#otterpenguin

[akihiteria]

Day 4: EXOTIC

"Peace was never an option"

[single-snail]

anyways

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara - Part 14

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In the morning, it isn't Zuko that is gone.

Katara, when she woke to find him and his soldiers still in the village center, thought for a moment that he was simply running late. Only, Zuko was still in the blue clothes from the day before, his hair in a clearly messy attempt at a wolf tail. He doesn't meet her eyes when she tries to get answers, stalling until others began leaving their huts and tents.

For a moment, she knew something was off, but couldn't place what. Then, she noticed that Umai, but not her husband Paho. There was little Lana with her mother, but her father and brother where nowhere in sight. Sokka and their mother came out, but her father was nowhere in sight.

And then it hit her.

All of the warriors were gone.

She whipped to face Zuko, who was still avoiding her eyes. "Did you know?" When he stiffened, but still didn't answer, she balled up her fists. "Is this what you and my father were talking about?"

When Zuko still didn't answer, she let out a cry of outrage, and grasped at the air, pulling her hands towards her body. Snow pelted Zuko, making his stumble. By the time he was on his feet, she was already running out of the village.

Her father had left, willingly, after so long of saying how grateful he was to have their family whole again.

For a few hours, Katara sat at the bottom of a snow bank, watching otterpenguins as they waddled around. When Sokka came to find her, he was seething. He dropped into the snow beside her, and they leaned against each other.

It was Iroh that came to find them. Sokka glares, ready to snap at the older man if he tried to speak. Katara looked at him with cold eyes.

"Princess Katara," Iroh said, as he moved to stand beside her, looking out across the snow. "Did you ever tell your brother about my time in the Fire Nation military?"

For a moment, Katara glared. What did that have to do with anything?

"I was a renowned general in the army. I led a seige against the walled Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se. For six hundred days, I relentlessly attacked the walls, and I even started to break through. But then... My son was on the battlefield. A messenger ran to me. He told me..."

When he trailed off, Katara looked up at him, her voice soft. "Lu Ten was killed in the fight."

Sokka was still glaring, but Iroh was gazing out across the snow, an expression of deep sorrow marring his features.

"Yes," he said, voice thick. "It is an unimaginable pain, to loose your child. I began to question every decision that had led me to that moment. I had joined the army to prove my worth to my father and the people. I rose in the ranks so Lu Ten had a father he could look up to. But had I made the right choice? It was my decision to let Lu Ten onto the battlefield, after he spoke with such deep desire to prove himself to me.

"It was my decisions to join the war that led Lu Ten to his death. And I wondered if I had just done one thing differently, if I could have spared him that fate. So I understand what your father was thinking when he decided to leave."

"You're Fire Nation scum," Sokka hissed, glowering at Iroh. "Who cares if your scum son died-"

"Sokka," Katara snapped. Her brother glared at her.

"I can not fault you for your hatred," Iroh said. "But it does not change what has happened. Chief Hakoda confided in me that he had been struggling with this decision for years. Had he left, taken the warriors and joined the war sooner, could he have stopped Princess Katara from being taken? If he had attacked instead of defended, could he have pushed our army back before she sacrificed herself? He wondered, had he been more active, if he could have saved her from the capital.

"He has as many regrets as I, but he still has a chance to make them right. He has a chance to make what he believes is the best chance to protect you both, to spare himself the heartbreak of loosing a child again. So do not fault him for doing what he believes to be the best choice for you both."

Katara turns, returning her gaze to the snow feilds. Sokka does the same, hugging his knees to his chest. They both still hurt, but it weighs heavy in their stomachs.

When they finally return to the village, Zuko is directing soldiers, looking and sounding like a leader, a warrior, of the tribe. They're counting food, figuring out how long it will last the tribe. When he sees her, he ducks his head, ashamed.

She thinks over what Iroh had said. It could be applied to Zuko, she supposed. He had made a few difficult decisions, some to protect himself, but plenty to spare her in some way. In the palace, whenever he could, he put himself in Azula's path if Katara was to tired to fend the princess off. Even when he had been banished, he risked his fathers wrath to spirit her away. And while it had hurt her, is attempt to distance himself had been made in an effort to prevent her image of him being altered forever. Keeping her father's plans secret was a risk, but he would have done it if it meant she would be spared from months of worry before her father left.

When she stood next to Zuko, she reached out, her dark muddy red gloves standing out against the blue of his parka. He paused, turning to look at her, a hint of hope in his eyes.

"How can I help?" She asked.

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[circlique]

Snow leopard seal. Some brave hunters from the Water Tribes have managed to tame them as hunting companions. They are the natural predators of otterpenguins.

[miyamorana]

ATLA Live Action

So, the live action remake of Avatar is out. I think it's been out for a few days already, which I somehow missed. I've just watched the first episode, and here are my thoughts so far.

Behind a cut because it grew a bit long.

Firstly, of course it's better that the movie, but that bar was so low it was literally on the floor. So far it's very pretty, the bending effects are great, and I appreciate the diverse casting, which is true to the original. I also have faith that the show will overall keep true to the story.

But I think it lacks its heart.

Let me explain. We'll start with Aang. We've barely seen any playfulness from him. We saw him having fun at the Southern Air Temple, sure, but that was just him flying. No inovating new air-bending techniques for the sole purpose of creating a game. No flying pies onto other monks' heads with Gyatso. No otterpenguin-sledding with Katara. No Katara going "I haven't done this since I was a kid" and Aang reminding her that she still is one.

Then Sokka. Where is the humour? What is Sokka if he isn't dealing with the weight of responsibilities by being a wise-crack? Uncle Iroh also lacks his carefully crafted "benign fool" persona.

Maybe I'm just too attached to the original, maybe I just need to let the show do its own things, let the characters have their own voices, I don't know. But so far the show looks to take itself just a little bit too seriously, while the levity of the cartoon was used to both offset and highlight the seriousness of the situation.

Also, on a storytelling point of view, I found this first episode very "hand-holdy". Like, "we have to make sure the viewers can understand the whole worldbuilding as fast as possible and not be confused". So we start off with Sozin explaining his whole plan and the reason for it. And we really highlight the whole comet thing so that when it becomes relevant the viewers already know about it. And we tell everything in chronological order, no flashbacks to slowly reveal Aang's past as he confides in Katara and Sokka, because the viewer can't be patient am I right?

When they showed us the whole attack of the temple, I was hoping for it to serve more of a purpose, to have more of an emotional pay-off. Especially as we saw Gyatso trying to protect the kids. I was hoping, firstly, that we wouldn't see Gyatso loose, so that we as viewers could experience Aang's surprise and shock. I was also hoping that he would find the bodies both of Gyatso and of the other kids. That would have given more punch to the scene. Instead, Gyatso trying to protect the kids is irrelevant to everything.

But it's just one episode. I'll watch the rest, and hopefully it'll grow on me. Hopefully the characters will start to take life, and the show will not just substract from the original but also add elements that actually bring something to the story beside a nice chase scene. Hopefully the show will give the characters and story a chance to showcase their heart.

[ao3feed-zukka]

Helpful Treasures

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YgE6IkT

by otterpenguin

Izumi is big enough to know what this means. She knows her Poppa is hurt, and that is why dad sped away so fast in their car, and didn't take her. She doesn't even think twice before scrambling to get out her box of secrets from under her bed and fiddling with the lock on it. It's dark outside, and it's hard to see the numbers, but this is a dire situation, a serious matter. So, because Izumi is not only smart but also great, she only relents when she hears the satisfying click, and throws the lid open, frantically feeling around for the little square box.

Or, In Izumi's opinion, everyone should have treasures they are willing to protect with their life. Everyone should also follow a certain set of rules in their life, imposed bedtime not being one of them. Oh, and you should always eavesdrop if you can get away with it.

For Zukka Week 2023, Day 5: Tending Each Other's Wounds

Words: 2877, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Izumi (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar)

Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)

Additional Tags: Mention of blood, Zukka Dads, izumi is sokka and zuko's kid, Changing POV, Zukka Week 2023 (Avatar), Extensive Izumi POV, Izumi is a weird little girl, And I Will Stand By It, references to some angst, mentions of a prior physical fight, injured sokka, kinda modern au, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Angst because Zuko has to talk about his feelings and that's already a lot for him, Prompt: tending each other's wounds, Not Beta Read, not even proofread as much as it should have been but i was sleep deprived <3, typos included probably, Mentioned Assassination Attempt(s), Aged-Up Character(s)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YgE6IkT

[seccndchances]

@upgrxded (Pike & Anyone (Northern Water Tribe))

"Look out below!!" Pike yelled out as she came sliding down the hill on the back of an Otterpenguin. As she hit the base with all her momentum, she went tumbling butt over head into the snow drift.. A loud roaring laugh escaping her lips as she looked up at the sky. "If you can, you need to try that!! It is so much fricken fun!"

[cheshire387]

🐧

[ejbeachy]

Otter penguin from Avatar . . . . #art #artist #artistsoninstagram #artwork #avatarthelastairbender #avatar #otterpenguin #penguin #watercolorandink #watercolorpainting https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8hOSfLEaD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ap-kinda-lit]

Otter penguin Katara and turtleduck Zuko 🥺

[kivranart]

Sokka - Chibi style

[avatarsofcatan]

Avatars of Catan lives! Finally unpacked my glowforge and am now dialing in the settings. The ootb settings are good... If exhaustingly long. I find you can achieve just as good a result if you jump in and dial in the resolution, speed, and power. Vive le maker!

[gristletattoo]

Otter penguin from avatar last air-bender by @lillesnegl. Email ligia@gristletattoo.com to schedule. #otterpenguin #botanicaltattoo #btattooing #blackwork #darkarts #brooklyn #vegan #vegantattoo #veganny #veganink #williamsburg #bushwick #nytattoo #brooklyntattooshop #gristletattoo #ligiatattoo (at Gristle Tattoo+Art Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B364hVYD_mx/?igshid=12u33p95sabc

[foxy-knowledgeseeker]

z.utara shippers really do trash aang for being awkward and bad at flirting in the cave of two lovers then make "zvko is an awkward turtleduck" a top tag on AO3 🙃

[hedgethemaze]

I'm not crying, YOU are

Short comic based on this wonderful prompt by @marauders4evr : “Someone needs to make a beautiful comic where Aang’s struggling because Tenzin just became an airbending master but Aang has absolutely no idea how to actually tattoo the arrows because he was only twelve when his entire culture was wiped out, he had only just gotten his tattoos months before he ran away, he would have been far too young to learn the tradition from the side of the tattoo-giver and then said tradition was wiped out forever, so he’s crying as he tries his best, and then Yangchen appears and the Air Nomad Avatar before Yangchen appears and so on and so on, all the way back to the Avatar that came right after Wan, hundreds of Airbenders just sitting with Aang, patiently going over the techniques, cheering when Tenzin stands, bowing to the newest airbender, making sure the culture isn’t lost…”

[emsprovisions]

Day 4 – Meeting

This had to be the most boring meeting ever. 

Katara was certain even her husband had to be bored out of his mind. She looked at him across the long tables. Zuko was staring hard at the scrolls in front of him, clearly trying to look like he was concentrating on the matters at hand.

It was the annual meeting of the four nations. This year, the meeting was in Omashu. Katara had never much liked Omashu as it was, but this visit seemed even worse as King Bumi had recently died, leaving Aang and King Kuei to dive into deep discussions over who would lead Omashu next or whether the city could become a republic under Ba Sing Se’s rule. 

As the Water Tribe representative, Katara just didn’t have much of a say over Earth Kingdom matters. But she rather thought Omashu was so far from Ba Sing Se, they would need their own leader regardless. Plus, there was all that history surrounding the city, what with the legends of Oma and Shu. She didn’t think it would be right to instill the city as a republic of Ba Sing Se. 

She caught Zuko’s eye across the table, and the corner of his lip twitched. It was such a minor thing that no one else would’ve noticed, but Katara knew the man she had married well. She could read him better than any scroll in every library. He was miserable. 

Katara knew what she had to do. 

“Oh! Owww,” she moaned. 

“Katara?” Aang immediately turned towards her. “Everything okay?”

“No.” She furiously shook her head. “I feel ill.” She gripped her stomach and moaned out in pain. 

Zuko immediately bolted up and rounded the table to his wife’s side. “I should take her to go lie down.”

“Oh, no, no I’m okay. I can stay!” Katara insisted. She had to give this thing all she had to sell it. But Zuko could read her well, too.

“No, otterpenguin, we should get you to bed. Your forehead is burning up!” Zuko laid his hand across her forehead, which she knew was fine and cool beneath his palm. 

She nodded in defeat. “Oh, I’m so sorry about this everyone.”

“Me, too,” Zuko said. “I know we still have a lot to discuss!”

“No, no, Katara comes first, it’s completely fine!” Aang insisted. “I hope you feel better, Katara.”

Zuko helped her up and led her towards the door. Sokka grabbed her wrist as she passed him. “I hate you,” he hissed, seeing clear through her games. She held her stomach and released another pained groan, letting her weight fall against Zuko, who supported her and half carried her out the door. Sokka only rolled his eyes. His sister was always the more dramatic one, no matter what she said. 

When the doors were shut behind them, the young couple took one look at each other before running towards the doors, trying hard to contain their laughter until they were safely far away from that meeting where they wouldn’t be heard. 

“Wanna go explore the Cave of Two Lovers?” Katara asked.

“Only if you get me out of every boring meeting forever.” 

“Of course. It was part of my marriage vows, duh.”

She took his hand and together the two lovers ventured towards the Cave of Two Lovers. 

@zutaraweek