#like how a waterbender can be a ruler of the Fire Nation or a Firebender can run a tea shop in the Earth Kingdom

[hanadoesstuffwrong]

Thinking abt the air nomads:

What if, after the war, once the dust has settled a little, Aang goes back to travelling, hoping that maybe he can find at least some trace of surviving airbenders. As an added bonus, he gets to do more of the exploring and wandering that he had to put on hold.

Toph goes with him ofc. She only just got a taste of real freedom and it was overshadowed by ever-present impending doom. While she's on speaking terms with her parents, she isnt quite ready to be back under their roof on a permanent basis. The rest of the gaang have their individual homes and responsibilities that they get back to, though they join for the odd field trip or adventure when they can.

So anyway, they're touring all over the world and over the years they notice just how displaced so many people have become. EK citizens who barely escaped the blaze but lost everything; FN military now decommissioned with no idea how to carry on; people looking for a new start in the hard-won peace. Maybe it starts with Toph heading back to Earth Rumble, where a group of young runaways scrounge for cheap fights to make a little money.

At each turn they find more and more people with no homes to return to and no family to protect them; runaways escaping the roles the war forced them into. Gradually, Aang and Toph start to see that they aren't so different from themselves. They just want a new start.

So they decide to give them one. They clean up the temples and set up villages in the surrounding areas (helps to be master earthbenders), where people can arrive and stay as long as they need. Travellers and refugees pass through in droves, sometimes choosing to stay and rebuild their lives there, sometimes continuing in their wandering with a guarantee that they'll always have a place to return to should they have the need.

Over time, the lemurs grow in number and even some flying bison calfs (hybrids with a relative species maybe?), can be seen in the skies. Whenever the founders visit, it isn't the same but Aang feels a little more at home.

The first time someone asks Aang to teach him his philosophies, and expresses his desire to become a monk, how can he refuse? Maybe it's a former soldier, somebody who's done terrible things, looking for a path to redemption. So Aang teaches him, and then he teaches others. And though they may not be airbenders, they are as earnest and faithful as any nun or monk Aang knew before. The temples become filled with new faces: Firebenders, Earthbenders, Waterbenders and non-benders all wearing Air nomad orange and yellow.

Aang always feared that it would be his responsibility to have airbender children, and the idea of forcing that on someone he loved terrified him. Maybe that's why he waited so long before acting on his feelings for his best friend, his travelling companion, his fellow-village builder and temple-restorer. How could they have a truly happy relationship with this pressure hanging over them? He wishes he could be content with the new way of things that he and his friends have created. But he knows that he can't be the last airbender forever...

Nobody knows why some children can bend the elements and others can't. Is it blood? Is it blessing? Is it the land in which you're born? Or is it the simple allocation of fates decided by the values and norms you're raised believing in? Is it enough to be surrounded by the culture and beliefs of the Air Nomads? Nobody knows...

All they know is that nobody sees it coming when the six-year-old daughter of two non-bender villagers from the Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe sends herself flying twelve feet into the air with a sneeze.

#oops it became a taang au how did that happen #i just think it wld be neat if the air nomads worked more like irl monks/nuns #not necessarily celibate but still made up of people who choose to follow the way of life #instead of the iffy implications of all monks/nuns having no choice because they were born airbenders #i dunno it's iffy to me #taang #my posts #atla #atla headcanon #do we need to rewatch Ice Age 2 ppl?? #repopulation is not a good reason for two people to be together! #avatar: the last airbender #i do also think that given them being nomads the fire nation probably want able to wipe the air nomads out completely #bu they just had to survive in hiding/ in a very diluted form #maybe like the sun warriors do #airbender!Ty Lee my beloved #also wld reflect the themes of unity vs division well if there were more than just airbenders among the air nomads #like how a waterbender can be a ruler of the Fire Nation or a Firebender can run a tea shop in the Earth Kingdom #toph x aang #edited cos someone got upset at my introduction and while i reckon they were willfully misreading i didnt want anyone to misconstrue #to clarify -> any child of aang's wld be an air nomad but there's no guarantee they wld be an airbender #esp if he had a child with an earth or waterbender #and we see how this had a negative effect in canon #hope that clears things up xx

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

you once said that the ZK do not allow the canonical Zuko to show real, sometimes ugly signs of trauma. can you write more about this? because that's what I always felt when I came across their terrible takes, but I couldn't express it.

Gladly! But first, I need to mention the sign of trauma that Zuko usually lacks - and that, for some reason, the fandom insists defines his character:

Fear

Don't get wrong, I'm not saying Zuko never experienced fear. We all saw that poor boy on his knees, crying, begging his father not to hurt him.

But in "Zuko Alone" we also see 10-year-old Zuko get bitter that only his younger sister was expected to show off her firebending skills, and deciding that he would go against his father and demonstrate his own skills to the Fire Lord - that despite the fact that he knew Azula was better at it than he was. Even when it goes wrong, he is upset, but doesn't look afraid of the consequences.

That same episode shows Azula mocking him for playing with knives despite not even being good at it, and even though the fandom insists she was his worst fear ever since he was a child, Zuko responds with a "Put an apple on your head and we'll see how good I am." That little guy has exactly zero chill.

Let's not forget why he was banished either: Despite being considered too young to be in that war meeting, Zuko demanded to be there, eventually got his way, and despite having been told not to say anything, the second he hears a general suggest using their own men as "fresh meat" to lure the enemy, Zuko speaks out against it. And at the start of the Agni Kai, he looked 100% ready to fight a grown ass man with battle experience - until he saw it was his father/Fire Lord.

Let's not forget his Agni Kai with Zhao, which was his idea and that he actually won - and before that, he openly calls Ozai a fool, to which Zhao points out that banishment clearly not teach Zuko to watch his mouth. Or the time he openly challenged Azula in Ba Sing Se and they only didn't fight then and there because Azula knew she'd have the advantage by using the Dai Li. Hell, at the start of that very season, after she tried to lure him to a trap, Zuko's first reaction is to charge at her, fire-daggers in hand. That boy is the definition of "Fuck around and find out."

He has also done things like choosing to save his uncle from earthbenders instead of chasing Aang, crossing a blockade and going into actual Fire Nation territory even though he legally is no longer allowed to do that, and helped rescue Aang from Zhao as the Blue Spirit. It shows us that Zuko doesn't have an issue with temporarely deviating from his mission because of something HE deems important even though his father doesn't, openly disregarding Ozai's orders, and even basically saying "My father will have the Avatar as a prisoner only if I'm the one to capture him"

And, of course, on the day of the eclipse, Zuko grabs his swords and directly threatens Ozai, telling that bastard to sit the fuck down, shut up, and listen to his list of reasons why he sucks as a parent, ruler and person.

Zuko is brave. Unbelievably so. He is fierce, proud, and impulsive to the point of getting himself in situations that he should have known would not go his way (like fighting a waterbender in the snow, in the full moon) because he is very much a "act first, think later" kind of guy. So the fandom's insistence that he is constantly paralyzed by fear is a gross over-simplification of how his trauma affects him.

We only see him genuinely afraid of Ozai twice. During the Agni Kai itself, and then again when he WANTS to speak out against his father's plan to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground, but can't bring himself to because he remembers what happened last time he spoke out against that kind of horrible thing during a war meeting, at that very room. It took something THAT triggering to make him cower before a challenge.

However, fear wasn't the only reason why didn't speak out during that moment, and that takes us to the first "ugly" sign of trauma that the fandom as a whole likes to pretend Zuko wasn't repeatedly shown to experience:

"My father is right about me, actually"

Zuko doesn't think Ozai was wrong to disfigure and banish him. How could he? Nobody in that entire room stood up to at least try to support him, not even his uncle - who also once said "Why would your father have banished you if he didn't care about you?" because, surprise surprise, nobody in that family knows how to help someone through trauma because they're all dealing with their own shit. Even his crew, who WAS sympathetic to him after finding out how he got that scar, were still 100% willing to not only support Ozai, but risk their lives for him.

Zuko isn't just trying to heal from abuse, he is trying to heal from victim-blaming, and to go against YEARS of indoctrination that say the Fire Lord can do no wrong. That's part of why it was so difficult for Iroh and others to help him: Zuko didn't believe that he needed or deserved help.

And that is also one of his three major unhealthy coping mechanisms. Claiming that HE needs to prove himself to Ozai, that HE needs to make up for HIS mistakes, not the other way around.

It might seem strange that this could be a way to cope, but look at it this way: If it WAS his fault instead of Ozai's, then that means his dad is not an unfair, abusive piece of shit that is unbelievably cruel and impossible to please. Zuko just needs to accomplish this mission of capturing the Avatar and everything will be fine, they'll be a normal family again, and he won't have to be afraid of someone he thought he could trust.

It was like Iroh said: Things are never going to be the same ever agin, but the Avatar gives Zuko HOPE. And that hope that his abuser will one day have a change of heart and be a loving father to him again is both what allows Zuko not to give into despair - and what keeps him trapped in that awful situation.

Misplaced Anger

Another "unpleasant" sign of trauma that Zuko has is how he clearly has an anger problem. Sure, he's a moody teenager with a short fuse, but we see over and over again that he tends to blow things way out of proportion, and that when faced a fact or opinion he doesn't like, he is quick to lash out at someone with VERY cruel words (see him calling Iroh a lazy, shallow, jealous old man in "Avatar State", or calling him crazy and saying if he wasn't in prison, he'd be sleeping in a gutter in "The Headband").

Through the entire show, many people faced Zuko's wrath - Iroh, Aang and friends, his crew, Azula, innocent people of the Earth Kingdom, Mai, Ty Lee, that one rando that talked to Mai, and even Zuko himself.

The one person that usually escapes said wrath is, ironically, Ozai. In "Zuko Alone" he refuses to believe his father would ever be capable of harming him, in "Avatar State" he snaps at Iroh for doubting that Ozai really changed his mind about the whole banishment thing.

He is mad at Aang for being too difficult to capture, and at Zhao for stealing his one chance to come home. He never stops to question if it's fair that his father had him chase someone that was presumed dead, aka an impossible task, as the condition to bring him home. He also never addresses how he feels about the reason WHY said banishment happened until the Day Of Black Sun.

He is mad at Azula for lying to him and trying to take him home as a prisoner. He never gets mad at his father for not only wanting to lock him away forever because ZHAO screwed up at the North Pole, nor how messed up it was that he put Azula in charge of said mission.

For fuck's sake, in the day of the eclipse, we find out that Zuko legit believed his mother was DEAD - and the entire circumstance was shady as hell and put Ozai in a very bad light. Yet Zuko still wanted his love, still wanted to be a "worthy" son.

He HAS to direct his anger at other people, otherwise he'll realize that no, his father, the adult that was meant to care for him, is a complete monster.

Everytime Zuko lashes out at other people before confronting Ozai, he's basically acting like someone who is drowning and, in a panic, is trying to pull the nearest person under so he can try to breathe. It is one of the most accurate and honest representations of trauma and abuse, and it makes me SO mad when people erase it in their fics because "poor, innocent, helpless turtleduck that can do no wrong" makes Zuko look like less of a dick - and also completely strips him of his agency.

And that isn't even the thing that fans ignore the most. That "honor" goes to the simple fact that Zuko, as expected of a child raised to believe the Fire Lord can do no wrong, decided that Azula had the right idea and that the best way to avoid being a victim again was...

Copying His Abuser

Zuko has REPEATEDLY let his "inner Ozai" out through the show.

He is all manipulative by not letting the pirates know he was chasing the Avatar who was worth A LOT more than the scrowl they'd get as a reward for helping him, and by using Katara's necklace as a way to try and get her to say where Aang was.

He repeatedly steals stuff from innocent people (including some who helped him, like Song) because, in his own words "These people should just be giving stuff to us" - aka he's very much an entitled prince.

He betrays his uncle by joining Azula in Ba Sing Se, leading to Iroh being thrown in prison. He also doesn't give a shit when Katara says "I thought you had changed!" and he sends a freaking assassin after the Gaang. Even him refusing to tell Azula that there was a chance Aang could still be alive works both as a "Zuko doesn't trust Azula to not use that against him, and for good reason" and "Zuko did not even stop to think that, since Azula was the one who killed Aang, him coming back also puts HER in danger, because he's too focused on his own problems to notice anybody else's."

More importantly, he rejected a chance of a ceasefire with the Gaang three times (The Blue Spirit, The Chase, Crossroads of Destiny), much like Ozai refused his shot at ending the war in the finale before his battle with Aang, and not only did he challenge Zhao to an Agni Kai and seriously consider burning him, he also threatened one of his crewmen by saying he'd "teach him respect" - which we found out later that episode was what Ozai right before disfiguring poor Zuko.

For fuck's sake, Ozai was literally designed to look like an older Zuko. One without a scar, one that was never banished, one that never had to see first-hand all the death and suffering war brings and reflect on the role he plays in it.

Finally, we have the war meetings in "Nightmares And Daydreams", in which Zuko doesn't speak out against his father's completely inhumane plans to deal with the Earth Kingdom. When talking about it with Mai, he says "I was the perfect prince, the son my father wanted. But I wasn't me."

That is the turning point for Zuko for a reason. It's him finally being forced to acknowledge that, to become Ozai's ideal son, to earn his (conditional) love, to not be his victim he has to be just as bad as he is, just as cruel, just as unfair - and we see in Azula's breakdown how Zuko likely would have ended up if he accepted that path.

But he didn't, and that was not easy because even though it was the morally correct choice, it'd require him to sacrifice everything - his title as a prince, his right to be in the Fire Nation, his relationship with Mai, his (extremelly complicated, sometimes good, often awful) bond with Azula, the "easy" way to get literally anything he wanted at everyone else's expense, and, of course, accept that his father was never going to love him, was never going to change, and was never going to feel sorry for abusing him.

Erasing such a central conflict of his character for the sake of denying he ever did anything wrong is, ironically, removing one of Zuko's most noble character traits: his inability to just live with himself after doing something horrible. There's a reason he is in deep conflict even after getting everything he wanted after the fall of Ba Sing Se - he knows he doesn't deserve it after what he's done.

If you ignore his mistakes and the horrible consequences it had for other people, you also ignore Zuko's growth. This puts him more in the position of a good guy being held hostage by the evil villain, not of a troubled child that redeems himself as he matures.

No flaws, no mistakes, no growth, no arc.

Trauma Doesn't Just Go Away

This one is, by far, the bad trope regarding Zuko's trauma that Zutarians are the most guilt of: assuming that if he just gets enough comforting hugs (mainly from Katara), all of his inner turmoil will suddenly be healed. No more sadness, no more fear, no more of the ugly traits they never acknowledge in the first place. Just a happy, fully recovered Zuko.

But that's just not how these things work. Having the support of a loved one helps victims feel better, but it won't magically make everything okay. Trauma is a really difficult thing to handle. There's good days, bad days, relapses, bad habits that are difficult to move past from. And not only are there cases in which people take YEARS to recover, there are also cases in which they never fully heal, and instead just learn to live with that burden that is still very much present.

I understand the desire to show in fics and headcanons that Zuko will eventually be fully healed and happy, but the way Zutarians make Katara act as not just his girlfriend, but as basically his therapist that needs to find miracle solutions for every single one of his problems, comfort him whenever any minor inconvenience happens until he's gotten enough hugs to be magically okay doesn't just reveal how hypocritical they are, since they insist Kataang is about Katara being Aang's girlfriend/mom/baby-sitter, but also that they legit do not understand a damn thing about trauma and how it works.

Which takes me to:

How Mai Actually Did Right By Zuko

Poor, poor Mai. She gets blamed for "bring out the worst in Zuko", for not being "supportive", for being too cold and unemotional, for not "seeing the real him" - yet she's one of the characters that CONSISTENLY help put Zuko back on his track.

She offers him emotional support and lots of signs of affection over and over again - telling him not worry when they're arriving at the Fire Nation, pointing out she doesn't hate him when she says she's beautiful when she hates the world, explicitly saying she cares about him in The Beach, being incredibly sweet and loving to him during all of Nightmares and Daydreams, and then again in the finale by helping him get dressed up and acting all cute as they get back together.

But she also holds him accountable when he screws up. She doesn't let him use his difficult life as an excuse to be a jerk and calls him out when he's being unreasonable, or when she feels mistreated/like he's making a mistake (see The Beach and Boiling Rock Part 2).

But since the fandom loves to completely erase Zuko's mistakes AND to not let go of a stupid ship war, this completely changes the context, making Mai out to be this awful, bitchy girlfriend, when in reality, she did a great job handling Zuko - sometimes even better than the fan favorite and mentor figure Zuko had through most of his arc.

Uncle Iroh Fucked Up

Before all of you try to kill me, let me make one thing clear here: I love Uncle Iroh. He is one of the most awesome characters in the show, and I fully believe he was trying his best to help Zuko.

But he is still a human being that makes mistakes, and he was raised in the same dysfunctional family Zuko was, meaning he often had NO IDEA how to handle his deeply traumatized teenage nephew/son.

Him spending all of book 1 trying to help Zuko capture Aang so he could go back to living with the guy that disfigured him is already bad enough, but we also have the episode "Avatar State" in which Iroh asks "Why would your father banish you if he didn't care about you?"

Obviously he only did these things because he didn't want Zuko give into despair and depression - but he is still, at best, ignoring the issue, and at worst actively making excuses for Ozai's abuse of his own son. This backfires on him spectacularly, as Zuko sides with Azula over him both in the first and last episode of the season specifically because he believes that appeasing Ozai is the right thing to do, as he was only banished "for his own good."

But THE biggest mistake Iroh made when it came to helping Zuko was his refusal to accept that no, Zuko was never going to be happy by living a quiet, simple life in Ba Sing Se - even after Zuko explicitly said as much to his face.

Obviously, to some extent, Iroh HAS to make Zuko accept that he won't ever be able to come back home after Ozai literally ordered Azula to capture him, but he could have tried to find some kind of middle ground with Zuko, since being a waiter clearly wasn't making him happy.

"Oh, but what about how Zuko started acting after his metamorphosis? He was so happy about working on the tea-shop with his uncle, and that was supposed to reveal his true self!"

Yes, it was supposed to do that. But we saw how Zuko acted after actually dealing with his trauma and redeeming himself. He was obviously in a much healthier place, both mentally and spiritually, but he was still moody, still sarcastic, still as proud as ever, and even Iroh recognized that he was meant to be Fire Lord.

Zuko's arc has a lot to do with identity, with how he sees himself. At that point, the only thing he still had in life was his uncle - so he was acting like him, because there seemed to be no other role model, no other path. Seeing that weird, cheery, relaxed, always-seeing-the-good-side-of-things version of Zuko was honestly unnerving.

And Iroh thought that Zuko basically giving himself the Lake Laogai treatment was okay because he following in his footsteps, doing what helped IROH heal and change - he didn't realize it was never gonna be able to do the same for Zuko.

The very second Azula shows up, even when she's being hostile, Zuko drops the facade, because she's a reminder of both his old life and what he thought his future would be. And when she offers him "redemption" Iroh tried to advice Zuko against joining her by saying "The redemption she offers is not for you" (as in not for someone who is doing better and doesn't need to return to the Fire Nation) and "It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good." How is it a choice if Iroh is explicitly saying which option Zuko cannot pick, essentially making the decision for him?

Iroh didn't just get the way to help Zuko wrong - he didn't realize his nephew didn't believe he needed help. They were not on the same page at all, and that contribuited to Zuko betraying him.

Though, thankfully, it ended up being for the best, as Zuko found his own way to redemption by himself.

Conclusion

This fandom as a whole tends to not understand Zuko at all and just eat up a bunch of fanon while pretending to be so intellectual, which I very much resent it for.

#anti zutara #pro maiko #pro mai #zuko is not an awkward turtleduck

[theerurishipper]

The cruelest and meanest things Zuko did

Show!Zuko

Mocking the culture of his best friend, who is genocide survivor whose culture was destroyed by Zuko’s ancestors, multiple times.

  Rams his ship into the remainder of the Southern Water Tribe. Behaves threatningly toward the SWT inhabitants, even manhandling Sokka and Katara's grandmother.

  Robs from a family who saved his beloved uncle's life and fed him and his uncle, all for free.

  Mocks Ty Lee as a "circus freak" to her face for having the temerity to suggest she knows him and cares about him.

  Tells his beloved Uncle, who has been a father to him, that he is a lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother"

  Attacks Roun Jian for talking to Mai.

  (With Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee) Wrecks Chan's party and burns down his beach house just for the hell of it.

  Punching down at Toph when she attempts to connect with him emotionally, treating her like she's unworthy of his time?

  Implicitly threatening Katara with sexual assault (there's a reason why that scene practically launched the Zvtara ship) while using her mother's necklace as leverage against her (The Waterbending Scroll).

    Firebending dangerously at Aang after he wanted a break from the intense training Zuko put him through

    Calling Iroh "the laziest man in the Fire Nation" to his face.

    Taking out his frustration and impatience by throwing a firebending attack at one of his crew ("Boy in the Iceberg"). People always forget this one.

    Trying to start a fight between Mai and Ty Lee just so he can see Mai be more emotional.

    Unanimously decided to burn a remnant of his family's happier past right in front of his sibling's eyes, without so much as thinking what she might feel about that.

    Told on his sister to his physically abusive father (the guy who mutilated his son for speaking out of turn) that she'd lied to him about something very serious then left her with said abusive father with no warning

    Violently robbed dozens of Earth Kingdom civilians for stuff he didn't need just for the hell of

    Ask Sokka to tell him the story of his mother's murder because Katara was rightfully still suspicious of him and then proceeded to talk Katara into going after the man, stealing Oppa one of the only remaining things of Aangs culture, telling aang to get over it and his cultures beliefs aren't just wrong but stupid and ignorant and not once offering Sokka kind words about his mothers murder or Sokka's grief over it and using him for his own means.

    Trying to get Katara to murder someone so that she would forgive him, since he felt entitled to her forgiveness.

    Viciously mocking Katara as "a big girl now" when she says she's capable of protecting Aang

Hired an extremely dangerous assassin after a group of children who have repeatedly shown him kindness and saved his life.

Took the side of the oppressors solely for selfish reasons after seeing how wrong and harmful the war is, knowing that his beloved uncle could get killed by the enemy as a result.

Yelled at Iroh, after betraying him, "You're a crazy old man! You're crazy! And if you weren't in jail, you'd be sleeping in a gutter!”

Burns down the Kyoshi Village and after reuniting with the survivor that he attacked, gives a half-assed "apology".

After being ordained as the absolute ruler of the nation, was never assed to discharge his ex-partner, who commited treason to save his life, out of prison, or check if she's even alive. Mai was released thanks to her uncle, not Scar

Kidnapped the Avatar during the seige of the North Pole which indirectly entailed Princess Yue's death.

Comics!Zuko

Dangling his mentally ill sister over a cliff while telling her she ruined his life by being born.

  referring to Ursa and the royal family as "my mother" and "my family" right in front of his sister's face several times.

  not visiting his sister for almost two years until he wanted her help finding their estranged mother. (but he did visit their abusive father with tea for advice)

  reassure his mother that their was no need to look for his sister who went missing in the forest because "she can survive on her own."

  abuse his authority and order his ex-girlfriend to come back when she tried to leave him.

  manhandled katara only to say he "doesn't to hurt her”

Calling Ursa 'His mother' to a bound and unwell Azula's face, while he sits on a throne he had brought into the asylum for him to sit on." 

Zuko never mocked Aang's culture. But of course you would see it that way.

And you realize that him doing bad things and then making up for them is the point of his arc, right? You do realize that he worked to make up for what he did and redeemed himself to all the people he hurt and that they accepted his apology and became his friends, right? You do know what a redemption arc is, right? How are some of y'all going on about Azula redemption arcs when you prove that you don't believe people can change, considering you always lambast Zuko about the actions he worked hard to fix and make amends for? Almost like you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

And enough with your weird abuse apologist nonsense when it comes to the comics. He dangled her above a cliff because she attacked him while he was sitting there talking with Aang, and he was trying to get her to stop attacking him. Please look up the definition of "hyperbole." It's never said that he didn't visit her, and even if he didn't, he doesn't have to, considering she's tried to murder him several times and doesn't want anything to do with him anyway. He doesn't have to visit her just to get insulted. He refers to Ursa as his mother because she is his mother, and Azula has always established a facade of not caring about her mother. He didn't go after Azula because she ran away from him, and he doesn't have to chase after someone who doesn't want his help. He "ordered Mai to come back" because he was already stressed and tired and didn't know what he was saying. He obviously said something stupid in the heat of the moment which he never had any intention whatsoever of following through on, and he immediately calls himself an idiot in the very next panel, which must have conveniently slipped by you. He "manhandled Katara" because she was attacking his soldiers. The "throne" you're talking about isn't even that luxurious, and Azula is bound because she's constantly tried to kill him and is a very dangerous person, a fact that she proves everytime Zuko gives her any leeway at all. The comics have some ridiculously OOC characterization, but it still doesn't mean you can go on this victim blaming trip and act like Azula is this poor victim of mean old everybody else. Y'all are one step away from saying Kiyi abused Azula, my god.

And of course, you're that ableist weirdo who's calling Zuko "scar." What a way to show you care about abuse victims, am I right? Do me a favor, stop entering spaces where you are not wanted or welcome, and get a life instead of sending deranged rants to people's inboxes all day long. Also, thanks for sending this to me twice, so I can both respond and also IP block you. Get off my blog.

#Azula critical #Anti Azula #Asks #Sorry to everyone else if I seem really rude lol #But this person has been getting on my nerves even before they started sending asks to me #I tagged all the anti tags specifically to avoid this

[bracketsoffear]

Some clarification about Ozai: he wasn't yet Fire Lord when the Southern Raiders wiped out the Southern Waterbenders, that was his dad Azulon. However, he was continuing the imperialism and genocide against the Southern Water Tribe with his naval campaigns against them, which necessitated everyone able to to go fight the Fire Nation, and the imprisonment of the Southern Water Tribe forces following the Day of the Black Sun.

Now for the propaganda:

He is the ruler of the warmongering Fire Nation and likely the most powerful Firebender in the world. A ruthless warlord and megalomaniac, Ozai is willing to burn the rest of the world to the ground so he can rule. He has little to no empathy for anyone, including his own children (though he acts decently towards them if they prove themselves useful). Most notorious is how he disfavored and abused his son Zuko—he described the latter as “lucky to be born.” When Zuko spoke out of turn in a war meeting at age 13 Ozai burned a good fourth of his face off (leaving a huge permanent scar), loudly and publicly called him an embracing failure and traitor without honor—"You WILL learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher”—and exiled and disowned him, only allowing him to come home if he completed an impossible task. On top of obviously inflicting a massive amount of pain and loss upon Zuko, it also destroyed his potential by sending promising young man off on a suicide mission just for being idealistic, slightly rude, and reluctant to fight his own dad. Ozai also ruined his daughter Azula: he subjected her to cruel emotional abuse, cultivated her aggressive and ruthless tendencies in order to make her his weapon, used his abuse of Zuko as a threat to hold over her head, and capped it off by rewarding her with the title of Fire Lord and then declaring himself the absolute ruler above her; thanks to both her father’s abuse and her vicious personality turning her friends on her, she turned out as an astoundingly maladjusted wreck who ultimately had a total breakdown.

He continued his predecessors’ wartime policies, indoctrinating the Fire Nation’s children into nationalism and pushing for war manufacturing that polluted rural villages. However, he quickly proved to be an even worse autocrat than Azulon, expecting total loyalty and subordination from all those around him. Ozai did not hesitate to eliminate any of his advisors or other Fire Nation citizens who questioned his orders, exiling or executing them, and military commanders who proved reluctant to follow his commands were replaced by others who were more subservient. His rule also saw the enslavement of the earthbenders, General Zhao’s attempted conquest of the Northern Water Tribe, and the fall of Ba Sing Se, which opened the way for the near-total conquest of the Earth Kingdom. In response to the remaining Earth Kingdom resistance, Ozai took Azula’s suggestion to "take their precious hope, and the rest of their land, and burn it all to the ground” by trying to use Sozin’s Comet to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground.

As a head of state, he was responsible for immense harm and pain inflicted during the Hundred Years’ War on every nation; as a father, he caused a great deal of suffering for his children and did his damndest to destroy them before their potential was realised, which ruined Azula’s life.

.

#asks #character propaganda #desolation poll

[kaligraphy]

these are the three steambabies that were in my fic from zutara week! I'm still fleshing them out a bit but I already love them to bits!

all of these are made with this picrew!

Izumi

Kya's twin

Even though they are both share the title of Crown Princess, Izumi will be the one who takes the throne when she is older

Firebender

She always loved watching her parents bend. She was always drawn to the colorful flames and wanted nothing more than to do the same

Is one of the many reasons why Zuko's hair is greying when he's still only in his thirties because she inherited his knack for running across roofs (now you know how Uncle feels, Zuko lol)

A bit serious at times and mellow, but she most definitely inherited Katara's temper and desire to help others and fight for justice. and she most definitely knows how to have fun! just ask Druk, when he used to be small enough to be draped over her head! See? Fun!

Absolutely loves sea prunes, much to the chagrin of future ambassadors and nobles who visit the palace when she is on the throne and very much do NOT share the same taste

She loves to watch the Ember Island Players and would watch them all day if she could

Because she was the heir to the throne, Zuko was extra mindful to teach Izumi to be a kind ruler who will never even consider hurting her own people. It was one of the hints that she picked up on that pointed to how her father got his scar

Azula was very distant while they were growing up, but Izumi was able to connect with her aunt when she was older and aspired to know her remaining family. They take walks together at least once a week

She rides the mail chutes of Omashu whenever her family visits and nothing and no one can stop her

Kya

Izumi's twin

The very definition of "I'm funny to hide my insecurities"

Shares the exact same sense of humor as her Uncle Sokka. They get along swimmingly

Waterbender

Was afraid of thunderstorms growing up and thought that made her a weak waterbender, unlike her mother who was always strong and brave

Very much NOT a weak waterbender. In fact, one of the strongest once she was able to overcome the deep-seated insecurity of not being good enough

She has a love for bloodbending. Since she never had the fear of it, Kya developed the art to the point that she noticed something... interesting, like how her father's blood was not the same as her mother's and not even Izumi and Kya's blood were the same! (she provided the stepping stones to the medical breakthrough that there were blood types and how different antigens and the dominance and recessiveness of these genes would determine the blood you could receive and what would be passed down to future generations. thank you, Kya!)

Once she comes of age, Kya almost immediately abdicated her place in line for the throne. She much prefers to be the Fire Nation ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe. it also means she gets to visit her family and play with the otterpenguins! And she doesn't have to wear the stuffy, stiff clothes she's supposed to wear at banquets and parties as the Crown Princess. Furs are far more comfortable

Kya came out to her parents. This caused a chain reaction that ended up creating a section in history books titled "Firelord? More Like Fatherlord" in which Zuko's dad joke is recorded as "Hi lesbian, I'm Dad"

(Katara absolutely hated when he said that. Kya was cackling though because she didn't want them to take it so seriously and it really eased her nerves)

Lu Ten

The baby of the family (so far... if I decide to create more lol)

Nonbender and is incredibly proud of that fact

Begged to be trained under Master Piandao. He quickly discovered to be very gifted in the art of swordsmanship (and painting! it became a hobby of his after he completed his training)

His favorite genre of theatre is romance. The cheesier, the better (but unlike Izumi, he HATES the Ember Island Players with a passion only a child of a theatre-loving nerd of a firelord could have)

His sisters poke fun at him whenever possible. they have done this during Very Important Meetings With Boring People

He's a mama's boy and he will never deny it. even though he can't bend, he still loves to move through the same waterbending katas his mother goes through and used to follow her around wherever she went

Likes to work at the Jasmine Dragon with Grandpa Iroh

Very confident and has a very thick skin (probably because he's gotten so used to a random customer yelling at him to try and make him feel bad that almost nothing bothers him)

When he first learned about his namesake, he had spent a lot of time thinking. Ultimately, he decided to bring honor to a family member who deserved to see a better world. And he gave Grandpa an even tighter hug than usual

Usually very levelheaded and at times a little cocky. but that is instantly overrided by his protective streak for his family and friends

And that's the main steambabies! I hope you like them! 🥺

#zutara #zuko #katara #steambabies #picrew

[hello-nichya-here]

It is pretty obvious why Aang taking Azula's bending is such a common thing in fanfiction. It is either to secure Zuko's claim to the throne by preventing revanchist movements from latching onto Azula as a figurehead to rally against Zuko. Or, post-comics, because she is a super powered domestic terrorist who can't be trusted with her bending or at all. Period. And before you say I am anti-Azula in regards to the last point, I think the same punishment should be applied to all the Fire Warriors.

Then you clearly didn't understand the message behind the finale. Energybending, aka the thing that allows Aang to take away people's bending, is not just stripping them of their powers, it is a drastic measure, just like taking a life, and it should not be threated as this fix-everything magic trick.

Taking away the bending of literally every fire nation warrior is dangerous because

1 - It gives Aang way too much power - a power that takes a serious emotional toll on him and that Aang would have never used if he wasn't forced between doing that or killing, and one of the few things the comics did right was saying that Aang wasn't fully sure if removing Ozai's bending really was more merciful than killing him like he thought it would be. It's unfair to everyone, specially to Aang himself, to just expect him to do such a thing to an entire army.

2 - It is a disproportionate retribution/safety measure, because there ARE prisons in the avatar world, including the Fire Nation, meaning that energy bending is not necessary in 99% of cases.

3 - Energybending is very similar to a lobotomy, and it's fucking inhumane to do that to people as punishment, regardless of how vile their actions were. Add in the fact that Azula is mentally ill and having her go through that opens a very dangerous precedent to "lest just lobotomize everyone that isn't sane and/or neurotypical. It also gives bad rulers an excuse to get away with absolutely apalling shit, since they can just use Aang taking away the bending of an entire army "proof" that extremism is good and an appropriate way of dealing with people who have different political opinions - it could be used to "justify" censorship and dictatorships, as well as having people planing to invade and colonize the fire nation or trying to convince Aang to remove the bending of EVERY firebender, or of any civilian they deem "a threat to their cities" (like Ba Sing Se brainwashing people to "protect the city's culture"). And, of course, that would lead to internal and external conflicts in every nation, which is likely to cause a NEW war instead of starting an era of peace.

4 - Azula's bending is quite literally the one thing in her life that is fully her own. Even her name was one of Ozai's attempts of using her as a tool for him to reach his goals. And now that she has no one, lost her title, her freedom and her mind, taking away her bending is taking away the ONLY thing she has left in her life.

5 - Energybending is dangerous for Aang himself, because whenever he does it he is risking having his spirit be corrupted. Doing that to an entire army makes it pretty much 99% guaranteed that SOMONE in that group will end up getting Aang's spirit destroyed, meaning the world would lose the Avatar and that the last survivor of the genocide against the airnomads would die.

6 - Bending is a very important aspect not only of each individual person, but it is also closely tied to the culture of each nation. Taking away the bending of an entire army instead of trying to rehabilitate these people, be it with them in prison or not, would be weakening and disrespecting the fire nation's culture. It'd be like criminalizing christianity after the cruzades or putting all muslism to death because of what ISIS does. Terrible, stupid, and downright immoral - specially when the person doing that would be quite literally THE LAST SURVIVOR OF A GENOCIDE. What's next? Should Aang take away the bending of every waterbender to prevent them from becoming like Hama?

#asks #ableism #azula meta #aang meta #energybending #atla #avatar #azula deserved better #actual human child azula #actual child soldier azula

[zutarasecrettunnel]

OK I did it I updated my Zutara Week chapter fic. This idea was inspired by the Day 6 prompt for this year, "Spirits".

Story summary:

The war is over for everyone but Katara, who keeps seeing the scarred face of the boy who sacrificed himself for her and for the world everywhere she looks. When she finds out why she is experiencing these so-called hallucinations, she may be led right into a trap centuries in the making.

Here's chapter 2 of Your Face, I See. 

You can also read it on AO3.

Teardrops marked her path like breadcrumbs as she made her way through the empty streets of the Fire Nation capitol. She raced toward the palace, desperate to believe that what propelled her was just another hallucination, albeit much more terrifying this time. She wasn't even sure the voice that sounded so much like Yue had been real. Why had she talked about Tui and La? Why had her visions of Zuko intensified? Why could she now hear his voice? She was convinced that her mind was lost, reduced to ash by the flames of Sozin's comet.

Katara threw open one of the grand, heavy doors of the palace. Her feet pounded into the lacquered wood floor, aching with each impact. Her breath was frayed, lungs inflating jaggedly as she struggled to take in the breaths needed to recover from her long, swift escape. Her passage through the daunting royal halls was blighted by tears and dim torchlight. She wiped at her eyes pointlessly as she pressed on.

The many-legged monstrosity had not followed her. She ran from her fear, her grief, and her doubt. She ran aimlessly, toward nothing in particular. She ran straight into something solid but soft.

"Master Katara?"

At first she didn't want to hear another voice, but when it's owner registered in her mind, she turned her chin upward to meet the surprised gaze of Fire Lord Iroh. His face was gaunt but kind, his half-illuminated expression full of concern. She blinked slowly, finally able to gain some clarity in her blurred vision. This was the first time she had seen this man since the joyless coronation ceremony held shortly after the end of the Hundred Years War. He had used the duties of the crown to avoid the younger war heroes almost completely, only holding audience with Aang and even then infrequently. The reluctant ruler had lost his lust for life with the loss of his nephew. He operated only in duty now.

He gazed at her, confused at her sudden appearance in a misplaced palace hallway. At her silence, he tried again.

"Master Katara? What are you doing in this part of the palace, especially so late at night?" His tone was doleful and flat, but not accusatory. He sounded tired, and uncharacteristically old.

She tried to maintain the facade she had so carefully cultivated over the recent months. She tried to reinforce the levies of her fears and sadness. With the sound of Iroh's broken spirit, the waterbender was overcome. Her emotion spilled over the dams she had built like a tidal wave.

She launched herself at the man's midsection, burying her face in the silk of his robes. She soaked them with all of her pent up mourning, all of the anguish, consternation and madness. Iroh stood for a moment, unmoving, before finally pulling the crying girl into an empathetic embrace. She sobbed, openly and fiercely, the sounds eventually trying to form words that were finally ready to come out.

"I can't stop seeing him."

Iroh resisted the urge to pull away from the soggy girl at her admission, instead placing a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. He waited a moment before calmly asking the question he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer to.

"Can't stop seeing who?" It was at that point he felt her tug, removing herself from the sleeve of his robe to look directly at him.

"Zuko."

Iroh took a small step back, regret clear in his features. The suspicion had been present in his mind since the girl spoke her first sopping words to him in the darkness, but to hear it caused his latent guilt to come roaring back to life like a tigerdillo. At the same time, the tidal wave of emotion in Katara had begun to recede. She couldn't continue to meet the old man's forlorn gaze. Her wind-tangled hair fell around her shoulders as she studied the floor.

"He's been haunting me ever since. . ." she paused, sniffling hard, before continuing quietly. "About a week after he. . .after he died."

The aged Fire Lord pondered for a moment. Silence hung between the two figures huddled in the opulence of the royal chambers like the fine tapestries on the wall. Iroh was slow in his words as he responded, returning to the sagely demeanor that had defined his character prior to the end of the war.

"Grief. . .does many things to people," he started, stroking his beard. "It can often feel like a negative spirit hanging over you, or a curse. You most of all were connected to the. . ." the older man lost his words at this point, but regained them after a moment, "the loss we all suffered. You were there. You were. . ."

Katara didn't lift her head or move from the spot as Iroh found himself unable to finish his statement. "In any case, I'm sure you wi-"

The water tribe peasant demonstrated her knowledge of and respect for Fire Nation customs as she pointedly interrupted it's ruler.

"I only see his face, always just staring at me. But tonight he called my name, asking me to help him. Begging me. But this time there was a monster and-" the words tumbled out of her as she faced Iroh again, only coming to a halt when he grabbed her by the shoulder.

"What kind of monster?!" His whisper was a shout in disguise.

"I-it crawled. It had so many legs, like a giant centipede. But it had his face," Katara felt her eyes stinging again as she recounted the features of the miscreation that had poached the scarred visage of the fire prince. "I don't know," she shook her head, hands on either ear, "I didn't look at it too long. I ran straight back here."

The already feeble posture of the lament-laden Fire Lord continued to cave. It was as if Iroh had lost his footing on the thick wood of the palace hall.

He uttered one syllable, his eyes unfocused. "Koh."

Katara let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding on to.

"Who-what is Koh?" she hurled her question more forcefully than she meant to. The possibility that she may not just be going insane had slipped from her weeks ago.

Iroh turned from her, waiting before speaking. "The face stealer, a nefarious spirit," he replied. The wizened old firebender muttered to himself quietly while Katara attempted to process what had already been said.

"A face...stealer?" the information settled into the young girl like a stone in a lake. "You mean it. . .he. . .Zuko. . ."

The waterbender quieted, a different kind of storm brewing inside of her. Her voice was a low rumble when it came from her next.

"Do you mean to tell me that this. . .Koh. . .stole Zuko's face in the spirit world and has been haunting me with it ever since?"

Iroh placed a palm on the crimson painted wall of the palace hallway, steadying himself on this renewed grief.

"It would appear so," he replied softly, sadly.

"So how do we save him?" Again her inquiry was hushed, a murmur of hope too scared to make itself known.

"We don't."

The Fire Lord's voice was a scratch in the darkness as he uttered the short response, as if the words themselves burned in his throat like his element uncontrolled.

The growing thunder in Katara rumbled louder.

"What do you mean 'we don't'?"

"Master Katara," Iroh began, "this spirit is dangerous."

She stared intently at the older man, her lips a thin quivering line of a response not yet ready to be released. In its stead, the tired ruler continued.

"When I was a younger man, after I lost Lu Ten, I entered the spirit world to find him, to bring him back. It took many months of study, and in trying to find my way in, I also found knowledge of Koh the face stealer, a spirit who can take your face if you show any hint of emotion in his presence," he explained, "If you go after him, it will only be to give him your face, too. I do not know of a way to defeat him."

Katara stood firm. The sadness that had hovered over her like a stormcloud for months finally snapped, and the waterbender unleashed the full power of the anger that now coursed through her like the lightning that had been its origin.

"Dangerous? I've been haunted by this spirit for months. I've been seeing Zuko's face everywhere, and I thought it was just guilt, just sadness, just me going crazy because he died saving me. He died saving me and for what?" she cried, her emphatic syllables echoing through the chamber. "For me to do nothing? For me to be afraid? Even if I can't bring him back, I can't leave his spirit like that. He risked it all, his country, his future. . ."

Her words slowed as the tempest within her drained itself. Her voice broke and quieted again as she finished her thought.

"I can at least risk my face. I can at least. . ." She felt her own fingers lightly touching her left cheek as she trailed off.

Her companion waited, ensuring the storm had passed before issuing his decree.

"I forbid it."

The assertion was strong, an uncharacteristic order more suited to the Dragon of the West than the grief-stricken old man he had become.

"You will lose yourself in this doomed quest. Do not try to go after Koh, Master Katara," he softened, adding one final thought to his order. "I will have the fire sages and the healers work to find you a remedy for this influence. You shouldn't see him again."

Tears flowed freely from the girl's eyes as she refused to allow them to look up at the man in front of her.

"I will go to them in the morning, Fire Lord Iroh," she responded weakly, "now I am tired. May I please be excused to my chambers?" He bid her the leave she requested, but not before placing both hands on her shoulders in a gesture of comfort to the wounded girl.

"I promise you will have peace, my dear," he said calmly, his own pain present in his tone, "the sages have access to vast libraries of spiritual knowledge that will be used to heal you of this affliction. "

He barely heard her mutter a thank you before she bowed and quickly made her way down the grand hallway.

#zutara #zutara week 2021 #zutara fanfiction #my fics #zk fanfiction

[passable-talent]

gn!reader teaching zukie boy how to dance and loosen up n have fun and stuff like the footloose aang episode? hm? perhaps? question mark?👁👁

“footloose episode” is quite possibly the funniest and most accurate way to describe that episode and I am LAUGHing

oh, look at this, the draft i started in july and never finished because i was experiencing ✨depression✨

Firelord Zuko had come a long way since he was banished in terms of ‘comfort’. ‘Confidence’. He hadn’t been this comfortable in his own skin since before his mother disappeared, even as his own country didn’t quite back him, not all the time. 

Still, though, there was evidence of his childhood trauma that weighed down his shoulders, his guard still kept high, even after all this time. He’d learned how to fix this, and his walls disguised themselves as ‘diplomacy’, instead of ‘anger’, as “maturity” instead of “rage”, as they’d been for so long. Every day, around every person, he was the perfect leader instead of being himself, and it was easy to recognize the toll it took on him. 

Even if he didn’t realize how exhausting it was on the day-to-day level, he definitely realized quickly that these walls wouldn’t help him when he was at dinners, parties, as much as they would during meetings and conferences. When he needed, or wanted, to be fun and sociable, he couldn’t be quite the same person he was when negotiating treaties and trades. 

Also, he didn’t know how to dance. That actually turned out to be a problem.

Having been removed from his throne during the years that would have served as his training for things of the like, the ‘proper’ things, he was nervous about the upcoming celebration for Liberation Day, a new holiday to celebrate the end of the Hundred Year War. It had been a year since he took the throne, and until this point had managed to avoid throwing such a celebration, but this party was more than that- it was a fancy soirée to appeal to some of the nobles of the nation and convince them that Zuko was in fact a good ruler. Dancing wasn’t really expected of him, sure, but among the discussion and the drinking it would probably end up happening, especially if he wanted to lead by example and convince his citizens that the days of censorship and suppression were over. 

He didn’t know any traditional noble dances. He’d come across dances in his banishment, but they were earth kingdom or peasant dances, and as elitist as his guests would be, he really wanted to impress with his understanding of Fire Nation nobility. 

That’s where you come in. 

You were a young dance instructor in the colonies, a firebender who was born on the mainland but left home to pursue a dance career with people who were more willing to learn. You were the best in the nation, and you taught ballroom dancing, dancing blended with bending, street styles, you had any skill that anyone could ask to learn. 

Your reputation around the colonies earned you a mention when the Fire Lord sent out a quiet call for a dance instructor. As quick as you could you traveled to the capital city, ready to meet the Fire Lord, but amazed that you had the opportunity to do so. 

You were more nervous than you’d ever been in your life. 

The Kyoshi Warriors checked you over, made sure you weren’t an assassin (apparently), and warned you what you were going to be dealing with. Zuko was always uncomfortable around new people, they said, as awkward as any teenage boy anywhere. Be nice. 

You met him for lunch.

Immediately you could see the reason for his call- he was so stiff. He bowed with precision like he expected his hands to be smacked, if they strayed out of proper position. He smiled, and it looked fairly genuine, but it was quite clearly a charming smile more than a friendly one. 

You discussed expectations, schedule, salary, all of the things one would at such a meeting, and all topics meant to be taken seriously. Still, you wished he’d take that tone out of his voice, that tone that said ‘I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know if I’m allowed to be comfortable.’ 

So you knew your first job. You’d get him to laugh. 

What got him, near the end of the meal, was some silly little joke, some anecdote you were reminded of from your home in the colonies. He hadn’t talked to a colonial in a while, so he was genuinely interested in everything you said about your home- which broke the ice.

There was a little villa in the palace city you were given while you tutored him, which you stayed at after lunch that day, until your first meeting with him, later that evening. When you returned, you wore a very simple outfit- loose pants, loose shirt. Workout clothes. Very casual. 

And he showed up in the entire Firelord Noble Gown Getup. 

“Yeah, that’s not going to work,” you said with a little bit of a chuckle, “You have to change.” Zuko made a little expression of confusion, and considered for a moment before responding. 

“This is what I’ll need to wear to the celebration. I thought I’d need to be prepared to dance in it.” You gave another laugh and approached him, looking over the outfit. 

“Yeah, no. We’ll work up to that, but we’re starting with different stuff today, stuff that you definitely can’t do in that.” You crossed your arms. “Besides. This isn’t that serious. We’re here to train, you don’t have to impress me.” He nodded, and after a moment just looking at you, turned away. 

“I’ll be right back.” When he returned, he was wearing something much better. It was still a little too formal. too firelord-y for your taste, but at least it was looser. 

“Right,” you said with a chuckle, cracking your fingers, “get ready to regret hiring me.” 

That was meant to be a joke, because you started him on a flexibility-oriented warm up. Every man you’ve ever trained moaned and whined when you made them try to touch their toes, or attempt a split, or lift their leg as high as they could. Zuko, though, could do them all- he could bring his foot way up and above his head, where under Agni had he learned that?

So the joke wasn’t so much that he was affected by the warm up, but more that you were astounded every time he successfully did what you asked. You had to resist the urge to throw something crazy at him, just to see if you could stump him. 

By the end of the warm-up he’d relaxed around you, but the stress that you could almost see boiling under his skin certainly hadn’t gone away. And it showed. 

Ballroom dances in the Fire Nation were very formal, very elegant. There were certain steps, certain postures. These, Zuko grasped with no problem. He had the perfect form, but somehow, it just didn’t come together for him. You couldn’t quite figure out what was going wrong, and every time you thought you’d figured it out, it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t until halfway until the celebration was planned that you came to a realization. 

“Again, so I can figure this out,” you said, and he took your hand again, and stepped with you, leading the dance, making that wide circle that this particular dance was known for. This time, you tracked his footfalls, and finally it clicked. 

“Oh!” you said, pulling from him, and he looked a bit more shocked than you expected.

“What?”

“No, uh- just that I figured out what feels wrong.” He lifted his chin, ready for any criticism you would give him. “I should’ve figured it out sooner. You’re just... stiff.” 

“Stiff?”

“Yeah, like you’re plotting out every moment, and doing them in a step-by-step process.” 

“Isn’t that what you told me to do?” You let out a frustrated breath, and tried to find the words.

“Yeah, but-” You lifted your hands, throwing them about in the air as though it would help you find your meaning. “Okay, yeah, but no matter what, this is a dance. A dance isn’t a fight, you can’t think through every single move. You’ve got to flow with it, feel it. I mean, I guess you should do that in a fight, too, but you- do you know what I mean?” Zuko brought a finger to his chin for a moment, before agreeing. 

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Okay, then let’s try it again.” 

Absolutely nothing changed. 

“Okay, drastic measures,” you said, grabbing him by the shoulders and making him stand straight in front of you. “We’re going to play Bunny.” 

“What’s Bunny?” You took a step back, bringing your feet together. 

“It’s the stupidest game you’ll ever play. First, you gotta jump- but the smallest jump ever. Barely leave the ground.” You gave him an example, and no matter how many times you’ve played this time, the motion never gets any less jarring. “It’ll feel stupid, do it anyway.” 

He knocked some of his hair from his topknot when he did it, but he was laughing.

“Good, that was Small Bunny. Now, we’re going to do Big Bunny. Jump as high as you can in the air.” Since this one hardly needed a demonstration, you did it together- and he was taller, so he got just a bit higher. 

Bunny was as much an icebreaker as it was a game. You’d gotten him to smile- not an instant smile, a flash of one before it disappeared, but a real, long-lasting smile. 

“Okay, good.” You brought one hand up, palm to the sky, and laid the other under its elbow, offering him a dance very popular in the colonies, one you were sure he’d recognize. He did, and lifted his hand, touching his wrist to yours. 

“All we do is circle, right?” He asked, and you gave him a smile.

“Yeah. Just like in a fight.” You lead, guiding him into a rhythm, the steps, the cross steps, a slow motion that he grew used to, and finally he was moving with some grace. 

“You’re friends with a waterbender, right?” You asked him, and he nodded, his eyes jumping between yours and the floor, at your feet. 

“Yeah, Katara.” 

“Then you’ll definitely understand this. Dancing is water, but it’s not waterbending- a waterbender is in ultimate control, and the water does what she wants.” Catching him off guard, you switched hands, and the dance rotated the other way. “A dance is like a river. All of the water is moving in the same direction..” You let the thought hang, slowing him with the indicative press against his wrist, then guiding him from the rotation to a different step. “But it doesn’t all move the same. Your feet don’t move together, and they don’t move the same way your hips do, and your hips don’t move like your shoulders. There’s one river, but a thousand little currents. Take the lead.” You slipped the command in just after the lesson, and waited to see how he’d take it. 

With a bit of a swirl, he guided you toward the center of the room, where he then began a slow circle. He telegraphed his movements to you, just like you’d taught him, but more you were amazed by how his motion was rounded, graceful, more than polygonal and rigid. Something had clicked in him, and he got it.

So you let him go. He lead the dance, and it stopped being a lesson. Just two friends, dancing in the empty ballroom. He changed from the colonial dance you’d started with into the more formal dance you’d prepared him with, so you came closer, fingers interlocked in the lamplight. Now that he was used to the moment, his steps aligned with yours, making it feel as though you were two of the same one mind. He’d stopped looking at your feet- he just looked at you. 

Slow dancing in the middle of the room, you gave him a fond smile. 

“Dare I say, dancing like this, you’ll impress every noble there. You might even impress a future spouse.” He gave back a smile, just the lightest hint of pink coloring his cheeks. 

“Yeah, I think I will.” He pulled from the dance, giving you a bow as you separated, just like you’d taught him. “I want you to come to the dance. I’ll see you get an invite.” 

“No, I couldn’t possibly-” 

“I insist. I wouldn’t be nearly as impressive if it weren’t for you, and besides, it’s fitting that you’re there to watch your hard work pay off.” Unable to force back the smile on your face, you let out a breath. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll be there.” 

-🦌 Roe

want y’all to know that bunny is a thing that me and my friend nick made up in 2010 and I do use it to get people to loosen up in real life. it actually helps 

tag list: @lammello @kittyddandnyla @aangsupremacy @qquell @caitff @coldlilheart @sleeping-with-the-fishes @duh-dobrik @dxcter @babyybesson 

#imagines #reader insert #fire lord zuko #avatar x reader #x reader #zuko reader insert #zuko imagine #atla zuko #zuko angst #avatar zuko #prince zuko #zuko #avatar reader insert #avatar imagine #avatar imagines #avatar: the last airbender #avatar #atla #fics

[knightsickness]

okay atla sibling roleswap au (zuko and azula swap, iroh and ozai swap, sokka and katara swap)

sokka is the only waterbender in the south pole, and he and katara both try to protect each other - after the death of their mother, katara vowed that she wouldn’t lose anyone else, and trained as a warrior. she’s still caring and fiercely protective, but it manifests as wariness: she’s seen what happens to benders, and doesn’t want sokka to get hurt. sokka doesn’t fully understand his powers, and doesn’t know if he wants to, but comes around when he realises that he really can help the world with them

the fire nation is supposedly moving into a new era of peace and harmony - azulon died at around the same time that ozai went mad and disappeared, when his two children were still very young, leaving iroh to take the throne. he has an excellent public image, as a wise and benevolent ruler, but is impossibly good at pulling strings and will put the well-being of his family above all else. he never got over the loss of his son at ba sing se, and intends to use the avatar as a weapon to take out ba sing se and bring peace for good, by ending the war

azula was ozai’s younger child, never a prodigy, and never her uncle’s favourite. her older brother was a firebending prodigy, and sweet and open in a way that appealed to iroh, reminding him of himself at that age. azula was always closed off and antisocial, and received little love from family or friends. she was told that her father burned her face when she was very small, when he lost his mind, but isn’t sure how much she believes that. when she heard of iroh’s plan to get the avatar on the side of the fire nation and use him to wipe out ba sing se, she ran away on a stolen ship, aiming to find and kill the avatar before her uncle can reach him, for the good of everyone. the fire nation encourages the idea that she was as mad as ozai, a danger to herself more than anything

she shaved her head and wears a hood to hide her identity, and is unrecognisable as the missing princess. she’s intensely paranoid and trusts nobody, especially if they come across as too nice. she constantly talks to herself, and hallucinates an idealised version of ozai, who cares about her more than zuko and always validates her worldview. in book 2, she joins the kyoshi warriors, growing her hair out to a pixie cut - initially, she’s with them just to blend in better, but as she spends more time with them, she begins to embrace the idea of fighting in a sisterhood, which is derailed by zuko infiltrating the city in the disguise of an upper-level tea server. in book 3, she finds out that iroh had her father killed, and joins the gaang to train aang to kill the firelord, not understanding that aang is a pacifist

zuko’s a people-pleaser who’s much more confident in himself as a result of being iroh’s favourite and protégé, and under iroh’s tutelage his diplomatic skills are very well developed - he’s calm and polite and extremely manipulative, with a warm smile and nothing behind the eyes. he emulates iroh’s way of dealing with problems, and looks up to iroh as his real father. iroh adopted him as crown prince after the death of lu ten, so zuko has been raised to rule like iroh does. he believes that his uncle would always do the right thing, and repeats iroh’s proverbs verbatim. he speculates on what iroh would do before making choices

his task is to persuade aang to help the fire nation, so he presents as azula’s good brother, who only wants the best for the world. he opens every encounter cordially, regardless of whether or not he just tried to kill someone. behind his careful diplomatic politeness, he does have strong, if skewed, morals, but would never believe the worst of his beloved uncle. he finds azula’s talking to herself embarrassing at best and disturbing at worst, and looks on her with contempt and pity; on one hand, she’s going against his uncle, but on the other, she can’t help being mad. he breaks down when he realises exactly how much iroh isn’t telling him, and that azula was right all along

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla au #role swap au #roleswap au #alta roleswap #sokka #katara #azula #princess azula #uncle iroh #ozai #firelord ozai #prince zuko #zuko

[appassaddle]

So something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it how the technology advancements we see in LoK just... don’t make sense in the larger scheme of the universe.(There are... many issues with the world expansion done in LoK but putting that aside for rn.) Or, because of them Republic City should have been an absolute haven for nonbenders, both because of tech making it easier for them to do things usually done by benders and because it would have likely forced benders from the area. Why?

The technology and city structure we see in LoK would have been sensory hell for benders.

Bending is an innate sense for people who have it right? It’s a psychokinetic ability associated with particular elements that can be used even without formal training (although the training will help hone and strengthen the ability). And we know that benders can sense their elements in the world around them, even if they can’t see or feel it physically. So there’s a low key awareness of it at all times, it’s not like bending can just be turned on or off at will, it’s simply another sense of the body. Benders can likely focus in or out of the sense, just like touch for example- you wear clothes all the time, but you aren’t necessarily constantly thinking of the texture on your skin because it fades into the background. But some people are more sensitive than others.

So how would firebenders deal with electricity? In LoK we see that lightening-bending has been adapted into a power source. Which is cool! But if firebenders are innately attuned to energy (heat, fire, lightening) how would it effect them if that is suddenly everywhere? Electric lights, wires through buildings, through the air connecting them, batteries in engines, etc. Would the average firebender just... constantly be aware of all of that energy? (I know I can’t concentrate if there’s even a slightly buzzy light-bulb in a room, so that would sound like a nightmare to me.) Do firebenders and/or the Fire Nation as a whole rely on different power sources so that they aren’t constantly overwhelmed by it? Does it only effect particularly sensitive benders?

What about waterbenders? We know that large-scale plumbing is already a common thing in ATLA (see: Omashu) and that waterbenders don’t tend to live far from their element. (How much of that is due to the war and how much is cultural preference is unclear. Even in Kyoshi’s time it doesn’t seem particularly common for waterbenders to travel far unless they are involved in politics, education, or healing.) They also are the ones we see most often wanting to be near their element, since they have the lement that is by nature the most localized/restricted. Firebenders carry it with them, earth and air are everywhere, but water is less so. (Hence Hama’s lesson seeming so out of step with the rest of what we know about waterbendering, she crosses the line into some serious taboos. For good reasons, but still.) So if a waterbender isn’t living in a mainly water area (like the Poles or the Swamp) are they just... always aware of all the plumbing? For those inclined for healing or bloodbending would they just constantly be aware of the other bodies around them? Or are regular waterbenders just not aware of it because they’ve mostly never been in a situation where so little water is available?

We know that airbenders tend to be fairly reclusive and traditionally have a monastic life. Which makes more sense if you consider having to be aware of every air current around you. Imagine being in a crowded city and ‘feeling’ every breath being taken in your immediate area. Gross and also would get overwhelming pretty quickly. I too would much prefer to stick around with other people who have intense control over their breathing and buildings designed specifically to keep it as open as possible. (The few times we see Aang actually in largely populated areas, he tends to stick with just a few people at a time. [This is likely as much for animation ease as anything else.] Tenzin also seems to prefer more being at home on the island or at the temples.)

Earthbenders would probably have the easiest time with it, and they’re one of the only locations we see that truly have multiple large cities with big populations. (In the Fire Nation, we really only see Caldera City, and the Water Tribe cities are much more spread out, with lower leveled buildings.) But the buildings we see are largely made of wood, save the very large ones like the Earth King’s Palace, the walls of Ba Sing Sae, and military fortresses. (Omashu seems to be the exception, but we also see that the king/ruler is always a powerful earthbender with the power to maintain and construct housing as a service to their people. See: Bumi, Oma.) Which makes sense from a structural and economic standpoint- if a large amount of your population can move the very foundations of your buildings, it is easier to make structures that can either a) withstand it (wood structures would be more pliable and less prone to structural damage than earth or stone) and b) be easily repaired. Both of which is easier with the wooden buildings, especially since the Earth Kingdom seems to be heavily forested. But the structures in Republic City seem to be made from stone or some kind of concrete equivalent, so does that mean that earthbenders are constantly aware of every step taken in the building? Are thick-soled shoes or tall sandals more popular among earthbenders in the city so that it dulls the vibrations from city life? Are metalbenders aware of all kinds of metal? Would, for example, clocks or household machines have wooden equivalents for sensitive metalbenders so that they don’t have to be constantly aware of the gears working? etc.

If this is the case, Republic City would actually be skewed towards non-benders or at least put them on equal grounds, since the interference of daily life would probably hamper benders in some way.

#posts #avatar meta #atla meta #many thoughts head full #tl:dr- bending is a commonly accepted neurodivergence and should be treated as such

[quarantineddreamer]

@zutaraweek 2020 Day 1: Reunion

This is my first Zutara week since I am new to the ATLA fandom. For some reason I am very nervous to post this (I think because I spent my morning scrolling through the tag and OMG THE TALENT!!) but anyways, here it is! 

Also posted on my AO3

Rating: G

Summary: “I’ll save you from the pirates” -Zuko Katara

Katara picked nervously at the corner of the scroll she bent over, eyes passing over the familiar handwriting for the hundredth time in the past hour alone. We’re boarding the ship shortly… meeting went really well, I think that any additional negotiations will… I’ve been counting down the days till I get to hold you in my arms again... by the time this messenger hawk reaches you it should only be two more nights spent apart... Love always, Zuko. The letter, detailing the success of the Fire Lord’s diplomatic visit to the city of Omashu where a few restless rebellions had arisen had reached Katara over a week ago.

The waterbender frowned as she reached for her tea -a soothing blend that Iroh had promised would help her sleep despite her worry. Still squinting at Zuko’s hurried penmanship, Katara’s fingertips found the steaming liquid instead of the sides of the porcelain teacup, and she cursed as she flinched, knocking the beverage all over her reading material.

“No, no, no!” she cried, waving her hands, pulling the water from the page rapidly so as to keep the ink from running. When at last she was certain she had managed to save the precious material, she collapsed into her chair with a heavy sigh. As she watched the shadows from the candle on her desk play across the walls of her office, she tried desperately to calm herself.

He’s probably just hit bad weather. An image of Zuko thrashing about in the merciless waves of a storm flashed in her mind. Nope! Nope! He’s, uh, just not caught the right wind. But of course, the Fire Nation vessel Zuko had boarded did not rely on a breeze and they couldn’t have run out of power, not with firebenders like Zuko to provide fuel. Not for the first time, she wished that her friends were not scattered across the globe -wished that, at minimum, Aang had been traveling with Zuko, both of them flying safely on Appa’s soft back. But Aang was with Sokka and Suki in the South Pole at the moment helping with restoration work, and Toph was in Ba Sing Se training a special force of Earth Benders to help take down the remnants of the Dai Li.

The last time Katara had felt anything close to this level of worry for Zuko, he had been lying on the ground motionless, remnants of his sister’s lightning dancing across his body. At least she had been with him then, to look after him. Now, she didn’t know where he was or what condition he was in, but she knew him, and she knew it was not nothing that would keep him from her -not with all they had fought through before...

Katara had never felt so alone, but it was Zuko who had asked that she remain behind. “It’ll only be a month!” She remembered his hand on her shoulder as he gave her a pleading look. “Please... While I am gone Uncle will need help keeping everything in check here. You’re the only person in the world I would trust.” When she had finally reluctantly agreed, the kiss he had given her had banished all sadness at the thought of his absence. What was a month apart when they had a lifetime to look forward to now that the war was over? But he was not here now to erase her fear and dispel the hard knot lodged in her stomach.

The month had gone by fast with plenty of ‘Fire Lady’ duties to take care of, but the days that had passed since his estimated date of arrival had dragged with agonizing slowness as though time itself were taunting her… Her fingers itched to drag the scroll towards her again, to scour its surface for clues. He wouldn’t just disappear, he would tell them if he was going to be late.

A soft knock on the door broke the typhoon of anxiousness tearing through her mind. “Yes?” she called.

Iroh’s face, normally so jovial, was grave as it peered into the room. “A soldier from Zuko’s guard just arrived at the palace.”

“Where is he?” She nearly choked on the question, sensing her worst fears were about to be confirmed.

“Their ship was ambushed by a group of pirates. Zuko has been taken hostage and is being held unless the Fire Nation delivers a significant sum to his captors.”

She barely heard the rest, the where, when, and how. All she knew was she was done waiting, fussing over words on paper as though that could bring him back. She should have trusted her instinct, the tightness in her chest, that had told her something was wrong. Should’ve gone with him to Omashu to begin with... She pushed her chair back and stood. “I’m going after him.”

“Katara, please, we have identified the particular ship that has him, we can send a fleet after him.” Iroh fiddled with the teacup and papers on her desk nervously.

“I can handle some lousy pirates. He’s been gone too long, Iroh! And we can’t have the Fire Nation knowing their ruler has been taken...” Already her heart was racing. She’d never admit it, but a dangerous, secretive, part of her missed this. The raw rush of adrenaline from imminent conflict was intoxicating, addictive. Diplomatic meetings had taken her all over the world, but paperwork and debate had nothing on this.

Iroh hung his head. “Peace is fragile. I am aware…” He hesitated, observing her expression intently before saying, “I suppose no one is better suited to chase down pirates, than the greatest Master Water Bender…”

“Hardly,” she quipped humbly, but he always knew how to make her smile. “I appreciate the compliment.” Already at the door she turned to ask, “May I borrow a small ship from the Fire Nation Fleet?”

“The girlfriend of the Fire Lord can have whatever she wishes.” His tone managed to be light, joking, but his eyes still held great sadness and concern.

Katara stepped towards the older man to give him a brief, strong hug, leaning back afterwards to fix him with an earnest gaze. “I promise I’ll bring him home.”

“Stay safe, brave, Katara. I will handle things here.”

“I know you will.”

Moments later she raced through the palace out into the humid night. She did not stop to catch her breath even as she stole past the guards onto the docks and untied the first boat she saw with sails -one she knew she could manage alone.

Yue watched over her and gave her strength as she furiously bent the ocean around her. Spirits help those damn pirates if they’ve so much as given him a papercut...

-----

Zuko groaned as he came to, vaguely aware of a swaying sensation as though he were about to fall, which he figured had something to do with the massive lump at the back of his head. Or maybe it was the movement of the ship he was on. He blinked, his mind slowly focusing and gaining awareness -and along with it an awful dose of pain. How long had he been out? A fog was beginning to lift inside him, but the lingering grogginess suggested he had potentially been drugged for quite some time.

His most recent memories were of chaos, arrows whistling through the air, latching onto the deck of their ship. He had tried to incinerate most of them, and had been successful, until something had struck him hard across the back and sent him instantly into the void.  

Rope rubbed at his wrists and clutched at his chest as he struggled. He tried to bend, but found his movement to be too restricted and clumsy -disoriented as he was. A string of curses tumbled from his lips.

“Tsk, tsk. Not language very fitting of His Highness is it?” a voice called from the shadows of the ship’s hold.

Zuko recognized the voice… One of the advisors that had been traveling with him, Jian… Despite the remnants of drugs in his system it was beginning to become clear how their ship had just happened to fall victim to pirates and who had managed to catch Zuko from behind unexpectedly. “What do you want, Jian?” he asked sharply, glaring as the advisor drew closer.

“You are the last person our great nation should be led by,” he hissed.

Zuko’s lips curled in disgust at the man’s hot breath on his face, his nostrils flared as he exhaled smoke and frustration, pleased when Jian backed away, clearly fighting an undignified cough. “I trusted you. I thought you were helping us work to rebuild… The past year… and last week in Omashu. What changed?”

Jian laughed coldly. “This was always the plan. Your naivety will be the end of you young Fire Lord.”

“To hope for something better is not naive,” Zuko replied fiercely.

The former advisor scanned him for a moment then smirked, eyes shining with mania. “Look at where you are.” He lifted arms clad in elegant red silk to gesture at their dingy surroundings. “You will either die here, or in a cell in a Fire Nation prison unless a ransom is paid.”

Zuko snorted, a small flame escaping his nose. He wished, not for the first time in his life, that he had managed to master more fire breathing than that -something that would be useful in his current predicament- but that had always been more Azula’s specialty despite all of Uncle’s efforts. “Money? That’s what this is about?”

“That is only the beginning,” he whispered conspiratorially. Beady black eyes danced in lantern light as he regarded Zuko with intense hatred. “One day soon, the rightful Fire Lord will return to the Fire Nation throne and he will make you pay for your treasonous actions.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. Great, another Ozai loyalist. Just his luck that one had been insidious enough to work his way to this point. Maybe he was naive, though if Katara and the rest of his friends had taught him anything, it was that trying to find the good in others would never be a bad thing. He had everything to thank for their belief in that. Katara… He shut his eyes for a moment as a wave of longing washed over him. Arguably he had been in worse situations than this, but it had been years since he had faced them without her by his side. If only he had let her come along…but he had been so afraid to leave the Fire Nation unattended with all its troubles placed solely on his uncle’s shoulders.

A knock at the door interrupted Zuko’s thoughts of the Water Bender and the ache that he felt burying itself in his chest knowing she would be worried at his delay. He regretted the stress he would put her through. While Jian went to open the door Zuko tried to subtly tug at his bindings again. If he could just get enough motion in his fingers to firebend and weaken the rope… With Jian distracted he frantically tried to summon enough of the element, fighting the last of the drug’s haze...

“Yes?” Jian asked impatiently of the visitor to the hold, a short, skinny pirate with a large, floppy hat that Zuko could see extended beyond even the width of Jian’s frame that blocked the doorway.

Almost there… Zuko wiggled his wrists in small circles, wincing when a small jet of fire nearly set his pants aflame, missing the ropes entirely. Fortunately the hold’s wood was damp enough that the floor remained unlit. The firebender took a deep breath and tried again, thankful that Jian was still busy discussing something with the pirate at the door.

An image of Katara practicing her bending came to mind. He recalled the graceful, delicate, intention with which she waved every muscle in her hands. On his second attempt to burn the ropes he was careful to control his digits more precisely, and his efforts were rewarded when he felt a small heat pass along his palms and hit the rope.

The sounds of Jian bidding the pirate farewell and closing the door encouraged Zuko to rush his final pass at burning the ropes off. He fought back a hiss of pain as he felt flame pass over the delicate flesh on the inside of his lower arms. Seconds later when he gave the bonds one last tug and felt them fall away his injury was forgotten. He remained carefully still as Jian turned back to him, waiting for the perfect moment.

When the advisor strayed within arm’s reach Zuko suddenly lunged, seizing him by the shoulders and spinning the man, head-first, into the nearest wall. Jian collapsed with a soft, surprised exclamation and a solid thunk of skull colliding with wood, and Zuko, breathed a sigh of relief.

Wasting no time he rushed for the door, throwing himself through the opening and shooting glances down the short hallway. Luckily, it was clear. Quietly, he sealed Jian in the cell and padded softly towards a set of stairs illuminated with pale moonlight. He had no idea what awaited him on the deck. Whatever it was he would handle it then, though he had to shake Iroh’s admonishing tone from his head, ‘You never think these things through!’

When he emerged from the belly of the ship he was prepared for an immediate onslaught of pirate swords and other weaponry, but despite what he was sure were Jian’s desires, these were not Fire Nation soldiers. The crew was gathered around a makeshift table and their drunken cackles and bickering carried loudly above even the sea breeze and persistent slapping of water against the hull.

Zuko crouched behind a wooden crate and scanned the deck. There were more than a dozen pirates playing cards in the moonlight and who knew how many more aboard the ship. With the moon shining brightly in the sky Zuko knew Katara would have been a force to be reckoned with, but he could not say the same for his firebending, and he was disappointed in how weak he felt -from hunger, thirst, likely concussion, and not to mention residual effects of whatever Jian had been using to keep him unconscious.

He was contemplating the slim likelihood of stealing away unnoticed with one of the small boats tied to the side of the ship when the gull-rat squawked at him. At first, he ignored it -at any given moment any seaside town or boat was always under the assault of the persistent creature and its horrible fecal habits- but when it continued to tilt its head at him in curiosity he recalled the companions the pirates he had met several years ago kept…The gull-rat’s call was louder the second time and Zuko swore as its owner, walking away from the card table with a fistful of coins and a drunken grin, blinked at the sight of the prisoner wandering freely.

It was really not his day. Zuko sprinted for the boat he had been eyeing early, bending a blast of flame at the ropes that held it to the main ship and hoping he would not be far behind the vessel as it crashed loudly into the ocean below. The gambling crew were all armed now, and though a few teetered from the effects of what was decidedly not the calming tea Iroh was always drinking, many looked formidable opponents. A circle was already closing around Zuko who searched desperately for an opening.

The Fire Lord managed to dodge two pirates who swung rusty blades at him and pushed back three more with a ball of flame. Seeing an opening in the ranks, he dashed wildly for the side of the ship, glancing back only once when an arrow whizzed past his shoulder.

Once was one time too many. He crashed right into the short, skinny pirate that had stopped by his cell to speak with Jian and they collapsed to the deck in a painful twist of limbs. Before Zuko could roll away the short pirate had pinned him and grabbed both his wrists.

-----

“I’ll save you from the pirates,” she whispered, grinning as the confusion on his handsome face turned to joy when she removed the ridiculous hat she wore so he could see her. His smile was everything, she hadn’t realized just how much she had missed it -instantly warming her from the inside out.  

“Katara!” He sat up and pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing the top of her head and breathing in the smell of her hair.

She was disappointed when he broke away to stand. It was understandable though. The pirates were racing towards them -even the gull-rat was giving chase.

“I knocked a boat into the water, if we can just swim to it…” Zuko eyed the railings of the ship unhappily, no doubt imagining the long drop.

“And then what?” Katara asked, drawing water from the ocean and forming two whips over both her arms.

“We, uh, we go?” Zuko offered.

She fought back a bubble of laughter. “You really don’t think things through. Zuko, they can just chase us! They’d catch us in no time in this larger ship. Was that really your plan?”

He fumbled for words, cheeks flushing furiously with embarrassment.

Katara lashed out at the first wave of pirates, tripping them with one long tendril of water. “Zuko, you’re a firebender, set the ship on fire!” She looked away as a stray pirate broke rank to try and shoot them with his bow. A jet of water aimed sharply by Katara eliminated that immediate problem. “You are the Fire Lord, how did you not think of this?” This time the laughter escaped her, his befuddled expression too cute to take.

“I, uh.. Okay, I’m pretty sure I have a concussion... and potentially still some drugs in my system?” he admitted, punching the air with his fists, sending fire at the pirates and the sails of the ship. Soon the entire deck was dancing with the dangerous orange glow.

“That’s our cue!” Katara declared, and grabbed his hand. “Ready?” She stepped up onto the railing of the ship and he followed.

They balanced precariously for a moment, her hair spinning wildly in the wind, before jumping into the air, stomachs dropping for a brief exhilarating second before Katara froze a wave to slide them towards the empty boat bobbing in the waves. A miscalculation on her part landed them in frigid ocean water that stole both their breaths away.

Katara was first to pull herself into the boat, flopping wetly into the wooden hull. She giggled at the sight of Zuko, hair spiked every which way by the ocean, arms flung desperately over the side of the boat kicking furiously to pull himself into the raft. Taking mercy on a Fire Bender out of his element, she helped him aboard. Together they looked back at the burning pirate ship, observing the frantic shadows of the crew moving about with buckets of water. Still, Katara did not wait long to begin moving their vessel to the small cove nearby where she had anchored her Fire Nation ship.

Only when they were confident that no one had pursued them to the sandy shores and were safely sailing towards home aboard her borrowed ship did they rest, allowing the wind to do the work for them. They collapsed, laying on the deck, staring skyward at a ceiling of stars, and Zuko gently pulled Katara against him. She reveled in the familiar beat of his heart beneath her as she settled her head on his chest.

She felt him shake as he laughed quietly. “I still can’t believe I didn’t think, to... Burn the ship?”

Katara reached for a small bit of water and it glowed as she reached a hand back to touch the side of his head. “Better?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah, much. Thank you…” he sighed and leaned his scarred face into her healing palm. “I can’t say this was the reunion I was imagining.”

“I don’t know…” She looked up at him, the beginnings of a soft smile tugging at her lips. “We’re even now,” she teased, bumping him playfully. “And it was kind of fun... Reminds me of how far we’ve come.” How different things were since the last time they had encountered pirates -and not just his hair, though thank the spirits for that.

“Just another day in the life of the Fire Lord I guess,” Zuko replied wistfully, a hand playing with the end of one of her curls.

“I mean, I’m not saying you should do it again… ”

“Not without you... “Never without you,” he promised -and to Katara’s delight, sealed the oath by placing his lips against hers.

#zutara #zutara week 2020 #zuko #katara #reunion #zuko x katara #zutara fanfic #zutara week #zutara fanfiction #ao3 fic #b writes #zukos-calming-tea

[orettile]

ok my avatar stardust crusaders au. i had to draw at least some basic stuff for it because its been living in my head for like a month now! I imagine a mashup of jojo and atla canon of sorts 

100 years ago dio took over and became the firelord. Then the plot vaguely follows the schemat of phantom blood: jonathan and dio fight, jonathan dies, dio somehow manages to get himself frozen, not unlike aang, and is presumed dead for 100 years . Plot begins the moment dio comes back and takes back his previous position as a firelord and starts the war anew.

rest of character headcanons/descriptions under the cut

jotaro

 avatar, oryginally earthbender.

 his whole life he has been living in a quiet town somewhere in an earth kingdom, before he discovered that somehow he is able to bend other elements and therefore he’s the avatar. It happened around the time dio became the ruler of the fire nation again. Then he gets dragged by joseph to learn all the bending arts and defeat dio

i imagined him as an earthbender both because of his fighting style and personality - he is straightforward, strong, stubborn and knows when to strike

joseph

he’s a firebender, i imagine he’s been living somewhere in an earth kingdom though. During the war he usually travel in earth kingdom clothing or at least something neutral. Wants to kill dio to avenge his grandpa jonathan and end the war once and for all

along the way he teaches jotaro firebending as his first foreign element. jotaro is not very keen on lessons with his grandpa but knows he’s lucky to learn an enemy’s weappon from someone he can at least trust

avdol

yeah i know he’s basically a firebender in canon already and i like firebender!avdol, but i think he fits airbending just as well. He’s a spiritual, fun person and also i think he would look great in the tattoos

in this au i guess that airbenders haven’t been completely wiped out because dio disappeared before he was able to go thorough with the plan

he teaches jotaro airbending and jotaro finds it a bit hard since air and earth are opposite elements, but avdol is a great teacher so its not bad

polnareff

ok so he is a non-bender sent by dio, the rest pretty much the same as canon (i didn’t really think through the fleshbud thing but i think it can still be present here)

i had a problem to translate his frenchness into atla universe and still have no idea what nation he fits best but ultimately i’ve decided that he’s just from some weird island on earth kingdom territory that is known for how its citizens speak weird.

he fights with a sword he made himself

kakyoin

waterbender who was taken from his village during one of the fire nation raids. He learned bloodbending while he has been kept captive by fire nation and tried to escape using it, but got caught. After some time the news of his ability got passed to dio, who thought he could certainly use a bloodbending assasin

got brainwashed and sent to kill the avatar, but his zuko-esque behaviour ends the moment his fleshbud is out. 

jotaro learns waterbending from him and this element is something that he quickly warms up to. he finds the calming (ocean man....)

they also have mud fights :)

the group needs to get healed after pretty much every enemy encounter and he as a waterbender is at first the only one with the ability to heal. hes  not very good at it, and he finds polnareff’s ability to get injured all the time annoying, but he tries his best. he tries to pass some of his knowledge of healing to jotaro

i drew him with the brown hair like in ova 

iggy

iggy is still a dog. thats thats on that

this sure got a bit longer than i expected

i am not usually eager enough to come up with elaborate au descriptions but there were some things i just wanted to draw and then it went overboard

#stardust crusaders #jotaro kujo #mohammed avdol #jean pierre polnareff #kakyoin noriaki #joseph joestar #avatar au #mine

[punkinroses]

Soooo. This part has been a lot of work to try and figure out and while I'm still working on the storyline aspect, I did want to start presenting the characters of the Avatar Lian story/the Zutara grandkid is the Avatar au. Some may play bigger roles than others but it's still important to know the family dynamic of everyone so here we go. And we're gonna start with the first family;

Zutara kids

Fire Lord Iroh: The eldest son of Zuko and Katara, affectionately named after his great uncle. Many assumed with such a powerful namesake and with being the heir to the longstanding dynasty, he would be a Firebender. However, the nation was shocked when he demonstrated Waterbending abilities. This leads to a lot of conflict from other nobles of if he should be the Fire Lord or if that role should be passed onto the next in line. Katara and Zuko were both firm that their son was more than capable of being ruler, no matter his bending ability. He has become a man of resilience, patience and understanding, who wants what is best for his nation, though he has his mothers spirit and will not let others try and treat him as lesser. He also tells the corniest Dad jokes, he got that from both sides of that family. Appearance wise, he actually has shorter, dark brown hair than most fire lords before him but still drops down to his chin. While he wears it in the traditional top knot for political meetings and public outings, if he is just relaxing with his family he likes to keep most of it down with a small part pulled into a ponytail. He has a deep tan that's just slightly lighter than his mothers complexion and deep blue eyes. He favors a lot of his father's facial features, but has Kataras smile. His clothes are primarily reds, but still bears some blue and purple in his clothes.

His wife is Fire Lady Tae, the daughter of a prominent noble family and a Firebender. She's someone who sees the healing the nation needs after spending so much time in a strict and rigid order and falling toeards propaganda, even after her father in laws time as Fire Lord. She and Katara also get rather close. She loves tea and the arts and wants to see her home and family prosper. Iroh knew she was the love of his life when she actually laughed at his super horrible jokes. I imagine that scene actually kinda plays out like the one in Mulan 2, where Ling and TingTing are together and she admits she's embarrassed by her laugh and Ling was like "I just thought you had no sense of humor". Like that scene. She has fair skin and long, wavy black hair with a thick topknot that she keeps a gold decorative comb in, a present from Iroh. Her eyes are a paler gold color. Her outfit is actually one that tends to be more common and subtle, rather than extravagant and the gold comb is the only extravagant jewelry she keeps.

Crown Princess Tomoe is the eldest daughter of their union. She is a nonbender and has chosen to learn how to wield swords, as taught to her by her Grandfather. She is a loving older sister to her younger siblings and is also a big supporter of the arts, like her mother. She has an undercut and keeps her dark brown hair flipped to the side or up in a ponytail to show it. Her eyes are gold and her skin is a lighter olive color. She keeps up with the most up and coming fashion trends and dresses the most stylish out of all of the family, but always keeps to outfits she can move freely in.

The secondborn is more than just a princess. Born on the day that Avatar Aang passed, Avatar Lian is an adventurous Waterbending prodigy. She is extremely close to both of her grandparents and wishes to explore like they did in their youth and has always been considered a free spirit. Her animal guide is a Snow Leopard Caribou named Lumi, who was gifted to her by Sokka. She has long, jet black hair she keeps in a half up ponytail with some locks braided back into the ponytail (I always kinda pictured a more viking hairstyle for her) and blue eyes with gold flecks, and her skin is a bit darker than her sisters. She likes wearing a combination of dark blues, golds and blacks, with certain bits of red that accentuate her outfit. I'm also debating on if she is actually given her grandmother's necklace as a parting gift before she goes and travels.

The only firebender out of his siblings, Prince Roku has always been a wild child. He is a very active young boy who loves practicing his firebending as an extension of himself and playing games. He is also very much a tea snob, like his great great uncle before him. His hair is still shorter, nearing his chin and he's like two steps away from either shaving it or going into the new up and coming hairdye products that have been hitting shelves. He's paler than both of his sisters and is a very light olive skinned boy and he has bright gold eyes. Theres also a scar going through his brow from an accident involving him taking a Dragon Moose for a joyride.

Princess Kya: The youngest daughter of Zuko and Katara, affectionately named after her grandmother. As a child, her fire bending abilities came at a young age and very unexpectedly. Many tried to push her into the role of Firelord, something she very quickly rejected. She has instead found herself a role as a diplomat in Republic City and is helping in efforts to fight poverty in the city and helping improve life not only there, but in the Water Tribes and the Fire Nation. She also has been running an academy with the aid of the White Lotus to teach children fromm all nations and heritages to learn bending, weaponry mastery and philosophy. She has long black hair pinned back with bangs framing her face and she's lighter skinned than her brother, but not by much. Her eyes are a dark gold and she's actually the taller of the two siblings. She has a full tattoo sleeve, with the top part of it being a sun and moon combined and the rest of it being differing things from her two cultures, i.e. a dragon, a wave, water tribe designs and a fire symbol at the wrist.

Kya is someone who never focused on romances and was very dedicated to her own work. She's had a couple of failed relationships but has stopped actively looking for love. She wants to focus on her career.

She does, however, adopt two siblings, Gen and Rohan, who had been orphaned after their parents were killed by one of the gangs that had been forming in Republic City.

Gen is the elder of the two and he is an Earthbender. He's very confident in his abilities and is a bit of a jock. His ego is jokingly and lovingly kept in check by his adoptive mother, but she always encourages him to keep doing his best. He's a bit thickheaded but he is very loyal and he absolutely loves messing with his cousins. Hes got short brown hair that's spiked up a bit, tan skin and emerald green eyes.

Rohan loves messing with his cousins as much as his brother does, but he's a bit more of the subdued sibling. He loves reading and philosophy and finds something poetic in his earthbending, wanting to use it to help build and create. He also has a strong sense of justice and wantd to use his gifts and what he's been taught to be put to good use in Republic City and help find who killed his parents. His brown hair is a bit longer than his brothers, his eyes more a green-gray color.

Edit: sharing the link to the other kids list down here!

Sukka Kids; Taang Kids

#zutara #zutara au #zutara kids #atla #avatar #avatar lian #avatar the last airbender #atla au #atla oc #im being vague about the outfits bc aha i have no idea what theyre all wearing #like #part of me also wants some traditionalism in certain standards #but also #also i have no idea if the styles are gonna matxh the 20s #or the 40s and 50s #send help pls

[heavensenthearty]

For the Zutara asks: 13 and 29?

13. Do you think the Fire Nation would allow Zuko’s heir to become Firelord if they were a waterbender?

I've already talked about how I think the highest probability is that they had a firebender child, but honestly... yes, I think they would.

I mean, at the end of the day we are talking about a fictional show that included many unrealistic aspects to make things end up in a rosy note in many occasions. And in reality, there are many presidents whose skin color isn't exactly a majority in the countries over which they rule, and that's the biggest comparison we can make over our rulers and the ones of the ATLA-verse.

Besides, is anyone going to tell me Zuko and Katara's children — the Zuko and Katara's children, Mr. "This world needs a new era of peace and kindness" and Mrs. "I wanna fight!" children — wouldn't start a revolution to institute democracy? I don't think so.

29. Do you think Zuko would have been able to beat Azula without Katara?

During their fight, sure yeah.

At the moment Azula cheated in one way or the other just to straight up k-word her brother — intentions that she made very clear — not so much.

I'm one of those people that very clearly see that Zuko had the upper hand during the "fair game" part of the Agni Kai, the only reason why he fell (physically and figuratively) was because Azula cheated, something that is not OOC for her at all, neither it is for her to find multiple ways to get things her way or inflict physical and psychological pain on her brother.

Let's say Zuko indeed took someone else from the remaining members of the GAang (minus Aang): Toph is a formidable fighter, but her element (Earth) doesn't have the flexibility and adaptability to handle the crisis of a crazy firebender on the loose. It would have protected her better if Azula went for her, but what would be her options for throwing Azula off balance? Some clay cuffs? Azula has already freed herself from those and without the help of firebending-empowering comet. Seriously, the only option for Toph to escape being cornered by breakdown!Azula with Sozin's Comet recharge would be... crushing her.

And let's say Zuko brought Sokka to the Agni Kai instead. Then our two boys would be dead.

Sokka is not a bender or an acrobat like Ty Lee or Suki to move physically faster than lightning, the only thing he has to shield himself are his weapons (which most probably are made out of electricity conductive materials), Azula would have make him explode in the spot.

And let's say either Toph or Sokka survive and Azula is not crushed... Zuko would still have 10,000,000 watts corrupting his insides! That's not something you fix without surgery — which is not available for the time period into which the story is settled — so the second best option is waterbending healing, and Katara is the only one around who can perform it.

Let's look at some of the possible ways Azula had for cheating without necessarily aiming at Katara: throw lightning to some of the buildings around so the debris would crush Zuko, get close enough and scratch Zuko's face — or something worse with those nails of hers — like she did the first time they fought in the series, attack Zuko's healthy eye to complete and permanently blind him. Zuko would need urgent medical attention if any of these scenarios ensued, not even for the wounds, but because Azula would use each of these chances as ways end him. And who do we know that is an amazing healer and fighter?

It starts with K, and ends "atara."

#zutara #atla #katara #zuko #zuko x katara #avatar the last airbender #avatar the legend of aang

[pottergotwholocked]

fic writer ask game: 1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction? 4. Link your three favorite fics right now. 11. How do you come up with your fic titles? 16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching? 39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Thanks for the ask!! I love talking about fanfiction, its definitely a special interest of mine. (break added as this got sorta long lol)

1. I think I was 12 when I first started reading fanfiction? I joined ff.net in 2011, livejournal around the same time. I wrote a few stories back then, but really started to get into writing (readable) fanfiction around 2018.

4. I’m constantly reading, so it’s hard to pick, but here are 3 that I’m really liking that I haven’t heard anyone talking about.

* Am I a monster? and the rest of the series, Hakoda and the Southern Water Tribe are Oblivious to his Children's Shenanigans. I’ve been really liking this series because it explores the idea of what if Hakoda and the SWT never met Team Avatar, and therefore don’t know that the kids are traveling with Aang. They meet up after the war, and Katara and Sokka have to figure out how to tell their tribe that they are the people in the Avatar stories they keep talking about.

The Threads of Fate - The Southern Raiders arrived at the shores of the Southern Water Tribe, not to find and kill the last waterbender, but to take the Chief’s son. A firebender and an appropriate age, they took him back to the Caldera and presented him to the royal family. Prince Zuko and Sokka grow up together, and when the former is banished three years later, his best and only friend leaves with him on an impossible task. I’ve read a few Firebender!Sokka fics, but no other ones where Sokka grows up in the Fire Nation like this, and it leads so some really interesting changes in how season 1 is different.

Is there a way back home? series. Another fic in the “Hakoda accidentally adopts Zuko” trope. Zuko ends up on Hakoda’s ship during season one, and starts the trend of Hakoda’s accidental child acquisition and the chaos that happens as a result. Jin and Jet join later on, just adding more chaos.

11. A lot of trial and error lol. I’m terrible about creating fic titles, I usually end up trying to think up some phrase that doesn’t sound ridiculous but still has to do with the story? For example, I came up with the name for Hunger Pains, my story about Zuko using his experience with hunger to be a better ruler, because it was a play on the hunger pangs you can get.

16. I try to! If I’m writing about something that I don’t have any experience about, like knee braces in a new reality. I can’t really think of any rabbit holes that I’ve gone down recently though.

39. Dialogue maybe? I’ve always loved writing dialogue much better then anything else, I tend to write the rest of stories based on that lol.

thanks again for the ask!! @becauseanders

#becausesanders #asks #other: asks

[grimmjowkurosakidrake]

Choice of clothes

Summary: Katara and Zuko try to choose new clothes for the Fire Lord.

Rating: K

Relationships: Katara/Zuko

For the Zutara month day Fourteen: Dao Swords

Notes: Not from the beautiful moon universe, just a one shot. 

Katara is there when the royal advisers and designers decide on the outfits Zuko is going to use as the new Fire Lord.

Katara is now just barely his girlfriend and thus she’s not a big part of the Fire Nation’s political agenda.But she will be. 

Zuko has been telling her, to the point of exhaustion, that she’s going to be the Fire Lady one day, and that the position, just like his own, will entail some degree of subjection of their freedoms. Because the rulers of a nation owe themselves to their people, Katara must learn to love the Fire Nation like she learned to love Zuko.

But the oppression it’s just ridiculous sometimes.

She sits by a window away from where Zuko is seating with the elders, looking at old designs from his father and new ones just for himself.

“Gold hairpins for the top knots we’ll manage to make with his hair when it grows some more,” Madame Kamlai, a thin and tall, almost esqueletical older woman who presented herself as one of Ursa’s handmaids from when she used to live on the palace. “Maybe a few made of silver to compliment Lady Katara’s ancestry.” She notes offhandedly.

“The water tribe doesn’t craft with silvers.” Corrects Katara with a hard tone of voice, “we’re not miners, we craft with skins, woods and some precious rocks, never gold nor silver.”

“It’s symbolic,” the old woman berates her, “not that a water tribe peasant would know,” she whispers then, just loud enough for Katara to hear. The dark haired girl just wonders how can it be possible for this woman to apparently know more than her about her tribe’s customs and symbols. It’s ridiculous.

Zuko doesn’t hear what the old woman has to say about Katara and the waterbender decides that is for the best. She keeps quiet after that. Just listening to Zuko’s subjects about silks and the Fire Nation’s new fashion trends.

Until Zuko makes a suggestion. “Maybe some belts and sheaths for my Dao Swords,” his voice sounds soft, insecure. It occurs to Katara, that he should sound confident and powerful. 

Like a Lord.

He also looks reverent, fond of the weapons that saved him, all through so many fights during the war, both as a the enemy of the Avatar, as his friend and as the Blue Spirit.

As he carefully strokes the sharpened edges of his one of his swords, Zuko searches for acceptance on the people he’s looked up to since he was a young prince following the king around like a lost puppy.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” berates Chakrii, and old soldier who looks a lot like Iroh, with his long, white beard and his thick disposition. “No Fire Lord can wear the mark of the weak if he aspires to rule or nation.” He grumbles, stoic like an strict father.

Zuko doesn’t need another one of those in his life.

With a quick flick of her fingers, Katara benders the water on one of the many canteens she keeps around in the case of a fight. She freezes a deadly disc of ice and throws it at the group of royals conversing, including Zuko.

They’re all firebenders, but none of them is fast enough to counter her attack, the only one of them who is able to react in time is Zuko, who quickly slices the ice disc with the Dao Sword he was holding just a moment ago.

“A weapon is not a sign of weakness,” growls Katara “It’s a weapon.” At the edge if her temper, she walks over to Zuko and lovingly kisses his cheek “Put the damn belts for the swords,” she commands the elders with a pointed look “I will be drinking tea with uncle Iroh if you want to see me after you’re finished.”

Zuko holds her hand with a longing look on his face, he loves it when she gets violent with her enemies, and Katara knows it. “Tell uncle to brew some rose tea for me,” he whispers before kissing her hand and letting her go.

He keeps his Dao Swords.

#Zutara #zutara month #zutara month 2020 #zutara fanfic #zutara fic #day fourteen #zuko #katara #ATLA #avatar: the legend of aang #fanfic #fanfiction #fic