#atla ....whatever the ship name for sokka and mai would be | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

themoonandhersun · 4 years

Text

thinking about

a no hundred year old war au where zuko goes the southern water tribe with his family, and he’s grumpy about the cold.

but he’s not grumpy about spending time with katara again. (he’s ten, she’s eight and they met two years ago.)

when they see each other, they get excited and bow traditionally, then give each other a big hug.

and of course, sokka and azula tease them about it.

they tell their siblings to shut up and walk off together.

zuko tells katara about the plays he sees on ember island. “i can take you to go see a play sometime, princess katara—but only if you want to, of course,” he looks at her, cheeks pink, fiddling with his fingers. “you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“i would love to go see a play with you, prince zuko,” katara tells him, her cheeks pink too.

they make eye contact, and look away from each other quickly, their pink cheeks turning a bright red.

zuko and his family spend a few days at the southern water tribe, and zuko spends a lot of time with katara there, of course. he loves penguin sledding and watching katara waterbend.

(spoiler: he thinks she’s so cool.)

when zuko has to leave, she quickly kisses his cheek and tells him she can’t wait to see a play with him. zuko blushes hard and says he’ll take her soon.

he leaves.

they write letters to each other for months (and they send each other gifts on their birthdays like they always do), then zuko comes with his family again to take katara to see a play. kya and gran gran go along with katara, and they talk with ursa on the ship (hakoda is on a hunting trip with sokka during this time, but he knows it was gonna happen and is okay with it). zuko and katara spend time together on the ship, and he tells her he can’t wait to see the play with her.

a few days later, they’re on ember island.

zuko tells her that he should hold hands with her so he can show her around better (yes, uncle iroh gave him this tip) and katara agrees (she wanted to hold hands with him anyways). he takes her to their house on ember island and shows her around. he shows her where she’ll be staying, and she tells him how excited she is to be spending time with him on ember island.

(she’s only been to the palace before, not ember island.)

she asks about azula, and zuko says that azula is spending time with her friends and doesn’t really like watching plays anyways. but he assures her the play is really good and that if she doesn’t like it, that’s okay. (she jokes that it would be a bummer if she came all this way just to not like the play, and zuko laughs and agrees with her.)

they play together and talk together until they have to go to the theater. they don’t hold hands this time, but katara loops her arm with his. ursa, kya and gran gran sit by them, but not too close—they don’t want to disturb katara and zuko’s little date (even though they both insist it’s not a date).

zuko glances at katara throughout the play just to make sure she likes it, and he thinks she does. he asks at the end of the play (just to make sure) how she felt about it and katara beams. “i loved it! thank you for taking me, prince zuko,” she hugs him.

he pulls away and slowly shows her a bracelet he had in his pocket. “this is for you, princess katara,” zuko smiles timidly. “i thought of you, and i got it...um, for you. well, actually, uh—i made it. i know, i could have done better, but i just really wanted to make you something—“

“thank you, prince zuko. i love it, it’s so pretty,” katara giggles and nudges him gently. she points to her wrist, “so, can i—“

“um—here, let me,” zuko ties it around her wrist securely, cheeks red. it’s a black, cotton string with a charm on it: a silver crescent moon connected to a gold sun.

“do you really love it, princess katara?” he asks quietly, fidgeting in his seat.

“i do,” she nods and kisses his cheek. zuko smiles at her. “and...i may have made you something as well.”

his jaw drops. “wait, what? really?”

“yeah,” katara grins and hands him a bone dagger with blue handle and a fire carved into its side. she looks at him nervously as he holds the dagger.

she rambles: “you mentioned in your letters that your cousin got a really cool earth kingdom dagger and that you wanted one, so i—i made one for you. well, my dad helped me, but—“

zuko hugs her. “this is so cool, princess katara! thank you so much!” she hugs him back, both of them feeling butterflies in their stomachs.

they get up and join their family members, and they all go back to the ember island house. then zuko admits that he has another gift for katara. “wait here,” he tells her when they’re in the living room. he runs up to his room and runs back downstairs.

“here,” zuko whispers as he blushes and holds out a fire lily, “for you, princess katara.”

“oh—thank you, prince zuko,” katara whispers, grabbing the flower as her cheeks get hot.

(yes, she knows what a fire lily means.)

they hug again.

when zuko travels with her and her family on their journey back to the south (with ursa, of course), they bicker about cloud shapes (katara swears it’s a flower and zuko swears it’s a baby turtle duck) and when it gets to be night time, they argue about what a constellation is named.

“it’s the little penguin named tuka,” katara insists.

“no, it’s a baby dragon named eyala,” zuko shakes his head.

“no, it’s not!”

“yes, it is!”

“last person to the other side of the ship has to admit that they’re wrong!” katara calls out and they race to the other end of the ship, laughing as they do so.

they tied, then played a game of elements (the atla version of rock, paper, scissors. idk if that’s the name of it though?) to break the tie.

katara won. (and zuko didn’t mind saying he was wrong all that much.)

when they make it the south pole, and they hug, it’s zuko who kisses her cheek this time. “i’ll write to you soon, princess katara,” he whispers and pulls away.

“you better,” she whispers back, and watches as zuko gets on the ship. she waves goodbye until she can’t see him anymore.

they keep writing to each other.

but then, gradually over the course of a few years (she is eleven now and zuko is almost thirteen), zuko’s letters get shorter and more vague, and they don’t come in as often as they used to.

then he completely stops sending letters by the end of the year, and she remembers how, the last time they talked in person, he admitted to her: “listen, so—um, i don’t know what’s going on with my dad—but if i ever stop sending you letters, katara, please know i had nothing to do with it. you’re my best friend—and i’ll always want to talk to you.”

(then he placed his hand over hers, his thumb stroking her skin. “you’re my best friend, and...i love you, katara,” he whispered it like it was a secret. she whispered it back, and they hugged.)

(and they had a joke only written in their letters to each other—that she was his, and he was hers. she’s gonna be honest: she doesn’t remember how the joke started, but she knows she keeps it going even when he’s not around. mostly because she thinks about it all the time. he’s her zuko, her zuko, her zuko. she’s his katara, his katara, his katara.)

she’s very worried, angry and sad all at the same time. and she never liked ozai in the first place if she was gonna be honest with herself.

as three years pass, she doesn’t hear from zuko. once, she wrote to azula asking about zuko, and azula wrote back with a vague letter that gave no information on zuko. she tried two more times and got vague responses each time. (she gave up writing to azula after the third try.)

all she found out was that ursa left, and she had to find out through her dad.

but why doesn’t anyone know what happened to zuko?

she doesn’t want to think negatively, but she’s fourteen now, and if her dad knew anything about zuko, he would’ve told her by now. she often stares at the bracelet zuko gave her when she was nine. she was six when they met and they wrote to each other until she was eleven.

she misses him.

(a messager arrives and gives a letter to hakoda. he reads it in his office. he doesn’t know how to tell katara, but he knows he has to.)

hakoda goes to katara, and tells her gently that zuko was burned and banished by ozai three years ago, and she feels sick to her stomach.

her zuko?—burned by his own father?

and he could be anywhere in the world right now?

and he could be—

no.

she can’t think like that.

she tells hakoda that she needs some alone time. he hugs her and walks out the room.

she starts writing to her friend, aang—who has an air bison—and hopes that he’ll agree to help her find zuko. and aang is also friends with zuko.

(they can find zuko, can’t they?)

unfortunately, though, hakoda intercepts the letter (the messager dropped it, and it popped open, and he recognized katara’s handwriting.)

he tells her that she can’t just leave and they argue. kya was trying to be the mediator. it did not help.

katara attempts to leave at night on a boat, and sokka catches her. he tells her, “katara, you can’t leave—“

“—oh, not you too—“

“—without me,” sokka finishes.

katara looks at him, confused. “what? you wanna come along?” she notices he has a bag slung over his shoulder.

sokka nods. “yeah, why not?”

“okay, then, come on, sokka,” katara motions for him to hurry up and get on the boat. sokka gets on the boat and informs her that he left a note for hakoda and kya.

she grumbles something like, “whatever,” in response. (she’s still grumpy about the argument with hakoda.)

she uses her waterbending to make their trip to aang’s temple faster. sokka sleeps while she waterbends, and sokka rows the boat while she sleeps. and the cycle repeats until they’re at the air temple.

aang agrees to help them (he’s also very concerned about zuko after katara tells him what happened) and they all get on appa. aang says that zuko once told him that if he ever ran away, he would go to the earth kingdom. so they head to the earth kingdom.

“i think he mentioned gaoling,” aang tells them. “so let’s head there.”

they search for a few days.

and...

they don’t find zuko.

instead, they find toph, an amazing earthebender who didn’t want to be miserable with her parents anymore.

(basically, they went to an earth rumble, and watched toph fight, and aang was like, “she’s so cool, can she be part of our group?” and sokka was like, “if you can convince her to join us, sure, why not?”)

(by the way, sokka didn’t mean it.)

(he also didn’t think aang would do it—or that toph would agree.)

either way, they ended up with a confident, blind earthbender who ‘carries her own weight’ in their group. (at least she brought a bag full of money with her. they were already running low on funds.)

(sokka has a bad spending habit.)

(plus, him, aang and toph have big appetites for their sizes.)

(seriously.)

“i heard there was a good fighter in ba sing se with a big scar on his face,” toph tells them as she picks at her feet. “they say he’s a firebender. it could be this zuko guy you guys are looking for.”

“we can try ba sing se,” sokka nods. “especially since we don’t have any other leads.”

“i hope we find him,” katara mumbles, staring at her bracelet. she’s scared—because he can’t be dead, he can’t be dead, he can’t be dead. she can’t accept that possibility. “i mean, he’s been by himself for three years, and we just found out about him. he—i hope he’s okay.”

“well, you know how zuko never gives up without a fight, katara,” aang says to assure her and to lighten the mood, “after all, you knew him best out of all of us.”

“yeah,” katara smiles a bit. “he’s so stubborn—in fact, he’s more stubborn than me.”

“okay, let’s not go that far, katara,” sokka snorts. “because you are—nothing,” sokka whistles when katara raises a small water whip and raises an eyebrow at her brother. “i mean, i wasn’t—i was just—i think you’re great, katara,” he says quickly.

“i know i am. thank you, sokka,” katara laughs.

they travel for about two months (appa needs rest, he’s not used to traveling for so long.) they make a stop to omashu mostly because aang insisted it would be a good idea (and appa needed a break too), and aang’s friend, bumi, joins them in appa. (toph is more than delighted to meet another earthbender on her level.)

all of five of them head to ba sing se, bumi talking excitedly about ba sing se and the great deserts they have. and this, of course, leads to a discussion about food, and then—of course—everyone gets hungry.

so they have to stop and make camp, and katara goes to get some water for the rice, when she sees someone sleeping on the other side of the river next to a small fire, wearing a—a blue spirit mask.

her heart races.

a blue spirit mask.

it’s—that’s—that’s zuko’s favorite ‘love amongst the dragons’ character.

it couldn’t be.

could it?

katara puts the pot down. she doesn’t hesitate to swim over, with a water whip in case she’s wrong, and quietly gets out fo the river. katara gently shakes the guy awake, cautiously trashing her water whip in case she’s wrong.

the guy sits up immediately and draws his swords at katara. “what are you doing?” he demands. (her heart beats faster—that’s his voice. it’s his voice.) “do you—wait...katara?” he sheathes his swords slowly. “is—is that really you?”

“zuko?” katara whispers, tearing up. “it’s you. oh, spirits, it’s you.”

she bends the water out of her clothes, and moves to hug him, but zuko scoots away before she can touch him.

she frowns, hurt. “zuko, why did you—“

“i don’t want you to see—it.” zuko awkwardly adjusts his mask. “i don’t—you—i want—just...katara. trust me—you’re not gonna like...it. you’re not gonna like me.” his voice breaks with vulnerability, with sadness, and katara does her best not to cry.

how could he think that?

because—

she loves him.

“are you kidding, zuko? i’m your best friend. i’m always gonna love you,” she sniffles, and zuko doesn’t hesitate to hug her tightly. she hugs back, her head in the crook of his neck.

“i love you, too,” zuko tells her softly, holding her. “i missed you.”

“i missed you, too.”

a beat.

“katara, i’ll show you...my scar,” zuko swallows.

“are you sure?”

“yes, but—but i’m just scared. i don’t want you to think i—that i’m...ugly,” zuko confesses, “i’ll show you, and then i’m, um, gonna put the mask back on.”

“okay, zuko,” katara nods and gently pulls away from his arms. she misses his warmth already. it’s been too long.

she sits across from him, watching him patiently.

zuko’s hands shake as he takes off his mask, and puts it beside him. his eyes are closed tightly.

katara gasps softly as she looks at it. her zuko—he—it must have hurt so much.

she leans forward, and carefully cups his cheek. zuko tenses up, then relaxes. he leans into her hand.

“my zuko,” she whispers, fingers brushing against his scar.

“my katara,” zuko whispers back, opening his eyes, and placing his hands over hers.

“it’s not ugly,” katara informs him as his fingers curl around hers. “and you’re definitely not ugly. my zuko—how could you ever be ugly?”

zuko stares at her, almost as if trying to see if she’s lying, almost like he doesn’t...believe her. “katara, you can’t be serious,” he gently pulls her hand away, but keeps holding it as he grabs his mask with his free hand.

“i am,” katara says, eyes soft. “i’ve never lied to you before. can...can i heal it?”

zuko frowns. “it’s a scar. you can’t heal it, katara.” a beat. “but it itches, sometimes.”

“can i...?”

“you can.”

katara summons water around her right hand like a glove. she cups his cheek with her left hand, tilting his head to the side. zuko closes his eyes and katara presses her water gloved hand on his scar. she watches as the water glows, and feels the scar change, somehow. (yes, she wishes she paid more attention to her healing classes. she knew enough, but she didn’t know everything.)

when she’s done, she puts the water back in the river. “it feels...better,” zuko admits. “thank you, katara.”

“of course,” katara grabs his hands and squeezes. “anything for you, zuko.”

they smile at each other.

then katara remembers—“i still have to get the water for the rice!” she gets up and zuko looks at her, confused.

“i’ll tell you everything later, just—please,” katara reaches a hand out to him. “come with me, zuko.”

zuko nods slowly, and grabs her hand. he gets up, and puts his mask on. “okay, katara, i’ll come with you. after all, we still have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?”

“we do,” katara smiles brightly, holding his hand, and intertwining their fingers. they go into the river, and katara puts water into the pot.

then they head to camp, both of them smiling like idiots.

_____

this......got way longer than i originally thought it would. (it was supposed to be short and cute)

i promise i can do better than this though. i promise!!!!!

(i might write a fic about this now....but it would be different from this obviously)

also, you can thank @ pokidokies for making me think about baby zutara.

like, i was already thinking about them, and then i saw this on instagram—and oh my god,,,,!!!

i had to! express! my thoughts! i just had to!

baby zutara is just...something that can be so personal, you know?

follow her on tumblr and on insta! :D (her blog name on here is the same as her insta name!)

#zuko #katara #zutara #atla #woo #i love: them #!!!!! <3 #baby zutara #they: are soulmates #they are in love your honor #they are different from canon but i want them to similar to canon too #idk if i did that #oh well #it’s fine #causeeee #it’s an au baby!#zutara au #<3

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sokkastyles · 4 years

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Honestly, I refuse to interact with that last thread you reblogged, because I don't want to spread OP's (what was their handle again? Bryke-official or something? I already forgot) name and give them more attention than what they deserve even if it is for ratio, but I couldn't help myself and peeked at the notes and there was one that REALLY rubbed me in the wrong way. I don't want to explain what the person wrote in detail, but the main concept was that "in the case when a male and female have a close, non-romantic relationship, people read a male's actions as justification or entitlement to a relationship with the female", and I'm curious if they will EVER realize that's exactly what happened with K@t@@ng instead of Zutara... 1/3

Continuing with the honesty, I'm not even as angry by the fact that people apparently read a girl displaying affection to a boy as irrefutable proof of her romantic attraction (which is downright elementary school rethoric) just to endorse K@t@@ng, I'm more angry at the fact that even the people that claim to care SO much about Katara focus an awful lot on the boys in her life and what THEY have done for her instead of what SHE has done for them. All the emotional support Katara gave Aang, anyone? All the times she literally RESURRECTED him? The fact that Katara was the very first person who showed selfless compassion to Zuko? That consoled him in regards of his betrayal to Iroh? That ALSO saved his life? 2/3

Maybe I'll elaborate on this later myself, and maybe I should be thanking that anti-Zutara in the thread because, if Katara has done so much for Zuko, and Zuko has done SO much for Katara that even antis can only see THAT, then I'm not in the wrong for supporting a ship with MUTUAL emotional support and connection. Feels so good to be validated! 3/3

And also, just because, JESUS CHRIST!! I gave a look at that Bryke-official person's (or whatever their name was) page, and good God, they are OBSESSED with Bryan and Michael!! Like... for once I'm not angry that someone is so supportive of creators who resent their female fans so much, I REALLY feel sorry for Bryke now 😳😳😳

I hadn’t looked at the notes before but...yikes. It’s an old post so I have no idea if OP is still around, but what they said is incredibly misogynistic. Also quite ridiculous, considering that fandom as a whole does not project onto brown girls, and Mai is a MUCH easier character to identify with, especially for the types of girls and women who are into fandom. Introverted, sarcastic, dresses like she shops at Hot Topic...I’ve seen MANY people say that they identify with Mai, and also seen many people project onto her because 90% of her character is fanon, because there just isn’t that much to her in canon. Not that there is anything wrong with self inserting, but I wish people would be honest about it. And if people are self inserting onto Katara, that’s pretty cool. It’s amazing that a dark skinned girl is the center of shipping in the ATLA fandom and has been for fifteen years, but I assure you it’s not because she’s the easiest for people to self insert into, and dismissing her shipping potential that way seems awfully racist.

And the idea that people treat Zuko’s actions as a justification or entitlement to a relationship is ridiculous, since Zuko does not canonically have romantic feelings for Katara. Interpreting the lightning scene as him having feelings for her does not mean seeing him as entitled to a relationship with her, either, because Katara already paid back his sacrifice by saving his life two seconds later. That’s actually one of the best things about their dynamic, that there’s no sense that anyone owes anyone else, no one’s hiding their feelings from the other, and they stand as equals. Unlike with...certain other relationships in canon.

People are arguing about Zuko’s motivation and feelings when the lightning scene was actually all focused on Katara’s feelings. I mean, look at the expression on her face:

You can see her realizing in this moment just what losing Zuko would mean to her. In fact, I was trying to recall what this shot reminded me of, and then it hit me:

This is Katara in “The Fortuneteller” after Sokka said Aang was a powerful bender (like the person Aunt Wu said Katara would marry.) In fact, these shots are almost the same, the focus on Katara’s face, her similar expression, the realization of feelings, the blue and orange lighting reflected in her face, the fact that both Zuko and Aang are shown to be powerful benders in these moments. (Yes, Zuko is a powerful bender. Here he is performing a technique that only two other people know how to do, and he taught one of those people, and he didn’t even do it correctly and he still redirected the lightning. Look back at that shot of the lightning being released up into the sky and tell me that’s not powerful.)

Someone, I forget who, said that it’s less the actions themselves and more what happens afterwards that has potential to draw Zuko and Katara closer together. Many people who go through a near-death experience together often become close even if they were complete strangers before. Sometimes they even end up married. It’s a pretty well-known psychological phenomenon.

#katara #zuko #zutara #the discourse #antikataang #antimaiko #flashing gif warning

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sokkagatekeeper · 3 years

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zutara for the ship asks >:)

uhhh i think it’s a very shallow ship merely based on the #HeteroCulture of pairing the two best-looking people of closer age of opposite sexes together, mixed up with a little yelling that can be misinterpreted as s*xual/romantic tension and ignoring the fact that katara and zuko are just not romantically compatible at all; they cannot fulfill each other’s emotional needs in a balanced way because they are simply too similar. in any case, zuko kinda thinks of katara as a child in comparison to him (which is a normal perspective to have as a sixteen year old!), and katara... does not need That in her life atm. i believe their friendship is one of the bestest things in atla and i cherish them forever. the way the care for each other, their empathy with each other, the parallels between them, their overall bond is everything zutara shippers say and more, it’s just not romantic. in my opinion. lol. and i don’t want to waste too much time talking about the fanbase, it is known they’ve messed up quite a bit throughout all these years and will continue to do so in the years to come. all of the trouble with zutara enthusiasts (apart from racism and misogyny, which we are all familiar with) comes from 1) the fact that they are very entitled and as if they were personally wronged over something that doesn’t have any foundation on the text 2) there’s a certain disrespect for everything the show and its themes stand for (aang), mostly by viewing the show thru shippy lens which is a fatal mistake in itself and therefore drawing batshit conclusions on the show’s themes and what represents them, and 3) there’s a certain plain misunderstanding of not only katara’s and zuko’s characters but aang’s, mai’s, and sokka’s (to name a few) as well. and whatever, really, it’s an old and uninteresting tale in my opinion. overall i understand why people would ship it not because the ship itself makes any sense but because of the society that we live in, to put a name to it, and what notices and values and how it’s willing to (sometimes even unknowingly!) manipulate the textual facts in order to instinctually see romantic potential between any conventionally attractive characters of the opposite sex interacting with each other.

send me a ship and i’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

#OH I FINISHED #bless #uhhh i don't want anyone but shoshana seeing this post tbh #sorry 4 being an anti on 2k21 😭😭😭#it's 4 safety reasons tbh #n #ask games #anon's evil little face. they know what they did

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mycomfortblanket · 4 years

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Works of Art

All of my stories in one place just for your convenience. You’re welcome.

These are mostly Taang, however, if you would like, I can try writing for whatever ship your heart desires.

No Title Yet, Something Will Come To Me: Aang wakes up with a massive hangover to find Toph in his bed. Naked. What the hell happened last night. COMPLETED Rating: Mature for sexual themes. 9.7k words. Finished Sept. 26, 2020. X X X X

Under the Night Sky: Aang hears the chattering of teeth during a cold night. Original Prompt: We have to go camping together and share a sleeping bag even though we are complete strangers. COMPLETED. Rating: General Audiences. 5.3k words. Finished Nov. 26, 2020 X X

A Snowy Start: Sokka and Zuko sleep on the couch together. Snuggles. ATLA Winter Fest 2020 for @i-love-your-light. COMPLETED. Rating: General Audiences. 2.2k Words. Finished Jan. 02, 2021.

Cute Guy From Bar: Bored and alone at the bar, Toph is going through her contacts looking for someone she can maybe call and talk to. She comes across 'Cute Guy From Bar' and has no memory of adding that to her phone. Bored with nothing else to do, she calls the number. Original Prompt: I have no idea where I am and your name was 'cute guy from bar' in my phone and I just moved here so you're the only one I thought to call and wow drunk me was right you are kinda cute @theboywhocriedlupin COMPLETED. Rating: General Audiences. 2.2k words. Finished Feb. 21, 2021. X

Thunderstorms: The sound of thunder scares the strongest of them all and she curls up on the couch with Aang. Original Prompt: Idk but if this could be a cute taang prompt: falling asleep on the couch, waking up to not only a blanket around them, but their partner squeezed in behind them. It's up to you who's gonna be the one looking for warmth. For @layzhe-06 COMPLETED. Rating: General Audiences. 873 words. Finished Feb. 23, 2021. X

You're Not Dating?: Sokka and Katara mistakenly think that Aang and Toph are dating. Feelings start to grow and things occur. I dunno. I suck at summaries. COMPLETED. Rating: Explicit for strong sexual themes and slight drug use (marijuana). 35.7k words. Finished March 10, 2021

The Wedding: An hour before her wedding, Toph and Aang are together for the last time. For @layzhe-06. COMPLETED. Rating: General Audiences. 1.3k words. Finished Feb. 24, 2021. X

The Blood on Her Hands- A battle that took all of them by surprise has left one of them wounded. COMPLETED. Rating: Teen for Major Character Death. 1.1k words. Finished March 29, 2021. X

Unfamiliar Territory: Azula can’t be sure that Aang is flirting. COMPLETED Rating: General Audiences. 890 words. Finished May 11, 2021

About That Night: After an amazing night of sex, Toph meets Aang once again in the most awkward way. For @Viciouso @ZophToko on ao3. STILL IN PROGRESS Rating: Explicit for strong sexual content. 10k words. X X

Could Be More: At the beach, Aang convinces Toph to go into the water. For @Zophtoko on ao3. COMPLETED. Rating: Teen for language and some sexual themes. 1.1k words. Finished June 12, 2021. X

Taangst Week 2021

Day 2: Loss X Day 3: Star Crossed Lovers X Day 4: Arranged Marriage

Taang Fluff Week 2021

Day 1: First Date Couldn’t Be Too Bad X Day 5: Family Just One X Day 4: Comfort What Happened Never Leaves

If I Lose Him Like This: At Aang's wedding, Toph is drinking the pain away. Rating: Mature for strong sexual themes, cheating, and underage drinking STILL IN PROGRESS. X X X X X X

Written in Ink: Soulmate AU. When their soulmate’s name finally appears on their skin, both Aang and Toph are filled with dread but for different reasons. STILL IN PROGRESS. Rating: General Audiences but may change. X X X X

Could We?: Toph helps Aang realize what’s missing from his relationship. STILL IN PROGRESS. Rating: Explicit for strong sexual themes, will change X X

I Could Get You If I Wanted: Sokka finally meets his sister’s roommate, Toph, and rises to one of her challenges. STILL IN PROGRESS. Rating: Teen for some sexual themes X X X

Let’s Channel All Our Sadness Into This: Toph is suffering from heartbreak and Aang just wants to see her smile again STILL IN PROGRESS X

ATLA Trifecta Modern Au Week 2021

Day 1: (Taang) Coffee Shop Play it Cool X

Why Are You so Afraid of Loving Zuko and Toph come up with a plan to save the both of them. STILL IN PROGRESS. Rating: Teen for language. X X

Oh, It’s Gonna be a Long Night Sitting at a bar, Zuko sees the open piano and pours his heartbreak into it COMPLETE. Rating: Teen for mentions of sexual themes X

The Box at the Back of the Closet While playing dress up in Toph’s closet, Lin and Suyin find a box that contains items that Sokka had sent Toph in the past. POSSIBLY CONTINUING. Rating: Teen for some mentions of sex. X X

Without Interruptions When Aang sees Toph dancing with some faceless stranger, jealousy comes out. COMPLETE. Rating: Explicit for strong sexual themes. 4.5k words X

Sweater After a breakup that completely destroyed Sokka, Katara decides to throw him a party in hopes of cheering him up a little. Things do not go as planned. TW: mentions of marijuana usage. COMPLETE. Rating: Teen for suggestive themes and marijuana usage. 8.4k words. X

Publicist Set Up Sokka comments something on Zuko’s public page and his publicist ships it. STILL IN PROGRESS. Rating: Mature for suggestive themes X

Link to Achieve of Our Own

Prompts are accepted and welcomed as is constructive criticism

Will be updated as stories are posted

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olivieblake · 4 years

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KSIGJICNRJCNEHCBD HELLO HELLO WELCOME TO THE HELL THAT IS KNOWING ZUTARA IS EVERYTHING AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AS SUCH !!!! wow i love that you are as angry as i was (and am every rewatch? yikes) this is amazing i knew you're my favorite but yeah wow man this really. confirms it whew high five

yeah it’s pretty wild how I knew this was what happened and was already bracing for it and yet STILL got completely misled by the narrative??? MEN I tell you MEN. I’m also going to use this ask as a method to reply to some of the other commentary if you don’t mind since this seems like a good place for communal frustration (here is my original post for anyone scrolling around lost)

@meg-hemmings: I agree with all of ur thoughts and I would TOTALLY read anything you wrote for Zutara … your writing is among my absolute favorite ever and I think you would write the Zutara dynamic so beautifully!

@one-man-propaganda-machine: I am - begging - you to write it yourself.

I... am not going to make promises, but I may have to. I want something very specific and that never bodes well for me. I doubt it would be more than a one-shot, but there are multiple scenes that could have occurred between episodes that would flesh out what was there (and of course I’d cut the final 15 seconds of the show, much like another epilogue I loathe and ignore)

@deifiliaa: omg atla discourse in 2021; olivie, i’d love to see what your character tier list looks like now that you’ve finished the series 👀

I’m going to put azula at the top. not because she’s a good person obviously but she’s FULL. OF. HITS. every time she’s on the screen the narrative gets immediately more interesting. she’s savvy and self-assured and I love it. her ending depressed me although I like that it was kind of about the loss of her two best friends? if that had been more of a focus I think I would have enjoyed it more but yeah, losing mai and ty lee could have been rightfully devastating. who among us is not totally obliterated by friend breakups. I also really loved uncle iroh; if anything that’s why I wasn’t invested in zuko’s storyline until close to the end, because watching him disappoint his uncle was very difficult (I get it, he’s a teenager, he’s growing and evolving and whatnot, but also I am closer to being his uncle than to being him so like, yeah). I also hope the peter pan revenge guy (JET that’s his name, sorry pregnancy kills my brain cells) did hook up with both katara and zuko. I love that journey for all three of them. I wanted more time with mai than we got, so there wasn’t quite enough there to love... but I was very down with ty lee interfering on her behalf. what a pivotal moment

of the core characters I think I was quickest to love sokka; the episode where he apologizes to suki and asks her to train him cemented it for me. I think it’s a big deal to show boys apologizing on-screen and owning their misconceptions. I like katara a lot—she’s what a lot of people do with fanon hermione. toph is also great, and part of me feels there is a strong basis for a ship with aang that balances their opposing energy, though I also like the idea of them being platonic besties. aang is... twelve. pretty much every time he was on the screen mr blake (a teacher) was like “man, aang is such a seventh grader,” so it was nice how convincing that was for his emotional journey, but at the same time it was hard to forget he was in seventh grade. appa and momo are STARS. I am sure I have mentioned this before but mr blake really loves animals and he was devastated by appa’s kidnapping; he hugged our dog for about ten minutes after aang found appa. after he decided I was zuko, he speculated that he is closest to aang but he’s not happy about it lol. “ugh, aang and I are such boring pacifists” was I believe his take on the subject

@libbynico, who for some reason I can’t tag: so true! katara was literally something like a mother/older sister figure to aang the entire time, but whatever

yeah, I think it really sucks that katara, as the emotionally nurturing character, felt shoved into the role of love interest. it’s everything wrong with the distribution of emotional labor in male-female relationships but sure, WHATEVER, apparently nobody thought to ask me in 2008

@touslesnoms: I liked “such selfish prayers” by andromeda3116 if you ever decide to read zutara after the series; the worst prisoner by emletish is super funny too

thanks for the recs! I will take them. I do want something very specific so I will be accepting recs until I find it lol. or until I lose composure and write it (yeah this is me WITH my composure, no wonder mr blake thinks I’m zuko, “I’m never happy” indeed)

@gaeleria: THANK YOU!!! Ugh omg that “I’m confused” kiss scene made me actively hate the ending. I knew ahead of time they were endgame, so I tried to make myself accept it early on. Like, I really didn’t like the pairing, but I wasn’t going to be emotionally invested in the romance and it was just going to be like, whatevs. AND THEN THEY WROTE THAT SCENE??! 1000% no. What was even the point of that scene? If they had written it to make Aang have some introspection and realize it’s not all about him, Katara’s feelings matter too, or even apologize, or anything… but no, there was literally no point to that scene. No character growth, it was never mentioned again. Ugh.

this is in answer to both you and beloved @zabbini: yeah this was a fuck-up for sure lol. I think it may come down to editing for time; the series is very irregularly paced, what with the majority of the action taking place in the final three episodes of a 16 episode season. or maybe it’s just because MEN CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO WRITE ROMANCE but either way yeah this was a real misstep and just truly, truly reeked of a particular (white) male attitude about how women think and what they owe. had a bad day, dudes? buy a gun, kiss your forever girl, do whatever you want and it’s fine! (I’m exaggerating but barely)

in terms of what’s so angering for me: a character like katara who previously had tons of agency was robbed of it when it came to her romantic arc, which is just really upsetting. and to be fair, I was equally upset when zuko instantly agreed to the agni kai with azula because it was like okay well katara’s extremely valuable, as you know, but now you want her to just sit on the sidelines...? (more of a story flaw than a relationship flaw, but my chest sunk a little at the idea that katara was going to sit by and watch as an accessory to zuko’s story when she’s a crucial weapon in their collective fight. what a waste, right?)

it’s also especially hard to buy into the aang thing when zuko’s method of problem-solving on katara’s behalf is there for comparison. he asks her what she needs in order to find closure and then from there, does everything necessary to get it without having to be asked twice. versus aang, who is a twelve-year-old pair of rogue lips who never wins any of his fights without the aid of phenomenal cosmic powers...? ugh I’m getting off track but in the end there’s just a complete lack of understanding what female audiences want, though again, I don’t think they were really considering that at all. which I guess is... fair, it’s not the point of the show, but then why make the ending romantic at all? to show that their brand of hero gets everything he wants, I guess

in conclusion in 2008 I’m not sure the industry was capable of doing better, which sucks but isn’t surprising. still, it does fit the components of “stuff I write fics for,” which is I enjoyed most of it but find myself enraged by slivers I compulsively need to fix—WHICH IS STILL NOT A PROMISE but ugh I can already feel myself giving in

#avatar the last airbender #zabbini

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ladylunasolis · 4 years

Text

Zutara Week 2020 - Day 1 “Reunion”

This is my first ever work for Zutara and ATLA - also my first work of any kind in years. Zutara has always been one of my OTPs and the re-watching the show reminded me how much I love the ship. We only had so many episodes to see them together...but this fandom keeps them alive. This is a more Zuko-centric piece, as I really like to wonder about his POV. Please enjoy “Reunion!”

Rating: G

It has been almost two years after the war had ended. There were some things Zuko had a more challenging time with as new Fire Lord. One was weeding out the Ozai loyalists in his councils. Second was smiling so much. He barely got used to that when he was with the rest of the gang. Of course, he didn’t necessarily need to smile but with the right people, it helped. He was initially a bit rusty with economics but with Iroh’s occasional visits and reading recommendations, Zuko made great progress.

Another area for growth was replying to the numerous gifts and letters he received from dignitaries throughout the world. After one round of answering letters took over an hour in a chair (he insisted he reply himself to make things more personal) he realized he was not quite there yet. Zuko tended to think better while pacing so he employed a transcriber.

As many things were challenging, there were many things Zuko did well. Some of these strengths include memorizing the names of his servants and being able to take into consideration the viewpoints of the needy/working class. He was for the people. He was open to hearing input, though did not hesitate to tell someone when their words were disrespectful. Although he was awkward, kids liked to talk to him. He was great at international relations.

And he always, always replied to Katara within 2 days - in his own writing.

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter of Hakoda, waterbending master, ambassador. The girl who saved his life. Not too long after his coronation ceremony she had left to fix the rest of the world, alongside Avatar Aang. In the months that passed her departure, every time he closed his eyes he would see hers. He would see those deep blue eyes peering down at him, the first thing he would see after Azula’s attack. He remembered how they brimmed with tears. He remembered that not even the blue of Azula’s fire or hell, the blue of Azula’s lighting, could compare to the blue of Katara’s eyes.

He had wanted to say it, wanted to ask her if he was crazy to think there was something there because she felt it too right? A few days had passed after the pomp and circumstance of the coronation. She was checking to make sure he was healing well, her glowing hands running over his exposed stomach, making his abs contract.

“So...” Katara started off shyly. She had a blush on her cheeks and a small smile, but did not meet his eye. This was it, Zuko thought. This is the moment!

“I think me and Aang are going to give this a shot. I mean this, like, me and him. Together.” She became very flustered and brought the water back to the bowl, looking to see if any drops had fell though he damn well knew that wasn’t possible. Silence came over the two of them, except for the roaring of Zuko’s heartbeat in his ears.

He was unsure how much time has passed until Katara started to shift and stand up, brushing off invisible lint. “Okay well you’ve healed past anything serious, it’ll just be some pain—.”

“Thank you.” Zuko tied his shirt and stood up as well. He towered over Katara, who was looking down, playing with her hair. Zuko was definitely aware of the pain he would be feeling, now and for a long time coming. But it wasn’t from the agni kai. The next words kind of just came out on their own.

“Are you happy?”

Katara looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes, with a small smile. She kept eye contact for a moment, which made Zuko wonder if she was searching for something in his own eyes. Then the moment passed. “I am! I really am.”

Zuko felt the urge to say more, but another thought crossed his mind. Who was he to get in the way of her happiness? He saved her life and almost sacrificed his own, sure, but Aang had done just the same. Aang was a good kid. Aang would protect her. Aang is in love with her... With Zuko, he wasn’t even completely sure yet how he felt - he just knew that he wanted her around. But that wasn’t enough to keep her from love. So Zuko cleared his throat and returned the soft smile, placing a hand on Katara’s shoulder.

“I’m really glad.” And he meant it.

He watched her leave a few days later, after hugging both her and Aang, wishing them both safe travels and letting them know they were welcome any time. Zuko could distinctly remember standing on the palace steps long after the air bison had disappeared into the horizon. To distract himself from regrets, he buried himself in work. It was effective about 90% of the time.

Zuko would also still see Mai, and though he felt a familiarity for her it wasn’t the same as what he felt for Katara - whatever that was. He would spend time with Mai when he could, try to get things back to where they were before he left to join the gang, but his mind would wander. To the argument they had on Ember Island “At least I feel something!” Or to brilliant blue. The kisses and touches he shared with Mai paled next to what stirred within him when Katara merely said his name.

Then the letters started arriving.

The letters started a little more than two months after Katara and Aang left. They would come once a month, or two if they were closer. They started off with many “we went to” “we met with” “we did.” After another seven or eight months it was mostly Katara writing about her day and asking about Zuko’s day.

The fruit in the Earth kingdom are great, but I still like the Fire Nation’s better. Especially that one that’s soft and yellow in the middle. I forgot the name. But nothing beats sea prunes! You have to try some next time you come here.

Despite Mai’s lack of expression, Zuko knew she was very perceptive. Try as hard as he could, he wasn’t able to ever give her all of his attention. If he was honest, he would say he was almost desperate to forget Katara but it wasn’t fair to Mai to use her for that. Zuko opened his mouth to say something one day and she put a hand up to stop him.

“I get it. I don’t want to fight about it, but I never want to speak to you again either.” That stung, because in a way she was pretty much his only friend in the nation, but he knew it must have hurt her worse. And so he buried himself completely in work and firebending training.

A year after the war ended and peace had begun, a conference was held at the Fire Nation palace. It was decided the leaders of each nation would come together to encourage international coordination and morale between the nations. Zuko had fought against those Ozai-loyalists daily to combat the ideals that the Fire Nation was the best of all. He had advocated diligently to open their eyes to how the other nations work, to be able to learn from them, and to share the Fire Nation’s ways without having to over their land.

Plus, it would be a good chance to see his friends again.

On the day of the Conference of Peace Zuko awoke even earlier than usual and went through some of his firebending forms. He felt jittery, shaky, alert. But he was excited. Him, Zuko, excited! He was sitting in the conference chamber an hour before the meeting started that day. It had been too long since he had seen Katara. Is she taller? Is her hair done in the same way? Will she still smile when she sees me?

Then the nerves set in. Am I taller? Am I fitting into my royal robes well enough? Wait, are the royal robes too much? I know Katara’s not the type to—. He had to shake his head quickly, before his thoughts ran away with him. “It doesn’t matter anyway, because she’s with Aang. So stupid.”

When Sokka came announced as Water Tribe Ambassador, Zuko had to grit his teeth to curb his initial reaction. Sokka was charming and cheerful as usual. “What’s up, Fire Lord? I’m here reppin’ the Water Tribe!” He wrapped an arm around Zuko’s shoulders and leaned into him.

“H-Hey, Sokka,” Zuko managed. He cleared his throat. “It’s great to see you. Uh where’s Katara?”

“Oh yeah, so right before she was gonna leave I guess almost all of the village got sick with something they haven’t seen before. Katara had been healing for days but it’s something that needs multiple treatments or something. Wait, you didn’t get a letter? Well I guess I got here before the letter since I’ve been traveling closer with Suki.”

At this point they heard the unmistakable groan of an air bison and Aang landed Appa in the square, and from far away they could see his arm up and waving. Everyone will remember that first conference as one where Fire Lord Zuko was informative, but his expression hardly changed the entire time. Some would say he was even a little surly.

Zuko caught up with Sokka and Aang and while it was truly great to see them, he couldn’t help but wonder where Katara’s letter was. As curious as he was about her, he wasn’t going to bombard her brother and her boyfriend for information. Sure enough, he had found her letter at the end of the second day.

I’m so sorry Zuko, my people need me. Even though people are recovering it’s taking multiple rounds of healing for each person and I’m the only one who can heal at this pace. By the time you read this Sokka will probably have told you already. But I just wanted you to know I really did want to see youand everyone.

The last words seemed to be scribbled together, like she had an afterthought to add “and everyone” over where she originally placed a period after “you.” I’m probably just imagining it - the thought flooded Zuko’s mind, but he was able to sit up late and respond.

You’re right, Sokka did get to me first. But don’t worry, your people come first and I’m wishing them all a quick recovery. They have a great healer there after all, Master Katara. Zuko paused, before continuing on. It would have been great to see you, too. Hopefully that will happen some time soon.

After the conference, there were no letters for a month or two. Needless to say, Zuko berated himself. “Scared her off,” he muttered to himself, throwing a towel into a soiled linen basket. He had just finished some training, taking his frustration out on himself. Zuko noted there was a mail delivery and his eyes lit up when he saw the blue water tribe symbol. He opened it eagerly and skimmed through the long letter.

. . . Anyways, I love being home. It’s nice to be with family and wear my furs, though I’ve been growing a bit so I may have to get new ones soon! I’ve been so busy ever since 2 of the kids found out they can waterbend. Being home does sometimes feel different though. I guess it just takes a little getting used to for me to be back here because this is the longest I’ve been home or even 1 place since me and Sokka found Aang. But since Aang and I broke up, I just decided to stay here for a bit. We’re still friends, probably better friends than girlfriend-boyfriend, but thought that the space would be good.

Zuko stopped. “Since Aang and I broke up…” A fire lit within him. He read it over again in disbelief. This was his chance! Finally! He was going to-! Zuko shook himself, and ran a hand over his face, eyes skimming the letter over. “No. Come on, Zuko, she probably doesn’t want to be jumped on after a break up. They were together a while. How long have they been broken up for anyway?”

After some thought, and calming exercises, he picked up a quill. Zuko wrote out the general greetings and response to the daily activities she had in her letter. He hesitated and continued on.

I’m sorry to hear about you and Aang but that’s great you two are still friends. As you know, it doesn’t always end up that way. I’m sure you two will continue working on making the world a better place.

Zuko grimaced as he read his letter over. Before he could change his mind, he rolled the scroll up and went to the aviary.

The letters were different from then on.

I was really missing the turtleducks today! I wonder if those babies are all grown up now! Remember when you first showed them to me? We had so much fun.

The sunsets here are great, but sometimes I think about the sunsets in the Fire Nation. They’re completely opposite but still just as beautiful.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing all that I can to help people, or if I should be doing more. I’m doing great work here I know but I’m thinking about traveling again, learning more and bringing that knowledge back home.

Zuko would reply. He started to confide in her his fears and insecurities, in response to her becoming vulnerable with him too.

Those turtleduck babies have gotten bigger, but there are always more born every year. It would be nice to have a picnic by the pond to introduce you to them.

Next time you’re here, you have to see a sunset from my favorite spot. I’ll take you. And you’re right, opposites can both be equally great. Before I got to know you, I never knew water could be so strong and beautiful.

I know how you feel. Even though I’m seeing changes it can feel like I’m still fighting a battle. Sometimes I just get tired, but I just have to keep going. Sometimes broadening our horizons are the best ways to help our people.

The second Conference of Peace was approaching in another two months’ time. Of course, Zuko had invited Katara to be Water Tribe Ambassador once more and he waited with bated breath for her answer.

Zuko, of course I’ll be there! I can’t miss it two years in a row. I actually wanted to let you know, I was thinking of spending time there before the conference. I’m in the Earth Kingdom right now. I traveled here since my last letter, thanks to your encouragement! Since we’ve been talking about the Fire Nation and things I haven’t seen yet, I thought it would be a good chance to do a little bit of that before we have to all talk business. But if it’s not a good idea, or if you’re too busy, I understand.

Zuko, who had been working on the speed of his replies, replied and sent right after he read her letter.

Of course you’re welcome to come. I would love to have you here.

Weeks later, Fire Lord Zuko stood on the docks, staring out to sea. Many citizens were quick to recognize him and Zuko gave each of them a nod of his head or a wave. He knew this was a little odd, but he didn’t care. He was finally going to see Katara again. They had so little time together in person before she had to depart so he didn’t really know what to call his feelings then. All he knew was he cared enough about her to give his life. That had not changed with Zuko, but he now knew what he feels for her now.

He saw Katara on deck, leaning on the railing, before she saw him. Her chestnut hair was partially up, hair loops still in tact. She was wearing a new blue outfit that matched the tan of her skin. And her smile when she saw him was brighter than the sun. He noticed the way she flicked her wrist, and the sudden wave that brought the ship closer even quicker.

She made her way down the dock and Zuko had to remind himself he is the damn Fire Lord, look noble! But he sure as hell still felt like a teenager despite his age making him an official adult now. He wanted to run and hug her but was able to control himself enough to take a few steps towards the smiling waterbender.

“Hi Zuko,” Katara said, and her voice was a song to his ears. Better than any song he ever heard on music night, by far. She smiled up at him, because even though she had grown a little he had grown a lot. “It’s been too long.”

And then he looked into those eyes, just as blue and expressive as he remembered them. They had haunted him in the most tormenting way but now that his eyes were meeting her’s again, all the pain was worth it.

“You’re right, Katara. It has been.” And Zuko smiled, the emotions reaching his golden eyes. His smile was a promise - a promise to show her everything she wanted to see, and that he wasn’t going to take this chance for granted. Not ever again.

Thank you for reading!

#zutara #zutara week #zutara week 2020 #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #writing #reunion

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codylabs · 4 years

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Avatar, the Last Voidbender

Long ago, humanity originated on the Earth-like planet just within the primary asteroid belt. After inventing various methods of space travel, they spread out to inhabit most planets and moons of the system, and united into 4 different nations to suit the needs of their new diverse environments. Their exploration brought them closer into contact with the spirit realm, and they learned various forms of telekinetic bending from native extraterrestrial creatures. Aside from certain enigmatic spiritual beings, humans are the only sentient lifeforms in the system.

In keeping with the original show’s themes of harmony and unity, the story will be contained within a single solar system. To preserve the show’s prominent sun/moon dichotomy, it will be structured as a binary star system: a yellow dwarf star much like our own, and a black hole. They orbit each other at a distance of roughly 15 AU [Astronomical Units, 1AU = 1.496e+8 km, the distance from the Sun to Earth], and the hole is roughly 30% of the sun’s mass. The sun provides the system with light and heat, whereas the black hole provides gravitational stability and seasonal tides, and its pale accretion disk gives a slight, distant illumination on some nights.

The 4 nations [As I make new posts I will be continuously editing this section to add links]:

The Water Tribe, which inhabit the Outer Worlds, frozen planetoids in the outer system which are heavily reliant on the black hole’s gravitational influence.

The Earth Kingdom, which inhabit the Earth belts, the clusters of moons, asteroids, and Earth-like planets near the habitable zone and among the gas giants, where human survival is easiest and most natural.

The Fire Nation, which inhabits the Inner Worlds, blazing hot worlds orbiting near the star. They enjoy an abundance of energy and resource, but live in danger and competition.

The Void Nomads, which inhabit the Void Temples, extremely remote space stations that follow peculiar orbits in the station’s furthest corners.

Questions you may have:

What am I looking at here?

This is the world of Avatar the Last Airbender, except instead of being set in an industrial-revolution-era earth-like Asiatic fantasy world, I have removed all those industrial-revolution-era earth-like aciatic fantasy bits, and have reinterpreted all the show’s characters, events, and locations into the far depths of

O U T E R S P A C E

Why would you do this?

I recently watched ATLA for the first time, and fell in love with the characters and the world, and wanted to do something special for it. However, the fandom is about a billion years old and a billion fans strong, so any fanart has likely already been done, and the show’s writing and plot are so solid that fanfiction could do more disservice than good, so I figured hey, I’m a huge sci-fi nerd, why don’t I just give it the ol’ Treasure Planet treatment?

This could be an awesome writing prompt for other people.

Why should I care?

Momo as a cute space alien

Azula in power armor

Learn cool science concepts such as ‘entomophagous’, ‘ekranoplan’, ‘tidal locking’, ‘V.A.S.I.M.R.’, and ‘Lagrange Points’

Ponder interesting tidbits about how a hard magic system could influence technological options among spacefaring nations

Sokka’s first girlfriend turned into a black hole.

Isn’t it supposed to be ‘Airbender’? Why ‘Voidbender’?

This is the only large change I had to make to the magic system. Airbender powers would be unable to embody the philosophies of freedom and fun in space. Voidbending takes its place; it relates less to a physical material, and more closely to the manipulation of gravity and spacetime, which fits better thematically and is necessary to the plot, as will be explained in the voidbender link.

Could you elaborate in excruciating detail?

Yes.

Can you draw [insert favorite character/scene/ship here] in this AU’s style?

Yes, I’ll draw whatever the heck. Name it.

Did you change the ‘spirits’ to make them aliens or something’?

Nah, I kept the spirits the same.

#Last Voidbender #Avatar The Last Airbender #masterpost #au #avatar #atla

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kuviras-eyeliner · 4 years

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Hey I literally just found your blog and you’re super cool!! If you’re still doing them, I’d love to do a matchup for ATLA and LOK please! I’m 5’7, a girl, and a little on the heavier side. I’m v dorky and do a lot of theater and singing. Also, I’m an ENFP, Sagittarius, gryffindor/hufflepuff (I always get 50/50). My friends always come first and I am always there for them. Sort of mom friend vibe I guess lol. I’m pretty jokey and am happy most of the time. I am also a theater actor person who also sings a lot. I do come off as intimidating at first (apparently) but honestly I’m just a big softie. Also I love food and cooking. Anyways, if you answer this I’d be so hyped, and thank you in advance. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next! ❤️✨

Aww, it’s people like you that I love to write for!! Thank you so much for requesting <33 I’m like 90 percent sure that we’re both amazing theater kids-- I’m an ENFP, theater kid, I cook and sing all the time, I’d literally love to be your friend!

I match thee with...

Sokka!

So, I don’t know about you, but I’m a serious fan of the headcanon that Sokka’s a theater kid-- and I honestly think you two would be the “best friend couple,” and you’d start off as friends but gain a closer bond. Sokka literally deserves someone who’s sweet and just as hyped as him, but isn’t exactly the same as him. A lot of people say that Sokka needs someone extroverted, loud, and jumpy as his significant other-- however, you've proven otherwise! Even though us theater kids may be quite chaotic, I think he deserves someone who’s energetic but gentle. I think especially considering that Sokka tends to joke around a lot, he definitely holds up the facade that he’s okay all the time, but you’re the first to tear it down. He’d probably open up to you more than anyone, and I can see both of you just screaming, “ALEXANDER HAMILTON, MY NAME IS ALEXANDER HAMILTON ANDTHERESAMILLIONTHINGSIHAVENTDONEBUTJUSTYOUWAIT” (yes, I am very much obviously relating to you right now-), and I can literally see just how sweet and awesome you are through this ask. I’m kind of impressed that you’re literally almost the exact same as me! I’m really glad that we’re both theater kids, and with Sokka, I bet he’d listen to you sing all the time. He’d probably even request you to dance in front of the entire Gaang and ask you to act out the entire first act of Dear Evan Hansen as one person. And don’t forget about the karaoke nights! I swear, you literally need to be in the show. I think Sokka might be annoyed with your singing at first, but the moment you break into an emotional number in a song for fun while singing alone, he just steps into the room, uninvited, and listens. (I literally love every musical ever, so I’m not exactly sure what you prefer but-).

I literally love this ask so much, thanks a bunch :D!!

Now, secondly, I pair you with...

Kai!

OUTSTANDING ART BY @nam-on on DeviantArt!

So I’m a huge fan of anyone who looks close to Leo Valdez or Lance McClain, and Kai was one of them, so here we are! But not only that, I think Kai would be such a good match for you because of, well, a lot of stuff. He’s not as extroverted as Bolin, but not as introverted as Mako, either. He has a gentle balance, and although he can be reckless, he still learns from his mistakes and learns how to move on from the past. I can also tell that Kai is one of the most loyal characters in the show towards Jinora, and as much as I do ship Kainora, I think that it’d be so amazing if you popped yourself into The Legend of Korra and BAM, OTP. I think that Kai would be able to see past the intimidating side of you and decide that you’re more than enough for him. Also, he also sees past every single one of your insecurities. He doesn’t care at all, how you look, because as long as you’re alive, happy, and well he’s satisfied. He loves that sparkle in your eyes whenever you break into a song, or how you hum whenever you’re doing a certain task. And not only does he listen, but I’ll also bet he engages. He’ll probably try to get closer to you, just even by one step, and try to ask you what that song is that you’re so in love with, so maybe he can learn it. I can imagine you two singing softly late in the night, and I’d also like to believe that Kai is actually quite a decent singer <3

I feel like I went overboard in this ask, but @katherinethedork you’re pretty amazing!

I hope I was able to satisfy whatever you needed. Your ask was so sweet that I had so much fun writing this one!! <3 Thank you for asking, I was smiling the entire time while imagining everything and writing this one out.

And also, thank you for asking! I really do put a lot of thought into these and take time to make it as thoughtful as possible, as well as comparing MBTI’s and different personality types and attributes. It’d mean the world to me if even just one tap, just a like would come from anyone :) You don’t even need to say thank you (because you guys are just that amazing).Yay!! <3 Thank you so much <hugs!>

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seyaryminamoto · 4 years

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hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen.

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him.

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments.

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again.

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow.

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko.

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said?

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

#anon #all this is about the ship itself #I have no qualm with the shippers except a select few #who exhibited some really gross behavior years ago #and whom I've happily not crossed paths with since then #I have no severe qualms with this ship's supporters #not like I do with OTHER ships #that won't be mentioned #so no I'm not saying no one should ship it #but I'm saying this is why I don't #*breeeathes*#anyways I hope you enjoy the veeeery long post anon

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wisdomsfromeast · 4 years

Text

Namaste 🙏

Welcome back guys! I was literally out for 2 months searching Fanfics which can compete my or replace my Azuko ship for the reasons I will tell you. Firstly some part of my morality and culture etiquette where I live in and traditions which are dear to me were heavily conflicting in my mind that should I support this Incest shipping or not. Some said should and other said shouldn't. The other one overwhelmed plus having a sibling elder sister made me more conflicted that how could I? it's so taboo? If I write one what my public image would be? So I stopped supporting Zucest uninstalled the app and started searching good Fanfics of Other shipping which can counter Azuko. I literally read 5 to 7 fanfics a day just to have Zuko or Azula have peace in their life with their partners and you know what I got unnatural hatred or bashing of either Sibs which made either of their life miserable which I hated the most. Zuko centric ones got Azula either dead or made her total maniac. Azula centric ones made Zuko's future miserable or nearly made him small as if he was weak and Idiot from birth and Ozai was right. So let's start with shippings with their fanfics which could have countered Azuko

Zutara

The most celebrated pairing will ever find in ATLA fandom. Every day you will find thousands of writers write for this pair in FF.NET . Even though I hated this pair so much because of three main reasons. First Mutual distrust from the beginning. Second Opposite mindset. Third Impatient Katara.

I gave in through I read one of the best ones My Heart Burns for you

Sometimes it's just only beginning

Around the Sun

Fall of the White Lotus

AU ones like The Undying Fire Series

The Palace etc.

All of these are literally lack the most important thing attraction through sight even though writers force it its still not appealing. The dangerous thing which writers miss is suspicion my lord even though they are friends and Zuko sacrifice everything for stubborn Katara she always suspects and can't even read him. Zutara whatever you call it. It's failed creation just to feel love life for Zuko.

Sokkla

Reverse Zutara really. Sokka has brains and can control strong girls like Toph and Mai but Azula is too much for him to bear I series he outright fear her. Only in The Day of The Black Sun episode had some courage because she didn't had her bending when she got back he screams literally screams. I read

Gladiator 107 chapters

Airship Down with its sequel

Retroactive

Smoke Demon Series of MadameAtomic Bomb

Opposite Elements AU

Gentlemen of Weapons AU

Dishonoured

These are the best ones but what found the worst is they are not at all commited to each other especially Sokka is shown so reluctant and Azula is as casual as Ty Lee which both of them aren't. Sokka either cheats or leads himself in love triangle which I hate the most because one of the life either gets destroyed or damage.

Maiko

The worst one for me I really feel sorry for Mai but she should have encourage herself to be with Zuko in his childhood days if Zuko could have spoke in War room out of turn she could have been with him in banishment. She could have shown the courage which she have show in Boiling Rock I liked that. Zuko could have known more If Mai led herself open up more. Zuko even left her this show only one side love or to say infatuation Zuko is so cold in Maiko which he isn't. Even though few writers really focus them like.

Miscalculation and Equivalent Exchange by Ablaster86 (I read them)

They are literally used as side couple for Tyzula or Kataang which doesn't show how their relationship can develop and become one. Either their Marriage fails or they breakup which hurts me the most.

Tyzula

Yes most popular even though why I don't know. No Offence to LGBT community neither in the show both of them are shown homosexuals Ty Lee is flirty with cute boys as she claims and Azula is bitchy and frustrated that how boys hover around Ty Lee not me even though she so beautiful as jewel but boys fear her. No signs of romantic feelings for each other rather Ty Lee is bullied by Azula every time as a servant to keep her under her feet. Dominant love relationships exists I like those but Azula and Ty Lee's relationship is like Lion and Cheetah. Once got a chance strike back and free yourself. Just because Korrasami was promoted by creators bring Tyzula in counter. Just because Zuko has Mai and boys fear Azula bring Ty Lee with her who is most terrified from her. Somehow I read some

Restraint and Aphelion it's sequel

Broken Dragon and Fireflight by Nikipinz

Both in them Ty Lee acts like a friend in need but again Ty Lee is OOC a girl who freed herself from a Psychotic girl may help her in future but not sacrifice herself for friend she hated inwardly.

Zukka

Really they are Bros and thanks to Zuko he got his trust from a guy called him in names Angry Jerkbender before.

Jetko

Seriously I don't get just pair Zuko with everyone. I read

Foxfire and The Viper lizard tales

I couldn't get it what those writers wrote. How could Jet tolerate Firebenders or Fire Nation citizens. It will require whole character arc for Jet to understand Fire Nation like Zhao to believe in balance and harmony amongst nations in Rufftoon's Water Tribe.

Jetzula

The Palace

Again you know it will so hard for Azula even redeem one to have a peasant as a partner for life same goes to Jet to accept a Firebender.

Zukkaang

To much 😧😧 Zuko and Aang are friends please for God's sake bring characters those are ingrained with same sex attraction. I can't stand this ship didn't even bother to read any of its fanfics.

Azutara

Enemies till last breath and one killed one's last hope. One lost by one in her day of coronation anytime each see one another either of one will die. This pairing can't be supported because each caused huge pain which can't be relieved they can be distant friends but can't lovers. Even though I read one

Measure Each Step to Infinity

This one made me sad of Aang and Katara is too much selfish which she isn't. She likes to be concubine of her former enemy but hates to like live with a man whom she had all hopes of world peace and gave her life to save him. This is impossible! Writer didn't gave good reasons sudden changes.

Toko

This is a very interesting pairing Toph knows Zuko very well and in future they can understand each other as couple but one flaw which only limits them just to be friends is that Toph is a freedom loving girl and Zuko is honour bound to traditions and destined to be a good Fire Lord.

Embers

Lava and it's sequel

Just a Girl I recommend this one

Toph made Zuko to come out of his turmoil and become a master I just didn't like Azula being killed that was extreme.

Jinko

I read Ashes to Ashes but Zuko and Jin again I must say infatuation from Jin side. Zuko is really dork.

Zuki

Lost cause what can I say just to counter Zucest these ships are being made

Lost and Found by Tubendo

Addicted to Love

First one writer didn't knew when to start where both start to like each other. Second is just nonsense a Lord of a Nation started having crush on a Guard who has a love in her life more stronger than other's attraction come on Zuko isn't that kind of guy.

Ty luko

"I know you" "You don't know me" Those are heavy words Ty Lee used for Zuko she knows his depression and messed up life give by his parents. Even though show doesn't show any direct interaction between them except "I know you" Zuko acts as a moral support for Ty Lee. Boiling Rock is another big example Zuko's freedom gave Ty Lee hope to be free.

I know you

Good Fanfic I recommend.

One remained (Azulaang) I will give my detail analysis of mine in a next post because I read 10 of them and it's huge and I am not satisfied.

After whole lot of reading, self introspection and guidance from which I believe Scriptures. I literally fought a battle inside me and tried to find out which will win and Honestly Zucest won seriously just because it was incest I dropped it by societal norms. I was writing a Fic but stopped because what people will say? Crazy, deranged? But I can't resist it's too hot for them to be siblings and not to be intimate other wise I find that if they really wished to repair their relationship stop their all hatred of all those years they need love which will break those barriers and too much love always brings eros. So what's the big deal.

The Fire Royals allow Females to be Fire Lords so how come line continues if Female becomes Firelord and marries a noble even a sage which are below the rank. Household norms in every medieval culture is patriarchal. Which means child first belongs to man and to his family which results child to be a noble and not royal from his mother's line and that child will become the Fire Lord from that line of Family and the Royal line will end. Could it be possible for Princesses of Fire Nation got married with nobles or aristocrats and not to loose their claims to the throne are the Fire Royals that stupid that this will end their line if their females get the throne. Inbreeding is persistent among royals only just keep their divine status

As Azula says "Power is something you are born with" will her child get that power if she marry noble which are below the rank. Big No

Wisdomsfromeast

Timeout !!!

#Welcome Back

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sailorshadzter · 4 years

Note

also 001 atla

ahhhh!! ty!!

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: it’s a toss up between zuko & katara, but i tend to lean towards zuko.

Least Favorite character: general zhao. fuck that guy.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): zutara. whatever ship name applies to sokka & suki. but really its just zutara.

Character I find most attractive: zuko DUH. but also katara.

Character I would marry: i mean if i had to choose... zuko

Character I would be best friends with: sokka.

a random thought: sokka works @ the tea shop zuko definitely runs during his time as fire lord.,

An unpopular opinion: aang & katara never would have really worked.

My Canon OTP: sokka & suki (except i wont lie i preferred yue)

My Non-canon OTP: ZUTARA

Most Badass Character: katara, zuko, and toph.

Most Epic Villain: it’s a kid show... there really isnt one LOL.

Pairing I am not a fan of: katara x aang, zuko x mai

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): this is one show that they did a good job w/ as far as characters individual stories. in fact, it has some of the best character growth of any show EVER soo... no, they did good with this.

Character I most identify with: katara, i suppose.

Character I wish I could be: ooh, i would say toph? i would love to be a little tougher but without losing the emotional part of me that i dont always let people see.

send me a fandom, ship, or character.

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setaripendragon · 6 years

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ATLA Soulmates AU - Zuko/Toph

Aaand here’s the last one I’ve got finished. I’ve got one more that’s basically done, but I’m not happy with it right now, so I’m still 50/50 on whether I’m actually going to post it or not. If anyone’s got any ideas for other ships they’d like to see, please send me an ask or whatever!

“This is so strange.”

Toph grits her teeth and strangles the urge to scream. She knows she’s just feeling panicky because she can’t see, but she also thinks that no one would like hearing their healer say something like that. “What is?” She demands, drumming her fingers against the floor to try and get some sense of where everything is. It’s not as easy as it is with her feet, but it’s the same principle, and really, she can see – for a give value of seeing – as long as some part of her is touching the ground.

Katara, kneeling behind her, sighs. “This doesn’t look like a normal burn scar at all. And trust me, I’ve seen more than a few.” She adds the latter bitterly.

“What?” That’s Sokka, and so Toph figures its him she can feel running around her to join Katara in staring at her feet. “Oh, wow, yeah, that’s weird. Is it… glittering?”

“Glittering?!” Toph yelps. “I don’t want glittery feet!”

“It’s not glittering.” Katara soothes her. “It just looks… Honestly? It looks like you dipped your feet in liquid gold.” She admits finally. Toph blinks unseeing eyes, trying to process that. She wiggles her toes, but nothing feels off, except for the fact that they feel burned.

“I don’t feel anything. Except, you know, pain.” Toph informs her, bewildered and trying very hard not to sound as scared as she feels. Because she has an idea – a scary idea – but it’s not possible, so she’s not even going to mention it.

“I bet Zuko did something weird.” Sokka mutters venomously, and they’re off again about what an awful person Zuko is and how no one can trust him. Toph already thought they were being idiots about it, even if she’s maybe feeling a little more cautious herself after this little scare, but now their complete assurance that he’s horrible makes her feel a little bit sick.

Because what if…?

No. No, it’s not possible. She knows that, because she knows that she doesn’t have a soulmate.

Right?

The thought plagues her, and she’s just glad that the others put her sullen withdrawn silence down to her injury and wounded pride. Then Combustion Man attacks, and Toph is absolutely going to punch Zuko for burning her feet, because being blind in the middle of a fight sucks. She clings to Sokka and does her best not to panic, not to be a hindrance to the others while they kick Combustion Man’s butt. She also feels a little bit like saying ‘I told you so’ when she hears Zuko’s voice, defending Aang. She doesn’t say it though, but only mostly because she’s worried her voice might come out squeaky with fear.

Then it’s over, and Zuko is apologising to her. It helps, even if she is still going to punch him for it. “Well, thanks for the apology.” She says, quickly, because she can hear Aang gearing up to say something himself, and she doesn’t want to wait. She’s got her hands on the ground, so she can see the way Zuko flinches at her words, at her belligerent tone, and almost feels bad. “But I have a question first, before I can get around to the forgiving you part.”

“Uh…” He sounds so honestly thrown by the implication that she’s going to forgive him, and it’s both amusing and weirdly gratifying. “Okay. I mean, of course?” He offers.

“The others say my feet look golden.” Toph informs him, and wow. That made Zuko’s heart leap into double-time. She can feel it through her fingertips, and she can hear the way his breath catches. She narrows her eyes at him. “Is that bad?” She asks warily.

“It- uh-” Zuko stammers. “May I-” He clears his throat. “May I see?” Toph shrugs and lifts her feet, swinging her legs up from dangling down the side of the rubble pile she’s sitting on to sticking straight out. “I- Oh.” Zuko says, quiet and baffled.

“You know why it’s done that?” Katara demands sharply. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Zuko protests quickly. “Not specifically, anyway. I- I bent fire at her, obviously, and- and that means my spirit was in the flames when they touched her.” He explains, and Toph feels her own breath catch at the implication that her theory was right.

“Wait just one minute-!” Katara exclaims abruptly, sounding massively offended.

Toph really doesn’t want to hear sugar-queen go off on a tear about how Fire Nation people shouldn’t have soulmates because they clearly have no souls or some other such bullshit, so she yells a sharp “Hey!” as she tugs her bracers off with sharp jerky movements.

“Toph?” Aang asks quietly.

Ignoring him, Toph thrusts her hand out in Sokka’s direction. “Tell me what’s written there, Sokka.” She demands sharply. She can feel the sudden attention of everyone, the sudden pity, and she hates it, hates them for a moment, and snaps out; “Tell me what it says!”

Sokka steps closer and clears his throat. “It says Zuko.” He confirms, and then – even though it’s a massive taboo to touch someone else’s soulmark – he reaches out and traces the characters that must be inked across her skin for her, so she can feel the name of her soulmate. “Son of Ursa and Ozai.”

“You didn’t know?” Katara asks softly.

Toph scowls at her. “My parents told me I didn’t have one.”

“They lied to you? About your soulmate?” Katara and Zuko demand as one, both of them sounding just as indignant and outraged as each other. Toph snickers, kind of wishing she could see the looks that must be on their faces right now.

“I’m pretty sure they would have recognised the name Ozai, if nothing else.” Sokka points out with a grimace. “I’m… honestly not that surprised that they might pretend Toph didn’t have a soulmate, rather than admit their daughter was the soulmate of Fire Nation royalty.”

There’s a pause. “I’ve probably been disowned by now, so…” Zuko points out.

Toph snorts. “Me too.” She agrees in a patently false cheerful tone.

Zuko snickers under his breath, and Toph grins, because, yeah, she can live with this. “So, hey, as my soulmate, you get the honour and privilege of carrying me around until my feet heal.” She informs him. “And don’t think I’m not going to kick your butt for it once they’re better.”

It’s hard to tell, without her feet, but she’s pretty sure Zuko is smiling. “Sounds fair.”

#Avatar The Last Airbender #ATLA #Zuko #Toph #soulmates AU #soulmate identifying marks #Zuko/Toph #Zuko x Toph #I was thinking I might do a version of this #but as an ot3 with Sokka as well #would anyone be interested?#no radical headcanons in this one #heh

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zukos-tsungi-horn · 5 years

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Souvenirs We Never Lose

Chapter 1: the moment passed me by (1 | to be continued) (Read on AO3 | FFN)

Summary: The past is never far. Zuko remembers what Katara said about the spirit water. Now there's a second scar to heal, and Katara's feelings are more complicated—but if he wants to erase the past, she's willing to give it a try. She owes him that much, and more. Zutara

Notes: First Zutara (and atla in general) fic! I saw @hanszimmr‘s post at like 1am one night and my brain demanded I write this immediately (post is a bit of a spoiler for this chapter though be warned if you click). A gazillion thanks to @lexosaurus for betaing this I legit can’t thank you enough, you’re amazing my dude! This fic takes place post-canon but is slightly au to the finale, but what ways it’s au will become clear in this chapter. In other notes, the title and chapter headings are from the song “Name” by the Goo Goo Dolls. Enjoy!

XXX

~Even though the moment passed me by, I still can’t turn away~

“Feeling nostalgic?” Katara grinned out the corner of her mouth, strolling up to the prow of the ship.

Zuko’s head twitched just enough to show that he’d heard, but he remained leaning against the railing, staring at the horizon as they cut through the frozen sea. Despite the no-longer-familiar cold that sunk into her bones as they travelled farther north, he looked as comfortable as ever – well, as comfortable as he could be in those bulky Fire Lord robes. She didn’t miss how he tugged at his collar when he thought no one was looking.

“No,” he replied without looking up from the water.

She gazed at the ocean too, following the waves as they rolled away from the ship’s metal sides in mesmerizing patterns. White foam mixed with the stormy cobalt water to create a palette of swirling blues. Mist sprayed up and tickled her face when she leaned closer, a comforting sensation that she hadn’t gotten while travelling on Appa.

“The last time I was here I almost died, remember?” He said, managing to make it sound like any ordinary fact. Koala sheep ate grass. Water froze when it got cold. Zuko almost died.

Phantom lightning flashed against the back of her eyelids when she squeezed them shut. The North Pole wasn’t the closest he’d come to dying. Not by a long shot. His hand hovered just below his chest over the hidden scar, as if he was recalling the same memory.

Well, soon he’d be able to forget a little more easily.

“You’ve almost died a lot of times. I wasn’t sure this one was that memorable.” She forced a joke, hoping to distract him from the melancholy he’d settled into. He’d been so quiet this entire trip… alright, he was the quietest of her friends anyway. But lately he’d had that scrunched look permanently plastered on his face. Normally that expression only surfaced when he was puzzling through something particularly difficult, like when he’d tried to get Aang to focus on learning firebending, or when they’d devised their plan to face Azula.

Maybe his mood wasn’t over anything that big this time. It could be because this was his first time out of the Fire Nation since his coronation four months ago. But with his uncle taking care of everything back home, she’d thought Zuko might be able to relax. Or, well, whatever the Zuko version of relaxing was, since he’d never quite known how to handle a break.

Not that this trip was a break, technically. They were meeting to discuss opening trade with the Northern Water Tribe, which might not be his idea of a fun vacation. But he’d complained enough about sleazy politicians trying to sway him back home that Katara thought he’d appreciate the blunt nature of the Northern Tribe.

Ignoring all of the official reasons for the trip, she knew at least one thing that he was looking forward to. Even though his suggestion had cut her inside, she would help. She owed him that much.

She owed him more than that. Even if he wanted to forget, she didn’t.

“I don’t think I could forget almost being crushed by the ocean spirit. Or nearly freezing. Or…”

He finally met her eyes, his lips tweaking into a smirk. She met it with a relieved grin of her own.

“Or what?” She snarked back, leaning against the railing too. After all, it wasn’t like she had anything to worry from falling overboard.

“Or you kicking my butt,” he admitted. Her face warmed.

“I hope you’re not expecting an apology. You were a real jerk back then.” The words came out before she thought them through. Spirits, he was her friend; even if she’d been feeling conflicted about the purpose of this trip, there was no reason to snap at him.

He winced and then shrugged. “I’ll give you that.”

Her stupid mouth—she could be as bad as Sokka sometimes. She’d come over to figure out what was wrong, not make him feel worse.

“You’ve changed so much since then,” she said.

Just on the horizon, the icy architecture of the North Pole caught her eye. The early winter sunset set the whole place aflame; the white snow of the buildings bled to ethereal reds, oranges, and pinks. She held in a gasp at the sight, but Zuko looked like he barely noticed.

“Everything’s changed,” he said quietly, his chin dropping to rest on his hands folded over the rail. “I just wonder if they’ll see that.”

“They will. You paid to have the whole tribe rebuilt! And technically it was the ocean spirit that wrecked it more than the Fire Nation. You’ve already gone above and beyond what you had to.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “It just… it feels like it still won’t be enough. My country spent one hundred years at war. Hurting innocent people. And now here I come, asking for a personal favor…”

His gloves stretched tightly over his knuckles as he gripped the rail.

“This was stupid. This whole idea was…”

She placed her hand over his.

“It was a good idea,” she insisted, despite her own personal, selfish objections. This wasn’t about her. It was his body, his scars, his choice what to do with them. “You had to come here for the delegation meeting anyway, and Yugoda will listen to me. I’m sure of it.”

Well, maybe sure wasn’t the right word, but she was confident. She’d done more impossible things before.

“I didn’t have to come.” He wiped his face with one hand. Steam puffed up as the frost melted from his glove. “I could’ve sent the ambassador.”

“Well, I’m glad you came anyway. I’d much rather be sailing for a week with one of my friends than with some stuffy old ambassador.”

He gave another shadow of a smile. Spirits, she’d missed those, though she hadn’t realized just how much until she finally saw him again.

“I’m glad I could convince you to come for a couple weeks. I couldn’t do this without you.”

It wasn’t flattery, and his matter-of-fact voice showed it. He really couldn’t do this without her. She was the only one Yugada would trust with the water from the Spirit Oasis.

She was the only one he would trust to erase the two blistering marks on his skin. One, seared there by his own father, he’d finally told her. And the other, the jagged star below his chest, from when he’d—when he’d—

After months of practice she could keep the memory from completely drowning her, but it still came in fragmented snapshots. The blinding blue flash. His terrified shout. The paralysis that froze her without a single spark touching her skin–

Because he’d been there to take it for her. She could have lost him forever, because she’d been stupid enough to look out from behind that pillar. Because he’d been… been everything enough to try to save her.

To almost die for her.

That had… put a lot of things into perspective.

But not quickly enough. Maybe if she’d sorted through those feelings before Mai had come back…

No, she wasn’t going down that path again. Zuko was happy, and alive, and that was all she wanted.

Without warning, she felt a hand shaking her shoulder. She looked up to find Zuko staring at her in wide-eyed concern. He was closer than she remembered; she shut down the sudden urge to touch the scar under his chest, just to make sure he was still okay.

“Katara? Can waterbenders get seasick?”

“I’m not seasick,” she grumbled, brushing him off in embarrassment. There was no way he could tell what she was thinking, but that didn’t stop her from feeling like his golden eyes would see straight through her.

And see what, exactly? We’re friends. Which was exactly why she needed to get those traitorous feelings under control. She wasn’t going to make things awkward, not like Aang had lately.

“Oh. Err, sorry.” He turned towards the water again, his face etched with that familiar Zuko flavor of awkwardness.

Well, at least he didn’t look despondent anymore.

“I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything too important. Well, I mean you’re travelling with Aang, and he’s the Avatar, I guess everything you’re doing is important…”

She snorted. “Are we remembering the same Aang? He’s probably off riding giant koi or something. Sokka’s visiting Suki in Kyoshi, but Toph’s sticking around for a little bit longer, so he won’t be by himself.”

Aang might wish he was after a week of just the two of them, though. She smiled at the thought of Toph teasing him, and of him shamelessly taking it until she got bored and gave up. Hopefully that would be the worst of it. Katara didn’t know what she’d do if she came back and found that the two of them had conned an entire village again.

“You’re not worried about him at all?” Zuko asked, sounding surprised.

“Should I be?” She frowned, pushing aside her earlier thoughts. She couldn’t watch over Aang and Toph forever. This “vacation” would be good for the three of them.

“No offense, but you’re the worrying type. And Toph and Aang by themselves…” He grimaced.

“Who’s the worried one now?” She laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, they’ll drive each other crazy. And probably destroy a few things. Maybe scam some people… Okay, so I might be worried. But you’re not the only one who needed to get away for awhile.”

“Really?” His eyebrow crinkled.

“Really!” She braced her arms against the railing. “I might not be running a country, but keeping track of those two is probably as much work.”

“I won’t argue with that. How are they doing?”

“They’re doing fine.” she said.

He must have noticed her undertone, because his eyes narrowed shrewdly.

“How are you doing?”

He’d asked the same thing at the start of the trip. But this time was different. The first time had been an awkward icebreaker—he’d reverted back to some of his original shyness in the four months since they’d last seen each other—but this question was sincere. Maybe this trip really could be like old times, when they’d learned to open up to each other more than she’d ever imagined.

Too late she realized that she’d relied on him more than she could ever admit.

“I’m…” Katara paused, letting out a mixture between a sigh and a laugh. She hadn’t been asked how she was in so long, she almost didn’t know what to say. The war was over; everyone just assumed she was happy—and she was, mostly. There was just something, something…

“I miss Sokka,” she found herself blurting. It wasn’t the main thing, the right thing, but it was what came out. And it was true. “I love Toph and Aang, I really do, but Sokka’s my brother. He’s always been there for me. I write him every week, but it’s not the same.”

“Oh,” he said a little awkwardly. Of course, he wouldn’t understand. His sister was literally insane. But for a brief second, she wondered if he’d ever missed his sister when he’d been in exile, despite how horrible she was to him.

“That must be rough,” he finally said. “I’m sure he’s missing you too.”

“Pff, I doubt it,” Her eyes fell back to the waves. “He’s having the time of his life designing machines and spending time with Suki. He tells me all about it in his letters.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t want you to worry about him?” Zuko suggested.

“Maybe.”

“Have you told him you miss him?”

“Well—no,” she admitted.

He shrugged. “Maybe he thinks you’re having too much fun without him, too.”

She hated to admit it, but he had a point. She was so used to staying strong for all of them, she tended to only write the fun things they did in her letters. Only allow Sokka to see that everything was okay.

“I could see that, I guess. He doesn’t know how much–” She bit her lip.

“What?” Zuko asked, catching her eyes again. She felt her face flush, and his brow furrowed.

“Are you really that embarrassed that you miss him? Sokka’s a good brother. I’d miss him if I were you too. I mean, I already miss him, and he’s not—”

She covered her laugh with her hand as Zuko’s rambling became less coherent. She hoped this didn’t happen to him too often, or else he’d have a hard time as Fire Lord.

“I’m not embarrassed about Sokka, I’m—okay, you have to promise not to laugh.”

“You’re worried about me laughing?” He raised an eyebrow before putting on his most serious face, one that made her laugh.

Okay, maybe she wouldn’t mind him laughing—only because she heard his laugh so rarely, and she couldn’t admit that she’d missed it.

“You know what I mean.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, ever since you and Sokka left, and it’s just been me and Aang and Toph… Aang’s been…”

She massaged her forehead, wishing she didn’t have to say it out loud. Even more than missing Sokka, this was what had really been bothering her. She’d never spoken of it aloud, even though Toph had clearly guessed by now.

“Aang’s been what?” He asked, and for all his talk of her being a worrier, concern laced his voice. Her face burned; did he really have no idea? Even though it had gotten worse recently, Aang had never exactly been subtle.

“He still… he has this…” She gestured her arms widely, uselessly through the air. He stared at her, his head tilting slightly. Spirits, she was just going to have to say it, wasn’t she?

“He’s had a massive crush on me for who knows how long and it’s just getting really really awkward.” It all came out in one breath. His good eye widened, but before he could comment, she continued, “Somebody put it into his head that because he’s the Avatar and he beat the Fire Lord, he can have any girl he wants. As if that’s how love works! I swear, whatever idiot gave him that idea must never have spoken to a girl in his life!”

Her voice was rising, grating as harshly as the steel against the ice the ship began to cut through. She was drawing stares from the crewmen on deck, but she almost couldn’t bring herself to care. She was tempted to just glare back at them, as if asking, was it you? Were you the idiot who told him that?

“I told him I was confused before the comet, but I was just trying to let him down gently, since he had enough to deal with getting ready to fight Ozai.” She dropped her voice but kept rambling, wanting to get it all out while she could. “I should’ve just told him no then, then I wouldn’t be—I thought his crush would just go away if I ignored it long enough, but I—I just don’t want…”

There were too many thoughts, too many feelings, trapped in her head for too long. They couldn’t all come out at once. It wasn’t like her; normally even when she was angry, her words came out in a steady stream of righteous indignation. But it was too hard to stay angry at Aang. Maybe she wasn’t confused about how she felt about Aang, but she was confused about what to do about it.

“I don’t want to hurt him,” she finally muttered, still not daring to meet Zuko’s eyes. “But if he keeps trying to woo me, or whatever he thinks he’s doing, I’m going to have to. I think it’s the only way he’ll listen.”

She finally looked back to Zuko, wondering what he was thinking. It had been a while since she’d dumped a rant like this on him, though it certainly wasn’t the first time. He’d listened to her vent a number of times on Ember Island, on the nights he’d follow her into the kitchen to find her scrubbing dishes so hard they almost shattered. She hadn’t taken that for granted, but after all these months without him, she wished she’d thanked him for that more.

His expression wasn’t anything like the calm commiseration he had back then, though. He blinked at her like she’d been speaking a different language this entire time.

“Wait.” Zuko shook his head quickly. “So you don’t like Aang… like that?”

“What? Were you even listening? No I don’t like him like that!” She didn’t mean to snap, but she couldn’t believe he would think she’d actually… Well, at least it meant he hadn’t guessed her true feelings.

“Of course I’ll always love him, but like, as another brother. Anything else would just be weird, especially the way he’s being now.” She crossed her arms, as if they could keep the rekindled frustration from fuming out of her like a hot geyser. “Not that it stops him from trying. Or Toph from teasing me about it. I’m sure she’s just doing it since you and Sokka aren’t around anymore to joke with her, but it’s still the worst.”

“Sorry,” he said instinctively, his gaze dodging hers. His hand hovered just below his chest again.

“It’s not your fault.” She felt a little bad for dumping that all on him. He had more important things to worry about than Aang’s crush. Considering where his hand was brushing, his scar might even be hurting him again. Her heart twinged, but there was nothing she could do for it now.

Soon, though. She was the reason he bore that scar; it was only fitting that she helped him be free of it. That was what he wanted.

“It’s not like you could’ve stayed, anyway,” she added. Hopefully none of her regret over that—or over anything else—bled through.

“...Yeah.” He frowned. “I guess not. Anyway, even if it’s not my fault, I’m sorry. That sucks.”

Well, that was one way of putting it. For as calm as his voice stayed, she caught the flicker of fire in his amber eye. But before she could wonder what it meant, he turned back towards the interior of the ship.

“Sorry, Katara. Just feeling kind of—seasick. I’ll find you when we dock, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” She breathed as he strode away, the cape of his Fire Lord outfit billowing out behind him.

The wind felt colder without him standing next to her.

XXX

The candles in Zuko’s room erupted, threatening to ignite the ridiculous fancy drapes the crew had insisted on hanging in the otherwise bleak cabin. He bit back his anger before any lasting damage could be done, but an acrid stench still lingered. His nostrils flared as he paced the cabin, trying to control his breathing. The candles flickered in time before settling back down. His own emotions weren’t so easily tamed.

Aang had lied to him. Aang, the Avatar—no, his friend—had lied to him.

His bedroom door had creaked open.

“Zuko? Can I ask you something?” The normally cheery voice was subdued, but Zuko didn’t process that yet. He was too busy wondering if this night could get any worse. Why couldn’t they just let him sleep this whole humiliating experience off?

“Nngh. I’m trying to sleep, Aang.” He rolled over, flipping the pillow over his head.

“Yeah, but…” Aang trailed off. Still standing in the doorway, a flickering fireball in his palm casting shadows across the room. He obviously wasn’t going to be swayed easily. Maybe answering his question would take less effort than sending him back to bed.

“Fine, I’m awake now anyway,” Zuko grumbled, but didn’t sit up. “What do you want?”

Despite the gruffness of his voice, Aang took the invitation to sit on the edge of his bed. Nngh, that light was so bright…

“It’s about the play,” Aang said quickly. His voice was way too urgent for the middle of the night, especially if it was just about that horrible excuse for a play.

“Forget it,” he said, eyes still shut. “It’s all fake anyway.”

It was an echo of Katara’s earlier reassurances, the ones she’d given to the whole group as they’d eaten a subdued dinner. But really, if Katara hadn’t been able to comfort him before, what made Aang think Zuko could?

“But was it all fake? Really?”

With a long-suffering sigh, Zuko finally caved and sat up, wiping crust out of his good eye.

“Why are you asking me this now?”

Aang just stared at him, his face almost ominous with the flickering light held under his chin.

“What happened in the tunnels under Ba Sing Se?”

Zuko blinked. Out of all the questions Aang could’ve asked, he picked that? This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having in the middle of the night. Or ever.

It’s none of your business, he wanted to say. He’d done a lot of stupid things that day, but that moment… he couldn’t bring himself to regret letting her in, as much as he regretted everything after that. She was the first person he’d allowed to touch his scar. He couldn’t help remembering how cold her fingers had felt. But soft too – like ice water. Fitting.

And her offer. For all that the stupid play had made fun of her for it, Katara did know how to share hope. The idea of the magic spirit water still lingered in the back of his mind. He didn’t know how to bring it up again without saying, “Hey, Katara, remember that time in Ba Sing Se when you tried to help me and I totally stabbed you in the back?” Even though she’d forgiven him, he couldn’t see that going well.

“Something did happen,” Aang muttered darkly, reading the wrong meaning into his distracted silence.

“It was nothing,” the lie was dry in the back of his throat. It wasn’t nothing, not to him, but it definitely wasn’t what the play had made it out to be. As if Katara would ever see him like that.

That thought pricked at something in his core, but he chose to ignore it. Nothing good would come from it, anyway.

“Look, Aang,” he said when the younger boy kept glaring. “What do you think happened? I was working with Azula. You know Katara didn’t want anything to do with me. Agni, I fought you guys right after that!”

But he realized he was addressing the wrong problem. “Why does it matter anyway?”

He had a sinking feeling he already knew the answer. There was only one reason the boy would wake him up in the middle of the night for this.

“Katara’s my girl,” he said, the fire in his palm leaping up. “And she said she’s confused right now. I just wanted to make sure you’re not the one confusing her.”

Katara? Confused? But she was more sure of herself than anyone Zuko knew.

“Look, if anyone’s confused here, it’s me,” he snapped, rubbing the heel of his palm against his forehead. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were threatening me. In my own room. While I’m trying to sleep.”

Aang had the decency to look a little abashed. Good. If things weren’t going well between him and Katara, it wasn’t Zuko’s fault. As much as he sometimes wished it could be.

He immediately shut down that thought. Agni, this is why you didn’t have conversations like this in the middle of the night!

“Can I go back to bed now? Or is there something else you want to accuse me of?”

He probably shouldn’t have released his frustration at Aang, but it worked.

“Just… be sure to give her some space, okay?” Aang said, sounding a little more like his usual self before he slunk back towards the door.

“Whatever,” he mumbled before flopping back on the bed.

So this day could get worse after all.

Aang had lied. The play had been accurate in one respect, at least—Katara did see Aang as a brother. Zuko snorted. That would’ve been nice to know months ago, when…

When what? When he’d actually had a chance? He was kidding himself. He’d almost let himself go down that path right after the Agni Kai, when she’d brought him back from the brink of death. Those memories were little more than a blur. The only clear image he had from that time was her face hovering inches above his, her eyes glittering with tears, her lips parted in an endlessly repeated prayer.

“Stay with me. Zuko please, stay with me…”

And that was probably just a wishful fever dream, anyway. Even if she hadn’t been with Aang—if he’d known she wasn’t with Aang—he couldn’t have told her how he felt then. What if she thought it was just trauma-induced delirium? Or worse, what if she said she liked him too, but only because she felt that she owed him for taking Azula’s lightning bolt? That wouldn’t be fair to her at all.

That was months ago though. Now you could.

The candles flickered again as he shut out that voice in the back of his head. It was hardly like he could ask her out when she’d just complained about Aang’s unwelcome advances. That would be insulting. Besides, he was with Mai again. For however long it would last this time…

He scratched at the scar on his chest through his robes. He wasn’t sure when scratching at the scar had become a habit. Maybe if it hadn’t, he wouldn’t be in this mess now.

But he had to wonder how long Mai silently narrowed her eyes at that simple action before she’d spoken up about it.

“It’s a scar, Mai. It’s not like I can get rid of it,” he grumbled, self consciously drawing his hand away from the one over his abdomen and brushing the one at his face. “Believe me, if I could I would, but I... passed up that opportunity.”

Her eyes widened for a moment with unusual interest. “But it’s possible.”

He turned so his scarred side was hidden from her. “Maybe. I don’t know. I didn’t exactly give her the chance to try…” Which was a good thing, he had to remind himself. She’d needed the spirit water to save Aang. Would he have been able to live with an unblemished face if it had meant the world burned?

Mai snorted.

“What? There wasn’t time! That was when—”

“Seriously, Zuko. I didn’t ask for your excuses.”

He felt his old temper flaring up. “You never ask me about anything! Do you really not want to know what happened at all?”

“Why does it matter?” She asked flatly.

“Because—” He stopped himself. How could he explain it? He knew in his heart that it did matter, that everything he’d been through had forged him into the person he was today. But he couldn’t figure out how to put it into words. Not now. And he really didn’t want to fight again. He was so tired of fighting.

“Nevermind,” he muttered. “Point is, my scars are just a part of me now. You’ll just have to get used to them.”

“Hmm. If you say so.”

But when she pulled him close to kiss him, he couldn’t help noticing her hands never danced near the scar in his core.

After that, he hadn’t been able to ignore it. She glared every time he drew inward, holding a fist over his middle. But the more he tried to hide it, the more his habit seemed to grow, as if he needed to protect that most vulnerable spot.

“Does it hurt?” Mai finally asked.

His eyes had widened in surprise at the concern. “Not anymore. She did a fantastic job.”

He knew that was the wrong answer when her lip curled.

“Then why are you always touching it and making that face?”

“What face? I don’t make a face!” For a second he hoped she was going to mimic whatever face she’d made, just to show him. But of course she wouldn’t break her mask for that.

“Whatever. I’m going on a walk.”

“You don’t go on walks.” His brow furrowed. He really didn’t know what she was talking about. Did he make a face?

“And you don’t make faces.” She shrugged, heading towards the edge of the courtyard before he could stop her. But she paused at the edge of the columns.

“Her name.”

“What?” His heart skipped.

“You don’t say it. You assume I know who you’re talking about.” It seemed clear that Mai had been thinking about this, but he didn’t understand why. But her question was something he could grasp onto. Maybe for once, he could find out what she was thinking. That was, If she didn’t walk away first.

He stood and reached out, but couldn’t bring his feet to move towards her. “What—”

“I do know who you’re talking about, Zuko. But if there’s any girl who’s name should go without saying, it’s your girlfriend’s. Right?”

“...Right,” he replied, a chill running through him at her sharp gaze. Don’t ever break up with me again, she’d said. This look seemed to say the same thing. He was supposed to belong to her.

The scar he scratched over his middle said he belonged to someone else. And suddenly it all made sense.

He was making that face. Mai had been right. He couldn’t keep going on like this.

Three sharp knocks on his door pulled him out of the thoughts. His hand shot away from his scar as if Azula’s lightning still buzzed there.

He cleared his throat. “Come in.”

The crewman cracked the door but didn’t take his invitation. “Ship’s about to land, my Lord.”

Zuko sighed. “Thanks.”

“Uhh, you’re welcome,” he replied before striding away. The crew was still getting used to Zuko showing them basic human decency. He didn’t even want to think about how they’d been treated under his father and Azula, not to mention his own past self.

Agni knew he had plenty to think about already.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #katara #zutara #fic tag #fic rec #tali writes #let's pray the read more link works #souvenirs we never lose

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