#ozai's grade a parenting

[balanceoflightanddark]

The fire nation's defeat was technically Azula's fault.

Zuko and Iroh were branded traitors and failures. Azula was given specific instructions to capture them, dead or alive. Azula had them both red-handed in Ba Sing Se. Instead of doing what she was told, she asks for Zuko's help and she clears his name in return.

Now, it could be argued that without Zuko's help, she would've been pummeled into submission by Aang and Azula. Well, then after his usefulness was used up, she had a chance to pull yet another fast one and apprehend him without having to lie to Ozai.

Zuko acted suspiciously. He made Azula doubt that Aang really died and she began to think that Zuko may have had something to do with his survival. Instead of searching for proof of Aang's survival and informing her suspicions to Ozai, she puts unnecessary risk on herself and sets up a gambit that was ultimately pointless in more ways than one.

If Azula did what she was supposed to do, Zuko and Iroh would be dead or put in prison which leads to Zuko never finding out about the plans with the comet, Aang never finds a firebending sifu, the FN gains victory unopposed, and Azula can reign as Fire Lord.

In short, by choosing to lend Zuko a hand more than once, she indirectly did Team Avatar a huge favor.

Boom: Butterfly Effect.

The FN's MVP was also Team Avatar's MVP. I do enjoy the irony.

I wonder though, what would the Gaang's, Azula's Zuko's, Iroh's, Ozai's, and all of FN's reactions when realizing this epiphany?

It would break Azula.

...no seriously. It would break her.

While I think it would be a bit of a stretch to say that the defeat of the Fire Nation was her fault (cause there's no way in hell she could've seen bringing Zuko home would end up with his betrayal of Ozai), I do think she was hurting already with Zuko betraying her. If she was torn up about Mai and Ty Lee turning on her, I have no doubt she'd feel the same about Zuko regardless of what her relationship with him is right now. Add on to the fact that this is a girl that is hoisted with way too much responsibility than she is able to handle (being driven to become perfect at any cost), a revelation like this would destroy her.

And the fallout wouldn't be pretty. At all. It would probably rival her breakdown at Sozin's Comet, if not be worse. Hell, I think Zuko and Iroh would be a bit concerned for her. Zuko did seem somewhat regretful at her state after the Last Agni Kai and Iroh (while not Azula's biggest fan) probably wouldn't be that callous to brush her off.

Ozai would hate her though. Hate hate HATE her though. He puts on so much pressure for her to be perfect. What do you think the abusive piece of shit is going to do when he puts two and two together. Might even disown her on the spot, which will cause her to spiral even more. And she'd probably lose a lot of support in the Fire Nation for indirectly letting an unpopular successor on the throne, which would cause her to spiral even further.

...kind of why I don't really want to put the blame on the Fire Nation's defeat on her since the poor kid doesn't need that on top of her failures already. Besides, I think the defeat of the Fire Nation can better be laid on Ozai's feet. I mean, he was the one who banished Zuko and mistreated both him and Azula. If we want to go indirect, he set up a domino effect. And directly, he wasn't able to consolidate the Fire Nation's gains at the end of the war which led to a huge rebellion movement. And he certainly didn't seem to want to get involved with fighting Aang during the Day of the Black Sun which could've stacked the odds further against him when the firebending was turned back on. Mind you, this was before Zuko showed up. Like he was sipping tea while Azula was holding the Gaang off.

That being said, I could see him pass the buck off on Azula for the Fire Nation's defeat. Which would lead into the scenario I just outlined above.

[balanceoflightanddark]

All of this, along with the issue that a lot of people basically expect Azula to mother Zuko. Like stepping up to become Ursa. This is a pretty gross expectation to put on the shoulders of a teenager, let alone a teenager that was indoctrinated and had a brother who was willing to throw her under the bus.

Like, realistically what would she be able to do? Hug Zuko and tell him everything will be alright if he tries hard enough? Ozai would get on her case for "softening" him up. This is the asshole who burns his kids for speaking out of turn. Do you honestly believe he'd encourage anything that would turn either one of them into being as "weak-willed" as their mother? Not only that, Zuko positively hates her already. Do you honestly expect him to reciprocate her feelings even if she tried? Especially since he thinks she's out to get him?

Finally, this sort of behavior is what screwed Azula over in the first place. Constantly bending over backward and putting her father's needs in front of her own caused her to latch on so tightly to him. Trying to comfort and support Zuko wouldn't exactly be healthy since it's the same situation: only Zuko has habitually screwed her over even when she tried doing the right thing while Ozai genuinely couldn't give a rat's ass.

I don't think anybody's arguing that we want them to bury the hatchet already. It's just that Azula is the one expected to do all the heavy lifting, when this broke her in canon.

"What if Azula cared her brother and tried to protect him"--Dude, you're describing canon.

[linnoya-writes]

Kataang “But it’s only a 2-year age difference!” argument

Ah yes.  The amount of times KAs bellow this, along with “...but Katara was a mother to everyone!” can wallpaper my entire apartment.  

Let me deep-dive as to why a 2-year age difference is actually much more significant between a mature teenager like Katara and a carefree kid like Aang, particularly in the universe of ATLA.

The ATLA world isn’t structured like our modern day, where 14/15-year-old girls worry about Algebra tests and Homecoming dates, or 12/13-year-old boys only have to skip down a couple blocks from their junior high to the big-kid school to meet their first crush “forever girl” for some ice-cream and Instagram Selfies after her friendly tennis practice, and French Kiss under the bleachers before her big brother catches them and nearly vomits from Oogies.

Oh no.  The ATLA world is very much a dystopian, post-war world... where children like Katara, Sokka, Suki, Jet, Yue, Azula and Zuko had to forfeit any sense of normal childhood and instead take up more mature responsibilities for themselves and those around them.  Toph even had to learn to be independent and raise herself for survival, despite being the same age as Aang.

What separates Aang from the other young characters is that he actually got to have a normal childhood.  

Aang lived in the air temples, where monks lived in isolation and cultivated their own food and treated living things differently from the rest of the world.  They travelled everywhere, but kids like Aang were shielded from any sense of conflict or confrontation, and they definitely weren’t raised to see the world as a societal, economical hierarchy.  The pre-ATLA AirNomad world raised carefree innocent kids who got to take their time to grow up, because they never had to prepare for a brutal, cruel, unforgiving world where people and creatures they loved could die outside of natural causes.

Aang mastered airbending naturally, and for fun.  It wasn’t to prepare for war, but for his proud cultural heritage.  On the other hand, Katara worked herself to the bone to master waterbending... not for fun... but to fight in a war, to help train the Avatar to end this 100-year-war, and to maintain a delicate connection to her cultural heritage that has all but died out.  

Katara and Aang’s perspectives have been different since the beginning.

And the “2 years is not that big a deal!” argument totally overlooks their maturity gap as characters.

Katara was a girl raised in a remote war-torn village in the South Pole.  She lost her mother in this war and had to internalize that grief for years as she took up more adult responsibilities to help her small village.  By the time she was Aang’s age, she cooked for people, cleaned for people, helped raise other people’s children... and, as seen in the S.2 episode “The Serpent’s Pass,” she didn’t flinch when having to deliver babies out of women’s vaginas.

Katara is 14, going on 25.

Aang, not having been raised in a war, was a kid.  He was that carefree, playful, innocent soul up in the Southern Air Temple who loved games, and recess, and pulling pranks on his teachers.  At the age of 12, Aang still hasn’t had to learn to be responsible in an economical world that functions through jobs, currency, and self-sufficiency (and he’ll probably never have to, since the Avatar title rewards him with free-loading hospitality anywhere he goes).  When Katara someone isn’t willing to cook for him, Aang’s instinct is to dumpster-dive for lettuce, as seen in the S.3. episode “The Headband”.  This is also the episode where, not only is Katara comfortable enough to dress up as Aang’s (pregnant!) mom, but Aang gleefully shows off his grade-school crafting skills with dried-macaroni collage artwork of Ozai-- you know, the kind that children usually give to their parents to proudly post on the refrigerator?  And this wasn’t sweet-innocent doe-eyed Aang from Season 1.  This was kid-emotionally-processing-some-real-world-shit-Season 3 Aang.  His maturity was still lacking.  And let’s not forget that, before the iceberg... the most horrifying thing Aang had to deal with was cleaning his own room.

Aang was 12, going on 8.

Even in the final scene of the show, Aang is still that kid, sitting on the ground and playfully teasing his pet lemur with a toy while the older teens mingle with tea and paintings and critical-thinking games like PaiSho.

The maturity gap was very much present through the end.

And I have a hard time believing Aang even knew what a vagina was, by the time he and Katara french-kissed in the finale. 

Look.  The point is not whether or not Aang did know.  The point is, you, a hypothetical Kataang fan... had to stop for a moment to consider that.

And that’s what makes Kataang weird.

Now excuse me while I grab some more wallpaper glue. :P

[shitposts-and-shit]

Spirits Forgive Our Sins

by Ac3ofSpad3s Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender Relationships: Azula/Yue (Avatar), Aang & Azula (Avatar), The Gaang & Yue (Avatar), Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Azula & Toph Beifong, Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Characters: Azula (Avatar), Yue (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Toph Beifong, Katara (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar) Additional tags: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Protective Azula (Avatar), Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Azula-centric (Avatar), Moon Spirit Yue (Avatar), Azula Joins The Gaang (Avatar), Firelord Iroh (Avatar), Iroh is trying his best, Bad Parent Ozai (Avatar), Manipulative Ozai (Avatar), Eating Disorders, Azula Needs a Hug (Avatar), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Yue-centric (Avatar), no beta we die like my grades, The Gaang as Family (Avatar) Words: 4,059 Chapters: 3/?

Summary: After ten years Azula and Yue’s scares from the war have finally healed. Until a certain airbender and his flying bison wash ashore, old wounds must be reopened if the princesses wish to help the Avatar navigate a world that’s given up on his return and desperate for his help.

[discordiansamba]

zuko just gets adopted into the friend group like he's a stray cat at aang's request. this is zuko, guys! i met him at the hospital when i broke my leg that one time! and they're just like we know. we visited you at the hospital. you were in zuko's room more than you were in your own.

aang: do you think it would be exploiting my position as avatar if i asked the pokemon company to make me a lifesize plushie of mamoswine?

sokka: yes but you should do it anyways

sokka casually revealing in a random video one day that he's dating yue, the princess of the northern water tribe by having her appear in a video. this is my girlfriend yue. and this is her girlfriend suki. who is also my girlfriend. love wins.

zuko: i'm going camping with my friends this weekend.

azula: surely you mean you're staying with them in a cabin?

zuko: no? we're sleeping in tents.

azula: ...but there's bugs outside.

zuko: yeah???

azula attends a ritzy all girls school that covers all grade levels with mai and ty lee. she's a classic overachiever who is always a part of the student council and is angling to become student council president once she enters high school. it will look great on her resume.

aang is privately tutored on account of being the avatar.

zuko can't get a scholarship like his sister can, so he ends up in public school instead. it's his first time attending school at all- ozai used to hire private tutors to educate him. former rich kid learns to live the life of the common folk.

(ursa is saving the bulk of the money she got from ozai's life insurance policy for their college education and emergency expenses.)

(ozai ran a highly successful company before his untimely and 100% natural death, but it was passed to his vice-president zhao after. he promptly ran it into the fucking ground.)

ursa waits about a year after ozai's death to rekindle things with ikem, who she had to break things off with after her parents made her marry ozai instead. she becomes the main actress at his theater company.

zuko loves it. azula just rolls her eyes and says live theater is so outdated in the modern era. zuko works part time at ikem's theater and his uncle's tea shop.

sokka: today we're exploring an abandoned building! toph, you're on cop lookout.

toph: sweet.

sokka, an hour later: SO. what did we learn today?

aang: always check to make sure the abandoned building hasn't been turned into a den of spirits first?

sokka: exactly, kuzon. exactly.

modern au aang in which he is up to date on all the Latest Memes(tm) vs modern au zuko who is extremely offline and has no idea what he's talking about.

(modern au iroh who knows more about what the kids are into than his nephew does, who simply lives in a constant state of ??????????)

[sokkas-therapist]

*come’s back after a week double fisting Starbucks and Boba*

Hey :) I apologize for the lack of actual content lately, but here’s a zukka au idea that I might expand on later for Zukka week! For now, take this modern childhood friends to lovers zukka au <3

Zuko’s half deaf after the Ozai incident, but thankfully he already knew asl because Ozai made him and Azula learn like, as many launguages as possible- and Iroh started learning as well when he took him in (so he didn’t have to worry about scaring Zuko by yelling halfway across the room or having Zuko thinking he’s mad at him). Sokka and Zuko go to the same school, and Sokka’s is fluent in asl (and katara is too) because Gran Gran is deaf. Since their parents are gone she’s the only one looking after them so they kinda gotta be able to communicate with her- ANYWAY, they’d become friends early on in grade school, and Zuko was happy that at least one thing would stay the same through his recovery: he and sokka were still friends. Through the years Sokka interprets for Zuko when he needs it in class, and they end of spending even more time together than they were before and become really close! Best friends… pinning idiots…lovers even…

[spiderling-space]

Hey so this thought has been on my mind for like ages and I think that you'd be able to write a headcanon about it in a wonderful way, so I'm presenting this idea to you hehe ( I love ur blog so so so much btw!)

So let's say that whatever miracles of seven happened, that Yuu overblots. Being constantly pushed around by other students by being magicless, solving the idiot trio's problems, trying to survive overblots and dealing with Crowley's neglectful ass cheeks sure is not easy. With all the piled and bottled up negative emotions, Yuu like the previous boys, overblots. Yuu wasn't that hard to defeat cuz you know, they're magicless, but the twst boys did struggle and Yuu's quite the challenge too. So what if, after Yuu's overblot, they had a full on mental breakdown. Not like crying mental breakdown, they're full on SCREAMING, their voice are cracking too, and very painful to hear. They started to unconsciously harm themselves so they have to be tied down to prevent to hurt themselves further. How would the dormleaders react to that?

(Sorry for my English and if I ever break a rule, it's OK if you decide to not do this too. Btw I got this idea when I watch ATLA aka Aang the last airbender, for reference of the breakdown of Yuu just search "Azula's breakdown" that practically how their breakdown looked like :D)

I cant write headcanons because you basically wrote everything. I will just make comments and additions to this. first I mention the background, secondly Azula’s breakdown so non ATLA watchers can understand a little and lastly, MC having breakdown like Azula. For the record, I could write about ATLA for pages since it is something I love since 2005. LOL This became a bit meta xd

You can join the discord server here 😉🤣

Firstly, the back ground:

I was 7 years old when ATLA started airing. I’d be excited to get back home to watch ATLA after school. Azula’s breakdown was awful back then when I first watch it as a kid. And of course, when they aired the episodes again and again. I rewatched again because I remembered the show being dope when I was in 12th grade which was stress relief while studying for university exams, and then I rewatched last year and even founded a Zutara server. Now I’m getting back to the point. In the last two rewatching, I saw Azula in a different light and her breakdown at the end of the show was understandable. I can recommend some ATLA meta that you might like. 

Secondly, Azula’s breakdown: 

Azula lost everything. In the flashbacks, you saw she was getting along with Zuko, laughing and playing tag until Ozai’s influence on her grew while Ursa showed more affection towards Zuko since Ozai basically hated Zuko. These two triggered each other and it grew like snowball effect which came to the point that Ozai-Azula and Ursa-Zuko. She didn’t get love from Ozai, she was just a puppet, someone to empower him more, not his daughter meanwhile to Ursa, she was a monster. Azula was 8 years old  Ursa disappeared. Imagine how this would affect the child. After this, she had estranged brother that she was jealous of because of Ursa’s love, a father who manipulated her, and an uncle who was too in pain to do anything and he was more focused on Zuko. She only had Mai and Ty Lee as “friends” but it was toxic and Azula used fear to control them. After Zuko got banished, Mai and Ty Lee went to their own places, leaving Azula alone with Ozai. Just when Zuko got back, she was being like the last times, cruel teasing, Mai and Ty Lee with her. Later, Zuko went away and probably got lectured by Ozai for her lie. Mai and Ty Lee stood against her. In the end, she had no one. Ozai didn’t want her with him either because he only wants power. Being alone drew her to the edge. In the Royal Hair Washing, the girl sje fired had her face. Her self hatred was palpable. She started to reflect this via Ursa, the mother who thought her as monster and didn’t love her like she did Zuko. I believe she would have had breakdown if she actually killed Zuko. At the end, she couldn’t handle it anymore. Being all alone, not being loved, self hatred and finally failing at something which is something she knows Ozai would never tolerate like he did with Zuko. This 14-year-old wouldn’t be able to handle it anymore and had breakdown.

Now last section, MC having breakdown like Azula’s:

Let’s see the things MC went through:

Stripped away from home

Doesn’t have much memory of it

Is thrusted into a world so foreign to them, where everything is foreign to them. There is no familiar thing that can make them recall home or feel at home

Is forced to study things that they have no prior info where the others have prior info and they are expected to ace the tests. This puts on pressure on regular students, can’t imagine the pressure they would feel since they barely understand the magic.

Is treated like trash by everyone at least once. From the first moment they came to Twisted Wonderland, they were like dirtbag. Dire gave them a house where they could get Hepatitis A to C, tetanus, hypothermia and any other disease. They have lived in that state for months and the house barely got fixed by the end of exams. They got belittled or used by almost all characters at least once. Examples: Vil calling them nobody; Azul trying to take the only thing they have from them, the dorm; Riddle calling them uneducated because not having magical parents; Leona acting like they are a toy in E2; Jamil literally manipulating their choice; sometimes NPC characters talked; Cater making them do his work etc.

They are given more than a person should handle. They are not certificated psychologist, they aren’t superhuman, they don’t have super healing... They are just human but has to fight enemies than can easily kill them if it were not the magic users around them. They are given the task of dealing with the emotional breakdown of the other people.

All of these are building up more and more. Maybe they started to get along with people after the belittlement and being used but every new character does this. At one point, it will be too much and they will think “they are only nice to me because I did a favor to them. If not for that, they wouldn’t be nice to me” which would lead to self doubt. When one starts doubting themselves, everything else starts to go down. Also, new characters treating them that way adds salt to the wound.

MC isn’t a professional psychologist. They can’t handle other people’s issues without taking a toll at themselves. They don’t even catch a break between everything.

Dire is deliberately keeping them away from home as they all do the errands he say. To him, what MC wants doesn’t matter much. The game doesn’t show but if MC has family and friends or pets, you can’t tell me that they wouldn’t miss them once or see, hug them or know their state, alive-dead, healthy-sick etc. 

Lastly not being invincible. The end of Episode 5 shows this well. They couldn’t stand against Grim who isn’t as powerful as the other overblot characters. They are mortal who can get hurt easily.

Now all these build up meanwhile we don’t see an MC centered chapter, how they are etc. It’s all about the others. Maybe there were a few chapters asking if MC is okay after everything but it feels like it is in the second plan. 

Everything that I mentioned can lead to a breakdown like Azula’s. Everything is just too much to handle and they don’t talk with a professional about it. When they finally let out everything, it feels much better, screaming out their lungs, lashing out like all of them did. They are finally letting out all of their emotions, crying and screaming; yet still feels better than bottling everything up. They think maybe that’s how overblot characters felt.

All in all, everyone in NRC needs a counselor.

[likeabxrdinflight]

I can't comprehend fandom's seeming compulsion to demonize and pathologize Azula for doing what she was groomed from birth to do. In the real world, we call kids like Azula child soldiers and don't condemn them because we recognize that they are victims who need help and support, not criminals who need to be isolated and locked away. I don't get why this seems so hard for most of ATLA fandom to understand.

I hope you don’t mind my answering this publicly, but I think it’s an important question. I won’t put it in the tags to avoid too much drama...

I think there’s a couple factors that play into this. One is at the very foundational level of the way the cartoon is drawn:

These girls are both fourteen. Tell me which one you think actually looks like a child. 

I love ATLA. I love it a lot. But the characters are not always drawn to look their ages, and it can be a problem when it comes to fandom analysis. Azula especially looks much older than she is. To this day there are still people who mistakenly think she’s Zuko’s older sister. And I think, because of this, people have a tendency to ascribe to her a sense of morality and judgment that you would expect of someone in their late teens. But she’s not, and though the animation makes it easy to forget, Azula is the same age I was when I was in the 8th grade. You just can’t ascribe adult morality to an 8th grader. But I don’t think people always think about it this way because Azula looks so much older. 

But if you were to cast someone age appropriate to portray her, Azula really should look more like this:

This is Momona Tamada, the Japanese-American actress who plays Claudia Kishi in the new adaptation of the Babysitters Club. She’s 13, only a year younger than Azula. And so clearly a baby. Imagine a little girl who looks like that fighting in a war. It’s a horrifying image. There’d be no question that she’s a child, a victim of brainwashing and abuse, no matter how cruelly she behaved. 

The other big reason I think people want to demonize Azula is, of course, that Zuko is a fan favorite and Azula tries to hurt him. She is framed as a primary antagonist for him, a demon from his past that he has to overcome in order to take his rightful place in the circle of life on the throne. I mean she is literally  depicted as the devil on his shoulder in his fever dreams. 

And I do like Zuko, mind you. He’s a great character with a compelling arc. There’s a reason he’s beloved. But...he’s such a textbook male fave. He was designed to look attractive, he’s ~angsty~, and he has a good heart underneath all his trauma. So you put those things together, a good character arc and a pretty face, and you get everyone’s favorite pretty emo boy that they’ll defend at all costs.

So that kind of character pitted so directly against Azula, who never gets the same kind of narrative treatment as he does, was....never going to predispose people to sympathize with her.

There’s a larger conversation to be had here about abusive family dynamics and how siblings can be pitted against each other, and while one sibling’s cruelty to the other is by no means okay, it’s often a direct result of parental influence. You cannot look at kids and expect them to have the moral reasoning of an adult. Kids are sponges, they believe what they’re told by the adults in their lives. And when multiple adults are sending different messages...well, I’ll say from personal experience at least, there’s a tendency to pick which message is internalized. Since Ozai so obviously favored Azula, and Ursa did not, it was never really a mystery which message Azula would internalize. Of course she sides with her father’s worldview- he’s the only adult in her world giving her any kind of positive attention.

It took me over a decade to undo the eleven years of Catholic school indoctrination I was raised in. I would hardly expect Azula to be able to shake off fourteen years of her father’s wartime propaganda in any less time.

But that’s getting off topic. The real issue, I think, boils down to fandom’s tendency to prioritize the male fave over any and all female characters who oppose him or get in the way of a favored ship including said male fave (and I’ve seen this mostly play out with favored m/m ships so I have to give the sudden rise of Zukka a bit of a side eye...). But these kinds of female characters get demonized. They always have. But nowadays the discourse around it has changed. Fandoms used to resort to slutshaming, calling characters “mary sues” or the like. But now the language has evolved to include discourse around abuse, toxic characters, and being “problematic.”

But if you ask me, the root of the problem is just the same misogyny wearing a “woke” hat. I’ve seen it in just about every fandom I’ve been in, to some degree or another. Tbh, I almost respect the more blatant misogyny of past eras a little more. At least it was honest and didn’t try to disguise itself as progressive.  

[balanceoflightanddark]

Can I ask why you think the way Azula treated Zuko was not abusive?

To understand why Azula was not abusive to Zuko, we need to understand what IS abusive. I'm not exactly an expert in the field of abuse as there are many kinds of abuse. However, I do feel that the National Domestic Violence Hotline on their website www.thehotline.org does give us at least a basis to start off with in terms of this kind of abuse that Azula is accused of.

Essentially, if Azula were trying to exert any form of power or control over Zuko, we could consider that to be abusive. She would come from a position of power and use that to browbeat Zuko into submission. Whereas the latter wouldn't be able to do anything about it due to that power dynamic I mentioned. Either that or Zuko wouldn't know it was abuse since it was so engrained in their dynamic.

Thing is...Zuko never shows signs of being abused by Azula.

Whenever Azula mocks him or taunts him, he fires back. He's not afraid to speak his mind. We saw that all the time in "Zuko Alone". Indeed, he doesn't show any signs of being afraid of her or any sign of her exerting any sort of power over him. The closest we came to that was during the bedroom scene where she dangles the possibility of the Avatar over his head, but even that's debatable since he was the crown prince AND barged in with a bad mood already.

So clearly, Zuko didn't feel threatened by Azula at all. And if their dynamic had him fire back at her just as much as she did towards him, how can that be considered abuse?

But what I think is most telling is that we do have an example of abuse in the cartoon. And it does involve Zuko and everything that I just mentioned.

It's just, it wasn't Azula.

It was Ozai.

Putting aside the scar on his face, Zuko's relationship with Ozai DOES reek of abuse. I made a whole post about it, but the point is, Zuko never feels comfortable about speaking out against Ozai or fighting against him. The only time he does is when he has a bit of an advantage, but that was only to escape and not kill.

Zuko will speak out against Azula. But Ozai? No way. He'll take Ozai's comments, and internalize them to make himself feel weak as he does throughout the series. Hell, his rivalry with Azula is Ozai setting them against each other just like any abusive parent would do.

In short, Zuko's dynamic with Azula is the complete opposite of Ozai. And since we know that Ozai is an abusive father, I cannot for the life of me see Azula being at the same level. At worst, she was a symptom of the problem. Not the problem itself. And if you want to address the topic of abuse, you need to get at the source.

[muffinlance]

how thick are dragon moults? i imagine them thicker than a shed snake skin bc if they were just dull see through scales i doubt they’d be worth much, but on the other hand if they were thicker than just that top layer i’d think shedding would hurt? does moulting hurt? muffin no

They get thicker with age!

Sweet little snake-sized bb!noodles have molts a lot like snakes, with the color getting held progressively better as they go from corn snake up to anaconda. At this age molts are primarily decorative, and/or pinned to the wall by parents in a way that will be an endless embarrassment to their children later in life, Mom take that DOWN my girlfriend is coming over tonight--

Sometimes they are sewn or glued on top of leather to form low-grade fire-resistant armor. This is the most widely available dragon armor in the Earth Kingdom, due to... reasons.

(Why you gotta be like that with your bb!noodles Earth Kingdom--)

As dragons approach You Could Totally Ride That size, they start turning out molts that are thick enough to act as armor without an underlayer. These are highly desirable for scouts and as general informal armor/wear around town clothes, because they're extremely light and still fairly flexible but, treated properly, rather durable. Think fire proof leather coats and such. Color and scale pattern are very well retained at this stage. Zuko's molts are currently in this range.

As dragons grow to Could Act As The World's Coolest School Bus size and beyond, the molts continue to thicken proportionately. We're now into the heavy armor class. At this point you pretty much need a bender and/or a rockslide to overcome the advantage of this armor, and it's still lighter than a comparable amount of steel armor.

Heavy grade dragon armor tends to be rare, usually passed down as family heirlooms. When these armor sets get captured in battle, they can be ransomed back to the family like they were an actual person. Which they kind of are, there's a whole lot of ancestor worship locked up in Great-Great-Great-Grandma's armor protecting generations of the family.

There are very few new sets of heavy armor. Before the war, it was rare for shifters to live long enough to reach that size--around 25% dragon blood or below, people just don't live long enough to get that big. Since the war, there have been... other reasons young dragons don't live that long. Larger dragons also molt much more slowly, on the order of years or decades rather than months. Uncle is at the low end of this size class, which makes him one of the largest living shifters.

Growth rates vary based on the amount of dragon blood people have. Our Zuko is such a Growing Boy because he's somewhere above 75% Actual Dragon and having his growth spurts accordingly. (Azulon was like 'Ozai you screw up, can't even shift at 50%, we are getting you an Actual Dragon bride so your kids might be less of a disappointment').

Molting does NOT hurt. As long as it's done in a timely manner, and neither rushed nor delayed. I'm sure we won't be exploring either topic at all in Scaled Over.

Actual Dragons tend to eat their molts to regain nutrients, much to the despair of the humans around them. Yum!

(bb!Zuko got trained out of the eat-your-molt instinct as a babe by the palace staff, much to Actual Dragon Ursa's amused befuddlement. Humans are so strange.)

[fire-flakes]

azula for the 10 headcanons? (doesn't need to be 10, just as many as you'd like!)

this got fairly long, so I’m putting it behind a cut. thank you for the ask!

1. She’s a history nerd. Specifically military history, specifically strategic classics on the lines of Clausewitz or Sun Tzu or Thucydides. You know that weird kid in eighth grade (or the equivalent) who read The Art of War on the school bus? That’s Azula.

2. That understanding of history is important to her understanding of herself, and Azula’s recovery after the war actually involves a re-evaluation of the narratives she’s been taught about the Fire Nation and its legacy. She doesn’t have a lot to do, so she starts doing research, and eventually she writes the first comprehensive “revisionist” history of the Hundred Year War in the Fire Nation, which itself becomes a classic of the genre. (This one is more specific and more of a stretch, but I love this idea so much.)

3. Firebending is important to her in a way that it isn’t to Zuko. Firebending was what made her special: Ozai went from basically overlooking her to lavishing her with attention and praise (and pressure and manipulation, but that came later). It terrifies her to realize that it’s something can be taken away. 

4. She and Mai became friends very young, so young that they can barely remember a time when they weren’t friends. Their parents had them formally introduced at the palace (which involved Mai’s family pulling a lot of strings).

5. Azula and Ty Lee didn’t meet until they started school at the Royal Fire Academy. Azula spent a lot of time cycling through the girls in her class, inviting them over a few times and then abruptly dropping them when she decided they weren’t worth the effort, before “settling” on Ty Lee. 

6. Azula definitely had a crush on Ty Lee during the series, but she didn’t realize that’s what she was doing until much later (partly because she didn’t really want to realize it.) Actually, she’s cagey about romantic relationships in general: love requires vulnerability, and vulnerability freaks Azula out.

7. Related: another thing that freaks Azula out is motherhood. This one feels very obvious to me. Pregnancy as a concept scares her (it’s the loss of control over your own body), and Azula’s education and early experiences really led her to view being a mother as something basically pathetic and dependent, and also terrifying and sinister (a combination straight out of Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism!) This is the foundational phobia for her, and I can imagine her moving on from it over time, but I can also very easily see Azula as someone who’s just more comfortable not having kids. 

8. Despite this: she has a good relationship with Izumi! It isn’t a conventional warm-and-fuzzy relationship (Azula doesn’t live at the palace during Izumi’s childhood, and they see each other only occasionally), but Izumi has a lot of respect for Azula as she gets older, and Azula sees herself in Izumi in an almost metaphysical sense that makes her very protective.

9. After the war, Mai and Azula fall back into some version of a friendship surprisingly quickly, especially if Mai is around in some capacity (as Zuko’s wife, girlfriend, platonic friend/spymaster, etc.) Their energy was always a little weird and adversarial, so the betrayal actually doesn’t change as much as you might think. Outwardly they do not respect each other at all, but over time they come to realize that deep down they respect each other a lot. This is horrifying, and they never discuss it. 

10. On the other hand, Azula and Ty Lee never return to their old friendship. A good part of this is because Ty Lee leaves the Fire Nation as soon as the war ends, and stays away. They go through separate and largely independent processes of recovery and change. They see each other sporadically, usually with Mai or Zuko there, and every time it feels really good within limited boundaries, but then Ty Lee has to leave, or Azula does, or the situation threatens to get too intense somehow and someone makes an excuse. And then maybe, literally decades later - after Zuko abdicates - they come back to each other, but maybe not. Either way, their relationship is always much deeper and more significant than it outwardly seems, and even when they haven’t seen each other in years, Azula considers Ty Lee one of the most important people in her life. 

[baegarrick]

idk if you've read/seen the book/movie but just... love, simon zukka au ?? sokka as simon and zuko as bram because blue spirit ( though if we r going for it personality-wise maybe switch their roles? idk ! ) — also in this one the friends are exponentially better

ok im so sorry I haven’t actually seen love, simon or read the book but.... I HAVE ACCESS TO WIKIPEDIA SO LETS GO

ok so I was considering Zuko as Simon bc of the musical thing/the loving parent (Iroh), the girl he sees Sokka (Bram) kiss is Suki.... but also bc I just love writing Zuko (maybe I’ll parse that out at the end)

BUT lets go with Sokka as Simon bc I also love writing the Gaang

Sokka is Simon

Katara is both Nora and Abby

Jet is Martin

Aang is Nick (but slightly also Abby)

Zuko is blue/Bram

Suki is Leah (but slightly also Nick)

Toph is Ethan (sorta)

Haru is Lyle

Ok so, obv this follows the plot of the movie/book. Sokka is a gay + closeted junior, not that his dad isn’t loving, but he’s in the military, and occasionally makes homophobic jokes, and Sokka feels like he has to be tough for him, esp. since his mom died. But he really likes making people laugh and so he joins the school musical, which is a comedy this year.

His best friend is Suki, who he’s known since he was a kid, but he’s kinda been withdrawing from her since he got to high school. He loves her, he really does, but everyone always thinks they’re dating, and it kinda makes him uncomfortable. He tried to like her, when they were younger, but he just... isn’t into girls. His friend group is Suki, Katara (his sister, and it was the two of them against the world since their mom died, but he’s pulled away from her too), Aang (a transfer freshman from out of state), and Toph (who spent up till 8th grade at a private school).

Also in the musical is Zuko, a hot senior who’s like.... super lofty. He gets really into theater, but he rarely interacts with people outside his friend group, like he’s better than them or something. (Mai and Ty Lee are also there, they’re Zuko’s friends.) Not in the musical, but in one of the other clubs Sokka is in, is Jet. He got kicked off the football team for being too rough with the other team last year, so he mostly just hangs out behind the bleachers smoking.

Sokka’s on the school’s tumblr one day (shut up, Katara, I don’t have a tumblr!!) when he sees someone posted an anonymous confession saying they’re gay but they really don’t have anyone they can talk to because of their family situation. Sokka gets their email (BlueSpirit) and start emailing (BoomerangDude) them for a couple of months. He learns that Blue’s family has really high expectations of him, and since he’s only a year away from college he can’t mess them up because if he does he’ll be cut off, and he can’t afford college if that happens. He’s got a sadistic little sister (who isn’t actually terrible, she’s just got her own shit going on, and if shoving Zuko in the warpath of their father takes the spotlight off of her, all the better) who would absolutely out him if she knew, a girl he’s pretty sure wants to date him (Mai), and an after-school job (the tea shop) thats cutting into his extra-curricular activities.

This is.... really similar to Sokka, actually, and he likes making Blue laugh (they switch to chatting online sometimes, like discord or some chat app), and Blue has a lot of insights on things Sokka likes (some of the same music,

Meanwhile, Sokka ends up going to this tea shop he heard about from Blue (it had been a slip, Zuko had NOT meant to say too many personal details, but he’d mentioned getting some kind of boba drink) and studying there with his friends. While he’s there, he’s surprised to see Zuko, who he’s never spoken to outside of the musical they’re working on!! (At some point, Zuko checks his phone and laughs, and Sokka’s like, oh no, I’m crushing on.... TWO DUDES???? BAD SOKKA). He starts to wonder if maybe.... Zuko is Blue?? it generally sorta fits, he knows Zuko is also a senior, and the tea shop Blue mentioned.... (to be fair, though, they see like three other kids from school there, so it’s not really a niche place)

Before Sokka can test out this theory, though, there’s a Halloween party which Sokka goes to with his friends. (They go as the Power Rangers.) He sees Zuko there (he’s in some some Kabuki costume), but with him is.... Mai from the play. They’re making out, and Sokka feels his stomach drop-- he’s not gay and Sokka’s crushing on a straight guy. He gets drunk. He throws up in the bushes outside, and Katara finds him, chews him out, and then sneaks him back home.

He emails Blue again, drunk, and says some stupid stuff like he wishes things were easier, and that he thought he knew who Blue was, but he didn’t. (Blue doesn’t reply.)

He’s checking his email on a school computer in the library when the bell rings, and he doesn’t log out properly, and Jet, who is skipping class, finds Sokka’s emails. He confronts Sokka about them, and says he won’t reveal Sokka’s secret... if Sokka helps Jet get with Sokka’s hot sister. Sokka hates the idea, but also, the idea of being outed is really terrifying. So he says yes, and tries to talk up Jet to Katara, who’s a little surprised bc while she thinks Jet is hot, Sokka was super against Jet whenever she mentioned it. Katara is involved in school politics, and convinces Jet to pretend to be interested to spend time with her. (he ends up running against her...)

Around Thanksgiving, with all their extended family there, ribbing him about getting a girlfriend (asking about Suki), Sokka leaves and goes to sit on the roof. Katara finds him there, and demands he spill whats up and why he’s acting so weird, especially about Suki. (she looks freaked out for a moment, and is like.... oh my god, sokka, is suki pregnant?????? sokka blanches at that) He admits he’s gay, and she hugs him, and they stay out there until their dad sticks his head out the window and calls them inside.

Feeling guilty about Jet, Sokka admits to Blue their emails might have been compromised. Blue starts to back away, taking longer and longer to answer emails.

At a football game, Sokka runs into Haru, who starts asking him stuff, and Sokka wonders if he’s Blue, but it turns out Haru is interested in Katara. Upset, again, that he doesn’t know who Blue is, he encourages Jet to “go big or go home”-- and so Jet asks Katara out by bribing the kid who does the scoreboard to switch out his campaign ad for asking Katara out. Katara is shocked, as she thought Jet was really interested in her campaign. She slaps him.

Mad that Katara wasn’t interested after all, and from the slap, Jet outs Sokka anyway, posting the emails on the school’s gossip site. Katara, who was mad at Sokka, instantly forgives him and is on a WARPATH against Jet, but Sokka just wants it left alone. Suki shows up a few hours later, and finds him on the roof. She admits that she had a crush on him, which was why she never said anything when people asked if they were a couple, but she knew Sokka wasn’t interested in her, so she never pushed it. She’s sorry she made it difficult for him to come out to her.

Blue is upset their emails have leaked, and deletes his account.

He comes out to his dad later, in the car, on the way to school on the last couple of days before winter break. His dad takes it well, and apologizes for all of the jokes he used to make-- it doesn’t make it right, but it was the kind of things he and the other soldiers used to say to each other. He ends up taking them to this tea shop he heard about (it’s Zuko’s/Iroh’s shop), and while there, he comes out to the owner of the shop, Iroh, as sort of..... practice. It’s liberating and also terrifying. Iroh is super cool about it, and tells them about his own son, who passed away a few years ago in an accident, was gay. It’s way later than Sokka thought, and when he looks up from the conversation with Iroh, Zuko’s standing in the doorway. not wanting to deal with people from school, Sokka leaves the tea shop without waiting for his dad to follow him.

The next couple of days at school are rough. His friends stick by his side, but Jet’s friends are obnoxious and loud, and Katara punches one of them. She goes to the school, but they’re eternally unhelpful bc.... what can tey do... its not a school website..... Later, Toph tells Sokka she’s a lesbian, and it’s not that she’s hiding it, but... it’s already tough enough when people treat her like she’s glass because she’s blind. They all go home for winter break, and when they come back, Sokka is refreshed and determined not to be put down by a couple of assholes.

He’s wildly surprised when Blue posts on the school’s tumblr that he wants to meet Sokka at the school’s carnival. This draws a crowd, which makes Sokka worried he’s gonna be pranked, but when he sits down on the Ferris wheel, he’s surprised that Zuko from the tea shop/musical sits down next to him.

Zuko says he’s sorry for ignoring Sokka’s emails, and he’s sorry that Sokka got outed to the school, and it wasn’t his fault that Sokka was blackmailed, and he should have reacted better to it. Sokka apologizes too, because Zuko shouldn’t have to be outed either, which... is why they’re here? Zuko blushes, and says he came out to his uncle, who’s letting him stay with him, since he’s tired of going home to his shitty dad, and that he might go live with his mom while he’s in college. He admits the Mai thing at the party was a drunken misunderstanding, and that he likes Sokka. He thinks he’s funny, and they like the same things (theater, music, strange taste in food...), and he’s hoping after this... Sokka might like him too? (they kiss on the Ferris wheel, and Katara takes like, 30 pictures.)

....

alternatively////

Zuko as Simon au-- bc I just wanted to write it out. he lives with his uncle, who’s the loving parent here, not Ozai!! (or his Mom/stepdad but I kinda forgot they existed for like 5 minutes)

Zuko is Simon

Katara is Abby (she’s his lab partner, and they have the same temperment)

Azula is Nora, but she doesn’t really play a big role (she’s an asshole, but also she’s 14 and is Going Through Things. she’s also in the closet and in love with Mai, but she doesn’t know it yet. it takes her a couple of years to figure that out.)

Mai is Leah

Aang is Martin (but less of an asshole. just the embarrassing + frustrated bits.)

Sokka is blue/Bram

Suki is the girl at the party Sokka kisses

Ty Lee is Ethan

---

I HOPE THIS WAS OK, like I said I haven’t actually seen the thing, but now I actually know what the plot is about!! <3333

[gonzocoded]

Theatre Kid Zuko

Welcome to another installment of “Anya Projects Her Very Specific Life Experiences Onto Zuko!” Today we’re talking about musical theatre major Zuko bc I want it so I’m making it.

Ok, obviously Ozai did NOT want Zuko to go into theatre, I mean what parent does? But Ozai is a real asshole about it, duh. He refuses to pay for Zuko’s tuition and obviously Zuko doesn’t have any money of his own, so Iroh steps in to help out! He encourages Zuko to follow his passions!! We love that!!

Now, Ozai didn’t want his children to go into the arts, but i’m pretty sure it’s like a thing for rich kid’s that they have to take piano lessons? idk I don’t know many rich kids, so let’s just say this is correct and not check to see if it is :)!! Anyway, Zuko starts playing piano really young, and that’s how he discovers his love of music and performing!! The rush he gets from performing at his annual recital is like no other feeling in the world.

Ok, again, projecting my own experiences onto Zuko because I want to and you can’t stop me, in middle school Zuko has to take a fine arts elective each year (6th, 7th, 8th grades) and there’s no elective for piano, because that would be a very specific class. But!! There is a theatre class and a choir class! So Zuko takes those. And he loves it !! He has to audition for the school musical in 8th grade because the classes he’s in require him to and idk what musical it is, but he gets the lead, feel free to project your own musical theatre preferences here!! He works on the show and he’s like “wow this very well might be the best feeling in the world, i’m gonna do this forever!!”

When he gets to high school, there’s a drama club, which Ozai does not want him to join, but let’s say Zuko figures out a way to do it anyway!! Zuko starts getting leads from literally his first semester there (the upperclassmen resent that a lot) Ans he takes the theatre and choir classes (the ones that you have to audition to get into!!) His choir teacher (pick any Zuko mentor from the series to insert here) is like “Wow you’re really good at this stuff, do you want voice lessons?” (this is not something that happens in real life btw, nobody just offers free voice lessons, those things are expensive!!!!) but anyway, Zuko’s like “yeah sure” and of course he ends up being like a prodigy or something.

Eventually, he approaches college audition season, a literal nightmare that spans basically your entire senior year of high school, you can kiss your social life goodbye!! (bonus angst: Zuko’s go-to audition ballad cut is “Proud of Your Boy” from Aladdin) and let’s say he ends up auditioning for the same number of school that i did, which was 19. Not Fun. But!! He gets into like half of the programs he auditions for which is like absolutely amazing (but also like he’s a guy and probably a tenor so maybe not super impressive, but whatever!! it’s still like 10 schools!!)

Uhhh, I have more thoughts on this, but like, this is already a lot so..... :)

[cmonappayipyip]

avatar: the last airbenders characters in american high school au

sokka -> katara -> aang -> toph -> zuko

sokka

-senior

-class clown

-sometimes studies for class but he naturally understands everything in this nice smooth flow so school comes very easy to him

-sokka surprises everyone thinking he'd become a jock in high school (he was the class clown, a little bit sexist, a little rude as all young teenage boys are) by becoming a theater kid instead

-its there he meets his girlfriend suki

-the first time he meets her is in all her makeup and dress

-he says she did good in her auditions, for a girl

-he teases her for it until she tells him all the kids who want in to the club have to perform the same audition script, in the same dress and makeup

-he protested at first but gave in anyway

-and then sokka was casted as the girl love interest to suki

-and the rest is history

-not even a week later sokka is the defintion of a feminist

-and he still never shuts up about his girlfriend suki

-he's very popular, and not just in the theatre kid clique

-he makes friends with everybody

-one time he sees this small freshman standing up for a kid being bullied by a senior and it looks like the freshmans about to be eaten alive

-sokka watches not sure what to do but gets confused as the three seniors back down after the freshman makes a speech about love and acceptance for everybody

-sokka is insanely impressed until he realizes they backed down because a teacher was coming down the hall

-it was mr. jeong jeong

-and nobody wants to deal with jeong jeong, not even the scariest kids in the school

-after the almost fight sokka calls aang young grasshopper and they become friends

-for the rest of the year sokka and aang (and eventually toph) keep getting into weird schemes together

-one night they pull all the chairs out of the entire school and put them into the football field

-nobody ever finds out they were the ones who did it

-sokka plans the entire senior prank by himself and its flawless until aang tells him hes not going big enough

-they keep planning and eventually its so extreme katara comes in and tells them guys you cant set 100 wild geese free in the school

katara

-junior

-when shes a freshman she gets really mad when other people are talking over the teacher

-gets near perfect grades on everything she does but still never stops studying

-she wasnt that popular as a freshman, she was that kid for a while who showed up with 50 notecards for a 10 question vocab quiz

-but she joins the swimming team and calms down just a little and all of a sudden she has more friends than anybody else in the school

-she meets aang in swim

-hes a really fast swimmer and at first thats the only thing about him that catches her attention is how impressive his speed is as a freshman

-but then sokka and aang become friends and katara cant keep her eyes off of him

-she finds him funny and his calm and peace of mind comforting

-he has a way of handling situations that seem wise beyond his years, but then he also sometimes acts just like the kid he is

-she knows he likes her immediately and she likes him back too

-but she wont ever admit it

-until they later start dating when theyre both in college

-katara meets toph through aang and after she sees someone bully toph for being blind she becomes furious

-toph doesn't care, at all

-but katara wont let it go

-and toph secretly loves katara for that

-she starts becoming more active in caring about other people

-she joins student council and eventually becomes student council president, winning by actually caring about her school and not just a popularity contest (although it was a little bit, everyone loved her)

-but zuko ran against her in her junior year for president under irohs suggestion

-she hated him competitively for a while

-she constantly threw it in zukos face that he was a rich kid so he cant just buy his way into anything

-she hated him on principle

-zuko never taunted her back though

-one day as she went in to study at a tea shop, she saw zuko in the backroom serving tea

-she learned zuko didn't have any of his familys money anymore and worked for everything he owned, including his heart and temperament

-he was a good person

-katara stopped hating him, but she didnt give up running either

-when he lost presidency to her, he accepted graciously

-and thats when she asked him to be her vice president, and the entire class voted zuko in

-they were the most powerful duo in the school after that day

aang

-freshman

-respectfully but constantly arguing with the teacher

-he's not doing it to be funny, he just knows more than the teachers do

-but everyone thinks hes funny for it anyway

-he never has to study but always does great on the tests

-he was very popular immediately

-by the time he reaches physics sophomore year he meets mr. bumi

-aang starts eating lunch in bumi's room and slowly all of the class joins him for lunch

-bumi only eats a singular lettuce leaf for lunch and 5 packets of pop rocks everyday

-during tests he gives everyone a packet of pop rocks for when youre finished taking it and promises you a 100 if you figure out what he wants you to do with them

-people try everything from putting it in coke, to stealing their classmates, to pouring it on the ground and stomping on them

-aang figures out his last day of class when theyre supposed to take their final

-he notices on test days bumi never has pop rocks

-he always assumed it was so he didnt distract the students during the test but he knows now

-he walks into bumis room and when the test begins he hands bumi his own pop rocks and says he can have them

-bumi annouces aang was the first person in his 43 years of teaching who got it and he will get a 100 on his final

-slowly the entire class turns in their pop rocks to bumi

-but bumi makes them take the test anyway and he has all 29 packets during the test, distracting the entire class

-the highest score on the test was a 35

-but they all passed with 100s anyway

-parents were mad at bumi's teaching style thinking the kids learned nothing from his nonsense and that his grades were meaningless

-but when the ap test scores came back every single student recieved a 5/5 on their score

toph

-freshman

-she doesnt care about school at all when she starts but becomes famous later on

-class clown but not like sokka

-she does it in a disrespectful way at first

-she always puts her feet on the desk claiming they "need to see"

-shes mad the teachers dont get mad at her for it

-they pity her for being blind instead

-so that makes her act out even more

-she doesnt get to have bumi for physics, she has mr. yu

-yu was a horrible teacher, and toph as a young sophomore year was fed up being treated like she can't do anything, so she taught herself

-she listens to classes online and studies and makes her own physics experiments and learns from the nature of the world itself

-and does better than anyone in her class

-eventually she starts to get 100s on every single test thrown her way, in every class

-she stops being dissrespectful but oh boy does she never back down from a fight if she doesnt like somebody

-at first she doesnt have a best friend but really wants one

-she has gym with aang freshman year and they get really competitive when theyre put on opposite teams

-she nearly takes aangs head off with a dodgeball once

-aang beats her in a mile run freshman year and she doesnt talk to him for a few months until she beats him again

-but they quickly realize how similiar they are and they become best friends

-they talk throughout their english class constantly and keep getting in trouble with the teacher

-aang keeps apologizing ashamed but toph only laughs waits five minutes and starts again

-but all her teachers learn to love her and are impressed by ger instead of pitying her

-when toph has 100s on every single test

she becomes known as the impossible, almost famous internationally for her perfect scores

-shes literally the brightest youngest genius in the world, found in an american public high school

-it seems impossible and like shes cheating except for her 35 average she gets in english every year

-it doesnt matter she cant read anyway she says

-toph loves sokka and after aang introduces them to each other, she never passes up a chance for annoying him for being a theater kid

-she gets involved with many schemes with aang and sokka

-but at first katara and toph dont get along

-one time, katara walks in the middle of toph cornered getting bullied for being blind as a freshman

-katara cant believe herself this is happening in this day and age and gets those kids suspended for discrimination

-toph gets annoyed at katara for caring so much and making such a big deal about nothing

-but one day she realizes katara doesnt pity her at all, shes only mad at the other people

-and she smiles to herself and realizes it is kinda nice to have someone care about her like that

-so she lets katara rant and rave

-but the next time someone said tophs makeup she tried on for the first time is so ugly because she can't see her own face to do it, in fact that explains why she dresses herself like that

-toph throws an entire textbook with perfect accuracy at that persons head

-and when katara is asked as student council president what she thinks should happen to toph next

-katara responds she should be handed a heavier textbook

-and toph smiles

zuko

-junior

-when hes young hes extremely rich and uses his money to get in and out of everything

-hes good at heart but lost still

-he originally went to ozais private academy because his dad is the principal there

-but when zuko stands up for someone being bullied, just like aang did, he doesn't get friends but instead he gets suspended because the bully was the school quarterback and when ozai defended the quarterback, zuko spoke up

-ozai didn't like that

-ozai is so mad he sends zuko to live with his uncle with strict orders that if zuko makes one more mistake he'll be sent to military school

-but zuko has a good healing life with iroh after that

-iroh has zuko take just one year off of school as they travel the world and connect with nature and camp and by irohs request, drinks a lot of tea

-iroh supports zuko finacially completely but feeling guilty and wanting to help out, zuko begins working at a tea shop with his uncle after his father cuts him out of recieving any of the family money

-iroh enrolls him at the same school as sokka katara aang and toph and after a year of traveling and zuko's heart has cleansed of sadness rejection and anger and now healed

-(but that will never stop him from losing his temper every now and then again too)

-hes in the same grade as katara now despite being a year older

-zuko is pretty jack of all trades in all of his classes, (but only master of one)

-and he also couldn't be worse in english even though his teachers think he has a beautiful way with words

-when he talks without thinking he moves people to tears

-but once he turned in a poem that said "you have to look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. only then will your true self reveal itself."

-he comes home sad he got a 20 on that poem "ruining his high gpa"

-but zuko has a natural gift for chemistry and iroh suggests he tutors some kids for it to increase his confidence again

-zuko meets aang, who wanted a tutor to perfect his classes

-it doesn't go too well at first

-after a year of healing and calm and zen, aang is very very Loud to him

-they argue constantly

-zuko's tutoring style is effective but very aggressive

-he tests aang constantly on the hardest chemistry problems he can come up with, some of it stolen directly from advanced college level courses

-aang is just a freshman but zuko has him learning advanced organic chemisty

-one night they were sent out of the library because aang tried to steal zukos answer key because the test was just too hard and zuko yelled at him to stop and they knocked a whole bookshelf over in the struggle of chasing each other

-but after they left it was the first time aang saw zuko laugh

-after that they start to get along and become best friends for life, despite the age difference

-it takes zuko a while to get used to aangs friends loud personalities but one day when hes older he realizes thats the first time he ever had any real friends his entire life

[dancingkirby]

ATLA OC Week Day 5: Secrets

@atlaocweek

Summary: Four girls swap their juiciest secrets at a slumber party, but Naoko is disappointed when hers doesn’t get the reaction she wanted.

WARNING: Underage sexuality without actual sex, mentions of bullying, and some homophobia.  In short, these are not nice girls.

“Shun took me to the theater for my birthday yesterday,” Hana confided, so excited to share this information that there was almost no space between words.  “And while the room was dark and everyone was watching the play, we kissed!  With tongue! And you know what?  I even let him touch my boobs!”  She finally paused to take a breath, then added, “I still had my top on, of course.  I’m not stupid.”

Naoko and her other two friends Etsu and Kazashi made the appropriate oooh-ing sounds.  The four of them were having a sleepover, which was a regular occurrence for them.  Since the rules against idle chitchat at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls were so strict, this was the optimal time for them to catch up on gossip and inform each other of important events in their lives while eating snacks. They took turns hosting, and this time they were at Naoko’s house.  She liked it best this way because she had the largest and nicest bedroom.  

“I take it things are getting serious, then?” Naoko inquired of Hana.

The other girl nodded. “We’re both planning on talking to our parents and seeing if they’ll let us being betrothed.”

Betrothals were not uncommon at the academy; many of the girls in the upper classes had had contracts drawn up already, and even a few of the younger ones.  Naoko didn’t see either set of parents objecting; in fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if they’d already thought of that themselves. On paper, it was a good match…Shun’s family were wealthy merchants, and Hana’s family was noble but short on funds after a series of bad investments by her father.  Both families would benefit from the arrangement.  However, Naoko did wonder what they’d do if the betrothal was arranged and the affianced pair’s infatuation faded.  Hana always had been the most sentimental of the four of them.

“Well, there’s nothing going on in the boyfriend department for me right now,” Etsu said. “But I still have something I think you’ll be interested in hearing.  So Sifu Mingxia asked me to get her a new ink brush from her desk, right? I opened it, and she had a nude drawing in there!”  

“EEEWWWW!” everyone chorused.  As she took a handful of fire flakes, Naoko thought that this was useful information indeed; Sifu Mingxia was a total bitch, and now one of them could potentially use this to blackmail her.  

“And what was more…” Etsu said slowly, relishing in the suspense, “It was a nude drawing of a woman!”

Even better.  It also explained why Mingxia had never been married even though she was like fifty.  

“What, was she trying to hit on you or something?” Hana asked.

“Nah, I don’t think so.  I think she either forgot it was there, or put it there accidentally. I just got the brush without saying anything.”

“Good.  Save it for the next time she gets on your case for being late for class,” Naoko advised.  Honestly, what did that woman expect?  Her class was the first one of the day, at 7:30 AM, and almost no one arrived on time for the first class.

“Well, what about you?” Etsu asked, turning her head toward Kazashi.  “Are you gonna tell us why Okayu tried to challenge you to an Agni Kai last week?”

Naoko gaped. “She did what now?  When did that happen?!” Okayu was the most boring, mediocre, and plain-looking girl in their grade.  The thought of her challenging anyone to anything was downright comical.

“Oh yeah, I think that’s when you were at that dance ceremony,” Etsu said.  “You would’ve loved it.  She was blubbering so hard that she couldn’t even get the words out properly, thus forfeiting her challenge.  So what was that all about, Kazashi?”

Kazashi gave a most wicked grin.  “Well…I happen to know her boyfriend, although he’s probably her ex-boyfriend by now. His name’s Aran, and he’s mega-hot. So I spread a little rumor that Okayu blew Sifu Hongqi in the bathroom so he’d give her a passing grade on the kata test.  And everyone knows how stupid she is, so they all believed it!”

She threw back her head and laughed, and the other three girls joined in.  (Perhaps with a bit of hesitation from Hana?  That would bear watching.)  Naoko had always liked Kazashi the best of the three girls; she was very nearly as ambitious and ruthless as Naoko herself.  

“So are you and Aran an item yet?” Etsu asked once they’d calmed down.

“Not yet.  But I’m working on it,” Kazashi replied. “Now, Naoko, you’ve been pretty quiet tonight.  You haven’t told us about that dance ceremony yet!  It was at the palace.  Surely something interesting happened!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Hana said, opening a bottle of nail polish and starting to paint her fingernails with it.  “I went to the palace for a dinner a couple of years ago, and it was really boring. No cute guys or anything.”

Naoko grinned. “Then you must not have been looking hard enough.  Because I definitely met a cute guy while I was there; a very rich and very powerful guy as well.”  She was intentionally a bit evasive with the details since she didn’t want the other girls to figure out who it was and try to nab him for themselves.

“Sounds intriguing!” Etsu said.  “Was he interested in you too?”

“I think so,” Naoko responded.  “He said I had beautiful hair.  And Father said I could marry him as soon as we get his wife out of the picture!  Got any ideas, Kazashi?”

But to her surprise, all of the other girls’ smiles faded, and they looked away from her, making noises of hesitancy.

“Uh…I’m not sure that’s a great idea,” Kazashi said at last.  “Splitting up a boyfriend and girlfriend is one thing, but…this guy is married?  Getting involved with a married man would be messy.  How old is he, anyway?”

“He’s not old old,” Naoko said, feeling her face twist into a scowl.  “Only thirty-four.”  What was the big deal, anyway?  Why were they all gasping like that?  It was true that the age gap between them was almost twenty-one years, but there were plenty of noble married couples who were farther apart in age then that…including Kazashi’s own parents.  And it wasn’t like she was getting married right now.

“Yeah, that’s, like, super-creepy.  I wouldn’t do it,” Etsu said.

Feeling a mounting sense of desperation, Naoko turned to Hana and demanded, “What do you think?”  Surely she, newly in the throes of love herself, would understand.  However, Naoko was to be sorely disappointed.  

“Well, if you’re really that into older men, maybe it’d be best to check out someone a little closer to your own age first.  Maybe like sixteen-ish?” Hana suggested.  She had finished painting all of her nails, and was waving them around to dry.  Then something appeared to click in her head. “Wait. I think I know who this guy is. Is it Pr…”

Quick as a flash, Naoko was on her feet, had a hand clamped over Hana’s mouth, and was dragging her outside.  She slammed the door behind them.

“Don’t you dare say his name!” she hissed in a voice that was barely audible; she was well aware that the other two girls would have their ears pressed to the door in an attempt to eavesdrop.  “He’s mine, you hear me?!”

Hana nodded, holding up her hands partly in surrender and partly because she didn’t want her newly-applied nail polish messed up.  When Naoko was satisfied that the girl wouldn’t scream, she removed her hand.

“What’s wrong with you?  I…I wasn’t even interested in him anyway!  I have Shun!” she protested.

“Good,” Naoko whispered.  “Let’s keep it that way, shall we?”  Then she opened the door and walked back in to her bedroom like nothing had happened.

The other girls eventually struck up another conversation, but Naoko wasn’t paying attention to it.  She just sat in the corner sulking.  They’d see! While they courted their pathetic adolescent boyfriends, with their acne and barely-visible mustaches, she would be in the arms of a real man.  They’d be sorry when she married the delectable Prince Ozai and became Princess Consort.  Or perhaps…even more?  Father had been dropping hints lately that Ozai might not be content with simply being the spare prince for much longer.  

And if/when Naoko became Fire Lady, she was not going to invite these girls to her sleepovers anymore.  That was for certain.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

The Dragon Egg (Parts 4-6)

Long post because I neglected uploading for a few days. For @secrettunnelatla

It is all about fibs and careful twists. Change a few names and situations and suddenly Ozai is just a nameless man. A vague set of lyrics and verses on a page. A collection of words that shape the story of an abuser and his victim.

It is all the easier, picturing Zuko as the victim. Surely it can’t be her. Father treats her well; he has given her this recording studio. He has rewarded her for her three new singles with a newer car. He has given her nothing but praise for surprising him with so many new songs all at once.

Father buys her so many new stage outfits and lets her pierce her tongue and decorate it with genuine ruby. She has everything. He loves her. He is proud of her. It is only a hiccup, a lapse in judgment when he shows anything but affection. It is the alcohol that makes him smash the windows on her car. She doesn’t remember what he did it for but she knows that it was the alcohol because he has a brand new car waiting for her the next day.

And she drives it to Seicho’s house to deliver her birthday present. She will open the box and find a skateboard and tickets to see her show. Seicho is a delight and a somber presence all at once. In many ways, she reminds Azula of TyLee and that stings.

Sometimes she misses TyLee. Misses that sweet smile. Misses playing make believe in her backyard. Once upon a time, TyLee was going to be her drummer and they were going to tour from nation to nation in a bus with diamond studded tire caps. Once upon a time, she, Mai, and TyLee were going to be the rock trio that the world wouldn’t be able to forget.

And once upon a time, Mai decided that she liked Zuko more and TyLee decided that she liked Mai more. Zuko always had been the more lovable of the two. But Azula is the more successful. She has made a promise to herself that they would regret abandoning her for him when her faces is everywhere and Zuko is a sellout.

Seicho invites her inside, her friends are already there, a girl named Song, a girl named Jin, and a younger boy named Hide.

“Have a slice of cake or a whack at the pinata.” Seicho offers. She holds out a bat, wrapped with skull patterned duct tape and studded with nails. “You can have the first swing.”

Azula is sure that it would only take one good swing for the nails to shred the pinata. “I’ll have a slice of cake. I can’t stay for too long. I have a show.” There is a part of her, a very large part of her that wants more than a taste of this world. A simpler world where goals and aspirations aren’t make or break. “But I had to drop this off for you.”  The skateboard in the box is expensive, it is more than enough to make up for not being able to stick around for the party.

Seicho’s face falls and Azula tells herself that it is only because she hasn’t unwrapped the gift yet. She knows that the smile is forced when she replies, “thanks, Azula. Maybe you can join us next year.”

Regret doesn’t hit her in full until she has already stepped back into her car. By now it would only be rude to change her mind and ring the doorbell again. Maybe this is why it was so easy for TyLee to choose Mai and for Mai to choose Zuko; she tends to choose her career over companionship.

She promises herself that after Audio of Agni, she will make more time for social obligations.

.oOo.

The stage doesn’t quite have its thrill tonight. The energy itself is excitedly frantic, vibrant with enthusiasm but it doesn’t quite reach Azula. It doesn’t matter, she is good at pretending. She knows what she is supposed to feel like--she has felt it before when the band was brand new, when Mai and TyLee were her backup vocalists.

So she emulates the vibe she is supposed to give off. She pretends like the crowds cheers and shouts and claps mean everything. She pretends like their liveliness gives her life too. Pretends like she can feel the music in her body and soul the same way everyone else does. But she only feels empty.

Empty and alone. A disorienting feeling when she is looking upon more faces than she can count.

All the while she sings lyrics that make her stomach squirm and her heart ache. If her father knew that he is the inspiration behind them, she’d have another song to write.

She doesn’t understand why singing these songs hurts so much. She is singing about Zuko and her father, not about she and her father. Or maybe she isn’t singing about her father at all, but a nameless father and his nameless child. Hell, it can be a mother too. Just a vague musical rendition of a dreadful parent who is merely neglectful on a good day.

It dawns upon her that she is the victim that she sings of when she finds herself getting teary on that stage. They think that it is part of the act. They think that she is a stellar actress on top of a damn good lyricist.

She doesn’t correct them. The only thing that sells more than sex is sorrow.

Things change after that. There is more attention, more interviews, more magazine photoshoots, and more simmering resentment from From Ashes To Phoenix. She basks in the limelight and relishes in Zuko’s envy. And with the spotlight shining so brightly, she can no longer see the darkness that had helped put it on her.

****

Seeing her on TV is hell. Even when she isn’t right in front of him, flaunting her riches, talents, and everything he could have had, she is still able to mock him.

These days, he can’t escape her. She is everywhere; on the radio, on the magazines, on the TV, and on posters. He even sees her in the hallways of Caldera Capital High. He sees her there, though she has been pulled out months ago for a private education tailored to her personal schedule. It is just one more thing for him to envy. He has to manage his band and school, of course his progress is slower. Sometimes stunted altogether.

And for his troubles he averages C’s and D’s--B’s if he is lucky--and music that is half done and not nearly what he had imagined in his mind. He knows that he is going to have to make a choice and he thinks that he has begun to make that choice a few months back. He has lost track of how many times he has stayed after class to discuss his grades. He wonders how uncle will take to him dropping out. Should he turn in the forms that are tucked away in his backpack and seal the deal there won’t be any turning back. He will have to make it big. It will be his only chance.

A gaggle of fangirls fawning over the brooding lonewolf with the choker and black nailpolish can only take him so far. It doesn’t leave the hallways. But he does, he evades the teachers and hall monitors and climbs his way onto the roof. Mai is already there, he can see the smoke trail.

“Want one?” She offers.

“I’ll take a drag from yours.”

Mai passes the cigarette. “Have you told your uncle yet?”

He takes his drag and passes it back. “No.”

Mai gives a little hum. “Make a decision and commit, Zuko. Either you tell your uncle that you’re dropping out or start hustling to fix your grades. You have to succeed somewhere.”

He flinches. She sounds all too similar to Azula. She sighs. “Sorry. I just worry about you, Zuko. Indecisiveness is going to ruin you if you let it.”

There are a lot of things that are going to ruin him if he lets them. To some degree he thinks that he is already ruined. That he should just fester in the failure. “I could use another drag.”

“Sure.” Mai replies.

He takes his drag and watches the smoke curl up to the mid-afternoon sky. Mai leans back with her hands behind her head.

“What are you doing up here, Mai?” He asks. “You can actually pass your classes, why are you letting me drag you down?”

“Zuko, I’ve never felt more...up. Sometimes I just need to get out of there.” She spares a glance to the door. “It’s suffocating and smells like cheap perfume and testosterone. I smoke at least a cigarette a day, gym class is pointless anyways.”

He chuckles. He feels right when he is on the roof with her. When he is with her in general. Pessimistic as she nihilistic as she is, he feels the most hopeful when he is with her. Even if it is just for a moment, Azula’s shadow doesn’t envelop and shroud him. Even if it is just for a moment, he can forget about she and her antics and everything her overachieving has helped steal from him. Even if it is just for a moment he can see, truly envision and believe in a reality where he strums his guitar before an arena full of adoring, audio hungry fans.

He makes a decision, he is going tell uncle that high school isn’t for him. That he is meant for...that he deserves better things. As the sun reaches its zenith, he decides that he will truly work for his dream.

****

The darkness floods right back in when she is away from the stage. When the lyrics that echo through the venue become a reality. She doesn’t know exactly what she has done. Maybe she has done nothing at all. He very well may just be in a bad mood. She is texting Seicho when he enters. “Hello father.” She greets with a smile.

He returns it with a blank face and folded arms. “What is this?” He slaps a piece of paper onto the table. He nods for her to read it over.

“It’s a…” she knits her brows, “a printout of our ticket sales.” She looks up from the paper. “What’s wrong with it?”

“How many tickets were sold for the first show?”

“It was sold out.”

“What about all of last week’s shows and the week before that?”

“Sold out.” She says again.

He nods. “Yes, sold out. What about last night’s show?”

Azula swallows, “1,684.”

He drums his fingers on the table. “Would you like to tell me what happened?”

She thinks that it could be a lot of things; that night had also been the night of the high school homecoming baseball game, people might have been short on cash, the time slot had been a tad earlier than usual. All of these answers seem like excuses--she should have a performance more compelling than baseball, she should have had a performance with spending money on, she should have pushed for a more favorable time slot. “It was a smaller venue.” She says at last much.

Wrong answer.

“I was selling out all of my shows.” He slaps the page and she flinches. “These aren’t metal legend numbers, they aren’t even Audio of Agni numbers.”

She wants to point out that he probably hadn’t been selling out all of his shows when his band had been as young as hers is. Instead she very quietly promises, “I’ll do better, father.” She must and she will because he is right. Only 1,684 tickets sold in a venue that could hold 2,000 people? That is embarrassing.

“Maybe if you weren’t fooling around with that tattoo artist… you won’t be seeing her anymore”

“Wh-what?” She sputters. “No, that’s not it! Seicho isn’t a distraction!” She realizes too late that she has gotten too loud.

She closes her eyes and tenses for the strike that is sure to come. When it doesn’t she cracks an eyelid. He hasn’t even closed the distance between them. She allows herself to relax. It is only then that his hand snakes out and finds her cheek.

Reflexively her own hand comes to rub it. She bites the sides of her cheeks and swallows down the cry that is waiting to come up. More than anything she hates knowing that she has failed him. That she has disappointed him. These moments are few and far between, she makes sure of that. But they are still there and she has just given herself one more ill mark. Has put herself one step closer to ending up like Zuko. “I’ll do better.” She says again when she finds the words.

It was never like this before. She glares at the empty bottles. It was never like this--he used to love her. She used to be is gleaming little star. He would yell at her, sometimes until his face went red, but he has never hit her before. She looks at the bottles, but it might be that she has finally made enough mistakes for him to see her as a splendid failure instead of his rising rockstar.

She takes out her phone and taps the screen a few times before holding it up, “see no more distractions. I deleted her number.” She forces a smile. “I needed to focus on memorizing my new material anyways.”

At last he returns the smile. The tightness in her chest slackens, giving way to an optimistic and relieved fluttering in her tummy. He ruffles her hair, “that’s my girl.” He gives her a small hug. “I should know better than to doubt you.” He smells so strongly of booze.

But she has satisfied him. She is still is gleaming little star.