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tepkunset · 4 years ago

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@avatarfandompolice is a blog that likes to misuse progressive language in attempt to make ignorant, racist posts sound more intelligent than they are. While most of their blog consists of arguing about ‘zutara,’ (which I recently learned is a ship name for Zuko and Katara from an anon), there is also a large number of posts and reblogs under the premise of being “hot takes” on how unfair it is to address racism in fandom and in media.

Avatarfandompolice is very sensitive about people pointing out that Avatar: The Last Airbender is not, in fact, flawless. That a show made by two white men featuring Asian and Indigenous characters and influences is fully capable of getting things wrong. That their western colonial views are influences all on their own, and it shows. Rather than listen to fans of colour point out things like these posts for example: [Link] [Link] [Link], avatarfandompolice has decided that such things must simply be fake, and has made multiple posts complaining it. This is not just regular ignorance, this is wilful ignorance. The dismissal of critique simply because they cannot fathom not everyone being able to handle the amount of issues they are freely educating others on, or people holding the ability to like something overall while also pointing out where it could be better.

It is my firm belief that you should never absorb media with an uncritical eye. If this was the case, if people just accepted everything given to them, then we would never see any progress. We need to be able to look back at something and say here’s what we did right, and here’s what we need to do better with.

The argument that A:TLA was made in 2012 and therefore should not be analyzed with a modern understanding of the world is downright hilarious, too. As if we aren’t taught to write literature analysis on books and plays that are centuries old in school. In particular regards to the whole cop thing... if anyone reading this seriously thinks that hate and fear of the police is just a 2020 trend, you can meet me in the pit. I was four years old when I learned how terrifying cops are. If your experiences differ, let me tell you that does not make them universal. And as for all the 20-somethings talking about it today, well, gentle reminder that as said by avatarfandompolice right here, the show aired in 2012. Little 10-year-old kids don’t have social media, (at least I hope they don’t,) and unless they grew up experiencing first-hand police terror, probably were not aware of it at that age. I do not know why avatarfandompolice insults people's ability to grow and learn. I can only guess it’s jealously from their lack of ability to do so.

Now let’s address their defences of whitewashing, which is easily the most backwards reaching I’ve seen on this issue in a while. Primarily their defence relies on four repetitive “points” —

Fake minuscule percentages to downplay the high prevalence and extremity of whitewashing in the fandom

Deflecting the addressing of whitewashing with rapid-fire fake scenarios and claims of “reverse racism” / “blackwashing”

Claiming whitewashing isn’t real because people only care about it with Katara

Claiming that calling out whitewashing in fandom is wrong because it hurts artists

I have only so much as dipped my toes into the A:TLA fandom, and even I have seen a lot of whitewashed fan art. If you do an image search for fan art, I guarantee within the first couple rows of results, there will be in the absolute least, a few examples. The idea of these artworks not substantially lightening skin is also just plain inaccurate. Just from a quick Google search, this is literally the first result for ‘Avatar The Last Airbender Katara fan art’:

Avatarfandompolice is also hyper-focused on the lightening of skin, and seems to be under the impression that this is the only component of whitewashing. I come to this conclusion because when someone pointed out the equal prevalence of depicting these characters of colour with Western European features instead of their actual eyes, noses, etc., they rip a giant turd out of their ass and scrawl the words “but stereotyping” over it. No, not all Asian peoples and Indigenous peoples look the same. The original poster made no such claim of this at all. Avatarfandompolice jumped to this conclusion all on their own... (which really says a lot in itself). It is entirely unrelated to the point. The point being the erasure of how these characters look, in favour of giving them whiter features. And guess what? This does hurt. But I’ll get to that below.

The lack of understanding of whitewashing is on full display when avatarfandompolice talks about “blackwashing”; the idea that colouring characters with darker skin is just like whitewashing. Firstly, there is no such thing as “blackwashing.” “Blackwashing,” “brownwashing,” etc. does not exist because it is a false equivalency to whitewashing. It is a false equivalency to whitewashing because white people are not even in the slightest loosing representation when a white character is re-imagined as a racial minority, whereas when racial minorities are re-imagined as white people, they are taking away from what is already very little representation for us. If we lived in a world where the statistics of representation were not so drastically disproportionate, then there would be something to talk about. But if you are really wanting to support equality, you should focus on equitably supporting those who actually need it, not white people. As for specifically depicting characters like Sokka and Katara with darker skin than what they have in the show, the same applies, (so long as it’s not racebending them as we really shouldn’t be taking representation away from each other, and the artist avatarfandompolice ridicules above has done no such thing,) because colourism also exists within nonwhite communities as well.

As for the fake questions about cosplaying, the answer is really simple: Cosplay however you want, but don’t make pretending to be a different race part of your cosplay. If you want to cosplay Katara, you can do it without painting your skin darker, aka brownface. If you want to cosplay Zuko, you can do it without editing yourself to look East Asian, aka digital yellowface. The racist history behind this is an internet search away, but I suppose that is too difficult for avatarfandompolice to do.

Avatarfandompolice has made multiple claims that people must not really care about whitewashing if they only call it out for Katara. It is laughable at best, and sad at worst, that this is the conclusion they come to, and not the fact that unfortunately Katara just happens to be subjected to more whitewashing than other characters. I assume this is from a mix of her popularity as well as being a WOC and not MOC. This is not to say that whitewashing does not exist with male characters—not in the slightest. Half the images on this “10 fan art pictures of Sokka that are just the best” list from CBR are whitewashed. Only that across fandoms, whitewashing is more prevalent in female characters, by my observations at least.

Finally—and this one pisses me off the most—avatarfandompolice claims that whitewashing is no big deal, but calling out whitewashing is too harmful to justify. How fucking dare you put the feelings of artists who can’t handle critique of their work (that they publicly share) over fans of colour, who are constantly subjected to seeing our identities and looks not being worth respecting. As if it doesn’t imprint on your mind from a very young age how only villains ever have your facial features, because they’re ugly and I guess that means you’re ugly. As if there is something wrong with you. As if respecting you is regarded as extra effort, and not just common courtesy.

Whitewashing is a form of colourism, which is a form of racism. It is the favouritism, unconscious or not, of white features and the erasure of visible characters of colour. It is not fandom drama. It is not being too lazy to focus on “real issues” because it is part of a real issue. It is yet another part of why fandom spaces are so uninviting to POC. We live in a society that favours lighter skin. Corporations make fortunes from selling products to bleach your skin, products to contour your features away or go as far as surgery, all to meet beauty standards set by and influenced by white colonizers. That does not exist in A:TLA, and that’s called refreshing escapism. But it’s hard to escape that when the fandom constantly reminds you otherwise. It is a perfect example of how the classic “just let people enjoy things” complaint is nothing but disguised racism, because it’s only ever said regarding white fans’ enjoyment, at the expense of fans of colour.

None of the characters in A:TLA are white. Redesigning them and recolouring them as if they are, be it out of accident or intent is wrong. If you get called out for it, apologize, learn from the experience and do better going forward. You’ll also improve your art this way.

Beyond excusing whitewashing, avatarfandompolice has overt racist posts as well. A Black fan said they like to headcanon Katara as being partially Black; “I swear Katara was a sister. Im convinced there ain't no way she didn't have some black in her.” Avatarfandompolice jumps in saying “She's literally an Inuit but ok” as if being an Inuk person means Katara can’t possibly also be Black. The OP never claimed Katara was not Indigenous, simply that they also saw her as Black. Black Indigenous peoples exist. Black Inuk peoples exist. It is overtly anti-Black to say otherwise. But what even is the point of talking to avatarfandompolice about that? You know, you would think in trying to put such a front up of caring about the Inuit, they would do the most basic learning of the proper grammatical use of Inuit and Inuk. (As is the case with a great many Indigenous Nations, Inuit is both the Nation and plural. Inuk is singular. “An Inuit” / “Inuits” as avatarfandompolice has used just makes their dressed-up racism all the more pathetic. It’s similar to as if you said “Chinas” instead of “Chinese”.)

But all this is nothing, nothing compared to the worst post I had the displeasure of seeing. In a single post, avatarfandompolice manages to squeeze in insult against low income people, Mexican people, Jewish people, and Black people in a mockery of financial help posts. Absolutely disgusting, childish behaviour from a place of privilege. As someone who has had no option but to make such a post before, more than once, let me fucking tell you that the embarrassment and desperation when in that situation is unparalleled. It is not done lightly. It is done when you are at the last resort of having nothing but hope that the combined generosity of others will be enough to save you and your family. And what adds a whole other level to the odiousness of avatarfandompolice’s post is that they specifically targeting low income minorities to boot. Because we’re all poor beggars, right?

All in all, for someone who prides themselves in calling others ignorant, avatarfandompolice has to be one of the most obtuse fandom blogs I have ever scrolled through. They are as vile as they are pathetic, and my sincere sympathy for anyone who has been unfortunate enough to interact with them. It has been a while since I so strongly recommend blocking someone.

#avatarfandompolice #atla #atla fandom #racism #whitewashing #long post #fit for a queue

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zukoshotleafjuice · 4 years ago

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The funniest thing about june teasing katara and zuko about being a couple is that she just sees a pretty girl and an attractive guy, both looking almost the same age which immediately makes her go "you two must be a couple" and it just reminds me of zvtara shippers, you know what i mean? I'm convinced one of the reasons a lot of ppl ship them is bc of their looks. katara being the female protagonist and also a pretty, smart and powerful girl & zuko, despite not being the male protagonist, being the most attractive guy in the gaang. Boom, a "bomb ass ship". It is worth to recall that "people ship zutara bc they projected onto katara and had a crush on zuko". And if they say they don't ship them for that reason, then it's bc they read too much between the lines in every interaction they have. So, back to june, she didn't even care if they had chemistry or if they were friends or anything, she just straight up teased them about being a couple lmao. Because in all honesty zvtara can be an appealing ship in anyone's eyes but THAT'S IT, it doesn't go further than that. I can be testimony of that😅Before even watching the show i was like june, one day i saw a zk fanart and was like "wow aren't those zuko and katara from atla? They look so good, she's gorgeous and he's hot" i already knew kataang was endgame and that mai was zuko's love interest but seeing zuko and katara together was pleasing to my eyes. However once i watched the show for the first time (2 months ago i think) i realized there was really no romantic chemistry between them, nothing, literally nothing, i mean, i wasn't even waiting for the zvtara content in the show that made ppl ship them so much, i was actually very neutral about ships, i couldn't care less about them, but i still realized nothing was happenig between them and that it was obvious since book 1 ep 1 that kataang was endgame. Zuko and katara were two teenagers from opposite sides of a war that tried to kill each other multiple times and when zuko changed sides they developed a completely platonic relationship. As i said, people either ship them because it's an appealing and aesthetically pleasing ship (water/fire, enemies to lovers, opposites attract, the common red & blue ship) or they just love reading too much between the lines, OR BOTH, because they were so thirsty about it they ended up convincing themselves there was romantic tension between them, that they liked each other and that zvtara was scrapped when it was never planned in the first place. Not to mention the reasons why they claim zvtara should've been endgame are based only on symbolism and things they have in common that are just so ??? Random. e.g. (i saw these on a post on facebook and the comment section was hilarious, it was full of ppl being sarcastic about it & making fun of it) saying they should've been canon bc:

1. "They both lost their mothers at a young age" (?)

2. "katara was good but had rage in her heart and zuko was bad but had good in his heart so it was like yin and yang, and that was the main purpose/topic of the show" (?)

3. "they both had alter egos (painted lady and blue spirit)" (???) this one sounds like saying maiko was canon bc zuko worked in a tea shop and mai worked in a flower shop😂

4. "Zuko was the only one who supported katara in taking revenge on her mom's assassin" (?) if you ask me, that just proves zuko is not right for katara, he led her to do something she was gonna regret later (not trying to hate on zuko, i love him, and since i love him i acknowledge his flaws. I understand why he thought it was the best thing to do, he's an impulsive and resentful boy (he would've done the same if it was his mom) and he noticed how thirsty katara was for revenge, ofc he wanted to help her + he wanted her to accept him and thought it was the right thing to do in order to gain her trust, but it wasn't) unlike zuko, aang tried to make katara come to her senses and do the thing that was best for her: forgive and let go, and it was basically what she did at the end. She didn't do what zuko expected her to do. She did what aang expected her to do. She didn't forgive her mom's assassin, but she forgave zuko, and she didn't do THAT thing she (and aang) knew would regret later. Aang knew katara and what was the best thing for her to do.

5. and the most ridiculous one, "they both saved each other's lives in the final agni kai"(???????) and the funniest part is that it was followed by "WHAT MORE PROOFS DO YOU WANT???". Honestly wtf did ppl expect? Did they expect zuko to stand there and watch katara die? Did they expect katara to just stand there and watch zuko lay on the floor & die? And this has been said a million times and i am going to join and say it once again: zuko would've done that for ANYONE from the gaang, he would've done the same for toph, sokka, suki and aang. Because he learned to care about them. As for katara, she would've done that for anyone too wtf she healed aang once too and even brought him back to life. (I wouldn't be surprised if zk shippers used that as a parallel for romantic zvtara proof bc they're just like that💀)

There were more "reasons" but they're just so stupid and taken out of context like "they care for each other" & "katara was the one who encouraged him to talk to his uncle" like yeah that's what friends do. Basically all zvtara shippers do is REACH.

Also, i just can't see it happening. I like the enemies to lovers trope, maybe if the writers really intended to make it canon, i would have been down for the ship, it would've been interesting to see how it developed, but,, they didn't, and later i came to the realization that if it would've really happened, it would've been so... weird. Time to bring up the "colonized and colonizer ship" and how some ppl feel uncomfortable about it. Besides the fact that a relationship between zuko and katara wouldn't have worked (they're incompatible af, katara is a girl with a strong character and zuko is a guy with anger issues that takes everything personal, they'd be at each other's throats 99% of the time) it's just weird to think that katara would choose to marry a man from the fire nation, the nation that caused a big war that traumatized her, the nation that took her mother away from her. Imagine katara ruling along with zuko a nation she despised for years. Fire lady katara doesn't sit right with me, and i'm sure it doesn't sit right with a lot of ppl as well. I don't see katara doing that, and yes, i know she forgave zuko, but still, she would've never done that 🤦🏽‍♀️ i think it would've been so OOC tbh.

Another thing i laugh my ass off at is when they say "zuko should've chosen katara instead of mai" as if they were ever in a relationship for zuko to say "ok imma choose katara i wanna be with her". As if katara was EVER an option for him. They never showed interest in each other, what's not clicking?????? And zuko only had eyes for mai, not to mention that despite zuko and mai had a rough relationship, no girl would've dealed with zuko's bs better than mai. Can you imagine katara dealing with zuko blowing up over everything? Because i can't. Also people saying things like "zuko deserves someone who is always there for him and listens to him" (and ofc they're talking about katara) like, ok, you hate that katara is aang's "therapist" but you want her to be zuko's therapist. Logic? Where? And I do remember mai being a supportive gf and trying to cheer him up multiple times. Did they watch the same show as me?

Zvtarians try to play the victims about how they were "robbed" bc some voice actors shipped them and from what i've read people who worked for the show suggested to go for zk, but that's stupid, it doesn't count as "they planned it but scrapped it, we were robbed". The only word that counts are the creators' voice and they have stated they were always rooting for kataang, so no, you were not robbed.

People are just so in love with the idea of zuko and katara together they really convinced themselves it was likely to happen. Honestly zvtara it's a fine ship as fanon but ppl ruined it for me and what i hate the most is when they ship it and hate on aang and mai at the same time and make them look SO bad to invalidate kataang and maiko. Saying aang is abusive and mai is toxic is complete ✨bullshit✨ and lastly, it's ridiculous when they say the creators were cowards for not making it canon. They're cowards for not fulfilling your greatest childhood wish? Something they never planned? It is THEIR show. If you hate sm how things turned out then quit atla once and for all and go find another show that you know is gonna give you what you expect,,, it's tiring that they've been crying about it for 15 yrs , like, i joined the fandom recently but i can imagine how tired old atla fans must be of this.

OK so I have a lot of thoughts about this and firstly,,,anon I appreciate the dedication that it took for you to write this, and I agree with many of your points. However, the attitude I have on this blog towards Avatar ships is far more neutral than what you’re saying.

Ultimately, romance is not and never was the focus of Avatar. Romantic development was always secondary or tertiary plot, and the entire show was far more focused on platonic relationship development. My attitude towards shippers on here - including Zutara shippers - is that people can ship what they want, as long as they’re respectful of each other and of the other characters that “interfere” with their ship. End of the day, shipping is irrelevant to the core of the show.

People shipping something because they find it aesthetically appealing is honestly,,,fine. Personally, I think it’s reductionist, but I don’t care if you do because everyone has the right to enjoy media however they want to.

That being said, we absolutely should call out racist or problematic tropes that we see, including ‘fire lady katara”. I also agree that it’s upsetting when people bash other characters in order to further their ship, as much of the bashing is also pretty racist and/or misogynistic. Calling that out, however, is separate from calling out every single person who happens to enjoy certain ships.

“She didn't do what zuko expected her to do. She did what aang expected her to do. She didn't forgive her mom's assassin, but she forgave zuko, and she didn't do THAT thing she (and aang) knew would regret later. Aang knew katara and what was the best thing for her to do.”

I understand where you’re coming from, but I honestly disagree with this take. Both Aang and Zuko were approaching the situations from their own life experiences, but Katara didn’t do what either of the boys wanted. She chose her own path, by both sparing Yon Rha’s life but also refusing to forgive him. The episode is about Katara and her personal trauma and its focus should not be on her relationships with either Zuko or Aang.

When I make posts such as this, it’s less about hating Z*tara and more about how this fandom focuses all its attention on romance and shipping, to the point where if you acknowledge a relationship’s importance it’s assumed you pair the two romantically. I don’t read Zuko and Katara’s relationship as romantic (for reasons that it would take too long to explain here), but their relationship development is extremely important, the two of them share tons of parallels and the final Agni Kai marks the culmination of both of their character arcs. Yes, Zuko would have taken the lightning for any of the characters, but it’s thematically important that it was Katara. None of this inherently means it’s romantic, but refusing to acknowledge the significance of the relationship between them is equally reductionist.

This isn’t an attack on you, anon, and you’re 100% allowed to have negative feelings about a ship. But at the end of the day, it’s not worth getting this worked up over. If I were you I’d focus more on creating/consuming content for a ship you like than bashing ships you don’t!

#kind of nervous about posting this but oh well #atla #avatar the last airbender #shipping #zuko #katara #aang #asks

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zukos-tsungi-horn · 6 years ago

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Souvenirs We Never Lose Ch. 2

Chapter 2: become our history (1 | 2 | to be continued) (Read on AO3 | FFN)

Summary: The past is never far. Zuko remembers what Katara said about the spirit water. Now there’s a second scar to heal, and Katara’s feelings are more complicated—but if he wants to erase the past, she’s willing to give it a try. She owes him that much, and more. Zutara. Rated T to be safe, probably G though.

Notes: Thanks again to Lexosaurus for beta reading!! And thanks to everyone who left comments/reviews on the first chapter, it means a ton! I’m super happy with how this chapter turned out, so I hope you enjoy! (Also please please let the read more link work this time tumblr hhhh)

XXX

~Reruns all become our history~

It wasn’t a vacation. It had never been a vacation, as much as it felt like one when she didn’t have to cook or wash clothes. She still had plenty to keep her busy. The days passed in a blur of economic discussions, combat training with old acquaintances—still mostly boys, but she was excited to find three girls had been admitted since she’d last visited—and healing practice with Yugoda.

Even though concern for Aang and Toph tickled the back of her mind, it was nice to have this time on her own. Training just for herself and not for the fate of the world was more of a relief than she’d expected.

Of course, Zuko’s request regarding his scars shrouded the otherwise peaceful atmosphere. He hadn’t asked her again since they’d gotten here—he trusted that she would let him know once she had the spirit water—but she felt like she could see the unspoken question every time their eyes met across the council hall.

That was almost the only time she saw him. At this rate, she’d have to get the water on her own, and then wait until the return trip to see if she could actually heal him. Which would work just as well… but felt oddly disappointing.

What had she expected? That she would get to spend this not-vacation just hanging out with him, like old times?

She should’ve known it would be like this. He was the Fire Lord now. She was… well, on a technicality she was an ambassador from the Southern Water Tribe, but her presence was hardly necessary for the trade negotiations. Zuko made sure she was admitted to the most important meetings anyway. Having travelled the world—even if it was usually from atop Appa rather than by ship—meant she was at least a little bit useful in helping map trade routes.

As much as she appreciated and enjoyed being included, today’s particular meetings had been nothing short of monotonous, and the lunch break couldn’t have come soon enough. Katara picked up a plate of food from the table at the back of the large dining hall and scanned the room for Zuko. He was easy to spot at a round table in the corner. As usual, the seats surrounding him were empty. Outside of the official meetings, no one seemed to know what to do with him, so they left him alone. She couldn’t tell if that was because he was so young to be a leader, or just their wariness of the Fire Lord title.

She took a seat beside him, suppressing a laugh as he tried to peel a frost melon with his bare hands. His fingernails barely made a dent in the fist-sized fruit’s tough white rind.

Finally, taking pity on him, she asked, “You need some help there?”

“What’s wrong with this thing?” He said, finally giving up and dropping the fruit on the smooth ice table. The dull thud startled the delegates seated at the nearest table, though they quickly went back to their own conversation.

“Nothing’s wrong with it. Here.” She held out her open palm, and he handed over the frost melon. “You just have to know the trick.”

Her fingers found the near-invisible crack in its stony rind. With one quick smack against the table, the melon split in half.

“Huh.” He blinked at the now-exposed blue flesh of the fruit. “So the trick’s just to hit it really hard?”

“Not exactly.” She held out the two halves. “They grow underwater. The rind hardens and cracks when it dries.”

“So the trick is just to hit it really hard on the cracks.”

“Pretty much. It’s a good way to let out some frustration if you need to.”

“Believe it or not, that hasn’t been a problem lately.” He cracked a smile and took back the melon.

She could verify that statement first hand. Even though the Water Tribe council mostly ignored Zuko outside of the trade talks, they took him seriously during them. And he responded in kind, speaking confidently with his hands folded tightly behind his back while he discussed coal, oil, and fish prices. Only during these breaks did she sometimes catch him cradling his fist over his middle.

“You’re getting the hang of this whole Fire Lord thing, huh?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know if I’d say that. I’ve just been doing what I always do. Working hard, screwing up a lot, and learning from my mistakes. And trust me, there’s been a lot of those. Those first few months…”

He ran his free hand through his hair—or tried to. Apparently he forgot it was in its topknot, and his fingers caught in the tight style. A few strands came loose as he tried to untangle them.

She chuckled and reached up to push them back in place as best she could. As cute as she found his hair like that, he wouldn’t want to look disheveled when the meeting reconvened.

He froze, the unscarred half of his face going red. Oh. She drew back her hand and made a show of picking at her food while he finished fixing his hair. Then she remembered what had prompted him to muss it in the first place.

“Hey, you’ve made it this far and no one’s tried to kill you. I’d call that a success.”

He grimaced.

She put down her chopsticks and gaped at him.

“Wait—have people tried to kill you?”

“Shh.” He scooted closer, gesturing for her to keep her voice down. “I’m fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” She lowered her voice to a near-whisper, her hands clenching into fists. “Zuko. I know you’re used to almost dying, but you shouldn’t have to be! That’s not—”

He cupped a hand over her fist. “Look, I know, okay? That’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to freak out.”

“Being concerned that my friend could’ve been assassinated is not the same as freaking out.” If he got hurt and she couldn’t heal him because she wasn’t there, if she’d brought him back from the brink of death just to lose him mere months later—

She forced herself to take a deep breath. He was here. He was alive. And he was staring at her, his eyes trying to convey comfort to her when he was the one who could’ve died.

“There have been fewer attempts than Uncle expected,” he said, as if that were actually good news.

“You expected people to try to kill you?”

He shrugged. “It tends to happen around successions. Especially messy ones like this. But most people, even in the Fire Nation, are just glad the war is over. Really. Everything’s fine.”

He made it sound like assassination attempts were an ordinary part of life, not even worth mentioning. Maybe that was true for Fire Nation royalty. She couldn’t imagine anyone ever trying to assassinate Ozai, though.

She almost snorted at that. Assassinating Ozai had been the focus of their lives for the past year before the comet. Shorter than that for Zuko, but he’d still been a major part of the plot too. Maybe for him, being on this end of assassination attempts was better.

Then she was sad all over again, because no one should consider being targeted by assassins an improvement.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I trust you. Just… you can tell me about stuff like that, alright? I can’t promise I won’t ‘freak out,’ but I’d feel better knowing than not.”

She would really feel better if she could be there to take out any would-be assassins herself. At least she was here now. Not that she expected any assassins here. The negotiations were going well, and hired killers were taboo in Water Tribe culture. Besides, if Zuko was worried about that, he’d have guards around rather than sitting by himself.

Not that he had the best sense of self-preservation on a regular day.

“Fair enough.” He nodded a little sheepishly. Like he’d only now realized what a big deal it was to almost get killed.

Again.

“Good.” She nodded back, deciding to let it go. There wasn’t anything she could do about it now.

After a moment of awkward silence, he experimentally bit into blue flesh of the frost melon and made a face.

“Not a fan, huh?” She smiled and took back the other half of his melon.

“It’s not bad,” he insisted, though his furrowed brow said otherwise. “I just didn’t know fruit could be salty.”

He stared down at the melon like it had presented him a particularly difficult math problem. She couldn’t help but laugh a little; it was just too cute.

“What?” He looked up in confusion. A thin trail of salty juice dripped down his lip to his chin.

She felt her face flush and shook her head, biting into her half of the fruit to stop herself from grinning any wider.

“I just missed this, that’s all,” she replied. That was a safe enough thing to say—definitely better than voicing her sudden impulse to wipe the juice from his lip.

“Really?” He looked up at her with his head tilted.

“Of course I did, Zuko. You’re my friend. We’ve all missed you.”

It was true. Even if it wasn’t what she really wished she could say.

“Oh.” His fingernails picked at the frost melon, meticulously separating the blue flesh from the rind. In a low voice, he added, “Right. I’ve missed everyone too.”

Was he… lonely? Katara hadn’t been able to stay in the Fire Nation capital after his lightning wound no longer needed regular healing sessions. There was so much Aang still had to do around the world to establish peace, and he needed her. Going with him had been the logical choice. Still, they tried to visit Zuko from time to time, even if that was less often than she would’ve liked. But even without her and her friends, Zuko had his Uncle.

And Mai, she reminded herself while stabbing a piece of fish a little too forcefully with her chopsticks. She had to be imagining the emotion in Zuko’s voice.

“You have?” She asked anyway.

“Like you said. You’re my friend. Er, all of you are. My friends.” He coughed. “I never had to worry about where I stood with you.”

He pointedly avoided her eyes as his hands continued to shred the pulpy flesh of his melon. Something in his statement felt personal, like an inside joke she’d wasn’t privy to. Only with much less humor.

“Is that something you worry about now?” She asked softly. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who only mentioned the positive in her letters.

“Too often,” he sighed.

He didn’t seem to notice the frost melon juice staining his hand as he pressed it against his torso—over his lightning scar. Blue juice bled onto the silky red fabric, turning it a muddy purple.

“Oh,” he said when it registered, his face turning pink. “I’ve got to stop doing that…”

“What, the Fire Lord ruins good clothes often?” She waved her hand in front of him, and the juice bent out of his robes.

He blinked before smiling in relief. “Thanks. Wouldn’t want to embarrass my babysitters.”

He nodded at the adjacent table, where his advisors and other Fire Nation officials were sitting and looking even more confused about the fruit than Zuko had. One even tried to split open a melon with a fingertip of fire.

“They look pretty occupied.”

His habit of putting his hand over his lighting scar had reminded her of the real reason she was here. As much as she wanted to ask about what was bothering him, they only had so much time together—and she still needed to make good on her promise.

“So... you think you’ll be able to sneak away from them?”

He looked up in surprise.

“Not right now, of course,” she backpedalled quickly. “After I talk to Yugoda. I’ve been training in healing with her in the evenings. I’ll find a way to ask her soon. About… you know.”

She didn’t think anyone else knew about his plan, and though the other Fire Nation officials did look occupied, she didn’t feel right talking about it out loud here. Everyone would know soon enough, though. He couldn’t exactly hide having a giant scar removed from his face. She wondered if he really planned on just showing up to the meetings one morning without it. Knowing him, he probably would.

“Oh. Yeah, I’ll figure out something.” He nodded, picking at his fruit again. It was practically a pile of pulp by now.

“You don’t have to, you know. I can get the water and wait until the trip back. If you’re busy, or—”

“Katara.” He looked straight into her eyes. “I won’t be busy.”

She ignored the tingle running down her spine and nodded slowly.

“If you’re sure, then.”

She hoped he didn’t notice how her own hands trembled as she finished off her half of the melon.

XXX

Black was the wrong color, he thought as he climbed out his second-story window that night. He’d known that, of course, but he was despairingly out of options for inconspicuous attire. Habit was only reason he’d brought his dark clothing at all. And of the other eleven outfits Uncle had forced him to pack, there was no option that would help him blend into the ice and snow.

Of course, Uncle hadn’t known that he intended to sneak down to Katara’s room in the middle of their diplomatic trip. He didn’t even want to be sneaking. He wasn’t sneaking. He just… found his black stealth suit more warm and comfortable than the billowing Fire Lord robes.

Besides, who wanted to climb down the side of a slick building in a cape? It just wasn’t practical.

He shouldn’t have worried though; all of his advisors (babysitters) were long since asleep in the adjoining palace guest rooms. The early northern nightfall had taken its toll on the firebenders. Even the non-benders who didn’t have the instinctive need to rise and fall with the sun were still used to sleeping when it was dark outside.

Of course, Zuko had long since learned how to push through into the moon’s domain.

As he snuck—no, he wasn’t… okay, maybe he was sneaking, just a little—he hoped that Katara wouldn’t mind the late visit. She’d usually stayed up late when they travelled together. Plus she’d wanted to know if he could manage to get away from everyone. This was the easiest way to find out.

Don’t play dumb. That’s a stupid excuse and you know it. His real reason—the question he wanted to ask her—hung heavy in the back of his mind.

Still, even that didn’t warrant the dark clothes, or sneaking out in the middle of the night. It felt right, though. For the first time in months, his breathing seemed to come easier. His inner fire invigorated him as it fought back the harsh cold. The only thing that would make him feel more alive would be the comfortable weight of his daos across his back, or maybe his old Blue Spirit mask over his face.

Agni, Katara had been right—he was feeling nostalgic.

For what? The times when I was on the run? When everyone wanted to kill me? When we still had to worry about defeating my father and Azula?

He was Fire Lord now. The political unrest in the wake of his coronation had settled down, and a whole month had passed without an attempt on his life. Reparations without and rebuilding within the Fire Nation were both going as well as could be expected. The world was at peace. Agni, he even had a girlfriend.

Who would probably have some sharp words to say if she knew he was sneaking towards Katara’s room right now.

His face heated as he realized how it would look. He had nothing to be ashamed of, though; he just needed Katara’s advice.

He pushed thoughts of Mai aside, pulled his dark wrap higher over his face, and crept onward across the courtyard.

The moon shone down brightly, gleaming off the polished ice and leaving precious few shadows to hide in. He didn’t have far to go, though. Katara’s guest house—the traditional Southern Water Tribe Ambassador’s quarters—was just below the courtyard.

He slid down the icy cliff and landed silently on the terrace level below. There wasn’t any reason to avoid the stairs, but if he was going to be sneaking around anyway, he might as well do a thorough job of it.

From there it didn’t take long to reach the small igloo-like structure Katara was staying in. In fact it didn’t take long enough. Doubt itched at him, nudging his hand back towards his sunburst scar. Did he really want to hear the answer to his question? It shouldn’t affect his decision one way or another. The scars were interfering with both his royal and personal life. Everything would be easier with them gone.

Then again, he wasn’t one to do something only because it was easy.

That thought gave him the courage to take a deep breath and knock on Katara’s door.

A second passed. Then a few more. Maybe she was asleep; he hadn’t knocked loudly, just in case. Maybe that was for the best. He’d never actually sought her out at night before. Their only late conversations had been when they both ended up in the kitchen, unable to sleep. Those times had become increasingly frequent over their stay on Ember Island, and even when she’d stayed in the palace to heal him, but that was months ago, and that didn’t mean she would welcome—

The door opened.

Katara blinked blearily a few times before her eyes snapped to his. She wore a long, thick nightgown, and her hair was down, poofing out around her face in rumpled curls. He hadn’t seen it like that since they’d traveled together, on the rare occasions she rolled out of bed late and waved off his offer of morning tea. She was as beautiful now as she’d been then.

And now he knew that she wasn’t dating Aang…

Stop it! That doesn’t mean she likes you!

Even if she did, there was no way she would stay with him, and—that was all completely missing the point, because he was trying to work things out with Mai. She’d gone to prison for him, and forgiven him, and most importantly, she was still there. He couldn’t handle being Fire Lord with no one his age around. He needed her.

And he’d promised not to break up with her.

Agni, he’d made a stupid choice in coming at night. He imagined the moon laughing at his pathetic, traitorous emotions.

“Zuko? What are you...” Katara scanned him head to toe, her eyebrows raising. “Black doesn’t really blend in here, you know.”

He hoped the moon wasn’t bright enough to illuminate the his flushed face. It seemed to glow a little brighter at that thought.

“...I didn’t pack any white,” he mumbled, dodging her gaze. “And I, uh, sorry it’s late, I should’ve asked—”

She grinned and pulled him inside. Woven tapestries adorned the walls, and a pattern of waves in the floor-length rug divided the small kitchen from the bed space. A few polished ice windows let in the gibbous moon’s light. The fire pit in the corner and sconces set into the icy walls were unlit, but somehow the hut was still warm. He hadn’t realized how much energy it had taken to hold his core temperature until he didn’t have to anymore.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t asleep anyway,” she said, though her unmade bed and disheveled hair said otherwise. Her fingers reached up to tame the wayward curls. “I’m sorry, though. I don’t have the spirit water yet. I was going to ask Yugoda tonight, but the healing class went late...”

“Huh? Oh! I—I didn’t think you would. I mean, I didn’t expect you to yet, I... that’s not why I’m here.” He ran a hand through his hair, mostly to stop it from reaching for hers. Agni, trying to talk to her this late was stupid for more reasons than one. But he was running out of time. She might not have the spirit water now, but she would soon. And then she’d expect him to make his decision—or rather, to go through with the decision he’d already made. The decision he’d been so sure was right, was necessary, until…

Until he’d realized just how complicated his feelings still were.

“You’re not?” She asked in confusion. “Then why… um…”

“I just wanted to talk to you.” That probably wasn’t a good enough reason to invade someone’s house in the middle of the night. It was the truth, though—he’d never been able to lie to her. Now he just needed to ask his question before any worse truths came out.

“You snuck out of the palace at night… just to talk to me?” Her lips curved towards a grin.

He felt his face flush again and winced. So much for not revealing anything else.

“Well not just to talk to you, I mean, you wanted to know if I could sneak out. So. I can.”

Did that sound better or worse? She frowned as her fingers caught in her hair, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of what he said or just from the tangle.

“Oh. That’s good, then.” Her hands dropped back to her sides. “Um. It’s kind of dark in here, do you mind…”

He lit the lamps in the wall sconces before she could finish. Warm light swept over them, seeming to wash the stiffness out of Katara’s posture.

“Thanks.” She smiled, and he hid a sigh of relief. She hadn’t told him he was being stupid, or to go back to the palace before someone noticed he was gone. She was letting him stay. He’d get to ask her.

His stomach clenched at that realization, and his hand instinctively found his scar again.

“Are you… does it hurt?” Katara asked softly. Her hand twitched towards him.

“Does it hurt?”

He flinched away at the memory of Mai’s words. The spark that had brought him to this decision.

“I’m sorry.” Her arm quickly curled back to her chest, as if his response had burned her.

“No, it’s—it doesn’t hurt.” His hand stayed pressed against it anyway.

“Not anymore. She did a fantastic job.”

“Are you sure? I could… I mean, I don’t have the spirit water, but I know Aang’s lightning wound still acts up sometimes, and regular healing can help the pain.”

The offer was tempting, but for all the wrong reasons. He could only imagine what Mai would think if she could see him now, considering taking off his shirt in a different girl’s room.

He shook his head quickly. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Okay,” she said in a tone that suggested she didn’t buy it. He was telling the truth though—the kind of hurt he clung to couldn’t be healed with waterbending.

A rebellious part of him thought it might still be healed with her hands.

“At least have some tea.” She was already moving to the small fire pit in the corner of the room.

“Alright.” He smiled a little and followed her, crouching down to light the fire before she could ask.

“You’re going to spoil me, doing that.” She chuckled as she bent the water from her waterskin into the kettle.

“What do you mean? You asked me to light the torches. Besides, I used to start the cookfire all the time.”

“I know. It took me almost a month to get used to doing it myself again.” She set the kettle on the grate above the flames.

He suppressed the fire from a bright yellow blaze to a gentle orange, the way Uncle had taught him so the water wouldn’t heat too quickly and spoil the tea’s flavor.

He shrugged. “Sounds like I should make up for lost time, then.”

“I guess it is kind of cool to have the Fire Lord performing menial labor for me.”

The return to her humor was a relief. Teasing was easier to handle than sympathy.

He flexed his fingers over the fire and deadpanned, “We’ll see if my delicate royal hands will be able to handle it.”

“Well, don’t overexert yourself.”

They fell into comfortable conversation while the water heated, and for at least those few moments, it really was like old times. The tension bled out of him, evaporated in the smell of charcoal, the warmth of the crackling flames, the cadence of Katara’s laugh. He knew he still needed to ask his question, but a selfish part of him wanted to just enjoy the peaceful moment. To enjoy being with her.

He was enjoying this. That was dangerous. Disasters usually followed moments like these.

“Zuko?” Her hand on his shoulder snapped him from those thoughts. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said reflexively. He wasn’t ready for her sympathy, wasn’t ready to see her sad because of him again. So even though he should’ve used it as a chance to ask his question, a different one came out. “How are your combat lessons going?”

“They’re going fine, I guess. It’s nice to have other waterbenders to train against, but I’ve mastered the Northern Style of waterbending already.” She shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal that she was a Master at age fifteen. It seemed he was destined to always be surrounded by prodigies.

“I’ve actually been working on developing some new techniques.” She scooted closer to the flames. And to him, technically, but he assumed that was just a side-effect. “You know that move you always use when you get knocked down? Where you do the spinny thing with your legs?”

She twirled a finger in the air, and he rolled his eyes. Spinny thing. Well, it wasn’t as bad as being teased for the Dancing Dragon, he guessed.

“Of course I do. I invented that move.” Rolling across the ground, transferring the momentum of a fall to his windmilling legs, releasing a whirlwind of fire to cover him as he regained his stance—the exact way he used it varied depending on the circumstance, but the maneuver had been one of his favorites ever since he’d used an early version of it against Zhao.

“Really?” She blinked. “Actually, that explains a lot. I always thought it looked different from other firebending moves. That’s why I tried to adapt it to waterbending.”

“You’re kidding.” He gave her a disbelieving look. “You haven’t seen me use it in ages.”

“Yeah, well, I— it might not be the same move, exactly. It was more like, you know, an inspiration.”

“Sounds more like stealing to me.” He smirked. Inspiration, stealing—either way, she’d thought about him. That felt like some kind of victory. If one in a game he shouldn’t be playing.

“Oh yeah, like how you stole my water whips?” She raised her eyebrows. “Or the wave form?”

“That’s different. Those moves already existed; I created this firebending technique on my own.”

It had taken a lot of practice—and even more falls—to make it work. Maybe she was right about it being more suited for waterbending; that could explain why perfecting it had been so difficult. The effort had been worth it, though. The move had been one of the few advantages he’d had against the more traditional firebending style, which didn’t provide any way to recover after being knocked down.

“Hmm. Did you name it then?”

He snorted. “No.”

The thought hadn’t even occurred to him. Should it have? No, that was something he could imagine his father doing. He would’ve come up with a ridiculous name like “Ozai’s Phoenix” or something.

“That’s too bad. I’ve been calling it the Spinny Fire Fall Kick in my head, but that doesn’t have a great ring to it.” She rubbed her chin before giving him a sly look. “Then again, if you haven’t named your move yet, then I could name it first.”

He choked a little. “We are not calling it the… what did you say?”

“Spinny Fire Fall Kick.” She grinned. “Though I guess mine would be the Spinny Water Fall Kick. Actually, Waterfall Kick isn’t such a bad idea...”

“And here I thought only Sokka came up with the terrible names.” He groaned and leaned back on his hands. Still, he couldn’t completely hide the smile on his lips.

“I’ve had to pick up the slack since he’s been gone. Besides, I’d like to see you come up with something better.”

“I will. As soon as I see you pull that move off.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Her smug look sent static up his spine. But before he could reply, the kettle started screeching.

Katara jumped to take it off the fire and then muttered at it under her breath. “I should’ve taken it off sooner. I can cool it with my bending, but boiled water still never tastes as good.”

“It’s not your fault, I should’ve been keeping an eye on the fire.” He held the teapot while she poured in the hot water. “Either way, I probably won’t notice.”

After searching for a moment, she found a pouch of lavender petals near her bed and returned to crumble them into the pot. “Didn’t you work in a tea shop, though? And your tea was always pretty good.”

It was? Uncle said he’d improved after their time in Ba Sing Se, but Zuko had thought he was just trying to spare his feelings after he’d struggled for so long. He smiled a little at the compliment.

“Uncle taught me how to make tea properly, but I still can’t taste a difference. It’s all hot leaf juice, more or less.”

“Hang on. You make the best tea and you can’t even tell?”

“So my tea’s the best now?” His smile widened. Katara didn’t pass out compliments easily—at least, she never had to him.

“Oh, don’t go getting a big head about it.” She rolled her eyes. Firelight flickered over her face, giving her cheeks the impression of a blush. “You’re probably out of practice by now, anyway.”

“You’d be surprised.”

He might not appreciate the taste of tea, but brewing it was soothing, in a strange way. Maybe it was just another of his nostalgic hobbies—if one with less potentially-dangerous consequences than running around on rooftops. The warm herbal scents always brought him welcome comfort when Uncle had to travel on political business. Brewing tea also doubled as a firebending control and meditation exercise, which helped during the moments when he wanted to light his paperwork on fire and chuck it out a window.

Of course, the calming effect hadn’t helped him during the one disastrous time he’d tried to show off his tea-making skills to Mai.

“You don’t have to pretend to be a peasant anymore, Zuko. Just let the servants do it. That’s their job.”

“It’s not like that, Mai. I want to do it. Uncle taught me how when we were in Ba Sing Se—”

“Pretending to be peasants.”

“Those peasants are good people! They’re proud and strong, and they deserve our respect.”

“Are you serious? This isn’t a public address, Zuko. You don’t have to pretend you care about them.”

“I’m not—ugh, forget it!”

He didn’t realize his hand had found his scar—again—until Katara passed him a steaming teacup. If she noticed his action, she didn’t point it out.

The warm vapor curling from the cup loosened the tightness in his throat. What had they been talking about? Oh, right. Tea.

“Your tea’s good too,” he said belatedly.

She snorted and shook her head before pouring her own cup. “You just said all tea tastes like hot leaf juice.”

“Yeah— err…” He covered his stammering with a sip and nearly choked when it burned his tongue. “It’s—uh, good leaf juice.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” She smiled and chilled her tea with a breath.

“Um… do you mind doing mine too?” He asked, holding out his cup with a sheepish smile.

“You mean the firebender doesn’t want it scalding hot?”

“This firebender’s had enough burns, thanks.” He meant it to be a joke, but his voice came out too somber.

Her eyes flickered to his left eye, then his middle. He fought the urge to protect that spot—it wasn’t like she could see the scar through his black clothes, and even if she could, she’d seen it plenty of times before while healing him.

“Of course.” She exhaled over his cup, accidentally covering his knuckles in frost as well. He shivered before taking a sip.

Too cold. At least that was a problem he could fix. Katara’s downcast silence, on the other hand, might not be.

Nice going. Zuko wanted to groan. For these last few moments, he’d felt… right. For once. Like he belonged here, sitting on her floor, talking about nothing and drinking tea. For those moments, he didn’t have to be the Fire Lord. He didn’t have to be the perfect boyfriend. He didn’t have to be anything—except himself.

But he’d known it wouldn’t last. Things that made him happy generally didn’t.

Well, at least he didn’t have anything to lose by asking his question now.

He cleared his throat. “Katara?”

“Yeah?” She asked quickly, meeting his eyes over her teacup.

Don’t look at me like that. It’s not fair. The reflection of flames danced in her blue irises. It would be difficult to toe the line between telling her enough to help him with his question, and not telling her so much that she uncovered his real motivation for asking.

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” He hoped his desperation didn’t show through his voice. “Getting rid of my scars, I mean.”

There. It was out. Maybe it was a stupid question—it felt stupid, now that he said it out loud—but he needed to know. He certainly had enough reasons to want them gone, but part of him—the same part that liked sneaking out in black clothes and brewing his own tea—felt an attachment to the blemishes on his skin. It was too complicated to sort out in his head, but talking it out with her might help him decide. She’d helped him gain the courage to apologize to Uncle. He believed she’d have similar wisdom again.

His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for her reply.

“...Do you not want to get rid of them?”

“I do. I did. I don’t know.” He covered his middle with one hand, the other gripping his teacup so tightly it could crack. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Well, if you want to get it off your mind, I’m here,” she prodded gently.

“Are you sure? It’s complicated. It might take a while.”

“Of course I’m sure, Zuko. That’s why I offered.” Her tone was light, but her smile sincere.

He inhaled shakily. He didn’t know what he’d expected. Katara wasn’t the type to tell him to shut up, but he still wasn’t used to anyone besides Uncle caring about what he had to say. Unless what he said was a Fire Lord order, of course, but that didn’t count.

“Right.” He took a sip of tea to collect himself. “I told you how I got the scar on my face. I used to think it marked me—but you know that.”

Another gulp of tea. She knew all this. He was just going to bore her, going over it again. He should have gotten over it by now. After four years, he was still just weak, pathetic—

Her hand was covering his over the teacup. It wasn’t until then that he realized he was shaking. A few drops of tea had fallen on his dark pants. He hadn’t felt it.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

“It’s not okay.” His voice came out too harsh, but her hand just tightened over his. “I’ve chosen my own destiny. My father’s in prison, and Azula’s getting help for her… condition. I’m not in their shadow anymore. I can fix the terrible things we’ve done. But this scar…” He shook his head. “People look at it, and they don’t see what it means to me. All they see is a weak, disfigured boy trying to fix a weak disfigured nation.”

“Zuko, no one—”

“You haven’t seen it! It’s even worse here, everyone stares! I can tell they’re thinking it. How am I supposed to represent my country when people take one look at me and think I’m—I’m disgusting?”

His voice cracked on that last word. His eyes squeezed shut. It wasn’t so bad, usually. People in the palace knew better than to stare. But foreign nobles and ambassadors, his own citizens, and the Water Tribe—they didn’t. Wide eyes and barely-veiled gasps often were their first reactions.

Deep down he wondered if that was why the Tribe didn’t speak to him much outside of the trade negotiations.

“Zuko.” Katara squeezed his arm.

His trembling hand splashed more tea into his lap, but he barely noticed. Her stare pinned him as easily as her ice needles could have.

“You are not weak. You’re not disgusting, either, I can’t believe you would—” She shook her head, and her gaze softened. “My point is… you don’t deserve that. Scar or no scar, you’re…”

His heart sank as she trailed off. If even Katara, the one person who could both scare him senseless and tell him exactly what he needed to hear, couldn’t think of something positive to say about him, then he was even worse off than he’d thought.

But it didn’t matter. He was here for advice, not sympathy. He was just about to shrug it off when her voice came warm and clear.

“...you’re the strongest person I know.”

He blinked. Had he heard that right? No. Aang had defeated his father; that by definition made him the strongest person she knew. Besides herself.

“You don’t have to try to make me feel better, Katara. I just—”

“What, you really think I’d lie to make you feel better? Can’t you just trust me and take the compliment for once?”

This time he wasn’t sure the fire in her eyes was just a reflection. He wasn’t sure whether to feel afraid or touched.

“Sorry. I’m not used to it, I guess… but thanks.” He swallowed another gulp of tea, then busied himself refilling his cup. Hopefully that would keep her from seeing the redness in his face.

“No, wait, I’m sorry.”

He looked up at the sound of her sigh. Her eyes remained downcast, staring at her frosted tea.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I do want you to feel better, but I… this must be bothering you more than I know. I can’t fix that with words, and it just makes me…” She trailed off as ice began to crystalize through her cup again. “It’s no excuse, though.”

“No, I get it.” He lit a fire in his palm and held it near her tea until the ice thawed. “Sorry I yelled, too.”

She didn’t deserve that. She didn’t have to listen to him at all, but here she was, letting him ramble about his problems when she could be sleeping. She was a better friend than he deserved.

“I know there’s nothing you can say, and I don’t expect you to. My scar will always make me look different. People don’t like you when you’re different.”

She frowned down into her still-full cup. “...I can understand that. That doesn’t make them right, though.”

Maybe it didn’t, but it didn’t change the fact that it hurt.

“There’s other reasons I should get rid of it, too. My sight and hearing aren’t as good on my left side. Every once in a while the skin still itches, especially when I’m in dry places.”

“Even after all this time?” She looked up, her brows turned upward.

“I didn’t have a waterbending healer like you to fix it. There’s only so much regular medicine could do.” He shrugged. “Anyway. I’ve got a lot of reasons to want it gone.”

“But… you have some reasons for wanting to keep it too?” She picked up on what he left unsaid.

“...Yeah. I do.” He brushed his fingers over his older scar. The rough skin felt right to his touch by now. He wasn’t sure what his face would feel like without it.

Actually, he feared that he did.

“I don’t want to look like…” He grimaced. “You know. You mistook his baby picture for me. That’s not the only time we looked similar.”

Katara blinked before catching on. “You mean… oh.”

“Yeah,” he said before she could study him. Look for any traces of Ozai in his face.

Logically, he knew that she’d never seen Ozai in person. She wouldn’t be able to tell one way or another. Somehow, that was comforting.

“That’s not the only reason. The other reason, though… it might sound kind of stupid.” His thumb traced the etchings on his teacup. “I got this scar right before I was banished. Looking back, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I feel like if I erase this scar, it’s like saying I regret everything that happened since then. Like I’d just be going back to the person I was before.”

He took a long drink. The tea was already cold again, but he didn’t bother warming it.

“Zuko… I don’t think that’s stupid at all. It’s… kind of sweet, actually.”

He choked on his tea. When he looked up, Katara was smiling softly again.

“Sweet?”

“You know what I mean.” She drained her cup in one gulp and refilled it by bending a stream out of the teapot. “It reminds you of who you are. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Something in his stomach unclenched at that. It didn’t really help, though—she’d validated both his reasons for wanting to keep and to get rid of the facial scar.

“How can you say that? I brought you all the way here to get rid of my scars, and now I’m telling you I might have wasted your time.”

“No, you haven’t. I’m still glad I came, whether you want me to heal you or not. Like I said before, I needed the vacation, remember?”

“It’s not a vacation. Technically.”

She shrugged. “We’re staying up late and I’m not doing anyone’s laundry. Feels like a vacation to me.”

“It is getting late, isn’t it…” He frowned at the moon through the window. It had been too easy to ignore how limited their time was.

“Hey. Don’t change the subject.” She nudged him gently. “You were on a roll there.”

His lips twitched into a faint smile. Of course she wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily.

“You changed it first, talking about vacations. But anyway. I still don’t know what I’m going to do.” He sighed over his tea, which had the welcome side effect of reheating it. “I don’t want you to ask for the water for nothing.”

“Even if you don’t want me to use it, it wouldn’t hurt to have some in case of an emergency. You never know, traveling with Aang. He might, I don’t know, fall off a hopping llama or something.”

It was a joke, he knew; she could heal simple injuries like that. But neither of them wanted to imagine their friend suffering another wound that would need spirit water.

He nodded. “You still didn’t answer my first question, though. Do you think I should get rid of my scars, or keep them?”

Despite everything, he managed to keep his voice even. He was pushing his luck by asking a second time. But what she thought about this was important to him—more important than it had any right to be. If she told him to keep his scars, he knew he would.

And maybe, deep down, that was what he hoped.

Katara swirled her tea in her cup, but didn’t answer. What was she thinking? She hated them too, didn’t she; she was just thinking of a polite way to tell him—

“You remember when you helped me find Yon Rha, right?”

The sudden transition caught him off guard.

“Of course I do.”

As if he could ever forget. Her silhouette against the sunrise after a sleepless night, her raw power turning the body’s blood against it, her anger freezing rain to daggers. Exhaustion, pain, fear, relief. It had been the first time he felt like he truly saw her.

Ever since, he hadn’t been able to look away.

“You didn’t tell me what to do when I faced him,” she continued, oblivious to the warmth and guilt circling each other in his stomach. “I had to make that choice myself. I think this is your Yon Rha, Zuko. Whatever you choose to do will be right. But it’s your choice. I’ll be with you, no matter what you decide.”

He stared at her in stunned silence. He swore she’d hear his heart beating out of his chest. How did she know exactly what to say? She must have secretly talked to Uncle. But even Uncle didn’t know about his plan to erase his scars.

“Ride or die, huh?” He grinned a little, remembering the jokes Sokka had made about them after that trip, and then again before they left to face Azula. They’d brushed Sokka off with some huffing, and—in Katara’s case—waterbending.

She gave him a pointed look, and her eyes flickered towards his middle. “Just ride. No dying this time.”

“No dying,” he said with his hand pressed against that scar. He wondered if her answer would’ve changed if he explained his reasons for erasing and keeping that scar, rather than the one on his face. Her half-parted lips made him wonder if she wanted to ask. But she just drained her teacup and refilled it with her bending.

He could see inside the teapot; it was down to the dregs now. He didn’t really want them, and he didn’t need to buy any more time. He’d asked his question.

He dumped what he could into his cup anyway.

“Thank you, Katara.”

“It’s no problem. I trust you, remember?”

With that smile, she could’ve bent him as if he were water.

He buried his face in the rest of his strong tea, wishing he shared her confidence in him. This was a decision he only got to make once. His usual habit of bungling things the first time wouldn’t work here.

“So… do you still want me to get the spirit water?” She asked. The real question.

“You said it yourself. It won’t hurt to have it.” He swallowed the last of his tea. He’d warmed it too much; it scalded his throat on the way down.

He told himself that that was the only part of him that hurt.

“Right.” She nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll make sure to talk to Yugoda. Or today, I guess. I’ve kept you up late enough.”

“Last I checked, you weren’t the one who showed up at my house in the middle of the night.”

She laughed. “Fine. You’ve kept me up late enough.”

“Sorry.” He started clearing up what he could of the tea set, but she quickly washed it with a dancing stream of water and bent the dirty remnants into a basin.

“Don’t worry about it. I rise with the moon anyway, remember?”

He rolled his eyes but smiled. “Trust me, I remember.”

He’d never imagined they’d be able to joke about that comment, only a little over a year later. He’d never imagined he’d look at her and not see just a dangerous waterbender, but a… a good friend.

Someone who instead of fighting, he had almost died for.

His lightning scar seemed to itch, as it always did when he thought of that Agni Kai. Of all the stupid reasons to want to keep his scar, that was the stupidest.

Erasing the scar wouldn’t erase the memories. It wouldn’t change the past. She would always be a part of him, no matter what. He was beginning to wonder if even spirit water could fix that.

Or if he wanted it to.

But he had to hope it could, didn’t he? Like water through his fingers, Katara would leave again. He couldn’t keep clinging to the past.

“Zuko, wait.” Katara’s voice shook him from his thoughts. “I’m not letting you go back in that.”

She was already across the room, where he’d remained standing in front of the fire. The flames extinguished with a sharp flick of his wrist. He left the sconces lit, though, not wanting to plunge the room into complete darkness.

She pulled a nearly folded parka from the trunk at the foot of her bed. After holding it up and inspecting its length, she tossed it to him.

“You’ll be less noticeable this way. Everyone wears parkas at the North Pole. No one will think it’s weird if you pull the hood up over your face.”

He nodded. It was smart, definitely smarter than his pure black ensemble.

“You won’t need it?”

“I have a spare. Besides, I wouldn’t want you freezing out there.”

“Firebenders don’t freeze.” He shrugged on the parka anyway. It was a little small, but it felt softer than it looked; thick white fur lined the inside. Some of Katara’s clean scent still clung to it. He restrained himself from taking a deep breath.

So much for letting go.

“Look at that. Practically Water Tribe.” She crossed her arms and smiled as she looked him over.

He ducked his head in embarrassment, feeling a little like a turtleduck with how the fluffy collar covered his face up to his ears.

“It’s better than Earth Kingdom colors.” He tugged on the too-short sleeves. “Thanks.”

“You can thank me by not getting caught sneaking back to your room.” She gently shoved him towards the door. He chuckled as she herded him out, barely managing to get out a “goodnight.”

He took one deep breath and let it out, letting the freezing air clear his head again. He was right back where he’d started, still just as confused about what to do. Yet somehow, everything felt different.

This choice was his. He could determine his own destiny.

Maybe firebenders didn’t freeze, but as he made his way back, he still felt warmer with her parka enveloping him.

#zutara #tali writes #zuko #katara #atla #avatar the last airbender #fic tag #fic rec #souvenirs we never lose

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junebug-is-bugging-you · 4 years ago

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Ok, where do I start... (Fair warning after I finished typing this, It ended up being quite long. But I would appreciate it a lot of you read everything I wrote.)

For the most part I agree with this post, yes. But the wonderful thing about fandoms and fanfiction, is that all of it is made up of FANS. And some fans make fanfiction of what they wish was canon, or what they think SHOULD be canon.

If someone thinks two characters would fit really well in a relationship weather it be romantic, friends, found family or child and parent, then they have every right to make a fanfiction or fanart or whatever showing what they imagine. And other people have a right to enjoy what someone else created and agree with it.

For example, the ship Yutara (Yue/Katara). They haven’t had a lot of interaction, and Yue wasn’t into Katara and vice versa. But people still ship it, because they think they would be cute together. They think that if the two had more interactions, then they would get along well together and potentially catch feelings.

You also made the point about how people should stop treating it like it’s canon, and originally I agreed with you. But then I thought about it more, and I have to disagree.

For another example, I’ll use the ship Mailee (Mai/Ty Lee) which is a lot more popular than Yutara and has quite a large number of shippers. (Also, apologies for using ships as an example when this post is about a platonic relationship. I just don’t know any other examples to use.) Now granted these 2 have a lot of canon interaction, but none of it has been romantic. It has purely been a platonic friendship, and yet a very very large portion of the ATLA fandom sees them in a canon relationship; myself included.

Because of that, the ship has become canon to some people despite it being fanon. They know it’s fanon, but to them it’s canon. The same can be said for Zutara and Zukka. My point is, the relationship in question (platonic or romantic) doesn’t have to be officially canon for it to be canon to a lot of people. Which is completely fine.

Another point you made was that people are erasing Iroh as Zuko’s father figure. And I’m sorry, but I have to break the neutral tone of my argument for a moment to say... excuse me?

On Ao3, the number of fanfictions tagged with Iroh And Zuko is a whopping 1417...

and you’re going to tell me that people see Hakoda as the better father figure? You’re going to tell me that Iroh is being erased as Zuko’s father figure? No offense, but I feel like you either avoided this tag on purpose and didn’t bother to check, or you DID check and just didn’t include it because you knew your point wouldn’t get across.

I’m sorry if that sounded rude, I’ll switch back to neutral.

Nobody is erasing Iroh as Zuko’s father figure. They are just saying that Hakoda would be a great father figure to Zuko if they had more interaction.

“We don’t exactly see a lot of him [Hakoda] being a parent to his own kids nevermind Zuko.” You say. Which is understandable, but far from a fair point. You make it seem as if Hakoda wasn’t doing a lot of parenting because he didn’t like being a parent and ran off or something when that is clearly not the case.

You seem to forget 2 very important key details:

1. Hakoda parenting Katara and Sokka was never a main part of the show, because the focus was on other more important plot points. There was too much going on for parenting scenes to make it in. Which I’ll admit is upsetting, but we still get to see them bond every now and then.

2. The show takes place in a war that has been going on for 100 years. Hakoda is definitely the leader type, the person to try and take charge. So naturally he is going to fight. Katara and Sokka weren’t the only kids who’s parent(s) went out to fight, and they were lucky enough to have him return alive and well. Who knows how many kids couldn’t say the same about their parent(s).

We don’t need to see Hakoda being a parent 100% of the time to know that he’s a good dad. You can tell by the way Katara and Sokka constantly miss him while he’s away, the way they wanted to leave Aang to be with Hakoda instead, the stories they tell about him, and so much more. I mean, there were two whole episodes dedicated to Sokka sneaking off with Zuko is the highest security prison in the fire nation just so he could save his dad, and even missing his chance to escape because of the slim possibility that Hakoda might arrive at the prison. It’s obvious that he’s an A+ parent, you don’t need to do much research to figure that out.

Moving on, your argument about Zuko being very happy about adoption.

In my mind, and what seems to be the majority of other people’s minds as well, Zuko doesn’t just jump for joy at the idea of being adopted by Hakoda. It takes a fair amount of time for him to warm up to Hakoda, and for the two to get to know more about each other and form emotional bonds with each other. It’s not a “Child, I am going to adopt you because you are sad” “Ok, sounds great to me!” situation.

The last thing I want to touch on is the point you made about people’s headcanon that Hakoda adopts Zuko, and the same people shipping Zutara and/or Zukka. Once again, I agreed with you at first. But this time it took less thinking for me to disagree. There are 2 reasons for this.

1. A lot of the people who HC this are multishippers (this doesn’t have to do with shipping, i’m just yet again using it as an example. Again, I apologize), like me. Now, I don’t know about other multishippers, but for me personally if something I ship involves a person who I also ship with someone else, I like to imagine both ships being canon in their own separate universes. I imagine that it’s something similar for people who HC Hakoda adopting Zuko. They don’t see Zuko in a romantic relationship with Katara or Sokka in the same universe that they HC Hakoda as Zuko’s adoptive father. In one universe, Zutara is canon. In another, Zukka is canon. And in a different one, Hakoda adopts Zuko and Zuko, Katara and Sokka become siblings.

2. From the fics I’ve read with Hakoda being portrayed as a father figure to Zuko, it’s nothing more than that. Hakoda becomes a father figure, not an actual father. So in the case of Zutara and Zukka, it’s more of a father-in-law situation. Picture this: Someone loses both of their parents, so they have none. Later, they get married and get rather close to their spouse’s father. They soon start seeing their spouse’s father as a father figure to them. Does that make it incest? No. At least, not to me. They still love their spouse romantically, but they see their spouse’s father as a father of sorts to them. Do you see my point here?

I apologize if any of this was rude or if I offended you at all, that was never my intention. I tried to keep a neutral tone as much as I could. But I think that maybe you should take these things into consideration.

Hakoda and Zuko's relationship in canon: *non existent*

Iroh and Zuko's relationship in canon: *Iroh showering Zuko with unconditional love and affection*

Someone: mentions Iroh as Zuko's only parent

Some fans: *shocked Pikachu face*

Me: why are fans getting upset about Hakoda not being recognized as Zuko's father/ trying to get Hakoda recognized as Zuko's father when Hakoda hasn't shown any affection towards Zuko at all? 🤨 Heck I saw a post with appreciating Iroh as Zuko's only parent and people complained it was Hakoda erasure... What Erasure!? There is nothing to erase to begin with. 🤦

Ao3

Fanfictions tagged with Hakoda and Zuko: 240

Fanfictions tagged with Hakoda and Sokka: 140

Fanfictions tagged with Hakoda and Katara: 70

Me: 😐 there are more stories with Hakoda and Zuko than there are of Hakoda with Sokka and Katara combined... Rlly fandom? Rlly? But srsly instead of focusing on Hakodas relationship with someone he canonically met only a few times how about you focus on Hakodas relationship with his actual kids first?

Canon: Iroh's Zuko's dad

Fanon: Hakoda is Zuko's dad who's Iroh?

Me: Stop erasing Iroh as Zuko's parent and replacing him with Hakoda. Where did all this Hakoda is best dad come from though? We don't exactly see a lot of him being a parent to his own kids nevermind Zuko.

Some fans: Headcanon Hakoda adopting Zuko

The same fans: Also headcanon Zukka or Zutara

Me: incest much? Considering how popular Zukka and Zutara are you'd think the fans would want them to be unrelated so they can get married.

Canon Zuko: Has a hard time accepting Iroh's fatherly love

Fanon Zuko: Is thrilled at the prospect of being adopted and has no qualms of being adopted despite just recently accepting Iroh as a father.

Me: What bothers me the most is fans think Hakoda is an amazing dad to Zuko and better than Iroh canonically based on assumptions they or someone else made up. Hakoda adopting Zuko IS. NOT. CANON. Some fans should stop treating it like it is and stop expecting others to treat it as canon.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #tw discourse #discourse #long post #hakoda #zuko #iroh #uncle iroh #katara #sokka #water tribe #water tribe siblings

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years ago

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On Azula Fans vs...The Rest Of The Fandom???

So I was talking with several people (@wingsfreedom, @wish-i-was-fiction, and @iabsentmindeddreamer--though I didn’t actually reply to them, just read their post) on this post (https://wish-i-was-fiction.tumblr.com/) and I wanted to write my own desperate post as I have been kind of thinking about for a while but have been hesitant to post because Idk how it would be received/I don’t want to start anything. But it looks like a thing has already started so I might as well.

I’ll start by saying that this isn’t a Bryke, Yang, or any part of the fandom hate post.

The thing I’ve been wanting to talk about is that I feel like Azula fans (and Zutara fans) are kind of being ostracized by the fandom and I feel like the creators kind of help that happen.

I can’t say when I started feeling this, I think that it might have been around the whole Azula vs Katara debate. That whole ordeal made me feel like Azula fans just aren’t taken seriously/aren’t respected even in in civil discussion. Like I ended up pulling out of that debate because I felt as though people were becoming dismissive and/or aggressive. I’m not saying it was everyone, not at all. But there were a handful. And yes, I am aware that it came from both sides. But that debate has since died down, which I’m glad for.

The point is, things like this seem to keep happening. I also think that there’s a certain user who keeps targeting specific portions of the fandom and says things in the fan tags that come off to me as very instigating and antagonizing. These posts tend to lead to a whole bunch of people coming along to completely drag Azula’s character through the mud and eventually her fans as they try to defend her character and justify liking it. I’ve since blocked that user, because (though they’ve always been rather civil with me) I just got tired of seeing hate towards a fandom I’m in and I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to keep conversation civil. I say this because I want everyone to know that, though I’ve mentioned this person, I don’t particularly have bad blood with them or whatever. Those two things I mentioned were kind of the catalyst in me thinking that Azula fans are kind of isolated from the rest of the fandom.

And if this is beginning to sound familiar; I turn everyone to Zutara. The very first part of the fandom to be cast out of the fandom in a sense. Now I never shipped Zutara, in fact I hate it very much. And I used to think that the Zutara fans were ‘bitter’ and ‘hostile’. Now I kind of sympathize with them. I feel like that bitterness comes from not only not being able to see their ship on screen, but also because they’re kind of the black sheep of the fandom. To the point where even the creators seem to shit all over them and make fun of them and this is NOT okay. Because when creators start making fun of sections of the fandom, even in jest, it basically gives the fandom a green light to do the same. Like, ‘oh the creators do it, so its fine if we do’. It creates for a very bad and unfriendly atmosphere.

I feel as though the same thing is starting to happen with Azula fans. With Yang calling them a cult (even if this was a joke I feel like it is in very poor taste) and Hicks saying that they are scary. Etc.

There are two things that I think happen here (and it is the same stuff that happened with Zutarians).

1. Anti’s post hate in Azula’s tag (and the Zutara one) and fans get ont he defensive

2a. Some vocal people--seemingly on twitter--send hate to creators and the creators react creating a chain.

2b. Some fans started

I’ll discuss point 1 first because this happened first. I feel like one of the biggest problems is that a handful of people have begun to post Azula hate in her fan tags. Once upon a time people kept hate out of the fan tags with the exception of one or two posts every now and again. Then it started happening. And I have never seen an instance where massive amounts of hate in a fan tag was met with a positive response. The hate was posted and there was a reaction. Some fans were more kind in their responses and others got more aggressive. The amount of aggression increased as the volume of hate increased. And this I understand why Azula fans and Zutara fans get so irritated. We just want to enjoy our tag and see love for Azula and Zutara. But people keep knocking them. And so it puts fans on the defensive and starts a chain; hate is posted, fans argue back, anti’s now feel justified in their hate (and fans feel justified in their outrage), and more fighting happens.

All the while a second chain was being created. Unfortunately I do think that this one was started by the Azula and Zutara fandoms (mostly on twitter). I’ve noticed and have been bothered by this. I’ve been rather quite on this one because I like the people in this fandom and I love talking to them. But there are a few people who I feel like are being rather unfair or harsh. I feel like this fandom has become a bit of an echochamber for shitting on the comics and on other characters (mostly Iroh, Zuko, and Ursa) and I can see how that would be off putting. Like people started woobifying Azula and using other characters to prop her up I feel like this actually drove several people away. Granted I feel like this was actually a bit reactory as well--people kept using Azula and hating on her to prop Zuko up and so the opposite began to happen. But I digress; I’ve started to notice that people started taking an almost ‘Azula did nothing wrong/is the victim mentality’. And I strongly disagree with that. I won’t get into that now because that’s not the discussion. But it began to get off putting for me personally. But I like the character and fans of her enough to stay.

Between the above and that crazy Sokkla vs Tyzula ship war, we lost a lot of really fun people who used to shitpost, make fanart, and write fics. And so the bulk of our tag has disintegrated into discourse and arguing instead of having fun like back in the day.

And then the hate began to stray from discourse to, actually sending hate to the creators; Yang in particular. Again I think that this was more of a twitter thing (hence why I don’t use twitter, I think that it’s a nightmare of a site tbh and a breeding ground for bad behavior). A good vocal few kept complaining about how the comics and show were/was being written and after receiving so many harsh comments the creators began to react. I’m gonna just say it; I don’t think that Bryke (in the above link) was in the wrong here. I feel like they were pretty tactful and respectful in their wording. And as a fic writer I 100% agree with them that it is their story and so they should write it as they see fit, even if I don’t like xyz plotline. And as someone who has had someone try to strong arm me into writing my fic their way, I understand their frustration. My issue lies with Yang mostly. His ‘the Azula fandom is kind of a cult’ left a really bad taste in my mouth. Joke or not, this kind of grants people permission to judge the entire fandom. And we already saw it a bit in the very clip. This girl asked an innocent question, that response was her answer, and the crowd actually laughed. I feel like that was probably very uncomfortable for her. This was followed up by Hicks saying “I got a scary email from an Azula fan...please be nice to me guys”. Again, I’m not gonna knock Hicks too much because I feel like she’s still new (at least to Avatar) and that hate-mail can be quite rattling.

The point I’m trying to make is that a second chain has been created. Once Yang made his cult remark that cued a lot of outrage in the Azula fandom and it was a green light for them to openly hate on him and his work. Which is something that was already happening. In this regard I am kind of on Yang’s side. I’ve noticed that the fandom began to religiously knock Yang for everything he did with the comics in the same way that Zutarians started knocking Bryke for everything Kataang. Again I found myself off put by all the hate because I actually kind of enjoyed the comics. Discussion of the comics always seemed to lead to more debating over whether they were good or not. I do feel like Yang didn’t like Azula’s character from the start, but people sending hate and him seeing this probably didn’t help.

Eventually he reacted with his cult remark and so the fans felt justified in being more spiteful to the man. They started posting more hate. And so Yang probably feels more justified in thinking that her fan base is scary. And so the people who haven’t been posting hate and sending mean tweets his way are viewed as scary and mean too.

Where I disagree with Yang is that he made that remark at all. While I understand being frustrated, I really hated that generalization. As mentioned above, even the fans who liked the comics are now associated with unkindness and hate. I really enjoyed the comics, though that enjoyment is kind of shadowed by a feeling of being unwelcomed. And with his generalization I think that it kind of puts a bit of the stigma around the fandom in the exact way that Zutarians have a stigma of being hostile.

And when such a stigma is created it starts to become true because the fans feel like, ‘well they already see us this way, might as well be this way’. It starts to become true because others go into the tags to knock fans for being aggressive to the creators and so more people get defensive and the cycle just continues.

Now with Azula’s fandom, this is only just starting, but I can see it getting to Zutara levels pretty quickly. And that’s a shame because this fandom is something I have enjoyed for a while and I like being able to react with other parts of the fandom. But personally I haven’t been venturing outside of the Azula tag much because I feel like I’m only going to see hate and arguing if I do.

Idk, I hope that this didn’t come off as antagonizing to anyone because I’m not trying to blame any one group of people. Tbh I think that everyone has kind of played their part in this hot mess. I just really wanted to get this off of my chest. Mostly because I want people to tell me that I’m wrong lol and that the Azula fandom isn’t becoming a black sheep fandom and that I’m seeing something that isn’t actually there lmao.

I hope that I was able to explain things clearly, fairly, and kindly. Feel free to discuss in the comments and stuff.

#Avatar #Azula #Zutara #Fandom #Bryke #Gene Luen Yang #Discourse

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