#sokka being sokka
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Alright so, you know that song “PERCEPTION CHECK” by Tom Cardy?
Now imagine, Sokka as the Bard, Zuko as the Rogue and Suki as the Barbarian (idk she’s a warrior it just matched).
And the cloaked figures? The rest of the Gaang, Aang being the Child.
It might be after the Boiling Rock breakout or some probably canon-divergent event, they’re trying to get back to the rest of the Gaang after whatever.
You can’t tell me this wouldn’t be in character
I NEED to see that animated😂 pretty please to the animators of the fandom I rly rly wanna see that🥺
#atla#sokka#zuko#suki#bard sokka#rogue zuko#d&d#perception check#please animate this#I rly wanna see this#this would be amazing#and so funny#you can’t tell me this wouldn’t be in character#for all of them rly#please fandom people make this happen#Spotify#avatar the last airbender#avatar legend of aang#avatar aang#aang would be the child#katara#toph beifong#cloaked figures tm#sokka being sokka#zuko being a disaster in the background#suki just there for the chaos
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I love the first season of atla
#baked bean originals#avatar the last airbender#atla#aang#katara#sokka#before i watched the show everyone told me he was such a silly guy but he had the biggest stick up his ass#he acted like a miserable babysitter the entire season#while katara was busy being a revolutionary and aang was busy being a silly guy or the avatar#yeah i kind of ember island ified aang here but it's for the bit
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I love "i would kill for you" ship dynamics but what about "i would stop killing" ship dynamic??
I would lay down my sword for you. I would change my nature and go against everything i've known. I would resist the easy way out of solving my problems. I would give up the adrenaline of battle to stay by your side and make tea instead. I'm not sure I know who I am without a weapon in my hand because I've had to fight for so long but for you I'm willing to try and figure this out.
It must be hard. To put down your weapon that's protected you for so long. It's allowed you to stay alive it's kept you from getting hurt--physically and mentally. Because you've never had to worry about a real relationship if you think you'll be dead at the next battle. And you feel naked without it and it feels like you're ripping off an extension of yourself. Are you even whole without it? Are you worthy of being loved if you can't prove it by risking your life? And yet they've found someone who's asking them for something much harder than dying in battle on their behalf. They've found someone who wants them to live. And that's much more terrifying.
#i know this sounds like the 'bad guy falls for good guy' which can be fun but thats not what i mean#anyway. this wasn't quite zukka but i do think it aligns with my au of zuko not dying on the throne and sokka retiring his sword to paint#and living like piandao in the mountains. urging zuko to retire and zuko no longer needing fire bending and not knowing what to do with#himself if he doesnt have to fight#so he uses his bending to make tea instead :)#aka this is how divorced zukka can still get together#zuko being upset bc sokka chose work over them in the first place but so dodnhe#but he gets a second chance in retirement#if he can give it up
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Shoutout to all fanfics that have my sweet soft boys sleep like this! <33 You're so real for that!
(also, if you have fanfic recs that feed me this well do tell me!)
#Zukka#prince zuko#sokka#snuggling all..platonically........#just boys being boys#sharing body heat#in the middle of the earth kingdom#atla#avatar the last airbender
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another late @zukki-week entry, for day 2 // skinny dipping
and as a special treat it comes with @erisenyo's fantastic fic And Babe, (What Do you Mean) We Ain't Even Dating that this scene is based on!!
#id in alt text#befORE someone feels like being haha funny on my post#yes yue is watching over sokka's bare ass yes she is shining her best most flattering moonbeams on them#yes she supports bisexual endeavors#also!! this comes with a twitter bonus iykyk#im trying to upload it on ao3 too but its still giving me pROBLEMS will be up one day I prommy#suki#sokka#zuko#zukki#my art
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Izumi (steambaby) sketches.
#zutara#atla#avatar the last airbender#steambabies#atla izumi#zuko#katara#atla art#atla fanart#zuko x katara#katara x zuko#fire lord izumi#atla oc#fire lord zuko#katara of the southern water tribe#steambaby#Hello Izumi!#She's got her dad's dry sarcasm and her mom's Stare of Judgment���#Uncle Sokka's perfectionism and Auntie Toph's tendency to give nicknames to anything that moves#Auntie Suki's Kyoshi Warrior training (because of course) and Uncle Aang's love for animals#Auntie Azula's poker face and Uncle Iroh's stragetic mind! And love for tea. And wisdom (which is overruled by her awkward self)#She's a daddy's girl and momma's best friend. They'll all braid each other's hair and go to terrible plays and do vigilante stuff together#She's got blue fire and a blue baby dragon named Tui and an arctic wolf named Agni. And yes that's the right name order. Deal with it.#She probably has a nonbender baby brother. Lu Ten is a swordmaster and the most lovable human being on this planet#Maybe another baby sister. Waterbender. Absolute MENACE. I'll think about it.#Or maybe she's an only child#Who knows!#I'm just here for the vibes and drawing pretty people#You guys come up with headcanons for her. I'd love to read them!#I don't think I'll do anything with her any time soon so...
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Sokka, trying to be more friendly to Zuko after becoming Aang’s firebending teacher: relax, guy, I like gay men
Zuko, sweating profusely: that’s nice but…I’m not gay
Sokka, who has been daydreaming about kissing him, KNOWING his fantasies were based off of some fact: [squinting] I don’t believe that
#memes#avatar#avatar the last airbender#atla#sokka#zuko#zukka#zukka memes#I just love this audio it’s so funny#relax I like gay men#Zuko aka mr gay gayman the gay man#im not gay#NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE THAT ZUKO#I like to think that Sokka has like#cringey middle school anime drawings of him and Zuko kissing#he doodles in the middle of aangs bending lessons#in between hassling Zuko and being a general nuisance#he needs his hobbies#and I support them 100%
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atla modern au where suki & zuko are life guards for the summer and sokka just keeps drowning
#i have the feeling sm already though of this bfr but i just had this idea & i LOVEIT#atla#zuko#sokka#suki#zukki#sukka#zukka#zuki#sm PLS write that im begging and crying#i just love the idea of these 3 being so fucking stupid#sokka faking the hell out of it and zuko is almost tired of his bullshit#keyword almost#sukis just having fun with all this#at some point theyll start taking turns to save him
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projecting my want to be in an outdoor onsen rn on them
#zukka#atla zuko#atla sokka#atla#avatar the last airbender#atla fanart#my art#my entire world shifted after being in an outdoor onsen in 20°F and in the snow#hhh i want it back
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So long I've been out in the rain and snow - but winter's come and gone, oh a little bird told me so
good evening zukka nation - image description in alt, as usual!
#important detail: Zuko feels so safe with Sokka he sleeps belly down with his eye with like 30% vision out and his good eye hidden#zukka#zukka fanart#sokka#zuko#zuko avatar the last airbender#sokka avatar the last airbender#sokka / zuko#zuko / sokka#bethrodal water tribe necklace zuko#golden ear cuffs sokka#they're 19 and 20 here with three years of sokka as ambassador and zuko being the firelord#atla#atla fanart#this took me like 4 hours trex arms are not my friend rn but i was DETERMINED
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i am disgustingly late but for women’s day i wanted to appreciate the mother figures of the world :)
#atla#atla fanart#zuko and ursa fanart#kya sokka and katara fanart#avatar fanart#aang fanart#suki fanart#toph and katara fanart#juST to clarify the last one is not me saying katara is a mom friend bc like. she’s 14#im more saying that it’s literally canon that Toph looks more to katara as a mom than her own mom sooooo#Idk I needed them being soft#anyway hi happy women’s day (very very late uhhhhh)#women’s day
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friendship bracelets for the gaang <3
[ID found by clicking alt on the piece]
#i cry#i love them#i love them so much#i cry thinking about them being happy#my trashy art#avatar the last airbender fanart#avatar the last airbender#atla#atla fanart#the gaang#the gaang fanart#gaang#aang#aang fanart#zuko#zuko fanart#sokka#sokka fanart#katara#katara fanart#toph#toph fanart#toph beifong
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i really personally enjoy calling them the sun (zuko), the moon (sokka[’s first girlfriend]) and the stars (suki). it just makes sense to me alright please dont question it
#i was yapping to my friend about the atla comics and then the topic of suki being zukos bodyguard thing came up and i was instantly like#zuki my beloveds !!!!!!#and so i was obliged to draw them#and then i had the sukka doodle lying around so i decided to clean that one up and then there was just no stopping me#avatar the last airbender#atla#zukki#zukka#sukka#zuki#zuko#suki#sokka#ceesar(t)
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anyway zukka is so fucking good it's about zuko feeling like his bending will never be good enough and then meeting this brilliant badass nonbender boy it's about sokka feeling underestimated/unseen and zuko seeing him as so talented and intelligent that he's literally irreplaceable it's about zuko seeing himself as irredeemable and sokka treating him like an equal
it's about both of them growing up lonely and finding company in each other it's about both of them being surprised by how easy it is to be around each other it's about sokka talking and zuko listening it's about zuko having trouble understanding people and sokka being endlessly patient and helpful
it's about both of them growing up with warrior fathers who expected them to be warriors and turning out to be softhearted diplomats
#mostly it's about zuko being utterly fucking obsessed with this dorky ass beautiful man#oh my god it's so good#zukka#atla#avatar the last airbender#atla zukka#atla zuko#atla sokka
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*in the western air temple when the gang have finally gotten used to Zuko*
Sokka: heyy *flirtatious wink*
Zuko: um hi?
Sokka: you're really cute when you smile
Zuko: .... WAIT WHAT- THIS, THIS IS FLIRTING!?
Sokka: mhmm
Zuko, having an existential crisis: so all these years, when we've been fighting and you looked at me funny, or winked or smirked, YOU WERE FLIRTING!?
Katara: and they say you're the stupid one, Sokka
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ficlet under the cut
The crate tipped with a sudden lurch and broke open on the ground. Zuko spilled unceremoniously with the motion. Inelegant. Graceless. Normally his movements held much more regality, but he'd been kidnapped and stuffed in a scratchy box and out of the water for some indeterminable length of days, so cutting himself some slack here felt appropriate.
It wasn't much brighter outside the stupid box. His scales were dry, his head was killing him, and the floor held a pleasant cool against his mounting fever. He really needed water soon. Every part of his body felt... scratchy. Discomfort would escalate into pain, and then asphyxiation. He would suffocate if he dried out. Idly, he wondered how long it would take. The humans seemed to know. They hadn't acted worried yet.
"Our latest bounty." The voice looming over Zuko was muffled in weird places. "I thought it might spark an interest. You collect fire fish, isn't that right?"
Zuko bit down a hazy groan and fumbled to prop himself up. The loss of the tile's cool against his cheek was one he mourned, but there would be time for relaxing when he found a way out of this mess. He could barely think straight. The humans—the pirates who'd ransomed him from the girl in blue—were standing guard around him now. He could see their boots. They were facing all the same direction, same way the voice was talking towards, and Zuko turned to observe.
The surrounding space was large, a room, and very dimly lit. This wouldn't normally be an issue, being that he was a mer, but his headache made his eyes lazy and bad at adjusting to the dark. If he squinted, he could see the ripple of light along the walls. Blue. Weird. In the direction of the pirates' attention, something like the outline of a table was visible—as large and imposing as the room itself. A single shadowy figure occupied a seat on the far side. He looked weird with the backlight. Zuko's vision was getting spotty.
He didn't get much chance to scan the rest of the surrounding space, because the pirate captain decided to be a jerk and grab his hair. It'd long since escaped its neat topknot, now bunching and sliding strangely in dry heat. The pain and the change in angle made Zuko rapidly lose sight of the shadow man.
"This one's quite a specimen." The pirate tilted Zuko's head back, baring his throat—maybe as a joke; it was always hard to tell if humans knew the significance of such a display—and lifted him enough to catch the light. So their potential buyer could get a better view.
Zuko would like to rip the pirate's skin off and feed it to him, but he was weak with dehydration, and his previous struggles against the man's crew had left him exhausted. All he managed was a low hiss. If humans could understand mer speech, he’d be cursing them as soundly as possible. Someone was standing on his tail. Not that it made much difference. He doubted he could have swung it if it wasn't pinned.
"I've seen a lot of the fire mer in my day, but this one's real pretty. Don't feel bad turning the offer down. We'll keep 'im if you won't." His crew laughed. Bastards. Zuko could hear the leer in the pirate's voice. It made him dizzy with anger.
Then a low grind echoed softly, and the humans cut their chatter short. Zuko distantly registered the shadow at the table moving. What made that noise? Was it his chair? He stood, rounded the massive table, and drew closer. All Zuko could see was a dark, unfocused blob. Vaguely humanoid.
"Yeah, don't be shy! Come get a closer look!"
The fist in his hair tightened. His scalp burned. The fins all down his back shuttered, and a stinging ache began to form in his gills. He needed water. He needed to get out of here. He shouldn't have wandered so close to the shore, even if that pretty girl in blue seemed so friendly at first glance. She did sell him out to these pirate scum. He should have known way better.
Even standing an arm's length away, the lighting continued to cast shadow on the pirate's potential client. It could be reasoned, then, that Zuko and the humans around him were washed in the room's best luminance. Certainly his scar could be seen clear as day. Maybe his tail was pretty, but there were parts of him imperfect. Maybe the stranger wouldn't want to buy him for that. Maybe Zuko would be stuck with these idiot pirates forever.
A smooth voice came from the stranger. "Release him."
"Sure, sure."
The pressure on Zuko's scalp vanished. He collapsed to the cool tile with no more grace than before, even further disoriented, and with a worse headache. He grit his teeth in frustration. That bastard was still on his tail.
Cool fingers tilted his chin up before he could lift his head on his own again; he hadn't seen the shadow man crouch down. Startled, Zuko yanked back and hissed a second time. He made sure to reveal far more fang and fan far wider with his fins; he just wanted these stupid humans to stop poking and grabbing him however often they pleased. Was that too much to ask? He wasn't an ornament. And he sure as heck had no intention of being a pet.
The stranger's face was close, and shadowy, and out of focus. Zuko's head was killing him. The room spun.
"The shape of the fins—” The stranger’s voice began.
“Really something, isn’t it? Never seen a mer so fancy before.”
There was a beat of silence, then the cool fingers returned to Zuko’s jaw and held him firmly in place. He growled. It didn’t make a difference. He was exhausted and hot and vulnerable, and everyone could tell. There was no way to stop them from doing as they pleased.
“There’s a scar.”
“Wasn’t us, mate. Looks like the beast’s had it for a while. I think it adds to the aesthetic, don’t you agree?”
Zuko glared. It was the sort of one-sided remark he’d only accept from Uncle Iroh, though Azula had made attempts to express similar sentiments in that weird way of hers. He’d always hated the scar. At least the monster who put it there was dead now.
The stranger gave no comment. He reached another hand out and pushed Zuko’s hair aside, away from his eyes. Zuko did his best to meet the unfamiliar gaze as steadily as possible, despite the awkward backlight. He was being stared at. He refused to show how unnerved it made him. His trembling and fever didn’t help much in that regard.
Finally, after a dreadful length of scrutiny, the shadow man spoke. “How much do you want for him?”
Zuko could hear teeth in the pirate’s smile. “How much are you willing to pay?”
“Ten-thousand.”
Zuko didn’t know how humans calculated their currency. He’d assumed mer in general to be expensive, but they called him a stupid something fire fish, and it sounded like exotic. Even so, the pirate captain seemed shocked. He let out a high chuckle.
“Well! Show me the gold and you’ve got yourself a deal!”
The stranger waved an uninterested hand over his shoulder, and another grinding sound reverberated through the floor. Zuko couldn’t see the source of the sound with multiple different shadows clouding his vision. Judging by the pirates’ hushed tithering, their payment had been offered.
“Excellent! Pleasure doing business with you, as always.”
“Zaheera will see you out.”
The group broke formation around Zuko and floated away, whispering excitedly. Though they’d been awful to him, he couldn’t help a flicker of fear at their absence. At least with the pirates, he knew they’d avoid causing permanent damage. He knew they’d want to sell him for the highest price possible. Now, he had no idea what to expect. This stranger could have any number of sinister plans in mind; Zuko had certainly heard the horror stories. All young mer were warned about the brutality of humans, and now he was at the mercy of someone who really wanted him. This was bad.
The stranger let him go, and the world tilted as Zuko crumpled. He was very dizzy. And angry. And he really wanted to sink his fangs into human flesh.
But when he turned (against his better judgment) to snap at his new captor, a firm hand was already pushing down the back of his neck. The same way one might handle an unruly pup. Zuko was too tired to be insulted by the gesture. He wasn’t a pup anymore, but a move like that with the human’s advantage was enough to subdue even a full-grown mer.
“Watch out with that one!” The pirate’s faint voice called back. “Quite a monster at full strength. He killed two of my men when we—”
“Get out.”
The heavy thud of the door confirmed their absence, though the human didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. He ducked another snap of Zuko’s teeth, and ignored his crackly snarl, and slid his arms beneath scratchy scales. The world tilted again. Zuko would consider puking if he wasn’t so close to blacking out. The human was carrying him. Impressive. Zuko was heavy outside the water. His fins trailed the floor as they moved, but he was very much in the air, solidly in the man’s grip. Almost cradled, even if he was too big for the pup-hold to have effect a second time. The use of such familiar techniques should have rung a bell in his mind. Zuko’s headache and exhaustion wouldn’t let him dwell on it.
After a dizzying stretch, something wonderful happened. Zuko heard water. The noise was still muffled, and it faltered clarity with every stray tilt of his head, but Zuko knew what water sounded like. He’d been fantasizing about it for the past few days.
There was a splash, and with distant elation, he felt his fins trail. He wasn’t lucid enough to hold back the happy trill.
“I know.” The man huffed, and it rumbled through his chest. “I know—those bastards.”
The water rushed up around him, deliciously cool, salty, clean. It took Zuko up to his gills to realize he’d been lowered into a pool of some kind. It was shallow, but not cramped. He drew a deep breath. That felt very nice. The hands were gone.
He didn’t bother confirming he was alone before passing out soundly.
<~><><~>
Zuko was alone when he came to, and his headache had finally retreated to the realm of faint discomfort. Incredible what a good long sleep in water could do for one’s health. The pirates hadn’t put him in a tank. They were mad about what a fuss he caused the first time they brought him aboard, and they’d rightly concluded he’d be easier to handle if he was dehydrated and exhausted and dizzy. They’d doused him with lukewarm buckets every few hours, just to keep him from dying. Zuko was relieved to be back in water now. Even if trepidation about the uncertainty of his new circumstances wouldn’t let him relax.
The pool he’d been placed in was shallow; he couldn’t move without some part of his tail skimming the surface. It was still comfortable in spite of that. The edges spanned a decent length, so he could turn with ease, and the basin interior was cut from smooth, white stone. His fins shone stark against it. The pool itself seemed to be laid into the ground, flush.
Zuko scanned his surroundings while he waited for something to happen. He still seemed to be indoors. The walls here weren’t as high as the one from before—from the sale pitch—and most of them were made of a clear material. It shone with sunlight from outside. The rest of the space was occupied by greenery. The taller ones reaching the ceiling had been planted in beds in the ground, surrounded at the base with bushy, leafy shrubs, and brilliant flowers, and crawling vines. The faint sound of water also trickled through the maze, but Zuko couldn’t see the source of it from where he was. It was peaceful. Uncle would love this place.
But Zuko hadn’t forgotten how he ended up here, and he had no illusions about being treated fairly, even if he’d been left undisturbed in such a pleasant area. He had to keep his guard up. He was being held against his will. He was trapped on land with no way to escape or get home. He didn’t have much experience with humans, but so far they’d only beaten him, used him, or treated him like a pretty ornamental object, and he had no reason to believe this behavior would change soon. He had to be prepared for the worst.
In truth, he really wanted to murder someone. The urge had become so intense during his captivity with the pirates, and he hadn’t had a real outlet, being close to dying of dehydration. Now that he was rested, his jaw nearly ached to bite through bone.
He spent the time waiting for an opportunity by pacing around the pool. The space didn’t allow for much more than tight circles. Still, it was better than sitting around stewing in all his problems.
Mother was probably worried by now. Him being an adult with a life of his own didn’t stop her from worrying that he wasn’t home every day. Azula didn’t feel the same. Azula would kill for him though; she’d done it before.
Eventually, after what seemed like an hour of thinking to himself and going crazy for it, the faintest vibrations thrummed through the water, and Zuko froze. Footsteps. Someone was approaching.
He lifted his head above the surface. The sound drew closer, brushing through the plants with a practiced gait. Zuko coiled his body. There was deliberation in the person’s movement. They knew he was here. They were coming to see him. The likelihood that he’d be attacking an innocent servant or something alike was low, and that brought him a hint of reassurance.
When the human came into view, bathed in green filtered sunlight, stepping out to the pool’s edge, Zuko took an entire second to appraise the figure. Tall. Male. Dark hair, luxurious silk robes in green and pale yellow. When he spoke, it was the same smooth voice from the shadowy stranger that paid for him.
“Hello.”
Zuko didn’t wait any longer. He launched himself at the human with a vicious snarl. His vision was red. His heart was pounding. How dare they treat him with such contempt? He wasn’t some prized bounty. He wasn’t an ornament for some rich knave’s garden. He wouldn’t take this insult and abuse lying down, and if these humans continued to assume so, they were in for a shock.
To some degree of satisfaction, the man did seem shocked to be bowled over. The air left his lungs in a massive wheeze, and his eyes went very wide. He was also—however—quick. He reflexively shoved Zuko’s head away when Zuko tried to bite, and he managed to lurch free enough to dodge an elbow to the face.
“Wait!” The man yelped.
But Zuko had a size advantage, and the man was on his back, and Zuko really wanted him dead. He slammed his shoulders into the grass, pinned his legs with his tail, made another attempt to remove the throat with his teeth. This time, the man brought his arm up in a hasty block. Zuko was too busy biting down to be upset he’d missed his target. Blood and the creak of bone filled his mouth.
There was a shout of pain. “Wait wait—Zuko, stop!”
The words pierced his hazy red anger like ice through fresh snow. Zuko froze. Even being slightly feral at the taste of blood and festered indignation, he rapidly came to his senses and dropped the arm. His mind spun.
How did this man know his name? The pirates didn’t know. The pretty girl in blue didn’t know. And he wouldn’t be able to tell them if he wanted to (which he very much had not). It wasn’t a lucky guess. No one shared his name that he’d ever met. So why—how could a random human—
“Get off!” The human fumbled to shove Zuko’s face away. His sleeve was ruined, and rapidly turning red.
Zuko slowly obliged. The man didn’t seem angry. He only seemed annoyed, even as he bled profusely from an arm that might be broken. There was something unnervingly familiar about the twist of his scowl. He shuffled sideways and sat up.
“Spirits, kid, you’ve got a strong jaw.”
“I’m not—” Zuko cut himself off before he could complete the retort. The human wouldn’t understand him. The human knew he wasn’t a kid. Zuko was very obviously a full grown mer.
“You could have let me explain myself before trying to kill me.” Why did his scowl look so familiar? The man untied a sash of his fancy outfit and wrapped his arm with clinical efficiency. Then he looked up to meet Zuko’s eye, and his scowl faltered. “Are you okay?”
What.
Zuko stared. Was he seriously… asking if Zuko was okay? There was blood in the grass and in his robes and he might have a concussion and his ribs might be bruised and Zuko would at worst have a sore jaw. He shifted back warily. In his experience, crazy men often did cruel things.
When he made no move to respond, the man sighed roughly and looked away. “Guess I should have waited on that tea. Zaheera will be by with some shortly.”
“What?”
What on earth was he talking about? Tea? Of all things? How did he know Zuko’s name and why was he so relaxed about the bite on his arm and why did the slope of his nose look so familiar and why was he talking about tea in the blood and the grass?
“You were always more civil with it around.”
Okay, now Zuko was thoroughly weirded out. He wished he had an exit. An escape route. He was stuck on land in an unfamiliar house and the closest thing he had to sanctuary was a fake pool of water barely deep enough to sleep in. This was freaking him out just the slightest.
“You’re nuts.” He said. Just to say it. The man wouldn’t understand the words or the insult in them, but Zuko was sick of just sitting around not saying anything, waiting for stupid humans to come to the right conclusions.
For his effort, he was rewarded with the faintest thaw of the man’s grumpy expression. It looked amused somehow. “And why is that?” He asked.
What.
A trace of alarm made Zuko flinch. “...Because you’re… talking to me.” He probed. Just to see. Humans weren’t supposed to understand.
“Why would that make me crazy? You’re real, aren’t you?” He glanced at his sleeve, now mostly red. “I’m pretty sure you are.”
Zuko blanched. He considered backing away, back into the pool. The safety it offered was purely psychological, but it would be something at least. It’d be better than lying vulnerable on the ground next to a crazy person. His fins twitched.
“What—but—you understand me?”
“Of course.”
“But humans aren’t supposed to understand.” From what he’d heard, humans interpreted mer speech as primitive and animalistic: nothing more than a series of harsh vocalizations strung together. Zuko had demanded an explanation for the phenomenon when he was younger. After all, mer understood human speech just fine. No one was able to give him a satisfactory answer.
“Well, I’m not human.” The human said. “Technically.”
“Then what are you?” Possibly a witch? Zuko had heard of their strange abilities. Or maybe he was a spirit. In which case Zuko was screwed. He probably couldn’t get away with attempted murder on a spirit; he’d totally be cursed or something. It could also be a shapeshifter of sorts, from the myths.
But the man quickly dispelled any outlandish theories. For the first time that Zuko had seen, a flicker of hurt crossed his features. It made him look older than he likely was. Haunted.
“Wow Zuzu, you don’t remember your favorite cousin?”
No.
No, he definitely didn’t mean that. Zuko didn’t have any cousins. Not for eleven years. And there’d only been—one. Just one. Now there weren’t any.
But looking closer, Zuko could see why the scowl looked so familiar. He saw the same face in the mirror. And this man wasn’t human, clearly, even if he had legs in place of a red streaming tail. In place of the gold ribbon fins their family shared—that he must have recognized when he first saw Zuko.
He knew Zuko’s name. Zuzu. Azula tried to call him that—maybe out of nostalgia—but it belonged to them both, and Zuko hated to hear her say it because there was only one person who tried to bring them together like that, and hearing her say it reminded him of… of… a dead man.
Except he couldn’t be dead. He was right here. His blood tasted very real.
“Lu Ten?”
He looked so much like his father when he smiled. “Yeah.”
Zuko gaped. That felt like the only appropriate thing to do. Maybe the dehydration actually got to him, and this whole series of events was an elaborate hallucination. Maybe Azula spiked his tea with a psychedelic for her weird sense of humor, and he was hallucinating. It was too strange. This didn’t make any sense. Zuko’s cousin was dead, and if he wasn’t, wouldn’t Uncle know? Would Uncle have cried so hard so many private times if this was real? It felt so real.
“How did you get that scar?”
“How are you not dead?” Zuko’s head was spinning, though thankfully not from dehydration. He wasn’t sure if this was worse, actually. “Uncle thinks you’re dead.”
The comment earned him a flinch. “There’s actually a good explanation for that.”
“Which is?”
“I’m cursed.” Lu Ten squinted into the middle distance, looking uncomfortably close to being emotional. “To live as a human. And I can’t… go near the sea. I tried. It almost turned me into sea foam.”
Zuko dropped his head into his hands and groaned.
#zutara#katara x zuko#avatar: the last airbender#atla au#zutara mermaid au#atla mermaid au#katara#prince zuko#princess azula#sokka#aang#the gaang#lu ten#lu ten lives au#rip him tho he's not having a great time#I want to be normal so bad but being weird and doing stuff like this is so much fun#zutara art#atla fanfiction#atla art#momo atla#singswan-springswan art
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