#Good on Toph for running away and I hope she kicks her dad directly in the balls | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cobraonthecob · 4 years

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A Character With Chronic Running Away Issues Paired with a Character With Abandonment Issues????

For those who have seen my reblogs with RWBY and A:TLA, you all know that I adore Bumbleby but despise Kataa/ng, even though both pairings have one character with chronic running away issues and the other has abandonment issues.

GET READY FOR THE META NO ONE ASKED FOR

So why do I support one and not the other? (warning: I am not friendly to Kat@ang here)

Well...it’s because they’re in way different ballparks. Kataan/g happens when both are still 12/13 and 14/15, while Blake and Yang are about 19 by Volume 7. So for starters, there’s a massive maturity gap that almost shoots this comparison in the face right here and now. But wait! There’s more to this!

which is why i don’t like Ka/tara and A@ng getting together at such a young age, but then again, I don’t like the pairing at all, but we can talk about that another time

Now that we’ve addressed the maturity gap, let’s get into it!

For starters, Blake and Yang’s relationship started as good friends and then progressed into love interests and possibly girlfriends by the time of S7 (they haven’t quite jumped out with “we’re dating” but I personally think they’re taking it slow lol, ask me for my thoughts about it), so they kind of have the advantage of time on their side while Kata/ra and A@ng have only three seasons of development.

That being said, Kata@ng had 3 seasons, which is more than enough time to get both sides of their relationship but nooooo. We only see Aa/ng’s side of the romance, and Kat@ra for the most part acts like a mom, is uninterested, or straight up tries to let him down gently, and after the disastrous Ember Island Players kiss, which happens to be their last one-on-one interaction before the epilogue I want to pretend doesn’t exist, Katara and Aang’s friendship plumments badly. Heck, their last interaction ever ends badly, with the entire Gaang arguing with A@ng about how to end the war!

what I’m saying is that Kat@ra and Aa/ng had a strained friendship before they did that cursed kiss while Blake and Yang’s friendship continued to build and then blossom into romance

“But Nightfalcon, what about the abandonment issues?!”

I’m getting there, be patient!

Now for the actual getting together - how do we make these two characters fit together?

By making both characters recognize their faults.

Blake herself knows she’s in the wrong, she addresses her chronic running away issues, starting in Volume 2, in Mountain Glenn, where she says it herself: “But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!” (taken directly from the RWBY Wiki). She feels guilt for running away in Volume 3 after the Fall of Beacon, but she internalizes this anger, which pops out at bad times, and she takes her guilt, buries it in anger, and isolates herself. After Sun is injured, Blake believes she’s the one at fault, and when she explodes at him and tells him why she isolates herself, Sun tells her that she’s in the wrong for isolating herself, but then tells her that he would always be there to protect her and be there for her, and that Yang would too (OK I’ve got a whole meta about Sun and Yang and Blake and why they’re amazing relationships but that’s a whole ‘nother meta).

By having Chronic Running Away (CRA bc that’s getting to be a mouthful) character openly address their faults (and others calling them out on it), you’re one step closer to making a ship sail much more smoothly.

Then there’s Yang.

In Alone Together, Yang talks to Weiss that she’s not upset solely at Blake, she’s upset that Blake didn’t feel safe enough to trust them to stay by them, and that they (whether if Yang was referring to just herself and Blake or herself, Ruby, and Blake [as Weiss was taken to Atlas]) could’ve been there for each other. She gets to address her anger and explain why she feels that way, and Weiss lends a listening ear and some advice for her.

Eventually, the two are brought back into the same space, and spend the next few volumes patching up their relationship, or at least, the best they can, up until the fight with Adam, which puts everything on the table, and in the aftermath, Blake promises Yang she wouldn’t leave her and Yang understands and assures her that she already trusts/knows that Blake wouldn’t leave her.

TL;DR: Blake recognizes that her CRA issues are bad, and tries to make amends, Yang gets to vent her issues with Blake’s CRA issues and gets emotional support from Weiss and Ruby. Blake promises not to run, and Yang tells her that she’s not worried about Blake running away because she knows that Blake knows that team RWBY will always be there for her and that there’s a support system in place for Blake that she probably won’t feel the need to run. (seriously if you haven’t watched this show already, please do. It’s really great)

A:TLA, as wonderful as this show is, doesn’t do that for Kat@ra and A/ang.

From memory, The Storm is the episode that really touched on Aan/g’s flightiness, but Katara coddles him in that one, trying to tell him “it’s not your fault, if you hadn’t run, you might’ve died as well” which can be taken either way (IMO she’s right and wrong at the same time. Yes, Aa/ng might’ve died, but also, he needs a solid kick in the pants sometimes, I’ll talk about it later)

The next time his flightiness rears its ugly head, it’s in The Desert. After Appa is stolen, Aan/g runs off to go look for Appa, and Katara is left with Toph, Sokka, and Momo to try and get out of the desert on foot. The entire day turns into a trainwreck, as Toph has extreme guilt for failing to keep the sandbenders from taking Appa (it isn’t her fault but that’s another meta) and Sokka (and Momo) drink cactus juice and is as a result, mentally incapacitated. With the dire mission of getting the news of the eclipse to Ba Sing Se, Katara’s the only one clear-headed enough to lead the way through the desert. Once A/ang does come back, he’s still upset from his inability to find Appa, and lashes out at the others for not caring to look for Appa (even though he’s far away and that no one has a means of transportation to find Appa). Tensions are already high in the group - with dwindling water supply, they have to make it out of the desert fast, but the rest of the team is losing hope - Toph because she feels like a failure and Sokka shaking off the effects of the cactus juice, and Katara looks so tired. When Aa/ng snaps at her, she doesn’t snap back, only quietly telling A/ang that she’s trying to keep this group together enough for them to survive. A/ang running away this episode is not addressed in favor of the team getting out of the desert alive.

Finally, in the finale four-parter, Aan/g runs away again. This time she can only hope that he’ll come back and do his job, but she’s got other stuff to worry about, like the upcoming fight with Azula.

Afterwards...

they don’t talk about it.

YEAH YOU READ THAT RIGHT. They don’t talk about it. They don’t address the running away issues, they don’t address when A@ng kissed her without her consent twice, they just hug on a balcony and then kiss symbolizing a marriage, because I definitely signed up for East Asian Jesus making out with his mom! Definitely! They don’t talk, Katara becomes a silent character and it gets even worse in LoK ~

*Nightfalcon proceeds to take a few minutes to scream*

And of course, no one else really calls out Aa/ng, except for Toph in Bitter Work, but that was more on his fighting/bending style and not on him in general.

The only other really memorable time where Katara’s abandonment issues are brought up is when she’s ranting at her dad in The Awakening, where she takes issue with both him and A/ang leaving her, and for the most part, Hakoda does give her the support she needs.

Heck, in the finale arc, Zuko tells her that it’s probably for the best that Aang is given some time alone to run to his room and meditate. probably because the last time Katara and A/ang were alone, A@ng kissed her without her consent and I’m going into full speculation territory but what if Zuko knows and doesn’t want that to happen again?

So Katara is repeatedly told by the narrative that Aa/ng is the type to run away when things get tough, and that she should let him.

I see both sides of the issue, and I get it, but when it comes to pairing people off in a relationship, well, they shouldn’t have gotten together.

Anyways, Aan/g is also twelve and has proven numerous times to be unable to support Katara emotionally, and has kissed her without her consent twice, while Katara is 14 going on 28 because of the war, losing her mom and stepping up as the mother figure for her entire family, and later because Aang isn’t allowed to grow up at all, along with other symbolism that shoots Kataa/ng in the foot.

TL;DR: Katara and A/ang never really talk about A@ng’s running away issues, and no one comes up to support Katara (they do validate her but it’s not a whole support system she can fall back on fully), and Aa/ng is way too immature for a full on relationship at the time of the show’s end.

So what was the point of this rambly mess? It’s to show how to write a relationship where one character has a tendency to run away while the other one has abandonment issues. I like Bumbleby because Blake acknowledges that it’s a flaw of hers and she actively works to toning it down and Yang has a whole support system and both get to talk about it and aaaahhhhh the communication between them, while you have Katara and A@ng never addressing the issue because Katara’s so gosh darn afraid of stepping on his feelings (see: The Waterbending Scroll) and no one fully provides support for her (Hakoda keeps getting separated from the Gaang and she and Zuko became friends at the end of TSR, and only had an episode between that one and the finale arc so it left a lot unexplored of their friendship) and Aan/g is therefore taught that it’s a-OK to invalidate the feelings of the person you like because you’ll get them in the end!

#nightfalcon posts #nightfalcon rants #atla #a:tla #anti kataang #anti aang #aang salt #sort of #just covering my bases #atla salt #a:tla salt #rwby #bumbleby #bumblebee #blake #yang #katara #long post

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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Kissing Dead Pearls (Part 11)

The waves break around her with impressive size. Azula can only attribute it to the after effects of the turbulent weather. She tastes salt and seaspray as her board cuts across the underbelly of the wave. From the right vantage she can see the sun through crystal clear waters, the way it glints and sparkles throwing prismic reflections upon her skin. From the wrong vantage point, it beams directly into her eyes and she has to squint against it or hold her hand at her brows, nearly throwing her balance.

She carves up and down the wave, it is exhilarating and she wonders why she has neglected part taking for so long. It provides the thrill that she craves, the sensation of falling that spikes her adrenaline.

Azula licks her lips, tasting the salt upon them. She is in the mood for something flashy, something that she hasn’t done in ages. It is a tricky feat, something she had just barely managed to pull off before entering a self-imposed hiatus. Evidently, she isn’t sure that she will be able to pull it off at all.

She climbs to the very top of the wave and gives her board a very abrupt snap. The spray she kicks up rises in an incredible arc. Each little drop catches in the sun and glimmers around her likes sparks thrown from a bonfire.

It is spectacular until she loses her footing. She supposes that she has done better than she had in the past, when she hadn’t even been able to produce the spray. Her body smacks the waves with a stinging force and they take her under. She is thankful that the strap on her ankle keeps her board tethered to her as she fights the waves. She would hate to lose it, it was a gift from Sokka. Sokka who had noted her fondness of the color blue and her enjoyment of watching storms over the ocean and bought her a sleek midnight blue board with neon blue lines of lightning painted all over it. Azula resurfaces and, panting heavily, carries the board back to the shore.

Seaweed clings to her shoulder and dangles from the board. It falls to the sand with a wet pop when her footsteps cause the board to shudder. She drops to the sand with a huff and crosses her legs with one fluid motion. She rests her elbow upon the bend of her leg and her chin in her palm. Her expression fixed into a rather full pout.

She has lost her touch. It was a nearly perfect execution. But nearly perfect won’t cut it come the competition. A fall like that would have cost her critical points.

Jet’s pats her shoulder, “I’ll give that trick a solid ten and your landing an eleven for entertainment.”

She watches Chan paddle towards the next wave.

“It was a dreadful landing.” Azula grumbles.

He shrugs. “I mean it’s been months since you’ve surfed. Welcome back by the way.”

“So what, I should be able to…”

“Retain a skill you just finished learning to perform?”

Azula shrugs.

“At least give yourself a few tries.” Ruon-Jian suggests. “Snaps are a pain in the ass!”

She watches Chan perform a seamless bottom turn and then a kickflip. He lands it well and the wave drops away. “You’re up.” He motions to Jet. Jet gives her a two finger salute before running at the new wave.

“I take it that you’re doing better?” Chan asks.

“Better.” She tries the word on her tongue. “Yes, quite. Katara and her family have been good to Zuzu and I.” She has been called a liar before, Zuko calls her a liar quite often. She can’t entirely disagree, not when she is lying to herself.

“Yeah, where’s he at anyways? Ruon misses his favorite loser boy.”

“Dude, shut up!” He scoffs. Nothing peeves him more than having his most absurd, middle school insults brought up.

“On a date with Katara.” Azula replies, her stomach fluttering with envy and loss. She should be on a date of her own, she would be. She swallows, “they’re at the ice cream parlor.”

She is not okay, and to insist that she is, is a larger lie than she has ever told. Jet returns and Ruon retreats, happy for an excuse to run from remarks that make him blush.

“Is your dad still attending AA?”

Azula nods. “Regularly.” She leaves out that he has snuck a glass or two already. She supposes that it is much better than his binge drinking. Still it frustrates her and neither she nor Zuko have the courage or stupidity to get between the man and his glasses.

“You gonna give the snap another go?” Ruon asks.

Again, Azula nods. She picks up her surfboard and returns to the water. This wave is some larger than the first. She readies herself to go for another snap when a realization dawns upon her. She has been presented with a rare opportunity, she rides upon a perfect wave. She could go for a snap, yes. But how often is the chance for a tube ride bestowed upon a person?

Azula takes a deep breath and finds herself some steady footing. She crouches down and glides along as the wave folds over. A grin breaks over her face--she thinks that this one may very well be genuine--as she rides through a perfect tunnel of water. It is a thrilling feeling of elation that she hasn’t felt in ages. If for only a very long minute, it is just she and that wave. That perfect crashing wave. There is nothing like it. Two walls of water to the sides of her with a liquid ceiling and floor. The wave is immaculately and unapologetically aquamarine in color and she could swear, God, she could swear that she saw several tiny minnows swimming their way through just riding that flawless wave with her.

She rides the wave until it flattens with a somewhat noisy crash. Without the liquid roar of the wave she can hear them whooping and hollering something grand from the shoreline. She guides the surfboard to a halt and then allows it to pop out from under her feet. She catches it and, overcome by jubilation and a sense of accomplishment, she throws her arms around Jet.

Were TyLee involved she very well may have been jumping up and down. Instead, he squeezes her tighter as she has a true laugh for the first time since Sokka had gone. “Nice, dude.” Ruon remarks. It is accented by a few final claps from Chan.

Her excitement waynes and her smile begins to fade when it dawns upon her that her arms should be around Sokka. That he should have been there to witness such a monumental moment in her not yet professional surfing career. She suddenly feels ashamed. Ashamed for smiling and having fun while he is still out there, lost and probably deprived of hope. She should be sad right now. She should be mourning.

She pulls out of the hug.

“Hey, I’m glad you finally hung out with us again.” Chan notes as he bats his face with a towel.

She wraps her own around her waist and tosses her hair over her shoulders. “Yes, it was...nice to…” she trails off. “Get a sense of normalcy back.”

“You gonna swing by again?” He offers.

“We’ll be riding waves from noon to three, two days from now.” Ruon adds.

Azula nods. “I’ll try to make it, so long as nothing comes up.” Evidently that day will be a busy one. She, Zuko, and Katara are due to go roller skating with Toph and Aang around sunset.

She supposes that she should be thankful for the abundance of distractions. Which might be exactly what made it so easy to accept another invitation. Between that and the creeping knowledge that she could end up alone… Alone while Zuko has Katara, Aang has Toph, Mai has TyLee, Chan and Ruon have each other, and Suki has a shy boy named Teo.

She watches Chan and Ruon make their way down the beach. “We’ll be seein’ ya then.” Ruon calls back. Chan slings his arm over his shoulder.

“Yes.” Azula agrees. “Two days from now.” With their departure she feels her energy fleeing as well. It is so sudden as though all of her euphoria has turned to sorrow. She finds herself a picnic bench and sits upon the table, elbows resting on her knees, head in her hands.

The sun blazes as it begins its descent.

“You good?” Jet asks.

She shrugs quietly. “I’ll be fine.” Another blatant lie.

They sit in silence for a while she hears the crinkle of a wrapper as Jet awkwardly fumbles with a candy bar. “Want a bite.”

“No thanks.”

More silence. More awkward fumbling.

“Hey, so, I was thinking…” He trails off.

“Yeah?”

“I hope it’s not too soon, but I was wondering if you might like to catch a movie or something? Or have dinner somewhere?”

Azula bites the inside of her lip. She has never broken it off with Sokka. She has never wanted to. And yet there is that nagging in her head, that inkling that he won’t be coming home. And if she waits she might be waiting forever.

She thinks of Zuko’s soft smile and those dumb sloppy kisses he gives Katara. She thinks about the closeness and the laughter. About what that had been like when she’d got to feel it for herself. When she would spend the night at Sokka’s and he would fight with her for the blankets and the popcorn bowl during movie nights. There is such an emptiness without it. Without those feelings and those moments. She stares intensely at her hands, fighting to keep her emotions in check. “Yes Jet, that would be nice.”

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Sokka #Sokkla #Zuko #Jet #Chan #Ruon-Jian #Fanfiction

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