#Zuko is really good at not noticing things that don't help him capture the avatar

[attackfish]

Okay, but it did not in fact work. It's heavily implied that the Dai Li knew who and where they were, and may even have gotten Iroh the Jasmine Dragon to better keep an eye on him. When Azula showed up and wanted to capture her uncle and brother, they sure got ahold of them real fast, now didn't they?

And when did Iroh get the offer of his own tea shop in the upper ring? Right after the whole thing with Jet. If you ask me, the Dai Li looked into these two refugees at Pao's tea shop, did the math, and decided to keep an eye on them while they figured out what to do with them and how to capture them quietly. That whole time, Iroh and Zuko were already caught. They just didn't know it yet.

i still can't get over the sheer AUDACITY of iroh going to ba sing se. like did it work? yes. but ONLY because the dai li was too busy following around some bald kid looking for his dog to notice him

[ben-talks-art]

Motivations

So for the longest time I had a small issue with Legend of Korra. For one reason or another, I could never connect with this cast of characters the same way I could connect with the cast of Last Airbender, and I could never figure it out why.

So I went to look up some discussions here and there about how people felt about Korra, why does it feel so different from Atla, and basically try to help me understand why I felt the way I felt... And I think the reason for that was the way motivations were handled in this series.

(The following is entirely my opinion, feel free to disagree)

The thing about Avatar compared to Korra is that Avatar was a very character-driven narrative while Korra was a very plot-driven narrative. In the first one, the characters say "I want to go there!" and they go there, and the story happens around the place they want to go and what they want to do.

In Korra, most of the times the plot comes to the characters. It's not as much as "I want to go here" as it's more like "I have to go here!"

What I mean by that is that, in Avatar all the character motivations drive the story and force the plot to move.

Aang's motivation is that he regrets running away from his duty as the Avatar and "letting" his people die, so now he's trying to redeem himself by restoring balance to the world and making up for lost time.

Katara lost her mother in the war, so now she wants to stop the war and make sure nobody has to go through what she did and she does everything she can to help anyone in need, even people from the nation that hurt her.

Sokka was left behind by his father and forced to sit still while everyone else fought in the war, so now he wants to contribute as much as possible. You can see that in the episode "The Library" where he's the one most focused on trying to find out how to win the war. He's basically a workaholic.

Toph wanted to regain her agency as she felt her full potential was being wasted by her family, so now she wants to be as free as possible to do whatever she wants.

And Zuko, he wanted to prove he belonged alongside his father and make him proud, but once his eyes were opened to the truth he decided to make up for his past mistakes, much like Aang.

All these characters had a simple yet effective backstory built on some form of misfortune that explains why they want to do what they want to do, why they want to change the way things are, why they act the way they act, and why someone would want to root for them.

Their motivations are all well-established and, like I said, they make the plot move forward.

Aang wanting to redeem himself and fulfill his duty as the Avatar causes the fire nation to take notice of him and thus come up with new plans to track and capture him, as well as sometimes using him to advance his plans, such as the time Sokka helped a mechanic to build an air balloon, or the time the fire nation used sneaked inside the earth city disguised as Aang's friends.

These characters have agency, and this agency has consequences. They cause good things to happens, but sometimes also bad things, and these conflicts gives us a story to follow.

Motivations play a big part in Avatar. But when it comes to Korra... The motivations don't feel all that important.

Korra wants... to be the Avatar because... she's the main character.

Mako wants... to help Korra fight evil because... he's one of the main characters.

Bolin wants... to help...

Asami wants...

See how this game gets a little harder with this cast? Because they don't really have backstories as solid as the old cast, I don't really get as hyped for these people to reach their goals, cause I barely get what their goals are aside from "stopping the bad guys."

The most well-established character is Tenzin because you instantly get what his deal is, he wants to live up to the hype of his dad and fulfill his job as the only air master in the world.

Korra's "backstory" (if you can even call it that) is that she got three elements at a very early age and now she's full of herself. So naturally her story arc should be about her realizing she's not all that and have her make some big mistake in order to humble her a little. But we don't really do that...

Korra doesn't really humble herself until season 3 and anytime she makes a mistake through the show it feels like she just feels bad for a moment and then moves on without really learning that much.

Her character arc just feels so clunky to me cause it feels like she's re-learning the same lessons about not getting too ahead of herself over and over again.

And yes, I'm aware the writers got screwed over because Nick wouldn't tell them if they would have new seasons or not so they probably weren't aware of how much they should or shouldn't allow Korra to evolve, but I still feel like there were better ways to handle her.

Legend of Korra seemed more interested in establishing the motivations of the adult characters than the teen characters, in particular the villains.

The villain in season 1 wanted to make sure nobody could be above anyone by stripping away everyone's powers, in season 2 the villain wanted freedom after being imprisoned for centuries, in season 3 the villain wanted to get rid of authority figures, and in 4 the villain wanted to be the supreme authority figure.

Regardless of whether you think these motivations are good or not, you still get what everyone is about and what makes them tick.

But we don't really get a clear base of what makes Korra tick. Why does she want to be the Avatar? Why does she want to help people? Why does she want to stop the bad guys?

Because she's the main character, and that's what's expected from her.

In season 1 Korra wants to stop the bad guys, in season 2 Korra wants to stop the bad guys, in season 3 she starts by trying to gather airbenders, but that gets shafted so she can stop the bad guys, and in season 4 she wants to find her place in the world... and stop the bad guys.

Characters in Korra don't have a lot of agency, they just wait for the plot to come to them. I feel like character arcs often feel so disconnected from the main plot and that's because the plot tends to happen to them instead of with them.

Like, in season 1, Bolin tries to check out the main villain of the season's night event, gets captured and Korra and Mako have to save him.

Imagine how cool it would have been if Korra was the one who wanted to check out the main bad guy's night event instead of Bolin, imagine if they had failed to rescue him and he had lost his bending.

That would instantly give Korra motivation and some character arc, she would have been the cause of someone's misfortune and we would be rooting harder for her to make up for her mistake. She would realize that even with all her power she can still fail to help people and thus needs to be better.

But as it is, if you just took out Korra and replaced her with any other main lead, a lot of these events would play out probably the same way.

The lack of meaningful backstories, the plot-driven narrative, the minimal agency, the unimportance of individual motivations... all these things start building up to the point where Legend of Korra feels like a series where people just wait for the villains to do something so they can go and stop them.

The bad guys are the real protagonists of this show because they're the ones with an actual motivation that actually moves the plot, and I think that's the biggest difference when it comes to Korra and Avatar because in Avatar the main characters felt like the actual protagonists of the narrative.

This isn't me saying Avatar is better than Korra, but it is me saying why I like the way things were handled in Avatar more than Korra.

[lazerith]

Attempting to fix The Dawn of Yangchen, Pt. 1: "Okay, but why tho?"

Spoilers for The Dawn of Yanchen, The Rise of Kyoshi, The Shadow of Kyoshi (minor)

Obligatory disclaimer: these opinions are my own and you do not need to agree with them if you do not wish to. I am just a writer who is trying to figure out why I don't like certain pieces of writing and adore others.

Compared to F. C. Yee's other installments in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, The Dawn of Yangchen is definitely one of his weaker works (I have not yet read LoY). The plot feels profoundly unexciting at times, and I've seen people complain that despite Yangchen's name being plastered on the cover, the book sidelines her in favor of Kavik.

That's not to say this is a completely incompetent book with no redeeming qualities; if you haven't noticed already in his previous works, Yee is really, really good at writing character dynamics. Kavik and Yangchen's relationship is really fun, especially at the beginning. But as the story progresses and these two spend more and more time apart due to plot reasons, it becomes harder and harder to ignore the issues with the larger story.

There are a lot of things I think could be fixed in DoY. But in this post, I'm going to talk about what I think is the biggest issue: character motivation.

Most people are probably familiar with the concept of a character's want. Different writers use different terminology, but to simplify things, in this instance, I will be referring to a character's plot goal; it is the "thing" that they're chasing after, whether it be to kill Jianzhu (Kyoshi's want in RoK) or to capture the avatar (Zuko's want in 1st season of atla).

But when presented with a character's want, audiences often have the urge to ask: "okay, but why tho?"

It's a fair question, because what the question is actually asking is: "okay, but why do we care?"

"Why do we care if Kyoshi succeeds in killing Jianzhu?" "Why do we care if Zuko captures the avatar or not?"

The reason, of course, is because there is a deeper motivation driving these wants. A motivation that we, the audience, can relate to.

Let me introduce you to the idea of a character's Ghost and Lie.

Again, terminology varies, but when I talk about a character's ghost, I'm referring to an event (or events) from the character's past that continues to haunt them in the present.

Zuko's ghost is the event that gave him the ghastly scar over his eye: the Agni Kai against his father.

Kyoshi's ghost (in RoK)……i think is the moment when Jianzhu leaves Yun to die with Father Gloworm? I'm honestly a little lost, because Yee doesn't seem to subscribe to the idea of "ghost", but it's still helpful for us to examine character motivations.

From a character's "ghost", births their "lie".

The lie is a limited perspective that a character holds because of the traumatic event that is their "ghost", which then influences their want.

Think about the relationship between "want", "ghost", and "lie" as such: Ghost -> Lie -> Want, where each creates the next.

For Zuko, his lie is some variation of: "I must regain my honor at all costs." From his lie, he deduces his want: "if I can capture the avatar, I will regain my honor."

For Kyoshi, her lie is some variation of: "Jianzhu is much stronger than me and he will harm me if he finds me." From her lie, she deduces her want: "if I kill him, I will be safe from him."

And though we might not personally empathize with Zuko's desire to regain his honor or Kyoshi's desire to murder Jianzhu, we can understand why. We root for Kyoshi and Zuko because we understand why they are doing what they do, and because they are highly motivated in chasing their want.

Now let's take a look at Yangchen's want, ghost, and lie in DoY.

Yangchen's want: to bring prosperity to the people of the Shang cities.

Yangchen's ghost: Jetsun's death at the hands of the spirits.

Before we even get to Yangchen's "lie", does anyone see a problem with this combination of "want" and "ghost"?

If you said, "they have nothing to do with each other," you're right.

Thus, this creates a situation in which we, as the audience, ask the question of "okay, but why tho" to Yangchen's want, and are unable to get a satisfactory answer.

You can see this play out in the book itself. When Yangchen is in Jonduri, she gets a message from the Saowan clan and immediately jets off to help them deal with their spirit problem. And you, as the reader, is left asking, "okay, but why tho?" Why are we taking this detour?

Sure, she's the avatar and she's the bridge between humans and spirits, but this has nothing to do with her main goal, which is to basically "eat the rich". The detour feels inorganic, manufactured, and it almost makes you question whether the whole thing was just a ploy from Chaisee to distract Yangchen.

Or it's the other way around. While we follow Yangchen around the Shang cities, trying to enact change, we are left to ponder the question of "okay, but why tho?". Why does she care about any of these people, beyond the fact that it's her duty as the avatar to serve them?

But believe it or not, there's an "easy" fix that more or less keeps the events of the novel somewhat the same.

The "lie" is the critical piece that is missing in Yangchen's story. Right now, she's got a clear ghost and a clear want, but no lie that connects the two:

Ghost -> ??? -> Want

I see two different lies that could work here.

Lie 1: Spirits are evil and I must protect people from them as best I can.

Rather than having the Shangs hire head-kickers to maintain control over the cities, maybe have it be rumored that they have some great and powerful spirit on their side.

It kind of seems like Yee was building up to this lie a little bit, considering how the effects of Unanimity are first seen by the people of Jonduri as spirit disturbances, and it is also the official cover that Yangchen adopts at the end of the novel to hide Unanimity from world leaders.

Now it makes sense that Yangchen cares about the people of the Shang cities, not just because she's the Avatar and serves the people, but also because she has a personal interest in defeating the "spirits". With this setup, the detour to the fire nation to aid the Saowan clan makes sense as well.

Lie 2: Jetsun's death was my fault, and I must honor her memory as best I can.

This lie would also work, but is in my opinion much weaker than Lie 1.

Honoring Jetsun's memory would mean that Yangchen would commit wholeheartedly to aiding others in need, pacifism, and other air-nation values. It would give her a reason to get involved in the Shang cities in the first place.

This lie would also somewhat explain why Yangchen jets off to the Saowan clan; they are in distress, and she has dedicated her life to protecting people, believing it the only way to honor Jetsun's memory.

Of course, these lies need not last the entirety of Yangchen's story; after all, for every lie, there is a truth.

Again, terminology varies and there are nuances, but when simplified, the truth is something a character learns by the end of the story, as a result of everything that has happened.

The Truth to Lie 1: People are the real culprits to blame for the world's suffering

DoY kind of suggests this truth during the Saowan outing, when it's revealed that the humans encroached on spiritual territory and violated the deal that Yangchen brokered.

You could very well contrast the honesty that the Phoenix-eels present to Yangchen (however harsh) with Kavik's betrayal (however sweet in the moment).

And though unanimity is not the result of some spiritual disturbance, we still see how it is due to human greed that it becomes a weapon.

Now, does this truth correspond with depictions of Yangchen later in her life? Not really. Especially at the end of SoK, where she admits to siding with the humans over and over again the spirits, and how that was a mistake. But adherence to cannon is a problem for another time.

The Truth to Lie 2: I must carve my own path in the world, believing that Jetsun will be proud of me either way.

The problem with pairing this truth with the current story is that Yangchen is already an unconventional Avatar. Kavik notes this throughout the story: Yangchen uses disguises, hires errand-runners, engages in espionage, and lies to high-ranking officials.

But there is also an "easy" fix (because nothing in writing is ever easy, everything takes set up), which is to take Yangchen back; back before she adopted these tactics, and have her arrive in Bing-er as naive and trusting as they come.

Meeting Kavik introduces her to this world of shady tactics, and while Yangchen might not be as confident as she is throughout DoY, the idea of Kavik teaching the Avatar to spy on people and wear disguises could be really fun, me thinks.

I'm not going to get into Kavik's want, ghost, and lie here because I don't want to make this post longer than it already is, but hopefully, this has given you some food for thought.

[attackfish]

Part two of that post where Nonny asked:

I think I might have an au you don't have yet — what if Zuko or Azula had been sent back to Aang's time when they were young because of spirit non-sense, and had ended up in the iceberg with him?

This time it's Zuko's turn. Part One: [Link]

Let's say Zuko is a toddler. Azula isn't even born yet when her brother disappears. The shock of the disappearence sends Ursa into labor. The child, Azula, is full term, but it makes her birthday a day of pain and rememberence for her parents. Both her parents are relentlessly protective of her, even smothering. It's the only thing they ever agreed on. Without another child to soak up all his displeasure, Ozai is always unpredictable. Is his daughter the perfect child, a demonstration of his greatness as a father, or an unworthy child, who should be doing more?

Ursa tries to shield her daughter from the worst of her husband's capriciousness, but even though her mother is safer, and kinder, sometimes Azula just needs some time on her own, and neither of her parents will ever give her that. Lonely and isolated, constantly with her parents, she has an imaginary friend, her older brother, her parents' missing child. Sometimes he's two years older, and sometimes he's frozen at the age he was when he vanished.

Let's say Aang is lost in a storm, when suddenly he hears a child crying. There's a little boy, all dressed in royal Fire Nation red, sobbing his eyes out in Appa's saddle. Is this real? Is he sleeping? he tries to stear out of the storm, but the winds and waves drag them both down.

Or let's say Zuko grows up in the Southern Air Temple, one of several foundling children. He grows up an anxious young man, who tries to take responsibility for everyone, so when he spots the young Avatar running away, he slips out after him.

Le's say instead that Zuko is ten, and his grandfather ordered his death mere days earlier. His mother vanished, and now he is whisked away to this strange place, full of people who claim to be Air Nomads. He knows that's not true. He has to have been kidnapped by enemies of the Fire Nation. But surely his father will rescue him or ransom him right? Won't he? That gnawing, ever-present fear that his father won't, that his father just doesn't care enough, is proven right when the Air Nomads contact the Fire Nation government, and they get back word that nobody has ever heard of a Prince Zuko.

Azula is no dummy, and more important for this, though she doesn't understand that, she's around her father, and he doesn't shut her out, so she has the context for her mother's disappearance, so just like her father, she assumes her mother kidnapped her brother. He always was her favorite.

As Ozai sends search her after searcher, assassin after assassin, to find his wayward wife, and as they each come up empty-handed, as if the person they were hunting didn't exist, Azula lies in her bed at night afraid her mother will come for her next, to steal her away from her father, to steal her away from being the Fire Nation princess. But she's even more afraid, although she'll never admit it to herself, that her mother will never come, that her mother only ever cared about Zuko, that she really does think Azula is a monster.

Let's say Zuko is thirteen and newly banished when he vanishes without a trace. Nobody notices. Except Iroh. After weeks of fruitless searching, he is forced to contact Ozai, to let him know and ask him to look for his son. But Ozai's only, all too predictable response to his own child's disappearance is, "good." And Iroh can't help but think his brother made Zuko disappear, that he might have banished his own son so that nobody would notice when he did.

In the air temples, Zuko is a menace, convinced they are a secret group of Air Nomads hiding the Avatar, who he will find, and capture, and bring home to his father. He is difficult, and dangerous, and his psyche is a bleeding wound. The Air Nomads care for him as best they can. In return, he accidentally lets slip enough for the Air Nomads to know what's coming, to plan for Sozin's Comet. And when Aang runs, Zuko runs after him, convinced this is his great chance to capture the Avatar.

Let's say Zuko is sixteen and has just seen a light burst forth into the sky. As he stares at it, the world dissolves around him, and he is in the Southern Air Temple. He has found the Avatar in a way he never imagined. And when the Avatar runs, he gives chase. Hunted and hunter are lost in a storm together and dragged down to the depths.

Iroh barely has time to start looking for his nephew before he's out of the ice and causing him heartache again.

Let's say Zuko is an old man. One morning he wakes up at the Southern Air Temple over a hundred and eighty ears ago. Enough extremely strange things have happened to him over the years, first hunting in avatar, then becoming his friend, then traveling the world to help another Avatar, and along the way tangling with a whole bunch of spirit related shenaniganery, that this might as well happen too. He doesn't know if he has time traveled, or if this is the afterlife, but either way, this might as well happen too.

He tells the Air Nomads what to expect from Sozin's Comet, and after, the tactics the Fire Nation plans to use against any survivors. He claims he's a defector, that he heard the plans, and couldn't go through with them. And he graciously accepts a place to stay for the night. That night, unrelated to the news he brought because the boy knows nothing of it, the young Avatar runs. Zuko follows. He gets to Appa first, hides under a blanket, and it's not until they're in the air that Zuko pops out to scare Aang half to death.

He talks to Aang, asks him what's bothering him, tries to help navigate him to the Southern Water Tribe to find a waterbender, but Aang understandably doesn't trust him, and steers them straight into a storm. As the wind in the waves drag them under, Zuko thinks he might have miscalculated.

But then the two of them saw out together, and teenage Zuko shows up, and now as far as the gaang is concerned, there's cool old man Zuko, and annoying teenage Zuko both running around at the same time.

[discordiansamba]

iroh is completely oblivious to his nephew's bodyswapping antics until after he's banished. he was never extremely close to zuko before this, and was not as spiritually sensitive as he is now. it is only after they swap for the first time while on zuko's boat that he notices that something is amiss- and realizes that something has been amiss for quite a long time, actually!

he keeps quiet about it. surely if his nephew wishes to tell him about it, he will. in the meantime, he acts as if nothing is amiss. unfortunately, this has the unintended consequence of neither zuko nor suki picking up that uncle is totally cool with treason, no need to pretend for him. and iroh very quickly realizes that his nephew (and his friend!) are just pretending to chase the avatar.

the blue spirit is still something that zuko comes up with, but both zuko and suki-as-zuko have been known to wear the mask. it helps to add a third face to the equation when one of yours is so well known, and you want to do just a *little* light treason before breakfast. it's still zuko who springs aang from Pohuai Stronghold... and he actually seriously considers the avatar's offer of friendship before he turns it down. it would be a convenient way to join them...

...except if he joins them, he'll need to talk to suki about that first. she'd either have to think up an excuse to leave, or they'd just have to deal with indefinitely being bodyswapped. which they probably could deal with if they had to, but it's kind of rude to spring that on someone without warning? hence the need to talk it over first.

plus there's also the fact that sokka and suki's mutual feelings for each other would make things really awkward. he's sure sokka's a nice guy, but he's not interested. zuko-as-suki just keeps politely turning the poor guy down. sokka doesn't get it. sometimes suki likes him and sometimes she doesn't. girls!

zuko's ship still gets blown up. he still infiltrates zhao's ship with the help of his uncle, only this time he finds out his zhao's plan early and goes to warn everyone. he doesn't have to go through the turtle-seal tunnels, because by the time he's close enough to the city, he and suki have already swapped. he just finds a way to let her in because if there's one thing they're both good at, it's finding their way into places they don't belong.

(suki-as-zuko: so what now? you want me to try capture aang? the timing's a little inconvenient.

zuko-as-suki: apparently zhao's trying to kill the moon spirit. we should probably concentrate on that?

suki-as-zuko: huh. are we giving up the act?

zuko-as-suki: yeah, probably.

suki-as-zuko: shame. it was kind of fun, actually.)

zuko suki bodyswap fic where they've just been doing this shit periodically since they were born. suki decides early on that it's a mistake for kyoshi island to try and stay out of the war and zuko gets way more comfortable with treason a lot earlier.

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

@volkswagonblues re: your post about fandom perception of iroh - i started writing my thoughts and i realized i had too many to fit in tags so here they are in post form

(tw: discussions of abuse dynamics)

i think he genuinely regrets what he did, has grown and changed from his days as an imperialist. there's something so lovely about how he treats people in tales of ba sing se, the way he's so genuinely kind to everyone he meets and encourages the best in them. and then we get to lu ten "if only i could have saved you". it's easily read as "if only i had been a kind man then, you would not be dead". i really do feel his pain there.

so, if iroh wants to maintain a relationship with zuko, he can't directly challenge zuko's beliefs about his father or his nation. he has to seem like he's helping zuko in his quest. we see that when he does challenge zuko's beliefs, it drives zuko away from him ("zuko alone", "the crossroads of destiny"). when he joined zuko in exile, he made the difficult decision to put taking action against his nation on hold to help guide zuko.

however, the fact that he only changes his ways after his son dies - that makes me a bit uncomfortable. like how did you not notice earlier? why did it take being personally affected to see this? even though he's genuinely changed, i can imagine many characters who've been harmed by the fire nation not trusting him. in particular, i doubt he'd gain the trust of many adults, who'd have clear memories of crown prince iroh.

i think his relationship with zuko might be where we get this idea that he did very little to fight against his nation. after all, he helps zuko in his quest to capture the avatar and clearly still holds some power. but i see this as actually a very smart way of dealing with someone who's trapped in the cycle of abuse. a trapped abuse victim is not going to take kindly to someone criticizing their abuser or trying to forcefully pull them out of the environment.* they think their abuser is good and correct and that anyone who criticizes just doesn't understand. abusers isolate their victims from other support systems to make them reliant on the abuser, to maintain control over their victims' lives.

*this is also why he doesn't intervene with azula. zuko being exiled offers iroh an opportunity to become a new guiding figure in his life, while both ozai and a trapped azula are going to resist any attempt to remove her from that environment. when he says "she's crazy and needs to go down" he a) has just been shot full of her lightning, and b) is supporting zuko in turning against his family. does he wish he'd been able to help azula? probably. can he take action to help her without incurring ozai's wrath or jeopardizing zuko's growth? no, probably not.

so far, i've been way more positive than i thought i would be, as someone whose blog title comes from a post saying "fuck iroh". i think that's because i see iroh mainly as...limited. if you want a fire nation character who takes a bold stand against their nation, you're better off with jeong jeong or zuko. if you want a mentor figure who can help a teen character who's been hurt by the fire nation, you're better off with characters like hakoda, bato, kanna, bumi, or tyro (haru's dad, underrated imo) who can relate to those experiences. i think having iroh be korra's spirit world guide was a mistake born of "old asian man must be spiritual" and "let's bring back a fan favorite", and aang would've been a better choice. iroh is a well-written character, but sometimes fandom (and the show creators, in lok's case) wants him to be things i know he's not.

regarding the question "lovable wise old uncle or hypocrite centrist liberal war criminal?" - i guess i probably lean towards the centrist liberal war criminal side of things, personally. not because i don't think he's wise about certain things (his handling of zuko, as i said), but because it makes it harder for me to like him. he's casually sexist (his treatment of june, the gender role gifts he gives zuko and azula), and i think he'd be casually heteronormative right up until zuko comes out, at which point he will become an overly supportive but good-hearted straight ally. he's clearly more interested in working within the system than tearing it down, since he focuses his energy on redeeming the heir to the throne over literally any other avenue for making change. it took being personally affected by the war for him to realize it was wrong. i could sit and have a nice cup of tea with him, get some advice, but i know there's a limit to what i can expect of him.

[thatsgay-writes]

Azula x Reader

Summary: You join Azula and help take over Ba Sing Se, plus some added fluff.

Warnings: Light cursing?

(You are a female.)

You never agreed with the Fire Nations beliefs. You didn't think they deserved to rule the world. You were Admiral Zhao's kid and were meant to take his spot when he died. Because of your dads high rank and age similarity with Azula, you two trained together. And maybe that's why you couldn't leave... God knows you wanted to and you had so many chances to do so. But you had grown up with Azula, seen what she had gone through. All she ever wanted was at least a sliver of the love her mom had given Zuko. When your dad disappeared you took over his role as Admiral. Azula was annoyed that you were now being shipped out with a bunch of soldiers to do her fathers dirty work. So she pulled you in to one final mission with her and her friends.

Dressed up as a Kyoshi warrior was weird. You wondered how they even fought in these ridiculous get ups. You also felt that the make up was a little over the top. But they must be doing something right too, because Azula could not stop staring at you. Yeah she used to stare at you before, but when you would look at her she would just smirk and look away. Now though, when you looked, she would blatantly check you out, looking you up and down, before biting her lip and looking away. And if your blush had been bad before you were sure it was worse now, not even the make up could hide it. You had always felt something more towards the princess than friendship but kept it to yourself not wanting to get on the Fire Lords bad side or even Azula's. But these past few days have you thinking that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same.

You watched in shock as Aang, the avatar, rose up in his avatar state. You looked around frantically for Azula in case you needed to make a quick get away. When you finally saw her, she was standing behind the avatar, you watched in shock again as she sent lightning right into the avatars back. You cringed as the lightning shocked him and caused him to smoke as he fell to the ground. Then you hear yelling come from behind you to see a giant wave come up from behind and wash everyone away. When you got hit by the wave you panicked for a moment trying to find something to grab onto before you felt yourself get pulled up. You put your arms around the neck of whoever pulled you up, as they put there arms around your waist and pulled you closer to them. When you looked up, you were surprised to see that Azula was the one holding you. She was sporting a huge grin while watching Katara take Aang out and away from the battlefield. When she finally looked down and saw you looking at her, her smile softened a bit before taking a hand from your waist and using it to move the hair out of your face. You blushed at the action before hearing people moving behind you. You hastily pulled away from Azula at the noise, knowing that she wouldn't want to be caught in a compromising position.

Azula stood in front of the earth kings throne as she and Long Feng had a stare off. You stood next to the throne, a little nervous. You believed in Azula fully but Long Feng was a wild card and you didn't like wild cards. However, you relaxed when you watched Azula sit on the throne and Long Feng bow. She ordered them all to leave before she grabbed your hand and made you stand in front of the throne and her. You looked at her questioningly before she pulled you into her lap, causing you to blush and look down. Azula chuckled at the action before putting her finger under your chin and lifting it. "Now that I've captured Ba Sing Se, I feel as if I deserve a reward." You looked at her in confusion causing her to scoff. "Don't look so confused. You act as if I haven't caught you staring or let you catch me staring. Honestly, waiting for you to make the first move has been such a bore." Your eyes widen in shock as your realize that she felt the same way, you honestly thought her and Ty Lee and a thing going on. When Azula realized that you weren't going to move, she took matters into her own hands and gripped your chin harder before pulling you into a kiss. When your lips connected you lost your breath. You had imagined kissing Azula many times but none were as good as this. You had expected her lips to be chapped but your surprise they were smooth and had a light taste of cherry. You don't think you could every look at cherries the same way again.

"Ahem." You heard from your right, causing you and Azula to pull away. You eyes widen at the sight of Zuko standings there, arms crossed in front of his chest. "I need to speak to Azula... alone." He stated barely giving you a second glance. Azula sighed before standing up, with you now being carried on her front. "You always were a cock block, weren't you Zuzu." She said rolling her eyes as she placed you down in on the throne. "I'll be right back to celebrate and get more of my reward." She winked before turning around to walk away with Zuko. Leaving you a blushing mess sitting in the throne.

Before heading back to the fire nation Azula decided to take you on a date. You and her hadn't really talked about your relationship status since your first kiss but you had started sleeping in her room since that day. She decided to take you to the newer zoo in the putter ring. (The one that Aang made in that episode with all those short stories) To say you were excited was an understatement, you loved animals. Of course you never told anyone this, not wanting it to make you seem weak. But Azula knew all about your secret obsession, she may or may not have read your journal/diary. Azula made sure that she had guards blocking the entrance/exit to the zoo to not let anyone in. As much as she enjoyed keeping of the façade of a cold hearted bitch, not that it was hard, she wanted to truly relax and be herself. Azula truly trusted you and knew you would never leave if betray her. So she spent the whole day being herself with you. When you would get excited and start practically jumping up and down, she'd hold your hand in hope to calm you down. When you'd lean on the half wall to try and see the animals better she'd come up behind you, wrap her arms around your waist and lean her chin on your shoulder. You loved this side of Azula and you knew that when your back in public it would all end. So you spent the day holding her hand, cuddling in to her as you walked, kissing her. Anything you knew would become scarce once you were back in the real world.

Sadly, everything come to an end. You didn't want the day to be over. You were having so much fun. As you walking towards the exit of the zoo Azula stopped suddenly. You turned around to look at her in confusion. "Azula is everything..." "Be mine." Azula interrupts you. You know she meant it as a question but it came out as more of a command. You raised an eyebrow at her in response. "I... don't do that to me... you know what I meant" she rolls her eyes before trying again, "Will you be mine?" This time you smiled happily before pulling her into a kiss. You tried to kiss her as long as possible but you couldn't stop smiling. "Of course."

*Time Skip*

Zuko barged into Azula's room, letting shock wash over his face as he noticed you laying next to her. Zuko opens his mouth to yell before seeing Azula put up a hand to stop him. She slowly and as carefully as possible, untangled herself from you before walking out into the hall and closing the door behind Zuko. "What do you want?" She asked already annoyed with Zuko interruption. Zuko wanted to ask about what was going on between you and his sister but refrained, seeing as Azula was already so pissed. "You told dad I killed the avatar. Why? What do you gain from this?" Azula smirked at her older brother. "You've been trying to get into dads good graces again. You've returned home a hero. You have been going after the avatar for all these years. You might as well be the one claim his death. Besides what does it matter the avatar is dead now anyways. If he wasn't though... dad wouldn't be happy." Azula ends her sentence with a cheeky smile. Zuko tried to suppress his emotions. He sent Azula a glare before opening his mouth to respond. But before he could they both heard the door next to them creek open. "Azula?" You mumbled out, trying to wipe the sleep out of your eyes. "The bed got cold. I looked around and... oh" you said ending your sentence, just now noticing Zuko standing across from Azula. Azula smiled at you before turning back to Zuko, "As much as I'm enjoying our little... conversation, I am needed elsewhere." Azula turned away from Zuko, not even letting him respond, before picking you up, walking into her room and closing the door behind you. She laid you back on to the bed before going around to her side and climbing in. Almost immediately you latch on to her and fall right back asleep. Azula spend a few minutes admiring you as you sleep before closing her eyes with a smile on her face, hoping to dream about a future with you.

[huaanonigiri]

okay guys u finished watching ATLA and I got some things to say

both shows are amazing, with their unique details and I honestly don't know why everyone if fighting

I realized how opposite they are bc while LoK focuses on the main character's character development throughout the series, ATLA focuses on the character development of every character EXCEPT Aang (that what I noticed, since the only thing that really changed about him was his bending abilities, and maybe a couple things more about his character, but it was very little compared to Korra's character development from S1 to S4)

although Aang's charactergets better at learning more bending skills and maybe e learns a couple life lessons on the way, Korra's character develops more on the emotional and moral way. basically Aang gets better at fighting to be a good avatar and korra gets better atp emotions and morality to be a good avatar

and yes, although LoK does depends on its villains to continues the show, I believe there are 2 reasons for this: 1. korra didn't get frozen in the south pole for 100 years and woken up in the middle of a war between the world and the Firr Nation, so unless you guys want another +100-year war idk what else you want (also let's remmeber th Korra did stop an equalist, theorist, anarchist, and fascist from creating unbalance in the world, so let's give her that credit) and 2. all the villain fights/encounters connect to Korra going through a clear, visible traumatic experience that affects her duty as an avatar and helps her character developments

as mentioned, ATLA focuses more on the character development of other characters: Sokka went from mysoginistic, wanna-be-the-leader kid to a mature, respectful, and reasonable person. Zuko goes from being a kid that wants to capture the avatar in order to get his father's approval although that means ending the world to realizing the damage that the Fire Nation does to the world and not only joining Aang but also teaching him how to firebend. we can see how the characters interact with each other, bonding and learn to work together (not only with the good guys, but also with the bad guys i.e. the beach scene with Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula). we also get to understand each character through their own eyes (and yes, I mean if not all character most).

with this I want to conclude my analysis and opinion of the Avatar series and how they are both great and each have their own unique ways of being amazing (and how they contrast each other yet are equally important and well done). thank you very much for reading. have a good day/evening/night.

Why is the Avatar fandom so aggressive (okay, just lemme explain)

Okay, so for all the time I have been in Avatar fandom I have quickly caught up on this huge debate on ATLA vs. LoK about who's a better avatar or who has the better show or whatever you guys are arguing about. So just let me list a few experiences of mine and what I think of them:

many fans hate on Korra for this or for that, and in a quite aggressive way. I actually fear I will be attacked if I say I like Korra and her character development like shippers do in the BNHA fandom (this is just my personal opinion so don't try to come at me, because it won't change my mind so any arguing is pointless).

I think some people (and this is something for general) don't know what personal opinion/taste is so let me tell you. If people like something that you don't you can give your opinion (of course), as long as it is respectful towards that person and towards what they are talking about (as long as that opinion is also respectful if it's not then fucking obliterate them). However, if you're attacking someone for liking something you don't like, then don't even try to speak your mind. For fuck's sake, it's an opinion, not a law. If someone likes Korra doesn't come with every detail of Aang's battles and skills trying to prove that he's a better avatar, because personally, idc if he was, I like Korra better for other reasons, and you won't change my mind. It's like with ships if the ship is healthy and legal, then idc what you ship, you do you.

I mean to say: please don't be so aggressive, or at least be subtle about it. Because I've only been in this fandom for a maximum of 2 weeks. It already creeps me out how to bid of a debate over who's a better avatar when it's all about personal opinion should be respected as long as that opinion is respectful. It's not that big of a deal who prefers one avatar (or team/series) over the other, just because you don't like/hate what they like doesn't mean you get a say in said opinion or the right to start an argument over who is better. I mean it when I said I wanted to leave the fandom the moment I say just how big of a deal this whole debate was

Finally, please, if someone wants to say something I'm more than glad to know what you gotta say, but please do it respectfully and without hating on anything/anyone, because the other day I saw just how much hating a character can get and it kinda broke me because "okay, I get you don't like it, but do you have to be so damn aggressive about it" (like c'mon guys, as much as I hate to admit it, they're fictional, in the end, you're getting worked up over fictional characters, and in turn, you're kinda hurting those who do like them, because you don't know which character can be someone's comfort character, so please be careful).

Please don't take this as some type of lecture or whatever. I'm just giving my opinion on this argument and would genuinely like to know more about both sides, but what I ask is for my request to be answered without any hate, harsh words, or literally anything that is plain out disrespectful. Thank you very much for staying for my Ted Talk.

[jasmine-zuko]

#the language of the show itself also sugests this#we get a scene with the kids viewing their dai li files#and then a scene of toph falling into a trap based on the information in the files#and then Zuko and Iroh getting an invitation to serve the earth king not long after#actually given how quickly iroh was able to capture a dai li agent and pump him for information#it's entirely possible he was aware of what was going on#spy vs spy vibes#and Zuko is of course blithely ignorant of Iro's five dimensional pai sho shenanigans with the dai li#or is he because he managed to tail one himself real fast#but given that this is Zuko it's entirely possible that he was able to find one and track one down without thinking through the implication#Zuko is really good at not noticing things that don't help him capture the avatar#he's a smart boy#but laser focused (via @attackfish)

i still can't get over the sheer AUDACITY of iroh going to ba sing se. like did it work? yes. but ONLY because the dai li was too busy following around some bald kid looking for his dog to notice him