#tagging zutara because no one else gets it

[korielle-writing-fanfics]

i don’t think i would have minded as much of katara being a mom and wife if we had seen more of her being active like we saw sokka, toph, aang or even seeing her do more in her older years because we see zuko and toph doing something. like she didn’t even get a statue

like not to mention how the comics ( 😒) treat her

[awesomestarfighter]

#it's an incredible disservice to the characters because the Fandom Popular Pairings typically are not canon! at all! #so of course there's more to the characters than this hypothetical relationship

It’s not that I don’t LIKE the Fandom Popular Pairings, it’s that I find the assumption that everyone ships them and the general all-consuming nature of said pairings to be kinda exhausting,

[ecoterrorist-katara]

you act like your fandom isn't responsible for shitty racist behavior towards irls liiiike dont be a hypocrite pointing fingers at everyone except your own ilk lmfao

I was initially going to write a snarky response, but upon reflection you sound pretty young and I don't want to get into a pissing contest with someone who is likely a minor. Instead, I'm going to share my philosophy on how I engage with fandom and explain why it doesn't make sense for you to come to my ask box and demand that I answer for people who I don't even know.

My approach to fandom is entirely hedonistic. 1) Fandom is not, and never will be, my personal milieu for activism, and 2) I'm not responsible for the behaviour of people who happen to share my preference in a ship; I can only control what I do.

On 1), I come to fandom for escapism and indulgence, and these two qualities of fandom are completely incompatible with my approach to activism. Activism must be rooted in the real world and often demands doing things you don't want to do. That's like...the polar opposite of what I want to do on Tumblr.com.

Sometimes I incorporate analysis of oppression and justice in my fandom discussions because I find them interesting, but that's still about me and my enjoyment, not about oppression and injustice in general. A lot of my life has been dedicated to structural injustices, whether as topics of study or as systemic forces to organize against (more accurately, I spent most of my adult years striving to combine the academic and the practical facets), so obviously they crop up in my discussions, but my engagement in fandom has never been about activism and I've been quite clear about that. For example, I may talk about decolonization in the context of ATLA, but I harbour no delusions that my salty complaints about Bryke are, in any way, relevant to furthering the decolonial project.

On 2), notice that in my response to your last ask, I never claimed the entire Zutara fandom only consists of people who never did anything wrong. I only claimed that I, personally, strive to behave like a reasonably decent person in my fandom interactions. Fandoms consist of literally thousands of people, if not tens of thousands, so of course people in my (and yours, and everyone's) fandom are capable of shitty behaviour -- but like I said before, I'm not the fandom police. It's not a role I'm interested in taking on, nor one I'm arrogant enough to think I should. I don't try to be a role model at the club or at the grocery store; in a similar vein, I'm not facilitating or curating or shepherding the Zutara fandom. I just hang out here, same as everyone else, and I'm not going to insult my followers & my peers' intelligence by saying "PSA: did you know it's not okay to say shitty and racist things to people?"

My responsibilities in fandom extend to following basic fandom etiquette and interacting with posts and people that don't contradict my values. I sometimes repost salty things about specific ships, or occasionally I'll interact with Zutara antis who come to me, because salt can be fun in moderate doses plus I have post-COVID POTS so I need a lot of salt anyway. Every time I have interacted with a hostile Ka/taang shipper, it has been because they came to my post, my blog, or my tags to stir up shit. Even so, I'd never go to a Ka/taang blogger and expect them to do something. I have, btw, received messages asking me to highlight/expose certain Ka/taang shippers for their politics or things they've said, and I don't publish those either, so there's not a whole lot of fingerpointing going on here in general.

I'm going to stop responding to your asks, but I hope you can reflect on what exactly you are trying to get out of fandom, and what kind of behaviour you think is productive and generative for you. I'm not saying everyone should follow my personal fandom engagement philosophy, but I am saying you can't impose your philosophy onto me.

[juana-the-iguana]

Sometimes I just think of fan interpretations of the cut-away between Zuko telling Katara that he knows where the man who killed her mother is and her packing things and getting ready to leave, and Aang and Katara having their last in-person interactions on screen (when they are lone together in EIP and when they are in a group in the finale) be fights to them kissing at the end.

People who support Kat-aang and do not like Zutara (and specifically comment in the Zutara tag about this) often say that Zuko had to convince Katara to go after her mother's killer. A lot of those people also assume that Aang must have apologized to Katara off-screen for the EIP kiss.

I have had a lot of people who share these interpretations accuse me and other people of not having "media literacy" because we can't clearly understand he must have apologized off screen. The irony is that is the exact opposite of the truth.

The cut away between Zuko telling Katara he knew how to find her mother's killer and her getting ready to leave signifies swiftness. Her response to this knowledge is so clear that showing her reaction would actually take away from conveying it. Things are moving fast, her mind was made up right away and she kept moving so the scene did too. And because she is moving so quickly, the audience can fill in the fact that any conversation she may have had with Zuko about this (How do you know this? When did you find out? etc.) did not play a role in her decision to find her mother's killer.

We know from both her past actions (being haunted by her mother's death, her righteous fury) and her future ones (trying to take Appa without talking to Aang or anyone else, telling Sokka that he didn't love their mother like she did, bloodbending) there is nothing Zuko could have said in a period of time that would have been a few hours, tops, that could have made her that angry or driven if those emotions were not already there. Zuko telling Katara he knows where her mother is isn't actually the completion of that narrative moment: her affirming that she needs to confront said killer when her actions are questions is. (I should note that part of the cut away could have been to leave room for a commercial break - I can't remember if that was the case when this aired on television - which would break up the viewing, but does not take away from the fact that Katara's shown response to this knowledge is to leave as quickly as possible).

Now compare that with the EIP kiss. We see the full moment play out, from Aang meeting Katara on the balcony to pressuring her to commit to him to kissing her when her eyes are close to her getting upset to her running away to him reflecting on what happened... Set up, action, response, reflection. This is an emotional scene, Katara is clearly distressed and this is one of the few times we actually see her mad at Aang. Their kiss at the end is another emotional moment, as it marks the culmination of Aang's journey as an Avatar. There needs to be a bridge between these intense scenes for them to make sense. Kat-aangers will argue that the EIP kiss is A and the ending kiss is C, so B must be the implied apology. But if A and C both matter a lot, and there needs to be a connection between the two things, then B should matter a lot too. C is the last scene in the show! This bridge should be shown, or at the very least referenced!

Unlike the TSR scenes, there is so much time between EIP and the finale that there is no clear flow between these moments. To the contrary, there are moments that break up this romantic sub-subplot, from them playing at the beach together again to them fighting again over how to deal with the Fire Lord and Aang running away (something worth noting is that Katara is the last person who is talking when he runs away - he literally left her - and she lets him go after a light touch on the shoulder from Zuko). Fight, friends, fight, love.

Since that B scene, the thing that bridges together Katara and Aang's relationship, is not there, then it either isn't important or did not happen.

Now let's get into media literacy. Media literacy isn't filling in gaps to make things make sense. Media literacy is understanding the messages that a piece of media is sending, intentionally or unintentionally. Even, in theory, if Zuko did have some conversation with Katara convincing her to seek out Yon Ra, it isn't shown and it isn't alluded to, so it doesn't matter. What we are supposed to take away from that episode is that Katara was ready to hunt down Yon Ra, she needed closure and got it, and that Zuko helped her. The same can be said for an apology after EIP. It doesn't matter if one happened off-screen, if it wasn't shown or referenced to, so it isn't important to the narrative. And if Aang making amends for hurting Katara isn't important to the narrative, but her kissing him after he fulfills his duty as the Avatar is, that is a huge statement about their relationship. Katara only rejected Aang because he wasn't an Avatar yet, so the only thing that matters in their relationship is him being the Avatar.

But the thing about media literacy is it isn't just about what is shown on the screen itself. It is about the bigger picture, what this is trying to convey as a message to the viewers.

So what does the gap in time in TSR tell us? Katara is this caring, nurturing friend who, in her brother's words, doesn't hate anyone except the people who took her mother. If she doesn't hate anyone except for the people who took her mother away from her, and she was immediately able to act on that hate when she got the chance to seek closure, then that hurt must have been closer to the surface than anyone thought. She acted fine, but her trauma was still there.

So what does this mean? She was able to address the anger conveyed in the scene in the episode and by the end of it, even though she was still conflicted about Yon Ra, she made peace with Zuko. Zuko whose mere presence caused her distress for weeks, not only because of his betrayal, but because he reminded her of her mother's death. Zuko who became her good friend and saved her life later on. Confronting her demons not only brought her peace, it improved her life tremendously.

So what is the "media literate" message from the lack of apology? The absence conveys is that the most important thing needed for Katara to like Aang was for him to fulfill his role as the Avatar, because that is the only thing that changed in between those two scenes. He didn't treat her any differently, he didn't apologize for hurting her, in fact its vague that he even acknowledged that what he did was wrong because it hurt her (the "I'm so stupid!" could easily mean he blew his chance, not that he cared). And Katara never went through the process of forgiving him or making peace with him wronging her. She never even acknowledged that he underwent a significant change as a person in the last episode either (Aang, who ran away from his duties at the start of the series, faces them head on in the last episode. YMMV on how good that was developed) - if it's not shown, it doesn't matter.

So what does this mean? It doesn't matter when Katara is hurt, conflict resolution doesn't matter, and apparently Aang's personality doesn't matter either. Their interpersonal relationship and emotional connection mean very little. Men do great things and women love them for it, how they act or are treated does not matter.

And before anyone comments "they're kids, it's not a big deal," this is a direct response to accusations about media literacy which, by definition, is a big deal - it's about the messages being made to viewers and its commentary on how society works and how things should be.

[the-badger-mole]

14. Unpopular opinion about the ATLA fandom?

People keep acting like shipping is the problem in this fandom. It's not. Shipping is a totally valid and stimulating way to engage in fandom. And it's also a lot of fun. When people go out of their way to announce that they think shipping is shallow or dumb, or that all shippers are a problem just to get some imaginary points for being a deeper thinker than the rest of us, I get so annoyed. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about people who genuinely don't care about romance, I'm talking about the ones who jump into ship tags to be condescending about preferring the couple as friends. Or when they say that all shipping is ruining fandom for them, meanwhile, there are plenty of people who agree with them who they could choose to interact with instead.

The actual problem in the ATLA fandom is the people who disagree so violently that they take it on themselves to go into spaces that aren't for them to spread their stupid. I could not care less that Kataang shippers disagree with me. I hope they're having so much fun and making content for their friends and co-shippers. They can do or say whatever they want about my faves, because at the end of the day, they're all fictional characters who don't have feelings. But I won't tolerate some itinerant anti-Zutara nutjob or some toxic Aang stan to come into my house and try that mess here. They are the ones who make fandom feel exhausting, and they have chased off some really cool, talented people with their vitriol. The problem isn't that they are Kataang shippers, or that they like Aang. The problem is they're obnoxious, and they want to make it everyone else's problem.

Send me more asks

[redbayly]

Had to do another rambling because some Antis got their panties in a twist.

After posting my very clearly tagged Zutara headcanons last night, I saw a post in the Zutara tag this morning where some Antis were ranting about their usual nonsense.

I would've just blocked and moved on, but something caught my attention about the post. I realized what they were talking about was very likely a reference to my post from last night.

I don't remember all the details (I did end up blocking them), but the crux of their complaint was that Zutara shippers steal Kataang dynamics or something. Specifically, they were calling out a recent post about Katara and Zuko traveling around helping people (which I talked a lot about in my post, so that's why I think it was me they were calling out) and that that is exclusively a Kataang thing that I stole and applied to Zutara. Also, someone in the comments had added that, if Zuko ever did go around helping people it would only be with Mai.

There was also a lot of whining about seeing Zutara stuff when they were looking for Kataang. As if I hadn't clearly tagged my post as Zutara and even used the word within the first few sentences to let the reader know what the post was about.

(For pity's sake, moderate your tags or skip over something with a tag you don't like! It's not difficult!).

But back to the main argument that Zuko and Katara wouldn't travel around helping people together and that that is exclusive to Kataang.

That is absolute bullshit.

First off, it was a headcanon of mine and I can headcanon what I damn well please (as can everybody else).

Secondly, what even is that argument they were making? Did they completely ignore the fact that both Zuko and Katara are good-hearted, helpful people who are trying to make the world a better place? We see numerous instances in canon of them helping others for the sole reason that it's just their nature to do so. In fact, if anything, they are more likely to seek out people to help out of pure altruism than Aang, who usually just sort of stumbles across people in trouble and helps because it's his job as Avatar.

(I'm not insulting Aang. I'm just saying that he's more likely to goof off and avoid getting involved in something if he thinks it's not serious enough, whereas Katara and Zuko are more likely to leap at opportunities to be helpful).

A third reason this is ridiculous is that Aang doesn't own a monopoly on doing good or helping the world. Zuko was already planning to make changes to heal the damage the Fire Nation caused. He's an "idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor." Do the Antis really think he would sit around on his ass while there are orphans to feed and towns to rebuild and justice to be restored? Also, why would Katara not be out there doing her all to help the world regardless of whether Aang is involved or not? Katara "never turns her back on people who need [her]" so I doubt she'd let anyone decide for her whether she travels around to fix people's problems.

I could go on and on about why this Anti-Zutara argument was stupid, but I've addressed the main points.

So, I'll say this one last time. If you dislike Zutara, read the damn tags and avoid the post you don't want to see. Don't whine about it and make up nonsensical arguments for your faux outrage. Leave Zutara shippers alone and let us have our headcanons.

You already got your ship in Bryke's canon. Just let us enjoy our headcanons in peace.

[darklinaforever]

We need to talk more about how people in TROP fandom love to spew raging misogyny while trying to pass it off as feminism. I just saw some Celeryporn stan post that somehow made it into the Haladriel tag, which was ranting the usual bullshit about how people ship Galadriel with Sauron because we’re all horny for Charlie and using Galadriel as a self-insert. If you claim to be “defending” a female character (who is not real, btw) while policing sexuality and spreading seething contempt for a huge group of women in fandom (not that all Haladriel shippers are women, but a significant amount are), then you may want to consider the idea that you don’t like women as much as you think you do.

Side note, I think it’s also funny how these kinds of takes involve being totally blind about Galadriel’s pov. “Galadriel’s feelings for Halbrand were never confirmed to be romantic” — Charlotte B (another real woman in a senior position on the show) said multiple times that Galadriel fell in love with Halbrand. The only reason for people to be so staunchly in denial about this is because they need Galadriel to be an eternally monogamous bride. (Shocking news, a female character can be attracted to more than one man throughout her life…) Some people on that side need to unpack A LOT of patriarchal puritanical bullshit from their system before they speak on Galadriel.

I completely agree. It's basically shaming specifically female fans at this point, trying to reduce them to unthinking hormones on legs. While ironically, it is this side of fandom that is most steeped in reflection and analysis (something which also requires a lot of work and which some dare to call a demonstration of obsession and madness. You have to know the antis after a while ! Either we don't think or we think too much !). This way of doing and thinking by some is always specific to romances with "bad boys" (because ironically, some are not really bad boys, yes, it's you I'm talking about Zuko). Literally, I've seen this stupid argument of "self insert" for so many ships beyond Haladriel / Saurondriel. Zutara. Reylo. Darklina. Oshamir. Dramione. And so so many others ! At this point, it gets worrying. We are clearly on a puritanical morality encroaching on fiction. The worst thing is that it is more and more common to bring up this argument. Particularly in many long YouTube videos that pathetically try to appear thoughtful and intellectual when talking about the excesses of loving bad guys with heroines and why it absolutely must stop. Or even just making bad handsome guys supposedly becomes immoral and should be stopped too ! And the worst ? Most of the time, it's women that I see making these kinds of video reviews. The worst ball against his camp ever. Girls, you're basically giving points to the patriarcha on this level... In any case, either it is the excuse of the self insert used to defend a fictional female character that ironically they demean by trying to this point to portray her as a virgin husband eternally faithful and in love with her husband with whom she is at hardly in the original text... While degrading women in real life, so basically, they spit on all sides in this feminist believer but by spreading mysogynistic remarks, all to try to make people believe that they, they really know what this story is about, that they really understand it and that we, poor women blinded by hormones that we are, no. And even if some ship ships for self insert... SO WHAT ? Don't women have the right to fantasize ? We're actually pissing you off. Or else, we are on the classic excuse of trying to protect poor women who will see this fictional relationship with a lord of darkness and a lady of light in a fantasy universe as a relational example to follow in real life. Mysogynism at its height, because no, we need to be protected from fiction that we would be too stupid not to differentiate from reality. You know... the excuse that most men started giving when women started reading more than them and that according to them it could have perverted them and made them think bad things ? Yes, I totally compare the puritan morality on the romance with bad guys to that which criticized women for reading a time ago. Because ultimately, it's not that far away. Anyway, it hasn't really changed. Just look at how books with predominantly female successes are treated / viewed by the general public. The criticism of women's love for villains and romance with villains is only one of countless aspects.

Oh, and side note, not only can a woman love several men in her life, and even more so when this woman happens to be an immortal elf with a very, very long life.

[ziezii]

Zutara Month 2024 ; Scarf

first half of this is entirely inspired by the famous scarf scene from natla! are we surprised even 😂 happy reading everyone!

Zuko opened his eyes, fully expecting himself to be in his bedroom. Only that, he was not.

He looked around, trying to make sense of where he actually was. People chattering amongst themselves, sellers offering their baked and raw goods, large carts being pushed with an assortment of different fruits and vegetables. Zuko figured he's at some sort of marketplace.

He then realized that his scarred eye was covered, a long gray piece of cloth wrapped around his head. Not dwelling on that much further, his uncovered eye scanned around the busy marketplace, almost bumping into people who were walking right in front of him.

“Watch where you’re going kid!” one shouts, Zuko muttering a small ‘sorry.’ and continued walking. After what seemed to be a few minutes, he looked straight forward and found himself staring.

There was a girl, standing not that far from him. She seemed to look confused, well that’s how Zuko felt like she was feeling. The scarf wrapped around her neck and shoulders doesn’t hide away from the blue dress she was wearing. She looked, pretty.

Zuko immediately shook his head. Why was he thinking that? He didn’t even know what she looked like. His focus shifted to the point where he almost didn’t see that the girl in front of him was walking to where he stood.

Her shoulder bumped into his left arm, causing him to lose his footing for a small second. The tail-end of her scarf flew upwards as the wind blew, Zuko’s hand shot-up as his fingers grazed through the soft blue fabric as she walked away, his uncovered eye looking to where she was going.

Just as he was about to follow her, a large stand of cabbages was pushed towards his direction. The merchant didn’t seem to realize that there was someone in front of him because his eyes were focused on somewhere else, so imagine his surprise when he heard a grunt and his cabbages all falling on the floor.

The last thing he heard before closing his eyes was a cry from the said merchant, “My, my cabbages!”

…

..

.

Zuko shot-up from his bed, eyes opened. He looked down and saw that he was back wearing his pajamas, well more like his red unwashed shirt with his pair of black sweatpants. He then looked around, he’s back in his bedroom.

He sighed, brushing off what that dream was about and grabbed his phone. The 20+ notifications from Suki and his Uncle asking him where he was immediately made jump out of bed.

“Shit!” he was late, well almost since the tea shop opens in about 30 minutes. Still, he knew Suki would tease the heck about him being late since he’s notoriously famous for being the ‘never late.’ coworker.

Note to self, if your dream starts looking way too good, maybe that’s the time you should wake up.

Forgetting to lock his apartment door, his motorcycle almost getting dented, safe to say that Zuko’s day is going great. He ran to the back doors of his uncle’s tea shop, seeing Suki all dressed with her apron and name-tag eating a sandwich.

He stopped almost in front, panting as he asked, “Am I late?”

Suki looked at her phone, “Nope, almost though.” she said with a knowing smile. Zuko groaned, sitting next to her.

“Before I tease the hell out of you,” she continued, “why were you late?”

He contemplated on telling her, but might as well as he needed to let it off his chest, “Had a dream.”

Suki only looked at him weirdly, “Okay, what kind of dream? You’re not someone who gets distracted, even in your sleep.”

Zuko sighed, he tells her what happened in that dream. Suki listened intently, nodding to show him she was listening.

After telling her, Suki just said, “You never had any sort of dream of her prior?” and he shook his head.

“Well, what if it’s a sign?”

He rolled his eyes at her reply, “What sign? I just so happen to be curious about a girl who appeared in my dreams?”

“Your uncle would certainly say it’s a sign, you never get dreams.”

“Maybe because I don’t tell you guys?”

“If you tell us about this one, then maybe this is your first time dreaming.” she shot back at him, smirking a little. He once again rolled his eyes, he forgot how Suki is a whole hard believer in getting any signs in the form of dreams or visions.

“I don’t think so, I highly doubt it.” Suki just shrugged, by then the two stood up and walked back inside to finally start their shift.

-

“Chan, one jasmine and ginseng tea! Oh, and one cheesecake.” their shift went on as per usual. Zuko was mainly in charge at the dining room, serving and assisting their customers.

Suki too, grabbing their orders up and bringing them to the customers. As Zuko walked to the back of the cashier where his Uncle was sitting, Suki walked and sat next to him.

“Oh! Uncle, you wouldn't believe what Zuko told me.” Zuko immediately threw a death glare at her, but she persisted, “Zuko dreamed about a girl.”

He knew his Uncle was just as adamant as her when it came to his social (well, more-so his love) life so he wasn't surprised when Iroh clapped his hands in pure joy.

Zuko tsk-ed, “Uncle, don't-”

“Why don't my nephew? This is wonderful news!”

“I don't even know what she looks like.”

Iroh smirked, “Well, there must be something that stuck out to you in that dream of yours about her.”

Damn it, Zuko thought.

“So, what was it?” Suki was enjoying the show, also curious since he didn't tell her about this.

He looked back and forth from his Uncle's expectant face to Suki, who grinned his way.

There was no getting out of this, huh.

With a loud sigh, he then muttered, “She was-” but immediately stopped himself when he saw that they had new customers coming in. Not wanting to engage in this conversation any longer, he stood up and walked away from the two.

Iroh laughed, “He never changes.” which Suki nodded and laughed as well.

He grabbed his notepad from his apron's front pocket as their two new customers sat down. Zuko pulled up his small smile as he looked up and asked, “Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, what can I-”

He stopped. No, it can't be. The scarf. Her scarf.

Noticing the confused looks on him, Zuko shook his head and continued his words, writing down their orders and walking away as he sighed in relief.

He didn't realize he was holding his breath, walking towards the register to type in their orders.

“So, is she the one?”

“Shut up.” Zuko immediately answered, a faint blush on his cheeks giving off his blatant lie.

Suki only laughed, looking over her shoulder to eye on the customer sitting right next to Zuko's dream girl.

Literally.

“Well, you're not the only one eyeing on someone from that table.” Zuko looked at her with a mix of confusion and disgust as he realized what she meant.

“Go talk to her.”

Zuko froze, eyes wide as he looked at her.

“Are you insane?”

“Why not?” she shrugged, “You'll surprise yourself if-”

“Uh, excuse me?”

Two turned around and were greeted by her. The person they were talking about.

Zuko held his breath. After his failed attempts at glancing or keeping eye contact on her when he took their orders, he realizes that this is the first time he's fully seen her.

And damn, was she beautiful.

The scarf wrapped around her neck, her long brown hair let down. Two smaller sections of her front hair pulled back to her hair bun. Zuko knows jack-shit about hair.

Her skin just glows under the orange lighting of the tea shop. He gulped, his eyes darting elsewhere when he realized he'd been staring.

“-And this is Zuko.” he's brought back when he hears Suki. Seeing that Katara was now looking at him, he could only stammer his introduction.

“I, uh,” he gulped, the girl looking at him with this sort of fondness only made it worse, “Hi?”

He groaned, while the two girls just laughed at him.

“Suki, this one's for table 10!”

“Well, looks like this is my queue to leave,” Suki says, patting Zuko's tense shoulder, “If you need anything about your order, Zuko will handle it.”

He was about to protest, but to no avail as Suki already walked away from them. Zuko let out a sigh, before his eyes fell on her once again.

“I'm so sorry, do you, uh, want to add something to your order?” he says a little too fast, but that doesn't stop him from stuttering it all out.

“You're funny.” she chuckled, “Not really for me, but my brother over there wanted to get the cheesecake.”

“No problem, I'll go put that in,” he trails off his words, wanting to continue on what he was saying before she beat him into it.

“Katara.” her smile made him warm, she did know what he wanted to say.

"Alright, Katara." he answers, subconsciously smiling back.

She was about to walk away before Zuko held her arm and stopped her. She turned around, her eyes locked to him.

“I,” Zuko doesn't understand how he gets so nervous when he's talking to her, “your scarf is very, pretty.”

Katara's eyes widen slightly, before she smiles once again and replies, “Thank you, Zuko.”

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

As a Taang shipper, I've long since learned not to go through the taang tag, since it it's filled with zutarians who only ship taang because it gets Aang out of the way and "Toph doesn't take any of his bs" which is a...horrible reason to ship something, but anyways, for some god forsaken reason I decided to look through it today, thinking maybe it would have some half-decent stuff in it...

Nope. Practically every other post is a "meta" about how zutara/taang is so much better than kataang actually and low-key Aang bashing. The only actual taang content is some of those incorrect quotes stuff and some art. Is it too much to ask for a ship tag to actually have content of that ship in it? If I go into the Taang tag, I'm looking for Taang, not Aang bashing and zutara. Like wtf.

It doesn't surprise me one bit - half of their metas and fics for the ship they actually want to happen is just bashing Kataang. It's no wonder that the ship they latched onto just because it "gets Aang out of the way" suffers of the same problem.

And gotta love how that's them admiting "The only way Katara won't date Aang is if he's already with someone else"

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Would you mind explaining why you ship Azaang? It seems interesting, but I can't put my finger on it. Since you dominate the tag, maybe you have some insights about the ship?

Short answer: It's a superior, more intimate, more suggestive, and more spiritually attuned version of Zukaang and a complete antithesis to Kataang. It mostly takes place in my Book 4: Air/Dark Avatar Ozai AU.

...

Long answer: I believe it all started when I read Aaron Ehasz's tweet about Azula having her own redemption arc with Zuko as her Iroh basically. I then read a fanfic called Azula's Redemption where she's redeemed through Aang by showing her how to open and master her own chakras. It ends with Azulaang being endgame.

It's commonly believed that Azulaang is another "opposites attract" thing but mostly with their personalities rather than elements, even though Aang can waterbend and that art was one of the easiest for him to learn. Azula also had a rather strong fixation on the earth kingdom and was able to bend the Dai Li to her will with ease.

It is often shipped along with Zutara because it gives Aang a love interest. Some fans also see the possibility of Azula reforming due to Aang. I've been studying both characters and their dynamics with other people. I came to the conclusion that Azulaang has as much narrative significance as Zutara.

Azula getting better is the ultimate goal in Azulaang but I wanted to complicate things a bit where Aang is mostly changed by Azula's influence as well.

I invented a little mechanic where Aang and Azula form a spirit bond. This bond unites them as fate, allowing them to understand each other better than anyone else and one will know when the other is lying. This bond is formed when Aang finishes opening his own chakras first and it gets even stronger once Azula completes her chakra session next. Why it didn't form in Ba Sing Se is likely because Aang's fire and light chakras weren't fully opened. Do you know how Katara was an earthly tether blocking Aang's last chakra? I picture Azula being something of an opposite entity where her presence keeps all chakras open.

I mostly place Azulaang within the Dark Avatar Ozai AU of mine. In case you're wondering about that, it's an AU where ATLA has a Book 4: Air but the story arcs from the back half of season 2 of Legends of Korra are put in Aang's saga instead. Some parts of the first 3 seasons are altered though, like when Aang meets Roku for the first time, he vaguely describes Vaatu but doesn't mention his name. In the Library, the gaang learn the names Raava and Vaatu but no more than that, at the beginning of season 3, Avatar Wan's two-part episodes debut while Aang is still in a coma, at the end of season 3, Ozai fights the lion turtle instead of Aang at a different location and his plans for the earth kingdom were a trick to keep the gaang distracted. Ozai wins by slaying the beast and consuming its soul.

The dark avatar doesn't just obtain all bending arts in the opposite direction of Aang's cycle but consumes/controls the very sources of the bending arts, the entire power system of the avatarverse, and the souls of all original benders after causing them to go extinct.

Again, I always imagine Azulaang taking place in that timeline because the reason why their spirit bond forms in the first place is because Ozai doesn't need to fuse with Vaatu, Ozai IS Vaatu. Vaatu is also the true orchestrator of the 100-year war through Sozin and is reborn as a human through Iroh's mother, Ilah. Another reason is that Azula will have every reason in the world to want to join Team Avatar, bond or no bond.

Aang is the one who loses his past lives but in return, after he's purified, Vaatu's natural abilities, instincts, and status are taken from him and combined with all of Raava's while still permanently fused with Aang.

There have been times when Azulaang was seen through a biblical lens with Aang as an angelic archetype and Azula as a demonic archetype.

I hope this makes sense and I didn't just ramble on.

[korielle-writing-fanfics]

i dislike m@iko and k@t@ang because narratively they didn’t benefit katara and @@ng or m@i and zuko. which literally could have been fixed by better writing.

“i love zuko more than i fear you” it doesn’t mean she’s suddenly seen the bad the fire nation has done. also i do believe that m@i doesn’t wasn’t to like be a queen and staying with zuko means that. and in m@i’s defense she wasn’t banished or exiled for three years seeing the truth of what the fire nation has done. i mean it’s part of why zuko breaks up with her ( leaving a note was wrong tho it’s like a text) because he knows she wouldn’t get it.

and with @@ng it’s the fact that he doesn’t get a chance to mature narratively. i mean the idea of letting go of katara doesn’t even have to mean his crush/love for her goes away like him seeing her as human would have helped a lot writing wise. like a lot of it is @@ng is a 12 year old him having a crush on katara makes sense but at a point he doesn’t grow. he just gets written as jealous and angry when it comes to the relationship. added on the fact that by the time katara and @@ng share that kiss they hadn’t talked or interacted positively since the southern raiders

[homeagainrose]

Oh wow a tagging game I'll actually play. Gasp! Tagged by @orangepanic.

Words are face, false, water, fight

We'll drop this under a break because probably going to be long...

I tag @ekwolfwriter-blog, @ryu-slayer, @badlucksav,

Words for you guys if you want to play: Star, Dragon, Night

Face/Fight

This is from a Zutara WIP - Circling Celestial Bodies if anyone is following. It's my current favorite, I'll get back to everything else, I swear.

Zuko starts, his fire burning through him with his temper. He knows waterbending is illegal in the Fire Nation and since the escape, the punishment is horrid. Katara glances around like a terrified cat-deer. This is her absolute worst fear. He reaches for his swords. He doesn’t have his mask and they’re not going to listen to the Blue Spirit. Uncle would be proud; he at least thinks part of this through. “Release her!” Zuko orders, the carefully trained commanding tone of a crown prince leaves his lips. The villagers jump. The magistrate glares at him. “And by whose authority do you think you are? This woman has committed horrendous crimes against citizens of the Fire Nation, she will therefore face justice for her actions.” The magistrate scoffs. Zuko draws himself to his full height, his temper fueling his words. “By order of his Royal Highness, Crown Prince Zuko son of his Imperial Majesty, Ozai son of Azulon, the Fire Lord.” Zuko tosses his metal identification tag, complete with gold tassels, at the magistrate. He stares open mouthed. “She stays with me.”

Water

This one was supposed to be Oshamir Week's fantasy but it spiraled and now it's going to be part of the Halloween Fics. A in verse Star Wars fic heavily inspired by Dracula because there is so much vampire coding and it's me. They also said it first!

“I don’t like to reveal all my tricks the first time.” Qimir says, his voice shifting. Osha can’t tear her eyes away from the expression on his face. He looks like he wants to devour her. She’s not sure where that thought came from. “You don’t?” Osha asks. Her voice less strong than she would like. Qimir has stalked towards her, stepped into her space, as he looks over her. Osha can’t look anywhere but his eyes. Something shifts between them. The storm suddenly feels diminished and not important with what is going on here. She usually hates people being in her space, but Qimir feels different. He raises his hand to brush his fingers along her cheek. Her lips part as she stares at him. She can’t look away. He’s close enough Osha can feel him brush against her Threads. There is a desire to weave them together, but she fights it. Qimir’s fingers rest under Osha’s chin, turning her up to face him, as if she wants to look anywhere else. His thumb runs along her lip as his eyes practically bore into her. Osha is held captive by his attention. She’s vaguely aware of his other large hand at her waist, spread out over her hip. She likes how it feels. Qimir shifts his hand to brush his fingers against her cheek. “I have crossed oceans of time to find you.” Osha gasps at Qimir’s words. His voice is low, a raspy whisper meant only for them. She can’t look away. She can’t look anywhere else. She is suddenly aware of the fullness of his lips as his teeth with their rather pronounced canines worry the tender flesh.

False

A bit of Sokka and Hakoda fun, heavily inspired by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Sokka remains on edge even as they take their seats in the airship’s lounge. Hakoda orders them drinks. He seems far more relaxed now. Hakoda gives his son a look. “Relax, we’ve made it.” Hakoda says as he raises his glass. Sokka gives him a look. “When we’re airborne with the Fire Nation behind us, then I’ll share that sediment.” Sokka says. He really wishes he was better at relaxing, but he keeps getting caught up in these hairbrained adventures. At least this one is a favor for a friend. Sokka tries to relax as Hakoda turns back to his newspaper. He is still very much on edge. A steward moves through the lounge checking tickets. Movement near the entrance of the ship catches Sokka’s eye. Admiral Zhao. He needs a plan and quick. “I’ll be right back, Dad.” Hakoda nods as Sokka gets up from their table. How does this keep happening to him?

[burst-of-iridescent]

Hello! Zutarians like you are the reason why I am moving further away from Zutara. the way you talk rudely to people who disagree with you is really upsetting. The anon who wrote to you (or several anons) did not show rudeness and spoke quite politely, but you literally immediately started being rude, talking arrogantly and familiarly. the fact that someone does not agree with you does not mean that you need to talk rudely, arrogantly or point out mistakes in English to people (it may come as a shock to you, but a lot of young people do not have the opportunity to get a good education and do not have the opportunity to know English perfectly, especially if it is not their native language). thank you, you completely ruined zutara for me.

do you think it's polite to come into someone's inbox just to mock an edit they spent a lot of time and effort on, which they tagged appropriately for the express purpose of making sure no one who enjoyed kat.aang would see it? do you think it's polite to then follow up with an unasked-for essay in response, one that misappropriates the legitimate issues faced by women of colour to tear down a fictional ship? do you think it's polite to invalidate the racial identity of an actual woman of colour just because she doesn't agree with your opinions? do you think it's polite to keep anonymously bombarding strangers you don't know online with condescending, bad-faith arguments that don't take into account anything they're trying to say?

do you think that perhaps, just perhaps, after dealing with all of that for 24 hours straight, people might not feel inclined to be cheery and pleasant to the person responsible for it?

the fact that someone does not agree with you does not mean that you need to talk rudely, arrogantly or point out mistakes in English to people

i couldn't agree more. that is why i am perfectly willing to engage in polite, civil discussion with people who are actually arguing in good-faith, and who don't harass me online or associate with others who do.

i have no idea why you seem to think i criticized that anon's english by the way; if that is from my "pay attention in english class" remark, i was referring to media literacy skills (a fair point to make, considering that's exactly what they came into my asks about). not once did i ever remark on their grammar, spelling, or anything else about their english, nor do i feel the need to.

but if it's more important to you to blame and tone police me instead of the person who's been harassing me for the last two days, then please know that i'm not the one ruining zutara and zutara fandom for you.

you're doing that just fine on your own.

[humanpurposes]

Thanks @targaryenrealnessdarling and @emilykaldwen for tagging me <3

1. How many works do you have on ao3(or masterlist)? 16 on AO3, but I also have two Christmas oneshots that aren't on there, so 18 I guess.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 269,227

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly House of the Dragon, occasionally the Ewanverse.

4. Top five fics by kudos Karma is a God, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Come So Close That I Might See, Hysteria, Sour Switchblade.

5. Do you respond to comments? Usually! I like responding to comments, but sometimes it slips my mind.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? My Tom Bennett mini series, Just For a Moment 🥲

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Mine All Mine, my Michael Gavey oneshot.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I wouldn't say it's "hate" but I've gotten some weird comments from people who hate Aemond, but like... you're reading an Aemond fic, what did you expect?

9. Do you write smut? If it ain't got smut it wasn't me (tearing my hair out every time I write it).

10. Craziest crossover? Still not over my vision of Aemond as Dream of the Endless.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I wouldn't say outright stolen. If I had a nickel for every time someone who went out of their way to distance themselves from me then ended up writing something quite similar to one of my fics, I'd have two nickels.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? @targaryenrealnessdarling @bottlesandbarricades 😐

14. All time favorite ship? All time?? I have loads idk, I'll always love Zutara. In HotD, Alysmond.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I was thinking about From Eden, my Osferth series recently. I feel like I should get back to that... eventually.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, character, I think I'm quite good at descriptions. And plot too, I think I have a good idea of the "big picture".

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Starting too many series and then taking months to update them. Overwhelming myself with specifics of a chapter plan. Putting off writing because I know it's not going to be perfect first try.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? Yeah it's fun to have the odd bit of High Valyrian in my fics, but I worry about the translations and I'm not qualified enough to include more than a few lines.

19. First fandom you wrote in? That I published, HotD

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Noooo don't make me choose between my children- Karma is a God. Me and her been through the trenches together <3

No pressure tags: @randomdragonfires @inthedayswhenlandswerefew @the-heartlines @theoneeyedprince @barbieaemond @marthawrites and anyone else who wants to do it!

[wincestation]

Fic Tag Game

I was tagged by @wileyonce, @suchaladyy, @realmermaid333, @cosmic-lullaby and @transitat - thank you all! <3

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

19.

2. What's your Ao3 word count?

235,098 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Wednesday, but I used to write for Supernatural too, and long ago for HP, Percy Jackson, Avatar (TLA) and Hunger Games as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

When Is a Monster Not a Monster?

All It Took Was Your Spark

Until The Sunrise (Supernatural)

Hate Me, Hold and Embrace Me

Fuck Away My Pain 

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try! sometimes it takes me a bit longer than I'd like, but I always read and cherish them all. <3

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Has to be Fire and Ice, a Sam/Dean oneshot. It was one of my first English fics I posted and it was translated from my native language so... I'm not saying it's bad but maybe it's not GREAT lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think I'm usually a happy ending kinda person! but I'd definitely say wiamnam is a classic happy ending kinda fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really.

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

me?! SMUT?? I have no idea why you'd say that.

10. Do you write cross-overs?

I once wrote a very crack-y Avatar Airbender/Harry Potter crossover, but I think that's the only one.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Когда Монстр перестаёт быть Чудовищем? by Little_Brother

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes, after I have avoided it for years because of bad past experiences, I wrote Keep Quiet, Study in Session with the beloved @suchaladyy 🥰

13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I think Ultraviolence (Supernatural multichapter).

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

A tough one! I think it always changes with the fandom. In general my ships are Zutara, Dramione or Drinny (and also Draco/Ginny/Blaise), Wincest and Wyler, but I'm only really engaging with content for the last two atm.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Definitely dialogues - whether it's funny one liners, smooth flirting or dirty talk.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Characterizations. And exposition.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If I'm fluent or have the help of someone who is, then sure!

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter.

19. Favourite fic you've ever written?

That's so hard. I think I'm the proudest of All It Took Was Your Spark but a close second is Give Up What Is Holy.

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?

maybe aitwys 👀

tagging @writerrose1998 @therulerofallpotatos @katwitchwriting and whoever else who hasn't done it yet! <3

[atla-confessions]

Hey sooooo, yall remember how forever ago we were talking about how hard it is to ship zutara while also really liking Aang? Because trying to read zutara fic is like trying to navigate a minefield? And then someone asked for pro aang recomendations and no zutara shipper was able to give some?

I found some :D. I have learned that if you filter for "aang & zuko" the likelihood of things being anti aang go down significantly bc like zukaang friendship is literally one of the ships listed. It's not a garentee, but still signifixantly better than the base zutara tag without the filter. Some fics that I have found:

A couple oneshots:

Short one, just sweet, its about the aftermath of the last agni kai, Aang's just vibing as a background character:

"kicked out the stage lights (but you're still performing)" by Cheesefrie

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55640005

This one is bittersweet. Don't be fooled by the beginning, it's deff not anti aang and I don't don't want to spoil it, but I'd just say it's worth a shot if you like stories with bittersweet endings

"If you love someone, let him go..." By Dylan_Hergs

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54999430

A few multichapter ones: these are more iffy because while there aren't anti aang signs yet, anyone who's ventured into zutara fic knows it can come out of nowhere, but these ones seem promising!

Aang's really fun here and given credit to his abilities. Featuring a fun premise and Zuko being down bad for Katara which like, lmao, same. There is small hint of one sided kataang and I'm a little worried that's going to turn into a bad point of conflict and dive into anti aang territory, but it's genuinely super cute so far and I've really liked Aang's background presence:

"The Masks We Choose" by PettyBeef

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60419824/chapters/154226365

Newer one, bit of a strange premise, but it's supposed to go in an exlicitly pro aang direction, with a zukaang enemies to friends arc, so possibly worth a shot:

"Godhood Is What You Make Of It" by GuessYoullFindOut

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61856440/chapters/158161528

Aang's a significant character here! And his relationship with Zuko is very explored (he essentially just decides they are friends now and nobody can change his mind, which I love), the zutara arc is true to canon in them having to come to understand eachother, which I also love. I haven't caught up, but I adore it so far and it's the reason I wanted to make this post:

"Hot Ice, Strange Snow: by SaranraptheElvenking

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49047607/chapters/123741130#workskin

Links don't work on anon, so you'll have to copy paste them somewhere else to get them to activate. I don't know if the people who asked are still here, but I hope this post can reach at least one person who will enjoy these fics