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the-last-cuddlebender · 3 years

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I straight up check your profile daily for the southern raiders analysis you’re working on. 👀👀 where IS IT 😩

bRUH I am so excited to drop this analysis you have no idea (It’s creeping up to 22k+ I am gonna cryyyyyyyyyyyy). The only problem is that my TSR analysis and “Moon theory” are so incredibly hard to structure and articulate. I’m happy you’re so excited for it, though!!! Truly, it’s an honor. I’ll give you a taste of my madness and what’s to come, but be warned: it may be a bit hard to follow because TSR (from how I’ve come to understand it) is about the vagueness of beginnings, endings, and cycles, so there isn’t really a starting point for me to begin with. (So it may seem a tad bit like a ramble in some points that I haven’t fleshed out yet/am summarizing for this ask)

This analysis has me on trails like THIS brilliant nonsense, and I am 1000000000% here for it:

Roku: “The spirit's name is Koh, but he is very dangerous. They call him The Face Stealer.”

Katara: “We’re going to find the man who took my mother from me.”...“That’s him. That’s the monster.”

Lion Turtle: “To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed.”

Roku: “When you speak with him, you must be very careful to show no emotion at all. Not the slightest expression, or he will steal your face.”

Hama: “Congratulations, Katara. You’re a bloodbender.”

(If Katara had killed Yon Rha, she would be giving up her identity--her face. Not only would she have become a killer, but she would be killing what made her Katara)

Aang: “Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him.”

Forgive him--approach him for what he is, not the faces your memories or your heart are having him wear. See him for the pathetic man he is in that moment right in front of you.

Aang’s forgiveness is seeing someone for the sum of their parts. It’s judging them and seeing through into their very soul, just like the Firebending Masters saw through Zuko being the Crown Prince and Aang being the Avatar. That meant nothing to the Masters. What did matter to them was who the boys were right there, right then, right in front of them.

“Why should I hold a grudge against you for something you did in a past life? After all, you’re a different person, now. You’ve come to me with a new face.”

But anyways...

If I can give no other take-away from my analysis and moon theory, it’s that Yin and Yang are not two entities; they are three. I think the fandom’s misunderstanding of it may be why the discourse on TSR (and Aang, Katara, and Zuko) is so black and white (pun intended lol).

“But Yin and Yang are obviously two things. Don’t you know the symbol?” I hear some people already saying.

Wrong, sir.

It has never been just Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang have never existed as just two things.

They are Yin and Yang and Wu Wei.

(Aunt Wu has her name for a reason, and she has the mark of the wise in her hair for a reason, too...AND she is at odds with Sokka in The Fortuneteller for a reason, too!!!...but that’s for the analysis😉)

Balance isn’t good triumphing over evil. Balance is good and evil. Balance is standing on the flow between two opposites--it’s the compliment that connects them. (The koi fish live in an oasis for a reason.)

I’ll explain what Wu Wei is later in the full analysis (like many things in here), but here’s some of my evidences and proofs for the “Yin Yang trio”:

The Tibetan “Wheel of Dharma”

(I’ll also explain the Wheel and Dharma and etc. later because it has everything to do with Koh and the moon) Long story short, the wheel and its spokes are representative of the 8 steps to enlightenment and the cycle of rebirth.

Look at the hub of the wheel. It’s a swirl made of 3 parts.

It is also a white lotus

Here’s the colored version of the wheel (as an alter):

Recognize the colors?

BLUE, WHITE (or gold, depending), & RED

These are the “THREE TREASURES” OR JEWELS.

They symbolize DHARMA, BUDDHA, & SANGHA respectively.

KATARA, AANG, & ZUKO

water, air, & fire

T H R E E

Bato: “Ice dodging is a ceremonial test of wisdom, bravery, and trust.

Bato: “The spirits of water bear witness to these marks...”

Why does Bato say spirit(s) plural? The Ocean and the Moon are only two spirits. The Ocean can’t be two things. Right?

WRONG

Yue: “The legends say the Moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves.”

The Moon--singular. The Tides--plural (push and pull)

Lion Turtle: “In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within our senses.”

The moon pushing and pulling the tide is the moon bending the energy of its world.

Katara finding balance between “being too weak to do it” or “strong enough not to” is her bending the energy within herself.

It’s two solutions written as a question but said as a statement.

Yue: “Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves”

THE SOUTHERN RAIDERS IS ABOUT AANG AND ZUKO LEARNING FROM KATARA. Katara had already learned from Aang and Zuko all leading up to TSR. That was her studying. TSR was her test.

TSR is Zuko’s and Aang’s studying. Sozin’s Comet is their test.

Bato: “For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise. The same mark your father earned. For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us. And for Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You are now an honorary member of the Water Tribe.”

Aang - Wise (”you’re pretty wise for a kid”)

Katara - Brave (the same mark her mother earned)

Zuko - Trusted (”I was the first person to trust you”)

Sokka - Bato ("I am to have no part in this--you pass or fail on your own.”)

Yin and Yang are nothing without their dance. The Avatar and the Firelord mean nothing if they don’t have a world to rebuild.

The valley means nothing if there isn’t anyone to live in it.

Fighting is useless if there isn’t someone to fight for, otherwise it is “selfish and stupid”

Katara had to have a reason to return from Yon Rha. She needed to have Aang waiting for her. If she didn’t have a reason to stay, then she wouldn’t have a reason to go.

To have a reason to sleep, a person has to have a reason to wake up.

Katara: “Aang. He just took his glider and disappeared. He has this ridiculous notion that he has to save the world alone; that it's all his responsibility.”

Hakoda: “Maybe that's his way of being brave.”

(Bato: “For Katara, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage inspires us.”)

Katara: “It's not brave! It's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him! And I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?!”

(It was, in fact, not easy for Aang to ‘do nothing’)

Katara: “I understand why you left. I really do, and I know that you had to go, so why do I still feel this way? I'm so sad and angry...and hurt.”

Hakoda: “I love you more than anything. You and your brother are my entire world. I thought about you every day when I was gone, and every night when I went to sleep, I would lie awake missing you so much it would ache.”

(AND YUE IS ONE OF THE ONES TO SAVE AANG IN THE OCEAN FOR A REASON)

Thinking and missing: a matter of mind (who) and heart (want).

Iroh: “Who are you? And what do you want?”

Sokka: “We need to go back. I wanna see Dad, but helping Aang is where we're needed the most.”

Mai: “I love Zuko more than I fear you.”

BUT YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT THE MOON FOR A HOT SECOND???

I’LL TELL YOU ABOUT THE MOON

I’LL TELL YOU ABOUT 2 MOONS

OH REALLY???

OH REALLY, ZUKO

A FEW HOURS YOU SAY?

THEN TELL ME, ZUKO

WHY IS THE SUN GOING UP

WHEN IT IS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT A FEW HOURS LATER

AND KATARA IS SLEEPING SO YOU CAN’T TELL ME IT’S BECAUSE YOU RISE WITH THE SUN OTHERWISE SHE’D BE WIDE AWAKE DURING THE FULL MOON THAT SHE USES TO BLOODBEND NOT EVEN TWO MINUTES LATER

THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS A HARVEST MOON

WHICH IS THE LAST FULL MOON OF THE SUMMER

(and looks off color when it rises/falls because of the angle of the rise/fall in the atmosphere...it’s normal once overhead)

AND SYMOLIZES HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF

“We’re going to find the MAN who took my mother from me.”

“That’s him. That’s the MONSTER.”

8 spokes on the wheel

Katara was 8 when Kya was killed

8 steps to enlightenment (the “Eightfold Path”)

8 phases of the moon

8 faces of Koh

“One of your previous incarnations tried to slay me! Be it 8 or 9 hundred years ago” (but time is an illusion, so hundreds mean nothing)

THE OTHER TWO MOONS THAT ARE CONSUMING MY EVERY WAKING MOMENT???:

1.) The WOLF MOON--the first full moon of the new year (a love between the wolf and the moon in the harshest winters...connection is kindof obvious lmao)

2.) THE THUNDER MOON

The Thunder Moon is the full moon of July. It is also known as the Buck Moon--for when young buck regrow their antlers.

Yue: “My hair turned white.”

Zuko: *cuts and re-grows his hair*

Aang: “I have hair?”

The Thunder Moon--the full moon of July--is also the beginning of a certain Buddhist holiday.

DHARMA DAY

WHICH CELEBRATES THE BEGINING OF BUDDHISM AND THE FIRST OF THE 8 STEPS (the first spoke of the Dharma Wheel) TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT

AVATAR IS ALL ABOUT CYCLES

THE SOUTHERN RAIDERS IS ALL ABOUT BREAKING THEM

I haven’t even touched Jung, Koh, Hinduism, and Buddhism yet

or the fact that Katara and Kya are the only characters in the entire series to wear moons on their clothing and that, together, they form an actual lunar phenomenon

or why the spirit oasis isn’t a complete circle

or the fact that this thing that Aang is told to chase is just like Whaletail Island:

or how important the Great Divide and the Solstice are

AND I’M JUST GETTING STARTED

BECAUSE EVERYTHING IN THE SOUTHERN RAIDERS--RIGHT DOWN TO THE SOUND DESIGN--IS ABSOLUTELY MONUMENTAL IN UNDERSTANDING THE SHOW, ITS MESSAGE, ENERGYBENDING, AND LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE

TLDR: Idk how the heck I’m going to arrange or articulate this analysis because it is WILD. Be warned: There is literally no exact beginning and ending to this analysis because the whole point of Yin and Yang is that is has no beginning or ending (...kindof...), so you’ll have to bear with me once I’m done editing it into something that’s somewhat coherent.

These are just SOME of the things I’ve been able to answer with my moon theory and analysis of The Southern Raiders as it currently stands:

Why “letting go” isn’t really letting go (as we understand it...see: Aang’s confrontation with Koh)

Why Lake Laogai and the Spirit World are symbolically the same thing.

Zuko’s advice to the bullfrog is actually a summary of the show, energybending, the origin of bending, and the definition of Aang’s “forgiveness” I stg

Why “Sokka’s instincts” are the reason Katara yells at Sokka

Believe it or not, every time Katara mentions her mother, it is at specific times for specific reasons.

^^^same thing for the moon, lack of moon, moon positioning, etc.

Katara’s mother’s necklace is more important than we realize.

Who the faces of Koh are and WHY they are there.

The true meaning of Jet’s sacrifice.

Why Jet’s episode about the dam explains the entirety of TSR as it pertains to Katara (all the way down to the little girl who runs to get her doll after the dam breaks)

Why Katara actually DID forgive Yon Rha, and the fact that she doesn’t even know it is proof that she did

^^^^^Aang’s definition of forgiveness is completely misunderstood by the fandom, and the way he “forgives” is sososo much deeper than “moving on”, and it is DEFINATELY by no means “doing nothing” or “excusing” past actions.

The importance of lightning, Zuko, Aang, and Katara.

The absolutely monumental and not nearly talked about importance of Jeong-Jeong like holy crap.

How Katara and Azula are just as much of a Yin and Yang as Zuko and Aang but not in the way we think they are

Why Koh has the Blue Spirit’s face

Why Koh DOESN’T have the Painted Lady’s face.

Who Ni-Ni from Katara’s campfire story in The Puppetmaster is

How and why Iroh was able to learn firebending from the Masters even though he didn’t have a partner.

How/Why Azula had her breakdown and why she saw her mother in the mirror

Why “Leaves from the Vine” and “Four Seasons” are the same song, explain Azula’s downfall, and explain the Yin and Yang of TSR.

Why Katara and Sokka are so often mistaken for parental figures.

Why Aang’s flashbacks to the Air Nomads are so important in understanding TSR.

Why Toph and Suki disappear after the campfire in TSR.

How Hakoda, Gyatso, and Kya are all connected.

Why it is so dang important that Azula shows up in the beginning of TSR.

The importance of the Spirit Oasis.

Energybending, healing with waterbending, Aang’s trauma, and Zuko’s scar.

Why Zuko gives Katara the exact opposite advise in TSR that he gave her in the catacombs.

How everything could be predicted and read by the moon.

WHY YIN AND YANG ARE THREE THINGS AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THREE THINGS.

HOW ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OF THIS TIES BACK TO THE MOON AND BUDDHIST BELIEFS--AND YEAH THE MOON AND BUDDHISM AND HINDUISM ARE MORE CONNECTED IN ATLA THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.

AND HOW IT LEADS INTO OUR MODERN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SELF--BECAUSE JUNG TOOK GREAT INFLUENCE IN HIS DEVELOPING THEORY OF THE CONSCIOUS AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS FROM THE HINDU/BUDDHIST RELIGIONS

^^^^AND ALSO THE THEORY OF THE SHADOW AND THE PERSONA

The ocean is a deep, dark, unknown place with a lot of hidden monsters (like Yon Rah). Katara needed a light to find her monster, but she also needed somewhere she could breathe when she came back up for air.

If she didn’t have both Zuko and Aang, Katara would have drowned.

I wasn’t kidding when I said this was a thesis, and what I’ve said and listed here isn’t even all that I have.

btw This all does line up on the traditional Yin Yang symbol we know and see in the show, but I don’t have enough space here for that lmao. That’ll be in the analysis

I hope you enjoyed this little taste, my friend, because I need to sit down for a hot second before my brain leaks out of my ears. Sorry for the ramble. I promise the analysis isn’t like this lol. This is just me trying to summarize as best as I can.

***Disclaimer: My points are always subject to change since I am still researching. These are the facts as I’ve found and applied them to the evidences I’ve noted from in the show. I’m always open for friendly discussion or any directions to better sources on Buddhism/Tao/Jung!***

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lightdancer1 · 2 years

Text

Third POV of the three parts

Ozai knew and had always known that he was not really like others. There was one of his siblings like him, and dear cousin Jiren, a decade younger than he was, had quite literally and gleefully murdered her parents and was rotting in jail now. She too had burned animals alive for fun and had pulled apart insects purely to see what happened when she did. She did not have the same difficulties in staying still, perhaps, nor did she share his amusement with lies and seeing what people could make of them.

Ozai had seldom felt true emotions, and of them the main ones had been fear and anger. One could not grow up in the eyes of his mother, as he did, and not be encouraged to feel it. The near-religious veneration he held for Father did not change things, if anything it had encouraged him.

That veneration had creaked when Father took his child and nothing had followed. It creaked, yes, but had not shattered until Father brought out the 'boy' and he saw the dead eyes of his own daughter looking out from something that left him wondering if the madness within him wasn't something Mother praised him for but a curse on his family's line.

His world shattering like the glass sculpture, priceless and a worthy gift for his father that he'd shattered on the day of the old man's birthday as a gift to Mother (the last gift he'd given her) led to that entrails-gnawing thing that had beset him since. Others would have recognized it as sadness, as grief, or what Ozai could come closest to with grief. All Ozai knew was that it gnawed at him and weighed on him like an invisible enemy he could not fight.

Father's words changed grief to the blazing bonfires of anger, a volcanic fury that laced his face and which his Father saw and where Azulon (the first time he began to think of Father by name and would never call him that word again save once and that with a smile on his face) gloated at him. He knew Azulon hated him, but there was hate and there was whatever twisted game this was.

The being that wore his daughter's face but....changed, in clothes and hairstyle, listened to the ceremony and went along with it. Azula had always been a spirited child, one willing to listen to him, to let him show her some of the things that had made him one of the world's most powerful Firebenders. Both of his kids did and after so long of sneering Fathers and the warm encouragements of Mother, and yet for all that being expected to be silent and be seen as Mad (he knew his mind was not right and he struggled against it. Ursa brought out what good in him there was and it still wasn't enough to resist that sport of violence, and he knew that but it was one thing to know and another to actually stop it when it wanted to start) it was the headiest possible thing.

People who actually cared for him, people he could make into a legacy to be proud of. Zuko.......was Zuko. Had his mother's softness but not her iron ruthlessness and no trace of that fire that could cut steel. Many times it was easy to forge that his rocky start with Firebending meant he only suffered for comparison to Azula. That Ozai himself had been much like him, weak, not showing fire until he was four.

Azula had been his favorite and insofar as he came close to loving anyone other than Ursa it had been her. She had taken his lessons to heart and understood his driving will. It took enough corrections to keep her focused, and he had worried a few times when she had gone to the Academy after the rougher lessons. Her friend Mai's father, Ukano, was an unprincipled little shit and those children might have known enough that they could have spoken of it.

And now Iroh, golden, darling, beloved Iroh, Hero of the Fire Nation, had taken the child he loved from him. Had accepted the ceremony and gone on with this absurd farce. Not enough that he had stolen Father's love, that he was allowed to go forth and rule (and even Ursa was allowed to do more for the Fire Nation than he was). Not enough that he was as masterful in war as he was in Firebending, that his armies had won all the major campaigns he'd fought in except this one. Iroh had proven such a poor judge of everything in the end that he had brought his own son to death on the battlefield, a hazard that should have ever have happened.....and it was Ozai, not Iroh, punished for his brother's mistakes.

His daughter was the instrument of that punishment, twisted into something that should never have been to meet an old man's spite. His hands kept clenching into fists, his jaw set firmly, and he resisted the impulse, though it was one of the hardest struggles he had ever done, to call the cold fire and strike the old man down now, in front of everyone and everything else.

Father was waiting for something like this from him, so he focused on the part of him that thirsted for violence and for strife, willing it to contain the part that could not stay still for long. A hard struggle, and a long one, but it worked.

And then the deed was done and they were sent back to their part of the Palace. Zuko, his weakling milksop of a son, did not say much for the rest of the day. Even he, who often had as little judgment of people as Ozai himself did, sensed that the volcano was waiting for something to set it off.

He prepared himself for another tiresome speech from Ursa, as if words could fix a mind he had gradually learned was deeply damaged, a mind that his best efforts to fix could not. He was waiting for condemnation and instead for the first time the look in her eyes was a true mirror to his own.

And that deep loneliness in him ebbed for a moment as he began, for the first time, to prepare for something that Azulon, were he half as wise as he professed himself to be, might have expected. It was the barest embers of a thought that would take a long time to erupt into a fully-fledged flame, and longer still to be set in motion.

But for the first time in his life, Ozai, son of Azulon, no longer felt that impossible wish to make his Father happy with him, to hear words of warmth and what most people called love from him. For the first time, the other emotions that were hidden beneath and had always been since his Father had seen him as the Unworthy Son and had taken his broken mind and seen in it a reason to hate him for something he had never had a choice in.

At supper that night, as Zuko sat with the Stillness (and something in Ozai felt that strange grief and yet an equally strange pride in his son's understanding the deeper truths), Ozai spoke quietly, "I will find a way to fix this. Iroh should never have agreed to this farce, but when he did? No." Ozai's voice was quiet, and dangerous.

"For now," his gaze turned to Zuko, "I will take more focus on teaching you, Zuko."

His son gulped but did not object and Ozai's lips peeled back into what most people called a smile.

"Good. Not the most patriotic choice of metaphor, but the winds of change are beginning to blow, Zuko. And all of us shall be a part of ensuring that they do."

#atla aus #prince azulon ii au

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chitsangenthusiast · 3 years

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Oh oh oh THAT I do wanna know. What do the mallrats steal at their jobs?

mallrats 🥺🥺 that's the cutest nickname for them wtf lmao HERE WE GO

sokka: he used to steal way more when he first started out, but even then it wasn't really that much, and he'll admit that stealing loses its thrill when you don't actually have much of a need for any of it so he's largely lost interest in doing it—that is, until the holidays come around

all those free posters and displays and string lights? taken straight to his car in january and reused for other projects lol bc that is the kind of free stuff he can get behind. he's not gonna let that good foam board go to waste!!!

also: stealing from his store may be boring but stealing from the jasmine dragon isn't, and when i say stealing from the shop i ofc stealing from zuko. he takes whatever he can get away with bc sokka is five and this is one of the ways he flirts, apparently lmao

he refuses to tell zuko just how many of his flannels he's taken from him tho, mostly bc he's pretty sure zuko is letting him steal them on purpose and he's not about to acknowledge his victories could be falsely earned

(he has three. including the exact same blue one he owns, but he couldn't let zuko know he knows he's being set up so he was forced to take it too lol thankfully they wear the same size bc he has no clue which one was originally his now)

zuko: he doesn't pay for his drinks (it's his uncle's shop c'mon) and sometimes he'll take home samples to see if he likes it enough to buy a canister, but nothing much more than that

so zuko steals from sokka's store more, in retaliation to sokka stealing from his store, but unlike sokka he actually goes for the store supplies lol just small things since there's cameras around, and whenever he gets caught sokka just sighs and rolls his eyes at him

(ex: pens, t-pins, receipt paper, sokka's clipboard, sokka's bracelets, sokka's sanity bc he swears if zuko doesn't try to start stealing kisses soon......)

got a little long, so the rest of the cast below!

korra: doesn't really care about stealing anything bc wtf does she need from a clothing store?? but she does inflate her email+phone rewards numbers occasionally by using fake ones

(sokka knows but doesn't really care, since he does it sometimes too. he just keeps track to make sure corporate doesn't catch on)

bolin and opal: aside from taking home the occasional name tag, they play fast and loose with the time clock (if they're getting paid by the second, then they're not going to clock out until sokka is yelling at them!). altho opal does have a habit of hiding things around the store so that she can purchase them later lol

isda: is the reason why 'workplace theft' is even something the corporate retail worries about lmaoo she's worked at this store for ages, she can decide her own personal bonuses, and at this point, she couldn't even give you a ballpark monetary value of all the stuff she's stolen. just know that if you ever suddenly need a cardigan that goes with your outfit, she's got like twelve in her car

toph: she screwed up by working at a place that doesn't have anything cool enough to steal, so she fills this void by stealing zuko's wallet whenever she's bored. it's turned into a competition that sokka tried to join in on, but one sly comment from her about how zuko keeps his wallet in his back pocket made him stop Very Quickly lol

suki: if her store is missing any sort of office supply, you can assume suki stole it. that and all the different types of S hooks they have bc yue uses them for her crafts <3

chit sang: his quitting may have looked spontaneous, but he actually knew he was going to leave with a bang for a good three months. the only reason why it didn't happen earlier was bc he wanted to steal so much shit without getting caught, so he had to spend the time carefully phasing things out of the store first!

(the best thing he stole was one of the rolling carts with the portable tag detacher on it. he has no clue how he got away with that one)

iroh: it's his store so technically you can't call anything he takes as 'stealing' bc at the end of the day the money still comes out of a bank account with his name on it

bonus! katara and bakoda: ok they don't come in often but when they do they steal two things every time:

1. deals, thanks to sokka's employee discount

2. hearts, and sokka suffers literally so much

(he'll never be able to erase from his memory the sound of korra going "oh" when his dads walked in, followed by the extremely far more interested "oh" when she first saw katara. absolutely wretched!!!!!!!)

read mallrat here!

#thank you for this i love creating lore that will never end up in the fic bc it may not be plot-relevant but it brings me so much joy!#toph has also stolen a pothos from the front of the shop for fun. the thing is now mammoth-sized #suki and yue dating in mallrat world is the one thing i wish i could've figured out how to include bc it's v cute to me lol #they met through sokka <3 #('bc he swears if zuko doesn't try stealing kisses soon' ohohoh 👌)#zukka #zuko #sokka #mallrat #ask #anon

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omnivorousshipper · 3 years

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I'm going to send yesterday's ask here, like you said. I'm going to do an Avatar The last Airbender request this time. If it's in your style, could you do a Sokka angst fic after the war where he's really depressed and blamimg himself for a lot of things because of some events that happen gradually, like Zuko and Katara getting hurt and he gets taken with one of the other Gaang members (it could be Toph, Zuko, Aang or Katara) and they both get tortured, but Sokka's turn comes when the other is out cold so they don't know. And because they don't know, he tries to hide it, and when they find out, they yell at him and stuff for worrying them. And could you make it so that his low spirit makes him need some mental healing as well. Wait, do you do angst? If this is too much, you can say then I can change the request. I may have gone overboard. Oh my god, I tend to go far with angst. Please, please tell me if this is much too long and too angsty. If this is too much, please tell me, so I can change it. Umm...have a nice day 😅

I absolutely love writing angst! You’ve definitely come to the right place, friend! I don’t usually write from Sokka’s POV but I love him dearly, just as much as I love the rest of the Gaang! Thanks for this request! And I hope you have a nice day too!

Warning: Brief descriptions of burns and torture

~~~

The courtyard was quiet as Sokka sat on one of the stone benches in the corner and stared at the pond with unfocused eyes. The afternoon sun was warm on his face and arms, and shown on the pond’s surface beautifully. Turtleducks were swimming in circles and playing to their hearts’ content as their mother sat from the pond’s edge. Following the slow circles of the animals, Sokka hunched over and felt the scrolls in his arms start to slip. Not caring, he kept his eyes on the pond.

It had been several months since the war had ended, but somehow the world had gotten even crazier and simply loved to drag Sokka along for the ride.

He had been staying in the Fire Nation for the last two months to help Zuko find people to add to his council. Everyone who had been on his father’s was either power hungry or plain sadistic. As Sokka and Zuko had found out the hard way.

Shivering, the courtyard disappeared for a second as Sokka saw the small dungeon he had been stuck in. His arms chained above his head for hours on end, sweltering heat surrounding him as he heard lava bubble not too far away from him. But the worst part had been watching how much pain Zuko had been in.

Zuko’s arms had been twisted behind his back and forced straight upwards to hang in the middle of the cavern they had been trapped in. Leather bags had been forced over his hands and feet to stop him from shooting out any fire while a leather muzzle had fixed over his face. Sokka had never seen Zuko breath fire, but he knew Iroh and Azula had the ability so it wasn’t surprising their captors were taking every precaution.

Sokka had no idea he had been forced to be a hostage inside a literal volcano, but he would never forget the time he had been in there. Especially when their captor had arrived.

The man was an old general that had been on the Fire Lord’s council ever since Azulon had been in charge. He had sneered when Zuko had come into the council room, telling everyone that they are dismissed and their advice never needed again. Sokka had assumed everyone would listen to the Fire Lord, but apparently he had been wrong.

Instead, the old general had simply blackmailed one of the staff to put something in the tea they had been drinking while talking over potential people for the council. All Sokka had thought was Fire Nation tea tasted weird and ignored the slightly salty taste- they were on an island after all. Sokka wished he had known just how easy it would be to drug the Fire Lord. Maybe then he wouldn’t have let Zuko get captured and hurt.

That was all he could think as he hung suspended in the air across from Zuko. It had been heart wrenching to watch the firebender struggle to get out of his bonds, but only to be left exhausted. He could even see the chains holding Zuko up turn red hot and burn him. He had immediately shouted for his friend to stop.

They had simply hung there after that.

Until the general showed up.

Sokko hadn’t even remember his name back then. He had vaguely recognized the old guy, but didn’t know who he was. He just wasn’t important to Sokka at the moment. Now though, Sokka would never forget his name. General Shakao.

The man had stepped into the cavern, a fierce sneer on his face as he ignored Sokka and stepped right up to Zuko.

“Well, well. How the might have fallen.” The man sneered. “And here I thought Sozan’s line would never let themselves be captured. How pathetic.”

Sokka growled and struggled in his bonds as Zuko tried to kick out at the man. Instead of moving away from the kick, Shakao grabbed Zuko’s ankle. Freezing, Sokka stared at the two.

“I wonder just how much fire your father had to use to give you that scar.” Shakao wondered aloud. “Let’s test it, shall we?”

“No!” Sokka screamed. “Leave him alone!”

His words were completely ignored as Shakao’s face burst into flame and Zuko’s scream could be heard through the leather muzzle. Sokka struggled more and more as he watched, but to no success. He was stuck. He couldn’t do anything. He was so useless!

Sokka could still smell burning flesh.

The torture seemed to go on forever until Shakao had dropped Zuko’s leg. Tears were streaming down Zuko’s face and Sokka wished he could do anything to help him. Why couldn’t he get out of these chains? If only he had more training! He should have asked Suki or even Ty Lee about how to get out of chains. Why didn’t he think? He was supposed to be the guy with the plan!

“So weak.” Shakao chuckled. “And you thought you’d be able to lead our nation? You’re just a weak child!” Once again, Shakao’s hand burst into flame as he punched Zuko straight in the stomach. It only took a few moments for his robes to burn away around Shakao’s fist. Sokka couldn’t take his eyes off the bare skin that was quickly being burned.

“Stop! Tui and La, let him go!” Sokka shouted. But no matter how much he screamed and begged the man, he didn’t stop burning Zuko. This went on until Sokka saw Zuko’s eyes roll into the back of his head, at least half of his body burned horribly from Shakao’s fire. Sokka had no idea how his friend had lasted that long, but he was glad to see he was no longer feeling pain while unconscious.

“How disappointing. No Fire Lord should let themselves be harmed by fire. Disgraceful.”

“Because Fire Lords aren’t fireproof!” Sokka snarled. He wasn’t sure he was happy Shakao finally turned away from Zuko and towards him. Lifting his head, Sokka met Shakao’s eyes and glared harshly. Anything to keep the man’s attention off Zuko.

“And a Fire Lord bringing some water tribe peasant into the palace-!” Shakao snarled.

Before Sokka knew what was happening, a firey punch impacted with his left hip.

Flinching, Sokka could still feel the burned skin. It was constantly rubbing against his clothes along with all the other burns Shakao had left on him: down his thighs, back, and shoulders. Sokka had yet to look at them in the mirror, but he knew they were bad. Almost as if he didn’t have any skin left.

Taking a deep breath, Sokka blinked and saw the young turtleducks had stopped swimming around and were cuddled up under their mother’s wing. When had he stopped paying attention?

Sitting up, Sokka hissed in pain as his back stretched painfully and burned skin pulled tightly. He could feel tears running down his cheeks as he heard the scrolls he had been holding finally fell from his lax grasp.

When he and Zuko had finally been found by the rest of the Gaang, Sokka had told them to help Zuko first. He hadn’t woken up even after Shakao had left them hanging there with their wounds. They had rushed back to the palace and Katara hadn’t left Zuko’s chambers, trying to heal him. Sokka hadn’t bothered her with his own burns; they would heal by themselves, Zuko’s looked far worse.

That had been two days ago and Sokka had tried to distract himself from the pain by looking through any scroll he could get his hands on. This was his fault. He should have noticed the danger Shakao had shown to be. He should have told Zuko to have a royal taste tester as his main advisor.

It was his fault Zuko had gotten hurt.

Gasping for breath, Sokka scrubbed at his face viciously to get rid of the tears. He was a warrior! He should be embracing the pain and not allow it to control him!

“Sokka?”

Flinching hard, he looked up and saw Katara standing in front of him, concern deep in her eyes. He hated seeing his little sister so worried.

“What’s up?” He tried to go for casual but knew he just sounded tired.

“Are you alright? Toph said you were hurt too. Did you visit one of the other healers?” Katara asked gently and sat next to him on the bench.

“Yeah. I wasn’t hurt that bad. Just my shoulders from hanging there for so long, you know.” Sokka shrugged slightly and cringed when even that small motion made his whole back flare up in agony. “But, how’s Zuko? Is he ok?”

“Zuko’s doing better.” Katara sighed. “But he’s really worried about you, Sokka. He says Shakao hurt you.”

“No, I’m fine.” Sokka sent her a smile.

“Sokka…”

Why did she look so blurry all of a sudden?

Taking a shaky breath, Sokka felt his chest tighten and a sob broke through his lips. He realized that tears were running down his face again. He couldn’t stop them. Why? Why couldn’t he stop crying?

Arms wrapped around him and one brushed against his back. Sokka wanted to scream, but instead, a small whimper came out.

“What’s wrong?” Katara whispered as she withdrew her arm. Without waiting for an answer, she lifted his shirt and he could feel the air on his skin. A sharp gasp left her. “Oh, Sokka, I’m so sorry-!”

“It’s nothing!” Sokka rushed to say, but it sounded more like begging. He was fine! They would be worried about Zuko, not him!

“I’m so sorry.”

When had Katara started crying? His baby sister should never cry, especially not over him. He shouldn’t have made her cry.

He could feel her arms wrapping around him again, this time around his neck than back and he couldn’t help but wrap his arms around her as well. Shoving his face in her shoulder, another sob left him and Sokka could feel himself unraveling.

~~~

I hope you enjoyed friend!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #sokka #zuko #angst #injury #tw burns #katara #asks #fanfic #omni writes #omni answers

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talas-starlight · 3 years

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Scarred Spirits - Zuko x fem! reader (pt.5)

SUMMARY: y/n wakes up in an unfamiliar place and tries to find her way back to her mission (i suck at summaries LOL)

WORD COUNT: 2.3k

WARNINGS: swearing, fighting? kinda?

OTHER PARTS: pt1 / pt2 / pt3 / pt4 / pt6

MASTERLIST: Here!

A/N: anddddd we’re back!!! hehe thank you to everyone who has been so so patient with me i am so greatful && hopefully youre just as excited as i am for this series heheh

Bricks. You felt as though you were just hit with a tonne of bricks. The idea of even opening your eyes to the harsh sunlight, which you could feel through your eyelids felt like the worst idea in the world. Your dry throat didn’t help at all either. Maybe if I just lay wherever the fuck I am, I’ll magically gain the energy to move again. Or better yet, maybe the ground will swallow me whole, and I can forget about this mission altogether.

Abruptly interrupting your painful stillness on the ground, there was a small kick into your left side. The sudden shock immediately sent your brain swirling into all the ways you could eliminate whoever disturbed your peace.

“Hey… I think she’s dead.”

Ah, the wonderful sound of an annoying, teenage boy. They’ll be easy to take out.

A second female voice emerged. “She's not dead Sokka! She's literally breathing!" Sokka? As in Hakodas son? Oh Spirits, you never fail to amaze me with how you choose to dictate my life. Hmmm, then that means the girl is Katara. Yay.

"Yeah?! Then why the hell hasn't she even moved a single inch since we found her!"

"Well, maybe she's protesting against your annoying poking!" Spirits they're annoying and loud.

A third voice attempted to intervene, "Guys…. Stop, she's fine. Trust me." Hmm, that's considerably younger. 10 years old perhaps? Or a bit older? 12 maybe? Male?

"Oh yeah? How can you be so sure Aang."

"Well Katara is right, she is breathing for one. But…. There's something else about her, I can feel it."

"What? Like an avatar thingy?"

"Yeah."

Wait the Avatar? Wasn't he on that dragon from when I was-

"Hmmm right, well what are we going to do with her?" At that statement, the annoying boy who seemed to be so confident that you were dead, kicked you again. Sick of his irritable presence, with as much strength you could muster, you took your right hand quickly snatching his ankle, and yanking it towards you, causing him to lose balance and ultimately backwards. Letting out a high-pitched yelp as he thudded onto the hard ground, you quickly rose to your knees. Taking the hand gripped around his ankle to tug him closer to you, you moved between his legs until you were able to straddle his waist, placing all of your weight on top of him. Finally, you grabbed both his arms, holding them above his head, completely hindering him from moving.

"If you kick me one more time, or even trying anything like that again, I WILL chop your legs off. Got it?"

Staring at you with pure horror in his eyes, he visibly gulped, nodding. "Yes! Yes! Hear it loud and clear. Totally got it! Just call me Sokka, the guy with perfect understanding."

Moving your right hand from his wrists, you firmly gripped his jaw, forcing him to keep eye contact with you. Taking in his scared features, you smirked even though he couldn't see it. "You sure about that, water boy?"

"YES! YES!", frantically nodding, you could tell that if you kept pressing on, he'd probably burst into tears soon. Bringing his voice down to a pathetic whimper, he let out, "please don't hurt me."

Finally lifting yourself off him, you let out a dry laugh, satisfied with his compliance. "Uh-huh. Right."

Turning your head to the people that belonged to the other two voices, you took in their stunned and weakly defensive stances. Chest heaving at your sudden physical movements, you nodded, acknowledging them. "Hey, Avatar. Katara. So, where am I?"

After a few moments of silence, the Avatar spoke up first. “You’re just outside of Omashu.”

Katara elbowed Aang, instantly alarmed at his calm nature towards you. “Aang! You can’t just say that. We don’t know who this person is or how she even knows my name! She could be with the Fire Nation for all we know!”

“Katara it’s alright! Calm down.”

“Calm down?! She just attacked Sokka! I mean, rightfully so- but it’s a little suspicious. We don’t know who she is or her intentions.”

Sighing, you looked around, taking in your surroundings. It seemed that rocky mountains surrounded you with a small group of tents in the distance. Interesting… why are they all Earth Kingdom people, when Omashu is so close by?

Shifting your attention back towards the three, you decided against telling them who you were. “It doesn’t matter how I know any of your names. What matters is that I need to get back to my original mission.”

Sokka scoffed, moving to stand beside his sister. “Your mission? Let me guess; you’re here to kill Aang too.”

Raising an eyebrow, his eyes immediately widened in fear. “Trust me, water boy, if I wanted him dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I’m here on… other confidential business.” Met with silence from all three of them you moved on, “so let me guess, you found Omashu invaded by the Fire Nation, and you three were the ones that helped that tiny camp of people over there escape from their rule. Interesting choice considering there are bigger things you should be worrying about. Yet, why are all of you still here? Surely the Avatar and his friends don’t need to train them in how to look after themselves.”

“We’re going back into Omashu. To make a trade for King Bumi and to give the governor his son back.” Why does he keep willingly give me information? Now that’s interesting. I can barely feel any fire within him either, it’s almost as if it's not there at all…

“Okay. I’ll accompany you all into Omashu, and once we arrive within the city, we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Sure!”

“NO!”

Bursting out into a fit of laughter, you shook your head at the water tribe siblings. “Naw, it’s sweet how you think you all have a choice in this. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to any of you, I’m just hitching a ride and you’ll never have to see me again. Regardless, Aang said yes, and considering he’s the Avatar and all, I think his choice overrules yours.”

Katara didn’t seem to like your suggestion that her and Sokka’s opinion didn’t matter. “No, it doesn’t work like that! We’re a family, and we make these decisions together! You can’t just wake up after who knows how long you were laying there for, and expect us to trust you immediately! For one, you attacked Sokka a little too easily without any bending, and you literally said that you were on a mission! If I’m honest, you sound like trouble, especially since we don’t even know your name! Or what you even look like!”

“Just as I said before, it doesn’t matter. It’s sweet you all care enough about each other’s safety, but I’m not here to cause any of you ‘trouble’. Get me inside Omashu, and we’ll never have to speak or interact ever again. If it means so much to you, I’ll let water boy tie me up, and watch me the entire journey there as reparations for my small attack against him. How does that sound?”

Aang more than satisfied with your offer let out a quick, “Yes!”.

Grumbling under her breath Katara shook her head, clearly understanding that this was as good as it was going it get. “Fine. But he ties you up now. If I see you even move an inch out of line, don’t think I’ll go easy on you. I am a waterbender after all.”

As if you being a waterbender would have stopped me. Holding your arms out and casting your attention towards the ground, you were ready for Sokka to bind your wrists together with some cloth, he tore off his clothing. Unknown to you, he seemed to notice that despite how tough you were, you were weak. All of the sudden movements and the argument with his sister clearly drained you physically.

“Hey… I don’t really like you since you threatened to kill me, but are you sure you’re ready to be travelling so soon? You’re breathing really heavily. You need some water and food.” Gently wrapping your wrists together, he tried and failed to make eye contact with you.

At the mention of water, you throat physically constricted in pain. “Nah, I’ll be alright. Just need to get to Omashu.”

“Doubt it. Let’s get you on Appa and I’ll nag Katara for something.”

Silently following him to the Sky Bison, you were grateful that your mask covered the wide smile that broke out onto your face. It’s beautiful.

Finally, parting ways with them, you let out a breath of relief. That was the most silent journey I have ever been on and I travel by myself… Spirits, I hope I never have to run into them again. I think I’m going to lose my mind if I ever do. What was Hakoda thinking?! I’d be an awful big sister to them, they already hate me! It didn’t help how much they kept bickering either. Argh, what a mess. Aang kept looking at me funny the entire time too! What was up with that? Do his Avatar powers allow him to see into my soul or something? Spirits, he’d probably wants to unleash his Avatar state on me for all of the lives I’ve taken. Yikes.

Before setting off to find Azula, you needed to take precautions to blend into the small kingdom. Stealing some clothes, you found you chose to duplicate you last disguise with the only main difference being that it was in green cloth instead of pink.

After securing your final blade underneath your robes, you knew there was no more time to waste and you needed to find Azula quick. You weren’t sure how much she has progressed in her mission to find Iroh and Zuko and the guilt of not helping them when they ran off the Fire Nation ship was already nagging you like an itch you couldn’t scratch.

This city is too big to wander around aimlessly.

Closing your eyes and letting out a deep breath, you chose to look for her the quickest way you knew how. By sensing her fire.

Come on y/n; you can do it. Unsure of how far your abilities would work, you grew worried that she may be too far away for you to even feel her.

After a few minutes, you started to feel irritated. Of course, you could sense fire, you felt so much of it. The city was crawling with Fire Nation after all, but it wasn’t hers. You emitted a few more deep breaths, trying to clear your head.

Suddenly a deep, familiar voice entered your mind. Inner peace. You need to find your inner peace y/n. That’s why you keep losing control; you need to find it.

Is this that dragon again? As if you didn’t have a random voice inside your head, you were met with silence.

Look you can’t just randomly enter my mind you know, and who in Spirits name transports me to some random mountainside?! I don’t know who you are, but I’ve been doing fine all of these years on my own. So kindly, get out of my head.

Letting out a small scream into your hands as the voice never came back, you closed your eyes again.

Stupid voice.

Stupid inner peace.

Breathing in and out, you wracked your brain for something that made you feel at peace. Come on, you can do it. Then after a few moments, it hit you. Not your inner peace, no. You’d have to find that another day. What did hit you was Azula’s fire, you felt it.

Immediately following the tugging feeling, you ran as fast as you could until you came to a tall piece of scaffolding. Even though you were so far below, you could still hear the fight that was occurring many levels up. Can’t she keep herself out of a battle for at least a day?! I bet it’s not even Zuko up there. Scowling, knowing that you can’t ignore her completely, you climbed up until you reached the fight but still remaining hidden.

By the time you reached the platform, you felt that Azula had already moved from this part of the fight. That didn’t mean that there weren’t pressing matters right in front of you, though.

“How are you going to fight without your bending?” A Fire Nation girl before you brought out her blades ready to attack Katara. Holding back a verbal groan, you knew you were going to have to help her.

Quickly jumping in, you deflect Mai’s knife with your arm while simultaneously catching a boomerang that you spotted in the corner of your eye. As the flying bison approached your quickly dodged its tail as it sent the two fire nation girls flying back. Seeing a distraction between all parties, you threw the boomerang back to Sokka while running for the scaffolding, making your way into the shadows. So much for never having to see them again.

When you ran away from the scene, you knew your disguise was too recognisable considering the two girls saw you when you intervened. This left you to painstakingly have to find a new set of clothes, just to make babysitting Azula and her friends so much easier. Despite finally being back on track with your mission, it didn’t make it any less tedious as you followed from a distance in the shadows. “So, we’re tracking down your brother and uncle, huh?”

“It’ll be interesting seeing Zuko again, won’t it Mai?” Huh? Is that coal brains girlfriend or something?

Azula spoke up at that comment, “It’s not just Zuko and Iroh anymore. We have a third target now.” You have got to be fucking joking. I guess I better start finding my inner peace after all, you know, so I don’t blow her FUCKING BRAINS OUT!

a/n: hehe thank you so much for reading!!! what did you think?? hehe i know its been a while so im kinda rusty so pls let me know your thoughts or any feedback!! hehe i know this wasnt that juicy and kinda short but ive got a lot planned so dw hehe we’ll get there ;)

taglist: @slythergirlimagines @mangoberry43 @eridanuswave @whiskeywinter89 @kaylove12 @simplyfandomish @khaleesi-of-assassins @callums-keith @ilovespideyyy @calciumcow @blackhood5sos @nnon-it-up @lozzybowe @scarletemeterio @reclusive-chicken-nugget @simpinforsukka @chewymoustachio @tiffy119 @spearbatty @sokkassuki

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captainkirkk · 4 years

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✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

A collection of fics I’ve read (/reread) and thoroughly enjoyed in the past week-ish from all kinds of fandoms and genres.

ATLA

Heat, Wait, Steep, Repeat by Haicrescendo

[Zuko’s greatest failing, not his only but just one that stands out the most in a very long list, is that he’s never known quite what he had until it’s gone. Or, on the opposite hand, he covets the things that don’t matter, that seem to matter so much at the time and turn out, in the end, to be something that Zuko’s made up in his head.

And then Zuko finds, of all things after it all, that he misses Uncle Iroh’s tea.]

Or: Zuko screws up his life and in the process of fixing it, figures out some tea wisdom along the way.

enmity (isn't for heroes) by blueseam

Part 1 of new ways

Zuko stands to leave, only to waver, swaying just a little. His blood pressure shifts, and Toph can feel what’s about to happen a moment before it does.

“Someone catch him! He’s gonna –“

With a crash, the dish tumbles from suddenly limp fingers, and Zuko crumples to the ground.

“…faint,” Toph finishes.

The Gaang’s journey to trusting Zuko is anything but smooth.

(Slight AU after Boiling Rock)

A Second Chance by araluen_x

Aang's energybending fails, and the war is lost. But before the gaang can blink, they wake up in the past, on the day that Katara and Sokka found the Avatar.

The war's a lot easier to win when your biggest enemies are on your side from the beginning.

Ft. the gaang's antics, loads of dramatic irony, and literally the entire Fire Nation being confused as to why, when, and how the banished prince got happy emotions and friends

Harry Potter

Flashes From a Brighter Time by noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth

1986: After Harry's power starts manifesting, the Dursleys want nothing more to do with him. Dumbledore decides to find someone better suited to raising him.

“I thought perhaps you might raise Harry.”

“Me?”

“Who better? I had my reasons for sending him to the home of his relatives, but I am not so hard-headed an old man that I can’t admit when a plan is not working.”

The Witcher

The god of scraped knees. by spqr (+ podfic)

Jaskier’s been pretending to be human for so long now that he hardly remembers what it feels like to be a sorcerer. He doesn’t want to remember what it feels like to be a sorcerer. But people still murmur his name with reverence in certain dim halls; Dandelion, Dandelion, destroyer of worlds.

The Witcher Wolf by im_fairly_witty

It’s been two weeks since Geralt shouted Jaskier away from him on that mountain and Jaskier has been handling it like a champ by forlornly wandering alone in the wilderness with his lute. When he (literally) stumbles across an injured white wolf he decides to take a chance and see if he can help it, appreciating the irony of the situation but not quite realizing why it is that the wolf’s golden eyes look exactly like his Witcher’s...

Untamed

You, Asleep and Dreaming by etymologyplayground (+ podfic)

Wei Wuxian chuckles and starts pushing Lan Wangji's outer robes off his shoulders. "Poor Lan Zhan, subject to such earthly miseries. You must be exhausted, come to bed, come to bed."

"Mm," Lan Wangji says. He raises his arms so that Wei Wuxian can keep undressing him. His clothes will end up on the floor, but no matter. Wei Wuxian's deft hands at his belts are worth wrinkled robes.

"... Goodness, Hanguang-Jun, you wear too many damned layers," Wei Wuxian tells him after a while. "Would it kill you to stop after a reasonable five?"

Wei Wuxian moves into the Jingshi. They sleep together.

sugar stains by lanjingyeet

Jiang Wanyin’s face slowly takes on a kind of horrified expression that Lan Wangji would find funny if it wasn’t for the fact of the actual situation. He’s clearly noticing all the same things Lan Wangji did that first time: the same slope of nose, the light in the eyes, the messy mop of hair. Jiang Wanyin, after all, was far better acquainted with Wei Ying around this age than Lan Wangji was.

"Hanguang-jun, what the f—”

a yiling laozu who lived [PODFIC] by exmanhater, isweedan, miss_marina95, Opalsong, RevolutionaryJo, Rhea314 (Rhea)

The ancient and powerful villain may have had a calm and gentle face as he spoke, but he was furious, not at the hero, but the gods for continually sending kids and teenagers to fight their battles.

from me to you by Ceta

Wei Too Cool ✓ @wei-wuxian correct me if i’m wrong but i’m pretty sure that’s a love song @LanWangJi #AtFirstSight

Or; Three-time Golden Globe recipient Wei WuXian and seven-time Grammy award recipient Lan WangJi’s love story through the eyes of the internet.

Inquiry by incendir

Part 1 of Resolutions (Note: I haven’t finished this series yet, but so far, I’ve found some great fics in there)

Sizhui cannot fall asleep for a long, long time that night. He hears the ever-familiar melody again. He thinks perhaps he has memorized it by now.

#my posts #fic recs #weekly fic round up #untamed recs #atla recs #hp recs #witcher recs #long post

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nadisabug · 4 years

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Fictober 2020-Day 14

Unexpected Reunion

Prompt: "not interested, thank you"

Fandom: ATLA Pairing: eventual Zuko x reader Warnings: none A/N: Sorry this is a little rough but I had this idea and had to write it out. I may be making a continuation of it depending on how it goes. Anyways! I hope you enjoy!

I was going about my usual shopping when I saw a boy and an older man sitting on the side of a building. The older man had his hat outstretched, begging for money. Now that wasn't an unusual sight in the streets of this city, but what was unusual was the boy beside him. He had a scar over his left eye. Fire wounds were also not that uncommon, but there was something about this specific wound. I only knew one boy who had a scar like that and there was no way that he was in Earth Nation territory. Unless something happened with his banishment...

Curious, I moved closer until I was standing right in front of them. The old man, Iroh, looked up at me and smiled.

"Your face is more radiant then the shining sun," he said sagely, then jingled the hat at me. I gave him a moment to get a good look at me, but when it was apparent he was not going to recognize me I spoke. I was surprised, though. I had served this man tea countless times in my time as a servant at the Fire Lord’s palace.

"Why thank you, that means very much coming from a man of your stature," I said slyly, looking over at Zuko. He looked up sharply at my words, eyeing me cautiously.

"Ah, but we are just weary travelers, peasants compared to you," Iroh responded. Had I not spent so much time with the royal family I would have missed the suspicion in his voice.

"Then, by all means, stay at my place for the night," I said and waved my arm in the general direction of my place.

"Not interested, thank you," Zuko spat and then looked down at his feet, seeming to think the conversation was over.

If only.

"Maybe I was unclear," I smiled and turned to face Iroh. "I would be honored to have the Royal Family stay at my place for the night, maybe chat over some Jasmin tea. Doesn't that sound nice, Zuzu?"

At that Zuko jumped to his feet, eyes ablaze. "Don't call me that," he hissed.

I met his gaze head on, an easy smile on my face. "Maybe you'd like to tell me under what name you're traveling, then? Maybe I have mistaken you for someone else, someone wanted?"

"My nephew and I would love to come stay the night at your place," Iroh stood and placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder. He eyed something behind me, and Zuko looked to, his face souring when he saw it. I didn't have to look to know they were looking at a guard.

"Perfect!" I clasped my hands together. "I would love to hear all about the circumstances of your travels as soon as we get to my place. Come."

And with that, the two begrudgingly followed my to my place.

Once we were out of earshot of the guards, Zuko spoke up.

“How do you know us?” His tone was accusatory and harsh.

“I worked in the palace as a servant. I served the royal family tea until I was fired,” I paused and took off the gloves I always wore, exposing the horrible burn marks on my hands, “quite literally by your sister.”

With the exposure of my scars, Zuko and Iroh’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“You were the tea girl that spilled on Azula,” Zuko whispered.

“Such a shame,” Iroh added on. “You made magnificent tea, you were one of my favorites. I didn’t recognize you with your new look.”

Iroh was right, I had changed much from my time as a servant. I completely changed the way I wore my hair from the usual tight top knot servants wore and, of course, I was in traditional Earth Kingdom clothes. I looked nothing like when I served them tea, I was happy now. Very happy.

“Why didn’t you turn us in then?” Zuko asked. He sounded frustrated and confused. I didn’t blame him, his family had scarred me for life and forced me to start anew in a completely new place. When I was banished from the Fire Nation, I lost everything. All of my friends, my family, everything I knew. Yet, this starting anew gave me a new opportunity to make a name for myself and make a new family.

“Your uncle was nothing but kind to me, and you should know why I didn’t turn you in.” Right after I was packing my things to leave forever, Zuko visited me in the servants quarters. He have me a pouch of money that served me very well before leaving, ordering me to never tell anyone that happened. That was one year before his banishment, before he was scarred. After that I kept up with the news of the Fire Nation, and when I learned that he too was banished, I actually felt sad.

Zuko flushed and turned away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

In the silence, Iroh spoke up. “May you remind this old man of your name,” he asked politely.

“It was never given,” I laughed softly. “Servants didn’t introduce themselves in the palace. They were just that, servants.” Iroh gave me a sad look, but I didn’t feel sad in the slightest. That life was far behind me now. “It’s Y/n, though. We’re almost to my home, too.”

When we rounded the corner, and my place came into sight, I saw the kids playing earth ball in the street. When they saw me, they immediately ended the game to rush up to greet me.

“This is Lily, Han, and Lee,” I introduced the kids from oldest to youngest. “Kids this is...” I trailed off, motioning to the two to give their names as well.

“I am Mushi, and this is my nephew, also named Lee,” Iroh introduced himself and Zuko. I nodded in understanding. I figured they were traveling under false names, I just hadn’t gotten them yet.

“Look at this!” Han shouted. He stomped his foot and a small rock shot up and he caught it.

“Good job buddy,” I smiled and ruffled his hair. Iroh and Zuko gave me a confused look, but I waved it off. “I’ll explain later,” I said quietly to only the two of them.

After that, we all went into the small house and began to unload my groceries. After they were done, the kids went back outside to play earth ball again.

“Lee is my biological brother, but Lily and Han are both refugees I adopted,” I explained to Iroh and Zuko. “Lily was displaced during an attack on the a Swamp nearby and Han was the sole survivor of a Fire Nation attack on a nearby village. They had no one else so I took them in.”

Iroh looked remorseful, but Zuko had a strange look on his face. Almost as if he was conflicted.

“I try to teach them bending, but I was only ever taught how to conjure fire to warm tea pots, so its not going to well.”

“They never taught you how to bend?” Zuko cried indignantly.

“Of course not,” I laughed. I gestured for them to sit in the living room while I got the things to make tea. “Servants that can fight can act out. They used to teach us firebending, but after the war started, Fire Lord Sozin made a new rule that no one except royalty and soldiers were to be taught.”

Once I got the pot down, Iroh stood up and gently took it from me.

“You have made tea for us enough times, Y/n. Let me.”

I smiled softly and let him. “The tea is in the top left cabinet.”

I sat down next to Zuko and watched his uncle make tea. Zuko looked like he was deep in thought, so I did not bother him. I just sat and thought to myself. I never imagined that I would ever be in the presence of the Royal Family again, let alone like this.

But it was nice. I thought maybe they could stay a little longer if they helped out around the house and lent a hand at my small tea shop...

#fictober2020 #fictober20 #zuko x reader #prince zuko #x reader #atla x reader #atla imagine #zuko imagine

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mycomfortblanket · 3 years

Text

Written in Ink

Chapter 2

“You’re Aang,” there was no question in her voice.

“You’re Toph.”

“And we’re leaving, come on Zuko,” Katara says, pulling Zuko away from the other two.

The air between the two of them gets immensely awkward. Aang can't take his eyes off of her, his thoughts are running a million miles an hour, and the only thought that would come to the forefront of his mind was of all the soulmates out there, he certainly could have gotten worse.

“Listen, I really don’t want to come off as this arrogant bitch who is always unsatisfied, but the whole soulmate thing doesn’t sit well with me. It’s nothing against-” Toph started but Aang lets out a big sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank god. I was trying to figure out how to break it to you that I didn’t want to do the soulmate thing either.”

“Seriously?” Toph asks, her eyebrows raised, “Well, alright then. Uh, I’m going to head home. Long day and all,” she says, standing up and begins to walk towards the front door.

Aang immediately jumps up and reaches for her elbow, “Wait, you’re walking all the way home?”

Toph turns towards him, “Yeah. I do it all the time, Katara and Zuko are dating, and I don’t exactly like to be third wheel.”

“Let me walk you home.”

“Ha. Aang, no offense, but I’m not some damsel in distress. I can get home fine on my own.”

“I’m not saying you’re a damsel in distress, but it’s not polite for me to just watch you walk out the door at this time of night and let you walk home,” he says, his voice taking on a frustrated tone.

“Whatever. But, you’re wasting your time.”

“How long have you worked at Iroh’s place?” she asks, her cane clicking against the concrete every now and then.

“About a year now, I think. I’m not entirely sure.”

Toph looks over in his direction, “You mean to tell me you’ve worked there for a year and I’m just now meeting you? Katara and I go there all the time.”

“Well, Zuko and I didn’t get along too well at the beginning so Iroh had us working different shifts, so that’s probably why we never met. Or I wasn’t assigned to your table, although, all things considering, I think I would have remembered seeing you,” he says, muttering the last part.

A blush spreads across Toph’s cheeks and she dips her head hoping that he doesn’t notice. She really wasn’t liking this. The small butterflies that she had been feeling all night while talking to him had erupted to giant ass pterodactyls seconds after she learned his name.

She was trying her damn hardest not to walk closer to him or lean into his space to smell him. She kept repeating in her mind her beliefs about the Names and how horribly suffocating they were. She should be free to choose who she wants and when she wants, not when some stupid inscription shows up on her skin.

Toph was trying to keep the distance between them and not ask any personal questions but somehow, they seemed to be pulled together by an invisible wire until their hands brushed. She would pull herself away and she could feel him pull away as well, the blush rising higher on her cheeks.

They finally come to her apartment building and she begins walking up the steps but stops and turned back towards him, “Thanks for walking me home. Sorry about the Names.”

“It’s fine. Was bound to happen, right? Anyways, I’ll see you later,” he steps off the bottom step and watches her walk into the building and punch the button for the elevator.

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

“I just don’t see how a guy working with Zuko that he didn’t get along with never came up!” Toph says harshly into the phone. She’s pacing back in forth in her living room trying not to lose her cool too much.

“I’m sorry! I thought the name was familiar but it was so long ago that it didn’t even register who it was.

“Whatever. Did you tell Zuko anything?” Toph asks slightly more calmly.

“No, you told me not to. When he asked, I just... distracted him.”

“I don’t want to think about how you distracted him. It’s fine. I probably won’t see him again. I mean, he worked at Iroh’s place for a year and we never bumped into each other, so it’s fine!”

It was not fine. Now that they have met, they couldn’t seem to stop running into each other. Literally. The first time was a complete accident. Aang had opened the door to the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh’s restaurant, rather quickly and Toph’s cane became stuck underneath the door. The two of them spent at least ten minutes trying to get it unstuck and arguing about whose fault it was.

The next time is in her own home. She had walks out into the living room after a shower in nothing but a towel and her headphones in and makes her way over to the kitchen. Apparently, Katara, Zuko, and Aang were hanging around the kitchen table doing various forms of homework.

She's digging around in the fridge looking for her Naked smoothies (ironic right) when a gentle hand came to her shoulder and takes out an earbud, “Toph, people are here.”

“WHAT?!” Toph whips around and rips out the other earbud. She clutches the towel close to her body, “Who is here?!”

“Uh, it’s me, Zuko, and uhhh… Aang,” her voice going low when she says his name.

Toph’s face immediately went blood red, “Why didn’t you tell me we had people over?!” she hisses.

“Well, you were in the shower and I wasn’t paying attention when you got out, I’m sorry.”

“Whatever, it’s fine. Fuck. Just warn a girl next time,” and with that, she opens the fridge back up and continued looking for her drink.

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

He's focused on the algebraic equation but glances up with he heard a soft voice singing along to Black by Pearl Jam, his favorite song. Toph’s walking through the living room, skirting the furniture and reaching out to lightly set her fingers on corners as she passes.

She’s in nothing but a short towel, her hair piled on top of her head and her earbuds placed firmly in her ear. She walks over to the fridge and begins rummaging around, her fingers dancing from item to item. When she leans over, more of her legs become visible, and Aang can’t help but stare. She’s fucking gorgeous and the more skin that exposed to him, the more he wants to see.

As soon as Toph bends over, Katara is out of her seat and moving over to Toph to let her know of the audience in the kitchen. Even though Katara spoke low when she said his name, he instantly knew when it registers with Toph that he is seeing her in little to nothing.

Her eyes scan the kitchen listening for a sound that would direct her to him. Somehow, her eyes land right on him and they make unintentional eye contact which steals his breath away.

He immediately drops his head onto the table unable to keep looking at her. Toph’s bare shoulders were free of any freckles or acne and looked as smooth as silk. He so badly wanted to run his fingers across her shoulders to see if his assumption is correct.

Once Toph’s freak out is over, she bends back down and continues looking for something before she snatches it out of the fridge and walks back to her room.

Katara sits down, her cheeks having a slight blush to them. She glances up at Aang who still has his head down on the table.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. It's just a lot harder to stay away from her than I thought.”

“I still don't understand why you two won't just talk to each other and get together. You guys had such a great time at the party,” Katara says in a low voice so Toph doesn't hear from her room.

“I just… I can't get emotionally attached to someone right now. It's… complicated,” Aang says, hoping that's the end of the discussion.

“Explain it to me then,” Katara says smartly, leaning back in her chair with her arms over her chest. She raises an eyebrow at him and waits for him to start talking.

“I just… I don't know. My guardian, Monk Gyatso, he past away a year or two ago from some form of rare lung cancer. And just, ever since, I- I don't know. I just haven't wanted to be close to anyone I guess? It sounds stupid when I say it out loud but, in my head it makes sense to me…” Aang says, his voice trailing off at the end of his sentence.

Katara makes a humming noise in the back of her throat in acknowledgment and cuts her eyes away from Aang and over to Zuko.

“Has Zuko ever told you about his family?”

Zuko's eyes go wide when she brings the topic up. Why on earth would she want to talk about that?

“Long story short, when I met him, he was this super angry person, could barely get a word in without his temper flaring up,” she says, waving her hand in the air.

“That's not true,” Zuko grumbles.l

“It totally is true. When his Name first appeared on his skin, we had actually just made eye contact. He immediately came up to me and started giving me shit for walking into his life, saying that he had enough to deal with and I didn't need to add to it.”

“Oh whatever, I did not say that!”

“You most certainly did. And being the stubborn person I am, I poked a finger in his chest and made him back down. It was slow and hard work, some serious fights broke out between us that I won't go into. But, in the end, it was completely worth it,” she says, her eyes softening when she looks back at Zuko.

Aang takes a deep breath and sits back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table in front of him, “Yeah, that's great and all, but it's not always like that. Plus, she doesn't want it either.”

“Oh, I know her reasoning and it's because she's stubborn about having things decided for her, that's it. Her parents growing up were incredibly over protective cause she’s blind,” she gestured towards Toph’s room, “She would act out any chance she could, which honestly, just made the whole situation that much worse.”

Aang looks over to the hallway that Toph had disappeared down. Glancing back at Katara, he just shrugs his shoulder before picking up his pen and continuing his homework.

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

Later that night, Toph heard Katara yell for her from the kitchen. She walks in there in a large tshirt and sweatpants, her hair down and falling over her shoulders. She had put on her baggiest clothes to hide herself after the incident that had happened earlier

“Sokka and his girlfriend are coming over to watch some movie that Zuko has been raving about. Do you want to watch with us?”

Toph just nods her head as she walks into the kitchen and hops up on the counter as Katara rummaged around the kitchen, preparing something to eat.

“Is Aang going to be there?” She asks, fiddling with the wooden spoon Katara had just taken out.

“Uh, I'm actually still here,” he says from the kitchen table.

“Oh. My bad. So, princess, what's for dinner?” Toph asks, trying to ignore Aang and the butterflies that erupt in her tummy.

“Zuko ordered some pizza, I'm making brownies, Sokka is bringing snacks and yes, before you ask, he did get you your blue sour straws,” Katara says, cutting off any outburst Toph may have had.

An hour later, everyone had arrived and Aang had been introduced to Sokka as Zuko’s coworker and nothing more, and Sokka’s date had been introduced at Suki, and nothing more. Katara had set up the tv to the opening scene of the movie and wis waiting for everyone to grab their slice of pizza, snacks, and drinks and pick their spots for the movie.

Toph was the last one into the living room as usual, “Okay all you seeing-eyed creatures, let’s just make this easier for everyone, where am I sitting?

“Mmm,” Katara says, swallowing her bite of pizza, “Other end of the main couch, next to Aang.”

“Shocker,” Toph mumbles, too low for anyone to hear. She makes her way over to her spot and sits down between Aang and the arm of the couch. She leans her elbow on the arm of the couch and attempts to move herself a little further away from him nonchalantly.

Aang leans into her a little more and she can feel his breath move the hairs around her neck just before he says, “You’re being totally obvious you know.” His light laugh causes the corners of her lips to turn up involuntarily.

“My bad,” she says, sitting back normally on the couch.

“If my cooties really bother you that much, I can sit on the floor.”

Toph snorts which draws the attention of Katara and Suki but they say nothing, “No, sorry. I’ll behave. I’ll be normal.” She pulls her legs up on the couch with her, sitting criss cross applesauce, her knee resting against Aang’s thigh and the other resting on the arm of the couch. She puts her elbow on the arm as well and leans her cheek against her fist and listens to the movie.

The heat from Toph’s knee seeps into his pants and it’s all he can think about as the movie continues. She opens her bag of sour straws and points them over his way, offering him one. It takes him a full three seconds to take his mind off her knee touching his thigh to acknowledge the fact that she is offering him some of her snack. Grabbing on quickly, he shoves it in his mouth and looks over at her.

She is still looking straight ahead, although a lot more bored. “You bored?” he whispers to her.

She jumps slightly, but turns her head to whisper back, “Yeah. Action movies are kind of hard to follow along with since, you know, I can’t see the ‘action scenes’,” she says, using quotation marks around ‘action scenes'.

About half way through the movie, she shifts so that both of her feet are curled up on the couch with her, resting against the arm of the couch and just barely touching him. She lays her head down fully onto the arm of the couch as well and closes her eyes.

He honestly doesn’t blame her for being bored. He’s bored.

He’s always hated action movies so he can’t imagine how bored she must be trying to decipher people with British accents talk during loud car chasing scenes. Eventually, he leans his head back against the couch and closes his eyes as well.

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

The screen finally fades to black and it seems that only Katara and Zuko are still awake. She looks around the room and notes that Aang is leaning against Toph, his head resting against her shoulder as she rests against the arm of the couch.

Sokka is spread out longways across the other couch with his back tucked into the corner and Suki in between his legs, using his chest as a makeshift pillow.

“No offense, but that movie sucked,” Katara whispers standing up from the couch and stretching, popping her back in multiple places.

“Hey, 007 movies are amazing, you just don’t appreciate them correctly…” the two of them head towards her bed room as he continues ranting about the cinematic wonder world of Agent Bond.

#taang #atla #avatar the last airbender #toph x aang #aang x toph #chapter two #written in ink #fluff #no angst yet #but I guess it'll get there

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zuzu-hotman · 4 years

Text

Ready To Love Pt.4 [[Zuko]]

Pairing: Zuko x Female!Reader

Warnings: The usual (;

A/N: Ahh, part four! So so close..also more word vomit. I know, I know, it’s taking long but listen, I do enjoy slow burning and world building <3 I promise, much more to come next part!

Pt.1,, Pt.3

“ Aɴᴅ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ..”

Your hand felt so warm clasping his- he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the feeling. The last time he’d gotten to was in Ba Sing Se, sometime before he’d made the bad choices he made. Honestly he felt like it was going to be the last time. He was aware he’d hurt you, but he never realized to what degree. He hadn’t known how you had suffered in his absence. Adding his betrayal to it was another- and how he looked at you when you began to bend? He never meant to look hurt. It wasn’t because you didn’t firebend. It was because you didn’t tell him- because he had made it so you were unable to do so.

As kids you had always told each other everything. Though back then, there wasn’t much to tell. Only dinner plans or events at school. He complained about Azula to you and you tried to make things look brighter than they were. You made him once believe Azula would change. He still sometimes wished she had. Still, he’d always did his best to make himself available to talk. You’d opened up to him before and it killed him to think that at one point you decided it was best to close up.

The brutality his Father showed him effected him greatly- he only wished it wasn’t a big enough blow to reach you. He hoped his brutality wasn’t something you had to deal with in his absence as well.

Your father.. the thought still weighed on his mind. It sat heavily upon his heart- what happened to you? What led you to Ba Sing Se?

His gaze drifted from your hand clasped on his to the back of your head. He stared at your hair, watching how the strands moved as you dragged him into no where. Same as the first time you’d met.. he smiled softly to himself as he recalled..

“Azula! Let me back in!”, he’d hissed, gripping at the bars of the palace gates.

“You should’ve played with us Zuzu! Gosh, Mother will be so disappointed knowing you snuck out just to spite your dear sister.”

“She won’t believe you! Not this time!”

“Aw won’t she?”, Azula batted her eyelashes innocently, “Mooom!”

Zuko panicked, looking around for somewhere to hide while he thought of how he can sneak back in. It was horrible enough Azula forced him out- throwing a gift he’d received from Uncle Iroh over the gates, in an area that was kind of like a blind spot. Not many guards passing through, on account of it being near a poorer part of things. No one on that end had to means to try anything- these people could barely feed themselves sometimes, and so they also couldn’t afford weapons. The thought made Zuko.. uncomfortable. His own people were starving.. yet he had to remain hushed about it.

Even more so now. Mother always warned both him and Azula about getting too close to this area. The people had no means of getting in, but if they got out.. well, she said some people weren’t too kind. Greed corrupted them in horrible ways. Zuko wasn’t sure how it was greed rather than need.

“You’re lost.”, a voice says, and he jumps almost a foot in the air- all his training lost on him in a moment of panic.

Before him stands a girl his age- a little frail. Looking back now, Zuko knows this was from lack of proper food. Her hairs a little messy and her clothes have some patch work here and there. She holds something in her hand- Zuko fears he might be in trouble for a moment.

“Is this yours? I saw someone throw it over- it hit me in the head.”, she speaks softly, holding it out for him to take.

“...Why are you being nice to me?”, he asks, hesitantly taking it from her hands.

She shrugs, “Dunno. You didn’t give me a reason to be mean?” Her eyes look him over, taking him in. It’s clear now she realizes he’s of royal blood, or at the least, not poor. Her gaze moves towards the palace gate, “You’re not lost, you’re stuck.”

Zuko relaxes just a little, “Yeah. My dumb sister threw this over here and made me get it. Now she’s going to lie to my Mom and get me in trouble.”

The girl makes a face, “That’s mean.”

“Yeah it is.”

“Maybe that’s just how she likes to play?”

Zuko huffs, “She did it because I wouldn’t play.”

The girl makes a face again, crossing her arms. She’s silent for a moment or two, thinking something over carefully before speaking, “Well.. I can help you get in, but only if you promise you won’t tell. You’d be getting someone I know in trouble.”

Zuko stares at her. He wonders if he can even trust her- his Mothers lecture becomes nothing more than a faded echo as he stares at her. It’s either this, or let Azula win.

“Okay.”, he says, “I promise.” There’s another beat of silence before she suddenly grabs his hand and drags him off. He lets out a small startled sound but allows himself to be dragged away. You wove him in and out of some alleyways and bushes. He wonders if you’re helping him or kidnapping him- do kids kidnap other kids?

The longer this takes the more he panics- and then suddenly you stop. He bumps into your back, letting out a small ugh as he stumbles away from you.

“Shh..”, you hiss, “We’ve got one shot at this, okay?”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

She deadpans at him, “Not in a danger kind of way. I mean we have only one chance at you not getting caught. Got it?”

“Oh- okay. Uhm.. how do you know a way in?”

“Maybe I know a maid.”, she says, and Zuko raises a brow. She knows a maid? Is she the daughter of one?

“Do you want to play a guessing game or do you want to go home? Prince Zuko?”

He stares at her, absolutely dumbfounded, “How did you-”

“M’kay, so you gotta make a mad run for it when I say go. One more thing.”, she looks at him with a very serious expression, “If you ever find yourself out here again, come find me. You’re very good at follow the leader.”

Zuko groans quietly to himself, “Oh whatever.. well.. is this my only shot? Like my only chance all day?” He asks cause he has to know. In the moment he didn’t think of it as a game. Though now that he’s sure he’s in no danger.. well, it was kind of fun. Everything was a blur but he saw things he never got to see up close. He met someone on his own and not because it was needed since he was the prince.

This girl found him and he found her- she wasn’t so proper and up tight. Even knowing who he was from the start.

“Mhmm.. no? There’s another one but it’s not until night time.. and how would you explain being gone all day?”, she says, interrupting his thoughts.

Zuko shrugs now, his mind suddenly made up, “I’ll find one. Maybe Azula will panic for once. That would be nice. Mom might worry too though..”, maybe he wasn’t too sure now.

She smiles at him gently, “We can play another day. I’m sure we have time.”

“Are you sure?”, he asks.

“I’m sure. I’d like to see you again P-”

“Zuko.”, he insists, “Just call me Zuko.”

A small laugh escapes her, and to this day he holds it dear, “Okay, Zuko.”

He nods at her, a silent promise to see her again, but before he runs off, “What’s your name?”

“Come back tomorrow and find out.”, she replies, a cheeky grin on her face.

“I think this is a good spot.”, you say, breaking the long silence at last. You sit down and pat the spot next to you. “Before I start, I want to apologize only for being so irrational with my anger. That, and what in the world were you thinking?! A high security prison?! With Sokka! Katara would have killed you if anything happened to him! I would have lost my mind! Jeez Zuko!”

Zuko could only stare at you, it had been so long since you’d worried over him in any way. So very very long since you had truly seemed like yourself. It was the little things he’d missed the most. He had to let you know.

“I missed you so much, ___.”, he says, so softly your heart about bursts.

“Zuko I am literally about to lecture you-”

“Do it. Lecture me all night I don’t care- just talk to me. Talk to me. Yell and scream- I don’t care. I missed you so much. I missed you when I had to leave and I missed you when I made that mistake. So much.”

You could only smile sadly. He was as hurt as you were by his actions and that much was clear. You could see it now. Zuko never aimed to hurt any one, he’d only self destructed, and the blow effected those he cared for.

“Okay, but I’m only going to talk. It might be a long night.”

“That’s fine with me.”

So you began, not knowing where it might take you both. All you knew was that it was needed. You couldn’t hide any longer, the feelings were bubbling over despite a horrible war nearing.

Love didn’t much care for proper timing..

“ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs..”

Pt.5

#zuko #zuko x reader #fire lord zuko #atla zuko #zuko fic #zuko x you #atla fic #prince zuko #ari writes #oooops #ready to kms #ill do links later lol

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army-of-mai-lovers · 3 years

Text

Comparing ATLA’s Jet to Cowboy Bebop’s Spike

(this is so late, but. Happy birthday @the-hot-zone, hope you had an amazing day)

In my opinion, Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest shows ever created. It hits a lot of my personal favorite attributes in a TV show: cowboys, fantastic music, absolutely spectacular animation, really deep themes and characters with rich inner lives, worldbuilding that’s thought out. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece.

I started watching Bebop this summer, at the height of the ATLA Renaissance, and the first thing I noticed about protagonist Spike Spiegel is that he looked a hell of a lot like Jet from ATLA. And it wasn’t just the looks either: like Jet, Spike is the leader of a ragtag group of misfits living on the fringes of society. Like Jet, Spike is a smooth talker. Like Jet, Spike is compassionate and cares for other people, and like Jet, the world has hardened Spike to the point where his virtues can still lead him down the wrong path. And while Jet isn’t named for Spike, there’s a character in Bebop named Jet (he sort of plays the right hand person role that Smellerbee plays for Jet in ATLA.) They’re not completely similar--Spike isn’t fighting for anybody’s liberation, whereas for Jet that’s a core aspect of his character--but it was enough to make me wonder about how Jet was designed and how much influence Bebop had on his character design and on ATLA as a whole, and whether looking at Spike can illuminate some of the conversations we’ve been having about Jet.

A little about the inspiration and process of ATLA: Bryan and Michael were working on shows like Family Guy when they decided they wanted to make something more sincere and more cinematic. They were both really inspired by anime. Bryan said “Back in the late '90s I was getting pretty disillusioned with working on sitcoms -- then I saw Princess Mononoke and I was emboldened. My heart was so much closer to that kind of story, those kinds of characters and that type of tone. After that, Cowboy Bebop really inspired us in terms of being a great example of an epic series that had a wide breadth of tones. Then FLCL came along and rewrote the rules for everything, as far as I'm concerned!” I haven’t seen FLCL, I’ll admit, but having seen both Bebop and Princess Mononoke--yeah, I get that. Both are incredible pieces of art that, for me personally, make me want to push myself as an artist, and I cannot recommend both enough if you haven’t seen them already.

So, Bryan and Michael decide they want to make something inspired by shows like Bebop and movies like Princess Mononoke, they get a pilot order from Nickelodeon and, as is custom at the time, they start reaching out to East Asian animation studios to help them with the animation. This video is a great source for how ATLA in particular interacted in this environment, but suffice to say that Bryan built a relationship with the studio that did a lot of work for ATLA, JM Animation, and gave them a lot of creative freedom in making the visuals of the show. This included designing Jet and the rest of the Freedom Fighters.

[ID: An image of Jet from ATLA from the shoulders up against a sky background fading from blue at the top to white at the bottom. He had dark skin, shaggy black hair, black eyes, eyebrows turned way up, a smirk on his face, and some wheat in his mouth. He is wearing a red jacket with a gray popped collar. End ID]

[ID: An image of Spike from Cowboy Bebop from the shoulders up against a sky blue background with trees behind him. He has shaggy dark brown hair that has a slight bit more curl in it than Jet’s, dark brown eyes, light skin, and a closed mouth smile on his face. He is wearing a blue suit with a yellow shirt that has a popped collar, and a skinny black tie/ End ID]

So, let’s look at the character design. Both Spike and Jet have these long, angular faces, shaggy dark hair, long necks, broad shoulders, dark eyes, some popped collar element to their attire, etc. While both characters are pretty tall and lanky, Spike’s height is more immediately obvious than Jet’s--in fact, I wouldn’t think of Jet as a tall character had I not seen some fandom height comparisons. The most obvious and immediate differences between how the characters physically look are their clothes, which are very different (likely due to the setting--ATLA is set in a proto-industrial war-torn society and Jet in particular has had to scavenge his clothes from Fire Nation troops, while Bebop is a space epic set in the far future), the lack of mouth wheat for Spike, Spike’s incredibly normal looking eyebrows versus Jet’s adorable long division eyebrows, and, of course, their skin tones. Colorism is something that people bring up a lot when talking about Jet’s character, and I have to wonder why Jet, a character that was so clearly inspired by this light-skinned character who was morally ambiguous in Bebop, was made darker-skinned when explicitly coded as a “villain” in ATLA.

In fact, colorism is a super important aspect of how Jet and Spike’s stories are told. To its credit, ATLA has two MCs (Sokka and Katara) with dark skin (not that the fanartists who whitewash them notice) while Bebop has just one (Ed). However, it’s important to note that Sokka and Katara are each portrayed in ways that Aang or other lighter-skinned characters in the show simply aren’t. For example, despite both characters being literal teenagers, they are sexualized within the text of the show. Another example of the colorism in ATLA is, of course, Jet, a Brown boy leading a resistance against oppressive colonialist imperialist forces, being so unambiguously vilified. Yes, within the text, Jet has some sense of complexity, especially in Book 2, but even that is undermined by his death at the hands of the Dai Li. Jet is never given the subjectivity of a character like Zuko. In fact, it’s pretty clear that Jet’s redemption and subsequent death happens when it does to demonstrate what Zuko is capable of if he makes the right choice. Whether or not this is a good decision writing-wise is another discussion, but the fact of the matter is that in using Jet to further Zuko’s arc, bryke used a Brown teenage boy/victim of imperialist violence to prop up the narrative of a light-skinned prince/perpetrator of imperial violence. This is not to say that Zuko shouldn’t have been redeemed or that Jet shouldn’t have died or that the narrative shouldn’t have dedicated time and attention to Zuko’s story, but it is to say that ultimately, the writers of the show decided that Jet’s subjectivity was a tool to further Zuko’s actualization.

Contrast this to Spike. Bebop is about a lot of things, but a core part of it is exploring Spike’s backstory and way of looking at the world. It’s part of what makes the show the show. It’s the thing that keeps you liking the guy even when he says or does something absolutely unconscionable. Nothing in the show is more important than Spike’s subjectivity. The show may have individual episodes that focus on the other main characters, but it’s pretty clear that it’s really *about* Spike. Where does Spike come from? What is his obsession with the past? Why do all these people want to kill him? Who is Julia? These are all prescient questions that I had as a viewer of Bebop, and these were questions that were not only important to understanding Spike Spiegel, but to understanding the narrative that the writers, director, and animators are telling. Bebop is nothing without Spike’s subjectivity, and the people behind the show invest in his narrative even though he does some pretty horrible things! (kills many people, is part of a crime syndicate at one point, says some pretty misogynistic crap, hell, the whole concept of the show is that he and his buddies hunt people down for money.) As I said before, Spike is morally ambiguous, an antihero, and the people behind Bebop run with that, because that is an integral part of the story that they’re telling.

You could certainly argue that ATLA, being a show for children, needs clear heroes and villains, to be unambiguous in its depiction of right and wrong. And to an extent that would be correct. But let’s not forget that ATLA is not shy in its depiction of morally ambiguous characters. That’s an integral part of what the show is. Characters like Zuko, Iroh, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee are beloved despite (or perhaps because of) their complex moral frameworks. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee in particular move between designations of villain, victim, and hero pretty fluidly (Iroh and Azula are two other conversations in themselves.) I personally am okay, and in fact delighted, to have Zuko, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee in the show because I think their stories and the ways that they move between evil, good, and morally gray are incredibly compelling. We know why they act the way they do, and we can condemn or validate their actions while always knowing exactly where they’re coming from.

But then I see Jet. Jet, whose village was burned down by the Fire Nation. Jet, who survived by himself and helped 5 other people survive along the way, while leading an organized resistance against the Fire Nation on wits alone. Jet, who somehow ended up in Ba Sing Se, his new family cut in half, wanting to start over. So much of him is a blank slate. Where Spike in Bebop, or Zuko, Iroh, Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee in ATLA, get fleshed out, have the writers convey specific information that helps the audience understand their actions and motivations, even if they’re wrong, Jet never gets that sort of care in his narrative. Jet never gets to be the center of ATLA, even for a moment, even in his own death. There’s always something more pressing, something more meaningful, than Jet. You could argue (I certainly would) that the show would be better if we spent more time with him, if the writers cared to understand him, but unlike Bebop and Spike, the show doesn’t revolve around the audience understanding Jet. The story is coherent without him. In book 3, despite the fact that Jet sacrificed his life for them, the Gaang only brings up Jet once, and that’s to condemn him. Jet’s story is a tragedy, an important one, but only insofar as it props up other pieces of the narrative. And that’s the most tragic part of it.

#jet #atla #cowboy bebop #am i doing this correctly?#i started this like a month ago and i'm pretty sure this is what I intended to say originally but not 100%#anyway happy birthday Zone! welcome to the majors #also incredible that i found such similar pictures of Jet and Spike #but like the difference is that Jet is smirking 'evilly' (he's not evil he's a child) while Spike's looking soft and happy #like that's it that's the meta #meta #atla meta

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radishaur · 4 years

Text

Two Worlds (Zuko x Modern Reader)

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Modern Reader AU

Part: 1/?

Summary: Waking up and finding yourself on Prince Zuko’s ship is certainly the most shocking thing that’s ever happened to you in your life. How will you navigate your new life in the Avatar universe when you know everything that happens already?

Authors Note: Haha... so I know I literally have like two series already and about 40 requests in my inbox, but inspiration struck and who am I to say no to my 3 AM brain? Anyway, I hope you guys like this idea even if it is overdone.

•••

Your head felt heavy as you began to return to consciousness. You began to shiver as your body began to register how cold you were. You were slightly confused; it was the middle of summer in the blazing heat. How could you be cold?

You also realized that you were no longer laying in bed, instead on something stiff. You cracked your eyes open and saw a metal floor. You wrinkled your eyebrows in confusion as you propped yourself up on your elbows.

You gasped in shock upon seeing where you were and immediately shot up into a standing position. You rubbed your eyes furiously before taking in your surroundings again. You were standing in the middle of a ship deck in the middle of nowhere. There was ice caps surrounding you everywhere you looked and you saw nothing else.

“Where the hell am I?” you thought to yourself.

You walked over to the railing and looked over the edge. The water rolled against the ship slowly as the ship continued forward. A small breeze made you shiver and wrap your arms around yourself. All you had on was a pair of jeans, a short sleeve t-shirt, and socks.

“You!” someone yelled, catching your attention.

You whirled around and your eyes widened in shock upon seeing the owner of the voice. Standing in full armor marching towards you was Prince Zuko. As in, the Prince Zuko from the TV series you loved.

“Oh, this can’t be happening,” you whispered under your breath.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded, stopping only a few inches from you.

Looking up at his face, you couldn’t help but take in the details. He looked just like he had in the show with his amber eyes and deep red scar. Even the ugly half shaved ponytail.

“This can’t be real. Are you real?” you asked, still in disbelief.

He scowled at you, fists clenching by his sides. I could see his eye twitching in anger as he responded.

“Of course I am! What kind of question is that?” he snapped, looking at you like you were stupid.

You laughed slightly, chalking this up to a really weird dream. Your laugh caused him to loose his patience as he snapped at you once more.

“What is so funny? Do you know who I am?” he yelled, his face beginning to go red from anger.

“Do I know who you are?” you asked through chuckles, “Of course I do. You were like my whole childhood.”

This made his recoil. His eyes widened slightly before his eyebrows knitted together and he looked at you apprehensively. You couldn’t help but giggle at the reaction.

“What?” he asked in shock.

“You’re Prince Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. I watched the show when I was a kid,” you explained nonchalantly, taking in my surroundings once more as you continued, “And I’m assuming that we’re in the South Pole.”

Zuko seemed to have composed himself again because he grabbed your wrist and caused you to look back up at him. You looked down at his hand in awe. It felt so real.

“This is the most realistic dream I’ve ever had,” you mumbled to yourself.

Zuko ignored your comment.

“Enough of this. Who are you and how did you get on my ship?” he demanded, his voice low and threatening.

“My name is Y/N,” you introduced before adding, “I kind of just...woke up here.”

“Liar. What are you some kind of spy?” he interrogated me, his grip never wavering.

“Spy? For who? Who could I possibly be a spy for?” you asked, not holding back your laughter at his question.

His anger was beginning to rise and I could feel his wrist beginning to heat up. You furrowed your brows, wondering why the heat felt so real.

“You’re here to sabotage my search for the Avatar, aren’t you?” he seethed, his hold on your wrist becoming hotter by the second.

“Ouch!” you cried out, trying to yank your wrist out of his hold, “Cool it hothead! You’re burning me!”

“Don’t speak to me like that,” he ordered.

You managed to free your wrist as he let go of your arm. You held it in your other arm and examined it. There was a slight mark where his hand had been on your arm. You began to feel your stomach drop at the realization that this might not be a dream. You shook the thought away immediately. That was impossible.

You looked back up at him with fearful eyes as he stared down at you. Another breeze blew through the air and caused you to shiver.

Zuko looked you up and down in confusion and curiosity before asking, “What are you wearing?”

“Uh...jeans and a t-shirt,” you answered feebly, still trying to warm yourself up.

He eyed you suspiciously as he stood in front of you. He seemed to be considering what the hell to do. I mean, what were you supposed to do when some random girl shows up on a ship in the middle of a fictional universe. There wasn’t really a handbook with step by step instructions, after all.

“What are you doing here?” he prodded, his glare less intense now.

“I have no idea,” you answered honestly, sending him a weak smile as you shivered once more.

The sound of a door creaking open brought both your and Zuko’s attention to the noise. You both looked at the door to the rest of the ship to see who it was. Your eyes brightened as you recognized the person.

“Uncle Iroh! Uh, I-I mean... General...Iroh,” you fumbled, both of them looking at you with confused expressions.

“Prince Zuko, who are they? What’s going on?” the man asked, his eyes never leaving me.

“They just showed up here out of nowhere! I came out to start training and found them here,” he explained, eyeing me warily again.

“H-Hello,” I greeted, my voice wavering from the cold slightly.

Uncle Iroh came up next to his nephew and his confused look was immediately replaced by one of concern.

“They look freezing cold. Why don’t we bring them inside,” he suggested.

“What?” Zuko asked incredulously, his anger returning quickly, “They’re not a guest! For all we know they could be a spy!”

“Ok, first of all,” you began, catching both men’s attention, “You can stop talking about me like I’m not here. Secondly, I already told you that I’m not a spy!”

Uncle Iroh laughed heartily while Zuko began to fume. You had forgotten how bad his temper was in the beginning of the series.

“I like them,” Uncle Iroh said with a pleasant smile on his features.

You gave him a smile in return as he stepped aside and motioned for you to follow him. You could hear Zuko growling angrily as you passed, but you decided you needed to get out of the cold. Hopefully, you would wake up soon and realize that this was all a dream.

“So, what is a person such as yourself doing here?” Uncle Iroh asked as he led you up a winding staircase.

“As I told your nephew, I actually have no idea. I really did just... wake up here suddenly,” I explained, looking over my shoulder to catch Zuko’s glare.

You finally stopped in front of a room that the old man swung open for you. You walked inside and looked around. It looked exactly how you had seen in the show, with red Fire Nation flags hung on the wall and a small cot for a bed.

“This can be your room while you stay with us. It’s right next to mine and Prince Zuko’s room,” he explained.

“Uncle! They’re not our guest!” Zuko argued once again, his fists going white from how hard he was clenching them.

You couldn’t stifle your laugh. They were both just so exactly the same as they were in the show. Everything from their mannerisms to their dynamic was exactly as it was portrayed in the show.

“What are you laughing at?” Zuko snapped, stomping into the room.

“I’m sorry. You guys are just exactly like how you are in the show,” you answered.

“You’re talking nonsense! Did you hit your head or something?” the prince demanded to know, his tone harsh.

You laughed again. This was certainly the weirdest dream you had ever had. Not to mention the most realistic. It was impossible for it to be anything more than that, so why not have fun while it lasted?

“Prince Zuko, that’s not very nice,” his Uncle warned him.

You snickered as Zuko’s face contorted in anger. You made a mental note to rewatch the show once you woke up.

“It’s alright,” you assured him.

“Why don’t I grab you some new clothes and some hot tea. Then we can talk?” Uncle Iroh suggested.

You nodded in agreement and watched in amusement as Prince Zuko was sent to collect some clothes for you. You were beyond excited to try some of Uncle Iroh’s famous tea. You had always wondered what it would taste like.

As you waited for them to return, you began examining the room. You touched everything in sight and opened every cabinet and door in sight. You even pinched yourself a few times just to see. Everything felt real. You ignored the feeling in your chest that began to grow and summed it up to a very persistant and realistic dream.

You heard a knock on the door and opened it. Prince Zuko walked inside and shoved a pile of clothes into your hands.

“These should be your size,” he huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance.

You held them out in front of you and examined all the little details. To be honest, the fashion of the Fire Nation had always been your favorite. You smiled as you looked them over.

“Well, are you gonna get changed?” he snapped.

You looked over to him and rolled your eyes before beginning to lift up your shirt. You heard Zuko let out a surprised shout which made you stop and look at him.

“What?” you asked, tilting your head in confusion.

“You’re just going to get undressed?” he asked in shock, a furious blush crossing his cheeks.

“Just don’t look,” you said like it was the simplest thing in the world.

He opened his mouth to respond, but you weren’t paying any more attention to him. You heard him grumble under his breath, but he did turn his head to the side. You smirked as you noticed the blush still present on his face.

Once you were dressed, you couldn’t help but look at yourself. You twisted around to look at yourself since you didn’t have a mirror. The clothes fit relatively well and you couldn’t stop the smile that broke out on your face.

Uncle Iroh came back shortly with the tea and the three of you got situated in the room. You sat on the cot, sipping the tea pleasantly. It was just as good at you had imagined, maybe even better. Uncle Iroh sat on the floor across from you and Zuko was leaned against the wall by the door.

“Alright. Where to start?” you mumbled to yourself as the two men waited patiently for your explanation.

“I don’t have all day,” Zuko said harshly, his patience already wearing thin.

You rolled your eyes as Uncle Iroh scolded him once more. They began to bicker which made you smile. The pair were even more hilarious in person.

They finally stopped arguing and looked back at you expectantly. You swallowed nervously before deciding to just come out and explain from the very beginning.

“This is going to sound...well, it’s going to sound insane. But I promise I can prove it! Just let me explain first,” you began, your confidence building as you spoke.

You launched into your explanation of how you were from a different universe and that, in said universe, there was a show called Avatar the Last Airbenber. You told them that that’s how you knew who they were and explained the basic premise of the show.

They looked incredibly shocked and confused. Uncle Iroh looked more intrigued and contemplative, while Zuko was skeptical and dismissive.

“That’s impossible. I think this is just a cruel joke. Did my sister send you?” he questioned you angrily.

“This isn’t a joke. I can prove it,” you insisted smugly.

“Oh yea?” he scoffed before stalking forward and getting in your face before saying, “Prove it.”

“How far into the timeline are you? Have you found the Avatar yet?” you asked seriously.

“No,” you heard him growl in response.

“I see. Damn. Ok, well then I guess I’ll have to use something from your childhood,” you said to yourself as you thought about what to say.

Zuko stood and crossed his arms indignantly, his face still cold and expressionless as he waited for you to talk. Uncle Iroh was just watching the exchange go down silently.

“Oh I know!” you exclaimed happily.

You got to your feet so that you weren’t sitting by Prince Zuko’s feet. You met his eyes with a mischievous smirk.

“When you were little you jumped into a fountain on top of Mai to save her from a burning apple,” you said, your eyes glinting as you spoke.

Zuko let his arms drop as his expression dropped. He stood still as he registered what you said. His Uncle seemed surprised as well.

“You could have heard that story from gossip,” he argued weakly, causing you to roll your eyes again.

“If you don’t believe me I could tell you something else,” you suggested flatly.

He nodded slightly and you began thinking of another thing to say. You didn’t want to pick anything too intrusive, even if this was just a dream. You finally settled on something and smiled pleasantly.

“You have a knife that your Uncle gave you as a present before he returned home. It has an inscription on it that says ‘Never give up without a fight’ on one side,” you told him.

At this, Uncle Iroh’s eyes widened and he stood. Zuko hesitantly pulled the knife out of his armor and flipped it to the side with the inscription. He looked back at you with his mouth agape as his Uncle simply smiled at you.

“You really weren’t lying,” he said quietly.

The three of you stood silently, none of you sure where to go from here. All three of you had many burning unanswered questions, but for now all any of you could do was stand still. Where to go from here?

#zuko #prince zuko #prince zuko fanfic #prince zuko fanfiction #prince zuko fic #zuko imagine #zuko x reader

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cottage-babe · 4 years

Text

Burning Scars part I (zuko x reader)

Chapter 1 | Next

Masterlist

So this idea has been stuck in my head for a while now... I think I've been watching too much Netflix :(

This is gonna be a slow burn I think, but bare with me guys. I've literally planned everything out already and we're gonna have lots of Uncle Iroh moments :) Who wouldn't want to hang out with him?

Summary: Y/n, a werewolf from a hidden village, comes across Zuko and Iroh after being exiled. How has fate intertwined the wolf's life into the avatar's destiny?

***This chapter takes place on Season 2 Episode 8, just after their fight with Azula.

___

Pain.

Pain is all Y/n felt.

It spiked into the soles of her feet, burned through her calves, and crept up into one of her thighs. Oh yeah, her thigh.

She glanced down at it and saw dark red gushing from it. The large animal bite that adorned it spread from her pelvis to her knee. The scar was going to be so very deep.

Despite her bodily pain, she kept running. She stepped on rocks, twigs, anything that layed on her unplanned path. She could feel bruises on her arms and stomach, but absolutely nothing would stop her. She had to leave this forest now.

It's kind of crazy how the place that was once her home could convert to something so terrifying. She used to feel at peace here; comforted by the trees that shielded her from the blind eye. But now, she feared what was lurking behind each branch; paranoid that someone was following her, but why would they? They had no use for her anymore.

A loud crack rumbled through the silent forest.

A storm was coming.

Oh, just my luck.

Fate, however, was on her side. She finally reached the edge of the forest, but stopped before her foot passed the border. She glanced around until she was met with the sight of two men. They seemed to be doing a weird dance; synchronized all the way down to their crouched knees. They wore deep brown clothes and the older one seemed to be injured as his shoulder was wrapped tightly with white bandages.

Y/n gazed down at her body. Spirits....

She forgot that she wasn't wearing any clothes. These human traditions seem to constantly slip her mind.

The old, wooden house a few feet across the sand was going to be her place to rest, but it seemed that the two men were camping there. And she definitely cannot confront them naked.

Maybe she could steal some clothes and find somewhere else to rest?

Yes, that would have to do.

While the boy's backs were turned, Y/n rushed into the cottage and tiptoed on the wooden floors. If they creaked, that'd be it for her. She grabbed the first bag she saw and ruffled through it. There was a pouch of money... a blue mask... Aha! A shirt! It was the same shade of brown that the two men wore and was extremely long.

When she threw the shirt over her head, she didn't notice how crowded her area was. Her foot moved slightly and knocked over a tea cup. It's shrill clinking made Y/n pause in fear. Maybe they didn't hear it...?

She was so so so wrong.

The two men made it inside the house at an astonishing speed. They held their arms at a threatening angle and had fierce looks on their faces. On the left was the old, injured one from earlier. He was chubby and shorter than the other man, and looked as if he was analyzing her whole life.

The one on the right was young and angry. He had a scar etched into the skin around his left eye. Y/n could only picture the pain he had gone through before it healed.

Well, the injury on her leg didn't really leave much of it to the imagination. But still.

Luckily, the shirt was long enough to cover most of her; it ended at around the middle of her thigh. She kept glancing between the two men, waiting for them to say something or attack her. The young one looked like he was going to kill her if she even twitched, so Y/n decided to keep still and wait for their first move.

The older one finally seemed to notice her blood covered leg and lowered his arms.

"You are hurt," he declared as he looked at the boy. "We must help her."

"No! She's trying to steal our stuff." Then the boy looked at the girl straight in the eyes. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"Now now, you never ask a traveler for their story, nephew. It'll come with time." The old man took a step toward Y/n and she flinched, trying to decide if she could make a run for it. "I'm just going to go through my bag to find my bandages, so I can wrap your wounds... and make you some tea!"

His bright, welcoming smile calmed Y/n and she walked backwards until her back hit the wall. The boy was still glaring at her while his uncle put a kettle on the fire.

Wait, was that fire always there? I swear it wasn't...

She didn't have much time to dwell on it as the old man patted the floor next to him; a signal for her to sit.

Y/n slowly walked over and sat down. She tried to bend her legs, but only managed to do so with the non injured one. The boy's uncle hummed as he took in her injuries.

"Lee, can you go and fetch me a bucket of water?"

The boy, Lee, presumably, was still watching the girls every movement. It almost seemed like he never blinked.

"Lee... LEE!"

Finally, he looked at his uncle in confusion.

"What?"

"Can you get me some water? I need to wash all this blood."

It seemed like Lee finally took in the severity of the girl's injury. He looked pale at the sight of the blood dripping onto the floor. He nodded his head and ran out to get his uncle's request.

"I'm terribly sorry for my nephew, he doesn't take too kindly to strangers." The old man smiled again. "I'm Mushi and that was Lee."

Y/n nodded her head in acknowledgement. "I'm Y/n."

"Hmm... I've never heard that name before, but it's beautiful nonetheless!"

Y/n cursed herself silently. How could she forget that her name wasn't... normal here with the humans. She could've made up one on the spot, like Jin or something.

Finally, Lee came back with a bucket of water. He hauled it over to his uncle, who had a cloth ready to be drenched. Mushi started to clean the blood around and on the wound; an action that made Y/n hiss out in pain. She bit tightly onto her hand to make sure no other noises would escape her. Mushi had an apologetic look on his face as he grabbed the white bandages off the floor. Knowing that the worst was over, she took a deep breath to relax.

"I was... bit by an animal." Y/n whispered.

Both of the men looked up in surprise; they probably weren't expecting her to answer a question they hadn't even asked.

"There's no animals around here that would leave a bite that harsh," Lee said with mistrust dripping from his words.

...there actually is. Like a lot.

Before she could correct him, Mushi intervened.

"What my nephew meant to say was: we're terribly sorry you had to go through that. Please, rest here for the night. A storm is coming and it's not best for travel."

Y/n paused. Stay here?

Well, this would give her time to process everything.

"Thank you so much. I hope that I can repay your kindness one day." Y/n bowed her head slightly.

Lee looked like he wanted to protest this, but one look from Mushi shut him up.

"No need. Your company is payment enough!" Mushi laughed as he waved his hand.

Y/n smiled back at the old man gratefully as he finished wrapping her wound. She is fortunate to have come across this pair. Well, one of them at least.

"Mushi, may I talk to you? Outside?" Lee whispered to his uncle.

Mushi and Lee walked out of the cabin and talked quietly. Y/n tried to listen in, but the sound of the pouring rain drowned out their voices. Huh, it's raining.

Y/n crawled to the corner of the room farthest from the fire and supplies. She hadn't realized it, but she was exhausted from today. Soon she found herself drifting slowly off to sleep, but her mind was still restless.

___

Y/n leaned on all four of her legs. Her fur was slicked back from the mud on the ground. The entire pack was surrounding her and her opponent; a tight circle being formed.

She looked at her brothers who were at the edge of the circle. They were equally as wounded as her, covered in mud, blood, and cuts. She met one of their eyes and he looked away; what was he shameful of? He's safe.

Y/n didn't even bother to glance at her parents. She already knew the disappointment and anger that would leak from their expression into her soul. She instead decided to focus on her opponent.

It was her sister. Born from the same litter, carried by the same mother, Ayano was her blood through and through. They grew up together, played together, and broke rules together. They were almost inseparable before this moment.

But oh, this moment had changed everything.

Ayano's eyes were dark. They held murder inside of them and seemed to bleed into the snarl that adorned her mouth. Her gray fur was just as matted as the rest of the fighters, but she was still Y/n's beautiful, compassionate sister. How, oh how, could these traditions put sisters against one another?

Their father howled and it caused the whole pack to follow his lead.

The signal to begin the duel.

Y/n could not fight her sister. She wasn't exactly sure if she could win, but she definitely didn't want to find out. This was her blood.

So instead of jumping at Ayano, she bowed her head. Her front arms bent to show her surrender.

She half expected Ayano to do the same, or show at least a sliver of mercy. But she didn't. Instead, she released a low growl that said: fight me, you coward.

Then, Ayano pounced with her teeth barred and her claws -

"Hey... Hey, wake up."

She opened her eyes and shot up in panic. Unfortunately, Lee was way closer than she thought and her head slammed into his. They both groaned out in pain and Y/n laid back on the floor to sooth her pounding head.

"Sorry, you just scared me," she groaned out.

Lee had a hand to his forehead and one eye was closed. "Whatever, just put these pants on and then come outside. Uncle wants to talk."

He through to trousers at her face then walked out the door, grumbling slightly.

Y/n was still catching her breath from the memory. It seemed like such a long time ago, yet it was only yesterday. Her hand drifted to her bandages; the blood had peeked through slightly, but nothing major. Who would've known that yesterday's Y/n would be so different from today's?

She slipped on the brown pants that Lee gave her and rolled up the bottom of them. It was obviously Lee's clothes and they were far too big for her. Then she saw a clean bucket of water a few feet away with a cloth on the side. They must've left it for her.

Y/n cleaned up her face and arms to her best ability. She didn't feel the best, but she felt better.

Then she walked outside to meet the fresh air and welcoming rays of sun. They beamed down on her skin; warming her flesh and a small part of her soul. Was this going to be the happiest she could be? Hopefully not.

Y/n looked off to the right and saw the two men sitting around a fire. They probably moved it out here so she could sleep better. The ground was still a little soggy as she walked towards the duo, but it still beat the pebbles she walked on before.

Mushi greeted her with a smile and a soft "good morning." Lee, on the other hand, was staring at her very attentively. When she met his gaze, his eyes formed a glare and a light blush spread across his cheeks. He looked away sharply towards the fire.

"I've made some more tea, since you didn't get to drink any last night," Mushi said as he poured her some.

Y/n bowed her head and accepted the cup. She took a seat near Mushi and sipped her tea.

Mmm this is so good!

She just about chugged the rest of her beverage; an action that would been embarrassing if she wasn't so thirsty. Mushi kindly gave her more and watched as she drank it slower.

"So," the uncle started, "Lee and I talked and we decided to offer you a ride to the nearest town."

Y/n's eyes widened as she heard his words.

"No, please, it's fine! You've already done so much for me, I can't accept this."

"Of course you can!" Mushi exclaimed. Then, he leaned close to Y/n to whisper, "and maybe we can think of a way to get Lee to smile on the way there."

She giggled and looked at Lee, who was glaring at the two of them with his tea cup gripped tightly in his hand.

Ok, maybe she'll stay with them just a little bit longer. Just a little.

___

I'm not a furry I'm not a furry I'm not a furry

Things will make more sense in the next chapter!

I'm probably gonna update once a week, so let me know if you wanna be tagged or something <3

Chapter 1 | Next

Masterlist

#zuko x reader #zuko #atla zuko #atla #atla fanfic #sokka x reader #sokka fanfic #x reader #avatar #poor zuko #prince zuko #zuko imagine #avatar gaang #gaang #gaang x reader #gaang kids

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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A Flame For A Cabbage (Part 13)

Azula pushes her stall down the vacant streets. She is the only one outside, she is the only one with the sense not to panic buy toilet paper. What she does not know is that the toilet paper has served its purpose. The streets are vacant because the void has taken its annual sacrifices and those who had not been possessed and driven to leaping into its swirling depths are not yet awake because it is 3:15 in the morning. This is when Azula starts her day. It is not when normal people start their day. No less, Azula finds that she is more productive when she rises at 3:15. Her mother had once said that it is another sign that she is ‘literally Satan but with a top knot and cute clothes.’

She finds herself what she believes is an optimal place to set up her stall. It is a shady spot nestled between a cafe and an inn with a lovely maple tree. She picks out a cabbage and smiles. Today will be different, she will have her sales.

She spies her first customer and holds out a cabbage. “Has your toilet paper saved you?” She begins.

The man shakes his head.

“I didn’t think so.” She replies. “See, I tried to tell you, but you did not listen. Luckily for you, I am a generous person. I am still going to allow you to buy a medicinal cabbage.”

The man seems to recoil but he reaches for his pocket. She thinks that he is going to draw out a few copper pieces. Instead he draws a single square of toilet paper and wipes his nose. “No thanks.”

“Good morning.” Azula greets a woman. She thinks that it is the soldier who had abolished her cabbage stand the morning before so abruptly drops her sales pitch. She is not usually one to run, but she is also not one to carelessly put herself into a losing situation. She hustles to pack away her stall. She thinks that she will have better success elsewhere anyhow.

“Halt!” The soldier shouts. “Merchant! Get back here!” The woman is waving something at her. She picks up her pace.

.oOo.

“Father, I have important news.” Sie begins.

“Sie, I am trying to organize my rock garden, you know that I always organize my rock garden at exactly 5:30 in the morning.” He picks up a plastic flamingo, this one is electric blue in color. He strokes it lovingly, the shade reminds him of something important to him. Something that he has lost long ago. Tenderly, he sits it by the rest of the blue flamingos. He moves onto the next one, a standard pink lawn flamingo. This one he puts at the center, for it is the flamingo of the day. This is how he organizes his rock garden. There are no rocks in his rock garden. There is no war in Ba Sing Se. There is no God in the Fire Nation.

There are only flamingos in Ozai’s rock garden. There is only the false illusion of safety in Ba Sing Se. There is only Iroh’s unwavering wrath in the Fire Nation.

As Ozai picks up a flamboyant green flamingo with sunglasses, the Pterodactyl of the West screeches in his cell.

Sie does not get to inform his father of the news.

.oOo.

With her stall once again erect in a new, slightly less comfortable location, Azula decides that she is going to have to take a more direct approach. She looks at the charred body next to her and recalls that this is not normal for the Fire Nation. She also notes that it is, in fact, bad for business to have a body laying around so she quickly pushes her cabbage stall over it.

That ought to fix it. If you push it under the bed or shove it in to the closet then you cannot see it. And if you cannot see it then the mess is gone. No one can see the corpse. So the corpse is not there. It can fade from existence as though it had never been a part of it all. Such is the nature of things. Object permanence is meaningless. It is like time which is also meaningless. Time is not only meaningless, but also a social construct which is why Azula does not have a problem being awake at 3:15 in the morning, because it is actually 5:30 (which is still questionable early). But not for Azula, because Azula believes that it is 3:15 and therefor it is 3:15. Now if you were to ask Ozai, he would say that it is 5:30. And if you asked Zuko, he might say that it is 1:00 in the morning and ask you why you are waking him so early. If you asked Iroh what time it is, he would tell you that he is in a jail cell so time is twice as meaningless as it was before and so he does not know what time it is. So you are best not asking the time at all because, really, how are you to know who is correct? Just who has decided what time to go with anyways?

While the unimportance of time as it pertains to a person was being discussed, several customers have came and went. Each of them hilariously rejecting the socially inept cabbage merchant’s offers.

Azula grows increasingly frustrated. “You are going to buy a cabbage.” She informs the first person she sees. “It is not debatable. You are going to…” the man walks away from her as though she is nothing and no one at all. She is left to ball her fist and wave it at him in a silent display of frustration.

Jet’s words echo in her mind. And maybe he is right, maybe her business will crumble... It could be that the height of her luck had been on the wall all of those days ago. Azula wanders back to her stall, picks out her favorite cabbage of the day, and hugs it to her chest.

She isn’t feeling so well. It is not the illness that plagues the Fire Nation streets. Nor is it the virus that is currently making a mess of a different dimension entirely. It isn’t the black plague either. It could be seasonal allergies--yes, she thinks that it is seasonal allergies. But it is also something else. Something… Emotional.

She is feeling sad. The merchant isn’t sure that she has ever felt sad before. Has she ever felt anything save for pride and determination, and more recently, angry and frustration?

Azula pulls her keens up to her chest and hugs the cabbage closer. A single tear escapes and slips down her cheek. The wind stirs up her hair and rustles the leaves of her cabbages. She can practically hear them whispering, “it’s going to be okay, Azula.”

She is skeptical. But there might be hope yet. She takes a deep breath, she has never done this before. Never.

She puts a, ‘out for lunch, back in 15’ sign on her cabbage stall and heads for the Fire Nation prison.

.oOo.

“Father, I still have news.” Sie tries again. This time Mai and TyLee are standing behind him because they need some screen time. But they aren’t going to do anything particularly important.

“Not now.” Ozai says. “I have important things to do.” Such important business consists of inspecting his toothbrush, bristle by bristle. This is something he routinely does after he organizes his rock garden.

“But father, this is important.” Sie speaks. He can wait, for Ozai is on the last three bristles. But upon that task’s completion he sits upon his throne and seems to stare directly into the flames around it. Sie knows not to interrupt Ozai when he is peering into the flames, seeking out divine wisdom. Mostly the fire simply crackles and shrieks incoherently like a thousand voices from the ninth ring of hell as fires tend to do. But occasionally the fire will crackle and tell Ozai that his beard is pretty. This makes Ozai blush but in a very manly way.

Mai, growing impatient ages up a year. And then one more after that.

Sokka remains the same age though. As do June, Toph, Aang, Katara, Zhao, Haru, Azula, Jet, Ozai, Zuko, and Lo. But Li. Li is not exactly 83 while her sister is only 82. Teo, in his wheelchair also ages a year. And Earth Kingdom Azula is suddenly 8 years old again and her adoptive mother weeps in despair. We cannot be sure of TyLee’s age. Even TyLee doesn’t know TyLee’s age.

“Father?” Sie coughs.

The man only narrows his eyes and concentrates harder on the fire as a good Fire Lord does. Sie shakes his head sadly. Things have been weird between he and his father these days. Ever since he got home. He thinks that his father resents him for some reason but that does not make sense for he has been the perfect daughter. “Father the Earth Kingdom is planning an invasion.”

“Hmmm…” Ozai says taking a sip of his coffee. “Nope.”

“Wh-what do you mean, nope?”

Ozai turns away from the fire but only for a moment. “Nope, there will be no invasion.”

“But there is going to be an eclipse.”

Ozai shakes his head.

“Yes.” Sie inists. “The Earth King…”

Ozai plugs his ears and says, “la la la la, I can’t hear you.”

“Father…”

“There won’t be an invasion because I forbid it.”

“Father,” TyLee starts.

“He’s my father, not yours.”

“Ooohhh, I thought that his name was father.”

Sie shakes his head.

“Sie’s father, TyLee begins again, “we were told that…”

The Fire Lord raises a silencing hand. “If you speak without permission even once more, I will teach you the same lesson that I taught my son.”

Sie shudders violently, not a day goes by where Zuko doesn’t talk about the horrors of calculus derivatives and trigonometry. His face still bears the scar given to him with The Math itself punished him for his wrong answer. Not that Ozai hadn’t summoned The Math in the first place.

“Please no.” TyLee squeaks.

“But father, we should be making preparations…”

“Preparations for what?”

“The invasion.”

“What invasion!” Ozai roars, and with his rage the fire flares. “There is no invasion. I already said ‘la la la’.”

Sie, fearing punishment and The Math, backs down. He clenches his teeth and hopes that he is wrong about the eclipse. “Come on, TyLee. Mai.” He beckons for them to follow. Boredom satisfied, Mai ages down a year again. The others do not.

“Ozai!” Greets a chipper and cheerful high-pitched voice. “Did you trim your beard!? It looks hella fine!”

Ozai smiles. It is the only time that is black and vile soul sees even a faint pin-prick of light and goodness.

#Avatar #Azula #Cabbage Man #Ozai #Mai #TyLee #Fanfiction

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hcpefulmarshmallow · 5 years

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Zansakura (Danganronpa) & Leaves From The Vine (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Are Shockingly Similar, And Both Remarkable

-- The Essay No One Asked For.

I vaguely eluded - and by that, I mean bluntly stated - this comparison before, but as a big fan of both these series and these songs, I figured this whole thing deserves a real, proper post, meta tag and all. But in order to compare the two, we must define them first.

It's fair to say I’ve done a lot of thinking about Zansakura. A while back, I even did a rather, let’s say, meticulous deconstruction of the song as well as Zettai Kibou Birthday, and compared the two to one other. In the interests of saving time and effort, I’ll do my best to summarise the key points; but if you’re interested, here’s the link.

Zansakura is one of Nagito Komaeda’s character songs, in which he conceptualizes his life as Sakura petals falling from their tree, and being carried away in the water. Sakura flowers - or cherry blossoms, as we know them - carry a certain significance in Japanese culture. The long and short of it is this: they signify impermanence, transience, and a wistful sadness in the face it. Cherry Blossoms are considered at their most beautiful, not as they bloom, but as they begin to wither and fall; see his canon dialogue: “As soon as my life entered the final round, it quickly became a rollercoaster ride!” Nagito, of course, suffers from an illness that is likely to take his life very soon. Throughout the song, he expresses a deep, regretful sadness at this being the state of things; but moreover, for the one line he breaks his Sakura motif in the song, it’s to say: “To live an ordinary life and die together with you/Oh, if that could come true”. For Nagito, the saddest thing he’s losing is not his life, but rather, the potential to love and be loved in return.

In the world of Avatar, Leaves From The Vine is a well-known nursery rhyme in the Fire Nation, and going by the lyrics alone, seems to have a vaguely optimistic message - a soldier returns home from war. However, the out-of-universe meaning behind this song is something else entirely.

We, the viewers, are not exposed to all aspects of Fire Nation culture, but rather those that are relevant to the story. So we do not know the song as any kind of nursery rhyme. We know it from Book 2, Episode 15: The Tales Of Ba Sing Se. This anthological filler episode - and I use the term filler loosely, because boy, was this show good at filler - follows various characters throughout the same day, as they go about having separate adventures in the Earth Kingdom capital. Each story serves a different purpose, but by far the most memorable and heartbreaking is the tale of Iroh. Iroh is a very beloved character, and for good reason. He used to be a renowned General, and the heir to the Fire Nation throne. But after his only son Lu Ten was killed in battle, fighting the war the Fire Nation started, Iroh lost all faith in his purpose. His life spiraled and his grief eventually lead to him being disinherited by his father, becoming a disgrace in the eyes of the Fire Nation (though still loved by many for his personality), and perhaps most importantly, turned him off the war altogether, and into the kind and nurturing figure we the audience know, and Zuko relies on. I mean, it was a little more complicated than that, but that’s the crux of it.

His tale in Ba Sing Se mostly revolves around disjointed, seemingly random events in which he somehow makes a stranger’s life better; talking a thief and mugger into turning his life around, comforting a crying child. But at the day’s end, Iroh climbs a hill and sits alone beneath a tree, retreating to grieve privately. There he lays out a cloth, incense, a picture of Lu Ten, and after having helped so many people, expresses his regret that he couldn’t help his son. This day happens to be Lu Ten’s birthday, and in his memory, Iroh sings a tearful rendition of Leaves From The Vine. He is barely able to make it through the final lines of the song: “Little soldier boy/Come marching home/Brave solider boy/Comes marching home” and that’s where is tale ends. Remember what I said about Avatar’s filler being remarkable? This, right here, is the entire essence of Iroh. At the end of his segment, we’re left in awe at how much pain he carries with him, and how he’s able to easily help so many people despite it.

This is where the song leaves an impression. This is the context through which we remember Leave From The Vine, so this is the lens through which I’m going to interpret and compare it to Zansakura.

Both songs elude to similar themes: namely death, loss, ephemera, ideology, and the downfall of having been devoted to an imperfect cause. In Iroh’s case, it’s the loss of life and purpose; and in Nagito’s case, is the lacking of purpose and love.

Imagery

In both songs, a certain sad imagery is evoked. It’s through this medium the bulk of the emotion is expressed. It is the withering and dying of nature. Though not sentient, the vines in Iroh’s case and the Sakura trees in Nagito’s are both undergoing a process that cannot be stopped, and will mean the end of everything that is beautiful for this living thing.

In both cases, however, this motif is broken to address things more literally. In the case of Zansakura, Nagito breaks to give the “to live a life” line. But it’s said in a way, and in a context, where we are meant to understand that he doesn’t believe he will ever achieve this. Likewise, even as Iroh sings about the Solider coming home, we know he never will. Both state a simple desire, to be with someone they love, despite the fact that it’s impossible. A perfect summation of each song, as it’s presented to us.

Death, Loss & Ephemera

Ephemera might just be one of my favourite words. Something that is said to be ephemeral exists for only a short time. Going back to the significance of cherry blossoms, the most common variety actually bloom and fall within a week -- and remember, this is when they’re said to be their most beautiful. Both Nagito and Iroh express a certain sense of defeat. They know their time has passed them by and there’s nothing they can do to get it back. While there is a huge difference between losing a loved one and losing your own life unloved, in both cases, it leaves things unsaid, undone, and unlived. There is a powerlessness both characters feel, that is palpable throughout these songs, and throughout several moments in their respective canon. Though they’re worlds apart, grief is something that can touch anyone, no matter what universe they live in, fictional or otherwise. It’s something that will touch everyone at some point, so perhaps that’s why these are such memorable themes for both Iroh and Nagito.

Ideology And An Imperfect Cause

For Iroh, it was the war that the nation he served began that lead to the death of his son. He fought for the glory of the Fire Nation his whole life, passed on this ideology to his son, and Lu Ten paid the price. Similarly, Nagito’s cycle of luck for which we can blame his illness, is largely tied to (perhaps even responsible for) his belief in hope and despair. But as we’ve seen, for that cause, Nagito will go to lengths so extreme, he often does more harm than good. It because of his luck he may never have the chance to live long or know love; the thing that, by his own admission, he wants more than anything.

Both characters have faced unimaginable pain in the name of a certain ideology. However where they differ is that Iroh used his pain to follow a new path, one that would lead to a better world. Nagito only believed even harder in hope, followed more determinedly the path he was already on. But either way, despite the fact that winning their own personal desires is literally impossible for them, both characters have instead made it their life’s ambition to make the world better for others in whatever way they deem most valuable, no matter the cost to themselves.

In conclusion, I don’t really have one. Sure, the songs dabble in similar evocation, similar themes. A lot of songs do. Loss and pain are hardly unique subject matter, and both materials - almost all materials - handle them differently, just as different people do. I guess this was nothing but an excuse to riff about stuff I like. So there.

#meta;#long post/

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seshathawk · 6 years

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The Last Jedi thoughts

Spoilers. Now a week old, posted at the request of @glowyjellyfish.

Good:

-Grumpy Old Man Luke Skywalker

-Force Ghost Yoda, laughing and making fun of Luke and smacking him in the face and setting shit on fire.

-Leia, literally everything she did but also her general presence (ha!)

-Leia actually gets to chit-chat with a contemporary woman in her age bracket. LEIA HAS A GAL PAL EVERYONE. Because of this, this movie passed the Bechdel test. (Do Leia and Rey talk? Now I can’t remember.)

-Presenting Rey and Kylo Ren as mirrors of each other, as both desperately wanting companionship so much that they see what they want in the other despite the complete lack of it.

-The reunion between Luke and Leia was everything I ever wanted. I wept copiously, squeezing my husband’s hand. My sister, next to me, also wept copiously. My husband, who I’ve only seen cry once in my life, was wiping his eyes. A woman somewhere behind us was sobbing aloud. It was so perfect and so beautiful.

-The theme of this movie: I’VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE.

-Luke, instantly good at all the Force things he’s ever done, closes in on himself in shame when he realizes he’s failed Ben and becomes a hermit for the rest of his life.

-Also, Luke, who used the power of Feelings more than he really utilized the Force, manipulated Kylo Ren using Feelings like a BAMF.

-Sassy Old Man Luke Skywalker

-Stubborn Bastard Luke Skywalker, who we have all missed

-Luke’s face lighting up when he sees R2

-R2 replaying the original Leia message

-Re: Reylo: I saw them bonding. I saw them fighting together. I felt like I could get on board with redemption for Kylo Ren although I still adamantly did not want them to get together. Then at the crucial moment, Kylo Ren proved himself to be a selfish asshole who says the worst possible things in the worst possible way, which to me says that despite all the hand-holding and shared Force glances and life-saving, Kylo Ren is irredeemable and unacceptable as a partner for Rey.

-Finn RUNNING toward Rey and their sweet cheek-smushing hug.

-The code-breaker returning Rose’s necklace to her

-Poe being too headstrong

-Leia slapping Poe

-Leia shooting Poe

-The “Luke”/”Leia” moment a la Empire (which was by itself one of my favorite Star Wars moments, so happy to have it mirrored here)

-There was so much of Mark Hamill in Luke and so much of Carrie Fisher in Leia, I appreciated and loved it so much.

-Anytime any original trilogy music played while Leia was on screen I burst into tears

-Chewie. He feels more and more real as a character with every movie and I love it.

-The Force moment between Leia and Kylo Ren

-Leia’s Force space moment was so cheesy-looking but let’s all be glad we got to see her use the Force like that

-We SO VERY RARELY see Jedi teaming up and fighting together! We only saw it in the prequels, and the acrobatics made it a little hard to watch. It warmed my heart to see Rey and Kylo Ren fighting together. For one beautiful shining moment I hoped that they would turn together to focus on Force-training people without focusing on Jedi/Sith, just make a new team of Friends Helping Friends.

-I am sorry everyone, I know it’s shallow, but I love me some over-the-top couture-ass space costumes, and this trilogy is severely lacking in them so far. I was glad to see a little class and fun in terms of clothing in the space casino.

-Laura Dern

-Captain Phasma’s eye

-Some parts of this movie were REALLY brutal! The constant running of the fleet, slowly being killed off. Kylo Ren deliberately blowing up ships. (OMG BB-8)

-BB-8 being the greatest droid of all time in every possible way

-Finn’s face when he thinks BB-8 flew a ship

-Possibly the FUNNIEST Star Wars movie I’ve ever seen? I doubt I’ll say that again.

-The salt plains = SO BEAUTIFUL

-Kylo Ren vs. Hux was kind of amazing. Fingers crossed that in Episode IX, Hux will shoot him in the back.

-”Rey already has everything that’s in those books.” YODA YOU ARE SUCH A DICK.

-Flying ancient Rebellion ships. “What the hell?”

-If I have a complaint about TFA, it’s that we never had an “I love you”/”I know” moment between Han and Leia, but LEIA SAID “I KNOW” TO LUKE AND I’M TAKING WHAT I CAN GET RIGHT NOW.

-Rey’s parentage being ultimately meaningless. Although I love the idea of her being a Kenobi, I also hate the idea that the Force only shows up in these two families. Also, I thought it was a thing about her waiting for her parents, but she actually doesn’t know her parents, which I thought was a nice touch.

-Luke being so terrified of the pull of the Dark Side that for one second, he’s completely prepared to kill his nephew rather than deal with that again.

-SPACE JEWELRY.

-I forgot Carrie Fisher’s daughter was in this movie until the credits but I think she was the adorable curly-haired woman who helped Poe with his crafty plans. I approve!

-SO MUCH CRYING

-Luke on the Millennium Falcon

Bad:

-Finn: severely underutilized

-Phasma: severely underutilized

-Rose: severely underutilized

-Costumes: see above note about couture-ass space costumes. I want nothing more in the whole world than to see Rey (and Leia, which I will never see) in some kind of fancy outfit. It doesn’t have to be insane, like, it could be like Leia’s Bespin outfit. SOMEONE BE MORE FANCY PLEASE. Even Leia’s outfits are more dramatic and utilitarian than nice for the sake of appearances. (Also: Laura Dern’s weird cold shoulder turtleneck? Okay.) Please, I need Anakin’s fake refugee outfit, Luke’s weird gold jacket at the end of A New Hope, Leia’s white ceremonial dress, JUST SOMETHING.

-Finn/Rose - PLEASE GOD AND ABRAMS, DO NOT MAKE A LOVE TRIANGLE, PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR FOR THESE RANDOM SHIPS

-Rey/Kylo: see above. I can believe that they can form a bond and move forward with that, but I can never believe that Rey would hook up with someone who violated her and killed Han Solo. I would have to see some serious groveling, Zuko-to-Iroh style, to believe that this could even be a possibility.

-KYLO REN PUT YOUR FUCKING SHIRT ON, NO ONE CARES HOW RIPPED YOU ARE

-The opening scene was a little jarring and a little anachronistic. Funny, but anachronistic.

-It’s stupid and I’m selfish but WHERE WAS THE EWAN MCGREGOR FORCE GHOST?

-SO MANY NEW CHARACTERS and yet the existing characters weren’t given a lot of attention.

-I have to agree with the complaints about Finn and Rose’s side plot. While I think it was important for Finn to have a reason to stay and fight and to see what the First Order does on a larger scale that ISN’T about killing citizens (and I hope that that will be instrumental to his character in Episode IX), the fact that the whole thing literally ended up being pointless was a little frustrating. At least they could have gotten that tracker disabled and THEN been caught and posed for execution.

-Rose says she loves Finn (? I guess?) and then kisses him but she’s literally known him for less than 24 hours. Maybe she’s just vulnerable because of the loss of her sister?

-Snoke’s red audience chamber was so intense that it looked fake

-Honestly, in the Rey/Kylo Ren moments I saw intimacy, yes, but honesty and understanding. I saw the potential in Kylo Ren for redemption, which I hadn’t seen in TFA. I saw two young people in similar situations being forced to reach out and touch each other despite not really wanting to. And then I saw the Tumblr reactions and it was hugely disappointing. Could I have read platonic desires for companionship and being equals where there was actually romantic tension? Was there really a reason for Kylo Ren to be shirtless if not to signal to the audience that there’s the possibility of sexual interest on the table? (I saw two people interrupted in their daily lives, whether that meant walking around, working, or getting dressed.) I’m gonna say it again: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE THEY CANNOT HOOK UP I WILL QUIT STAR WARS.

-Not a ton, but a strange amount of alien breasts/teats? Not in a sexual way but a funny way? I’m not sure how to feel about that. I thought it was weird. Am I wrong to feel that?

-I know this is silly and selfish, but I really wanted his name to be Ben Organa, not Ben Solo. (Can you imagine the fan uproar if they had made it Organa?) Just makes more sense to me.

#star wars #the last jedi

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