#katara childhood

[autumnmobile12]

I really don’t like this episode, and there are two reasons why:

Don’t get me wrong.  It’s a good episode, but Katara’s reason for letting the fire bender who killed her mother live seemed really weak to me.  I think a stronger lesson for Katara would have been for her to track down Yon Rha and be right on the verge of ending his life when at the last moment she sees that this monster of her childhood has a granddaughter of his own.  Here she is about to kill the man who took the person she loved most, and right there in front of her is another scared, little girl who doesn’t understand what’s going on.  She doesn’t understand Katara’s anger, she just sees a terrible water bending lady about to murder her grandfather, someone she loves, and she’s going to grow up remembering that, and one day she too is going to seek vengeance on Katara.  Realizing all this, Katara backs down and ends the cycle of hatred.  It still scans with her not forgiving Yon Rha in the end, but the addition of a small child that mirrors her childhood strikes home a little harder.  That, I think, would have been a bigger emotional impact for her character.

Plus, with all the complex and nuanced characters in this series, having Yon Rha be this pathetic, old man seemed a little out of place.  For a series like this, I would have expected him to be more of a sad elder in retirement, showcasing that even the villains of the story can be haunted by the choices they made and the lives they destroyed.  No redemption, no forgiveness, just the acceptance of something terrible that can never be changed.  They kinda touched on this with Iroh but not to the extent they could have gone with Yon Rha.

However, I can understand the writers’ choices.  The version of Katara’s journey above seems more in line with Aang’s warning, and contrasting that with Zuko’s encouragement for vengeance, I can see why it’s important to let Katara as a character find her own way with her own reasons.  What really, really pisses me off about this episode, though, is that she never apologizes to her brother for what she said. “Maybe you didn’t love her as much as I did.”  That is a cruel, thoughtless thing to say to someone who was only trying to help and has been grieving in their own way.  Yes, she was upset and she said it in the heat of a moment, but the fact she never tells Sokka that she’s sorry and she didn’t mean it is where this episode really fails Katara as a character.  Being upset doesn’t excuse you from being nasty to the people around you.  She learned her lesson, yes, but she said something very hurtful to her brother in the process, and the fact this is never addressed has always bugged me.  Even a nonverbal apology, or hug or something, would’ve been better than nothing.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #katara avatar #the southern raiders #sokka #kaya #katara's mother #atla post #character development #episode analysis #character analysis #the fire nation #yon rha #katara childhood

[comradekatara]

my gorls

#id in alt text #avatar the last airbender #atla #katara #toph #katara&toph #art #mart #just a little doodle #bc sometimes you just gotta casually doodle the best girls before bed #it’s like free therapy. tbh #why is toph so much harder to draw than katara #(i ask as if i haven’t been drawing katara every single day of my life since childhood) #I gotta draw toph more (am also always saying this) #she is three apples high…… #katara is three apples and a cherry high #puts both of them in my. pocket #🥲

[rulesofdisorder]

something i really don’t understand about the atla fandom is that some people will rant and rave about how you shouldn’t ship Zuko and Katara because “Katara has a lot of trauma surrounding the Fire Nation because the Fire Nation killed her mom and stole her dad away to war” and then those same people will turn around and ship Zuko with Sokka as if Sokka is not literally Katara’s brother

#idk man it confuses me #like bro they have the same childhood experiences. they are siblings. #zutara #zuko #katara #zukka #atla #avatar the last airbender #prince zuko #mine

[mmmkaybye]

Why Zutara Shippers are Wrong (JK, You can ship who you want lol)

(Although, I don't care if you do actually ship Zutara, that's your prerogative, I'm just waiting for better arguments for the relationship and for people to stop negatively viewing Kataang)

First of all, I'm premising this with the fact that I don't think that ATLA should have ended with Katara and Aang kissing. I think it would have been fine to just end with a slightly more intimate-than-friends hug/cuddle. I would have personally preferred that two children who survived being literal child soldiers get the chance to be kids before they delve into a more mature relationship with one another, but they didn't exactly have adults of the modern culture there to guide them a different way, now did they?

BUT! I am a firm believer that Zuko and Katara would never have worked out romantically and that Katara and Aang's relationship 1. makes more sense and 2. is actually healthier in the scope of trauma and trauma responses.

First of all, I don't understand how the creators of ATLA managed to craft literally the MOST traumatic childhood backstory ever with incredible detail and nuance and everyone just fricking glosses over it like WTF??? Not to mention, the creators did an amazing job diversifying trauma responses to similar trauma experiences.

Let's discuss Katara's childhood trauma, which was not healed magically after a little side quest with Zuko. Katara carries immense survivor's guilt over her mother's murder. Katara understands very well how and why her mother was brutally murdered in their family home. She has been deeply aware of this since the day of her mother's murder - and she fully blames herself. Katara understands that a fire nation soldier killed her mother, but he killed her because of Katara - she said so herself. Then, Katara, who was the last person to interact with her mother, discovers her mother's body, and it is insinuated that Katara might have even witnessed her mother's brutal execution-style murder. This forever alters Katara down to her core personality traits. Katara is 'bossy' because of her trauma. I work with kids from pre-k through graduating american high school. It's pretty normal for girls to do what I call 'mothering' to their peers and to kids younger than them. It often is described as being 'bossy' and some girls are in fact bossy, but for the most part, they are roleplaying a caretaker mentality as they are most familiar with. In Katara's deep guilt of being the reason her mother was murdered, her trauma response was burden herself with the role of mother. This is further antagonized when her father leaves with the rest of the adult men to fight against the Fire Nation. He might've well as died too due to lack of communication for many years. Sokka does not allow Katara to mother him for very long, so she doesn't get to have a chance to work through her personal trauma response to her grief because she has no one to safely and consistently direct these mothering tendencies towards. The other children in the village are not orphans, their mothers are most likely very alive and very involved with them, so they would be temporary fillers at best. Sokka has stepped into the role of village man and definitely would reject Katara's mothering, which often led to tension between the siblings. Toph had the very reaction to Katara's mothering tendencies as I expect a young Sokka had to them. He lost his mother, too, he didn't want a replacement, nor did he want to lose his sister to the role of mother.

Zuko, in the same fashion as Sokka, had a mother who he loved, and lost, and was not looking to replace. Zuko's mother was also a topic that is deeply rooted in a lot of Zuko's personal trauma as well. Zuko did not get to spend much time with Katara for her mothering tendencies to be extended over him, but he definitely would have aggressively rejected them as Katara's trauma response would have negatively triggered his own. Their trauma would have deeply and negatively impacted any romantic relationship they could have developed because of how they would react to each other. Their relationship would have crashed and burned very quickly.

On top of that. Katara would have never left the South Pole indefinitely - that is her home, and she consistently returned to it throughout her life. That is an effect of her cultural upbringing. Zuko couldn't leave the Fire Nation, and as we saw in the graphic novels that followed, Zuko's personal welfare suffered greatly because his whole world was upended and now he was responsible for the one nation that didn't get peace at the end of the war. It's incredibly naive and slightly delusional for people to desperately push romantic wishes upon a sixteen-year-old boy who was burdened with the responsibility of healing an entire nation, one that fought him every step of the way in many aspects. He did not have the emotional energy to expend upon a frivolous relationship. That's why Mai and he broke up, not because they didn't love each other, but because Zuko simply could not have personal relationships until his reign and nation had stabilized - that alone would take upwards of 10 years. Plus, Zuko may have helped others work through parts of their trauma, but he had to address his trauma too, which we saw the beginnings of during the graphic novels. Simply put, by the end of ATLA and all of the graphic novels, Zuko was in no place emotionally, mentally, and even physically and politically to seek out a relationship that was meaningful and healthy. And I know that Zuko would have changed the tradition of political marriage, at the very least he deserves to have married for love at the end of everything he suffered through. Zuko is a great opportunity to normalize waiting until you're in your mid-twenties -thirties before seeking out romantic relationships. Logistically speaking, I don't think there would have been much opportunity for romantic feelings to develop between the two of them. I especially don't think Katara would have easily been able to live in the Fire Nation because the Fire Nation was directly responsible for her trauma, and that is also why I don't think she would have every pursued a relationship with a Fire Nation man, Zuko or not.

Now onto Aang. Everyone always jumps onto this idea that Katara and Aang had a very mother-son relationship - which is wrong. Aang comes from a culture that literally does not have mother and fatherhood. There are NO mothers and fathers in the Air Nomad Nation. Sure, kids had birth parents, but parenthood was not part of their culture, nor did Aang ever seek out that kind of relationship. Aang may have been kid-like, but he was the most adultified kid in the group. He was incredibly independent and confident in his ability to travel internationally by himself at 12. Katara had never thought to leave the South Pole to seek out a waterbending master in the North Pole because she didn't have that confidence or training. The Air Nomads thrived on a mentorship-based village raising of children. So, Aang never thought of Katara as his mother. He literally couldn't, because he had no scope of reference for such a relationship, same with fatherhood. He never had a parental relationship with Monk Gyasto. It was more like a fun uncle mentorship. I think that's why everyone thinks Aang was a bad father, but he was an outlier in the Air Nomad nation because there was no Air Nomad nation when he had children. The village that raised the children in his culture was gone. He was actually a fairly decent father and the two older children probably felt bitter because Tenzin was the only other air bender in existence so it obviously Aang is going to spend a lot of one on one time with Tenzin in the scope of mentoring Tenzin in the way of Air Nomad culture. Aang was not an absentee father like how many people assumed from the very one-sided and brief explanation given by the two older, jaded siblings. Was he perfect? No, he literally had no clue how to be a father. Did he and Tenzin leave to get milk and never come back? Also no. That being said, Aang was the only individual who was comfortable with Katara mothering him, he never felt threatened or overburdened by her trauma response, which allowed for Katara to genuinely work through her grief and mature out of the extreme bossy mothering we first saw in book one. If you pay attention, yes Katara does retain that 'bossy' kind of personality, but that was permanent fixture due to her childhood trauma and a little bit of cultural influence as well. I think, if Katara had never been traumatized, she would have always leaned towards a very soothing and nuturing type of personality, which we began to see in the middle of book three. Her bossiness/mothering trauma response gradually lessened the longer she 'mothered' Aang. Once again, neither of the two saw each other as Mother-son. They were simple too close in age and Aang also had the added sense of duty-boundness due to being the Avatar. Katara was always going to be a caretaker archetype personality, trauma or no, and that simply wasn't the type of person that Zuko would lean towards for a romantic relationship due to his own personal upbringing and culture. Aang is a much more gentle and playfully empathetic personality that works with Katara's firm care and sassy disposition.

In the graphic novels, I personally saw a great deal of healing and maturation in Katara in relation to her trauma. She was less mothering towards Aang, too, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that Aang matured a lot as well and the change in their once platonic relationship to a more romantic-leaning one. Was their relationship perfect? No, they are kids who survived a horrific war and many many trauma-inducing situations. However, once Katara fully leaned away from the mothering habit, we get to see that Aang allows Katara to relax and be more playful. She genuinely was just happy with Aang. He pushed her to be a little more child-like and to have child-like fun even as they grew up into adulthood. Katara helped Aang mature and face a lot of adult burdens that were placed child.

In the end, Katara and Aang always brought out the best in each other. Katara and Zuko didn't have enough time together in ATLA to develop an individual relationship outside of the group. There simply isn't enough time outside of their little side-quest in which Katara and Zuko interact solo- which was definitely NOT Katara's best, and in fact was Katara lashing out aggressively towards people who loved and cared for her and she them. Zuko was also not his 'best' in that time either as he was also being triggered emotionally. In fact, during ATLA, there's way too much negative tension between the two of them that leads to really intense disagreements and emotional outbursts more often than not until Katara begrudgingly accepts Zuko into the group, they don't even positively interact until Ember Island which is what, two weeks? She's not exactly nice when she pretty much demands him to help her hunt down the man that murdered her mother. Zuko is all gung-ho about vengeance too. Of course, they both have a lesson learning moment, but that episode cemented in my brain that Aang is the better partner for Katara than Zuko. Aang, once again the most mature in the Gaang, fight me on this, has a deep, empathetic understanding of the world, he doesn't do a great job trying to explain to Katara, but I think that's because no one in the Gaang understands how Appa is not just an air bison, and Aang never views Appa as an air bison like how everyone else in ATLA do. To everyone else, Appa's an animal, but to Aang and Aang's culture that is deeply offensive, Appa is an individual with emotions and value outside of what he can offer the group in terms of transportation and that's never really explicitly clarified to the audience either (because despite being a kid's cartoon, the creators knew their audience well and did not treat the audience like we are stupid and can in fact infer and read between the lines). If Katara had killed that pathetic worm of a man, it would have absolutely destroyed her as a person. She would not have been able to heal from her trauma and would probably suffer even more trauma and guilt. This side-quest was a plot point to lead up to the big debate of killing Ozai, and not many, in fact I don't know if anyone has talked about that fact. I have no doubt that Zuko has probably killed people, at the very least, he's deeply desensitized to people dying as I think he probably at some point did experience or witness some form of warfare battle before he began chasing Aang down.

Once again, I don't really care if you do ship Katara and Zuko. In fact, I think that's a-okay. But, with the Netflix live action adaptation's take on the Secret Tunnel scene, I've seen a lot of people speculating and even hoping for it to become canon and there have even been some opinions of Kataang that have resurfaced that really rub me the wrong way because it feels like many individuals are just looking at the surface level of ATLA. There's so much nuance to each individual character in terms of culture, societal norms, age and gender, and most importantly, trauma and trauma responses. The creators did an amazing job world building and story telling that a lot of what I put up in my opinion in preference for Kataang over Zutara is information that I inferred from the show and graphic novels due to my personal experience and education in familial relationships and childhood trauma. My thoughts are not the end all be all to this debate, nor do I think they should be, I've seen some really solid opinions in favor of Zutara that I can understand and somewhat agree with. I think a lot of those details and moments that people look to as indicators of romance between Katara and Zuko were remnants of the creators' previous intention, but I think that the change to Aang and Katara as end game was logistically and realistically more accurate. I never thought that Katara and Zuko were meant to be, and I always struggled to put to words as to why until I had pursued my psych studies in college that focused on child development, childhood trauma, and marriage and family counselling. I think that the creators instinctually were seeing the red flags that would have occurred naturally within Zutara and changed course accordingly. There were just a lot of details and nuances that I noticed personally that I wished more people would discuss.

Anyways, thank you for coming to my TedTalk, I'd love to hear some of your opinions about this.

#ATLA #avatar the last airbender #atla netflix #katara #zuko #aang #trauma #childhood trauma #kataang #zutara #katara x zuko #katara x aang #long post #debate

[eponastory]

I'm gonna hash out some arguments that don't work here.

Make it make sense.

The colonizer/colonized argument was the first thing that was brought up. If that were the case, then why is Aang willing to accept and be friends with Zuko even though Sozin wiped out the Air Nomads? Why is Sokka friends with Zuko when he experienced the loss of his mother just like Katara? Like... come on, people. Make it make sense.

Then we go into the whole attraction argument... because Zutara shippers apparently don't like that Aang is shorter than Katara.

Height has nothing to do with it (hey, I dated a guy who was shorter than me, we were pretty good together). This argument relies on Katara and Zuko being the most attractive characters in the show... nope. That's not why we ship them. It's literally their personality and disposition that we like. That and Zuko let's Katara be Katara. He doesn't see her as someone who is supposed to be forgiving and at peace. That isn't in her nature either and she doesn't have to make that choice if she doesn't want to. Aang wants her to be forgiving, but that is not his choice to make.

Then, there is the whole childhood trauma argument.

Yes, they both have trauma, but guess what, they both overcome that trauma.

I'll start with Zuko, who not only had a narcissistic sociopath for a father, but had to deal with emotional and physical abuse from said parent. Ozai literally told his own son that he was lucky to be born because he was not the prodigy like Azula. Ozai played favorites (which is something we see Aang do with his kids later on), and that damages a child more than anything. In Book 1, Zuko is trying to please his father and be the heir that Ozai wants him to be. He is frustrated and angry because of this. This is something Zuko overcomes later on in Book 3 when he actually confronts Ozai. It's a really good scene where Zuko addresses the abuse from his father. This is where Zuko starts to heal from that trauma. He let's it go and does the right thing, ultimately learning he was trying to fill a mold his father made for him.

On to Katara's trauma... loss. Loss of a parent. Something that she and Zuko share. However, Zuko does get his mother back in his life (along with another little sister, and I love his relationship with Kiyi). Katara does get closure and is able to accept that killing Yon Rha is not going to bring Kya back. However, she doesn't have to forgive him. It's possible that she believes the man is already suffering for his actions. It's not the best way to deal with it, but for her it is. Katara is very maternal, which is a great aspect of her character. The reason she is like this is because she lost her mother. Her innocence was ripped from her the day Kya died. Her childhood was cut short.

Does this make trauma a facet to a toxic relationship? No. It doesn't. Because they both dealt with their trauma the way they needed to before they could truly become friends. Katara also helped Zuko come to terms with his trauma as well.

So, would Zutara actually work?

Yeah, it would because they have mutual respect for each other. Once they get past the past, they really don't have a problem with communication, boundaries, or expect to hold up an image of each other. Those are the foundation of a good relationship. It's all there. Even if it's 'just friends'.

Kataang, on the other hand... oh boy.

#how to solve your childhood trauma in five easy steps #make it make sense people #bad relationship advice from someone who only sees attraction as a baseline #zutara #katara x zuko

[wisebeth]

It's 2023, and it's time we finally realise and acknowledge that zukka & maiko are superior to zutara

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zuko #mai #sokka #katara #zukka #maiko #anti zutara #i LOVE zuko #i LOVE katara #and that's exactly why i don't ship z///tara #listen #have you ever seen zuko and sokka interacting? #the chemistry is way better #and they're the perfect opposites attract lmao #and also fucking funnier #and then we have his childhood mai #zuko was DOWN to wreck her new relationship and be her side man if she gave him the green light #you sure he TOTALLY wouldn't have thoughts of running back to m(b)ai if he was dating someone else?? lmao #besides katara is too proud to date the fucking fire lord #shes happy w her sunshine 🌞 also known as aang #NOT TO MENTION THE FANS #zukka shippers are so nice and sweet and chill #and don't go around hating on mai or suki w absurd reasons #UNLIKE a certain other *bitter* fandom #pro zukka #pro maiko

[dissyparadiddle]

Maybe it's not as good of a concept as I'm imagining but I find it crazy that I have yet to see crossover material of aang from the last Airbender and Steven of Steven universe. They have a lot in common and I think they'd be fast friends and trauma buddies.

They're both Messianic figures that didn't want the responsibility given to them. Are both pacifists to a fault while repressing a ton of rage with unhealthy coping mechanisms. And they struggle to control their ultimate power form to the point of self-loathing

#aang #avatar the last airbender #atla #steven universe #Steven #childhood #trauma #chosen one #buddies #fandom #crossover #Pearl and Katara would share the same brain cell

[punkeropercyjackson]

They're all the exact same character to me,i'm 100000% serious

(@honeypotsworld)

#components:1.actual punks but love cute shit/people 2.brutal ass childhood trauma 3.which turned them into team parents 4.could kill god #5.autistic trans femmes 6.funniest mfs alive 7.deserve way more love in canon and fandom 8.were they troubled kids?yeah you could say that #they're so me-coded #percy jackson #stephanie brown #hobie brown #katara #black percy #latino percy #blasian stephanie brown #pjo #batfam #young justice #dead sidekicks force #the unbreakables #atsv #spiderman #atla geekery #punk!percy #pastel punk stephanie brown #punk katara #the anomalies #team parent percy jackson #team mom stephanie brown #team dad hobie #perlex #stephcass #kataang #💌

[shopcat]

you know ☝️ a common criticism against korra is that she had natural talent for water fire and earth and was already "stacked" AND a common rebuttal for her i see in annoying comment sections is something along the lines of like "she was a flawed avatar but she did her best" and it just ?! like for the second well what a weird backhanded comment that is straight up not true and yet i see it EVERYWHERE. that she wasn't a "good" avatar. like i'm sorry but the avatar does not exist and it is a story. and she simply Is the avatar. and is a good one. and what would be the point of a narrative if there was no conflict. like how wasn't she good they can never answer either bc they don't even know what they're talking about 😭 "she left for three years" WHO GIVE A SHIT? aang left for A HUNDRED? she was 17 - 20 the entire series why would you weigh her against fully realised proper adult avatars like the BARE glimpses we see of the previous ones... in fact i'd say she was better than all her predecessors considering she was the first one to actually try treating spirits like they were you know ... beings ... and actually BEING the bridge between the worlds 😭 and the spirits being welcome to share the mortal world as it becomes more modern to enhance the magical setting is one of the most interesting cool things i've seen in the whole 'verse

and for the first it drives me a bit crazy bc like yeah i get it but that's bc we were used to the story aang gave us of a 3 act water earth fire mastery. but the thing about that is like... first of all... aang was not a Normal Avatar. he had a short time period to master all 4 elements AND master the avatar state and was literally only 12 years old. and he DIDN'T master fire or earth. and then similarly, it DID take korra until she was 17 to master fire and earth we literally see her taking an exam in her second ever scene. she was born a waterbender in the way aang was born an airbender so idr think that's an issue... i dunno after having finished tlok i just think back on every "criticism" i see against it and beyond any of the genuine criticism most of it is literally just straight up misogyny which is crazy. and obviously homophobia.

#🐾 #like. people don't like korra's story bc its not an exact mirror of aang's... they don't want a new story they wanted atla 2 #and its driving me actually crazy bc the entire point is that like yeah she could naturally bend all 3 but that's not CRAZY #it wasn't any more or less of a talent than any other single element bender would naturally possess like we see with haru and katara #for example. or idk bumi #and the point wasn't to watch her master all 4 elements it was to focus on the political and spiritual side we didn't see as much in atla #and they were able to explore in a new setting with an older more elementally experienced avatar #PLUS she DID have a bending arc anyway we SAW it she had to master air and metal AND spirit bending #like i dunno i think people are just super unfair 😭 #they also literally told us why too and if you think about it for more than one second it makes sense #the element that's the most opposite to the avatars personality is the hardest to master -> the opposite of air is earth #earth and fire are both similar in structure and personality and she is most like earth #and again would have a natural affinity for water ... but even then its like #the natural elements for the avatar ARE all four. them bending all four from childhood isn't crazy its normal

[northerngoshawk]

a love worth fighting for

ii. change

Rating: T

Chapter: 2 of 6

Story Summary:

He is the Avatar, and she is a Water Tribe girl. The world told them both to stay away from each other, for the Avatar must not become attached to mere mortals. But Katara would sooner fight hurricanes than let society tear them apart. Or: the Kataang forbidden lovers AU.

Chapter 1

Chapter Summary:

She was fourteen and he was twelve when everything changed. Both Northern Water Tribe leaders and Southern Air Temple representatives had come down to their tribe to meet with their people. They claimed there was a war approaching. They urged the people of the Southern Water Tribe to join them in the fight. Although Katara wasn’t exactly thrilled to have the Northern Water Tribe on their land (where were you when the ash fell and the firebenders came?), at least the presence of Air Nomads also meant another chance to see Aang again. At twelve years old, Aang had finally, finally, received his mastery tattoos. Katara had always known he would receive them soon—his airbending had surpassed anything she had ever seen before—but it hadn’t been any less exciting when he had told her the last time they had met. Unfortunately, that also meant she would have to deal with Hahn. - In which everything changes when Aang is found to be the Avatar.

read on ao3 or ffn

#northern's fanfiction #kataang #aang #katara #forbidden lovers #childhood friends #friends to lovers #angst #pining #atla #atla fanfic #atla fanfiction #kataang fanfiction #kataang fanfic #kataang fic

[dylanconrique]

people who ship both dramione and zutara have immaculate taste, just sayin'.

#*and this is icarly! #harry potter #draco malfoy #hermione granger #dramione #avatar the last airbender #atlab #katara #zuko #zutara #BONUS POINTS IF YOU'VE BEEN SHIPPING THEM FROM DAY 1 #LIKE BEFORE EVER HAVING EVEN HAVING THE SLIGHTEST GRASP AS TO WHAT SHIPPING IS #IF YOU GREW UP WITH THEM FROM CHILDHOOD AND HAVE BEEN SHIPPING THEM SINCE THEN YOU ARE A GODDDD I TELL YOU

[comradekatara]

katara will see an elder, any elder, and be like “is anyone gonna respect them” and not wait for an answer. sokka could be like “katara they are literally stealing candy from babies right now,” but if they are above a certain age she does not care, in fact she is like “sokka how could you even say that!! the audacity!! that is a respected member of the community!!!!” like the closest she comes to realizing someone old sucks actually is with pakku, and even then she is inexplicably happy to find out that he’s gonna be her step-grandpa. meanwhile zuko sees literally any old person and is immediately like “ew i didn’t know raisins could talk”

#compare & contrast katara and zukos homophobia ableism and ageism stats 5 page essay double spaced due on friday #katara #zuko #sokka #pakku #no but it rly is so funny #how she likes and respects iroh for NO good reason #like toph likes iroh bc theyre genuinely buddies #aang likes iroh bc hes nice and charismatic and aang was asleep the whole time he was out there destroying the world. he doesnt know! #sokka is reasonably wary of iroh #but katara likes iroh even though she KNOWS who he is and what hes done #bc shes insane i guess. sad #probably bc kanna lectured her abt respecting her elders her entire childhood and it worked too well #sokka was already an obedient child so he didnt hear any of the lectures and just formed his own opinions #meanwhile katara is like 'oh man if i dont treat this war criminal w warmth and respect gran grans gonna beat my ass'

[shrinkthisviolet]

for my new ask game!

3, 8, 16, 18, 21, 33, 40, and 50

3. Have you ever written a soulmate AU? If you haven't, why would/wouldn't you write one?

I have this series! I wanted to take the soulmate AU and make it something more choice-based, more in line with “If soulmates do exist, they’re not found. They’re made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and then they get to work building a relationship.” It’s the best take on soulmates I’ve ever seen, and it’s the kind I tried to replicate in that series! Idk if it’ll ever get updated, but I do wanna use that worldbuilding for something else one day.

8. Have you ever written any friendships that could've easily become romantic relationships? How did you navigate it?

I have! Honestly, there are plenty of those. I just navigate it by writing what feels true to me—do I want to pursue a ship with them? What would it add to this fic, if anything? What does it add if I keep them as friends? What tropes does it subvert, one way or the other (obviously this in itself is not a reason, it’s just an additional consideration)

For example: there’s a ship in an upcoming fic that I definitely didn’t plan initially, but which I think adds a lot of weight overall. It drives both characters in interesting ways but never detracts from their character arcs—neither of them have to give up anything for the other, and neither would ever ask that of the other.

(…actually there’s two ships like that 😅 in different fics, but still)

16. Are there any relationship dynamics/tropes you enjoy reading about, but wouldn't want to write yourself? Vice versa?

I’ve read a few “love triangles” but I’d never write one. But that’s also a trope I try to avoid whenever possible anyway, because they’re usually love corners/angles, not true triangles. And it’s usually sexist af, because in this trope, the “triangle” is never really about the girl at the center, it’s always about the guys fighting for her.

18. Pick a few characters you've written for (or, for a fun twist, asker chooses). Tell me about their relationship in three sentences or less.

Hmm…Mai, Aang, and Katara.

Mai and Aang: absolutely the opposites attract besties. No one expects them to get along as well as they do, but Mai finds Aang endearing in an odd way (he reminds her of Ty Lee), and Aang thinks she’s really cool, especially her sharp aim.

Mai and Katara: they aren’t sure what to make of each other at first, especially since their first meeting was them fighting each other. Really, it’s Aang who gets them to have a conversation after all of that—he just wants the two coolest people he knows to be friends. And it works! Mai and Katara hit it off splendidly once they get past the awkwardness.

Kataang: self-explanatory: they’re a badass power couple and I love them 🥰

21. Not all relationships are romantic. What's your favorite non-romantic relationship that you've written about?

Currently, Barry & Morgan 💞 I didn’t actually intend them to be as prominent to the AU as they are now — I loved them in s2, but writing the s1 arc just kicked that love into overdrive. They’re so, so special to me and I love them so much 🥹

33. Are there any canon romantic couples, in any media, that you just can't stand?

Reylo for sure, Spallen (do they count if they were only briefly canon?), Hawkmoon, Yasmetri, Quickwest (again, briefly canon), Toriguel, Samrobby

(Obviously this is not a judgment on the shippers, but…yeah, I’m not a fan of these ships 😅 there are others that I tolerate sometimes, but those aren’t on this list. Tbh I might even be forgetting some, but that’s most of them at least)

40. Pick a relationship (not necessarily romantic). What tropes apply to this relationship? What tropes does this relationship subvert?

Morgan and James! They’re Lovers to Exes (subverting the common Exes to Lovers trope)…and they’re also Exes to Friends. And ofc James is her Guy in the Chair—even after she joins Team Flash, he’s still there when she needs him (and vice versa ofc…granted he doesn’t have powers, but she’s still going to be there for him as much as he lets her)

50. Free space! Brag on yourself! Advertise your writing! What are you most proud of recently?

Currently, I’m super proud of the first Childhood Friends AU fic I posted! And my first Izumi & Zuko fic 💞

fanfic relationships ask game!

#fanfic ask game #anti reylo #anti spallen #anti hawkmoon #anti yasmetri #anti quickwest #anti toriguel #anti samrobby #brotp: i know my hero #morgan & james #mai & aang #mai & katara #kataang #izumi & zuko #childhood friends au #sorry if i answered 18 wrong 😅 tbh i’m not entirely sure what it was asking i just guessed

[haroldtea]

who was it on here that posted about yue and azula being 2 of the most popular girls in school and becoming rivals 2 lovers cuz i can’t stop thinking about it

#azula mai and ty lee as the heathers basically #zuko is part of their clique only by association bc he’s the older brother but doesn’t have the same pull with other students #yue’s ~clique~ is childhood bff sokka and his older sister katara #golden straight A students except katara is constantly getting sent to the principals office for back talking the asshole teachers #and sokka is often doing illegal things on school property for science #katara is on the field hockey team bc i said so and bc she likes to express her rage in a healthy way #yue is student body president which enrages azula and she takes ballet and all the guys ask her to prom but she says no #toph is the wrestling team king #aang is mr. popular bc you can’t talk to aang for more than 2 seconds without being like ok i’m willing to die for you now #zuko is king of the drama club and the dumb jock bros are too scared of azula to make fun of him for it also zuko would win in a fight #sokka does tech for the theatre dept so you can imagine where that will lead #some shenanigans will lead them all to have to work together on something and oops now they’re all friends except azula and yue #maybe i can combine this with the magical girl!yue idea i once had #atla #yuezula #?? i guess #ok but who was it who posted this the other day i want to kiss ur forehead #2023 edit to these tags i meant to say younger sister katara idk what happened there

[dothehokeypokey]

after knowing about the trauma child stars go through in hollywood i totally agree with sarah lynn saying it should be illegal..  plenty of 19-20 year olds can pull of kid characters . the girl playing Wednsday addams is a great example of that.

and sure not everyone can pull off little kids but thats not the point kids shouildnt’ be acting..   hollywood is a dangerous place for children and really needs to ditch drugs in general as its not that great for adults either

#bojack horseman #wednesday addams #i mean i thought she was 12 when i saw her but no shes 19 #no more kid actors honestly if they aren't abused they lose out a childhood its not a win sinuation #i say knowing ill watch that atla netflix show causeim too curious not too #but i hate hate how fandom is treating that kid actress for katara like something to age up too in order to ship her with her adult lead #hollywood treats kid actresses like sex objects fans treat em like sex objects iugh #i really hate hw tbh its disgusting im glad bj shows that #women get abused kids get abused fuck hw

[shallanspren]

“the fire nation didn’t colonize the southern water tribe so if ka.ta.ra and zooko got together they would be on equal footing!”

did y’all forget that the fire nation carried out a genocide against the water benders of the SWT???? and generations of massacres against the general population of that same tribe??? like? please.

#katara and aang are both survivors of genocides that's why they bond right off the bat #too many of y'all forget that katara is alive in spite of that same genocide #like ship her with whomever but don't forget that this was a thing that defined her childhood