#also i’ve seen ‘bad girl azula’ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thegaybluejay · 17 days

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Just for fun, here are my rapid fire rambling thoughts on the ATLA ships and platonic dynamics hehe (please don’t go full ship wars tho - these are just my opinions as a chill multishipper!)

My Favorite Ships:

• Zukka - My current brainrot and main ship!! I know they aren’t canon but I really love them and their potential okay😭I just feel like their personalities would work so well! Sokka would call Zuko on his shit and Zuko would be good at grounding Sokka when he needs it. Plus I have seen some absolutely breathtaking AUs with this ship! And fire-and-ice vibes except gay! Them <3

• Kataang - Cutiessss!! I love them! They may not be the ship I think about most often, but when I do think about them, they’re adorable! Aang is such a “my wife” guy and Katara absolutely adores him back! Also the last airbender x last southern waterbender dynamic goes HARD! I like that these two are canon!

• Yuetara - Listen I know they barely interacted but THEY’VE ACTUALLY GROWN ON ME SO MUCH LATELY AND I VERY HIGH KEY SHIP THEM! Something about like, Katara thinking about Yue when she bends is so😭Their story would be heartbreaking in the best way!! Sapphic noncanon blorbos <3

• Mailee - These two are SO cute and have so much potential rahhh!! Again, love some noncanon sapphics <3

• Batkoda - Super SUPER cute and silly and fun! The dads fr <3 Bato is either Katara and Sokka’s adopted uncle or their stepdad and I love it for them hehe! This usually pairs well with a “Hakoda adopts Zuko” AU lmao!

Other Canon/Relatively Popular Ships:

• Zutara - A pretty good ship! I see the potential and tbh it’s very very fun to think about sometimes!!! However, some of y’all toxic Zutara stans need to leave my boy Aang alone lmao. Those who are chill tho, I rock with y’all!! Overall, I’m not opposed if it’s done well and I do occasionally seek out Zutara content! I personally do prefer seeing/writing them as found siblings tho, especially with the Azula and Katara parallels!!

• Sukka - Canon cuties!! I really like them! Suki my BELOVED <3 She’s so underrated!

• Yukka - Also canon cuties! They make me sad tho ahhhhh😭😭😭

• Maiko - Also ALSO canon cuties!! They have an interesting dynamic that I can really appreciate! And gotta love Mai <3

• Jinko - Jin my beloved! These two had a super cute dynamic during the one episode they had together lmaoooo, tho I don’t think about this ship too too often.

• Tokka - I don’t mind it if it’s them getting together as adults! But tbh I personally don’t prefer shipping them as teens and I think Toph’s crush was just a typical young girl crush on someone slightly older lol. Definitely not horrible and most Tokka shippers are relatively chill! I like to think Sokka sees Toph as a little sister tho.

Now For Some Of The Crackship-y/Less Popular Ships (based on ships I’ve actually seen):

• Zukki (Zuko/Sokka/Suki) - Power throuple fr and I love some polyamory!! While I mostly lean plain Zukka, this is extremely fun to think about and would be a great dynamic!

• Mai/Ty Lee/Suki - Saw this in a Zukka fic once and it was adorableeeeee! I may not have plans to actively write this or anything, but it’s cute! Another power throuple!

• Jetko - I don’t think they would be compatible long term, but by god they are very very fun to think about in a “Jet flirts with Zuko and Zuko is completely oblivious and they share one kiss before everything goes to shit” way lmao!

• Taang - I can respect it!! I will always love them as chaos siblings personally, but it’s a totally valid and chill ship!

• Katoph - Not a bad ship at all! I’ve only come across like one post tho lmao. Also I do think I heavily prefer them as found sisters, but that’s just me personally! Again, totally a valid and chill ship!

• Azutara - I’m very neutral on this lmao. I don’t despise it at all and it could be pretty interesting?? But tbh really not something I plan to seek out.

• Azulaang - I mean?? I’m also pretty neutral on this one. Aang would be kind to her if she was trying to get help but…idk lmao.

• Tyzula - I see the potential, but I personally think Mai and Ty Lee had a healthier and more interesting and more realistic dynamic. Just my preference tho!

(I think I just want Azula to be in therapy before I reallyyyyy ship her lmao, but NOT THE KIND OF “THERAPY” SHE WAS GIVEN IN THE COMICS)

• Zukaang - I don’t love this as a ship honestly. The canon age gap as teens is sketchy for my personal taste, tho I’ve seen people ship them in “Aang was 16 when he got frozen” AUs and that’s…better and I can get behind it a little! It would be interesting! But I think Roku being Zuko’s great-grandpa just still throws me off of this ship. I don’t have any beef with the shippers tho! I’m very “live and let live” and I have seen so much worse lol.

Can’t Forget My Fav Platonic Dynamics!

• Sokka and Aang - Two found brothers who share one idiot braincell when they interact LMAO! Love them always <3

• Sokka and Katara - The siblings ever!!

• Zuko and Aang - Enemies to found brothers!! Canon besties! I love their friendship and their parallels SO MUCH!!

• Toph and Katara - Absolutely ADORABLE as found sisters!!!! Love them!

• Zuko and Katara - I really like their development in a platonic sense and I think they’re very very fun and lovely found siblings by the end!!!! Zuko is 100% the brother that just “yeah my sister can and will whoop your ass” LMAO!

• Zuko and Toph - Also very found siblings in my head!! Only have a handful of solo interactions in canon but I DON’T CARE! I WILL FOUND FAMILY THEM ANYWAY! I’m a “Toph seeks out Zuko for sibling hugs/cuddles when she’s cold because he’s basically a space heater” truther.

• Uncle Iroh and the Gaang - Zuko needs to learn to share because that is ALL OF THEIR Uncle!!!

• Hakoda and Zuko - I thrive in this section of the fandom!! They have exactly one (1) frame together in canon, but I ADORE Dadkoda adopting Zuko! Something about it is just so wholesome and cute!!! My very very fav ATLA fics are this trope!!#LetHakodaBitchSlapOzaiAndAdoptZuko2024

• Uncle Iroh and Zuko - God they make me so ALSNDKSNXNCNSNSNXNX, y’know?

• The Gaang as a whole - Obvious I know, but I really do love them😭They all bonded sm and I adore their little family!! I eat up fanart of the Gaang cuddling like CANDY omg. And yes Suki is included in the Gaang because WHY WOULDN’T SHE BE!

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TedTalk. If you made it to the end, you get a big platonic kiss on the forehead MWAH!

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zukka #yuetara #mailee #kataang #found family #fanfiction #the gaang #multishipper

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waterfire1848 · 2 months

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How’s it going @waterfire1848 ?

I saw your earlier post about Lin feeling like Toph didn’t love her like Suyin. And it got me thinking, who else didn’t think their mom loved as much as their sibling? Azula.

So how do you think a scenario, where Lin runs away from home and stumbles (perhaps quite literally) into Azula. Whom is living in secret somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. Azula then reluctantly at first (then genuinely) raises Lin would play out?

Hey @745voiceofthepeople ! Great to see you again! I'm doing good! You?

Ohhhhhh. Interesting.

I’ll start by saying that I don’t think Lin would say who her mom is. She knows by now that that either means trouble or people following her, begging her to teach them metalbending. Neither of which she wants. So when she does slam into Azula, she just says she’s a kid running from home.

Azula can’t help but feel some sympathy when she hears the girl talk about how her mom doesn’t love her and only cares about her sister so she agrees to let Lin stay as long as she helps out and doesn’t draw attention to her.

Lin quickly grows to love Azula. I don’t know if this Lin would be a kid/teen who ran from home or if she’s running away right after the Suyin incident but either way she loves Azula. She hasn’t put two and two together, but she does know Azula has a past she’s not talking about. Whenever the two talk about family, Azula uses the same tricks she does to keep her family secret.

One day, Toph shows up (I assume she’d come if Lin was a kid/teen but I don’t know about if she’d come after the Suyin incident when Lin looks to be in her 20s) and Azula and Lin find out who the other is. Lin is confused because on the one hand, this is not the Azula she’s heard stories about. The Azula from her mom’s stories are terrifying and made Suyin wet the bed. This Azula is kind and took Lin in. On the other hand, Lin also got stories from the other Gaang parents about Azula (meaning there might be some truth to their stories) so she becomes a little scared which saddens Azula because she doesn’t want to see this girl that she’s grown to really care for get scared of her.

Azula can’t stay in her Earth Kingdom home and is forced to flee before Zuko finds her. Lin returns to Republic City but gets a letter a few days later from Azula giving her her address and an invitation to come with.

Lin accepting or not is up to you.

Incorrect quote for this

[ Lin is running from bandits and slams into Azula. ]

Bandit: Hand the kid over!

Azula: And why would I do that?

Bandit: We have you surrounded, old woman. Don’t make this hard on yourself. We just want her and then we’ll leave.

[ Azula looks at Lin. ]

Lin:

Azula: *Groaning* I was really hoping to get through a day without fighting.

[ Shoots lightning and fire at the bandits to scare them off. ]

Lin: You’re a lightning bender! That was amazing! I’ve never seen-

Azula: Explain. Now.

Lin: MymomhatesmeandIranaway,butIranoutofmoneyandstolefromthosebandits!

Azula: Slower.

Lin: My mom hates me and I ran away, but I ran out of money and stole from those bandits. They saw me and chased me and that’s how I ended up here.

Azula: Go home, kid.

Lin: Wha-No.

Azula: No?

Lin: No. I won’t bother you anymore but I can’t go home.

Azula: Because you mom hates you?

Lin: Yeah. I’m just some kid she’s forced to take care of because putting me up for adoption would look bad. My sister is her real kid.

Azula: *Sigh* You’re out of food?

[ Lin nods. ]

Azula: Come with me. I’ll get you something to eat and some water.

#ask #azula #lin beifong #toph beifong #tlok #avatar the last airbender

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745voiceofthepeople · 5 months

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Hello @745voiceofthepeople !! How’s it going?

Got an ask for you this time.

A reversal AU where Katara is the princess of the Water Tribe and Azula is a peasant from the Fire Nation. The Water Tribe isn’t the bad guys. There was never any war in this AU.

Azula and her family journey to the South Pole when the FN goes there for a diplomatic meeting. Azula is one of the servers at the feast and Katara can’t stop staring at her because she really thinks Azula is gorgeous. After the feast, Katara seeks Azula out and starts talking with her.

It’s slow, but they do bond a great deal while Azula is there. Whenever Azula is done with her chores and Katara is done with Princess lessons, they met up and hide away. Azula is worried about how people will react if they find out she’s seeing a princess and, while she never says it outright, Katara is also a little worried about how people will react if they find out she likes a peasant from the FN so they keep everything under wraps. The only people who know are Sokka and Zuko.

When Azula has to go back to the FN, Katara tries to find every reason to visit. Eventually, her parents let her and Sokka go to the FN and Katara tries to find Azula again. No one in the FN knows Katara is a princess so when she takes off the expensive furs and crown, she looks like a regular Water Tribe girl and two can be seen in public together. Now Katara gets to spend some time in Azula’s world.

That’s all I got for now. What do you think?

I’m doing well @waterfire1848 , thank you.

This scenario is really interesting! I’ve never really though about the reversal of royal positions for Azutara before, so this is pretty cool.

In a no war Au, I can see this happening sort of like the following (maybe)

Its like you present, a peasant Azula can at first charm a (princess) Katara with her looks and then her personality as the two get to know each other.

I can picture a scene where there is some sort of international dispute being discussed between the SWT royal family (by Hakoda or his father) and the diplomats of the FN. And it is in the midst of this discussion when the FN diplomats call for wine bearers to come and bring in more drink.

This is when Azula comes in and stars pouring wine in everyone’s ones cups. Meanwhile Katara is having a discussion with an FN noble about fishing rights and Maritime boundaries between the South Pole and the Fire archipelago. While Katara is conversing she see’s her glass being filled up (with wine) and turns to look at the servant doing so. Only to stop dead in her grace as she sees the most beautiful women on the planet pouring the wine.

Katara openly gapes at Azula and she trails off in the middle of conversation. Sokka (who would be sitting to her right) has to stomp on her foot to get Katara to pay attention to the diplomat.

After everyone retired for the night, Katara would sneak out of her room (wearing what she believes is a “good disguise”) and try to get into the guest quarters. That held the FN diplomats and their retainers.

She’d find Azula randomly, and the two would have an enjoyable conversation. Talking about everything and anything. Life as a princess, as a servant, Waterbending, Firebending, politics, etc. And for the rest of the diplomatic mission, the two would have secret rendezvous at night. They quickly becomes good friends. Even showing each other their bending ability. Katara being amazing at Waterbending is expected. What Katara would not expect is for Azula to be powerful at firebending. Yet the peasant girl was. With Blue flames and the raw power to match even a princess of the Southern Water Tribe.

So for the next fortnight, Azula and Katara’s nights are spent talking, (sneakily) flirting, laughing, and sparing (discreetly so as to arose the suspicion of anyone else).

These rendezvous would continue until one night, Katara overwhelmed by desire, and falling in love with the beautiful Fire peasant, gives into her courage and kisses Azula.

From there, their secret rendezvous becomes more romantic. But eventually reality sets in and they have to “end” the affair. Even though neither of them really wish to do so. Katara is greatly worried about her parents and the rest of the Water tribes reactions to finding out she their prodigal princess has fallen for a peasant dorm the Fire Nation. Another girl at that!

Later when Azula goes back to the Fire Nation Katara becomes greatly depressed. Her love for the Fire girl is all consuming. So much so that he even begins to trump the bonds of duty. Eventually, Sokka notices Katara downtrodden state and (correctly) assumes that that is has to do with the beautiful servant girl from the Fire Nation that Katara drools over.

Sokka eventually goes to Hakoda (the high chief the United Water Tribes) and convinces him that he and Katara need to experience the Fire Nation for themselves. So as to better understand their newfound allies and financial partners.

Hakoda agrees, and Sokka goes to tell his sister the big news. Who is of course ecstatic.

Once the Water siblings get capital city, they check into the palace and greet the FN royal family. After this greeting, Katara goes into their library and reads their book of records. Once she finds the info she’s looking for (Azula adress, sir name, typical occupation, and other personal info) Katara puts the book back into its resting place.

Katara then flees the FN palace. Evading both the FN royal guard and the Water Tribe guards is a laughably easy affair. Had Katara not been so cornermen’s with finding Azula, she might have been concerned. As it was her mind was solely focused on the Fire Nation breaty. She had even forgotten to warn Sokka. She decided to leave her crown and other royal effects behind. With the exception of a coin purse.

Katara commanders a dingy in the docs. She paid for it though! And traveled via bait and Waterbending to Hawk-crab island (name I just came up with). Which was a small island in the southern archipelago, where Azula and her family lived. The trip itself took nearly two days. Katara spent the time alternatively thinking about Azula, how angry her parents would be, how she forgot to tell Sokka the good news, and damning her impulsiveness and forgetting to pack food. Fortunately, Katara being a royal Water bender can de-salivate the ocean water and make it potable.

Eventually, Katara arrives at the small port on the island. Anticipation and momentary panic erupting in her very bones. Still she steels herself and goes looking for her beau.

Walking through the port…town was an odd affair for Katara. She was used to be stared and gawked at all her life. Being a princess of the Water Tribes and all. Here? After Katara had gotten rid of anything signifying she was royalty? No one gave two cares about her. Sure, people would still occasionally stop and stair for a second. Because I she was WT on an FN island. And II she was great beauty in her own right. Still, now one belived her to be a princess. Such a realization was both dreadful and exhilarating for Katara.

She finally comes to a small shop in the middle of the port town. Katara had been directed to this shop by a kind women, after she inquired about Azula’s whereabouts. She entered into the small shop. It was duels designed. One area for black smithery and the other for glassblowing. And their Katara see saw her. The women of her dreams and and waking thoughts. Azula.

Azula looked up and saw Katara, her jaw dropped to the floor. She dropped the the glass she was working on and it shattered at the floor. Neither Azula nor Katara payed attention to that though.

Azula rushed to Katara arms and the two spun around. Laughing and crying tears of joy. Katara brought their lips together. Finally she was home.

For the next few month, everything was perfect. While it lasted. Katara got to know Azula and her family. Her father Ozai (a blacksmith), her mother Ursa (a tailor), and her brother Zuko (an apprentice-blacksmith). Katara didn’t believe that life as a peasant could be so fulfilling. To be sure, it could be exceedingly frustrating. And it took a long while to adjust from being a princess to peasant. But nothing could be the simple of joy of returning to the arms her girlfriend future wife(?) after an honest days work. Katara fished off her dingy that she brought over from capital city. Zuko would often tease Azula about being a trophy fishwife to a WT princess.

Katara and Azula are able to be together incognito. Katara is able to enjoy the simple life in the Fire Nation. Just her, her fishing boat, and the her pretty Firebending girlfriend.

Until of course, the Water tribe arrives. You see the guards panicked when the princess Katara disappeared with out a word. They had assumed she may have been kidnapped. And so the Hausa quickly rushed to inform the Chief Hakoda just what was going on.

Sokka assumed that Katara had found where her Fire Nation lover was and gone after her. So he was not overly worried. Especially, when he found (and later hid) Katara’s royal effects. Sokka would keep up a girl of ignorance to confirm the guards and the Fire Nation nobility at the FN palace. Sokka would do a good job of it too. Until Hakoda showed up in the Fire Nation personally.

Under his fathers intense scrutiny, Sokka lasted maybe V or VI minutes. Then he blabbed. Both about Katara’s love for a Fire Nation peasant (Azula) and her intentions to find her.

Hakoda and Sokka subsequently travel to Hawk-Crab island to find Katara. They find her to the Fire Family home. Hakoda demands that Katara abandon this peasant foolishness and return to the South Pole. Katara tells him of her feelings for Azula, but Hakoda replies that it is irreverent next to her duty. He offers a choice to Katara stay with the peasant and become one yourself, or return to the South Pole and remain a princess of the Water Tribes and a member of their family. While Hakoda does not like separating Katara from her love, he feels it is something me must do to maintain order in the tribes.

It is at this point, that Azula interrupts Hakoda and request permission for Katara hand. Right to the chiefs face. Impressed by the peasant girls audaciousness, Hakoda decides to give task reminiscent of say Beren and Luthien of the Silmilrilion. If Azula retrieved the pearl of spirit Sharks cove. A jewel of myth and legend, important to the Water Tribes culturally and materially. Then he allow Azula to marry his daughter, and even for Katara to retain her title and place in succession.

It was an near-impossible task that may mean Azula’s death. But she accepted it gladly. She traveled to the hive and retrieved the pearl. Overcoming all obstacles. Though only because of the aid of Katara (who did so secretly).

Azula presents the pearl to Hakoda and true to his word, grants permission for Azula and Katara to marry. Which they do gladly. Several years down the line.

Eventually, the two will bare a child (spirt shenanigans) whom will inherit the chieftenship of the Water Tribes.

Anyway, that’s one way it might go. Thanks for the awesome scenario @waterfire1848 !!!

#azutara #ask #Princess Katara #peasant Azula

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comradekatara · 10 months

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#their relationship does make sense i just dont get why they would get back together 😭

I know comics are dubiously canon at best, but there is a little side comic set in Ba Sing Se just after Azula takes over where she gets pissed Zuko is moping about Zuko things (Iroh and his guilty conscience). Her solution to distract him from himself after trying a couple other tactics is to push him and Mai into getting (back?) together. It's consistent with the way we see Azula metaphorically orchestrate shoving them at each other in the garden fountain during the flashback in Zuko Alone.

There's definitely a sad internal logic to this that I've seen play out more than once IRL where deeply closeted girls from very traditional (read: American conservative, quite often Mormon in my personal experience) families will push their crushes at any of their eligible male siblings because then, "we get to be sisters for real and we'll have each other forever!"

yeah, I mean, whether or not you subscribe to that comic (I’ve read that comic, it’s fine, I like seeing azula and ty lee scheme, if anything) I definitely think we’re supposed to believe that azula orchestrated their relationship so that she could control them. of course, she also immediately hates seeing them together and comes to regret that decision very deeply at the boiling rock. azula wants them together because she thinks it will cheer zuko up and give him further legitimacy in the court. mai is from a good family, so it’s a beneficial match. but when I said “I don’t get why they would get back together” I obviously meant in the finale, once azula’s influence is no longer a factor, zuko has legitimacy in the court (obviously), and mai has enough agency to know better. going back to her boyf(ag)riend who treated her like shit is a bad move, mai!!! i love you girl but STAND!!!!!! UP!!!!!

#lizardlicks #asks #mai&zuko #azula #mai #i also don’t rly think that’s closeted lesbian behavior I think lots of girls wanna be sisters forever w their besties #then again I’m a lesbian so what do I know #emily dickinson and susan gilbert (dickinson) rly mastered that strategy lmao

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thespleenman · 10 months

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the absolute insane misinterpretation of azula by the entirety of tumblr will actually kill me. anyway, i’ve gotten BACK into atla and. oooooh boy, i’ve had SO many thoughts about it but never had a way to communicate these to other people. but. now I do! and this post is entirely dedicated to Azula. and it will be opinion, but also sort of true? i dont think my opinion is necessarily MORE correct than anyone elses, but i think if i see one more post about it without having shared my view i will immediately combust. So, if you have a very precious view of azula for whatever reason, i wouldn’t read these. I don’t hate on azula or downplay her mental illness & relationship with ozai, but i also do discuss a lot of negative things azula has done. So, without further ado;

JAGA’S AZULA MEGA POST

1. Yes, Azula WAS an antagonist. She did awful things BEFORE the psychosis actually began (which. i will be talking about) and she should not be excused for that. Yes, she was 14, but she also was also incredibly intellegent and recognized that what she was doing things that WERE harmful to others (the whole “she was right of course” shows her recognition of these things.)

2. HOWEVER; she was practically groomed to behave the way she did, and i’m not just talking about Ozai. Ursa labeled her a monster before she could even truly understand the consequences of her actions. She grew up with this title, believing she fundamentally WAS a bad/awful/evil person, not that she had DONE things that were wrong. She also got praised and rewarded for the things her mother said were wrong, so she had just as much (if not more) internal strife. (hence her hallucinating her MOTHER and not Zuko or Ozai, despite seeing them more)

3. People often overestimated her intelligence, especially in the situation with Zuko coming home. No one in that situation would have said that she “failed” in any way, meaning there was no need for a back up plan like that. I think azula, in her own way, did care about Zuko. However, this one is just personal opinion but i believe she felt betrayed in the end, and thats what made her behavior towards him change so drastically in the last book.

4. I see a lot of argument about this, and this is one that i feel very strongly about, and that is that azula WAS one of zuko’s abusers. BUT azula had never seen anyone treat zuko CORRECTLY until way after her behavior to him was solidified. (i mean, iroh is not exactly a picture of great parenting, and he isn’t in the picture until AFTER ozai planned to kill zuko!) Hell, i’m willing to bet ozai rewarded her for abusing zuko, and beyond that, Azula probably believed that was ozai caring about zuko, the same way zuko did. Azula was not INTENTIONALLY abusing zuko, but that does NOT mean she didn’t.

5. Azula does not need a “redemption arc”, and i would argue that zuko did not have a typical “redemption arc”. Redemption Arc’s are for when someone is MALICIOUSLY hurting others, with full knowledge of it. Zuko just needed to see that the war was in itself wrong, and that ozai was lying about… pretty much anything. Azula needed that too! But, she instead was stuck (which. great job iroh! i love you but that girl was still a CHILD she could have CHANGED) with the man who had proven he would lie to anyone about anything to seem like a benevolent ruler. Azula also was mentally ill, NOT evil. yes, mental illness does not excuse any of her behavior, but someone doesn’t START with extreme and vivid hallucinations! i’m willing to bet she was struggling with some sort of personality disorder, which immediately brings all her behavior into a new light. (if anyone sees this post and wonders how i came to that conclusion, i will explain it, but it doesnt feel necessary to add currently)

thats all i have for now! i don’t know if i articulated most of my points well or anything, and i have no doubt that i will think of more things to add, but i really want to share some of these things, because i only see reaaally extreme views on azula, and i think she is more in the middle of both sides. if you actually read that word vomit, thank you, and adios

#azula #zuko #avatar #atla #atla azula

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kataraslove · 8 months

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not the same anon but i am a zutara fan who is also a kataang fan. imo, i found it much easier to navigate kataang spaces as a zuko fan. yes there is some bitterness and bad takes (as is all fans) but the kataang fandom from what ive experienced majority doesn't seem to have a problem with zutara as an actual ship, its the shippers. so when i interact most people are fine with me enjoying zutara because im not being nasty about it. however the zutara fandom is very much a.. hive mind, to put it one way. a lot of fans can't bare the fact that the ship is fanon, and as most of us know kataang and aang especially is n1. enemy. I've been kicked out of discords for saying i don't think aang is an incel, and a lot of people have the belief that aang deserves better than kataang too whilst simultaneously arguing that he was extremely toxic and self centered. the fandom is very toxicly centred on katara and zuko, although have a very narrow view of katara that only exists within shipping lenses but if you point it out they call you sexist. to put it nicely: being a kataang and aang fan in the zutara fandom is hellish, because someone will always come at you. the amount of people who say im not even a zutara fan, or am probably a zukka fan trying to stir trouble. most people who are multishippers (ship katara & zuko with other characters that aren't zutara approved) tend to stick to their own little circles to avoid harassment

i just want to state that while i do think the kataang fandom has a problem with zuko and katara romantically, we’ve never really had a problem with their friendship. we just don’t think it’s one of the defining relationships of the show that a lot of people make it out to be. if you had to ask me, the most prominent relationships in atla are katara and aang, zuko and aang, zuko and iroh, zuko and azula, & katara and sokka.

it’s ridiculous that you were kicked out of a whole discord simply for stating that aang isn’t an incel. when a shipping fandom continues to sprout this type of nonsense towards the main character, a character that is beloved to many people, of course people are going to take issue on it and turn against the fandom.

the hate towards aang (disguised in the form of “critique” often) is quite disengenuine many times because i doubt that they would despise him as much if he had ended up with someone else. if aang is this horrible, awful predator that they make him out to be - why ship him with toph, a blind girl? manipulative and abusive men (things that I’ve seen aang called) do not change their behaviours and attitudes towards women based on whom they date. toph or anyone else won’t be able to “fix” aang. if you genuinely believe aang to be a predator and ship him with someone else, you are stating that you are completely fine if this other character is subjected to the horrible things that you believe he is capable of doing. so, either you don’t genuinely believe that aang is a predator, or you have to admit that your willing to put aside your fandom feminism so long as he doesn’t end up with the person that you think zuko deserves.

“very narrow view of katara that exists through shipping lens” is the best way to describe it. the view that katara was a victim by aang and the gaang - that she had no agency, or free thought, and had to be rescued by zuko - is not understanding katara! i’ve never seen a fandom so insistent on viewing katara as a helpless victim at the hands of the gaang, someone who performs all the emotional labour (fandom buzzword), and proclaiming that the writers/creators did her a huge disservice… whilst replicating that dynamic in their fics. except this time, zuko - excuse me, dadko - helps her out with the chores, defends her, protects her, until she ultimately can get her agency back from the gaang and start standing up for herself after realizing her worth.

sorry, but how am i supposed to believe that this is the fandom that understands and cares for katara the best? this isn’t canon katara - this is a version of katara that you have projected your own interests and desires and issues onto. canon katara has no problem telling people where to shove it if you stand in her way. and the gaang agrees with her, has done so in many of her episodes. the southern raiders is a special case, but even then, neither aang nor sokka actively try to stop her from confronting her mother’s killer. they advise that revenge isn’t the best option — and for the love of god, that opinion does not mean that they are demonizing her. the southern raiders is a tale about katara confronting her mother’s killer, of seeking justice, of seeking retribution - but it’s also a journey of forgiveness; katara learns not just how to forgive zuko for his betrayal, but also learns to forgive herself for the survivor’s guilt that she experiences from her mother’s death.

the criticism towards post-canon is that katara’s entire character revolves around aang. and i agree to an extent - especially in those awful gene luen yang comics barring north and south. but why is the solution in fanon then to attribute everything about katara towards zuko and the fire nation? katara is the southern water tribe ambassador to the fire nation, katara experiences liberation from her friends and family because of zuko, firelady katara, etc, are all popular tropes or perspectives emphasizing katara’s role and connection towards zuko and to the fire nation. you can’t tell me that katara was done so horribly in post-canon, then insist that firelady (a connection defined by her worth to her husband and his nation) is the best possible outcome for her and the feminist ending that she deserved. oh, and that everyone (no matter if they ship kataang or zutara) who doesn’t see it this way are all sexist.

“shipping katara and zuko with characters that are zutara approved” i wonder what characters those are. for katara, is it yue? suki? jiang? for zuko, is it jet? a lot of people in the kataang fandom also ship katara with other women (myself included). the kataang to sapphic katara pipeline exists for a reason.

I’m sorry about your experiences in the zutara fandom, anon. but i’m glad you’ve had more positive experiences in the kataang fandom to make up for all the awful shit you’ve had to deal with! hoping you know that there’s always a safe space here ❤️

#my asks

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asocial-inkblot · 1 year

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Treatment of Zutara-Type Relationships These Days

(I hope it’s okay to put this in ship tags. I added some ships and or shows with ships which I believe had the below happen to them, as well as a few characters. Let me know if I mistakingly mentioned any or if I should add more, just because. No insult is intended here, these are just my personal opinions.)

Although I’m not going to suddenly change tune and pretend to now be a fan of Zutara (albeit I did once think, for a short time, that they ‘could be cute’ together and had potential), there’s still something I can’t deny: The modern treatment of these type of pairings and by extension their fandoms, from today’s entertainment industry is...well...kind of objectionable.

I won’t get into the good, bad and ugly of such hypothetical romantic relationships (fictional or otherwise), the writing for them, nor those that back them and the possible psychologies held by said people. Not today. Instead, I’ll say that—to me at least—it seems like many writers and producers currently like to tease these pairings to pull in a certain type of viewer (admittedly often girls/women, but not always) only to abruptly switch gears and, at times, even completely incinerate any chance the ship had at being successful.

It could just be a case of overused subversion, meaning we’re so used to the ‘bad/sad/flawed/passive/aggressive boy gets the good/upbeat/forgiving/passive/assertive girl’ trope and all its variants that writers are now constantly trying to keep us interested and on our toes by using this ruse of flipping things on their head. Zutara after all isn’t the first ship (and certainly not the last) to have that vibe, of course. Plus the TPTB of TV have always pulled such tactics.

However, the manner that it’s often done makes it come across like the writers get a sick sort of pleasure from doing this to the pairings/fans of them. Almost like a “pysch, we fooled you losers!” moment (sometimes even with discriminatory intent implied). And just look at how those that work on the shows [scriptwriters, actors]/authors/etc. often talk about the ships too. This, in my opinion, is hardly excusable on the part of such creative teams and is—dare I say it—them being borderline emotionally abusive to these fans. They’re toying with them and that’s something I just can’t get behind. Not to mention how this tends to contribute to the increase in the level of in-group and especially inter-group toxicity in the fandoms too.

Now of course someone’s work will always be his/hers and the person can do whatever with it that he/she pleases. Anything can happen and some of the best stories involve huge, intense relational losses that the audience can empathize with. Also, self-insertion and refusal to accept change can be and typically is dangerous, no doubt. However, blatant manipulation and dishonesty to viewers will always be just that. So although I may not love every ship (if any) of the nature previously mentioned, I can definitely sympathize with and agree to the wrongness of a viewer being conned and purposefully led on (at least some of the time) by the creators of fictional works that on some level include this type of pairing.

This isn’t just regarding romance either when it comes to character(s) and the path they appeared to be going down eventually getting derailed, usually to the point that progress is stolen from them. It can be platonic ships or individual characters and their own stories, too. Many of us have seen this happen with our own eyes, often multiple times—by multiple creators of disparate works—to our faves, with regard to the different aspects and traits of them and the works they hail from, that we enjoy. Frankly, it’s becoming tiresome, bully-like...and expected.

(I think I’ve seen this particular topic brought up before somewhere, in a post that mainly referenced Zutara and Azula. I think that’s good because I feel this sort of thing can never be talked about enough. Nasty behavior from creators/writers toward fans is never okay, as far as I can see.)

#ATLA #Zutara #Azula #Sokkla #Tyzula #LoK #Makorra #Voltron Force #Star Wars #The Owl House #Gravity Falls #Harry Potter #DC Comics #Lex Luthor #Clex #SuperWonder #SatPoP #Catradora

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overobsessedfanboy23 · 2 years

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Worst YGO Dub Names

I’ve softened to the dubs lately but they still committed some atrocities, particularly toward character names so here’s the ones that personally piss me off the most. The first two are the worst ones but after that they’re not in any kind of order.

Jun Manjome to Chazz Princeton

The crown jewel of shittiness. I know Manjome is a comic relief but he’s not a complete joke. He’s a character and a good one. This name just makes him sound stupid. And aggressively American. This one just really really angers me personally, as does pretty much everything in the GX dub.

Yuzu Hiiragi to Zuzu Boyle

Yuzu is a fruit. “Zuzu” is a degrading nickname Azula gave Zuko. It’s fucking stupid and I hate it. And pairing it with the last name “Boyle” sounds like a disease or something.

Mai Kujaku to Mai Valentine

THIS PUN IS FUCKING AWFUL. Yes Kujaku is a pun too but it’s a pun with class goddammit. Also “My” sounds confusing in English and is one of the few times that changing the name could’ve been acceptable. I would’ve accepted “May.” But no. They made a mildly sexist pun out of her name. UGHHHHHHH.

Hayato Maeda to Chumley Huffington

I can’t explain it, but this name sounds vaguely like a fat insult. Also, it sounds fucking stupid.

Noburo Gongenzaka to Gong Strong

…do I need to explain this one? It’s just… so stupid. It sounds more like a mockery of the character rather than a real name. It’s not even a pun! It’s just dumb. I haven’t seen the Arc V dub but it wouldn’t surprise me if Gongenzaka is treated like a joke considering his name.

Judai Yuki to Jaden Yuki

If this were any other character, I wouldn’t really care about this name change. The “Americanizing” is bad on principle but if they insist on doing it, then I’ll take it as long as it doesn’t sound stupid. This though? This is the main fucking character, you should not be changing it, especially when “Judai” isn’t hard to pronounce. Like at all. Not that these names care about pronunciation though considering-

Takuma Saio to Sartorious

This is literally harder to spell and say than his original name. And makes him sound like a fucking dinosaur, which is ironically how old he looks compared to the others.

Anzu Mazaki to Tea Gardner

“We need to make these Japanese names easier so the dumb American kids aren’t confused! Let’s put a fucking accent mark in one of them! You know, that thing that most American keyboards can’t even type!” -some moron at 4Kids, probably

Copy and pasting accent marks is effort that Tea doesn’t deserve. Therefore, she is forever hot leaf juice on this blog.

Rei Saotome to Blair Flannigan

The GX dub names are all fucking stupid. If I had less self control, this list would be every single GX dub name because I hate what the dub did to this show so much-

Okay, stupidity aside, this one is also a story issue. Rei’s very first act in the series is disguising herself as a boy. It is a twist that Rei is a girl. One of the things that makes this a twist is Rei’s name: a gender neutral name in Japanese. I’m not saying a boy can’t be named Blair but social biases and your very first thought are going to say that Blair is a girls’ name. And this show aired in 2004. So you know… maybe don’t make the twist that fucking obvious, dub. I know this doesn’t apply as much in other countries but this show was dubbed by an American company with American kids in mind so I feel like my point still stands.

Also, the name is dumb. It’s just dumb and upsets me.

Kaito Tenjo to Kite Tenjo

I know this seems like a small and kind of whatever change at first glance and honestly it probably is but just… the audacity to take a Japanese name, remove one syllable, and go “hurr hurr, he flies like a kite, aren’t we so clever?” is just irritating to me. I’ll let Hart off the hook because that’s admittedly a cute name and could have some symbolism to it if you squint but I draw the line at “Kite.”

Ryoken Kogami to Roken Kogami

WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! WHY WAS IT NECESSARY TO REMOVE THE ‘Y’ FROM HIS NAME?! KIDS CAN SAY THE NAME “RYO.” THERE HAVE BEEN PLENTY OF YGO CHARACTERS BEFORE THIS WITH RYO IN THEIR NAMES. IT’S NOT A PRONUNCIATION THING. IT’S JUST STUPID.

Okay don’t get me wrong, this one is far from the worst change, hence why it’s all the way down here, it’s just... a pet peeve that’s gotten under my skin the more and more I’ve typed it in my tags. It’s extremely inconsequential especially compared to the previous ones it just annoys me.

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guesswhattimeitis · 8 months

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N A O L I C E + Q T

OH MY GOD I FORGOT I QUEUED THIS ASK THING WHILE ON A TRAIN

Uh anyways, thanks lol

N- Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice): So for this one(and later questions) I’d say I don’t have a “main fandom” but I think in general all of my fandoms need 3 things more: more femslash, more midsized fic, and more art of the shorter one being the top. It can be portal, or sailor moon, or star wars it all needs more. I need to see more girls kiss, I need more fics longer than 500 words and less than 50000 words, and I need the short one to pick up her tall girlfriend and show her how it’s done

A- Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed: So I still haven’t seen Ahsoka at all but um I love the wolfwren I’ve seen, I’ve weirdly been working on a bunch of original stories recently which has had my brain in a chokehold including a throuple I’ll probably make a post about at some point

O- Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?: I put my longest playlist on shuffle and got Used To Be Mine from Waitress and this song recently reminded me a lot of Bo Katan, especially in her most recent arc, realizing she’s changed and not sure if she’s ready for that or if she likes the change

L- Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.): I’m going to jump to portal here; Wheatley is a deeply effective and enjoyable villain to face off against. The build up to his takeover, everything falling apart; it really solidified portal 2 as a great sequel. I don’t hate him, but wow I don’t like the way the fandom treats him

I- Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? I’ve been here since 2013, so. Many. Many many many. My blocked tags list includes dozens, so I’ll spare the list, but the most ironic is one piece, considering tumblr’s recent ad campaign

C- A ship you have never liked and probably never will: I don’t dislike many ships generally, I usually keep it to myself and just avoid ships I don’t like, but I genuinely dislike when Aloy is shipped with that one guy from HZD, I don’t even remember his name but he just personally annoyed me and gave me bad vibes. And also I think of her as a lesbian so.

E- Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? I don’t think I’m “big” in any fandoms so I don’t think I’m responsible for any like, crack headcanons being spread around, and even on like a personal level I’m not usually one to jump down a crackship so much as I love rarepairs (yes I consider them different so sue me) but I did recently like Yue/Azula as a wild au kind of situation lol

Q- A fandom you’ve abandoned and why: I don’t abandon fandoms so much as they lie dormant until I return to them, sometimes years later. Even adventure time, the fandom that got me on tumblr, has lain dormant for a long time only to resurface now and again, especially with new releases

T- Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? I love “Chell is deaf” and/or “Chell is mute”as something to read and see in fanart, but I will die by the idea that she simply chooses not to say shit. That’s so much funnier.

Phew! So many, ahhh I will send you some too btw I just literally forgot I did this 😵‍💫

#lot of portal talk for someone that hasn’t been active with portal for a while #anyways I have waaaaay too many fandoms and I’m too tired to think of them all #plus recently I’ve been doing more original stuff tbh so I had to dig deep #anyways thanks!

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atlabeth · 3 years

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everything happens for a reason part 11 - zuko x fem!reader

Memories, where'd you go?

part 10 | masterlist | part 12

a/n: alternative name for this fic: y/n gets a crush on every pretty girl she meets. yue, katara, and now suki. she can't help it (and she questions why they're all connected to sokka in some way lmaoo)

anyways, this is kind of filler but it establishes some more with relationships and finallyyy gets us into ba sing se at the end. i know it's a lil annoying because there's a lot of episode-to-text writing, but i promise it'll get more freeform as it goes on

also i know that i just posted something yesterday but i have literally zero patience. like i cant hold chapters i have to post them as soon as i write them loll

wc: 5.3k

warning(s): some feels over zuko as per usual, but overall a pretty tame chapter

chapter title comes from memories by panic! at the disco!

Zuko could barely sleep anymore.

He didn’t know when his life became so complicated, but he wasn’t a fan of it.

Back when it was just him, his crew, and the open sea — it was simple. He had a job, a straightforward mission. Find the Avatar, capture him, return home to the Fire Nation and regain his honor.

Now, the waters were more muddied than ever. Now on the run from the Fire Nation just like the boy he was chasing, all he really felt nowadays was anger.

Angry at the world for setting him on this path, angry at the Avatar for refusing to see what was necessary, his sister and her friends for turning against him, angry at the waterbender for making things so damn hard.

He didn’t want to hurt her. A part of him wished that she had never come back into his life, if it meant he wouldn’t have to constantly be fighting against her. He hated himself for the thought, but maybe it would have been easier for her to remain a memory of a lover than his active enemy.

Late at night, when he was reaching fruitlessly for sleep that would never come, he saw her face. The carefree energy from their childhood morphed into the shock and disappointment from both the North and their fight with Azula, and…

It made him wonder what in Agni had happened to them.

He—

He didn’t know. The way he felt about her, it was different than anything he had experienced before. Zuko didn’t know what it was, but he understood that it was special. And now… it felt like he had just thrown it all away.

Zuko couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with her in that town — what he had done to her.

He had burned her to try and get to the Avatar, and he hadn’t even allowed a glance back at the damage he had done. He had heard her cry out in pain, pain he had caused, and he didn’t even look back.

What had happened to them? What had happened to him?

He kept telling himself that the mission was the only thing that mattered. And it was, wasn’t it? Capture the Avatar, regain his honor, get his old life back and finally be enough for his father. He didn’t have time for friends, or for these feelings he had, or— or for anything but capturing the Avatar. Because the Avatar was the key to everything, to his honor, and that was all that mattered.

But now…

Now, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know what was right, or what was wrong, or what path was the one he had to take.

Zuko just wished things could be like they used to be.

~~~~~~~~~~

She didn’t really know when everything had become a mess again.

It all started out fine, like it usually did. Toph had become fully integrated into the group, any past squabbles put to rest in the name of a stronger friendship emerging between all five of them. Katara continued to work on Aang’s waterbending (oftentimes Y/N joining them in their sessions) while Toph slowly but steadily beat earthbending into him — literally.

They had all been working hard for so long that, by decree of Aang, it was ‘vacation time’. They would all get to pick out places they wanted to spend as a break, and after it was over they would get back to work.

Aang had chosen some sort of field with musical groundhogs, and Y/N had opted to revisit an Earth Kingdom village that she had passed through on her journey to the North. Sokka had complained the whole time about how they were ‘wasting valuable planning time’, but had finally conceded after the promise of ‘all the planning his heart could desire’ from Katara after their mini-vacations were over.

Y/N was actually feeling somewhat relaxed for once, but she had forgotten the golden rule — never let your guard down. Everytime she let her guard down, something bad happened without fail. So it shouldn’t have been any surprise with what happened in the desert.

Because after one trip to the Misty Palms Oasis and a journey into the desert with a professor to a long lost library, Appa had been taken by desert raiders.

It was… less than favourable. During their escape from the library, Professor Zei had insisted on staying behind, and now the five of them were stuck in the middle of the desert with no way out and zero guidance. Add some brewing tensions between Aang and Toph because of her being there when Appa was taken, and they had a recipe for a huge disaster.

And a disaster they had. Multiple disasters, actually.

There was only so much she and Katara could do to hold the group together, but by some miracle, they made it out of the desert with only one Avatar State mishap.

(And an incident with cactus juice, but… she didn’t really want to talk about that.)

....at least they had the information about the Eclipse. That was about the only thing keeping her together at the moment.

They had to get the information to the Earth King so they could formulate an attack with his warriors, but without Appa, they had to resort to more traditional methods of travel. Add in one passport problem, and that was how Y/N found herself braving the Serpent’s Pass alongside a refugee family with a baby on the way.

It was… intimidating, to say the least. Despite being surrounded by her element, Y/N didn’t feel any safer from the challenge that faced them. She took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on her fear the way her mother had taught her, as she followed the group, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

“Hey.” She turned to see who the voice belonged to and was greeted by the girl that had teased Sokka early — Suki, if she remembered correctly. “I haven’t seen you around; are you with the Avatar or that family?”

“I’m with Aang,” Y/N explained. “I’m from the North, and they offered me a spot with them after they helped us defend our tribe against the Fire Nation. I’ve been with them ever since.” Suki nodded as they settled into a comfortable stride.

“That’s cool. Are you a waterbender?”

She gestured to her waterskin and smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been training with Aang and Katara ever since I left.” Y/N then turned her gaze back to Suki, raising an inquisitive brow. “Your makeup — what’s it for? I heard you talking about the Kyoshi Warriors back there; is that some kind of thing with Avatar Kyoshi?”

Suki grinned, her every expression heightened by the sharp reds and blacks above her eyes. “We’re a group of all-female warriors that use the teachings of Avatar Kyoshi and her partner Rangi to defend our home and the place she founded, Kyoshi Island. I’m the leader of our village section.”

“Wow,” she murmured, her eyes falling to the ground for a moment before finding their way back up to the warrior. “That’s really cool. You’re really cool.”

She laughed and shrugged. “Thanks. I’ve been training as a warrior for almost my whole life, so it just comes naturally. I like being able to protect people, and there’s no better way to pay back my home for all it’s done for me like protecting the whole village.”

“Wow,” she repeated with a small laugh of her own. “That’s really brave. I gotta say, I’m kinda jealous — I would love to see what would happen if Master Pakku met you all. Katara literally had to beat the sexism out of him in order to train to be a master.”

Suki chuckled. “Sounds like what I had to do with Sokka. Guess it’s a thing with Water Tribe guys, huh?”

At the mention of Sokka, she internally laughed. There had to be some kind of connection between the two of them, the way their interests kept aligning. “Sokka… he’s had it hard. I can’t blame him that much for any kind of attitude he had before he met you. Pakku, on the other hand? He had to have had something better to do than fight teenage girls.”

“You would think so, right?” Suki agreed. “And Sokka… I know. He’s got a heart of gold underneath all that, he just needed a little push to get it out.” As Y/N glanced over at the girl, noticing a slight pink tint under the white makeup, she gasped.

“La’s fins, are you two a thing?” she exclaimed with a grin.

Suki flushed even harder as she suddenly became very interested in the ocean around her, but she couldn’t help the smile on her lips. “No! I mean— yes— but… but—” she stopped to gather her thoughts before making eye contact again with a sheepish smile. “We’re not… really a thing, but… I do like him a lot. I didn’t really think I was going to see him again after they left the island, so this is really nice.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Y/N asked. “I can already tell that he cares about you — have you seen how careful he’s being with you?”

“Well—” Whatever kind of excuse Suki would’ve made up was interrupted by a rock falling out just under Than, one of the refugees they were with, saved in the nick of time with Toph’s earthbending.

“I’m okay!” he reassured, but no sooner had the words left his mouth before the Fire Nation ship in the distance started firing.

“They’ve spotted us!” Sokka yelled. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Aang flicked his glider open and deflected the blast, and Katara grabbed Y/N’s hand as they all began to run. Another blast rocked the mountain, causing several boulders to fall just above Suki. Y/N didn’t even have time to shout out a warning before Sokka tackled her out of the way, but it was ultimately more of Toph’s quick earthbending that saved him.

“Suki, are you okay?” Sokka brushed dust and pebbles off of her uniform as he examined her, and once he was satisfied he grabbed her hand and helped her up. “You have to be more careful! Come on!”

As the two of them caught up to Y/N and Katara, she gave Suki a knowing look. The warrior only blushed once again and glanced away.

After hours of navigating the pass, they were only about halfway through. Sokka made the executive decision to set up camp for the night to give everyone time to rest, and then they would get up at the crack of dawn to finish their trip. It only took a few minutes for Y/N to get a fire going, and soon everyone had settled in with their sleeping bags. Sokka got up from his spot as Suki wandered closer to the edge, and Katara nudged Y/N with her shoulder.

“Hey. How are your hands doing?”

“They’re fine,” she answered with a small smile, flipping her hands over as proof. Where there were once red burn scars on her palms only tiny white marks remained — one benefit to healing via waterbending was that most injuries were able to fade away completely after enough sessions. Her burns weren’t very serious and she was able to heal them almost immediately, so both her and Katara were sure that the marks would be completely gone soon.

The mental scars wouldn’t fade as easily.

“That’s good. And you’re taking care of them, right? Like, you’re not beating up people while we’re not looking?”

Y/N grinned. “No. I think I’ll leave that to Toph.”

Katara chuckled and nodded, turning her hands over in a final examination before nodding. “Good,” she repeated. The silence between them, although comfortable, stretched out for a little too long before she spoke again, this time much quieter. “He did this to you.”

“Katara…”

“I know,” she said. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me, or really at all, but… I’m worried about you. Zuko isn’t good for you. Every time we’ve run into him, he’s hurt you. And you deserve so much more than that.”

“You don’t understand,” she countered. “You don’t know Zuko like I do. You weren’t there when I was. I know you think I’m insane for still believing in him, but I— I can’t let go of him, Katara. I know the Zuko I love is still in there somewhere, and I have to try and find it. For me and for him.”

Katara’s eyes were full of nothing but sympathy as she sighed — it was obvious she didn’t believe her words, but in true fashion she was still trying her best to be supportive.

“Okay. I don’t understand it, but… I don’t think I can change your mind.” Y/N chuckled sadly and nodded, Katara’s piercing gaze meeting her own once more. “It’s just… Why are you playing with fire when you know you’re going to get burned?”

And for once, Y/N didn’t have an answer for her friend.

~~~~~~~~~

The night went by quickly, which Y/N was thankful for. It meant that the nightmares didn’t last as long.

After a quick headcount to make sure no one had fallen off the pass overnight and an even quicker gathering of their things, they set off to finish their journey.

It went just as well as she had expected — a giant serpent, the namesake of the pass, had attacked them while crossing through an underwater section. Thankfully, she was able to aid Katara and Aang in defeating it with waterbending with no casualties

But in the wake of one disaster there was always another, and before Y/N knew it a baby had been born. She was mostly there for moral support — Katara had it all handled, and Y/N didn’t expect anything less.

But finally, they had made it across the pass, and they were so close to Ba Sing Se that she could almost smell the city air. Sadly, though, that meant it was time for them to part ways — Aang to find Appa, and Suki back to her warriors. After some sad but hopeful goodbyes with Aang, it was time to bid farewell to Suki.

“Are you sure you can’t travel a little longer with us?” Y/N questioned, apparently not above pleading to try and get the girl to stay. “You’re— you’re amazing, and we’d really love to have you with us.”

“I can’t even imagine what travelling with the Avatar would be like,” she smiled, causing Y/N to get her hopes up for just a moment before they fell back down. “But I can’t stay. I have to get back to the Kyoshi Warriors.”

Y/N sighed, her gaze falling slightly downcast. “I get that. I just really wish you could stay. Or that I could meet your warriors. You seriously don’t know how cool you are, Suki.”

“Well, if you’re ever in town on Kyoshi Island, find us. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out and do you one better than just meeting them all,” she said with a grin. “I think it’d be pretty cool to have the first waterbending Kyoshi Warrior.”

Y/N was unable to prevent the heat rushing to her cheeks as she smiled shyly, once again averting eye contact. “That would be amazing. I’ll have to find my way back there after the war.”

Suki bumped shoulders with her, causing a startled laugh to spill from her lips. “We’d love to have you.”

“Wait, why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye to her?” Sokka questioned as he walked up to the two of them. Y/N winked at Suki and gestured at him with her head, walking off before Suki could protest to find Katara.

The conversation the two girls were sharing was an extremely thinly veiled excuse to eavesdrop on the lovebirds, and when they kissed Y/N actually had to hold back a scream.

Sokka deserved this. She knew how much he beat himself up over every little thing that went wrong, and it was about time he got to relax even for a moment. She only hoped that Suki would be in their corner of the world sooner rather than later.

What could she say? She was already fantasizing about life as a Kyoshi Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~

Although they had parted ways, they soon found themselves reunited with Aang to stop yet another Fire Nation threat.

“For the love of Kuruk,” Y/N murmured as she stared into the distance, her eyes wide at the sight of a large mechanical drill. “That was Ty Lee who just took down all those soldiers. And if she’s here, Mai and Azula are with her too. Guys, It’s one thing to stop this drill, it’s another thing to take those three down with it.”

“The question is, how do we do it?” Aang questioned.

“Why can nothing ever be easy?” Sokka lamented. His gaze remained trained on the drill for a moment before he realized theirs were on him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“You’re the idea guy,” Aang said.

“Wait, so I’m the only one who can ever come up with a plan?” he protested. “That’s a lot of pressure!”

“And also the complaining guy,” Katara muttered, drawing a chuckle out from Y/N.

“Now that part I don’t mind,” Sokka admitted.

“Well, Sokka— you were a huge help in the North, and you figured out a way to defeat the Fire Nation during that eclipse at the library! Plus, there’s all that stuff that Katara told me you did before I joined.” She patted him on the back. “If anyone can figure out how to take that thing down, it’s you.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, his ego only slightly bolstered. “...okay. I think I can do it.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said with a smile.

Unfortunately, that smile faded as a young guard came running up to the wall. “Excuse me, Avatar and friends — I’ve heard that you’ve dealt with that… that pink girl down there before.” They nodded and he continued. “It would do us a great deal of help if you could come down and look at our injured soldiers, then.”

Y/N and Katara nodded in unison and started to follow the guard, the remaining three trailing after them. They ended up inside the wall, in what looked like an infirmary of sorts with all the cots and soldiers lying around, and the two waterbenders exchanged looks.

“You know what to do?” Katara asked.

Y/N hummed in acknowledgment, and they both knelt down next to separate cots. “This definitely looks like Ty Lee’s work,” she murmured as she bent water up from the pot and molded it over the man’s arm.

“What’s wrong with him?” the general questioned. “He doesn’t look injured.”

“His chi is blocked,” Katara explained. “Who did this to you?”

“Two girls ambushed us,” the soldier said, moving his arm as he regained feeling. “One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away.”

Katara sighed as she bent the water back into the pot. “You were right, Y/N. That was Ty Lee — she doesn’t look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak point. It’s like she takes you down from the inside.”

As if struck by lightning, Sokka lit up. “Oh, oh, oh! What you just said — that’s how we’re going to take down the drill; the same way Ty Lee took down all those earthbenders!”

“By hitting its pressure points!” Toph exclaimed with a grin.

The breakthrough brought a steely determination to Aang’s features as he looked out into the distance. “We’ll take it down from the inside.”

~~~~~~~~~

Like everything they did, it seemed so simple on paper. But now that she was actually inside the drill, it felt a lot more nerve wracking. Toph opted to stay outside where she could see and try to slow down the drill with the earth at her disposal, which left the four of them to somehow take it down from the inside.

Sokka led them through a hallway with a myriad of valves and pipes as he thought out loud. “I need a plan of this machine — some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points.”

“Where are we gonna get something like that?” Aang asked.

Sokka thought for a moment before he took his machete out and hacked a valve off a pipe. Y/N instinctively took a step back and shielded her face from the hot steam. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Someone’s gonna hear us!”

“That’s the point!” he exclaimed. “A machine this big needs engineers to run it, and when something breaks—”

“Someone will come down to fix it!” Katara finished with a smile at Aang, a sentiment the boy returned happily.

It was surprisingly easy to take down the engineer once he arrived — with a little bit of frozen mist on Katara’s end, they had the plans they needed. Sokka’s expertise combined with the blueprints got them to the beginning of the outer shell.

“Wow,” Sokka muttered. “It looks a lot thicker than it does in the plans. We’re gonna have to work pretty hard to cut through that.”

Katara crossed her arms. “What’s this ‘we’ stuff? The three of us are gonna have to do all the work.”

“Look, I’m the plan guy!” Sokka explained with a gesture to himself. “You three are the ‘cut up stuff with waterbending’ guys. Together, we’re Team Avatar!”

Katara and Aang looked wholly unamused while Y/N chuckled. “Team Avatar. I like it.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “At least someone appreciates my genius.”

“Tui’s gills, why do you have to keep boosting his ego?” Katara complained. “Let’s just get this done before it gets worse.”

The three of them got in position — Katara and Aang on opposite sides so they could pass the stream of water between them, and Y/N making the point of the triangle to work on the other side on her own. They were hoping it would be more efficient being able to cut through both sides at the same time, but it was proving to be much more difficult than they had imagined — halfway through the three of them were already exhausted.

By some feat of strength they were able to completely cut through the brace, but their hard work didn’t pay off in quite the way they had imagined — when the beam only shifted a few inches she groaned.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she breathed as she wiped sweat off of her forehead.

“At this rate,” Katara paused to inhale deeply, “we won’t do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall.”

“I don’t know how many more of those I have in me,” Aang said sadly.

A large creak suddenly rang throughout the large chamber, and they all looked up for the source.

“Did you hear that?” Sokka asked, already backing up to make an exit. “We took it down! We gotta get out of here, fast!”

Just as they reached the door on the other side, a crackle followed by the sound of a man’s voice dashed their hopes. “Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!”

A collective silence hung in the air between them, the threat now even more imminent as their situation sunk in. Mai and Ty Lee had proven effective in taking down any Earth Kingdom threat posed at them, and despite Toph’s skill they knew she couldn’t take down something like this on their own.

They either had to figure out a way to destroy this drill, or the Fire Nation was going to make it into the city.

Sokka ran back over to the brace and pushed against it, putting all his strength into the feat but to no avail. “Come…. on! Move!”

Katara started pacing around in a small circle, crossing her arms again as she tried to think of something. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

“Sokka, that’s not going to work!” Y/N didn’t mean to snap, but the grinding of metal on metal combined with her nervousness got to her. She sighed and ran her hand over her face. “I— I’m sorry. But it’s still not going to work.”

He groaned as he leaned against the brace. “We’re putting everything we have into busting these things, but it’s taking too long!”

Suddenly, Aang jumped up from the ground with stars in his eyes. “Maybe we don’t need to cut all the way through! Toph — she’s been teaching me that you shouldn’t put a hundred percent of your energy in any one strike. Sokka, get in a fighting stance.”

Sokka complied and as Aang talked through his points, he demonstrated it on Sokka. “You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance. And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow. His own weight becomes his downfall, literally.”

As Sokka fell over from the attack, Katara lit up. “So we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through—”

“—then I can go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!” Aang finished.

Y/N helped Sokka up from the ground, his spirits not dampened at all. “Then boom! This whole thing goes down!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Y/N asked, flexing her fingers to refresh them for all the bending she was going to have to do. “Aang, Katara and I can handle the braces. Focus on getting up to the top before anyone sees you.”

He nodded and they all met each other with determined eyes. “Everyone inside that wall, the whole world — they’re all counting on us.”

“Here, take this. You need this more than I do. ” Katara took her waterskin off and handed it to Aang. “Good luck. And be careful.”

Y/N noticed a slight blush on her cheeks and she had to hold back her smile. That was definitely something she was going to tease her friend about later — when they weren’t trying to stop the Fire Nation from breaking into Ba Sing Se.

“I will,” he assured. Aang slung the strap of the waterskin around his shoulder and took off, and Y/N and Katara got to work breaking through the rest of the braces.

With the knowledge that they only had to cut through half of each column and the revitalization that came from having a plan, their work went by much quicker. Just when they finished the final brace, it all went wrong.

“Good work, Team Avatar!” Sokka cheered. “Now we— Y/N, duck!”

She didn’t question Sokka as she immediately dropped to the ground, something she was immensely thankful for as a blast of blue fire seared past her. Her eyes snapped up to the source of the attack and narrowed in recognition.

“Of course they’re here,” she growled as she pulled herself back up. “We gotta go, now!”

Katara and Sokka nodded and they all started running. Bringing up the rear, Y/N was able to hear Azula’s words right before they split off into an intersection:

“Follow them! I’m going to find the Avatar.”

Sure enough, when she allowed a glance back, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on them. She flicked open the cap of her waterskin and bent some out, managing to freeze it at just the right moment to block the incoming daggers from Mai. Still running, she melted it quickly and let it fall to the ground before freezing it again, creating some ice on the ground that would hopefully give them a few more seconds of leeway.

“That should give us some time!” she yelled as they turned a corner, finally turning her attention back to the path in front of them. “Any idea how we’re gonna get out of this thing?”

“Maybe!” Sokka yelled back, slowing to a stop as they came to a dead end, a large hatch the only thing at their disposal. He started tugging on the wheel in an attempt to open it, and when Y/N joined in they were able to wrench it open.

“Slurry pipeline?” Katara frowned as she read the sign on the wall and looked at Sokka. “What does that mean?”

“It’s rock and water mixed together,” he explained as they looked into the rushing liquid underneath the hatch. “It means it’s our way out!”

Katara nodded and climbed in, Sokka following close after. The sound of metal footsteps got closer and closer, and Y/N ducked inside just as Mai’s knives clanked against the hatch. Never before had she been so happy to be floating in a stream of slurry.

The rest of their mission went by surprisingly easy — at least, on their end. All it took was some waterbending — earthbending, when Toph joined them — and encouragement from Sokka (though unappreciated by Katara). Whatever magic Aang was working at the top of the drill had done its job, because soon enough the drill had collapsed in on itself.

And now, they had reunited on the top of the wall overlooking the sunset. After the chaos that had been their day, it was nice to just relax for even a moment. And there was no better way to do so than with her friends.

“I just want to say, good effort out there, Team Avatar!” Sokka exclaimed as he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulder.

“Enough with the ‘Team Avatar’ stuff,” Katara said dryly. “No matter how many times you say it, it’s not going to catch on.”

“I like it, Sokka,” Y/N smiled. “I’ve liked it this whole time.”

“You always appreciate my genius, Y/N,” he mused. “That’s why I appreciate you.” She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he continued to list off names.

“How about… the Boomeraang squad! Eh? See, it’s good because it’s boomerang, and it has Aang in it—”

“Yeah Sokka,” Toph interrupted. “We got it.”

Aang grinned and scratched his head. “I kinda like that one.”

“The Aang Gang. Ooh, the Fearsome Fivesome!”

“You’re crazy,” Toph muttered as she walked away.

“Wait, Sokka—” Y/N pulled away from him and held up her pointer finger. “Aang Gang — what if we combine it, so it’s just the Gaang? But still with Aang’s name?”

And at that moment, Sokka looked more proud than ever. “Oh, you— you are a genius.”

“Oh, spirits,” Katara groaned. “Why do you insist on encouraging him?”

“You’re just jealous of our name-making abilities,” Sokka said haughtily.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You two are completely ridiculous, you know that? Let’s just get into the city before the trains stop running.”

Y/N and Sokka winked at each other as they all started walking, unable to keep the smile off of her face. She always thought it was amazing — they went through insane things every day, but at the end of it all she was always able to smile because of them. And as her gaze drifted towards the city in the distance, she hoped it would hold true.

She had no idea what Ba Sing Se had in store for her.

shit is gonna happen next chapter so i hope you all are READY bc im not

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris

ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @carisi-sonny @selfship-mishaps @i-belong-in-fandoms @ilistentotayswifttocope @i-make-questionable-choices @3leni

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #zuko #zuko fic #prince zuko #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla fic #avatar the last airbender fic #avatar x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader #atla x reader #sadie writes

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mohluskiepedard · 4 years

Text

Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom

or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog

the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do-

I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud

AANG

- A child? - A son? - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED

KATARA

- She is also like twelve??? - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug?? - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her

SOKKA

- NGL looks like a fuckboy - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe??? - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident??? - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands

SUKI

- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more

ZUKO

- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,” - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself

TOPH

- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying: - She and Zuko.... buddies??? - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph

AZULA

- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES?

UNCLE IROH

- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures] - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This

OZAI

- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky) - THE WORST OF THE MEN - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went “but what if - get this - i also abused my son,” - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive - :/

TY LEE

- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her???? - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve

CABBAGE MAN

- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO

- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...

APPA

- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him

that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw

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hello-nichya-here · 2 years

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Azula did NOT torture or rape Suki

I've seen many people blow even the smallest things out of proportion for the sake of making Azula look even more evil - usually in an attempt to shut down any conversation about her possibly being redeemed, or at the very least talked about as a character, as a person, and not a monster. And one of the favorite "incidents" these people bring up are the torture/rape of Suki... which never actually happened, and there is exactly zero evidence to suggest it did.

"BUT AZULA FULL ON IMPLIED SHE DID SOMETHING BAD TO SUKI!"

Yeah. And it was compared to Ozai using Zuko's love for his mother as a way to manipulate him into doing what he wanted. She also said that there was trap waiting for them at Ozai's hiding place, which we know was bullshit. And before that she made an awful comment about Toph's blindness to try and make her furious enough to keep fighting her instead of going after her father. It's ironic that the fans who are always repeating "Azula always lies" took what the show explicitly stated were lies as gospel truth the second it was convenient for them.

"BUT HOW DID SHE KNOW ABOUT SUKI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SOKKA? SURELY SHE GOT THAT INFORMATION FROM HER WITH TORTURE!"

Sokka told Ty Lee about it on Crossroads Of Destiny. We literally see it happening. It wasn't some huge secret. Why would it be? Everyone knows the Kyoshi Warriors are against the Fire Nation and are friends with Team Avatar - why would Suki's romance with Sokka be some major secret? Hell, why wouldn't she, or one of her friends, gloat to their captors that sooner or later they'll be freed?

"BUT SHE TOOK SUKI'S CLOTHES!"

So? Guards take prisoners clothes and force to wear uniforms literally all the time. It's the standard. Do some of them take advantage of the prisoners, or at least threaten to? Sure. But that alone is not enough evidence to say that Azula did that Suki. By that logic, Zuko was raped when he was locked up at the boiling rock, just like everyone who was at that prison - or in literally any prison. Hell, by that logic the army of the Northern Water Tribe raped fire nation soldiers since they had some uniforms that they were planning on using to infiltrate Zhao's ship.

"BUT AT BOILING ROCK SUKI SAID THAT WAS A REMATCH SHE HAD BEEN WAITING FOR!"

And then she immediatelly ignored Azula and started fighting Ty Lee, making damn sure that she didn't hit her once - is almost like the show is implying Ty Lee was the one who really defeated Suki, which makes sense since she Chi-blocked Katara to protect Mai, and defeated the whole Terra Team on her on. If Azula had done anything to make Suki even a little scared of her, don’t you think she’d be at least keeping an eye on her? Don’t you think the writers, who had no problem with showing torture happening on that very episode would do more to imply Azula did something to Suki? (Hell, they showed us Azula telling the warden to stop torturing someone) Don’t you think that if Suki had shown any signs that Azula tortured or raped her, Sokka would not have rubbed the fact that Azula captured her right in Suki’s face during The Ember Islands Players episode?

“B-BUT...”

No. It didn’t happen. The fire sibling Suki was pissed at was Zuko because he burned down her village and could have gotten people killed. The girl Suki was pissed off at was Ty Lee. She and Azula quite literally ignored each other. Nothing happened.

#azula meta #azula deserved better #suki #torture #rape #fandom fuckery #azula always lies #atla fandom problems

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zuko-always-lies · 3 years

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ATLA AU Idea which is Basically “Azula Raises Katara for Several Years”

I’ve had this idea kicking around my head for months, and, since I have no intention of writing it, I figure I might as well post it. To be clear, the premise of this fanfic is “Azula, Katara, and Sokka get traumatized in ways they weren’t in canon, but the events that traumatize them potentially help lead to a better outcome in the long-term,” so be prepared for rough sailing.

This idea is very much inspired by all the “Katara gets kidnapped young and raised within the Fire Nation royal family” fanfics, which I think can be excellent if done with care. However, in a situation where Katara and Azula develop a relationship when they are young, the natural tendency is to make Katara the “motherly” or parental one, and I wanted to turn that on its head. I also wanted to explore some of the possible implications of Azula taking on adult sized responsibilities as a child and of the perverse ways that power differentials can influence things. I also wanted to explore some of the ways that Azula’s commitment to duty and responsibility can be a positive thing. Another ~2000 or so words under the cut.

The premise is that, shortly after Zuko gets banished, Katara gets captured by the Southern Raiders as the last Southern Water Tribe waterbender and brought back to Caldera and presented as a trophy to Ozai. Ozai’s first reaction is to have her executed, but fortunately Azula is also present in the throne room. For reasons which Azula doesn’t entirely understand herself but which definitely have something to do with her guilt over what happened to Zuko, Azula decides to intervene, despite the risks involved. However, not being Zuko, she manages to do this without provoking Ozai, through convincing him that Katara is more valuable alive as a trophy, a symbol, and a plaything than she is dead. Ozai doesn’t really care that much, so he pawns Katara off to Azula and basically forgets about her, accidentally using language that implies to Azula that Katara and taking care of Katara is now Azula’s responsibility. Azula is at an age where she’s started to take her responsibilities and duties with deadly seriousness.

Katara doesn’t know what to make of this all. She’s been severely traumatized by being kidnapped and torn from her family and culture and by having her life threatened by Ozai. She’s aware that Azula saved her life, but the language Azula used to in order to do so sounds warped and screwed up to Katara, who is unaware that Azula had to say what she said in order to manipulate Ozai. Katara noticed that Azula seemed a little nervous when she talked to Ozai, but Katara doesn’t initially know how risky and dangerous what Azula did was.

Again, Azula takes her responsibilities with deadly seriousness. So, when it becomes her responsibility to take care of Katara, Azula is determined to do the best possible job, even though she’s 11 and Katara is also 11. If there were any responsible adults present, they would intervene and talk to Azula about how awful an idea this is, but there aren’t any left. In any case, Katara’s waterbending abilities make it so she has to be kept under some kind of supervision, Azula is perceptive enough to worry that Katara might be mistreated if she got fostered out, and in any case Azula is convinced she can do a better job than any foster family.

Azula is a badly abused 11 year old who grew up indoctrinated in an absolutely toxic ideology. She’s never really seen good parenting in her life. The idea of her trying to parent should be terrifying. Yet she’s aware that Ursa didn’t do the best job with her, and since Katara isn’t a “monster” Azula sees no reason to replicate Ursa’s behavior. Azula believes the way that Ozai treats her is absolutely justified, even though she has some knowledge of its negative effects on her, but since Katara isn’t a princess who has immense duties to her nation and family, Azula sees no reason to treat her that way. In fact, Azula is aware of ignorance about parenting, and tries to read as much about parenting as she can. She also reads as much about the water tribes as she can in order to try to understand Katara better.

In terms of being a “parent,” Azula is overall a little standoffish, absent, and demanding. She doesn’t need to directly look after Katara’s physical care(she has servants for that), but she has to look after Katara’s emotional needs, her education, and her overall care. As a temporary measure, she arranges that Katara sleep on a cot in Azula’s room because she’s not sure where to put her, and this arrangement becomes permanent. This means Azula and Katara usually eat together, since Azula has taken most of her meals in her room, but Azula is very busy with her duties, training, and education, so they don’t spend much time together in a typical day. Azula has Katara officially declared a servant(but one who only reports to Azula) in order to regularize her status and allow Katara to draw a salary(most of which Azula holds in escrow for when Katara comes of age), but Azula only rarely asks Katara to do work; Katara had far more chores back in the Southern Water Tribe. On the other hand, Azula demands that Katara work hard in her education and on practicing her waterbending. Katara is too old to be sent to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but Azula obtains tutors for her, in addition to getting her whatever waterbending scrolls she can and trying to obtain the best possible bending coaches for Katara’s waterbending, sometimes even stepping in herself to try to coach Katara.

Azula is aware that Katara wants to return home, but she doesn’t think that Ozai would ever allow that, and, in any case, Azula is an imperialist who thinks Katara is better off being “civilized” in the Fire Nation than she would be back in her ignorant and “savage” home. A large portion of Katara’s education is intended to “civilize” her. Azula doesn’t have firm ideas of where adult Katara will fit into Fire Nation society but plays with the idea of marrying her into the nobility or of making her governor of the conquered Water Tribes. So overall, Azula does a shockingly good job as “parent” given she’s an abused 11 year child acting within the toxic norms of the Fire Nation, but that still means she does a bad job, and her relationship with Katara remains pretty toxic.

Ozai and the rest of the court have some awareness of what’s going on, but they honestly don’t care as long Azula continues to be an exemplary princess, fulfills her duties, and continues to exceed expectations. Some members of the court even find Azula’s personal commitment to “civilizing” a savage to be inspiring. However, the burden of taking care of Katara means that Azula is under even more pressure than she is in canon, with the good news being that Azula has something more of a support network than in canon. Katara provides some measure of support, and in this AU Azula never has the energy to really push Ukano’s political career forward, and so Mai never has to leave, so Ty Lee also stays put.

Katara, again, is severely traumatized by her experiences, and to a degree feels helpless. She knows that she can’t escape and go back home. She’s resentful of Azula and particularly of the efforts to cut Katara off from her culture, but at the same time Katara ends internalizing some Fire Nation culture. Yet after a while Katara gets a sense of how toxic the environment is at the Royal Court, and she soon(after overhearing a conversation between Mai and Ty Lee which was supposed to be confidential) learns what happened to Zuko and realizes how much Azula risked in order to protect Katara, and Katara can’t help but feel intense gratitude to Azula for it. Azula also gradually becomes more and more respectful of Water Tribe culture, and Katara deeply appreciates the emphasis Azula places on Katara mastering waterbending. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are also the only people in the Fire Nation who are ever consistently kind to Katara, and Katara ends up deeply bonding with each one of them, although the resulting relationships are not the healthiest. Katara eventually starts to develop a sense of how each one of them has been deeply victimized by Fire Nation culture. Azula goes to great lengths to hide her own struggles and pain from Katara, but Katara spends a lot of time with her and sometimes notices. Several years in, Katara notices some positive changes in Azula and begins to play with the idea that she can positively influence Azula so that Azula will be become a kinder and anti-imperialist Firelord.

Azula thinks Katara’s waterbending is the coolest thing ever(well, aside from firebending at least), a sentiment shared to a lesser degree by Mai and Ty Lee. Azula also thinks that learning to fight is vital, so she brings Katara along for her spars with Mai and Ty Lee. Katara makes rapid progress, particularly due to her access to many waterbending scrolls. As a result of this, and of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee not separating, all four girls end up being significantly better combatants than they were in canon.

Mai and Ty Lee have complex reactions to Katara, but they eventually come to like and even love her. There is an element of resentment present because Katara takes up so much of the ever busy Azula’s time, but Azula forces her friends to spend time with Katara, and they end up bonding with her. Katara’s empathy and compassion works in her favor here, especially since she rapidly develops into one of the few people who sees and appreciates them for who they are. Mai and Ty Lee also find Katara’s waterbending to be an interesting and intriguing method of combat, soon come to respect Katara’s budding combat skills, and, as people deeply unhappy with their own places in society, they find Katara’s stories of life at the south pole to be interesting. Mai has issues with Katara being a little too “motherly,” but on the other hand appreciates that Katara pays attention to Mai’s actual desires and needs. Ty Lee sometimes finds Katara to be a little too similar to her for comfort, but also at the same time appreciates Katara’s caring side and the way she’s not reluctant to give her positive attention. Frequently Azula is too busy to join her friends, so Katara, Ty Lee, and Mai end up hanging out together. Freaks and outsiders stick together.

Azula, through her research into the Water Tribes, personal experience with Katara, and interest in Katara’s waterbending, begins to subtly yet strongly move in anti-imperialist directions and doubt Fire Nation ideology, but her transformation has scarcely begun by the time Book 1 begins. She does benefit from better relationships with her friends, though, and Katara gives her some emotional support. Meanwhile, to a lesser degree Mai and Ty Lee have had their own doubts develop about imperial ideology.

Azula tends to see her relationship with Katara mainly in terms of responsibility and duty, but she ultimately comes to fiercely love Katara.

Zuko and Iroh do their things, just like in canon. They receive vague reports about Katara’s presence in court, but they don’t understand the significance of them.

Sokka gets badly traumatized by losing his sister and believes her to be killed by the Fire Nation. Hakoda, Bato, and the water tribe warriors also still leave to fight the Fire Nation. Sokka is absolutely dedicated to seeking vengeance on the Fire Nation, and when he accidently defrosts Aang, he sees an opportunity.

Book 1 largely plays out the same, with minor changes. I think an interesting one is that Suki ends up joining a badly understrength Team Avatar and temporally leaving her warriors behind in order to aid Avatar Kyoshi’s reincarnation with the fulfillment of his destiny.

Book 2 opens with Azula being sent to capture Zuko and Iroh. Mai and Ty Lee tag along, in part with the hope of making sure Zuko is captured without being harmed, and Azula decides to bring Katara too rather than leave her alone in Caldera. However, the operation goes south, and Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Katara soon find themselves hunting the Avatar. Katara’s loyalties are about to be tested like never before…Meanwhile, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee all have seeds of anti-imperialism growing within them, but what will it take for these seeds to blossom and give fruit? Meanwhile, Azula grapples with not only her canon trauma but also the trauma she experienced through her parentification.

#Azula #Katara #Zuko #Iroh #Mai #Ty Lee #Ozai #Dangerous Ladies #Dangerous Ladies + Katara #ATLA au

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momsopposed2theoccult · 3 years

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It’s come to my attention that a good majority of people on this website have a really poor understanding of the conflict between Toph and Katara in “The Chase.” As somebody who loves both characters and their friendship, this irritates me. Without further ado, let’s unpack that in what is in theory supposed to be a meta but turned out more like a rant.

“Katara was hostile towards Toph because the fact that she’s a gender non-conforming girl made Katara uncomfortable because Katara is obsessed with gender roles.”

Alright, so right off the bat this is just... completely idiotic and clearly fuelled by an agenda (and likely also a lot of projection). First of all, how is Katara of “I don’t want to heal, I want to fight!” fame “obsessed with gender roles?” There’s an entire episode in Book One dedicated to Katara refusing to conform to societal norms for women in the Northern Water Tribe! Katara routinely calls Sokka out on his misogynistic bullshit! (Mind you I adore Sokka but he could be a little twerp at times and Katara was 100% right to challenge him on it) Katara is the feminist icon of ATLA! The fact that people act like Katara is some sort of conservative tradwife who loves gender roles instead of the outspoken feminist and political activist she is makes me incredibly angry.

Second of all, Katara was extremely kind and welcoming towards Toph at first. She gently encouraged her to join in with the group as they all set up camp together as opposed to setting up her own private camp. It’s only when Toph refuses to comply with her that Katara begins to get irritated. Mind you, Toph has her reasons for this, something I’ll get to in a minute, but from Katara’s perspective (key word here is perspective) she’s just being an annoying little stubborn, selfish, lazy, anti-social, entitled brat. Of course we the audience find out later that this isn’t the case at all (or at least in theory we should find out later but apparently some people on here skipped that part), but for all her many talents Katara is not a mind reader and has no way of knowing what’s going on inside Toph’s head, nor does she know her well enough yet to fully grasp the context behind why Toph acts the way she does. Katara is somebody who greatly values community and believes in teamwork, so Toph turning down her warm welcome in favour of “carrying her own weight” likely felt like a slap in the face. Not to mention that she’s already emotionally exhausted from having to constantly mother Aang and Sokka. If I were Katara, I likely would have reacted the same way.

Oh and I agree that the “the stars look beautiful tonight, too bad you can’t see them, Toph” comment was out of line, but it doesn’t make her a horrible person. It makes her a 14 year old, and 14 year olds can be nasty, especially sleep deprived 14 year olds. Katara is otherwise a very kind and compassionate person. Other characters have said worse than that. Hell, Toph herself has said worse than that. That being said, it was a deeply hurtful comment and I do like to imagine that she apologized for it off-screen.

“Toph is a lazy, entitled, and classist spoiled rich brat who just didn’t want to do chores and expected other people to wait on her.”

This is another one that makes me roll my eyes and ask if they even watched the show. First of all, the presumption that Toph is a lazy or entitled person is just... laughable. I feel like people forget that Toph isn’t actually an earthbending prodigy in the way that Azula is a firebending prodigy (I could say more about Azula and how her belief that she was the unshakeable prodigal daughter ultimately caused her downfall and how by the end of the series Zuko is arguably a better firebender than her but this isn’t a meta about Azula and Zuko, now is it?). Nah. Toph was a sheltered kid who discovered she had the ability to earthbend, was told that she could never become great at it because she was blind, and in response said FUCK THAT and decided to work her ass off until she was not only great but the very greatest all thanks to her crazy, stupid, off-the-charts nerve, drive, grit, ambition, and desire to prove people wrong about her. Does that sound like a lazy person to you? Believe me when I say that you do not achieve that kind of skill level by sitting around on your ass and expecting to have things handed to you. And entitled? Don’t make me laugh. Toph hates having things handed to her, that’s one of her defining characteristics.

As for the implication that she’s classist and enjoys basking in her family’s wealth and being waited on...... are you stupid? Did you even watch the show? Toph absolutely despises everything about her parents’ lifestyle. Growing up like that was traumatizing and restrictive for her. We’re talking about a girl who likes to play around in the mud for fuck’s sake. Toph does not care how much money you have. She never wanted any to begin with. She even says it herself; “I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. They gave me everything I could have wanted. But they never gave me what I actually needed - their love.” Not to mention that she easily could have continued to freeload off her parents wealth but instead chose to sneak out of the house and make her own money doing what she did best; disproving people’s assumptions about her earthbending. Oh and I’ve seen someone point this out before but WWE is generally considered a “low brow” activity that “proper” people frown upon and shouldn’t associate themselves with. Toph fucking loved it. I don’t know how seriously people take the comics, as they often miss the mark when it comes to characterization (Toph’s, however, was generally pretty accurate), but there’s a part in The Rift where Sokka asks her when she’s going to start charging people to learn metalbending and she gets all serious and flat out tells him that she will never do such a thing, because money doesn’t matter to her. Sharing her one true passion with the world is what matters to her. Oh and the part where she basically tells a bunch of rich and sleazy businessmen to fuck off and “stop thinking about money and start thinking about people’s lives” is just... *chef’s kiss* Sorry my thoughts here are so incoherent but this take is so piss poor and makes me so angry that I don’t even know where to start. As for “Toph enjoys being waited on” I just- *sigh* Toph has such a visceral and defensive reaction to any implication that she is unable to take care of herself. Like I said earlier, that’s one of her defining characteristics as well as the reason for her behaviour in “The Chase.” Where are people getting these takes?

You wanna know why Toph acted the way she did in The Chase? Well, first let’s recap her life up to this point. Toph was born the blind daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the Earth Kingdom. From day one her parents treated her like glass due to her disability. She was not allowed to leave her house unsupervised, and even then she was only permitted to walk around the gardens of her home. Every day of her life she was pitied, gaslit, babied, ignored, emotionally neglected, and made to feel ashamed of herself. She was not allowed to make any decisions for herself. She was not allowed to do anything for herself. She was not allowed to talk to other children. She had no friends. Other people didn’t even know she existed on account that her parents kept her locked up in her own home and didn’t tell anybody about her because they were so ashamed to have a blind daughter. Flash forward to “The Chase.” Toph begins to set up her own camp separate from the rest of the Gaang. Considering that she flat out was not socialized as a child and hadn’t even interacted with anybody her own age prior to a few days ago, this is understandable. So then Katara comes up to her and asks her why she isn’t setting up camp with the others as if she’s somehow incapable of taking care of herself (again, this is just what happened from her perspective) like she’s her mom or something and it just angers her because she thought she joined this group to get away from all that and she doesn’t understand how friends work because she’s never had one, all she knows is that apparently this girl thinks she isn’t capable of taking care of herself, and that infuriates her because it’s the exact same bullshit she thought she was running away from.

There’s a lot more I could say about this but I’m sick of typing so yeah in conclusion both of these takes are piss poor and I’m sick of having to read them. Stan Toph, Katara, and their friendship.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #toph beifong #nora speaks

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