#yes i made four a nonbender

[imgaydontshoot]

[kawaiichibiart]

You voted for it, let's develop my Kya Lives AU

For those who haven't read through it, my Kya Lives AU explores the idea of Kya being kept alive in the FN as Ursa's servant, rather than in prison. While she could have been locked away, they didn't want to give her that luxury. It was also because they wanted her be around when the real last SWT waterbender was found. They'd be killed and Kya would be forced to watch as they die. That way she'd see her failure before she, too, was ultimately killed. This is also why, when they find out she isn't the real last SWT waterbender, she isn't killed on the spot.

From there, she Ursa develop a mutual companionship, which turns into a cautious friendship, neither woman wanting to lower their guards at first. After all, while both are nonbenders, both must have skills elsewhere that should be taken seriously.

Time goes on and the search for the last SWT waterbender becomes an afterthought. The FN has a war to win, chances are they might have killed the last waterbender from the South Pole and not known. Kya's living on edge, careful when she speaks of her family and home to Prince Zuko who has taken an interest in it.

And then Prince Lu Ten dies. The Siege of Ba Sing Se fails and Prince Iroh goes "missing" after he pulls back his men. Ozai goes to present his children to Azulon, and we know how the rest goes. Azula overhears Azulon tell Ozai that he has to feel the pain of losing a firstborn son by losing his own, she tells Zuko Ozai is going to kill him, Ursa intervenes and kills Azulon after making a deal with Ozai so he can become Firelord. Not the best retelling of what happened, but you get the idea.

This where we once again, leave canon behind. Because they're sorta friends now, Ursa tells Kya about what she plans to do and offers to make a deal with her. Help her get her children out of the FN, and she'll help her go home. It's risky, but Kya jumps at the chance to go home. She gets Zuko, Ursa gets Azula, and they get the fuck out as fast as they can.

At first, things are tense. Azula is fully blaming Zuko for what happened, fighting with her mom, demanding to be returned home, and snapping at Kya whenever she tries to intervene. She's upset she got dragged along, because had she been asked, she would have preferred to stay in the FN with her father.

Zuko is also blaming himself, knowing, whether his father was actually going to kill him or not, he should have just not let Azula get to him. They're on the run because of him. For once Azula has to be right, right?

Ursa and Kya are just trying to get by. They'll separate the two kids whenever their fights get bad, and will take turns watching them as one of them goes gets supplies. It isn't an ideal situation for either of them, honestly why they hadn't split paths earlier is lost to them. Would they split once they find a ship? Would Ursa and her kids literally follow Kya to the South Pole and see to it she reunites with her family? (yes)

Both women have wanted posters up. Posters that paint Kya as a witch, a savage who caused Ursa to kidnap the Crown Prince and Princess. Posters that paint Ursa as an usurper. Since she took the kids, the deal she made with Ozai is essentially void. Her murdering Azulon soon becomes public knowledge and Ozai "worries" she plans to kill his "heirs" as well. This makes traveling more difficult, as know all four of them need to be heavily disguised.

And because they have to be so careful now, a journey that, at longest (like extremely long) it should have been roughly half a year to a year. And it takes them longer. They're doing what they can to get by, but they have several points in time where they have to stop and lay low.

The three FN Royals use fake names (Noriko (obviously), Lee (again obviously), and I haven't chosen one for Azula yet, but part of me really wants to choose Loh for the irony). Kya ends up going by Mera.

As time passes their relationship evolves. Azula and Zuko still fight, but Azula no longer blames him for what happened (he hasn't stopped blaming himself yet). Their fights are moreso petty (not the word I was looking for but whatever, I can't think of the right one) fights (one called the other a name, one was being annoying, one kept making faces at the other, etc.). Kya and Ursa have settled into their friendship. Their journey to the SWT has slowed significantly, and they've lived in several places temporarily, but they do, eventually, reach the South Pole.

Once there, they have to track down Kya's tribe, which in itself is, thankfully, an easier journey. It takes them about a day to find someone who recognizes Kya. And, while weary of the 3 people with her, they lead all 4 of them to the tribe.

Kanna is overjoyed at Kya's return, and upon being asked where Sokka and Katara are, tells her about the Avatar. How he returned and was found by her children. That they left with him to stop the war. And Kya's heard the rumors. But she didn't want to consider the Avatar was traveling with her kids. She'd hoped they were home, safe.

But they were gone, they left to help the Avatar, and as proud as she should (and later would) feel, worry takes a front seat in her mind. Her children were the one thing she hoped to see when she arrived. And they weren't there. She ends up sitting with Kanna, listening as she tells her about what had happened while they were gone. The men had left to help fight the war, something she'd suspected would happen. She knew there a chance Hakoda wouldn't be around when she returned. She'd hoped her family was waiting for her, that Hakoda, Sokka, Katara and Kanna would all welcome her home. That, maybe only her husband would be absent. But only Kanna was there. And while, yes, the rest of the tribe welcomed her home, it's not the same thing. Kanna does her best to reassure her that things will work out. That she'll see all of them again.

If you're wondering about Ursa, Zuko and Azula, yeah they're just sorta...standing there. They don't know what to do. Or rather, Ursa and Azula don't know what to do. Zuko thinks he has the solution.

While some Kya and Kanna go about helping the FN ex-royals settle in, Zuko takes note of where the canoes are. That night, he leaves a note, takes a canoe, and leaves in hope of finding Sokka and Katara. And maybe the Avatar. Maybe. (Queue another mother becoming worried sick, because what the fuck?)

Through his random, whatever the fuck you wanna call it, luck, Zuko manages to survive and arrive in the Earth Kingdom. And we enter the second half of the AU which focuses on Zuko looking for, and eventually joining, the Gaang. The first one he finds is Sokka and that's by pure chance. Sheer luck. And Sokka becomes the first between him and Katara to learn Kya is still alive. That she's home. And he's learning this through this boy, this FN boy who spent a few years living with his mom. This boy who had heard stories about him and his sister. Heard his mom speak about them with so much love and decided he had to meet them. It's a bit overwhelming but...mom's home. Waiting. Waiting for him. For Katara. Maybe even for this weird boy.

Katara, takes this revelation differently. Since Zuko isn't their enemy here (that role belongs to Zhao), her animosity towards him isn't because he's chased them around. It's because, all this time, all these years she's spent blaming herself. Believing she'd gotten her mother killed, that her mom died protecting her. Her mom had been alive this entire time. Telling a FN boy, no, the FN Prince, all about her and Sokka. And while she knows chances are Kya couldn't leave without being hunted or being followed, she hates that she apparently bonded with members of the Royal Family. It wasn't fair. It's not fair. He has no right talking so fondly of her mother. He has no right saying her hugs were comforting. That she told the best stories. He had no right being close to her mom.

Katara is hurting, so a lot of what she says comes out because of that. Things she doesn't mean. Things she knows aren't important or will matter in the end. But she watched as her mother was taken away. As her betrothal necklace was ripped off her neck and tossed in front her crying daughter. Told she might as well have a last reminder of her mother. Her mom was gone and it was all her fault. If only she hadn't been a bender. If only the NWT actually helped them. If she'd just been born earlier or never at all. She doesn't mean what she says.

She knows her mother loves sharing stories, of course she'd tell a little boy if he asked for one. She knows her mom's hugs are comforting, she's been held in one every time she hurt herself, like when she pricked her finger on a needle, or when she got scared, such as the time she accidentally broke the ice under Sokka's feet and he fell through. Her hugs were warm and loving.

She can't help but feel hurt. And it takes her time to apologize, not for how she feels, never because of how she feels, but because of how she let those emotions made her act. For the things she said out of anger. Not just to Zuko, but to her brother, to Aang and Toph.

But she spent 6 years blaming herself and she still blames herself. And she can't help but just feel afraid. She's scared Kya blames her as much as she blames herself. That, when they go home, her mom will look at her in disdain. With nothing but hatred, any love she had for her daughter gone. It's so, stupid, but...

And Katara does eventually become friends with Zuko. The two take to talking, listening as the other vents. She thinks he's a moron for deciding to look for them via a fucking canoe (and now understands her brother's constant prayers to Yue to help him deal with this, he wasn't asking for more crazy benders even if they were cute, and wow was that a way to find out her brother liked boys). But it's also kinda nice, that it was solely because of Kya's stories and worry for them that he decided to look for them.

Not like she can get rid of him, they all got attached.

I've written a lot, so the rest will be in bullet points, feel free to ask about this AU, relationships (the only one I was sure I had planned was Zukka or Zukki):

Kya definitely wanted to leave earlier but wasn't sure how to go about doing so

Because they left the night Azulon left, Zuko doesn't have his scar

That being said, he gets captured in Ba Sing Se with Iroh and upon arriving home, gets one chance to reveal where his mom, sister and Kya are at. When he refuses to say, Ozai burns his face and ships him off the Boiling Rock, which is where he meets Suki for the first time.

Katara's guilt is something she's been hiding for a while. So when Sokka shows up with Zuko and says their mom is alive, that he was told by the FN boy next to him, her emotions slowly begin to break through the wall she built until it broke and she let everything out on everyone. She was hurting and wanted everyone else to feel hurt so she used her words to do that. And while she knows she was wrong to speak to them in the way she did, she was not going to apologize for how she felt.

That also being said, she's genuinely afraid of reuniting with her mom, because she can't help but think of it going wrong. She keeps imagining what her mom will say. How she'd look at her. And when the day comes she can finally see her mom again, she's the last one to do so.

Azula does, eventually, track down her dumdum brother's new friends. She'd hoped he was with them and was more than a little pissed when she learned he got captured by Zhao (I can't remember it correctly, but I think originally I had her catch up with all of them, so prior to Zuko being caught, but I like this more).

Zhao just barely made it out alive. First was his escape from the NWT and his failed siege. The next was when Ozai gave him one last chance to redeem himself. Now he's on his last chance. And he was sure he redeemed himself. He killed the Avatar, he caught the traitor Iroh and brought Prince Zuko home, who then revealed himself as another traitor. His last task? Find Ursa and Azula and the savage woman. Hopefully before the two women corrupted her as they did the Prince.

That's all I'll be sharing for now. A lot of it is things I've written before, some of it is changes I've made and some of it's new. This AU will still go through changes and I do want to go over the relationship between characters, so feel free to ask for certain ones!!

[baobeisokka]

I’m getting a little tired that everyone seems to think Sokka’s arc is about “getting over sexism”.

Sure, that’s part of it. And yes, it's the first aspect of his personality we're introduced to, it's his most obvious flaw that's made clear in the very first few minutes of the show. I get why people have latched onto it. It's clearly presented to us and then we can dust off our hands and say we understood Sokka's arc now.

But it's just so far removed from what his actual development is, his struggles with insecurity especially as a nonbender, learning the strengths he does have, settling into his confidence as a leader, growing into his role, etc etc etc.

The sexism piece is just this tangent side plot through the beginnings of Book 1, which ends when Suki beats it out of him and is never brought up again. It feels like the writers were just using that common trope of kids' shows, boy character who is all cocky and misogynist until girl character makes him drink his respect women juice. It's a neatly packaged moral and it's easy to do.

Sokka's story means the most to me, but I won't lie and say it's the most well-written. His development really is rather uneven, not much happening through Books 1 and 2 until he really gets fleshed out past just the comic relief guy in Book 3.

Book 3 is where all the interesting stuff actually happens. Book 3 is where he actually grows and struggles and changes. I just wish we would talk more about that when we discuss Sokka's arc than just the half-baked sexism plot that lasts for the first four episodes.

[azenkii]

Sokka/Suki/Zuko Brotp Headcanons

These three are a god-tier brotp and i'm here to prove it

100% that one friend group who does the stupidest, most impulsive shit but they’re also super nerdy at the same time?

Like they'll be left alone together and you can guarantee that by morning they'll have broken into several heavily guarded government buildings. But like,,they didn't even steal anything important? they just wanted to see if they could find bosco's birth records and figure out why he's a regular bear

The last time they got drunk together they woke up on the Beifongs' roof in librarian's robes with a fully labelled diagram of a nonbending submarine in front of them

Suki and zuko braid each other's hair and sokka got jealous that he couldn't join in so he grew out his hair until it was long enough to braid

Suki teaches zuko how to fight with kyoshi warrior fans and he's absolute shit at it

In return, he teaches her how to fight with dual broadswords and she is not shit at it, which zuko thinks is unfair

all three of them spar together, all the time

sokka’s the unofficial leader of the group

he’s almost always the one who suggests the dumb/smart ideas

suki and zuko are pretty much on the same wavelength as him when it comes to plans so whenever he suggests something it goes like

sokka: so you guys know the new ozai society? well i was thinking about the pipes under the city-

suki: that’s a great plan. dibs on scouting the eastern block, zuko can you-?

zuko, nodding: the night market? on it

no one else can ever eavesdrop on their conversations because they just don’t make sense

the story of their escape from the boiling rock becomes legendary and they make a game out of retelling it. every time someone asks about it they’ll add something new. eventually the story ends up involving a platypus bear named Mai II, Chit Sang’s identical twin, a rope made out of bedsheets and three separate riots

sokka and zuko thought for a solid year that suki didn’t really like drinking because she always ended up relatively sober whenever they went out. turns out she drinks more than both of them combined and she’s just really, really good at holding her liquor

the amount of decrees they’ve passed while drunk is honestly ridiculous. only half of these decrees were cancelled afterwards because the other half actually made sense

suki once genuinely threatened to throw hands with one of zuko’s ministers. her reasoning was ‘he kept making weird faces whenever sokka suggested anything’

sokka and suki once ganged up against zuko. they called it ‘nonbenders solidarity’

zuko retaliated by creating a super-secret best-buds-only handshake with toph and they did it in front of sokka and suki whenever they could. sokka and suki eventually went ‘okay OKAY we GET IT also can you please...teach us the handshake it looks really cool’ and zuko was like ‘hm. no i dont think i will’

he then proceeded to drive them insane by immediately teaching the handshake to everyone he knew. aang? knew it. katara? knew it. mai and ty lee? knew it. every single one of his ministers knew it. the kyoshi warriors knew it (and wouldn’t tell suki). hakoda knew it. iroh knew it. that random regular visitor to iroh’s tea shop knew it.

sokka and suki gave up on ever learning the handshake. exactly one (1) day later zuko and sokka were playing their own modified version of pai sho with suki watching them and then zuko just casually went ‘so now that you’ve given up do you want to learn the handshake’

sokka and suki went FERAL and suki flipped the board

sokka: HOW DID YOU KNOW WE GAVE UP

also sokka, exactly 0.02 seconds later: also yes please teach us the handshake sifu hotman

the handshake is the stupidest most needlessly-complicated thing in the world but they learn it anyway and they don’t stop using it for approximately a month

and oh did i not mention that they made their own version of pai sho? they call it die sho and it features 16 homemade tiles and a set of rules that only suki understands. one game can last anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 days

they once wrote a book together under the pseudonym Wang Kyo-Lee. The book was a 500-page rant about plant husbandry. it became a bestseller in the earth kingdom.

they also once did a role swap for a day. zuko dressed up as a kyoshi warrior/the fire lord’s elite guard (complete with makeup to hide his scar), sokka was acting fire lord, and suki was his water tribe ambassador. that was how they discovered that they worked together so much that their jobs were literally interchangeable

there are rumours that the three of them are involved in a poly relationship. when asked, none of them will give a definitive answer

sometimes they’ll just go on holiday to some random obscure place without telling anyone and come back four days later with a frog, three new swords, a crate of theatre props and a valuable compilation of historical accounts that’s been lost for over a century

the most memorable thing they ever brought back was druk, aka a literal dragon

out of the three of them, suki makes the best tea. however, she’s also the worst cook

sokka learnt how to knit and promptly made them matching scarves. the scarves were ugly af but suki and zuko wore them anyway

when zuko overworks himself sokka and suki will literally manhandle him away from his desk and into his chambers, all while lecturing him as he nods sleepily and dozes on his feet

when suki overworks herself sokka and zuko will bring her tea and wrap her in blankets until she eventually falls asleep

when sokka overworks himself suki and zuko will drag him out somewhere under the open air and just sit with him until he relaxes and falls asleep on one or both of them

they have a running joke where suki and zuko will, in the middle of a discussion, go ‘GODS you remind me of this one guy i met while i was travelling’ and then proceed to describe sokka until he realises they’re talking about him

they all have a very dark sarcastic sense of humour that can honestly be alarming to anyone who doesn’t know them. mai thinks it’s hilarious

suki knows how to juggle. she tries to teach sokka and zuko and they both fail miserably

sokka takes them ice-dodging. sokka (once again) earns the mark of the wise. suki earns the mark of the brave. zuko earns the mark of the trusted. 

(does zuko earning the mark of the trusted make him cry? perhaps)

hakoda takes one look at suki and zuko and immediately goes ‘oh ok youre my children now’

zuko can handle himself pretty well in the cold (breath of fire, remember?) but that doesn’t mean he likes it. sokka and suki constantly tease him about it whenever they visit the south pole

zuko once startled suki while she was sleeping and she accidentally chi blocked him. sokka laughed until he cried

they 100% have heated debates about super niche topics

anyway they’re all bffs who may or may not be dating each other send tweet

[nikarmy]

Equilibration ~ Prologue

Masterlist

Pairing: Waterbender! Jungkook x fem!Firebender Reader feat platonic!Bts

Genre: The Last Airbender Au, fluff, angst, kinda slowburn, s2l

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: judgemental stares in public, cursing, slight inner aggressiveness (how do you call that?), self hatred, mentions and descriptions of war,   childhood trauma, flashbacks, reader is insecure af, mentions of killed people and humans screaming out of fear,

The looks from the passengers started to intimidate you.

How should one react to unwanted attention? Stare back, insult them, ask them what's wrong, or put their powers to good use and knock them down? Fuck no. That's not the right thing to do.

But the old lady in the olive robe has been fixating her gaze on you since she entered the train, only stopping her inspection when a young man offered his seat to her 5 minutes ago. Unfortunately, as soon as she made herself comfortable on the metal bench, she restarted her action.

Her face looks remarkably punchable to you right now.

Red was never your favourite colour.

In fact, you despise it, even though it perfectly described you.

Anger, Aggressiveness and Harshness. Perhaps that's why you've been considered as a prodigy and as one of the most gifted trainees back in the fire nation. You are basically the embodiment of the hot flames, symbolizing destruction and war.

You hate it. And now your red attire made you hate the colour even more, as the result was having judging looks on you all the time.

Teachers, parents and elders of the fire nation always tell stories and legends about the benders of their kind, emphasizing their heroic actions, and everyone listens to them attentively.

Although you know these stories by heart, you longed for more, for a view outside of the borders that separate your people from the other elements.

You read folk stories of waterbenders, earthbenders and airbenders, satisfying your curiosity by practically studying their culture.

But the more you learned about the peaceful water tribe, the disciplined people of the earth kingdom and the imaginative

air nomads, the more you felt ashamed about the fire nation, about yourself.

The insecurities grew as your father forced you to join the military as a soon – to – be soldier at the tender age of 8. He wanted to “use your abilities to good use”, so you just went with the flow and trained along with other talented students, destined to end the war in a brutal way and make their parents proud.

Years went by, and not too long ago, marking a week now to be exact, you went on your first “mission” to a city of the earth kingdom, whose name you don't even know, to occupy them and take over their land in a brutal way.

The pictures of killed people and destroyed houses are engraved to your brain, highlighted by the destructive flames surrounding a once peaceful town. You'll never forget the children screaming on top of their lungs and the parents begging for their lives.

The next sleepless nights you sat at your desk and started making plans on how to escape the fire nation, whilst writing a goodbye note to your family and trying to persuade them to not search after you.

And now, days later, you are standing in a train to Ba Sing Se, not even having a clue on what to do next. Your backpack consists of a bottle of water, some sparing clothes (but still not much), your toothbrush and money.

Finally you hear the male voice on the speaker say the awaited words: “Ba Sing Se Central Station”. You leave out a sigh you didn't even know you were holding, glad to be at your destiny and also glad to get out of the stinking train with the rude old lady.

During your targetless walk through the city, you notice a lot of eyes on you, and to be honest, you don't blame them, you hate firebenders too.

So you guess a new start also means a new appearance, right? Luckily you walk past a thrift shop. Its appearance is very pretty, the building is made out of wood and warm tones, the curtains which could be seen behind the big windows were a light shade of green, above the small door you could see golden calligraphy spelling “Kim's Thrift Shop” in all it's pride. It's not modern, but it looks comfortable.

At exactly that moment you choose to enter and change your black and red attire to search for one with a colour that is much less hated, like blue, yellow or green.

Entering the shop you immediately face a young man behind the counter, and you swear you've never seen a more handsome human being before.

He had perfect features, his broad shoulders and his tall figure instantly catching your attention. His raven black hair was voluminous. He could easily pass as a prince.

As much as you drooled over him as a result of his striking lineaments, he looked at you, well, weirdly. That wouldn't surprise you if he looked at you like you were his enemy, just like the other people here, but he stared at you, like you were some kind of god. Like he is genuinely happy that you entered the store. His eyes light up with hope.

“FUCKING FINALLY! NAMJOON LOCK THE DOORS!”

What. The. Hell.

Never in your life have you been so confused. Does he want to kidnap you? Oh fuck he wants to kill you.

The only logical thing to do right now is turning around and leave the shop. And you do just that.

But as soon as you can grab the door knob with your right hand, another one holds it, preventing you from fleeing.

You look who this hand belongs to, and next to you stands a man with blue hair and tan skin. His biceps and height frighten you and you realize that you're in big trouble. He has a tight hold on your forearm and leads you to the backroom of the shop in a quick pace, behind you the black haired cashier.

The backroom looked comfortable, the carpeted floor creating a cozy feeling. But the atmosphere was the complete opposite.

Here you stand, surrounded by five boys. You inspect each other and you realize that two of them are airbenders.

There stands the cashier, then your eyes land on the guy who held your forearm as if his life depended on it, and a third guy who sat on the sofa. His appearance was remarkably charming, full lips, blond hair, round face and soft features, he was quite short compared to the others. All three of them have green clothing on, so you assume that they are earthbenders.

But what really catches your attention are the last two guys. They wear yellow and red robes, both of them having a blue arrow drawn through the middle of their foreheads.

You've never seen an airbender before.

“So umm sorry if we scared you back there” the blue haired guy interrupts your thoughts. “But we are really desperate for someone like you right now”

“Someone like... me?” You curiously ask.

“Yes. The guy there..”

he points to one of the airbenders. The boy has wavy dark hair and as soon the blue guy mentions him he flashes you a cute boxy smile.

“This is Tae. Short for Taehyung. He is someone special. You see, for how long has the last avatar died?”

“70 years ago.” you reply. It's true, Avatar Aang died many years ago, and that at the time the world needed him the most. If he was still here, the war could have been prevented before it even escalated.

“Yeah” he answered “Tae is the next one”.

You gasp lightly and feel your eyes coming out of their sockets from having them wide open in shock.

The avatar is standing right  in front of you.

“And we are searching for different benders who can teach him in all the elements. See, we kind of established a secret alliance against the Fire Lord, to end the war. He already knows that the avatar came back and is searching for Tae like crazy, we had to move out of our hidings four times now because he always managed to find us. Now we have to find teachers quickly, the sooner the better. Tae has to learn to be a great avatar so he can fight against the Lord. We thought we would never find someone from the Fire Nation, but then you came. Are you a firebender?”

“Yes?”

“Perfect, you're exactly who we're looking for. We'll cut you a deal. Since we assume you're not a spy, we ask you to be Taes teacher in mastering the art of firebending. In return, you'll get to live with us and we'll give you food for free. Jin is a great cook. I know this is a lot of information to handle right now, but what do you think?”

You didn't even think twice about it. Even though you don't know these guys, what do you have to loose? It's not like you had plans anyway. And stopping the fire nation seems to be just the right thing for you right now. And finally you can use your skills to good use, not for war.

“I'm in.”

Later you get introduced to all of them. The Avatar, Taehyung, is an airbender, and you swear you've never seen someone who behaves this childish before. But it's not a bad childish, in fact, it makes you feel jubilant. Maybe because his bright ambience makes up for the childhood you never had, the childhood you spent in training and learning that brutality is the way to power, and power is everything.

The guy with the blue hair is Namjoon, an earthbender and Taes teacher in that field. He seems like the leader of the group, always explaining and answering your questions.

The black haired handsome guy is Jin, a nonbender. He felt very excited when you said yes to joining them.

The other airbender is Hobi and also Taes teacher, the first thing you realize about him is his very contagious smile.

The blond dude is Jimin, a nonbender who is from an earth kingdom village.One day he knocked on their door of the shop and wanted to thrift there. But instead of finding clothes, he started talking to Tae who sat behind the counter. The Avatar liked him so much that he insisted on having him join the “Gang”.

The thrift shop actually belongs to Jins aunt, and sometimes, when he's in Ba Sing Se, he has to work here. It's also a good place to hide from the Fire Lord.

“So we need a waterbender too?” you examined.

“Yes” Namjoon was the only one to answer again “We have to travel to one of the tribes to find one. It won't be that hard.”

a/n: Thanks for reading! I would like to apologize if it’s bad, I’m not very content with my writing style, but I am working on it, since it’s my first fic and I have a long way to go:) What do you think?

[themoonandhersun]

12!!! 16 and 19 for the zk asks 🥰

sim!!! :D thank you for sending these in!!! <333 i’ll message you back soon!

12. what are your steambaby headcanons?

let’s keep it short! :’)

kya and izumi are one year apart; kya was born first, and is a master waterbender (both healing and combative! she insisted on wanting to be exactly like katara because she adores katara that much).

also, katara had an intense cold while pregnant with her—not even zuko sharing his body heat was enough to keep her warm for long 😭

izumi is a non bender, but she masters sword fighting, kyoshi style fighting, chi blocking, etc etc. and while she is a nonbender, she moves fluidly like a waterbender, and her stances are similar to that of a firebender’s.

hmm...i wonder why?

iroh is a firebender. katara had an intense fever while pregnant with him, and zuko just knew. but when he was born, just to make sure, zuko held a ball of tinder underneath iroh’s nose—and...yep. iroh is a firebender. he learns from the dragons the way zuko did, and thrives while doing so.

iroh is two years younger than izumi and three years younger than kya.

(maybe they have one or two more steambabies, but i like to think they have three for now, take a break, and then try for more later on.) (also, as the youngest kid out of three kids, two older siblings is definitely enough, okay? shit. i wouldn’t be able to handle two younger kids bugging me)

also, katara and zuko are really patient with their steambabies; zuko is really relieved that he’s nothing like ozai. he and a therapist helped katara with her abandonment issues so when the steambabies want to leave and travel the world, she’ll be okay with it. :’))

but when the steambabies do leave and travel, they write letters to zuko and katara like crazy :’))) they always say they miss them and that they miss home and stuff like that, and always send zuko and katara lil gifts from wherever they’re visiting from.

so sweet :’)))

i like to think that they would all travel the world together, all three of them. they get on each other’s nerves, yeah, but they love each other. that’s what’s important.

16. do you think zuko and katara feelings for each other in canon or post canon?

yes and yes.

let me explain.

they definitely have feelings for each other in canon, but just didn’t realize it until post-canon.

i mean—zuko lets katara touch his scar. he closes his eyes, and lets her do it. that, in itself, is a big fucking deal, and i never thought of them as just ‘platonic’ after that. watching the crossroads of destiny for the first time—it’s hard to believe that they didn’t end up being canon in the show.

like, here, you have zuko, and zuko is known for pushing people away, and not opening up to others—but he does it with katara.

and here, you have katara, who is known for being compassionate and selfless even to her own detriment, who is yelling at zuko and openly cries when she talks about losing her mother.

here, you have two characters who have been changing since the series began. they’ve been interacting through most of it as enemies, but then, surrounded by glowing crystals—they make a connection, and there’s trust that’s made as a result.

(and then zuko betrays her...but that’s why zk fics starting from cod, where zuko chooses the gang, are always so good.)

imo, it’s completely possible that non platonic feelings could have been formed in the crystal catacombs, and they just didn’t realize it for a long time because there was always so much going on, you know? they had a lot to deal with during canon. not to say they didn’t have a lot to deal with post canon, but you get my point.

i just think they would’ve realized their feelings for each other post canon because they would be able to talk more—especially since katara would have to check on zuko a lot for his lightning wound. imo, in atla, lightning wounds would be rare, because bending lightning is rare (right?...i could be wrong about that tbh), so katara would have to be close to zuko at all times...and would probably have to think about why zuko sacrificing himself for her was so terrifying.

(they definitely liked each other after tsr though. i know that much!!!)

19. what do you think would have happened if atla got a book 4?

listen, sim. listen.

what i would think would have happened is—i think it would’ve been a lot like the comics, seeing as how br*ke created the comics as continuations of atla...like, br*ke would’ve taken over a lot just to make sure that no one would think zutara is a thing.

they would have a lot of m*iko and k*taang moments that they think are cute but are actually toxic, and they would do azula dirty. in fact, they would do a lot of characters dirty (considering the fact that they thought tsr was about aang being the angel on katara’s shoulder...yeah no doubt they would fuck things up for a lot of characters. aang’s development in b3 was...not good. i feel like they would attempt to give mai an episode, but they would butcher it).

they, br*ke, would fuck up b4 phenomenally. of course, they would try to have funny filler episodes, but...it just wouldn’t have worked out with them in charge. i mean, whenever they changed things in the episodes from b3, it wasn’t good at all. they aren’t good at writing as people praise them to be, that’s for damn sure.

what i would want is elizabeth welch (i think that’s her name? she was in charge of all the good episodes like zuko alone and the southern raiders) to be charge of writing atla book four, and man...that shit would be good. it would be golden.

she would handle zutara right, i know she would. 😌😌😌

[chaoticevilbean]

So, there’s this whole Youtuber Atla Au, and I have Stuff stuck in my Head. This is Sokka-centric bc thassa me.

Here Goes:

- Sokka has a mixed channel. He does educational videos, how-to videos, political videos, stories about him and his weird friends, dancing and singing videos, makeup videos, parkour videos, etc. He’s a very well known account.

- He uses fake names/obscure nicknames/code names for anyone he mentions. Anyone featured in his videos either wears a mask/facepaint or allows him to say their real name. He uses only they/them pronouns unless the person is with him and has given him other pronouns to call them by.

- He has never mentioned his name, refuses to be called Boomerang despite someone suggesting it because “that’s a disrespect to boomerangs, please don’t”, and he responds to commenters asking for his name with “;)”, “:)”, and “...”

- People only know he’s a male because he put that in his first video

- Sokka always wears facepaint in his videos, and absolutely no one recognizes him. He is unidentifiable. His continuous need to wear contact lenses and wigs of varying styles and colors also messes with people. No one can figure out what Nation he’s from (there are all four in this AU).

- Sokka has seven different facepaint styles he’ll wear.

- - Earth Kingdom is just Kyoshi Warrior facepaint. Someone attempted to drag him for disrespecting a elite warrior and all-female team. The Official Kyoshi Warrior account responded with this and only this: “Back off, he’s ours.”

- - Southern Water Tribe is based off their traditional warrior paint and La. Northern Water Tribe is based off of Tui and wolves.

- - Air Nomads is brown and blue arrows and flying lemur markings around his eyes.

- - Fire Nation is based off of Agni and the Painted Lady. It’s simple with red and yellow markings, and the accents will either be black (if he’s talking about something funny), blue (if he’s talking about something weird), or white (if he’s talking about something cool). People had to figure out those meanings themselves.

- - The Spirit World is based off of Hei Bai and Wan Shi Tong, a black, white, and grey style.

- - The blended one is cut into six sections. Fire and Air are the top two, taking up his forehead and creeping into his hairline. Water and Earth are on the bottom, bleeding down his neck. The Spirit World and nonbending sections are on his eyes. For those, he does fox markings on both sides, and the Spirit side is colorful like many of the minor Spirits are (bugs and birds and others). The nonbending side has normal fox colors, and the edges of all sections are blended together.

- - Each mask has a different meaning, which wasn’t figured out until later. If something is about a story, then it will be Fire Nation or Water Tribe. If the story includes strangers, then it will be Fire Nation, but if it’s mostly his pre-established friends, then he’ll have Water Tribe. Any sort of performance is Earth Kingdom, unless he’s doing it with someone else, which is when he wears his blended one. If the video is instructing in any way, it’s Air Nomad. If it’s a political video, he will always have his Spirit facepaint on.

- Most people assume he’s Air Nation because he seems nomadic. He’s constantly talking about new friends, his backgrounds change every video and he speaks all the languages one could possibly learn.

- As a Note, there are all four Nations. They all have different languages. There are formal and informal of each language (or common and high-speak). There is also the General Common, which is the language basically everyone knows so they can communicate with other nationalities. Air Nomads have many different slangs depending on where the nomads are from, but only one central language. They don’t have formal or informal.

- Sokka’s most viral video is called Secret Tunnel. He met some nomads and they taught him to use their instruments at an amateur level. He then asked if they wanted to record a video with him. They said yes, so he recorded them singing and dancing to the song, and he joined in on guitar (or whatever the stringed instrument is called in that episode). The video ‘solidified’ that Sokka was from the Air Nomads.

- Things people know about the channel and the Friends (called ‘Boomeraang’, though no one seems able to figure out why - most pass it off as a typo, but true fans know Sokka pays too much attention to his work and his boomerang)

- - Lady is either related to Sokka or as close as a sibling. They’re a master waterbender and extreme activist. They’re constantly starting rebellions and protests and getting into trouble through that. They have once impersonated a Spirit in order to get rid of a corrupt company that was polluting a river and then got the nearby fishing town to work together to clean said river. Lady got their education in waterbending after beating “an old coot in battle, didn’t have much to learn but Lady needed ‘finesse’ or something.”

- - Kuzon is Lady’s SO. They were friends first, SO’s second, and Sokka had to endure the pining. Kuzon acts older than they look, and uses extremely outdated slang. A video with Kuzon in the background as Sokka told a story confirmed the fact when Sokka asked “What did you say to Bluey?” “Flameo, Hotman!” It is assumed that Kuzon is a bender, but no one knows which type. Kuzon once threw a raging party because his school was really strict. The entire student body was invited and the cops were called, but no one got in trouble because they weren’t breaking any laws.

- - Bluey is either a nonbender or a firebender. Sokka’s stories are unclear on that, but one thing is clear: Bluey is a vigilante. And works in a tea shop. And holds some sort of position of power somewhere. It varies from “Bluey stopped a drug ring this month” to “Bluey’s uncle told them they can’t work the night shift because they haven’t slept” to “Bluey just passed a rule saying no drinks during meetings. They’re just mad that I kept slurping my cactus juice.”

- - Bandit is an actual criminal, but also holds some position of power. They are blind, maybe, and an earthbender. Apparently the greatest earthbender in the world, but that could also be Rocky. Bandit scams scammers, usually ones on the street that can’t call the police because they’re also criminals. They’ve made a lot of money that way, and Bandit uses the funds for a combination of food and taking Sokka shopping since he helps them. Bandit also fought in an underground earthbending tournament and won the title every time. Sokka says that the reason behind Bandit even going there was that their family was awful and somehow thought they were fragile, so they learned how to ditch their escort and vent their frustration via illegal fighting ring.

- - Rocky is a king. And insane. And friends with Kuzon and some old people. Nothing else is known, besides they’re a bender.

- - Bison. Is maybe an actual bison. Is Kuzon’s best friend and they’re constantly kissing everyone and messing around with Lemur. Lemur is flighty and loyal and like lychee nuts. Not much else is told, but they’re in many stories and the wording is weird enough that no one can tell if they’re animals or humans.

- - Wheaty was a real jerk when they all first met, and the group all left on bad terms. However, when they met back up, Wheaty was much nicer and was trying to be better than they originally were. They had to go to therapy to help with anger issues and were recovering well when the group reunited. Gurl (Sokka makes sure to spell it out for the viewers) is one of Wheaty’s best friends, having been there for the other through everything. Yuyan was in a similar boat, and was usually the ‘voice’ (Sokka would laugh at that, before continuing as if he hadn’t) of reason. The trio were all very nice and helpful, and had some other friends that Sokka met and hit it off with. Mini-Me was someone who was smol and idolized Sokka. Big Man always traveled with Mini-Me, but never once stopped them from following Sokka around.

- - Warrior is a nonbender and is the one who taught Sokka to fight with fans. They also educated him on toxic masculinity, getting rid of the sexism ingrained in him (*note, in this AU, Sokka wasn’t as sexist, due to being exposed to a few more people and the internet, and therefore finding more female idols. Suki helped him stopped what was left, because he still struggled and wanted to be better). Warrior is about 30% of Sokka’s impulse control, which is still a large chunk considering how many impulses he has. They have been in a few videos wearing an entire robe and mask get-up, and spoke once (1) when they told Sokka that Knife and Ballerina were head over. It was the middle of a video about how to fight with fans.

- - Princess, Knife, and Ballerina were a trio that could rule the world. Princess probably would’ve turned out awful if they hadn’t left home with their uncle. Knife hated any sort of protocol, but never seemed to show emotion. Both they and Yuyan were people that had to be observed to understand their emotions at any one point. Ballerina was happy, a gymnast, a yoga instructor, and a nonbender. It is assumed that Knife is a nonbender who uses only knives and Princess is a master firebender, but there is speculation.

- - Roller and Pusher were best friends. Roller was in a wheelchair and Pusher always pushed them. Roller was incredibly intelligent and often helped Sokka with inventions, while Pusher was a skilled earthbender who used more finesse than most.

- - The Moon is mentioned once and never again, and everyone wonders why he mentioned them in the first place (when discussing what he’d done while Lady battle for her education “I hung out with The Moon”).

- - Most likely to appear in a video are Roller, Pusher, Bandit, and Gurl, all in masks. Bandit’s they can’t possibly see through, but they walk like everything’s normal.

- - Most likely to be off-screen in a video are Kuzon, Bluey, and Lady.

- - Most likely to be mentioned in a video are Kuzon, Bandit, Bluey, Lady, and Warrior.

- Things that are known about Sokka:

- - He learned Earth Kingdom formal from Bandit and informal from a combination of Friends and observation. He learned Fire Nation formal from Bluey’s uncle and Bluey occasionally slipping into it and informal from Kuzon and some colonists he met. He learned the dialects of the Southern and Northern Water Tribes from The Moon, Lady, and Lady’s family. He learned Air Nomad from a variety of monks and people like Chong and Lily.

- - His parkour skills come from a combination of his Friends’ illegal activities, chaotic antics, and just a dash of bad luck.

- - He learned fighting from practically everyone he’d met, and observing them or having them teach him. He hadn’t actually wanted to learn to fight with fans or knives, but Warrior and Knife had taken one look at him and told him he had to or else. In fact, the only weapons he wanted to learn to use were a sword, a club, and his boomerang. He learned the first from Rainbow Father, the second from Bi Father, and the third was self-taught. Everything else, he posted videos as he learned new skills, and also told the varying stories of how he was coerced into being taught. For example, Ballerina insisted on teaching him chi blocking, a very obscure form of fighting, and would randomly use it on him until he agreed. They always undid what they blocked immediately after, but it was still annoying to randomly lose use of both arms.

- - Sokka’s Boomerang is deadly in his hands. He does not know this. During a livestream, Gurl snuck in after causing a distraction outside of the room he was in and read it off someone’s comment. They informed the viewers to never bring it up because Sokka didn’t know and if he underestimated his Boomerang, than everyone he used it against would, too. And that led to hilarious situations.

- - Sokka is a genius and inventor who has several patents. However, no one can find him through them, mostly because he didn’t want any attention when he put the items out into the open. He invented submarines and airships (people had no use for them before, but found they were incredibly useful when Sokka got everything patented and got a sponsor). He also invented cactus juice, which is as mentally impairing as alcohol with none of the lasting physical effects. Bandit loved that one.

- - Sokka has seemingly been everywhere. He’s mentioned meeting the Spirits Hei Bai, Wan Shi Tong, and the Moon and Ocean Spirits in passing. (*while wearing the Spirit facepaint* “I mean, I get that the Spirit World seems great and all, but I’ve been there. Not that exciting. Met Hei Bai and had to be rescued. Don’t see the appeal. And there isn’t a single bathroom there.”)

- - Can dance pretty average, but knows a lot of different styles because of various Friends. Can also sing and whistle well, and usually hums Secret Tunnel while doing parkour. Most of his music videos include other people, minus a few where he was asked to demonstrate his instrumental skills. He, again, is average and only knows the different instruments because people decided he should learn.

- - He is amazing at makeup. Every person he brings in to do (mostly people who aren’t seen again on the videos) leaves with stunning work done.

- - He can draw and paint, but he didn’t start off good. He started doing instructional videos based off articles and lessons he found. His viewers learned with him, and he’s improved greatly. He’s also prone to adding random rainbows to his landscapes, even in the black and white ones (it starts a trend of usually colorful things done in black and white, or in a way that’s more appealing to colorblind people).

- - Sokka wants to get rid of patriarchal societies and old men with problems. He fully supports his Friends’ protests and rebellions, and is likely to have cohesive arguments backed up with verifiable evidence and trustworthy sources.

- - He loves terrible jokes, and knows they’re terrible, but that’s the point.

- - He’s theorized to be in a position of power because once King Kuei and his bear Bosco walked on-screen from behind (Sokka was at a park and had his Earth Kingdom facepaint, so he definitely wasn’t expecting anyone to come), spotted Sokka and looked absolutely delighted, came straight over and hugged the boy from behind while he was explaining a move with a club. King Kuei said nothing, just hugged him until it was returned, let go, and waved goodbye. Bosco did a similar thing before following his owner. Sokka just continued the video as if nothing had happened, so it seems that he’s used to being around heckin’ royalty.

- Boomeraang gets a lot of hype and Sokka does sell merch and earn money, but only sells what is specifically requested. Someone requests he make t-shirts with his channels logo on it, he starts selling them, and doesn’t stop until there aren’t any more demands. Spoiler, there’s always demands. He tries to tell them he doesn’t want to take their money, but he almost had a riot when he suggested not selling anything anymore because he felt bad.

- The Gaang knows about the channel and talk about it a lot. Sokka had planned to keep it small, anonymous, and just have fun with his catch-all videos. He’s 2/3 at this point.

- Katara has her own activist channel, and considered making a second as the Painted Lady and use Sokka’s rep to eventually boost her, but decided against it. Her channel is called ‘Freedom Water’, based on the fact that water is the element of change. She has a moderate following.

- Toph has her own channel as well, which consists of Sokka holding the camera for her and videotaping her as she performs complex earthbending. She calls her channel ‘roc’. Her following is mostly other earthbenders who aren’t too proud to learn from a preteen, and other kids who think she’s cool. She also has a channel called ‘Bandit’, which is just her in the mask she wears for Boomeraang, telling all about different ways she’s scammed scammers, occasionally also showing videos of those instances. Sokka is her cameraman there as well, and will sometimes go on-screen with his facepaint. That channel has a large following because of Boomeraang. Toph is actually good at not slipping into the wrong nicknames or giving away genders.

- Aang has a channel called ‘The Temple’, which is almost solely different animals he spots. Some people try to say that he isn’t at the Air Temples, but he just laughs and ignores them. It drives people insane and it’s just accepted that the name of the channel is misleading. He has a small to moderate following, mostly animal enthusiasts, and the others are nature enthusiasts.

- Zuko has a channel followed by only theater kids and wannabe theater kids. He literally put ‘Title’ as the name, and uses his videos to rant about different plays and a lot about how the Ember Island Players botch the best of shows.

- Jet has an official channel for his Freedom Fighters, which is now solely used for spreading awareness and raising funds for those who need help (orphans, abused people, and people affected by disasters). The group lost a lot of followers when they changed their tune from angry and vengeful to calm and actually trying to help instead of harm. However, Katara and Zuko both gave shout-outs to the channel, and Toph ‘mentioned’ them as well (*read: threatened her followers if they didn’t check it out*). Their following has grown and now has a very good rep.

- Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee share a channel called ‘Royal Three’ where they show off their skills. They have a large following.

- Teo and Haru help manage everyone’s accounts and Teo is the official Kyoshi Warrior technician by the time everyone is done. Both are paid by their Friends for the work and recommend the duo to literally everyone possible.

- The Kyoshi Warriors are extremely well-known. There was an uproar when Ty Lee was announced as an official Kyoshi Warrior. They post basic fighting tutorials.

[badlydrawntangled]

What type of benders/non benders would everyone else be?

It took me a long time to pick these cause most of them have no obvious answer, so here’s what I came up with

Eugene: late bloomer Earthbender

But BDT, what dost thou means’t by “late bloomer”? Well, I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to have bending at all, because I like the idea of the avatar ending up with a nonbender (although Korra definitely gave us that sweet sweet dynamic) but then I was like, hes also secretly royalty which thematically means it makes sense for him to have secret powers. So I decided that the dark kingdom is kind of an earthbender-majority kingdom (they basically worship a rock and everything is made of rocks so), and tying in with earth being the most commonly bent (bended?) element in ATLA, that holds true here too. So in ATLA, bending has everything to do with your energy or “chi” and there are ways to manipulate one’s chi and affect their bending. So i thought, hey, Eugene experienced some extreme trauma as a baby, what if that trauma somehow led to his chi being blocked and therefore growing up believing he is a non-bender, only for Rapunzel to do some Sundrop-Avatar magicks during the movie and release his bending ability? Woahhh, suddenly he’s an earthbender! But 23 years of no bending at all means he’s not very good at it, at first, and has to learn. I figured this can also be another point of contention between him and Cass. She’s way better at earthbending than him, but...he’s an extremely fast learner and starts quickly being able to do things that took Cass years of training to perfect, and his form is sloppy but no one seems to care and still praises him, leading her to even more jealousy.

Lance: Fire

Hector: Fire

I also thought it would be cool if Hector’s fire was green, tying in with his neon punk-goth aesthetic

Quirin: secret Earthbender

Varian: nonbender

Being native to the DK and a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood, Quirin is a very powerful Earthbender. However, since moving to corona and keeping his past a secret, he lies and tells everyone he’s a non-bender. That doesn’t mean he can’t occasionally nudge his soil a bit to aid in his farming.

Blessedly, his son was born with no bending. It was really hard for me to come up with one for Varian because i was like, huh, I could see him doing all four of these! But then I realized, varian is a no-magic non-spiritual person who believes in the power of Science above all else. It makes perfect sense for him to not have bending and instead become absolutely genius with science and technology to compensate. People underestimate him because he has no bending, but get him angry and you’ll regret it. No one has figured out metalbending yet, and the boy has metal galore on his side. The amber also can’t be bent by anyone, not being made of any of the four elements, and lots of his solutions fit this too.

Kiera: fire

Catalina: water

Yes, I realize this means that I only have one airbender and one waterbender (not including Avatar Raps) in the AU, but like, I’m really high on painkillers right now and can’t find it in my heart to care. But in ATLA earth and fire are the biggest nations and water and air are a lot smaller groups of people anyway so yeah that’s my excuse.

[cobraonthecob]

list of my anti-LoK feelings

Excluding the Gaang’s treatment and trying to be spoiler free so that i can tell my brother about this, let’s go:

oh no it got long

none of this is in chronological order

- Poor mishandling of the concepts/conflicts (the Equalists being led by a bender)

- K/ya and Bum/i being treated poorly by the Air Acolytes simply because they aren’t airbenders 

- Bloodbending being the only bending subset art that’s demonized (meanwhile lightningbending gets to power Republic City)

- Harmonic Convergence - just random people getting airbending instead of people discovering they have airbending because Air Nomads are nomads and are likely to have descendants everywhere and it’s quite possible that the reason why Air Nomads are the only nation with a population that’s made up of 100% benders is because they gave nonbending children away to other nations, those kids carry on the genes but noooo it’s the most spiritual art or some random bs.

- the name of Republic City - whyyyyyyy you could’ve named it the People’s City in Chinese or something 

- Bu/mi getting airbending and apologizing to a statue of his dad for not being enough

- Te/nzin being the only Cloud kid with a family - because apparently airbending can only be passed down if there’s an airbending parent instead of bending being a wheel spin, coin toss, and draw of the hat chance combined with genetics so both Bumi and Kya could’ve had kids,,,but they didn’t. 

- “There’s LGBTQ+ rep!!!” yeah one of them is in the Fog of Lost Souls and a terrible person, Ky/a’s sexuality was confirmed in a comic that a good majority of the fandom doesn’t read bc the ATLA comics are notoriously abysmal, while Korra and Asami were shoved in last minute

- Kor/rasa/mi being shoved in last minute and that’s not because Nickolodean wouldn’t let Br/yke do it, they literally had no endgame ship until the last minute.

- the Spirit portals. Ah yes, make the Spirit World more accessible and make the Northern Water Tribe have an easy way to invade the Southern Water Tribe

- Water Tribe War of Why Would the North Want the South Except for an Ego Boost - oh stars i could write an essay on this: first of all there’s no reason for the two to unite - they’re on opposite ends of the world, two nations are between the two tribes so the constant travel between the two tribes is just too much. Secondly, we don’t do colonization in this household but apparently the North wanted to be like So/zin-Azul/on-O/zai’s Fire Nation. Thirdly: why. just why.

- The Western fashions and architecture - why is there a big ol’ statue of Aang in Republic City waters a la Statue of Liberty style -_- and why is there Western fashion asfjakjfkdj give me qipaos and i’ll shut up about it. (literally if everyone was wearing a qipao to be fancy i would give LoK less grief except for like “kind of boring but at least you tried”)

- As/ami is treated as a side character instead of one of the main four because she’s “Not a bender” (being removed from major fight scenes)

- Asa/mi being everyone’s emotional support and no one gives support back (sounds like someone we know...coughkataracough)

- non-benders having their roles being downplayed, and I don’t mean the Equalists being scary and then poofing out of existence after the first season. Benders get to be in all the action, but non-benders are mainly left out and only brought in to prop up the benders 

- immemorable/bad lines/immemorable characters (I can’t remember who was in what spot lol)

- the Spirit World looking more like Spirited Away rather than what it originally was (someone drew a bunch of Spirited Away LoK AU and I thought it was a bunch of Spirited Away screencaps until I saw little kid!Ko/rra and was like “????”)

- “spirits should live in harmony with humans” - world proceeds to get invaded with “spirit vines” along with ATLA fans going “wait what about spirits like Koh the Face-Stealer or an angry Hei Bai”

- non-con kisses. love triangles. didn’t need that but okay

- WHO PUT A WESTERN WEDDING IN AN ASIAN WORLD. WHY ARE YOU WEARING WHITE. DID SOMEONE DIE. 

- wait i just looked up the screenshots for that wedding and now i’m mad again

- WHY IS THERE A EUROPEAN DRESS HERE. GET THIS OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CRACK MY KNUCKLES AND REDESIGN A WHOLE DRESS FOR Z/HU LI

- I do not care if they’re Water Tribe. This world was inspired by China, we’re applying the full-on white outfit = mourning color to all nations because I can and I will do that.

- relationships having drama and I mean the type of drama that makes you groan and turn off the TV

- Bo/leska being played for laughs (switch the genders and this whole ship is a nightmare upon nightmare)

- Tenzi/n looking like an A/ang clone and doesn’t even have a hint of anything to suggest he’s half SWT - would it have killed the designers to give him Water Tribe arm wrappings???? 

- okay I said i wasn’t going to talk about the Gaang but I’m talking about Tenz/in so whatever. anyways neither T/enzin nor any of his kids look like they have SWT heritage and like. skin color can skip a generation and get into another. One of the Cloud grandkids could at least be a little tan instead of the entire family being the same skin tone. Ik/ki could’ve had hair loopies. Me/elo could’ve had a SWT name, and R/ohan could’ve been a waterbender.

- Ko/rra going to confront Zah/eer with Mak/o, everyone thinks that because Ma/ko was with her for a very emotional time that they’re probably going to get together because that makes sense, right? Heck, both of them are there for each other in the Big Emotional Scenes.

- The framing of the K/orra-Za/heer confrontation - Zahee/r is higher than her/is equal to her height, visually symbolizing that he still has power over her. This is very different from TSR where Ka/tara faces down her demon (Y/on Rha), all cards are in her hands, he’s sitting on the ground while she’s standing tall. 

there’s probably more but I’ve salted enough for now

[punkinroses]

Alright gang I got two rounds of next gen kids done, let's move onto the ones who names I struggled the most with. The previous two posts can be found here and here, showing Zuko and Kataras family, and Sokka and Sukis families, respectively. So, here's the next family on the list:

Taang Kids

Jai Bei Fong is the eldest child of Avatar Aang and Toph Bei Fong. An Earthbender trained in the art of Metalbending by his mother, he has been requested numerous times to take over her school by others. He has simply refuted numrrous times that those running it now are more than capable and prefers to keep to a more minor teaching role in coaching. He has become a Pro Bender instead and has become a part of a very famous team -- and boy does he love to showboat, even if just a little. He does coach minor league and junior teams. He uses a lot of his jovial cockiness for the purpose of getting people to underestimate him and his skills, and to aggravate his opponents to cause them to mess up so he can strike at the perfect time. He has, however, been dealing with a lot of frustration in his own personal life with relationships that never seem to lead anywhere, the struggles of a single father and feeling a responsibility to try and help his family more with his own father gone and them all being...not really about it. Jai is considered the most handsome between him and his brother, with styled black (greying) hair, green eyes and fair skin with his fair share of scarring from fighting. He chooses to wear a lot of darker greens and silvers to match his metal, always wearing a metal cuff with him presented to him from his wife.

Jai lost his wife Reilah a mere few years sgo but it has felt like an eternity without her. She was his biggest supporter in his matches...and a bit of a rival for him, as they had been Pro Benders on separate teams. They always made playful bets on what would happen if one lost -- and one of those times he used to propose to her. He still lost that fight, but she told him that she wouls have said yes regardless. She was mischievous and free spirited, and a little hotheaded. But she was a very formidable Firebender who picked up some tips to better her bending from her in laws. Her career, however, would be cut after she fell ill. Her illness spread slowly and try as they might, there was no permanent solution to heal her and she eventually succumbed to it, breaking his and their daughters hearts. She had short dark brown hair, piercing golden eyes and tanned skin and had an intricate tattoo sleeve that included Jais name and their daughters name.

He has tried to find love again after her, as that was something she was very poignant on. "Don't you dare try and shut your heart off. Don't swear off finding someone who can make you happy. Or I'm coming back and lighting a fire under your ass." But, so far, all of those attempts have failed, either because of a lack of chemistry between the two and from rifts between his daughter and some of his potential girlfriends.

Their only child is named Anzu. She is a rough and tumble, bright eyed Earthbender who has her Dad wrapped around her finger, especially after the loss of her mother. She struggles connecting her extended family, however, as it feels like they all grew apart way back when, but she idolizes her Grandma and Toph is rather close to her as well. She's been struggling to learn Metalbending, but she's stubborn and does not want to give it up. She's also very adventurous, loving every "life changing field trip" she and her Dad go on, and has a collection of various souvenirs on a shelf in her room. She's on her own Pro Bender team that she's currently struggling to whip into shape and has been dealing with that stress on top of trying to be happy for her dad finding love again...but with the ones he brings home constantly trying to replace her Mom. Anzu has shoulder length black hair that she keeps in a messy ponytail, gold-green hazel eyes, and tan skin.

Nyima Bei Fong is the second born child of Aang and Toph. A skilled Earthbender who found herself drawn to the art of Sandbending as well as Metalbending, she has pushed herself to make her own lot in life. She has opened her own resorts across the Earth Kingdom, and one that'll be opening on Ember Island soon. She has wanted to open one close to one of the Air Temples as a way to find a reconnection with her Dad, but her sisters are absolutely against it. She's a very business savy woman who also wants to expand into other new horizons. She's also a complete smartass and doesn't take anyone's nonsense. In her youth, she, like her sisters, was very vocal in reformation to make better changes across all four nations and Republic City, and she was always the most ready to go full out for a cause, even if it stressed both of her parents out. She's claimed she's held herself to a higher standard in recent years and wants to find success while creating a relaxing environment for everyone. Though, if you press the right buttons, her old streak may come out. She's got short, curled black hair, grey eyes and fair skin, and wears muted colors that's topped off with a colorful, stylish scarf.

She has been in an on/off relationship with her childhood romance, Bo. The two have been almost married on four separate occasions, but things have always put a stop to it -- usually things started by Nyima and what people have suggested could be a fear of commitment. Bo is a good humored, free spirited boy raised in the Air Acolytes by his father Teo and has always had a passion for romance and making a positive change in the world. And he's always been able to pull her old spirit out of her when she needs it. He has medium length brown hair with some pulled back in a ponytail, grey-brown eyes and fair skin.

Their eldest child is their daughter Jesa. She is a happy go lucky girl who is very close to her Dad and trying to develop a closer relationship with her Mom, but sometimes feels like she can be too busy and lost a sense of herself, especially when finding old pictures of how her Mom used to be. The two have gotten a bit of a closer bond upon the discovery that she is an Airbender, like her Grandfather before her, though it's lead to even more tension between her parents and aunts who have polar oppositr ideas as to what Jesas' furure should be. She wants to define her own future, like her Mother did for herself and how her Grandmother did. Her best friend in the world is Lian, who she's always felt a big connection to. And after she finds out she's the Avatar...it leads to a whole new world of adventure. She has long dark brown hair, grey-green eyes and fair skin and she wears bright colors, namely golds and greens to honor both her heritages and and she wears a headband similar to her Grandmothers.

Their youngest child is their toddler son Bisang. He's a rambunctious little boy who loves wandering around the resorts and getting to be strapped up in a baby sling while his Dad air glides through the air. He knows no fear and loves to be unabashedly himself. He also is a bit of Mamas boy and clings to her and has been showing promising signs of being an Earthbender.

Tophs final pregnancy shockingly resulted in the birth of triplets. The eldest of three being Hien Bei Fong. A gifted Airbender, she was the first to get her Airbending tattoos after mastering the 37 levels of the practice and it's something she holds in great reverence. She has since gone on to become a leader amongst the reborn nation of Air Nomads and sits among the council, residing on Air Temple Island in Republic City. She works with the newest wave of Airbenders to teach them the old ways and do what she can to revitalize the culture her father almost lost. She was once far more free spirited as a teenager and even though she was a very loud advocate for change, she could find when she could relax and enjoy life. Now her top priority is the politics to keep the balance and to preserve history in the name of her Father -- something that has put a strain between her and Toph, who reminds her that Aang wanted her to be her own person and to have fun. She keeps her bangs shaved off to show her arrows, and the rest of her black hair pulled into a side braid, and has piercing grey eyes, and many remark her glare reminds them of an owl.

Hien has no spouse and prefers not to find someone to be married to. She actually used to date a lot in her youth, but as the years have gone by, she does not want to settle down with someone, feeling they'd never be able to selflessly love all of her and her responsibilities, nor could she do the same.

She does, however, have two children of her own from very brief, unknown relationships.

Her eldest child is probably the eldest out of all of the next generation, her daughter Dema. Dema has struck out on her own, away from her mother's strict thumb and rigid traditionalist nature. She ran with a circus for a time after first running away, before finding herself starring in the new and upcoming phenomenon of Movers. Her actress life has landed her a cushy life in Republic City, which has lead to awkward encounters with her mother, but she stands her ground on the decisions she has made for herself. And Toph always tells her "I think you looked amazing in your new film!" And she always laughs along. Currently, Dema is engaged to one of her more frequent costars, a nonbender named Raiden. She has long black hair, with long bangs, dark blue-grey eyes and and olive skin.

Her youngest is her teenaged son Tenki. Tenki is an Airbender wise beyond his years and is an avid bookworm. He's also the most relaxed member of the family and is very go with the flow, and wants to simply travel around, experience the world with his nothing but his books, and maybe rediscover Wan Shi Tongs library. He has a shaved head, having just gotten his arrows and dresses in typical Air Nomad clothes, with a prayer bead necklace on him at all times.

The second born of the triplets is Hayato Bei Fong. Nobody really knows why Hayato always had a chip on his shoulder. Born with the same airbending abilities as his sisters, he found himself struggling with it and his spiritual side, having more of a stubborn, hardheaded side to him. He rejected getting his tattoos and took to heart the idea of going out on your own and making a name for yourself, though it broke Aangs heart when he left after a fight and never fully reconciled with him. A fact that hit harder following Aangs untimely death. Hayato has since gone off to work in his mothers home town of Gaoling to help bring in industry and has been working on his own company to produce automobiles and motorcycles, rathering to focus on making waves towards the future than tapping into the past and to the spiritual side. Now if he could just get his mother to stop trying to drive one of his automobiles... Hayato has shoulder length black hair, usually pulled back into a bun, dark grey eyes and a small scar going through his left brow. He's discarded any bright Air Nomad colorings for blacks, greys, silvers, and dark greens.

Hayato has a husband named Kazu. He's a nonbender, and an author out to publish his own books and also writes news reports as a gig to bring home money. He has a taste for the darker fashion style of his husband and writing about the struggles and triumphs of mankind in a post war world. He has layered black hair, hazel eyes and pale skin.

The two are looking to adopt in the near future!

For now though, they are quite happy with their Crococat, Boots.

Born the last amongst the triplets and the subsequent youngest child, Huuro Bei Fong is her own terror twister of an Airbender. She was the wild child of her siblings, always getting into her own antics and probably the protestor that almost got her and her sisters arrested numerous times in their youth. She gained her tattoos after the creation of her own move. She has since moved to the restored Southern Air Temple and is always causing trouble for the new elders to show the newest generation how to have fun. She's also been known to be quite skilled on the Sungi Horn, much to somes delight...and others dismay. Huuro wants to help the Air Nomads to find fun, lively and searching for new purpose, to establish new traditions and celebrations while acclimating to the modern world. She keeps her black hair long, flowing and down, and her grey eyes always are full of life.

Huuro is here and looking for love around every corner! She wants to find someone who loves life as much as her and wants a life full of new experiences.

[yuna-dan]

Comfort Drink

It’s been ages since I’ve written something for this fandom but I was super thrilled when I got this comission, it’s also my very fist comission!!! 

It got longer than the stablished “1550″ words, so I hope you don’t mind?

Thank @thealphabetmurders​ for this comission! And I hope you like it as much as I enjoy writting this.

--

Warning: Mention of violence. Swearing. Kinda Katara bashing but not on purpose, she’s doing her best.

Summary: Five Times Zuko went to a coffeeshop and didn't drink anything and one time he did."What are you doing here?” He asked, only to rethink his words, “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you, spirits, it’s been…” “Five years.” Zuko ended the sentence for him

 if you wanna be added to the tag list please interact with this

Buy me a kofi?  | Masterpost |  Comission Info

--

1. 

“Sorry we’re closed.” Sokka said, without even looking at the person, closing the door with his keys. He wanted nothing more than to take a shower, get the coffee beans out of his apron and stayed up all night watching Netflix.

The man hasn’t moved, so Sokka guessed it was either a junkie, a jerk or someone homeless. He gasped in surprised when he turned around only to see him there.

Zuko was staring at him, his mismatched eyes seeing everything but his face, “Hi.”

Sokka cleaned his throat, “What are you doing here?” He asked, only to rethink his words, “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you, spirits, it’s been…”

“Five years.” Zuko ended the sentence for him.

Sokka felt as if the air on his lungs was airbended out of them, five years since they graduated highschool, five years since he had seen the possible love of his life Zuko, and now they were here, outside his shitty job wearing a grey suit and his hair now was long.

He had so many things to say, but in the end he just said.

“Neat.”

Zuko chuckled and look away. For a moment he thought he was making a fool of himself, but then again, this was Zuko, his highschool sweetheart.

“It was nice seeing you again, Sokka.” He finally said, and bowed, the motherfucker had the audacity to bowed when they’ve known what their mouths taste like.

Then he left, leaving Sokka was once again with a lot of questions on the tip of his tongue.

Later, much later when he was texting Katara he brought it up.

What do you mean you see him?

Even on text he could read how mad his sister was, he texted with only one hand as he brushed his teeth with the other.

I was closing the coffeshop and he bumped into me, I think it was just coincidence.

He snorted when he saw his little sister’s response

It better be

Sokka hoped it wasn’t, but then again, life didn’t work like he wanted to.

2.

It wasn’t coincidence, or at least twice in the same month would be a very slim coincidence, but here was, the ex-heir of Ozai’s fortune standing in the line, wearing his peasant clothes.

He wanted to ask, what are you doing here? But it came out as a “Welcome to the White Lotus, what can I get for you, Zuko?

Zuko was nervous, at first glance it wasn’t obvious, but Sokka knew this guy, he noticed small things like the way his marred cheek was twitching or the way his left hand was doing small circles.

“It’s good I get here before you close…” Sokka smiled, because goddammit, Zuko was terrible at small talks but he was trying.

“Well, more coffee shops close after 10 p.m.” He replied, leaning against the counter. He was very glad today wasn’t so busy, “but tell me Jerkbender, what can I get for you?”

“A jasmine tea.”

And of course, Sokka already knew this, Zuko continuously expressed his hatred toward tea but Uncle Iroh had rubbed into him. Whenever Zuko was sad or missing home, his comfort drink was jasmine tea.

The nonbender bit his tongue, are you okay? he wanted to say, but it came out as a “Coming right out you, Zuko.”

Sokka entertain himself making the tea, and when he called Zuko’s name, nobody came.

It wasn’t the first time Zuko left unfinished something, and this time, it didn’t hurt that much.

He drank the tea, and the moist on his eyes was due to the steam, and nothing else.

That night he crashed into Toph and Suki apartment, because he missed his friends, not because he felt lonely. He decided on not telling the rest of the gaang he’s seen Zuko, but for some reason he guessed Toph already knew.

3.

The next time it happened, Sokka wasn’t even there.

It was Katara who told him what happened, with her smug face as if she was proud on what she did. Aang kept eyeing him, ready to break the possible fight.

So, according to his sister in went like this:

Zuko was sitting on a table, alone minding his own business when Katara went, and scared the shit out of him, “You have to order something for you to sit here.”

Aang later told Sokka that Zuko’s face was for a second of happiness, and then it turned out into a mixture of pout and sadness, “Katara, it’s good seeing you here.”

Katara narrated how she screamed at him, “I don’t want to see your pathetic face here, why you don’t run with your father?”

That’s when Sokka interrupted his sister, “You told him what?”

“To go back with his father.”

Which was low, because yes, what Zuko did in highschool was rude but that was a low blow, “You told the guy who’s dad burned his face, who spent a long time waiting for his approval and practically ruined his life to do what?”

Katara did look ashamed for a split second, but retorted anyways, “He abandoned you without an explanation.”

And of course Sokka knew, he was the one who spent almost three months laying on his bed wondering why he wasn’t enough for Zuko, why his boyfriend left him without even breaking up. “And? That’s my fight, Katara, not yours!”

She frowned, “He is not even here and no we’re fighting because of him.”

Sokka hit the table with his palms, out of frustration more than anger, “No Katara, we’re fighting because you shouldn’t fight my battles that took place over five years ago, because no matter how angry or mad you are, you never attack a person on battle wounds.”

He left in the middle of his shift and went directly to his apartment. He logically knew that Katara meant well, but it was all over the situation where she took a role that wasn’t hers.

It wasn’t until he came out of a hot steaming shower and grabbed his phone that he realized some things. He owned Yue a shift, since she covered his after he stormed out fuming.

And that he had three missed calls from Toph.

Without even thinking he dialed her number, hoping it was just her dramatic ways and not something important. For some reason he didn’t understand, it was always Toph the one who break bad news to him, so his reasons to be nervous were on point.

He heard three beeps on the other side of the line before the earthbender picked up her phone, and without missing a beat she said, “I was the one who told Zuko where you work, he needs to tell you something.”

So, her dramatic ways, apparently.

It took him a moment to understand what was happening, “What?”

He heard how Toph coughed on the other side, he guessed either Aang or Suki was with her forcing her to come out clean, “Yeah, I-Huh,” she cleaned her throat, “We’ve been talking for a couple of months, and he said he wanted to tell you what really happened five years ago, so I told him to man up and to do it.”

“Why?”

“Cuz you’re both assholes who have been suffering for five years?”

“No, I mean…” He laid on his bed, the wet towel still on his hair, “Why are you still talking to him?”

“He’s still my friend, and y’know, us rich disinherit kids stick with each other.” Sokka knew that for Toph, it still hurt how much their parents overprotection lingered on her, so he understood. Not in a direct way, of course not, but in a I was there when everything happened and I’m your friend way

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he’s still an idiot when it comes to communication though.”

“Yeah, he is.”

4.

Sokka definitely didn’t went to Zuko’s Instagram and Facebook, he was smarter than that.

Except he was smart, but he was still a man who loved gossip, so putting aside his mental health he purposely went to Zuko’s pages. He found four main important things.

A. Uncle Iroh was still around, and god did Sokka’s heart relaxed at that. That man was pure gold. Iroh posted a photo of himself and Zuko a month ago. They were both smiling, Iroh broadly as always and Zuko with a shy but genuine smile. Behind them there was a small house. B. There were photos (two of them) of a small child and a woman who looked like Azula, but older. C. He was still in contact with Mai and Ty Lee, which wasn’t relevant to be honest. D. He didn’t seem to have any relationship, and for some reason his heart did a small flip at that.

He was lost on his thoughts when he noticed his gloomy ex sitting on the sidewalk in front of the shop. Katara would say that what he did next was without thinking, but they were mad at each other right now, so her opinion didn’t count.

So he flipped the “Open/Close” sign and went to sit next to him.

“Gathering courage?” He asked as he sat down, grabbing his phone to pretend he was busy.

He heard the firebender laughing, “Kinda. You see, five years ago I made a mistake and I’ve been trying to talk to him, but apparently I’m still as socially awkward as I was five years ago…”

“You hair got longer.”

Zuko snorted, “I’m sorry, for real.”

Sokka wanted to say something but it got lost when he decided to kiss Zuko right there.

5.

Sokka decided that Zuko wasn’t ready to tell him everything, just the my mom wasn’t really death and when she came back Ozai tried to kill her, so we had to run away was enough for Sokka to stop and rethink everything. Even Katara, was ashamed when Zuko told them (again, not all the story).

Zuko was sitting on a small couch inside the coffeeshop, once again without ordering something, “You need to order something in order to sit here.” Sokka said, as a joke when his shift was over.

“Ozai died last year.” Zuko said instead and that took Sokka by surprise.

“That’s rough, buddy.” He found himself saying, and for some reason it was okay.

+1

Zuko was sitting on a chair near the counter, reading an essay on economics for his class. Sokka dropped a soft kiss on his hair, “Zuko I have a question for you.”

“Mmm?”

“You never order a thing, why?”

Zuko look up and stared into his eyes, “I don’t like giving you orders.”

Sokka burst into laughter, and decided to buy his boyfriend a jasmine tea, after all it was Zuko’s comfort drink.

---

Thank you so much for reading, yes I finished writing and editing this at 3:30 am, so points for effort, i guess? I won’t tag anyone but Roz cuz this is not my main fandom (for now) so I won’t spam y’all.

Thanks again for comissioning me!

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

Wuko/Korrasami/OC insert soulmate eye color change AU

@mypureessence I'm gonna tag you because I know you like my Lee 😌

"Hey Lee! You did great out there tonight!" Lee let out a huff when she heard Tenko call to her. Spinning on her heel she turned to face him. "Not to mention this new over the shoulder dress! You were absolutely stunning, here's your pay for the night"

She took the cash handed to her and gave him a small sigh "thanks Tenko, say, did I get any tips?"

"Why? You building some new explosion on the outskirts?" Tenko gave a big grin

"Perhaps" she folded her arms

"You know Lee, you being a nonbender and all, I dont think you should keep messing with those explosions"

"A nonbender? Really you think I'm incapable of protecting myself against my own machines?" She huffed "whatever, did I get any tips or not?"

"You sure did, but its not alot" he handed her a small amount of cash compared to her pay.

"Hey, its better than nothing, alright, I'm getting changed, I'll see you next week alright?"

"You better be here, people love hearing a white fox sing"

Groaning she stormed off to her small dressing room where she changed out of the God awful tight dress and slip into more comfortable clothes. Fixing her hair up she paused, looking in the mirror at her own eyes, both a pale green. Wonder which parent that came from. She huffed and pushed the last Bobby pin in and left.

It was already getting dark so she had to hury. She clung to the flyer she had already deciphered a while ago, she was going to infiltrate the equalists tonight. She hopped on her bike and sped off. Not too long after she managed to find the spot and parked her bike before heading down the alleyway.

"Invitation?"

"Here" she held out the flyer.

"Come on in, the revelation is upon us my sister"

She nodded and stepped inside, immediately setting to work scouting the building for any way to halt the performance that Amon was about to do. She'd seen it before, only a week ago when she caught a scene outside her warehouse on the outskirts. She needed to stop this.

"To take a person's bending away... permanently" she heard the man say, glancing up she watched as four people were dragged onto stage. The first was a leader of a gang.

"See those machines" she heard a man whisper by chance as she passed him and a girl "their run by steam, get some escaping and you could whip up some cover while I free Bolin"

"Works for me"

"Me too." Lee whispered and grabbed hold of the girls wrist "Follow me, I can help" the girl gave a bit of hesitation but nodded and wished her friend good luck.

Leading the girl to the steam pipes she took hold of a valve "we need to turn these to the right as far as possible to let the steam escape"

Once they did that the steam started to escape but only a little "its not enough" the girl said in frustration

"Hey you!" A man shouted as he walked in

"Great, now we have company" Lee said with an eye twitch but stood up "is there a problem my brother?"

"What are you doing back here?"

"Uh... looking for the bathroom?" The girl said with a cheeky grin. What is she five?

"You wouldn't happen to know where one is my brother?" Lee backed up the excuse with a question in hopes to get him to believe it. But no use. The man attacked. Lee used the help of the girl to get the upperhand and smash the pipes, releasing the steam, which the girl bent with ease out of the room. Causing a panic and gaining them some cover.

The group managed to escape and the duo Lee used as help managed to get this Bolin guy. Fleeing, the girl and Lee ran into Bolin and this other guy taken out by a man with electric sticks.

Of course this girl she thought was just a warebender just used earthbending to get the upperhand and escape. Oh gods, this is the avatar, this is avatar Korra and the fireferrets Mako and Bolin.

"So.. whats your name? Mystery girl?" Bolin said from the jaws of Naga.

"Lee. And youre the fireferrets and avatar, thanks for the help getting rid of that rally."

"Well, uh, Lee, thank you for helping us save Bolin" Mako said with an awkward clearing of his throat.

"No problem, but uhm, I kind of left my bike near the area so I dont exactly have a way to get home.."

"Where is your home?" Bolin piped up

"On the outskirts of the city" Lee shrugged "Im normally not here this late but I had a thing to do y'know"

"Yeah..." Mako said in what seemed to be a cold tone as they managed to get to the pro bending arena "you can crash here for the night and head back home tomorrow"

Lee sighed "yeah, okay, sorry"

Once Korra left with Naga to Air Temple Island Bolin wrapped his arm around Lee's shoulder "sooo, Lee right? Is that short for something?"

"No. It's just Lee." She looked up at Bolin with a concerned expression before pushing him back and checking him over "are you alright? No scratches or bruises? Did you hit your head?"

Mako slowed her by gripping her shoulders and moving them inside "he's fine, quit mother henning him"

"I am not-! Okay, look I just watched him almost lose his bending okay? We barely managed to get out of that in one piece! I mean, you two were almost caught again because of mister zappy sticks!" She ranted while they made their way to the apartment "okay, look, we might not know eachother well, or even at all, but tonight we were a team in taking down that rally okay? So I'm allowed to be worried that a teammate might have gotten hurt!"

"Yeah, sure, teammate" Mako huffed when they made it to their living space.

"Whats your problem?" Lee stood infront of Mako with a irritated expression

"I dont have a problem" Mako said with a small crack in his voice

"Yes. You do. You've been huffy since we managed to escape. Why would you even offer to have me crash for the night if you have a problem with me?" Lee took a step closer and Mako took a step back

"Look, I dont have a problem with you, I just hardly know you okay? I'm letting you stay here to thank you for helping me save my brother, and thats all. I dont even know if I can trust you"

"Well, since you hardly know me, how about you ask some questions okay? That should get the ball rolling" Bolin raised his hand and Lee gave him a fond grin "Bolin sweetie you don't need to raise your hand but go ahead"

"Who are your parents?"

"Dont know, I was put up for adoption before I ever had the capability to remember anything"

"Where do you work?"

"Cold spikes bar as a singer"

"Ooo! You sing?" Bolin grinned

"Yeah, I do. But Im not about to sing for you right now." She folded her arms.

"Aww" Bolin pouted

"Why is your hair white?" Mako finally chipped in a question.

"Oh wow, that's personal"

"And the parents one wasnt?" Mako snipped

"I'm teasing Mako, my hair has always been white, I dont know why it is just like I dont know why my eyes are green or why the sky is blue." Lee gave a shrug

"Why were you at the rally in the first place and what did you plan to do if you didn't bump into us?"

"Well, I planned to blow the place up with some explosives but when I bumped into you guys it was definitely a much better option"

"You... were going to blow up the building?"

"Well yeah, but not with deadly bombs, smoke bombs and stink bombs mostly." She shrugged "Im an explosives expert so I know a thing or two about how to avoid hurting people with my babies, thats why I live on the outskirts, I have a warehouse where I test my new explosives so"

Bolin looked at Mako, then to Lee, then back to Mako "I like her, can we keep her?"

"She's not an animal Bolin you can't just pick her up and say 'can we keep her' like your adopting a pet" Mako scolded "but if she wants to stick around us for a while she can."

"I'd like that, but more than that, I'd like to sleep, so I'm gonna just crash down here, got a spare pillow?"

And so she slept in the corner of the room curled around a pillow and when morning rolled around Pabu woke her up just in time before Mako left for his job and before Bolin left to go train. Sitting up her back cracked a couple times and her stomach gave into a growl "hey Bolin, I dont suppose you could skip a bit of training and come with me to go grab something to eat?"

"Uh, we're kind of... broke" Bolin said with a shy

Lee gave a laugh while standing up "i didnt ask for you to pay, I just asked you to come with. I've got money enough for the both of us to eat my dear Bolin. Now do you think you could skip your training and come with me to grab something to eat?" With a growl escaping his stomach he gave a pair of sad puppy dog eyes and Lee cracked a laugh "alright, lets be off then"

And with that Lee was taking Bolin out to a small noodle shop to eat. While sitting in the booth laughing Bolin leaned on the table "so, is this a... y'know?"

"A what?" Lee said after swallowing a bite. The look on Bolin's face said it all and she gave a sigh "no Bolin, this is not a date. I dont exactly do dating okay? I'm too invested in my work to do dates and partners and the like"

"Well, what if you meet your soulmate?" Bolin pointed out

"Well, if I meet them, then we'll just see what happens. But Bolin, youre not my soulmate, you and I both know that, neither of our eyes changed"

"Yeah, and? Both out eyes are green!"

"Mine are a pale almost seafoam green and yours are a evergreen, it would be pretty obvious" she rested her chin on her hand and huffed "besides, why would you even go for me?"

"You saved me..."

"No, Korra and Mako saved you, I managed to assist in the matter. And while yes I would save you a hundred times over if I had to, I played only a minor role in the rescue mission"

"But you still played a part" Bolin pointed his fork at her "and even though you cant bend, you managed to help both my brother and my best friend save my tail back there.

Lee gave him a grin and a sigh she really is a nonbender to everyone huh? Guess she could stand to use her bending more "I guess your right"

By the time noon rolled around Bolin and Lee were back at the arena in one of the training rooms with Bolin practicing some punches with Lee behind the padding. "So.. Where's Mako work?"

"Uh... I dunno? I just found out he had a job this morning, but he said he should be home around 2 or so, you can ask him then-"

"Nah, I'm home early... why are you practicing with white fox over here?" Mako said with a grin "and I have a date tomorrow night"

"Get outta town!" Lee said excitedly "what's their name?"

"Her name is Asami" Mako said with a blushing face and a goofy grin

"Aw, just from the way you said her name Im sure she's lovely... by any chance did your eyes change?" Lee said with a lean towards him

"No? I mean most people settle without that here, yknow, most people are so busy you won't find your soulmate anytime soon"

"I guess you're right, hm, well, I hope you two enjoy your date"

And enjoy it he did, two days later when Lee visited in the morning to train with Bolin Mako revealed that Asami was Hiroshi Sato's daughter and he was sponsoring the team in the upcoming tournament. Which that news was paired nicely by noon with Korra letting them know there was a Gala being thrown in her name. That night Korra asked Lee to stay the night at Air temple Island just so she knew there was someone by her side.

And Lee was happy to oblige, though she hadn't realized that meant that she was going as Korra's plus one.

[thepeanutbutterwizard]

Ninjago / Avatar au Part 5

On to Book two! (I have more concrete ideas on this than Book 1, so I might have to put Book two things on more than one post)

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Also, if you like this au, check out this awesome art by @spirit-elementmaster!

Team Avatar is looking for an earthbending teacher for Lloyd. Wu and Morro are on the run in the Earth Kingdom. And Harumi is on the hunt, but she’s gonna need some help...

Enter Skylor, the laconic, acrobatic, chi-blocking daughter of a Fire Nation high-up, and Akita, the borderline feral knife-wielding niece of Vex, the warden of the Boiling Rock, who ran off to join a circus. Harumi ‘recruits’ the two girls, who she had ‘befriended’ years ago when she was first brought to the Firelords palace, to help her track down the Avatar. They were also sort of friends with Morro when they were kids too (there will be no ships between these four. They might be shipped with other people, but not with each other.) Also, Akita is a little younger than the other three, but won her right to hang with the ‘big kids’ by being able to pin a fly to the wall with a toothpick at thirty feet when she was 8 and the others were 10-11.

Wu and Morro are working their way to Ba Sing Se, under the guise of being refugees. There are shenanigans. (Wu 100% makes tea out of the poison bush thing. Morro almost broke his neck rolling his eyes at that) There are stupid fake names. There is bonding. They don’t end up splitting up like Zuko and Iroh do, but they do get unintentionaly separated at one point (more on that later).

Also, Kai’s acting a tad more overprotective than normal bc of what happened with Zane. And he’s acting that way toward everyone, including Maya and Garm. That will be addressed later.

Team Avatar is heading to the city of Omashu to try and find an earthbender they had meet there before, a guy who was actually a friend of Koko’s from her travels before she settled down in the South Pole. I have no idea who this character will be yet and am open to suggestions (mb one of the Serpentine Generals? Or one of the Elemental Masters? They’re some of the side characters I like, so they might work but idk). They stop briefly at an Earth Kingdom base, where they meet one General Kozu, who has the brilliant idea to try and weaponize a thirteen-year-old boy.

This does not go well. Garm, Maya, and Nya are staunchly against this, Kai thinks if they had a sure-fire way to get it to work without hurting Lloyd they should go for it, but if he thinks Lloyd is in danger he will step in, and Lloyd is scared, but thinks that if they can get this Avatar State plan to work and end the war now, long before the comet arrives, then it’s worth the risk. Kozu does the thing where he makes it look like he’s trapped Garm underground to suffocate (what happened to Katara)(also, there will be no ships between Lloyd and any of the ninja or Morro). Kozu gets his butt whooped and his base trashed.

And now we get to the next ninja to join the plot! In a second. Maya, Nya, and Lloyd are practicing waterbending, Garm and Kai had been doing a little firebending practice but had started chilling. And then they meet the nomad musician stoners, who are a few of the Elemental Masters. Jacob (Sound) is definitely one of them, a couple I haven’t decided on, and Jay! Jay’s a nonbender (I couldn’t for the life of me come up with a way to make him a firebender so he can use lightning) and an inventor who is following these weird flower hippies around bc they said they could get him to a city where he could try and sell his inventions. That was months ago. He has not seen a city. He has not been able to properly bathe. He is regretting several life choices.

Jay is instantly enamored with Nya (sorry if you hardcore ship Jaya, but that ship aint gonna happen here. I don’t like, hate the ship, but it’s really not my favorite), the strong waterbender who was instantly intrigued by his inventions (I think a character in Legend of Korra has some kind of lightning glove thing. One of Jays inventions is something like that) and was able to understand and keep up with his technobabble. He thinks he’s found his dream girl, and an excuse to get away from the smelly flower people! Jay begs Team Avatar if he can come with them. They say yes.

They can’t make it over the mountain, so they have their adventure in the Cave of Two Lovers. They get separated into three groups, Ultra, Garm and Maya, Kai and the musicians, and Jay and Nya. Jay keeps trying to awkwardly flirt with Nya, who actually doesn’t realize that he’s flirting bc she’s worried about her family and focused on getting out of the caves. They find the crystal path thing when their last torch either burns out or gets dropped and snuffed out. Kai and the hippies befriend the badgermoles. Garm and Maya, who were thoroughly done with this whole lovers cave adventure, used their bending and Ultras help to brute-force their way out (the badgermoles fix the cave later).

They get to Omashu, but it’s been taken over by the Fire Nation and the earthbender they were there to find was taken captive by the Fire Nation and sent to an earthbender prison. They have their first run-in with Harumi, Skylor, and Akita.

They have their little swamp adventure, they have some not-fun visions. Garm sees his dad (which scares the crap out of him), Maya sees her dead mother, Kai sees Zane, idk who Nya sees (mb Ray I guess? She misses him but he isn’t like, dead or anything so it might work?), or who Jay sees either (his birth parents I guess? That could be part of a character arc) and Lloyd gets a vision of his earthbending teacher. Y’all can probably guess who it’s gonna be, but I don’t wanna spoil it right now. And you know that one swampbender who bent the water in the vines to make a big plant monster? That’s Bolobo, the EM of Nature.

That Avatar Day adventure happens. Lloyd tries out that free lesson at the earthbending school, and they go to Earth Rumble 6. Kai gets way too invested in this underground fight club. Karloff is The Boulder, nuff said. And the reigning champion, whose stage name I haven’t decided on is Cole. Now, here’s the thing: I don’t want to make Cole blind just bc Toph was, but I do love the whole ‘listening to the earth’s vibrations to become a powerful earthbending master’ thing. So here’s Coles deal. His father is a rich and famous performer, and his mother was killed in an accident (possibly Fire Nation related, possibly not) that lead to Cole losing his legs (below the knees). He was just learning how to earthbend when it happened.

Something I’ve noticed in A:TLA is that earthbenders seem to use their legs and feet much more than other benders, with strong stances and stomping moves to connect to the earth. So to an earthbender losing their legs, losing their way to connect to the earth, would probably be one hell of an obstacle to work around. Cole’s father used his wealth to get Cole some nice prosthetics (Sparky Sparky Boom Man had two prosthetics, so I know they exist in the avatar world. Coles aren’t intimidating metal ones with some kind of mechanism to move like a real foot) but they don’t allow him to feel the earth like he needs to. So he painstakingly makes himself some new prosthetics. It looks like he’s just got bulky boots made out of stone, but Cole spent years working to be able to feel the earth’s vibrations through these prosthetics, to the point that he could be blindfolded and still be able to ‘see’ and earthbend fairly well. He can even get them to move like their his real limbs a little bit.

He can’t move with as much speed and agility, but he makes up for that by being a freaking powerhouse. But Cole can’t wear his earth prosthetics for super long periods of time bc he had no idea how to actually make them comfortable and make it so they don’t damage his stumps after long periods (after he joins Team Avatar Jay and Nya help him combine his professionally made prosthetics with his earthbending ones so he can wear them full time). Lou had become very protective of Cole after the accident, which is why Cole started participating in Earth Rumble 6.

Things go similarly to cannon, Cole shows his dad how powerful he is as an earthbender, and while Lou does ban Cole from going with Team Avatar at first, he actually does change his mind and let Cole go with them. He even sees them off. It’s a sweet moment.

So what have Wu and Morro been doing? Traveling, dealing with the occasional rude fellow traveler, and getting seperated in a storm turned flash flood. Team Avatar also get split up in this storm turned flash flood, Garm, Cole, and Jay get separated from everyone, including each other. This leads to Maya, Kai, Nya and Lloyd flying Ultra around in a small area to search for them, and makes it really easy for a tank occupied by three dangerous girls to track them for a good two days, leading to some mild sleep deprivation. (Dragons don’t shed fur, so that’s my fix for that bc I really like “The Chase” and wanted to include it)

Morro was looking for Wu, but finds Harumi and starts following her (he’s hoping that she might lead him to Wu, or that Wu might start following Harumi and they’ll run into each other, or smthn. And if he’s able to catch the Avatar there’s a chance that he and Wu will be forgiven by the Firelord. He’s not banking on it, but it might work). Jay and Cole find each other, and then run into Wu, who was looking for Morro. Maya and the kids split up to cover more ground and to try and to try and lose the tank and the girls. Lloyd goes one way, Kai and Nya go in another, and Maya takes Ultra to find a place for him to nap.

Harumi follows Lloyd’s trail, and Skylor and Akita go after Kai and Nya. Meanwhile, Cole and Jay have some tea and conversation with Wu. No idea what the conversation is about, but it gets cut short when Garm finds them and tells Jay and Cole to get away from Wu. There’s a bit of a stand-off, since Garm doesn’t trust Wu and hasn’t read his letter yet, and Wu is getting a little frustrated at his brothers stubbornness, (and is wondering how he keeps collecting children) even though he does understand why Garm would be cautious around him.

They work together to find a trail, have some awkward small talk, the brothers start to reconnect a little bit, meet up with Kai and Nya (who fought off Skylor and Akita), and they all go after Lloyd and Harumi. They find them in a three-way fight with Harumi, and Morro is going all out with his airbending for the first time in his life. Everyone gangs up on Harumi and corner her, and when she notices Garm is a bit distracted trying to subtly check on Lloyd, she tries to fire an attack at him-

-only for Wu to push him out of the way and take the hit. Wu goes down, hard, and everyone attacks Harumi, but she gets away. Morro blows Garm away away when he tries to get to Wu, calling Wu his father for the first time, and he kicks up a wind storm to keep them away. Maya shows up on Ultra, who got enough of a nap to fly for a few hours and let everyone get some much needed rest. Everyone that is, except Garm, who finally sits down to read his brothers letter...

[wolfydawolfli]

   I just had a worldbuilding idea I wanted to share, I thought of it for crocverse but I think it could work for any modern or realworld au that's localized to a small area, meaning it doesn't have the four nations to explain the different characters' cultural backgrounds, personal philosophies, and general beliefs. I think the way the four "nations" would work would be 4 split off branches/sects of one old religion, technically 5 since the Swampbenders could be considered their own branch but I kind of don't, that'll be explained later. I'm not sure what to call it so I'll just refer to it as Religion with a capital R. 

   The people who follow the Religion believe in the spirits, the spirit world, all the fantastical stuff from atla canon. Where the Branches of the Religion differ from one another is which spirits they place specific importance upon and to what degrees that importance is placed, and the general philosophy or guidelines or whatever miscellaneous things each Branch teaches. Just because they believe in all the spirits doesn't necessarily mean they have equal respect or worship for all of them, and each Branch has different views of the world and ideas of how to live in it.

   For example the Fire branch of this Religion would hold Dragons much in much higher regard than Tui or La, while the Water branch would favor Tui and La over the Dragons.

   Similarly, the Air branch would teach flexibility and adaptability as well as a respect all life, avoidance of violent conflict, and probably also techniques for how to mediate and de-escalate conflicts that haven't turned violent yet. The Earth branch, on the other hand, would teach inner and outer strength, to always hold ones ground and to put up a good fight.

    The Swampbenders' Branch I dont really consider a Branch, since I keep picturing this whole thing in my head as one big tree truck and at the top, more massive tree branches growing out in different directions. The Swampbenders I see sitting on the trunk where the four branches meet. In fact, putting this image to words made me think of it more, and I see the Swampbenders' spot as a hollow top where rainwater collects and little bits of moss growing, partly in the watery hollow, but also growing over and onto each of the four branches a little ways. Their philosophy is centered in the Center but it can and does reach out over the Branches, one doesnt have to abandon a Branch entirely to learn from the Center, or to take part in it.

   With the philosophy of oneness and the belief that Everything and Everyone is Connected, despite the arbitrary separations, boundaries, and categories people set in place and often live by, I think they're less of a perfect or even imperfect mix of all four branches, but more of a separate but commingle-able philosophy that doesn't necessarily but is very much capable of mixing in with parts of each of the four elemental branches, giving individuals, like Iroh, the option to take the best or what they like from each branch's teachings and cobble them together into a nice little mixed bag of Good Things that they appreciate and choose live by, if that is what they decide want to do.

   Various people of all four Branches and the Trunk would all have their own personal take on the Whole Tree, their own philosophies built by whatever Branch they grew up in plus whatever they see and like in the other branches. I don't think the branch someone practices is necessarily tied to whatever they bend either. It's different sects of one religion in a relatively small geographic area, not a national cultural identity tied to and shaped by widespread geographic region. There could very easily be fire benders who live by the Air Branch and avoid conflict whenever possible, Water Benders who like to wield power the way the Fire Branch teaches. It depends on the individual's upbringing and personality, and people may choose to abandon what they were raised with to move to another Branch, or mix and match to find whatever personally suits them. And of course nonbenders take part in all of this as well. You don't need to fling fire around to be Powerful, you don't need to be able to fly to be carefree and sometimes stick your head in the metaphorical clouds.

   For example, I definitely think Iroh, who recognizes that each of the four elements are part of one Whole, and that learning from each of them makes one wiser and stronger than sticking to just one thing, would be closer to the Swampbenders in the Trunk than Ozai, who respects only Power and Fear and demands unquestioning Loyalty and Obediance, and who sequesters himself to the very furthest tip of the Fire branch.  

   These are just the best examples I can come up with off the top of my head, of course. They don't have to and really shouldn't be taken as the Exact Way It Should Be (especially with how little I've actually covered overall). What I'm trying to convey is a general concept, a framework, that can be taken and modified and made to fit one's own ideas if one so chooses, not some fully realized System that is Absolute and Unchanging, or whatever. So... ye. Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk. Now if only I could put this much effort and thought into school work, lol

@nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice

[dancingkirby]

Finally another Azula Chapter!

Yooooo, I’m all done with the first two acts of the story now!  (Except for editing and adding on any new ideas, that is.)  And, as promised, here is Azula’s second PoV chapter.

WARNING: Non-graphic incest in the first part.

PAST

Flush with the excitement of the rally and freshly scrubbed, Azula was preparing for the audience with Father that she knew was imminent.  It felt good to be back in her armor; the red and pink outfit had been both pretty and practical, but simply didn’t offer the same amount of protection. On the outside, she looked every bit the maiden warrior-princess.  However, her inner layers were not nearly as modest.

Shiza made her patented frown as Azula rejected her usual bindings in favor of Daddy’s favorite pair of lingerie.  Azula was fairly certain that Shiza had known about their secret relationship for some time; it would be hard for her not to since she was the one getting Azula ready most of the time.  However, they appeared to have reached a silent agreement that they would both pretend she didn’t know.

The knocks on the door came at the perfect time, just as Shiza was putting the makeup knife away. So it was Father who wanted to speak with her first, then.

“Are you…will you be all right?” Shiza asked tentatively as Azula turned towards the door. What an odd question.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she replied.  

The throne room was empty save for herself and the Fire Lord…just as it had been when he’d sent her on this mission over three months ago.  Azula stopped a respectful distance away, knelt, and pressed her forehead to the floor.  Even when she raised her head, she remained kneeling with her eyes downcast, only daring to look up when she heard him part the flames.  

“The conqueror of Ba Sing Se,” Father said.

Azula would have liked to bask in the praise, but knew exactly what she was expected to say. She made a noise of demurral before responding, “I would never have been able to do it if I hadn’t had such a wonderful teacher.”

“Indeed,” Father replied, slowly walking down the steps.  His nearness made Azula quake in her boots, and not entirely out of fear. But she couldn’t think about that now.

“And your brother slayed the Avatar,” he continued, tugging on his beard.  “I was surprised.  I didn’t think he had it in him.”

How was she going to make this story believable?

“I didn’t either,” she began, trying to stall for a few seconds to think up the details.  “I was busy fighting the waterbender.  But then the Avatar was preoccupied, and Zuko saw his chance and took it.”  Should she say he used lightning?  No, that would be stretching credulity a bit too much.  “Fire blast straight to the back.  It was so precise and powerful that the Avatar never even knew what hit him.  And if that didn’t kill him instantly, the long fall to the ground certainly did.”

There.  That seemed to be an acceptable enough fudging of the truth.  She didn’t mention that they still hadn’t got official confirmation that the Avatar was actually dead, which was making her a little nervous.

“Wonderful,” Father proclaimed.  The story appeared to have passed his muster, and Azula made an internal sigh of relief.

“I take it that you received my dispatches about the intelligence I gathered?” she inquired.  Father smirked.

“Yes.  They’re planning an invasion during the eclipse. How precious.”

Azula allowed her face to relax the tiniest bit, and said, “I have no doubt that they think they’re the first people to ever try such a thing.  The Earth King sang like a sparrowkeet about their super-secret plans without me even having to try. I wish you’d been there to see for yourself; you would have loved it.”  Those idiots. They would have had increased security measures that day regardless.  

Father gave a shout of laughter so loud and sudden that even Azula was startled.  

“So do I!” he exclaimed.  “But let us discuss that a little later, shall we?  There are other matters I would like to attend to first.”

And just like that, Father became Daddy, and Azula adapted accordingly.  She knew from years of experience how to change her entire demeanor in the blink of an eye.  As she tugged her hair out of its topknot and let it fall freely down her back, she allowed her expression to soften, looking up at Daddy through her eyelashes while biting her lip.  

“What a brilliant idea,” she said, voice changed from formal and measured to almost a purr.  This had exactly the effect on Daddy, who ran over, picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder.

“Ohh,” she whispered into his ear.  “Unhand me, you brute.”

“Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to find a replacement for you all those months?” Daddy growled as they left the throne room and began what seemed like an unbearably long trip to his rooms.

Azula really didn’t want to think about who might have been her replacement.  Instead, she giggled and said, “I can imagine.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first time did hurt, a little bit, but that was to be expected, and nothing that Azula couldn’t handle.  The second time, Daddy wasn’t in such of a big rush, so he could help make it feel good for her, too.  After he had been thoroughly satisfied–twice–he was ready to talk strategy again.  Azula always felt a little uneasy when he did this, because she wasn’t sure how to categorize this.  It was sort of in between Father and Daddy; he expected her to be all business when she didn’t have a stitch of clothing on.  

“The Avatar may be dead, but his friends will be out for revenge,” she told Daddy.  “They should not be taken lightly.  The waterbender has improved significantly even in the time I’ve fought against her, and rumor has it that the earthbender has somehow figured out how to bend metal.  If that is true, our bunker is no longer impervious.”

Daddy frowned. “That is unfortunate.  So you think that those two are our biggest threat? We will put the best of the Royal Guard at the main entrance, then, to neutralize them immediately.”

“Actually…no, I don’t think that,” Azula clarified.

“Then who is?”

Azula felt a smile tugging at her lips as she said, “The nonbender boy, believe it or not.  His name is Sokka.  He’s the brains of the group, and apparently the one who, um, figured out how to take down the drill.”  Maybe not the best idea to remind Daddy of that.  She rushed on, “Get into his head, knock him off-balance, and their entire plan will fail.”

“And you believe that you know how to do that?” Daddy asked.

Azula’s smile widened.

“I do,” she said simply.

PRESENT

She was prepared for every eventuality.

Well, maybe not every eventuality.  She supposed that perhaps they would figure out how to make a replica of her drill. Or…or maybe they’d make a giant walking suit of armor that shot energy beams so powerful that they could annihilate anything in their path.

Actually, that last one was an intriguing idea.  She’d have to remember to write that one down later.

But those were exceedingly unlikely scenarios, and she knew it.  Without the Earth Kingdom’s resources, there was no way that they would have the wherewithal to make such powerful weapons.  She was still prepared for every plausible eventuality.

Azula was quite confident that the Avatar and his friends would be heading this way.  War Minister Qin had been instructed to misdirect them, and that was a simple enough task that she thought even he couldn’t mess it up.  Everything was ready.  She had her Dai Li as backup, perched in the rafters. (Really, she wished she could have had Mai and Ty Lee with her as well, but they were sheltering in their own homes.) The past several weeks, Azula had been occupied with perfecting her nonbending fighting and evasion skills.  She’d had Ty Lee give her some pointers, and even considered getting her lover to chi-block her to mimic the effects of the eclipse (all her research indicated that said effects were not pleasant). However, she had ultimately decided against it. That might set an unfortunate precedent, after all.

Speaking of which, she thought that the effects were kicking in now.  It wasn’t so bad if one knew to expect them; mostly a sensation of cold and mild nausea.  Everything was muted this far underground, anyway.

Then…footsteps and shouting outside.  Qin had succeeded in his deception.  She adjusted her posture so she looked exactly the right combination of threatening and casual.  As the doors were blown open with a gust of wind, she smiled.  

“So, you are alive after all,” she said, just as she had rehearsed in the privacy of her bedroom countless times. “I had a hunch that you survived.  But it doesn’t matter.  I’ve known about the invasion for months.”

The look of shock on the trio’s faces (the waterbender girl wasn’t with them; too bad) was quite possibly the most gratifying thing that Azula had seen in her entire life. Did they perhaps think of her as some sort of supernatural entity with psychic powers?  She was happy to let them continue believing that.  The somewhat more mundane truth was, they hadn’t been quite as good as hiding as they thought they were, and she had received intelligence from multiple islands about a group matching their descriptions.

“Where is he? Where’s the Fire Lord?” the Avatar demanded.  Did he honestly think she was going to just tell him?

“Mm.  You mean I’m not good enough for you?  You’re hurting my feelings,” she said as she stood up, letting the barest hint of the voice she used for Daddy seep through.  She would do whatever it took to keep them distracted.

“Stop wasting our time and give use the information,” Sokka demanded, gesturing with his sword.  He’d caught on quickly, just as Azula had expected. “You’re powerless right now, so you’re in no position to refuse.”

Pfft. Look who’s talking.

The earthbender (her name was…Toph?) added, “And stick to the truth.   I’ll be able to tell if you’re lying.”

“Are you sure? I’m a pretty good liar,” Azula answered. Quickly casting around in her head for the most ridiculous statement possible, she said, “I am a four hundred-foot-tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings.”

It took no effort at all.  Every successful member of the Fire Nation royal family learned to lie almost as soon as they could talk.  When one was in such a high-stakes position, wearing one’s feelings on one’s sleeve could be deadly.  Zuzu had learned that the hard way.  

“…Okay, you’re good, I admit it,” Toph said.  Azula managed to not so much as even flinch as the earthbender trapped her in a column that went up to her chin.  “But you ought to consider telling the truth anyway!”

So far, everything was going exactly according to plan; it was almost too easy.  By Azula’s mental count, about two minutes had passed since the start of the eclipse.  All she had to do was to continue to occupy them for six more.  

Azula and the Dai Li had agreed that the latter would make their presence in the room known as soon as Toph tried earthbending for the first time.  Right on cue, the column binding Azula crumbled into nothing.  Her trio of adversaries looked flabbergasted again; Azula could almost hear them thinking, “Wait…she can earthbend?!”

“When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought home some souvenirs…Dai Li agents!” she explained.

The fight that followed was more an amusement than anything else.  At last, Azula got to show off the results of her extensive practice. No matter what obstacle they might throw at her, she could leap, jump, or flip through it.  It was rather like what she’d always imagined that airbending would feel like; sometimes, she looked at Ty Lee’s gray eyes and wondered.

Finally, Sokka realized how much time had passed, and told the other two to stop attacking.

“She’s just playing with us.  She’s not even trying to win this fight!” he said, a note of panic creeping into his voice.

(If he thought Azula hadn’t noticed how his eyes raked over her body as she flew past him, he was deluding himself.)

“Not true!  I’m giving it my all,” Azula informed him.  Technically, this wasn’t even a lie, since she didn’t specify what “it” was.  They bickered a while longer, accusing her of wasting their time when they were doing a perfectly good job at it themselves.  Then Sokka got them back to their senses again, and the three of them turned and started walking away.

“It’s a trap.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Azula said.  There were only a couple of minutes left in the eclipse now; she doubted that they’d reach Father in time even if they did know the way.  And if they blundered their way into one of the rooms surrounding his…it would not be pleasant for them.

“Ignore!” Sokka urged them as they continued walking.

It was time.  She’d been looking forward to this moment for the whole fight.

“So, Sokka’s your name, right?” she began.  “My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time.”

He halted, turned his head back to look at her.  She had him.

Azula continued, “She was convinced you were going to come rescue her.  Of course, you never came, and she gave up on you!”  As his face crumpled, she felt a surge of triumph and…something else?

Had she thought that her trick with the dagger was going to work?  Not really.  Things would be more convenient for her that way, of course, but it would have put this part of her plan to a disappointingly premature end.  In any case, Toph disarmed her and threw her against the rough stone wall hard enough that Azula was certain it would leave a nasty bruise, and Sokka had her pinned before she could retaliate.  

“WHERE. IS.  SUKI?!” he snarled.  Oh, did he think that Azula had tortured his little girlfriend?  She was happy for him to continue thinking that.  Father would have used torture, yes, but Azula didn’t see the point of resorting to it when there were other, more subtle ways of getting what she wanted.

She continued to smile down at him, saying nothing, and couldn’t help but notice that his Fire Nation topknot suited him well.  So did that primitive…thing that passed for a military uniform with the Water Tribe barbarians.  That darker blue was definitely his color; he should wear it more often.  

“Where’s Suki?” Sokka repeated, interrupting her musings. “Answer me!”  The Avatar tried to get him to back off, but he didn’t listen. “Where are you keeping her?!”

Azula simply smiled even more.  Making him angry was so…so…wait.  Was that just her feeling the eclipse about to end, or was her body responding to him?  Daddy had had her against walls, many times, and often as enraged as Sokka was now.  That was all it was.  Still…if she managed to take Sokka prisoner as well, maybe she could…

No.  Daddy wouldn’t allow that.  And even if he did, it was a stupid idea.  Thankfully, before her hormones could come up with any further less-than-brilliant schemes, Azula was bailed out by the sound of a large explosion coming from the general direction of Father’s room.  She could feel her own power resurging as well.  

“Oh!  Sounds like the firebending’s back on!” she said in faux-surprise.  She had herself freed within a few seconds, and generously informed her opponents of her father’s location.

Azula felt elated as she ran out of the room.  Her plan had been a complete success; Father would be so happy when he heard.  She didn’t have any time to check in with him, though; she had to hurry onto an airship to make sure the Avatar and his friends got out and stayed out.

…Right after she found a bathroom.

[soopersara]

Day 6: Found

Read it on FFN | AO3

@zutaraweek

When Sokka comes up with an idea to get rid of Joo Dee, Katara finds herself in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se with a tea server she did not expect to meet.

Toph was right about Ba Sing Se. This place was really the worst. It wasn't that Katara didn't enjoy having a soft bed and ample food and an allowance from the royal treasury-that was all nice. The cleanliness and manners that Toph railed so hard against didn't bother Katara either. But Ba Sing Se had Joo Dee. And Joo Dee was terrible.

No matter where they went, Joo Dee managed to be two steps behind them all the way, smiling that creepy, unflappable smile, and scaring away anyone they tried to speak to. It was bad enough when they approached that shady-looking ostrich horse dealer and he slammed the door in their faces. That made sense. He acted like he had something to hide even before he saw Joo Dee. But when a pastry shop turned them away at the sight of Joo Dee's unnaturally wide smile, they had all had enough.

It was Sokka's idea to turn it into a game. There were four of them and only one of Joo Dee-logically, if they were to split up, Joo Dee could only ruin the day for one of them.

Since Sokka was the only nonbender, they agreed to give him one advantage—while Katara, Aang, and Toph could use their bending however they saw fit ("Without getting arrested, guys," Katara cautioned them. "You lose if Joo Dee catches you or if you get arrested"), only Sokka was allowed to wear Earth Kingdom clothes. If Katara or Aang could conjure fog to hide in, and Toph could choose to hide underground, it was only fair that Sokka be able to blend into a crowd.

So when they left the house the next morning, Sokka wearing a nondescript green tunic and Toph in one of Katara's spare Water Tribe dresses, Joo Dee looked surprised—or as close to surprised as she could possibly look without breaking her smile. They let themselves be escorted as far as the first busy street before Sokka gave Katara, then Aang a pointed look and nudged Toph with his elbow.

"Remember, the game ends at sunset," he whispered. "Ready? On three. One—" he glanced back to make sure Joo Dee wasn't too close. "—two, three. Run!"

Katara summoned a dense fog from the nearest fountain and broke into a sprint. She didn't really know where she was going—Sokka had spent most of last night plotting routes through the city and strategizing, but she preferred to improvise. So she ran west, smirking when she heard Joo Dee calling after them. Not yelling, though. Joo Dee wouldn't yell, that would be undignified and unsuited to the refined atmosphere of the Upper Ring.

She ran until she could no longer hear Joo Dee's voice, shrill with agitation, then ran further, until her lungs protested and her knees felt wobbly. Slowing to a walk, she turned down a street lined with fancy shops. A whole day without Joo Dee. This would be nice. Of course, it would be more fun if she weren't alone, but a day without that creepy smile and those wide, expressionless eyes constantly hovering over her shoulder was more than worth it.

Katara wandered into a clothing shop, then a shop that seemed to specialize in utterly impractical silk slippers. The kind that Toph and her mother wore in Gaoling—the kind that were too delicate to be worn outside. Katara wrinkled her nose. She didn't hate shopping, but she didn't have Sokka's enthusiasm for it. Especially when she was alone.

She meandered down one quiet street after another, farther and farther from the center of the Upper Ring. The Middle Ring felt more comfortable to her—it always had. But today, she had no interest in stopping. She hadn't had much chance to explore the Lower Ring, and today, armed with her waterskins and unhindered by Joo Dee, seemed like the perfect opportunity.

It was nearly midday when Katara realized she was hungry. The taverns in the Lower Ring looked a little shady for her tastes—if Sokka were here, he'd scold her for even considering going in alone. Truthfully, he might scold her for coming to the Lower Ring in the first place, but that didn't bother her. The drunken shouts from inside the taverns were another matter entirely. Luckily, there was a tea shop on the corner—a sleepy little place, not exactly quaint or charming, but it seemed quiet. Quiet suited her today.

She chose a table in the corner where she could look out the window and settled in.

"Welcome to the Pao Family Tea House," a weary-sounding voice said. "My name is Lee, and—"

Katara looked at the server and froze. And he froze. And for what seemed like a very long time, she stared into the very surprised golden eyes of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

He recovered from the surprise first and spun toward the kitchen. "Uncle!"

Jaw hanging open, Katara turned slowly, eyes trailing after Zuko as he retreated behind the counter. Sure enough, there was his uncle, round and pleasant-faced as ever. And Zuko. Prince Zuko. In a teashop. In the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. In an apron. She wasn't sure what part of the image was strangest to her.

She pinched her arm, and it hurt. Not dreaming, then. Maybe this wasn't a dream, though. Maybe she had hit her head or something and it was a hallucination. Yeah. That made sense. Or at least more sense than—whatever this was.

Zuko was staring at her like she was a Foggy Swamp apparition as he whispered to his uncle in a voice that carried clear across the room. Katara snapped her gaping jaw shut. That was Zuko, all right. And spirits, he really needed to learn how to keep his voice down if he ever wanted to keep a secret. He was worse than Sokka, and that was saying a lot.

"What am I supposed to do?" Zuko hissed. His uncle mumbled something in reply. "No. No, Uncle. Absolutely not. No!" The old man glanced in Katara's direction and waggled his bushy gray eyebrows. "Uncle, I'm not serving her tea! For all we know, she's here to—" Zuko cut himself off and flushed a deep shade of red.

The old man clasped Zuko's shoulder and went off into a low, rumbling lecture that Katara couldn't understand from her seat. From time to time, Zuko glanced her direction, then turned back to his uncle, shamefaced. What was that about? It almost made Zuko seem—normal.

At last the lecture ended, and the old man patted Zuko's shoulder with an affectionate smile. Zuko made a show of throwing himself over the counter so his head thumped lightly against the wood and let out a prolonged groan. His uncle poked him in the side and offered an order pad. Zuko rolled his head to the side and glared up at his uncle for a second, then grumbled a string of wildly creative curses and snatched the order pad out of the old man's hand.

"Welcome to the Pao Family Tea House," Zuko began before he was even halfway to her table. The look on his face might have been an attempt at forcing a smile, but he just looked constipated. "My name is Lee—"

"You have to be kidding me," Katara interrupted.

Zuko's ears reddened. Or ear—it was difficult to see whether the scarred one changed color or not. "My name is Lee," he tried again, voice taut enough to crack. "And I will be your server today."

"What are you doing?"

His shoulders visibly tensed, and he held up his order pad as if it were a shield. "My job." He tried to smile and managed to look nauseated this time. Katara couldn't decide if that was better or worse than his constipated face. "Our special today is—"

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Why are you here?"

He threw his hands up. "I just am, okay?"

"And you work in a teashop?" Katara asked, still unable to fully wrap her mind around the concept.

"No, I just think the apron makes me look cool." He crossed his arms. "Are you going to order anything, or can I throw you out?"

Across the room, Zuko's uncle looked up. "Nephew," he warned.

Zuko stared up at the ceiling and gave a long sigh. "I mean," he said through clenched teeth, "What can I get for you today?"

A second of silence passed before Katara remembered why she had come in the first place. Lunch. Right. She was hungry. "Uh—do you have food here? Not just tea?"

"We have a small selection of fruit pastries." The reply came automatically, as if he'd repeated those exact words hundreds of times before. Zuko looked briefly startled by his own answer but settled back into an expression of annoyance.

"Okay." Fruit pastries weren't an ideal lunch, but it had to be better than braving the taverns. "I like everything but papaya."

"Papaya's all we have," Zuko snapped.

Okay, that response was far too quick. Katara glanced back toward Zuko's uncle.

"Nephew, I believe you misunderstood me earlier," the old man called across to them. "Papaya is the only thing we're out of."

Katara found herself smiling in triumph. "In that case, I would like a peach tart. Please. And a cup of tea."

Zuko grumbled, but he scribbled her order down—which probably wasn't necessary, considering the fact that the rest of the shop was empty—and stomped off to fetch her food.

He dropped the plate in front of her and thumped her teacup down. He folded his arms again. "Will there be anything else?"

Katara frowned up at him. "Actually, yes." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "I want to know the truth. What are you doing here?"

"I, uh—" He ran a hand through his hair. The motion made it stick out in several directions at once, but she had to admit that it still looked better than that stupid bald ponytail thing he used to have. "Excuse me, I have to get back to work."

"Take your time, Nephew," the old man said brightly as he bustled to clear the dishes and crumbs off the counter. "See? All cleaned up. And our busy time isn't for a few hours yet."

Zuko's mouth opened and closed a few times, and Katara smirked. "Sounds to me like you've got time to answer my question."

He glared at her.

"What are you doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"I—" He let out a puff of air. "I can't talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because—" He fidgeted with the edge of his apron. "People can't know where I'm from."

Her first impulse was to jump up and yell, Ha! I knew you were here to do something evil! But he didn't look like he was plotting anything. He just looked—embarrassed. And frustrated. And maybe a little bit frightened. And—it was stupid, but Katara wanted to hear what he had to say. She leaned back. "Well, there's nobody else here, and I already know where you're from. So your secret's out. I could go to the Dai Li right now and turn you in—"

His eyes widened, and the color drained from his face.

"Or," she continued, "I could stay here and eat my lunch while you tell me the truth."

He clenched his jaw and looked down. "What, so you can turn me in as soon as you leave?" Surprisingly, there wasn't any anger in his voice. Just weariness and defeat.

She shrugged. "Your chances are a lot better if you explain. Why are you here?"

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "My sister is insane. Next question."

"Are you just going to keep standing there? You're making me nervous."

With a sigh, Zuko glanced back at his uncle, but he pulled out the chair across from her and perched on the edge, ready to bolt out of his seat at any time. Okay, this really wasn't any better than his hovering. It should be impossible for a person to be that awkward.

"Happy now?" he asked.

Katara frowned. "Not really." She tore off a bit of the tart and popped it into her mouth. It tasted better than she'd expected. Actually, it was good. Really good. She tried not to let it show. "So—are you still looking for Aang?"

Zuko scrunched up his nose. "What's an Aang?"

She paused, mid-chew. "Seriously?"

"What? I've never heard of—" Realization washed over his face. "Oh. Is that—" He looked around and leaned forward to mouth the last few words, —the Avatar's name?

Katara flicked a few crumbs at him. "You have to be kidding."

"Hey!" He brushed the crumbs off of his apron, scowling. "Excuse me for having other things to worry about."

Rolling her eyes, Katara shook her head. "Yeah, well we had plenty to worry about too, and I still managed to learn your name." She took a sip of her tea. "Answer the question. Are you still hunting Aang or not?"

"I don't know." Zuko scratched at a stain on the tabletop. His good eyebrow crept downward, and his voice lowered. "I don't know if it even makes a difference anymore."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She crossed her arms. "It makes a difference to me if you're going to show up someday and try to kidnap my friend."

"No! I can't go home without the—without Aang, but I don't know if that would be enough anymore." He stared at the table. "My father sent my sister to bring me back, but I got the impression that she wasn't too concerned about keeping me in one piece for the trip. And she always does what my father expects of her, so—"

Katara almost shuddered at the memory of the fight back in that abandoned village. Azula was practically unstoppable. Maybe the fight would have gone differently if Katara's water supply hadn't been dangerously low, if they hadn't all been sleep-deprived, but she didn't savor the idea of meeting the princess again. "I'm glad you and your uncle are okay." Zuko looked up at her in surprise. "I mean—" she faltered. "He got hurt pretty badly, and I would have healed him. We never could have won that fight without the two of you. I would have helped if you'd let me."

His mouth hung open a fraction as he studied her, his golden eyes peering deep into hers, searching. For what, she wasn't certain. Katara felt her face heat and she hastily shoved a too-large piece of the tart into her mouth. She wasn't blushing. Zuko's lips parted a little wider—no. She wasn't looking at his mouth either. His awkwardness must just be contagious.

"Why are you here?" he asked after a pause. "You're travelling with—" He waved a hand, apparently unable to decide whether to say Aang or the Avatar. "Doesn't that basically put you in the Earth King's lap?"

"Gross." Katara wrinkled her nose.

"No, not like—" he sighed and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Aren't you staying in the palace or something?"

She shook her head. "A house in the Upper Ring. We've been trying to get a meeting with the Earth King, but they won't let us anywhere near the palace." She stopped herself. She was dangerously close to revealing Sokka's plans for the eclipse. She shouldn't be telling Zuko things like this, but it was just too easy to keep talking.

"So why are you in the Lower Ring? I'm sure the teashops are a lot nicer where you live."

Okay, now she was blushing. "We were playing a game."

It was Zuko's turn to gape. "A game? What kind of game is it?"

"Ditch Joo Dee. It was my brother's idea."

He nodded slowly, looking as confused as ever. "And Joo Dee is?"

"The creepy lady who follows us around to make sure we don't cause trouble." Katara ran her finger around the rim of her teacup. "We split up so she couldn't ruin the day for all of us."

Zuko nodded as if he understood. He probably did, Katara realized. He was royalty. The Fire Nation might be different than Ba Sing Se, but if anyone there had to deal with overbearing glorified babysitters like Joo Dee, it was probably the crown prince. But before he could respond, his stomach growled loudly and he flushed, crossing his arms over his stomach.

"Impressive," Katara said, smiling.

Zuko scowled. "Shut up." He turned his face away, but not before she caught him glancing at her plate. He stared deliberately out the window and she saw him swallow.

"When was the last time you ate?" She didn't really mean to say it aloud, but now that she was paying attention, she couldn't help but notice how lean his face had become.

"This morning," he snapped.

From the corner of her eye, Katara saw the old man shake his head, and she raised an eyebrow at Zuko.

"Fine. Last night. I overslept this morning." His scowl remained fixed on his face and he turned his attention to the stain on the table again.

Or you deliberately slept in because there wasn't enough food for breakfast. She and Sokka had done the same a few times on their trip across the Earth Kingdom. They were older than Aang and Toph—it was their responsibility to take care of the younger kids. Most of the time, that meant the two of them doing most of the work to set up camp, Sokka hunting and fishing for their meals, and Katara doing the cooking and the washing. Toph rarely contributed more than her own earth tent, and Aang tried to help, he really did, but he had a tendency to wander off and play with Momo midway through chores. But there had been a few times when there was only enough rice left to feed Aang and only enough meat for Toph—it was just easier if she and Sokka pretended to sleep through breakfast so the other two could help themselves to the leftovers.

She frowned down at her plate. "You know—I think I'd like to try another kind of tart." She heard Zuko let out an irritated sigh. "Do you have anything with mango or cherry?"

He ran a hand down the side of his face as he stood. "Yes," he grumbled.

Katara smiled and Zuko's uncle gave her a curious look as she carefully cut off the untouched half of her peach tart. She tried to rearrange her expression into something like neutrality before Zuko returned with the second plate. She wasn't sure if she succeeded or not, but Zuko didn't seem to notice.

"Will that be all?" His voice was tight again and he refused to meet her eyes.

"Not quite." She sliced the second pastry in half and divided it so that she had the mostly-eaten half of the peach tart and half of the cherry tart on one plate and an untouched half of each on the other.

Zuko's brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"

Katara slid the second plate across the table and gave a crooked smile. "I said I wanted to try another kind. I didn't say I could eat all of this on my own."

A closed-off look came over his face. "Don't."

"Don't what?" She took a bite.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Don't—act like we're friends." He shifted uncomfortably.

Katara looked up, studying him. There was that defeat in his eyes again, though he was clearly trying to hide it. She rested her elbows on the table. "Why not?" The words came out almost as a challenge.

Zuko frowned, but his uncle cleared his throat. Zuko glanced back at the old man, then took a deep breath and eased back into the seat across from her.

It was strange, and for a while, Zuko sat stiff on the edge of his chair, answering in monosyllables. But one sarcastic remark made Katara smile, and Zuko relaxed a little. Talking to him was easy. And comfortable. And natural. And it was weird, but Zuko listened to her talk, unsmiling and gaze steady, and that felt nice too. Even if he didn't smile, even if that guarded look didn't quite disappear from this face, his eyes were warm.

She found herself wondering if she should ask again—Are you still chasing Aang? Can I trust you not to hurt him? Because she wanted to trust Zuko. It would be easy. If he had really given up on the idea, maybe she could stop acting like they were friends. Maybe they could be friends.

He said something that made her laugh—When did Zuko develop a sense of humor?—and a small smile flashed across his face. It was fleeting, gone as quickly as it had appeared, but for the instant it was there, his eyes lit up and Katara's stomach fluttered. Okay, so he had a nice smile. But Katara wasn't blushing, and a little stomach flip didn't mean anything. It was just—surprise, probably. Zuko smiled so seldom that a little surprise was only natural.

There was a commotion outside and they both started, turning toward the window.

A woman's voice, shrill and piercing, rang through the street, and Katara groaned. "That's Joo Dee." She dropped her face into her hands so that her elbows thumped on the table. "Sokka's never going to let me hear the end of this. I lost the game."

Zuko peered out through the blinds a second longer. "No, you didn't."

Katara raised her head enough to see him smile. A real, proper smile this time. Her stomach went wild with butterflies, and Zuko grabbed her by the hand.

"Come on," he whispered, pulling her out of her seat.

Trotting to keep up with his long stride, Katara hissed, "What are we doing?"

He led her back behind the counter, past his uncle, who shot them an amused smile, and pulled a serving cart out from under the counter. "Hiding." He pointed at the open space where the cart used to be.

Katara gave him a skeptical look, but then Joo Dee's voice came nearer and there were footsteps just outside the door. Taking a deep breath, she ducked under the counter and pulled her knees to her chest. Zuko crouched to make sure she was hidden, and the front door opened. Before Zuko could stand back up, his uncle shoved him out of sight and pushed the serving cart in front of their hiding place.

"Good afternoon my dear lady, and welcome to the Pao Family Tea House."

The loud greeting masked both Zuko's grunt and Katara's surprised squeak as his face collided with her shoulder. Zuko jerked back as quickly as possible, his head thumping against the counter in his haste. He winced, and Katara pressed a finger to her lips.

Sorry, he mouthed, face flushing scarlet. Bracing his hands against the sides of the little compartment, he pushed himself off to the side.

It's okay, she mouthed in reply and squeezed farther into the corner to make room for him.

"What may I do for you on this lovely day?" The old man clattered around over them, noisier than necessary, sounding pleased with himself. "We have an exquisite selection of teas from all regions of the Earth Kingdom—" He went on, chattering about a rare oolong that was rumored to be a favorite of the great King Bumi of Omashu.

Katara tried to ignore the heat gathering in her cheeks while Zuko's face hovered only inches away from hers. The space under the counter was scarcely large enough for both of them, and she could feel the gentle warmth radiating off him as he tried to twist himself around to sit. When he finally succeeded, she let out a small breath of relief. Their shoulders were wedged uncomfortably tight, and their hands were nearly touching, but at least now she could look away and pretend that her heart wasn't racing, that his piercing golden gaze wasn't making her stomach do strange fluttery things.

"Excuse me," Joo Dee interrupted. "I am sure that your shop is the pride of Ba Sing Se, but I have no time for tea. Four of the Earth King's young guests have gone missing. I believe that one of them may have come into your shop."

"Oh dear." The old man made a thoughtful noise.

"I believe either Lady Toph Beifong or Master Katara of the Water Tribe was seen heading this way," Joo Dee pressed.

"Mmmm." The old man stopped his clattering. "May I ask what these young ladies look like?"

Katara tensed. He couldn't. It would be bad enough losing the game, but being caught hiding under a teashop counter with Zuko would be downright humiliating, to say nothing of the danger for Zuko. She didn't want to see him caught. It felt strange, but she cared. If Katara was caught, it would be embarrassing. She would have to face teasing and questions from Sokka and the others, but Zuko—he could be arrested. Or worse. She started to squirm forward as Joo Dee described her and Toph.

Zuko's hand landed on her arm and he shook his head. Wait, he mouthed.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen any young ladies wearing blue today," the old man said. "Business has been very slow."

"Perhaps they changed their clothes?" Joo Dee demanded. There was a pause, then Joo Dee added, "If business has been slow, what is this?"

Oops. They'd left their plates at the table. Zuko's eyes widened, and Katara pressed her hands over her mouth.

"The scoundrel!" There was an edge of amusement in the old man's voice despite his apparent effort to sound serious. "I apologize, my good lady. It seems a customer left without paying."

"I shall alert the patrol on your behalf."

"Oh, don't trouble yourself," the old man answered jovially. "I know the young man well. Rest assured, I will have a very stern conversation with the boy's uncle."