rest of the village was watching them, and Hakoda cleared his throat. The kids stopped playing on Appa’s tail to listen to their Chief.

“Everyone! Sokka and Katara are home and they’ve brought guests!” he started. His voice boomed powerfully across the ice. “I’d like you to meet Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors, and of course you all have met Avatar Aang and his bison already.” There was some applause and squeals from the children, and Aang blushed and waved. “I think this calls for a celebration. Let’s feast in the new council lodge tonight!”

“I told you,” Sokka whispered to Aang. Aang chuckled in return as the crowd cheered once more before returning to their business. Hakoda invited them all into his hut and they sat down in front of the fire with some tea, along with Gran Gran and Pakku.

“So, Dad, there’s actually a reason we came down here,” Katara opened once they were all settled on cushions around the low, circular table. She was sitting between Aang and Suki, and her father was directly across from her, flanked by Sokka and Gran Gran. Pakku sipped his tea observantly between Aang and Kanna. “Aang and I…” She grabbed his hand under the table. No matter how confident she was in their relationship, she’d never had to announce a new relationship to her family before. She felt sure she’d never have to, again. “We’re together, now.”

Hakoda smiled. Kanna beamed. Pakku looked like he had accidentally swallowed the bitter leaves of his tea, but Katara ignored him; he always looked that way.

Hakoda was the first to speak. “I figured this would happen eventually,” he said, laughing when both Aang and Katara looked somewhat shocked. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. And the way Katara was so protective of you, Aang, when you were in a coma...and her heartbreak when you left? I knew there was more than just friendship going on, even if Katara was too hard-headed to admit it.”

“Hey!” Katara protested.

“He’s not wrong,” Sokka spoke up. “You were the one who kept putting it off. Even after Aang kissed you at the Invasion…”

“You knew about that?!” Aang asked, flabbergasted.

“Toph told me,” he shrugged. “The subs were made of metal… she could feel it.” Sokka shuddered.

Both Aang and Katara were as red as tomato-carrots at this point, but Kanna actually laughed.

“Do you remember what I told you when you left the South Pole?” she asked, speaking to her grandchildren.

“Yeah, yeah, something about it being our destiny to help Aang, I think,” Sokka answered.

“You said…” Katara gasped, eyes wide. “You said our ‘destinies are intertwined with his.’” She looked at Aang, smiling. “I thought it was just about ending the war, but…”

“I also called him your boyfriend, that day, if you’ll remember,” Sokka pointed out. “You denied it then, but face it, Katara. You were already smitten from the day we met Aang.”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I was.” The blush was even higher on her cheeks, now. Aang looked as though someone had just granted him his biggest wishes: a mixture of surprise and glee covered his face as he looked at her. He squeezed her hand under the table, not completely sure she was still real; that this wasn’t a dream. Katara had really liked him for as long as he’d liked her?

“It was the same for me and Suki,” Sokka continued on. “The moment she beat me...again... in that dojo on Kyoshi Island, I knew.”

“Awww, Sokka,” Suki cooed.

“I mean, any girl who can take down a Water Tribe warrior is girlfriend material, am I right?”

Everyone at the table exchanged glances before simultaneously rolling their eyes and laughing. It was so good to be around family again, Katara thought. But what was even better was that she still felt at home and comfortable—maybe even moreso—with Aang there by her side. She could see him at future family gatherings, see him as an adult, proudly holding their child at the Solstice Festival in the South, comfortably talking with everyone from the children to the elders. It filled her with warmth, and she pressed her shoulder into his as the conversation went on well into the afternoon.

That evening, after the feast, there was dancing. It was different from the dancing they had done before, in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. Katara and Sokka, along with the rest of the tribe spent much of the evening laughing and teaching Aang and Suki to dance in the Water Tribe way, readjusting their form, feeling the heavy beat of the drums; the qilaut.

At one point Aang and Katara stumbled outside for some air, clutching their stomachs which were beginning to ache from so much merriment. They sat back in a snowbank, arms around each other, watching the stars twinkling in silent chorus above them, taking comfort in each other’s presence.

“You know,” Aang said after a time, “I think my parents would be proud if I brought you home. Would’ve been proud, I guess. Gyatso, too. We could have celebrated and eaten fruit pies and sang and danced at the temples...” Katara looked up at him, expecting to see the grief and sadness etched in his face that was so often there when he spoke of his people, but he looked...wistful. Like he was perhaps picturing such a reunion, and her heart ached for all that he had lost. She had never even heard him mention his parents before. “Being here, around your family and your tribe… it’s been so wonderful, Katara.”

She wrapped her arms tighter around his waist, pulling him ever closer. She kept her sapphire eyes focused on the light flickering out from the lodge behind him, feeling like perhaps this next thought was too much, but she wanted to open it up to him. To be there for him in the same way he’s been there for her for so long. “We could visit the Air Temples,” she suggested, quietly. “I know the other Air Nomads are gone… and it might be… sadder. A lot less celebratory. But… I’d like to visit your home again now that the war’s over. I’d like to learn your dances. Learn about your people.”

They turned to each other then, both their eyes sparkling in the starlight. “I’d like that,” Aang whispered as a tear escaped him with a choked sob.

“Hey, Sweetie,” Katara comforted, reaching up to gently stroke his cheek. She realized that in the few months since the end of the war—probably actually since she’d broken him out of the iceberg—he hadn’t had the chance to really be. To reflect. To grieve. “It’s okay to be sad, you know? To miss them. You’re not alone though. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

Aang clung to her then, letting his feelings flow. They listened to the sound of the drums inside, and she rocked him, whispering how strong he was, how amazing it was that he’d found a way to end the war that was still true to himself; to his people. How proud they would be. How proud she was.

Eventually, he lifted his head from her shoulder to kiss her slowly, tentatively. He was still mostly letting her take the lead in their physical relationship, but he couldn’t think of any other way to thank her then. No words seemed sufficient. His hesitance melted away the moment she moved her lips against his, though. His hands gripped her waist as best he could in their sitting position before moving to thread into her hair. He could feel his heart starting to beat just a little too fast. He felt lightheaded, but in a good way. He pulled back for a breath, and they both giggled. Kissing was still new, but something they both clearly enjoyed finally being able to do together.

“You called me ‘Sweetie,’” he said, realizing. She’d never called him anything other than Aang before. His heart fluttered.

“Is that okay? Sorry, I didn’t even realize…” Katara was pulling at her hair and looking anywhere but at Aang until he stopped her with another kiss, though it was much quicker this time.

“I loved it, Sweetie,” he teased back, but somehow it felt like the most natural thing in the world to call her.

“My mom used to call me that,” she admitted, shyly. “I don’t know why it just came out when I was talking to you…”

“Did I ever tell you what the guru told me about love?” Aang asked. Katara shook her head, confused. “He told me that ‘love is a form of energy,’ and that the airbenders’ love for me hasn’t left this world, but was reborn in new love.” He looked pointedly at her. “Our love.”

Katara took in a sharp breath. She felt at once shocked, humbled, and overflowing with pure, confident love. Sokka certainly wouldn’t believe it, but it made so much sense to her. The instant connection she had felt… the fierce need to protect him… her intense love for him that was as big as an entire nation. She couldn’t help but smile widely.

“Maybe...” Aang started. “Maybe your mom’s love for you was reborn, too.” It seemed like such an outrageous thing to say, but at the same time, like the most obvious thing in the world. The look in her eyes told him all he needed to know. She believed it, too. “I love you, Katara.”

“I love you too, Aang. So much.” She leaned in to kiss him again, feeling like nothing could quite top this feeling. They’d said ‘I love you’ so many times in so many ways; in small gestures, in touches, in roundabout ways, even before they’d been together. But this… this seemed much bigger.

Finally, they stood to return to the celebration. Surely people had noticed their absence by now, though they were thankfully still young enough to avoid any terribly embarrassing rumors. As they walked back to the hall, hand in hand, they shared a look before opening the door.

“Ready, Sweetie?” Aang asked, eyes shining with pure joy.

“Ready, Sweetie,” Katara responded confidently. She squeezed his hand before pulling him inside with her, already moving to the beat of the drums again. Their hearts were so full. Their lost loved ones were never truly gone from this world, and they would cherish that fact for the rest of their lives together. Even in their grief they were connected, and by their love they were healed. It was beautiful.

#kataang #kataangtag #fluff prompts #vanillabutspicy #asks #the guru episode #katara #aang #kataang fanfiction #sweeties #meet the family

[beifongsss]

doubts [zuko]

Pairing: (Fire Lord) Zuko x reader (i’m such a simp for Fire Lord Zuko)

Requested?: Yes! By a marvelous anon!: “hi! so i was thinking either a zuko x reader or sokka x reader please, where it's the night of your wedding and you're not ready and then he gets mad but fluff at the end :) if you can't do it i totally understand, thank you !!”

Summary: It’s a day before your wedding and you find yourself in Katara’s room, worried about your duties as the Fire Lord’s spouse. I tried to keep it gender neutral!

.masterlist.

~

You had met Zuko way before Aang had defeated Ozai, back when he was still the banished prince. The start of your relationship was rough, especially when you remembered how the two of you had constantly been at each other’s throats when he finally joined Team Avatar.

Eventually, the scathing remarks and backhanded compliments faded away to teasing comments and shy smiles as the two of you shared many sleepless nights under the stars. It was during these nights that the two of you opened up to each other, Zuko finally revealing information about his childhood and how he got his scar and you telling him all about your own upbringing and how you ended up traveling with the Gaang. You had ended up sleeping in each others’ arms that night, Momo snuggling in between the two of you.

That night changed your whole dynamic and after Ozai’s defeat, Aang forced the two of you to confess your feelings for each other. Your relationship bloomed quickly, the events you had been through only making your connection that much stronger. It wasn’t a relationship built only on attraction; it was one built on mutual trust and respect, and the confidence of knowing that you were there for each other no matter what.

That was what had led to Zuko proposing marriage at a young age.

When the words came out of his mouth, you had been shocked. To be honest, you had always thought that you’d be the first to bring up the idea of marriage. You had also expected to talk about it once the two of you were older and Zuko had gotten used to his duties as the Fire Lord, not when the two of you were on the edge of seventeen. Despite your surprise, you had agreed after making him promise to wait until the two of you were eighteen.

He had agreed, stating that he was certain that you were it for him.

Now, two years later, you found yourself smiling as the Gaang arrived at the palace. They were there for your wedding, which would be taking place in two days. Zuko had kept his promise and now that the two of you were eighteen, he didn’t want to waste any more time without you at his side. 

The first day the Gaang was there was spent catching up with each other. Zuko had even managed to get the day off by asking Iroh to attend some meetings in his place. You had taken them to the city, giving them a proper tour now that they weren’t wanted criminals.

The Gaang spent most of the day silently fawning over the way the two of you treated each other, Zuko buying you snacks that he knew you liked and smiling when you kissed his cheek in thanks and you making sure that he was comfortable being surrounded by so many people. You truly were the perfect couple. Your action-packed day came to an end with a picnic in the royal gardens, lounging around as Aang played with the turtle ducks.

The next day was the day before your wedding, and you didn’t get the chance to see Zuko all day. You spent the day in the library with Sokka, who claimed that he wanted to learn more about the history of the Fire Nation. It felt nice to have a calm day, especially knowing that after tomorrow you would be married to the Fire Lord. Your stomach flipped uncomfortably at your thoughts and you swallowed nervously as Sokka turned to you.

“So?” he asked, a book in his hand as he stared at you. “How does it feel knowing that after tomorrow you’re no longer single?”

“I’m not single now,” you replied blandly. “I’m dating Zuko.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sokka said, waving off your words. “But after tomorrow you’re like, bound to him. How does it feel, knowing that you’re going to help him run the Fire Nation?”

You visibly paled at Sokka’s words, causing him to put the book down immediately and approach you.

“(Y/N/N)? Are you good?” he asked, gently grasping your shoulder. You didn’t look at him as you nodded.

“I-I’m great Sokka,” you replied quietly, shooting out of your chair and heading for the door. “I just remembered I promised Katara I’d visit her.”

Sokka’s worried gaze followed you as you darted out of the room. He stood there for a moment before shrugging and sitting back down.

“Wow, those pre-wedding jitters must be pretty intense.”

~

Katara gasped and whirled around as you burst into her room. She was about to scold you when she noticed the panicked look on your face and the tears welling up in your eyes.

“(Y/N)? What happened?” Katara asked, rushing to you and wrapping you up in her arms. She tried to kick the door closed as she led you over to her bed but failed, leaving the door open an inch. You didn’t say anything as she sat you down, your face contorted in a grimace as you thought about Sokka’s words.

“Sokka said something and it made me panic,” you finally breathed out, turning to look at Katara. She snorted.

“Don’t listen to anything my idiot brother says.”

“No, he asked me if I was ready to help Zuko rule the Fire Nation,” you clarified, nervously fidgeting with your fingers. “And I’m not. I’m not ready Katara.”

Katara rubbed your arm as she looked at you understandingly. “It’s a little overwhelming, isn’t it?”

“That’s an understatement,” you mumbled. “I love Zuko, so much. But I’m not the right person to rule by his side. It should be Mai or someone else who knows the proper etiquette and laws of the Fire Nation.”

“You can always learn (Y/N/N),” Katara said softly. “Zuko wants you by his side. We’ve all seen the way you act around each other; he wants you by his side because he trusts you to help him out whenever he needs you to. And you’re gonna do a great job!”

You sighed before replying. “I’m just so nervous Katara. I’m not good enough to marry royalty. I feel so inadequate here, and I don’t know how to change that! How am I expected to help the Fire Lord when I can barely help you cook?!”

Katara chuckled at your words before falling silent. She didn’t know what to say.

Elsewhere in the palace, Zuko was getting out of his last meeting for the day. He walked off in the direction of your bedroom, determined to surprise you with a romantic dinner before your big day. When he didn’t find you, he checked the library, knowing that it was one of your favorite rooms in the palace. The only thing he found was a reading Sokka, who only mumbled that you had gone to visit Katara before he focused on his book once more.

Sighing, Zuko made his way towards Katara’s room, pausing slightly when he noticed that the door was open. He was about to knock when he was halted by the sound of your voice.

“Katara, maybe this marriage isn’t the best idea.”

Zuko felt his heart drop at your words, his throat closing up slightly as he registered your words. Before jumping to any conclusions, he waited a bit, wanting to hear Katara’s response

“(Y/N)? What do you mean?” Katara replied. “Zuko loves you, he’s been waiting for this day for literal years.”

“I know,” came your reply. “But I can’t go through with it. Especially not when I’m having all these doubts.”

“Ok, wait,” Katara spoke again. “Let’s think this through first.”

“Let’s not,” Zuko said, finally stepping into the room. The two of you stared up at him, Katara’s mouth dropping open in surprise as your eyes widened in shock. “If you didn’t want to marry me, you should’ve just said so.”

Katara stood up immediately, her cheeks blushing with embarrassment after Zuko’s sudden appearance. She awkwardly bowed to the boy before heading to the door. “I’ll uh, I’ll let you two sort this out.”

“That was weird,” you spoke first, breaking the silence. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her bow to you before.”

A smile twitched at Zuko’s lips before he remembered your earlier words. You glanced up at him, flinching slightly at the hard expression on his face. “Zuko, I-”

“We don’t have to get married (Y/N),” he spoke bluntly, no emotion present in his voice. “You could’ve just told me and I would’ve called it off. In fact, let me go do that right now.”

“Zuko, no,” you replied, standing up. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I just didn’t want you to-”

“You didn’t want me to what, (Y/N)?” Zuko snapped, causing you to flinch and take a step backwards. He was angry, that much you could tell. “You didn’t want me to find out that you had no intention of staying in my life, that you had doubts about being with me? What have these past few years meant to you? Because if you were planning on leaving me at the altar you could’ve just told me you didn’t love me anymore.”

“W-What?” you asked, gasping lightly at his words. That’s why he was angry; he thought you wanted to call off the wedding because you didn’t love him anymore. You stepped closer to him. “Zuko.”

He pulled away from you, trying not to look at you as tears pricked at his eyes. His thoughts ran wild as he tried to pinpoint the moment you had lost feelings for him. He knew it was his fault, he didn’t spend enough time with you or buy you any sparkling jewels or-

“I’m so in love with you, Zuko,” you whispered, interrupting his inner turmoil. You sidled up next to him, reaching out to gently brush away the tears that had escaped his eyes and were now trailing down his face. He turned away from you and scoffed, a harsh expression still on his face.

“No you aren’t.”

You felt your heart leap into your throat as you took him in. You held your breath as you turned his head back towards before pressing your lips against his. Zuko’s hands went to your waist instinctively and you could taste the tears he had shed as his lips molded against yours perfectly. You tried your best to pour as much love as you could into the kiss. He pulled away from you first, tears still falling as he looked at you in disbelief.

“My doubts weren’t about my love for you Zuko,” you spoke quietly, your eyes never leaving his. “I have never doubted my love for you. In my heart I have always known that you’re the one for me, as cheesy as that sounds.”

Zuko swallowed as he searched your eyes, finding nothing but the truth. “Then w-why-”

“I was having doubts about myself,” you whispered, cutting him off. “I love you so much that it hurts, but I’m not good enough to rule by your side. You deserve someone better; someone who knows how to deal with Fire Nation issues and help you make the best decisions that will benefit your nation. That’s not me. I barely even know who the Fire Lord before Sozin was!”

“You’re more than enough,” Zuko replied, his voice rough as he reached out to hold you. “You’re all that I have ever needed or wanted and you’re gonna do an amazing job by my side.”

“How can you be so sure?” you asked softly, melting into his touch.

“You can always learn about your duties as the Fire Lord’s spouse,” he replied, causing your mouth to twitch up as you remembered Katara’s earlier words. She had said the same thing. “You’re a quick learner. Besides, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

You sighed softly as you leaned against him, his anger and insecurities fading as he held you tightly.

“If it makes you more comfortable, we can always postpone the wedding,” Zuko mumbled. You hummed lightly as you snuggled up against his chest.

“No, you’re right,” you replied quickly. “I’m gonna have to learn about my duties anyways, there’s no reason for the wedding to be postponed.”

The room went silent for a while.

“Did you really think that I would leave you?” you whispered, your heart sinking as you realized how upset Zuko was when he thought he would lose you.

The Fire Lord cleared his throat before speaking. “I uh, I- yes.”

You looked up to see him hanging his head in shame.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I just, I could understand why someone like you could stop loving someone like me. You’re too good for me.”

“That’s ridiculous,” you replied, looking at him in disbelief. “Zuko, if anything I’m not good enough for you! I love you so so much. You’ve shown me what it’s like to love and be loved and you’ve always respected me, which is all I could ever ask for. You mean the world to me and I never want you to forget that.”

Zuko stared at you for a minute before leaning down and pressing a kiss to your lips. You responded eagerly, tangling your hands in his hair and causing the royal headpiece to topple to the ground. He backed you up against the desk in the room, breaking the kiss to look down at you.

“I love you too,” he said breathlessly. “More than you will ever know.”

“I can’t wait to marry you,” you mumbled as he pressed his lips back to yours. He smiled into the kiss, only responding by pulling you closer to him.

“So, I’m guessing the wedding is still on?”

The two of you broke apart to see Katara leaning against the doorframe, a smug smile on her face. Your face turned bright red as Zuko’s head dropped onto your shoulder in embarrassment, only managing a small nod. Zuko nodded along with you as he straightened up, intertwining his hand with yours as he began to lead you out of the room.

“Yeah, it is,” he said as he passed Katara, knowing that she was about to go tell all their friends about what she had witnessed. He could deal with the teasing just this once. After all, how could he be angry when he was about to marry the love of his life.

The two of you were halfway down the hall when Katara poked her head out of her room, holding out the royal headpiece in her hand.

“Hey! Aren’t you two forgetting something?”

~ taglist!

@musicalkeys, @mywigglybaby​, @bubblebars​, @iguessthefloorislava​, @dekahg​, @boxofteenageideas​, @bottledcostcowater, @butterflycore​, @coldlilheart​

#zuko x reader #prince zuko x reader #fire lord zuko x reader #zuko #prince zuko #fire lord zuko #avatar #avatar: tla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar x reader #atla zuko x reader #atla zuko #aang #sokka #katara #toph #toph beifong #zuko imagine #prince zuko imagine #fire lord zuko imagine #atla #atla x reader

[zutaraplatter]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Critique

There are already a million of posts like this one, and I might be saying things that’ve already been said a million times but I’ve recently become reheated about the ATLA ending and wanted to let it out -_- No one asked, this is true, and this may or may not be a way to stall from this final project I still have to complete, but here’s 10 things I didn't like and/or would change about the show that likely shouldn’t need changing because they should have been done in the first place.

1. Katara should have apologized to Sokka after TSR

It should have happened and it didn't. In my canon-avoiding mind, Katara and Sokka have a heartfelt conversation where she apologizes for the awful things she said, Sokka says he forgives her and he's sorry if he wasn't as there for her as much as he should have been, which he follows up with "but I'm happy you listened to Aang and took his advice," leading into my next point

2. Katara should have said that not killing Yon Rha was her choice

And thats why it was the right one. Not because Aang already said it was wrong. No no. It was the right choice because that's what she chose. I love my mom to death and can't imagine losing her in any way, let alone the way Katara did. And I can't say for sure that if I was in her shoes that I know what I would have done f that yes I do I would have killed that motherfucker. But I also know that if Katara decided not to kill him, then that was one of two correct choices because they were Katara's choices to make. Not Aang's or anyone else's and this should have been clarified. I know it's a kids show but I said what I said. Next point.

3. Katara should have said more after telling Aang she was unsure at the Ember Island Players

Katara hasn't had any trouble saying how she feels, especially when it comes to helping others and making them feel better, whether she was right or wrong. But she holds back or overly softens blows and seems to even shrivel up at times when it comes to Aang. And me no likey. I had a boyfriend who I adored and admired and just genuinely looked up to. I'm also a shy and anxious person who hates confrontation, but because I loved him, I never refrained from telling him when he was wrong. I might have been a little shaky about it but I did it tho because when you want to be with someone you walk through the grass and stomp through the mud. And I personally feel like either in that moment or later on in an added scene that Katara should have voiced to Aang how unheard and disrespected she felt about his words before TSR and his actions on the balcony. I hate being uncomfortable and my secondhand embarrassment is toxic but I would love to see a scene of this. I always imagined Katara saying stuff like "But I'm not you Aang, and I'm not an Air Nomad," or "Zuko could understand why I needed to go, and I'd hoped you would too," or...I'm out of ideas but you get the idea. And you know what, I know I'm a hard Zutara shipper, but them having this conversation would honestly make me respect their relationship a whole lot more should it be believably written to end on a good note (I don't see how it could be but hey I'm an open minded person and I did think they were cute together once upon a time). Basically, all I'm saying is that Katara is no small voice and she should have been written that way when with Aang. Boyfriends can make you shy but should never make you weak. Period. Next point.

4. No rock! ONLY GROWTH!!!!!!!!!!!

I still squint my eyes whenever I remember that rock that unblocked Aang's chakra. What even was that? The laziest writing possible in my opinion. That's what. And Aang deserved better. What should have happened should have been that Aang started to lose to Ozai. And then as Ozai's about to deliver the finishing blow, Aang has flashbacks of everyone he's trying to save and honor, ending with a very prominent flashback of Katara with the guru's disembodied voice reminding Aang to let go of his attachments to become all he needs to be...then BOOM! Baby boy is back on his feet, chakra unblocked, he kicks Ozai's ass, I'm crying hysterically on the floor, as are the rest of us, and he wins. Then at the end of the series, instead of a kiss, he gives Katara an apology. She accepts, everyone else comes to join them on the balcony, cinematic group hug, camera pan into the sun. I don't know lol. Basically what I'm saying is that Aang did not deserve some deus ex machina. He deserved to grow and become his best self like everyone else got to.

5. Aang should have heard differently in The Storm

Katara is a very fate-minded person and this is when I saw potential for her to become a toxic character in regards to Aang. When he admits that he ran away from home 100 years ago, Katara tells him that that was basically a good thing because he was meant to be here and now. Like...no? What Aang did, though understandable for someone so young, was still wrong. Yes he would have maybe been killed but I'm like 10000000% sure they had a plan to protect and evacuate the literal avatar. And what was technically "meant to be" was a new avatar. But hey, what's done is done and kicking Aang while he's down is a no-no in this household. But that doesn't change the fact that Aang needed and deserved honesty. Maybe the fisherman could have said this, I don't know, but I feel like Aang should have been told by someone that although running away was wrong, it's a blessing he and Appa were able to survive and be able to help save the world now with his amazing friends found-family. Maybe this is too harsh, and maybe even outright wrong, but I felt like Aang deserved a truer answer here to support and comfort him.

6. MAILEE!!!!

Do I even need to go into detail?

7. Spiritual sigh*

Don't make me go into detail -_- I will say though that although Aang and Katara are both amazing individuals capable of earth shattering things, they were not a healthy fit for one another. This is evident in the original series and especially in their children from LOK. They both deserved the best but better than one another.

8. ZUTARAAAAAAA

This is a Zutara blog you KNEW this was coming, as it should. There's just too much. There's too damn much. I would give a real paragraph to this too, but, I mean, there's already so much proving that this was the pair. Fics, metas, rants, this site. Scroll through my blog or any of the ATLA related blogs I follow and...dude. These two were meant to be together and I'll mourn the narrative brilliance WASTED for no good reason every day for the rest of my life. No reason these two shouldn't be married with three kids. sob. I will take this part to say thank you to the amazing fic writers that gave Katara, Zuko, Mai, and Aang what they deserved that the writers didn't have the guts to give them themselves. Next point tho.

9. AANG AND ONJI

Good God almighty. Why not this? WHY NOT THIS? I'm putting on my bullet proof vest and I'm going to say this; Aanji is cuter than Zutara. Now before you scorn me or whatever, let me explain. Zutara for me is like steak. No. Chicken parmesan. I like chicken parmesan better. The point though is that Zutara is savory. You know? I don't see them as cute, I see them as Obviously. Aanji on the other hand is like a bag of my favorite candy. They are like a brownie. A cookie. Girl Scout Samoas!...I don't know what words are anymore. This post got way out of hand. I guess what I'm saying is that for Zutara, I scream, but for Aanji, I squeal. I hope that makes sense. But here's the main point I want to make. Onji never knew who Aang really was. And Aang was always, at his core, himself. She very obviously had a crush on Aang for his personality and that was crazy cute and frankly preferable to Katara's "I...guess he is." (you know exactly what I'm talking about) Anyway, I kept wanting more of them together. I wish all the time that we'd gotten to see her again, with a more fleshed out character and all. And in the way that I imagine the show should have gone, she could have been the perfect love interest for Aang, during this episode or way later, even in the comics! Another WASTED opportunity for greatness and I will, again, never recover T-T

10. Iroh get your ass back here

Maybe this is a misguided critique but I hated that Iroh just left Zuko alone in the fire nation at the end of the series. Baby was in trouble in every sense of the word and Iroh was just like "See ya! You got this nephew." I'm expected to believe that? I'm expected to accept that? No no no. He should have at least stayed for a few years to help Zuko stay upright and, you know, alive. And by "upright" I don't mean "good." I just mean been there to support him because Lord knows he needed it, at least in the beginning of his reign. It was cute that Iroh was able to settle down with his own teashop after all those years of violence and mourning and running and this and that. I was more than happy for him for being able to have that peace finally. But I still think it could have waited a little while longer so he could support Zuko.

That's it I guess. I know not everything I've said makes the most sense in one way or another, but I enjoyed putting it together all the same. Thank you for reading and have a great day. I'll go finish my final now.

(Edited for a typo)

#zutara #katara #aang #aanji #avatar the last airbender #uncle iroh #onji #on ji #Im wasting more time with these tags #avatar the last airbender critique #avatar critique #mai #avatar mai #ty lee #avatar ty lee #tylee #avatar tylee #the southern raiders

[nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice]

Hi fren! Been following ur blog for a while and honestly I love it! I was wondering if I can get ur thoughts on something :)) remember in sozins comet when Iroh refused to fight ozai becuz “history will see it as more violence, a brother killing a brother to gain power” but then cue to Azula and Zuko who are fighting for the throne and it’s fine?? with them?? doesn’t that count as more violence as well? Thank if you ever come across this :D

Okay, first off, I think it needs to be clarified what Iroh actually said in that scene in regards to sending Zuko to defeat Azula because the two situations are very different and everyone involved knew that. The exchange went as such:

Zuko: Uncle, you’re the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the fatherlord.... we need you to come with us. 

Iroh: No Zuko, it won’t turn out well. 

Zuko: You can beat him. And we’ll be there to help. 

Iroh: Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don’t know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as more senseless violence: a brother killing a brother to gain power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is if the Avatar defeats the Firelord. 

(dialogue, etc.) 

Iroh: Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Firelord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there waiting for you. 

When I see the argument that Iroh sending Zuko after Azula was hypocritical, I think it ignores the reality of the situation and the pragmatic approach. Because Iroh was absolutely correct throughout this whole exchange. Here were the facts as of this point: 

1. Iroh and Zuko were declared traitors and could not legally assume the throne once Ozai was defeated, meaning Azula would assume the throne by default.

2. By this point in the series, Azula had shown at every point that she was just as enthusiastic about waging war and had shown no remorse for the suffering of the Earth Kingdom at the hands of the Fire Nation. She was particularly enthusiastic about the two major affronts against the Earth Kingdom: conquering Ba Sing Se and using Sozin’s Comet to burn down the Earth Kingdom. 

3. Azula was the one who had the idea for the ‘let’s use the comet to burn down the Earth Kingdom’ plan in the first place and was proud of that plan. If Ozai was defeated, she would have used her position to go through with the plan anyway.

Realistically, this situation is in no way ideal, but the reality is that Azula did need to be stopped from assuming the throne. Make no mistake, if she had the opportunity to do so, she would have been at Ozai’s side burning down the Earth Kingdom instead of staying in the Fire Nation. She was dangerous and needed to be stopped and that was evident from her actions throughout the entire series. 

And the situations of Zuko defeating Azula and Iroh defeating Ozai are completely different, mainly because it was never Zuko or Iroh’s intention for Zuko to kill Azula like everyone else was planning with Ozai. The intent with Zuko going after Azula was to stop her from being crowned, which was a thing that needed to be stopped, otherwise, the war would have continued. And Iroh was absolutely correct in his assumptions: Zuko and Katara arrived in the Fire Nation just before Azula was crowned Firelord. And in the end, as we all know, they didn’t kill her, they just removed her as a threat so Zuko could assume the throne. There is a difference between taking out an actively harmful force in a position of absolute authority (Ozai) and stopping a harmful force from taking a position of absolute authority (Azula). 

There’s also the facts that 1. Iroh had his own history as a general who held siege on Ba Sing Se for 600 days, allegedly committed war crimes, and wasn’t exactly well regarded in the Earth Kingdom. 2. Like he said, a fight between Iroh and Ozai was not one that had a clear victor. Iroh was not the right person to defeat Ozai, Aang was, for many reasons. (There’s also the fact that Iroh’s arc came full circle as he freed the city he once laid siege on, but that has less to do with the pragmatic rationale behind the match ups and more to do with thematic purposes.)

And this is a thing that also bothers me. There’s an argument that Iroh failed Azula and that part of the reason she was how she was fell on him and I don’t think that’s fair. And this post by @withyoutilltheendofthecredits articulates why: 

the ideas “azula was a victim of abuse who was manipulated and hurt by ozai” and “azula had a hand in a lot of trauma for zuko due to her awful treatment of him” can and should coexist

I think it’s important to keep in mind whenever we talk about Iroh, Azula, and Zuko how their dynamic was in season 2. Firstly, Iroh’s priority through this show was to keep Zuko safe. In season 1, he wasn’t so much there to actively help Zuko find Aang (and on multiple occasions seemed to work against Zuko’s mission), but rather was there to stop Zuko from making stupid decisions that would get him killed while offering emotional support and training him to be a better firebender. Does he actually want Zuko to kidnap the Avatar and return to his awful, abusive father? No. But he does want Zuko to have something that gives him hope, something that keeps him going. And Iroh’s priority is to be there to make sure this kid doesn’t do anything too reckless. 

 In season 2, Zuko technically no longer has his mission as he’s deemed an enemy of the Fire Nation and Iroh more explicitly works to help his nephew mentally and emotionally extricate himself from the family members that hurt him. At the beginning of the season when Zuko is excited about going home after Azula lies to them, Iroh voices his suspicion because unlike Zuko, who’s still holding onto the idea that he can win his father’s love, Iroh is able to look at the situation objectively and knows that if Zuko goes home, he’s not going to be safe and he is not going to be met with any sort of love. 

Zuko: Did you listen to Azula? Father’s realized how important family is. He cares about me. 

Iroh: I care about you!

And through the rest of the season, Iroh tries his best to take advantage of their new freedom by showing Zuko that he does deserve control of his own life, happiness, and unconditional love. He’s trying his best to help him through this difficult time because part of Zuko’s emotional struggle in this is reconciling with the fact that no, his father doesn’t want him, at all. When he was banished, he had the ‘if I get the Avatar I can go home’ thing to cling onto, but Iroh and everyone else knew that Ozai never actually intended for Zuko to succeed or return. So Zuko has to deal with that in season 2 and doesn’t get to that point, he still tries to capture Aang and he still joins Azula in Crossroads of Destiny because he’s not ready to let that little bit of hope that he could return home go. It isn’t until he takes a stand against Ozai with the “it was cruel and it was wrong” speech that he really discovers who he is and what he wants and the main reason he’s able to come to that conclusion is because of Iroh’s treatment of him in season 2. 

In season 2, Iroh not only protects Zuko from physical harm and takes care of him in regards to sickness, food, and water, but tries to drill into his head that he didn’t deserve the treatment from his father and shouldn’t throw his life away trying to please him. That he can have and deserves a peaceful life. And Zuko keeps going down the self destructive path because he’s been convinced for so long that him proving himself to his father is more important than his personal safety or happiness. Iroh just wants him to put himself before the man that abused him. He hates it that Zuko almost gets himself killed multiple times for the sake of Ozai. There’s their talk in The Avatar Day and their fight in Lake Laogai that bring this to the forefront: 

Iroh: Even if you did capture the Avatar, I’m not so sure it would solve all our problems. 

Zuko: Then there is no hope at all 

Iroh: No Zuko, you must never give into despair. 

Iroh: And then what?! You never think these things through. This is exactly what happened when you tried to capture the Avatar at the North Pole. You had him and then you had nowhere to go. 

Zuko: I would have figured something out. 

Iroh: No! If his friends hadn’t found you, you would have frozen to death! 

Zuko: I know my own destiny. 

Iroh: Is it your own destiny? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you? 

And as Iroh acts as Zuko’s protector and tries to break him away from his self destructive mentality, how does Azula fit into that? Here are the interactions between Azula, Zuko, and Iroh in season 2: 

Azula trying to take Zuko and Iroh as prisoners to the Fire Nation with no remorse 

Azula attempting to shoot lightning at Zuko in the first episode of season 2 and Zuko only being saved by Iroh redirecting it at the last second 

Azula shooting Iroh and seriously injuring him (it could have been lighting, but I think it was just fire) 

Azula trying to capture Iroh and Zuko in Ba Sing Se and succeeding 

Azula manipulating Zuko into going back to Ozai 

Objectively, Azula is a threat against Zuko’s safety and there’s a good chance she would have killed him in the first episode of season 2 if Iroh hadn’t stopped her. He knows exactly how dangerous she is and made the decision that he was going to do what it took to keep Zuko safe, which he did. With this exchange in Bitter Work. 

This isn’t Iroh saying ‘I have no sympathy for my niece whatsoever and am choosing to ignore her’. This is Iroh saying ‘Azula has proven herself to be an objective and real threat and I need to keep Zuko safe from her.’ And he was correct. I feel like this stance is reasonable when the last two times she saw them she tried to shoot Zuko with lightning and actually shot Iroh. 

And the reality of the situation is that Iroh shouldn’t have had to be the one to raise Zuko or Azula. He wasn’t their parent and he shouldn’t have had to be responsible for them. Ideally, Ozai should have been the one to do that, but that wasn’t the reality of the situation. And Iroh was faced with a choice: go with Zuko who was banished, injured, and lost, or stay with Azula who was not in a good home with a good influence, but who was still the favored, prodigy princess. He had a choice of which kid to stand behind and I think it’s fair to say that Zuko needed Iroh more when he was banished. 

Ideally, there shouldn’t have been a choice for Iroh. Ideally, Iroh shouldn’t have had to raise his nephew. Ideally, Azula should have had a better parental influence who didn’t encourage her violent streak. But it was by no means an ideal situation. Azula was dangerous and remorseless and Iroh was entirely correct when he saw her rising to power and realized ‘if she isn’t stopped now, there is no telling what she’s going to do’. Because he knows exactly who raised her.

#hot leaf meta #atla #avatar the last airbender #azula #iroh #zuko #tw: abuse #the babes are asking

[sokkas-honour]

Hi there! Could you write for your #30 for your music playlist? Zuko x reader 😁😁 thank youuu!!!!

nothing has changed - zuko x reader

pairing: zuko x fem!reader

wc: 2.3k with lyrics

notes: reader is katara & sokka’s older sister! this time the lyrics are in bold + italic so that you don’t confuse them with the flashback + dream scenes, not that i think you would but just in case.

warnings: mention of sibling problems, if there’s anything else feel free to lmk!!

-

nothing's quite the same, as it has been on those familiar days,

as the night sky reigned above the fire nation, zuko looked out the window of his palace bedroom, memories flooding back from his time travelling around the world, away from his nation. wether it had been looking for the avatar or actually working with him, you had always somehow been there. first as his enemy, then as his friend, then as his lover.

he remembers the days where you’d find yourself fighting each other; he would attack you with his fire bending while you’d land hits with your battle club, knife or your whales tooth scimitar. when he’d feel nice, back in his avatar hunting days, he’d solely use his duel swords to make the playing field more even but he’d constantly forget that you were able to handle yourself even against benders. he had always found you to be beautiful and the tension between the two of you when you fought was undeniable.

he remembers when he tried to make amends with team avatar and even try to join, he remembers your initial reaction to it. you sided with your sister, not liking the idea of the boy who tried to hunt your friend, your siblings and yourself down, and the idea of accepting someone of the firenation, a nation that had taken your mother from you, into your friend group.

you came around before your sister, having joined your brother and zuko to try and free your father. he had proven himself in terms of having changed and as being a valuable member for the gaang. he still remembers exactly what you said when you came back from the trip.

“zuko!” you called before he could go too far, wanting to give some sort of privacy to the reuniting family. the ex prince stopped in his tracks as he waited for you to catch up to him.

“yeah?” he asked, unsure of what you would say. your brother had already made his amends with him but had warned that although you wouldn’t be as hard as katara, you still might take a little while to come around. either he was about to hear you accept him as part of the group, or you were about to, well he didn’t know.

“i wanted to say thank you. thanks for helping me get my father back. you really have changed.” zuko was a tad bit taken aback, not thinking he’d get your approval right after the trip but it didn’t bother him. a small weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders. you gave him a proud smile and he felt his heart race.

“it was nothing. you both deserve to find your father again.” he blushed, bringing his hand to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. he returned your smile with a small one.

all of a sudden, you grabbed your scimitar and pressed the sharp tooth end lightly on his neck. his heartrate sped up but it wasn’t fully from you being close but also out of fear, sokka hadn’t warned him about this. his eyes widened.

“but if you even dare double cross us. if you even dare lay a finger on either of my siblings, i won’t hesitate to hurt you.” your previously bright face turned dark as you threatened him, not moving your weapon from his neck until he nodded nervously. when he finally did, you lowered it and your face returned to what it was before.

“good, i’m happy to have you as part of the team zuko.” you put your hand on his shoulder as a sign of acceptance, accompanying it with a small grin before turning around to go reunite with both of your siblings and your father.

he laughed a bit at the memory, remembering the fear that he felt during those few seconds but also the weird attraction he still had while you threatened his life.

he also remembers when you both finally admitted your feelings for each other. unbeknownst to him, you had also felt some sort of weird attraction to him when he was still hunting the avatar but it went from a weird and almost uncomfortable attraction, to one of genuine caring and love.

you had both grown rather close after your rescue at the boiling rock, spending many moments together along the beach and in town. it was after seeing the horrible play about their mission thus far, your character seeming to constantly fight with katara over zuko while also being an annoying and overprotective sister, constantly belittling your sibling’s feelings.

zuko remembers you storming out right after the show closed, sokka’s and katara’s characters having almost insulted you multiple times and you just needed some air. the words of the characterised katara still ringing through your head. ‘you’re a terrible sister y/n.’

“hey y/n.” he approached you calmly as you leaned against the balcony, staring at the bright moon that had been your friend during many sleepless nights after your mother died and your father left.

“you ran out of there pretty fast so i just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” zuko informed, leaning his back against the balcony after you gave him no response. he turned his head towards you and searched for a reaction.

“yeah, the show was just.” you took a deep breath, thinking of a word to describe the monstrosity you had just seen. “horrible, let’s put it that way.”

zuko laughed at your bluntness. you turned your gaze away from the moon to zuko, a small smile creeping up on your face at his carefree and content expression. his laugh was also something you didn’t realise that you liked about him but the last couple of days had made you create a long list on things about him that made you swoon.

“that’s certainly one way to put it.” his laughter died down and he met your staring gaze, both of you not breaking it.

“listen, if there was anything happening between katara and you, or if there is anything, i’m totally cool with it.” you blurted out, needing to get it off your chest to have an answer on the relationship portrayed in the show. you knew that katara would’ve told you something if it were to happen but you had to be sure.

“why would? why would something be happening between katara and i?” zuko asked, confused at your question that seemed to have come out of nowhere. the firebender knew that he wasn’t great at expressing his feelings but he had hoped that he’d been somewhat obvious about the way he felt toward you.

“the show, in the show you two have a lot of romantic scenes. that’s literally one of the main fighting points for katara and i’s character, other than me being told i’m a useless and horrible sister.” you mumbled the last part. pushing yourself off from leaning over the balcony to stand up straight, body still not facing zuko.

“you do realise that the show is incredibly inaccurate?” he rose an eyebrow and stared you, confused as to why you would base your information on some horrible adaption.

“yeah but parts of it were true.” your head fell, letting the words of katara’s character get to you.

“hey, you’re not a horrible sister. in fact, i know that sokka and katara would say the opposite, in fact, they already have! multiple times!” zuko wasn’t about to let you beat yourself up over a badly interpreted story that was based off of misinformation. he put his hand on your cheek that had since turned away from him. when you felt his warm hand, your brought yours up to put it on top of it, letting your head settle against his hand and turned to fully face him.

“i know it’s just. katara and sokka have always been closer and, i sometimes neglected katara and was overprotective of her. i had always been closer to my dad so i had no idea how to deal with her and was just jealous of the attention she got as the youngest.” you admitted, not wanting to look into zuko’s eyes as you confessed something that not even your siblings knew.

“that doesn’t mean your a bad sister. katara and sokka both love you and know how much you love and care for them.” he caressed your cheek with his thumb in a caring manor as you finally met his caring gaze once more.

“thanks zuko.” you smiled in recognition, thanking him for his comforting words.

“and not only do katara and sokka love you for who you are, i love you for who you are. the y/n in the show was nothing like the y/n i know.” he ranted, not noticing his confession that slipped but you caught it and a huge smirk grew on your face.

“what?” he stopped talking when he noticed your mischievous grin.

“you love me? zuko we only became friends like two weeks ago.” you laughed, butterflies still dancing in your stomach at the idea of him feeling so strongly towards you in such little time.

“i mean i dont if it’s love but it’s definitely something similar. i like you y/n. you keep me on my toes, you make me laugh, you challenge me to be a better person.” he clarified his previous statement which just made things even better for you.

“uh huh.” you nodded, indicating him to keep going. zuko usually wasn’t the one to have a lot to say but tonight seemed to be a special night.

“and after seeing all the horrible things i’ve done, not only in person, but theyve all gotten thrown back into our faces tonight. it’s totally understandable if you’re not there yet to completely forgive me, i mean i would but.” zuko’s out of character rambling continued, making you laugh but you couldn’t keep letting the poor boy dig himself an even deeper hole so you took a deep breath and grabbed his hand to remove it from your cheek so you could lean in and press your lips against his in order to shut him up.

zuko’s eyes widened in surprise, taken aback by your bold action but you were always the one to take bold moves. after the initial shock, zuko eagerly kissed back, moving his hands to your waist in order to bring you closer to deeper the kiss. some part of him had been waiting for this moment ever since he had laid eyes on you.

“spirits zuko, you never talk that much.” you teased once you broke apart from the kiss which just earned a blush from the raven haired boy.

“well um, i.” zuko stumbled, failing to find a reason for his previous ranting but he never got the chance to answer as you pecked his lips , and you both got interrupted by a certain watertribe boy.

“y/n!” you heard your brother call out, probably concerned at your running away and the fact that you still hadn’t come back.

“looks like sokka’s calling me, if you don’t mind.” zuko unwrapped his arms from your waist and you started walking back inside to the voice who called you. you made sure to send a wink in his direction before you left, leaving the banished prince blushing and with a stupid smile on his face.

zuko grinned as he thought about your first kiss. he sighed happily and went under the covers to doze off and let sleep take over temporarily.

i dream about an old familiar face, then wake up and you're gone without a trace,

“zuko!” the firelord lifted his head up and saw you running towards him down the long hallway of the palace. enormous smile on your face at the sigh of your boyfriend at the end of the hallway.

“y/n!” he greeted you with a mirroring expression and a hug when you finally reached him. arms wrapping around your waist as you cuddled into his chest.

“ i missed you.” you mumbled into his chest, feeling his chest rumble as he chuckled at your statement.

“i missed you too.” he replied, eyes meeting yours as you lifted your head to look at him. he used one of his hands to move the hair out of your face before placing his lips softly onto yours.

“i have news.” you announced as you broke the kiss, a huge grin on your face as you looked up at zuko with an infinite amount of love.

“which is?” he asked, not knowing if he should be concerned or excited.

“well, as you know i went to see katara while i went home and you’ll never guess what she told me! i’m pregnant!” you told zuko the news and you swear you saw him panic for a split second before he fully processed the information and his face was replaced with pure bliss.

“really?” he didn’t believe it, you two were finlay going to have a child together. who would’ve thought back then when you two fought against each other that you would’ve been carrying his future child. you simply nodded before he leaned back into kiss you.

he woke up in the morning, thinking that his dream was a memory and that you were laying right next to him but as he turned around, he was met with an empty bed. he sighed slightly, you were still away in the south pole with your family as you had been for months. nonetheless, he was happy to have dreamed about your beautiful face.

and though you're away, nothing has changed, we always made it out, even when im old and blue, i’ll think about my time with you.

when he stepped out of his chamber, he was met with a servant giving him a scroll, no doubt a message from you. the firelord thanked them before returning to his room to read in peace.

whenever one of you were gone on a mission somewhere in one of the four nations, you both communicated through letters so that you could keep in touch. it would also serve as a way to your future selves to look back in the early moments in your relationship fondly. you’d always have memories that would never go away written in those scrolls.

atla taglist: @draqondance @biqherosix @missmorosis @firelady-jay

zuko taglist: @duh-dobrik

#atla x reader #zuko x reader #zuko imagine #zuko x you #atla zuko #atla zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #gaang x reader #avatar the last airbender imagine #sokka x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader #katara x reader #water tribe reader #firelord zuko #zuko

[theowlspeaks]

Zutara fandom, we need to talk

I really didn’t want to have to make this post. I tried to have faith that this could be resolved privately, but I can see now that that isn’t going to happen so here we are.

Before I get into this, I want to make one thing abundantly clear: this is not an attack on n$fw content in fandom. I myself consume this content, so don’t try to twist my words into “purity policing” or something. I’ve seen this fandom derail important conversations regarding racism and bigotry by accusing people of policing n$fw content before (as seen in other posts I reblogged here), and I do NOT want to see it happen again.

Now, I’m going to put a cut before the rest of this, because I want to issue a disclaimer. I will be discussing some disturbing topics in relation to this fandom, including r*pe, abuse, and bigotry. Please be warned, but please also be attentive, because this is something that affects ALL of us in the fandom and we really need to have a conversation about it.

So, a couple weeks ago I sent an anon ask to the Zutara Smut Week blog. I wish I saved the exact message I sent, but sadly I had too much faith in the mod team at the time. Basically, the gist of the message (which I had phrased as politely as I could) was asking for clarification on part of the rules regarding content, because I noticed that there was no specific rule against r*pe content, which I’ve seen other events include in their rules. Given the history of this brand of content in the fandom (including recent instances of it) I thought it would be a simple fix to clarify that we as a fandom do not condone the eroticization of r*pe and violent abuse (especially against an indigenous woman) in our community.

Should have been a simple fix, right? Apparently not. Here is how they responded:

I didn’t notice this until recently, but they went and quietly changed the rules thinking nobody would notice. Well, I did. And old reblogs of the original post exist, so it isn’t hard to see the difference here.

They removed this part of the rules in response to me asking for the event not to allow Zuko and Katara raping each other:

Let's ensure work is tasteful. Excessive/disturbing k1nks (such as torture, gore, blood, etc) are prohibited.

So, I guess the message here is that “excessive/disturbing k1nks (such as torture, gore, blood, etc)” are totally fine! And so is r*pe! Somehow character bashing isn't allowed, but having Zuko assault Katara in an event that is supposedly dedicated to their love is completely fine.

Anyways, I am disappointed beyond words and can no longer support this event. I do not want to be associated with an event that is willing to platform content like this. Zutara shippers have been accused of romantizing r*pe and abuse, perperuating racist stereotypes, etc. over the years, and it’s because of content like this. Allowing it (and completely refusing to acknowledge the issue) is not only disgustingly insensitive, but also actively endangers people in the fandom who have had to endure these accusations from anti’s for years.

I wanted this event to come back and I was excited, but now I can see it’s only going to result in another wave of harassment and hatred against our Zutara community like last time. This needs to be fixed immediately if we don’t want to face another disaster, and if we don't want to further alienate marginalized members of our community who always get the worst of it in times like this.

So please, feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to discuss these issues or propose fixes. Like I said, I really didn’t want to have to come out publicly with this, but I really feel that I don’t have a choice.

#zutara #a:tla #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla fandom problems