bluespiritshonour

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Two Body Problem - Chapter 1 - nocturne_blot - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005) [Archive of Our Own]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63072013/chapters/161524177

[bluespiritshonour]

All Things Sharp - nocturne_blot - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005) [Archive of Our Own]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64368778

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guys, i think this is literally my favorite fanart that i’ve ever done, ever.  maybe even one of my favorite pieces of digital art.

haha if this only gets like six notes i’m gonna be so sad.  

anyway, this is for sexy maiko week: fight and forgiveness.  in some kind of au where they wear vaguely thug outfits.  i don’t know what they’re fighting about.  whatevs.

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Mai

Ming Dynasty references! Why Ming Dynasty? Honestly I'd seen other artists use it for Mai's wardrobe and I loved it. So it's in the realm of accurate in shape, goth-fire nation in colour palette.

(Reoccurring disclaimer for this art series: This is for fun, they are inspired by the show's costume designs and then extrapolated out with historical fashion or things I think will be fun to draw. These are not meant to be accurate, only inspired. I hope you like them!)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

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SUPERMAN (2025) dir. James Gunn

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I have a thousand complains against Ashes of the Academy that I can't be bothered to verbalise because I always feel like I'm bad at words but lately I've been feeling people simply don't read stuff and jump to conclusions—

So yeah. From plot perspective, politics, characterisation, constant retcon of certain stuff etc. etc. the writing and pacing itself and certain character choices didn't make sense. I have plenty of complains. I still liked the comic because it showed Zuko's character development. It's not much, but it is in the direction of what I wanted. So I liked the comic.

Now that disclaimer's out of the way; I've heard a complain that Zuko smiles too much in it. Now. I know. Let's go back to show canon. Zuko very rarely doesn't smile around Mai. And given that most of his scenes in this comic are around Mai... Is it really surprising that he smiles as much as he does?

I don't think so. :D

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my toxic art trait is being too lazy to render hair

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Yeah her not having knives rubbed me the wrong way too.

I understand the point of this whole book is "pen is mightier than sword" and she does stop agni kais too—but still! It was doozy seeing her hands bare!!!

I actually cringed when that panel came up.

mai not having knives because they're "dangerous" is the biggest ooc possible. it's ridiculous. she sleeps with knives, she eats with knives, she works with knives. don't tell me she didn't snuggle a few shurikens under her sleeves and didn't pin some darts to her ankles

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Yes. The Zuko character development is what has me hopeful. He doesn't appear much and everytime he does appear they bring up "trust" which was the reason for their break-up.

Why have him trying to fix the exact thing that led to the break-up if not to have them get back together in the future. I do doubt we'd get more maiko content though... we need that for a fleshed out story.

It also read to me like Zuko goes to Mai specifically to ask for help because he's now actively trying to involve her in his life (something that Mai complained about him not doing before). He's literally there like "see? I'm changing" :D

I also think he was at the academy to solely see her and not because he hasn't worked on his micromanaging tendencies yet (which are, frankly, a product of Yang comics that he injected specifically to break maiko up and I still consider it OOC but whatever).

Mai gets defensive because he's done that in the past: not trusted her. He does start to defend himself saying "Mai, I'm really not—!"—but then he chooses not to argue with her because. Well. She does have a point! He did do that in the past—and he acknowledges he's working on it. (I'm not sure the writers intended it that way. It actually looked to me like they just had Zuko show up 'cause he's pining. Then they had the argument about trust issues because they want to show the audience that Zuko's working on exactly what caused the break-up. And—the writing didn't flow smoothly from point a to b.)

Or maybe I'm just delulu and I refuse to accept that Zuko was there because he was "hovering" and not trusting her as Mai accuses him of and not because he just wanted to see her.

I mean, when she gets offended at him being there, he tries to play it off as checking on the academy and not her, not thinking how that might sound to Mai (which is very IC for Zuko).

So, yeah. I don't think it means they won't get back together. But I have mixed feelings for the future. It'll be all for nothing if we don't get any content/they get back together off-screen. 😭

And I do hope by some miracle your wish comes true, Loopy! A grand prequel to the movie would be so great but... Well, we don't know anything.

P.S. I was just glad to see the writing finally having Zuko put in the work. It was okay considering how little he appeared there. Blud still be messing up, but he's trying!

(DONT READ IF YOU HAVENT READ ASHES OF THE ACADEMY YET !!SPOILERS!!)

What do you think if Mai shutting down the idea of being Zukos girlfriend again? I don't think that it solidifies that they would never get back together since they go out of there way to show that their communication skills are better but UGH it feels like they could be taking the friendship route.

It's nothing I haven't read or written in Maiko Get Back Together fics. Mai is a character who expresses herself with extremes, as I think this comic captured very nicely in many aspects, so she's going to be adamant that she and Zuko are never getting back together until the moment they get back together, at which point she'll probably consider them engaged.

I honestly consider this comic to have ended things at First And Goal. It touches on Maiko's issues, has Zuko acknowledge what he has to even though he hasn't quite corrected the behavior yet, has Mai acknowledge Zuko's acknowledgement, and leaves them working well together when the going gets tough. I'm glad the comic didn't get them back together given how little focus their relationship got, but it feels like a sequel or follow-up could do the job with this foundation.

Unfortunately, that's part of a frustrating trend where these comics set things up without giving us any full payoff or consequences. The Azula comic, while also good and solid with its character work, did the same thing. I'm suspicious that these comics aren't allowed to make any significant advancements.

But maybe it's all being saved for a multi-part prequel to the supposedly upcoming Adult GAang movie, an epic that sees the whole cast coming together again to resolve everyone's subplots and set up whatever the movie is doing.

That would be fun.

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MAI 🔪🖤

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You're a demi Zuko truther too!!!!

We all cheered!

I legit hc'd him ace until Mai happened and I was like "wow, he likes making out with her a little too much"

But the way he couldn't tell Jin was interested and Mai had to ask him out and initiate physical contact most of the time—yeah, he's dorky and adorable.

I HATE bad boy stereotype that the fandom foisted on him. I think that's a huge part of why maiko is unpopular. People convinced themselves he's a bad boy and couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that he has a canon relationship and is TOTALLY NOT A BAD BOY about it.

wait wait wait

last time i checked it was march, 2025. do people still write long serious articles that zuko should've ended up with someone else? like seriously?? are we still doing this in 2025?

that guy was left with the entire state on his shoulders to clean up the afterwar mess that his ancestors made.

firstly, i honestly think romance was the last thing he was thinking about back then (even though i do ship zuko with someone and you all know it).

secondly, zuko is the most adorable demisexual boy. stop making him that edgy, super hot, classic bad boy. he sucks at romance and he's hot only because he was fighting in the agni kai since thirteen and then he worked his but off to improve his firebending. that's the only hot thing about him. firebending lol. well, apart of him being loyal and growing to care about other people, his friends and his nation. that's hot too imo.

but not because of his looks or his terrible temper before that some people still see as attractive and hot? it's toxic y'all.

(plus his face is deformed and he's been through so much pain. he deserves peace and healing, he doesn't deserve to be dragged into every romantic plotline and ship 😭)

leave my baby alone. he'll just chill near the turtleduck pond </3

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They'd be married for years and have a kid too and still sneak around between meetings to make out.

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Maiko being well-written isn't really hard! Their personalities are already compatible; their arcs mesh together well. All they need to do is have Zuko do something that'd prove to Mai that he'd never leave her behind again. It's classic grovelling formula in countless romances.

It could barely take a couple of pages of comic to pull. After all, each of Zuko's field trips with the Gaang took an episode each (okay, except for TBR but you get my point, right?)

I know I haven't been hopeful because avatar studios are trash and given their track record they're more likely to put everything on Mai and have them get back together like snapping fingers or just hint at it and leave it ambiguous—BUT, if by any chance, we get loverboy Zuko—even if not necessarily grovelling (I want him on his knees for her but that's just me) but just—just proving that he's gonna be a good boyfriend going forward.

I am gonna be unstoppable.

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"You're so beautiful when you hate the world" inspo

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you roll your eyes.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you sigh like that.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you’re mad at servants.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you’re arguing with the Fire Sages.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you shut up the councilman.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you’re complaining about royal hairstyle.

Zuko: You’re so beautiful when you’re throwing knives at me.

Mai: …

Mai: Zuko, please

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I wish they dealt with it!!! Imagine Mai expressing her fears of being left behind and Zuko reassuring her that he'd never ever do that again. And he proved it to her for the rest of their lives!

Oh! It could be a salient part of them getting back together! Mai is not a villain for wanting to protect herself after being hurt so many times.

And Zuko getting to know and understand and striving to be the one who'd be different ❤️

okay but what about mai and the fear of abandonment? first because her parents mostly neglected her in childhood, then zuko was banished, then ty lee left for a circus, and then zuko left her again via letter?? and maybe when she broke up with zuko it was the first time when she allowed herself to leave because staying in these relationships was deeply unhealthy for her and her mental state..?

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like Mai was in love with Zuko since childhood, and then he was sent away for years during his banishment. There is no evidence that Mai ever blames Zuko for this, but overall it might still have left some lingering abandonment feelings. Especially when Zuko breaks up with her after coming back, without a real explanation to her face.

Then Mai betrays Azula for Zuko, and brings herself in danger for him... on top of her already showing him that she cares about him, which isn't easy for her.

That's what "don't ever break up with me again" meant. It's not some psycho stalker ex-girlfriend physical threat to Zuko. It means Mai is willing to forgive, on the condition that Zuko will not repeat those mistakes, because it hurt her before.

Which is completely normal expectations to have after your partner have caused you hurt or betrayed your trust in some important way. You will move on, but not forget. It's implicit Zuko needed to work on those things.

So when he didn't really improve his emotional availability and kept important information from her, due to his duties and own struggles, it's completely sensible for Mai to feel so hurt she needs distance from him. Because the condition for re-starting the relationship is that Zuko would not make such mistakes again, so Mai's patience with her own heart would naturally be lower than without a history of previous hurts.

Making it so Zuko would need to prove to Mai he actually wants her back and will work hard for it, that he misses her when she isn't around him, that he won't take her for granted again is great writing and only improves the relationship from the show.

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Since ATLA writers don't do shit and we have to do everything by ourselves, including trying to make sense of their shitty writing and try to defend our ship when they don't even give us the ammo for it. Here's something.