#sokka being a goof

[fanfought]

suki really watched her boyfriend attempt to make a sand sculpture of her face that looked absolutely nightmarish and terrifying and while everyone looked horrified at this monstrosity, she went “i think it’s sweet ☺️” like i don’t think you understand how much she loves that goofball. she is sokka’s biggest fan. he’s a total dork but he’s HER dork.

[bouncybongfairy]

First off, I love your writing and I can’t get enough really. I’ve been obsessed with your atla stuff and I was wondering if you’d be down to write for Sokka. Any smut really but like something like, you’re traveling with the gaang and there’s tons of tension with him. If not no hard feelings whatsoever, just a suggestion.

Do You?

Sokka x Fem Reader Smut

Summary: There's been a lot of tension between you and Sokka for the past couple of weeks. After and heated argument, Anng send both of you to get some air. Sokka finds you in a tavern after a couple of drinks and both your feelings come to the surface.

Word Count: 1.0k+

TW: Smut

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Appa had been sick for the past couple days, meaning you guys were basically stranded until he was better. It didn’t help that you and Sokka had been going at it lately. You weren’t really sure why but everything he did drove you crazy. Anng paired the two of you up to skin the fish for tonight's dinner. The entire time he was criticizing you about how you were descaling it. Bragging about back home he could prepare a fish faster than anyone.

“Oh so since you’re the best and can do it ‘fAsTeR tHaN aNyOnE’ you can do this on your own,” you said, standing up and wiping your hands. 

“Sloppy help is better than no help,” he huffed. 

“Whatever, I'll go help Katara,” you said. 

“Wait no- okay I’ll chill with the critiques. Let me teach you,” he said, reaching his hand out. 

Without saying anything, you walked back over and sat on your knees. He sat behind you, his knees on the outside of your hips and thighs. Giving you the knife and securing your grip with his own. Holding onto the outsides of your hands as he instructed. As he talked, you could feel his breath against the back of your neck. Due to him being so close to your ear, he lowered his voice. Speaking with a soft and gentle tone, making your ears burn slightly. You began unknowingly letting yourself enjoy this. The way you could feel his chest rising and falling against your back. Liking the feeling of his body against yours and his smell engulfing your nose. 

“See,even you can do it!” he said in an extremely patronizing way. 

“Fuck off,” you said, feeling overwhelmed by how much you were enjoying his touch. Also not appreciating his poking fun at you even more. 

“Ugh you’re exhausting, even when I try being nice you push me away. Can't you see that I like -ahem- that I’m like, trying to make an effort!” he said, cheeks flushing red. 

“That’s it! I’m tired of hearing the two bickering none stop. Both of you need space from each other! Sokka you go that way, y/n you go that way. I don’t care what you do, but don’t come back until you figure out why both of you are so insufferable!” Anng yelled, slamming his glider onto the ground. 

The two of you made intense eye contact before walking away. Luckily for you, he sent you in the direction of a local market in the village. The walk gave you a lot of time to think; when he was helping you skin the fish, it felt like he had underlying feelings. Like he was purposely finding an excuse to be close to you. The tone in his voice was different, you never heard him talk like that to anyone else.​​ The way he slid his hands along your arms before grabbing your hands. It was becoming evident that the frustration and tension you’ve been feeling wasn’t caused by anger. 

You finally reached a tavern, it wasn’t much but it was cozy. Drunk men singing and goofing off with each other. A group of women gossiping with each other adjacent to a group of men playing Pai Sho. Immediately feeling out of place, you walk up to the barmaid and ask for whatever she recommended. Which ended up being some type of fermented wine. One of the young men comes up to you, trying to engage in conversation. 

“Are you new to town? I’ve been coming here for a couple years but I've never seen you,” he says, smiling while holding his drink. 

“Oh um, yeah I’m just staying in town for a couple days,” you explain, finishing off your drink and ordering another one. 

“Aww that’s a shame, I bet I could convince you to stay for a little longer,” he said, which made you giggle. 

You were now polishing off your third drink, watching the game. Enjoying the music, making conversation with the other patrons. Dancing with the group of young women from earlier. You didn’t realize Sokka was watching you from the wooden doors. Eventually the young gentlemen who you were speaking with earlier, starts to dance with you. Sokka was visibly getting more irritated, watching his hand travel down your back. Once the guy wrapped his arms around you, pressing himself against you from behind, he couldn’t control himself. Stomping over and pulling you out of the dude's grip. Your heart sank once your eyes fell onto him. Like you’d been caught doing something wrong, looking you up and down with such disappointment.

“We're leaving,” Sokka growled, grabbing you by the upper arm gently. 

“Does she want to leave with you,” the guy asked. 

“Do you?” Sokka asked, looking down at you. Feeling quite tipsy it made you nervous to speak. Like if you opened your mouth, only stupidness would come out. He was looking at you with such intensity and jealousy, you nodded your head in agreement. Leading you out of the building, into an alley behind the building. Giving you two some privacy while waiting for him to talk. 

“Are you mad?” you asked. 

“I feel like I've dropped all the hits I can. I don’t know if this is like… your way of making me just admit it but I like you. If you keep pushing me away every time I come onto you then I just won’t anymore. I can’t take it,” he said, walking over to the river bank. Letting his hair free from its pony tail out of frustration. Falling onto his knees and splashing some cool water onto his face. Seeing how disappointed he was in your actions made you feel stupid. Like you were blind to all his advances and playful teasing and it was too late to let your feelings known. However, you were drunk enough to at least give it a shot. Walking over to him and joining where he sat in the grass. 

“I think I was just nervous -hiccup- to tell you how I felt. Then because I was holding all my feelings inside, I became standoffish. I’m sorry,” you said, brushing the partially wet hair off his face before continuing, “Please don’t think I’m only saying this because I drank. Drunk thoughts are sober words… or is it sober words are drunk thoughts,” you begin making him laugh. 

“Are you gonna make me ask for a kiss?” you asked, he took your offer and smashed his lips against yours. 

Lips melting together as you straddle his lap. He sucked your bottom lip into his mouth, running his tongue over it. Moaning as you started grinding down on his dick print. The alcohol in your system was making you more ballsy, desperately grinding yourself against him. Enjoying the friction against your clit. Sokka’s mouth hung open as bucked his hips up. Gripping your hips tightly, helping work you on him. He was sitting up, back against the back wall of the tavern. You were holding his face in your hands, moaning and panting against his lips. Pressing his forehead against your chest as he started to cum. His hips spasming from underneath, you could feel his length spasm against your core, sending you into climax. Time slowed while fire was pooling in your lower abdomen and you frantically rubbed yourself against him. Letting your head fall towards, letting him support your weight while cooling down. Both of you walking hand and hand, his giving you a piggy back ride once you became too tired. 

“Great, see sometimes a little space does people good. Glad you guys worked it out,” Anng said as the two of you walked to separate tents. 

“Oh trust me, we really worked through our problems,” Sokka remarked before everyone turned in.

[dreamchasernina]

The live action writers hate Aang

I have given myself a lot of time to think about the live action, and reached the conclusion that the writers hate Aang. I dare you to read read this and tell me I'm wrong.

Let me start this by asking you a question? What's the most badass scene Aang has in the first season of the OG show? No matter what you answer is, I know for sure, that scene doesn't exist in the live action. Aang does absolutely nothing to prove the audience he is the right person to be the Avatar, he learns absolutely nothing throughout the show, he doesn't need to look into himself and change his way of thinking. Nothing. Most of the fundamental lessons Aang learns throughout the first season are gone.

The first mistake Aang does in the OG is staying at Kyoshi island too long, letting the attention go to his head, getting too comfortable. He realises he brought destruction to the island and tries to fix his mistakes by jumping onto the Unagi to help the village. That's how he learned the responsibly he holds as the Avatar and finds a unique way to help the village. Well that doesn't exist in the LA. Instead, Kyoshi takes over Aang's body to fight the whole fire nation for him. Aang, himself, does literally nothing.

The spirit world. In the OG show Aang is forced to face his Avatar duty for the first time by trying to save the village that's beeing attacked by Hei Bai. This is his first test as the Avatar and he fails. Not only that, he loses his friend. So Aang has to figure out himself how to get Sokka back from Hei Bai. He figures out who her bai is, himself, understands why Hei Bai is angry and gives him hope, the way Katara gave him hope. So we see that even though Aang failed at first, he kept trying and was smart and compassionate enough to realise what the problem is and solve it. This does not exist in the LA. Aang sees Hei bai in the spirit world, within a second realises who he is and just gives him the Acorn, without having to face him at all!

Another reason I'm convinced the writers hate Aang is the way all the avatars + Bumi treat Aang. Everyone is mad at him for disappearing for 100 years. And look, I get that, you can be mad at him if he ran away from his duties...but he never did! He went to clear his head on Appa and got caught in the storm. And if he hadn't run away he'd be dead, so why are you all so mad at him?! Bumi being mad at Aang could make sense, because in the OG show Aang did spend a significant amount on time of goofing around before he finds out about the comet. But here, it makes no sense! Bumi is mad for no reason. As soon as Aang got out go the ice he took his duty seriously, so please, make it make sense! And the show just glosses over the fact that if Aang hadn't run away he would be dead with the rest of the air benders. Instead of letting Aang feel guilty himself, which he does in the OG show, they just get these characters to hate on him, because they're incapable of making their characters have any emotional depth.

Aang doesn't learn water bending. At all. And there is no logical reason for that. I guess they thought it wasn't that important but please explain to me how you want to make Aang more serious and focused on the Avatar duties but not make him learn water bending? The literal next step Aang has to take to becoming the Avatar?? That is the only clear goal Aang has from the second episode of the show - to find a master and learn waterbending! Make it make sense!

Taking away Aang's talk with Koh. So I assume if most people didn't answer my question above with the Koi fish, they probably said Aang's journey into the spirit world and his meeting with Koh. In the OG show, Aang has to find a way to figure out how to save the water tribe. He does so by going into the spirit world and talking to Koh the face stealer. So Aang had to talk to Koh showing zero emotions so he doesn't have his face stolen. That scene is so creepy and so badass and shows that Aang is really capable, even though he is a kid, he is facing the creepy ass spirit and is doing an excellent job. So when Aang finds out who the moon and the ocean spirits are, it feels deserved, it feels like an accomplishment. In the live action he doesn't have to show zero emotions because Koh is not stealing faces, he's just stealing random people for whatever reason. Koh tells him exactly what to do, bring me a MacGuffin so I can release your friends, Aang just goes to see Roku, no problem, no obstacles to overcome, brings the Macguffin to Koh and he just releases his friends. Wow, really shows us how resourceful Aang is by making him...get an object and give it back to Koh...

And the very last point that I absolutely hated in the show. When Aang goes into the Avatar state and becomes the giant koi fish and wipes everyone out, the live action show goes out of its way to emphasise that that is not Aang in there. Aang is gone. The Koi fish is just rage. and that's that. Taking away ANY agency Aang ever had. Look, I know in the OG show Aang is not in control of the Avatar state either, but we know that's still Aang in there, that's his power he's showcasing. He might not be in control but that's him doing it all, being all powerful. But in the live action, they tell us Aang is gone, that's just his body the spirit is using. Plus Aang does no watebending himself, no gestures like the original where you can see aang in the sphere water bending, controlling the giant Koi fish, showing us how far he's come as a water bender. But in the LA he's just in the sphere...doing nothing because he never learned water bending so of course that's not him doing all this cool shit.

I am so angry over all of this. This is you MAIN PROTAGONIST. and you made him nothing but a vessel to progress the plot. You gave him no character, no growth, no struggles, no power! So no, you cannot convince me, at this point, that the writers of the live action don't hate Aang. Probably as much as they hate Katara.

[fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma]

something that a lot of people don’t seem to understand about Zuko is that:

the guy’s a huge fucking dork. he’s such a goof. a silly guy even.

like when I read fics and some of them characterise him as being all ‘oh I’m so shy abt my bf like I’m gonna be all stoic and tsundere blah blah blah.’ are u kidding? did we watch the same show? like if we’re talking abt Canon Content™️ then,,, look at how he was around Mai??? he was so loving and adoring and goofy and smiley???

like listen, if him and Sokka were to actually date, he’d be such a lil goof about him. giggling kicking his feet under the covers blushing even. cuz this dude runs on Self Hatred so he’d b like: ‘pretty boy??? paying attention to m e ???’ n then he’d go and smile to himself and continue to be in post bf brushed my hand afterglow for like the whole day

[oneatlatime]

Yet More Sokka Thoughts

I rewatched Bato of the Water Tribe for the millionth time and I made a connection I hadn't made before. When Sokka's dad says "Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most" baby Sokka takes it as 'being a man is to lead.' But what his dad is actually saying, which he makes clear in his next line ("right now, that's here protecting your sister"), is 'being a man is to serve.' You can roll those ideas into one and point out that to lead correctly is to serve those you lead. To be a man is to serve, which will incidentally make you into a good leader as well. This led me to two interesting thoughts:

-Where I am so far in the show (The Serpent's Pass), I feel like Sokka has unconsciously absorbed his dad's lesson, but unconsciously only. When things aren't too serious he still likes playing at being the boss. Like when he takes the lead on the 'investigation' into Aang's past lives' crimes in Avatar Day. He's goofing off, sure, but he's also acting in charge the same way he was playing at being in charge of his posse of four year old warriors right at the very start of the show. But when the shit really hits the fan, as far back as the second episode of the first season, Sokka chooses to serve. Usually as a fairly ineffectual human shield. When Zuko's ship crashes into his village, he's not standing on top of his lookout tower ordering his child soldiers into formation; he's standing between the ship and everyone else. In the season one finale, he lets Yue go only after she references that dying for the fish is the duty she owes to her people - how she will serve them for the last time. In that moment, service was a language that Sokka spoke and understood. When Sokka's not in a situation where he has to be serious, he leads by bossing. When things get serious, he leads by serving or by sacrificing, usually himself (or at least attempting to). At this point it's probably a good thing for Sokka's long term survival that he hasn't consciously learned the lesson yet - characters who define themselves by sacrifice have a very slim chance of surviving series finales.

-Do you know how refreshing it is, in this age of Andrew Twat manosphere nonsense, to have a show for kids present masculinity as service to others?

[yourhighness6]

Is Katara "Motherly"? - The Discourse

The whole "is Katara motherly" discourse is a little annoying to me because for one thing its impossible to deny that in canon she acted motherly towards Aang, Sokka, and Toph, with Sokka even saying at one point when he thought of his mother Katara's was the face that came to mind.

But the other problem is that this fits into the shows themes so perfectly of children being thrust into adulthood and enormous amounts of responsibility too easily because of war and the subsequent (or end goals of) genocide, cultural genocide, and colonization. Katara's motherly characteristics are of the show's own making, they're right there in the text and their there for a reason, and although they weren't given enough attention as they should have been, there is no doubt that this is treated as, not exactly a tragedy, but as something bad and debilitating to Katara and her teenagerlike need to goof around with her friends.

But for whatever reason, the fandom seems to think that this characterization is fan made. Katara is supposedly forced into a motherly role by the fandom, particularly the zutara fandom, when in reality it is the show that does this to her. And the whole idea of momtara and dadko is that Katara doesn't have to be the mom anymore. She doesn't have to be the one solely responsible for the chores and the cooking and the emotional labor. She has a partner, and equal, who is willing to put forth the time and energy to assist her in what she feels obligated to do, and to tell her to go sit down sometimes before she burns herself out.

Could the other kids besides Zuko do this? Of course. But as we've already established, everyone in the gaang besides Suki shoves Katara into a motherlike role. Is this their fault? It's hard to say. Toph at least has a heart-to-heart with Katara about it, and Sokka's idea of her as a mother largely stems from trauma.

But my significant problem with Katara's motherly traits comes with the fact that there is no real closure to that arc in the "Runaway". Toph and Katara talk mostly about Toph's parents, and Toph tells Katara that she thinks she is capable of having fun. But other than that, there's nothing. The boys don't have to come to terms with the fact that Katara does not want to be seen (solely) as motherly or put in that position. Instead, the show gives us a few colorful explosions and subtlety implies that it is a little bit Katara's fault that she is seen that way. But again, that's not the fault of the zutara fandom or a reason the trope of momtara and dadko is problematic. It seeks to acknowledge these character traits in Katara, which a lot of kat@angers refuse to do, and give her a way to work past the trauma that caused them and help her adjust to a more healthy amount of stress and pressure on herself for a kid her age.

[sapphic-agent]

So, a Kataang fan made a post about a week ago "asking" (rhetorically, of course) why it's a bad thing Katara acts like Aang's mom. And I just-

First of all, isn't that something that Kataang shippers have been trying to actively dispute for almost two decades at this point? That Katara doesn't treat Aang as a younger brother/son? There's literally an entire post about it from The Headband that's made its rounds on almost every single social media platform.

So which is it, besties? Does Katara act motherly towards Aang or not?

(The answer is yes of course, as The Runaway outright confirms it multiple times. The whole premise of that episode is that Katata acts as a mother to Toph, Sokka, and Aang)

Now, why is it a problem? The fact that I have to explain this is telling for how little a lot of Kataang shippers understand Katara.

Katara was parentified. She took care of Sokka (by his own admission) as well as her entire village after Hakoda left. Even before then really, as she says in the very first episode that she's been doing all the chores around the village since their mother died which was years before that. She was delivering literal babies while basically being a baby herself.

Traveling- and being- with Aang is supposed to represent her freedom and childhood, right? That's what the first episode shows us and what Kataang is built on. But if anything, it has the opposite effect.

Book 1 wasn't terrible. Katara was very free-spirited and joyful in addition to being caring and empathetic. Her and Aang could still goof off together, even if she was doing her best to support him emotionally. You could easily see that as her being a good friend.

But somewhere between Books 2 and 3, that changed. Katara went from being his supportive friend to being his emotional crutch. During The Desert, she bears the brunt of him lashing out (he does yell at Toph once, but he's the most volatile with Katara). He also gets frustrated with her during Sozin's Comet, even though Zuko and Sokka were the ones pushing him. It's always Katara who has to bring him back when he loses control of the Avatar State, risking her own safety.

(This isn't emotional, but it was Katara who healed Aang after Azula's attack. She was the one who stayed by his side, staying awake for hours to make sure he would be okay. I like to look at it as a physical representation of their relationship. Aang's wellbeing is always put on her shoulders. If she isn't there to lift him up, he'll fall. And if he falls, the world falls. No 14 year old should be responsible for that. But it's so easy for the show- and y'all- to shove it onto her because this part of her character is never addressed. It's just used as a testament to her caring nature)

Even without Katara's parentification, this causes a major imbalance in their relationship. It puts Katara in charge of managing Aang's pain and being emotionally unsupported in return. The Southern Raiders is proof that Katara can't depend on Aang emotionally the way he does her. She's been his shoulder to cry on through everything and the one time the tables turned, she couldn't even get that from him.

And the saddest thing about this? Katara says to him, "I knew you wouldn't understand." She never expected Aang to support her. She's become so accustomed to being there for others that she's never once expected anyone to do the same for her, least of all Aang.

(But Zuko does. He's the only one who recognized Katara's pain- admittedly, mostly because it was directed at him- and tried to help her. Without being prompted. I gotta give this one to the Zutara folks)

In what world is this dynamic healthy for a romantic relationship?

[dylanaz]

The new show just feels like a watered down version of the original.

Character flaw? We don't have it.

Solutions? Pretty much handed to them.

The episodes don't feel as satisfying as the original show because they don't learn a lot by the end of an episode (because they're nearly perfect). It's like watching a history documentary instead of a show that is supposed to teach you morals and dilemmas. Also, none of the episodes are focused on a specific character.

The biggest character defining moments? Nahhh. Because they're perfect, they don't exist. Sokka will learn the watered down version of accepting that he is a bad fighter. Instead of assuming that girls can't fight.

Katara won't steal anything because she's not that desperate to learn waterbending. Also, because it's not feminist, she won't have any bad treatments due to being a girl. Oh and she never got to save earthbenders from the Fire Nation through the power of her persuasion. She doesn't need to feel like she has to be in charge because Sokka will take care of her.

Zuko won't save anyone's life besides his Uncle's, because he is a tolerable jerk. He won't call out Zhao and win, just to not be cruel. He's neither kind nor angry. Oh and Zuko tried to KILL Katara eventhough in the original Zuko tries to explain his situation.

Aang learning to accept his fate as the last one of his kind? We don't have it. Instead we have Gyatso tell him about it and Aang is like, "Ok. I won't be sad anymore". And Aang doesn't want to goof away. He just wants to save the world.

Uncle Iroh doesn't feel as genuine as he is in the original.

I understand that the new show needed to change the script, but they should've still kept the heart and soul of the show. The character flaws and the lessons, character defining moments should've stayed right where they were. Plots should've revolved around those. Or they should've made their own versions to demonstrate Zuko's kindness, Katara's determination, Aang's dilemma and Sokka's acceptance more strongly.

[saijspellhart]

Sokka’s sexism was not an important growing point for his character - an Essay

I’ve seen all the discourse online about people up in arms about the toning back of Sokka’s sexism in the Netflix ATLA. (Almost everyone I have spoken to have brought it up as a reason to hate the Netflix ATLA) I think that anger is knee jerk, and misguided. It never mattered WHAT the Netflix adaptation was changing, people were always going to be angry about it. They could have announced Momo is a girl now, and people would have raged. Momo being a girl would have changed NOTHING about the series, but people would have been outraged.

Just like I believe Sokka being sexist or not being sexist really changes nothing in the scope of the story, themes, and is not the character growth people claim it to be. Hear me out. Let’s break it down and think about it in terms of themes and character development and how it affects the entire plot.

Sokka is introduced as being cartoonishly sexist in the very first episode of ATLA. As a device simply to make Katara rage. He keeps this trait for a grand total of 3 episodes until episode four when a girl whoops his ass and his sexism is cured forever onward. In the span of a 30 minute episode Sokka’s sexism was given a what for and through that he was transformed into a better man?

Imagine if Zuko’s mental and emotional journey had been solved in a 30 min episode, and wasn’t a lessen he had to repeatedly fail and try and fail and try time and time again. Imagine if Katara’s waterbending journey, or obnoxious controlling nature was just solved in a 30 min episode and not something she struggled with and fought for the entire series.

But let’s say his sexism is super important as everyone claims. Let’s explore it.

When is it challenged ever again in the entire series?

When Sokka leads the invasion on the Fire Nation, there aren’t a bunch of women in that army. He leads an army of men.

When Sokka needs to find a sword master to teach him the art of sword play, it’s a man. He never needed to overcome sexism to accept a non-traditional master.

Nearly all women, sans Toph and Katara, that have any long lasting influential moments in Sokka’s character development are women he has a romance with. Woman whose motivations and agency rely on a man.

The Kyoshi warriors that kicked his ass? What of them? Sokka has to rescue Suki from prison. It’s not tackling some gender equality issue. Suki is a woman in distress and Sokka is the man who comes to rescue her. (Cute and romantic, but hardly tackling a gender cliche.)

Do the Kyoshi warriors ever engage in any actual battle that matters to the plot and win? Not really. Instead the important role of the Kyoshi warriors is to be nurturing to Appa while he’s lost. A traditionally female role. And to provide a way for Azula to overtake Bah Sing Sei. (Don’t get me wrong, I love the girls, but the show never again utilized them in a way that challenged sexism.)

Sokka didn’t need to overcome sexism to respect Azula. Azula commanded and earned all the respect she needed. Sokka didn’t need to overcome sexism to respect Toph. Toph earned his respect by kicking the ass of everyone around him.

At no point in the rest of ATLA was Sokka’s sexism ever challenged after episode 4. It never helped him become a better leader because he never had to lead women whose respect he needed to earn. It never helped him develop his warrior skills. It didn’t affect the plot and his growth as a character any farther than getting a hilarious butt whooping in the fourth episode.

Sokka overcoming sexism wasn’t well written, it was a GAG. A goof. Ha ha funny, man got his butt beat by women and was forever cured.

If we really think about it seriously, as character growth, people who have had sexism so rooted into their beliefs don’t just overcome it because one woman broke the status quo and kicked their ass. That’s lazy writing. It was lazy in the cartoon and it would have been extra lazy in a show that had even less time to explore the issue.

Sexism, if they REALLY wanted to tackle it as a serious issue, should have been a problem Sokka had to challenge several times, and have his preconceived notions proven wrong and dismantled. It should have made him a better leader, or a more respectful fighter.

Instead it’s treated like a joke.

The Netflix ATLA decided to tone it back with Sokka, because from a writing standpoint it made more sense thematically for Katara to challenge sexism with the Northernn water tribe. They didn’t have the time or the budget to poorly tackle the issue of sexism twice, so they focused tackling the issue where it mattered to the plot and where it mattered to KATARA’s character journey more.

I’m tired of people screaming how much they loved his sexism and how the Netflix adaptation is rotten without his sexism. It’s not a lack of media literacy that it was cut. It was media literacy that led to it being cut. A writer recognized when the message was important and when it wasn’t.

That’s all I got to say. You don’t have to agree with me. But these were my thoughts on the matter.

[burst-of-iridescent]

Your response to that anon makes it pretty clear they're right lol. Katara did support Aang unconditionally, especially with his trauma as she could empathise as someone who is ALSO a survivor of genocide and the last of their people (water bender and air nomad). But Aang also was supportive of her- when she wanted to free the earthbenders, him and sokka helped, he wanted to refuse to continue teaching from Pakku because he wouldn't teach Katara, he helped her with the Painted Lady, and the Southern Raiders comment is not as condescending as you think. Yes, it was shitty, but you really think they would've turned their back on Katara? They shouldn't have said that to her but him and Sokka know if she kills Yon Rha, it will not bring her closure. And as for her doing all the labour, that's blatantly untrue. In Bitter Work the whole argument between Toph and Katara is that Katara is (rightfully) mad that Toph only wants to do her share, arguing that everyone around camp does their part.There’s multiple episodes in which the gaang help pitch the tent and perform campsite duties. There’s a whole episode dedicated to how katara and sokka are both sick, resulting in aang having to run across the world to retrieve them medicine, and he continued trying to get the frogs for his friends even when captured. There’s an entire episode dedicated to how the gaang cannot get anything done without sokka, who usually manages their schedules and itineraries and helps ensure that they’re on track. There’s plenty of moments in which aang and katara are goofing off, and sokka gets mad at them for not sticking to his carefully curated and meticulous schedule and for putting a wedge in their plans to save communities (see: imprisoned and the painted lady). There’s moments when toph assumes responsibility; there’s moments when aang assumes responsibility. and then there’s moments when none of them have any clue on what to do, when they literally act like children navigating a world that’s constantly trying to kill them. Because they are children, which in episode 1 we see Aang telling Katara she is still a kid. Whether you ship it or not, a big part of their relationship is that they are children. They're a team, they all support each other. Saying she shoulders everything and that Aang is just selfish and callous is a blatant lie. They have helped each other throughout the series a lot. There are moments when they both say and do things that aren't good to eachother, but that doesn't make their relationship instantly toxic. Aang kissing Katara w/o consent was wrong, it's why I don't ship it, but saying Katara was reduced Aangs mother figure, especially when he played a large role in her acting like a kid again, and also grew up communally so the concept of a mother isn't something he would even think about. The constant adultification you insist on of Katara is just weird, there's a reason black and brown women hate it so much, especially when katara has stated she dislikes being seen as motherly

wow that is a whole lot of words you're trying to shove into my mouth, huh? don't worry though; unlike you, i know how to make a good argument, so let's go through this flaming pile of garbage you've dumped in my asks to see exactly what that looks like!

i don't know where you got this idea that i think katara does everything for team avatar while the rest of them sit by and twiddle their thumbs; i have never said that, and i never will. my argument isn't about katara's relationship with the gaang (though for all that she says they divide the chores equally in the chase episode, you will notice that much of the time it is always katara you see in the background cooking, training aang, or doing work around camp - make of that what you will), it is about katara's relationship with aang, and the severe imbalance of emotional labour in that relationship.

let's look at how many times katara supports aang in the show when he's in need of it:

S1:E3, The Southern Air Temple: katara pulls aang out of the avatar state when he's grieving over the loss of his people, then holds and comforts him afterwards.

S1:E12, The Storm: katara listens to aang's regrets over running away, assauges his guilt, encourages him, and ultimately inspires him to move on from his past and start anew.

S2:E3, Return to Omashu: katara listens to aang's worries about bumi and tries to reassure him.

S2:E9, Bitter Work: katara coddles aang when he's sad about not being able to master earthbending, motivating him to keep going and trying to convince toph to give him an easier time.

S2:E10, The Library: katara pulls aang out of the avatar state again, this time actually putting herself in danger (the only one to do so, you might notice) by walking into the middle of a sandstorm while aang is in an highly volatile state of extreme power. keep in mind that katara knows exactly what can happen when aang isn't able to control himself, because of that lovely incident back in book 1 where she was burned thanks to his recklessness, and yet the duty of calming aang down falls to her yet again.

S2:E11, The Desert: aang snaps at katara and then leaves her to take care of herself and the rest of the gaang all on her own in a highly dangerous environment. don't worry though, she'll still find the time to sympathize with him and comfort him, though he certainly isn't going to apologize and will, in fact, have this lovely exchange with her instead:

"What's anyone else doing?! [Pointing his staff at Katara.] What are you doing‌?!"

oh nothing aang, just keeping everyone alive and together, and being the entire reason they survive the desert at all. thanks for the support, though!

S2:E12, Journey to Ba Sing Se Part 1: katara reaches out to aang multiple times in this episode, offering her love and support, and ultimately helping him to snap out of his depression over appa's loss (he still hasn't apologized for his behaviour in the previous episode, in case you were wondering).

S3:E1, The Awakening: katara tries to help aang deal with his feelings of guilt over Ba Sing Se, heals him, brings him food, and even stays behind to look after him (funny you don't see either sokka or toph doing that)... all while dealing with her own sadness and anger over her father. aang does notice this, by the way! though naturally, he does nothing about it.

S3:E9, Nightmares and Daydreams: i'll cut this one a little slack, because sokka and toph do try to help out with aang's anxieties too. note, however, that katara checks on aang five separate times in this episode alone - far more than either of the other two by a clear margin.

S3:E17, The Ember Island Players: katara is the only one to notice aang is upset after the play, goes to see if he's okay and... well, you know how this one ends.

let's do a little tally and... that clocks in at a whopping 10 times that katara offers aang her love, support and comfort, including almost all of his lowest moments.

now let's look at the number of times aang supports katara when she is in need of it:

S1:E9, The Waterbending Scroll: aang encourages katara to waterbend, pushing her to have faith and be confident in herself, allowing her to waterbend successfully and defeat the pirates.

S1:E18, The Waterbending Master: aang defends katara against pakku and cheers for her during her fight; he does also, however, undercut her very real anger at pakku and tries to dissuade her from fighting at all under the impression that it's for him instead of the injustice that's been done to her so... we'll consider this a wash.

S2:E17, Lake Laogai: aang rests a hand on katara's shoulder in wordless support after jet dies.

S3:E8, The Puppetmaster: aang pulls the hand-on-shoulder move again while katara cries after defeating hama... except this time, sokka's on her other side doing the exact same thing so it can't even be counted as an emotional support moment exclusive to aang, the way all of aang's are to katara.

final calculation: 2, 4 if i'm being generous. four against ten, and even if you combined all of them together, aang still doesn't provide even half the depth of support and care that katara does for him in just a single incident.

see how that might be what we call an imbalanced relationship?

They shouldn't have said that to her but him and Sokka know if she kills Yon Rha, it will not bring her closure

except who brought up killing yon rha? aang. who immediately conflated justice with revenge? aang. who pushed his own culture's values of pacifism onto katara? aang. and who was ultimately wrong about blanket forgiveness and inaction being the path to closure for katara? aang.

you don't need to take my word on it. katara corrects aang herself when he inaccurately assumes she did what he wanted her to: "But i didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him."

if aang had his way, if katara had never confronted yon rha, her rage and grief and resentment would've simply continued to fester inside her. katara made peace with her trauma on her own terms, by finally getting to see yon rha for what he really was: not a nightmarish bogeyman who left her powerless and afraid, but a weak, pathetic, human man who didn't even deserve the mercy of death, and whom she was able to reclaim her power over.

aang doesn't extend to katara even a fraction of the empathy, understanding and faith she always offers him; rather, he instantly jumps to the worst judgements about her intentions, preaches to her about how she should heal from her trauma, and only deepens her stress and anger while she's reliving the worst moment of her life.

that is not support. that is not friendship. that is aang making katara's struggle about himself, just as everything else in their relationship already is.

saying Katara was reduced Aangs mother figure, especially when he played a large role in her acting like a kid again, and also grew up communally so the concept of a mother isn't something he would even think about

buddy, i assure you i'm not the one making katara aang's mother. you can take that up with the writers who made a self-referential joke about katara acting motherly to aang (unless you think "stop rubbing your eye and sit up straight when you talk!" is somehow a romantic thing to say to your future husband), who have katara coddle aang multiple times, who framed katara holding aang's dead body like the virgin mary holding jesus, and who literally had her dress up and pretend to be his mother.

and for your information, katara is a motherly figure - not just to aang, but to every member of team avatar besides zuko (and suki, if you count her). that's not my opinion btw, as you seem to believe. that's canon, confirmed by both sokka and toph in S3:E7, The Runaway:

Sokka: When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture. Toph: The truth is sometimes Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. She's compassionate and kind, and she actually cares about me. [Wipes away tears from her left eye.] You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom.

so no, anon, i'm not the one "insisting" on katara's adultification. she was adultified the moment her mother died, because she was forced to step into her mother's shoes - and she did it so well that she became a surrogate parent to her own older brother. she is a child who was forced to sacrifice her childhood, and who will never be able to find it again. that is the fundamental tragedy at the heart of katara's character, and an integral part of what makes her who she is.

there's a reason black and brown women hate it so much, especially when katara has stated she dislikes being seen as motherly

really? women of colour hate being pushed into motherly roles, and seeing female characters like themselves being forced to do so? damn, i wonder if there's any way that i, a south asian woman living in southeast asia, would know that?

i don't need you to tell me what brown women think and feel. i understand first-fucking-hand what we go through, because i've seen it in my own female relatives, in my friends, in their families, in every aspect of my society. i've felt the expectations of my culture on my gender since i was a child, and that is just one of the many reasons why i ship zutara: so that at least in a fictional world, some fictional brown girl is able to have an equal relationship with a partner who respects her, admires her, supports her, cares for her, and loves her just as much as she does him.

i'm glad we can both agree that katara hates being seen as motherly. i hate it too, which is why i despise kat.aang, because the last thing that katara needed after losing her childhood being a mother was to lose the rest of her life to it too, stripped of her agency and legacy, forever stuck looking after a man who will always make her do too much labour without once recognizing it, let alone returning it.

now kindly get out of my inbox with your faux progressive concern, and take your subpar media literacy skills with you while you're at it.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

love love love ur parentification analysis on sokka and katara especially katara’s section! it puzzles me so when KA’s say ZK’s do not understand the show nor katara when to me it’s so obvious we do 😭

thank you so much anon! I’m so happy that my post resonated with you!

A while back I saw a Tumblr survey about favourite characters and ships. It basically showed that for people whose favourite character is Katara, Zutara is the most popular ship. Obviously the Venn diagram between Zutara shippers and Katara fans isn’t a circle, but I think the overlap contributes to why so many ZKs are passionate about Katara. Also, ZKs who are Katara fans tend to be pretty flexible with Katara ships: many people like Harutara / Jiangtara / Yuetara / Sukitara / Azutara (though most shippers of Azutara tend to be Azula stans first and Katara stans second). What’s really funny and a little sad to me is that non-ZK Katara fans who dislike her canon arc get accused of being ZKs by antis (this happens weirdly often to @sapphic-agent). It’s like some antis can’t comprehend the idea that people might just love Katara without the ship war.

I generally like reading POVs from Katara fans of all ships, but I recently discovered that I tend to disagree with POVs from Zukka shippers. They often try to defend Katara’s “childhood” by pointing out that Katara sometimes goofs off and Sokka also takes responsibility, so she’s not just the “mom friend.” To be clear I’m not disagreeing with those points, but I don’t think downplaying her parentification trauma is defending her childhood, especially since goofing off & being impulsive make her parentification more realistic, not less. It feels kind of disingenuous to accuse the fandom of being the ones to parentify her when The Runaway exists, especially since they downplay Katara’s parentification in order to play up Sokka’s parentification. There’s nothing feminist about ignoring the invisible labour performed by a woman in a cartoon, not when brave women IRL have been agitating to recognize care work for literal decades. I wrote my undergrad thesis on invisible labour performed by women, especially women of colour, in radical activist spaces…so I feel really strongly about this.

I think it’s interesting that a lot of ATLA fans claim Katara shouldn’t be with Zuko on the grounds of her colonial trauma, but refuse to entertain the notion that maybe she shouldn’t be with Aang (a kid who evades responsibility) because of her parentification trauma. The murder of her mother stems from imperialist violence, but her subsequent parentification stems from patriarchal gender norms around divisions of labour and assignations of responsibility. The patriarchy is a thing in ATLA, and it’s canonically something that Katara hates almost as much as the Fire Nation (incidentally, reason 27363729 why the fic Southern Lights is so special to me is how it deftly explores both anger at a colonial apparatus & anger at your own people for their patriarchal oppression).

[atla-confessions]

Sokka has a lot of moments where he's the level-headed one making practical decisions for their trio or growing group. He also has a lot of moments where he lets a childish naivety guide him into trouble. He's logical, scientifically-minded, can stay focused and grounded at times when Katara and Aang are goofing off or being distracted, and grows to be a brilliant strategist. He's protective and has a good head on his shoulders.

Sokka, Katara, and Aang sort of take turns with who is the most mature and competent for the situation at hand, not because one of them is more adults or suddenly becomes more adult, but because they're all kids trying to play at being grownups and happen to have different scenarios that play on their strengths or bring out their weaknesses.

People who say Sokka is dumber or more immature in the group are very transparent.

X

[seyaryminamoto]

Scenes of a Peaceful World: Sokkla Saturdays 2024

Day Nine - Power

Rated: T

On FF.net//On AO3

Nighttime didn't always offer a spectacle as glorious as the one they would be privy to on that very special occasion: a meteor shower, witnessed from the heights of the Dragon Springs, a location unaffected by nocturnal lights that hid away the weakest stars, for the Dragon Springs stood at the peak of a grand mountain chain, distant from grand cities and settlements.

It was, thus, a place out of reach for most people, and only one peculiar human family was bound to visit it frequently.

"Alright! Snacks are here!" Sokka announced, proudly: he opened the first bag of sizzle-crisps only for the youngest children and their dragons to rush him, nearly tearing it to pieces. "Hey! Behave yourselves, you wild fiends! Azula! Azula, help!"

"You can hold them off, love! I believe in you!"

"B-but…! ACK!"

Unsurprisingly, Sokka wound up on the ground, overcome by their onslaught: Yuuna and Shun cheered as their dragons growled happily, everyone vying for the bag of snacks, as expected. Hotaru watched them with amusement, unwilling to involve herself, whether to help her father or join the younger children. Azula kept an eye on them as well, whereas Rei continued to work hard at their day's main attraction…

"I'd say he should be here helping you set up instead, but… watching him goof off that way never gets old," Azula told Rei, who laughed at her assessment.

"I've noticed. You seem a little smitten with him, I'd say," Rei teased. Azula gasped.

"Me? With that handsome, funny, strong man? Why… don't tell him that, of course. It'll go up to his head," Azula said, dramatically. Rei laughed, shaking her head as she continued working, tweaking the gears as she set every piece of her remarkable invention in place.

The telescope Rei had spent the past years crafting was finally complete: a beautiful work of engineering and science, with a polished metal finish, stylish and considerably large. By this point, she only had to calibrate the finishing touches, but by all effects, the telescope was as good as ready.

"I wonder how much we'll see tonight… the weather's clear," Rei said, excitedly. "I hope it will be amazing. I watched the meteor shower last year too, but the telescope wasn't ready…"

"You did a great job with it," Azula smiled, squeezing her daughter's shoulder. "And we're grateful that you wanted us to use it with you, too."

"Well, now… I think it's natural to want to share your biggest academic achievements with your family first," Rei grinned, peering through the scope and smiling. "Okay! It's ready now!"

"Is it?!" Sokka asked, sitting up again. Azula smiled, glancing at him.

"I thought you were moribund after being mauled to death by a little princess, a little prince, and two fearsome dragons…"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Of course I am. I'm dying…! Come save me, Azula…!" Sokka groaned dramatically, stretching his arms and legs out to further enhance his performance. The kids giggled, still devouring sizzle-crisps as though they weren't even slightly spicy, and sharing them with their dragons, too.

"I suppose I have time to spare to save him from this nefarious fate… it'll still be a few hours before the meteor shower, right?" Azula asked Rei. She nodded.

"Can I look already, though?" Hotaru asked, eagerly. Rei beamed.

"Of course! Come, come, this way… here's how you can calibrate the lenses," Rei explained, bringing her younger sibling to sit before the telescope.

The playful chaos between the kids and Sokka wouldn't dwindle easily: with Azula in such a cheerful mood, the children were perfectly content to disregard her requests that they gave their father a break and eased up on the food. Even so, Azula had a good enough card in her sleeve worth using against Shun, in particular.

"Ah, but what have they done to you, my handsome stud?" Azula said, kneeling beside Sokka. He stuck his tongue out.

"Murder. That's what they did. I'm all… murdered," he said, stiff. The kids giggled at his statement. Azula hummed.

"Well, that's a shame. Here I thought you'd get to witness the meteor shower properly with the telescope, but if that's impossible, then I must send you off the right way…!"

Shun cried out in disgust when his mother leaned in to kiss her husband, fully. Yuuna groaned once Azula's body obstructed her access to the sizzle-crisps: the mother slowly but stealthily clasped the bag and snuck it out of their reach before breaking the kiss. Her amused husband couldn't seem to stop smiling.

"Damn. I'll have to play dead more often, that was fun…"

"Oh, my! I'm so powerful I brought you back to life! That entitles me to the rest of the sizzle-crisps, then…"

"No! Mom!" Yuuna gasped, mortified while Shun gagged, still annoyed over witnessing the very brazen display of affection between his parents. Sokka, of course, was delighted and dazed, unable to stop laughing.

Their evening continued to be joyful and boisterous, as they enjoyed their picnic dinner while they waited for the right hour to arrive for the meteor shower. After the meal, Rei ensured to teach all the children how to look through the telescope, which Yuuna naturally took to, her curiosity ever triggered by anything related to investigation and science.

"What a loud, messy, fun family," Sokka smiled, wrapping his arms around Azula, who sat on his lap. She smiled too, closing her eyes and relaxing against him. "I think we did a decent job, didn't we?"

"Hmm. Decent. I suppose that's one word to describe it," Azula said. Sokka chuckled. "Think we could've done better?"

"More like I don't want to boost our ego that much. You think I shouldn't know how handsome, smart and funny I am for that reason, after all…"

"You… how dare you listen in to conversations I was holding publicly? Shame on you, Sokka," Azula huffed, playfully. Sokka chuckled, kissing her cheek.

"I love you so much," he said, earnest. Azula's smile grew gentler upon hearing those words. "I refuse to fathom any world where I wouldn't."

"Hmm… do you, now?" Azula smirked. Sokka huffed.

"I said I did. You don't believe me?"

"I mean, I constantly marvel over the fact that, despite everything, we made it this far," Azula said, with a soft chuckle. "It didn't seem likely, at multiple instances in time. Our troubled beginnings… neither of us ever imagined we'd wind up like this."

"Well… no. But all relationships do start by being strangers," Sokka pointed out. Azula snorted.

"Strangers and enemies are entirely different concepts," she said. Sokka smiled guiltily. "I'm just saying… the world where you somehow decided not to love me might actually exist."

"Pfft. Any Sokka who meets you and chooses not to love you, or to love someone else, is an idiot. So… not me, not whatsoever. He is now deemed unworthy of being called 'Sokka', and that's that," Sokka declared, proudly. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"Very well, then any Azula who doesn't fall for you is no better. Our alternate selves are idiots, we've made that official now," she said. Sokka snickered.

"You know… there are so many stars up there," he said. "And there's stuff like… theories of the universe, you know? Rei's told me about those before… multiple worlds like ours, where matters play out differently?"

"She's mentioned those theories before but… I can't say I follow. It feels rather arbitrary for countless possible branches of choices to create parallel worlds every time. It's like… say your sister chose between eating papaya or mango during breakfast one day, and whatever choice came from it, it results in one world where she married Aang and one world where she married… uh, I don't know, Jet, maybe."

"Jet?" Sokka repeated, with a disbelieving snort. "I'm not sure Jet's the marriage type, but fine. Let's pretend she reformed him that much, huh? All because she ate… papaya. Or mango."

"See? Doesn't that seem strange?" Azula asked, amused. "It would imply that at some point or another, I could've made an entirely stupid choice much like it, like… eating something that sat wrong with my stomach."

"Azula: nothing sits wrong with your stomach. It's made of solid steel or something. All the spices you eat prove it."

"Not true, you said that once, Toph tried to bend it to prove you wrong and she couldn't do it, which means…"

"It means it's made of a stronger metal than anything she can bend," Sokka laughed. Azula cackled, shaking her head.

"Well, then…! Say that I never became such a big fan of spices. That, as a child, my parents refused to feed me any. Which means my resistance to spices was insignificant, and then because of that, on the day we were supposed to meet for the first time, I ate sizzle-crisps and… I got diarrhea."

Sokka burst out laughing, dropping on the ground as his shoulders shook: all four of their children glanced in his direction, astounded by his reaction. Azula smiled and waved a hand dismissively at them, even if their attention flustered her slightly.

"Is Dad okay?" Hotaru asked.

"I may have broken him, but… we're just theorizing on things. Nothing more to it," Azula said, with a carefree smile.

"He's so goofy," Shun smiled, shaking his head before focusing on the telescope again.

"What's so funny?" Yuuna asked, curious.

"Diarrhea," Azula said, with a wicked grin. Yuuna smirked.

"Oh. Good."

It didn't surprise Azula that their youngest would react as she did: if someone was entirely above being disgusted by gross subjects in their family, it was her. Yuuna giggled to herself, unaware of what the actual joke was, but delighted by whatever thoughts of diarrhea that she, somehow, found amusing.

"Okay… that was a good one," Sokka chuckled, shaking his head and sitting upright to hug Azula again. "Alright, well… maybe in the diarrhea world, we got together faster because we met later, in wholly different circumstances, and… we weren't enemies at all at first!"

"Huh. Damn. Now you actually make me wish I did have it," Azula said. Sokka laughed against her neck. "Oh, well. We'll never know. But… hey. We were discussing the notion that maybe there was a world where…"

"Nope. I won't allow it," Sokka smirked. Azula rolled her eyes.

"I'll give it another shot…"

"You will fail every time, love. I'm not going to lose against you on this one…"

"How about… a world where we were arranged to marry?"

"Say what?"

"Indeed. And because of how stubborn we are, we would have fought against the marriage, come hell or high water…"

"Uh. I see…" Sokka hummed, biting his lip. "And… say I ran away."

"Exactly!"

"And you did too."

"I… did?"

"Because you didn't know I'd run away as well, which means we bump into each other on our respective escapes. So… in this setting we don't even know what the other looked like. Which means that we ended up running from each other, but together!"

"Say what?"

"Hear me out! It'd be hilarious, because then we wouldn't realize that we were with the person we were supposed to marry, and we'd fall in love on our own terms, running from our families…! Only to end up discovering, in the end, that they'd arranged our marriage to each other and that the whole thing was a lot more agreeable than we thought at first."

"Y-you…" Azula scowled, glaring at him from the corner of her eyes. Sokka smirked giddily. "Okay, well…! How about a world where… where I got banished instead of Zuko?"

"What? You? That makes no sense…!"

"Makes enough sense if, say, my mother wasn't the way she is but… if she was much more cutthroat, you know? Maybe she… she killed my father too, and not just my grandfather. Maybe she went for both… and she was actually the big hazard to defeat. And because I knew what she did to my father, or I had strong suspicions about it, she banishes me…!"

"Well… that means you'd travel by the Water Tribe eventually," Sokka reasoned. Azula raised an eyebrow. "And you're smart, so… you wouldn't be traveling aimlessly. You'd look for allies. You'd go to the Water Tribe to find them and then we'd strike a deal to work together and overthrow your mom! There you go! We fall in love in the process, and…!"

"Goodness," Azula groaned: she couldn't stop smiling, despite herself, as Sokka beamed brightly.

"And you become Fire Lord Azula, and the world is bright and perfect after you take the throne!" he declared.

"Isn't that so smooth and easy?" Azula smiled at him. He snickered. "And you're the Fire Lady, of course."

"Of course, of course I… hey!"

"There's no reasoning with you," Azula smiled, shaking her head. "How about a world where I married someone else?"

"Pfft. Big mistake. You'd meet me and regret it in a heartbeat," Sokka smirked.

"And what if you married someone else?" Azula asked, amused.

"Same is also true, wouldn't be long before I filed for divorce and ran into the sunset with you. Easy as that," Sokka declared, smugly. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"Alright, then… what about the most miserable possible option, then? A world… where you and I never met."

He raised his eyebrows. Azula waited eagerly for his reaction… and it didn't take long to arrive, in the form of a dismissive blown raspberry.

"Boo! That's a shitty world, is what it is. I don't want it. Bad idea, Azula. You should feel bad," he said. Azula chuckled. "Can you imagine how boring that would be? A world where we'd spend our lives knowing something's missing, but not knowing what it is, exactly?"

"A world where we'd always envy this version of ourselves, I suppose," Azula said, closing her eyes.

"Yikes. Nope. Awful. Stop giving me terrible nightmares. If I wake up in the middle of the night after a nightmare about this specific scenario, it's on you."

"Fine, fine. I'll bear the consequences," Azula chuckled. "Not that they'd be that bad, knowing you. You'd likely just… huh. Hmmm… well damn, I kind of want you to have that nightmare now, come to think of it."

"I can still wake you up for a random fuck in the middle of the night without nightmares involved, you know?" he whispered by her ear. Azula laughed and nodded, pressing her face to his neck.

"I'll appreciate it if you do. Sorry if that was a really awful scenario, though…"

"If? No 'ifs' about it, girl, that's the worst possible timeline," Sokka shook his head, certain. Azula smiled, leaning close to kiss his lips softly.

"Well, we have no idea if it ever happened… if any of those worlds we discussed are possible," she said. "So we can just… use the powers of our imagination to dismiss any such notions and cling to yours, alright? In any world, in any event…"

"Any version of us who chooses anything but this is a loser. That's my conviction," Sokka grinned. Azula chuckled, shaking her head.

"You're adorable. But… convincing, anyway," she said, glancing towards the kids. "We really did a good job. Took a broken world and set it on a new course… pretty much picked up the pieces of this mess to build our own. And because we did, we have our chaotic progeny… and a love people now write ridiculous tales about, elaborating on every little element of our relationship."

"We're just that much fun," Sokka smirked. Azula smiled and nodded.

"You know… I don't really care much, if those other worlds are any different. If those versions of you and me are smarter or dumber than we are," she said, turning in his arms. "I think the fact that every choice we made brought us here… it's something I can't help but treasure with everything I am. The lives we've built… I'm proud of everything that has gone into bringing us this far."

"And I know what it means for you to say that," Sokka smiled sadly, stroking her hair affectionately before kissing her lips softly. "It hasn't been the smoothest ride, but we did make it. We get to witness so many wonderful things now…"

"Indeed," Azula smiled, huddling against him. "Every day we spend together is another day where we can witness… well, I suppose I could call them the scenes of the peaceful world we built. And it's all because… we changed everything."

"We found the power to do so," Sokka nodded, hugging her tightly. "And who knows? Maybe we can transform more worlds besides our own… could be we can get Rei to put in some kind of magical power into her telescope, you know? And then we can reach into that world where we never met, and tell each other where to go and who to find…!"

"Okay, now you're talking nonsense…"

"We could, though! It'd be like reaching through the Spirit World, you know? C'mon, it's not that crazy…!"

Azula laughed, shaking her head as Sokka continued trying to convince her. His fingers nudged her, teasing her flanks, his lips peppering sneaky kisses over her cheek and neck…

She loved him so much, and that feeling only ever seemed to increase further as she processed just how much he loved her, right back. There was no denying that their love had changed their world… and as much as she had teased him, she wanted to believe that it would do so in any world, any universe where their paths crossed anew. They had endless potential, she remained certain of that… and it seemed to her that there was no better way to explore it than to do so by each other's side.

"I saw one! Rei, Rei, Hotaru, I saw one!"

Yuuna's voice startled her parents: the youngest girl was currently looking through the telescope when the first flashing meteor crossed the skies above.

"I wanna see! Me next, me next! Come on, Yuuna!" Shun exclaimed, eyes widening eagerly at the sight of the shooting stars.

"Well, I'll go after, then," Hotaru smiled, looking at Rei. "I can…?"

"Sure you can," Rei smiled. "All of you have one round each… then, the telescope's all mine!"

"Awww…"

"I have research to do, kids! It's my job…"

Azula chuckled upon hearing the siblings protest but submit to Rei's straightforward terms. Sokka nudged her gently, kissing her cheek softly anew.

"Think we're part of that group? Do we get a chance at the telescope too?"

"We'd better get over there if we want one, I fear," Azula smiled.

"We can always sneak a glance when she's taking notes, though…" Sokka snickered. Azula rolled her eyes and smiled, clasping his hand firmly.

"Come on. Let's wait for our turn," she said, pulling him to his feet.

Sokka clasped her wrist before she dragged him towards the telescope. He pulled her back towards himself, catching her in his arms. Azula raised her eyebrows… then, she smiled into the eager kiss he pressed against her lips. She didn't hesitate to return his affection, not even when she heard Hotaru's gasp, let alone Shun's groans of disgust: her hands cupped his cheeks as she pressed her brow to his.

"I'd choose you in every world, too. Any Azula who wouldn't… is certainly an Azula I'd pity," she said. Sokka smiled. "Her loss, really. There's no better husband…"

"No better wife, either," he said, kissing her softly again. "Not in this world, or any other…"

"True for you as well," Azula whispered against his lips. "We… we ought to make the most of those shooting stars. Don't people usually make wishes with those?"

"Some do," Sokka acknowledged.

"Might be the way to do it. That's how we'll fix the worlds where we never met," Azula smiled. Sokka smirked.

"Is that so? We're gonna use all the stars to wish to be together in every world possible?" he asked, snickering. "Okay, then… I really need a round at that telescope now."

Azula laughed, kissing him one last time before leading him the rest of the way to the telescope: Shun's disgusted faces faded quickly once his mother messed his hair, pulling him into a quick hug. Hotaru grinned at them, and a rather enthusiastic Sokka hoisted her with an embrace, startling her with his powerful grip. Yuuna giggled, pointing at the skies, and Rei sat behind her, stroking her messy hair affectionately, failing to tame it – for no one could ever succeed at doing so. A blanket of placid darkness spread across that blissful night, dotted with sparkles of infinite possibilities, all spread out before them… but out of so many lights, the peaceful world they'd built seemed to be the brightest one out of them all.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

So you've mentioned before that Zuko doesn't show any sexist behaviors but I'd like to point out a few scene just to see how you feel about them.

"You have quite the appitite for a girl." A very tropey sexist statement (which, yes, is played for laughs and I don't think he meant it as an insult but it does show that he has an idea of how girls either should be or usually are)

"Nice try Avatar, but these little girls can't save you." I can't really recall him ever saying anything similar about male warriors? I know there aren't really a lot of examples of male warriors that Zuko fights, but it still feels very,,, pointed and focused on the girls part.

"I'll save you from the pirates." "Looks like somebody found herself a master." These are both very patronizing lines that he says toward Katara, but he never says anything similar to Sokka or Aang (Aang I can dismiss bc he's just a prize, not an 'enemy', plus, Zuko tends to go for racist comments instead) or like, any other male, ever?

"I thought girls liked these kinds of things." Once again, is played for laughs at social ineptitude but again, shows a 'all girls are the same' mindset

Him picking at Ty Lee also felt very misogynistic to me? Like he was looking down of feminine behavior.

"What is with you?" As he is frusterated that Katara hasn't automatically forgiven him, yet to Aang he is very humble and genuinely tries to prove himself as well as accepting the lack of forgiveness as just due and offering himself as prisoner. Again, he just doesn't show the same amount of respect to Katara as he does to Aang or Sokka.

Like, any of these on their own, I could dismiss for one reason or another, but when the examples pile up it shows itself as a pattern of viewing women as intrinsically different from men, expectant of 'womanly behavior', dismissive of feminimity, and dismissive of female threats.

I love Zuko, but I definitely see this as one of his flaws and something he's got to get over along with the rest of the bullshit he was indoctrinated with. (Which is one reason I love his and Katara's friendship because like, if there was anyone who's Not Gonna Stand For That Shit, it's Katara ksbdjdnd)

Let me split the difference here

Not sexist, just an asshole

Zuko picked on Ty Lee because, much like IROH, she was a cheery person that was trying to get Zuko to lighten up or at least stop with all the unnecessary rage, angst and aggressiveness. We also see him get pissed at ALL OF HIS FRIENDS and physically attacking Aang in the finale because they're goofing around instead worrying about the war like he is.

When Zuko thinks happiness is not acceptable, he lashes out at any living thing. Boy literally snapped at a frog for not indulging in his angst to confront his current/former enemies and apologize to them. It's really not fair to act like he was picking on Ty Lee in particular, and that the ONLY reason for it was "girly girl" - especially when "The Beach" literally has Zuko himself reach the conclusion that he is lashing out at everyone else to deal with the fact that he's angry at HIMSELF, HIS actions, HIS doubts, HIS conflicting feelings. This is not about Ty Lee at all.

The same can be said about his entitlement to Katara's forgiveness. He offered to be the prisoner of ALL OF THEM when he was trying to make amends, and when they all rejected him, Katara very much included, he accept it.

Then Toph, Aang and Sokka all came around, forgived and befriended him. Everyone was chill with him. Everyone, except Katara. She was the odd one out, the constant reminder that it was not gonna be that easy to let the past stay in the past.

Zuko was trying his best to be a better person, but old habits die hard, and there was a person not doing what was more convenient for him, so he threw a tantrum. There is nothing special about that person being Katara, or any girl.

"Looks like somebody found herself a master" was also not at all about gender. Zuko mocked Aang for being "just a child" and for not having a father. He also humiliated Sokka in the first episode. OF COURSE he'd try to taunt Katara during fights.

And she DID get a master. We saw it happen. Aang was already a master of air (the element he used the most in fights), Sokka only got one in book 3. Their power-level remained the same, Katara's changed, right after she reached the North Pole, specifically to look for a waterbending master - for Aang, sure, but it's her element too, and Zuko KNOWS that she stole a scroll and used to teach herself. Zuko connecting the dots is not him assuming that a woman can only improve if she has the help of a man, it's just him having a brain.

He isn't mocking her for being a girl that needed to be taught by a man, he is mocking her for thinking she could defeat him, even after a power up - typical battle taunt, that Zuko engages in ALL the time, with basically every foe he goes up against.

And that also ties into:

Not sexist, just "Villain Talk"

Taunts like calling the Kyoshi Warriors "little girls" that can't protect the Avatar, or mocking Katara for finding herself in a situation of "damsel in distress" with the pirates, COULD reveal that Zuko is sexist and, much like Sokka and Pakku, didn't believe women could be competent fighters... if we didn't know him.

Zuko literally grew up with AZULA, someone who, in his own words, is a prodigy that is good at everything, does stuff with ease, and can be compared to the freaking Avatar. He and Iroh literally agree that it's less dangerous to risk it all traveling through the Earth Kingdom than risking being captured by her.

He never has any issue or doubt regarding Azula, Mai and Ty Lee as fighters. He doesn't throw a tantrum over needing June's help with his new plan to capture Aang. He SAYS he doesn't respect Katara as a fighter, but he's constantly in battle mode whenever he's around the any member of the Gaang, yes, even Katara, by herself.

Zuko, as a villain, says shit he doesn't mean ALL THE TIME. We see him use Ozai's line of "I'll teach you respect" against a member of his own crew, and say that the safety of said crew doesn't matter - and then go and save the guy's life. He says he'll give Zhao a scar, and doesn't do it even after Zhao tells him to AND calls him a coward.

Zuko thinks he needs to be aggressive, piss people off, and even be downright cruel, because that's what he was taught - but deep down that's not what he wants to be, nor what he already is. The same applies to his lines that imply he doesn't think women can be competent fighters. He knows that's not true, but he thinks he needs to act like that, to "play that role" because he literally was disfigured for NOT being cruel, for NOT treating people as disposable, for NOT wanting to fight, for NOT posturing as "macho", for NOT acting like he was better than everyone.

Sexist VS Sixteen/Clueless

"You have quite the appitite for a girl" and "I thought girls liked these kinds of things" feel, to me, like more of a result of Zuko being VERY clueless about social interactions and kind of relying on "tried and tested" stuff that most people around him tend to say/expect.

If you want to count that as being sexist instead of just said something sexist without meaning to, fine - but then it's time to revoke Katara's crown of "feminist queen." She was super happy when Toph joined the Gaang because she wanted someone to agree with her that some of Sokka and Aang's jokes/behaviors were immature and/or gross. TOPH. The character that is very clearly not all that feminine when she has a say on the matter and is the time to literally spit during a fight to show her disdain for the oponent, something Katara was already supposed to have learned two episoddes before.

And while you didn't mention that line, in the finale, when Zuko asks Katara to help him "put Azula in her place", Katara doesn't snap at him for supposedly being sexist (and I personally don't think this was about gender, just about their bitter rivalry and that idea that he can only truly succeed if she fails, and vice-versa) but a lot of the "Zuko is sexist" uses that as evidence, yet they never seem to care that, according to that interpretation of the scene, Katara is being complicit in Zuko's sexism towards his sister.

Oh, and Sokka, who was supposed to have unlearned sexism after the Kyoshi episode, told Aang not to answer to "twikle toes" because it wasn't manly. He also told him that, to win a girl over, you can't be too nice. It's played off for jokes and meant to make him look clueless, just like Zuko's scene with Jin.

If we're gonna call Zuko sexist for passing comments that are nowhere near as relevant as the way he is shown to consistently not treat women differently than he treats men, we're gonna have to do the same to every character - and reach the conclusion that even Katara is sexist.

Now, onto the inevitable question of:

"Does that mean the show itself is sexist?"

As some of you might have noticed, I tend to place "said something that can be taken as sexist" in a different category to "legitimately has sexist beliefs/behaviors on a very constant basis." I know that's not how everyone looks at these things, but I genuinely think it's the most accurate way to describe the nuances of it all.

I'd say Avatar is a show that has MOMENTS that could be seen as a little sexist, but overall it very clearly, and proudly, took the stance of "women deserve as much respect as men", and fully expected the audience to see the characters as equals, with the things like their genders not mattering to how one thinks of them. For that, I'd say it's unfair to label it as sexist just because of the odd questionable scene. It's taking the exceptions and trying to pass them off as the rule.

And I think the same logic applies to Zuko as a character. He has moments in which he might demonstrate some light sexism (or even intentionally fake sexism to piss someone off), but if you look at the real context and pattern, it's clear that even as a villain he never actually seem to treat women differently from men - it just so happens that when he was a bad guy he, naturally, wasn't used to treat people well. He was a jerk, but he was a jerk to EVERYBODY, all the time, no distinction made.

[faewild-moonchild]

You become what would have saved you.

Katara lost her mom. It tore her world apart. Being told her whole life it was scary, but they'd be okay if they were together. She tried to become what Kya left behind, a dependable maternal figure who holds the whole world together. But if, when the raid happened, had she not been 8 years old, and stronger and braver, she could've fought and it might've ended differently. Katara grows, and learns how to fight, and faces her deepest emotions. She goes to war, she rallies crowds, she does things because she feels like they're the right thing, just like her dad.

And Sokka lost his mom too, and his dad, and his sister and his tribe. Kya wasn't the end for Sokka, she was the beginning. He tried to become what Hakoda needed, a fearless warrior, who could take on a whole ship single handed. But none of this would have to happen if the world wasn't so cruel to wage war for 100 years. Sokka grows, unlearns hateful lessons, overcomes loss after loss with grace. He goes to war, he keeps his kids safe, he goofs off and plans meticulously to make sure everyone's alright, just like his mom.

Do you ever think they'll look at the other one day and go "oh, oh, it's you. You saved me"

[redrikki]

Watching the liveaction Avatar. The action looks good. Sokka has a few lines that make me chuckle even if the actor feels flat. The kid playing Aang can actually act. Katara's bread and roses speech was well delivered and classic Katara.

On the other hand, the writers wouldn't know subtly if they fell over it. The shoehorning of the cartoon's opening into the scene in the meeting hall made me cringe. The costumes look cheap and the Water tribe parkas look way too thin.

What bothers me most is the erasure of the main characters ' rougher edges. Aang didn't run away like he did in canon, but get lost trying to clear his head. Sokka doesn't piss off his sister so much with his misogyny that she rage bends the Avatar free. Katara and Aang don't draw Zuko to the village by goofing off on the trapped ship. I think they all lose something when they're too perfect. Sokka calling Aang a coward here doesn't land like it would in canon because this version he isn't.

Aang calming himself down with Gyatso's memory was touching, I guess, but in a very different way than Katara's canon line about being his family now.

Overall, this felt like a needless cash grab with 1/3 the heart of the original show. I'll see how I feel by the end of the season.