#the old gaang is back!

[godzillajuniorreborn]

THEM!!!!

[discordiansamba]

still rotating werewolf AUs because I am a humble woman and I have never forgotten my history (being obsessed with werewolves in middle school). here's yet another concept: in which Zuko gets himself abducted by an ancient wolf spirit because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and checked all of the spirit's boxes.

freshly burnt and banished, zuko arrives in the earth kingdom. his bandages have only just come off. he's avoiding his reflection. he doesn't want to see the constant reminder of how his face has been permanently changed. he's chasing even the tiniest hint of a whisper of a rumor of the avatar, even as others laugh at him for it. they say it's a hopeless quest- that his father is just trying to get rid of him.

that can't be true. his father wouldn't do that.

his father cares for him. this is all just to teach him a lesson. he's just a slow learner, that's all. if he really hated him, he would have burned him worse. he reshaped half of his face, but he could have done worse. he can't look at himself in the mirror anymore without seeing someone he doesn't recognize. he could have done worse.

zuko doesn't find the spirit. the spirit finds him.

iroh is with him, but there is nothing he can do. he has heard the stories, told in hushed whispers throughout the earth kingdom. there is a great wolf spirit, as ancient as they come, that wanders the earth kingdom. at her heels are her children- once-humans whom the great wolf spirit took and transformed into wolves. it is said that she seeks out children who are lost (in more ways than one)- who feel abandoned and outcast by their families. betrayed. hurt. isolated.

zuko is deeply, deeply vulnerable to the spirit's magic.

iroh notices something is wrong before they even see the spirit. there is an unnatural fog that was not there moments ago. he calls out to zuko, telling him they should turn back- but his nephew does not seem to hear him. he stumbles forward into the fog. iroh follows, trying to catch up to him, but he does not seem to be able to.

then he sees the shape in the fog, as big as the trees.

he calls out zuko's name. zuko stops, but he does not turn back. he's looking up at the spirit. the spirit approaches him. iroh calls out zuko's name again- and still he does not hear him. he cannot get any closer. the great spirit will not allow it. he can only watch as zuko's form shifts- as a black wolf takes the place of his nephew. he calls zuko's name again-

-and this time he looks back, but there is no recognition in the eyes of the scarred wolf.

the fog is gone- and with it, the spirit and his nephew. iroh sinks to his knees in despair. he has already lost lu ten- and now he has lost zuko as well. then he takes a deep breath, in and out. no. the great wolf spirit is old and powerful, but he does not think she is unreasonable. iroh will find a way to get his nephew back.

he learns to track the spirit's movements. it is easiest to find her on the night of the full moon- the moon spirit herself seems to guide iroh. every full moon, he seeks out his nephew. at first the great wolf spirit does not allow him to get close, but overtime she seems to grow amused. zuko is easy to recognize amongst her pack. iroh speaks to his nephew, spending as much time with him as the spirit will allow- but his nephew never seems to recognize him.

(then one day, the old man with sad eyes and kind hands stops coming. zuko waits, but he does not appear. he decides he will search for him. mother is reluctant to let him leave the pack- but eventually, she allows it. she grants him a human form so that his search might be easier- but every full moon, he will return to his wolf shape.

or: while she is searching for sokka and aang after hei bai kidnaps the former, katara stumbles upon a weird boy. he says his name is zuko. he is searching for someone too. katara doesn't know the old man that he describes, but zuko still helps her try and find her friends. aang and sokka come back out of the spirit world to find katara has added a new member to their group.

local werewolf gets adopted by team avatar. why does some part of him find that deeply ironic?)

[artekai]

OC-tober (late) Day 7: Personality

Guess who finally watched ATLA

[mythology-void]

let's not forget the fact that he traumatized the shit out of both of his kids when they were twelve and then avoided them for the rest of their lives/kept them at each other's throats because he knew he couldn't take ONE of them in a fight when they were HALFWAY grown, much less BOTH of them together

plus the fact that he had the shortest reign of any fire lord in history, which was shortened by the fact that he gave up his position to his FOURTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER(who was canonically a much more powerful bender than him) and ran off to stage a world takeover that failed within 24 hours. truly embarrassing

Ozai is so pathetic, like that “take his bending away haha he’s harmless now” trick would never have worked on Zuko, if you took his bending away he’d just grab his swords and come at you twice as hard, Azula doesn’t have swords or anything but she’s pretty good at hand to hand and amazing at talking her way out of problems, Iroh bust himself out of prison with no bending at all, meanwhile Ozai? Gets his bending taken away and then just collapses, doesn’t even try anymore, then just sits in prison and tries to get into Zuko’s head some more, he could have trained up and tried to break out too! But no! Bet he can’t break steel bars with his bare hands. Bet he can’t kick a steel lever in two. Bet he can’t even do a flip.

Also we never really see him do any really impressive firebending apart from when he has magic comet power, I guesss he shoots some lightning at Zuko, but that’s it and Azula is still better at the lightning thing. Azula has blue flames. Zuko can do firebreakdancing and bend with his swords. Does Ozai, who is not 14 years old, have blue flames? No he doesn’t.

He didn’t even do his coup himself, Ursa had to kill Azulon for him! Could have just challenged Iroh to an Agni Kai for the throne but he didn’t bc he knew he’d lose.

And then he only ruled for like 6 years! He lost a war that had been going on for 100 years bc of a bunch of kids.

Loserlord indeed

[tossawary]

Listening to someone else watch the original ATLA again, just starting season 3, and there's this line where Aang suggests that it didn't just look like he died, but he DID actually die and Katara brought him back. And look, I don't know much about the lore introduced by TLOK, but this sounds like a really fun place to start an AU inspired by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"'s take on the temporary death and resurrection of a cyclical chosen one: Aang is brought back to life and is STILL the Avatar, but his temporary death still also causes another Avatar to be born into the Southern Water Tribe (or Swamp People or refugees on some southern island, whatever).

Like, I know the Avatar is a reincarnation thing, but weird things can happen with spirits! Maybe this glitch in the cycle causes the spiritual equivalent of mitosis to happen to the Avatar and the spirit attached to them, so there's just two of them now! Maybe having two Avatars has some spiritual downsides, maybe not, it's up to whatever path you choose to explore in this AU.

I just think it would be really funny for post-canon 20-something Aang (and the Gaang and the White Lotus and all the spiritual / religious orders on the planet) to suddenly be confronted with a 10yo water tribe kid who is ALSO the Avatar.

A water tribe couple shuffle awkwardly up to Sokka, like, "Sooooo... we think our 10 year old daughter might be the Avatar...? She can, uh, bend all the elements and all that. Look at this shit." And Sokka is like, "Fuck, Aang is dead?!" Before he's like, "Wait, I saw Aang last week, this kid is way too old?!" And he has to hastily contact Aang like, "Hey, buddy, you're still alive, right?" And Aang can only reply, "Uhhh, last I checked, yes?!?!"

It's probably Sokka and Katara who put the pieces of the timeline together and figure out what caused this, because all of the other Avatars are probably initially like, "Yeah, I have no idea what's happening here. I'm you and you're me, but I'm also her and she's also me, and you and her are kind of the same person, but you're obviously different people now? Wow! Good luck figuring all that out, kid! You're really going places none of us have gone before! A real groundbreaker!"

Aang, through gritted teeth, "I am really not TRYING to do that, thank you!"

[nimuetheseawitch]

I've been thinking about how both Sokka and Zuko are 15/16 year old guys who have never once hung out with guys their own age. Neither of them really had peers, just younger sisters, and they both got thrust into weird leadership positions at 13ish, which is a super awkward age. So they both have these fairly rigid ideas of how the world is supposed to work based on some stories and a strong desire to please their absent fathers. We get lots of examples about how this plays out in the show, but what if we look a little more at how completely unsocialized they are, add in teenage hormones, and make it a little gay?

What if queerness never really occurred to either of them, so Sokka is indulging in his fairytale ideals of romance and Zuko is repressing everything, and they do not know how to interact with each other at all, and then they kiss? They have zero frame of reference for this, so what if they each justify it as a weird, heat of the moment thing? Bloodlust in the heat of battle going a little lustier with an enemy? No need to further analyze anything about this at all.

But then Zuko joins the gaang, and it keeps happening. Suki is back, so obviously Sokka has a girlfriend, and Zuko is just a friend. Fellow warrior. And Zuko's just broken up with Mai. They still don't know how male friendship works, so why wouldn't it involve sparring and occasional very confusing making out? It's not beautiful and romantic like what Sokka expects from romance, it's not like the drama of romance in the plays Zuko is familiar with, so neither of them thinks anything about it. Totally Normal bro behavior.

It would be especially funny if they don't sort their shit out for years. It's not like Zuko had a guidebook for healthy relationships as the Fire Lord, so maybe it's totally normal to be regularly hooking up with your best friend, the Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe. Sokka's attempts at epic romance failed, and he's single right now, but obviously still in the game, trying to romance a lady. Zuko maybe had a thing with Mai, but it ended (enter my spymaster Mai hc), or they never had anything, and no matter what, romance is just too difficult as the Fire Lord. He's got other stuff on his mind, and his thing with Sokka fulfills his needs. Maybe it all comes crashing down when Katara asks Zuko if he's ever going to make an honest man out of her brother.

I don't know, but I just get a kick out of thinking about how completely socially unprepared both of these boys are, and I think it's funny.

[wilcze-kudly]

I do find it annoying how a lot of Zutara fans tweak the character's stories, personalities and even the timelines to suit their own needs.

Once again, there's nothing wrong with fanon and headcanons, however if looking through the lense of canon, you're objectively wrong.

I ended up stumbling on a post from a Zutara shipper. (At this point I'm regretfully considering not following the tags for Zuko or Katara because I get way too much Zutara content lol) I'm not replying directly to her because I don't want this to turn into an argument, and I know she doesn't take criticism very well.

Ok, So let's break this down.

The character who was first out of the group to trust Zuko?

I'm quite sure this is referring to the scene in Ba Sing Se's caves. And yes, that is a very important scene. I think it's a very important scene preceeding Zuko's 'relapse'. It shows how he's matured during his time in Ba Sing Se and therefore it serves to add to our dismay when he joins Azula. I adore the fact that Zuko's journey to redemption is not linear, it certainly adds a lot to the character and shows us how his trauma affected him.

It's also a horrific moment for Katara. To have her worldview on Zuko and firebenders as a whole challenged, and then for it to go blowing up in her face. It rips open old wounds of her childhood. It refreshes her resentment of Zuko and the Fire Nation as a whole. It parallels the death of her mother when Aang dies due to Azula's lighting and she is unable to do anything about it. It places her back in that spot of helplessness. Even though she's grown up, even though she's a master waterbender, she still comes a hair's breadth to losing one of the most important people in her life.

No wonder she hated Zuko so much after this.

It's an important moment for both characters, but I wouldn't say it is that in a romantic sense. It's a sweet, hopeful moment that then turns absolutely horrific and visceral for both parties.

I could argue that there are other characters who could be given the title of 'first to trust Zuko'. Funnily, Appa being one of them lol.

But other characters trusting Zuko dovetails nicely into the next point.

The character who emotionally connects to Zuko?

Well, technically, I'd argue that most members of the Gaang connect emotionally on one level or another with him?

But I'd argue that Aang is the person Zuko connected with the most. Aang is Zuko's parallel. Aang is the first person to reach out to Zuko. Aang is the person who showed mercy to Zuko, multiple times. Aang is the person who valued Zuko's life, the life of someone whose whole life goal is to capture him.

This was also an incredibly important moment to Zuko. This is the thing he brings up when trying to convince the Gaang to let him join.

Zuko: Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.

The character Zuko feels safest letting his guard down around?

It's Mai. Love her or hate her, her relationship with Zuko is incredibly important to him. Maiko isn't my favourite Zuko ship, in full honesty. But even platonically, Mai and Zuko are one another's reprieve from their respective shitty lives.

People often talk about Katara touching Zuko's scar while discussing healing his scar, however one could argue that she did so as a medical examination. Mai touching Zuko's scar is a casual thing, neither of them really make a big deal of it and that's the beauty of it.

I'm mainly talking out of my own personal experience, as someone with a huge amount of burn scars, but there is a world of difference between someone inspecting my scars like Katara did and simply accepting them as a part of me, like Mai does for Zuko.

With Mai, Zuko isn't the scarred banished prince, Ozai's son or Azula's brother. He's just Zuko. And they speak freely with one another, arguing like real people do. Often, being comfortable having arguments is actually a sign of being comfortable with one another.

The character who helps Zuko heal from his trauma?

Once again, this is a bit of a flawed question. By the end of the show, Zuko isn't even fully healed, in my opinion. He has made leaps and bounds on the road to recovery, but when he will truly heal if ever is yet to be seen.

Zuko's journey to recovery includes plenty of people. This includes Iroh, Aang, Song and Jin. People who show him the error of his coping mechanism. Who challenge his worldview, who coax him out of the his shell of pain and anger.

The character known for showing most compassion to others?

Yes, Katara's compassion is a huge part of her character. Her need to help and protect those who cannot do that for themselves cannot be understated.

But Aang's compassion for others and all beings is just as great, if not greater than Katara's. Compassion and nonviolence are huge parts of his culture and his own philosophy.

Aang: Wait, we can't just leave him here. Sokka: Sure we can. Let's go. Aang :No, if we leave him he'll die. Aang airbends himself off Appa and retrieves Zuko, bringing him to Appa. Sokka: [Sarcastically.] Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us.

Friendly reminder that Aang could've absolutely wrecked Ozai, but held back because his own moral compass was so powerful. Hell, he was friendly and nice to Azula, the woman who literally killed him.

This is why Aang and Katara work so well together. They're both incredibly compassionate people who will immediately jump in to help others in need. Like they did during the Painted Lady, destroying the factiry together.

The character who primarily bears the burden of having to step up into a parental role?

I think "parental role" is an incredibly vague term. There's a lot of things that go into a "parental role". Katara plays a stereotypically "maternal" role, while someone who plays a "paternal" one would probably be Sokka.

Katara deals with very "homemaking" tasks like sewing and cooking, etc. And Sokka often takes on the role of leader, hunter, gatherer and also protector, despite being a nonbender.

This coincides nicely with their core childhood traumas. The loss of Katara's mother impacted her greatly, leading her to have to step up into a motherly role. While Sokka was clearly heavily traumatised by his father departing and the crushing responsibility of having to care for his entire village.

Sexism also probably played a part in this dichotomy.

The character who represses their emotions to be strong for others?

I'd argue that this could apply to all the members of the Gaang in some capacity.

Aang's pain is something most of us will never experience and cannot hope to understand. The complete horrific destruction of his culture and home followed him through the entire show. He was entitled to his grief and rage, yet he supressed it. We see during Appa's kidnapping, how easy it would be for Aang to rage, to let himself be destructive. And yet, he wakes up every day and chooses to smile and goof off, because his friends need someone to remind them how to be children.

Sokka puts on a very impressive bravado, despite having a lot of insecurities. However, as the oldest member of the Gaang (pre Zuko) he puts on a facade of the confident and unbothered older brother. Even if he's the butt of almost every joke, he still keeps that demeanour up, letting it slip only a few times.

I'd actually argue that Toph is the person whom this label fits best. While we know Toph as witty, callous and strong, we have to remember that she kept up the facade of her parents' good, helpless little blind girl for no reason other than her mother and father's comfort. She actually hides a lot of her hurt, covering it up with a prickly exterior.

I want to do longer think pieces about Toph and Katara so apologies if this isn't complete.

I'm actually baffled by the idea of Katara repressing her emotions. She's actually quite straightforward and open about her feelings. She yells and feels a lot of emotions and lets them be heard. She gets angry and sad. She's actually kinda bitchy sometimes and that's honestly why I love her so much.

The whole inciting incident of the show was her getting so pissed off she somehow pulls a giant iceberg from the bottom of the sea.

She is anything but repressed.

She is angry.

She's angry at the fire nation, at Sokka, at her father, at men, and with good right to be so.

This is what makes her an amazing character and one who broke the mould of a lot of female characters at the time. Her anger and unrestrained emotions rang true with a lot of watchers at the time. I'm not sure why this is being taken away from her rather than celebrated.

I reiterate the point I made at the beginning of this post: there is nothing wrong with headcanons and fanon interpretations for one's enjoyment. I do find it a bit odd when it changes a character too much (because then, why not just create an oc?) but it's all in good fun. However, you shouldn't push that onto other people and how they perceive canon and you certainly shouldn't use it to take away from other characters. It's a very unfair way of entering discourse.

[iloveboysinred]

I won't say I'm in love [Prince Zuko]

pg. 13, fluff | Zuko x gn! reader

synopsis; Zuko had never been one to express himself in the right ways, anger had always been his primary emotion. But, when he meets you, a rouge fire bender helping the Avatar, it becomes hard for him to accept the growing warmth in his chest every time you look at him.

cw; emotionally constipated Zuko, fluff, pining, Clueless Zuko, Zuko doesn’t know how to deal with feelings, awkward turtleduck, light fluff.

Masterlist

Zuko never had time to really sit and think about relationships. After spending his early teenage years on a wild goose chase hunting the avatar, and now having joined the Gaang, with only a week to teach Aang how to firebend so he could face Ozai, he had a lot going on.

However, when he had started to fit in with the gaang better, you had definitely caught his attention.

You were a firebender yourself, highly skilled and light on your feet. You made a formidable opponent in battle, your elegance and lightweight movements almost resembling an air-bender. Zuko couldn’t help but stare as you practiced basic maneuvers, your muscles flexing with every movement, the thin sheen of sweat on your brow, and the fierce look of concentration on your beautiful face. To say Zuko was whipped was an understatement.

You were the last to accept him into the group, having always been a bit of a loner and standoffish, you didnt trust him. Especially with him being the crown prince of the very nation that has caused you nothing but pain. So Zuko worked extra hard to earn your friendship. Doing good deeds like helping Sokka clean up camp, going on water collecting trips with Kitara, helping Toph with her hair, and of course, befriending Aang and teaching him firebending alongside you.

While Zuko was still miles away from getting close to you, he was running out of ideas on how to gain your approval. So, naturally he went to Sokka for advice.

“Its like no matter what i do, y/n still hates me! I dont get it, you guys all like me, you know i’m good now. So whats their problem?” Sokka looked over Zuko’s exasperated face, putting two and two together. Not that it was hard, everyone caught him staring at you like a creep once or twice already. “I dont think y/n hates you, honestly. Thats just the way they are. It took like, 2 months for them to really open up to us.” Sokka shrugged, smoothing his hair down. “If i’m being honest, you’re trying too hard. Seems like you got a thing for them.” Zuko gaped, staring at Sokka like he had grown another head. “What are you talking about!? I dont like them. I just want them to trust me!” But despite his words, the flush on his face betrayed his denial. Sokka raised his eyebrows. “Right. Okay. Why don’t you just talk to them? I mean, obviously what youre doing isnt working. Maybe you should get them a gift or something.” Zuko nodded to himself. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? He quickly stood up, a new objective in mind.

“Thanks Sokka.”

“Anytime, bro. And a word of advice, if you’re trying to make it less obvious that you like them, try not staring so hard. It creeps everyone out.”

“I TOLD YOU I DONT!”

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Get out before you burn my tent down.”

Zuko rolled his eyes, storming off with a deep flush on his cheeks.

The next morning he set out to the village nearby, wearing a cloak to disguise his face. He looked around the market, stopping by a jeweler, who had a whole array of different bracelets, necklaces, and rings. A peculiar necklace stood out to him. It held a beautiful ruby, plated in gold and held on to a thin, gold chain. Before anybody could see, he snatched it up, quickly leaving and heading back to the air temple before anybody could confront him. On the way back he stopped by a patch of fire-Lillies, picking a few to make a messy bouquet. “Y/n will like these.” He muttered to himself, trying to tie them together with an old piece of twine.

When he made his way back to camp, the others stared at him with questioning glances, momo crawling up to sniff at the flowers. “Whats with the flowers? You into gardening or something?” Sokka asked, eyeing the bright fire-lillies in his grasp. “I got these for Y/n” Zuko blushed as he realized how this looked, averting his eyes from Sokka’s teasing gaze. “Aww thats sweet, Zuko. Who knew you were such a softie.” Kitara cooed, fluttering her lashes in a mock swoon. Zuko gritted his teeth, cheeks burning hotter than the sun. “Yeah, maybe you’ll man up and confess. We all know you like them” Toph chided, smirking. “I don’t!” Zuko protested. “You’re lyinggg” Toph hummed, and Zuko cursed her abilities to see with her feet.

“Whats going on?” Zuko froze when he heard your voice, quickly turning towards you, hiding the bouquet behind his back. “Oh nothing, just teasing Zuko about his undying lo-“ Sokka was abruptly cut off by Zuko slapping his hand over his mouth, glaring at him. “What Sokka was trying to say is, we were teasing Zuko’s undying and super obvious crush on you.” Toph stated nonchalantly. The others snickered at Zuko’s panicked expression, his cheeks couldn’t have gotten hotter, wide eyes turned to you. “I dont know what they’re talking about! I don’t have a crush on you! They’re just trying to be funny i swear-“ “uh, Zuko-“ “I just want you to trust me, so i got you these flowers-“ he pulled the bouquet from behind him, presenting it to you. But what he didn’t realize was, he had accidentally set the lilies on fire. He gasped and dropped the bouquet, stomping on the charred flowers to put the fire out. You just gave him a blank look, the others snickering behind you. Zuko had never felt so embarrassed in his life.

“Wow Zuko, that sure was a good way to confess!” Kitara teased, watching as you just threw your hands up, being completely done with… whatever that was, and walking away to your tent. “Yeah Zuko. Maybe try not almost burning the camp down. I think Y/n will like it better if you just told them how you feel!” Aang chirped, just irritating Zuko more with his upbeat attitude. “Whatever, you guys are impossible” he snapped, storming off in a random direction. “And I told you i don’t like them!” Once he was out of earshot, Toph snickered, laying on her back against Appa’s side. “He’s lying again.”

For the rest of the day, Zuko avoided you at all costs. Leaving you to teach Aang by yourself, even sitting a considerable distance away from you during lunch. It was confusing you, but you didn’t say anything. You guessed he was still embarrassed from the spectacle he had made of himself that morning. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself. Zuko was sweet, and if what the others are saying is true, you couldn’t deny that you could start feeling something for him too. You’d observed him ever since he joined the group, and his surprisingly gentle heart had impressed you. You’d watched him teach Aang during your training sessions. Appreciating the way his body moved flawlessly, his dark hair bringing out the gold in his eyes. You had to admit, you weren’t complaining when he would show up to your lessons shirtless. There was no denying he was cute.

So, you decided to approach him, surprising even yourself. You waited for everyone to settle into their tents, then you made your way to his. You stood outside for a second, thinking about how you were going to start this, what you would say. But your thoughts blanked when Zuko crawled out of his tent, now face to face with you. “O-oh hi- Zuko- i, um” you stuttered, lost for words. His eyes widened at the sight of you, sputtering like a nervous wreck. “I just wanted to u-um say, t-that i think the flowers were beautiful and u-um that was very sweet of you” “o-oh” you stood in awkward silence, the ground suddenly very interesting. “Anyways i think i’m gonna go-“ “wait, i-i um, i got you this too.” He quickly handed you the necklace, eyes averting yours and a deep blush on his cheeks. You looked the piece of jewelry over, smiling at him. “It’s beautiful Zuko. Um, thank you?” “You’re uh, you’re welcome..” you don’t know what took over you, but you leaned forward pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. You stared at each other in shock, now it was your turn to blush, face as red as a tomato. “Uh well, its getting late- i’m gonna go back to my tent. G-goodnight” the words came out quicker than you could think, racing off back to your tent. Leaving Zuko standing there, hand on his cheek, feeling how warm the skin was under his palm. His brain short circuited and his heart was beating 400 miles per minute, he swore he was gonna pass out.

Hope you enjoyed :> notes and reblogs are appreciated, comments, asks, and requests are welcomed! 💗

part 2

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Why I feel like Ka/taang is one-sided, despite textual evidence 

ATLA does try to convince us that Katara has romantic feelings for Aang. For example: she seems thoughtful when she realizes that Aang is a powerful bender; she’s offended that he didn’t want to kiss her in the Cave of Two Lovers; she gets jealous when Sokka says On Ji and Aang look good together.

So…what’s wrong with anti-Kataangers? Do we just lack media comprehension? 

To be clear, on their own, these gestures can indicate romantic interest. But at the same time, we have stuff like “Aang is a sweet little guy, like Momo.” We have her ambivalent facial expression after he kisses her before the eclipse, and her hedging during Ember Island Players, and her anger when he kisses her anyway. In the context of these conflicting cues, Katara’s possibly romantic reactions can absolutely be interpreted in a different way, because: 

Acknowledging a friend as a potential romantic interest is not the same as actually being romantically interested in them. (Imo this is something young women struggle with, due to a combination of romance-centrism and heteronormativity that make women feel like they should be in romantic relationships, and that boys and girls who share intimate and deep feelings for one another must be romantically into each other) 

Wanting someone to find you desirable is not the same as desiring that person. (Which is something a lot of women, especially young women, struggle with. Remember all the discourse around Cat Person back in 2017?) 

Being jealous when someone flirts with your friend is not the same as wanting to be with your friend. (Especially when you see your friends as family, or if you’re accustomed to a specific type of devotion from that friend. It is jealousy, and it is possessiveness, but it doesn’t always arise from romantic feelings) 

Growing up in a patriarchal society means that your desires are always filtered through what men want from you, sometimes in an abstract male gaze-y way, and sometimes in a very visceral and interpersonal way when a boy wants you specifically. And Katara’s reactions are just that — reactions. Reactions to what other people — including Aunt Wu, Sokka, Aang himself — have insinuated about her and Aang. She’s not really proactive in her interest in Aang: we don’t really see Aang, romantically, from Katara’s POV. Under the framework of “Katara is reacting to a romantic prospect she’s kind of uncertain about,” it is completely plausible — and indeed likely — that she would sometimes act in ways that indicate romantic interest, in addition to moments where she indicates the opposite. 

Ka/taang shippers often bring up other evidence, like Katara’s despair when Azula hits Aang with lightning, or how protective she is of him when Zuko joins the Gaang. The thing is, these pieces of evidence aren’t necessarily indicative of romantic love. The fact that Katara genuinely loves Aang makes the whole thing more complicated, not less, because — especially at that age, especially when Aang is twelve years old and grew up in a sex-segregated society of monks — it is really difficult to tell the difference between platonic love and romantic love. Their mutual devotion is layered and complex yet straightforward in its sincerity. What was not straightforward, until the last five minutes of the show, is whether this devotion on Katara’s end is romantic. The romantic arc for Katara and Aang is not really an arc, as Sneezy discusses in this classic ZK video. Katara actually becomes more conflicted over time and we never see an event that clarifies her feelings. She seems more interested in him in The Headband than on the Day of the Black Sun, and she has never been more hostile to his romantic overtures than in the penultimate episode. 

And in light of this, it’s pretty easy for fans to fill in the blanks with a different interpretation: maybe Katara’s weird expression after their kiss at the invasion means she didn’t enjoy it; maybe the kiss made her realize that she doesn’t actually feel that way about Aang; maybe against her will and her better judgement, she’s developing feelings for another person, a person who hurt her and whom she fervently tried to hate until he pulled off what is in my opinion the greatest grovel of all time in the form of a life-changing field trip. Maybe. Am I saying that Zutara has more romantic interactions than Ka/taang? Of course not. But ironically, the lack of romantic interactions means that it’s not inherently one-sided, the way Ka/taang became in the latter half of season 3.

I’m not arguing that Katara’s unequivocally not into Aang. Obviously the text declares that she is, because they get married and have kids. But I am saying that there’s a very good reason that so many people, especially women, see Katara’s interest in Aang as ambiguous. It’s not because we can’t pick up “subtle” hints of growing affection. It’s because we know not all affection is romantic, and it’s really easy for someone else’s insistent romantic intentions to muddle what you want.

P.S. I first started thinking about these topics (platonic vs romantic love, desiring someone vs wanting to be desired, etc) in the context of compulsory heterosexuality, a term describing how queer women contort themselves into relationships with men even if they’re not really into men. I saw a post a few days ago joking about why so many queer women seem to be into Zutara. I wonder if part of the reason is because as queer women, we are very sensitive to the ways in which we can talk ourselves into wanting things we don’t actually want, and Katara’s romantic interest in Aang can be easily seen that way. 

[burst-of-iridescent]

well since i can already tell that we’re all going to be subjected to the same old tired mai & mai.ko discourse for the foreseeable future, let’s get it clear right now that the atla comics have never been, and will never be acceptable mediums of character development, and here’s why:

1. the comics are given the benefit of hindsight, which impairs organic character growth.

it’s become extremely clear over the last few years that many of the comics are made as, or include, direct responses to criticisms of the original show — especially when it comes to katara, mai, and the canon pairings. aang didn’t ask katara for consent? look, he’s checking if he can kiss her! mai doesn’t care about fire nation imperialism? here, she’s an anti fascist! iroh was a creep to june? don’t worry, here he is apologising!

many of the things the characters do or say in the comics feel unnatural because they are not written as characters, but as mouthpieces for the creators to address fandom complaints from the original show.

“but that’s good, right? they’re trying to make it better!” i mean… sure? it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s damage control, and that no matter what stories span the middle, the arcs of these characters still begin and end with avatar: the last airbender, and the legend of korra, both of which are fixed and immutable. the comics cannot retroactively fix the issues of either show, because they’ve already been defined as the goalposts of the characters’ lives, and there is no way to undo that.

it’s like if you eat a meal that isn’t to your satisfaction, and maybe the chief makes you another dish, which is all well and good — but it doesn’t fix the fact that the original meal still sucked! sometimes, accepting criticism means accepting that there’s no way to go back and fix it but to do better next time, with the next story you wish to tell.

if the legend of korra didn’t exist, and the arcs of the characters were left open after atla, then maybe there would be for the room for the comics to function as character development if not for the fact that…

2. the comics are intended for a very different audience than the show.

it’s obvious that the audience for the original show vastly outnumbers the audience for the comics, likely by thousands, if not millions. this isn’t the mcu, where the installation of any atla property is vital to understanding the next, and so on. you can skip the comics and miss nothing whatsoever (and honestly your life would be far improved by doing so).

those who read the comics are likely only the real diehard fans of the show — and the creators know this, which is why we have the whole issue of point one above. but this difference in audience matters, because it reflects the significance of the story being told, and how important it is for the audience to know it. this is why, if the characters’ development and storylines in the comics truly, genuinely mattered, it would have been in the show already.

i’m not saying that the gaang wouldn’t have continued to grow and change post-atla, but generally stories exist as closed circuits, self-contained within themselves. when you end atla, you’re meant to believe that those arcs are finished. that’s the whole reason the comics deal mostly with fun silly adventures, or with quick, temporary conflicts instead of grand, overarching narratives, because they are not truly meant to function as a continuation of the story of atla, or its characters.

(if you ask me frankly, they’re meant to be nostalgia cash grabs, but that’s neither here nor there.)

creator intention matters with the atla comics (or any atla property, in fact), because creator intention was the subject of criticism for the original show in the first place. why must we rely on the comics or the cookbook or avatar legends to tell us that katara did things with her life outside of aang? why do we need to turn to something released nearly two decades after atla to find any evidence that mai denounced the fire nation’s imperialist indoctrination, when she’s romantically involved with one of the show’s most important characters? why are these stories relegated to a medium with far less reach, far too late?

the answer is that the writers didn’t find those stories to be originally worth telling, and that is the real problem fans have been pointing out since 2008.

so, tldr:

[bythepen98]

@zutaramonth Day 3: After all these years ||

I just love the idea of them learning to dance together and being so very cute and awkward about it at first 🥺💕.

Brief backstory:

Although they were busy preparing for the war, they still needed time to have fun and de-stress so a small feast with music and dancing seemed like a good idea. Zuko and Katara were pushed to spend time together by the rest of the Gaang because they've had enough of the weird distance between the two, brought by brewing feelings that both weren't sure about acknowledging yet. At this point, they've already resolved most of their issues and were on track to becoming really good friends until the 'complication' happened.

Feelings can be ass sometimes fr.

Somehow, what started as a one time, peer pressured, clumsy bonding attempt between two hyperaware-of-each-other teenagers ended up lasting longer than expected. Excuses would be made to continue dancing together because once the initial awkwardness has passed, they found that it was actually quite relaxing (especially for two usually hot headed people) just going through the motions and communicating with looks and gentle touches what they had zero courage to say out loud. Both were also restless and couldn't always spend their hours training so dancing felt like fair game. A very pleasant and completely platonic way of passing the time with a good friend, or at least that's what they told themselves.

Then the war ended, feelings were finally acknowledged and returned now that there was enough time to reflect and actually do something about it and time continued to pass. No matter the changes and busy schedules that came with adulthood and bearing the responsibilities of ruling/helping rule a nation, some things remained constant. Though they never broadcasted it, the Gaang knew that Katara and Zuko would sometimes be found at night just swaying in each other's arms while they quietly talked about their day. It became a tradition - their way to bond and reconnect after a busy day. It was also muscle memory at this point and something they would naturally drift to doing when the opportunity arose. If they weren't training, lounging and drinking tea or walking arm in arm along the courtyard for a stroll, they'd be dancing.

Ofc the dances varied. Most of the time it was simple, intimate, and didn't require much energy. It was during festivals and other special events where they'd let loose and swap partners with their friends. They definitely would've taught each other's traditional dances too. Most of the time they stuck to couple dances though.

The two would then make it to their golden years surrounded by friends and family. In this au, Aang, Sokka and Suki are definitely still alive and kicking and they, together with Toph, would reminisc about the good old days and pat themselves in the back for helping get Zuko and Katara together. They would've gotten together eventually anyway but the Gaang just sped up the process and the credit for starting the whole dancing tradition goes to them. Aang isn't afraid to admit that he and whoever he married in this au also partake in said tradition; Sokka and Suki would do so every now and then but they much prefer exchanging swords as their love language; Toph is indifferent and much prefers just sitting back and letting them enjoy themselves.

This is way over due but I'm glad I was able to finish it. Will sadly be the only prompt I'll be able to do for zutara month bc life threw a wrench and made me too busy, though I'm still interested in making the other prompts at a later date. /N

[azu1as]

a stressed out, old man firelord zuko time travels and ends up back in ba sing se during his tea shop days.

Zuko: Ah, finally, some peace...

iroh is quick to figure out that zuko is not the same zuko as yesterday. he's torn between being thankful—relieved, really—that zuko grew up as wonderfully as he did and worried about the current whereabouts of his actual nephew. Zuko waves away his worries, saying that he's likely in the future and there's nothing you need to worry about, Uncle, my daughter will take care of him.

((Iroh: A reliable granddaughter? How delightful🥰))

Zuko's tea making skills have only improved over time. After his Uncle's passing in the future, he had taken it up as a passing hobby in his honor.

Zuko, freeing Appa: There you go, Appa. *sighs despondently* I miss Druk.

Appa perks up and licks Zuko and nudges at him familiarly.

"No way."

%%%

Zuko bumps into the Gaang while he delivers tea to the Upper Ring. They are immediately tense. Momo chitters excitedly and flies around Zuko before comfortably perching on his shoulder.

"Huh. I guess you talked to Appa."

"Anyway, goodbye, Gaang."

"...did Zuko just kidnap Momo?"

[discordiansamba]

katara jerks awake, her heart pounding in her chest.

"whoa," her brother says, "-easy there. breathe."

slowly, katara lets herself. her head is groggy and her body feels heavy, but as she takes in and lets out a few deep breaths, that starts to ebb. she looks up at her brother in confusion, wondering what he's doing here. the last thing she remembers, she was with zuko. they were fighting azula...

wait. zuko.

"where's zuko, sokka?" katara asks. "azula-"

sokka just stares at her- and then throws his arms around her, pulling her into a crushing hug. is he... crying? she frowns and lightly touches the back of his head. she's definitely not in the fire nation palace anymore. actually, she doesn't really know where she is. why are she and sokka wearing fire nation clothing again?

then everything comes back to her in a rush.

she remembers rushing to zuko's side, and then-

-and then she'd woken up in her bed in the fire nation. she'd gone to greet her father, and...

"sokka," she whispers, "-let go. i'm gonna barf."

her brother mercifully lets her, and katara vomits the contents of last night's dinner all over the floor. she'll apologize to hama later and clean it up. right now she's just trying to process the fact that somehow, reality had been altered, and she's- she's not her mother's daughter anymore.

she's yon-rha's.

...she had a little more vomit in her.

(she could feel her inner flame flicker in her chest, a sharp reminder that she wasn't a waterbender anymore either.)

"easy there," sokka says, "-it's rough when you get your memories all back. did you...?"

"-remember that i'm the daughter of mom's murderer now?" katara spits. "yeah. i remember."

"...she's alive, you know," sokka says, "-in this reality."

katara looks up at him, her eyes going wide. she asks if that's true, and he nods his head. he's spoken with her and everything. we might not be her children in this reality, but he tells her she'd love the chance to meet her. zuko's told their parents so much about them.

right. zuko.

katara lets her brother guide her down into hama's kitchen where the others are waiting for her. sokka gives them a thumbs up and before she knows it, they're all dogpiling on her- even zuko. she closes her eyes and savors the feeling all while apologizing for putting them through so much these past few months.

"i mean," zuko quirks a grin, "-i don't think i have much of a right to complain."

she sits at the table and puts some food in her stomach as she listens to their story. she already knows half of it, but she'd never believed it. it had all sounded like such nonsense to her, but now she knew it was absolutely true. aang had tried something called energybending on ozai to take away his bending- but he'd failed, and it had backfired. the reality they were in now was one that had been rewritten by ozai.

...and aang was still in his clutches.

she thinks about him. she was the closest of any of them to him in this reality, but... that wasn't the aang she knew. he was basically a shell of himself, under ozai's control. it made her gut twist, but she refused to hurl a third time. now that they were all back together, they had a chance to actually free him and set things right.

she took in and let out a deep breath, steeling herself.

"alright," she says, "-where do we start?"

oh great. they're back in hama's village.

sokka tries not to act too obviously like he's dragging his feet. toph just gives him a reassuring pat on the back. zuko and suki just look clueless- mostly because they are. they hadn't been with them when they'd had to deal with hama. you know. in the original timeline. that wasn't this one. back when sokka wasn't an earthbender or a former dai li agent or any of that nonsense.

but hey! this was a new timeline! maybe there was no hama in this timeline.

...that thought still felt mean, somehow. he'd hated what she'd made katara go through, but he'd still felt sympathy for hama in the end. he thinks he can understand how she got so messed up. the prison the fire nation put her in? it sounded beyond awful. it doesn't justify the pain she put countless innocent people through, but...

...oh wait. speaking of katara.

"you know," toph remarks dryly, "-i'm getting real tired of your sister attacking us."

yeah, he couldn't argue with that. turns out his sister is even better at tracking zuko than zuko ever was at tracking them. which was saying something, because zuko had never been bad at that. the irony of katara chasing zuko had long since worn thin. he'd just like his sister back now, thanks.

a burst of water explodes from out of a tree and slams katara back into one- then freezes her there. sokka looks at toph. that wasn't her doing. and he's seen that technique before, so...

"children," hama calls out to them, "-come with me. hurry."

sokka just stands there stock still, as suki and zuko shove him along. toph grips his hand tight. she's not afraid, but she remembers what hama did in the original timeline. his gaze flickers briefly back towards his sister, who is just... sort of watching hama with wide eyes. like the sight of the old woman sparked something in her.

or maybe she's just stunned at there being a waterbender in the fire nation. he doesn't know.

hama leads them into the village. she says they can hide here for awhile- and her gaze lingers on zuko's face as she says that. the village needs help, she explains, and fire lord azula doesn't seem inclined to send it. people have been disappearing during the full moon, and she knows someone spirit touched when she sees one. if you can help, the villagers will overlook... certain things.

...and sokka stops in his tracks. he looks at toph.

she shakes her head. her waterbending sense or whatever can still help her tell when people are lying. and hama? she's telling the truth. she wants them to help with the missing persons crisis. sokka quietly asks if he has any idea who or what is behind it. the old woman gets a grim look on her face, and tells them that the only one who escaped their grasp thus far described it as some sort of shadow.

he looks at toph. hama is telling the truth.

...if villagers are still going missing, and hama isn't the one behind it this time, then...

...who is?

[starlight-bread-blog]

It's Zutara Month 2024 So I'm Gonna Discuss (See: Fangirl) Them and Emotional Labor

Katara cooks, sews, but most of all: she gives unconditional emotional support for her brother, and later the rest of the Gaang.

Illustrated after Appa was stolen, the Gaang got stuck in a desert without much water, food or any means of transportation besides their legs. Katara gave everyone her bending water, without drinking any herself, responded to everyone with compassion, and by the end she helped bring Aang back to himself while he was out of control in the Avatar State.

Even after the episode is over, next episode and she helps delivering a baby, and still makes sure to look after Aang.

Sokka too testified that Katara did a lot of labor for him:

Sokka: Actually, in a way, I rely on [Katara's bossiness].

Toph: I don't understand.

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 helpwd fill the void that was left by our mom.

Toph: I guess I never thought about that.

And appropriately, Katara is the one doing the vast majority of the emotional labor in her relationships. She takes care everyone, comfrots them, and protects them. Take "The Deserter" as an example: Aang was being extremely careless with his new found fire bending ability, to the point where he accidently burns Katara's hands.

Katara herself never express her anger at him, she ends up healing her own wounds. Sokka does the scolding. A\ang felt incredibly guilty, but still – by the end, Katara is the one comfroting Aang when he wants to give up on fire bending.

Katara takes care of everyone in the Gaang, making sure they're well, helping them heal their scars. Moreover, Katara often brings up her own grief to empthize with other people's loss. It's a pattern of sorts:

1) A character talks about their past with the Fire Nation

Haru: Yeah. Problem is ... [Close-up, earthbends two stones in a circle above his hand.] the only way I can feel close to my father now is when I practice my bending. He taught me everything I know.

Jet: The Fire Nation killed my parents. I was only eight years old. That day changed me forever.

Hama: I'm sorry. It's too painful to talk about anymore.

2) Katara brings up her own grief, sympathizing with their loss

Katara (to Haru): See this necklace? My mother gave it to me.

Katara (to Jet): Sokka and I lost our mother to the Fire Nation.

Katara (to Hama): We completely understand. We lost our mother in a raid.

A\ang is a bit of an exception, given that she brought up her grief to prepare him for the loss of his people. (Ad they all respond sympathetically). Still, she brings it up to sympathize and help. There is nothing wrong with that, of course. but here is how it went with Zuko:

1) A character talks about their past with the Fire Nation

Katara: You have no idea what this war has put me through! Me personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.

2) Katara brings up her own grief, sympathizing with their loss

Zuko: I'm sorry. That's something we have in common.

It's Zuko who responds to her grief this time. It's him empathizing with her. It's him doing the emotional labor for her. And it's this sympathy is their first real civil conversation, establishing that in their relationship, Zuko will do some of the labor needed of him.

In The Southern Raiders, Katara opens up to Zuko, compleyely unprompted, while she is yet to forgive him, about the precise events that led to her mother's death.

A thing she has never done with anyone, and is doing now with someone she considers untrust worthy. Zuko responds with "your mother was a brave women". She, once again, is on the reciving end of the emotional labor – and in a way that is deeper than any other intance of her in the show.

In rest of the episode, Zuko is the one thinking of her and taking care of her.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Katara takes care of everyone, but it is with Zuko that she recives the help she deserves.

She put herself in danger to help A\ang, she helpped him after he'd burnt her, and she stepped up when her mother died. But with Zuko, he is the one reaching out. He's the one taking care of her needs.

[hadesisqueer]

but would korra be really able to defeat azula

I assume this is related to my post from yesterday about Korra not getting fair fights with her villains because they knew she could beat them all?

And, yes. If Korra and Azula were to fight, Korra would win 100%. I love Azula, she is my favorite villain on both shows and one of my favorite characters overall. Azula is a firebending prodigy and very intelligent, yeah. She presented the first actual threat for the Gaang. She can bend lightning and is very powerful. We know she was already a master by the time she was 14.

Korra could bend three elements by age 4 or 5 and had mastered those three elements by the time she was 17. It took her about 12 years or so. Assuming it took her 3 or 4 years to master each element, that means she mastered waterbending before she turned 10 years old, which turns her into the youngest known bending master in the show, younger than 12yo Aang and 11yo Jinora. So, just like Azula, she is a bending prodigy. She's older than Azula as well, more experienced too, has fought villains of Azula's level or higher. Azula would give a good fight but yeah, no way she could win a 1v1 against Korra, and I'm not talking about end of the show Korra; maybe Book 1 Korra could make a mistake and Azula could have a chance, against Book 3 Korra she'd lose. Azula is a good tactician, but Korra —unlike people who haven't paid attention to the show and think she's a brainless brute— is a smart fighter as well, and she's more assertive than Aang, who Azula never truly defeated, by the way, and who could have most likely defeated Azula with just Airbending if he was more into aggression and less defensive and evasive. You could argue that Azula could throw lightning at Korra, but Korra is faster than Azula, and tbh could just block it just like Katara did; unless Azula attacked her in the back and by surprise like she did with Aang, that wouldn't work either.

In a fair fight, Korra could probably beat Azula just with water; her waterbending skills and raw power are insane. She once lifted a river and threw it at a giant mecha with enough force to make it stumble before freezing said waters and trapping it. Without a full moon or a moon at all, actually, because it was in plain daylight, when waterbenders are weaker. Without the Avatar State, that's the biggest feat of waterbending in both shows, and it's a bigger feat than Azula's biggest feat at firebending. As an Azula lover, sorry but no, she's not winning this lmao.

[roseeycreates-blog]

I keep seeing this TikTok about a movie where the dog narrates that it knows its furmom is dying (because dogs can sense health issues), and it got me thinking.

Since I’ve said before that I think Lin might be the first of the Gaang kids to go, what if she got a disease and Oogi could sense it? Whenever Tenzin brought Oogi around, Oogi would be much more affectionate with Lin than usual, nudging her gently with his massive head, licking her, and curling his big body close to her whenever he could. Sometimes, he’d even ignore the whistle on the first blow just to stay by her side.

At first, Lin wouldn’t be a fan of all the attention, but over time, she’d start to enjoy Oogi’s company. It would bring back a lot of old memories from the past. Then Tenzin would notice it how Oogi’s constant affection toward Lin reminded him of how Appa acted when his dad’s health was declining. Worried, he’d urge Lin to get checked out, and that’s when they’d find out about her disease 🤧🤧🤧