#can you tell how i spent the most time on katara and the least on sokka

[umossu]

My sister helped me colour this when I got lazy (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)✧*｡⁠◕

[quillthrillswriting]

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

︵‿presenting...quill's kataang week!‿︵

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵day two: protectiveness/ bodyguard︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

︵‿︵︵︵‿︵︵‿‿hosted by @kataang-week︵‿︵︵︵‿︵︵‿‿

summary:

stuck in her tower for all eighteen years of her life, katara had come to peace with her own lonely, repetitive existence, her only company being her mother, hama. at least, she *was* at peace, until a certain airbending thief happened along her tower, caught her eye, and forever shifted the path of her destiny. OR: kataangled. and yes, i came up with that brilliant wordplay all on my own.

:D the following are excerpts from "all at once, everything is different, now that i see you":

In all of her eighteen years of gazing out into the same meadow, the same night sky, Katara had never quite managed to piece together why every year, on her birthday, the night sky came alight with glowing lanterns in hues of soft silver and blue. As much as it tugged at her, she didn’t mind the element of mystery too much. After all, a girl who grows up never leaving the confines of her tower is a girl used to looking out into a world of mysteries. Katang spent her days pouring over old scrolls, gleaning bits and pieces about the world from what she could see through her window.

To be entirely honest, it wasn’t all that much. A modest meadow, a bubbling brook, the occasional frog-squirrel or cat deer. Still, it was more than enough for her to feel utterly enchanted by. Each and every time that an animal walked by, Katara would imagine how it would feel to be one of those wild things, chained to nothing, bound by your own will. 

Katara certainly wasn’t.

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

Aang made quick work of the tower walls, the uneven brick providing natural foot and handholds as he scaled the rough, mossy stone. When he finally reached the summit of the spire, he heaved himself over, his breath rough as he dusted off his palms. He tugged off his thin overshift, revealing his one-shouldered monk’s robes as he did. Aang scratched his neck absentmindedly as he took in his surroundings. He was surprised to see that the tower was furnished, lived-in, even. He recognized waterbending forms painted on most of the walls. There were even lit candles softly flickering away in various nooks and crannies, casting warm light over the room.

Wait. Alarm bells rang in Aang’s mind, urging him to further examine the situation he had found himself in.

  If the tower is abandoned, then who lit the-

The next sound he heard was a deafening thunk as a thin sword buried itself in the wall next to his head, leaving a deep cut along the shell of his ear. 

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

She wanted a reason to snap back, to make some snide comment, but Aang’s eyes were so open, his expression so… trustable that she simply couldn’t stomach it. 

Katara knew that should’ve been telling him to leave. She should’ve asked him to apologise, to be on his way. In all her years of solitude, she’d never dreaded being alone, but something about Aang leaving and her never being able to see him again sent a pang of something like homesickness straight through her. 

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

“I see that you need time to process all of this.” Aang stood, his eyes shining with sympathy that only made Katara feel more guilty over how heartbroken Mother Hama would be were she to find out about her new doubts. “I’m happy to give that to you.” She trailed like a ghost behind him as he strode to the window, tugging a wooden glider from his back before standing atop the edge of the terrace, grinning at her softly as she clung shyly to the carvings of the doorway. “And I understand that you don’t know me, that you have no real reason to believe me.”

He turned to the side, saluting her teasingly. “So I’ll be back, same time tomorrow, so that we can get to know one another a bit better.”

“Aang!” She shouted, rushing to the edge of the terrace as he snapped open his glider, plunging downwards. “No, you will not .”

“I can’t hear you! But I totally agree! I’m looking forward to it as well!” His whoops echoed through the field as he did a couple loop-de-loops. 

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

Aang stepped through her window, right on schedule, with an injury he claimed he had gotten while sparring, Katara’s only response was the word “Again?” 

“Hey, If being injured is what it takes for you to let me stay even a few minutes longer, I’ll take it.” Aang grinned, shrugging as he tugged up the end of his top to reveal the bruises patterning his ribs. Katara did her best to focus on the injury itself, and not the muscle rippling over Aang’s side, as she settled into the stool next to him, leaning over to run her hands over the purple-and-blue skin. “I like your company.”

I like you. The response materialised in Katara’s mind before she could suppress it, and the longer it sat there, the more right it felt. I like you.

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

“So, what else does a thief carry with him in his bag?” Katara had been strangely curious about what Aang considered precious enough to carry around with him in his satchel, but after fishing through playing cards and a set of spinning marbles he’d been very proud of, her interest was considerably less piqued.

“Oh, I don’t think I ever got a chance to explain what I took to end up in your tower.” Aang fished around until he tugged out a velvet box, passing it over to her with both hands. He continued on, talking about the castle security and his plans to pawn the necklace to feed and house children displaced by the ongoing conflict with the Fire Nation, but his words faded away as Katara opened the box.

I know you.

There, nestled in silk, was a pale blue pendant on a deep blue velvet ribbon. Just looking at it for a moment was enough for her to feel entirely off balance. Vague memories hit her, one after the other, of looking up at a ceiling of moon symbols carved in diamond, a hanging mobile of seals and icebergs. The ornate arches of a castle, the corridors and gardens of a grand estate. 

I know you.

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

The world tilted, and suddenly, neither Katara’s will, nor her body, were her own.

︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵‿︵︵

♥ feel free to check out the entirety of this fic & my ao3 here! ->

to see the rest of the kataang week submissions from the other extremely talented and lovely members of this community, head over to @kataang-week :)<3 thank u so much to the wonderful mods for making all of this possible!

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara - Part 55

First / Previous / Next / Masterpost

Zuko sat across from his old mentor, unsure how to start. He watched the older man sip his tea for a moment.

"When you first came to train with me," Piandao said, breaking the silence, "you were a young, unsure boy, desperate to emerge from the shadow you were under. When you left, you were older and just as shrouded in doubt, but with a new determination. Now, I still see that determination, but you are still uncertain of your role."

"I don't think I'm ready to become Fire Lord," Zuko confessed. "I feel like the Day of Black Sun is our only chance to end the war, but I don't know if I can lead them. We spent months planning the invasion in Ba Sing Se, but each military outpost we gather intel from makes me worry we can't win. If I'm meant to be a leader in the invasion, and then lead Fire Nation after that, how can anyone trust my judgement when I don't even trust myself."

Getting up from his spot, Piandao moved to look out the floor to ceiling window. "Self-doubt has always been your greatest weakness. Despite that, you managed to put it aside when you wielded a blade." He smiled, looking at Zuko from the corner of his eye. "Two, in fact. And I think you can learn to do the same as a leader."

"But how? I only learned to use my swords by studying under a master, under you, and there's no one that can teach me how to lead a nation."

"From what I hear, you've met many leaders in your travels. Chiefs of the Water Tribes, the Earth King. And you spent a significant amount of time around at least two of them. Tell me about how they led their people."

Frowning, Zuko thought back. "The Earth King was... distant. He let his advisors make most of the decisions for him. Chief Arnook worked with a council, who worked together to advise him. Chief Hakoda listened to all the people of his tribe, and used the needs of the people to make his decisions."

"And of the three, who would you trust to teach you leadership?"

He blinked. "I spent a lot of time with Chief Hakoda... He confessed to me, before he took the men to join the war, that he had his own doubts. Weather it was the right decision to leave so soon after Katara's return, or to leave just before Sokka could join them. He didn't know if he was doing the right thing for his family, but had to trust it was the right thing for his people. Even when things were at their darkest, he didn't let his personal feelings push his decisions. He thought about his people first."

"Then perhaps you have already found a mentor to teach you." Piandao sat across from him. "Surround yourself with those you trust, seek guidance whenever you can. As Fire Lord, you become an extension of the nation, of the people, and must act accordingly. Just as Hokoda has done."

Thinking for a moment, Zuko ducked his head. "I think I understand. Thank you, Master Piandao."

Getting up from his seat, Zuko gave his old mentor a bow. He had a lot to think about now.

First / Previous / Next / Masterpost

[aangarchy]

Do you know of any metas that disprove the argument of aang being a bad father? :/

I haven't seen any metas but i personally found the argument for Aang being a bad father weak at best

Aang wasn't a perfect father, that much is clear. But imo no Avatar can ever be a perfect parent (no one can be a perfect parent but i digress). The Avatar has a responsibility to the world. There are times where the Avatar isn't allowed to be selfish. For example, think of when Aang had to let go of Katara in order to access the Avatar State. How would Katara feel if he ever told her that this is necessary for him to activate it every time? I'm sure she wouldn't be fond of the idea.

The only thing we have to go on when it comes to Aang and Katara's parenting, is episodes 3 and 4 of Tlok book 2 (at least that i know of). Tenzin tries to recall his childhood memories that he thinks Kya and Bumi were a part of but turns out, they weren't. We don't know the reason for this, and we don't find out. I'm assuming these trips were perhaps intended as "airnomad lessons" or something like that, and that would be a reason for the other siblings to not be present. We do have to remember that Aang has a nation to rebuild. He's the only one in the world that was physically present during the time of the airnomads, and he only has so much time between his Avatar duties. He's the only one that can authentically pass on the customs. That's probably why these trips felt so frequent to Bumi and Kya, the few times Aang was present he was off with Tenzin for airnomad teachings. (Again this is my assumption. The writers never gave us a reason for the other siblings being absent or for the trips to even have occurred.)

(Personally i do feel like this is affected by bad writing. Why on earth would Kya and Bumi not also be considered part of the airnomads, as well as the watertribe? Why would they not learn everything there is to know about their heritage, even though they don't master the element? Instead bryke made Kya a mini Katara, Tenzin a mini Aang and Bumi just kind of floats lost in the middle, and is clearly supposed to be a mini Sokka. It's a very poor example of a mixed family.)

Kya and Bumi's version of the events are obviously going to be biased. They felt like their father was never there, and they're very angry with him for being absent (who wouldn't be). Tenzin's view is also biased, he was the youngest and spent the most time with Aang. It surprises me that throughout this episode, they never once mention what Katara was like as a mother. All of their anger is aimed at Aang (easy target, the mf is dead already) but Katara is also responsible here as the other parent. What were discussions like? Did the kids ever tell Katara how they felt? She was still married to Aang it's not like they had separated and started co parenting. They were a team. Did Katara spend a lot more time with Kya to teach her about the watertribe? Did she take Kya on girltrips? What was Bumi doing during all of this?

At the end of these episodes, when the siblings reconcile, Kya shows them a family photo. They all look back on it fondly. If Aang was truly such a horrible father (or even abusive like some people have claimed bc why not throw every term around) they would not look at this picture like that. They like their family, as flawed as it is. They clearly have good memories too, but because these particular episodes are about how parents aren't perfect (the conflict between Ikki and her siblings mimics that of the one Tenzin has with his) those memories aren't talked about.

Anyway to summarize this into a point: i don't think Aang was a bad or abusive father. I think he was unfortunately an pretty absent father as a byproduct of being the Avatar, and that he committed the ultimate parent sin: picking a favorite. I wonder what type of parent Roku was, or any past Avatars that had children.

[turtle-sister-april]

Well I’ve finally binged all of the new avatar the last airbender live action Netflix show and I got to admit it was pretty good. Was it spectacular? No but it was better than that disgrace of a movie, but let’s be honest watching paint dry is better than watching that horrible movie. Below are my opinions on it and spoilers, so don’t click keep reading unless you have already seen it or you’re fine with being spoiled.

Now of course it had its good and its bad moments such as while it was rushed there was so much filler in the first book of the cartoon that it makes sense they would want to get rid of it. But how they decided to combine many of the stories so they could cut out the filler and keep the plot was a smart move in my opinion.

Of course that also came with it's draw backs such as they never explained the story of Katara's necklace and its significance. This took away from when June hunted them using the necklace to instead June hunted down Aang using Zuko's scent from the book Aang took from him. It also took away from when Katara fought master Pakku. Originally Katara fought him because she was not going to apologize for disrespecting him all because of a sexist rule in the northern water tribe. Pakku stopped the fight because he didn't think her worthy of his time but when he saw the necklace that he originally carved for gran gran he then agreed to train her and they changed that dumb rule. In this new one she just fought him so he could see how skilled she was and the rule would be changed so she could be trained.

There were many other story lines that were changed obviously but I'm not going to go too in detail there otherwise this would become too long. But the other main thing I think that they should have learned from the original show was the important rule of show don't tell. A great deal of the live action remake spent time talking about stuff such as why Aang didn't want to be the avatar, when originally Aang's struggles were summed up so nicely in one solemn look and 2 lines.

As for how they did with the characters, for the most part if the character didn't look the part they at least acted the part fairly well. Uncle Iroh was done beautifully. Everything about him was chosen so perfectly that it was practically its own work of art, but on the opposite end the writers did a horrible injustice to King Bumi. His character was supposed to be that piece of Aang's past that never changed, only got wiser as he got older. But in the live action they tried to give some logic to him by saying he blamed Aang for the state of the world and for just up and disappearing like he did, when King Bumi's logic is supposed to make as much sense as the mad genius himself. And I don't care how rude this sounds to the writers but they should be ashamed of what they did to King Bumi.

But aside from what they did to King Bumi and a few other small annoyances I personally have, over all for how they did the show I believe they did a fairly decent job story wise and with the digital effects they did stunning work which I must absolutely applaud them for.

Thank you to anyone who read this whole thing and for doing so here is a link to an adorable picture I found of Raph and Mayhem.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go practice using my ninpo/mystic powers. I want to go see if I can figure out how to use it like fire bending.

[ninacytosis]

For the time lost

Summary: Zuko wants to erase every reminder of his past mistakes, and Katara will take him on a journey to, quite literally, heal both of their scarrings.

Contains: Angst, Fluff, Katara has burns scars from Aang's first attempts to firebend, Katara tries to get over her resentment towards the FN, Zuko doesn't hate Azula.

Dear reader: I hope you enjoy it! <3 Let me know if you want me to continue posting

Find chapter one here and chapter three here.

┊┊┊┊☆┊*🌙*┊☆┊┊┊┊

Chapter Two

Katara thought about her students while folding clothes. A decent amount of people decided to move to the Southern Water Tribe after the war ended, and she knew a lot of families took this as a chance to start over. For now, she was in charge of nurturing the minds of the young benders that arrived. Even though she loved this new job, it was time for her to take a break.

“Hey, what’s with the sunglasses?” her dad asked, taking them off the nightstand and putting them on. “I know it’s summer but we’re still in the South Pole, kid”

Katara smiled. “I’m just packing them for tomorrow”.

His dad offered to help her, but she was almost done when he arrived, so she thought of two plans for her trip instead. Plan A, she would eat at the first rotisserie that appeared on her way to Zuko’s fancy royal mansion/palace/casa. Then, she would go to his house and even though she insisted on staying in a hotel nearby, she would eventually agree to stay. She would get a Fire Nation royalty-style spa day, Zuko’s treat (it’s important to clarify that, at least half of this plan was stolen on Toph’s visits to the Fire Nation. Though it is quite obvious). After all of that, she would ask him (preferably during a beach day) why he is visiting the North Tribe so much. And right before leaving, she would spend a day at Iroh’s shop.

However, it seemed like she had to go with plan B. Sure, it wasn’t a bad plan B, but it definitely involved fewer massages and face masks than the original, and Katara was just a girl who wanted a little self-care. Can anyone blame her?

“I like what you’ve done to the place” Katara stared at the wooden panels on the wall. She was too shy to confess her feelings about fire hazards, she didn’t even know if it was offensive for him.

“I tried to make it a bit retro, you know?” Iroh explained. “Everything is changing so fast, I’m afraid the world forgets its roots. But I guess that’s not a big preoccupation for younger folks”.

The words of Iroh resonated in her head on most occasions, especially since she was aware that he was Azulon’s firstborn. Even if he had spent more than a decade fixing his past actions, it was still weird for her to share the same table as a guy he had resented from the moment she gained consciousness. It’s hard to get used to this new era, and it’s probably the reason she barely went to the Fire Nation, even if it meant fewer hangouts with Zuko. In the last months, Aang helped her a lot to channel her antipathy into different, less draining emotions. Today’s emotion is: curiosity.

“I think I know why you are here, Katara” he offered her a cup.

“Well, we both needed a vacation”, she said. ”Zuko’s told me how busy these last weeks have been for him… plus I missed swimming without the risk of dying of hypothermia”.

“Then you’re certainly going to love the beaches down on Chaisee’s island” Iroh gave her a warm laugh. “Oh, the times I had there when I was your age!”

Katara took a sip on the cup and smiled.

“But be careful, Zuko’s skin might be sensitive after last week”, Katara cautiously nodded, “as a water bender yourself, you know how the healing procedures work”.

Healing procedures? Katara nodded again. Could Iroh tell she was nervous?

“Yeah…. I totally forgot. It’s such a sensitive procedure!” she said, having no idea about this healing thing. “And I wouldn’t want to hurt a Fire Lord, they have a history of heated arguments don’t they?” Apparently, it was impossible for Katara to shut her mouth. “Anyways, promise I won’t interfere in the treatment. Don’t know how I forgot, Zuko told me all about it on my way here… I mean, on a letter of course. He wasn’t on the ship. I guess you know that” shut up shut up shut up.

Iroh widened his eyes and made a frown that immediately told Katara that her attempts to sound unbothered and casual failed, as usual.

“Did I say something I shouldn’t?” Iroh covered his mouth his hand.

Katara tried to comfort him. “Well, he technically told me about his trips to the North Tribe, so it was a matter of time until I figured out what was going on”, honestly, she never even considered the idea of him wanting to get rid of his scar. He hadn't mentioned since he was sixteen. “I have a few questions now, though”

“Maybe you should ask him directly, I’m sure you’re going to notice the change once he arrives. A healing process is slow, and you know Zuko: he wants everything fast”, Iroh sighed, “but in his last letter he told me that this healing session was quite intense”.

He poured the water into two cups.

“The thing is,” he cleared his voice, “Zuko doesn’t understand that there are some parts of a wound that can only be healed by him.”

[juniperhillpatient]

The Awakening

It was interesting to re-watch this episode because I remember being annoyed with Aang a lot during Book 3 the first time I watched this show & because the comics/parts of fandom / more thinking about it have increased my dislike for the Katara/Aang romance, I expected to be angrier at Aang. But, I actually feel like thinking about it more made me less mad at Aang for running off & behaving the way he does than the first time I watched.

I still don't think it's fair to send Katara away when she's trying desperately to help, but I get why he does it. Aang has spent the entire series learning to accept his destiny as the Avatar & a huge part of that is being a symbol of HOPE for the world. Learning that he has to be a secret now? That the world thinks that he's gone & that he failed? I can see how that would lead someone to push people away & want to do everything alone...Especially because Aang is also struggling with how awful he feels about the fall of Ba Sing Se. So, I hate how he pushes Katara away, & I hate that he tries to abandon the Gaang, but...I'm still sympathetic to him, possibly more than the first time that I watched, having put more thought into it.

Alright, shocking to no one the dynamic between the Fire Siblings is the most interesting part of this episode to me. I also found the scene where Mai checks on Zuko & tells him not to worry really cute. I need more of the Dangers Ladies Feat. Zuko as a group in my life. I'm sad we didn't see Ty Lee, but I guess there wasn't time. Zuko is struggling with fears about coming home & it shows.

[ID: Azula standing & looking at Zuko. end id]

Alright. The turtle duck pond scene. Let's talk about it.

Everyone shut up I am thinking about how cute it is that Zuko goes right to the turtle duck pond to feed them it's probably one of the few places on the palace grounds he finds comforting...

The million-dollar question in the fandom seems to be - did Azula already know that Aang had survived?

I obviously have a bit of an agenda here I won't deny that. I'm a huge fan of Azula. I do think she was redeemable, & I have chosen fire siblings reconciliation as possibly the main focus of my fandom experience or at least A Main Focus. So, like, I'm not gonna pretend to be unbiased. BUT I do think that I've hopefully made it clear that I'm not interested in denying anything evil Azula did, or making her a victim where she wasn't, or whatever. I just like to examine character motivations & make them make sense. So - long story short - I do not think there is any way Azula could have possibly known that Aang survived before Zuko gave it away because he sucks at lying.

Let's look at the scene in context:

Azula: You seem so downcast. Has Mai gotten to you already? Though actually, Mai has been in a strangely good mood lately. [smiles]

Zuko: I haven't seen Dad yet. I haven't seen him in three years, since I was banished.

Azula: So what?

Zuko So, I didn't capture the Avatar.

Azula: Who cares? The Avatar is dead ... [Zuko looks away.] unless you think he somehow miraculously survived.

Contrast this with the way they were both welcomed home - as war heroes. Lo & Li give a huge speech about how Zuko & Azula are heroes & amazing & everyone should love them etc (& they're so right.)

I have consistently brought up Zuko's inability to lie throughout this rewatch & I think it bites him in the ass here. Azula is smart. She's a good lair herself, & she can pick up on it when other people do it - especially Zuko.

So, I think that Azula's original intention was to bring Zuko home as a war hero. She genuinely viewed Ba Sing Se as a victory & believed the Avatar was dead & the Fire Nation was doing amazing & to her, that was great. I think that what people who want to view Azula as an evil mastermind forget is that she kinda still IS one if you read it from this perspective, you just need to keep in mind her ACTUAL motivations. Azula's world doesn't revolve around bringing Zuko down, her world revolves around SERVING THE FIRE NATION & her father. Azula bringing Zuko home a hero doesn't take away her villain card or whatever it is people who refuse to see it this way are worried about. It just remains consistent with her motivations. Azula would want to see the royal family intact. You have to remember, Azula views herself & the Fire Nation as the GOOD GUYS. It's what she's been taught. They're not, & pushing Zuko to betray Iroh was objectively bad for the protagonists. But from AZULA'S perspective, she was doing a good thing for the royal family.

I also do think that yes, Azula wanted to help Zuko. The thing about Azula is that she is on the wrong side of the war, but she's not an unfeeling monster, she's a teenage girl. She likely did miss her brother & think she was doing him a huge favor.

The Bedroom Scene Tm. I said I had a controversial reading & you all assumed I meant Zucest vibes. And I did. But I also actually meant I just STILL don't view this as Azula being an evil monster lmao & I mean, that's not controversial among Azula fans, but it kinda is in the larger fandom.

[ID: Zuko glaring at Azula while she smiles. end id]

Zuko confronts Azula, & she teases him & insinuates that the Avatar might be alive. I read this as Azula trying to sus out whether the Avatar is still alive, TBH. Then, Zuko all but confirms what she already got from their turtle duck pond conversation.

So like, TLDR: Azula wasn't ORIGINALLY trying to use Zuko as a fall guy but once he made it obvious the Avatar might still be alive, THEN yeah, she was trying to save her own ass.

Oh, okay, & some quick criticisms of the #Narrative Framing or whatever...This is the first episode where we get a clear view of Zuko. I want to say that I do really love the scene between Zuko & Ozai contrasted against the scene between Katara & Hakoda, that was just an excellent parallel. It also shows us that our main villain is becoming a major player. I'm ok with Ozai as a background figure throughout Book 2, but I think that Book 3 would have been stronger if they leaned more into Ozai as the Big Bad rather than continuing to frame Azula as the Big Bad like she was in Book 2. This season we get a lot more of Azula's interiority as a character, & more sympathetic moments.

And just to be clear, I'm not against the fact that Azula is still a villain. Sorry fellow Azula Redemption truther girlies, but I'm of the belief that there was not time for her to have a redemption arc in Book 3. It could have been hinted at, we could have gotten a more hopeful ending, but there wasn't time for her to abandon her loyalty to the Fire Nation. So, I'm NOT saying "it was time for the show to STOP framing Azula as a villain." I'm SAYING.....Well, they could have given us more scenes with Ozai like the one in this episode to really concrete his spot as the Big Bad Tm. I liked what we got in this episode, I wish we could've gotten more. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

Alright, so I've rambled enough about the Fire Nation royal family....Uh....There are other characters in this show...

I have nothing much to say about Toph or Sokka in this episode other than that Toph gets +1000 iconic behavior points for using metal bending to defend their ship. Katara gets +1000 for her use of water-bending to help. I don't dislike Sokka in this episode, he just didn't do much worth analyzing.

The only other scene that I want to focus on before I end this incredibly long review.....Is one of my favorite scenes in the series. I love the scene between Katara & Hakoda.

The entire buildup of Katara acting distant & angry from her father & talking about Aang prioritizing the greater good over what she needs & Hakoda realizing that she's talking about him too is just...STELLAR writing. I get emotional every single time. I also think that these feelings Katara is having, serve to explain further why she let Sokka reunite with their father last season rather than going herself.

[ID: Katara crying as she hugs Hakoda. end id]

Katara: [Embraces Hakoda.] I understand why you left. I really do, and I know that you had to go, so why do I still feel this way? I'm so sad and angry and hurt!

Hakoda: I love you more than anything. You and your brother are my entire world. I thought about you every day when I was gone and every night when I went to sleep, I would lie awake missing you so much it would ache.

I'm not crying, you are.

And the ending of the episode serves as a nice thesis for the season. Aang does return to the group & agrees to go undercover. Having to hide his staff & his arrow....That's pretty sad. I think it shows how much Aang has grown throughout the series so far that he is willing to do it though. That's all I have for now!

[wilcze-kudly]

You know what, I'll give it to you, Zuko is a very capable martial artist and pretty damn good at espionage. This is, as we all know, an invaluable part of every single dad's skillset. He's shit at like taking care of himself and lacks any self preservation, has no idea how to socialise, but hey, I'd love to have him as a rogue in my DnD campaign.

And you would even have a but of a point on the Sozin's Comet thing, if it weren't for the fact that he withheld crucial information from the group. Like, I still am not quite sure if he thought the squad just. Telepathically knew about the ins and outs of a top secret war meeting but ok.

Zuko: You're wrong. It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back.

[..]

Aang: Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner? Zuko: I didn't think I had to. I assumed you were still going to fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait.

Mf said "assumed" lmao

This is once again, a symptom of Zuko's lapses in judgement, his inability to communicate properly. All things that can be explained by his lack of emotional maturity.

I will however say that you are overestimating Katara and Zuko's emotional maturity. Now, I'd argue that both Zuko and Katara have huge difficulty managing their emotions, since they had to prioritise other things when growing up.

Katara prioritises others, while neglecting her own emotional stability. While Zuko prioritises his honour lol with the same drawbacks.

This is not emotional maturity. This is two kids trying to be grownups and failing at it because they're kids who aren't ready for this.

I'd almost enjoy Zutara if it was these two being kids together lol. But, no, this is the big boy ship.

I just find it so tragic how Katara is being labelled the mom friend when she had expressed discomfort at it multiple times in show. Like how can you not see the horror of this girls parentification. Did we watch the same show, that episode was agonising to watch.

Also when most of the "mom accusations " come from Toph, who is clearly projecting her own issues.

Katara: I know. I wanted to show that I'm not so motherly. I wanted to show you that I can have fun too. Toph: Katara, you are fun. If nothing else, you're at least fun to argue with. Katara : I know your relationship with your parents is complicated. And I shouldn't have said what I said. Toph: It's okay. I was really mad when you said that because ... well because, maybe it's true. [Starts to cry.] I try not to think about it, but when I left, I probably really hurt them.

The show gives us this horrific portrayal of children having to pick up the slack after adults and all you can do with it is shove it into your weird little dad/mom dynamic?

HHHELP uwu helpless baby mpreg omega Zuko and Alpha Genius Sokka is arguably the funniest thing I've heard this week lmao.

Also yes I can't imagine why Sokka, the eldest of the group while stranded in a desert with no food or water, would taste and eat whatever he could find that could possibly provide sustenance for his younger comrades if proven safe to eat. I cannot imagine.

Katara: I'm sorry, it's all we have.

Sokka: Not anymore! Look!

Katara looks in the direction Sokka's pointing. He walks over to the cactus and cuts off a piece with his machete. He happily drinks the fluid that's inside while Momo crawls over to him.

[...]

Sokka: There's water trapped inside these!

You have to remember that Sokka spent a good chunk of his teenage years being the sole provider for his village. While the desert is very far off from the frozen tundra, he is improvising.

He also formed a schedule for the group while they were in the Fire Nation and is shown to forage for food for the group.

I don't, actually. It's an aight ship, most people who ship it are really nice and chill so i can fuck with it. Plus the comedic potential is unrivalled. I mostly lean to shipping Zuko with no one other than extensive therapy. He's genuinely not ready to date, look at how he treated Mai. I expect 6 dollars in my bank account by tomorrow btw.

“Dadko is out of character” Ok then explain this:

[sokkastyles]

Abused kids are often not aware of or have trouble regulating their own emotions but tend to, conversely, be hyper aware of and tapped into the emotions of others. This is a survival mechanism in people who grow up with an abusive parent, because any sudden changes in the mood of the parent could indicate danger. See the scenes of Zuko when he is with Ozai, particularly in "The Awakening" and in the flashback to the war meeting in "The Phoenix King," when Zuko carefully measures his responses to his father's praise, because even accepting praise is dangerous and could be a trap.

Although Zuko is often oblivious in social interactions, he actually shows a pretty keen insight when it comes to mediating and understanding what the others need once he joins the gaang. He figures out that the loss of his firebending is connected to his change of coat, he helps Aang overcome his fear of fire at the same time he overcomes his own mental blocks with regard to his element, and he realizes that Sokka will go on a foolhardy mission to rescue his father no matter how much Zuko warns him that it's dangerous, so he resolves to go with him. Particularly in "The Southern Raiders" he pretty astutely figures out that the source of Katara's anger was her unresolved feelings about her mother's murder, and knew how to help her. He also shows keen insight into what Katara needs. Aang, though he means well, responds to Katara with moralizing that just makes her angrier and more determined to go her own way. Zuko offers her the means and lets her lead the way, and defends her to Aang after Katara had made it clear she did not agree with Aang. Zuko, in fact, gets angry at Aang on Katara's behalf, and interestingly, Katara, the person who regularly told off anyone who ever said a bad word to Aang and who, a few episodes ago, threatened to kill Zuko himself if he ever hurt Aang, says nothing in response to Zuko’s sarcastic words to Aang, only thanks Aang for understanding in a tone that implies that she doesn’t think Aang understands at all.

Zuko also seems to be aware of the tension between Katara and Aang at the end of the episode, as he purposefully leaves Katara on Ember Island and goes to speak to Aang himself about what happened when they confronted Yon Rha. This implies not only that Zuko knew Katara needed space to process her feelings, but that he knew that Aang and Katara would need time away from each other after the angry way they parted, and it also implies that Zuko wanted to explain Katara's perspective to Aang, fearing that Aang would misunderstand. Aang actually misunderstands anyway, wrongly assuming that Katara had forgiven Yon Rha, and Katara angrily tells him that she will never forgive her mother's murderer, but does forgive Zuko.

Zuko tells Aang that he was right about Katara, although that is contradicted by what Katara just said and the events of the episode. I know some people theorize that this was a result of a lack of unity in the writing, but I also don't think it's out of character for Zuko to say this, even though he also ultimately disagrees with Aang's stance on violence. Zuko is again playing a mediator role and playing both sides a bit, because the episode positions him between Aang and Katara, but he also leaves Aang with a challenge to his moral absolutism.

So I don't think it's a stretch to assume that in the very next episode, Zuko was also picking up on some tension between Aang and Katara when he sat between them. I'm not sure he knows about Aang's romantic feelings for Katara - although he would when he hears his actor on stage call Katara "the Avatar's girl" and sees Aang nod. But he does seem to pick up on Aang's irritation being about more than just a taken seat, as he responds with unprompted anger. Zuko also takes note of Aang’s increasing anger throughout the play, with a concerned expression on his face. 

Remember what I said about abused kids being hypersensitive to the changing moods of others? It might be that, or Zuko might be feeling anxious about his��role in the play and feeling like he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, or it might be that Zuko is hyper aware of the conflict between Katara and Aang carried over from the last episode to this one.

Actually, this shot is particularly interesting because the rest of the gaang is laughing at the portrayal of Toph, including Katara, until Toph shows that she’s pleased by the play’s portrayal of her. Then we see Katara frown, her attention shifting to Aang. 

Katara is unhappy that her attempt to get even with Toph backfired, then when she notices Aang as the camera pans to her left, she looks even more unhappy. Then we see the shot above of Zuko looking at Aang with clear concern over the situation. I’m pretty sure that Zuko is aware that something is going on between Katara and Aang at this point. Especially since Aang’s anger at being played by a girl (which is made worse by Toph’s happiness at being played by a boy) is linked to his insecurity about his relationship with Katara, and the play keeps making jokes about it, meant for us to feel sorry for Aang for being put in the “little brother” zone.

I think Zuko was generally anxious going into the play. You can see when they walk in that he has his hood pulled up, to hide his face, because he's aware there's a chance someone will recognize him. So even before the play starts, with its incriminating and humiliating portrayal of him, he is probably already on alert and wants to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Aang's outburst is the kind of thing that would draw attention, and Zuko tries to minimize the attention by insisting that Aang just sit next to him. Zuko also reacts with defensive anger, as he is wont to do when he is anxious or upset, which of course would have the opposite effect from drawing attention away from them. But Aang acquiesces in frustration, and Katara, interestingly, notices the dispute, but just like when Zuko defended her to Aang in "The Southern Raiders," says nothing. Katara also is facing away, fidgety, and looks unhappy while the confrontation is going on. This is also consistent with (and probably contributed to) the way Katara reacts to Aang’s pushiness and accusations later on.

Zuko spends much of the back part of season three physically close to Katara, which is a visual way for the animators to show how close they have grown. It’s not necessarily an indication of romantic Zutara, although there is nothing wrong with interpreting it that way, and I find it hilarious how threatened some people are by shippers gushing over the idea that he wanted to sit next to her, particularly in this episode because this episode actually intentionally plays up the “love triangle” for the purposes of getting the audience to sympathize with Aang and root for him to “get the girl.” Regardless of whether we interpret it in a romantic context, I think it is a good indication of how Zuko feels about Katara once he has gotten her forgiveness. Given Zuko’s social ineptitude, it would make sense that he would be likely to want to stick close to the people he felt closest to, especially in situations where he is surrounded by potentially hostile strangers. Witness his behavior in “The Beach,” where he spent most of the time awkwardly glued to Mai’s side and it was when he was separated from Mai at the party that he ran into trouble with the other partygoers, who make fun of him. That might explain why Zuko, although he comes from the opposite direction when they enter the theater as everyone else does, walks all the way down the end of the aisle to sit next to Katara. 

It might also explain why he wants to sit in between Katara and Aang, as these are the two people who he now feels closest to. It also is very likely that he is subconsciously picking up on the tension between Katara and Aang, which comes to a head later in this very episode. It’s worth noting that Zuko is often positioned physically between Katara and Aang throughout this episode, which is meant to communicate to the audience Aang’s anxiety over Katara not returning his feelings (and Zuko plays an indirect part in that, or at least, his stage actor does).

Zuko is also positioned narratively between Aang and Katara as a mediator and comfort to Katara after her fight with Aang in the very next episode, “The Phoenix King,” in which Zuko tells Katara to let Aang figure things out for himself when he runs away after yelling at Katara.

So no, I don’t think the deliberate positioning of Zuko in between Aang and Katara is a coincidence, nor is it “lol Zuko is clueless!” I’m actually very tired of seeing people talk about how clueless Zuko is, especially since a lot of his reactions come from trauma. Even if Zuko didn’t pick up on Aang’s romantic feelings towards Katara he very obviously picks up on and reacts to and interacts with the dynamic between them. And it’s very telling that certain fans will complain about the “infantilization” of Zuko when it’s traits that make him seem sympathetic, but then talk about a traumatized abuse survivor as if they’re completely incompetent.

[azenkii]

A Long List of Trash Fire Lord Zuko Headcanons

...that i couldn't get out of my head:

(warning: SUPER LONG POST i havent figured out how to trim posts yet)

he's the one who unchains azula despite iroh's protests. she doesn't even try to fight him, just cries into his shoulder and keeps mumbling about how father's going to be so disappointed in her. he takes her to her rooms and has her drink a sleeping draught, then stations the best guards he has left outside her chambers.

his first council meeting takes place literally a day after sozin's comet. he hobbles into the council chamber shirtless with his entire torso covered in bandages and every council member just looks at him like '...what'

he does NOT sleep for like,,a week after sozin's comet and then another two weeks after his coronation. katara, aang and suki try to persuade him to sleep and he doesn't listen. eventually sokka, toph and mai team up to literally drag his ass to bed and tell him he's not allowed to get up until he sleeps (does mai pin him to the bed with her knives? yes. is it kinky or sexual in any way? definitely not.)

he drinks So. Much. Tea. at this point it's practically tasteless to him but he drinks it anyway because he just needs something to do and tea is something familiar. he keeps iroh on his toes because he's constantly asking for new tea blends, uncle, i think i actually tasted the last one,

he flat-out refuses to grow his hair for at least a year after ozai's defeat. the second it starts getting close to his chin he shears it off himself, with his knife, and his stylist has a heart attack every single time

when he's tired he'll occasionally jump up when one of his guards moves. it stops after a bit, but for the first month and a half or so he's really twitchy. when sokka asks, the only explanation he can come up with is that he's not used to having people stand behind him silently and not want to kill him, much less want to protect him (sokka immediately takes him out for a shopping trip and makes a point of walking behind him the entire time, but only on zuko's right side, where he can clearly see it if sokka moves towards him)

when the healer declares azula mentally unstable and in need of an institution, he shuts himself in his office for the rest of the night. no one's allowed in, not even iroh. he finally emerges in the morning, eyes red from crying and sleep deprivation, and tells the librarian that he'd like a list of the best mental institutions in the country, please, the best in the world if you can get them

he loves theatre (is this even a headcanon?). unfortunately it practically died out in the fire nation along with the rest of the creative arts, leaving nothing but small troupes like the ember island players. one of zuko's personal goals (meaning things he wants to accomplish that aren't as important as restoring his country) is to bring back theatre; he finally manages to do it after about eight months or so of being fire lord, along with other arts like dancing, music and sculpture

he establishes a national day of mourning, on the first day of autumn every year, to commemorate the genocide of the air nomads. from 100AG onwards, every calendar printed in the fire nation has it marked. at first it was called the day of repentance, but aang persuaded him to have it changed (by arguing that he didn't want guilt to be a literal staple of fire nation culture)

he introduces literally So Many educational reforms, plus a mandatory class that teaches students about the cultures of the other nations (air nomads included) and how some of their traditions overlap

he turns down the offer of having a statue put up of him in the capital. toph ignores him and does it anyway.

he visits azula regularly, makes sure she's (relatively) comfortable and well-fed, and sometimes just sits down outside her door and tells her about everything that's going on right now ('some of the far colonies have developed their own standardised writing, azula, you wouldn't believe it, and i've asked the fire sages to come visit more often—but you never liked them, did you? oh, well; i'll make sure none of them go into your chambers by mistake')

(he doesn't know it, but when he does this azula sits by the door and listens. she wonders what kind of writing the colonists have developed, and whether or not the fire sages have taken on some new recruits.)

he hates being above anyone else. never sits in the throne if he can help it, nor does he sit on the dais in the council room. when he talks to people shorter than him, he finds himself stooping a little bit to talk to them on their level (the exception to this rule is sokka, who he mocks for being shorter all the way up until sokka grows taller than him, the bastard)

the first time he visits the earth kingdom, the earth king's ministers call a toast. he ends up being the only one who has to sit out, because he's too young to drink by earth kingdom law

once his servants figure out he won't kill them for talking to him, they start becoming a lot more bold, telling him off when he doesn't take care of himself. at one point, they force him to let them take care of him so much that he literally just bolts into the gardens and hides there until the staff rope in mai and ty lee

when he needs to escape, he does one of two things: (a) he dresses up as the blue spirit and does some parkour until he calms down, or (b) he goes to work at the jasmine dragon. (b) happens less often bc the jasmine dragon's in ba sing se, but there's been a few memorable incidents when an earth kingdom diplomat walks in and yells, 'LEE?!' when they see the fire lord

the first court artist who draws him also happens to be the one who drew azulon and ozai. he draws zuko without his scar. zuko takes one look at it and tells him, very calmly, that he'd like him to leave, please.

zuko burns the portrait. he doesn't fire the court artist, but he never calls on him again unless he has to. a second court artist is called, and can't help but be a bit confused when the fire lord tells him to be sure to include the scar

he forgets the crown. a lot. sometimes he walks into council meetings in his sleepwear with his hair tied up in a messy ponytail and a bunch of scrolls tucked under his arm. none of his councilmen have the guts (or the heart) to tell him that this is not, in fact, formal council wear

he goes to feed the turtleducks when he's stressed. he thinks he's being subtle. he's not. the entire palace knows, and they consciously give him space when they see him in the turtleduck garden

most of his staff are older than him, so they look at him and see this teeny tiny fire lord who is So Small and who Must Be Protected. the day after zuko's coronation, the head chef holds a meeting where they commence Operation Do-Not-Let-That-Boy-Turn-Out-Like-His-Father (subsection He's-The-Only-Good-Thing-We-Have)

one night he wakes up to find suki sitting in his room, decked out in full kyoshi warrior garb and makeup, and just about screams blue murder. suki tells him there are suspicions of an assassin in the palace, and would you please stop yelling it's very distracting, we won't be able to hear anyone coming over that racket

zuko gets very, very paranoid of random spirits after that. yeah, suki looks like a possibly malevolent spirit when she's wearing her makeup, what about it? (when he tells sokka he's highkey terrified of spirit shenanigans, sokka just looks at him and says, 'man, the stories i could tell...', and THAT'S when zuko remembers sokka spent like six months more than he did travelling with the avatar)

on his first visit to the southern water tribe, he removes his boots and leg guards, rolls up his pants and kneels barefoot in the snow. even though chief hakoda immediately starts trying to pull him up, he's stubborn as hell and stays kneeling for the entirety of his very long, very sincere apology-on-behalf-of-the-fire-nation speech. he nearly loses his toes to frostbite after that, and both sokka and katara never stop giving him shit for it

the first time he grows a 'beard' is completely accidental. he's stressed over some trade miscommunications with chief hakoda, hasn't slept in a few days...and then when sokka arrives as water tribe ambassador to help smooth things over, he takes one look at zuko and says 'man, facial hair does not suit you'

zuko: facial what now

he checks a mirror to find that he's got stubble covering his chin, dark enough that it almost looks intentional, and holy gods how the fuck did he not notice this before

'UNCLE WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME' 'i assumed you were doing it on purpose' 'WHEN HAVE I EVER DONE ANYTHING ON PURPOSE'

he shaves it all off immediately, of course, which prompts a lot of teasing and rib-poking from sokka until zuko finally snaps that he's scared it'll make him look like his father. sokka stops after that.

(the day after sokka leaves, zuko finds that a mysterious someone has scribbled all over ozai's royal portrait, giving him a frankly ridiculous beard and moustache that literally CANNOT be grown in real life. oddly enough, he can't bring himself to care about the defamation of royal property. he's too busy laughing.)

his paths cross with toph and sokka more than any of the others, because sokka is ambassador and toph is technically still a beifong. most of the time, at formal functions, he ends up sequestered in the corner with toph and a hoard of snacks, and they talk and swear much more than they usually do (zuko's ministers once heard him when he was drunk with toph, and the servants swear the older ministers' ears started bleeding)

he restores fire nation cultural festivals, and in doing so subjects himself to learning a lot of complicated dances

during one memorable week, he wrote so many letters and drafted so much legislation that he ran out of paper. he had to go visit the nearest school and ask for some

he keeps up with his firebending and sword training even though it's hard to fit into his schedule. his ministers refrain from reminding him that he has guards to protect him now; it's still hard for zuko to trust his safety with anyone but himself (team avatar is the exception).

he started sleepwalking about two months into his reign. no one knew why. one time, he nearly sleepwalked right off the edge of a balcony, and one of his guards had to grab him by the back of his robes.

the sleepwalking stopped after around a month and never happened again. at this point it's practically palace legend.

after freeing the war prisoners, he went around collecting every single earthbender-proof wooden cell he could find in the capital and surrounding areas. when he'd gotten most of them, he gathered them into a huge pile in the city square and set fire to them with his own hands.

unfortunately he couldn't do that with the waterbender metal cells but he did get toph to come in and bend them all into pretty shapes (well, toph thought they were pretty shapes. everyone else thinks they're meaningless squiggles)

he learned how to write with both hands at the same time out of sheer necessity (he refused scribes until it became clear that he'd be putting some people out of a job; that was when he started letting scribes write very, very minor things, but all important documents/drafts/letters are still written by him)

he once put the wet end of an ink brush in his mouth instead of the wooden end by mistake. didn't even realise until he bit down to keep it in place and ink went oozing everywhere

when his guards rushed in to find him coughing and spluttering black liquid all over his desk they thought he'd been poisoned but no he's just stupid

on his 17th birthday, his first one after being crowned, he got tackled by team avatar in the middle of the ballroom and ended up at the bottom of a cuddlepile for like ten minutes

this cuddlepile happened at an event that was very much public and very much formal. it was a scandal for weeks

just. fire lord zuko, guys. so much potential

[sokkascroptop]

traitor. (sokka x f!reader) pt 26

part 1 | part 25

a/n: no matter how long you have been here, just know i'm extremely grateful for anyone who's read this fic. now here's the latest chapter.

Sometimes it felt like the days dragged on. Each and every hour was laid out just like the day before–the week before. It made time seem endless, even though Y/N knew it definitely was not. Sozin’s Comet was getting closer and closer each day. Y/N didn’t know if it was the anticipation for that long fated day or if it was some buried fire bender gene in her body, warning her of something to come. She could feel it deep within her bones. She woke up earlier and earlier each day, no matter how late her night ended up. And each day the sun greeted her with warm yellow light that made the air a little easier to breathe.

As they moved further south and into Fire Nation territory, Zuko made mention of Ember Island as a place to hide out. The island–or chain of islands, really–were close enough to Caldera City that it would be a good place for them to lay low and wait, as well as uninhabited by enough people that they could lay low.

Y/N thought it was a little risky to be living in the Fire Lord’s Ember Island house, but Zuko was probably right, this was going to be the last place anyone would look for them. Maybe Y/N was just unsettled about being back, so close to Caldera City, or maybe it was being back on Ember Island for the first time since she was 9.

Somewhere between the temple and the beach house, Y/N tired of training. It just added to the monotony, and so she just…stopped. Instead, she spent her days on the beach, sometimes alone–often with the others though–playing in the tide pools and skim-boarding on the sand. And sometimes, if she felt like she didn’t have enough time on her own to recharge, she’d leave in the night, either through her window or the front door to take a walk on the beach in the moonlight. Only to come back and wake up a few hours later, ready for sunrise.

Today was no different, though the sun was already peeking over the horizon and into her room when her eyes peeled open.

The wooden floors creaked under Y/N’s feet as she crept out of her room silently.

Each board was smooth under her bare toes, not well-worn by many little feet running across them year after year but made that way before they were even built into the house, for no doubt a hefty fee. The beach house was… cold, to say the least. It just felt like each pore of the house seeped something uninviting, reminding them that they shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t just Y/N who felt it, they all spent as little time as possible in the house.

She padded into the kitchen and struck their flint to start a fire under the stove–mostly unneeded since Zuko had joined their group–but wholly necessary when he wasn’t around to be their fire-starter. Y/N didn’t mind doing it this way, it felt nice being able to do something with her own hands for once instead of relying on the others to make clean water or heat up the food. She boiled just enough water for one cup of tea before heading out to the courtyard where she knew at least two of her friends would be awake.

Y/N didn’t like feeling optimistic. It was a terrifying feeling. There was so much riding on their success; she didn’t want to spend so much energy on hoping only to have it all dashed away if things didn’t go their way. It would be too heartbreaking. But watching Aang, she could. They weren’t even sparring and she could see the power behind every blast of fire. And she had hope for their future. She had to; she wasn’t going to lose her friends.

“You’re doing that one wrong,” Y/N said from the shadows on the porch. She held her warm cup to her chest, the breeze blowing in from the ocean was keeping the courtyard chilly until the sun could rise high enough to heat the island.

Aang didn’t seem too surprised to hear her voice. “Doing what wrong?” He asked, confused.

Zuko frowned up at Y/N from his seat on the steps but nodded to Aang. “She’s right, you have to dip further down so when you come up the fire creates more of an arc.”

Aang pushed through a few more poses before Zuko stood up and joined him. Y/N stole his seat and pulled her legs up to cross them. She watched as they moved in tandem, working though the most basic of firebending forms all the way up to a few advanced ones. Memories flooded Y/N’s head so fast it made her dizzy. She remembered sitting just like she was now, watching her two brothers work through their forms when she was younger. On chilly mornings, much like today, she would wrap herself in a blanket nest and sip on tea that was much too sweet as they worked well into mid morning. In a sudden rush of affection she realized she was doing much of the same thing, just years and years later.

Aang had learned fast. That was good. She set down her empty cup as the two boys headed back to her, both sweaty from their training. “Good job, Aang! You’re doing great!”

Aang beamed with pride. “Thanks, Y/N!

“Don’t be so encouraging, he’s still got a lot to learn,” Zuko grumbled, taking a seat on the ground next to her.

Y/N pouted. “He needs encouragement. That’s how he learns.” Y/N learned that from watching the differences between Katara teaching styles and Toph’s teaching styles.

“Speaking of firebending,” Aang kicked his feet against the edge of the steps and looked around like he was avoiding something. “How did you know about the firebending forms?”

Zuko leaned back on his hands. “I’d like to know that too.”

Y/N smiled softly. “I watched my brothers for years, religiously learning all the forms and practicing them on my own. I wanted to be just like them. I guess I still remember them.”

Aang frowned. “It’s not like you couldn’t bend on purpose.”

Y/N was surprised to see Aang look so sad. “I know.” She shrugged and looked away feeling her cheeks redden with both boys staring at her. “I just wanted to be normal so people would stop paying attention to me for the wrong reasons.” She mumbled.

“It made you a better sword fighter,” Zuko said suddenly.

“What?” Y/N asked.

“The discipline and movements. You do the same when you’re fighting.”

“I’ve never noticed, but you’re right, Zuko!” Aang exclaimed.

The thought made Y/N smile. “That was nice of you.”

Zuko rolled his eyes but let the smallest hint of a smile grace his lips.

She looked back to Aang, who still looked a bit hesitant. “Don’t worry about me. How about we go swimming? Before the others wake up!”

Aang perked up immediately. “That sounds great! Let’s go, Zuko!”

Y/N and Aang stood, both looking down at Zuko, who just stared at the ground between his feet. She could already hear him saying no, telling them that he needed to train more or meditate and didn’t have time to run off and play games.

Y/N opened her mouth to tell Aang that the two of them could still go but Zuko spoke up before her. “Yeah, okay.”

Sometimes even on those long, dragging days, it was the little things that made everything better; like playing in the surf with two of your friends.

---

That evening though, Y/N was back where she had started the day, and had decided that everyone in her group of friends, save for maybe Zuko, talked way too much. She craved those moments alone where she just had her thoughts to occupy her. Especially when she had a lot on her mind.

Y/N didn’t want to admit she felt stuck inside with Aang and Katara while everyone else was outside enjoying the evening, but she also felt guilty in turning down their request to help make dinner to just wander around on the beach until sunset. She didn’t help out much with making meals, and she felt obligated to help when she could.

So she was there, sitting on the dinner table, lotus style with a knife and a cutting board and a basket of carrots in need of chopping at her side.

“What else can I do, Katara?” Aang dumped some of the vegetables he was cutting into the stew Katara was currently stirring over the stove.

“Hmm, can you go out and get some more water to make the rice?” Aang grinned and nodded, before running out of the house towards the side of the house where there was a small barrel of collected water.

Y/N smiled to herself at the interaction and continued cutting carrots for Katara, trying not to let her mind wander, but it was hard with the monotonous work and the bad spot she was sitting in.

Just in front of her was the window where she had watched Zuko and Aang train while she made tea that morning, now it showed Zuko and Sokka doing their own training.

Y/N was struggling with more than just feeling like she didn’t belong on the Island. She didn’t know what she was going to say to Sokka, or if she was even going to say anything about her feelings at all. Without the constant traveling and the safety of a hideout, she was able to just stop and let those feelings and thoughts she had been holding back with a dam of fear wash over her.

It was all really confusing for Y/N. And hard to admit.

She didn’t want to face the awkward conversation of asking whether he could always be there for her. She didn’t want to beg him to never leave because she was so insecure. She was so afraid of losing everything and everyone that she was going to do just that because she was afraid of opening up.

What would happen if she never told Sokka she loved him back? Did she even love him back? What did love feel like?

Love with Azula felt like fire, sometimes it burned painfully, but in the good times it filled her with a warmth like never before. Zuko’s friendship felt the same, but it was less like sitting too close to the fire and more like sitting just in the right place where it didn’t dry out your eyes but didn’t make goosebumps grow on your arms. Sokka always felt like a cool breeze, one where you lift your face up to the sky and smile because it always feels like relief. But that’s not what Y/N is used to. How does she know if it’s love if it doesn’t hurt a little bit? How does she know that it's real if she doesn’t have to give all of herself until she is worn to nothing to make it work?

It wasn’t that she was afraid to care for him, she had made it clear that she did. It was just easier on her heart to keep him at a distance for now until she figured they were inevitably part ways. That’s how Y/N saw this all ending. Separated across oceans, back to where they came from, whatever the outcome of the war. Y/N wanted to dream of the possibilities and opportunities where they could be together in the long run, but those were just that, dreams for another lifetime. People from the Water Tribe didn’t marry people from the Fire Nation.

Everything that she learned over the last few months was that nothing was ever set in stone, so why should she and Sokka be.

Y/N stared out the window, pondering when it would all fall apart and sliced downwards on a carrot, but met nothing but the cutting board. She looked down where the knife was closer to her finger than to the carrots. She let out a little inward gasp.

“What?” Katara turned around and asked.

Y/N’s eyes widened. “Nothing.” She motioned to the cutting board. “Do you want these smaller?”

Katara eyed Y/N and then looked to the cutting board. “They’re fine. But pay more attention, I don’t know how to reattach fingers yet.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Y/N’s eyes didn’t leave the wooden cutting board and her fingers until the others came bustling into the kitchen, all talking at once.

Y/N for the most part ignored everyone, until Sokka reached over and snatched one of the slices of carrots.

Y/N nudged his arm. “Can you wait?! I thought you didn’t like vegetables!”

“Aang got me to like carrots!” Sokka retorted, before quickly reaching around Y/N to grab another and popping it into his mouth.

“Why would you be sitting on the table that we have to eat off of?” Suki wrinkled her nose.

“Uh! Katara said I could!” Y/N stuck her tongue out.

Katara whipped around, hands on her hips. “I never said you could, I just didn’t say you couldn’t.” Katara turned back to stirring the stew before muttering under her breath, “Not like telling you no would have made a difference anyways.”

“Hey!” Y/N picked up a carrot and launched it at the back of Katara’s head.

Aang walked back inside carrying a bucket of water, to a kitchen full of chaos. Vegetables were being thrown across the room at one another, as laughter rang out. Sokka, Zuko and Y/N were sprawled on one side of the kitchen behind and under the table; with Suki, Katara and Toph only edging from behind the safety of the kitchen doorway to throw something.

For the first time in a long time, Y/N could hear the exasperation of a 112 year old monk in Aang’s usually cheerful voice.“Uh, guys, what are we supposed to eat for dinner now?”

---

Y/N was dozing against the headboard of her bed that night, when she heard the knock at her door. At first she thought she imagined it, that is until she heard a voice on the other side of the doorway. “Y/N, are you awake?”

Y/N slid out of bed and cracked open the door. She smiled and leaned against the doorjamb, a familiar feeling in her chest.

“Are you afraid that there are ghosts here too?”

Sokka grinned and nodded. “In this house? Absolutely. But I’m not here for that.”

“Oh?” Y/N raised an eyebrow.

“Come outside with me.”

Y/N chuckled. “Why?”

“Please, just come on. No questions.”

Y/N sighed and reached for an old silk robe she found in one of the closets, but her smile never left her face.

To be fair to Sokka, there wasn’t much to surprise Y/N with on an island she grew up on. But that night, the sky momentarily took her breath away.

Sometimes the simplest things were the most beautiful.

“I thought we could come out here; look at the stars a bit. I used to like doing that at home. Though it’s different. The constellations aren’t the same where I’m from.”

“I guess I’ll just have to teach you some.”

Together they laid side by side on the roof, and Y/N pointed out her favorites. The dragon, the jack-rabbit...

After Y/N had told Sokka the story of the Red Queen, some ancient fable of a powerful Fire Lady that was always one of Y/N’s favorites, they both grew quiet, Y/N asked the question that had been brewing on her mind. She worried that whatever she said would mess up the peaceful night they had been having. It felt like she was intruding on a secret that she wasn’t supposed to know.

“Hey, Sokka,” Y/N asked.

“Hmmm,” She looked over and Sokka looked about half asleep already. Maybe this would be good timing.

“Who’s Yue?”

Sokka’s eyes shot open and he sat up quickly. “What?”

Y/N could feel her face flush. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to know.

“Yue.” The word sounded flat and foreign on her tongue. Maybe that wasn’t how you actually pronounced it? Some of the Water Tribe names and words were hard for Y/N’s mouth to form. If she could, she flushed deeper. “I heard you talking about them when I was hurt. I was in and out of it, so I don’t remember much, but I remember the name.”

Sokka suddenly looked very sad. Which was… odd because Y/N just thought that Yue was a Water Tribe spirit much like the Fire Nation had Agni.

“She’s the moon spirit,” Sokka whispered, his eyes cast down on his wringing hands.

Y/N eyes were wide. Why was he acting like this? “Oh. I figured she was a spirit or something. It sounded like you were praying to her, or something.”

“Yeah,” Sokka choked out. “Something like that.”

That’s when Y/N noticed there were drips of water on Sokka’s hands. Tears.

“Sokka?” Y/N said softly. She reached forward and–yup those were tears, dripping on their hands.

“She was a girl I met at the Northern Water Tribe when we first started traveling.”

“I thought she was…”

“She is.” For the first time, Sokka looked up. The pain in his eyes was unimaginable. “But she was still a girl when I met her.”

Sokka launched into a story that sounded more fantasy than real, but the look on his face, the sadness in his features, Y/N knew he was telling the truth.

“She was blessed by the moon spirit when she was born, it was the only reason she was alive. But when we were in the Northern Water Tribe—Zhao, a Fire Nation commander killed the moon spirit and all the water benders lost their bending, forever.” Sokka shivered. “It was scary, the moon was gone in the sky and we were helpless to fight the Fire Nation. It would have changed the tide of the war.

But she was selfless. She knew that she was the only hope for her tribe—for the world—and she sacrificed herself to save all of us. So now she’s the moon spirit…I guess. I don’t know, she’ll always be Yue to me.” Sokka’s voice trailed off with a sniffle. Y/N didn’t know how to respond.

Sokka sent a longing glance upward. The moon was just past full, waning in the far distance but still bright and round in the sky. “I think–I think she heard me that night. And she knew how much you meant to me, even then. And she saved you because…” Now it was Sokka’s turn to flush. “I don’t think I could live without you.”

Those words made Y/N’s chest burn. Her arms and legs tingled in relief as if all the tension in her body began to melt away. Y/N reached out, wiping a stray tear off of Sokka’s cheek. “Me either,” she replied instantly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“’m not. Sad, really. I miss her, but it’s easier to always know where she is. She didn’t have a lot of choice in her life, but this was something she had control over. If she hadn’t become the moon spirit, the war would have ended right there. So her sacrifice meant that, you know, Zuko is our friend now and Aang has a chance at beating the Firelord and you have a place in all our lives. She made all of this possible.”

“Sounds like we have a lot more to be thankful to her for than just saving little old me then, huh?”

“You would have liked her.”

Y/N nodded and peered at the moon above them. “I do like her.”

No one else needed to know that after the two of them went inside and off to bed, that Y/N hung halfway out her window to get one last look at the moon. Y/N swore as her eyes closed and sleep overtook her that the moon shone a little brighter. Maybe that’s how the moon said thank you. Y/N’d never tell anyone that she whispered a small thank you too, to the girl who lived among the stars.

a/n: don't be shy, come talk to me in my askbox and tell me if you liked it

taglist: @myexgirlfriendisthemoon @reclusive-chicken-nugget @astroninaaa @aangsupremacy @beifongsss @crownofcryptids @welovediaaxx @littlefluu @lozzybowe @thebluelcdy @teenbiology @13-09-01 @riespage @davnwillcome @creation-magician @lunariasilver @francesciak @thia-aep @aphrcditeee @solarsuki @my--shitty--art @lovingcupcake51002 @loganrwebb @celia-not-cecilia @treestarrrrrrrr @izzieserra @salsasadd @nataliahaslosthershit @awkwardnesshabitat @lanie103  @im-the-galactic-starfish @charlotteisabella  @sugamonster22  @calumsfringe @whatsuphoesandbros @i-love-superhero @justasukisimp @grouchiest-hufflepuff  @euphoricmads @ivetoldamillionlies @fanficsformyperusal @mikxyu @ladylizzieofdarbyshire @someonekeepstakingmyusernames @earthtokace @justamessandahalf @perfectlyfadingmusic @atlafanforlife @iris-suoh @chilifrylizard2

[the-badger-mole]

So there's definitely the traits about Aang you don't like. If you had the chance, how would you have gone about making sure Aang got called out??

Any other changes about other aspects of the show that you would have done??

OOHHH!!!! There is SO much I would have changed.

Starting with Aang:

Aang should have been called out about not helping Katara with the chores. One of the lessons he should have learned on Kyoshi should have been importance of not leaving one team member to do all of the work (Sokka should have been taught this lesson, too, of course, but at least he was learning other lessons about respect for women in particular). I'm not asking for Aang to face consequences for the sake of making him miserable (although...). What I really want is for him to consider people other than himself in a way that actually leaves a mark on his character and doesn't just make his superficial reputation better.

In Bato of the Water Tribe, he should have been taken more to task over his selfishness in hiding Hakoda's letter. I feel like the danger he put Hakoda's mission in with that bone-headed move gets overlooked in favor of his sadness about the possibility of his friends wanting to take a detour to see their father. Aang gets half an apology for that, but only half an apology, and not to Katara- the one he's supposed to have a romance (???) with.

He should have been called out for lying his way out of actually solving the problem in "The Great Divide". Yes, it was a tough problem, but he's going to have to solve even harder ones as the Avatar. Not even lightly chiding him for taking the easy way out doesn't bode well for how well he's going to do at his job in the future.

The fact that he was instrumental in the deaths of several Fire Nation soldiers in the Siege of the North should have been the beginning of his understanding of what he's expected to do to end this war that's been going on for a hundred years. He should feel some guilt over the war that's been going on for a hundred years. Even if ultimately he's not centrally to blame for either, neither could have happened without him making the decisions he made. I can understand it not occurring to Aang on his own that he played a part in (lets be honest) millions of deaths, but it should have dawned on him through context clues what the world- what his friends!- expected of him. He should have been looking for a non-lethal solution to the Ozai problem from the beginning of Book 2 at the latest! The way his reluctance to kill Ozai plays out in the show makes Aang look inexcusably stupid, unbelievably short-sighted, and dangerously selfish.

He should have been brought to task for how he treated his friends- especially Toph- in the desert. Yes, it's understandable that he was upset about losing Appa, but he took his anger out on his friends. That's not ok. He should have apologized. We should have seen him apologize. It wasn't Toph's fault Appa was taken. She didn't deserve that.

Katara should have had more of a voice in her relationship with Aang. He forced kisses on her twice, and aside from avoiding talking to him about feelings, Katara doesn't get to tell him how she actually feels about him, about them, about the fact that he doesn't respect her enough to talk to her about how he felt before he even thought about trying to kiss her. I hate Kataang, and there is no version of that ship that I would actually like (at it's best it's boring), HOWEVER, there is a version of Kataang that could have been less infuriating, and it's the version where Aang realizes how selfish he's been with Katara and apologizes, and then actually puts in the work to be more respectful of her. Not to get the reward of her affection for doing something he should have been doing in the first place (*ahembrykeahem*), but because he actually sees the error of his ways and his need to change for himself. Then maybe, after Aang had put in actual work on himself, maybe his "romance" with Katara could have worked, and Katara would have actually had a chance to thrive after getting with him.

The war should have had more of an impact on Aang. As the Avatar, he should have seen more people suffering under the Fire Nation's campaign of imperialism. Sure he sees refugees and even spends a couple of days getting to know a pregnant lady, but it never seems like he makes the connection between the abstract evil of the war and the real world suffering it caused. It never seems to sink in for him how bad things are. Like not even for his friends. Not even for Katara specifically, the girl he allegedly loves.

There are more things I would have changed about Aang, but this is already long, so moving on!

As for the rest of the show:

I would have spent less time on Aang and his feelings and done more with the world building. There is a ridiculously small amount of time dedicated to the Water Tribe cultures. Most of Book 1: Water is spent in the Earth kingdom! Why??? Most of the main cast is from the Southern Water Tribe! Then there's the question of the Air Nomads. A total annihilation of a people group is incredibly unlikely. Closer to impossible. It hasn't even happened in our world, and the European colonist had raised murder and genocide to an art form. You mean to tell me that not only did the Fire Nation manage to murder millions of people to complete extinction, they did it in a day? Seriously??? I'm not buying it.

Speaking of the Air Nomads, even if they decided not have any other air benders in the show (but seriously, why not?), there was no reason not to explore their culture a little more. There could have been history texts in those temples they visited. Aang could have discovered some scrolls on defensive air bending forms. Guru Pathik could have been less racist given more time to explain at least a bit of the nuance of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. Aang has a 12 year old's understanding of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. What could you tell anyone about your culture or your religious beliefs at 12? Maybe you'd absorbed a lot by then, but to be able to accurately explain either to someone who didn't already know? Well, we get the bulk of Air Nomad philosophy from Aang- the kid who couldn't even acknowledge that his own people had killed in self-defense.

Toph, Sokka, Suki, and, yes Katara should have been given more development and had more care shown to their inner workings. Aang and Zuko have way more time devoted to them (though the time spent on Zuko had more plot impact than Aang's). The other members of the Gaang deserved more shine, too. Especially Toph.

Obviously, I think Katara and Zuko should have ended up together, but I've written so much about that, so I'm going to end this here, because it's late and I still need to get ready for bed.

[hella1975]

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

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

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

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

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

[thwispsings]

Atla modern!au headcanons

This is gonna be a long ride so buckle up folks 

Sokka has at least one clothing item with “women want me, fish fear me” (and i’m betting it’s a crop top)

Zuko has to wear a hearing aid on his scarred ear

His vision is also not great on that side

Sokka has a soccer mom car

He also is the type of friend to start screaming “I SWEAR TO TUI AND LA THIS CAR IS NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS GARAGE UNTIL EVERYONE HAS SEATBELTS ON!”

Sokka is just a huge soccer mom friend

While Sokka is the braincell holder of the group, Zuko is their impulse control

Zuko goes to occupational therapy

The white lotus is a tea tasting club, they have discount cards at Iroh’s teashop

Piandao is a master of the blades

Also distinguished gay

Bumi is basically a cryptid, he’s the jersey devil of omashu

Piandao also once got arrested for fighting cops at pride

No cops at pride just Piandao and his blades

Bato and Hakoda are peak Kevin and Holt (everyone’s dads)

Before they came out Sokka and Katara had a bet going on with Gran gran on whether they would realize everyone already knew or not (gran gran won)

Zuko cannot drive to save his life but he’s incredible good with a motorcycle 

Toph basically lives with Iroh and Zuko, they’re her emotional support family figures

They have family game nights but pai sho was banned after the “great table breaking incident of 2018”

Suki is a master of at least three different known martial arts and some not really known ones

She still stutters when talking to pretty girls

Once a pretty girl smiled at Suki and she tripped and almost fell down a flight of stairs

Whenever a girl flirts with her she looses her cool when a guy flirts with her she is always non-impressed

She and Sokka are the best exes, always trolling each other tho

When Zuko and Sokka started dating her first reaction was telling Zuko “honestly you could do better” 

Toph and Zuko convinced Iroh to start selling coffee on the Jasmine Dragon

Once Toph drank seven cans of redbull in a row just for shits and giggles, Iroh still has nightmares about that day

Whenever Zuko pulls all nighters Toph always puts him to bed, no one knows how

If you go for a non bending au then Druk is a bearded dragon or a ferret, i will not accept other animals

Zuko is the only person that Toph let squish her cheeks, she always giggles at it, it’s adorable, on the other hand, Toph is the only person allowed to touch his scar (she likes to map her friends’ faces with her fingers)

Toph also has an inclination to simply plop herself on Zuko’s lap, he’s warm and very comfortable and he always hugs her without saying anything

Toph knows how to braid her and always braids Zuko’s

Sokka is totally a tiktoker and a streamer

Aang watched too many tiktoks with Sokka and spent an entire month referring to Appa as “fluffly boy” only

Aang’s first friend, incredibly, was Zuko

Zuko painted blue arrows on a hoodie to give it to Aang when he complained about waiting for the tattoos

Aang cried

They are the type of friends that make constant references to events no one else knows about besides the two of them

Much similar to the Toph and Zuko situation, Sokka has adopted Aang as his little brother

They both have their daily Sokka&Aang time

Which usually involves laying with Appa and talking 

Sometimes cloud watching, they compete to see who finds the clouds with weirder shapes

Aang gets Katara flowers every year on her birthday

Their first date was at Iroh’s teashop (mostly so Zuko could be there to calm Aang down)

They hold hands whenever Aang feels overwhelmed

Aang made Katara a total of 37 friendship bracelets and 16 bead necklaces

The two go ice skating every two weeks

Katara has at one point convinced each one of her friends to let her do the hair loopies on them at least once

Katara once fought a guy on an Ihop parking lot and she won

The guy was Hahn and she fought him because he called Sokka a wimp

Katara, Sokka and Hakoda cry every time they watch Balto

Katara and Zuko share Ever after as their favorite movie

Katara is a golden medal swimmer 

Yue lost her hair due to chemo so she has a collection of pretty white wigs

Yue deffinetely cosplayed as Mara from She-ra

Piadao knows Zuko ever since he was five years old

He is actually both Zuko’s and Lu Ten’s godfather

One of his most prized possessions is a mug saying “world’s best godfather” that Zuko made on therapy and gave him for fathers day 

Iroh has a matching but with “world’s best uncle” 

Bumi and Aang became friends after Appa almost ran over him at a park, no one understands this friendship

Piandao and Zuko can communicate solely through nods and grunts, and both understand each other perfectly

*At the tea shop*

Piandao: *grunts and nods curtly*

Zuko: he wants the orange and spices tea and a croissant

*at Piandao’s dojo*

Zuko: *huffs and shakes his head*

Piandao: ah yes Zuko thanks for reminding me, i should see that with your uncle as soon as possible, do you think Jeong Jeong will be able to help?

Zuko: *grunts*

Piandao: no, you’re right, that’s a ridiculous idea

And now the crocverse hcs in honor to @nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice

Iroh non-ironically loves crocs

Once he said “let me put them on sports mode” before getting out of the house and Zuko was this close to crying

Bumi is a croc enthusiast 

He non-ironically loves the croc gloves

Bumi is the one who told Iroh about “four wheels drive”

The first time Sokka and Iroh quoted the “WHAT ARE THOSE” vine Zuko actually considered running away to live with Piandao

Jeong Jeong hates crocs with all of his being

Piandao dislikes crocs but he feigns ignorance just to watch the chaos unfold and Jeong Jeong get pissed

There’s a bet going on who’s gonna break Jeong Jeong first

Most of the bets are on Bumi

Piandao once wore a pair of crocs only to watch Jeong Jeong squirm and get all huffy

Sokka gave Iroh a teacup with little crocs painted on it for his birthday

Toph says crocs are the best kind of shoes because “they’re open” 

Iroh has almost as many crocs as he has teacups

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Unlikely friends: Imagine being Toph’s cousin and befriending Azula, much to the gang’s horror and confusion as it starts to become something more...

Note: The is loosely based on the comic the search which takes place after the tv show ended

Part two here

part three here

Your pov

You’d never been exposed to Azula much. Of course you knew who she was, everyone in the four nations did, but you’d never met her face to face. You only joined the gang after Zuko was firelord and so the first time you met her was when Zuko recruited her to help find his mother.

You were at the royal palace when Zuko revealed his sister would be coming on the trip with the rest of you. The others all gasped as a girl appeared beside Zuko but you just blinked confused. The girl in front of you was your age, average to small height and honestly just looked tired and worn down. You’d heard Azula had been locked up for a year due to her mental health difficulties and you couldn’t understand how the others didn’t see this all over her.

Zuko noticed you staring at Azula and realised you’d never met before. “Ow you don’t know each other....y/n this is Azula, Azula this is y/n Toph’s cousin”. “Hmmm a Beifong so not a peasant but earth kingdom scum is still earth kingdom scum” Azula replied glancing over you. “Azula!” Zuko snapped but you just shrugged “it’s fine, nice to meet you Azula”. Azula blinked at you confused at the notion any one of her brother’s friends would ever be pleased to see her. She stared at you before moving past you. “Sorry she’s....like that” Zuko commented and you smiled “no need to apologise, i’m sure after everything she’s been through this is hard for her, tracking your mother down...I bet she’s very nervous to be seeing her again, that’s probably why she’s lashing out”. Zuko frowned “I guess, I hadn’t thought of it that way...”.

Throughout the trip you had more patience with Azula than the others because you empathised with her. Yes, she was rude and snarky but you could tell she was only doing that to get a reaction out of the people she knew hated her. You’d grown up with difficult people who liked to annoy an reaction out of you (your cousin was Toph freaking Beifong) and so you knew they usually did it when they didn’t feel welcome or good about themselves. So you never responded to Azula’s quips about you or retaliated in any way and slowly she stopped. Soon you noticed you were the only one in the group who Azula didn’t rush to attack. She largely acted like you weren’t there but you took that as a good sign. If it was just the two of you she seemed more relaxed, less guarded and you were glad you had that effect on her. You wanted her to know not everyone hated her and apparently she did. 

Obviously however Azula couldn’t just be alone with you the whole trip. She was surrounded by the gang who rightfully mistrusted and intensely disliked her. It was a stressful environment and you saw its growing mark on Azula each day...

You usually took the main night watch as you didn’t need as much sleep as the others and you’d noticed while everyone else slept soundly Azula would often jerk and mutter in her sleep endlessly. One night it was particularly bad. Azula curled up into herself and her mutterings sounded more like whimpers. You tried to ignore it and just focus on your book but after a while you couldn’t. So you approached her slowly and realised she must be having a particularly bad nightmare. Azula” you called trying to wake her up. When the girl didn’t respond you walked closer and knelt down beside her “Azula?” you called shaking her slightly. Azula jolted awake suddenly, sitting up so fast she almost headbutted you. She flinched away from you, fire at her fingertips before she blinked “ow it’s just you, what were you doing leaning over me?”. “You were having a nightmare I was trying to wake you” you replied and Azula glared “impossible nightmares are for weak people and children”. You laughed “no they’re not! Everyone gets nightmares, it’s not something you can control and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re weak”. Azula huffed sitting up and pulled her legs into her chest “well either way I wasn’t having one okay?”. You nodded your head raising your hands in surrender “fine”. Silence settled and you looked at her “well i’m going to go sit back by the fire, you can join me if you want. It’d be nice to have some company”. Azula huffed “no thank you” she said sarcastically and you shrugged “suit yourself but the invite is there”.

You sat down by the fire and returned to your book. You heard Azula shuffling around and after a few minutes saw her stand up and head towards you. You pretended not to notice as Azula got closer and only looked up when she reached the campfire. “Since you rudely woke me up and I can’t get back to sleep I’ve decided to sit here, there’s no point just laying on the floor”. You nodded your head “that makes sense” and smiled slightly. Azula looked down embarrassed but seemed grateful you didn’t push it. You sat in comfortable silence, only talking fleetingly and it was calm and neutral. Azula looked the most relaxed and normal you’d ever seen her and sure enough she soon fell back to sleep. You smiled and grabbed a blanket laying it over her. She may be difficult but difficult people were that way because they were hurting. You could sense that in Azula and didn’t want to cause her any more harm. You thought Azula could sense your intentions to her were different than the other’s and that’s why she behaved differently with you. Every time you interacted you saw more of Azula, the healthy happier Azula, but all the walls went back up as soon as the others were around. It upset you Azula didn’t feel comfortable with the others but at least feeling comfortable with one person was a start.

3 days later

You were finally only one day away from reaching the village Zuko’s mom was in and you all sat around discussing what to do next. Well apart from Azula, she was always made to stand away when you discussed plans, nobody forced her to but she felt unwelcomed so would usually go sulk out of earshot. It was decided you’d make the journey the next morning rather than arriving in the middle of the night. You nodded along with the plans before standing up and heading off in Azula’s direction “okay i’ll go let her know”. “Let who know?” Katara asked and you paused “Azula, she doesn’t know the plan”. “So?” Zuko asked and you hesitated “well shouldn’t we tell her....i mean she’s a part of the group now, she deserves to know what we’re dragging her into”. Aang nodded, Toph and Sokka shrugged but Katara and Zuko didn’t look convinced. “Fine i guess” Zuko shrugged and you nodded, going to get Azula from her stance by the woods. The gang all watching on confused. 

The next day

You reached Ursa’s village the next day and found her home easily. She was thrilled to see her children again and the town threw a large party to celebrate the return of Ursa’s son the fire lord. You all attended and the whole gang looked so happy to finally be off the road and in a house, Zuko especially was in high spirits. He was beaming, a grin spread from ear to ear and you smiled to see he hadn’t left his mother’s side since he’d found her again. You saw Zuko’s family, his mom, new little sister Kiyi and stepdad all sat together and paused....they looked like a perfect happy family but someone was missing. You glanced around and saw Azula was outside, as far away from the happy occasion as she could get and was staring intensely at the surrounding scenery. You made your way outside and Azula jumped. “Only me” you said holding up a hand and Azula lowered her hands but her shoulders were still tensed “what do you want?”. “Nothing” you shrugged “just wanted to see if you were okay”. “Of course i’m okay” Azula snapped and you frowned. Over the period you’d spent travelling you’d seen Azula improve, she was less jumpy and agitated but the second you’d reached her mother’s town she was right back at square one. Her mother had been the reason for her initial mental breakdown and you were worried something like this could set her over the edge again. You knew Azula wasn’t one for small talk but wanted her to feel less alone so started talking to her. “You know I haven’t seen my family in 5 years?”. Azula didn’t attack you so you carried on. “They sent me to go live with Toph’s parents when I was 12 and I haven’t seen them since. To be honest it wasn’t a big move I was at Toph’s all the time but still to make it permanent... My father...he worked a lot so I never saw him even when I was home but as for my other family. My mom and I never saw eye to eye on anything, she hated all my decisions and honestly I think she was glad when I left...it gave her more time to focus on my brothers. Her favourites, she’s always preferred my brothers to me just because they’ll carry on the name or whatever”. You trailed off and Azula raised an eyebrow “are you actually trying to bond with me over mommy issues?”. You paused and rushed to explain you weren’t trying anything when you saw Azula had a slight smirk on her face and so you smiled. “Why not?” you asked “my point is, my parents were never there for me and I turned out fine! They only have as much power over you as you let them. Azula tutted “you should save the philosophy for Aang y/n”. You smiled “I probably should but all i’m saying is you’re not a product of what they’ve done to you unless you let yourself be, unless you hold onto that anger. I’ve forgiven my mother and father for how they treated me”. Azula spun on you and you jumped to see how angry she suddenly looked. “You expect me to believe after all she did to you, you forgave her? How stupid do you think I am?”. “I have” you said confused “I hold no anger towards my mother anymore”. “Well you should” Azula commented “she doesn’t deserve anything less”. You shrugged “maybe so but that anger was causing me way more harm than it was her”. Azula didn’t respond and you frowned. “I haven’t forgotten what she...what all my family did to me and I haven’t let them off for it, I set boundaries and refuse to let them treat me that way anymore...but I also don’t fixate over what happened, it happened, it was in the past and that’s where it should stay...that’s where I make it stay, I won’t let it take up any more of my time”. Silence settled and as time stretched on you stopped expecting a reply. That was fine with you, you just hoped any part of what you’d said had made Azula feel a little better. “I’m cold so i’m going to head back inside, you could come with me? I hate entering parties alone” you tried to joke but Azula didn’t glance at you. You shrugged and started back inside when Azula sighed and appeared beside you “come on then, if I must hold your hand with everything”. You grinned as you realised this was Azula’s way of saying she’d come back to the party with you. “But we’re getting food” Azula told you “i’m starving, that food Sokka hands out is awful”. You grinned as you walked in together “blubbered seal jerky, it is awful but it does sustain you”, Azula wrinkled her nose in disgust and you laughed. “I never figured you a picky eater”. “I’m not” Azula said defiantly “but i refuse to eat any animal’s blubber” she commented piling a plate with food. Not wanting to make her eat alone you copied her and filled a plate too. You found a table near the outskirts of the party and sat down together. Azula tucked into her food and you were surprised at her appetite though you knew you shouldn’t be. The girl was a machine of muscle and strength, of course she ate a lot. Still you watched impressed as Azula cleared her plate "you were hungry" you grinned and Azula smirked "why do you never believe me?". "I don’t know maybe your whole history with manipulation?". Azula’s smirk vanished and you worried you’d gone too far when she laughed. It was odd seeing her face contort into a laugh and her shoulders shake but a good weird. You liked seeing it and felt very proud you’d made the fearsome and dreadful Azula laugh. So proud you didn’t even notice that your and Azula’s table was getting attention.

Ursa’s POV

Ursa’s head shot up as she heard a vaguely familiar but sorely missed sound and her eyes landed on Azula almost instantly. Azula was laughing! She was smiling at a friend and appeared happy. Joy filled Ursa’s heart and she felt her eyes tear up to see her daughter happy. "Mother?" Zuko asked and she jumped. "Are you okay?" Zuko asked and she nodded "it’s just your sister...". "What has she done now?" Zuko snapped and Ursa shook her head "nothing! I just, i know i showed favourites and i always regretted leaving you both, i worried it would impact you both beyond repair especially Azula but then i saw her smiling...". Zuko followed his mothers gaze not believing her until he saw Azula beside you. His mother was right, Azula was actually smiling...well her form of a smile which was more of an upturned lip but still for Azula that was insane. "Who is her friend?" Ursa asked "she seems lovely". "Y/n" Zuko said confused "i didn’t even know they were friends" he was ashamed to admit. Ursa noticed and patted his back "i know things can’t have been easy and i’m sorry for my part in that but things can only get better now, for all of us" she said glancing back to Azula and Zuko nodded "apparently so".

Your POV

After the party was finished you were heading to your shared room with Toph when Katara appeared "y/n can we talk?". You shrugged and motioned for her to follow you into the room. She did and once inside you turned to her expectantly. "What are you doing are you insane!" she burst. You blinked "come again?". "Since when are you friends with Azula! Why would you want to be? What is wrong with you?". You took in the comments and breathed "erm...i guess we’ve become friends over the journey, i have spent the most time with her, i didn’t try to become friends with her i just talked to her and treated her like a human and it kind of just happened. As for what’s wrong with me....how long have you got?". Toph laughed and Katara glared "y/n this isn’t funny, don’t you remember all she’s done!". You rolled your eyes "ow yeah all water under the bridge...of course i haven’t forgotten what she's done but i have seen enough of her to know she’s just as broken as Zuko, she’s human Katara and she deserves the decency of being treated like one". Katara tutted "i don’t remember seeing an inch of humanity in her". "Well i’m sure if you start really looking at her you'll find it" you said sharply "now I’m going to bed so goodnight" and you turned away from the water bender letting her know this conversation was over.

Mai’s POV After Ursa had been found everyone returned to the fire nation to celebrate. Zuko was the happiest Mai had ever seen him but he wasn’t the only one who returned from the journey oddly happy. Thanks to her help Azula hadn’t been locked back up upon her return and she was freely roaming the palace. Old habits die hard and Mai found herself watching the girl who’d tormented her through her childhood and was surprised by what she saw. Azula had made a friend and one that actually seemed to genuinely like her judging by your smile. "So...Azula and y/n seem to get on" Mai commented and Zuko nodded amazed that this friendship had formed and that Azula was here at the party at all. He figured knowing their mother would be here she’d have run and hidden but here she was. "They seem quite close" Mai carried on "are they...is it more than a friendship?". Zuko paused "what?". Ty lee nodded "i was thinking the same thing, notice how Azula hardly looks away from her?". Mai nodded and Zuko frowned, clearly lost in the conversation. "I don’t know...i don’t think so" he babbled. Mai rolled her eyes at how clueless Zuko was "well is y/n or has y/n ever dated anyone to your knowledge". "No..." Zuko frowned. "They’re so dating" Ty lee grinned and Zuko frowned "are you sure? I mean my sister...date anyone?". Mai shook her head "you know she is a human being right Zuko? And an attractive one at that, i wouldn’t be surprised if she and y/n kindled something it's actually rather...sweet".

 Azula’s POV

Azula had only agreed to come to this party because you were going to be here and also because she’d been assured her mother wouldn’t try anything with her. Still Azula had been apprehensive to attend and the second you left her side her suspicions were confirmed. She was ambushed.  "Sooooo" Azula heard and turned to see an old friend? Ex friend? She still wasn’t sure but either way there was Ty lee grinning her. "Ty lee" she nodded at her curtly. "It’s good to see you" Ty lee smiled "i noticed you and y/n seem close". Azula raised an eyebrow, Ty lee was never good at being subtle and clearly meant something more with those words. "If you’re worried she’s beating you in the rankings of friendship you needn’t worry, you dropped right out of there the minute you betrayed me". Ty lee paused and Azula smirked "your face, you always were too easy to fool". Ty lee laughed nervously, Azula knew how to joke now?  "But seriously what’s up with you and y/n? Is it friends....is it more?". Azula paused "more?". "Well you guys just seemed very close" Ty lee shrugged "almost couple-y". Azula paused, this was a new perspective for her, she hadn’t even thought about her friendship with you or that it could be something more....now the idea was there she realised it wasn’t such a bad one.  She liked you, she thought you were nice to be around and funny. Not to mention you were beautiful and athletic. Azula thought it over while Ty lee almost burst. "So?" Ty lee finally asked and Azula paused. She didn’t want Ty lee to go around telling people before she even knew what she wanted so she shook her head "me and y/n are just friends". Ty lee looked disappointed "ow...well i’m still glad you’ve got such a good friend, you look a lot happier than i’ve ever seen you" Ty lee smiled and Azula realised she was. Even here at the palace where she had so many bad memories it wasn’t as bad anymore. Azula suspected a lot of that was because of you and felt a blush rise to her cheeks. How hadn’t she worked this out sooner? 

A few days later

All good things had to come to an end. With the mission a success the avatar and all his friends were leaving the fire nation soon and Azula knew you were planning on leaving too. You were going to help the little earth bender with her school. Azula knew Toph was the person you cared most about in the world so of course you’d want to go with her but part of her wished you wouldn’t. She wished you had nothing to pull you away from her.

She’d heard from Zuko you were leaving soon and so she debated back and forth if she should come see you to say goodbye or just let you go. As the time trickled away and the day of your departure arrived she decided to just swallow her pride and come and find you. She found you in your room in the palace doing some very late packing. You had apparently just finished as she found you lining up your luggage for the trip. “Azula” you said happily spotting her and she couldn’t help but smile “hi y/n”. “Hello” you smiled “how are you?”. “I’m good, and you?”. “Great” you smiled “we’re all set to leave soon! I can’t wait to get home”. Azula nodded “I can imagine” and stared at the floor. “Is everything okay?” you asked and Azula tensed. “Everything’s fine I just wanted to say goodbye”  Azula shrugged meeting your eye and smiling slightly. She thought she’d been pretty convincing but apparently not.

Your POV

"Azula what’s wrong? I can tell somethings bothering you" you said frowning and came to stand closer to her. You could tell she was nervous, something you’d rarely seen on the firebender’s face. "I...i was just wondering when you were coming to the fire nation again?". You paused "well i’m not sure honestly, i guess whenever the gang comes again, why have you got a big festival coming up or something?". Azula shook her head "no we don’t...". She sounded disappointed and an idea formed in your head, did Azula not want you to go? "The gang might be too busy to just swing by but that doesn’t mean i can’t" you said testing the water and saw Azula’s eyes widen and her cheeks flush slightly. "I think that would be nice" she said looking down and you smiled softly. Azula wanted you around! "Yeah?" you asked and Azula nodded "i guess i’ve become...accustomed to your presence" she said.

You almost laughed that this was what Azula thought was an honest compliment. No, Azula could do better than that so you prompted her.

"Accustomed to my presence?" you asked raising an eyebrow and Azula searched for words before sighing. "I like being around you" she shrugged going red "so you coming back to the fire nation wouldn’t be a bad thing i guess". You grinned "you’d cope with that idea?". Azula nodded her head still blushing "i would". You laughed and couldn’t stop smiling at Azula’s blush. "Well in that case i’d be more than happy to have regular visits, not to mention you can come visit me and Toph at her school anytime you want". "I can?" Azula asked and you nodded "of course! You think i’d leave you all alone with these firebenders and no escape route". Azula smiled at you, a genuine happy smile and nodded her head "that’s...thank you, i’m sure i’ll be taking you up on that offer frequently". "As much as you want" you said taking her hand "i mean it Azula, even if it’s just for a few hours or a night, you’re always welcome with me". Azula stared at you and wondered again how she hadn’t realised she liked you before. It was so obvious to her now, she only hoped it wasn’t so obvious to you but judging by the fact she had a permanent blush this whole time she wasn’t too sure about that. Azula nodded "thank you y/n" and you smiled "no problem". You carried on looking at her before blushing at your close proximity and stepped away. "So i best be going but expect many letters". Azula chucked and you shrugged "what? I’m not kidding? I love writing letters, you will receive many from me, once a day if you’re lucky". Azula smiled "i promise to reply to every single one" and you grinned "you better". You started towards the door and stopped to look back at her. "I’ve really enjoyed our time together and I just wanted you to know...i think you’re pretty amazing”. Azula blushed "thank you....you’re also very good". You chuckled at her awkward reply and smiled "all i meant was, don’t let anyone tell you you’re not good enough, from where i’m standing...that’s not the case at all, in any way". Azula’s face turned an even deeper shade of red and you smiled. "Anyway i’ll go now, bye Azula". "Bye y/n" she managed and with a last smile you were gone. Azula immediately felt a pang of loneliness but then thought of what you’d do. She took a few deep breaths and repeated what you’d told her. She was good enough, she was more than good enough, she didn’t need to be insecure or cruel. She opened her eyes, let out a sigh and turned to her daily tasks. She'd see you again soon enough and only 13 hours until your promised daily letter, Azula could wait that long.

____

I absolutely love this idea of Azula finding someone she can be open and vulnerable with and might make this into a 3 part series??

[beifongsss]

jealousy [sokka]

Pairing: Sokka x firebending!reader

Summary: You like Sokka. Like, reaaaaally like him. However, any time you feel like you’re ready to confess your feelings, it seems as though he finds himself wrapped up in yet another romance.

this was originally the first atla fic i ever wrote and it was inspired by Dreamer Boy’s song “Puppy Dog”!

.masterlist.

~

The first time you decided to tell Sokka how you felt about him was when the Gaang had finally reached the Northern Water Tribe. You had been debating over whether or not to confess to Sokka for weeks, ever since you had visited the village where Aunt Wu resided. She had told you that you would be a powerful bender and that your love life would be immensely successful because you were meant to end up with a guy with a heart of gold and the spirit of a warrior. When she had added that he would be a nonbender, you had just known it was Sokka and all the skipped heartbeats and butterflies you felt around him finally made sense. As the waterbenders opened the gate and Appa drifted through, you had asked to talk to Sokka. Katara and Aang were distracted by the snowy city around them and Sokka had obliged, sitting beside you as you took a deep breath to ready yourself.

“Sokka,” you began, nervousness coursing through your veins as you took a deep breath. “Listen, I li-”

“Look!” Katara interrupted, pointing at an ornate looking building. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Sokka, who had been leaning over Appa’s saddle to get a better look at what his sister was pointing to, sighed dreamily as his gaze settled upon a teenage girl in a gondola. “Yeah, she is.”

Following his line of sight, you sighed in defeat before bringing your knees up to your chest and hugging them.

~

You decided not to bring your feelings up again until the Gaang got to Ba SIng Se safely. You were feeling more confident by the minute, at least you were until you reached the ferry station.

Your confidence dropped back down when you discovered that Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors were there as well, noticing the way the pretty girl looked at Sokka. The whole time you spent in the ferry station and the beginning of your journey through the Serpent’s Pass was spent in silence, causing Katara to worry. Eventually, she had coaxed your secret from you, looking at you with a mix of amusement and repulsion when you told her you liked Sokka.

“Really? Him?” Katara asked, looking at her brother who was currently arguing with a twelve year old. You blushed fiercely and looked away. Noticing your expression, Katara quickly tried to fix her words. “I mean, him? Yeah, he’s a dream.”

You stifled a laugh as you noticed Katara’s pained expression. “It’s alright Katara, you don’t have to be nice about it. We can’t control who we like.”

“I’m sure he likes you too,” Katara said softly. “He’s just a little slow. Plus, you’re pretty good friends, he wouldn’t know how to approach you romantically.”

You opened your mouth to reply but instead found yourself letting out a sharp yelp as the ledge you were standing on gave out.

“(Y/N)!” Katara screamed as you plummeted, making everyone stop and turn around. “Toph, do something!”

Your fall came to an abrupt stop as you landed on a flat piece of earth. You felt the slab of rock begin to slide upwards as Toph brought you back up to where everyone else was standing. Silently, you walked up to Toph and engulfed her in a hug, shaking slightly from all the adrenaline. The hug didn’t last long however, and you were soon pulled away from Toph and brought into another tight hug.

“Are you okay?” Sokka whispered as he hugged you. “Geez...what happened? You scared me to death!”

You didn’t reply, instead meeting Katara’s eyes as she gave you a knowing look. Cheeks blazing, you pulled away from Sokka and brushed yourself off. “I’m fine. Let’s keep going. We can’t waste any more time.”

After making sure that you truly were fine, Aang encouraged everyone to continue. Eventually, night fell and you all decided to stop and rest for the night. You placed your sleeping bag down next to Katara’s, only to find it being ripped away from you.

“Not too close to the edge (Y/N/N)!” Sokka exclaimed, laying your sleeping bag right next to his. “You have to be more careful.”

You rolled your eyes before walking over to him. “Ok Sokka. Whatever you say.”

“Wait!” Sokka screamed suddenly, holding his arm out to stop you from moving forwards.

“What?” you asked, slightly exasperated.

“Oh, nothing,” Sokka replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought I saw a spider.”

Shaking your head, you curled up in your sleeping bag, once again rolling your eyes at the way Katara was looking at the close proximity between you and Sokka. “Good night everyone.”

You struggled to fall asleep, tossing and turning until you felt Sokka get up from his spot next to you and walk off. Turning once more, you noticed Katara waving at you and trying to catch your attention. When she got it, she motioned for you to go after Sokka. Quietly getting up, you began to walk off, ignoring Katara as she whispered, “Go confess!”

Nervously wringing your hands, you made your way over to where you knew Sokka would be, once again building up your confidence. When you finally got there, your heart dropped as you saw Suki and Sokka inches away from each other.

“Oh!” you gasped, loud enough to draw their attention. They flew apart immediately, turning to look at you with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t- I didn’t know.”

“(Y/N), wait!” Sokka shouted, looking after you as you fled. You didn’t go back to the campground, instead choosing to wander off on your own. You could feel your palms heating up, faint curls of steam escaping your nostrils as your emotions overwhelmed you and caused your bending to act up. Breathing deeply, you sat down and looked up at the moon. You stayed there all night, sighing softly and suppressing your fire as the moon seemed to glow a little bit brighter.

~

After walking in on Sokka’s almost-kiss with Suki, you decided to give up on confessing your feelings. You had all been quite busy anyways, what with trying to tell the Earth King about the upcoming solar eclipse, running from Azula, and trying to come up with a plan to invade the Fire Nation. With all that had happened, you and Sokka had drifted apart, the sudden distance between you two a little intentional on your part. Maybe it was for the better, at least that way your heart wouldn’t ache every time he smiled at you after telling you one of his jokes.

Eventually you began to wonder if Aunt Wu’s prediction was wrong. Or maybe you just hadn’t met the boy with a heart of gold and the spirit of a warrior that you were meant to end up with.

After the Day of Black Sun, the younger members of the invasion army found themselves settled into the Western Air Temple. It was there that everyone unanimously voted to have you become Aang’s firebending teacher. You had initially refused, not wanting to teach Aang firebending the way you had learned it; by depending on your emotions. You tended to have trouble controlling your fire when you allowed your emotions to take control, which wouldn’t help Aang in any way. You had only agreed to teach him after stating that you would only do it if they allowed Zuko to teach Aang as well.

Sokka had been the loudest to complain about Zuko joining your group, claiming that he was evil and that they didn’t need another firebender running around. You had been slightly offended by his comments and continuously vouched for Zuko, seeing that he had truly changed and that he wanted to help Aang. As a result, you ended up spending most of your time with the prince, offering him friendship when no one else did. A problem soon arose however, when you actually began to teach Aang how to firebend.

~ “Listen everybody, I have some pretty bad news. I’ve lost my stuff,” Zuko announced, walking into the courtyard where everyone was. You were trailing behind him quietly.

“Don’t look at me,” Toph said immediately, raising her hands in defense. “I didn’t touch your stuff.”

“He’s talking about firebending,” you stated, laughing at her words. “And he’s not the only one.”

Katara’s snickering stopped as she looked at you with wide eyes. “Not you too!”

You shifted uncomfortable as everyone stared at you. “Well, I can still bend. The issue is that my flames are too big and destructive. I’m having quite a bit of trouble trying to keep them controlled.”

“Wouldn’t big flames be a good thing?” Sokka asked. “Just teach Aang how to do it and he’ll burn the Fire Lord to a crisp.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” you said tiredly. “A lot of firebenders draw their energy from their emotions but when they’re too strong, their bending gets too dangerous and out of hand.”

“Strong emotions?” Sokka whispered, his heart speeding up slightly as he stared at you.

“Yes,” Zuko answered. “For me, it used to be anger and hatred. For (Y/N), it stems from great love or sadness.

“Zuko!” you hissed, flushing as you faced him. Zuko stared back at you, a teasing smile on his lips. You shot him an alarmed look before glancing at Sokka.

When he first arrived, Zuko had had no trouble figuring out your feelings for the Water Tribe boy. Much like Katara, he had been put off by your feelings, always having thought of Sokka as nothing more than an immature boy.

Sokka, on the other hand, had not seen the panic behind the look you had aimed at Zuko and he felt an uncomfortable feeling settle in his chest at the way the prince was smiling at you. He kept noticing the glances you were sending towards Zuko, unaware that you were actually trying to burn a hole into the side of his head with your glare. In Sokka’s head, your recent aloofness towards him was starting to make sense.

“Look,” Zuko said, drawing the attention back to him. “I don’t want to rely on anger and hatred anymore. There has to be another way to regain my bending.”

“You’re gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source,” Toph said, leaning back on the rock she was sitting on. “I recommend the original source.”

“How’s he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?” Sokka asked, sounding way too happy.

“No. Zuko and (Y/N) need to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is,” Toph stated once again. “For earthbending, the original benders were the badgermoles.”

You and Zuko exchanged uneasy looks before you spoke. “The original firebenders were the dragons.”

“And they’re extinct,” Zuko added, annoyance creeping onto his face when Aang mentioned that Avatar Roku used to have one. “But maybe there’s another way. The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors.”

“Yeah, but they died thousands of years ago,” you said, cutting Aang off when he began to speak. “But their civilization wasn’t too far from where we are now.”

“Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins!” Aang exclaimed.

“So what?” Sokka asked, standing up. “Maybe you’ll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?”

“More or less,” you replied quietly. “Either we learn a new way to firebend, or Aang has to find a new teacher.”

~

In the few days that you had been gone with Aang and Zuko, Sokka had been in a rotten mood. Everyone else had noticed it and Teo and The Duke had even started a game to see who could annoy Sokka the most without making him explode.

It was only when Momo began to avoid him as well that Katara had finally had enough.

“What is going on with you Sokka?” Katara finally exclaimed. “When Haru tried to ask if you wanted some meat, you threw your boomerang at him!”

Sokka grumbled something under his breath, causing Katara to roll her eyes.

“You’ve been acting this way ever since (Y/N) and Zuko-” Katara trailed off as a smirk spread across her face. “You’re jealous!”

“W-What? No!” Sokka exclaimed, stumbling over his words as his face turned bright red. “Why would I be jealous? Who would I be jealous of?”

“Zuko,” Katara stated dully. “You’re jealous of Zuko and (Y/N)’s relationship.”

“They’re in a relationship?” Sokka screeched as he jumped to his feet and began pacing.

“No!” Katara said. “I was referring to their friendship.”

“Oh,” Sokka breathed, coming to a stop and running his hand through his hair, pulling it out of his warrior’s wolf tail in the process. The more he thought about how you and Zuko interacted, the more bothered he got. Katara watching him struggle with his emotions with amusement, wiping the smile off her face when he finally spoke. “I guess...I am jealous.”

Katara rolled her eyes before standing up and facing her brother, her expression becoming serious. “We know. When she gets back, just tell her how you feel. Remember, we’re up against the Fire Lord and things can change in a matter of seconds. Don’t leave things unsaid.”

Sokka sat back down and pushed his hair away from his face, thinking about Katara’s words. He stayed there for a while, smiling when he looked up and saw Appa’s silhouette growing closer and closer. Taking a few breaths, he began to hype himself up.

“Ok Sokka,” he whispered to himself. “You got this. Just tell her how you feel and everything will work out.”

He leapt up when Appa landed, immediately climbing up to reach his saddle. He was shaking with so much nervousness at what he was about to do that he didn’t notice Aang looking down at him.

“Sokka!” Aang whisper-yelled, shooting him a bright smile. “Where is everyone else?”

“They’re in the sleeping hall. It’s pretty early,” Sokka replied normally, only to be shushed by Aang as he finally reached the saddle.

“Don’t be too loud,” Aang whispered, motioning to you. Sokka felt his heart drop to his stomach as his eyes landed on you. You were sitting next to Zuko, the two of you curled up against Appa’s saddle.Your head was resting on the prince’s shoulder, his head resting on top of yours as you both napped peacefully. One of Zuko’s arms was wrapped loosely around your waist to make sure you didn’t topple over, not that Sokka was aware of that.

With a hurt expression, Sokka climbed off of Appa, dejectedly making his way into the sleeping hall. Noticing his downcast expression, Katara made her way over to him. “What’s wrong Sokka?”

“What’s wrong?” Sokka repeated sadly, walking past her. “What’s wrong is that I was too late, Katara. She likes Zuko.”

Katara looked at Sokka in confusion as he curled up in his sleeping bag, turning to face the wall. She straightened up as she heard voices approaching and turned to face you and Zuko, who was smiling at something you had said as you rubbed at your eyes sleepily.

“You’re back!” Katara exclaimed, making her way over to you. You hugged her tightly before replying.

“Yeah, we are. It was an interesting trip,” you said, smiling softly.

“It was!” Aang exclaimed, walking in. “It really helped (Y/N) and Zuko bond over these last few days!”

Sokka grumbled faintly at Aang’s words, not turning to face the group.

“We also learned a new way to firebend,” Zuko added. “A more traditional technique.”

“You should show them!” Aang said excitedly, turning to face you. “Please?”

You hesitated before nodding, not being able to deny Aang anything. Zuko agreed when he saw you nod. Quietly, the two of you made your way to the courtyard, followed by everyone else. Even Sokka had joined, being dragged along by Katara.

“Alright,” you breathed. “Here goes nothing.”

You and Zuko stood a few feet apart, breathing deeply before launching into the perfectly practiced routine you had learned from the dragons. The routine went smoothly and it was dead silent in the courtyard, apart from the occasional huff from you or Zuko. The routine came to an end when you and Zuko ended up chest to chest, the two of you breathing heavily as you looked at each other. With a small squeal, you launched yourself at him, smiling widely. You threw your arms around his neck and he grabbed your waist, stabilizing the two of you.

“We did it!” you exclaimed, only to hear soft claps from everyone else. You pulled away from Zuko in time to see Sokka storming off. Everyone’s clapping died down at Sokka’s departure, an awkward silence taking over.

“Go to him,” Katara said softly, urging you out the door. You looked back hesitantly, only to see Aang waving you off and Zuko giving you a thumbs up. You awkwardly shuffled off to where you expected Sokka to be, finding him in the sleeping hall where he was throwing his boomerang around.

“Sokka, are you okay?” you asked quietly, approaching him slowly. You’ve been acting weird and everyone’s worried about you.”

Sokka caught his boomerang once again and put it down, standing up from where he had been sitting. “What? No I’m perfectly fine.”

His response was short and you couldn’t help but flinch slightly at his sharp tone.

“You can go back to your good ol’ pal Zuko.”

Your eyebrows furrowed at his words and you crossed your arms in front of you. “Is this what this is about? Zuko? Are you really still upset over the fact that we accepted him into the group?”

Sokka stayed silent as you started walking closer to him, waving your arms in exasperation as you spoke.

“Why can’t you just accept that he’s changed? He’s clearly not the same person he used to be and now Aang has a firebending teacher. Him joining us is a good thing and you’re over here acting like-”

Your words were cut off as Sokka cupped your face in his hands. The words that were on the tip of your tongue died down as you looked into his bright blue eyes.

The two of you stood in tense silence for a minute. You felt your cheeks heat up under his touch, neither one of you saying anything as you looked at each other. Sighing softly, he rested his forehead against yours. You closed your eyes, your whole face now burning brightly from the close proximity between the two of you. You felt Sokka nudge his nose against yours and you opened your eyes to see him raise an eyebrow, an unspoken question hanging in between you. Closing your eyes once again, you nodded softly, your head spinning as Sokka’s hands began to tremble slightly before he pressed his lips to yours.

You held your breath, not fully believing what was happening. The kiss was nothing more than a brush of his lips against yours, over way too quickly as Sokka recoiled and let his hands drop before turning away.

“S-Sokka, I-” you began, stumbling over your words. Your heart was racing as you gently touched your lips, wondering if he really did feel the same way you did.

“Save it,” Sokka replied, his tone softer than earlier. “Go back to Zuko and forget I ever did that.”

“I can’t,” you replied softly, walking over to him. “I can’t forget you did that Sokka. I’ve been waiting for a sign that you might like me back for the longest time and now that I finally have it, you want me to forget about it?”

Sokka turned around, disbelief clear on his face. “You like me? N-No. You like Zuko.”

Your face softened at his words. “Is that why you’ve been in such a mood? Because you thought I liked Zuko?”

Sokka bowed his head down in disappointment. “He’s a prince (Y/N). He’s a prince and a firebender and how could I ever compete with that?”

“You don’t have to,” you replied immediately. “I like you, not him. I’ve liked you ever since I joined you guys on your journey. Zuko and I got close because we’re both firebenders and because we know what it’s like to be considered traitors to our nation, not because we like each other.”

“You don’t like Zuko?” Sokka asked dumbly. You shook your head.

“No. I already told you, I like-” you were cut off yet again, this time by Sokka pressing his lips to yours in an urgent manner. You wasted no time in kissing back, your hands coming up to rest on his chest as he grabbed your waist tightly, pulling you impossibly close. The kiss was desperate and slightly messy, the two of you pouring all of your emotions into it. You could feel his heart pounding underneath your hands and you were almost certain that he could feel yours as well.

Pulling back, you kept your eyes closed as you hesitated to ask the question on your mind. “What about Suki?”

Sokka kissed you once more before answering. “I don’t like her. I love you.”

Sokka’s eyes widened at his unexpected proclamation and he looked at you in panic. Your eyes shined brightly and you replied quickly before he could try to stutter out an excuse.

“I love you too.”

You hugged him tightly before kissing him yet again, his arms winding around your waist again as he responded enthusiastically. This was what you had been waiting for, and the safety that the two of you felt in each other’s arms was comforting.

“It took us long enough,” Sokka muttered against your lips, causing you to laugh softly.

“You talk too much,” you replied before reconnecting your lips.

The two of you only pulled away when you heard Toph’s voice, followed by multiple footsteps.

“I found them! They’re in here kissing, my feet can feel it!”

~

taglist!

@musicalkeys, @mywigglybaby​, @bubblebars​, @iguessthefloorislava​, @dekahg​, @boxofteenageideas​