#exiled zuko

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

Seal-Shark Jerky (Zukka)

Chief!Sokka, ExiledPirate!Zuko AU

Sokka stays behind in the village to help his people and only Katara and Aang go away.

In the Tribe it's common knowledge that Sokka loves seal-shark jerky. It's his favorite food. Everyone, including Zuko, a pirate known by the name Blue Spirit, feared in the Four Seas by every Fire Nation stamped ship and revered by any outcast, who likes to spend the crews breaks and recoveries in the lands of the young Chief.

Or so he thought, until...

"I hate jerky" admitted Sokka in the silence of the night, Zuko to be the only ear in miles "I've never said that outloud before..." he laughed shakily "when I first started taking care of the Tribe, when I was around ten-... Oh, by La, I was so young" a hand in his mouth, incredulous.

Zuko couldn't even imagine the pressure, the fear.

"A-anyways, back then, the food started depleting, because all the hunters had gone to war and nobody knew how to hunt. At least not well enough. Later on, people learned"

Sokka shifted, avoiding his eyes, but unable to stop himself.

"Everyone, the children more than anyone else, hated jerky, which was the most abundant source of nutrients, and almost the only one, for a while" a sigh, reminiscent "I knew that I, being the closest to their age, excluding Katara, and having been left in charge by the Chief, my father, that they had begun to see me even more as their role model" he closed his eyes, a small smile touching his lips "So I used that to my advantage"

Zuko couldn't take his eyes away from the young Chief. Even if he had wanted to, which he didn't.

"So I started telling everyone how jerky was the best thing ever invented, salty and impossible to chew as it is. That winter was the first, and the only one, in which jerky almost went out" a soft laugh, Zuko blushes, and bullshits himself into believing it's because of the cold air "The next winter, there was more variety of food, but the Tribe wholeheartedly believed I went crazy over jerky, and gave me their jerky rations all the time, until jerky was the only thing I ate for a while"

A rush of cold air goes through, and Sokka closes the gap between them completely. Zuko is the warmest thing in the entire continent, at that moment.

"And so, they ate other things, and left the jerky to me. I think eating so much jerky may be the only reason why my fangs are so sharp" He laughed, from deep in his belly, this time. He wasn't sad anymore "Now, when I eat it, I'm happy, because it means someone else is eating something better. So yes, jerky is my favorite food, and I hate the taste of it"

Could Zuko actually fall more in love with that idiot?

It seemed like he could.

[crazy-ache]

We are not the same.

Some folks: SJM foreshadowed a blood duel between Azriel and Lucien in the Bonus Chapter to win Elain’s heart/claim his mate.

Me, an intellectual: SJM foreshadowed the blood duel in regard to Lucien because he will use it to save Elain’s life, likely from Beron, because this time he will be powerful enough to stop Jesminda’s fate from repeating itself again.

[a-mirror-of-memories]

Not the last Airbender Au

From Kyoshi’s novels we learned that Air Nomads can lose their bending by neglecting their spiritual side and clinging to earthy desires and that’s exactly what happened to the survivors of the genocide who managed to stay hidden. Even if they wanted to cling to what was left of their culture their fear for theirs and their loved ones lives shackled them like anything else. Wanting to preserve at least a little of their heritage some Air Nomads went to great lengths to painstakingly write down every airbending form, dish, book, plant, festival or anecdote they still remembered; then they hid them away with the hope that they’ll be found only when the war’s finally over and their descendants could start to rebuild their lives. Others decided to pass their stories the oral way, sharing their culture with their children in secret even if they couldn’t fully embrace it as non benders.

But the children, not fully understanding the tragedy they were living been so young, weren’t always non benders.

Not all their children and not on every generation but airbending keep finding its way back and refused to be erased without a trace. After 100 years of war what was left of the Air Nomads culture was small and hidden away but against all odds was still fighting for survival.

Some parents cried when they saw their kids’ airbending for the first time, passing down everything they could even if it should forever be kept a secret from everyone else. Others were terrified of the danger it implied, punishing and beating the child until they were unable to create anything stronger than a small breeze. But there were still those who the war had turned cruel, who saw such children as something disgusting that should be destroyed before anyone found out.

It was exactly the later situation that prince Zuko stumbled upon only a few months after been exiled.

[bluespiritshonour]

I'm kicking, screaming, crying, throwing up, pulling my hair out by the roots—

Exile by Taylor Swift is such a Maiko-coded song. Like, it doesn't get more perfect. Literally every single line of that song fits with Maiko perfectly ugh!!!

The way I'm feeling right now has no solution, no relief. It's like how you want to crush cute things cause there really isn't any response that would deal with the stimulus called cuteness? I'm going crazy because I can't express how much I love this song and I love maiko and sometimes words aren't necessary. Sometimes it's just the vibes and exile is so maiko in vibes—I feel like I've understood a lot of things I feel like throwing up.

It's like Zuko and Aang looking at the dragon flames and understanding firebending. I listen to exile and it's just—maiko in my head...just pictures and vibes and feels. No words apart from the ones in the song and they fit, okay?

[mandareeboo]

What exactly happened in the time after Azusa failed to kill ozai?

Azula managed to damage some old property that cost more than the entire Fire Nation Army probably and was arrested immediately. She sort of aimed at Ozai's head but managed to hit an overhang instead.

Ozai was like. Well that's a waste of a daughter. Maybe prison will straighten you out. Ozai's not exactly known for forgiveness and he literally just burned Zuko so I imagine he was kind of in a rock and hard place about letting Azula go without punishment. He eventually settled on losing an arm bc you can still firebend with one arm. Azula picked the arm that represents Zuko.

Anyway while Zuko's on his way out of the nation he visits her jail and just-so-happens to unlock her cell bc in his mind he's after the honor he lost so he's giving Azula the ability to regain her honor as well. He expected her to fuck off but she just showed up on the ship bc she wants to see the world lol.

[muses-of-the-memory]

Happy Mother's Day from the World of Avatar

[sooz-again]

Looking at some of my old, abandoned works, and wishing I had notes on how I'd intended to finish them.

[flameohotfamily]

i’ve been listening to exile and  “you're not my homeland anymore, so what am i defending now?” hits so hard when i think about post breakup maiko where mai goes to earth kingdom and spends there some time dealing with her mental health. i have this hc in my mind 

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

I have a collection of sad boys that I carry around in my pocket and I have had some of them since I was very small and some that have climbed in there quite recently but I love them all same and every now and then I take them out of my pocket and play them them like dolls and other times I hold them to my chest and cry and pet their hair and kiss their little forehead and assure them one day everything will be alright one day everything will be okay again

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

FINALLYYYY~~ Seal-Shark Jerky (2/2) [I think it can be read on it's own, tho].

Look, I loved doing this comic, but I can't deny it was a lot of work. At least for someone who's used to making one fan work=one post.

This proyect ended up becoming five different posts. That's quite a lot. I don't know if I should make a masterpost. Let me know if I should, pls

Also, I downloaded and *cof, cof* pirated *cof, cof* (don't worry, I stole only from AI xD) a lot of new brushes, textures and onomatopeias.

If it's annoying, or you guys think it just doesn't work with this particular comic/my art style, also let me know. Taking the onomatopeias out of this wouldn't be all that difficult, I think.

Clothing Design (Skipable).

Zuko's Arrival (Skipable, but I'll be sad :c).

Seal-Shark Jerky Comic (Part 1/2).

Interlude (Skipable).

Seal-Shark Jerky (Zukka) The One-Shot I based this on~

[lu-nate]

So…… does anyone else think they might pull a Zuko’s mom with Kanata’s mom

[thebanishedprince-atla]

Playlist Collection: Zuko

[profounddestinyrebel]

And you Know that the reason he knows this works is because someone did it to him, right?

Probably an accident, but it Happened

The Blue Spirit putting out firebending with a bucket of water is the absolute funniest thing ever done in avatar combat. It just is.

[surgepricing]

I think about Azula shooters often and their common refrain of "if Azula hadn't had a mental breakdown, she would've won" and I'm here to tell you that no, she wouldn't have.

There is no universe in which Azula was winning that fight with Zuko (or Katara, for that matter).

Azula spent so much of Book 2 being built up as this deadly terrifying force against whom the heroes are badly outmatched that it can be difficult to catch exactly how quickly Zuko is advancing.

Back up a bit to Book One. For the fearsome exiled crown prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko's not that impressive a firebender. He's not bad by any stretch, and he's able to lay the untrained Sokka and Katara flat pretty easily. Then he gets in the ring with Aang, who is an airbending master, and the difference between a regular bender and a master becomes apparent when Aang literally puts his ass to bed:

People have attributed this to the fact that no one's fought an airbender in 100 years, but I think it's also worth noting that Aang (a 12 year old from a pacifist nation) has probably never fought anyone before. Like, ever. And yet the second Aang thinks "okay, I'll attack back", the fight's over.

Zuko's got the same genetic predisposition for firebending talent that Azula does, yet it never seems to manifest because of his mental blocks. At the beginning of the series, he's already so beat down that all he really has is conviction, pride, and anger, so even with training from Iroh (the firebending master, thank you very much), he struggles. Yet throughout Book 2, when he has no time to train because he's on the run, he actually seems to advance faster. The fact that his bending is literally tied to his character arc (as his morals become tangled and he has to fight off aforementioned mental blocks) is pretty brilliant. Like, by the time of the Crossroads of Destiny, Zuko getting his ass handed to him by Aang is a pretty consistent feature of the show--he just can't match wits with him.

Hell, at the beginning of the series, he and Iroh (again: the actual firebending master) launch a combined power surface-to-air attack...which Aang casually swats away into a nearby ice wall. Come the Crossroads of Destiny, however, and Zuko by himself launches this bigass fireball that blows through Aang's defenses.

Zuko advances so quickly that it's scary. That prodigious talent is in him even if it doesn't come through as cleanly as with Azula. Who, by the way, was busy about to get flattened by Katara some few dozen feet away, until Zuko took over and then effectively stalemated her himself.

All of this in retrospect makes it abundantly clear why Zuko's firebending seemed to skyrocket so much when he learned true firebending from the Sun Warriors: it was really the only thing left. He's hard a hard road learning how to fight waterbenders, earthbenders, and airbenders, and even if unconsciously, he's applying the philosophy Iroh taught him about augmenting his bending style with aspects of other styles (see also, the waterbending-like fire whips he uses in the above gif). Once he actually understands fire and how it works, he's got it mastered. Hence why any gap between him and Azula effectively disappears as soon as their next fight--before her friends have betrayed her and her stability goes out the window. There's no real sense of urgency to their fight at the Boiling Rock prison. True, Sokka's presence with the sword helps, but Zuko doesn't look remotely worried and he counters Azula's every attack perfectly.

All her life, Azula only ever learned fire. She was taught by the best people the fire nation can employ, so she knows all the cool tricks, but she's still poisoned by the corrupted firebending practiced in the modern ATLA timeline. Unlike Zuko, who managed to get the basics if nothing else from Iroh (fire comes from the breath, and can be used to survive as much as to kill), Azula has always used fire as a weapon and a means to hurt others. She has no true knowledge of the craft, meaning she's got the same weaknesses as Zhao, she's just better disciplined to the point she can make up for it.

Zuko's victory was a given considering Azula's complete loss of control by the time of Sozin's comet, but even had she been in a perfect mental state, she'd have lost, because in many ways Zuko is simply the better firebender.

And that's the truth of it.

[melzula]

Can you please write jealous Zuko? It can be however you like😊

a/n: i love jealous zuko! however this ended up being more angsty than i intended😭 hope you enjoy!

summary: a party at the palace leads to a deep revelation for zuko

He was miserable.

The palace didn’t throw parties very often these days, but the recent conquering of another Earth colony was deemed a call for celebration, and so all of the noble families in the Capital City were invited to attend. A grand feast was held and praises were showered upon Ozai throughout the night. It was one of the rare times Zuko didn’t have to worry about his father’s wrath, and so he should have been enjoying himself.

But he couldn’t, not when he could see that across the way another boy was flirting with you right in front of him.

You were Zuko’s everything- his childhood best friend that he’d always held harbored feelings for. During his banishment he thought of you constantly, and upon his arrival he immediately asked you to be his girlfriend. You were sweet and friendly, easily approachable and always able to cheer him up despite his moodiness, you were perfect. And apparently this other boy could see this too.

You smile out of politeness and nod along to the boy’s rambling story about his fire bending skills and high IQ, not very interested in listening but too nice to brush him off. It infuriates Zuko to see someone else take advantage of your kindness, and he’s unable to just sit back and watch any longer.

A harsh hand lands upon the boy’s shoulder, startling both of you in the process. Zuko’s eyes are blazing with fury, his palm scorching the fabric of the boy’s robes and scaring the spirits out of him in the process.

“Can’t you take a hint? She doesn’t want to talk to you!” the Prince bellow angrily, prompting a few guests nearby to turn their heads curiously towards the commotion. A bit embarrassed at the sudden attention, you gently pull Zuko’s hand away and drag him out to the gardens before he can escalate the situation any further. The last thing you need is for him to cause a scene at his father’s party.

“What?” Zuko says defensively as you wordlessly walk through the palace hallways. “I was helping you!”

“You were acting jealous again,” you chide gently.

“No I wasn’t!” He argues defensively only to shrink under your pointed gaze. “…I was.”

“I love you, Zuko, but I don’t love how jealous you can get sometimes. I’m your girlfriend, don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do!” He interjects quickly, almost offended at the notion.

“Then what is it? Why do you act this way?”

Zuko is silent, his eyes casted sullenly to the floor as you patiently wait for his answer. You take his hands in your own and give them a reassuring squeeze to let him know you’re there for him, and the act seems to coax him out of his stupor.

“I’m afraid you’ll change your mind about being with me, and once the right guy comes along you’ll realize you’re better off without me,” he admits quietly, almost ashamed to voice the thought out loud.

“Zuko…” you utter sadly, heartbroken at the fact that he could even believe such a thing.

“Why do you want to be with a boy who’s been exiled from his own country before? Whose own father burned his face? Who’s so messed up in every way possible?”

Gently carefully cupping his face in your hands, you tilt his head upward to meet your sincere gaze. His eyes are glossy with tears he refuses to let fall, and your heart aches for the poor boy before you. You wish you could take away all of his hurt in agony, but you can’t, so you do your best to take away his insecurity instead.

“I wish you could yourself the way I see you,” you tell him lovingly. “You are more than enough for me, more than I could ever ask for. You’re strong, you’re brave, you’re smart. You’re you. I love you, Zuko. No one’s ever going to get into the way of that.”

He says nothing in response but simply yanks you into his arms for the tightest hug you’ve ever possibly received. You know he isn’t the best at words or emotions, but his embrace conveys that he is grateful for every word to come out of your mouth.

He knows he may be jealous at times, but he also knows that he doesn’t have to be anymore.

Because you’re not going anywhere.

| atla tags: @sirkekselord @niktwazny303

| zuko tags: @thebluelcdy @royahllty @the-firebender-girl @ilovespideyyy @yiyibetch @eridanuswave @lammello @a-monsters-love @knaite-solo @taeeemin

[finisnihil]

“They finally made this theme more blatant-" Why does it need to be blatant. What's wrong with subtlety? Concepts can be underused but subtlety is not neglect.

Blaring all your concepts and themes is not good writing. It's so disruptive to a story's flow when the characters look off the screen to be like "See? This is the concept. The idea. The theme."

If you can feel the hand of the author becoming too heavy that's bad.

For example: I see people saying Azula's abuse in ATLA is more blatant in the live action and it's good because "it's being discussed more". It already was discussed at length. The show made it clear she was a victim at every turn, every behavior, every reaction, it came from a place of trauma. It was made clear that she was scared of ending up like Zuko because Zuko was an example of what would happen to her if she failed. When she says she's better than Zuko it wasn't just because she was raised to think hersef superior to him but because Zuko failed and failures get mutilated and exiled, failures are abandoned. In that final Agni Kai the music is morose and somber because this isnt some epic battle its a fucking tragedy, the burning out of "Ozai's brightest light" and Azula finally succumbing to her terror and trauma she was repressing now that her worst fears are realized. How can you see a fourteen year old girl chained to a sewer grate wailing and writhing and breathing fire desperately as unsympathetic? Even Katara and Zuko are horrified as to what has become of her.

The writers weren't looking us in the eye and saying "See? She's a victim too" when they wrote this, they weaved it in. They weaved it into her obsesison with symmetry, her extreme perfectionism, the way she talks about Ozai, the ways she calls herself a monster, her isolation from those with healthy home lives, all the ways she held herself together and ultimately all the cracks and seams that she shattered down when she fell apart. It did not need to be blatant to be clear.