#anyway i think id have to go with Sokka

[oifaaa]

Okay to bring a wee bit of positivity into the day

[the-power-of-stuff]

i’m going back and forth between heavily disliking live action sukka (or rather, how their relationship plays out) to appreciating it.

but it definitely added some amazing moments that were worked in with the benefit of foresight! and i love that they fleshed out suki more. i have more of a problem with the execution than the intention behind it.

more than anything though, i miss their banter. but now suki has kissed him and gotten over her awkwardness, maybe she���ll resemble the more sassy suki next season? bc i get it - i’m SO awkward around new people, but once i’ve gotten to know them and are comfortable with them i’m the complete opposite.

anyway after rewatching last night i couldn’t help but bullet point how i think it should’ve gone for them - a mix of both the live action and og show:

1. “you are trespassing on sacred ground”

2. meeting, convinces yukari to let them stay

3. walk with sokka -

* he says something along the lines of “suki, right? well thanks for what you did back there… …you should really put a sign up or something”

* “if you’re a protector of your village, then why are you here?”

* kiyoshi warrior rant - sokka affronted

4. sokka goes to dojo and is sexist, says something along the lines of “I was trained by real warriors with real and dangerous weapons” and suki asks him to demonstrate in fighting her, beats his ass as per

5. he comes back, apologises and asks to be trained - to which suki agrees on the condition that he dresses up

6. tells him the significance of the outfit and makeup while she does his makeup

7. they train and fight, with suki being a strict teacher

8. she bests him, but then he gains the upper hand quickly and lands on top of her and brags, she flips him over and says “there’s no time to gloat in combat”

9. they finish their training and sokka starts (and struggles) to wash off the makeup, suki tells him about the details of outfit

10. sokka, with makeup smeared on his face, looks up and asks “did i miss any of the makeup?” suki lies and says “no”

11. she heads over to the sink on the other side of the room and asks about his warriors clothing customs, to which sokka replies telling her about them briefly, but that he’s not in reality a warrior himself

12. suki, without makeup, looks up and sokka is taken aback at seeing her without makeup for the first time

12. “i think you’re a warrior… …us non-benders… …truth is, i envy you… …you’re out there, trying to make a difference. here?” “you’re protecting your village” “we’re hiding away”

13. smiles after her speech and wipes the remaining makeup off of his cheek

14. bell rings and they go and fight together side by side

15. watch together as kyoshi appears

16. zhao’s troops retreat and yukari thanks aang, while sokka and suki talk

* “i’m sorry”

* “you’ve already apologised”

* “no, i’m sorry for treating you like a girl. i should’ve treated you like a warrior”

* “i am a warrior. but i’m a girl, too”

17. looks like they’re about to kiss, but suki spots zuko over sokka’s shoulder and tells him to leave

18. she slips her fan into his pocket before he flees

19. once on appa leading zuko away, sokka feels something in his pocket and pulls it out, realising it’s suki’s fan

20. last see suki waving and smiling wistfully at them flying away, while yukari looks at her with a small yet worried smile

id love to know how you think they’ll handle them next season!!!

I love that you mention the LA writers having the benefit of foresight because I have been thinking the same exact thing! They already know how much people like Suki and Sukka, they already know the role Suki plays later in the story, so they can be much more deliberate about laying the foundation for her character. 

(It’s funny, though…I feel like the LA was straddling this line between setting things into motion for later seasons and not wanting to miss certain opportunities in case the series doesn’t get renewed (why else include “Secret Tunnel” in season 1???). Thus they went ahead and had Sukka kiss for realsies.)

And oh my gosh, thank you for sharing your thoughts on how you think the LA should have gone!! There's so many things I love about your ideas...

First, it makes sense for Sokka to confront Suki and be a sexist ass after she challenges him about what he's doing there if he's supposed to be protecting his village. The pride she feels about being a guardian for her village ends up damaging his pride, and so he lashes out by being like, "Oh yeah? Well I fight with actual weapons, not silly fans!"

Second, not only would it have been better for us to have seen Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform, but 100% we should have seen the process of putting on the makeup. Sooo much opportunity for romantic tension and character development there that we missed out on. And I love the idea of them connecting over their respective cultures' warrior outfits. I'd like to think that Sokka would see similarities between the Kyoshi makeup and the SWT face paint he wears in the first confrontation with Zuko (which we also didn't get in the LA smh) and that this could be a nice segue into them connecting more deeply as warriors in general.

And then, yes, drawing out the tension and development of their romantic relationship by not having them kiss right away is an angle I really enjoy. Slow burn, baby. *chef's kiss*

I’ve had a lot of fun thinking about your question of how things might go for them in season 2. I’ve been thinking about how the differences in Suki’s characterization and her relationship with Sokka might change things, but I’ve also been getting wrapped up in all the cause-and-effect in season 2 and wondering what the LA might bother to keep. (Under the cut though, cuz I am incapable of being succinct!)

For instance, the whole reason the Gaang ends up crossing the Serpent’s Pass is because they lost Appa, and the whole reason they lost Appa was because they went to Wan Shi Tong’s library. Season 1 already introduced Wan Shi Tong, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t intend to use him again. Although I could see the LA coming up with some other way for the Gaang to find out about the eclipse in order to cut down on time. But! I think they would be incredibly remiss to abandon the storyline about losing Appa, however it happens (and I also think the tone of the story after the Gaang loses Appa fits very well into the more grim tone the LA seems to have adopted overall, so it feels to me like something they’d be interested in keeping). 

Anyway! Let’s assume they still lose Appa and they need to get to Ba Sing Se on foot. I could see them reuniting with Suki at the ferry station the way they do in the animated show, but I could also see them learning about the ferry from Suki by chance encountering her on the road. Either way, Sokka will of course recognize her. And I think the two of them would have an enthusiastic reunion. Since they’ve already kissed and basically admitted they have feelings for each other, I imagine they would both want to kiss in this moment, when they first see each other again. And this is where I could see Sokka having that hesitance brought on by the memory of Yue. So they see one another, embrace, look deeply into each other’s eyes, lean in—and then Sokka pulls away. “I can’t.” Suki is even more hurt and confused than in the animated show because she doesn’t even have the context yet of Sokka having lost someone. 

I’ve debated whether the LA would stick with Suki accompanying the Gaang across the lake, but given how much Sukka they gave us in season 1 when they definitely didn’t have to go that hard, I’m inclined to think they’d milk season 2’s Suki encounter for all it’s worth. So she’ll go with them, and Sokka will be awkward and avoidant, or he’ll be overprotective, or some combination of both. I could see them having a late-night conversation of some sort like they do in the animated show where Sokka half-admits what’s on his mind, but LA Suki definitely won’t do her sly “I lost someone once…” not only because I don’t think it’s in her nature, but because there’s no need for a confession of romantic feelings anymore. So I could see this conversation going a couple different ways: either Suki attempts to comfort Sokka and he’s too in his head for it to work, so he leaves; or they end up talking about how Suki came along to make sure he and the others were safe, and she and Sokka have their breakthrough moment right then. Even if it’s the latter, I could still see Sokka needing a moment to process and leaving before they have a chance to kiss again. 

If they don’t kiss that night, I could see the next day going similarly to how it happens in the animated show, except I’d bet large sums of money that they wouldn’t have LA Sokka interrupt Suki with a kiss while she’s in the middle of talking. Instead I think they would just talk, and Sokka might apologize for how he’s been acting rather than having Suki apologize, and then they’d have another look-deeply-into-each-other’s-eyes moment before they finally kiss (again). 

One thing that's kind of throwing me, though, is the idea of a time skip between seasons like the creators have hinted at, to account for the cast aging. If it's been years since Sokka and Suki have seen each other rather than weeks or months, then 1) their reunion might be a little more restrained, and 2) I'm not sure it would make sense for Sokka to still be as consumed with guilt and fear as he is in the animated show. Heck, maybe over the course of the time that gets skipped, Sokka and Suki will have already reunited several times and established a relationship and now she's part of the Gaang. ;)

I'd love to know what you think might happen too, anon! (And anyone else, for that matter!)

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

hi! i’m not sure if your still doing the ship asks but if ur not just ignore my yapping 😋

i’m a girl, my pronouns are she/her and i’m straight

so appearance wise, i’ve got blonde hair that goes a little past my shoulders. my hair curls naturally but when it gets wet it gets crazy. my skin is tan and i’ve got SO many freckles. on my face and going all up my arms and down to my hands. my eyes are a blue/gray (i can never really tell if it’s one or the other). i’m short 💀 like 5”3. i don’t have any super distinguishing features except a little beauty spot under my right eye, a little bit below my lashes.

i’m glad that you asked for people not to use those letter personality things because i have no idea what they are. in terms of personality, id say ima chill person. i definitely feel instead of think, i try to be nice to everyone but if you do something fucked up then i won’t be mean i just won’t talk to you. i LOVE a girls girl. im a morning person and i like to be outside. im smart. i like to read and learn and school come pretty easy to me. i like asking questions about others more than talking about myself. if i was a character, my friends say i would be a mix of rory gilmore, charlie dalton, and ferb (phineas and ferb).

hobbies: reading (philosophy and history books are my favorite), surfing, photography, collage, rock climbing, drawing during math class (fuck math. i hate math with a passion), beach

fun facts: i’m really good at poker, i scaled my first rock wall when i was six, i run cross country, its easy to make me laugh, my favorite artist is the beatles, my favorite song is either kiss her you fool, or brazil (declan mckenna)

idk what else to put, i appreciate you for this!! i love reading the ships you do for other anons i like peeking into these random people’s lives.

🩵thanks

Your Fandom Ship: Sokka (Avatar The Last Airbender)

Explanation: appearance wise I think that he loves the way that you look I mean from your blonde hair to your face that’s just failed the freckles which he makes a lot of jokes about but I just think he loves it. I just really think that he would like your features. He thinks your eyes are gorgeous and would definitely joke about you being super short. I think he would like poking your beauty mark if you didn’t find that too annoying. He really likes your relaxed personality and it kind of contrast to his in sense of him being a little bit more chaotic and cocky. I feel like he would balance him out and just kind of remind him that he needs to sit back and chill sometimes. he’s also kind of sexist in the beginning and I feel like you’re the kind of person that would also like Suki kind of change his mind and turn him around about how women aren’t really that way, but just being your bad ass women loving self so I just yeah, I feel like he would definitely you would definitely be good for him in that sense. He’s not great with school or learning in general so I think he would be able to help him a lot with that with your kind of academic personality. You’re in luck because I also believe that soccer hates math with a passion and you guys could shit talk for hours on end together and make fun of your math teacher. He would love going rockclimbing with you and surfing with you as well. I think that he’s not very used to the idea of surfing because of where he grew up and kind of icy waters and when you introduce him to him, I can totally see him as being a surfer dude. I think he wouldn’t like reading himself, but if you read him an interesting section of your books, he would be fascinated. Maybe ask you some questions. anyway, I think he’s really goofy and kind of silly more comedic personality would contrast really well with your more serious academic one and I definitely love this dynamic and ship this duo 🧡🧡

[iminaworldofpureimagination]

after watching the trailers of Aang/Katara playing/laughing... having fun.. I'm getting the same gaslighty feelings i got from zutaras who insist it was canon all along and that aang is a horrible abuser

. what with fandom telling me Aang will be serious when hes playing/laughing in trailers, or that Aang never had visions in the show when he DID. thats how he found TOPH.

or that sokka sexism being toned means hes going to be a bland perfect character when he's still a grumpy guss in the trailers .. like he ws in the show at the beginning. sozins comet isn't removed entirely, we literally see it in the trailer. the return of it is just going to be changed but its still use to wipe out the air nomads.

im so glad i don't rely on clickbait articles and actually watch trailers/ listen to the actual interviews that explain things that said Aang/Katara ave a hopefu; childsview of the world. .and Katara being less motherly is fine by me cause id rather see her be a kid anyway. and. the very idea this will be as bad as the movie is laughable the trailer blew that awful movie away in seconds. i saw that movie 2 weeks ago it was boring, trash... how anyone could think its better is no fan of atla.. isaidwhatisaid.

as for bryke.. im 99 percent convinced avatar studios was why they left .. it probably sounded more profitable.

and I Can def belive bryke wanted to change things maybe they wanted a love triangle and netflix said no.. i wouldnt put it pass em after LOK where they added their scrapped love triangle idea. there is zero proof them being there would have improved things.. zero none. zip.. the moment they left i was just oh well.. whatever after lok i have zero faith in em anyway..

hoping for this to bomb after the actors put 3 years of their life into it though.. its kinda lame... its a retelling it doesnt need to be the same exactly.. plus.. atla did have flaws. sukki is very underdeloped/ ozai bascially has no personality outside of Evil. Zuko should have joined a bit sooner in s3. Jet shouldn't die... just some things off the top of my head. atlas a good show but its not... flawless. i acutally prefer sukki bonding over nonbending over sexism.. its feels sweet.. i dont really like how they got together and his sexism was very Western centric anyway.. i think people really blow the whole toned his sexism down out of proportion. Pakku however he should remain sexist.. hmm getting over it so quickly feels kinda of meh to me.. but then again ive heard of transphobes quickly changing tunes when their kid is trans at times so i guess it not too far out of the realm. but it just felt like a copout to me with pakku finding out katara was the grandaughter of his old girlfriend=no longer sexist to katara esp at his age it seems very unlikely he change so quickly but eh thats just my thoughts on it.

anyway thats all i gotta say for now..

[hella1975]

Whats the most 'wtf' threat-message-comment thing you remember getting?

Maybe not a mean comment, but the most like 'why do you feel comfortable saying this to me' thing?

oh to be honest ive never received any actual AWFUL asks/comments but i have received a lot that toe a very fine line to the point i cant even remember all of them. like it's clear there was never any malicious intent but some people just reallyyyyy do not understand boundaries. most of the time i just wont answer but if im in a bad mood i tend to tell you guys off for it lmao so you've actually probably seen the worst ones.

i guess not threatening or mean, but one comment that has always stuck with me just bc of how 'wtf?!' i was about it is this one commenter i had on ao3. they were a reallyyy loyal commenter for MONTHS like every single chapter they'd leave at least a paragraph, and two thirds of the para would always be pure praise for my writing, which was why it was kinda complicated bc i KNEW the rest of the comment wasn't intended to be criticism, they were just the kind of person that clearly didn't have a filter. so what they'd do is they'd say all these compliments, but then they'd say what they DIDNT like about my writing. and my attitude with fanfiction is that unless the work is actively problematic, you just do not tell the author their shortcomings. idc if this isn't a widely held opinion; it's my opinion. ao3 authors are giving us this shit for FREE out of their own time more often than not while balancing jobs and a social life - it is their HOBBY and it's not your place to tell them you dont like their plot or the way they wrote something. write it yourself if it bothers you so much. and so for ages i just didnt respond to this person's comments even though MOST of the comment they'd leave would always be positive, bc the tagged on parts always felt passive aggressive. like they were clearly part of the Annoying atla fandom bc they'd always get annoyed when any of the characters held zuko accountable for anything. they openly admitted that they just wanted zuko to be babied and didn't like it when people were mean to him, a sentiment that REALLY pisses me off, and they were also SUCH a katara anti which, yk, red flag. but it was fine. it wasn't a big deal, i could handle the comments and i genuinely just forgot about them as soon as i read them.

BUT THEN one day they left me a comment being like 'im going to stop reading this fic' which that alone is such an odd thing to alert the author about, but then they proceeded to explain to me why they weren't going to read anymore. like they spent an entire para being like 'this is why i dont really like this fic anymore' LMAO?? and i distinctly remember them saying something about zi se and how they hated him partially because they hate kids but mostly because he was an OC which i just thought was such a fucking funny thing to say like the cheek?? i was flabbergasted and i was kind of sick of their shit at that point, so my response was (para-phrased): 'not to be rude but in future i think you should consider when commenting on fics if your comment is actually necessary.  it can be very discouraging as a writer to be told directly by a reader that they don't enjoy your story and don't like the direction you're taking it. i'm confident enough in taob and my own abilities that i can brush it off very easily, but i'm just worried that if you said this to a newer or smaller fic writer it could really impact their confidence. the decision to stop reading isn't the issue here, it's just that you felt the need to explicitly tell me about it' which i thought was very hot and mature of me. like i very rarely pull out the 'taob is one of the biggest fics in a very big fandom' card but when dealing with rude people i have no shame in being like 'i will not miss a single reader like you realise that right i will not notice if you stop reading' so yeah as an experience it was all just very odd JSKDGHKJDSH

[juniperhillpatient]

Lake Laogai

It's not even remotely a secret that I'm incapable of being unbiased or objective about this episode. I love Jet, & I think killing him off was a huge mistake & a waste. I wrote a post explaining in more detail why I specifically think that Jet's death was a writing mistake HERE.

This re-watch has been interesting because it's really nice to re-watch a fave show & re-evaluate my opinions after spending a lot of time engaging with the fandom. I don't know, maybe it's just my annoyance with the fandom's pushing for a Katara/Aang/Zuko love triangle but this re-watch has made me take a firm stance that Jet should've lived, & become part of the Gaang, & dated Katara. "But Rose, don't you prefer Katara with girls?" I mean yeah, I like to write that more, but I'm talking about what I think should've happened in the actual show, which is entirely separate.

[ID: two pictures from different angles of Katara & Jet in the streets of Ba Sing Se]

Katara & Jet have the whole contentious complicated past & I'm always gonna be a sucker for the dynamic where the girl is violently angry & the guy is just like "I'm so sorry I've changed please accept me" like, I'm just being honest that's a good dynamic. Jet's already pretty strong redemption arc could've been concreted & we could've had a new, needed perspective in the Gaang from someone who was a victim of colonization in a similar way to Katara & Sokka but with a very different experience & reaction.

I will try not to spend this whole post being salty though, that's why I made a separate post. The brainwashing under Lake Laogai is very creepy, & it is one of the aspects of the show that stuck with me the most upon first viewing & for good reason. All the Joo Dees speaking in unison is genuinely terrifying. Long Feng is also a well-written villain. He's sly, manipulative, & just creeps me out.

The other thing that I wanted to ponder on with this episode is Zuko saving Appa, & Zuko & Iroh's discussion. I want to make it clear that I think Zuko's redemption arc is incredibly well-written overall. I only criticize Avatar because I love it so much & have thought about it so much. There are a lot of popular Avatar hot takes on Tumblr about how Zuko's redemption arc is poorly written, nonexistent, or whatever, & I simply strongly disagree. I have to get that out of the way & be clear about it or I'll worry I'm being misinterpreted. I also like Iroh, although I feel like I don't always understand what's going on with him & this episode is an example. That's another thing I wanted to clarify because I don't want to come across as anti-Iroh. I don't know, maybe I worry too much about how I come across lol but anyway -

Iroh: And then what!? You never think these things through! [Points at him.] This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!

Zuko: I would have figured something out!

Iroh: No! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death! Zuko I know my own destiny, Uncle! Iroh Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you? Zuko Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!

This scene specifically & the entire framing of Zuko's unhappiness about the teashop is very interesting. I have said before that I dislike Zuko as Firelord in the end, but that's not necessarily a firm stance...I guess I just dislike the inconsistency with how it was built up. Others who are willing to be much harsher than I am have often pointed out that Zuko went from following his father's orders & vision to following Iroh's vision of his destiny, & I think there's some truth to that. But what bothers me more than that, is that we don't actually get firm foreshadowing on what Iroh's vision for Zuko's destiny even is.

This is the first time we see Iroh really yell at Zuko & go off on him but it's unclear what he wants from Zuko. I mean, okay, he wants Zuko to be happy serving tea. I guess that's fine, but it doesn't quite work knowing that later, Iroh completely does a 180 on this stance & it's sorta like...What happened? Ya know? It's just inconsistent. And characters can be inconsistent, people change their minds, but we're not really given much information about Iroh's internal struggle concerning what he wants from his nephew so it just comes across as confusing to me.

Zuko's character arc is all about discovering what it is that he wants & acting on it. I've said before that my issue with Zuko's ending on the show is that Zuko always wanted to be Firelord & then he....becomes Firelord. That's not really a change? This scene between Zuko & Iroh feels like it was building to something larger with Zuko's arc, but it really....isn't.

That said, I do love Appa's return! Aang & Appa's reunion & Appa getting to be a badass is just amazing.

[ID: two pictures of Aang & Appa hugging, one from up close & one from a bit of a distance.]

I definitely enjoyed Appa's reunion with the Gaang the most out of all the parts of this episode.

Well, I enjoyed Jet's parts up until his death too. I also wanted to point out that Sokka teases Katara about her thing with Jet, but doesn't seem that angry at Jet himself & is quite willing to give him another chance. And it's Aang who breaks Jet out of his brainwashing by reminding him that they are friends. So, Katara is not the only one in the Gaang with any connection with Jet. Again, they should've addressed --- ah, whatever, I'm done.

That's all I have for this episode.

[lofty-immeasurable-sky]

You know that feeling you get when you’re suddenly conscious that people aren’t really listening to you? (not heinously, or because they don’t value you-- they may just not understand what you’re talking about or have something else on their mind, etc.) It hurts, sometimes. That’s why it’s so important to have a friend that recognizes that you’re talking about something you’re passionate about, and makes the effort to listen to you. Like, Zuko may not know what ‘versatile’ or ‘cavitation’ mean, but he knows that this is Sokka’s thing, and watching someone talk about what they’re best at is a very special kind of gift. (id under the cut)

[ID: A digital comic of Team Avatar at the western air temple. Sokka, Toph, Katara, Aang, and Zuko are standing in a circle, with a view of the cliff in the background. The colors are muted; the sun is beginning to go down. Sokka has his arms in the air, and says, “So, I’ve been thinking a lot about submarines lately...”

The next page shows Sokka excitedly talking about submarines. He gets very technical. Toph, Katara, and Aang look at him blankly. There is an ellipsis in the air. Then, Toph says “... were those words?” Katara says, “Sorry, I didn’t catch... any of that.” Aang smiles and says, “Sounds great, Sokka! Let’s go see what’s for dinner.” Toph, Katara, and Aang walk away. Sokka puts a hand on the back of his neck and says “Haha yeah...” and “It wasn’t that important anyway,” in tiny letters. 

Zuko is still standing there, and he and Sokka stare at each other awkwardly. Zuko blushes and looks down, saying “UH.” He then looks at Sokka and says, “I’m interested... Keep going.” Sokka looks at him sadly. He then looks down, smiling, and says, “That’s okay, Zuko. You don’t have to--” Zuko interrupts him with “HEY.”

Zuko takes Sokka’s hands and says, “I WANT to hear.” Zuko leans back, embarrassed, saying “Y-Y’know! Because I like submarines... and stuff.” There are three tiny Sokka’s that look varying degrees of embarrassed. They say, “WUH. um um. uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh heh! heh! ha!” A normal sized Sokka looks at Zuko, smiling widely and blushing, and says, “OK.”

The last piece is of Sokka and Zuko leaning against the rail of the cliff. Sokka is talking and gesturing with a smile on his face, while Zuko leans back with his hands across his lap, smiling at Sokka. The sun has just set, and the background is full of purples and pinks. End ID.]

[goldrushzukka]

aidays playlist breakdown: chapter 2

ryan buzzfeed unsolved voice let's get into it

here's the fic (spoilers ahead)

here's the playlist

careless whisper by george michael

this is the only song mentioned by name in the fic. it’s in the chapter. it’s canon. i talked about this in this post about zuko’s taste in abba, but in my mind aidays zuko is very much a classic gay icon enjoyer. like he is a friend of dorothy. anyway i put this song in the fic mostly as a joke (saxophone sexiest instrument of all time) but it is also a little bit about them.

(ID: "To the heart and mind / Ignorance is kind / There's no comfort in the truth / Pain is all that you'll find". End ID)

obviously this is like a silly little meme song whatever whatever IS THIS NOT THEM? IS THIS NOT THEM? let's lie to ourselves and each other about what this means and what we feel because it's easier. it's safer. ignorance is kind.

(ID: "Should've known better than to cheat a friend / And waste a chance that I've been given / So I'm never gonna dance again / The way I danced with you". End ID)

a little bit of liberty taken with that first line bc they're lovers and not friends and there's no "cheating" except for breaking the rules of their arrangement by developing non-casual feelings but. the rest of it is sooooooooo. ougugh. like. for the whole "breakup" period of the fic (ch5-9) both zuko and sokka are trying to deal with the fact that actually, there is no one else. there will never be anyone else. they have ruined each other for anyone else. zuko goes on these little dates with jet and the whole time he's wondering when he's going to feel it, that thing he felt with sokka. when is it going to feel the same? when is it going to feel anywhere near as good, as right?

sleeping in by all time low

the first few chapters of the fic are so funny bc pretty much every song on the playlist is saying the exact same thing in a slightly different way.

(ID: "Tell me that you got nowhere to be / Can we stay all day (All day) / Lay low in our lazy luxury / Sex in a rosé daze (Daze) / All day, it's a real good thing". End ID)

this is very much what the start of aidays is about: sex so good you don't want to do anything else. can't imagine wanting to do anything else. getting so wrapped up in the euphoria of someone who just understands what you need like no one else does, that before you know what's happening you've already fallen so fast and hard you'll never recover.

summer love by carly rae jepsen

ohhhhhh when i say every carly rae jepsen song is about aidays.......every carly rae jepsen song is about aidays. and she is so right all the time.

(ID: "I was down for the first night / And now I'm down for a second try / When you touch me, I wanna fly / I'm so down for you all the time". End ID)

this song is so sexy and flirty and fun and that's exactly the energy i wanted to bring to this fic. it's light it's breezy it's so simple and casual except it's NOT!!!! but sokka and zuko don't know that yet. for right now in ch2 all they know is they can't get enough of each other. at this point in the fic, and going forward, they could eat each other whole and it would not be enough.

father by the front bottoms

ok ok. the front bottoms are so bad. but also i love them. and this song is so good. like it's awful it sounds terrible but it is so good. to me.

(ID: "I have this dream that I am hitting my dad with a baseball bat / And he is screaming and crying for help / And maybe halfway through, it has more to do with me killing him / Than it ever did protecting myself / And I believe that yeah, Dad, maybe no one is perfect / But I believe that you are pushing your luck". End ID)

it can't all be fun little sex songs. this verse was not necessarily an inspiration for the tragic backstory reveal in ch2 bc that was always coming, but i do think it fits well with what i'm trying to do with zuko's trauma in this fic. i think canon zuko should've had the opportunity to beat ozai up but maybe that's just me.

(ID: "But you look good tonight, girlfriend / Can I sleep in your bed? / And when I crawl out in the morning / Can I stay inside your head?". End ID)

this for me is about like. wanting to impact someone the same way they impact you. the anxiety around reciprocation. pretty much immediately post-ch2 zuko has his first oh moment (I Am Writing It. Calm Down.) where he realises that he might have some real feelings for Sokka, that this thing might not be as casual as it was supposed to be. and that's where this little bridge comes in. "can i stay inside your head?" in the sense of, will you still think about me when i'm not in front of you? will you think of me the same way i think of you? are you in this, are you with me, wherever we're going?

sin by tomberlin

shoutout to rena @dreamrena for putting me onto this one! it makes me want to eat dirt

(ID: "Boyfriends, what are boyfriends, what are boyfriends when I have you?". End ID)

i mean. this is the thesis statement for chapter 2. who needs a relationship with labels and commitment when whatever the fuck this is feels so much better? (spoiler alert, it feels better than any other relationship either of them have ever had bc they are soulmates.)

(ID: "And we never should've left that room / And we never should've said hello / 'Cause I miss you when you go". End ID)

this idea of wishing you never met someone bc the way you feel is So Much is touched on in chapter 6 when sokka and suki have their big feelings talk. at that point everything has gone to shit and sokka thinks he's never going to be happy again (he is stupid) and he's cursing the day he ever met zuko, because, yeah, what they had was fun, but was it worth this? was falling in love with zuko worth all the pain of not getting to keep him? did sokka ever have him in the first place? (he did. he does.)

[chitsangenthusiast]

wait, you have other fics? dude, i had no idea you were the author of "hands, knees, please, tangerines," man that is another great piece from you! love the characteristics of each other them, i mean of course their banter and teasing is so on point. you're wonderful. also, take your time and never put so much stress on yourself, id rather you healthy and happy than have another chapter. - waiter anon.

waiter anon i care you so much

but HA yes i have a few other fics!! zukka banter is quite possibly the most fun i’ve ever had when writing dialogue AND they offer me so much potential to just. throw them in literally any situation or AU and i’ve just ended up with a lot of ideas for them lmaooo

also hope you’re ok with me listing them here, but i figure might as well! other than it's the mallrat in me (which is my fake 5+1 fic that’s both a retail au and a love letter to malls <3), there’s a few others:

hold me like you do, cover me in blue - literally the most tender loving get-together fic i’ve ever written lol i personally think the summary explains it v well:

Eventually, Zuko realizes that Sokka searches for ways to let his hands linger—and he gives Sokka every opportunity he can, until they're standing on the precipice of naming what they are, and what all of their gentle touches really mean.

All they need, it turns out, is a ruined tassel, some yarn, and an excuse for Sokka to reach out to Zuko's hair, yet again.

this! THIS!! is the fic that even if i don’t finish everything else, i will feel completely fulfilled with what i’ve offered zukka nation 🧡

(also, from even the summary alone, can you see how mallrat ended up as it has with their dynamic since it was started right after?? lmao)

gold in the air of summer - my most recent fic, where everyone finds out that sokka is basically a poet and they just didn’t know it. zuko isn’t, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking about how pretty the color blue is anyway.

(with a bonus chapter of painter!sokka and a happily annoying zuko!)

hands, knees, please, tangerine (rated e) - my first zukka fic! feat. husbands who know exactly what they want from each other, and zuko isn’t going to let something like sokka’s work get in the way of that (sokka suffers. but he also loves it a lot)

i wrote this one purely to figure out how to write their characterizations and their dialogue......which is why it’s like. mostly banter (bc a zukka in love is a zukka that endlessly work to annoy each other) and some fooling around in their office lmfao so i'm happy you enjoyed it in that fic!!!!

(also: man lol. can you believe that this is the most i’ve ever written for a fandom?? AND the fastest?? never once have i cranked out so many fics in so little time before lmao and with hopefully more on the way soon!!)

[m-feys]

OK NEURODIVERGENT GAANG TIME BC I WANNA

these hcs are kinda halfway set in a modern au bc thats my context for this ! (gonna split it up so its not as long bc i drafted the original and it was LONG) water tribe siblings first !!!

Sokka

adhd/autism king 😌

[ID: a screenshot of Sokka standing on a raised stone platform with a map of the Fire nation hanging behind him. He’s holding his arms stiffly by his side with a wide-eyed look on his face, brows raised as he has his mouth open, saying something. End ID.]

- schedules to survive, he likes to know what hes getting into and if you try to change plans on him without warning he’ll be very resistant

- smart kid who doesnt study, oh he tries, oh boy does he try, he ends up reading the same sentence over and over until he gets distracted by drawing something, working on the blueprint for his latest invention, or with researching something completely unrelated to what he’s mean to be studying. then he tosses and turns all night because he’s stressed by not having studied, but when he actually takes the test he makes a 105, despite there not even being a bonus question, he just answered the essay question so well the teacher gave him an extra 5 points

- special interests?? we got em!!! classic weaponry (think swords, boomerangs, but also, like canons and catapults and shit) engineering/physics, art/drawing, strategy games. he tends to hyperfocus within his special interests, so like for a week he was hellbent on building his own full sized trebuchet, much to the dismay of Gran Gran who just wanted to grow her tomatoes without them being crushed by said full size trebuchet

- (also he plays all types of games probably, but he def plays those ones where you take over the world, like the ones online and azula also plays them too and they end up being rivals, while not actually knowing who the other is outside of their usernames)

- he also talks a lot in his classes/is like the ‘class clown’ and ppl think this is him not focusing but engaging this way actually helps him focus way more than sitting silently, a lot of teachers dont understand it but the ones who do are actually paying attention and realize that he’s generally talking/joking about their current topic

- some observations (this shit is all canon babey!!!) - sokka is great at being a leader and communicating in groups he’s in but he really really struggles in front of crowds, one-on-one and sokka can talk well, joke and stuff but as soon as he’s separate from other people and everyone is just listening he clams up (solar eclipse pt 1). he also loves to joke and make people laugh, and a lot of the time he misinterprets stuff because he’s autistic but he also will realize this and do it anyway because he thinks it’s funny and he likes laughing with his friends (idk if this happens in canon but i do this and sokka does too bc i said so :^). He also takes up the protector/comforting role but despite his best intentions he can sometimes say insensitive stuff and not even realize what he’s done to upset people (when he happily told aang ‘the whole world thinks your dead!’) works best when he feels needed, if he feels unnecessary or like something doesnt matter he struggles to complete it (i feel like the beginning of sokka’s master rlly demonstrates what i mean here), and this goes both ways, he will put too much value into certain things that he cares about and can get his priorities mixed if he’s focused too much on what he believes matters more than what might be most pressing (zuko destroyed his suki sculpture, oh right bc he was attacking aang)

Katara

she also has adhd/autism, (so do both Hakoda and Kya 💙)

[ID: a screenshot of Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, and Bato. Hakoda has his hand on Katara’s shoulder as they both look at Bato who is saying something, she has curious look on her face with her brows raised, while Hakoda looks exasperated. Sokka beside him his also looking curiously up at Bato, with one brow raised and the other furrowed. Bato has a neutral expression on his face as he speaks. End ID.]

- palms sweaty thoughts spaghetti, she tries to be practical bc she thinks someone needs to be but really her brain is like a runaway train, she sees something that needs doing and is like, guess ill do that now! and drops whatever she was doing first. she can get very anxious because of this because all the thing that need doing start to pile up because theyre all in her brain at once. that and as much as she tries to be practical she’s very impulsive, getting help from other people really helps alleviate this stuff

- interacting w ppl, when she was only part of her own smaller community she had a lot less toll on her, bc she knew everyone and was used to them, as she meets more people she gets really frustrated with how many people seem to refuse to say what they really mean. Katara is very straightforward herself and she says what she means, so even tho she gets more and more perceptive when interacting with new people, she resents how much she has to work just to decipher what people really mean half the time.

- caring for ppl, with people she cares about communicating is much easier bc she knows them, so she’s very open about her feelings around these people, and she can be hyper empathetic at times, but then sometimes she will say SUPER insensitive stuff off the cuff because she’s just very impulsive and she might regret it after the fact but she really struggles with apologizing because being wrong makes her feel like ppl are going to reject her

- perceptions, she knows what’s expected of her by the world, but she really rejects the idea that she has to stay in her role. still, she has internalized a lot of these expectations and tries to perform them, even when she sometimes struggles. beyond herself, she’s very certain about what she knows is wrong and has a strong moral code, she sees something wrong and she wants to fix it.

- she’s awful in school, not because she’s not smart, but she’s smart in ways that society does not appreciate. she doesnt care at all about all the worksheets and math she’s never gonna use, and all the history that got distorted, she’s much better at learning stuff on her own and she will go on deep dives of subjects she cares about and is super knowledgeable abt them.

also:

[ID: A cropped screenshot of Sokka with his arms extended outwards, palms flat as he gestures. He has a slight grin on his face with his mouth open to speak, eyebrows raised and looking at the viewer calmly. He’s wearing his usual blue tunic with the Earth Rumble XI belt along with his earth kingdom bag hanging across his chest. The text on the image says, “This post made by ADHD Sokka gang. End ID.]

[ID: a cropped screenshot of Hakoda, he has a serious expression on his face as he looks ahead. The text on the post reads, “This post made by ADHD Hakoda gang.” End ID.]

from this post (part of what inspired me to write these out) @meteor-sword​ now just katara needs one 😄

adhd aang next, i will finally live up to my url (will edit with a link when i post)

[hello-yue-here]

About your atla ship songs, I have a couple of questions (sorry if my phrasing comes out wrong, english isn't my first language and I worry it might across as accidentally defensive): how did you end up with the choices for zukka, jetko and yuekka (note: I haven't seen the great comet, so feel free to obsess over it, I'm intrigued now and the hype is appreciated!)? Sidenote: I think the mailee choice is HILARIOUS and the tokka one just make me sad, I didn't expect to be attacked like this😭

kdjfha;s i love you im gonna obsess SO HARD over great comet now. you may regret this

this is gonna be so long so the rest is under the cut whoops

yuekka: no one else from great comet

where do i even begin. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN

okay so background information on this show: it's based off of a 76 oages excerpt from war and peace and its centered around a woman named natasha (and this guy pierre but he's irrelevant to this song so we wont worry about him) and natasha's bethrothed is off fighting in the war right now. she hasn't seen him in a while but she is in love with him.

every single lyrics of this song SCREAMS yuekka to me. the innocence and purity of their love. the love at first sight. and even the melancholy ending just- i go apeshit for this song. i love this song so much. and denee benton's voice??? kljsdhflwksugf please listen to this song if you haven't already. listen to the whole show. your life will be changed forever.

onto the lyrics (i stg this is ab to be the whole song whoops)

"the moon"

THOSE ARE THE FIRST WORDS ON THE SONG. natasha and andre (her bethrothed) met underneath the moonlight. Sokka and Yue first spoke to eachother at night and always met each other for their most intimate moments under the moonlight. also yue is LITERALLY the moon so like: right of the bat with those two words it's yuekka.

"and i saw your eyes / and i saw your smile / and the world opened wide"

sokka fell in love with yue the moment he saw her in the canal. she literally enchanted this motherfucker. everything about her made his heart go crazy. and 'the world opened wide' to me is from yue's perspective. Yue had never left the north pole and sokka had seen a good chuck of the world at the point. He took her on appa, he told her about his adventures. he saw the world yue wished to see and you know damn well that Sokka would have done anything to give it to her.

"oh the moon /oh the snow in the moonlight / and your childlike eyes and your distant smile / ill never be this happy again / you and i and no one else"

natasha sings fondly about the moon and the snow, seeing as it was where she fell in love with andre. yue and sokka LITERALLY fell in love in the same place: in the snowy nothern water tribe under the light of the moon. childlike eyes: THEYRE CHILDREN!!! distant smile: this is where it gets a little sad. theyre both children with way too many duties during a world that has known nothing but war for the past century. they want to be happy but yeah, theyre smiles are distant and far away because happiness seems out of reach for them most of the time. i'll never be this happy again: the moments yue and sokka shared together were probably the happiest either of them ever were. they were able to ignore the war and the world in the moments they shared together. and with no one else. no one else would be able to give each other this sense of peace and happiness and love.

"joy and life inside our souls / and no body knows just you and me / it's our secret"

Yue and Sokka had to sneak out in secret at night to go and see each other. Yue and Sokka couldn't be together for real because Yue was already engaged, but they were literally in love so she decided to see him anyways in secret. kasdjfhklasjd im losing my mind over them at this point.

"this winer sky / how can anyone sleep / there was never such a night before / i feel like putting my arms around my knees / and squeezing tight as possible / and flying away"

these are my FAVORITE lines in the entire song. yue and sokka had never felt this strongly about anyone before and that's why they are so drawn to each other. they had never experienced love before and they wanted to hold onto it for as long as they could even though they knew they couldnt. Sokka takes yue up on appa and she is wistful and wishes she could live like he does every day: ie flying away. oh my god these two deserved so much better. so much fucking better.

now for the saddes part. the saddest fucking part.

"maybe he'll come today / maybe he came already / and he's sitting in the drawing room / and i simply forgot"

natasha misses andre so intensely at this point. when i first listened to this show and heard this song i was like "wait a min... is andre like... dead?" and im sure i wasnt the only person who assumed that this was why natasha felt so sad by the end of such a beautiful song. (spoiler alert andre is fine)

but this line really exemplifies how sad natasha is, and hints at the fact that andre may never come back. it implies that their relationship is doomed (at least in my opinion) and that's all yuekka. Sokka misses yue intensely when shes gone. Yue accepted her fate almost immediately but sokka was in denial. he thought there had to be another way. but in the end it wasn't meant to be. and sokka will go on, loving yue, wishing for her back, even though it's not possible.

fuck im gonna cry.

zukka: all i've ever known- hadestown

"i was alone so long / i didn't even know that i was lonely / out in the cold so long / i didnt even know that i was cold"

sokka is from the swt so theres where the cold comes in. also in the gaang (initially) it was just him katara and aang. and katara and aang were much closer to each other than sokka was with aang and the two of them were benders so sokka was kind of an outsider with the two of them. He also represses a lot of his emotions and feels the need to do everything himself so i do see a lot of loneliness in sokka. and the fact that so many people in his life have left him (his mom, yue, his dad, suki briefly, etc...) he is known to keep people at an arms length. i see a lot of loneliness in sokka.

zuko's loneliness is a lot more obvious: he has literally been cast out and abandoned by everyone except iroh. and even then he still feels the need to be alone (remember zuko alone? thought so) these boys look after themselves and push others away and revel in their loneliness in order to keep themselves from getting hurt. at least in my opinion on canon and also some fanon because id be a liar if i said fanon didnt influence how i view ALL my ships (not just zukka)

"all ive ever known is how to hold my own / but now I wanna hold you too"

COME ONE MANNNN, they just wanna hold each other. theyre both very big protectors as well and kljhflkasdhg they wanna protect eachother like kljdhfl im gonna lose it rn.

"You take me in your arms / And suddenly there's sunlight all around me / Everything bright and warm / And shining like it never did before / And for a moment I forget / Just how dark and cold it gets"

SUNLIGHT SYMBOLISM. zuko is literally powered by the sun. i don't think i even NEED to elaborate on this one anymore lol. They find comfort in each other away from all of their trauma. when they're together nothing else matters and i personally love that for them. they both deserve love.

"I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet / All I know is your someone I have always known"

these two are extremely similar in canon. many parallels. older brothers overshadowed by their prodigy little sisters. longing to make their fathers proud (granted one dad is good and one is fuckin evil), both are pretty bad with emotions. both are seen protecting others before themselves (sokka protecting suki during the serpant's pass, sokka protecting toph on like multiple occassions, zuko protecting katara in the final agni kai), the list goes on. they know who the other is because they see themselves in the other person. they already know each other because they are each other (in a way, not entirely, but the similarities are strong in my opinion)

"I'm gonna hold you forever / The wind will never change on us / Long as we stay with each other / Then it will always be like this"

i just think this line is so cute and sweet (ignoring all the symbolism and foreshadowing that comes with the last line in the musical itself. im gonna pretend this is nothing but happy) and i think these boys deserve happiness so yeah. this song is zukka to me lol.

jetko: thrill of first love- falsettoes

if you've never listened to this song go an do it now. you will know INSTANTLY that it is jetko because of the dynamics alone. marvin and whizzer are pure jetko and i take no crticisms.

marvin and whizzer are both extremely stubborn, and they don't always get along, and they fight a lot, and they get mad at each other a lot, and they are both passionate as hell, and they will bring this passion into everything. they love each other that is without a doubt, but they arent perfect and they are once again stubborn and determined as fuck.

sound familiar? it's literally jetko.

the lyrics aren't what remind me of jetko, but the dynamic itself. the lyrics are too on the nose for a gay couple in 1970's america so that rlly cant apply to jetko all that much. but the way these two characters bounce off of each other and get annoyed with each other and argue with eachother reminds me of jetko. because let's be honest: these two are the most stubborn characters in the whole show. they will fight for what they believe and it will take literally everything to change their minds.

i love jetko but i think they would have petty arguments all the time and get aggravated by one another so easily. and this is even seen in canon: they work so fucking well together but they did not even HESITATE to fight one another after neither of them would give in and let the fight about whether jet was right or wrong about zuko being a firebender. like i cannot say it enough they are stubborn as fuck.

but underneath all that stubborn pettiness and bickering: marvin and whizzer still love each other. and jet and zuko would still love each other. because even though they are stubborn when it comes to arguments, they are even more stubborn and determined when it comes to each other. these two passionate motherfuckers are in love.

(now when i chose this song i decided to ignore the fact that this song literally spells out the fact that marvin and whizzer's relatinoship is doomed because they literally say passion dies. thats the difference between jetko and whizzer and marvin because i dont think passion dies. i chose this song strictly for the bickering lmao)

and i know you didnt ask about tokka but,,,,

i rlly wanna talk about the tokka one

so im going to

tokka: on my own- les mis

look. i KNOW this song is about unrequited love and i love tokka as a couple but,,, the unrequited love in this song just SCREAMS unrequited tokka to me so thats what i went with.

eponine is a girl who has neglectful parents who lives life by her own rules: toph. eponine is shown to be tough and confident and spunky to others but behind all of that she has emotions, she feels love, she hides her vulnerability so much: toph. she is in love with a guy she cant be with because he loves someone else: TOPH

eponine is toph to a t and toph is eponine to a t. this is not up for debate lmao

"without him i feel his arms around me"

toph is always seen grabbing onto someone (and its almost ALWAYS sokka) when she's somewhere where she can't use her feet to see. FEEL and ARMS cmon. look at it.

"and i know / i know that he is blind"

COME ON. IMAGINE TOPH SINGING THIS LINE. this line is already powerful enough in les mis but having toph, a blind character, sing it just makes the symbolism even deeper. toph sees the potential relationship they could have together. toph sees that sokka is oblivious to this. toph is not blind to the truth or the potention, but sokka is blind to her feelings. im about to lose my mind over this line.

"I love him / But every day I'm learning / All my life / I've only been pretending / Without me / His world will go on turning / A world that's full of happiness / That I have never known"

i need to sit down for a moment. toph grew up in a household where her parents did not understand her. she has learned to hide her true emotions and vulnerabilities from everyone. and its the fact that toph knows that she and sokka will never be together and the fact that she still loves him in spite of that is what makes this even more heartbreaking.

"but only on my own"

TOPH AND EPONINE SWEETIES I LOVE YOU

thank you for indulging my theatre kid nonsense. you are very sweet and kind and lovely and awesome and i hope you have a lovely day bestie :) <3

ask me why i think these songs go with these ships

[the-power-of-stuff]

Writing a little Suki meta because I’m working on a Suki-centric fic for the ATLA Big Bang and it’s honestly been a struggle for me to figure out how exactly I want to handle her character arc. And I want to explore a scene that always bothers me a little bit when I watch it, but that I think is really good fodder for whatever I’m trying to do with Suki in my story: the almost-kiss on a moonlit bluff scene from The Serpent’s Pass.

Don’t get me wrong, this is one of my absolute favorite scenes in the show and it’s such a beautiful and poignant moment for Sokka and Suki. There’s a lot to work with in this scene from the perspective of analyzing character development, especially with regards to Sokka coming to terms with his own trauma. However! It’s exactly that part — the Sokka coming to terms with trauma part — that lays the groundwork for what bothers me about the scene, and it’s this:

[ID: Sokka and Suki are seated side-by-side, bathed in moonlight. Suki is looking at Sokka, but Sokka is looking away from her. Sokka says, “Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn’t protect someone…” end ID]

[ID: Close-up of Suki’s face. She’s looking to the side out of the corner of her eyes, away from Sokka, who is out of the frame. She says, “I lost someone I cared about. He didn’t die, he just went away.” end ID]

Girl straight-up acknowledges that someone died because of whatever this thing was that happened at the North Pole, which Sokka takes responsibility for, and she blows right past that to start talking about how she’s been missing this boy she met all of once as if that’s somehow comparable. 

(Suki, honey, later when you try to tease your boyfriend about how you “didn’t know” he “made out with the moon spirit” — well, now, whose fault is that?? Hm??)

Look, the thing is, we all know people like this. You’re telling your friend about something shitty that just happened to you and suddenly they’re all, “Oh, that reminds me of this one time that…” and you’re like, “Hello? We were talking about me?” Sometimes people do this because they’re clueless and just want to talk about themselves. Often people do this because they think that by sharing their own experiences, they’re commiserating and showing you that they understand how you feel. I think what Suki’s doing is somewhere in the middle.

Suki unapologetically goes after what she wants. 

We know Suki’s not callous. She rescues Appa and is exceedingly gentle with him when she does so. She stays behind at Boiling Rock after Sokka announces his intentions to wait and see if his father will show up. And after Sokka pulls away when they’re about to kiss on that moonlit bluff, she respects his boundaries and apologizes for crossing a line she wasn’t sure was there.

In fact, Suki breezing past Sokka’s confession about losing someone in the North Pole is what creates the tension that leads to Sokka’s denial and her subsequent apology in the first place. If she had asked Sokka about who he lost, they would have gotten everything out in the open. They may have even kissed for the first time that night after discussing Sokka’s fear and guilt and reaching some kind of healthy resolution from which they could move on together. 

Instead, in that moment, Suki demonstrates an inability to put someone else’s emotions before her own desires. Because Sokka’s feelings around his loss are never confronted, they collide with his feelings for Suki, leaving him conflicted and ultimately unable to resolve either. 

It would be easy to paint Suki as insensitive in this moment, if not for the fact that she apologizes and stays put while Sokka walks away — he clearly has some shit to deal with and wants to do it without her, so she doesn’t push it. Rather, I think Suki was just single-mindedly pursuing something she wanted. 

I mean, she really just runs into Sokka for the first time in probably months, unabashedly flirts with him, then, what, takes PTO from her security guard position? so she can accompany him on a treacherous days-long journey across a deadly pass. She likes this boy, but they’re in the middle of a war, and who knows when or if they’ll ever get to see each other again, so, screw it, she is going for it. Can you blame her? Like...get it, girl.

But she’s too far inside of her own head.

Have you ever thought about someone in a romantic fantasy kind of a way for weeks (at least) and then when you’re finally presented with an opportunity to act, all you can think about is, “How do I make this happen?” I like to think that’s where Suki’s head was that night. She sees Sokka, she wants Sokka, she spends the day wondering if he really learned his lesson about women being perfectly capable human beings, and when he finally admits that he’s been annoyingly overprotective all day not because he doesn’t think she’s a strong and talented lady but because he’s afraid of losing her, she’s like, “Oh, thank god, let’s make out.” The fact that he’s afraid of losing her because he’s already lost someone else is, like...not the thing that sticks, because she’s so preoccupied with her end goal of the two of them acting on their mutual feelings for each other. 

Does that make it less of a gaffe that she doesn’t more sensitively acknowledge Sokka’s loss? No. But it’s also not as if her lack of acknowledgement occurs without consequence — Sokka ultimately cannot kiss her, which really means he cannot open up to her, even though he clearly likes her. 

Would it have been nice for them to have had an honest conversation about what actually happened that night? Yes. But that’s what fanfiction is for. ;)

And this is something about Suki that I’m trying to explore in my Big Bang fic: her tendency to single-mindedly pursue a goal to a fault, to the extent that it can create conflict with people she loves, even if her intentions are good.

So, anyway, wish me luck, because as it turns out, character development is hard.  😖

[suzukiblu]

2020 (Fanfiction) in Review

Whoo boy, kids, strap in for a long one. I think a fair chunk of these I just UPDATED this year as opposed to writing from scratch, for the record, but pretty sure that still counts. Also if any of this is inaccurate, I apologize, I just filtered on AO3 and did my best from there. 

Also-also, we are definitely gonna read-more this. We are DEFINITELY. There is . . . there is a whole lot of fic linked under here, haha. 

fics written this year: 

.

MCU

do you wanna be my sidekick, sidekick for ZepysGirl (Winterfalcon/Barbershop Quartet A/B/O)  

I think I know why the dog howls at the moon for ZepysGirl (Barbershop Quartet) 

I said you’re holding back, she said shut up and dance with me for belladonnaprice (Bucky/Peggy/Steve A/B/O) 

people were mean to you, but I always thought you were cool for beckyh2112 (Steve Rogers & Scott Summers, X-Men fusion) 

ready or not, here we go anyway for Zephrbabe (Wintershieldshock A/B/O) 

we can take it if you just take my hand for untamedphoenix (Wintershock A/B/O [sequel to don't wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break]) 

hey I just met you, and this is crazy for untamedphoenix, Zephrbabe (Wintershock A/B/O) 

I'd like to tell you everything I see for beckyh2112 (Darcy-centric, Slender Man fusion) 

pack up, don’t stray (oh say say say) for ZepysGirl (Natasha/harem A/B/O) 

.

YOUNG JUSTICE

you found me when no one else was looking for Okapi_chan (Superman & Superboy, background Supermartian) 

when I was a boy for seagrey (Supermartian) 

.

ORIGINAL

to the victor go the spoils for dancinbutterfly (OC/OC, A/B/O) 

.

ATLA

rumor has it for Prim_the_Amazing (Zuko-centric) 

you make a really good girl (as girls go) for Prim_the_Amazing (Azula/Yue) 

when it comes to luck you make your own for Prim_the_Amazing (Azula-centric) 

Avamorphs continuations (mostly gen, Animorphs fusion)

home is where you go when you’re alone for Redrikki

step one you say we need to talk for kaos_sparrow

do you believe that we are all innately good for Museflight

you are any way the wind blows for MirandaTam (Ty Lee-centric) 

does the pain feel better when I’m around? (Sokka/Zuko A/B/O)

push and pull (mostly gen)

storm (Bato/Hakoda/Kya) 

snow (Bato/Hakoda/Kya) 

spark (Ozai/Ursa)

Jetko Renaissance Week (Jet/Zuko)

that unwanted animal wants nothing more than to get out (Jet/Zuko)

give me back my heart you wingless thing (Jet/Zuko) 

our lives have come between us (Jet/Zuko) 

I’m not listening when you say goodbye (Jet/Zuko) 

if I were someone else would this all fall apart (Jet/Zuko) 

we are all walking each other home (Jet/Zuko)

we ain’t got much to say (before I let you get away) (Jet/Zuko) 

.

OVERWATCH

mad elephants continuations with dancinbutterfly (A/B/O)

bittersweet creature with dancinbutterfly (R76) 

tell me where have you been with dancinbutterfly (McCree & Mercy, McCree & Jack) 

I get by with a little help from my friends (McCree & Mercy)

if you don’t wanna talk about it with dancinbutterfly (R76)

the past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore with dancinbutterfly (McCree & Jack)

either you’re a blessing or a lesson (McCree/Genji, McCree/Hanzo, McCree/Genji/Hanzo) 

give me back my young brother, hard and furious (Hanzo & Genji) 

.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

as long as we’re together, does it matter where we go? for beckyh2112 (Marius Felbane/Tehd Shoemaker) 

.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

a fever you can’t sweat out for beckyh2112 (Kegan Rodhe/Ryze) 

.

GOOD OMENS

anathema device, professional descendant and amateur book-burner (Anathema/Newt, Ineffable Husbands) 

.

STAR WARS

like my father before me for beckyh2112 (Luke & Vader)

.

LEVERAGE

every election is determined by the people who show up for Miss_Bubblegum (Hardison/Parker/Eliot)

.

THE WITCHER

hey, hey, hey, come pollinate me (Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer) 

I'll give them shelter like you've done for me (Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer, A/B/O) 

it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) (Jaskier/Geralt) 

have you noticed I’ve been gone? (Jaskier/Geralt) 

I know words won’t be enough (Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer)

I could never find the right way to tell you for circa1220bce (Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer)

the courting jewelry A/B/O (Jaskier/Geralt A/B/O)

you wear nothing but you wear it so well (Jaskier/Geralt)

in your eyes, love, it glows for dancinbutterfly (Jaskier/Geralt) 

tied up and twisted the way I’d like to be for adptt12 (Jaskier/Geralt)

you are in my blood (Jaskier/Geralt) 

if you understand (Jaskier/Geralt)

wanna hold him, maybe I’ll just sing about it for Anoke (one-sided Jaskier/Geralt) 

can you help me unravel my latest mistake (Jaskier/Geralt)

yeah you need someone to sing you to sleep for ragequilt (Jaskier/Geralt) 

you must be new I guess, at least you’re new to me for Squiggly_lines (Jaskier/Geralt) 

best friends means you get what you deserve for Prim_the_Amazing (Jaskier & Geralt) 

it takes some time to get anything right for spinningjenny (Jaskier/Geralt)

I’m the plans that you made (but fuck all your plans, I’m bored) for Prim_the_Amazing (Jaskier/Geralt A/B/O) 

whisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about for Prim_the_Amazing (Geralt/Yennefer, Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer) 

make it easy (Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer) 

you met me at the perfect time for Prim_the_Amazing (Jaskier/Geralt, Jaskier/Melitele) 

the thing perhaps is to eat flowers and not to be afraid for Prim_the_Amazing (Jaskier/Geralt, Geralt/Yennefer, Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer)

some people talk to animals; not many listen, though for Prim_the_Amazing (Jaskier/Geralt) 

.

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other: Oh my god, I wrote so fucking much, hahaha. Like daaaang, self. I almost wanna add up the word count and see what it is but I’m not patient enough to sort it all out, hah. 

.

Most surprising fic you wrote this year: . . . hmmm, probably “you make a really good girl (as girls go)”. That one’s gotten a REALLY good reception that I was REALLY not expecting and I continue to get people who are hype for more of it swinging by to say so. 

.

How you grew as a writer this year: I got faster, I think, and less obsessed with perfectionism/fussing around on the details. Also I continued to be ever-more shamelessly id-driven in my writing, my true ultimate goal as a writer. 

.

What’s coming in 2021: God if I know, you guys. God if I know. Hopefully more Push and Pull and Avamorphs; maybe a little bit more “I’ll give them shelter” and handmaiden!Anakin; MAYBE even the end of Clay Kids. This is all wild, wild guessing, though, because lbr, I write exclusively based on a) what other people ask for and b) whatever random bout of inspiration has struck me at the time. There is very little predicting what will result from this combination. 

.

tagging: @asukaskerian, @darkpuck, @beckyh2112, and anyone else who wants to play. 

[dovand]

i made a Mistake.

so theres this post:

"pen pal au? no, pen enemies au. sokka writes an angery letter to zuko and sends hawky the hawk to deliver it, expecting to never see the bird again. zuko gets his letter back in the palace and then writes back, and they start a cycle of letters, trying constantly to one-up the other’s insults. katara and aang are highly concerned. toph helps sokka workshop the most vicious comebacks. zuko is losing his fucking mind… he is on the verge of joining up with these people ffs"

and i saw it on an instagram post. someone in the comments said "THIS EXISTS ITS CALLED EPISTLES" and i was like "fuck yeah!! this sounds great!" so i went to ao3 and found it p quickly & started reading

i started at around midday and finished at 8pm.,,,, i read ALL 154,674 words of it in those eight hours. this includes two snack breaks and also dinner i think? i have vague memories of sitting in increasingly odd positions in my armchair and YEARNING

because GOD DAMN

THIS FIC IS REALLY GOOD

but there is a problem.

[image ID: the chapters marker on ao3, reads 'chapters: 25 out of ? end ID]

[image ID: the last updated marker, indicating that the last update was on the 23rd of november, 2019. end ID]

(it's 20 october 2020 rn)

ohmygodohmygodohmygod. was my initial reaction. bc i'd had a VAGUE awareness of this throughout the whole thing but i hadnt expected to become so emotionally unravelled by the end of it that i was a yearning mess of Feels.

(it ended, obviously, on basically a cliffhanger and i cant even reasonably expect it to update soon..,,,,,,,,,,,,,)

i went through the next few days babbling about the fic to my friends at school, who ever so indulgently listened to me going off on seemingly nonsensical tangents about the LETTERS and then the FESTIVAL and oh my GOD–

the Feels have mostly worn off by now, but occasionally i reread my favorite chapter (fire days!! except not the end. no. ouch) just to re-Feel the Feels because this fic touches me emotionally in a way nothing else can, including actual events in my real life!

anyway if anyone has any fic recs i would greatly appreciate them bc im slowly disintegrating bc like.......... ouch.....,........

[hella1975]

G O D

atla

The whole reason I’m now in the fandom is because me and my friend were rewatching it ‘cause why not

And the last time i saw atla was in my childhood before the whole character growth arc (mental health ouchies) and as we watched i just fell in shambles

As an actually normal person I tried having some conversation and being a normal friend and like, have fun? Have some discussion of plot and characters and fave episodes

Anyway

We finished the last episode and my friend just insta moved on

So now i sit here in this pit of new found trauma-projected characters i will not dump for at least a year

And this friend is like ‘oh damn I forgot we were watching it :D nice art of zuko’ and I just go blank and say things like ‘yeah hes funny like that’

'yeah hes funny like that' FR SKJGHSKDHG I HATE HIM FOR IT BUT DAMN HES JUST SO FUNNY LIKE THAT

if my friends watched atla i think it would be better for me if they actually decided they hated it. i could not STAND if they liked it but just liked it 3 degrees to the left of how i like it. if my friends got into it in the 'katara is annoying zuko is hot azula's evil which one's sokka again' way i think id have to start killing people. i know entirely too much about this show to watch it idly. someone would make one bad (1) comment about zuko even as a JOKE and that would be it

[juniperhillpatient]

The Avatar & the Firelord Re-watch

This is the episode where we finally learn the truth about Roku's past & the Fire Nation Royal Family's history with the Avatar. It's a really interesting episode & further illustrates the ongoing parallels between Aang & Zuko. The story really does come down to being about these two characters & how they are able to do better than their ancestors (or past lives.) I'm such a sucker for narratives about new generations doing better than their past narrative incarnations, so no wonder I love this show.

[ID: Sozin & Roku wearing Fire Nation robes. there is a sunset in the background. end id]

I loved all the flashbacks to Sozin & Roku. Especially when Roku had just been ignored by a girl so he lay in the grass & Sozin just started putting grass on his face. True friendship moment.

Also, this is where the Fire Nation's imperialism & colonialism come into play - "I've been thinking, we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. [Cut to a shocked Roku with the camera closing in on him.] In our hands is the most successful empire in history. [Back to a close-up of Sozin.] It's time we expanded it." Yep, that's where the Fire Nation's evil started.

The parallel scenes between Aang & Zuko learning about their past work really well. I also like how we got various scenes throughout Sozin & Roku's lifetimes illustrating the gradual decline of their friendship, & the increase in Sozin's hunger for power. Meanwhile, Zuko & Aang's story is the opposite - they are enemies & have been for a long time & they're slowly building to friendship. This show is really, really well-written.

I need someone with more insight than me on Iroh to weigh in on what was going on with him in this episode because I'm not sure what to think of his speech to Zuko. @peony-pearl do you have any thoughts on the scene between Iroh & Zuko where Iroh tells Zuko he has a great capacity for both good & evil? If I'm putting you on the spot, no pressure, just ignore this tag. I just feel like there's a lot to analyze but my mind is empty lol

I loved the scene between the Fire Siblings when Zuko asks Azula about history & she teases him but gives him the answer. It's such a normal sibling moment filled with banter & soft affection. I live for domestic fire siblings scenes.

Then we have one of my favorite Gaang moments in the whole show -

Aang: Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil. [Cut to an aerial shot of the hardened lava wave.] Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation has to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. [Shot cuts to a close-up of Aang's face.] And I also think it was about friendships.

Toph: [Camera pans to Toph, and cuts to a close-up of her face.] Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?

Aang: [Catching Toph's hand.] I don't see why not. Katara catches Toph's other hand.]

Sokka: Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that ...

Katara: [Annoyed.] Oh, Sokka, just hold hands. Sokka stops talking, and without moving, he thrusts out his hand to hold Katara's. Shot cuts to an aerial shot of Team Avatar, holding hands, and looking out toward the ocean.

I just love this scene. I love Aang's quote, I love the softness between the Gaang. Also, Sokka what the fuck you are best friends with the Avatar who just went on a spirit journey. Why are you like this?

Anyway, this was a great episode & I know there's more to analyze but that's all I have for now! Tune in next time for more rambling :)