#her and katara i also think are pretty good friends but i don’t think they keep in contact as good

[casualdadnomad]

i do think toph and sokka are best friends and i have a lot to say about it

[unfriedough]

hiii! first of all just wanna say how much i love your writing <3

could i please request a zuko x lightningbender!reader scenario/hc where the reader is a part of the gaang and she used to be best friends with zuko when they were little? and then he joins and they finally catch up after everything? thank you!

‘This doesn't change anything,’- Zuko x female!reader

Masterlist <3

An: yeah i wrote this MANY times before i was happy with it, which is why it took ages IM SO SORRY also THANK YOU <333

Summary:

LIghtning bender reader who is Zuko's former BFF now kinda hates him but he's determined to get on her good side.

Warnings: opening up, insulting eachother.

honestly 

It was so awkward

You refused to speak to him if it wasn’t strictly professional

The poor boy tried so hard

When he pleased katara but not u he was so sad

He would try to sit next to you by the campfire to eat and you would just dip

He’d have that sad 🙁 look on his face and the gang would be like “it’s okay man.”

ITS NOT OKAY!!! He couldn’t sleep because he missed u so much and seeing u in person was like, taking a toll on him

He was so entranced by you and your little mannerisms. You’d grown so much and gotten cuter since he last saw you (which he didn’t even think was possible). He especially loved when you played with lighting in your fingers

It was like, when someone else did it it was evil and dangerous, but when you did it it was lovely and cozy 

You just had that effect on him

The first time you two were able to speak was when you had taken the reigns on Appa to allow the others to rest. He was stargazing when your voice broke him out of a trance.

“You’re a real pain, you know that Zuko?”

He sat up suddenly, looking at you from his spot. You were leaning back, yawning as you stretched on the mammals fur.

“I mean, you come here, barge into this little group, and expect me to be nice to you. Fire nation royals and their audacity.” You said matter-of-factly, your tone so relaxed, completely going against what you were saying.

“I don’t expect that. I just want you to hear me out.”

“I’ve heard you enough,” he recalled moments where he’d rant for hours on hours to you, and you would lend an unwavering open ear, and inviting open arms.

“Yeah,” he replied sadly, sliding down next to you. You scooted over.

“And what if I pushed you?” 

“You wouldn’t,”

“Or would I?” You smirked, “but this time instead of a face full of pool water, you’ll pop like a balloon,” the shrubs reminded you of spikes.

“I’m not sure that’s how human bodies work,” he mumbled playfully.

“Oh what? Just because you went to private school?”

“Yn we went to the same school,” you opened your mouth, before shrugging as you couldn’t think of a response.

He rolled his eyes with a smirk, they landed back on you.

You shivered slightly, you were pretty good at your fire bending, but lacked when it came to warmth. Though you can expel a mean red flame, you can’t regulate your body temperature quite right. Smoothly, he put an arm around you, pulling you closer to him. 

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Keeping you warm,” Zuko replied, an intense look on his eyes, contrasting the sweet smile playing on his lips. 

“Smooth,” you grinned, your brain going fuzzy, then immediatly frowned. “This doesn’t change anything between us.”

He slumped a fraction, almost missable, but you caught it. The fire bender nodded.

He rested his head back on the fur, looking distantly into the stars. From your angle, Zuko’s jaw was sharp, and his side profile was alluring. You couldn’t help but rest your head on him. Contradicting your previous statement- there was something so entrancing about him. Feeling your stare, he met your eyes, a certain- almost unreadable- look behind his irises.

“Then what would?” He asked quietly.

You paused, thinking for a second. “I don’t know,”

He sighed defeatedly, throwing his head back again. “Understandable,” 

You remained silent as a response. He clicked his tongue.

“Do you remember,” Zuko paused, as if trying to find the words. “Do you remember love amongst dragons?” 

You grinned, “As if I could forget. Lady Ursa took us every time,” you giggled.

You enjoyed the play and all it’s weird quirks, Zuko however, did not. He would complain, and complain, and complain until you'd shushed him harshly when the main characters would share their kiss. He found you annoying, in a weird, endearing way.

He scrunched his nose, “it wasn’t even a good play,”

“Just say you hate love,” 

‘Well then I’d be lying,’ he thought.

“I don’t hate love,”

“Oh sorry hate is a strong word. Despise?”

He snorted, “Not that either,”

“Huh. That would mean the spoiled prince actually loved love.”

“Maybe not love. Mildly enjoy.”

“Isn’t that literally the same thing?”

“Depends, I love fruit tarts, I mildly enjoy fire flakes.”

“Hmm.” You pondered, “I love Appa,” you grinned down at the beast, then back up to Zuko, “I mildly enjoy your company.”

A pink dust rose to his cheeks, that sweet smile from earlier returning to grip onto your heart strings, “I’ll take it.” He said quietly.

“I wonder if they still show the play,” you hummed.

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” you were on course to the esteemed ember island estate, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t excited.

“Well then I wonder if they changed the casting,”

“I doubt anyone would wanna partake in that, the ember island players literally suck so bad,”

“Oh c’mon, didn’t you cry that one time when the characters reunited?”

The boy looked like a deer caught in headlights, he was secretly hoping you’d forgotten about it, “It was a sad moment,” he pouted.

You leaned forward and pinched his cheeks, “Sure it was, wittle zuko can’t handle a little sap,” you giggled.

He swatted your hand away, “you’re a bully,” he scoffed.

“Guess that makes the two of us,” you sighed out.

basically, that was what finally made you two start talking

No, the gang didn’t know, you refused to treat him like a human when they were awake. But you softened up when they were asleep.

Zuko will admit he found it odd, but hey, talking in secret is better than no talking right?

He seemed lighter and more open when he started catching up and reliving childhoods with you

It felt like you were finally letting him into your concrete house, despite him having to force his way in at the beginning.

You were surprised when he opened up to you about things he never has with others, fond memories of his mother, even sometimes with his sister or father. 

Despite your hatred for him, you couldn’t help but find yourself entranced by the way he spoke. His voice had a certain lull in it, a rasp accenting his words, the same words he struggled to find.

You yourself found it was easier to speak to him than some others, on nights where you both sat vulnerable, only protection being each other's promises.

You confessed to having a small crush on him as kids, shocked to find it used to be reciprocated. 

You reminisced on times where you’d tease Zuko, and the times he’d finally stand up for himself against you

When the moon was highest in the sky, the secrets and such came further to light. He admitted he still felt like a bad guy in the end of the day, in his younger days, Zuko had never been the good guy.

You assured him people change, like the tides, like the weather, like the seasons. 

(You refrained from mentioning his hair, it seemed like an inappropriate time to make fun of him)

He expressed to you times where he had travelled with his uncle, all their journeys and detours, and you did the same with your gang trips and adventures.

From the little things like Sokka being covered in Appa’s snot, to larger things like injuries and nightmares

Slowly, you turned from two people who tolerate each-other, to two people who actually really love each other.

Of course, NEVER EVER EVER would you admit that, but it was true.

The unfortunate time for the battle came, you took the road with Sokka, Toph and Suki. Assisting them with your lightning wad no easy task, it was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. Usually, you’d limit yourself to 3-4 shots a day, by the 10th minute, you were on 12. Your body was shaking and weak, but you pushed on, even though you knew your life was on the line.

After the long and tedious battle with all those soldiers, the sky turned blue, and you knew it was over, you had won the war.

You stumbled to the group, Sokka’s leg was hurt pretty bad and you didn’t want to take the attention off of him. Each step felt like your body was ablaze, and you held back noises of discomfort.

When you’d finally reached the gang, and exchanged hugs with everyone else, you stopped at Zuko. Mumbled, “I still hate you,” and then engulfed him in a hug so tight - you didn’t even know you were capable of it. 

Everyone else was in shock at the sight, they were sure you hated him, but oh well, it’s better than hearing you complain again.

While they conversed, you felt yourself begin to lose consciousness.

You rested your head against him, loosening your grip and your vision went dark.

You were out for about 5 minutes before you regained consciousness. You were still in the same position, except by this time, everyone was looking at you concerned. Katara placed her palm on your forehead.

“I’m ok. Just tired.” You mumbled quietly.

You were suddenly aware of how close you were to the fire bender, immediately moving back and laughing nervously. Almost falling if not for Toph pushing you back to your feet.

You could see him deflate slightly.

“Thanks Zuko,” you punctuated it with a forced laugh.

“Yeah it’s cool,” he nodded, frowning.

As you all walked back to Appa, you found that you and him fell behind the group, walking at nearly the same pace.

“How much lightning did you use?”

“Do you think I was getting burned alive and counting?”

He chuckled, “I guess not, but you seem tired,”

“Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out,”

He smiled at you, nearing to try to assist you in walking. You quickly put a hand up, smiling at him and his cute little frowny face. He tilted his head to the side. 

You slipped your hand into his, immediately feeling his body temperature get knocked up a few notches.

After a few more steps, you looked over to Appa as they climbed. Just as no one was looking, you walked up to him, and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

Then took a few steps towards the beast.

“Zuko,” he looked at you from his spot, still dazed, “this still doesn’t change anything between us.”

All the fire bender could do was laugh.

An: HI if u requested im starting soon hopefully <3

[struggling-author]

Hey what are your avatar otps besides azulaang?

oh umm… I wouldn’t call them OTPs since that is exclusively Azulaang, but my bi Azula headcanon lives in a variety of ships. Azutara, Azuki, Maizula… not Tyzula tbh because that feels like… imbalanced? and not Tophzula because they are menace-besties but not romantic, but with any of the other girls I think it could be great. Azutara has the enemies to lovers from Azulaang but with more spice and less forgiveness, they‘d tear eachother apart first but that makes it even sweeter if they eventually fall in love. Azuki is kind of different because Suki is more rational and holds less of an emotional grudge, it‘d be difficult for Azula to earn her trust but she would not be openly hostile to her unless necessary. I imagine this one could only happen if Azula is already in the middle or post redemption though, because Suki would not put up with any EtL shit. I guess that is exactly why it intrigues me too, I feel Suki would be more willing to give Azula a chance, more than Katara for example, but at the same time it would be impossibly hard to win her trust and I‘d like to see if Zula can manage it. Lastly Maizula, and I prefer this one over Tyzula because I feel Mai is more capable of holding her own against Azula in a relationship. It’s a complicated version of childhood friends to lovers and I‘m kind of here for it. No idea how it would work though lol.

Aside from Azula ships, I think Zutara is pretty cool and works well alongside Azulaang. Kataang is kinda cool in theory too, but I don’t like shipping Aang with anyone except Azula, it feels wrong 🤷‍♂️ The only other Aang ship I can imagine liking is Zukaang, but I don’t talk about it much.

Oh and I have to give a shoutout to Sokkla, I don’t particularly vibe with it but they’re the sister ship to Azulaang and I do see the potential of the two genius strategists, so if Aang didn’t exist I would definitely ship Sokkla instead. Nothing but love to the comrades over there. 🫶🏼

edit: totally forgot this but I actually also love Tylaang aka Ty-Lee and Aang, it just has absolutely no fandom so it’s hard to get the ball rolling. I just feel they would be such a wholesome bubbly cute ship, and I dig the Ty-Lee airbender ancestry theory so she‘d love to learn all about airbender customs and they‘d have so much fun and probably a huge family 😅 anyway I think party of why I ship this is just because I think these two deserve the world and it represents my wish for them to be totally carefree and happy. you can also add Azula and make this a throuple, I think that would work because you have Tyzula as the polar opposites and Aang in the middle to bridge the gap.

speaking of throuples I enjoy the idea of… Azutaraang? (Azula/Katara/Aang) but it is very difficult to make work. The only way I can see it is if Azula and Katara fall in love first because nothing good could come of them fighting over Aang. or maybe I could see like a stranded on a deserted island AU where the three of them have to work together and learn to rely on eachother… idk, difficult but not impossible.

Oh and I love Zuki too (Zuko x Zuki) …damn I guess I do have quite a few non-Azulaang ships. anyway this is essentially a bodyguard AU and it’s actually my favorite Zuko ship (sorry Zutara) not much to say about it cuz I’ve barely engaged with it, but I love the idea and think they would just work really well together. I also can see this as a throuple with Sokka again. I don’t really vibe with Zukka on their own but if you add Suki then I love it, because Suki deserves two good boys and it’s more fun for everyone involved if those two good boys are in love with eachother too.

final edit hopefully: Sokka Azula Aang is good too, for the same reasons listed for Zuko Suki Sokka, I swear that’s it now. goodbye lol.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

i think the reason why people don’t like mai for zuko is because zuko is already a very grumpy, angry, pessimistic person and so is mai soo they reasoning is that he needs somebody with a more opposite and optimistic, personality like jin and katara who are more nice and caring than mai idk cause zuko does cheer up a little at the end aand katara is more supporting at the end at least oor that’s what people say idk what do you think? why does zuko chooses mai and not jin or katara? and what do you think of the people who “knows whats best for z ??

Anon, I'm gonna be honest here: the people that genuinely dislike Mai with any kind of bias affecting their judgement are very rare. Anyone who tells you the overwhelming hate she gets, both as Zuko's girlfriend and as her own character, are not 99% the result of zutarians being bitter that she "stole Katara's man" are either lying to you or were lied to.

Mai, alongside Ty Lee, is one of the most chill antagonists of the show. Zuko was far grumpier and MUCH more furious than she ever was. Hell, her main deal is that she is always too chill because she was taught to repress her emotions and not voice her opinions.

THIS is why she is Zuko's true opposite, the yin to his yang. When he is letting his emotions cloud his judgement, she's the voice of reason. And in turn, when she's getting too distant, he makes get out of her shell and connect. They've had their issues, sure, but by the end of the show they were all pretty much fixed.

Also, I would NOT call Zuko a pessimistic character. He has low points and moments of panic, but that boy kept himself mostly sane during three years of exile by holding onto to hope that, maybe, just maybe, this supposedly dead enemy of his nation that had been seen in 100 years was not actually dead, thus his mission wasn't pointless, and he'd have a way home. Just look at how over-confident Zuko is battle and at how many life threatening situations he got himself into because he acted without a plan, assuming that everything would turn out alright somehow. That boy is an optimist. A grumpy, moody, reckless optimist, but still.

Again, that's the kind of situation where he and Mai would ballance each other out. She likes the thrill of these adventures as much he does, but she will NOT act without thinking. Hell, she won't even put up with stuff that is not dangerous but that she considers beaneath her (see her refusing to follow orders in "The Drill").

This is thing that really bothers me about shipping, not just in this fandom: people forget that no one wants to date their clone, but no one wants to date their COMPLETE opposite either. You need common ground.

Katara and Zuko have the same temperament - proud, strong-willed, stubborn, wearing their hearts in their sleeves, and willing to get VERY mean when pissed off (never forget the "The stars look beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!"). Then being a couple would just BEGGING for them to have some very ugly fights. As for their differences? Like I've said a million times before, their goals in life are so different they wouldn't even live in the same country. How could a romance between EVER work?

Ty Lee's temperament would be a good ballance for Zuko's, but the most common ground they have is they hang out with the same two girls and maaaaybe Zuko believes in auras too since he basically demanded Mai to defend herself when Ty Lee insulted her aura (this is totally not me letting my headcanon of Zuko taking that stuff 100% serious and writting down everything Ty Lee says on the topic cloud my judgement). Other than that, we see that Zuko clearly wants to be Fire Lord, and while Ty Lee just wanted to go back to the circus or travel around with her new friends. We barely get any interaction between them, so acting like there's evidence for her to be his perfect match is quite the stretch.

Same for Jin. They got along well enough on their date, but that was just for short bit of an episode, not even the entire episode itself. That's too little to claim she could be "the one" for him.

With Mai meanwhile, we had a ton of episodes, in which we got to see their relationship's ups and downs, and see that they managed to bounce back from some pretty serious conflicts and still clearly adore each other after it all.

As for Zuko choosing her over any other girl, it's simple. He likes her. He likes her dry/sarcastic humor, how badass she is, how much she enjoys physical affection, how she doesn't put with any bullshit fro anyone (including himself), how she was bold enough to basically tell him, Azula and Ty Lee to fuck off, how pretty she is when she hates the world (unbelievably iconic line) etc.

Mai is Zuko's type of girl, she likes him back, and they are compatible, and thus they ended up together. It's not rocket science.

[turboacek-blog]

Zutara and Kataang: my thoughts

Basically Zutara is the enemy to lovers ship

Kataang is the friendship to lover ship

Combine with other things like opposites attract, and love at first site and so on

With the Netflix adaptation stirring things up for this old ship rivalry just wanted to share some general thoughts

General thoughts as you can go anywhere for Zutara hints or why KatAang was actually good and don't need to analyze every moment

Enemies to Lovers

Disclaimer: I dislike the enemies to lover trope. It’s one of those things I genuinely don’t understand why they would like each other in most cases, as the cases I do like it it’s more like they’re the two friends that don’t gel as well like Sam and Freddie in iCarly not actual enemies on opposing sides of war, but I don’t feel this about Zutara due to Zuko

I brought up the ship tropes before as I think this shows more of the discourse amongst the fans

There’s a ton of people that love the enemies to lovers trope whether it be actual enemies or just the two friends that don’t get along that well and can argue/fight often

As people think things like opposite attracts or that when characters fight and argue and etc it shows their chemistry and potentially (sexual) tension of the two

And this isn’t every enemies to lovers ship but some people are genuinely more into the bad boy or bad girl or bad person, more than then opposite of good boy/girl/person

From appearance wise, some see dark and edgy > simple and clean, personality wise with crazy > generic heroic, to the story aspect as the dark story of the enemy can be more interesting then the normal story of the hero a lot of the time due to complexity and writing quality

Friends to lovers

On the flip side

Friendship to lovers is the ship that covers the exact opposite of enemies to lovers

As some believe you’re supposed to be with someone similar to you in morals, ethics, spiritually, emotionally, etc

And a way some people find that is through their friends / people in mutual interest group (sports, church, clubs, and so on)

It’s why there are tropes of the person finally realizing their best friend was the one or childhood friend were their perfect match

Let alone some people just like it more when people seem to enjoy being around each other in peace vs the opposite of fighting and arguing a lot

Aang-Katara-Zuko shipping stuff

So even after all that I do think some understand that and that isn't the cause of the divide for some

and their disagreements become more of a personal thing or how times have changed since the showed aired back in the early 2000s whether socially or just the fan themselves growing up

Like for example as I've seen this a lot, if you’re a girl it can be hard to put yourself in the place of Katara a 14 year old girl (which would be that 9th grader in high school range) being attracted to a 12 years old (essentially a 7th grader middle schooler (Aang) ) especially when that same girl was attracted to seemingly 16 year olds (11th graders before (Haru and Jet))

But I do think it’s not as cut and dry as a teen being attracted to a person two years younger as unbelievable as some also say that's a pretty shallow reason and people write those people off

Some think Aang is cringe for all his especially early attempts at flirting with Katara. Which not nonly ties into the age thing but the whole sometimes being persistent is bad and harassment which is more and more true as the years goes on as a lot of shows back then had that element of boy tries repeatedly and gets rejected repeatedly then eventually “wore her down”

And on the flipside Zuko harmed that group for a long time and even if unjustified Katara saw him as the representation of her hatred for a period which can have its own downsides when compared to things like abuse and not racism exactly but hating that whole nation almost (there’s a word but I can’t think of it)

They both have things against them

Some aspects just don't appear the same to different people

Like a popular example is the fortune teller episode

Where Katara only thinks of Aang as potential person for her when a fortune teller foresees it

The intention is this cosmic supernatural aspect saying these two are meant for each other

Destiny

Like on one hand Destiny can be super romantic like this person was destined for me, like this is my perfect match, they were made for me

On the other it can feel like you have no agency, like this is the only person for me? Am I just destined to be with this one person I might have never looked at in that way, am I allowed not to choose them?

Some people like that Katara realized Aang was a potential match via this supernatural aspect

Some hate it as it feels like Katara didn't come to become attracted to Aang naturally

On screen vs potential possibilities

Like it was kinda obvious Aang and Katara would end up together despite the distractions from guys like Jet. So the series being written that they naturally have more moments which leads to them being the ship makes sense

So whenever Katara kisses Aang cheek is just evidence that this clearly the ship

Vs

Even more than Aang and Zuko at times, Katara and Zuko are parallels so they're interactions even if on opposite sides can also be seen as evidence

But I think this on-screen and potential aspect is mostly on the Zutara side because of how the show went, which gives them more what-ifs

Like Zutara has a lot of what ifs like what if Zuko joined them in Ba sing se? Some genuinely think that would of kicked of Zutara for real

Let alone other aspects that I think people mostly like for story potential like if Katara marries Zuko she becomes the Queen of the fire nation which has a lot of story potential

It doesn't even have to be Zutara alone, can say if they did go Zutara for the writing back in Book 2 they could of easily wrote Taang (Toph and Aang) to be Aangs ship

As just minor example but Toph just being attracted to Aang and not Sokka from a writing viewpoint would make people like them as people like Tokka (Toph x Sokka) for similar reasons

Basically the show was building up to Aang x Katara and if they diverted from that there would be a decent amount of disappointed if literally all that changed was that at the end Katara kissed Zuko

But I think when people see the potential chemistry and interactions of different pairs not just Zutara but people like Sokka with Toph or maybe Katara should of just got with Haru they would have liked it if they wrote around those ships vs the KatAang one

Zutara thoughts

My quick thoughts on zutara is that for me…

I think this is more of a I like Zuko and Katara as characters but not necessarily together

Like I think if the show would of had Zuko with Ty Lee and not Mai people would feel different since Ty Lee is so loved while Mai seems more of an acquired taste and people might not like Zuko with Mai

Like I like Mai but her and Zuko together weren’t handled the best to me, even in the comics they broke up for a period where with Ty Lee at least she would be generally more well liked due to personality differences

Plus people really don’t like how they handled some of the more cringey moments of KatAang which is basically all on Aang which I’ll save for later

So when their main ships are not perfect I see the logic of putting them together along with all the other stuff I mentioned before

I however think what Zuko did while eventually forgiven by Katara doesn’t make him the best option for her but for Zuko Katara is lowkey the best option if we can’t put him with a Ty Lee or somebody like that

As Katara even if not with Aang I could put with someone like Haru or a hypothetically alive Jet whereas if Zuko isn’t with Mai he has the one off characters like the ba sing se girl (I forget her name, the one he went on an actual date with) but no one that comes back making Katara his next option it seems

KatAang thoughts

I don’t mind all the cringey stuff Aang has done lol

I think people really don’t like the kiss during the play as it’s one of those he kissed her without permission moments that gets people riled up as there are definitely examples and instances where it’s not ok irl and in media

But not even including the time the show came out in which definitely is a different time culturally than now

He kissed her before and didn’t have the same reaction and he’s 12/13 they’re allowed to make these mistakes

Plus even though she was confused and doesn’t outwardly say it all the time like Aang does, Katara did like Aang at this point at least that’s how I read it.

So it’s not like he kissed a girl that didn’t like him. Aang to me was basically asking her to be his girlfriend and she’s like maybe after the WAR, whereas he took it as doubt and tried to reassure her. To me it’s two people that like each other but are prioritizing different things as Aang just wants Katara and Katara wants this war over with

And could go on but all their cringey moments aren’t bad worse thing is how realistic some of it can be lol

I think the whole love at first sight and destiny and all that is take it or leave it though

As I know some people don’t believe in love at first sight or just don’t like that trope and that’s admittedly the basis of this ship

I think while they eventually worked up to it well I can see to some their beginning are just as shaky narratively as Zutara

Also Aang doesn’t really have another ship tbh, like someone pointed out that the only person Aang called pretty was Katara and the Painted Lady who was Katara lol

Like if they would have actually played into Ming from that fortune teller village, Toph the only other character his age or even someone like Ty Lee I can see an argument to not make Katara his main ship

Conclusion

I think the KatAang ship is harmless especially given their ages, the show release time period and just general point of the ship narratively therefore I think it’s a good ship

But I won’t lie and say especially earlier on that Zutara, Taang, and other possibilities wouldn’t have made some good if not even better stories depending how it was written just off potential

[survivalove]

hello! hope you have a good day! I love reading your meta.

as a fan of Katara, can you please share your opinion about the TSR episode? I love Katara very much, but this episode has always caused me discomfort, as if Katara's grief was used to hastily close this hole "zuko has redeemed himself and now they are friends." it seems to me that Katara and her grief (as well as Sokka's grief!) deserved a better attitude than to become a bargaining chip "we will write a hasty episode to redeem Zuko and will not return to this topic anymore." Yes, I understand that this episode is firstly dedicated to Katara, but it always seemed to me that it was written without due respect for her.

so I wasn’t gonna answer this because you mentioned voldemort but then like a hypocrite I broke my own rule and replied to an idiot so here it is:

while I think the premise of TSR is egregious I don’t think the episode as a whole is ruined because of it. I actually think it’s the climax of Katara’s entire arc as it builds off from multiple moments not just about her mother, but her as a bender, her power and always remaining in control of said power. not to mention all this time, she’s confronted and helped persons that have been oppressed throughout the war and now seeing someone who oppressed people for most of his life, of course inflicting unparalleled pain on her, but not letting him own that power and reducing him to (figurative not literal!!) shreds. very good stuff.

so yes, i enjoy it voldemort aside, however comma: the premise is indeed quite horrible.

i agree, the writers definitely used katara and sokka’s trauma as a means for this very middling redemption arc after 3, just as bad if not worse, episodes of the same stuff IN A ROW.

katara getting yelled at for not being so forgiving like everyone else, and then sokka’s trauma being used as a means of information for a trip he wasn’t invited on???

(can we be real for a second and admit that sokka and katara should have been the two persons on that trip in the first place?)

next up, my favorite line:

forgiveness is the same as doing nothing!

coming from the person that literally begged for forgiveness from every other person in the conversation, including katara hhhhhhhh

and then the racist comments to boot like 😭😭 may i remind you once again the premise is based on him needing to earn a genocide survivor’s forgiveness so of course he (the writers) couldn’t help himself and had to make fun of the other genocide survivor! he makes it so easy for me to be a hater.

(can we also talk about how some people like to frame this as him defending katara as if 1, katara can’t defend herself?? which she did and 2, didn’t need to be racist to do it???)

and then you have the sokka discourse which pisses me off because most people that harp over that line don’t even like him like that, and trying to pick and choose which sibling is correct when talking about their mother’s death?? both of their opinions were valid and it’s a reflection of their core personalities: sokka is pragmatic, rational and logical. he didn’t agree with aang because he suddenly adopted pacifism, he agreed with aang because yon rha no longer posed a threat to him and his loved ones and to him, confronting him wouldn’t be worth the effort or ease the pain of kya’s death. meanwhile, katara as we see throughout the show, dives headfirst into doing whatever she thinks is right (imprisoned, painted lady, waterbending scroll) she wasn’t concerned about the logistics, she was concerned about the principle and of course, having to essentially replace her mother’s role made her feel more tied to her death at large. one mean comment throughout sixty one episodes does not define her relationship with sokka. pretending otherwise is just annoying.

after that, i find the episode pretty enjoyable i can’t lie to you. getting kya’s story told and witnessing the satisfying climax to katara’s arc (which is far superior to anyone else’s in my opinion) makes the rest.. almost worth it.

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Stream of Consciousness (Episode 2, Part 1).

Hang on this show is rated PG? Did they not see the people burning alive last episode?

The fire nation theme with a full orchestra goes so hard. I need Azula’s version too.

Zuko tearing up the room looking for his fucking diary while Iroh just fails to calm him down is peak 16 year old and his dad core and I’m living for it. I, too, want to smash stuff when my beloved things go missing.

Zuko’s right, Aang is a coward which is good because he’s nuanced! Now the show should acknowledge that.

We’re going to Kyoshi island yay!

Another good Katara monologue. They seem to have grasped the hopeful aspect of her character well (and it’s clearly in Kiawentiio’s acting wheelhouse). Now let her break stuff!

Wait if Aang can fly why did he fall out of the sky in the last episode?

On the Waterbending Scroll: @juniperhillpatient talked about this in a great post so I’ll link that here.

The Gyatso memorial was a really nice touch. I think Gordon’s acting was slightly flat (emphasis on slightly) but the way his voice broke on the last line broke me. Since it’s the first time I’ve had anything bad to say about his acting, I’ll give it a pass.

I will say idk if it’s sets of CGI but the whole setting is gorgeous. I’m glad their budget let them add in those details that we didn’t get in the cartoon.

Yay Iroh comedy! Give him more!

They nailed Zuko and Iroh’s dynamic. No complaints. Also since the main trio is less funny (which is fine) the comic relief is much needed.

Kyoshi Warrior makeup looks awesome!

Ooh Suki’s mom is here! And Suki getting some more background/development, always love! Not sure if I would have called “kindness” one of her core traits but it’s not like she wasn’t kind. She didn’t have much characterization to begin with besides “cool strong girl!” so I like that she gets a softer side.

Sokka’s fangirling over Suki this is cute and also hilarious. And Suki is EVISCERATING him with her skills.

Iroh is comedy gold (makes sense since I know this actor has a background in comedy) This episode overall is lighter which I think is a nice break since last episode was pretty intense.

Zhao seems like less of an asshole right off the bat. Is he sneaky or just watered down? (Like Katara-no I won’t shut up about her).

Shirtless Sokka was not necessary I want everyone to stay far away from over sexuality the teenage characters I don’t care that some of them look over Netflix don’t Netflix this.

I like that we’re expressing Aang’s grief more overtly. Something the original couldn’t do.

I find Aang and Katara’s friendship really wholesome.

Katara talking about Aang knowing how to connect…BUT THAT WAS KATARA’S THING. Why are they taking her good traits and giving them to her male friends istg.

Suki is so cool I love her definitely no character crush here. Her literally being like “I like this boy. Obviously the logical choice is to show him my fighting skills” she’s so real for that.

“Only justice will bring peace” - please tell me Katara being the one to read that line is important because thematically it’s a very Katara line.

Aang’s backstory with people being scared of him and losing control is an interesting new touch that I think could be used really well. (Also seeing some Azula parallels especially with the “lucky” thing but I don’t think I’m that lucky).

I do miss Sokka’s Kyoshi Warrior uniform. The tension though! A little more of a mature tone than the original and idk how much I want to lean into sexual tension of any kind but the characters are 16 so I thiiink I’m okay with this but NETFLIX IF YOU OVERSEXUALIZE THEM ALL I WILL COME FOR YOU!!

Part 2 coming soon!

[carbondioxda]

Instincts and lovebirds (p.1)

Sokka x firebender!OC

c/w: swearing!! this is my first time writing an oc x canon so this may or may not be the worst thing you’ll ever read??, basically Sokka and Zuya making fun of Katara’s crush on Jet. This is also pretty long by the way. Written in third person and I usually avoid using adjectives that have informations regarding looks but I want you to have an idea of how Zuya looks like.

a/n: first time writing in the atla universe<33, english isn’t my first lanuage, please tell me if I make any mistakes

also just like in my previous posts, my way of writing dialogue might be different than what you’re used to.

I haven’t introduced my oc Zuya on this page at all, so maybe I’ll do it in a separate post. I hope you like her.

This whole encounter was weird. First, Sokka swore on his instincts that they all should walk instead of flying on Appa and then suddenly they’re being saved by a bunch of kids from being ambushed. Yet somehow, even though they were saved, something didn’t feel right. Zuya felt as if they were still ambushed or captured in some way. It was plainly uncomfortable.

Jet, Smellerbee, Longshot, Pipsqueak, Sneers and The Duke. They didn’t seem like a usual vigilante group. More like, wild children mixed with pirates. Zuya noticed some dirt on their necks and hands, they must’ve hardly ever bathed. Only Jet seemed to vaguely know what hygiene is. Even if Sokka’s instincts proved to be incorrect, right now the bad gut feeling he had was shared with his friend, Zuya.

- Psssst. - the brunette hissed to Sokka, while Jet’s friends were looking through the fire nation’s supplies.

- I’m right next to you, idiot. - he hissed back, but louder. - If you wanna talk shit about them I’m here for it, just don’t hiss like a wild animal. - the boy crossed his hands, looking at his friend.

- Okay, okay I just wanted you to get the goddamn hint.

- I know what you’re gonna say. - he begun.

- They look suspicious as hell. - they both said at the same time. Zuya tried her best not to point it out, so that he wouldn’t feel too special about guessing what she had on her mind. That would get into his head. Everything goes right into Sokka’s head, actually.

- Katara doesn’t think so. - Zuya choked out, pointing her head to the girl’s direction. Katara was thanking Jet for their help. Sokka seemed to run out of ideas on commenting this whole thing. He rolled his eyes. - I mean, it’s nice of her to thank him but her voice is high pitched and she’s kinda getting red.

- What? What do you mean? - Sokka squinted his eyes to see better, as if that was supposed to help in any way.

- Seems like your sister has a little cruuush. - Zuya teased, twirling her dark hair around her finger to mock Katara.

- Hell no, why this freak of all? Why couldn’t she perhaps, I don’t know, have a crush on Haru?

- We were in that village for two or three days, it’s better for everyone that she didn’t.

- We’re not gonna be here much longer either.

- It’s best if none of us has a crush. Any kind. It would only slow us down.

- Same thing! This whole Jay, or whatever his name is, isn’t all that. Just look at him. What the hell is that in his mouth? A straw? Grass? Is he a cow? - Sokka tried to come up with a creative insult.

- You’re just bitter because your life-saving instincts didn’t work. We should call them life-ending instincts, cause you know…cause we were ambushed.. - Zuya giggled. Sokka’s glare was digging into her. Even if he wasn’t very intimidating, she wasn’t going to test his limits right now. - No, but seriously. We should get out of here before we even have the chance to meet those guys closer. I know the type of mr. nonchalant, it’s not gonna end well. It’s for Katara’s own good.

They followed the group, because Katara and Aang wanted to see their secret hideout. It was pretty obvious their spot wouldn’t be on the ground, given that the trees were the tallest they’ve seen and tents or houses would be too easy to spot. However, Sokka didn’t really think about it.

- Soo, Zuya, right? Are you from the Earth Kingdom? - Jet asked. She was in the same attire she left her village, Kyoshi. She was taken in by the village’s members when she was just a young child, nobody really expected her to grow up to be a firebender.

- Yeah, I’m from The Kyoshi village. - she replied.

- Are you an earthbender?

- Actually she’s- - Katara begun.

- A non-bender! Just like Sokka. - Zuya corrected her quickly. The rest of the gaang didn’t question it.

- A, nice to know. Explains a lot. Hey, you two, grab those handles. - Jet suggested, turning to the ,,non-benders”.

- What does this thing d- - Sokka was cut off, being plunged into the air. Zuya couldn’t react in time, sharing the fate with her friend and soon grabbing onto the thick branches for dear life.

- Look, shit, look! - Zuya tugged on his arm.

- What?! - he asked, just now getting his head out of the leaves. She grabbed his chin and pointed him to look down, where Katara and Jet where smoothly flying upwards to the hideout. - I’ve had enough, we’re getting out of here as soon as possible. - he commented.

- They’re having their movie moment in there. - she said, noticing how Katara’s face is constantly red from all of the blushing. - How cute.

- You seem to be having a moment too. - Aang startled them. They didn’t notice him flying up. It slips their mind that Aang can literally levitate.

- A moment? We’re having a moment of hanging onto a tree branch. - Zuya said loudly, still recovering from the Aang jumpscare. Sokka turned away and climbed onto the wooden plank attached to the tree that led to the hideout.

They caught up with the group and Jet showed them around, talking about how amazing his ,,freedom fighters” are in being a pain in the Fire Nation’s ass. Sokka looked like he was in agonizing pain the whole time, and even more when they sat around the fire. That’s when Jet did his whole inspiring speech.

He sat down, separating Sokka and Zuya from Katara and Aang.

- Hey Jet! Nice speech.

- Thanks. By the way, I was really impressed with you and Aang. That’s some great bending back there.

- He’s great, he’s the avatar. - Katara explained. - I could use some training. - she was blushing again.

- The avatar? Nice. Very nice. - Jet seemed to be so pleased about that fact, it made them pretty uncomfortable. Sokka’s instinct must’ve worked at that moment.

- Sorry, but we need to leave tonight. - he said, cutting their conversation short.

- Yup, we should’ve left earlier, we can’t slow down. - Zuya added to back him up.

- Sokka! Are you kidding, I needed you for an important mission! - Jet whined.

- What mission? - Sokka’s ears perked up, even if he didn’t get too excited. A mission was enough for him to be convinced, knowing him.

- Tomorrow, we have to do a patrol and make sure The Fire Nation doesn’t attack or anything. - Jet tried to bribe him. - You could use a good night’s sleep for once.

- True. We’ll get to the North Pole, Sokka, let’s just use this occasion. - Aang spoke up.

- Only for one night. We can’t stay longer. - he gave in. - I’m going to sleep now, if you don’t mind. Me and Zuya stayed up all night to guard the supplies. We’re tired, right Zuya?

- Right. Exhausted.

- You can go to the hut on the left. - Jet said. - Goodnight!

- Goodnight. - Sokka spat out, before taking Zuya by the wrist and leading her away from the group.

- There’s no way you agreed to stay just to go on a mission, Sokka. - she hissed at him again. - It’s not even that important!

- Oh shut up, I’ll finally do something for once. Maybe they’ll give us some supplies for that.

- They won’t give us shit.

- Let’s just go. - he said, entering the small hut they were given to sleep in. They tried their best to ignore how annoying the newly met people were and just got ready for bed.

- Why did you tell them you’re a non-bender? - Sokka suddenly asked, when Zuya was brushing out her long hair. She usually wore it in two long braids, but this evening was a good occasion to brush it all out and distract herself.

- Gut feeling. They hate the Fire Nation.

- You’re not from the Fire Nation though?

- And how would they know that? It’s better to tell them the short version instead of explaining myself. I’m not planning on using fire here anyway.

- Good point. - he put his hands behind his head and laid down. - I’d love to see you firebend the hell out of them, though. - he added with a smug grin. It made her smile.

- Maybe I’d do that if I could firebend better. I only know a few moves. I think I might’ve noticed something. Sokka? Can you braid my hair?

- Yea…what did you notice? - he positioned himself behind her. Gran gran taught him how to do Katara’s hair when their mom died, he never really forgot how to do it.

- All of the ,,freedom fighters” have strange outfits. They’re so mixed. Jet has parts of the Fire Nation attire mixed with the Water Tribe’s clothes, or The Duke? He has everything in green and yellow, traditional Earth Kingdom colours.

- So, what are you saying?

- I’m just saying…don’t get into any trouble tomorrow. - she sat while he braided her hair. - Or your outfit might be worn by one of them soon.

- Thieves are the last thing I wanted to encounter. Still, why would I get into trouble? I’ll just pretend to be their friend or somethin’- he asked, already aware why exactly.

- You know damn well why. You’re going without us on that mission, don’t try to act like a smartass.

- I won’t. I’ll try to, at least.

- Promise me you won’t. I don’t wanna have to run to save your sorry ass again.

- Again? Excuse me. - he tugged her hair on purpose.

- Ow! Yes, again. If I wanted go count all of the times where I had to drag you out of someone’s hands I’d run out of fingers. - she grabbed his hand to stop him. Sokka scoffed at that. - Can I braid your hair too?

- No, my head is pounding when you do my braids, they’re too tight.

- I’ll be more gentle? - she smiled, just as he was finishing her own braids. He sighed.

- Just this once. - he finally agreed. - Don’t make them so tight.

- I’ll try.

- You don’t look exhausted. Is Sokka hitting on you again? - Katara asked when she entered the hut with Aang. She was in a good mood, who wouldn’t be if they found themselves a love interest?

- Not today. - she pretended to be let down. Or she wasn’t pretending.

- Just for the record, I’ve never done that. Focus on hitting on Jet, Katara.- he insisted.

- Stop moving so much or else I’m making the braids tight.

- You can’t deny it. Back in Kyoshi, Omashu and when pirates tried to take us. - Aang counted on his fingers and then shoved them into grumpy Sokka’s face. - And that one evening?

- You forgot the boat thing. - Katara reminded.

- Right, boat thing too. - Aang smiled like the cute kid he is.

- It wasn’t intentional. My charm is unbeatable, what can I do about it? Happens on it’s own.

- All of you should go to sleep. - Zuya said, carefully making small braids on Sokka’s head. She finished up and for the rest of the evening, thankfully nobody brought up the topic of Jet and his friends.

Zuya was abruptly waken up by Sokka, right when he came back from the mission. Katara and Aang must’ve already gone somewhere.

- Wake the hell up Zuya, they’re psychos! - Sokka shook her by the shoulders.

- Stop shaking me! - Zuya’s green eyes were barely open and the boy was still blurry in her vision.

[releasemefromthevoid]

MY ATLA LIVE ACTION S1E1 THOUGHTS

EP2

First things first, a review without spoilers:

I think it’s fine so far. There’s a few changes here and there that are ultimately just fine that don’t impact the story all that much, but there are also some changes that I’m a little worried about. 

The biggest thing I’m worried about, I think, is Aang’s character arc in season one. This live action series, without going too far into it, seems to be setting up something different from his character arc in book one for Aang in this first episode. I’m wary, but I’ll see it through and come back for more commentary and reviews starting from episode two this weekend probably.

Live reaction and thoughts under the cut for spoilers

oh shit they kept the fire nation leitmotif. as they should

music def feels the same

opening fight sequence: stellar

did i mention the fire nation leitmotif

it’s interesting they started with the concept of the air nomad genocide. i guess they haven’t told us about the actual genocide, so that can still be a Surprise to new viewers. i don’t hate it. kept the opening monologue, but it’s kyoshi according to the captions?? weird but okay

GOOD MUSIC

why’s he flying without his glider lol

these environments slap actually

ooh comet mention

i really like the line “her spirit echoes in one of us”. that goes hard actually

mmm not really liking that gyatso is the one telling him he has to leave,,  came back with “you are my friend” though, so i’ll forgive it

APPA

this kid is pretty good in the role of aang

BRO FIREBENDER FLIGHT. is this just bc of the comet or can they just Do That. i mean,, we don’t technically Know it’s bc of the comet yet

sound design is kinda peak

really REALLY interesting that they’re starting with the air nomad genocide. i know i said that already but we’re actually seeing it now. it’s setting a tone for this version of the show to be darker/less lighthearted, which idk how i feel about. not necessarily good or bad. this is only episode one so i’ll have to reserve judgment.

comet power confirmed okay

THE AVATAR STATE LOOKS SO GOOD

wolf cove??? was that always the name of the southern tribe where katara and sokka are from???? 

i think it would have been fun if zuko’s scar was a little Hand Shaped

probably could’ve done the freeing aang from the iceberg part a little better. how and why was he freed, if not katara getting angry at sokka??

speaking of, sans the early book 1 sexism, sokka is DEFINITELY sokka. a few more one liners and you’ll have me sold

mentioned zuko’s banishment early. hm

speaking of. not sure how i feel about zuko rn. why’s he talking about the throne like that?? he should be more focused on his perceived lack of honor i think

yeah,,, where IS appa. oh shit he already has the whistle??? more importantly Where is aang’s glider

SOKKA HIDING BEHIND KATARA IS EVERYTHING TO ME

HELLO??? katara’s monologue??? almost word for word??? from her gran gran??

this environment design though,, the building is made out of what is probably a whale rib cage as support for packed snow?? that’s so cool

no pilot episode miscommunication plot! not unhappy, i hate miscommunication plots

oh sokka,,, “lord of snow and ice”

zuko has not Once said the word honor

zuko’s breakdancing firebending moves God Bless

AANG’S GLIDER SPOTTED. but we haven’t seen it as a glider yet. is it just a Staff in this version???? 

i don’t think this is how airbending works

oh sokka i love you. he’s sold me on sokka i do believe

IT’S A GLIDER

i. don’t think katara should have been able to do that

this kid def can’t cry on command. he’s selling heartbreak, but there are No Tears

let aang be a bit more of a child please?? he’s a bit too serious right now, isn’t part of his character arc figuring out that he has to take things more seriously in order to stop the fire nation? i’m worried about what they’ll replace that with

THE OG CREDITS SONG

Liking: Sokka, environment design, most of the visuals actually, the MUSIC

Worried about: Aang's character, Iroh's character

Nothing I truly dislike yet

[bard-llama]

WiP Friday: Scene from To Weave a Tangled Web

So, the premise of this story is essentially that Zukaang are together post-canon and they're working with Kuei to try to repair the world and Aang has the brilliant idea of uniting the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom by having Zuko and Kuei get married. Problem is, he's currently dating Zuko and failed to actually talk to him about what that could mean. So now we get Aang talking to the Gaang after getting kicked out by Zuko, who is rather understandably upset.

Aang was panicking. He knew he was panicking, but he didn’t know how to stop. 

“What happened?” Katara asked immediately, coming to his side the moment he stepped into their room.

Aang sniffled, not quite able to manage speech. 

Toph frowned, forehead creasing. “You weren’t able to talk?”

He shook his head, trying to hold back tears. He didn’t know how to fix this. He didn’t know how to get Zuko back.

But he had to! He didn’t want to lose Zuko! 

But he had and he needed to figure out how to repair things, or – or – what would he do if Zuko never forgave him? What would he do without Zuko at his side?

Nose running, he sniffed hard and managed to say, “he kicked me out.”

“What? Why?” Suki asked, face scrunching in confusion. “What happened?”

Aang’s eyes welled up with tears again and he rubbed his face, unable to answer.

Toph sighed heavily, but though she sounded put upon, her expression was concerned. “Zuko’s upset because Aang told him to marry Kuei without explaining what that meant for them.”

“Oh.” Sokka blinked. “Wait, you didn’t talk to him about it!?”

“I didn’t think to!” Aang defended. “I forgot monogamy was a thing!” His friends stared at him and he ducked his head, face red. Hugging himself he added, “I know I messed up. But how do I fix it!? He won’t talk to me!”

“Well, what did he say?” Katara asked softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“He thinks – he thinks I want him to be a ‘side piece’,” he quoted. “What does that even mean!?” It certainly didn’t sound like a good thing.

“Seriously?” Sokka asked, sounding surprised.

“It’s – you know,” Suki tried to answer, “um, it’s like when someone – has someone on the side.”

“The side of what?”

“Of their main squeeze,” Toph filled in.

Aang frowned. “What do you mean ‘main’? Relationships don’t fall into a hierarchy.”

“...maybe not for Air Nomads,” Toph acknowledged, “but for the other nations? Yeah, they totally do.”

“Really?” Aang blinked. “But – but what does that mean?”

Toph’s mouth twisted as she searched for words. “In the Earth Kingdom, it’s pretty common for powerful men to have wives – their ‘main squeeze’ – and also to have a mistress on the side. I’d imagine something similar happens in the Fire Nation, though they hide it better. But we’re both – both nations have hereditary inheritance.”

“What?” Aang was not alone in asking.

“Like – like when my parents die, as their child, I would inherit everything. Likewise, Zuko’s family is royal, and so because he is part of that bloodline, he was able to inherit the throne. So for us, it matters who your ‘main’ person is, because that’s who gets inheritance rights. But you guys aren’t like that.”

Aang shook his head, as did Katara and Sokka. 

“I mean, it’s not that we don’t have inheritance,” Katara clarified. “But we define things by family, not by blood.”

“How’s that different?” Suki asked.

“You can have family that’s not related to you by blood,” Sokka pointed out. “Like all of us.”

“Hmm,” Suki nodded in consideration. “Kyoshi Island is more like the Earth Kingdom, but um. Kind of reversed? It’s – it’s more common for women to have others on the side, because there’s more of us.”

“Huh,” Sokka said. “How did none of us ever talk about this sooner?”

“Because you’re all idiots,” Toph said.

“Hey, you never brought it up either!”

“I’m exempt from idiot status,” Toph sniffed haughtily and Aang couldn’t help but giggle, though it petered out quickly.

“What do I do?” he asked. “How – how do I make him see?”

“Well,” Katara chewed on her lip. “Maybe start by trying to express what you want and how it’s different from what he thinks.”

“I just want to be with him,” Aang said, rubbing his eyes. “I – I thought marrying Kuei was a good idea, but not if it means losing him!”

“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Sokka said. “I mean, multiple people can be together at the same time.”

“I know!” Aang huffed in frustration. “Air Nomads – we don’t believe in possessions. We don’t have inheritance. We’re – we’re all about freedom. About – about what you choose. That’s what family is – the people you choose to have in your life.”

“Huh,” Toph clicked her tongue. “You guys are more family than my parents ever were.”

“Exactly!” Aang said. “What does blood matter? Your values and what you choose are more important. That’s what ties people together.”

“So what does that mean for romance?” Katara asked. “In – in the Southern Water Tribes… it’s not uncommon for someone to have more than one partner. But they’re all equals. Like – like Mom and Dad and Bato. They were always together but no one comes ‘first’, you know?”

Toph’s brow furrowed. “But if you call one ‘Dad’ and one ‘Bato’... doesn’t that kind of imply that Dad comes first?”

“Why?” Katara asked, surprised. 

“Well, like… who would you inherit from? Your Dad or Bato?”

Katara shared a look with her brother. “Both of them? We’re a family. A unit. Everything we own is shared.”

“Okay, but a family has a lot of different relationships in it. But like… there’s still one that comes first romantically, right?”

“...no?”

“Why is there a hierarchy?” Aang asked. “All relationships serve a purpose in your life. All love is different, but none of it is lesser.”

“I mean… you put some people first, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but that comes back to family. You guys are my family, of course I put you first. But it’s not like Zuko’s well-being is more important than any of yours. You’re all my family.”

“Hmm,” Toph hummed. “So in your mind, what does a relationship between you and Zuko and Zuko and Kuei look like?”

“Like… normal?” Aang shrugged, slightly helpless. “It’s like – it’s like having friends! No one would say that because Katara is my friend, then obviously Sokka can’t be! So why would you do that with romance!? Everyone loves multiple people! It would be super unhealthy otherwise!”

“...what?”

Aang bit his lip, trying to figure out how to explain. “Sokka, you love Suki, yeah? But you also love Katara and me and Toph and everyone. So why is that different?”

“Yeah, but I’m only romantic with Suki,” Sokka pointed out. “Also, Katara’s my sister.”

“Every relationship is different,” Aang agreed. “Not just the difference between romantic and platonic, but like – like, all our friendships are different! You have a different dynamic with Zuko than I have, just like me and Katara have a different relationship than you and Katara.”

Sokka’s mouth twisted as he thought on that. “I mean… it’s still kinda different? Like – like romance is… you know… romance!”

“But who decides if something is romantic or platonic?” Aang asked. “Why is it that when I hold hands with you, it’s platonic, but when I hold hands with Zuko, it’s romantic?”

“Uh…”

“It’s ‘cause we decide! Every relationship has a different dynamic and only the people involved can define it. There’s no behavior that’s inherently romantic or inherently platonic.”

“What about kissing?” Toph asked.

“Didn’t your parents ever kiss you?” 

“Oh. Huh. Yeah, I guess.”

“But what about sex?” Sokka asked. “I mean…”

“People have sex without being romantically involved,” Aang pointed out. “And sexual attraction and romantic attraction don’t always align. Like, who you want to have sex with is not necessarily who you want to build a family with, right?”

“Hmm,” Suki hummed. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But so what does that mean?”

“Well, I guess it raises the question,” Katara said, “what do you want your relationship with Zuko to be? What does he want? It sounds like you two need to talk about that.”

“Yeah, but he won’t talk to me!” Aang said, biting his lip in distress. 

“Breathe, Twinkletoes,” Toph said, poking him. “We’ll help you talk to Zuko. But you gotta figure out what you wanna say, because you’re gonna need to be as clear as possible.”

“I just – I just wanna be with him,” Aang whispered. “I thought the marriage was a good idea, but not if it means losing him!”

[theowritesfiction]

Hi @theowritesfiction !!!

I just wanted to say that I absolutely adored chapter 30. It was a rollercoaster. Aang and Sokka are something else, aren’t they? So are Azula and Zuko. Can’t even behave at Kiyi’s birthday. Though I would posits that the entire thing with the candles was Zuko’s fault. Also it was weirdly sweet to see Azula sticking for her friend. If violently. Though I’m pretty sure that Mai has already moved on with a new fiancé…😉

————

I also had a question/prompt I just thought up for ya. It’s an ATLA/BGIII idea.

In one of the Karlach endings, the character that the player well plays (being either a custom/Tav, the Urge, or another origin) can choose to accompany a romanced Karlach to Avernus.

Say Azula at some point is sent to Avernus through a strange spirit accident. Either during her early childhood, the night Ursa leaves, or at some point during or after the show.

Once in Avernus, Azula is quite understandably shocked at what’s going on. After wondering for a few moments she is accosted by a passing patrol of Imp. Depending at what age Azula is sent to Avernus she either deals with the imps herself or nearly killed.

While Azula is accosted, a nearby Karlach and character that romanced her see what is happening and swiftly intervene. Rescuing Azula.

From that point onwards, Azula is basically adopted by Karlach and the (formerly played) character.

Sure, Azula is in one of the hells. But she is raised by Karlach so it evens out no? Even if she has to live in the blood war. Constantly hunted by Zariel as the de facto adopted daughter of Karlach. During that time, Azula is also on a relentless quest to fix Karlach’s infernal engine.

Of course, no ATLA related thing is complete without Azutara. So at some point in time Katara (and possibly other members of the Gaang/dangerous ladies) is either sent to Avernus via spirit tomfoolery, or Azula is somehow sent back to the world of Avatar. Though I don’t know what kind of big conflict Azula and Katara would fight against. Perhaps there is a devil or a demon they have to fight against. Maybe even Zariel, on a quest to rescue Karlach? Perhaps one devil wishes to merge their plain of hell with the mortal world of Avatar. Amin to Molag Bal’s plan in Elder Scrolls Online.

That the idea! Or at least a preliminary idea for your consideration.

Hi, @745voiceofthepeople ! Glad to hear you enjoyed the latest AKN update! Yes, Aang and Sokka had to take a little dumbing down for comedy's sake. ;) Azula and Zuko are the worst - and Azula probably wouldn't have cared too much about Zuko and Mai breaking up, but Azula just finds it very offensive that Zuko would choose Jet above her best friend.

Speaking about ATLA and BG3, I actually encountered that ending for Karlach in my game. My tiefling bard romanced Karlach and ended up joining her in Avernus. Oh, and Wyll came along with them, probably to carry their bags and do butler stuff.

Avernus is a very fiery place, that's for sure. Maybe Azula could end up there because the spirits very angry with her if she maybe used her firebending to do something bad, so perhaps it was a kind of punishment for her.

I think Azula and Karlach could have a very interesting relationship. Karlach is a rather simple girl and she would need time to understand why Azula is the way she is. But Karlach also has a good heart and Azula is just a kid, so she'd try to be patient with Azula. I think Azula would be frustrated that Karlach's default approach to problem solving is to chop them with an axe. But Azula would come to appreciate Karlach's loyalty and she would become invested in helping fix Karlach's engine.

Bringing in the other ATLA characters in this scenario might be a challenge, though. I currently have no clear ideas how I would do that. :) But thank you so much for the interesting idea!

[dragonbonez]

It was pretty close in the end!

This is still pretty early in so changes might happen, but here’s a little excerpt that doesn’t give any plot lines away! Please let me know if you like it haha

TBD Name

Fandom: A:TLA

They were in the Northern Water Tribe when he asked. It was one of their more personal trips, so there wasn’t any official Avatar business to pull Aang away immediately. Sokka wanted to introduce Suki to his extended family since she was finally not being swamped by her duties after the war, and of course, Katara was going with them.

Aang had suggested that he and Toph could walk around town and get some extra supplies for when they were ready to leave. Everyone had agreed to those plans and soon half of the group was gone, leaving the last Airbender and the greatest Earthbender to have some nice leisure time.

Toph really did not like being in any of the water tribe locations unfortunately. The people were always nice of course, and the food was always something to write home about if she could (in the good and bad sense), but these were the places where she felt the most useless. The ice beneath her was just cold and Toph had to wear shoes in order to not get frostbite, so it wasn’t just useless, she also felt confined. It was not a set of feelings Toph liked. It always made her feel like the way her parents had thought of her. Blind, fragile, powerless.

But thankfully this time around she had Aang to hang on to. Toph grabbed onto his arm almost immediately after getting down from Appa. She felt her own heartbeat go just a bit faster as she felt the warmth against the cold air. Aang knew perfectly well that ice was not Toph’s friend, and he made up with it spectacularly by distracting her with constant fun idle talk. Toph really did like Aang’s voice, so already she felt much better than back in those times when her parents dictated her life. And as they went about buying supplies and talking about everything and nothing, laughing at the silliest things they could not laugh about with the others, and maybe spending some of the money on not so necessary snacks for later, Toph felt something in her heart grow warmer as well.

They returned to the meet up spot some time later, with bags of supplies on their backs and remnants of street food on their faces, and if Toph had clung to Aang’s arm a bit longer than necessary once the group was back together, well, the ice was at fault for sure.

***

Bonus excerpt:

(I wanted to show some of the dialogue haha)

Aang passed a hand over his face trying to wipe away the sleep, then when that didn’t work, he slapped his cheeks with both of his hands to try to bully sleep out of his body. That didn’t work either and his cheeks were now stinging pretty bad.

“I can help with that if you want.” Sokka said, smiling at Aang from his spot.

He also had some dark circles under his eyes, but he looked pretty okay overall.

Aang chuckled softly, “Thanks, I think I got it though.”

Sokka looked back at Aang and then at where Toph was resting on Appa, his smile turned sly. He pointed with his thumb at the sleeping pair. “You can take a quick power nap over there if you want. We have maybe an hour before we have to wake everyone up.”

Aang followed where his finger was pointing at and a very slight blush crossed his face, “What about you? Aren’t you tired?”

“Not as tired as you.” Sokka replied, “and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind that much either.”

Aang’s blush grew much more crimson and he groaned. “Sokka, come on…” He was not about to stand for this, “Don’t say it.”

Sokka’s smile grew even bigger as he slid towards Aang wrapping an arm around him. “Say what, Mister Avatar, sir?”

“Nothing! Don’t say anything!” Aang pleaded.

“Ok, fine. I don’t have anything to say anyways.” Sokka unwrapped him and put both of his hands up as a sign of peace. Then without so much as a warning. “HEY, TOPH-“

*******

WELP THAT IS ALL I CAN GIVE

I hope these make people excited for what’s to come! I’m hoping to finish it before I even have to think about going back to school.

[ameliatheamazing]

I watched the a:tla live action and because I used to be the Posting My Thoughts On Avatar blog, I'm gonna share the lil reviews I wrote after watching each episode. spoilers ahead!

1- aang:

ok so far it’s actually really good! The actors are amazing, especially aang and zuko, but like everyone actually. They are kids. And that’s like the most important thing. (i just hope they’re still kids by the end of the series lol). The visuals are BEAUTIFUL, the lighting and color grading is really good, the effects are great, the costumes are amazing- it’s all really faithful to the show. And it’s so exciting too bc i know it so i’m like so hyped every time something new that i recognize comes along. So overall i’m enjoying it. The main thing is it’s pretty tonally different, like bc it’s a limited series they’re focusing more on the war aspect of it all and cut a lot of the filler. Which makes sense i guess but like.. I do hope they let these kids be kids! Like please let aang goof off and show katara and sokka that it’s ok to take a break and have fun as well. I feel like that’s a really important aspect of his character so we shouldn’t cut all the filler. Please. We’ll see. (i had this exact problem with the pjo series too.. feel like i’m getting deja vu)

2- warriors:

Episode 2! Was really good! They took out sokka’s sexism which ppl were mad about but i honestly really liked what they did instead, how he connected to suki through them both being leaders of their villages. He still underestimated her and she still taught him to fight (he just wasn’t wearing makeup. tragic) and i LOVED every scene they had together! I was like kicking my feet it was so cute. Kyoshi came in and was so OP. I think it’s weird that they started going to the north because of some omen and not because aang needs to learn waterbending?? Like what’s the reason for that. so many of the decisions made here just seem to be trying to move the story along as fast as possible. But there are still good character moments and it’s enjoyable.

I love zuko. I already did so i am biased but his actor is amazing he really has that anger but also like, a clear softness beneath that. (my only problem is his scar isn’t quite as nasty as the animated version. Like from far away you can’t even really see it, i feel like it should be bigger.) I’m still not sure about iroh’s actor he’s pretty different from the animated version and i just feel like no one can live up to the original, but his character is similar to the one we know and love. azula and ozai made an appearance which is wayy sooner than in the og lol. but both of their actors seem great i’m excited to see more of them.

3- omashu:

ok we knocked out a few major s1 episodes, with jet and the mechanist from the northern air temple being featured. neither of them were from omashu originally but combining them here actually worked out ok. i loved danny pudi as the mechanist obviously. they weren’t living in the air temple though which took out a pretty big struggle for aang, where he had to come to terms with other people living on the air nomads’ land. but they can’t include every detail and like i said, having them in omashu worked just fine. idk how i feel about the jet plot, it seemed pretty similar to the original episode it just had less focus so it was like weirdly paced i felt like. most important thing was we saw cabbage guy!! even in live action his cabbages aren’t safe

4- into the dark:

why did they have bumi like, literally try to kill aang? in the show they revealed he was bumi at the very end and he was like haha it’s me your friend! i was testing your strength or whatever. here, they had him be mad at aang for not being there during the war! like oh my god?? in the original series, not everything was about the war. you even forgot it was happening at times. here, they don’t let you forget.

so glad they included secret tunnel. also oma and shu were lesbians we love to see it. but it was so strange that the badger moles like… responded to love? what?? that’s not a thing. in the original cave of two lovers episode i remember katara thought love would be the answer at first, but then was proven wrong and the crystals actually just guided them because it was dark. but in this one, she was right and sokka looked like an idiot for not believing her?? ok. i am kinda glad they took out the kataang stuff, i don’t think we need it this early on.

i liked zuko and iroh’s plot, especially the addition that the guy who captured iroh had a personal trauma from iroh’s ba sing se attack. this show has so much depth and nuance rather than just having good guys and bad guys and this was a great way of showing that.

5- spirited away:

idk what to think of this one. it was kind of an all over the place infodump. they clearly used this one as a way to put in a lot of stuff they weren’t gonna cover otherwise, like sokka’s trial thing. it didn't flow together very well. but i still enjoyed it i guess. we met a bunch of spirits that normally don’t show up until later like koh, wan shi tong, and the fox that i’m pretty sure was yue. interesting choices. ok and why the fuck did they have june flirt with iroh?? bc in the og series he makes comments towards her that are a bit gross. and instead of taking that out altogether, they reversed it?? what the fuck? that’s not better. i think my favorite part of this episode was gyatso telling aang it wasn’t his fault. he needed to hear that.

i’m starting to get pretty annoyed that aang hasn’t learned waterbending AT ALL? by this point he had been practicing with katara quite a bit! like we are way behind on the mastering elements thing when that was literally their top priority in the main series.

6-masks:

that was actually amazing. pretty spot on 1 to 1 of the blue spirit episode, at least the second half. except at the end aang and zuko talked a lot more, they’re really pushing zuko towards that redemption more than in the original. zuko’s backstory also had a lot added to it which i really liked. ozai’s characterization is so interesting, he has a little more depth (we’re just seeing more of him rly) but he ofc is still the worst human being ever in the world. but the actor who plays him is so good and we're really seeing why he makes the decisions he does. the agni kai was more drawn out which made it even worse, and we saw the actual moment of zuko’s banishment which was also extremely painful to watch! :D when he was crying in his bed ugh i couldn’t take it. and i love the detail that the soldiers he wanted to save were assigned to be his crew, which led them to respect him more once they heard his story. i loved that.

they really dumbed down commander zhao in this, i watched the original episode again and he was so much more threatening. idk why they gave that asswipe more comedic relief than aang. let aang be silly!! i’m also craving more appa in this show.

7- the north:

this was pretty much just an expanded version of the waterbending master episode. (although aang is STILL not learning waterbending?) the katara vs pakku fight was amazing and really accurate to the original scene, which was one of my favorite fight scenes so i’m glad for that. although they took out the whole thing with pakku noticing katara’s necklace but that’s fine tbh. but yeah she had her girl power moment! slay. yue is amazing and her and sokka’s interactions are so great! although i wish sokka and suki hadn’t actually kissed in episode 2, bc i feel like it took away from the importance of his and yue’s relationship! like she was his first kiss in the series and now she’s not. she’s not even necessarily his “first girlfriend.” so yeah weird choices all around. i also found it interesting that she dumped hahn and was not even betrothed to him. and he was way less of an asshole so it's not even clear why she did that. i guess trying to give her more agency? but like it doesn't make sense.

8- legends:

this one was good, again pretty accurate to the season 1 finale. the fight scenes were really drawn out to the point where it felt like they were just padding time lol, but aang’s avatar state fish suit thing looked really cool. i don’t remember if aang’s conflict here was in the original but i don’t think it was? where he’s like “i have to bear the burden of being the avatar alone” i remember him struggling with that in season 3 but not s1. idk how i feel about that. I love that katara got her moment and got to not only fight but be a leader! also momo like, sacrificed himself to save someone but it fell pretty flat bc if you're just watching this new series, you would barely care about momo. he's like not in this at all. zuko was the highlight once again. i just love him. i think that's all i have to say? again, pretty much the same story as the original.

TLDR i didnt hate this series, most of my problems with it just came from the fact that it's a live action remake and i hate those as a concept. as a fan of og avatar it was really enjoyable! I didn't like the shift in tone very much but I knew it was coming. (i'm probably gonna rewatch the og series as a palette cleanser lol). The cast and overall visuals were great and the story, although condensed, was fairly accurate. I'm excited to see how they do s2 but i'm not like super invested and my hopes are still not that high.

[some-movies-ive-seen]

Avatar The Last AirBender (the Netflix | Nickelodeon series)

Episode 1: 3/10

Episode 2: 4/10 (Kyoshi brought it up)

I don't really want to even watch further. Let's start off with the good.

I love the music and sounds. Brilliant.

Some actors are very good and their act is believable to the point it makes me forget I'm watching a TV show.

Honestly most of the time there's CG I don't even notice it.

the makeup, the sets, the costumes, wow. wowowoww. wowweeee. I love it.

The bad:

Very very very few actors know what they're doing.

It's a known problem that child actors are just terrible - not because children can't be great actors (c.f., Heidi, literally everyone in Matilda (ily Danny Davito)), but sometimes the show has a director that cannot for the life of them work with children (e.g., Stranger Things, and this ATLA series). Aang, for example, delivers a performance which is painful to watch. I'm not hating on the child, again, the direction is just completely missing. There's a scene where they have Katara just light-jog to Aang, then pivot slightly to Sokka. For what. It's so stiff and awkward and her expression is completely void of life (this happens a lot, her eyes are frozen, and only the rest of her face conveys expression). There are times when the laughter is obviously forced. There are times when dialogue delivered by the children are far too 'complex' for what a child would say. It's just so, it's not good. It feels like a show for kids. But I'm reminded that in the opening scenes a person was burned alive, so unless the kids these days are fine with that (deity knows I wasn't as a kid), I don’t know.

Most of the time it just doesn't seem believable. It feels like some friends and family got together and just shot some scenes on their iPhone to try and replicate the animated series. There are actions taken by characters which make no god damn sense. There are scenes where their facial expressions aren't human, because they're trying to mimic the animated characters (especially Sokka). I also get the vibe that they didn't rehearse lines, like at all. Aang messed up pronunciation TWICE in the first episode* (I'm pretty sure it was both in the first episode, he just mumbled over his words and they didn't think to re-shoot it or fuckin, I don’t know, do a little dub? like?).

There's no real explanation for bending??? Which ig wouldn't be necessary if you've watched the animated series. But like why can't the fire people just spew out a constant stream of fire, why must it be fireballs. Why does the earth bender boy need soooooo long to charge up his move? Why was Aang flying around the first time we saw him, but then he was free-falling reaching desperately for his stick later on (where did the stick even come from???)?

They resort to dark / dimly-lit scenes a little too frequently to make the CG easier / less noticeable. but it has the unintended effect of 'I can't see shit, babes'.

I think I'll watch more. I don’t know man it just feels like Netflix is hiring bottom of the fucking skill-barrel. Like I'm glad there's so many new people in the acting space, instead of recycling Marilyn Streep and, that guy, like they used to for the last few decades. But it comes at the cost of 'what the fuck are these people doing, do they want to be here?'. It's very Disney-girl-turns-pop-princess-because-daddy-knows-people. does that make sense.

I don’t know. Kyoshi just. compared to the others around her? Night and day. Night and fucking day, babes. Not even funny; her composure, her delivery, the tiny details, she just nails it for the most part. And then she's standing next to Aang who's just like omg when does this take end so I can go eat my fairy floss teehee.

[skoulsons]

i have to talk about the atla teaser I’m so sorry

first off is the locations.

AANGS ICEBERG EMERGING. ITS SO BEAUTIFUL.

LOST it at omashu. One of the best places in the show. The shutes!!!! The architecture!!!! Oh it’s BEAUTIFUL

OZAIS THRONE ROOM ARAFDJDHSHDHSJDG WIRH THE DRSGONS BEHIDN HIM

AND ROKU. MY BOY. CRESCENT ISLAND. THE FIRE SAGES. SHYU. ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES OF THE SHOW. “I know you can do it, Aang, for you have done it before.” ROKU PULLING THR LAVA THROUGH THE FLOOR 😭😭😭 (not to mention the ep before this being WSP1 about hei bai. i cant wait to see him in live action)

The cast!!! I’m really happy with everyone, I think. Paul as Iroh !!! Daniel as Ozai !!!

The kids all look great as well. AND SUKI I DIDNT THINK THEYD SHOW HER. But the whole gaang looks so so good and I’m excited to eventually see toph, Ty Lee, and Mai (even other kids like Haru, Teo, the Duke, etc)

Not even just the kids, but just the whole rest of the cast??? HAKODA??? Everyone involved in Earth Rumble??? The swamp benders and the mechanist and Chit Sang and Bumi and Monk Gyatso and Roku and Sozin and the Dai Li and Zhao and Yue and Kyoshi and Kuruk and Yang Chen and to see characters like Koh or Wan Shi Tong in live action???

The gaang flying on Appa!!! Zuko and Iroh fighting!!! The scenes from the warriors of kyoshi!!! Suki and Sokka!!! Whatever that first scene is which could be a flashback I don’t know I can’t really make anything out but still!!!!! That Agni Kai that I can’t make out between who whether it’s Zuko and zhao or Ozai to Zuko or a new one but!!!!!!!!!!! The tower that looks similar to the one in the blue spirit episode!!!

The costumes look great too. Aang feels so Aang. I love the look of Katara and Sokka southern water tribe clothes. LOVE the fire nation look (Ozai looks STELLAR). Kyoshi warriors look so good.

The score kicking in 🤌🏻😭🤌🏻😭🤌🏻😭 one of my favorite scores ever

The *one* thing I can’t figure out is who’s voice is throughout the teaser. “Time… time is a funny thing. The past, the future, it all gets mixed up. There’s only one way to keep it straight. Always remember who you are.”

It definitely sounds cut in some places, but I’m pretty sure it’s Iroh (I don’t know Paul’s voice and how much he might’ve changed it to fit Iroh). But I think he’s also the character to put in a teaser / trailer bc of course his character is known for his wisdom, but also everyone just loves him, so

my friends are right. it’s probably gyatso actually.

anyway yeah going a bit crazy and the fact that it’s dropping in FEBRUARY

[dykesynthezoid]

hiii so first off just wanna say love your takes on robby/cobra kai and second after watching all of cobra kai fairly quickly, i've been mourning robby's friendship with demetri and sam <//3 now i just really want a fic with robby, sam, and demetri hanging out at the mall but i guess i have to be the change i want to see in the world i guess and write it out <//3 the only thing i worry is not getting their voices right

Aww ty!! And god I feel that so much… I miss their friendship in season 2 all the time, like whyyyy did they have to just throw it in the trash!!

The biggest thing about Sam, Demetri, and Robby’s group dynamic is I think that 1. Robby and Sam are protective of Demetri and 2. They can all cut loose and bitch/commiserate together. Like. They are champions of Complaining. I’m honestly pretty sure Miyagi-Do is rlly just all about being able to bitch and complain to your friends. (Which seems kind of appropriate since apparently one of the big ways Ralph and Pat Morita bonded; even before filming; was constantly complaining about their rigorous karate training together). (Honestly, another reason I will always side with Miyagi-Do. They said fuck that “suffer in silence” and “take it like a man” crap, here at Miyagi-Do we BITCH and COMPLAIN and WHINE and it’s beautiful).

As far as individual characterizations and voices, that sort of thing can be tough! There are a few things I tend to keep in mind with these three tho

A big thing with Demetri is that his natural anxiety/neurosis (and esp a fear of physical harm or impending disaster) is often at war with his sarcasm and lack of a verbal filter. He’s also quite pessimistic and often assumes the worst, although this trait isn’t as extreme as it was in earlier seasons (since joining Miyagi-Do has clearly made him more confident).

Sam has a lot in common with other complex, headstrong female characters like Nancy Wheeler, Katara, etc. She’s naturally kind but she’s also got a rebellious and indignant streak. But she also lives her life aware she’s playing a role; a role which she didn’t necessarily want, but she’s still accepted; because she thinks it’s necessary or that bad things will happen if she rejects it. All of that can make her seem fake, sometimes, to certain people. She doesn’t want to seem fake, it’s just a natural consequence of the situation she finds herself in. She’s also sometimes prone to moodiness and huffiness (which I think is adorable, personally).

With friends like Demetri and Robby, I do think she finds it easier to cut loose and exist closer to her authentic self, though. (Them being boys might honestly have something to do with this? The way that Sam relates to other girls is… complicated. I don’t really blame her for it, I think a lot of us have been there, frankly).

Robby; my boy! He’s also naturally kind-hearted and stubborn, like Sam. And he’s also carrying, like, a lot of anger, but that’s not surprising considering his childhood. He’s also very charming! Some of that seems natural, but a lot of it is clearly a skill developed out of necessity. Robby’s nature is very… mutable? Changeable, I think? He tends to mirror his environment. (The way his sense of identity is often in flux is another point towards him having CPTSD, tbh). He’s a very good friend, though! I think that part is all him. He just wants to help, wants to do good. Oh, and entertain! He definitely spends time making sure he’s making other people laugh.

Plus he’s pretty sassy sometimes. Can’t hold back certain bitchy little comments, but it’s always very funny.

(I also think all three of them have a lot in common with Daniel in particular, although it’s different traits, respectively…)

This got way longer than I meant it to be but. Yeah! I love the three of them as a trio. Miyagi-Do for life. Wishing you luck on the fic!