#it could be a part of the avatar being able to get pregnant

[tiredgatt0]

I wonder if theres a life simulation game where avatars can get periods

[fl3shm4id3n]

𝓕𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓵

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐚'𝐯𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐫.

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ɴᴇᴛᴇʏᴀᴍ x ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ! ꜰᴇᴍ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw:  SPOILERS (don’t come at me, I’ve warned you), experiments done to a baby in stomach, child birth, mentions of bruises, fluff, reader is a middle child, the reader has no description except mentioning she has dark hair and tattoos, death of a character, reader is able to breath without the mask, reader is 5′3 in height, Flashbacks

Author’s note: I had the courage to write something, I hope you like it. Idk why but I’d like to write avatar fics with a human reader since I don’t really see much of human reader. I’ll also write of Na’vi reader too, I hope you guys like it. Might do a part 2, I’d like some feed back too, don’t be shy and leave a comment :)

Masterlist

A human woman had stumbled upon Awa’atlu, she was heavily pregnant, it was shown that she was about to give labor. She had begged for help, she wasn’t in the best state, she was in pain, sweating as blood began to trail down her legs. She had been practicing experiments on her baby while in her stomach. The experiments involved allowing the child to be able to breath the Toxic air. 

The people had taken her to Ronal, seeing the human woman she helped. Hours had passed helping the woman deliver her child. She screamed and cried, begging for the pain to be over soon. Finally the baby was born, the baby was smaller than a regular Na’vi baby.

The woman was exhausted, she knew she wasn’t going to make it, her last words she asked was if they could watch out for her baby before she passed. Ronal held onto the human baby close to her, she didn’t have the heart to leave a defenseless child on her own. She promised to take care of the human baby along with her mate Tonowari, they’ll teach her their ways and will learn to be like them. They had named Y/n.

Year had passed and you were thought everything, how to swim, how to hold your breath longer than you could, as well as hunt and fish. You had always questioned on why you didn’t have blue skin, fins, four fingers and tail. Your parents had told you that you are their daughter and that’s what mattered.

You loved being in the water, you were like a fish, you spent hours and hours swimming with the fish along with your spirit sister. Your mother was surprised that you had bonded with a tulkun like the rest of the people. Your father loved teaching you how to hunt with a spear along with him taking you to ride his skimwing.

You also rode on your oldest sister’s Ilu since you couldn’t bond with one, you and your sister were close, she was their when you were still a baby. She often wondered why you looked different but still loved you. Ao’nung defended you from anyone who made fun of you for being different, yes you may not look like the rest of them but you were still his sister.

That day you had been swimming in the water all morning, seeing different schools of fish along with other kinds of pants under water. Along with collecting sea shells and plants, you wish you had gills so that you could live underwater like a fish. When you swam back to the surface to breath, you saw a small crowd form on the near the shore. 

You swam closer and got out the water, placing your collection of shells down and you squeezed your hair to get rid off some water then approached the crowd. When others began to notice you they moved out of your way, you stood right behind your father’s fall figure but got a glance at the forest Na’vi.

They were seeking for refuge to get away from war, but then your mother was not happy with them being here. She had judged them for being to thin, along with them not belonging here due to being forest Na’vi. Then when she had said that they were not true na’vi and having demon blood on them, that’s when you decided to step out causing them to look at you.

The forest Na’vi eyed you, seeing a human that lived among them, how is it that they accepted you and they won’t accept them. “What of her? she is a dreamwalker and yet you let her live among you” Neytiri hissed at you. Ronal turned around and saw you, she walked over to her and pulled you close to her side. “She is our child, she was placed in our path by Eywa” she hissed at her, her mother instincts had kicked in when Neytiri had hissed and gave you a dirty look. 

Then you looked up at your mother with pleading eyes. “Mother, please give them a chance? We’ll teach them our ways, to be like our brothers and sisters, please” you begged. Ronal looked down at you, seeing your pleasing eyes, she could not say no to you, you were her precious child, her baby. She sighed and agreed. It was settled, your father allowed them to stay and become one of them. You along with Triyera and Ao’nung will teach their children their ways, your brother wanted you protest but he was shut by your father.

“We’ll show you our village” Tsireya said as she walked towards them to help them with their things. Ronal gave you a loving squeeze like hug before letting you go help your sister assist the family. You helped your sister carry their stuff along with helping them guide them to their new home. 

As you walked with your sister, Neteyam the oldest son had been looking at you. He saw how you dark hair was put up along with some baby hairs being displayed like small waves with beads along with shells and other small accessories. he also noticed how you had a tattoo on the upper left of your face, it fit you perfectly. You also had some necklaces around your neck, you looked beautiful. 

“This is your new home” your sister said as she set their things down. You stood next to her still holding their things, you saw how Jake tried to lighten the mood but you saw how Neytiri had dropped her rug in an angry manner. “We’ll let you settle in” your sister said as you both excused yourselves and left them.

Neteyam was watching you leave. “Hey! Bro!” Lo’ak spoke loudly causing him to look at his little brother “yes?” he said seeing a smirk on his face. “Did Y/n catch your eye?” he teased, making his older brother roll his eyes “shut up!” he groaned playfully pushing him.

You and your siblings were in the water, waiting for the Sully’s to arrive, you were thinking of thinking of the boy who was looking at you. He was handsome you thought to yourself as you kept yourself afloat between Ao’nung and Roxto. Then finally they got there, they jumped in the water causing you to get splashed along with the two Na’vis next to you. 

The lessons were going great, though they were struggling a but they were catching up. Ao’nung groaned frustrated that he was practically teaching babies. “Man, you’re all like babies” he complained as you then chimed in “It’s fine, just be patient Ao’nung” you said as your brother looked at you. Then the Sully children surfaced from the water to breath “you’re going to fast wait for us” Tuk wined as she rubbed her eyes. 

Your brother had made a comment on how they were good at swimming on trees, earning a smack from Tsireya, making you giggle. The lessons continued until it was time for them to bond with an Ilu, you had to set this one out since you had no Ilu to ride on. You walked back home where your mother had been creating some kind of lotion with sea weed and clams.

“Evening mother, would you want my help?” you said as she looked at you and smiled. “I’d love to have your help” she said as you got materials to make another kind of lotion. Your relationship with your mother is a good one, she treated you like a baby since you were smaller. She was very protective of you, ever since you were a baby. She was the one who taught you how to swim was a baby, she also thought you sign language and more. 

“How is my sibling?” you asked, as you looked at her baby bump, she took your small hand and placed it on the her stomach. You felt the baby in her moving, it made you smile at the feeling. “They’re strong” Ronal said making your mother smile wide. “I can’t wait” you said as you went back into working on the lotion.

After you had left, you came across Neteyam who was sitting crisscross but he had a split lip. You walked closer to him with a worried look at him “Neteyam? What happened?” You asked touching his face lightly with your smaller one, seeing his injury “nothing” he said locking eyes with you. You felt as if time had stopped, his yellow eyes had exchanged yours, you stayed looked that for a bit until you shook your head.

“Hold on” you said as you then reached inside your small pouch that you had took with you so that you could go collect some sea shells and took out the small lotion you worked on earlier in a small wooden tin. “This may hurt a bit” you said as you opened the tin and got a small scoop of the lotion. You lightly dabbed your fingers on his lip making him hiss. “This should help” you said as you put the wooden tin back in your pouch. 

“Thank you” he said with a smile, giving him a polite smile in return “your welcome, I was about to go for a swim and collect some shells, would you like to join me? I could also help you with your breathing exercises” you asked shyly at the boy who gave you an even brighter smile. “Yeah, I’d like that” Neteyam said getting up from the floor. You both walked down to the beach towards the ocean.

[sokkastyles]

An Overanalysis of Zuko and Food (plus Iroh)

So, I've seen a lot of meta about how Zuko appears skinnier at certain points in the series depending on where he is in his arc. During the worst parts of Zuko's time as a refugee in season two, he seems to have lost a lot of his muscle mass, but towards the end of season two, he's less muscular than season one Zuko but distinctly rounder in the face, as he becomes more adjusted to a more (relatively) normal teenage life, living under a roof and not as a captain of a naval vessel, having access to a stable food source, and letting himself be taken care of by Iroh. At the beginning of season three he's in the palace, with plenty of access to food, but appears much thinner, and several people have made the inference that it was likely Zuko was not eating as well due simply to the anxiety of being back with his abuser.

But I've also noticed several other interesting things that could indicate something about Zuko's relationship to food. In book one, Zuko is built up, he's a military leader, he's trying to fulfill his role as prince of a nation that values strength and power, and there's one scene in particular that shows him not eating, in contrast to Iroh.

We see Zuko raging over not being able to capture Aang while at dinner, and Iroh asks him if he's going to eat his food, to which he replies that he's going to eat it later, and angrily takes it away from Iroh.

The main purpose of this scene is to contrast Zuko's single-minded determination with regard to his mission with Iroh's hedonism. Even on a military vessel, Iroh is presented as the antithesis of Spartan Fire Nation military culture. Zuko shows clear distaste for this behavior, because he has learned to detest it from his father, and angrily takes the food away from Iroh, saying he's going to "finish it later." And book one Zuko looks like he probably isn't missing any meals. He's jacked, and he's probably eating a lot of protein to keep up that physic. But is he going to sit around enjoying a meal when he's stressed about finding the Avatar? Absolutely not. The food in this scene looks very inviting, steaming hot, but Zuko will eat only when it's necessary to do so, and won't tolerate uncle eating more than his fill.

At the start of book two, Zuko and Iroh are without the trappings of even Zuko's banishment. They've lost everything, and are forced to forage for food, an endeavor that is less than successful. They are fed by Song's family, and I've seen some theorize that Iroh intentionally poisoned himself in order to force Zuko to seek help, which is an interesting theory considering that given stressful and even dire situations, Zuko's inclination seems to be to turn down food more often than not.

When Zuko is later separated from Iroh, we see him contemplate stealing food when faced with starvation, but makes the decision not to steal from a pregnant family.

Later in season two, Zuko and Iroh are living as refugees in Ba Sing Se. Zuko no longer looks bone thin, and presumably has stable access to food, although not the royal trappings of a prince. He's much more filled out, but appears more round and less lean muscle. We see him visit a restaurant with Jin, and we get a close up of him pushing around his food on the plate to indicate his anxiety about the date.

(I also want to mention here that in the "Going Home Again" comic, which takes place before the start of book three, Mai says that the food in Ba Sing Se is awful and Zuko says it's not so bad once you get used to it.)

Then at the end of book two, when Zuko recovers from his sickness, he immediately is interested in the jook that uncle is making, to Iroh's surprise, who says that Zuko wouldn't like it. Zuko happily eats a bowl despite this.

This is meant to show us Zuko's newfound appreciation for life after recovering from spiritual sickness. But it's also interesting when taken in the context of Zuko's previous relationship with food. Iroh assumes that Zuko will not want to eat the jook, but one thing that is interesting is that it's a meal commonly made by adults for children or others recovering from illness. We can infer that Iroh was making the jook for Zuko, despite his assertion that Zuko wouldn't want it. I think this is consistent with how we see Zuko turn down food when he is uncomfortable or anxious, but when he's in a place where he feels safe, he will let himself eat.

Finally, at the start of book three, we see Zuko turn down food when being offered it by servants.

And finally only accepting a hot towel (used to wipe away sweat.) Despite having access to excesses, he's uncomfortable and constantly on edge.

I also have to mention Mai again here, and how Zuko, despite turning down food for himself, offers to get food for Mai, which is meant to show us how Zuko struggles to connect to the world in which Mai belongs. It's worth mentioning also that we see Zuko bring Mai food twice in the beach to try and make her happy (and failing) while eating nothing himself.

We also see Zuko offer Iroh food in prison.

Zuko says that even though he knows it's not Iroh's favorite, it beats prison food. This actually mirrors Iroh making the jook for Zuko in book two, which Iroh says Zuko does not like, but making it for him anyway. Zuko is trying to return uncle's care for him, but what Iroh really wants is for Zuko to be safe.

At the tail end of book three, Zuko seems to have gained back some of his muscle mass, and appears much more comfortable with the gaang, but he's still shown not indulging when the rest are.

The screenshot actually frames him in direct contrast to the rest of the gaang, as Aang's teacher who is strict about him goofing off during training (a callback to season one Zuko who was displeased with Iroh's hedonism). We don't know if Katara had any watermelon juice herself, but she's seen making several "glasses." (Hello, momtara and dadko.)

Anyway, I think Katara the gaang made sure Zuko had enough food and that he was eating, and that he reciprocated by making them tea in return.

[allidoistrytrytryy]

don’t want no other shade of blue, but you (part 1 of 2) (neteyam x reader)

AO3 version if you prefer reading over there

part 2 (Neteyam and the sky girl, series)

summary: (the confusing timeline and glimpses of life between Neteyam and a human girl.)

warnings: hurt/comfort, fluff and angst, kinda only angst with bits of fluff for part 1, will get better, no use of y/n, confusing timeline, aged-up characters when it comes to present time, not canon-compliant, will surely be unrealistic when it comes to lore but i write what i want and that IS AN HAPPY ENDING IN PART 2

As you slowly woke up, you peeked over to the edge of the tree to see the sun had begun to set.

You needed to go back, now.

You pulled yourself away from the large blue body. You had fallen asleep on his shoulder, again, while you were talking.

Your very best friend, Neteyam. Your other half in so many ways.

The one that you could never be with, you reminded yourself as you re-positioned your mask again, making sure it was well attached and still working.

Here was the detail, you were fully human. Or sky people, as they all liked to remind you when the others of the clan looked at you and whispered under their breath.

Were you angry at them ? Of course not. Sky people were still your people, as much as you wanted to erase that part of yourself. But that did not change the fact that your people had tried to take everything from the Omaticayas.

They had destroyed Hometree. Killed the Olo’eyktan. Killed so many of them, all for some resources. And you were simply a reminder of that.

Your small stature, your non-blue skin, your hands of five fingers, your mask always on your face. You were one of them, no matter how much you did not want to be.

But the thing was you didn’t know anything but Pandora.

Your mother, a scientist, had been pregnant when the evacuation happened. Barely pregnant, in the early stages, but still enough to not be able to be brought back, the flight too dangerous to take and cryo impossible.

So your father, one of the many military men on base at the time, had fucked off and taken the first flight home back to Earth, not caring about the woman he had fucked or his unborn child.

Obviously, your mother had wanted to go right back to Earth too, so she had hated you for keeping her on Pandora. She gave birth to you and got evacuated as soon as she could be.

You never heard from her after that. You never asked about her either. You didn’t care.

Home had been the remaining humans in the lab who had stayed. Home had been the multiple faces and hands you had been through. Home had been a little blond boy, human too, pulling on your hair and going out every day, when you barely had the courage to go explore.

Home was looking up at a tank with a large blue woman floating in it (“It’s a Na’vi.” Norm had said, while holding you on his hip, explaining to barely 1-year-old little you. “Well, technically, she’s but an avatar, so not truly Na’vi but… yeah. That was Grace. And soon, there will be another baby around, but blue.”).

That Grace had been pregnant, which you later on understood no one could explain. (Lo’ak would whisper his suspicions later on to you, in his own confident joking manner, loud enough for Kiri to hear. She had jumped on him after that. You had looked with a sigh, but a smile anyway.) But a blue baby came out soon after and was taken by two larger than life blue people. (Literally larger than life. You remembered looking up at them from the ground, fascinated and terrified at the same time.)

You had not seen her (Kiri, Norm had told you, back from a run to the Omaticayas in his avatar. Daughter of Grace. Daughter of Jake and Neytiri.) for a few years, until one day Spider dragged 5-year-old you to the forest to show you the clan and make you meet the Sully siblings.

You remembered how Spider had jumped in with them, so naturally, like another brother. You had felt awkward, looking from afar, already so aware of your differences even at such a young age.

Spider was being rowdy with Lo’ak while Neteyam was watching them with a shake of his head. You had gravitated towards Kiri, who was sitting away from them, looking around her. You had sat down beside her.

Kiri hadn’t looked back for a minute or two, too engrossed in the world around her, until she had finally turned to you, surprised to see someone she didn’t know beside her.

“Sorry, I did the thing... You must be the human girl Spider keeps talking about ! It’s nice to finally meet you.” Kiri had exclaimed, with a smile so big you had loved her instantly.

“Must be me... I’m the only one around anyway... I hope he didn’t tell you bad things.” You had grumbled under your breath, sending a death glare to Spider’s back.

Kiri had shaken her head with a laugh. “Brothers, am I right ?” She had sighed, looking at her own brothers.

You had sighed back and smiled. You hadn’t countered the word. Spider was the closest thing you had to a brother. The only one who understood what you were going through.

Spider had gotten close to you two after a while. “I saw you with your look and your sigh. What are you saying about me, dumb ass ?”

“Absolutely nothing, I'm innocent." You had said, lightly kicking him with your foot.

He had narrowed his eyes in suspicion, until Lo’ak and Neteyam had come closer. Lo’ak was the first one to talk, while Neteyam was simply looking at you.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, monkey boy ?”

“I have the unfortunate pleasure to introduce you to my daily pain in the ass.” Spider had told them your name as you had whined over his words, kicking him harder with your foot this time.

“It’s nice to meet you. He talks about you often. We wondered if you would ever come around.”

Neteyam had looked at you with a smile while saying it. You remembered liking him instantly, with his easy smile.

“I wasn’t going to, until Spider dragged me here.” You had whispered, looking at your hands.

“And we’re glad he did.”

Kiri had rubbed your back, before pulling you to your feet to show you the forest.

The rest is history. You came back, again and again and again. You couldn’t stay away anymore. You loved them. You felt like you belonged beside them.

But you knew you didn’t.

You barely went to the Omaticayas’ home. You always joined them in the forest, but you never crossed the line, as much as Kiri pulled on your hand to come with them.

“Come eat with us ! Come on ! Our parents would love to see you. They always hear about you, but never see you.”

(You knew that was not true. Maybe Jake wanted to see you more, getting it underneath it all, but Neytiri ? Spider had told you so many times how she looked at him with cold unforgiving eyes and whispered under her breath. (That did not stop him from sticking to the Sullys and always crossing that line you had drawn yourself.) (In the few times you had met them, her, she had never looked at you like that though. Maybe the fact that you stayed away made it easier for her to just... forget about you.))

In those moments when you refused and said you were going home with a sad smile, Neteyam would always walk you home, helping you get over any obstacle and helping you climb.

He kept growing taller and taller while you stayed small. Which means he was lifting you more than helping you climb, honestly. And he would make fun of you for it too.

(“Come on, sky girl, keep up !”

He said, laughing as he jumped over trees and vines easily.

“I’m trying, Nete ! You skxawng !”

You yelled and he laughed even harder, looking back at you, his braids swinging with the movement. Your heart skipped a beat.)

One day, when he was twelve and you eleven, he had stopped you before arriving to the small lab you called home.

Neteyam hesitated, your small hand in his. “You should really come around, one day. Just... come see where we live and eat with us. Just one time.”

You had seen the hope in his eyes and you had tried not to cave in. He couldn’t get you. Nope. No.

“Nete, I... You do understand that I don’t belong there, right ?” You had laughed faintly. “Spider doesn’t get that through his thick skull, but I do. No one wants to see me there.”

He had looked at you with sadness, taking your other hand in his free hand. “Other sky people come around all the time. And you do belong.”

You had bitten your lips, looking anywhere and everywhere but his emerald eyes. “Just one time, sky girl. Please.”

“Okay, okay ! Ugh, you’re so annoying, Neteyam.”

He had simply laughed before ruffling your hair, which almost made you fall down. (“Control your own strength, skxawng !”)

That was when you learned you could never say no to him. Anything he asked you would cave for.

(You had come around the next day, grumbling under your breath, as Neteyam pulled on your left hand and Kiri on your other one. Lo’ak was pushing at your back. Spider looked at you and laughed his ass off. You threatened to cut his hair in his sleep.

Jake had actually been happy to see you. Neytiri less, which you weren’t surprised about. You had tried to be as respectful as you could be, making yourself small, even though the others were making it hard for you to be.

Neteyam had sat down beside you, his shoulder and thigh brushing yours, clad in a simple tank top and shorts. You had been glad for the comfort.

When you had left that night, you had been surprised about Neytiri not being hostile to you. Not as Spider had told you.

That had made you come back a few times a week after that, for years. Even though Neytiri did not love you, but she accepted you at least. Even though some Omaticayas would look at you and whisper that you didn’t belong.)

You didn’t understand how you hadn’t realized your feelings for Neteyam back then.

He was your best friend, until he wasn’t just that. Until you looked at him and wanted more.

You didn’t remember exactly how the realization happened. You knew one day you thought he was just your closest friend and confidant, and the next day you wanted to hold his hand and kiss him on his stupid blue lips and fall asleep every night close to him.

Which led you to this exact moment. Sneaking out to go back home, because you couldn’t help but stick close to him. As much as you told yourself every minute of every day that you two could never be. Could never happen. Would never happen.

Sometimes, you even fooled yourself into seeing more in his looks and his touches. Seeing that maybe he saw you the way you saw him. But it could never happen.

As you walked back to the lab, you told yourself that he deserved more. Neteyam was...

You couldn’t even describe it. He was Neteyam. Good and protective and strong and kind and smart and beautiful. Caring. Loving.

He deserved everything. The mate. The family. The future.

You could never give that to him.

So as you said good night to the other humans, giving a small wave back to Norm, as took off the mask, as you laid in bed, you thought and thought and thought and hurt.

You fell asleep hours later, missing his warmth and hating yourself for missing it.

You dreamed of being Na’vi again. You dreamed of him. And it tore you apart.

You kept playing the good best friend, still never crossing lines until he looked at you with those eyes and that smile and you couldn’t help but gravitate to him.

He got even taller, broader, bigger. His voice got deeper. His skills got better.

He was one of the best hunters already at eighteen. He was to be a great future Olo’eyktan, after his father.

You couldn’t understand why he kept seeking you out. You understood when you were younger, but now?

You were simply human. You had barely grown. You had learned basic survival skills from Jake, who had insisted you learn them (“Just in case.” He had told you, a hand on your head.). You were glad he had taken the time.

Neytiri had, somehow, warmed up to you. As much as she could for sky people.

She had taught you how to use a bow, how to make arrows, how to defend yourself with them. You had taken every opportunity, working hard to learn. You wouldn’t speak a lot with each other and you never pushed it.

Mo’at had even given you great opportunities to learn from her, teaching you which plants healed what, talking to you as if you were a part of them.

(When you had asked her why, she had simply looked at you. “The great mother has shown me that you have great strength and a great heart. That does not come around very often in your people.”

You had almost cried in front of her in that very moment, sniffling and keeping them in as best as you could.)

Even through it all, a part of you always screamed that you didn’t deserve any of it. That you didn’t belong and would never. You had learned to not listen, every new acceptance and moment adding to your disillusions, every smile and look from Neteyam making yourself get closer.

The biggest reminder was when the sky people came back.

That had been your wake up call.

When it happened, you had been with all of the Sully siblings. Tuk was in your lap, even though she was already way taller than you, but hadn’t lost the habit from when she was small.

You were helping her make bracelets (“One for all of us ! And one for Mom and one for Dad !” She had exclaimed, excited to be with you for the night while their parents were out on date night.). Kiri and Neteyam too. Lo’ak was still on the same one, grumbling that they were braiding bracelets instead of going out. Spider too.

Neteyam had sat them down quickly when they had tried to get out.

“You guys’ asses are staying right there. No bullshit.”

You had laughed with Kiri, hiding behind Tuk.

All was calm and good until there were loud noises, until you all went out to see what was happening and you saw the forest on fire.

Until everybody screamed out that sky people were back.

You felt yourself faltering, your hand letting go of Tuk’s and dropping to your side.

They were back. Back. Back. Back. Back.

No. No. No.

You felt a hand on your back and startled as a voice talked to you, “You okay, sky girl ?”

The nickname that you loved from his lips now wanted to make you scream, cry, throw up. They were back. And you were one of them.

You had never belonged here and they had just reminded you of this very fact.

You looked up at him, smiled sadly and hid your face in his side to let yourself cry. You would let yourself give in this one moment of weakness.

And then, you were tearing out the plug.

You left right when Jake and Neytiri came back and the Sullys were too busy being together. You left without a word for any of them, without a word for Neteyam who didn’t realize you had left until it was too late.

You locked yourself in your little room. You barely went out for weeks. You couldn’t bring yourself to go back.

“If they ever come around, just tell them I’m not here.” You told Norm, before locking yourself in your room again.

They tried to come again and again. Neteyam knocked on your door, day after day, with the others or alone.

“Sky girl, come out. We all miss you.”

“Please, sky girl. Just... talk to me. I’m on my own. You know you can trust me.”

“You always listen to me, come out and let me listen to you.”

“Let me hear your voice. Tell me you’re okay.”

“Sky girl, I’m never going to stop coming, you know that right ? No matter how much you try to push us away, to push me away, I’ll never stop coming.”

You knew he wouldn’t stop. He was loyal to a fault. Protective. He wouldn’t abandon you.

That hurt more than anything else. If he stopped, at least, you could comfort yourself in the fact that he didn’t need you anymore. He made it hard.

He made you want to open that door. You missed him. Missed Lo’ak. Missed Kiri. Missed Tuk. Missed the forest and the sounds and the feeling of it all around you.

But you couldn’t. Not when you remembered that sky people were out there, hurting them again.

At some point, the scientists and avatars moved to the Omaticayas and the mountains, to help them, to be as close as they could.

You didn’t. You stayed right in your little room and in this lab. Some humans came around to see you as often as they could. Max and Norm stayed sleeping there almost every night, to not leave you alone.

Spider too slept there a lot.

You never opened the door for any Na’vi. Not even the ones you loved.

You were trying to distract yourself with some reading when loud bangs erupted on your door.

“It’s Kiri ! You need to come out, right now. Neteyam’s hurt !”

Fear spread through your whole body. Not him. You unlocked the door and opened it wide.

“What happened, Kiri ?” You asked, your hand shaking on the handle of the door.

“He... They were out on a mission, to get supplies from sky people. They were supposed to just be spotters but Lo’ak got into it, so Neteyam did too, and then there were explosions.”

You could barely hear more, your ears were ringing. She told you that it wasn’t too bad, that he would be okay, but you couldn’t feel your fingers anymore. What if he was badly hurt after all ? What if, what if, what if ?

You ran through the forest, Kiri helping you up the mountains. You barely focused on the mountains, barely focused on Omaticayas welcoming you back or looking at you surprised, barely focused on the other avatars calling out your name. You needed to get to Nete.

Kiri pulled you to their tent. Neteyam was sitting down, his back to you, while Mo’at tended to him and Kiri got right back in it as she arrived.

You saw the scars on his back. They had been bleeding but they weren’t deep. You dropped your hands to your knees and took your first real breath in what felt like hours.

“Well shit, look who’s back !” Lo’ak screamed out followed by Jake’s “Language !”.

Tuk jumped at you, crying out. “Don’t ever leave again ! We missed you !”

You rubbed her back, “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to hurt you, yawntutsyìp...”

Lo’ak hugged you fiercely, almost breaking your back while whispering that it was good to have you back.

Jake and Neytiri smiled at you.

Neteyam hadn’t said a word. He wasn’t even looking at you.

He waited until Mo’at had finished (“Welcome back, girl.” with a touch of her hand on your shoulder) and he was deemed okay to get up. He took your hand and pulled you away from everybody.

He stopped but still didn’t look at you, letting your hand go in the process.

“Nete... I know you’re mad at-”

He interrupted you, “Mad ? Mad ? You don’t know the half of it ! I tried being patient, I stayed there behind that locked door for hours and hours, worried to death. And now you do come out ?”

You could feel yourself getting angry too, your throat getting all clogged up. “I didn’t ask you to stay behind that door ! So what ? I shouldn’t have come out ?”

“That is not what I mean, you skxawng ! Fuck ! I was worried to death that you weren’t okay. You wouldn’t let me in. You wouldn’t let me be there for you. I hated it. Hated the fact that you were all alone in there. Hated myself for not being enough for you. I’m never good enough, even at this.” He said, gesturing with his hand to you and him.

You startled at his words, “Not good enough ? Nete, you’ve always been too good. You’re the best of us all. Look, you even got hurt again for one of us. Me shutting down ? It wasn’t you. It could never be your fault.”

“Then what is it ?”

Looking up into his eyes, the tears started falling before you even said a word. “They hurt you all again. The forest, the planet, the people... They did. And I’m one of them. As much as we try to act like I’m not, as much as we try to act like I’m part of you guys, I’m still one of them. I’m part of the people that keep hurting and taking from you all. I can’t fucking handle it anymore.”

You wiped your tears away, your eyes turned to the sky and not at him.

“I hate myself, you know. Hate what I look like, hate what I am. Hate that I can’t escape it, no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to be a part of this, I will never be. People will only see that I’m...sky people.”

He took your face in his large hands, ripping your gaze away from the sky back to his eyes. He bent down, talking softly.

“Not to us. Not to me. Never to me. You look like them, sure. You’re small, fragile, and all the colors are wrong.” You scoffed and he softly tapped your forehead to make you stop. “But, inside ? You’ve never been one of them. You’ve always been one of us. And I know you’ve tried not to be, ever since we were kids. You’ve always tried to distance yourself from us. But, you can’t.”

He dropped his forehead to your masked-clad one and you traced the glowing freckles all over his face with your eyes, wishing it was with your fingers instead.

“You can’t go back. You can’t distance yourself. You’re Omaticaya. You’re with us, sky girl. You’re with me. I won’t let you go.”

You felt his thumbs gently rub your temples, behind the mask, wrapping his other fingers around your hair.

You came back with him to the tent. You stayed after that. You couldn’t go again. Not when he held your heart in his hands.

It all went back to shit when the Sullys came back without Spider. Quaritch was back. He had taken Spider with him. You could only comfort yourself in the fact that he would surely not hurt Spider. That was his son.

He might not have cared when he was human, but he wouldn’t hurt him. (Right ?)

And the Sullys were leaving. Leaving the Omaticaya clan and fleeing far away.

“I don’t want to go.” Neteyam whispered in your shoulder, both of you hiding deep in the forest.

“I don’t want you to go either, Nete but...you guys will come back.” You whispered, folded against him.

He shot up in a heartbeat at your words, “What do you mean, ‘you guys’ ?”

“Well, I mean you Sullys ?” You questioned, not understanding what he was asking.

Neteyam narrowed his eyes at you. “You’re coming, sky girl. So it’s a ‘we’.”

You scoffed bitterly at that remark. What was he asking from you ? To go to a completely different Na’vi clan with them ? A clan that would never accept you ?

“You know I can’t come with you, Neteyam.”

You got up and put some distance between you and him.

“The Omaticayas only accept me because of your father and because of the others. They wouldn’t, otherwise. You think a whole another clan far from here, with no sky people in sight will accept me ?”

He also got up and tried to close the distance you had created between you two.

“So what ?” He asked, truly angry this time around. “You just stay here while we go ? We have to leave you here ?”

“Yes ! That is the plan, Neteyam ! I can’t follow you there. Be realistic about it for one minute. Think about it. They will only reject me, and I get it.”

“You can’t ask this of me. They can’t ask this of me.” He shouted, pointing in the direction of his family. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

This was your very last night together for a long time and, instead, he had decided to be angry. Angry about something neither of you could control. You went to rub your eyebrows and forehead to try to calm the headache that was coming, before remembering the mask.

“I don’t understand why you’re being so stubborn about this, Nete. Think about your family. I’ll be fine here.”

Neteyam turned to you and got right into your face as you said that.

“Why I’m being stubborn ? This, us, this is the one thing that is only mine. I don’t need to meet expectations, I don’t need to be the perfect son or the best. I can just be me. How can you ask of me to leave you here ?” He whispered, his hands gripping your forearms.

“And how can you ask of me to follow you there ?” You whispered back, lightly pushing his hands away which made him let go. “Nete... What did you think was going to happen ? That I was going to come with you guys ? That they were going to accept me and we could live happily ever after ? This isn’t one of the stories your father used to tell us.”

You stepped away, willing yourself to look up right into his eyes.

“We’ll never get an happy ending, Neteyam. Not us. I’m not Na’vi. I can’t be accepted. I can’t give you anything.”

“And I don’t need you to give me anything, sky girl. I just... I just need you.”

A sigh came out of your mouth. “What I mean is I can’t give you a future. Not one you want, not one you deserve. What we feel isn’t enough.”

His shoulders had drooped, his face was obscured by his braids. You had never seen him so defeated and you hated that you were the one to put this look on him.

“It is, for me. I see you. Oel ngati kameie.”

He softly said it. A part of you had always known that he saw you the way you did him, but hearing it... Your heart wanted to be out of your chest.

But it also broke. Because you couldn’t say it back. As much as you wanted to.

“Nete... Please...”

Your voice broke, the sobs threatening to come out.

“It won’t be enough... If I say it back, one day, you’d resent me for it.” You cried, willing for him to understand. “One day, you would look back at me and wonder why you ever tried with me. I can’t...share the mating bond with you. I can’t give you a family. I can’t give you what I know you want, growing up in the family that you had. And I can’t do this to you. I’m sorry, Neteyam.”

He had no reaction. He stayed there for what seemed like forever. He then simply turned away from you and left.

You collapsed on the floor and cried silently for a while. When it finally caught up, you openly sobbed and sobbed until your voice was hoarse. You had ruined the one good thing that you had, you had broken your heart completely and his too.

It would never be the same. You would never get back the moments you shared with him. Holding his hand, falling asleep on his shoulder, flying his ikran with him, sharing a hunt, talking and talking for hours. Having no secrets. Knowing him inside and out and him knowing you inside and out.

It was over.

You said goodbye a few hours later to the Sullys, your eyes puffy and red and crying again as you had to let go of the people you loved most.

Kiri and Tuk didn’t want to let you go. You didn’t want to let them go.

Lo’ak comforted you, hugging you in the way he always did. (“Don’t be an idiot out there, dumb ass.” “Yeah, yeah, sky girl.”)

Jake put a comforting hand on your head, told you to be careful. Neytiri squeezed your shoulder with a smile (which you would have celebrated in the past but had no strength for now).

Neteyam never looked at you. He was already on his ikran, ready to leave. You only ever saw his back as they flew away.

It was over.

[34saveme34]

Gonna talk some avatar and guardian lore ideas here

cuz Mario having his stache keeping his power has been interesting to me

obviously it's a huge part of his character that he can be hard to recognise him without when he's maybe also wearing a different outfit

it makes me wonder if the other 2 avatars had something like this

like for Spudnick maybe the uh, jumper/full body hoodie thing?? could be it

also the more morbid idea of Fred's the. hands. considering mage and he's not quite himself without like. being able to cast fireball

also makes me wonder of how far it goes

also if you like. unplug the internet from their universes

cuz thinking about it, especially with the godbox the great beyond could maybe feel like the whole internet itself so if they were unplugged from that uh. probably not! It would likely cease to exist

but then what could the godbox exactly symbolise? Obviously it has to do with power but with the internet themes it can't be just some all powerful nebulous thing, right? It just doesn't fit with the themes. It's- a box full of PC parts which I'm still not sure where to put, the fact that it sets on fire from the explosion as well. Cuz it has a few things to it- it feels like- for one, inside it are basically scrapped ideas. It also has influence through memes it corrupts, the whole thing with memes where they become that gray colour and start wreaking havoc. It's like- the godbox took it a step further. The way it can affect memes feely like a corrupted version what the guardians are. which is probably why Niles was corrupted, I don't think it can do ANYTHING else. so basically the godbox is fundamentally flawed. It's like- if you fused guardians and avatars together. like a mass of unstoppably strong meme power so close to everything and simultaniously being supercharged by it and also connecting the world to it, so with this idea it's in overdrive so hard that it's unstable. just like the memes within it

considering how Niles needed a demigod to open it also implies it was closed FOR a reason but I'm left asking, WHO could have initially closed it, was it always a box, what do REALLY the pc parts mean in it, why is it found in like basically splitting through the real world, like travelling between what's real and not

anyways, on the side of the internet, I like the idea better that the connection itself is a different thing from it

and my idea is that the avatars would become normal if you unplugged them. my idea is basically that unplugging from the internet means all the memes stopping to exist

but being normal would also make them weaker

cuz my idea is that internet connection makes them like, supercharged besides becoming (literally) stupid strong also makes them just stupid

like it's a win/lose thing for them

this implies that 4 functions as a connection to the internet, along with 3 in his own way

and you're like whaaaat, are you calling them such powerful things, maybe a fuckin. ethernet cable

no. wifi adapter of the USB kind

the also implies that the guardians dying would mean the universe losing internet connection, therefore just about everything would go back to normal

saying just about cuz no way nothing is downloaded there

anyways. back to avatar powers

we see with Mario that he memes a lot and that's how he uses his power. all he needs is a good meme sound for a situation and he's all set, though it seems he mainly does ones about himself

especially with the voice clips involved

and in general, especially when we see his stache taken he becomes very human. like he tries to Meme and fails. that basically confirms he couldn't do it because it wasn't something an average fat man like him could do

so, since he can do things usually out of his skills and abilities with his meme charged self

and. mpreg Mario is sort of a meme too

we could get him pregnant

[owlsdrawinglair]

Hi, hello, sorry for not posting this like 3 DAYS after I said I will post it but I have been rather tiered these days and it just wasn't going, so I hope you enjoy the Part 1 of my AU

So, for now I won't get into too much detail of how he came to adopt Spider specifically (that's gonna get its own post cos it's a complicated one), but for now I'll just say that he first came to meet Spider on the day of The Great Battle in, well, not very nice circumstances, and that he was the one to bring him back to Hells Gate. After that he went back to the battle where the whole got-shot-on-a-sky-ship-and-almost-falling-to-his-death thing happanes, but, luckily, he survives (but not without some major consequences which we'll touch on later). After the battle and banishing of humans from Pandora Tsu'Tey is basically stuck at Hells Gate till he gets batter and is forced to face the fact that he'll likely not be able to be as good of a warrior as before, or a clan leader for that matter, and simply put he was NOT coping well with those facts, or that there was a tiny human child almost constantly in his presence and that he felt somewhat responsible for him after, well, the way he "discovered" him. At first he couldn't really stand his presence and kept telling the scientists to keep the child away from him ( under the excuse that he might accidentally hurt the child) but slowly and surely he starts to warm up to the little bugger, especially after witnessing the humans on the base not giving the kid much tought or straight up ignoring him to the point that he would cry on hours on end with no one checking on him at which point Tsu'Tey would just get up and do it himself. Even after he was given an all clear and was released from the confidence of the med bay he still would go and check on the child often, play with him, sooth I'm when he was grumpy, tell him stories and so on, it got to a point where the scientists would call him in the middle of the night to "come and calm the kid down cos Jesus Christ he wond stop SCREAMING". After some time, he pretty much declared him his own, but not before he consulted the scientists about his parentage, just to make sure he didn't have any other family who could take him in and such, and they told him that the only relative they could find was his mother (Paz Socorro, he'll never forget) who was obviously gone and they couldn't find a match for a father, so, basically he was all his. And he was happy with this arrangement, just him and his little human son living one day at a time, not caring for all the wierd looks being send their way or the whispers behind clasped palms, until one day when they found a new life developing inside a lifeless sleeping body. They found it more-or-less unintentionally, when Spider (as they came to nickname him) kept taping on Grace's tank whenever they come to visit her, mumbling something akin to "baby" in still not very mastered Na'vi, and would get all whiney when he would be away from the tank. So the the lab crew did some scans and found out that the avatar was somehow pregnant and expecting to "give birth" in about 6 months. Of course they immediately called Jake and Neytiri to come over and explained the whole situation to them and to see what would happen if the pregnancy ended up playing out successfully and them having another kid on their hands. The couple was hesitant, looking that Neytiri herself was pregnant and was expecting their child very soon they were not sure if the could manage two kids at a time, so Tsu'Tey, having heard the whole thing was like "fuck it" and offered to take the kid in. Some tought was given into it, but eventually they all agreed to Tsu'Tey taking the child in. And thus Kiri came into their little family. It was hard, especially the first couple of months when Kiri required Tsu'Tey's constant attention and Spider also needing his own those of the latter, but eventually it got easier, as Spider got this first exo mask and was finally able to be with them outside and Kiri developing a somewhat sane sleeping schedule. The little family grew, laughed, cried, argued and loved together, and all was well, until the Sky Demons returned

[lovebecomeshim]

hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

[spasmsofthought]

fractures. (zuko x reader)

This is totally a free for all because I haven’t read any of the comics or watched Legend of Korra at all. Part 2 maybe, if you all think it’s worth it?? 

Kinda angsty, and mostly political - but y’all, I think Zuko learned how to be a politican as Fire Lord. This is me trying to explore that a little bit. 

Like, comment, reblog! Thank you for your support, as always! xo 

+ + + 

The first time you see him, he is touring the Earth kingdom as the Fire Lord. 

It’s been at least two years since he’s been crowned. It’s been two years since a Fire Nation flag last hung over the arches of every town entrance in the Earth kingdom. It’s been two years since a lot of things. 

Peace is a hard custom to keep when all you have known is war. Peace is a foreign language when all people know how to communicate is its opposite. 

The Fire Nation colonies are no longer known as such. Instead, villages and previous colonies outside of the former Earth Kingdom walls have formed into clans of their own. With the Earth King travelling during the latter part of the war, leadership has been thrown up in the air. There was no one to trust; especially after the Fire Nation invasion of Ba Sing Se. In all the chaos of the war, though, the de facto mantle of leadership among the small number of people in your village fell onto your family. You aren’t aware of the reason why, but being raised in a Fire Nation colony by a mother from the Northern Water Tribe and a father from the edges of the Earth Kingdom makes people feel something like safety in a land subjugated by an unrelenting and ever-growing superpower.

When the crowning of Zuko the Fire Lord happens, with Avatar Aang right by his side, the news spreads rapidly, even across the broken networks of communication established among the clan leaders. But even in the middle of developing a new world, there is still brokenness. There is still pain. There is still suffering. 

The world does not seem to heal the way people want it to: very slowly, in pieces rather than in a whole. There is still prejudice and hatred. Very little is still solved with words. 

It is the first time a foreigner has walked the land your people call home in two years.

It is the first time people see the color red on someone in two years; before, during the Invasion, red was what everyone saw on every passerby. Travel was severely limited and people mostly kept to their homes in fear of what Fire Nation guards would do to them on top of the restrictions and heavily imposed taxes. 

When he is directed to your doorstep by everyone in the village, the only one out of your family able to host him is you. Your father died in a skirmish near Ba Sing Se’s walls on his yearly pilgrimage to trade in a way that would have helped support your village during a time of scarcity two and a half years ago, right before the conquering of Ba Sing Se. Your mother is a figure made up only of stories. A figure who passed soon after your entrance into the world. 

For such an imposing figure, he wears very little ceremonial garb. It seems that he understands there is little need for formal ceremonial clothing in this community of people simply trying to survive in a world clawing back from the brink of total destruction. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” He begins with, bowing with hands formed in a traditional Fire Nation greeting. 

You bow back similarly, using a specific form of ceremonial bow used by formal authority figures here in the Earth Kingdom. Your hands move in a sweeping motion, directing the Fire Lord to a low table in the middle of the small living room your house has. The table settings are sparse and there is no fancy silverware, but there seems to be something in his countenance that relaxes slightly for some reason. 

“Please make yourself at home,” You try to make yourself seem soft. Yielding. Compliant. “Would you like any tea?” 

He nods, holding the simple cup up off the wooden structure slightly as you lift the tea pot and fill it halfway with the steaming liquid. You set it back down and it is then that Zuko surprises you for the first time. He nods his head towards your own cup. There is a pause, your mind trying to process the simple action, before you are moving your cup up off the table as well, watching the jasmine tea slowly fill up space that was previously empty. 

He gestures a toast to you, holding his cup close to yours while nodding, before he takes a sip. Out of respect, you take a swallow as well before you set your cup back down on the small coaster you were told your mother knit while pregnant with you. Blue and green repeat each other in a circular pattern, reminding you of how beautiful the two colors look together. Reminding you of your own roots face-to-face with someone who carries a vast and rich legacy of his own.

“If it’s alright, I would like to skip the formality of small talk and get to the real conversation. What is the purpose of your visit here?” For such an abrupt change in tone, he doesn’t seem surprised. He sets his cup down, too. 

“We would like to begin discussions with your clan about officially coming under the government of the Earth kingdom again.” 

You have to take a deep breath in. 

When you were little, your father always told you tales of his land’s history; of its vastness and proud strength. As you grew older, however, the tales turned into lessons of caution. He taught you to not trust the central government of the Earth kingdom for a reason. A reason you had soon found out had little to do with his own faith in the people he belonged to and more to do with the fact that the governing body had been crumbling for a long time. There had been a reason there was local autonomy among so many cities and villages, especially during the War. Despite the belief shared among many that the Earth kingdom remained a single political entity, the vastness of land kept that belief more of an idea than something that was practically applied. 

“I would love to see the Earth kingdom become the nation it was before the War, but there is a reason my people remain wary of allying ourselves under a central government again. We know about the details of the Coup of Ba Sing Se; we know the corruption that spread vast and wide among politicians, generals, and other administrators.” 

“I have been working with the Earth king very closely these past two years. It is our plan to host a gathering at the palace in Ba Sing Se with all local clan and tribe leaders to truly take your input into account while we finalize the development of the Earth kingdom’s government after this long period of strife. That is why I am here, to formally invite you...” 

You stop him before he can go any further, “Thank you, but my place is with my people.” 

“The Earth king desires that his nation once again be strong and united and at peace once again.” You want to know if he has always been an apt politican, or if this has something he has had to learn in these past two years. You wonder how he mediates both the needs of his own people and those of the world without faltering. 

“My experiences have taught me many lessons, as I am sure yours have taught you specific lessons as well. I have very little trust in a central government that before has previously become so easily fractured by whispers of greed and silent grabs for power, and can become so again.” 

“There are specific checks and balances in place so that never happens again. I have personally seen to these assurances in the formal writing of the government documents that have been extensively drawn up.” 

“How can I even trust you?” 

“I-” His mouth opens but more words from your mouth stop him before he can even begin. So much for being compliant. 

“I know the legacy of your family. I have witnessed the destruction your family has caused on this land; on the entire world. I do not know you personally. I only know that you have come to ask me to join a government I have little interest in letting rule my people once more when I am right here to make sure they are provided for and kept safe. There is very little about the world I can trust right now.” 

You begin to wonder, in the seconds of silence that linger afterward, if you have officially screwed up any chance at the peace people have been so longing for: here and abroad. You want to seem strong, but there always seems to be the chance to second-guess yourself. To back-up and take a new route. 

“I only know what it is like to be a new leader. I cannot offer you trust you are unwilling to take, but I can offer you the assurance that the Earth king, the Avatar and I will do whatever it takes to make sure the world is whole again.” 

You know he means it. Despite the solemnness of his face and his scar as a reminder to you of the stories of his own life that have yet to be told, there is a fire in his amber eyes that contains no violence, only the longing for the same thing you want: peace.

“My uncle would praise your tea-making skills,” A small corner of his mouth lifts up. Your eyes track the movement for a small second before you are staring down at his cup, too. 

“I could give you a bag to take to him to give the next time you see him,” An olive branch, maybe, in light of your previous words. 

War has its own effects on everyone, including yourself. Trusting others has not been a virtue of yours for quite some time. 

“I’m sure he would love that.” It is a brief glimpse into something about himself, you are sure, that he smiles slightly. A genuine smile. Despite the title he holds, there is nothing but humility. You tuck that observation into you heart to ponder on later.

How can the Fire Lord be so at home in this run-down mill of a home? How can he be so comfortable in the presence of a stranger; a stranger who opposes him in his objective to make peace in a way that he seeks but you do not want? 

You find yourself reaching for a stored bag of tea leaves before you can think about it.

As you hold the bag out in the palm of your right hand, your left resting in your lap, his fingers brush yours. He takes the bag and tucks it into what you assume is a pocket on the inside of his simple cloak. The warmth fades as quickly as it came, and for a moment you want to reach out for more of it. 

You stop yourself before you actually do such a ridiculous thing as reach out for the hand of the Fire Lord. 

But the feeling stays with you long after you tentatively promise to keep in touch with him as he graciously exits for the day. It stays with you for a long, long time. 

[amor-immortalem]

Can I Stay Up Here With You Forever ch.8

Previous

Warning(s): Nothing just fluff

If you want to be tagged or if you’re already tagged and wish not to be, please let me know.

Tag list @mediocredetective @it-hurts-when-i-blink @ima-simp-uwu @luckyauthorlampknight

The pair of brothers spent the rest of the night in Mammon’s room. Around dinner time they were joined by the twins who had brought tonight’s dinner. They had decided to eat with their second eldest brother, having heard from Satan who had heard from Lucifer that Mammon had had a particularly rough day at school and figured sharing a hot meal together would be a good way to comfort him. Even Levi stopped by after they had finished eating, bringing plenty of games that he and Mammon enjoyed playing together -along with the appropriate console- after they had first fallen so Levi wouldn’t go feral from his self-isolation.

It felt like they were a proper family once more- light teasing and proper brotherly bickering occurring between the five of them, making sure to keep things at a level that was normal for siblings and a far cry from the vicious words they would throw Mammon’s way. They had all spent so long playing that eventually they had all fallen asleep together on or around Mammon’s couch with Belphie being the first to conk out for the night.

When they all awoke in the morning, Asmo told their brothers about the plan to help Mammon escape to the human world and about how they were going to be uncles.

“Let me go with you,” Beel responded eagerly, “If Lucifer finds out before you guys can get away, my strength will come in handy to buy you all a little time.”

“Beel, as much as I appreciate it, I can’t let you do that ta yourself.” Mammon says, a worried look in his blue and gold eyes. “Ya know what happens if ya stand against our brother’s authority. I mean look at what he did to Belphie when he went against Lucifer and Lord Diavolo over the exchange programme.”

“Yeah, locking me in the attic was a shitty move on his part but still, Lucifer is acting like a fucking tyrant.” Belphegor agreed. “I mean we’re all pretty scared of the monster he’s turning into, but what he’s doing to you is wrong. And we heard about the gaslighting incident at school yesterday. That was really fucked up- and you’re the favorite. Imagine what will happen to us after he finds out.”

The brothers all nodded at that.

“An’ that��s why I don’t want y’all doin’ it.” Mammon said sternly. “You two’re the youngest an’ while yer both strong in yer own right, the two of ya can’t hold a candle ta our brother.”

“What if Satan and I went along with you?” Levi asked, “Sure, Lucifer’s power output is over 9000 but Asmo, Satan, and I should be enough to at least match that for enough time for you and Solomon to get through the portal...”

“That would work.” Asmo nodded as they had a contemplative look on their face. “Actually, we’d stand a better chance if the twins go too.”

“You guys would really do this for me?” The Avatar of Greed looks around the room at all of his brothers before letting out a soft chuckle, “Guess Lucifer was right ‘bout one thing... you guys really do care.” He can’t help the tearful smile that creeps its way onto his features.

“Of course we do. We always did but we never showed it in the way we should have,” the fifth-born threw their arms around their older brother and was soon joined by their other brothers. “I mean we’re the ones who promised we’d change and we went back on that almost immediately.”

“We’re a family and you’re an important part of that too.” The Avatar of Envy says as they all press their foreheads together like they did back in the Celestial Realm before they went to war. “You keep things lively for us.”

“So it’s decided, right?” Beel asks, “We’re really going to do this? Together?”

“Together.” A sixth voice echoes from the upper level as the five of them pull away and turn their attention to Satan. He has a genuine smile on his face as he slides down on the railing of Mammon’s staircase like he used to do as a toddler. “Lucifer’s gone, by the way. Went up to the Demon Lord’s castle for a weekend meeting with Diavolo. If we’re going to make our move, it has to be tomorrow. So, everyone, get packed. I already booked four of us a hotel to stay at so Arella doesn’t have to put us up for however many months it is before the baby’s born. Asmo, you said you’d be staying with Solomon, right?”

“Right,” The Avatar of Lust nods. “Alright everyone, get ready.”

And just like that, the siblings dispersed to go about their packing.

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Arella can’t wait. After hearing of the news from Solomon a few days ago, the excitement started to grow. What she didn’t know was if Mammon had found out if she was pregnant yet. What would his reaction be? Surprise? Excitement? Something else? Anxiety filled her as it had been doing over these past few months so she picks up her D.D.D. that no longer has service and opened up her photo gallery which also had little videos of her and Mammon together.

The sound of his voice is comforting to her. It makes things feel much less lonely in the silent house- even with Aubrie visiting- but it also has the added effect of helping their baby recognize his father’s voice. With the little one showing signs of being able to hear the outside world earlier than expected and hijacking her magic to protect them when he felt frightened, the last thing she needed was the sound of a voice he didn’t recognize setting off one of the many protective spells in her repertoire. His favourite thing to do was erect a magical barrier around them to keep a threat away. Thank heavens normal humans weren’t able to see things like that.

As she selected a video- one of all the brothers and her together at Diavolo’s birthday party last year- she set it on top of the small bump that she had started showing a couple weeks ago. She could feel her son’s powerful little kicks to the side of her womb.

“Easy now, little one. You’re going to cause bruising with kicks like that.” Arella says as she rubs a hand over the front of her belly and she feels a turning sensation shortly after. “You certainly are active this evening. Your Daddy’s coming back to us tomorrow, okay? And five of your uncles as well so don’t be scared when you hear their voices. They won’t hurt you or me. They may be demons but deep down they’re a good lot.”

As the video playing on the D.D.D ended, Arella picked up a children's book and began reading aloud to her unborn child.

“Rells, I’m going to go back to my hotel. Do you need anything before I go?” Aubrie asked as she leaned against the door frame. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help you out before the boys get here- tomorrow is the day, right?”

“I don’t need anything but yes, tomorrow’s the day.” Arella smiles.

“Oh, I bet you’re excited.” The ginger smiles. “Alright, I’ll get going. See you tomorrow.”

Arella only nodded as she watched Aubrie go.

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The House of Lamentation held a slight air of chaos to it this morning due to the brothers running around for last minute packing. They barely had time for breakfast but since Mammon had the least number of items to pack, he was voted for breakfast duty while Satan covered dish duty. Today’s breakfast: Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. As everyone sat down to eat, there was constant chatter about things they would do while up in the mortal realm during the months they would be staying.

While they were cleaning up, Solomon made his appearance. Asmo welcomed him with a hug as they quickly pulled the sorcerer along to Mammon’s room to get him so they could go. They both watch as he doesn’t react to their entrance instead seeming lost in his thoughts as he runs his thumb over an old, worn piece of grimm. Not even calling his name was enough to pull him from his zoned-out state. It wasn’t until Solomon placed a careful hand on the second-born's shoulder that Mammon looked up at them.

“Are you ready to go?” Solomon asks with a smile.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” The demon returns the smile, “Whenever everyone else is ready...”

Soon the rest of the brothers join them and it's time to go. Everyone grabs their bags or suitcases and load them up in the van that had been rented for them. Solomon was in charge of driving them to their destination.

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[general-yasur]

oh wait we're doing oc rants? oooOO i'm gonna bring up my nextgen kids because i'm too impatient to wait on having the refsheet done aaaaAah! anyway i saw your pixane children sometime back and was like 'i need some of those too o-o'

so i got C.Y.R.I.S, master of wind (pix gets it from morro after she defeats the preeminent in ns11), and Loid, future master of ice. he's not allowed to have his dad's power yet because his parents and granddad messed up his programming. he's basically cryptor 2.0 cause they were building him at borg tower where cry's old backup code accidentally got crossed with his, so that's his character arc lol. anyway him and cyris are red oni, blue oni to each other and fight constantly but they learn to have each other's backs no matter what. also, through plot shenanigans, morro is revived, elemental-less, and part of their team with him often giving cy unsolicited mentorship on wind and butting heads with her brother, usually over their discrepancy in intelligence (loid is unfortunately not very smart, meanwhile morro IS smart and he knows it lmao)

my other sibling group is nyrei, infant daughter of the sea, and her big brothers the lightning twins. don't have names for them yet rip. when nya first returns from the ocean, she's still half water and believes she will be forever. she and jay agree to adopt when they're ready for kids (i'm pretty sure she canonically wants children and jay would totally go for adoption), but soon after they're surprised with nyrei who inherits her mom's power and becomes part ocean herself when she's born (well like nya finds out she's pregnant when she starts losing her powers and turning fully human). a couple years later, jay meets the twins and knows instinctively they're the ones, adopting them immediately, and he passes his power onto them early so he can be equal with nya. they're too young to go on ninja adventures but they take good care of their baby sister~ since jay learns to control wojira's purple lightning during my seabound rewrite, he uses both colors while one twin uses blue and the other purple. when the three sibs get older and combine their powers, chaos ensues lol, like they'll be able to create a giant water avatar that shoots lightning, it'll be great

anyway, i understand this is SUPER het and i apologize if that's not welcome lol >.< the rest of the ninja still hold their powers, most haven't met their life partners yet, and aren't thinking about the whole children thing which are the only OCs i've turned over in my brain at this time. pixane and jaya are just the obligatory straights who either had circumstances or characterization reasons for it, like pix didn't want to be an EM to begin with/zane's had too many close calls/post-seabound jaya having a 'barbossa, marry us!' moment, so it all just kinda works out like this. thank you for enabling everyone, hope it wasn't too long :D

Aye! This is awesome! You definitely have your own canon going on which I can relate! I also LOVE that one of your pixane kids is named Cryis (spelling it differently is a nice touch) in my canon, Pixane’s son goes by “CJ” for Cyrus Julien. Wild how this kid has taken on the names of BOTH the founders of Nindroids. I digress because I could go on and on about their story.

I’m very curious about why you chose the name Loid. And I love the kids dynamic. CJ and Shae have something similar going on where they don’t get along very well (it takes hundreds of years for them to learn 😬).

Also lightning twins?? So cool. I can totally see that happening in canon if Ninjago ever makes it to the next gens.

What’s this I’m hearing about a Seabound rewrite? Inch resting. The concept of Jay learning to control purple lightning is SO COOL. I wonder what the differences are between them. Nya being half water and passing that down to her child is just aaaa. That is such a cool idea and has a lot of angst potential.

[theinariakuma]

First One to Know

Rated: SFW (Rated T for language, mentions of mensural cycle, and Pregnancy symptoms)

Obey Me!

Polyship! Female MC

Includes: Datables, Diavolo, and Simeon

This is based off the idea of how Female MC would tell each boy she was pregnant. They’re all the ”first to know” concept. 

For precaution. All under the cut. 

Lucifer:

She sat in the bath, huffing a bit before she sank her chin under the water. How does one tell Lucifer they're pregnant. 

Lucifer was this... All powerful, all important person. While, yes, she could just tell him. It felt like she needed to do something else.

She had plans for everyone but him and Belphegor. They were the two more difficult brothers. 

Part of her wanted to bring Diavolo into the planning to tell him, but she knew it would likely end up as a few things. A party, a big thing... And she didn't want anyone but Lucifer to know first.

"One of your daddies is going to drive me crazy." She spoke in a quiet time, fingers brushing over her stomach, it was far too early for anything beyond knowing there was a baby, but talking to them comforted her. "He's impossible to surprise."

With her luck, he'd know before her anyways. 

So, she kept planning. Each idea fell flat in her mind. She'd been more focused on how to surprise Lucifer that she only half paid attention at RAD. 

"Long day?" Lucifer often walked her home, just like cooking was Beel's time and Naps were Belphie's. The walk home belonged to Lucifer. He'd made a claim to it early in the start of the relationship. 

"Mm something like that." She moved her arms around his neck, giving him a slow, happy kiss. 

His hands drifted to her hips, gently holding her as he returned the kiss. The affection she showered him and his brothers with often caused them to relax. Years of pent up tension lovingly eased away by her. 

It wasn't until half way home she noticed how his hand would occasionally drift up to her belly. She'd found herself unconsciously doing the same since she found out. 

"You know!" She turned to look at him. Eyes narrowed as she pointed in his face.

The smirk on his face and the light joy in his gaze said everything. 

"You knew! And I was going crazy trying to think of how to tell you!" She glared at him, but Lucifer just laughed. 

"You didn't hide the test as well as you thought. Asmo saw the box." 

Her cheeks went red and she began walking faster. Despite her annoyance, hearing his laughter made her smile. He was happy about the news. 

Mammon:

She sat on the edge of her bed, fingers pulling and smoothing her skirt down. 

"Alright, what's on ya mind? You keep doing that..." His hands began moving in a ringing motion, the way she was abusing the fabric of her skirt. 

"I'm trying to think of how to tell you. You're... Well. I wanted you to know first. You were my first man after all..." The soft memory made a smile appear on her face. 

Mammon quickly shut up as his cheeks began glowing red at the words. "Y-You bet your ass I am..." He muttered, eyes looking away. 

"I... Well." She bit into her lower lip. "I'm pregnant."

Out of everything Mammon expected, that was the last thing he could have thought of. It did make sense. She was being shared by seven powerful demons. It wasn't too surprising that her birth control failed... 

Mammon was hesitant, his fingers as gentle as possible, cupping her cheeks. "Say that again..." He was terrified. He was greedy and selfish, but oh how he wanted this. Wanted to be a dad, even if he didn't feel like he deserved to be one. 

"I'm pregnant... You and the others are gonna be dads... And you're the first to kno--oh!" Mammon kissed her deeply, his fingers cradling her face as he cut her off, kissing her slowly, deeply. She couldn't see them yet, but the man was crying, he was so happy. She made him so happy and made him feel so loved.

Leviathan:

Fingers stroked the back of the girl laying against him. Her face tucked into his neck as she quietly dozed off. She'd lost interest in the anime about two episodes ago. Not that Levi blamed her, it was boring, but he was always one to finish a series... Well at least the season, no matter how dull or trash it was. 

It was nice just being able to hold her.

His attention kept drifting to her, the woman was half curled up in his lap, her arms loosely wrapped around him, her breathing soft against his neck. 

"Oi, Levi. You got more shit from Akuzon." Mammon didn't even bother knocking as he brought in the package. 

"I didn't order anything." Levi's brow furrowed as he held his hand out. Mammon almost scoffed, but he wouldn't make him move. The dozing girl against him looked so peaceful. 

"What is it then?" Mammon, being the jealousy boy he was, did not leave, much to Levi's annoyance. Today was his day with her.

Levi began opening the box, only to pause at the items. A box that held a smaller version of his game controller, some other miniatures, and a plastic sealed shirt. The invoice settled in the package told him that it indeed was not his order, but the girl in his arms. 

"Why do you need a tiny controller?" Mammon asked, confused as he saw Levi looking at the box. There were more miniature size items inside the box that only furthered his confusion.

The soft giggles against his neck made Levi arch a brow. "I see you're awake. Want to explain?" 

"Look at the shirt." She smiled and nuzzled into him after waving to Mammon. 

Pulling up the white shirt wrapped in plastic, he saw the logo clear as day. 

Black clouded his vision, the last thing he remembered was hearing the two cry out at him.

"Oh my god, Levi!"

"The fuck, man!"

The woman held her hands over her mouth, not expecting that reaction.

"He fainted." Her voice turned to soft giggles, "Only you Levi." She moved to gently lift his head, pulling him to lean into her, stroking his hair. Her poor nervous Otaku couldn’t handle the news.

Mammon got a glimpse at the shirt before shaking his head. "Course Levi would pass out over news like this." Part of him was both annoyed and amused. “I’m gonna tell everyone.” The grin appeared on his face as he snapped a picture to send to the group chat. 

"Yeah. He would. He's so nervous like that." She chuckled, watching Mammon hold up the "Baby download in progress" shirt she bought to send a picture to it to the rest of the guys. 

"I'm glad. Ya know, to be here. Even though ya probably meant to do it alone with him." Her cheek leaned into Mammon's touch, the Avatar of Greed moved to stroke her cheek as he crouched down next to her, staying with her as she stroked Levi's hair, waiting on him to wake up from his unconscious state.

Satan:

Satan felt his temple pulse as he was growing steadily more annoyed and angry. 

Three times today alone she's avoided him. He was growing to detest sharing her with his siblings if this was how she was going to act. 

He loved the woman, she was his kitten, sweet and loving. Yet the past week or so she'd been acting off. That off act had soon turned to her avoiding him and he wanted to fucking know why. 

His eyes narrowed a bit as he glimpsed her and Lucifer talking. 

Somehow, some way. This was Lucifer's fault. 

He'd rather blame Lucifer then believe that she was willingly avoiding him. So he waited until she left off to who knows where again to go to Lucifer's study.

"What did you say to her that is making her avoid me?" The dark aura coming off the blond was dense, his wrath was dense and when Lucifer looked up from his desk he was surprised that the blond wasn't in his demon form with that much anger. 

"I haven't said anything, Satan." His eyes narrowed. Their little human and he had been working on a contract for her to allow her to stay as a contracted ambassador for Diavolo for the Human world... So she could stay. 

The past week she'd been insistent about getting this done as soon as possible. 

"You're lying!" That was all it took before his tail whipped out, lashing at the desk separating them once his demon form came out. Breathing heavy as the desk and all of its paperwork went everywhere. 

"She won't even look at me! She avoids me! And you're the only one who would tell her anything!"

The crash had startled her, she'd gone to grab some tea for her and Lucifer. 

A while ago she'd noticed she'd missed her period. For her it wasn't too unusual for it to be a little late, however when one week turned to three. She began worrying. 

Earlier in the week, she'd taken a pregnancy test and well... It came back positive. All of them did, actually. 

Anxiety had filled her to the point she started avoiding Satan because he could read her like an open book... And well, she was scared. What if he wasn't happy? What if the others weren't happy?

She wanted Satan to be the first to know out of the brothers. He'd quickly become someone she could always rely on and he was almost as patient as Asmo and Mammon with her--despite their quirks.

However, her stress began raising as she realized she was two months off from the end of the exchange program. She wanted everything to be settled for her to stay... She didn't want to stress any of them out more than what the first bit of news would do. 

The last thing she wanted was someone yelling at Diavolo And putting Lucifer in a bad place stuck between her, his brothers, and his loyalty to Diavolo. 

"Satan, stop!" She saw him pinning Lucifer up to the bookshelf, hissing low as his tail whipped around. 

She didn't dare go further in. Satan would never intentionally harm her, but she didn't want to risk it accidentally. 

"Why should I?" Blonde hair and vivid green eyes turned to her, pain and fury in his gaze. "Since you'd rather abandon me for him anyways! You've done nothing but avoid me! Something is wrong with you and you refuse to tell me!"

"Satan, you need to calm--"

"Oh, shut up, Lucifer!" His anger diverted back towards his elder brother. Surprisingly, Lucifer was not fighting back against his assault.

"Because I'm pregnant!"

Both demons were looking at her now, Satan's hands slipping from where they were once clenched in Lucifer's shirt. 

"What?" The breathless tone. Neither demon suddenly knowing what to do.

"I found out earlier this week. I wasn't avoiding you because I was upset at you. I was avoiding you because I was scared because I knew you'd ask what's wrong. I knew I never could... Never would  want to lie to you or the others... I needed to figure things out."

"That's why you've been so insistent about getting this contract done quickly." Lucifer's voice was just as awed and breathless. 

All seven of the brothers shared her. And a baby... Her getting pregnant was really the last thing any of them thought of. 

"I was going to finish this... Then tell you."

Satan's demon form almost melted away, hesitating as he went to her, fingers moving to cradle her face. "Tell me?"

"I was going to tell you first... Then the others... But I needed to be sure I could stay first. That... Diavolo wouldn't have to send me home. That you guys wouldn't put Lucifer in a bad spot... That he wouldn't be stuck in a bad spot, between his duty to Diavolo and me and you guys..." Tears were rolling down her cheeks. 

"You silly, amazing, foolish, stubborn human." His forehead pressed to hers, his shoulders beginning to tremble as a sob left him. 

Satan hadn't expected that. He didn't expect her to try and take on so much to give him such peace of mine. 

Lucifer didn't approach yet, he'd talk to her...let his own emotions out later. Right now, this was between her and Satan. 

"I'm going to be a dad." 

"You all are." She closed her eyes. "You all are fathers. And the first time I hear any of you arguing over who's the blood father of the baby, I'm going to be mad."

Arms pulled her close, awe was still flooding him, unsure of what to say or what to do... Just knowing that he loved her so much. 

"I'm sorry, Lucifer." His voice was low and it was only then that he approached the two. 

"It's alright, Satan. I understand why... Our little human tends to drive us all a bit crazy and quick to act without thinking." Lucifer moved to press a kiss to her knuckles, not pulling either out of their embrace. "You need your rest now. You can tell the others later, but right now, you need your rest. When I sort out..." Lucifer sighed as he looked to the destroyed desk, "That. I'll bring the paperwork to you and I'll contact Diavolo. We're not letting you leave.. I refuse to let you go as much as Satan and the others will."

Satan began gently ushering her out the door, energy zapped after such a cold splash of reality diffusing his anger. They'd both get some rest... He wasn't going to let her leave his arms for a while.

Asmodeus:

Asmodeus was nothing if not perceptive. While he did not always show it, he did make sure to always pay attention. So when his little darling was a bit easier to excite than usual, he noticed. 

Eyes softened as he saw her. Out of all the brothers, Asmo was the softest with her. He liked the soft touches, forehead kisses and hair stroking, things that were intimate but not so much sexual. 

He loved sex, he would never deny that, but him offing intimate affection outside of sex was both something he did for just anyone. 

"What's in the bag? Did you go shopping without me?" Lips moved into a pout at his darling as she just laughed and gave him a soft kiss. 

"I promise you'll like this gift and be less annoyed and pouty after you see it."

"I don't like when you shop without me." He huffed a bit, pulling her into the bed with him. She just laughed and snuggled back against him, letting him fuss with the sealed gift bag for a moment. 

Despite his general nature of liking to surprise people, Asmodeus hated surprises. 

Yet, when he tugged the tissue out of the bag and pulled out what he thought was a T shirt, his heart stopped. 

A soft pink onesie. It was tiny, made for a newborn sized infant. On it was careful handwriting stating, 'Of course I'm cute, look at my Daddy.'

"You..." Words, for once, escaped him. 

A squeak left the woman as she found herself pinned under the Avatar of Lust, kisses peppering all over her face. 

"You beautiful, amazing woman... I can't.." he was choked up, unable to form proper sentences as he pressed soft kisses over every inch of her face, the final one ending at her lips, drawing her into a slow, lingering kiss.

He never knew such happiness before.

Beelzebub:

Beelzebub loved cooking for his little human. His two greatest joys next to spending time with his brothers. It was a routine between them. On their days to cooks, they spent time together. He may have had to share her, but he would claim these moments happily and selfishly. 

However, recently he noticed how her face would go pale and she'd rush off. The smell of his cooking bad been making her sick. 

"I'm okay, I promise." Her words were soft, but he knew she wasn't feeling the best after getting sick. 

When it became a consistent issue, he began truly worrying. Not only was his sweet human sick but his cooking caused it. Had his his cooking gotten as bad as Solomon's?

"Are you sick? Do I need to get a doctor? Let me get Lucifer!"

"Beel, baby. I'm okay."

"You can't keep food down... Is my cooking bad?"

"Oh Beel, baby... No." Her hands reached up to touch his cheeks, he leaned down so she could touch him easier.  "This isn't your fault. I suspected it, but I didn't know until this morning." 

His eyes were lit up with confusion. Didn’t know what?

"I'm having a baby, Beel. You guys are going to be dads."

The awe on his face before he swept her up into his arms, laughing and nuzzling into her Affectionately making her laugh. He was both relieved and excited.

Belphegor:

Belphegor was currently snuggled up to his precious human. Despite being probably the laziest of the brothers, he was also one of the smartest. It was why he got along with Satan so much and why he also clashed with Lucifer... Well that and several reasons. 

He'd noticed it very quickly, probably before she did. She was usually full of life and energy. However the past couple of weeks she'd been exhausted, not quite to his level of sleep, but enough that people were worried. 

However, pressed into her for their naps, he noticed several things, her temperature was not up, so no fever. And areas of her body were more sensitive. 

"Come on. It's dinner time."  He nudged her after Beel texted him. "We can come back upstairs after eating. I know you're tired."

She almost whined in protest, "I'm not really hungry. My stomach has been pretty upset when I eat." She thought maybe it was just her period about to start. 

Belphie sat up and gazed at her, "Are you pregnant?"

Her lips parted before shutting again. A thoughtful look on her face. "What day is it today?" 

Arching a brow, "The tenth." 

He watched her face for a few more moments before looking at him, "I... Maybe?" She hesitated. She hadn't even thought about it. "I am late this month. I thought maybe it was stress? It wouldn’t have been the first time I was late because I was stressed out." 

Belphie sighed and drew her up into his arms, causing her to snuggle into him more. 

"Can we... Go after dinner to pick up a test? I don't wanna say anything to the others until we're sure." She snuggled against him, her mind warming with exhaustion again. She just wanted to stay here and go back to sleep.

"Yeah, of course." He dropped a kiss to her brow. "Any idea who the father would be?"

The question earned a smack to his chest. 

"What?" He saw her annoyed glare. 

"All of you. And if you ask that again, I'm going to yank your tail next time." Despite her annoyance, it made him smile to see her so protective of everyone, calling them all the fathers.

"Alright. You're right." He sighed and moved to get up, pulling her along. "Food then the run to the shop.... If it is, can we tell Lucifer last?" 

She rolled her eyes, taking the lead as she tugged him by his hand. 

Later that evening, when the three little tests all came back positive, she just gave Belphegor a look. "How the fuck--"

"You're exhausted, constantly. And sensitive. But you're not squirming like when you’re on your period,” She was almost always uncomfortable, and always wanted to munch on something. Not that he or Beel minded, “or running a fever.... And you haven't been really wanting to eat."

"I can't tell who's more observant, you or Lucifer at this point." Lucifer magically knew what they were doing so often she'd tease him about spying, yet it seemed Belphie was just as observant if not more so. 

"It's kinda funny. You knew before even I noticed." She laughed a bit, earning a smile from him.

Diavolo:

Diavolo was a special sort of person, and to say she was surprised he was willing to share her, was massively down playing it. 

The Prince had truly been a man with a golden heart and a fist of steel if pushed enough. 

"Barbados did mention I had a little bird in my office." His laugh was low, the large man moving to look at the girl who was currently leaning against his desk. "Lucifer was nearly panicking when someone mentioned you weren't home."

She blinked in surprise before pulling out her D.D.D. "Woops. I forgot to turn the sound back on." She was gonna get a lecture about that later, she just knew it. 

"Now, Princess, why are you waiting on me and not letting Lucifer know?" A large hand stroked her cheek, causing her to lean into his touch. 

"Cause he'd ask why and I wanted you to know first?" Bright, soft eyes gazing up at him as her hands moved to gently hold his hand. After a moment she moved his hand from her face to her abdomen. 

There was a moment, a pause before it clicked. Golden eyes seemed to grow brighter. "Are you sure?"

The way her smile grew only caused a massive one to spread across his face. Politics be damned, he was too happy about this.

He moved to pull the smaller woman into his arms, holding her close. 

Simeon:

Being an Angel meant a few things, even if Simeon knew he was on a path of damnation like Lucifer and his siblings had.

He loved the woman currently snuggled in his bed, his fingers ran through her hair as his gaze softened. 

A new life was blossoming. 

A new life that belonged to them. He didn't care about the lineage, it was still his child within her, whether he sired them or not. 

Fingers carefully caressed along her body, the touch was intimate and soft, just admiring her. Tonight she was with him in Purgatory Hall before she'd go back to the House of Lamentation. 

"Mmm... Morning, Simeon." Her voice was groggy and soft. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Very well, my feather." He whispered as he leaned down. "I love you." He nuzzled into her soft hair, earning a soft, happy noise. 

"You're so lovey this morning. Did I miss something?" She ran her fingers through his hair. 

"You're pregnant, love." His words were soft in her ear and just the honesty of it stole her breath. "It's a very new life, but I noticed this morning."

Fear flooded her first but then joy did. Because even if she was scared, even if she was nervous, she had Simeon and the others. "Are you happy? I”m a little scared...  but happy." 

"I am happy. Because this is ours... Yours, mine, and the others. And have no doubts they'll be as excited as I am. Even if they are a bit scared."

Simeon was as terrified as she was, he was an Angel that broke all the rules, teetering the edge of falling from grace. Lucifer was one that had already fallen and was now a demon... A powerful one. 

But he knew, no matter their fears, hers or theirs, they'd love her and their child. No matter what. And nothing would ever harm them.

[melzula]

AAAAAAAA requests are open again 😭🌸if you’re open to it, would you be able to write about kya’s daughter revealing to iroh that bumi the 3rd is on his way? kind of like a sequel to Find Your Way Back?

a/n: omg hi lovely! sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy ♡

* this builds upon a previous piece which can be found here

The normally comforting smell of your mother’s seaweed and seal stew does little to calm your nerves, and despite her insistence for you to sit and relax you find yourself pacing back and forth in front of the window, hoping to see your husband in the distance. Just as Iroh promised a ship had arrived early in the morning with your mother to take you and your girls back to the south so that you would be kept safe and sound while he and his troops prepared for Kuvira’s arrival in Republic City. You’d made your feelings about such a mission clear, but as General he had duties to fulfill, and so you reluctantly said your goodbyes and made your way back home with Kya.

“Worrying won’t make him come back any sooner,” she notes from the kitchen doorway, holding a sleepy Azula on her hip. “You know he’s going to come back to you, he always does.”

“It’s different this time,” you argue quietly, glancing over at your eldest daughter Tara who sits on the floor and plays with her favorite Avatar Kyoshi doll, “there’s more at stake.”

“Even more of a reason for him to make sure he does everything he can to come home safely. Iroh is a smart man, a strong man, and you and the girls are his entire world. Not even someone like Kuvira could get in the way of that.”

“I guess you’re right,” you murmur, absently resting a hand on your stomach and once more settling your gaze out the window. Realizing that there’s no way she’ll be able to get through to you, Kya lets out a small sigh before returning to the kitchen to check on the stew, leaving you to your own devices.

You’d been married to Iroh for seven wonderful years, so this wasn’t the first time he’d had to leave you behind for his line of duty, but that doesn’t mean his absence ever gets any easier. You worry for his safety, you long for his return, and you hope and pray that your girls will be able to see their father again. There had been a few close calls in the past, and though each time Iroh had managed to prevail you knew he could only be so lucky for so long.

You admit that your response to the news of Kuvira had been a bit more dramatic than it normally would have been, but you felt justified in the fact; you were pregnant again, and you hadn’t had the chance to tell him before he could go. While being with child was a blessing, you didn’t even want to think about what you’d do if Iroh weren’t to return from this particular battle— for your husband die without ever having told him you were having another baby would be suffocatingly devastating. You’d planned to tell him, you did, but with Republic City in danger you didn’t have the heart to do so; a distraction as big as that would only increase his chances of not returning, so you put on a brave face for the sake of your husband and your children and opted to tell Kya and Katara instead. Sharing such a secret with someone else was like a weight lifted off your shoulders, and it made things just the tiniest bit easier on you.

Too absorbed in your thoughts, you don’t notice the approaching ship in the distance, not until Azula is sprinting out of the kitchen and towards the front door with her older sister in tow.

“Daddy’s here!” She shouts, startling you in a way that has your heart nearly jumping from your rib cage. Blinking rapidly, you focus your gaze back out the window only to be met with the sight of Iroh stepping out onto the docks. The girls are already halfway there, laughing at the way his face lights up with a smile and his figure crouches down to catch them both in an impossibly tight hug. A breath you didn’t know you’d been holding leaves you then, weight immediately lifted off your shoulders and your hand still resting absently on your stomach. He’s okay.

When your brain is finally able to process the fact that your husband is alive and well and here in the South you’re quick to slip on a shawl before rushing outside to greet him. He holds Azula in one arm and Tara in the other as he approaches, smiling with that same love struck grin he’d given you those eight years ago when you’d gorged on spicy noodles and sweet buns the night of your return to the Fire Nation. Setting the girls down so that they may run about as they please, Iroh steps forward and carefully cups your face in his hands so that he may press a delicate kiss to your forehead.

“I told you I’d find my way back,” he utters softly, smiling when you immediately throw your arms around his neck and pull your frame closer to his own. Your shoulders tremble slightly with the tears you will away, fingers digging into the fabric of his uniform jacket, and if not for the soothing circles he rubs into your back you might not have believed that he was really there.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” you express tearfully, leaning into his touch when he carefully tilts your head up to wipe away your tears. “I was so worried about you.”

“Raiko had us surrender,” Iroh notes, disdain clear in his tone and eyes hardening slightly. “I had to pull my men back.”

“So Kuvira wins just like that?”

“Avatar Korra and her friends are out there right now,” he says, withholding the fact that your Uncles and cousins have also joined in on the battle. You could hardly stand the fact that Iroh had almost been a part of the fight, hearing about your family being in the line of danger would only make things worse. You could find out when things were settled, for now you needed to rest and relax. “They’ll take care of Kuvira.”

“I hope so,” you murmur, the mere mention of the woman leaving a bad taste in your mouth.

“Hey,” Iroh calls gently, carefully redirecting your gaze back to him so that he may kiss you. Savoring the feeling of his lips against your own, all tension melts away with the gesture of love he gifts you. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. And... and I have something to tell you,” you admit with a sheepish smile.

“Oh? What is it?”

“The reason I really didn’t want you to fight against Kuvira and her troops is because there was a chance you might not have come back, and if you hadn’t come back then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about our baby.”

“Our... Our baby?” Iroh repeats slowly, but you don’t miss the excitement that twinkles in his eyes. “Are you...?”

“I am,” you confirm with a small smile, one that grows into a grin when Iroh immediately pulls you in for a second, more passionate kiss. You’re left feeling breathless and dizzy and so loved, and as selfish as it sounds, Kuvira is now nothing but a distant thought in the very back of your bread.

“My love, that’s amazing!” He exclaims enthusiastically. “I can’t believe we’re going to have another baby.”

“I have a good feeling that I’m carrying Bumi the Third in here,” you say with a giggle, resting your hand upon your stomach. There’s no visible curve to your stomach yet, but just knowing that your child is there is enough for now. Iroh laughs.

“I’m sure your Uncle will be thrilled to hear that.”

“I guess we’ll just have to see,” you say with a playful smile.

And seven and a half months later, Bumi the Third is born.

| Iroh/atla tag list: @nataliahaslosthershit @zukh03s @rainteslerrrr @simpinforsukka @sirkekselord @protect-remus |

[the-blind-geisha]

Ulbert with an reader who is pregnant, but she isn't sure if it his child or gazefs.

A/N: I’m going to try and get to this one while I have a chance. I’ll have to remember to update the link at some point. 😅

Whenever it came to the idea of children, it was supposed to be a blessing—something wonderful to embrace and adore. Not too long ago you realized the all too obvious signs that you were pregnant. Even your old clothes were having a difficult time fitting over your slightly rounder stomach. However, as it were, you didn’t want to tell Ulbert the truth. The honest truth, however, was you weren’t sure who the father was.

Was it Ulbert’s or was it Gazef’s?

You wanted to ignore the idea you were pregnant. You almost wanted to do something stupid and unspeakable, wrap your stomach to hide the truth of what was growing inside you. But you couldn’t do that. What if it was Ulbert’s? Wouldn’t he be ecstatic?

He was already livid you would dare even speak with let alone consider being with a mere human in this New World. What were you thinking, insulting the pride of a demon?

Even now, Demiurge kept a close watch on you. He had basically become a guard of sorts, an escort to make sure you never ventured off back to the humans without him or his Creator knowing. It was a bit stifling.

As the months would go on, however, you wouldn’t be able to hide what was growing inside of you. What would Ulbert do if the baby was born and it wasn’t his? Would he... kill it out of anger? A part of you wanted to hope he had far more empathy and mercy than this, but given how he was slowly becoming the very creature he made in the video game world, you weren’t sure. Each and every passing day, the old Ulbert from back when seemed to be disappearing behind an avatar of malice and lack of compassion day by day.

He was turning into the very demon he made.

“What’s the matter, y/n?” Ulbert asked one evening. You were busy enjoying dinner but Ulbert found moments where he didn’t care to eat or drink. Demons could do either of those things, but they didn’t really need to do either to live.

You chewed your lower lip, wondering what to say. “I... I have some news, really. I just wasn’t sure when a good time to speak of it would be.”

Ulbert lifted his head in intrigue. Admittedly, he had been anxious in the last few weeks given the obvious trysts you had with Gazef. “Oh? What is it?” The ear of the goat demon twitched, his nostrils flaring in a sort of unnerved attention.

“I am... I’m pregnant..” The words were so hard to let free from your chest. The moment you bothered to utter such a thing, your heart squeezed in agony. Why did you say that? Why did you? You could have gone several more weeks pretending you weren’t pregnant, you thought frantically to yourself.

Demiurge wanted to speak in a congratulatory fashion, but the moment the devil dared open his mouth to do so, Ulbert raised his hand to silence his creation. “Should I be excited for this or dreading it all things considered, y/n?”

You felt your heart grow heavy. “Would you truly do this, Ulbert? Would you blame a child for what I’ve done?”

“You think me the villain in your narrative, y/n?” Ulbert questioned, closing the book he had engrossed himself within as of late. The loud thud of the enormous pages closing made you tense. “I would not be so callous a monster to take my aggressions out on a child I have no ill intentions with, nor would I you for your past mistakes.” His visible eye narrowed. “However, I have no desire to spare the child’s father if it did indeed turn out to be Gazef’s over mine.”

[gaangadventures]

Hi! I’ve just found your blog and will you marry me?!? AANG CONTENT?!?? ! I saw the requests open and if you’re still open for them could I request a Zuko x reader? Zukos been awed by readers sheer power over and over cus he’s a sucker for strong women. And when he joins the gaang he is soo smitten with the reader and every one sees it but the oblivious reader. And he enventually asks for everyone’s help but during the ember island play she finds out cause they over dramatize his big crush?

Awww! We should probably meet before getting married lol  Sorry for taking so long with the request, life has been kicking my butt. Here you go! c: 

As a former citizen of a small village in the Earth Kingdom, you always longed for adventure and there weren’t many ways to leave your family farm. Or at least not without having to take something from them, and you had refused to. You knew they had little enough already.

But it was different one day, after meeting the avatar himself and his friends. As an earthbender, you weren’t sure where you could go but you wanted to go everywhere. And if you could beat up some Fire Nation soldiers, then you would be having the time of your life.

You had gone into the market for some feed for the lone ostrich horse, and a few of the Fire Nation soldiers had caught wind of the avatar. You were sure that he could actually take them down himself, but you weren’t exactly going to test that theory, and you trapped them in pillars of earth before helping the group out of the market and towards your family farm.

That was how you had met them anyway, and you had asked to join them that day. You hadn’t exactly expected them to say yes either, but they had, and you were overjoyed. So were they, but you assumed that Katara was more or less just glad to not be the only girl there.

Shortly after you joined however, the adventure you always wanted seemed to be a bit much at times.

First, there was the general that actively tried to get Aang into the avatar state and had put all of you in danger for it. Then there were the nomads that you had wanted to leave in the tunnels, you couldn’t believe how carefree they could be in the middle of a war. Even after all that your group had done to get into Omashu, you all found out that the Fire Nation had overtaken it and that Aang had to find an earthbending teacher himself. You offered, but you still had much to learn for it yourself.

And your least favorite place happened to be the swamp. Everyone there had visions of some person they already met and lost or in Aang’s case, were going to meet. You however, had a vision of your family. You had left them, and who knows if you would see them again, but you kept reminding yourself that it was okay, and they understood why you did.

The next place was some odd avatar-hating village, and Aang got arrested. But it was okay, because the day had ended with him out of prison, you beating up some soldiers, and some weird dough-like thing that you immediately spat out after tasting.

 In another Earth Kingdom town, your group had gone to an underground earthbending tournament which you had a blast watching. You had wanted to participate as well, but ended up following the rest of them as they looked for the Blind Bandit. The day went well, considering Aang had managed to get an earthbending teacher and so had you, despite her parents originally saying no. You had assumed that her parents never changed her mind like she said, having done the same thing with your own.

After Toph had joined, there was a strange metal contraption constantly following them by way of Appa’s fur trail. It had turned out to be the Fire Nation princess herself, and her two nonbending but still dangerous friends. You had helped Sokka and Katara with the other two that you had yet to learn the names of, while Aang was dealing with the last one. There was a fight because of course there was, you were starting to wonder just how many more fights you would have to go through in this. That was not to say you didn’t like to fight. You excelled at it.

That had also been the first time you had actually met the Prince Zuko that had literally followed them around the nations, and the first thing you wanted to know was where his ponytail had gone. Sokka had made sure to tell you all about it, but had left out the fact that he could actually be considered attractive, not that you would say that part out loud, and especially not when he was your enemy as well.

You had definitely been thrown for a loop when Azula had shot Iroh with lightning, only for Zuko to refuse help from any of you, even though Katara would have been the only one able to actually help.

Your second least favorite place was the desert, even though you thought the library had been amazing, apart from Wan Shi Tong getting upset that you guys had actually only come to learn how to defeat the Fire Nation. But Appa had gone missing, and you were absolutely convinced none of that was Toph’s fault. Another part of the desert that you didn’t like much were the buzzard wasps, but at least you had begun learning how to bend sand, which was definitely odd.

On your way to Ba Sing Se, they ended up meeting a few old friends of theirs, the Kyoshi Warriors and you had been quick to introduce yourself as well. Mostly since you had grown up hearing about them, and how amazing they would be, you really aspired to be more like them. 

Of course, the ticket lady wouldn’t let any of you get onto the ferry without passports, and Toph had managed to get all of you, only for the group to go the other route to Ba Sing Se when a pregnant lady and her husband had mentioned that their things were stolen. The Serpent’s Pass, you thought was aptly named when going through it. The serpent was terrifying, and you severely hoped that you wouldn’t have to go that way again. 

But at least you had made it through before Ying had her baby, which you thought was surprising considering she was quite far along. She asked you if you wanted to hold her, and you declined, having held more babies in your life than you probably would have liked, not to mention you hadn’t particularly wanted to hold any more. At least for now.

The new family had separated from you and your own group when you finally reached Ba Sing Se, only to find out that the Fire Nation trio was back again and they were trying to take down the wall with another metal thing. You had been helping Toph and Katara bend the awful rock and water combination and successfully kept a few of them back that way.

Ba Sing Se was a horrible city in your opinion, the Dai Li only being a part of it, but you were having a big issue with how the poor had less opportunities and the like.

You were partially glad when you left with the group, but heavily concerned for the avatar you’d come to think of as a younger brother. He had been shot with lightning and actually died, it was a miracle when Katara had healed him.

The weeks passing seemed to grow longer and longer, and nobody said it but everyone could tell that there was a lot of concern and worry for Aang when he hadn’t woke up. You spent your days learning how to bend metal like Toph, and it had taken you a while to even start.

Once he was awake however, you had to leave the boats you’d grown somewhat accustomed to and wait for the solar eclipse to grow nearer.

Unfortunately where you had to wait happened to be in the Fire Nation itself, and you hadn’t exactly wanted for more red in your wardrobe but it couldn’t be helped.

The next month or so, you weren’t sure how long it actually had been and couldn’t be bothered to remember, Katara had helped a coast village with its sick by posing as a river spirit and had even blown up a Fire Nation factory with Aang and finally scared the soldiers away from the town by continuing the ruse. Sokka had acquired a master of his own and made his own sword out of a piece of rock that fell from the sky. Toph had been scamming people in town, occasionally with your help but you ended up stopping when you thought that it would be too obvious. Katara had ended up finding another Southern Water Tribe bender, but unfortunately due to decades of being in prison had gone mad and had been kidnapping innocent people and trapping them under a mountain.

Hama had actually terrified you more than anything else had, but you couldn’t help but pity her at first. Your empathy had been shut off when you saw how Katara had to bloodbend her that night, and how upset she was.

The day of the invasion had been off to a good start, but it had been cut short when everyone learned that the Fire Nation already knew of the solar eclipse and had planned for it.

All of you had regrouped, apart from the adults that had gotten arrested for being a part of the invasion, and had gone to the Western Air Temple. Having never gone to any of the air temples yourself, you had quite a bit of fun exploring this one.

When the prince himself appeared and offered to be Aang’s firebending teacher, you wanted to throw a rock in his face and probably would’ve, had anyone else started a fight. It had been his choice to join his sister in Ba Sing Se, and now he wanted to join the group that he’d been chasing this entire time? Needless to say, you held a grudge against him, and you wouldn’t hesitate to earthbend him to the edge of the cliff if he tried anything.

The next day however, Toph returned with burned feet and Zuko had come back yet again. After his apologies, Aang had accepted him as his firebending teacher shortly after that.

It seemed like everyone but the ones that could earthbend had gone on a field trip with him, oddly enough, when Aang and Zuko had gone to learn real firebending, then it was Sokka and Zuko apparently breaking Hakoda and Suki out of prison but they also brought back a prisoner named Chit Sang too. Then it was Katara’s turn, and she went with him to confront the man who killed her mother. Thankfully, she hadn’t killed him.

Instead of camping out, Zuko had offered up a new place to sleep at, and it was a house that apparently no one goes anymore. You were a little weirded out at the thought of it, and Katara thought so too.

“Doesn’t it seem weird that we’re living in the Fire Lord’s own house?

“I told you, my father hasn’t come here since our family was actually happy. And that was a long time ago. It’s the last place anyone would think to look for us.”

“True, but still weird.” You piped up, doing your own stretches as the two firebenders had finished with their training.

“You guys are not gonna believe this. There’s a play about us.” Sokka said, walking out onto the courtyard with Suki, holding a rolled up poster, looking awfully smug.

“We were just in town, and we found this poster.” Suki continued, while Sokka rolled out the poster and held it up so all of you could see it.

“What? How is that possible?”

“Listen to this.” Sokka started, before beginning to read off the poster itself. “The boy in the iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Puan Tin who scoured the globe, gathering information on the avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.”

“Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island players.” Suki finished, before Zuko began to groan.

“Ugh. My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered “Love Amongst the Dragons” every year.”

“Sokka, do you really think it’s a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?”

“Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky, time-wasting nonsense I;ve been missing.” And with that answer, you all headed out to the theater to see whatever play this would end up being.

Upon arriving, you all settled down into the seats, Katara sitting next to Toph and you sitting next to her, much to Aang’s disappointment, you were sure. You expected Aang to just sit down next to you, but no, Zuko had.

“Why are we sitting in the nosebleed section? My feet can’t see a thing from up here.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell your feet what’s happening.” Katara answered to Toph, while your gaze was awaiting on the curtains.

They opened to show what was supposed to Katara and Sokka on a boat in the sea, back in the South Pole you assumed. You almost laughed at Sokka’s excitement to notice the two when he grabbed his sister’s shoulder and pointed from each other back and forth.

“Sokka, my only brother.” The fake Katara let out a sigh, dramatically gesturing to the painted “ice glaciers” on her side. “We constantly roam these icy south pole seas, and yet, never do we find anything fulfilling.”

“All I want is a full feeling in my stomach. I’m starving.” ‘Sokka’ responded, making the real Katara and Sokka give each other a look as the audience burst into laughter.

“Is food the only thing that’s on your mind?”

“Well, I’m trying to get it out of my mind and in my mouth. I’m starving.”

“Is that all that guy says?” You grimaced, starting to dread when your character showed up.

“This is pathetic. My jokes are way funnier than this.” Sokka exclaimed, while Toph laughed at him.

“I think he’s got you pegged.” With that, the rest of you turned back to the play.

“Every day, the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears. Still, we cannot give up hope, for hope is all we have and we must never relinquish it, even. . . Even to our dying breath.” Fake Katara began to sob, and you drew in a breath through your teeth when Katara crossed her arms.

“Well, that’s just silly. I don’t sound like that.”

“You have your moments.” You admitted, but even you would agree that this was an exaggeration for sure.

“Oh man, this writer’s a genius.” At least Toph was having fun.

“It appears to be someone frozen in ice, perhaps for 100 years.” ‘Katara’ said, when a light shone down onto a floating iceberg.

“But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?” Fake Sokka asked, the two climbing up the iceberg.

“Waterbend, hi-ya!” Fake Katara cried out, drawing her hand down as if to actually crack the ‘iceberg’ herself, only for it to break and reveal fake Aang, whose actor was a girl apparently.

“Who are you, frozen boy?

“I’m the avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun.” ‘Aang’ giggled, and you looked to the avatar himself, only to see him frowning deeply.

“Wait, is that a woman playing me?” He asked, right as a fake Appa showed up and went around the iceberg in a circle while fake Katara gasped.

“An airbender. My heart is so full of hope that it’s making me tear-bend.” She began to fake sob, falling to her knees and grabbing onto fake Aang’s leg. 

“My stomach is so empty that it’s making me tear-bend.” Fake Sokka cried out, falling to his knees as well and grabbing onto ‘Aang’s’ other leg. “I need meat.” With that, you really couldn’t help but laugh, even when both Katara and Sokka were beginning to glare at you.

“But wait! Is that a platter of meaty dumplings?” The actress for Aang mentioned, pointing up at nothing in particular.

“Ooh, where, where?” ‘Sokka’ quickly asked, only for ‘Aang’ to start laughing.

“Did I mention that I’m an incurable prankster?”

“I don’t do that. That’s not what i’m like. And I’m not a woman.”

“Oh they nailed you, Twinkletoes.” Toph joked, laughing at the play as she basically had been this entire time.

A new boat showed up on the stage, this time carrying Zuko and his uncle.

“Prince Zuko, you must try this cake.” ‘Iroh’ offered, while fake Zuko was looking out at sea with a telescope.

“I don’t have time to stuff my face. I must capture the avatar to regain my honor.”

“Well, while you do that, maybe I’ll capture another slice.” Fake Iroh said, before literally shoving the cake into his face and eating.

“You sicken me.” ‘Zuko’ said, with a disgusted look on his face, and you let out a laugh.

“They make me look totally stiff and humorless.”

“Actually, I think that actor’s pretty spot-on.” Katara joked, and Zuko had been quick to turn to her.

“How could you say that?

“Let’s forget about the avatar and get massages.” 

“How could you say that?” Fake Zuko cried out at Iroh’s suggestion, only for you to laugh when you saw the look on Zuko’s face.

The scene panned out to show Aang the actress at the Southern Air Temple, with a tail sticking out of the fake bushes.

“Hey, look! I think I found something.” Fake Aang kept digging into the bushes, only to come back out with a fake puppet of Momo on his shoulder and a fake arm hanging from his side. “A flying rabbit-monkey! I think I’ll name him Momo.” He laughed, before moving the puppet so it would look like it was talking.

“Hi, everybody. I love you.” At the sight of it, both you and Aang let out a low groan. Momo did not deserve this slander.

With another scene, it showed a Kyoshi Warrior, which you assumed was supposed to be Suki before ‘Sokka’ came out, dressed in the same Kyoshi Warrior ensemble.

“Does this dress make my butt look fat?” He said, making the real Suki laugh, as you turned to look at the couple.

“So nobody told me you were a Kyoshi Warrior? I do have a question though. Did you look as good as Suki does?” You couldn’t help but tease him, although this was definitely bringing up some topics that you had missed out on.

The scene changed yet again, but this time was showing what was supposed to be King Bumi. Was he really that buff?

“Riddles and challenges must you face if you are ever to leave this place.” It showed fake Aang pushing a boulder, fake Sokka running from a gorilla rabbit, and fake Katara groaning as she was trapped in crystals.

It cut to a different part of the play, showing a pirate boat and pirates began to surround the trio. The pirates continued to fight each other as the trio actually got out quite safely.

“Why did you have to steal that waterbending scroll?” Fake Sokka asked as they crept away from the pirates.

“It just gave me so much hope.” Fake Katara answered, sobbing yet again.

“I really hope my character isn’t as bad.” You added, wearing a grimace, since you knew Katara didn’t cry nearly as many times as this one made her out to be like.

“The avatar is mine!” Fake Zuko cried out, while fake Aang was chained to a wall with soldiers surrounding him. “Wait, who’s coming?” He pointed to a different part of the stage where a person with a large blue demon-like mask held dao swords.

“I am the blue spirit, the scourge of the Fire Nation, here to save the avatar.” He exclaimed, before the soldiers began to drop to the ground dramatically and he somehow defeated fake Zuko as well as simultaneously untying fake Aang.

“My hero.” ‘Aang’ said, before leaving the stage with the blue spirit.

The scene changed, and it showed a sobbing ‘Katara’ with a fake Jet, hanging from a rope.

“Don’t cry, baby. Jet will wipe out that nasty town for you.” 

“Oh, Jet. You’re so bad.” Toph laughed, while Katara tried to hide her face, and you just lightly patted her shoulder with a slight look of pity.

“Look! It’s the Great Divide. The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom.” Aang mentioned, standing atop fake Appa.

“Eh, let’s keep flying.” Fake Sokka shrugged, while you only leaned back into your seat.

“Don’t go, Yue. You’re the only woman who’s ever taken my mind off of food.” The two actors dramatically kiss, before fake Sokka turns away with a gag. “Wait, did you have pickled fish for dinner?”

“Goodbye, Sokka. I have important moon duties to take care of. And yes, I did have pickled fish.” Fake Yue said, going up into the sky with the moon.

“You never told me you made out with the moon spirit.” Suki chuckled, and you glanced at the couple to see tears in Sokka’s eyes as he shushed her.

“Shh, I’m trying to watch.” Turning back to look at the stage, you saw the actress for Aang in a fish spirit costume, crushing fake fire Nation ships.

“The avatar is back to save the day! Yay!” He said, kicking and stomping on the rest of the fake ships before falling onto the floor as the curtains closed.

“So far, this intermission is the best part of the play.” Zuko mentioned when all of you sat on the steps outside of the theater.

“Apparently, the playwright thinks I’m an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time.” Sokka angrily shoved jerky into his mouth, as Suki teased him.

“Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics.”

“I know!”

“At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you. That woman playing the avatar doesn’t resemble at all.” Aang lamented, putting his hands over his head, as Toph shrugged.

“I don’t know. You are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys.” With that, Aang groaned and Katara interrupted when he stood up.

“Relax, Aang. They’re not accurate portrayals. It’s not like I’m a preachy crybaby who can’t resist giving over-emotional speeches about hope all the time.” Everyone had clearly been looking at her but nobody said a word, until she asked. “What?”

“Yeah, that’s not you at all.” Aang backed her up, sitting back down and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Listen, friends. It’s obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt, but what you’re seeing up there on that stage is the truth.” Toph offered, and you tilted your head.

“Not quite I don’t think, this is definitely exaggerated.”

As the group went back into the theater, the scene was apparently when you had met the group, seeing as it looked like your hometown.

“Well, here we are in the Earth Kingdom.” 

“I’d better have a look around to see if I can find an earthbending teacher.”

“Hey, is that the avatar? Get him!” A Fire Nation soldier exclaimed, pointing at fake Aang, when fake you appeared on the stage.

“No, don’t take him! I need to leave this town and abandon my family forever!” ‘You’ cried out, fake earthbending the soldiers out before running with the group. “I don’t want to live on this farm anymore! I want to beat up people!”

You grimaced at their portrayal of you, but at least the actress looked somewhat like you, even if the personality was quite a bit off.

“That’s not. . Quite true.” You added, seeing fake you leave with the rest of them. 

The scene was changed into another Earth Kingdom town, and you assumed this was where Toph showed up.

“Well, here we are in the Earth Kingdom again. So we can find an actual earthbending teacher.” Fake Katara repeated, the four of them standing next to a suspiciously large rock.

“This must be where I come in.” Toph whispered as fake Aang ‘flew’ around the audience with a rope.

“I flew all over town, but I couldn’t find a single earthbending master.”

“Here it comes.” Toph said, leaning forward in her seat.

“You can’t find an earthbending master in the sky. You have to look underground.” Fake Toph was apparently a very large and buff man, throwing the fake rock off stage. Which only caused everyone but Toph to start laughing, yourself included.

“Who are you?” Fake Aang asked, as fake Toph spat away from him, before proudly pointing to himself before beginning to flex his arms.

“My name’s Toph, because it sounds like tough, and that’s just what I am.”

“Wait a minute. I sound like a guy. A really buff guy.” Toph said, already starting to smile when Katara turned to her.

“Well Toph, what you hear up there is the truth. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t have cast it any other way. At least it’s not a flying bald lady.” Toph answered, making Aang frown as you bit back a snicker.

“So you’re blind?” ‘Aang’ asked, waving his hand in front of ‘Toph’.

“I can see you doing that. I see everything that you see, except I don’t see like you do. I release a sonic wave from my mouth.” Fake Toph explained before beginning to scream, causing everyone in the audience to flinch, apart from the actual Toph of course, who only grinned. “There. I got a pretty good look at you.”

The scene changed to show Iroh and Zuko who apparently had long hair now.

“Zuko, it’s time we had a talk about your hair. It’s gone too far.”

“Maybe it’s best if we split up.” Fake Zuko dramatically flipped his long hair as the two actors walked off the stage, only for everyone to come back with fake Azula as well.

“Azula, my sister, what are you doing here?”

“You caught me. Wait, what’s that? I think it’s your honor.” She said, pointing up and everyone in the cast looked away from her as she slipped away.

“Where?”

“She escaped. But how?” Fake Katara asked, and it switched to show Azula and Aang at the wall of Ba Sing Se with the drill.

“If she continues drilling, this wall will come down for sure.” Fake Aang said, throwing a fake rock at her.

“Yes, continue drilling. The city of Ba Sing Se can hide no longer.” Fake Azula said as ‘Aang’ continued throwing rocks, but it never showed how it ended as the scene changed to show a mind-controlled Jet.

“No, Jet, what did they do to you? Fake Aang cried out, dodging as fake Jet swung out with his hooks.

“Must serve Earth King. Must destroy!” He exclaimed as a fake rock fell onto him, before curling up underneath it so his body wouldn’t be showing.

“Did Jet just die?” Zuko asked, as Sokka answered, gesturing with his hands.

“You know, it was really unclear.” 

“I have to admit, Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive.” Fake Katara said, now seemingly in the crystal caves of Ba Sing Se as fake you was looking for a way out, hardly paying any attention to the two.

“You don’t have to make fun of me.” The actor said, turning away and then turning back when fake Katara sat down onto the same rock as him.

“But I mean it. I’ve had eyes for you since the day you first captured me.” With that, you noticed the real Zuko and Katara briefly glance at each other with mildly disgusted looks as Aang frowned at the stage.

“Wait. I thought you were the avatar’s girl. And besides I’m in love with someone else.” Fake Zuko then said, beginning to walk away and very obviously looked towards fake you. ‘Katara’ laughed, before starting to say.

“The avatar? Why, he’s like a little brother to me. I certainly don’t think of him in a romantic way. Besides, how could he ever find out about this?” She hugged him, and you looked at the stage in confusion.

“There’s no way you two would do that.” You said, knowing for a fact that Katara was crushing on Aang, and she had already divulged that he kissed her the day of the invasion. “But what I don’t get is why the actor looks at me when he says he’s in love with someone else. What’s up with that?” You questioned, only to get radio silence from everyone there. You shrugged, figuring that you would weasel the answer out of someone later.

“Oh, you’re getting up? Can you get me some fire flakes?” Sokka asked Aang when he walked out of the theater after that debacle. “Oh, and fire gummies.”

“Well, my brother, what’s it going to be? Your nation or a life of treachery?” Fake Azula said, only for fake Zuko to contemplate things.

“Choose treachery. It’s more fun.” Fake Iroh said, drinking some tea as ‘Zuko’ walked over to him and paused.

“No way!” ‘Azula’ yelled before he pushed ‘Iroh’ over onto the ground and headed towards his sister’s side.

“I hate you, Uncle. You smell, and I hate you for all time!” As he left the stage with ‘Azula’, the Earth Kingdom flag fell onto the actor for Iroh.

“You didn’t really say that, did you?” Katara asked, and you frowned when Zuko answered.

“I might as well have.”

The next scene was Ty Lee and Mai taking over Ba Sing Se, only for Aang to appear out from behind the throne.

“Avatar state, yip-yip!” Fake Aang proceeded to be brought up from the stage by a rope as fake Azula appeared.

“Not if my lightning can help it.” A ribbon was thrown at the fake avatar who pretended to be electrocuted and fell to the floor. “The avatar is no more.” At that, the whole audience seemed to cheer, apart from your group.

You stretched during the intermission, thankful to be out of the seat.

“It seems like every time there’s a big battle, you guys barely make it out alive. I mean, you guys lose a lot.” Suki mentioned, only for her boyfriend to quickly respond.

“You’re one to talk, Suki, didn’t Azula take you captive? That’s right, she did.”

“Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Does anyone know where Aang is?” Katara interrupted the couple, and you hoped that the two might finally talk about how they feel.

“He left to get me fire gummies like ten minutes ago, and I’m still waiting.” Sokka complained, only for his sister to turn away from him.

“I’m gonna check outside.” She said, walking out of the theater, as a child dressed up as Aang pretended to fly around.

“Suki, what are the chances you can get me backstage? I got some jokes I want to give to the actor me.”

“I’m an elite warrior who’s trained for many years in the art of stealth. I think I could get you backstage.” And the two walk off, leaving you with Zuko and Toph.

“Well, I think I’m going to go check out how bad Sokka’s jokes are. Maybe you can tell her now.” Toph suggested, before following Suki and Sokka.

“Wait-” But you had cut Zuko off before he could continue.

“Tell me what?” Would someone finally tell you about why fake Zuko looked at you when he said he was in love with someone else?

“I-uh.. The actor wasn’t entirely wrong.” He partially confessed, only leaving you with more questions.

“Wrong about which part?” You simply couldn’t understand any bit of it.

“I’ve kind of been in love with you for a while.” He quickly answered, glancing at you to see your reaction before looking away.

“Wait what-” You said, only momentarily confused before shaking your head. You didn’t exactly understand why, and that’s exactly what you said. “Why? I don’t get it. There’s nothing special or anything about me.”

“You are far from ordinary, Y/N. You’re so strong and-”

“So what you’re telling me, you’re attracted to strong women?” You teased, oddly satisfied upon seeing the light pink of his cheeks as he groaned before letting out a sigh.

“Yeah.” He admitted, before continuing. “I even asked everyone for help with this.”

“Wait, is that why you had told me I was pretty the other day? And why I found flowers in front of my door the next morning?”

“Yeah.” 

“Well, I thought you were hot when we first met, so we’re even.” You shrugged, looking at him from the corner of your eye.

“Do you still think that?”

“What do you think?” You answered his question with a question, leaning closer to him until your faces were merely inches apart. “Y’know, I started training to get my mind off you.”

Just as your lips were almost touching, you had closed your eyes only to quickly open them and pull away when you heard a wolf-whistle.

“It’s about time!”

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Adversity - 13-B

Labelling this as ‘chapter 13-B’ in tumblr .

Edit: Ended up as part of chapter 13 in A03.

---

Adversity details

Multi-chapter, work in progress, AU, pre-LoK,

Latest status: up to Chapter 12 uploaded in A03

Blurb: Lin and Tenzin are both at the height of their respective     careers – she with the Metalbending Police and he with the Air Nation.     Questions about their future begin to arise and things come to a head when     Lin responded to an emergency call. Would her job take them from each     other forever? Eventual happy ending. Alternatively: The one where Lin and     Tenzin had to go through adversity like Lin’s dangerous job, a near-death     experience, temporary separation and memory loss, unplanned pregnancy and     Tenzin’s responsibilities before they end up with a family.

Tumblr chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | go to AO3 for chapters in between | 13

Ao3 link |   Ff.net link

---

Adversity – 13-B

There were muffled voices outside of the room and before they could even react, the door was shoved open.

"Chief!"

"Aunt!"

Tenzin usually felt that Toph Beifong was larger than life; never mind her blindness or stature. Today was no exception.

“I received this note at the Jasmine Dragon and I thought - this I have to ‘see’ for myself.”  The earthbender entered the room unceremoniously, fingers forming air-quotations to explain her presence. "And lo and behold, you're in bed with Airhead Junior already, so I guess you're doing just fine."

“I’m not in bed – she’s – we’re not -!” Tenzin sputtered, leaning back hurriedly to disguise the fact that half of his body was actually on the bed.

Lin rolled her eyes. “I don’t care that you’re the chief but don’t you ever knock?”

“Were the chief. That’s the past.” Toph perched herself at the end of Lin’s bed. “I’m here as your mother.” She tilted her head. “Surely that’s gotta hold some weight to you?”

“Not a lot, but sure.” Lin tossed, unaffected.

Well-versed in how Beifongs conduct themselves, the airbender knew that both were affected by this meeting under the veneer of snark and nonchalance.

Tenzin sought to make himself scarce. “I -uh – I can leave the two of you alone for now. I think I’ll check if the others have returned from their tour.” He gently extricated his hand from Lin’s grip, squeezing it once and receiving a squeeze back.

He pretended not to see the tears fall from their eyes as the two Beifong women hugged each other when he closed the door behind him.

“Hey Badge.”

“Mom.”

This was private for them.

He breathed.

She’ll be okay.

 ---

It was a trigger, they confirmed.

Katara explained from Lin’s medical files that Lin was likely submerged in water for quite some time before she was rescued. The sudden sea spray and saltwater must have triggered the memory.

While Lin’s blood pressure was recommended to be monitored closely, the vitals of both mother and child are strong, to everyone’s relief (especially Tenzin’s).

Upon arriving from their tour, Katara immediately went straight to Lin’s room upon hearing of the panic attack. After the routine check-up, the waterbender left the Beifongs alone. There remained to be a strain between Toph and the rest. The last time they had all been together was during Lin’s memorial months back – after she had accused everyone of not trying their best in locating Lin.

***

Toph has been with her daughter for hours now. Su had joined them at some point as well (even if it was with a lot of hesitation).

Everyone was pleased with this development. It was evident in the lightness that was not there before; a lightness that will be there at least until the three Beifongs would rejoin them.

Lin, Su and Toph talking for hours hints of a reconciliation among them. Su had confided in Kya a few nights ago that she had been worrying about her tentative reconnection with her sister. It may seem well and good now but what if Lin regains her memories and decides to retain to original stance regarding Su?

If Tenzin were to be honest with himself, he had been toying with the same fear as well. The spirits know that they definitely had not parted well before The Accident. He had been about to try to salvage their relationship but as far as Lin knew, he was a selfish jerk who was about to discard her for an air acolyte.

“You besotted sap, what are you frowning about now?”

Tenzin turned to his side, where Bumi seated himself on the steps, a teasing smile on his face. He had been absent-mindedly playing with Junior and Huan as they build things in the sand. He was instructed by the boys to throw around the occasional airball to test the strength of their structures or to flatten the sand so they can play more.

At the moment, the boys were attempting to replicate what Zaofu looked like on the sand and so were ignoring him until he needed to do some clean up.

Tenzin’s own brother then nudged his shoulder. “Anything I can do for ya?”

He shook his head no, still lost in thought.

The airbender is happy for Lin, truly. He could not imagine how she might have been feeling the past months – alone, injured, pregnant and with lost memories to boot. He should not and cannot even find it in himself to even be remotely selfish.

And yet…

He wanted Lin.

The laughter of the two Beifong boys drew his attention.

Rather, a family with Lin, he amended to himself. Tenzin sighed.

---

“That was one deep breath.” Bumi continued to observe, patient and knowing his brother well enough that he will speak when ready.

After a few more minutes, Huan managed to use earthbending to create a crevice in the middle of sand Zaofu. Both of them cheered the kids on.

“Uncle, where is Mommy?” Junior spoke up, green eyes darting around. “Can you call her? I think she would like to see what Huan was able to do.” The boy was proud of his brother despite not being able to bend himself.

Bumi grinned, the kid kind of reminded himself of well…himself. Back when Tenzin managed to make his first air wheel.

“Well, kid, I’m sure your mommy would be proud of both of you.” He pointed to the fairly complicated and detailed sand city on the ground. “But I think Su is busy right now.”

“She’s with your Aunt Lin and Grandma.” Tenzin added.

“Grandma’s here?!”

Both kids quickly rushed towards Tenzin and Bumi, grasping Tenzin’s robes in their hands, asking to be led inside to greet their grandmother.

“Is this a good idea?” Bumi whispered to Tenzin, leaning to his side so as to not to be overheard by the excited children, who were running ahead to the rest house.

The airbender simply shrugged. There was obviously something bothering him.

“They’ve been in the room for how long now?” Bumi tried to make light of the situation. “Are you sure they aren’t throwing hands or something?”

“We’ll probably feel the earth rumble if that were the case.”

That was true. Their childhood has been literally punctuated by mini earthquakes whenever the Beifong sisters squabbled.

Bumi played with his beard. “What if the new baby Beifong turns out to be another earthbender? Imagine the chaos.”

Huan and Baatar Junior were shifting their weight from one leg to the other, practically bouncing with excitement as they arrived at Lin’s door ahead of the adults.

Bumi snorted. Figures that Suyin’s spawn were behaved enough to not burst into rooms but could be quite tactless with their words.

Tenzin stiffened as they reach the door to Lin’s room.

Bumi nodded. “Arn’t you going to go in?” At the airbender’s head shake, he took the initiative to open the door. “Knock-knock! Good afternoon, Beifongs!” He was surprised to see Su and Toph flanking Lin from both sides of the bed.

Before he could even remark or tease Lin about it, twin squeals shattered his eardrums and in went Junior and Huan.

“Boys! Don’t jump on your aunt!”

Cute. With the surfeit of Beifongs in the room, Bumi waved at them and exited quietly. He will catch up with Toph later instead.

Still grinning, Bumi turned to Tenzin and noticed he was still awkwardly standing at the corridor. His smile softened, placing an arm around Tenzin’s shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it now?”

---

Before long Tenzin’s worries, fears, and insecurities tumbled out and into his older brother’s ear.

It was quite cathartic, to be truthful.

It was different opening up to his father (the Avatar) or even his mother (who was bound to be as protective as she was judgmental – less so compared to her younger years but still).

Bumi heard him and was not bound to judge him.

Neither did he invalidate his feelings nor did he downplay the airbender’s perceived consequences of the situation.

It certainly also helped that Bumi had been away from Republic City and was able to listen with fresh perspective.

---

“Don’t cancel your dinner. You’ve prepared a lot for it.”

“No…” His voice trailed off. “I’d rather not intrude in their family time.”

“Aren’t you her family, Ten?”

---

“Ah there you are Junior!”

…

“What on earth are you doing in the kitchen? Last I heard this was Lin’s domain.”

“Uh – tonight’s dinner for Lin – I  was -.”

“Don’t you dare say you’re postponing it?” It really was discomfiting when Toph Beifong is able to stare at you in the eye. “She had been talking about it, and was particularly excited too.”

“Oh.”

“Oh – indeed.” A beat. “Don’t disappoint her, Junior.” She passed by him to exit the room. And in a lowered voice muttered. “I’m still rooting for you, despite everything.”

----

---

Note: We are getting there~ thanks for the patience and for still reading this. 

Been through some tough times the past few days (ironically, after I had thought I could probably write a little bit more). Not quite good yet but better than the past days. Hopefully. Anyhow - let me know what you think :)

[ejm513]

ON SOKKA, TOPH, LIN AND SU’YIN

EDITED  BECAUSE I WROTE THIS AT ALMOST 10:00 PM WHEN I HAD TO GET UP AT SIX IN THE MORNING BUT I JUST WNATED TO WRITE SOMETHING TO GET MY BASIC IDEAS OUT BECAUSE I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP IF I DIDN’T. DID I MENTION I’M NOT THE SMARTEST PERSON?

Hello my lovelies! So I finally got my act together and watched Avatar The Last Airbender and…

Yeah, I don’t know what was wrong with me when I was a child. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. But at this point in my life it is quite possibly one of the best shows I’ve ever watched and is now one of my favorite shows.

In fact I’m re-watching after finishing my first binge about a week or two ago.

Theirs is so much to discuss not just with Avatar but with The Legend of Kora (I’m in the middle of season three… I like it a lot but I’m just having a harder time getting through it. I’ll probably wait to finish it until it comes to Netflix). What I want to focus on is Sokka, Toph, Lin and Su’yin.

Because if there’s nothing I love more than family, babies, children and family drama.

I mean seriously that’s literally what everything I write is about.

I don’t have a problem not at all.....

So you can imagine as soon I heard there was a theory that Su’yin may or may not be Toph and Sokka’s daughter my imagination and excitement went in overdrive, because even though I adore Sokka and Suki I always thought there was SOMETHING between the two of them. It’s clear in Avatar that Toph has a crush on Sokka which I mean can we blame her?

While it doesn’t appear Sokka has any romantic interest at that time, he is extremely caring and protective of Toph. It’s not impossible to see their relationship maybe not deepening into love but becoming something more than simple friendship and becoming physical.

But what evidence is there that Su’yin is Sokka and Toph’s daughter? Just because it’s a nice idea doesn’t mean it’s true.

Well it turns out there is some substantial evidence to back it up.

First of all there is Su’Yins coloring.

Now that doesn’t necessarily point to anything. But it is interesting to note that her skin coloring is the same as those in the water tribe, who tend to have darker skin tones. 

On top of that there is a physical resemblance between her and Sokka. 

And then... there is this... 

This is Baatar Jr., Su’Yins oldest child. Sure he does look a lot like his father

But I would argue he looks even more like Sokka. It’s kind of eerie how similar they look and I don’t think the animators and show creators would do something like that unintentionally-especially in a show like this.

Then you need to factor the personality similarities-Su’Yin’s sarcasm, leadership abilities, her devotion to family above all else. It all rings very familiar. 

I personally lean more towards the side of this theory being true, but there are some arguments to be made against it. 

The biggest argument is that Sokka would never be an absentee father. It’s just not in his nature. We know that both Lin and Su’Yin’s fathers were both absent and not a part of their lives. 

And then we have to factor in Sukki and what happened to her. 

Well here’s what I think could have happened. 

There’s another theory going around that Sukki died young in some sort of battle. It would make sense to a certain extent given what she does. I’m going to lean in on that theory, but it is highly possible that their relationship just didn’t last. After all they were young and the hard truth is statically the majority of young relationships don’t last. These seem to be the most probable explanations, as we know jack shit about what happened to Sukki. 

Lin’s father was a man named Kanto. The jerk left for whatever reason-maybe the pair got in a huge fight, maybe he just didn’t want a child or couldn’t handle the responsibility of being a parent. Basically we can assume he was a dead beat who honestly doesn’t even deserve such an amazing life partner as Toph and amazing child as Lin. 

 I don’t doubt for a second Sokka stepped in as a father like figure of Lin and thus they would be spending quiet of bit of time together. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Sokka would be a top notch father figure with Lin-funny, creative, and surprisingly gentle and tender. Lin being Lin would probably act like her mother-all strong, tough and independent. But secretly she loves the doting and gets very upset when he has to go. 

So as you can imagine Toph and Sokka are spending quite a bit of time together. Toph is enamored by Sokka and how great he is with Lin. Her old crush is beginning to bubble up and maybe turning into something more. If we go off the theory that Sukki died young or their relationship just naturally ran it’s course he’s probably been enjoying female company that isn’t his sister or anyone on the council. They’re both grown adults who are single who have a very deep connection and have probably been lonely so it’s not out of the question that they uh.., well... you know. 

Now I don’t think they would necessarily end up in a serious relationship for various reasons. Toph is to hell bent on her freedom and independence to truly settle down in a serious relationship, and Sokka has probably been through to much bad luck with relationships to want to truly get invested... even if it is Toph and he low key loves her and Toph’s heart flutters every time she’s with him.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it is cannon that Toph has had her fair share of sexual partners, which I would like to state for the record there is nothing wrong with. So it’s possible Sokka wasn’t the only person she slept with. So when she became pregnant it’s entirely possible she wouldn’t know for certain who the father is. Now obviously when Sokka finds out he would probably demand to know if he’s the father her being blunt would say something along the lines of 

“I’m not sure who it is Snoozle’s, and I’m never really gonna know because I won't be able to see the kid. Besides it doesn’t matter who the father is I don’t need any help.” 

So for nine months Sokka is sitting on pins and needles waiting to know the truth. When the baby finally comes and he sees her it’s... it’s pretty obvious. Though she’ll never say it out loud, Toph can tell just by feeling her facial features. 

Now there’s a problem. Even though she doesn’t neccasrily want to keep him away from his child Toph being... well... Toph... still insist that she doesn’t need any help. More over she doesn’t want to cause Lin any resentment, confusion or pain by Su’yin having her father around but her’s is gone. 

Besides there’s the whole issue of him being a member of the council and her being the chief of police... I could see their relationship causing a controversy and or scandal that no one wants. 

Sokka on the other hand wants to obviously not just be apart of his biological child’s life but Lin’s life-as Lin has basically become his child as well. And in reality Toph knows she can’t stop him, moreover  as stated earlier she is not heartless and doesn’t necessarily want to keep Sokka away from his daughter. So they come up with compromise. 

He’ll continue acting as a father figure, but he will be nothing more than Uncle Sokka. He goes along with it so he can still see both of his girls and be a part of their lives. 

He spends more time at Toph’s home than his own. He helps Lin with her homework and happily plays and cuddles with Su’yin. He helps makes sure they go to bed at a decent time (while under the guise giving them all the freedom Toph wants them to have). At first Sokka will sleep on the couch, but slowly but surely the pair end up sleeping in the same bed and living as a couple... just in the safety of those four walls. 

It’s a bit of an open secret between Team Avatar and company-especially Katara because she would know the truth from the second she laid eyes on the child. But out of respect for Toph and the delicate balance they created no one says a word-especially because I can imagine Sokka is gone a good portion of the time with his various duties. 

I’m not one who subscribes to the fact he dies protecting the new avatar Kora, because it is cannon that he helped put members of the Red Lotus in jail. What I do think is he passed before ever getting to tell Su’Yin the truth. And Toph realizes she messed up and it’s most likely her one biggest regret. In the end I don’t think she would say a word to anyone about the truth until she is on her death bed... because she is just that pig headed and stubborn. 

So that is how I think everything could have possibly panned out... and don’t be shocked if I end up writing a fan fic about this! I also hope to write a post examining Aang and Katara and their children because once again I love children and family and family drama and there is a lot that too. 

Also might I add it’s so endearing and sweet that Zuko-the character who had the most toxic, abusive and fucked up family had, by all appearance, the happiest family with the least amount of drama. 

God.

Bless. 

It.