#azula would *also* do that but it hurt way less because thats just her being an annoying little sister and she has no authority over zuko

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

Alright let's try this Soulmate body switch AU I'm also attempting this whole "make a tag" thing... bare with me, ive only actually used this app for like 4 days now im gonna go with "RayMakesSoulmates" for now... uhm, idk what else to go with uhhhhh yeah, names Ray btw...

Okay here we go. The idea of switching bodies is something a bit strange to me so let me make this work for me.

Basically it happens once a year after you either turn 17 or meet your soulmate. If its the latter then there has to be alot of turmoil and confusion on one side to trigger the first switch because it does not happen at the first encounter. However after the first encounter you'll sometimes have little blurry dreams that are in fact core memories of your soulmate. But theyre always too blurry to point out who's involved and sounds are too muffled to pin point any specific noises words or what have you.

Now, the dreams don't happen every night but they happen often enough that you are made aware that you have met your soulmate at some point recently.

So after Zuko visits the south and they begin their cat and mouse game around the world Zuko often has blurry dreams of white with black falling what he thinks is people screaming and what he knows is muffled crying. While Sokka has random dreams of what he thinks is someone moving away into the darkness and someone screaming out to them but he can't figure out what they're saying. Another dream he has is a blurry glow of bright blue and crying. There's also one that shows up more often than the other two, its when he sees what he believes is someone moving towards him saying something, but its muffled, then a bright light and muffled screaming and crying.

However after Ba Sing Se Sokka has a dream that's clear and vivid, not muffled and not blurry. After he takes a moment from shooting up to a sitting position he realizes that this is not a dream, he's switched bodies. Standing up and moving the blankets off of him he looks around and sees the there are fire nation items everywhere, it looks like he's in a royal bedroom. He elects to keep calm as he moves towards where he thinks is a bathroom, he is correct and when he looks into the mirror he freezes. His heart drops into his stomach. Sokka can hardly believe what he's looking at. Staring back at him is not his face, but Zuko's. He reaches up to touch the scar on Zuko's face. While yes he has control over his body and he doesn't exactly know how to act 'firenation' let alone 'fire nation royalty' he stands straight. "This won't last longer than 3 hours." He reminds himself

"What won't last longer than three hours?" Azula's voice breaks through

Instantly on edge and irritated Sokka- ahem Zuko turns to Azula "what do you want Azula?" He says in a voice thats much less irritated, theyre siblings right? So they have to be chummy right

"Oo! You sound so much less angry!" She muses "disgusting, anyways, Mai wanted me to let you know she's leaving today"

Why would he care about that? Oh they must be friends? Maybe they're dating? Okay, don't screw this up "uh, okay"

"Aw don't be so sad Zuzu~ you two would have never worked out anyways, her and Ty Lee switched bodies just three days ago. It was honestly was kind of amusing watching her string you along" This is not how siblings normally talk to eachother. He just glared at Azula "alright alright sheesh, ill leave you alone" he found something to write on and quickly jotted down the conversation because if he was given that information Zuko would need it.

Meanwhile Zuko shot awake and found himself lying next to appa Katara and Aang, so he is alive huh? Confused he figured he must be dreaming until he realized his vision was clear and nothing was muffled. He was below deck on a fire nation ship. He paused a moment before he stood and noticed Sokka's boomerang beside him. He lifed it and saw Sokka in the reflection. His reaction seemed to mirror(haha get it) Sokka's when he saw Zuko in the mirror. But he dropped the boomerang and it made a loud bang which woke the other two up "Sokka what are you doing, the sun is barely up"

He paused and cleared his throat. Okay, sure he's been chasing them he needs to not blow this "uh, sorry, nightmare"

Katara shifted and turned to him, a genuine look of worry in her eyes "do you want to talk about it?" She asked in a tone that reminded him of his mother. Genuine love.

He forced himself not to tear up at the memory and just shook his head "no, I honestly can't remember it. Just scared me is all" the hesitation in Katara's expression before she responded was strange to him

"Alright, if you say so, do you mind going and asking dad to change the course? We need to stop and get supplies"

His hesitation and expression probably made her realize what happened "okay, youre not Sokka right now are you?" He froze and nodded slowly "alright, you dont have to tell me who you are, but I'll help you through the motions, Aang and I switched back in Ba Sing Se, that was the day when you questioned why I said I'd fly around, er- or that was when Sokka questioned me" okay she was a little more accepting of this than he thought.

"Uhm, okay, yeah, right, uhm, I don't want to blow this so can you just uh show me around? I'm sure Sokka knows all the people he's- oh agni he's gonna meet my dad" zuko internally cringed.

In that moment it seemed to click with Katara "alright, so you're telling me your Zuko"

Zuko flinched and backed up against the wall "look I dont know what you want me to do about this, but I promise you that I'm not going to ruin anything, I know I messed up, hell Sokka's probably noticing that my family doesn't work like yours does. I've been so confused my whole life okay, I'm sorry I betrayed you in Ba Sing Se, my sister has a way of manipulating me. I just hope he doesn't get hurt, he probably doesn't know he needs to keep his mouth shut in my family." Zuko was panicking when Katara reached out

"Zuko, zuko what do you mean?" Her voice shaky

"Look I cant tell you everything, I cant tell you my life story not right now, I need to get through with this. If we meet again, which I hope we do, ill tell you then. But right now, please just show me what Sokka goes through day to day. I know he's not gonna like what happens on the other end, I just hope it doesn't go too bad."

Katara nodded "alright well. Let me walk you around and let you learn the peoples names, ill just say hi to them and say their names." She paused "but first, tell me about your mother, i dont know if I believe it anymore"

He sighed before telling her the entire story.

Meanwhile at the palace Sokka was sitting in a war meeting knowing to keep his mouth shut unless spoken to. He didnt want to set people off or let them know he wasn't actually Zuko. The topic of the earth kingdome came up and Ozai turned to him "Zuko, you've spent time among the Earth kingdom citizens. What information do you have?"

"Uh, the Earth kingdoms citizens are strong willed and hopeful, as long as they have hope they will not yeild"

"Hmmm, I see, we need to crush their hope"

"Well, thats not what I-"

"I think we should take their precious hope and burn it to the ground!" Azula cuts in

"Yes, yes good idea Azula" Oh no

About an hour after the meeting the switch flipped, Sokka made notes about everything that he found important in time before the switch was over.

After they switched back Sokka found his sister and grabbed her shoulders "Katara, I have to tell you something, I just got back from a body swit-"

"And your soulmate is Zuko? I know, he cried when I was nice to him, what happened on your end?"

"Well, his whole family is mean to him"

"Figured"

"I was in a war meeting and found out their plan for the comet"

After relaying the information he found they discussed it with Aang.

Let's skip ahead to after the failed invasion and to the air temple when Zuko shows up.

"Hello, Zuko here"

No fighting it in this one

"Get your jerk bender butt over here" Katara and Sokka said practically in unison.

>im gonna wrap it up here. And yes Katara would notice its not Sokka and would totally pick up on Zuko, she's observant

>and no Azula wouldn't notice at all because she's used to Zuko being stand offish with her. Plus Sokka is so much better at impersonations than Zuko

@chaoticidiott @roman-does-nothing @bisexuallsokka @transzukostanblog

I dont know if I did this AU justice, I tried.

#RayMakesSoulmates #atla sokka #prince zuko #sokka #sokka x zuko #zukka #zuko #avatar the last airbender #so gay #omg #tw: caps

[idk-my-aesthetic]

Phoenix Prince /// Dragon Princess AU

Aka a healthy (ish) fire siblings au (thats still super angsty im so sorry) where Zuko and Azula love/take care of eachother and earn the love of their people

———————————

Ursa dies in child birth, though thankfully Azula survives. Zuko’s only three at the time but he’s devastated by the loss of his mother, and vows to protect his baby sister at all costs

He’s super super involved with Azula growing up, and does everything in his power to protect her from Ozai. Bc when she’s little Ozai’s very bitter bc she “killed” Ursa, plus he already hated zuko for being too weak, plus there’s no Ursa to challenge him. so he can basically do whatever tf he wants to them and be an abusive fucking dick

But then, Azula starts fire bending and is clearly a prodigy. Ozai suddenly takes an interest in her. She’s terrified of her dad so she does w/e tf he wants to keep him happy.

Except she refuses to hurt zuko. he’s her big brother and she loves him. She (secretly) stays really close with him, though is skilled enough at manipulation that Ozai thinks she’s basically cut herself off from zuko/hate him. Which zuko is fine with, he wants Azula to be safe from Ozai and if that means she needs to pretend to hate him when their dad is in the room? He doesn’t care, he knows his baby sister and knows she loves him

Anyway yeah Ozai starts to like her better and treats her.... “better”. (Note the quotations.) but she still feels guilty that Zuko’s getting the brunt of ozai’s wrath, so she does her best to keep Ozai’s attention on how good she is instead of how much of a failure zuko is.

Quick side note: if Azula seems ooc that’s on purpose. We know her toxcicity is a result of Ozai’s influence. But here he has way less control over her. Bc Ozai mainly controls her by using fear. And while she is afraid of him, she’s not nearly as afraid in this AU. a) bc Azula has her over protective big brother being over protective and b) Ursa’s dead so there’s no mother who is supposed to protect her failing to protect her and making Azula feel unsafe

So in this she’s much closer personality wise to like a “season 1 zuko” version of herself. She’s in general cool but tends to loose control of herself. Though she also has a lot more self confidence than zuko did, and maybe a bit too much pride. She’d never hit someone who was already down and cares for ppl, but pretends that she cares for no one

So yeah. The two are just kinda surviving living in the castle and love eacother a lot

Until they hear about the whole kill ur first born thing....... (which happens about 2 yrs after cannon bc Iroh came home when he heard his sister in law died and the whole siege of ba sing se was postponed)

Instead of like. Waiting for her brother to get murdered tiny 9 yr old Azula packs up their shit and gets ready to go on the run

Unfortunately she’s (almost) too late. While she’s getting ready to leave Zuko is trying to cover for her (Ozai would be murderus if he knew Azula was gonna betrey him by leaving) and somehow manages to insult Ozai while trying to protect Azula from being found out

Ozai gets big mad, and in a fit of rage tries to kill zuko by burning half his face off.

Azula runs in at the sound of her brother’s screams, at the exact same time two gaurd rush into the royal chambers. The guards are frozen in shock, but Azula is pissed

Azula attacks her dad. At first she has the upper hand/element of surprise but... she’s 9.

she starts loosing. Her forearm gets really badly burned in a suspiciously hand-shaped pattern.

During the fight Zuko’s struggling to lift himself from the ground and help. He manages to save Azula from a killing blow by throwing some fire at Ozai, but collapses immediately after. Azula barely has a second to breathe before Ozai starts attacking again.

For a moment it legitimately looks like Ozai is going to murder his two young children in cold blood

Until one of the guards snaps.

She uses the whole fucked up situation to knock Ozai out, though she doesn’t kill him. The other gaurd is just standing there, and she has no clue who he’s gonna help so she just knocks him out

Then the gaurd grabs zuko and Azula, and fucking BOOKS IT from the castle. She does a blue spirit type thing to escape (threatening to kill either Azula or zuko) and eventually gets them somewhere safe where she can get their wounds treated

The next day the fire lord puts out this whole sob story about how an assassin pretended to be a gaurd, killed his father, then kiddnapped his children. And how he’s sending out a whole manhunt for his lost children yada yada yada

The other gaurd that was there mysteriously disappears a few days later, but not before he can spread some “rumors” about the prince and princess’s disappearance. Ozai ascends to the throne and publicly offers an enormous reward for the return of his children,,,,,, while secretly sending assassins after them. (Like.... Azula attacked him and he already tried to kill zuko he don’t give a fuck)

Iroh is obviously devestated when he finds out. and while he thinks the whole thing is a bit suspicious he starts on a journey desperately looking for his lost niece and nephew

While all this BS is happening this poor gaurd suddenly has 2 damaged af kids to take care of and a bunch of assassins to run from

So once zuko and Azula are healed enough to travel and they know zuko won’t die, they go on the run. They can’t stay in one place bc of all the assassins after them and end up going all over the world

They don’t spend a lot of time in the fire nation (for obvious reasons) but they do spend bits and pieces there. Connecting with their people, meeting freinds of the gaurd who saved them that can help (like Lt Jee who ran Zuko’s ship in cannon) and spreading the truth of what happened.

Stories about the damaged prince and princess who were so hurt by their father begin to spread. But even more stories about how the prince and princess care for their people spread ten times faster. Stories they take time to rebuild small fire nation villages damaged by floods, or how corrupt military commanders suspicious disappear after they come to town start to spread.

Ppl start calling them the dragon princess and pheonix prince. Because the princess protects her people like a dragon protects it’s hoard, by killing everyone who dares to endanger it. And the prince has risin from the ashes (you can see the burn clear as day on his face), to heal the land and his people

(Though really..... the prince and princess are both dragons and pheonixes. Because even if she seems invincible and more ruthless than her brother, the princess has been hurt deeply. Though her wound is more easily covered. And she aches for the pain of her nation, the nation she feels she wasn’t strong enough to protect. She just hides her emotions better than her brother....)

(As for the prince, yes he shows more kindness than his sister seems too. But he is just as ruthless as her if someone threatens their hoard. He’s just a bit calmer.... less trigger happy than his twin. It was his idea to take out the corrupt commandor stealing a small town’s livelihoods, after all)

They call the gaurd who saved them “the Kitsune”. They say she is a flame wielding spirit, sent by Agni himself to protect the true leaders of the fire nation

Iroh overhears bits and pieces about them. He starts to get an idea of what’s happening, but for the most part he really struggles to track them. Ppl can recognize him, and they won’t sell out their prince and princess to someone who might take them away

So yeah. The three of them are on the run together for a long time. They can never spend long in one place (assassins never stop coming after them) and dart all over the earth kingdom and fire nation, seeing first hand the effects of the war. And gaining a positive reputation both for caring about their people in a way no one since before Sozin has, as well as shaming dishonorable fire nation soldiers who mistreat those in the earth kingdom

(They almost never hurt foot soldiers who are just following orders, but any one (especially upper command) who take clear pleasure in other’s suffering are often challenged to Agni kai’s in exchange for said soldiers leaving.

Though usually just being publicly knocked on their asses by a couple of scarred kids who turn out to literally be the lost prince and princess holy shit, is enough to put them in their place)

So yeah. They travel together earning a good reputation from as soon as they’re healed until zuko and azula are 14 and 11 respectively

At that point they get separated from the gaurd.... (she doesn’t die, either captured or separated for some other reason)

So now.... all they have is eachother

The two spend the next two years on their own. They still try to do the same types of stuff they did before but now they’re in a lot more danger w/o an adult to help them. They’re basically just.... 2 increasingly ferel children struggling to survive. They live mostly off of like foraged stuff and whatever money they can make/steal from rich assholes

They continue to dodge Iroh as well bc they have no clue if he’s gonna return them to their father or kill them or w/e. Which is wayyyy harder than it would seem, the only reason he hasn’t caught them yet is that they have an alliance with June the bounty hunter who keeps sending Iroh on wild goose chases bc she has a soft spot for the weird ferel kids. (And a huge crush on the gaurd who was basically their mom/older sister for a while. But we don’t need to talk about that)

so zuko and Azula are just these absolutely feral kids being hunted by 12 dozen bounty hunters from their father, plus the “dragon princess and pheonix prince” have officially been declared “traitors to the nation that are impersonating the late children of Firelord Ozai” so there’s a good amount of the actual military after them, and they’re trying to keep away from their uncle and all his fucking white lotus freinds

They’re a little bit stressed ok??? And like super protective of eachother by this point

And then who joins the fucking search??? The goddam avatar

Bc he heard these stories about these good firebenders who protect everyone no matter what side of the war they’re on. And ofc Aang wants one or both of them to teach him

So Aang like the lovable idiot he is, is just trying so hard to adopt these crazy feral firebenders.

And ik I keep saying feral but like. I need to emphasize this bc these two spent 2 years on the run + 2 more years on the run while basically living in fucking forests cus they’re out of money, connections, and the gaurd was the only one out of the three of them with social skills. They’re a little stressed okay???

And idk I just love the idea of Aang trying to befriend these crazy feral firebenders acting like they’re just like. Wild animals or smthn. Like cornering them in a clearing and trying to offer them jerky as if they were wolves and the two giving him the blankest fucking expression

Anyway this post is about 200x longer than I meant it to be and I am so so sorry. (Especially since I can’t put in a read more on mobile)

Anyway bc it’s so long i’m just gonna do the last bit in bullet form and try to finish as quickly as humanly possible

- obvi they join the avatar and stuff

- the gaurd (who ima call kit/kitsune cus I don’t have a name for her) eventually meets/joins with Iroh. June later joins them as well as they try to find the idiot fire children

- Sokka has a big gay crush on the feral firebening guy

- Katara has a very tiny crush she refuses to admit too on Azula

- there’s also a lot of drama between her and Azula at first bc Azula is brash and Katara kinda gets annoyed at a mix of that/the lingering bias she has against fire nation ppl but they get past it

- also Azula has ~issues~ where she blames herself for their mom’s death/ is sure their mom hates them but asp their mom comes to her in spirit form and says she loves her (no fucking clue when that would happen but I love that idea)

- instead of having zuko/Azula chasing them they have a really fun variety of different random bounty hunters. Obvi including sparky sparky boom man

- the siege of the north.... happens. Though Zhao doesn’t kill the moon spirit so yue lives, and Azula and zuko manage to make a huge speech and get many of the soldiers to defect to their side instead so it ends with minimal bloodshed

- when Toph joins the group she and Azula are chaos incarnate

-mai and ty lee hear rumors and stuff and join team avatar eventually

- when they find out about the day of black sun they just. Skip trying to talk to the earth king. Cus they can just stage a cou lol they have the people on their side?? Forces from both water tribes, random earth kingdom ppl they’ve managed to befriend,,,,

- though they have to find uncle first bc he could challenge zuko for the throne. Obvi they think they’ll need to get rid of him bc they don’t really know him and think he wants to hurt them but all of a sudden??? 

- so they kinda have a few side quests as they’re preparing and gathering everyone but then it’s the day of black sun!!! And it works and shit and I actually have some other ideas too but FUCK this is SO LONG i am so sorry and will shut up now

#atla #princess azula #azula atla #zuko #zuko atla #prince zuko #iroh #iroh atla #aang #aang atla #katara atla #sokka atla #yue atla #zukka #toph atla #i am so sorry that this is so long ahhhh #long post #pls rb i just speant 2 hrs on it even if i’s longer than g-d ever intended #child abuse tw #graphic #tagging just in case

[isazulabaeorwhat]

Honestly I feel like the best thing for Azula ( apart from Therapy) would have been to get a fresh start. I have seen alot where Zuko or Mai or Ty Lee or someone else from Team Avatar ends up reaching out to Azula being her friend supporting her etc. And I think that's probably more fun to read in fic because it's characters you already know. But if say I was writing canon ATLA comics and I wanted a happy ending for Azula I'd have her get away from this cast first. Azula had really toxic relationships with her 2 friends and brother.

And unlike say Zukos relationship to team Avatar it was a very intimate one. Those kind of feelings are hard to get over and even if they choose to forgive her feels she deserves love and acceptance the toxic memories of their relationship with her doesn't dissappear for them or for Azula. It can maybe affect them less in time but I think Azula deserves someone who can start new with her. That way she doesn't always have the context of who she was or a previously bad relationship hanging over her head.

The rest of team Avatar minus Zuko might be a bit better because they also had a less intimate relationship with her kinda like Zuko before he switched sides. But they were still Zukos friends first. Imagine if you had a brother you had a bad relationship with. And you know he's probably vented to his friend group about his issues with you. Sure you could still end up befriending a member of his friend group but its way more awkward.

I just feel like for Azula if her recovery comes with the help from her old friends, her brother, or her brothers friends its more of a uphill battle for her.

However if she were to say go away for a few years make a new set of friends that she has a good relationship with because she's in a better place (aka a less stressful life without her dad a new start) then I think she can come back and maybe connect or reconnect with some people from maybe team avatar or old friends or family.

If they aren't the only close relationships she has, and they come back into her life after she's had more time to get her bearings and reflect on life maybe accept herself more, then I think thats better for everyone including (and especially) Azula herself.

Aight anon, I’m just rlly surprised you got to write this long for this lmao new feature of tumblr??

But aight I see where you’re coming from. Technically it is considered unhealthy if those she hurt are the ones to help her heal... considering they need to heal themselves as well from the damage she caused. Going with your idea, she’d have to have her own literal arc and meet characters that can handle who she was (and is)... which means those characters must be really special to do that. I doubt Bryke will actually allow their main cast (especially Zuko) to be put at the sides though lmao but neat idea.

[azuwulastan]

Azula (of cooourse)

omg <3 ofc

Why I like them

she is like, the perfect mix of tragedy, comedy, and skill ... so much fun to watch and even more fun to try figure out wtf she’s thinking. like in some ways she is so aged above her years but also so immature like a child bc of this bizarro upbringing she has. she just has this enormous depth and complexity like.. she is an awful person in many many ways - in particular the way she threatens ty lee to recruit her, the way attacks zuko’s insecurities in their first encounter shown in the show, the whole burn down the earth kingdom thing . but then she’s so fragile and naive in some ways? broken relationships, broken family and no one to love her. my heart. she thinks she’s unloveable and it just hurts to see a 14 year old think that way.

i think its these many sides of her that makes me love her- because there are always things to think about her.

also imo she is funny? why didn’t aang laugh??

Why I don’t

cruelty, manipulation, controlling tendencies, the way she is mean to ty lee and makes her cry. she also enjoys fucking with zuko a lot which is still uncomfortable to watch but at least she’s not ranked higher than him so the power differential is less pronounced. also... imperialist monarch who loves her status and is a fire nation nationalist? ya hate to see it

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

i mean.. the beach is excellent for obvious reasons. but crossroads of destiny is one of my favourite episodes like.. her mind

Favorite season/movie

ugh can’t choose! bk 3 bc it humanises her but bk 2 bc she’s such a bad bitch lolll

Favorite line

“Oh, sounds like the firebending is back on!” also - when she admits to ty lee she’s jealous.. girl........

Favorite outfit

im partial to her b2 look. so comfy? and the earth kingdom look , and the heavy arnour from bk 3? and the fluffy socks she wears in the comics? okay i like all her looks

OTP

tyzula duh. but with caveats. kazula is a close second in an au

Brotp

tophzula brotp is something i wanna see. toph would neg on her and she would hit back. they’d be very well balanced .

also lo and li. i wanna see her hang out with them

Head Canon

she’s got a bad stealing habit - she likes the thrill and feels terribly entitled to everything around her.

she has a somewhat secret love of theatre and romances she just pretends she doesnt

she has a very complicated relationship with femininity - partially bc she wants to emulate her father and strength and can’t do that by being traditionally feminine, partially bc of the way ursa enforced feminity on her, partially bc she’s a baby dyke

she absolutely used to make ty lee play the dragon emporess when they were kids. mai would watch and zuko would play the water spirit

the best time of her life was when she was kicking around the earth kingdom with her girls

there are large parts of her childhood she totally doesn’t remember

ursa really did resent her and did not truly love her (it happens :( )

she actually likes mai a lot more than mai likes her

she would be really bad at drawing or painting or free form sculpture but really good at something like ceramics or screen printing or like... embroidery

Unpopular opinion

ummm idk? i like to pretend she’s nicer off screen but thats probably wishful thinking. its hard to have an unpopular opinion when im in my own little corner of atla tumblr where we are all azula stans. although i think plenty of ppl find tyzula objectionable (fair)

A wish

she learns to love and works to heal her relationships w people, she finds a creative outlet, she undoes her fire nation brain washing and works to undo the harm of her ancestors on the world, she chills out for five mins

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

i mean she did kiss chan so... what worse could happen? also like.. the entire events of the comics set after the events of the series

5 words to best describe them

perfectly broken (fic title up for grabs), hardened, beautiful, mean

My nickname for them

she is such a bitch

#thank you #this was hard to answer bc i feel like i talk abt this stuff all the time but i couldnt remember half of it #taintedprincess

[promptosbouncybuns]

Can we please not tear ships down or character bash because of our agendas?

This somehow became super long...sorry.

Wanna know what Mai and Aang have in common?

They are normally the two biggest recipients of, honestly, really stupid accusations.

Aang is apparently abusive in that he kissed Katara once while she wasn't very consenting to it at the time.

He's 12 and does stupid things but please hold him accountable for all time despite how disappointed in himself he looked right after. He didn't even pursue her after she stepped back. He saw his error and pulled away.

He apparently doesn't care about Katara? Despite literally giving up his chance to take full control of his avatar state just to go save her from a vision that may or may not have been real. I mean he could have just been like...ok...meh...Idc. Avatar state yip yip!

Then in LOK he just used her as a baby maker...never mind that apparently Katara had enough power or sway to outlaw bloodbending. Plus...guys...she's old when we see her in that series and has always been more family centered.

Not saying she became just a regular housewife after she married Aang but as stated before, she old! She's been through enough and if she wants some peace and solitude after dealing with the loss of her Friends, her Brother, and her Husband than...let the woman be pls. Even Toph didn't really want to fight anymore since old age had finally cought up with her and she's younger than Katara! If she doesn't want to fight but instead heal, let her do as she pleases. Plus you all sound like being a housewife and taking care of your children is a death sentance. Not all fighters are in the battle all the time.

Somehow Aang is also depicted as only seeing Katara as a trophy...Honestly I don't see how this got so convoluted but anyone who saw the series can say he doesn't think or her that way. He loves her, sees her as his best friend, and as probably one of the best masters to ever teach him. He's shown her tremendous respect as a friend, pupil, and love interest. He's listened to her and has grown from her wisdom.

Its also just crapping all over Katara as a character when people have this line of thinking. She's stronger than that, and would never be a prize to anyone, not even the avatar. If she wants to be with him she will. Kinda like how in the last episode when Aang walks out, she follows and is the one to kiss him.

I've always seen them as opposites, not in elements but in personalities. Also their similarites tend to correlate too!

Katara is at times a stick in the mud and Aang helps her have a childhood with the fun he brings her. She's had to grow up fast and undertake a lot of chores around her village. She's strong and outspoken, at times very loudly. She's passionate, even in the face of supposed peril, where there is no way she can prevail. She's strong and cares for others, almost to a fault since she took up precious days till the eclipse to help firenation people she didnt know.

Aang is a playful soul that hates being tied down. He'd rather have fun, and has been raised to seek leisure instead of responsibility. Its because of this that makes him so childish, until he meets her and is shown that his destiny is to bring balance to the world. He may not be physically strong but like Katara he isn't weak willed. He's passionate about protecting people and bringing harmony back to the four nations. While his passion isn't quite so loud, he can inspire people.

She's helped curb his childishness, and has helped instill in him responsibility. She won't let him shirk things off or procrastinate. She even was willing to let Aang learn waterbending without her because it was for the greater good.

Through these actions she's helped Aang embrace his old soul vibe and have it feel justified. He sees through her that what he does now will have an impact on the world and he best be getting to it.

I've always seen them as a couple that is silly, cute, and can get things done. I can see them being older and being more familiar with each other and it can lead to them having very intense intimate energy. I mean in the series, they're kids so...not really into thinking about them that way at that age. They can communate well so, there will be less fights and a lot of understanding. Definitely not boring.

As for Mai well...apparently people just don't understand her sense of humor and personality. She's got dry humor and is very direct in a lot of things. She doesn't sugar coat things and shys away from expression a lot of times.It somehow comes off as abusive?

Her telling Zuko to never break up with her again is supposed to be a joke, seeing as the last time he did, she literally had to save his bum from being boiled alive...

Then you have the infamous scene where they were together again after season 2 and while Zuko angsts, Mai tries to redirect his thoughts from such dark depths. Honestly, what do you say to that? Should you say its going to be ok? Because that just seems empty amd shallow.

Plus Mai, being emotionally stunted, doesn't really know how to navigate emotional waters. You also have to keep in mind that they finally get to have a conversation after all these years so obviously they aren't going to really know one another and how to communicate well.

So her not coddling and not letting him angst over things neither of them can know or deal with till it actually happens is dismissive of his abuse? I don't thinks so. Its honestly saying we will have to wait and see how things have changed once you are actually back home, so lets not dwell on them so much.

Of course, then you have her bringing up what happened last time Zuko was in a war meeting which is somehow abusive too. You know, its the same thing Iroh brought up in season 1 Ep. 3. So Iroh is abusive too now. It feels like people are saying don't bring up someone's abuse, ever, even if its to help them from potentially repeating the same pain.

She's trying to stop him caring and in her very direct way says that its not worth the pain of what could happen again if he attends. She's genuinely worried about him and doesn't want him hurt more physically or emotionally.

Then they like to say Mai doesn't care about Zuko really and that she just likes his status. They also say she's abusive with how she doesn't like anything he does for her. The biggest scene used is from the Beach showing Mai non-plussed by him giving her a shell and ice cream.

For one, Zuko wasn't acting like Zuko at all that first bit of the episode. He didn't take into account what Mai liked as apposed to what other girls liked. I mean while Ty Lee may like the shell, does that mean every girl has to like it otherwise they're a complete bish? Also...who here likes having ice cream fall on them? Honestly Mai could have made a huge deal about getting it on her but chose to crack a wry, but as always, dry joke about it.

Also please note that in this same episode Mai deals with an abusive S/O very correctly. Zuko's been acting off and it culminates with him pushing a guy back who happened to be talking to her. He makes a scene and insults her in front of everyone once she calls him out on his actions. Does she get even and call him worse? Nope. She simply says that their relationship is over and thats it. Though she looks conflicted by this, she stands firm despite Zuko trying to get handsy with her twice later in the episode. She holds him accountable but says she still loves him. I'd have an issue with this if they didnt have Zuko tell her and everyone whats been eating at him so long.

If she didnt know whats been making him act so hostile and crazy then how can she know that Zuko's not just an abusive jerk showing his true colors after all this time. Not saying that it made his actions right, but I feel her knowing the why instead of leaving it a mystery helped Mai reason through forgiving him.

As for her just wanting the power of his position, thats just really, really, really, lazy. She's from a noble family and is friends with the firenation princess...or as I like to say, unfortunately trapped in Azula's orbit. She'd be well off as it is if she kept her connection to Azula, but she didn't. She chose to go against a firebending prodigy, essentially turning her back on the firenation and her family to save the jerk who dumped her by letter.

Nope! Mai doesn't give a Flamio about Zuko himself. She just wants his title.

Opposites seem to attract and in this case its definitely with personalities since...ya know...Mai can't bend elements.

Zuko is passionately driven to a scary degree. He's hyper focused on finding the avatar despite the 100 years no one's seen them. He can be hot tempered and easily set off. He cares for people even to the point he'd rather starve than rob pregnant couple for food. He's brash, and doesn't think things through.

Mai is quietly, but strongly passionate for Zuko, even if its detrimental to her as with challenging Azula. She has learned to keep her temper and other emotions under lock and key, and is not easily set off. She cares about those she's put time and energy into. She's fairly classy, choosing her words wisely and she's definitely done a lot of thinking about what she wants or needs to do as far as her actions.

Zuko's shown that its ok to be expressive, and that its ok for her to do so. He wants to see her free of her parents emotional abuse so that she won't be so guarded.

Through Mai's personality, she's helped temper....Zuko's temper. He won't be so quick to flip his lid and do things without thinking them through. Like fire to a knife Zuko's helped make Mai burn bright and she's given him a sheith for his wild emotions.

I've always seen them as the quiet but intense love kinda couple. They may not have the best communication skills and this could lead to a lot of arguments but their love for one another is stronger. Eventually the sands of time will smooth them, break down walls and allow them to understand one another better.

I'm all for pretty much any ship in atla, and I love how fanfiction can actually help strengthen my love for it more than the actual show. The creativity and OOC that some writers pull off can be amazing and help you really like a character in a certain way or open your eyes to a new pairing.

However, if you wanna like ships, like them because you can, but don't go and take obviously innocent things and blow them out of proportion.

Here is convoluted, misconstrued, out of context information to say person X is evil and shouldnt be with person Y. W shouldn't be with person Z....therefore, Person Z and Person Y should be together because their partners are obviously abusive.

The...What? Three to maybe five episodes of screentime together as begrudgingly budding friends is enough to show exactly how they will be if they got together. Which these episodes can bring about interestingly creative ideas, however people act like that this is the definitive reason Z/Y should be together and any other pairing with the other two is completely abusive.

Just to be clear...if you like Zutara, thats great, I do too. I can imagine them in any number of ways. Them being enemies to lovers, or knowing each other before becoming star crossed lovers, or everythings all good in the univers and they love each other so so much!

However, in none of these headcannons do I see the need to bash Aang or Mai. I don't need to come up with stupid reasonings for Zuko and Katara to be together. If I want them to be together in a story or piece of art, I'll do it and be classy about it. I won't have Katara say Aang assaulted her and fly into Zuko's arms, pushing Mai down saying she's a manipulative bish. Because...she and Aang aren't.

At all.

Im just tired of the mental gymnastics shippers go through to spread hate for one ship so they can have another. Half the time its not even true facts but just people seeing it from an angle that aligns with their agenda.

If you like something, you like it, but don't crap on other ships or characters wrongly to justify it.

Sorry if this is a mess but god, seeing most of these accusations against Aang had me honestly cringing. I thought it was mainly against Mai because...she got Zuko and isn't bubbly, motherly, and...well Katara. So when Anti-Kataang reasons somehow showed up on the old dash, I felt my faith in humanity plummet.

Like...I hope you guys can sleep well at night knowing you've literally slandered a cinnamon roll who's in touch with his feelings, something most of you would protect if it where for any other ship. Like people just starting the series potentially arent going to be too keen on Aang himself at all simply because of this misinformation. But no...just to have one ship you equated this kid to a sexually abusive monster. Good job. 10/10. Slow 👏 for you guys. Be proud.

#zutara #maiko #kataang #anti-zutara #anti-maiko #anti-kataang #atla #a small rant at stupid reasons. #so done with charcter bashing #ship what you want #but dont be an ass about it