#tophs older brother rocky

[a-fluffer-nutter]

Can't Beat a Bender

A/N - Hi! This is a fic I wrote for my friend and I apologize sooooo much for finishing this so much later than I had hoped! Life is wilding. Anyway, here is an Avatar: The Last Airbender fic that I hope you all enjoy!!

      He was the older brother, of course he was going to be a pain in the ass whenever he could be. From harassing Katara and Aang for their very apparent crushes on one another to bothering Suki with desires for affection. He has always been annoying, especially to Katara, and after the fall of Firelord Ozai, nothing ever changed.

     He had found himself watching Toph, Zuko, Aang, and Katara sparring at the school Toph now taught at, something about teaching a new generation of metal benders or something. After her classes had concluded, the friend group had descended onto the field to train. There really wasn't a looming threat or anything, Sokka had informed them, but the benders still wanted to keep their abilities honed. 

     "Gotcha, Twinkle Toes!" Toph yelled as she lifted a spire from the earth that closed around the Avatar's leg and plucked him out of the sky. 

     "Katara!" Aang yelled out for help, as his team mate was rolling away from one of Zuko's flames. 

     "I'm coming!" Katara yelled, throwing the young Avatar a thumbs up before pulling a reversal on Zuko, where she lunged forward before he could react and grabbed his hands, shackling them together with a thick layer of ice that crawled up to his shoulders. As Zuko stumbled backward in surprise, Katara spun around and bended the entirety of a puddle of water that had been left behind from the morning's rainstorm. Forming the water into a whip, the water crashed down into the rock formation that was now trapping Aang up to his neck. The rocky cage shattered into thousands of pebbles, which Aang quickly bended into disks. He chucked these disks at Toph, who steadily dodged each one, blocking them all with pillars of earth. Her plan was working, until she felt the rope of water encircle her, freezing her legs and arms together in a position that she couldn't touch the ground beneath her. To stop her further, Aang hoisted her up into the air with a gust of wind and held her steady. He then kicked the earth, capturing Zuko as he was rushing Katara, having freed himself from the ice, and pulled him into the ground so only his head was sticking out. 

     "We won!" Aang and Katara yelled in unison while high-fiving. 

     "Barely," Sokka shrugged, yawning from his seat at one end of the training field. 

     "As if you could have done any better," Katara retorted, arms crossed as Aang gently released Toph and Zuko. 

     "I could've beaten them both with my eyes closed in half the time," Sokka scoffed, hands on his hips, looking down at his younger sister as he approached her on the field. 

     "That's so silly, Sokka," Aang laughed, now interested in this sibling quarrel. 

     "Ah, you don't believe me then?" Sokka raised a brow. Katara simply rolled her eyes with a scowl as Aang smiled.

     "Of course not!" Aang replied. 

     "Well, we'll have to see tomorrow. I wouldn't want to do it now as you are all tired."

     "Tired of your bull-" Katara was cut off by Aang clearing his throat. "Fine, I'll make you regret everything right now."

      Sokka looked unamused, until Katara turned around to yell at Toph, who was chatting with Zuko about who knows what. 

     "I'll leave you all to this," Zuko let out an awkward laugh, not wanting any part of this sibling quarrel and left, thinking of what kind of tea to brew when he got home. 

     "Toph, would you hold him still for me?" Katara asked sweetly, but Toph could feel the malicious intent radiating. 

      "With pleasure," Toph laughed before stomping the ground. The earth shifted between her and Katara before rising beneath Sokka, which knocked him off balance. As he fell, rocks began to encase his legs and his arms. Flat on his back, his body was now in the shape of a cross, arms stretched out to his sides and legs pinned together. 

     Katara walked over to her brother and beamed down at him. He opened his mouth to protest, but she put a finger to her lips. 

      "Not so tough now, huh? And you even had your eyes open."

     "I obviously wasn't prepared. Duh," Sokka rolled his eyes, looking bored. "You proved your point. Toph, let me go."

     "Nah," Toph stuck her tongue out. "I beat you with my eyes open."

     "Very funny," Sokka drawled, then let out a grunt as Katara plopped down into his lap. Brow raised, he eyed his sister suspiciously 

     "You're gonna think this is hilarious after I'm done with you," Katara teased as she rolled up Sokka's shirt, revealing his torso up to his central ribcage. Sokka squirmed under her weight as she adjusted, making an audible groan of discomfort, when she looked down at him, wearing a smirk as she relished in the situation. She may not weigh that much, but right now, to Sokka, she carried the weight of the world.

     The smile Katara flashed him made Sokka start to sweat. Before Sokka could let out a nervous retort, Katara leaned over and planted a long raspberry on his upper belly, just above the navel. 

      Letting out a screaming laugh, Sokka's head tilted back, unable to resist the ticklish sensation. Toph winced from the sudden elevation in sound, while Aang let out a laugh. 

     "Sokka can't stand it when I do this," Katara beamed as Sokka gasped for air. "So, this is the best payback I know."

     "Let me go!" Sokka exclaimed, before falling back into laughter as Katara blew another raspberry into his stomach. This time, though, Katara didn't let up, and just kept blowing them in quick succession. 

     Sokka knew he needed to escape. Katara could be ruthless when she wanted to be. He tried to shift out of the earthly shackles, but knew it would be no hope. Toph was the best Earth bender in the world. 

     "Toph sucks at Earth bending," Sokka managed to let out between raspberries. 

     "Excuse me?" Toph stomped the ground angrily, but Sokka could feel the rocks around his limbs releasing a little. 

     "Yeah, she's the absolute worst!"

      "Oh, I'll show you! Move over Katara!"

     So that didn't work. Sokka was in hysterics in no time as Toph began wiggling her small, calloused fingers in and around his navel. 

"Now what?" Sokka thought. "Maybe I could jus-"

Sokka's train of thought was interrupted by a particularly devious raspberry placed on his navel. He let out another scream and his brain was buzzing.

      "Don't kill him," Aang giggles, as both girls attacked Sokka, with them both sitting on one of his legs, so there was absolutely no movement in either. 

      Aang could be his escape plan. Sokka could barely focus on anything except for the devilish sensations caused by both Katara and Toph, the latter now also blowing raspberries on the other side of his stomach. 

      "Aang," Sokka choked out, "Help me!"

       Sokka tried to sound as pitiful as he could, which wasn't the hardest thing to do in his current state. He knew Aang would help, the boy was the nicest person in the world. 

      "Maybe you two should stop," Aang's voice trailed, being overshadowed by the hysterical laughter that was cascading from Sokka's mouth. 

     "What did you say?" Katara nearly screamed as she threw herself up from her bent position and pointed her finger at Aang. His eyes widened in fear, Katara's eyes being consumed by the fire and rage that only a younger sister could harbor for an older brother. The couple ignored the fact that Sokka was still wailing as Toph was blowing raspberries into his stomach, her fingers dancing along his sides. “If you don't help me destroy Sokka right now, I will kill you.”

     “Sorry, Sokka,” Aang frowned apologetically as he sat down, cross-legged next to Sokka's exposed side, though he knew Sokka couldn't hear him over his own hysteria. At least, he thought. 

     Sokka was down two options of escape and there wasn't much else for him to do. His brain was muddled, muffled, and manic. His tongue was tied, stammering as he cackled, three pairs of lips harassing his sensitive stomach. His joints tugged, thrashed, bashed, as he struggled in his restraints. Sokka was a strategist, but he was stumbling. There were no thoughts buzzing around in his head, just laughter. 

     “What's wrong? Can't take it?” Katara cooed, fire consuming her words as she pushed herself up to look at his face. 

     His thrashing was slowing, which was certainly her fault. Every time he even slightly squirmed one direction, she would either blow a raspberry on that side to move him back to his starting point or Toph would. Every second Aang would take a break between raspberries, Katara would notice and work harder, tickling with more malice to not give Sokka a second to scheme. This wasn't to say that Aang was doing a bad job, quite the opposite, actually. His raspberries felt different, slightly more ticklish in a way. They weren't as harsh, but...fun. Aang would playfully blow raspberries up and down Sokka's rib cage and down his side, covering as much ground as he could, but definitely was not trying to be as harsh as the other two were.

     It was about thirty minutes after the attack started that it ended. Sokka started coughing, choking on his own laughter, and Aang practically dragged Katara off her older brother after she delivered the longest raspberry she could, one that practically broke her brother. His body slumped as soon as she was pulled away, completely limp, exhausted, done.

     “You made your point,” Aang calmly said, giving Katara a soft smile while manipulating the air around Sokka to pump more into his lungs. He squeezed her hand, feeling her boiling blood cool through her veins. 

      “You sure did!” Sokka all but yelled, though his voice was hoarse and this exertion of effort led him into another coughing fit. 

     Sokka let out a tiny yelp as Katara looked over and glared, daggers shooting out of her eyes. 

      “I'll go back to shutting up now.”

      “Smart,” Toph laughed, stretching her arms over her head, feeling her shoulders pop as she stood. Toph tapped the ground with her foot and Sokka was unleashed from his shackles. 

      “Want to go get some food?” Aang beamed, leading Katara to the exit. She nodded, rubbing her jaw to ease the pain from all the work it has just performed. 

      “Let's go then!” Toph pummeled her way between the couple, spinning around with a smile. “I'm starving!”

       The three left together as Sokka just laid on the ground, his body contorted into a tight ball. As the mush that his brain has melted into reformed, Sokka had many schemes plotting out before him. 

      Finally, Sokka sat up with a wicked smile. 

[onlymollygibson]

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Perils of a Too-Faithful Adaptation

“The book was better than the movie.”  You and I have heard it a thousand times.  Your favorite character’s arc was cut.  The lead actor’s hair was the wrong color.  HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE??!?!?!

I get it.  Some adaptations are downright terrible.  Others are decent but have a few cringe-worthy moments. 

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized how important it is for adaptations to, well, adapt, whether to fit the demands of the medium they choose to use or adapt to a different audience than the original.  The entertainment industry has churned out some absolutely amazing book-to-movie adaptations over the years.  The Princess Bride.  Freaking James Bond.  The Lord of the Rings.  The adaptations that have succeeded have done so when creators loved the original story and respected their audience, but weren’t afraid to change things. 

Take Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for example.  It was based on a children’s book about a grandpa’s silly bedtime stories. The original book didn’t even have a protagonist.  But the Lord and Miller wrote and directed a feature-length film full of hilarious characters and a satisfying plot.  It also featured the best moments from the book and some truly terrible wonderful food puns.  The took the whimsical feel of the book and turned it up to 11.   The creators recognized that an audience has entirely different expectations for a movie vs a children’s book, and they adapted accordingly.  And honestly, teenage me was pissed the first time I saw it.  Mostly because I couldn’t get over their explanations of now the FLRSALPHABETSOUP worked on a molecular level.  As my younger brothers forced me to watch it again and again, I got over my pretentious angst about incorrect biology and just enjoyed watching an animated version of Mr. T talk say things like, “My chest hairs are tingling.”

Often, the anger over book-to-movie adaptations comes when the creators can’t keep every beloved line, scene, or character from a well-loved book.  Unless they’re doing a BBC miniseries and can bless the world with a certain six-hour version of Pride and Prejudice.  Other times, they need to adapt to their storytelling medium of choice.  Can you imagine if the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice kept every line from the book?  They’d have to talk like auctioneers just to fit it all in.  Besides, a completely faithful adaptation had already been done.  To make a memorable, beloved movie in it’s own right, the creators had to adapt.  

Of course, adaptational choices aren’t all good.  Just ask anyone who had the misfortune of watching M Night Sh**m*l*n’s The Last Airbender movie.  Or Eragon.  The dragons had feathers.  Feathers!  Or Percy Jackson.  

But not all change is bad.  The Princess Bride book is hilarious.  But also very wordy.  And the running joke about it being an abridgment of a long, boring history book (Goldman says things like, “This scene was followed by fourteen pages on Florin’s trade and exports, but I cut that.���) was hilarious. BUT a joke like that doesn’t translate well to the big screen, so they didn’t really go into that when they made the movie. Instead, the beloved adaptation is famous for its snappy, witty dialogue.  

Making a good adaptation comes down to recognizing the strengths and limitations of each medium. 

Books: - Great for showing what a character is thinking - Plenty of time for exposition or extensive backstory - Action sequences can be hard to visualize - They don’t have a soundtrack Movies: - They can create a mood instantly with a combination of music and visual cues - There is something absurdly powerful about watching actors deliver really emotionally intense lines.   Or funny lines if they have good comedic timing.  -Action scenes! - The chance to watch characters kiss! - Introspection and exposition can be more difficult, especially with the pressure to make every second count in a movie. 

TL:DR We like to complain about adaptations, but sometimes the adaptational choices are actually necessary and good.  

This brings me to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The TV show was absolutely amazing!  Which is why I’m so worried about this new adaptation.  There’s a lot of pressure to live up to the original, and I’m worried the creators will play it safe.  We fans have had, what? a decade? to watch and re-watch every single scene.  Every character has been analysed to pieces and nearly every possible ship has been shipped.  There’s no way a play-by-play adaptation will be as beloved as the original.  If they try to make an exact adaptation, we’ll spend the entire time cataloging its flaws.  Someone will complain that the actor playing Sokka wasn’t the right kind of goofy or Ty Lee isn’t as flexible, or Zuko’s scar doesn’t look right.  

Here’s what Bryke should do instead: change something.  Make this adaptation an AU.  We’ve spent ten-ish years with canon.  Give us a new canon to work with.  The Season Two finale was so wonderful the first time because we legitimately didn’t know what decision Zuko would make.  It’s still enjoyable to re-watch because we have that agony of what-if he made the right choice in the catacombs and it hurts every single time.   But we’re going into the Netflix series knowing exactly what happened the first time.  If they don’t make any major changes it will be like reading those fanfictions that are like, “What if Toph had an older brother? How would that change things?” and then they completely repeat the canon line-by-line with a few added snarky asides delivered by Toph’s older brother Rocky.  (Sorry if fics like that are your thing.  You do you, and don’t let my complaining about them make you feel bad.) Now imagine that the first episode of the Netflix adaptation introduces some minor changes that are sure to have rippling effects throughout the series: - What if Azula was the heir and Zuko was the spare? - What if Lu Ten survived the siege of Ba Sing Se and Iroh became Fire Lord?  (Suddenly we have villains who aren’t as overtly evil as Zhao.  The Fire Nation people going after the Gaang would be more like Jeong Jeong.) - What if Aang actually saw some of the Sozin’s comet airbender massacre?   - What if Sokka was a bender? - What if Azula wasn’t? - What if the Fire Nation had conquered the North Pole before tried to get Ba Sing Se?  Or what if the Northern Water Tribe allied themselves with the Fire Nation years ago? The point is, introduce a few permutations and see how they effect the story down the line.  Keep the spirit of the series the same by giving us the same level of suspense and agony over the what-ifs and narrative parallels, but change the story so we are one the edge of our seats the entire time.  

And, dare I say, change the ships.  The shipping wars in ATLA were legendary, largely because of the chemistry fans saw between Katara and Zuko. And while there were negative aspects of the shipping wars, some absolutely amazing fics were written as a result.  If the creators change enough that fans think anything is possible, it will create so much buzz and take the Netflix adapatation from, I’m-watching-this-because-I-loved-the-original-and-well-at-least-its-visually-stunning to Holy-Crap-you-have-to-watch-this-OMG!!!  I’m not saying they have to do Zutara (even though 2020 is going to be the year of the reformed-villian/hero romance), but they should do something different.  They have a chance to have us on the edge of our seats.  Not taking that chance would be stupid. 

[shifuaang]

Rewriting the Cloudbabies Conflict in LOK

Here’s how I would rewrite the Cloudbabies conflict so that it would align with the established characterization of Aang and Katara and not recycle the same bad parenting tropes as ATLA:

I actually like the majority of the personality traits that were given to these characters, so they will mostly be kept intact. 

Bumi is still the eldest and a non-bender, but he’s the one who really takes an interest in the restoration of the Air Nomad culture. He steps up and becomes involved with the Air Acolytes and is the most enthused out of his siblings about field trips to the different Air Temples. The whole family goes on these trips, not just Aang and Tenzin when he’s old enough. Aang and Katara are proud to share their heritages with all of their children.

Bumi reflects Aang’s happy-go-lucky personality and great sense of humor but can also be spiritual and in tune with nature when the occasion calls for it, so he naturally meshes with his father’s culture and traditions. He’s one of the first people to be matched with a sky bison after he helps Aang find a surviving herd. The one belief he doesn’t adhere to is being a vegetarian because, in his own words, “mom’s two-headed fish soup is just too good.”

At the start of the series, he lives on Air Temple Island and has married another non-bender. They have teenage twins a little older than Korra - a boy waterbender and a girl airbender. 

Kya, the second oldest, is a waterbending master like her mother but very much considers herself half-Air Nomad, half-Water Tribe. She delights in the fact that she gets two bending teachers and that her bending is diversified by her father’s knowledge as the Avatar, as he incorporates other elemental styles into her lessons. 

Lin is Kya’s childhood best friend, and there are definite romantic undertones to their relationship. Because Kya knows about the Air Nomad’s acceptance of all forms of love, she is unashamed of her sexuality. She is extremely close with her Grandfather Hakoda growing up, and once she is old enough, she assists him in continuing to rebuild the Southern Water Tribe. 

She is child-free at the start of the series and living with Lin in Republic City but frequents the Southern Water Tribe often. She also has a spare room so that her mom can visit her whenever she likes.

Tenzin, the youngest, is an airbending master, but takes longer to get there than he would like. He is serious and disciplined and can become hot-headed like his mother on occasion. Tenzin does not fall as naturally into Air Nomad culture as Bumi, (after all, air is the element of freedom), so there is a bit of tension between the two brothers. In spite of this, his love for his parents runs deep. In times of trouble, he gravitates towards Katara as he feels she can relate to him a bit better. 

While he isn’t an airbending prodigy like his father, he does end up receiving his tattoos in his late teens. He marries Pema (though let’s make their age gap less significant and not have their power dynamic be mentor/student), and their children are still Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo at the start of the series.

Because Katara and Aang have to navigate raising a family, uniting the four nations, and rebuilding their own cultures, things are going to get rocky at times. Family vacations, outings, and schooling are often interrupted by duties that they need to attend to, and their children get dragged along to political functions and events. Though Katara and Aang do their best to shield and protect Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin from the more serious issues in the world, it’s impossible not to let things seep through the cracks sometimes.

The central conflict for the three siblings then becomes less internalized and more societal. "Mom and dad did their best to give us a normal childhood, but we can't pretend that we didn't hear some of the things said in those council meetings or whispered outside of the carefully curated safety of our home.”

Tenzin feels pressure as the only remaining airbender besides Aang to carry on that lineage. Kya, as a woman, also feels pressured by society to conform. They bond because of this, and are somewhat resentful of Bumi’s ability to forge his own path forward. 

When Aang passes on, it’s heartbreaking for all of them, most especially Bumi who felt that he could rely on his father to be around to help him with his two children when it came time for them to learn how to bend. The siblings remain close in proximity but become emotionally distant and carry the sadness of losing their father too early in life. Because Kya is the most balanced of the three, she thinks she’s responsible for their fallout when she can’t find a middle ground this time around.

Bumi begins to feel inadequate, especially as his twins grow up and, like most teenagers, are less interested in the knowledge that he can offer them about Air Nomad culture and more interested in things like Pro-bending and showing off for their new friend, the Avatar.

This brings us to the beginning of LOK when Tenzin becomes Korra’s airbending teacher. After struggling to connect with her and find a method of teaching that works, he reluctantly asks Bumi for help, as he knows he can help bridge the gap between Korra’s inherent desire for freedom and lack of discipline. The brothers are forced to work together, especially when Bumi’s twins start to gravitate towards their bending aunt and uncle and Tenzin’s children become attached to Bumi.

The twins get captured while spying on an Equalist Rally and publicly get their bending taken away by Amon. (Though in my version, he can only bloodbend and take away bending on the full moon.) Bumi’s children are devastated, particularly his daughter who is not only mourning the loss of her bending but also feels she let down the world as they lost one of the few remaining airbenders. Bumi is offended by the notion that non-benders can’t pass down Air Nomad traditions, and Tenzin mumbles something unhelpful about how at least now she won’t feel obligated to do so. 

Everything comes to a head then, and the siblings are forced to confront the emotions and issues they take with each other. Tenzin has to come to terms with his jealousy of Bumi’s easy relationship with Air Nomad culture and society’s expectations of him. Kya has to reconcile with the fact that she can’t always do the emotional labor for others and it’s unfair that she placed that burden on herself for all of these years. Bumi has to recognize that he needs to let his father go and live his own life and that his love for Aang can be reborn in his love for his siblings.

After a long, emotional shouting match (and maybe some petty fighting a la Katara and Toph in The Runaway, because that’s always fun), they get some much needed catharsis, and they go on to form a plan with Korra about how they’re going to take down Amon together.

[from-b612]

i know Zuko and Sokka don’t get much material in ATLA (i see you, boiling rock episodes, I SEE YOU) but i still think they’d be really good for each other?

like, Sokka is an entertainer. he needs to feel he’s funny and entertaining and ‘useful’ in that regard, and i feel like a no-nonsense relationship wouldn’t be right for him. toph and aang laugh along to his antics just fine, but to Big Brother Sokka, toph and aang are literal children. so he’d need someone that wouldn’t act 100% no-nonsense with him the way katara does, but is still older and more mature than the rest of the gaang. who does the audience know to be someone older, more mature (in S3) but would still VERY MUCH need a laugh from time to time? that’s Zuko! but Sokka also needs someone who can trust him to be the bigger person and will take him seriously when he needs to, and not just see him as a clown— and we know Zuko’s personality is basically I’m Very Intense And I Take Everything And Everyone Seriously

Zuko, on the other hand, is very much dramatic. he’d need someone that wouldn’t make fun of him because of it, but would still say ‘you need to chill now’. and like, Sokka’s dramatic too, it goes with his entertainer personality, but when it comes to the real deal he’s laid back, down to earth, logical. (in the last series of ATLA sokka takes the role of the strategist and it’s telling!!) romantic relationships are something drama stems from, and Zuko would need someone that’d defuse him— pick him up and throw him out of the drama zone.

plus, I feel given Zuko’s background, Zuko’d be the type in constant need of reassurance that yes, i do like you, we’ve been dating for ten years cut it off. and Sokka... can do that? in a low-key way? like, Sokka is only fleeting on the surface. all his chara-development in atla goes to show he’s in fact REMARKABLY stable. i feel like, would they ever date, it’d be pretty rocky at the beginning bc Sokka would play it lowkey and Zuko wouldn’t feel loved enough, but they would quickly reach a place where Zuko doesn’t need Sokka to voice everything aloud bc Sokka would have proved him he’s there and not going anywhere.

anyway yeah just because two charas don’t get much ship material in canon doesn’t mean they’re not compatible!! and i love those boys

[randomly-random-jen]

Avatar Katara AU - part 5

I only have a little bit more of this written, but wanted to post it anyway. I have a lot of it outlined. I know what happens (to a point) after they get where Zhou is taking them. I know how they escape, how Zuko helps, how Aang's 12yo spirit helps (if you thought Aang was a handful alive... his spirit is worse, and only Katara can see him). I even managed to get Toph in there who is only 9 (and has more sense than the lot of them sometimes). I just never had a true ending with Katara being the Avatar and doing... something. Not sure it's worth continuing or not. Either way, here's the rest of what have written.

Continued from these posts: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

On the night that Katara was born, bright lights lit the inky sky across the entire globe. The Elders of the Southern Water Tribe declared it a bad omen. Saddled with that legacy, eleven-year-old Katara struggles with making friends and keeping secrets from her family. Secrets that could get her and them killed.

Because if it's one thing every Water Tribe child knows it's that waterbenders are dangerous. And Katara is a waterbender.

Waterbending is illegal at the South Pole, but that doesn't stop Katara from practicing in the shadows between her chores, meager school time, and trying to maintain rocky friendships with the other kids of the tribe. That all changes the night the Fire Nation attacks.

Now Katara, Sokka, and their friends are fighting for their lives in enemy territory with Katara's secret hanging heavy over their heads ready to burst like a dam and change the world forever. Because Katara can bend more than just water.

Zhou's Ship

The children were dragged from the village, kicking and screaming—never say a Water Tribe child went down without a fight—to the Fire Nation ship waiting in the harbor. It dwarfed the Tribe’s longboats that burned alongside it with its gaping maw opened on the front. Captain Zhou marched Katara and Sokka up the ramp into the belly of the metal beast. Katara felt the itch of the ocean just beyond it, but soon she lost the feeling. Not that she could have done anything with it anyway.

No matter what happens, under no circumstance must you let them know you're a waterbender.

She squeezed her fists closed and tried to fight the growing panic. She managed to catch Sokka’s eye. His mouth was set in that determined way he had, but his ferocity was belied by the tears streaking his face.

The bunch of them—Katara, Sokka, Kita, Yuka, Bartok, Kystia who was always so sickly, and Toklo and Darro, two of Sokka’s friends—were herded into the ship jail which was not meant to house eight children. The metal door slid shut with a clank, locking them in. Sokka immediately grabbed the bars, shaking them pointlessly.

“You can’t do this,” he screamed. “We- we have rights.”

Zhou laughed. “Not in the Fire Nation you don’t.” And with that he turned on his heel and left, ignoring the rest of Sokka’s protests. The other soldiers followed. Sokka continued to rail against the injustice until his energy wore out, then he slid down the bars, pulling his knees to his chest. Katara sat next to him while he cried silently into his arms.

Toklo, who was a month younger than Katara, and Darro, who was slightly older than Sokka, huddled together in one corner while Kita gathered Yuka and Kystia—both ten—together in the other corner, leaving poor little Bartok—barely nine-and-a-half—alone in a ball. They stayed that way as the boat began to bob and sway with the ocean. They were leaving the harbor. Leaving the South Pole. Leaving home.

Katara wondered if she would ever see her parents again. She has always wanted to see the world. But not like this. She leaned her head on Sokka’s shoulder until he slid his arm around her, pulling her close. At least she had her brother, unlike Bartok whose brother was thirteen. Bartok wasn’t even ten yet.

[seedofcreativity]

thougts about zutara/kaatang and characters in general (stop this fucking shipwar please)

so im sitting there and scrolling through atla tag and there's like a shit ton of posts about how zutara/kaatang is bad, character regression, blah blah shit goes on and i just want to make some points considering things poeple've been writing about the development of these ships, about characters and stuff, no hatin', just a humble opinion from a humble blogger - srl kaatang had really big development that wasn't just "oh my poor baby brother" thing katara was always there for aang, we could see that she was concerned about him more than about the other charas from gaang, there were a lot of hugs, mutual understanding, sometimes chemistry, and during important moments in a plot she was intrested in him - bUT HOHOHOO that doesn't mean that zutara is completely out of mind because it's a pretty good piece of shmexy ship right there strong character of zuko and his big development goes along with katara's change and her maturing during a series also they are pretty much in a vey difficult time of their lives and they find comfort in each others presence - also, zuko has a really complex personality, he's a teenager with problems and it gives impression how incredible the relationship between him and katara would be, considering her intresting traits as well - i think that's the problem with kaatang mostly and why so many people disagree with writer's choice about hooking them up, because aang, even as a main chara haven't had a chance to completely change himself because i think he didn't need to he IS a child at the beginning of the series and he still IS a child after the ending of it, but with more experience yet it doesn't change the fact that he was the wiseset of all of gaang, he had his peaceful nature, his vegeterianism, his restraint from fight, his cheerful nature and many other things that made him a beautiful person on the other hand zuko had like a fucking character rollercoaster and we could see how profound his personality was and how he could change and show his true nature aang did not had this chance to reedem himself, because he didn't have to, that's why his pure and innocent feelings for katara are considered by the fanbase as immature or idk not strong enough - and maybe that's why katara is with aang and not with zuko because it wasn't about changing and maturing but endorsing these pure feelings aang had for her from the beginning and showing that his personality was worth something even without these major changes and because she was the only person who would encourage him to express his nature, his goodness and sincere need to help the others because she wasn't mocking him or trying to change him but she was just there always when he'd need her and he was also protecting her from any harm and even as a child he could impress her with his wiseness and with his right choices - yet zutara is a beautiful thing because we can see how their relation exposes a whole new level of personalities we can see that katara can struggle and have doubts and be not as nice as she seems we can see zuko that can sacrifice his good opinion among the other gaang members just to help her get revenge their relation is rocky but at the end of the day they seem to get along with each other - also zuko is older than aang and he can really prove himself, how dedicated he can be, how his will of not giving up is powerful and that is a really good start of a zutara love story, because we see a big development of two incredible characters - aang didn't had to prove anything because he was dedicated to katara since the beginning and that's also a good thing and she finally grew up to the idea she can be with him - it's like zutara would be a really great pair if they were really meant for each other but there wasn't enough development between them, their bonding and stuff were purely platonic but since their relationship is so ambivalent at times we can see it as a pretty realistic representation of a mature relationship that could've happen in a real life their feelings are like a mountain you need to climb on, sometimes you''ll slip, sometimes you'll climb faster, but still, in the end, you'll be so satisfied after you reach the end - with kaatang the problem is, that their relation is like a flow of a river, it's so soothing and at the same time kind of boring, because we do not see many obstacles on the way they had plenty time to develop their relation, there wasn't and major problems with that aside some of aang's overthinking and it had completely different base than the zutara zutara is more about finding love in understanding each other through problems and obstacles, about forgivness and giving second chances and kaatang is about finding love in living in each other's presence, in exsisting next to each other and working together to achieve something great, without sadness or despair (ok there were moments but mostly it was fluff ok) - and both of these ships show different values, one shows that perfection doesn't exist and the other one proves that yes, it exist but you need to work very hard and long to achieve it and probably it won't last for a long time -so pls stop hating each other (i was born as kaatang shipper but i fucking adore zutara and there could be so much said about them but im a bitch for this pureness of aang's) - we can find something incredible and astounding in both of these relations and we should express it by apprecieating it, not by calling people fags because they ship something you don't like we can apprecieate how aang could experience his first love and express it in a childlish but cute way how zuko could show that katara is only a human but has a big heart how katara could show that she really cares how aang could be himself in the presence of katara and how katara could be relaxed and happy in the presence of aang how katara have shown how zuko and aang were dedicated to their goals how zutara is a great ship with interesting possibilites, different levels of mutual understanding and rough connection (in a good sense) how kaatang is showing pureness, careness and deep, slowly built-up affection, but at the same time is mature, because it shows that every little thing can matter so yeah that's it idk i wanted to write some of my thoughs, it's messy and i can't speak english and it's late at night (and also about "love" jokes in atla, their fucking jokes, this show isn't about love jesus and this deep analysis of the prophecy of an old lady and freaking out when toph mocks other ppl by making fun of love is just ridiculous like, they're fucking jokes, it's a show for children) bye love u