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mohluskiepedard · 4 years

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Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom

or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog

the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do-

I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud

AANG

- A child? - A son? - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED

KATARA

- She is also like twelve??? - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug?? - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her

SOKKA

- NGL looks like a fuckboy - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe??? - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident??? - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands

SUKI

- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more

ZUKO

- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,” - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself

TOPH

- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying: - She and Zuko.... buddies??? - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph

AZULA

- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES?

UNCLE IROH

- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures] - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This

OZAI

- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky) - THE WORST OF THE MEN - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went “but what if - get this - i also abused my son,” - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive - :/

TY LEE

- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her???? - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve

CABBAGE MAN

- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO

- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...

APPA

- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him

that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw

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katara-stan-club · 3 years

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Is it just me or do some Zukka shippers (again, I’m talking about Zukkas™️ not people who just casually think that Zuko and Sokka would be cute together) actually have a weird kind of twisted respect for Zutara? If they didn’t genuinely feel threatened by it they wouldn’t be so fixated on it. They wouldn’t come into the Zutara tag to start fights with shippers. They wouldn’t feel the need to write essays about why they think it sucks. They wouldn’t feel the need to write “meta” on why they think that Katara is homophobic and she actually hates Zuko, who is gay, and actually Zuko is a misogynistic king and also a colonizer apparently who hates Katara too and they’re more like siblings, really but also we love their friendship!

And then the way that (some) Zukka shippers talk about Sokkla and Tokka is just… really degrading and bullying. Like apparently they’re bad because they’re “cringe???”

I think that Those Shippers are a little bit jealous of all the emotional beats Zutara gets within the show (like how they always meet up in each finale for example) and wish that Sokka and Zuko could have had similar beats. The only big 'emotional' scenes that Zvkka gets (that I can think of) are:

1. The Boiling Rock, where they talk about their previous girlfriends.

2. The Southern Raiders, where Zuko asks Sokka about Kya in an effort to understand Katara's misplaced anger against him.

Neither of those are particularly emotional in the context of Zvkka as a ship, not like the scene in the Crystal Catacombs is for Zutara as a ship. So Zvkka shippers see all these moments that they desperately want for their characters, and simultaneously want to co-opt those scenes for themselves while also denigrating Zutara so that way it isn't a competitor for their ship.

I don't know as much about the hate on Sokkla beyond "I think Azula is a lesbian so she shouldn't ever be with a man!!" which is, as we've discussed, Dumb as Hell. As for Tokka, I think part of the hate against that is slightly against the idea of women expressing romantic interest in someone and then getting "rewarded" for that interest. It's part of why I think some Zvkka shippers are cool with Kat@@ng when they dislike Katara so much is because of Katara never outwardly expressing interest in Aang. She just dutifully goes along with his obvious desire like a good reward for Aang. Her romantic interest in Jet is shot down and denied and made fun of in canon (cough Ember Island Players cough), so she is forced to put her own wants aside in favor of Aang's wants.

If Tokka was Accepted as a ship, then that means that young girls' romantic notions should be respected, and we all know society is incapable of that. Especially because Toph is portrayed as a tomboy, her romantic desire for Sokka is seen as a weakness and shouldn't be respected because it's frivolous and girly (that's probably where the "cringe" comes in; there's nothing more cringe than teen girls having Emotions amirte). If Tokka happened then that is giving into what the girl wants and not the guy, which is equivalent to Blasphemy and should be Shunned accordingly. It's so stupid.

#me #ask #precious-metal-girl #anti zvkka shippers #zutara #sokkla #tokka #how dare female characters have agency and actively want male characters!!!!#is basically what a lot of anti M/F ship arguments boil down to #you really got me going with this ask lol

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picnicbitchsokka · 4 years

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My Avatarverse Ideas...

what i wanna see more of

first and foremost, AZULA REDEMPTION

How Zuko got Druk and training him

GROWN UP GAANG (including suki of course)

Katara and Aang raising Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin

Some Uncle Sokka and Bumi interaction

Aang, Sokka, and Zuko being best bros

Katara and Suki being best freinds while also bullying sokka

Toph and Zuko sharing a lot of stuff in common. Being the two rich kids in the Gaang, and both having mom and daddy issues. also being the definition of “be gay do crime”

Some more Sokka and Zuko interaction of them being best friends to lovers

Izumis coronation of becoming fire lord and the whole Gaang being there

Some more Sukka, Zukka and Mailee crumbs please? 🤲🏾

Katara or Sokka becoming SWT cheif or ambassador

Toph teaching Lin and Su how to metal bend

Katara and Zuko friendship

Grown Aang and Sokka being dumbasses together

Zuko being Korra’s firebending master

Tenzin getting his airbending master tattoos and having a ceramony like Jinora did but only with the Gaang and his siblings

Kya coming out to her family as lesbian

Grown up Sokka with little Korra

Korrasami 👏🏾 wedding 👏🏾

#ok that’s all i could think of #BUT OMG IM SO EXCITED #aang #katara #sokka #toph #suki #zuko #atla #avatar studios #lok #tlok #legend of korra #sukka #zukka #kataang #they’re SO MANY ideas

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mellowdreamer · 4 years

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HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO VERSE.

this is a modern bending vigilante/hero au featuring zukka, mailee, yueki and a lot of hijinks!

the gaang are all 16-19 here, because while bruce wayne apparently has no problem with it, i’m not comfortable with having vigilantes who haven’t yet gone through puberty.

the avatar world is just one big city, and each of the nations/cities are different suburbs of the city.

kyoshi island, ember island, and boiling rock are small islands off of the city, similar to singapore’s sentosa island.

the city (republic city? i dunno, get back to me on this one) is full of heroes, vigilantes and villains alike. the fire nation is a criminal empire intent on taking over the city. the avatar is a hero who works to keep the balance of heroes and villains in the city, and stop the entire city from becoming a war zone.

however, the avatar disappeared 100 years ago, and no one was chosen to take up the mantle since. in the avatar’s absence, the fire nation was able to begin its quest to take over the city.

the heroes of the southern water tribe that were left after the various raids have left the southern water suburb on a mission to defeat the fire nation or die.

hakoda, alias chief, left his two young children in charge of their territory, despite them being a) children and b) relatively untrained.

katara, alias painted lady, is the only waterbender left in the southern water tribe. sokka, alias captain boomerang, is the only trained combat hero left in the southern water tribe. all those remaining are either children or incapable of fighting.

side tangent: when sokka does well, he calls himself “grand marshal boomerang” and when he does badly, he calls himself “private boomerang”. thank you to the crimily for coming up with this one!!

one night, when katara and sokka are out on patrol, they get chased by fire nation goons into the ice off of the southern harbour. there, they get into a fight over sokka’s sexist remarks and katara’s yelling having attracted the fire nation goons, and katara’s waterbending gets out of control. she breaks open an iceberg, only to find someone in there.

the two siblings approach the iceberg and break the person out. they are shocked to find a young boy in the unmistakable uniform of the avatar, resting next to a creature they’ve never seen before.

they wake the boy up, to find that his name is aang and he’s the next avatar. and that he has no idea of the fire nation’s quest to conquer the entire city, or the fact that the air nomads – heroes that didn’t resign to just one area of the city – hadn’t been seen for the same hundred years that he must’ve spent in the iceberg.

katara and a reluctant sokka take aang back to the apartment building where the remaining southern water suburb residents have been living and introduce him to everyone.

later that night, the three go out on patrol together. it’s a quiet night, and sokka thinks they might actually get through it without any incidents, until they find a woman being mugged.

sokka and katara are about to intervene, but aang takes down both thugs in a matter of seconds. aang, ignoring the slack jawed shock of his friends, asks if they could go penguin sledding. katara goes to agree, but is cut off by the shout of “MY HONOUR” from a nearby rooftop.

zuko, alias dragon prince, runs from the rooftop before they could find him. his father ozai, alias firelord, had sent him and his uncle iroh – formerly dragon of the west, now retired – to find the avatar. zuko had been banished from the fire nation territory years ago, after speaking up about a plan that would’ve cost them a whole division of goons and refusing to fight his father in an agni kai.

the kyoshi warriors are similar to the birds of prey or the amazons; they’re an all-female crime-fighting unit not directly associated with any of the kingdoms or nations. suki is their leader, and they don’t have secret identities like the other heroes.

iroh, bumi, piandao, jeong-jeong and p*kku are all retired heroes and a part of the order of the white lotus.

toph is the blind bandit and a hero, albeit a less morally structured and ‘good’ hero than the avatar, the painted lady, and captain boomerang. she was a part of the underground fighting ring ‘earth rumble’ when the gaang infiltrated the ring looking for intel and convinced her that her powers could be used for something better than beating bitches blue and making bank while doing it.

azula is firebolt, and she is as brilliant as she is terrifying. she’s arguably more feared than the firelord, mainly because she’s the one who frequents other areas and actually goes on missions. ozai just sits on his stupid throne and yells at people and manipulates his children like the little bitch he is.

mai and ty lee are azula’s sidekicks, and are known as blade and tightrope respectively. also: they’re lesbians, harold.

yue is a part of the northern water tribe’s group of heroes, alongside her family. they tried to marry her off to hahn and have her trained in healing instead of fighting, but she rebelled and threatened to go out on her own, so they relented. yue’s hero alias is tui, but she will be called sailor moon at least three times.

jet and his freedom fighters are a group of anti-heroes who aren’t afraid to hurt innocent people in their pursue of ‘justice’.

zhao is a villain who works for the firelord, under the alias admiral, and he’s an asshole. using the yuyan archers, he manages to capture aang and takes him to a fire nation stronghold. zuko finds out about this, and not wanting admiral asshole to get the upper hand, dresses as the blue spirit for the first time to rescue aang.

during the siege of the north, zhao “kills” yue. she fakes her own death and disappears into hiding until the final battle, in which she kills zhao because it’s what she deserves.

the gaang know that yue is alive, because she’s nice enough to not do them like that, but they have to keep up appearances. because of this, sokka amps up the heartbreak and clings to suki a lot. that’s why a lot of outsiders begin to think that sokka dated yue and is dating suki, though in reality yue and suki are dating each other.

zuko and iroh, after the siege of the north and a trap set by azula, disappear into hiding and decide to take refuge in ba sing se, knowing that the fire nation wouldn’t think to look for them there.

ba sing se is a section of the city that has been fenced off in order to prevent an influx of heroes and villains. the dai li, who keep a tight grip on the suburb and ensure that the residents don’t know of the war raging outside the walls, are a group of “heroes”.

of course, the fence does nothing to prevent zuko and iroh, the gaang, and later azula, mai and ty lee from entering ba sing se and turning it into their own warzone.

iroh fulfils his dream of finally owning a tea shop and zuko, when not working in the tea shop, spends his nights lingering in the shadows of ba sing se as the blue spirit.

sokka, desperate for a warm drink and something to do while the others do their bending training, wanders into the jasmine dragon one afternoon and is served by “lee”.

neither know the other’s civilian identity, so there’s no shady business, just pining over the cute customer/server. sokka strikes a conversion and the two begin flirting chatting. it’s going really well, and you can almost see the romance blooming.

and then in walks azula, flanked by mai and ty lee, all in costume.

sokka and zuko both leap up from their seats and into fighting stances. both are confused as to why the other jumped up, and then azula calls zuko brother and it clicks in sokka’s mind.

he starts yelling at zuko for a lot of things, including yue’s “death” which is how zuko realises who he is. zuko starts yelling back because he’s only once met a fight he didn’t like. in the background of this argument, iroh is trying to fight azula, mai and ty lee to varying degrees of success.

it’s funny that i say degrees, because this is when azula sets fire to the jasmine dragon. iroh grabs the two dumbass arguing teens and shoves them outside as he too runs, telling zuko to meet at their rendezvous point at sunrise.

azula, mai and ty lee chase after zuko and sokka (who are still arguing as they run from the three girls). mai and ty lee don’t want to chase them, because zuko has always been better to them than azula, but defying azula would be a death sentence.

sokka pulls zuko into a building for coverage, and because azula is azula, she summons the dai li and has them surround the building. there would be no leaving without confronting the dai li, and thus zuko and sokka are trapped.

sokka confronts zuko and basically asks how he could justify the fire nation’s villainy, how he could support a monster who’s killing hundreds of people. zuko defends his father blindly because he’s been raised to believe that his father is right, that his father has to be right, and this southern water scum is wrong. but zuko’s losing his grip on the argument and is becoming more and more hysterical but sokka is so calm, so sure of himself, and the dam finally breaks.

zuko crumples to the ground in tears, and now sokka’s gotta deal with this because ozai is a shitface and has been brainwashing his son for years and wow fuck the fire nation.

mai and ty lee, having taken down the dai li, burst in to find zuko crying his eyes out in sokka’s arms. they teasingly ask if they’re interrupting something and laugh as zuko next to sprints out of the building, sokka hot on his heels.

this is the last straw for zuko, who defects from the fire nation, hangs up his dragon prince uniform and fully becomes the blue spirit, a hero who works with the gaang to eventually take down the fire nation.

also, at some stage zuko rescues a turtleduck that got stuck up a tree. don’t ask me how this happens.

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 3 years

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we’ve been mutuals for ages so i thought it was time to ask about your unpopular atla/tlok/kyoshi opinions :D

xD Tbh I feel like my opinions tend to be more controversial with Avatar than unpopular. Obviously I'm open to discussion if anyone wants to have one or if anyone needs clarification on any of these opinions lol. My goal isn't to cause fighting and more discourse but rather open up some discussion. Mostly I'm a to each their own kind of person; even if I don't like a certain ship or agree with certain headcanons I won't be bashing people who do ship/have them. And I don't think that xyz headcanon is wrong just because I disagree with that.

Disclaimers aside lol;

Some of the ones that I know are unpopular for Avatar:

I don't ship Azula/Therapy (there's a lot to get into here and I've done it quite a bit). My bottom line is that I don't mind Azula/Therapy so long as it isn't being used as a means to belittle people who do ship her with other characters. I'm also fine with it in the light that Azula/Character while she's getting therapy or something like that. There's a lot more to it, anyone can feel free to ask for clarification here. But I kind of don't really even see it as a ship so much as a concept. And as a joke I don't really find it that funny as I feel like it takes a very serious topic and makes it sound 'cute' or 'quirky' and that just ain't it for me.

I don't ship Zukka. Tbh I don't really feel strongly about it at all.

I don't ship Mailee either. I've seen quite a bit of Mailee content that is pretty anti-Azula so I tend to just stay away from that. Though I'm down for recs with fic and art that aren't anti-Azula

I don't think that Azula is a lesbian. I feel like she is Bi/Ace or Aro/Ace. Which is probably due to me being aro/ace and wanting some rep lol.

I am very very neutral to Suki. I feel like a lot of people really like her. I think she's just eh. I have no strong opinion on her either which way.

I don't really hate any character. There are some characters I like less/don't find as interesting but I don't really hate any of them.

I do feel kind of bad for Ozai as he was also probably abused as a kid. The reason I don't feel as though he's redeemable though is because he's a grown man who is pretty set in his ways.

Foamy mouth guy isn't funny.

I feel like Katara's power/strength is more in healing than fighting. Like that's her specialty and it kind of bothers me when people downplay that because imo it's refreshing to have a character who is considered great and powerful not because they are the strongest fighter but because they are a great healer and defender. Aang is also a good example of this.

I don't really talk about this much because it really isn't that deep xD but I get confused when people talk about Katara's bloodbending as if she can just do it any time??? Correct me if I'm wrong but she can only do it during a full moon. Amon and his family are the only people who could do it without a full moon. So it kind of bothers me when people just casually toss 'oh Katara could totally kick Azula/Toph/Zuko's ass with bloodbending anytime.'

I like both Azula and Zuko and feel like both of them either get babied or demonized. And that takes away from the complexities of both of their characters.

Iroh isn't completely wise. He has moments where he's not morally correct. And he should have moments like this because it would be unrealistic for him to never do wrong ever.

Kataang vs Zutara is getting really old.

I feel like this fandom can be very hostile to Azula fans and it gets hard to deal with so sometimes I have to just avoid the tag for a while. Idk if this one is an unpopular opinion or if other people feel the same. But then again I've heard that Katara and Aang have also had an influx of hate as well. In general it's just sad to see such cool characters getting talked about in the ways that some people talk about them. I've seen people say that "it's Azula's fault that she's being abused by Ozai" and "Katara needs to shut up about her mom and move on" and "Zuko is whiney and overdramatic." And these statements are just :S Basically I wish that the nice people could start talking over all of the people who just seem to enjoy bashing their least favorite characters more than they like talking about their favorites.

I don't entirely hate the comics. There are aspects of them that I hate but there are also parts that I really enjoyed.

LoK

Not a fan of Suyin. Not just because I like Kuvira but also because of her backstory with Lin. NGL she struck me as kind of a brat.

I'm not a big fan of Opal or Zhu Li either. Like I don't hate either of them but they just aren't my cup of tea.

I liked Tanho from the start.

Meelo is kind of annoying imo.

I don't like Mako at all. He lost me when he cheated on Asami.

Idk if this is unpopular but I didn't really like season 2.

I was kind of disappointed with Kuvira's backstory. I liked aspects of it but I had different expectations.

I don't think that it was a rushed backstory so much as the writers only had like 80 pages per comic to work with. It would have been better if it were in the show or something.

Korra wasn't a bad Avatar. She had her own road blocks to overcome and her own learning to do just like Aang.

I don't really have any for Kyoshi except for maybe that I don't think that Kyoshi is this aggressive murder machine lol.

Again anyone can feel free to discuss. I try to keep an open mind with these types of things.

#avatar the last airbender #azula #zuko #legend of korra #fandom #unpopular opinions

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sokkagatekeeper · 3 years

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so what are your thoughts about bi ty lee? (i don't really have an opinion either way but i think you do a really good job of explaining how your head canons are based in the text so I'm really interested to know why)

oh well this is officially the worst thing you could’ve asked me (affectionate). first off, a headcanon is not the same as doing an analysis imo. i talk about the difference between them here. anyhow!

i think ty lee being sapphic is a given, off the top of my head i can say because 1) i think she’s in love with mai 2) i think using that attraction as an empathy vessel of sorts to figure out azula was attracted to her was a very ty lee-esque move to make 3) she is not attracted to any boys (except one? we’ll get to that) on-screen, and was instead manipulating them into doing what she wanted them to do and toy with azula’s (maybe mai’s?) jealousy a little bit. watching “the beach” it’s safe to assume she behaves and feels that way about every boy she meets — say, she isn’t actually interested in them but the things she can get from them. it’s a fair assumption to make that she was acting like that with sokka when she was flirting with him (in the middle of battle. what an icon) you know, in order to distract him, catch him off-guard, a very ty lee-esque thing to do as well. however the comment towards mai (“was that boy kind of cute” or some shit) still makes me doubt.

now, this reading probably implies ty lee is a lesbian, but this blog is 60% analysis and 40% kinda forced analysis in order to achieve a comedic effect, mainly for me and myself. in other words i think the situation would be a lot funnier if ty lee was genuinely attracted only to sokka, and not any other fratboy from ember island. just plain physical attraction, not even a crush. nothing romantic there. because of all this it implies:

ty lee is indeed in love with mai, given sokka is also mai (sharp things, visibly depressed, dry humour, repression etc etc) in a different, loud expressive font

ty lee is, in theory, a lesbian. but she’s strangely attracted to one (1) singular boy and it’s a nightmare for everyone around them both

as previously discussed, sokka could technically count as lesbian adjacent, in all but gender and sexuality

ty lee saw one (1) man she was actually attracted to and gave absolutely nothing away. she starts out flirting (in the middle of battle!!) with him of course, because she knows her role, nothing out of the ordinary. but then he flirts back (a minimum amount, because he, too, knows his role) and ty lee is... amused? pleased? not absolutely disgusted? weird. chi-block!

the one man ty lee was ever attracted to was just some guy. sure, sokka is the most perfect man and the entire gaang silently agrees on the fact (except sokka himself) but to figure out how deep sokka’s specialness runs you need to stop and analyse it. on the surface he’s just... some guy. the only guy ever ty lee (living GODDESS) is attracted to. it is kinda funny

having in mind that all of this is speculation and not That much backed up by the text, i like to think the fact that sokka was the only boy ty lee was ever genuinely attracted to leaves her very stunned. she concludes that she is technically bi, but emotionally a lesbian. sokka’s reaction can range from confused, weirded out, smug, to absolutely on-board. and that’s where the funny part comes.

this is a non-exhaustive list of people ty lee and sokka would piss off if they made out once in a while for funsies;

zuko, who has a very well-crafted imaginary line inside his brain that separates his friends into the categories aang friends / azula friends, and if they ever touch the universe will simply collapse

azula, who is very hurt and offended by the fact that ty lee would hook up with sokka who is the smarter, kinder, male version of azula and azula’s arch nemesis, but not with azula herself

toph and aang, who, as any twelve-year olds, hate seeing people kissing

mai, who is ty lee’s girlfriend and soulmate. it’s more of a mild annoyance, really. everything that happens between sokka and ty lee is consented by mai, and mai even finds it sort of funny, especially when she can make fun of ty lee for liking... a boy

katara, who reasonably dislikes the vivid image of her brother making out with anyone and espeicially ty lee, who, to be honest, freaks her out a little bit

ty lee, who to this day cannot believe she’s attracted to one boy. not even two or three boys in total, ONE. she often pulls away from sokka mid-makeout session like “i can’t BELIEVE i’m doing this” and sokka is like “yeah well.” and ty lee is like “i can’t believe i’m ENJOYING it” and sokka says “crazy, right?” and then they keep going

and i have so much to say actually. this is not by any means a serious analysis but a very fun scenario. and as there is nothing in the text (in my opinion) that contradicts bisexual ty lee (maybe she’s homoromantic & bisexual??? is that a thing??) i have decided to adopt it as a headcanon of mine. you can take it or leave it!

#i have SOOO many thoughts on sokka ty lee friendship #friends with benefits. friends who make out occasionally #ty lee is actually reluctant sometimes to make out with sokka because she feels they’re breaking zuko’s little heart :(#(they are. sadly)#but all to its time #SO MANY THOUGHTS.......#ty lee #sokka&tylee #lesbian ty lee is probably the most accurrate reading but. i don't care!#bi ty lee has such a potential. 4 me #headcanons #? maybe???#n #asks #i-hate-mayo

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autistic-yuri · 4 years

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Okay I’ve been messing with this idea of a But I’m A Cheerleader ATLA AU and I think I’m ready to share it.

Ty Lee is a great cheerleader with a great boyfriend and the perfect life and a bunch of furniture that weirdly looks like vaginas

Yeah my girls a lesbian deep in denial. So she gets sent to Ozai’s Conversion Therapy Camp.

There she meets Mai, a sorta rude sorta hot jaded chick.

YES THIS BITCH IS A MAI LEE FIC

There’s also background Zukka and probably some other gay ships.

Zuko is just Dolph. For those of you who haven’t watched the film, Dolph is played by Dante Basco

Someone please make fan art of Zuko in that fully rainbow outfit I need to see it

Sokka is Dolph’s boyfriend who’s name I forgot.

Zuko and Sokka get caught by Ty Lee, Zuko gets kicked out and Sokka gets put in solitary confinement.

So Ozai runs the conversion therapy camp, Sozin is Ozai’s grandpa(DONT ask) and Roku is the employee who keeps making goo goo eyes at Sozin

So Mai and Ty Lee get put together as partners and while they argue at first they start to bond and then they start to fall in love.

One night, most of the kids sneak out with the help of Jeong-Jeong and Piandao, who run the local gay youth shelter.

Mai and Ty Lee kiss, it’s so romantic.

Mai and Ty Lee attempt to do the same thing Sokka and Zuko did, they get caught.

They promise that they won’t take the offer to stay in the camp, but Mai’s parents make her chicken out.

So Ty Lee heads to the gay youth shelter and finds Zuko there.

They make a plan to run away with their respective lovers during the graduation

Ty Lee does a chant to convince Mai to come with her

And they live happily ever after!

Now for just a few more additions!

Azula will probably be the goth chick from France that gets jealous when Graham and Megan get together

As for everyone else, this is where I’ll start making changes to the plot.

For Aang and Katara, they get together despite their homosexual tendencies because they still are attracted to the same sex, and get released early

Yue fakes her own death to get out of that place. Suki finds out she’s still alive and gets herself kicked out to find her.

Jet’s there. I don’t what I’ll do with him he just exists.

Toph’s actually ace-aro but everyone thinks she’s gay and so she just goes along with it.

Yeah, I love this AU idea honestly. Hope you enjoyed too!

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low-budget-korra · 4 years

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Aang and Korra: Two sides of the same coin.

I know I've already made a post about this some time ago but i will do it again.

It's easy to say that their journey's are somewhat similar but I will go a little further and say that their journey's complete each other.

There's this quote, I've already saw a thousand times, that is: TLA is the history of a boy who learn to be the Avatar and TLOK is the history of the Avatar who learn how to be just a girl

While Aang grow up traveling the world , Korra grow up training isolated from the world.

While Aang already knew his life long friends at the age of 12, Korra only knew hers at the age of 17(except for Naga).

Aang wasnt the "perfect Avatar" from the problems of that world of war, that world needed a combative Avatar. Korra wasn't the "perfect Avatar" from the problems of that way more political world, that world needed a diplomatic Avatar. So to defeat Ozai, Aang needed to learn to be more like Korra and for Korra to just live in her world she needed to become more patient and diplomatic like Aang.

It's like Bryke made this on purpose ( captain obvious here). It would be to easy for them just to make an Aang2.0 but they actually made Korra, at least book 1 Korra, the opposite of Aang.

"oh but it would be better if they really made Korra an Aang2.0"

Really? Because if they had did that they won't have much new things to show us, because all the arcs would be like an copy of TLA, instead of its own thing.

But the things that Aang and Korra had in common is how much they needed their friends. The Avatar is powerful but it can't deal with all the shit alone.

The so called TLA fanboys and Korra's haters used to forgot that Aang didnt win the fire nation alone. He needed Zuko and Katara to defeat Azula, He needed the white lotus to free Ba Sing Se, He needed Toph,Sokka and Suki to destroy Ozai's Fleet. Oh and for all that to happen he needed Katara to save his life and the Avatar cycle in the and of Book 2 when Azula almost kill him.(and for a moment, I think she did)

But for those people Aang alone heal himself after Azula hit him with that lighting, Aang defeat Azula in the Agni Kai, Aang free Ba Sing Se, Aang destroy Ozai's Fleet.

Why Aang can have the help of his friends but Korra can't? Why Aang can like, almost died and nobody question his power and strength but Korra can't? Why Aang can make mistakes but Korra can't?

Do your guys notice that those blind haters never discuss about things like narrative choices but instead they only throw shit at Korra and Korra only.

I think the answer for that is simple. What those blind haters truly hate is the fact that Korra is a poc lgbt woman who isn't there just to be cute, girly and helpless. Because those people can't support to see any woman or girl not acting like they think they should.

So like I said. Aang had to learn to be more like Korra in the same way Korra had to learn to be more like Aang. So for this hating Korra is also hating Aang.

Oh dud, this post gets a path that I didn't predicted.

Oh and I almost forgot the fact on how TLOK ended things that started in TLA, like the Air nomads. In TLA they are gone and TLOK bring them back.

And also some cool stuff like while Aang connected with past Avatars, Korra connected with herself.

Aang was the last Avatar in a 10.000 cycle. Korra is the first in a 10.000 cycle. And if you see this, I think that was exactly what it was supposed to happen

After Roku only has space for one more Avatar, maybe two, Aang and Korra.

So the air nomads predicted the new cycle Korra started? Or they predicted something more dark like the end of the Avatar in that harmonic convergence? Korra was supposed to be the last Avatar but her and her friends manege to save the cycle then?

PS: this post really started with parallels, pass through the "why people hate Korra and why those haters aren't even truly TLA fans", than ends with Avatar theories.

PS: Please don't get mad because I put "lgbt" instead of bissexual while talking about Korra. I just think that the show set a room for others interpretations about her sexuality, like that she, instead of bissexual she is a lesbian who was trapped in a heteronormative compulsory. I think both interpretations are fine, the show set room for both of them (probably without even notice).

#the legend of korra #korrasami #asami sato #avatar korra #korra #avatar #legend of korra #the last airbender #avatar aang #katara #azula #sokka #suki #toph #uncle iroh #white lotus #zuki #ozai

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zuzuslastbraincell · 4 years

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atla x star wars

aang: luke, obviously. both share the burden of being the *last* of a mythologised group of people, who are single-handedly trying to uphold traditions and methods considered lost (obviously these comparisons should be made lightly - the air nomads are a group of people & a culture that sufferred genocide; the jedi order is a religious-political order that served an increasingly corrupt government). sensitive, prodigious, but also contains a great degree of anger and grief at his loss and displacement. works *hard* to be compassionate, kind, and ultimately wise, balancing the needs of the world and the traditions of his role with his own ideals. effiminate / lacks a care for traditional modes of masculinity and is under appreciated for it.

zuko: luke, obviously. lost family for the sake of duty, was forced to leave his home and travel across the stars/seas to fulfil his destiny. maimed and traumatised by his authoritarian and distant father whose footsteps he aspired to follow in, and struggled with whether to follow him to the dark side or to fight for the side of good. ultimately rejects his father's fascist ideology, his family history, and the empire in the 3rd act to fight for good. also? he's gay!!

katara: leia, duh. a great sense of responsibility to her people (who were victims of genocide), expected to take on responsibilities beyond her age, deeply principled, stands up to authority, fights for the secret rebels, full of kindness and compassion, full of righteous anger, not above pettiness either, she's a rich character that is wonderfully flawed and layered and i love her immensely <3

sokka: a mix of han and luke. while han is the obvious choice here - han is our token non-force user, and let's remind people, he isn't as "cool" as his reputation in fandom, he's a total dork (see: how he impersonates a stormtrooper in episode iv). han has a strong sense of pride masquerading as a cool and mysterious bounty hunter type (when really he's a washed up smuggler). sokka shares that same awkward dorkiness, more realistic/cynical outlook, and chip on his shoulder/pride, but he's smarter, kinder, and also got a greater sense of responsibility towards the world rather than that cynical detatchment. in this sense he greatly resembles luke, especially in the sense that, especially in the early episodes, he is trying to follow in his father's footsteps.

suki: a mix of han and leia. suki isn't part of the magical world of the protagonists (initially), has her own priorities and goals, but ends up joining them like han. much like han, she is "what if han was as cool a badass as fandom advertises" (although how good a shot he/she really is depends on the plot) combined with how leia takes a leadership position and grows into her own with it at a young age. i think suki is principled but deeply practical, however, something she shares in common with leia (who is both idealistic and principled as well as grounded, task-orientated, & practical). i also think suki has a strong sense of pride (and is a bit of a sore loser) which you see in both han and leia.

toph: chewbacca. okay, seriously, she's *kinda* han, she's got that same sense of pride especially about flying solo vs being part of a team, her inability to accept help is also very han, but she'd insist on being chewbacca. she's as wise and as emotionally receptive as chewie, as well as able to clobber anyone, so who am i to judge?

azula: she'd 100% be leia, in a much better, kinder universe where she had her own bail organa :(

mai and ty lee: clone wars era lesbian bounty hunters asajj ventress & latts razzi, who are way too cool to be dealing with this jedi/avatar bullshit, and have a wonderful off-screen redemption arc and gay romance

iroh: obi-wan (except more war crimes). once a famously successful and clever general. now generally considered past his prime, has become a mentor with a tragic past where he stalwartly served the republic/empire but in his unquestioning adherance to that doctrine he lost his mentee/son. full of regrets about it, and refuses to do the same with his current mentee. i could hear an argument for young anakin given his blithe attitude to war crimes and enthusiastic militarism and imperialism - but honestly? considering how the late republic was just a mask for the empire, obi-wan fits iroh well enough. (iroh, sadly, is not gay, and thus is a poor man's obi-wan).

ursa: anakin (except he died like padmé). she has the silk hiding steel aura that padmé has but her plot arc is all anakin's. chosen on the basis of a very special heritage. will forgo socially accepted moral/ethical frameworks if her family are threatened, and will not hesitate to kill a man if her son is threatened. despite what people think, this hardly absolves her of being an active particpant of empire (simply makes her complex). massively favoured her son over her daughter (who she traumatised). differs from anakin in that, because she is a woman, and the writers of both of these shows are misogynists who barely give space for older women, especially mothers, in their narratives, she disappeared ~in mysterious circumstances~ and will never complete my ideal plot arc for her which involves throwing ozai down a garbage chute. shame.

hakoda: bail organa (except he's not dead). lifelong rebel? respected and admired leader of his people? as the only good parent in the whole damn show? bail organa.

ozai: low-budget palpatine who is not as competent or calculating. bzzt bzzt lightning go bzzzzt. awful. gets his ass handed to him. yeah. you may know his voice actor from batman: the animated series and nowhere else.

#aang #zuko #katara #suki #sokka #toph #iroh #ursa #hakoda #ozai #almost wrote zhao as kyle ren as a joke (both bitches i hate) but i dont need to invite curses into my home #you could make a cool argument for kanna as ahsoka tano imo but its a stretch and a half

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army-of-mai-lovers · 4 years

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Hi, Ace Toph hc anon here! I totally agree people should be able to hc characters however they choose! Hc Toph as an aroace lesbian, ace, and a demiro lesbian are really great hcs and completely valid. I think it’s kind of comparable to ppl writing Bolin and Asami as cis in fan works. It’s like woah I forgot that ppl think of character as ‘xyz’ haha. Your wording is great and I get the point you’re conveying! I apologize for the long text I went on a rant too lol.

The biphobia in this fandom sometimes. I swear it’s palpable on so many different levels. My friend (a lesbian) paints Asami and Korra as lesbians and honestly I don’t get it. They’re both attracted to men AND women? Again people can have their hc’s but it’s really hurtful to erase bi representation in media. Like a while back she identified as bisexual and I thought she would understand that making/ enjoying jokes like “lol Mako turns all of his exes lesbian” to be super biphobic and not very funny. Or when people say they ship Wuko bc Mako deserves to suffer. Can we stop using the reason people/characters are lgbtq+ bc men have done them wrong in relationships or deserve “dealing with someone just as bad.”

Also 100% my hc is Zuko being bi you’re not alone! While they’re not my otp I definitely think he had genuine (romantic) feelings for Mai and other women he dated. But again that’s up for a person to speculate as comphet or not. The problem, like you said, definitely arises when there’s a double standard for people being adamant about hc men as gay and hesitant/against women as lesbians. I get when people say it’s somewhat stereotypical for Toph to be a lesbian but there ARE women that identify as lesbian that fit being tough, strong, and ngc. Like she fits the sort of aro/ace, butch vibe. AND THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. I’m tired of people acting like being butch is something negative! Ngc lesbians should be able to be hc in the fandom. You know what I redact my earlier statement on hc Toph as just ace. I definitely see Toph being an aro, aroace, or a demiro lesbian 😤😤😤!

People can hc what they want but don’t hold double standards. It’s funny how like you said ppl hc Wu and Zuko as 1000% gay (imo bc of stereotypical actions/characteristics). But turn around and say that others shouldn’t hc characters as lesbians bc of stereotypes and characteristics/point out canonical events disproving the hc of said lesbian character.

Pls tell me if I got misunderstood or interpreted what you said in an inaccurate way. Thank you for discussing! Also I’m sorry this is so long!!! I enjoy your content so thank you for your opinion on this topic :D

oh anon this is so thoughtful thank you so much! you understood EXACTLY what I was saying and I’m so glad bc I was honestly a little afraid to say it. the analogy to people writing Bolin and Asami as cis is a great one, I get so into my own hcs that I forget sometimes that people don’t have the same one that I do.

OH MY FUCKING GOSH THE BIPHOBIA IN THIS FANDOM. I HATE IT SO MUCH. I am not bisexual myself but I have friends who are and just in general seeing someone else be shit on for the way they identify pisses me off. Honestly, the Korra and Asami situation is one of the few where I do think “having your own hcs” is harmful, just because bisexual representation (esp bisexual representation of women of color) is so rare and I do think it’s erasure to interpret them as not having been genuinely attracted to Mako. Further, I agree the joke of “Mako turned Korra and Asami into lesbians” is super not funny, in part bc I am a Mako stan but also bc lesbians have had a history of our attraction being attributed to trauma or bad relationships w men and that is a trope I would rather not contribute to!

and yes bi Zuko!!!!! I def agree that he had genuine, romantic feelings for Mai (now, whether she had genuine, romantic feelings for him is a whole nother question). and yes I don’t understand the issue with hcing her as a lesbian? I mean I guess if your only lesbian hcs are Toph and Azula I would maybe encourage you to question your thought process, but the people I’ve largely seen make lesbian hcs about Toph or Azula also have them for other female atla characters (for my part, I also hc Mai and Ty Lee as lesbians). and people acting as if being a butch lesbian is a negative thing is SUCH AN ISSUE, not just in this fandom but in all kinds of spaces!!! being a butch lesbian is a wonderful thing to be!!! I hope all the butch lesbians reading this are having a wonderful day!!!

and yeah it’s,,,,,interesting. for the record, I def also hc Wu as gay, but I find it so interesting that it’s a problem for people to hc Toph as a lesbian because it’s “stereotypical” but it’s fine for people to hc Wu as gay??? like honestly I just want people to be consistent but they never are.

and omg thank you so much for sending me this ask!!!! this was a lovely discussion!

#anons #replies #swearing tw #caps tw #biphobia #lesbophobia #fandom crit #ask to tag

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ultranos · 4 years

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Azula/Katara anon here again. I agree with you on it being a crack ship since in canon it is basically impossible (but as you said could happen it just really really complicated, just the ATLA writers would never and I'm fine with that and don't want them to, not that they're adding anything now) and works better in AUs (where there's a little less baggage for both). Though I don't think it's crazy to think Katara and Aang would break up in canon because they're still children and have 1/?

in my mind, wildly different paths after the war ends (Aang dealing with what peace looks like to the world and other avatar duties plus rebuilding the air nomads maybe? While I see Katara returning to the south pole and rebuilding it as well as trying to find more stuff about Southern style water bending)(it’s also that rewatching as an adult the ending pairing seems forced, that they are best friends but Katara doesn't like him romantically - which I know is partially my lesbian brain 2/?

screaming about compulsive heterosexuality and more a me thing). What's attractive to me about Azula/Katara is how they are almost perfect foils and equal in bending power of opposite elements (sorry not sorry Zuko) but went on wildly different paths and how those paths could be merged post canon (messily and fascinating with a good dose of angst I'm sure). Azula is also one of my favorite characters (along with Toph and Katara, hmm seems like there's a pattern) 3/4

and enemies to friends to lovers trope is definitely one of my weaknesses when it is done well (which happens less than I’d like). But thanks for the answer and if you wrote an Azula/Katara fic I'd be fascinated (though sorry if I'd ask you to finish salt & ashes first) 4/4

Yeah, in canon, it would take a lot of careful work for a fairly complex and nuanced kind of narrative. It’s wouldn’t be a simple story. And even in an AU post-canon, even if the work is done to get Azula and Katara both to places where this could make sense, I wouldn’t want it to happen at the expense of Aang’s characterization. As you said, it’s not out of left field to think that two people, who are each other’s first serious relationship when they’re younger than 15 might not last forever. Discovering they want different things is normal and healthy. Even if they love each other. (I am a firm believer in “love takes different forms” and none of these should be valued above the others. The love between romantic partners does not automatically “beat” the love between platonic best friends)

But it’s also very important to me that Aang and Katara are best friends. So I hate it when that relationship is devalued for shipping, regardless of pairing.

Enemies to friends to lovers is a classic trope for a reason, lol. But yeah, it’s one of those things that’s great when it’s done well and rarely is. It’s also one of those tropes that’s really easy to write in a way that makes you go “yikes”.

Now having said all this, yeah, I do have an idea or two for an Azula/Katara fic and it possibly could even work post-canon (and not a total AU). If I ever did it, it’d probably be a one-shot at best. Maybe if I get convinced to do a quick one for a challenge week or something, but salt & ashes is my main focus for the foreseeable future.

#nos answers things #atla #i've always been a little weird with shipping #weirdo for whom characterization matters #and hates character assassination regardless of which character #Anonymous

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entity9silvergen · 4 years

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He Is Mild And He Is Meek (ATLA Fanfiction)

Summary:

He is mild and he is meek, he is Momo and he is what I seek.

Suki always wanted three things in life. One was to become a professional soccer player. The second was to live in a cute apartment filled with succulents. The third was to get a cat.

Momo probably wasn’t anyone’s first pick as a pet but Suki was determined to get this cat to love her as much as she loved him. If only he’d accept he had a home now.

Fandom: Avatar The Last Airbender

Characters: Suki, Momo, Sokka, Aang

Relationships: Suki & Momo, Suki & Sokka, Momo & Aang, Mentioned Aang/ Katara, Past Suki/ Toph

Other Tags: AroWriMo, Oneshot, Modern Setting, Modern AU, Transgender Character, Aromantic Character, Trans Suki, Aromantic Suki, Lesbian Suki, Aro Trans Lesbian Suki, Trans Aang, Bi Sokka, Queer Toph, Cat Momo, Dog Appa, Pet Adoption

Warnings: Brief Mentions of Sex, Minor Swearing

Word Count: 6.7K

Chapter Count: 1 (Oneshot)

Author’s Note: I was working on my third AroWriMo story and was about to take a break when this idea hit me. I know it’s kind of out there but I like trying different stuff so here we are.

This is very out of my comfort zone. It’s a Modern/ Real World AU story with a sapphic aromantic transfem Suki adopting a cat. I am an achillean aroace trans man with a dog. I also don’t play soccer or work in tech and I’m writing about that a lot here. I am writing about so many things I don’t know about so feel free to call me out if things aren’t quite accurate. The main focus is on Suki and Momo becoming friends so hopefully it won’t be an issue.

The title comes from the poem The Lamb by William Blake.

This fits with the prompt for Week 4, non-romantic relationships. Because pets count, guys. Originally I was going to write a fic about Lin figuring out she’s aro and coming out but I like this better.

Also read it here on Ao3.

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As long as Suki could remember, she’d always had three goals in life.

Goal number one had always been to play professionally for a women’s soccer team.

Unfortunately, biology was not in her favor and she couldn’t even play on her college soccer team. For either sex. What kind of bull was that? If they were going to misgender her, they could at least do it by letting her play for the men’s team. Not that she would if she was offered. There were some things she wouldn’t compromise on.

It was upsetting but she tried not to let it get her down. She’d come this far and she wasn’t going to let this stop her. She ended up on her school’s girl’s ice hockey team for all four years. It was just because they were short on players and they needed six to compete. Apparently not a lot of girls were interested in ice hockey? Suki actually really enjoyed it, even if the other teams always called her a man when they lost.

Maybe it was for the better because once she’d graduated, one of her teammates introduced her to the Kyoshi Warriors. They weren’t professionals but they competed in organized tournaments. All women's organized tournaments. It wasn’t what Suki had dreamed of but soccer was still a part of her life. Maybe one day the sports industry would be more accepting but for now, this was enough.

Goal number two had always been to live in a cozy apartment with a crapton of succulents.

She was a cottagecore lesbian who couldn’t keep a plant alive for the life of her, okay? And succulents were cute. Don’t judge. This one was a much easier goal to accomplish. She and her buddy Sokka had scored a job in webdev for this big gaming company right after they graduated from college. They were stuck coding for a smaller, newer game but popularity had surged and she and Sokka were making decent coin now. Enough that they no longer had to crash at Toph’s place. Well, Suki didn’t have to. Sokka stuck around for a bit. Suki was pretty sure they tried dating and it didn’t work out. That was probably a good thing because Suki really didn’t want to tell Sokka she’d been hooking up with Toph when they’d moved it. How awkward would that conversation be? Like, hey Sokka. You know you’re dating my ex-fuck buddy? Well now you do. Bleh.

But the point was that Suki had it good now. She wasn’t rolling in dough or anything- she’d painted most of the artwork around the apartment and all her succulents she’d grown herself from cuttings because she still couldn’t really afford to do anything else- but she was doing well. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay here forever but she might.

The third and final goal was to get a cat.

Because who needed a girlfriend? Or boyfriend? Or enbyfriend? Wives, husbands, any kind of spouse wasn’t the life for her. No, she wanted to live with a cat in a house filled with plants, damn it. Would the cat try to eat her succulents? Probably. Would that stop her? No. No, it would not.

So that led to right now. With her ideal home secured and a place on a soccer team, Suki decided it was time to get a cat.

She’d spent awhile looking online. Like, years. Years of research. She didn’t have much experience with cats. She had a pair of cats as a kid, sisters actually, but they’d died when she was pretty young. Not because her family was filled with terrible pet owners or anything. No, the cats had just gotten old. Her parents just decided to get a lot of pets as “practice” or whatever before having kids. She’d found out later in life that it’d taken a long time for her mother to get pregnant with her big sister Ty Lee so maybe they’d thought they just weren’t going to have kids or something.

Ty Lee’s friend Mai had a cat growing up, a kitten, so most of Suki’s cat experiences came from that. The cat’s name was Azula and she was a mean thing. Suki had gotten countless scratches on her arms from her but they were worth it to have those brief moments of sheer, unfiltered acceptance only an animal could have before the little jerk unleashed hell on her hands. Azula somewhat grew out of it when she reached adulthood but she never stopped being a terror.

Mai moved away at some point when Suki was around nine or ten and she took Azula with her. Which made sense, Azula was a cat, but Suki still missed having her around. Since then, the only cat she’d interacted with was this tortoiseshell she’d seen on a walk in high school. She’d been having a pretty day- er, week- and she thought a walk to the elementary school down the block would clear her head. She’d spotted the cat across the street and hurriedly crossed in hope she could get a better look. It’d been a pleasant surprise that the cat seemed equally delighted to see her and approached her as well, demanding pets for a good half hour before Suki realized she had to be getting home. She came back the next week, hoping to see the cat again, but she never did. It was too bad, she’d never met a cat who did anything like that.

So the years of research were necessary. She was only experienced with, what, four cats? Wait actually, her extended family members had some cats but they didn’t count. They were assholes. But four to seven, give or take? Not a lot.

Constantly googling stuff about cat care made stuff about cat adoption show up on her brower a lot which was kind of annoying in college since she couldn’t have a cat in her dorm but she let herself indulge once in a while. She had to know what kind of cat she wanted, right? Well, she thought so. Turns out she was a bit off center. Cats weren’t really bred like dogs. With dogs, you had a ton of options. There were labs, german shepherds, huskies, dobermans, dalmatians, sheep dogs, collies, and countless other breeds. With cats, you had orange, white, black, brown and grey. You also had stripes, patches, and plain but that was pretty much it. It was more important where the cat came from than what kind.

It took Suki awhile to realize most of the advertisements she saw were from cat mills. Turns out there are a lot of weirdos out there who bred their cats to pump out kittens to sell. On one hand, gross and she knew she shouldn’t further support those kinds of businesses but on the other, they needed good homes. These people had no morals, who knew where those little kittens were going to go? Not the sellers, that’s for sure.

It was hard to tear herself away from those sites but she was glad she did.

There were a lot of family cats who’d gotten pregnant by accident and the owners needed someone to take the kittens off them. They sold cheap but the cats were usually well taken care of and the sellers made sure the new owners weren’t, like, animal abusers are anything. The bar was kind of low but it was a lot better than kitten mills.

Then there were shelters.

Suki’s family, as much as they loved animals, never got pets from shelters. They had too many issues, they said. It’s easier to train a younger animal, they said. You have no idea where they’re from, they said. Ty Lee always pointed out the animals needed homes. Suki always asked if the animals who were there for too long got euthanized. Neither sister could really remember what their parents’ responses were but neither of them ever tried to buy pets from shelters, even as adults.

Until now.

Looking on the shelters’ websites swayed Suki a bit. A lot of shelters didn’t euthanize but usually pets would go to different shelters if they were at one for too long and sometimes those new shelters did. There was a wide variety in the policies at the different shelters. Some of them really prioritized the animals’ wellbeing but some… really… didn’t.

She decided on visiting a small volunteer-run animal shelter. They were having a… a sale? What’s it called when places with animals just stuck a bunch of animals outside and let people wander around and look at them? A farmer’s market? No, wait, that was food. An open house? Gosh, she should know this. She didn’t though and she was going anyway.

It was a Sunday the day she decided to go. It was the only day on the shelter’s calendar that lined up with her schedule for the next month or so. After throwing on her lucky green blouse, applying some light makeup, and firing off a quick text to Sokka letting her know she wouldn’t be around today, she headed out.

“Hey there!” a bright boy in a blinding orange t-shirt greeted as she approached the shop the kennels were set up. “I love your necklace! Where’d you get it?”

Suki tried her best not to finger the necklace she had on but quickly relaxed when she noticed the dog tags around the boy’s neck. The pronoun dog tags. This guy was trans too. Or an ally at least. He probably recognized her programmer socks from a distance and her white ring up close. It was a massive relief. She hated getting questions about her name when she signed paperwork. And knowing her, there was a pretty good chance she’d be signing some adoption papers today.

“Oh, um, I made it,” Suki said, feeling a bit proud at the way the boy’s eyes bugged out of his head.

“Really? That’s so cool! I’ve looked for pronoun necklaces online but they’re just so chunky. That’s why I like my dog tags! My dog Appa has some too!” the boy rambled excitedly. “Anyway, anything I can help you with? You are here to look at animals, right? If you’re not, I’d totally apologize for just yelling at you out of nowhere but it’s kind of my job.”

Suki laughed and decided she liked the guy. “No, don’t worry. I’m here to look at cats, actually.”

“Oh that’s great! I love cats but I’m allergic,” the boy- Aang, according to his name tag- said. He jangled something in his pocket, presumably allergy pills, and began leading her to the tables where lighter animals’ kennels were placed on. “We’ve got some good ones here today! Who should we visit first? You looking for a boy cat or a girl cat?”

“Gender is a social construct,” Suki responded, amused by Aang’s delight at her response. “Surprise me.”

“Okay, um, let’s see. Oh here’s Haru! He’s a good boy,” Aang said, leading him over to a wire exercise pen with three cats inside. “See, Haru’s the brown one. Teo and Duke are the other brown ones.”

One of the cats meowed loudly at the sound of his name, startling the other two awake. One of them lifted his head with a dazed look in his eye and a long piece of lint stuck to his face. Suki couldn’t help but snort at the sight of it.

“Classic Haru,” Aang chuckled. Suki still wasn’t quite sure which cat he was talking about but he was already moving along. “Um, okay, so over here we’ve got three more. This is Lu Ten and- Jet! Stop trying to eat Kuei’s ear! Wait, no. I’m sorry. Don’t look at me like that! You brought this upon yourself!”

Suki’s attention drifted down the table as Aang bickered with the cats. They were funny but she was too distracted by the lone crate at the end of the table for her to notice. She lifted a finger, drawing Aang’s attention to it. “Is there anyone in there?”

Aang looked up, Jet in one hand and Kuei in the other. “Oh that? Oh yeah, that’s Momo.”

“Can I see him?”

Aang put Jet and Kuei down, looking kind of hesitant. “There’s a reason Momo’s all alone.”

“Is he aggressive?”

“What? No. No, he’s like the total opposite of aggressive. Really shy actually. He’s a rescue. My girlfriend found him on the streets a couple weeks after this hoarder got evicted. The guy had, like, sixty cats who all got sent to shelters around the state but some of them got loose. We think Momo was one of them. He gets kind of scared around other cats,” Aang said, scratching the back of his head with one hand. “I don’t think he’s scared of humans, exactly, but I don’t think he’s going to get adopted anytime soon. I’d take him but, you know, allergies. I thought it might do him some good to get used to being out here though. Took me forever to convince my boss.”

“Can I see him?”

“O-okay. I don’t see why not. Just try to stay quiet. I don’t want to scare him too much.”

Suki nodded and Aang led her down the table. The crate was facing away from the rest of the animals and Aang made sure to move slowly when he moved into sight. “Hey, buddy. It’s me. Aang. You remember me? Yeah, you do. I brought Suki! She’s just going to say hi, alright?”

Aang nodded to Suki and she shifted so she was within view of the wire mesh that was the crate’s door. She crouched down a bit, trying to get into view, and was immediately met with two wide, green eyes.

“Hey, Momo,” she cooed. “Is this alright?”

She slowly put her hand near the door. Momo stared at it for a few moments from his place curled up at the back of his crate before stretching his neck a bit to sniff. She glanced at Aang, trying to see if what she was doing was alright. He looked absolutely mystified. Taking that as a good sign, she put her hand against the door. To her surprise, Momo got up and nuzzled her hand through the wire.

“Wow, he never does that,” Aang commented. “Hopefully that means he’s getting better. Or that you have cat magic!”

“Can I adopt him?” Suki asked before she knew what she was saying.

“I don’t literally mean you have cat magic.”

“Wha- Yes. I know I don’t have cat magic, Aang,” Suki sighed and ducked her head a bit to look into Momo’s cage. He was a cute little guy. Maybe a year old. If he was from a hoarding house like Aang thought he was, he’d probably been born there. Poor boy probably didn’t know what it felt like to have a real home. “I think… I’d like to give him a shot. Give him a home. I know I’d probably have to put more work into it than I would for another cat but I’m willing to do that extra work for him. He deserves it.”

Aang smiled and it wasn’t one of the beaming ones like before. This one was a lot softer. “You have no idea how happy that makes me. You really sound like you’ll be a good pet-owner. We have to do background checks and stuff, obviously, and you can’t, like, take him home right now but if you think you’re ready, I’ll put your name down and we can start the adoption process.”

Suki shot Momo one last glance and nodded. “Nothing would make me happier.”

===========================

She ended up driving to get him at seven am the next Friday.

She’d been planning on getting him in three weeks but on Thursday Aang had called her to tell her Jet was stirring up trouble again and Momo had freaked out and he really wanted to get him out of there. They’d planned on Saturday but Momo freaking out was agitating the other cats and Aang thought it would be best if Suki came sooner so she got herself and Sokka out of work and now they were driving to the Southern Air Animal Shelter.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re getting a cat,” Sokka whined as they pulled into the parking lot. “At least tell me he’s black. Then you’d be, like, a sexy lesbian witch with a sexy black cat... famialir… thing.”

“Momo’s white.”

“Aw. That’s too b- Oh wait, that actually fits your aesthetic way better. Blue eyes?”

“Green.”

“Even better! I like him already!”

Suki snorted and flicked him in the side of the head when they pulled into their parking spot and came to a stop. “Just wait here, alright?”

“Sure thing. Try not to take forever. Unlike some people, I need to get back to work this afternoon.”

Suki flipped him off and headed inside.

The woman at the desk was kind enough and Suki didn’t have to wait long before she was redirected to Aang. The man looked a bit frazzled but still looked bright as ever. “Hey Suki! Boy am I glad you’re here. I’m sorry we had to hurry things like this but I really think this is what’s best for Momo.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Suki assured him. “Is he alright?”

“I think so. I’m just glad he had a home lined up and all ready to go,” Aang admitted as he led her to the part of the building reserved for cats. “I mean, he’s well treated here and I’ll miss him but I think he needs his peace.”

The cat corner wasn’t nearly as loud as the dog department must be but there were a few more vocal cats meowing here and there. Suki kind of wanted to stop to play with them but she wasn’t here for them. She was here for Momo.

Once again, Momo was at the farthest end of the wing and as far away as the other cats as possible. She felt a stab of pity for him when she saw him. He was curled up at the back of his kennel, face buried in his tail. When he heard them approach, he looked up with the most terrified look in his eyes and mewed softly.

“I know, buddy,” Aang told him, looking sad, “but Suki’s here. Do you remember her? She’s going to take you to your forever home.”

Aang unlatched the door and Momo tipped his head, looking confused. With Aang’s approval, Suki reached in and pulled him out, holding Momo carefully. “There we go. It’s going to be alright now, Momo.”

“Let’s get him out of this wing,” Aang said. Suki nodded in agreement, feeling Momo quivering in her arms, and the two hurried away from the other cats. Back in the lobby, Momo already seemed a lot calmer. Still nervous but better.

“Normally, all the paperwork would be done by now but due to the circumstances, just sign here,” the woman at the desk said, sliding a form across the table. “We can mail you the rest of the paperwork or you can come by later.”

Suki nodded and jotted down her initials on the form with her free hand. She tried at least skimming the rest of the form like any responsible person should but she was too worried about the cat in her arms to really care. The receptionist glanced it over once before giving Suki the okay.

“Do you have someone to drive you home or do you have a crate in your car?” Aang asked when she was done.

“Both. I came here with my friend and I already bought everything,” Suki told him. She flashed him a smile. “Thanks for everything, Aang.”

“No problem. Just doing my job,” Aang answered, matching her smile. He passed her a slip of paper. “Here’s just some extra info about Momo I had jotted down. I have one for every cat. I dunno, it may help.”

Suki thanked him one more time before saying goodbye and returning to her car where Sokka was waiting. Honestly she’d kind of forgotten he was there, despite mentioning it to Aang, until she saw his face light up at the sight of the cat.

“Is that him? Oh, what a beautiful boy,” Sokka cooed when Suki took shotgun with Momo in her lap.

Momo glanced up at Suki before shooting Sokka a confused look. Suki scratched him behind the ears. “That’s right, Momo. Sokka’s weird.”

“Hey! I’m the weird one?”

“Yup,” Suki said, popping the p. Sokka made a face at her. She laughed. “Just drive, knucklehead.”

“As my queen commands,” Sokka responded extravagantly and hit the gas. Suki held onto Momo securely and soon, they were heading to Momo’s new forever home.

The drive was overall pretty good. It was a nice drive through some countryside. Suki and Sokka had been too tired that morning to really appreciate it but now that they were more awake and in less of a hurry, they could just soak it in. Suki lifted Momo up a bit so he could look outside, smiling at the way his green eyes widened in wonder at the endless stretches of grass around them.

Momo was fairly calm for most of it but he was a cat in an unfamiliar situation so he cried a bit once in a while. Sokka pulled over to let Momo use the bathroom about halfway through. Sokka told Suki that when his family got their puppy when he was a teenager, his dad had been holding the dog in the back seat and the dog peed on him within twenty minutes of getting in the car. Suki laughed but privately she was grateful Sokka remembered. She wasn’t wearing nice clothes or anything but she really didn’t want Momo peeing on her or in Sokka’s car.

They got back to Suki’s apartment within the hour. Sokka punched in the codes for the gate and elevator, Suki’s hands too full to do it herself, and they headed inside.

“We’re home now, Momo,” Suki told the cat softly, putting him down once the door was closed. She didn’t think he’d run but better safe than sorry. Momo was definitely going to be an indoor cat. “Go explore.”

Momo seemed frozen for a moment before disappearing in a flash, scurrying behind the couch to where most of the cat stuff was. Suki would’ve taken that as a good sign if he’d run to the cat tower but no, Momo had ducked under the little table beside the couch and was watching everything warily.

“At least he’s not hiding under the couch or under the bed,” Sokka pointed out when their efforts to coax him out failed.

“I guess,” Suki sighed, sitting down on the rug a few feet away from the cat. “You want to stay?”

“I need to get back to work,” Sokka told her regretfully. “I’ll text you if anything important happens. And I might be by later. Hopefully this little guy comes out by then.”

Suki nodded and bid him farewell before glancing at Momo. He’d stubbornly tucked in his paws and planted himself firmly under that little table. She shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

=====================

Suki didn’t have to go back to work that day but she did have a soccer match. She could skip if she wanted- they were just playing the Ba Sing Bears and honestly they weren’t that good- but she figured she’d give Momo the chance to explore his home alone. According to the note Aang had given her, Momo was fine being alone for good stretches of time.

(It also said he was litter trained, good on a leash, practically melted into neck scritches, didn’t like his ears being poked, loved polka music but hated any kind of rap except for French, and his favorite show was the Aquaman cartoon from the 60s but Suki didn’t really know what to think of that.)

The Kyoshi Warriors unsurprisingly won their game but the Ba Sing Bears had put up a good fight. The score came closer than it usually did and Suki got more of a workout than she had in awhile. She got home late, having stopped to grab a bite to eat with her teammates. When she opened the door, Momo looked up and froze mid step from where he was standing on the back of the couch.

They made eye contact for a moment and Suki wanted nothing more than to rush over and cheer that he finally ventured out of his hiding place but, not wanting to scare him, she withheld. Tearing her gaze away, she headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She needed it after that game.

She was sweaty and grimy and the hot water was relaxing but she tried to keep the shower quick. As nice as it was to close her eyes, let the heat wash over her, and lose herself in her thoughts, now wasn’t really the time for that. She washed and dried herself quickly before throwing on some lounge clothes and tying her wet hair up in a towel to dry.

When she left the bathroom, Momo was back under the table, eyeing her warily. Suki tried her best to give him his space for a little while, giving the apartment a once over to see if he’d tried to eat any of her beloved plants- he did not- before heading to the kitchen to prepare some cat food.

“I hope you’re hungry, Momo,” Suki said aloud as she plopped down on the rug, cat bowl in her lap. She shook it a bit before plucking a piece out and holding it up like an offering. “You want some?”

Momo just stared at her and didn’t move a muscle. Suki put the piece of kibble down halfway between them and waited. When Momo just looked at it, she went on her phone and tried not to look at him too much.

She was just about to send Sokka a funny meme she found when Momo stepped out, took the piece of kibble, and wandered up to her.

“Hey, buddy,” she cooed. She lifted her hand slowly, waiting for his reaction, before sinking her hand into his soft, white fur. “That’s right. Not so scary, huh? It’s just me. You want some food?”

Momo let out a pathetic mewl and clambered onto her knee to dip his muzzle into the bowl. He took a few neat bites at first before throwing himself into the meal and scarfing it down.

“You were hungry, huh?” Suki said, laughing a bit when Momo slipped and nearly fell in. “I probably should’ve fed you sooner. Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll get on a schedule.”

Momo swallowed his last bite and mewed again, as if agreeing. Suki set aside the bowl and Momo wandered off but she felt like she’d made some progress. Momo would settle in well.

===================

“He’s not much of a hunter, huh?” Sokka stated as he bounced a feather on a string in front of Momo’s face. Momo just blinked at it and yawned.

It’d been about a week since Momo had moved in with Suki. She thought things were going pretty well. Momo didn’t hide under the table anymore. He seemed to like it down there but he never ran down there in fright and it didn’t take much coaxing to get him to come out. He seemed to prefer the cat tower anyway, though he never climbed very high.

Cats weren’t terribly exciting pets. Momo wasn’t a kitten, she didn’t need to teach him to use a litter box, and he wasn’t much of a scratcher. Still, as timid as he was, he’d proven himself to have some personality.

“He can be spunky when he wants to be,” Suki told him. “Try a ball, he likes batting those around.”

Sokka looked around for a ball and was just about to toss it to Momo when there was a knock at the door.

Momo’s tail shot up but he didn’t run. Suki considered that a good sign. “I can get it.”

Sokka didn’t respond and leaned down to roll Momo the ball. “Go get it. Fetch, boy.”

“He’s not a dog,” Suki called as she opened the door to reveal a familiar face. “Aang?”

“Hey Suki,” Aang greeted with a wild wave. “I just came by to drop off the rest of Momo’s paperwork.”

“I almost forgot about that,” Suki admitted. She accepted the stack of papers from him- ugh, she was really not looking forward to reading through all of those- and stepped aside from the doorway. “Come in. I’m sure Momo would like to see you. I’ve got a friend over but I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“I don’t!” Sokka yelled from the other side of the apartment.

“Sokka?” Aang called as he entered. “Sokka, is that you?”

“Aang?” Sokka looked up from Momo, face flashing with recognition at the sight of the bald figure by the door, and grinned. “Oh hey! I didn’t know you and Suki knew each other!”

“I didn’t know you two knew each other either!” Aang said, slapping hands with Sokka when he approached. “This is way cool!”

“Wait, how do you know each other? Exes?” Suki guessed, glancing between them.

Sokka made a face. “Ew, no. Aang’s Katara’s boyfriend. We all went to high school together.”

Aang laughed a bit and scratched the back of his head nervously. “So how do you two know each other? Exes?”

“Ew, no,” Suki said, mimicking Sokka’s reaction. He stuck his tongue out at her.

“We went to university together,” Sokka explained. “And we were roommates for a bit, during and after college. And we work together. Just best friends in general. Wow, I’m really surprised I haven’t introduced you two yet.”

“Too much trans power in one room,” Aang joked. He and Suki high fived.

“Too much power for any room,” Suki agreed. “Have you met Toph? The three of us would be unstoppable.”

“Oh my god,” Sokka said, rubbing his face with his hands. “Just go look at the damn cat, Aang.”

“Don’t talk about Momo that way,” Aang complained but was already hurrying over to the cat tower. “Momo! You miss me, buddy?”

Suki heard a mew from Momo and a sneeze from Aang and she figured everything was okay.

“You look over this and make sure I’m not signing away my soul or some shit,” Suki said, sliding the paperwork into Sokka’s hands, and joined Aang by the couch with Momo against Sokka’s protests.

“No swearing in front of the baby!” Aang piped up as Momo poked his head out of the cat tower and slunk down to the floor. Aang patted his lap and Momo slowly padded over to him. He didn’t climb into his lap like Aang seemed to want but he was nosing his knees curiously and that seemed to equally excite Aang. “What a good boy!”

With Sokka muttering behind her, Suki sat down and scooted over. Momo largely ignored her in a very catlike manner in favor of getting chin scritches from Aang. “I think he’s been settling in well. He doesn’t really hide anymore and he doesn’t really care when someone’s in the room with him.”

“That’s good,” Aang said, moving to scratch Momo’s ears. “Has he been eating?”

“Yeah. Kind of fast actually. He threw up once. It was pretty early on though so it might’ve been stress.”

Aang nodded thoughtfully. “Poop?”

“In the litterbox. Normal looking.” As far as she could tell at least.

“What about wandering the apartment? Does he go in the other rooms yet?”

“A bit. I’ve found him around once in a while but he seems to like it here the most. Is that something I should be worried about?”

Aang shook his head. “If he’s wandering around, that should be a sign he’s getting comfortable. I think it’s normal if he just hangs around in here most of the time though.”

Suki nodded, a bit relieved. It sounded like she was doing a good job. Suki, responsible cat owner. Then came Aang’s next question.

“Have you been playing Aquaman for him? I have some DVDs if you need them.”

======================

It was about a month and a half since Suki got Momo when she had the chance to get another day off from work.

She loved her job, she really did. Working at Avatar Gaming was truly a dream come true and the project she was working on, The Last Airbender, was actually a lot of fun to work on. Granted, she wasn’t really part of the design or story building parts of the team but it was still satisfying work and could be entertaining. She still got to play around with different characters and attacks regularly. Plus, the work environment was great. She loved going into work. That didn’t mean she didn’t like a day off once in awhile.

Though today, she’d really regret taking the day off.

Momo was a bit antisocial today so Suki was alone in her bed painting her nails. Not the best place to do it, she knew, but she was careful. She missed a phone call, not wanting to pick up her phone with the polish still wet, but it was just Sokka so she didn’t think much of it. He could wait.

It was a good hour later before Suki remembered to call him back. And once she did, she really wished she’d called him sooner. Or not at all.

“Hey,” Sokka said quietly as Suki turned up the volume. His voice cracked, worrying Suki.

“Is everything okay?” Suki asked hurriedly. “Did something happen at work?”

“You could say that.” Sokka laughed but it sounded hollow. “We’re getting laid off.”

“What?” The world seemed to stop around her.

“We’re getting laid off, Suki. The whole team.”

“I heard you,” she croaked in disbelief sitting up a bit straighter. “I- What happened? Why?”

“The Last Airbender is getting popular,” Sokka told her. “They want to- They want another team to work on it. They said they wanted to make it cleaner. More up to standard with their other big games. Make it fancier or whatever. There’s a chance they might hire some of us back but…”

“That’s bullshit,” Suki said almost automatically but it felt like someone else was speaking through her mouth. “No way in hell am I working for them again if they think they can just lay me off.”

Sokka chuckled again. This time there was a bit more life in it but it still sounded as empty as Suki felt. “That’s what I said.”

“Do we have any details yet? How long do we keep working? Are we getting severance pay? Do you have money saved? Are we going to have to-”

“I don’t know yet,” Sokka admitted. “They just announced it, nothing more. They said they’d write everything up soon. I’m… I’m on a walk right now. Just soaking everything in. Trying not to kick over any trash cans. Can I call you back? I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

“I- Yeah. Yeah, Sokka. Take however much time you need.”

“Bye.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he softly added, “Love you, no romo.”

That got a chuckle out of Suki, despite the water beginning to well up in her eyes. “Love you too, Sokka. No romo.”

Suki’s phone beeped as Sokka hung up and the dam broke.

Suki didn’t know why she was crying. Geez, she was a grown woman. Getting laid off wasn’t really a big deal, people got laid off all the time, but it was a big deal for her. She’d been working on that game practically since it’s making. Right out of college. It was the longest job she’d ever held down and she’d grown really attached to it. It was hard to think that she wouldn’t be working on it anymore. That her employers just saw her and her team as… worthless.

And there was the whole financial aspect. She needed that job. She needed income. She needed to pay for her apartment and for food and water and medical expenses and for Momo’s everything and insurance and everything. It was all so much. She was fine now but what if the money she had saved ran out before she found another job? Or if she couldn’t find a good job and she got stuck in some minimum wage shithole?

She wasn’t in college anymore, there were no counselors to help out or career fairs to go to. She’d need to, like, job hunt. With a lay off on her resume. Did layoffs affect things? She knew it wasn’t as bad as getting fired but still. Like a dishonorable discharge. Wait, no, that was probably really disrespectful to say. But it couldn’t look good. Gosh, working for Avatar really was a dream job. She doubted any other big gaming companies were hiring. Any gaming company would be amazing but it was unlikely she’d get another opportunity. Unless they were producing more new games. But then she could just get laid off again when it started getting popular…

She was spiraling. Fuck, where was her phone? If it got tangled in the bed sheets, she’d never find it. She needed to hold something. Something to ground her, something to distract her.

She heard a mew and saw Momo poke his little head through the door.

“Go away, Momo,” she choked out, burying her face in her hands. “It smells like nail polish in here. You’ll hate it. You have such a cute nose and it will hate it.”

Momo ignored her and the smell. He hesitantly padded in before trotting up to the bed and neatly leaping up to where Suki was. Suki momentarily drew her hands away from her face to look at him. He mewled again and butted her knee with his head.

And then Suki couldn’t hold back the waterworks anymore.

Until now, her tears had been silent but now they were gushing out and she couldn’t hold back the sobs. She pulled Momo into her lap and held him close, too caught up in her own whirlwind of emotions to be surprised that he wasn’t struggling. She ran her long fingers through his short, white fur and let herself cry unabashedly.

Momo didn’t judge her. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t make her feel any worse. Momo didn’t even look at her. He just sat with her, lending any comfort he could with his presence until the tears and sobs began dying down.

“Thanks, Momo,” Suki sniffed, playing with Momo’s ears absently. “You’re a good friend, you know that buddy?”

Momo didn’t give any sign he’d heard her and just snuggled down further into her lap and purred softly. And Suki smiled. She didn’t think she could but she did. She didn’t know what was going to happen and she was terrified for her future but at least she had her cat. With Momo here with her, things would be alright.

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