#just because katara THINKS she’s always right doesn’t mean she is ACTUALLY always right

[comradekatara]

so on a scale of aang (killing is always wrong) to katara (killing is a statement) to sokka (killing is a tool), where would the rest of the gaang + ozais angels go?

toph is hard to pin down because she’s the only character who ever actually kills people outside of the context of war. and i don’t know if she even realizes what she did, because she’s 12 and the adrenaline rush of discovering that you can actually metalbend probably supersedes any logical reasoning in that moment, but like, she did just leave two guys to die a gruesome death in a metal box. so i do think it’s more nuanced that simply saying, “to toph, killing is fun and flirty,” but like, there is a not insignificant part of her that will gladly kill as a means of asserting her power over others and individual autonomy, and has no compunctions about killing those who threaten her autonomy specifically, as it is such an acute point of trauma for her. but also, she’s twelve so like, she’ll probably develop a more nuanced approach to that quandary as she ages.

zuko’s stance on killing is mostly that he’s happy to outsource that violence and then take credit for it as long as he personally doesn’t have to get his hands dirty. like he’ll hire an assassin but won’t bring himself to admit that “end them” means “kill them,” or he’ll threaten to kill zhao and then try to save his life at the last minute. he wants aang to kill his dad but would never actually kill ozai himself, just as he wants katara to kill yon rha, but would never actually kill ozai himself. and i’m sure zuko thinks this is all because he’s a coward who simply lacks the capacity to be ruthless and effective (like sokka), but actually it’s symptomatic of zuko’s greatest quality, which is his inherent sensitivity, his queasy stomach for violence, his predisposition for gentleness, the fact that he actually struggles to deny his own inclinations and simply submit himself to a logic of brutal death and destruction. he thinks it makes him weak, but the fact that he actually has a desire to do the right thing and be a good person despite it all is truly his greatest strength.

azula is always operating from a place of survival because it was impressed to her from a very young age that she exists in a world that is unforgivingly cruel, and it is kill or be killed. she does not want to die (which is quite possibly one of her greatest points of deviation from sokka, but i digress) so she wholeheartedly submits herself to this logic, and unlike zuko, who struggles to erode his own humanity even under the threat of violence, azula is very good at becoming something “monstrous” (her words) out of fear, can contort herself into any shape necessary as long as the threat is tangible enough. so obviously azula approaches killing in the same way sokka does, no surprise there. murder is a tool to achieve her ends, to ensure her own safety and survival. it is simply a mechanism of war. but unlike sokka’s view of it, she also believes that the strong kill the weak because the weak deserve to die, and that logic she inherited from ozai.

we never see suki actively kill anyone, but she does threaten to feed sokka to the unagi, so like, even if she is (probably) joking, i don’t think suki is flat out against killing. i think she’ll kill if she absolutely has to, but would also prefer not to because she clearly values and holds a deep appreciation for life. but also, whenever there is a gap in our textual understanding of suki, i usually just fill it in by being like wwkd (what would kyoshi do), so maybe that’s why i just said. who knows

mai always makes an effort to never actually stab people with her blades, but rather pin them in place. that said, whether this is because a Y-7 cartoon simply isn’t allowed to depict blood or if it’s because mai is genuinely that attuned to not seriously hurting the people she throws knives at, i’m not entirely sure. i like to think that mai doesn’t actually want to hurt people, because like zuko, she is naturally inclined towards sensitivity and gentleness, but i think there’s also a part of her that would lock people in a metal box if she could. i think the best way to summarize mai is thus, excitement is valuable (including the heat of battle), but killing is unpleasant.

ty lee has actively refined a technique that makes her extremely dangerous without ever actually having to cause long-lasting damage to someone physically (psychologically is another story). yet another W for ty lee air nomad heritage theory, but i digress. ty lee is smart enough that she never actually has to be personally responsible and culpable for killing anyone ever, but she is also submitting to and enabling the violence of an empire for the sake of her own survival, so it’s not like she’s not complicit either. so to ty lee, killing is also a tool, but one she personally doesn’t need to employ, which is a comfort to her.

iroh (technically you didn’t ask about him but he’s fascinating so i can’t just leave him out) used to view killing as a tool, and now views it as an inviolable taboo because it took him like over 50 years to recognize the inherent value of human life and the grief of losing a loved one. so it’s not that he grew up in a “kill or be killed world” that fostered his need to kill to ensure his survival, but simply that he grew up in paradigm that dictated that “killing is the path to attaining glory” and he was good at killing, and thus glorious. but then he experienced the consequences of that worldview firsthand, and had to completely recalibrate his own logic of conquest and domination. and so now he’s still capable of violence in equal measure, but is less willing to exercise it for purely shallow, destructive reasons. yay..??

jet actually does think that killing is fun and flirty. anyone who disagrees with him deserves to die because he is simply right about everything. sokka? closet fire nation sympathizer, obviously. guy he met on a boat who said “hey im not really interested in joining your child militia”? well he’s probably the prince of the fucking fire nation (okay he was right about that one but he had no way of knowing it so). he watched the rough rhinos burn down his house and murder his family with a smile on their faces, and a part of him that day calcified and decided that the only way to truly reclaim his power was to beat them at his own game. so he does everything in his power to control the people he can, to control his narrative, to refine his logic in a way that makes him the uncontested hero no matter what. but in truth, it’s quite simple: he wants power because he has none.

haru exists somewhere between “killing is a statement” and “killing is a tool.” killing is a tool because it functions as a statement. killing is a statement because it functions as a tool. violent resistance is necessary by any means necessary, but you know, in a nice way. he’s basically just the model of the “good” colonized subject who fights for collective liberation instead of personal empowerment, so it makes sense that he’s introduced before jet as like the emblem of what katara should do (how she should fight, what she would fight for) versus what she shouldn’t. which is like, perhaps a simplistic reduction of “good” vs “bad” methods of resistance into “our noble collective action” vs “their senseless terrorism,” but like. lol. what can you do

#turtles-alltheway-down #asks #analysis #toph #zuko #azula #suki #mai #ty lee #iroh #jet #haru #put the main three who matter here above and then the rest below the cut #sometimes i forget that zuko is a good character bc yall are so annoying about him…. but then i remember #i also need to talk about more at length about how azula rationalizes that the weak deserve to die thru ozai for MULTIPLE interconnected #reasons that I didn’t have time to get into here #and also just azula’s relationship to ozai in general #but im putting off actually writing that bc it is. genuinely devastating and i don’t wanna #anyway!!

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Episode 6: Overall Thoughts.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It made the least changes from the original, which means I have nothing really to commend it on that the original didn’t already do, but at the same time, I don’t have anything to complain about either. In isolation, it is a very good episode of television. In isolation, it’s the best episode yet, but I have a harder time crediting it because most of the good stuff in here is from the original. Onto the specifics:

This episode continued the trend I don’t love of Aang being just a vessel for cliché heroic lines. I get that the show is supposed to have a more mature tone, and maybe some of Aang’s more childish traits wouldn’t have translated well, but they could have at least put SOMETHING interesting in there.

In terms of the Aang/Roku scene, I didn’t love it. I don’t like this “the avatar must not have friends” dilemma the show is pushing. It’s tired. We’ve seen it in every fantasy show. A variation of this could work as part of Aang’s work, but it doesn’t work as his central conflict. It’s too overdone.

Also, Katara wasn’t in this episode, so I couldn’t get annoyed at them for butchering her character. Definite plus.

Another plus was June! Didn’t love her flirting with Iroh but she was fun and entertaining. Arden Cho did a wonderful job. I hope they bring her back more, she’d be a great recurring fun character to have around.

I did love all the stuff with Zuko. I loved the juxtaposition between younger, idealistic, naive Zuko and current, hardened Zuko. Even though live action Zuko is softer than animated Zuko, this episode really did a good job of showing how he has been hardened by his experiences, relative to what he once was. I liked his conversation with Aang, and how the two clearly have a connection despite their circumstances. I generally like it when those types of stories are played out in a non-romantic context because it’s so rare. A lot of the lines between them were a bit cliché, but they worked (except for the line going right into the flashback where Aang was like “You can’t have always been this way. That one was a little heavy handed).

In terms of the flashback itself:

Younger Zuko seems softer and more naive than animated Zuko, which works with the way we see Zuko here. He had a lot of good lines, especially his line about giving the weak a chance. I know some people didn’t like that he fought back against Ozai in the Agni Kai, but to me it worked. It showed that he was still trying to please his father, and just how willing he was to sacrifice his morals to do it (though not willing enough for Ozai).

Speaking of Ozai, I find it interesting how he’s portrayed here. The original show portrayed him as very uncaring, willing to banish Zuko for disobedience but not really caring if he came back. Here it almost seems like he genuinely thinks this is good parenting, like he genuinely believes this will make Zuko stronger. Obviously he’s still horrible and abusive, but I actually think it works better than the original. It goes hand in hand with how he seems to really think he’s doing the right thing for the world with the FN (because newsflash…that’s what imperialism is!) A villain who really thinks they’re right is always more interesting than one who just wants power and is horrible. I think they could do interesting things with him and I’m intrigued.

Iroh was really sweet in this episode. I liked that he tried to stop Ozai from having the Agni Kai, and that he was with Zuko afterwards. It always puzzled me why he didn’t do that in the first place, and while Iroh having flaws makes sense (he should have flaws!) that particular flaw didn’t seem right, so I liked that addition.

And rounding out the fire family flashback (haha alliteration!) we have Azula. She didn’t really do anything here but the bangs were a great choice! I found it a bit weird that the camera kept zooming in on her expression during Zuko’s burning, but her expression was very neutral. It’s another change I like from the original. I think Azula smiling in the original works and is super interesting, but this show is clearly taking steps to make her more humanized right off the bat, which I appreciate as an Azula stan who has to deal with…many people who don’t see her as human. I’m not sure what to make of her expression, but I did notice that it’s the same one she used when Ozai burned the spy in episode 3 (good job Lizzy Yu!) It seems like a mix of fear and joy and detachment, like she’s trying to relish it but also she knows it could happen to her, but she doesn’t want to admit that, and also she just wants to detach from what’s happening. It can be interpreted in many ways!

One minor thing: I didn’t like that this Agni Kai was outside. The really dark, all red, fiery throne room looked a lot more menacing. And they literally already have that set! Having it outside made it look so much more mundane.

Back to the present:

Blue Spirit escape sequence was great! Again, basically torn from the original so no surprise there. I appreciate that they didn’t feel the need to change everything, and the mask looked great. I also loved Iroh’s last line about the mask being the real you. That’s a theme that could come back for a number of characters (Aang, Zuko, Katara, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee…) And I did get this spoiled, but the addition of Zuko’s crew being the 41st was great. Lovely. Super sweet. A wonderful way to pull at the heartstrings.

I’ll give this episode a 9/10. A very strong episode of television, but I can’t give it a 10 because the strongest stuff is plucked from the OG.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #netflix atla #natla #atla live action #atla stream of consciousness #aang #roku #katara #zuko #iroh #ozai #azula #june atla

[zukosdualdao]

6, 7, 8, and 16 for the fandom asks!

6. My favorite character:

*nearly buzzing* hey have you guys heard of my good buddy zuko?

okay this is gonna be long and then i'll try to be normal shshhsghjh it's funny because the answer definitely used to be katara (and don't get me wrong, i still adore her and she is absolutely is a close second, she deserves everything tbh), but something about zuko on my last rewatch (before my current rewatch) (i am ridiculous) just... really stuck with me. i hadn't seen the show in years at that point, and while i'd always liked his story, this time around, i couldn't help but appreciate the nuance in it, as someone who is both a victim of abuse and a villain in the narrative, and how the show goes out of its way to show you why he's acting the way he is and doing the things he's doing in a way that allows you to sympathize with him (and that helps to sew the seeds of his redemption because his abuse cannot be disentangled from the fact that he was once a kid who valued kindness and things like not unnecessarily sacrificing new recruits on the front lines, and that he is now performing his father's ideals of cruelty to try to both conform and cope.)

but i also feel the show does a good job at showing this without ever falling into the trap of justifying what he's doing. and his story is really cathartic, as it's one of not just redemption but healing, and the idea that those two things go hand in hand? that the narrative didn't demand zuko hate himself to be redeemed (and, in fact, discouraged it, "pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source", after all) but instead, the actions he took toward changing his life and helping people made him a healthier, happier person??? it's just. it's so good. i could talk about zuko for hours, and i won't do that but. yeah i love this character a normal amount.

7. My least favorite character: (*i decided to interpret this as characters i don't like as people rather than characters i don't like the arcs of. that's a different, more complicated answer i don't feel like delving into at the moment.)

ozai is the boring answer, but i mean. c'mon. (he's not a BAD character, he's just the literal worst.) i don't feel like this one requires that much explanation.

also, though, i don't hear enough hate for my guy zhao. (again, good character! he does what he's supposed to in the narrative, which is overshadow zuko as a threat/villain and showcase viewing oneself as inherently superior as something that will ultimately lead to downfall, which foreshadows the defeat of both ozai and azula.) like.... i don't totally know why, but zhao actually really gets under my skin as a villain lmao. maybe it's because he's more tangible than ozai? like, ozai spends so long as this shadowy, untouchable figure, and so much about him is implied, but zhao is just right there throughout book one, being the worst. and i don't know how to explain it, because there are honestly a lot of similarities between them, but i feel like not everyone has met someone like ozai, but most people know someone like zhao. he has less power than ozai (not none, but less) but just as much ego and will rub whatever power he does have in your face and i just. yeah i hate him.

8. Is there anything I wish people would write more about in fics? (A dynamic, an exploration of an arc, just a character that doesn’t get much screentime, etc): honestly more of toph's dynamics with like, everyone in the gaang, because at a certain point, i do feel like toph gets shoved to the side a bit. (you're telling me TOPH BEIFONG of all people wouldn't have an opinion in the southern raiders?) the friendship moments we do get in the show are cute!!! she's never had friends before and now she does, let her have friends, let it be cute!

i do think some corners of the fandom try to remedy this but i just. i'm having a moment about toph pour one out for my my girl <33

16. Favorite inside joke the fandom has:

zuko, a man who cannot be killed!

#asks #chowmain-samosa #abuse // #atla #fandom ask games #zuko #toph beifong #ozai #zhao #me: i will try to be normal about this #me: failed step one #jsshsh thanks for the ask ! <3

[ellakomskaikru]

I feel like Zuko is the hot bad boy boyfriend that you date when you’re in your teens and in a rebellious phase who breaks your heart and Aang is that sweet guy best friend that you always overlooked because he wasn’t that attractive or exciting but you eventually marry him once you are older and more mature. So like Zuko is exciting boyfriend material but Aang is husband material.

I’m a Kataang shipper but I totally admit that Zutara is way more exciting and thrilling than Kataang and that they totally have chemistry, but I still don’t think that their relationship would last very long I think it would be toxic. So Zutara has passion but passion isn’t enough to sustain a relationship. On the other hand Kataang is totally more vanilla and even boring but they do have the foundation of being friends and even though it isn’t as passionate as Zutara I think it’d last way longer and is way more marriage material.

I just think that Zuko and Katara are too similar they’re both very fiery and intense and Katara needs someone who is more even tempered like Aang. Don’t get me wrong I don’t hate Zutara I’ve even read some fanfics about them that I like but I still ship Kataang instead because I just feel that it would be a healthier dynamic even if it’s actually more boring than Zutara.

Hello anon!

First, I want to say thank you for being respectful. But I thoroughly disagree with you. First, I really don’t agree with the interpretation that Zuko is a “Bad Boy.” At first glance, he does physically look like he could be one and he does have a dark past, but that isn’t enough for him to fit into the trope. Bad boys are usually very confident and socially adept, Zuko is extremely socially awkward and has severe self esteem issues. Zuko does have a tendency to be snarky, but that still isn’t enough to fit him into the Bad Boy Trope. Zuko’s redemption also doesn’t hinge on trying to get a girl either, which is what happens to most bad boys, who only change for one particular girl because she’s “special”.

Zuko’s redemption happens because he is naturally empathetic and throughout his experiences learns how horrible and unjust the war is, and is determined and brave so he wants to do his part to end it and to right the wrongs he personally did to Team Avatar. Also, how you described Aang “The sweet guy best friend that you always overlooked because he wasn’t as attractive but later you marry” reminds me of the Nice Guy trope that I despise. And I do not agree at all that Zuko is only boyfriend material and that Aang is husband material for the reasons above.

I also don’t agree that Zutara would be toxic and I honestly don’t understand where that claim comes from. I’m guessing that it comes from the fact that they were enemies at first, and some people understandably do not like the enemies to lovers trope, but that doesn’t mean that relationships in that trope are toxic.

Before and after Zuko and Katara became friends, there was nothing that suggested they would be toxic in a relationship. When Katara was angry at him for betraying her at Ba Sing Se, instead of yelling back at her, he calmly asked her what he could do to make it up to her. He also gently stopped her from following Aang after Aang ran away angry because he didn’t want to kill Ozai. Instead of arguing, Katara listened. So there were two instances where Zuko and Katara had disagreements and they resolved it in a healthy and peaceful way. Zuko and Katara had a healthy friendship based on mutual trust and respect. They supported each other as equals.

Yes Zutara has more passion and excitement, but that isn’t all it has. Zuko and Katara genuinely enjoy each other’s company and have similar goals in life and similar personality traits that make them compatible. In my opinion, Zutara proves that a relationship doesn’t have to be toxic to be exciting, it can be healthy and still be exciting. That’s why I really like it. Many relationships portrayed in media nowadays are toxic and so many people love it because it’s simply fun to watch because of all the drama. But in my opinion Zutara proves that a healthy relationship can still be entertaining to watch.

I totally agree that Kat.aang is boring, and yes they were friends before they got together. But in my opinion, a romantic relationship has to have a certain level of spark and yes, passion. And I just didn’t see that with Kat.aang. I’ve seen many real life relationships break up because they get bored even though they seemingly look okay from the outside view. For example, Sokka and Suki had passion. I could truly see that they were in love and I felt their intensity but I wasn’t convinced that Katara was in love with Aang and I didn’t really take Aang’s love for her seriously because I found it to be immature, as I’ve said before, he idealized her. So I don’t think Kat.aang would be marriage material for those reasons.

I don’t think that Zuko and Katara need someone to “calm” them down because they are similar. I’ve seen this take before and I really disagree. There has been no proof that Zuko and Katara would constantly fight based on what we saw of their friendship. So I don’t agree that Katara needs Aang because he is even tempered, Aang’s Air Nomad philosophy of forgiveness did not resonate well with her in The Southern Raiders, given by how she totally used violence and yes, spared the man but still didn’t forgive him. I think Aang would have been horrified if he had seen her blood bend, while Zuko was shocked but didn’t judge her.

Again anon, thank you for your respect, I really appreciate it. But I just don’t think that Kat.aang would realistically be healthier than Zutara for the reasons I explained.

Thanks for the ask!

#atla #atla ask #ella’s original post #Zutara #anti kataang

[i-am-suffer]

I’m going through the anti Aang tag rn and…. sigh….. there’s so much bull shit….. like people can have whatever opinions they like but so many of them are based off of unbelievably shallow takes on Aang’s character and character arcs. People are choosing to hate a fictional child because they can’t be bothered to see anything other than the worst in him. So now, in a fit of saltiness, I will be debunking some of the recent Aang criticism I’ve found.

Firstly:

Huh???? Whoever you are, anon, I think you’re the one who doesn’t know what good character writing is. Aang isn’t my all-time favorite, and he’s not always written consistently, but he still manages to tell a compelling story of a boy who, even after the genocide of his entire people and with the weight of the world on his shoulders, still manages to hold on to his happiness, his kind spirit, and his morals. And even though he makes mistakes (mistakes that his antis refuse to stop screaming about) he’s still a good person. Not even deep down, either, it’s right there for everyone to see. Which makes it doubly frustrating when people ignore that obvious fact.

Secondly:

Okay, so the context of the comic panel is this: Aang is mulling over his feelings for Katara, and he’s a little sad. Katara walks in, wanting to train with him, but he says he doesn’t want to. Katara thinks he needs to train, especially his firebending — and she’s not wrong — but then she starts throwing water at him and asking him to spar with her. So Aang, frustrated, does some firebending. That’s about where the comic panel is taken from. Taken out of context like that, he looks like he’s about to attack her, but he doesn’t. He actually gets really scared about almost hurting her and asks her if she’s okay. So, thank you for showing the whole unbiased truth, and not ignoring any parts that show things that contradict your opinions on any characters, tumblr user the-badger-mole. You clearly know the importance of reading the entire story before forming said opinions.

*deep breath* Okay. Now let’s talk about the Ember Island Players.

I don’t think Aang kissing Katara was a good decision for the writers to make. In my opinion, Aang was being ooc. They also should have shown him apologizing to Katara afterwards (which I definitely think happened because why else would Katara make the decision to be with him in the last episode?) But even onscreen, Aang isn’t portrayed as being in the right, and he’s clearly shown regretting his actions. He hits himself and calls himself stupid, and he was miserable for the rest of the episode. It was a mistake on his part, and he’s incredibly guilty about it. And it’s important for shows aimed at kids to show characters making mistakes they could make, teaching them not to do those things. That being said, I don’t think Aang traumatized Katara by kissing her. If he had, she wouldn’t have come back to him, and she wouldn’t have initiated the kiss in the finale. Katara is not the type of person to resign herself to a life of assault, and Aang is not the type of person who would knowingly assault someone, especially not someone he cares about as much as he does for Katara.

Which leads into the next criticism:

I am flabbergasted. What do you mean he never helped Katara with her problems? Who was willing to drop everything to take someone he had just met all the way across the world so she could learn waterbending? Who stood up for her when Pakku was being a misogynist? Who comforted her when she was crying about being forced to bloodbend? Who gave up the chance for ultimate power because her life was in danger? And that’s just what I can list off the top of my head. And of course he empathized with her! Also, the kiss at the invasion wasn’t assault. It may have taken Katara by surprise, but it wasn’t assault. Just say you don’t like Kataang and leave it at that.

Fourthly:

It wasn’t handed to him. The lionturtle was foreshadowed in season two, in the Library episode. And stop acting like a thirteen-year-old killing a man with his hands is the best solution. Taking a life is deeply traumatizing, whether or not it’s justified.

Fifthly:

I can only think of one time where the pan-up thing happened, in the fortune teller episode (lmk if I’m wrong tho). Getting flustered when your crush looks pretty is not a crime like these people say it is. Also, Aang literally travelled across the world with Katara and has seen her at her worst, and yet people still have the audacity to claim he doesn’t know her as a person? And don’t try to tell me he doesn’t respect her (“A herd of rhinos… or two waterbenders” —Aang).

Next:

Bro. This boy had his entire people killed, including his father figure and all his friends, and just when he’d made two new friends, they were given an opportunity to leave him and seemed to want to. He was afraid of losing Sokka and Katara! He didn’t hide the map out of malice. Plus, he was going insane with guilt the whole time he was hiding it! Sure, it was presented in a comedic light, but he was clearly suffering! And when he got found out and his friends understandably got angry and left, he didn’t try to stop them! He didn’t care about attention, he cared about his friends. (Plus that whole episode was really poorly written, not just with Aang.)

Okay, that about wraps things up. Thank you for reading my long, salty post. I’m going to put this in the anti Aang tag in an attempt to get the antis to actually think about their opinions for once >:3 To my fellow Aang Aapreciators, I congratulate you on your good taste. Love you guys <3

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla aang #atla meta #pro aang #aang apprectaion #aanglove #avatar aang #pro kataang #avatar the legend of aang #aang defense squad #aang #anti aang #aang critical #long post

[atla-fandom-confessions]

“Real Aang stans know that he isn’t perfect and he doesn’t have to be. No one in atla are perfect people. The reason I think people are so quick to defend are because he’s constantly demonized (we all know by who) for years. You just see it a lot more now than ever before.”

Nah, bestie. Criticizing =/= Demonizing, though admittedly some fans do go to that extreme and need to seriously chill.

We’re just tired of the Nice Guy with Entitlement Issues who’s the literal Author Avatar of his creators who clearly never got over their unrequited high school crushes not liking them back.

We’re tired of said Nice Guy being placed on a pedestal and treated like he can do no wrong, even though in canon it’s shown that he:

-disrespects his future wife’s culture

-goofs off when his allies including said future wife’s father gives himself up as a war prisoner.

(Sure he’s overwhelmed but them showing he’d rather fly around dicking off instead just leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Even though you’d think that if he cared so much about Katara he’d take it more seriously, considering that’s his future father in law.)

- gives up learning the Avatar State aka a necessary part of fulfilling his responsibility to the world and nearly dooms everyone because of what happens in Ba Sing Se and it’s treated as something romantic

- always runs away from his responsibilities even in the finale and it’s never resolved

-forces two unwanted kisses on a girl (and the stans flip their shit when it’s suggested, “hey, not a good luck there buddy”)

-gets pissed off when it’s suggested by ACTORS IN A PROPAGANDA PIECE AKA OBVIOUSLY MEANT TO BE BIASED that she may not reciprocate his romantic feelings without even sitting down to have a conversation.

(Because how dare she not reciprocate his feelings? What a bitch, am I right? /s)

- let’s not forget that he lashes out at the girl who he’s willing to give up the Avatar State for even though she’s the one person who’s keeping them alive and has always been his biggest supporter. Yes, he was upset about Appa being stolen, but he’s never shown to apologize even long after he’s calmed down. A simple “I’m sorry for how I yelled at you, Katara” and “there’s nothing to forgive, Aang” then a hug would have been the bare minimum. But nope, can’t have that.

Then when he FINALLY gets the girl, he goes on to be an absent father to 2/3 of his children because they’re not airbenders (even though they carry the same genetics) to the point that his acolytes - aka his disciples if you will - are completely unaware that he even has any other children.

And notice how NOT ONE of those criticisms has to do with shipping Katara with He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Look, we’re not heartless. We know he’s only 12 and has experienced unimaginable loss and does deserve to be hugged for all the awful shit he’s gone through.

But just because he’s suffered the most does not mean he shouldn’t be held accountable.

Nor does that mean fans who criticize shortcomings in his character development are big meanies who demonize your “precious cinnamon roll uwu.”

He’s not the worst character in the world and hell, up until the latter part of S2 he was actually one of my favorites.

But we’re just tired of being treated like WE’RE monsters because we actually hold him accountable and want him to be better (because he IS better), unlike the narrative.

x

#atla #atla fandom confessions #anti aang #anti kataang

[juniperhillpatient]

How’s it going @juniperhillpatient ?

I just read chapter VII of “The devil You Know”. The chapter was a roller coster and the story is really heating up. Poor Yue…

Was it truly a mere accident that Sokka’s coffin laid on top of Yue’s and Fy Lee”. He is very suspiciously close to many deaths. Toph was killed soon after she found out he and Suki were implicated in (I think it was Chan’s?) death. Speaking of Suki, it’s quite interesting when she protested how her phone wasn’t working, only for Azula to notice that it suddenly began to work again when it came time for Yue’s video to appear. Yue of course being an idvidyal that Suki has a grudge against. Via Sokka. Speaking of Yue, her POV this chapter was a gut punch. As was Katara’s in the beginning.

Also Jets’s POV drew several points about Ty Lee from his perspective. That she was smarter than she initially appeared. And that she six identical sisters. In appearance and voice.

What if Ty Lee hadn’t died at all. What if merely faked her death (by sacrificing one of her sisters) and engineered the call to Azula. Blaming Zuko for something he hadn’t actually done. From Jet’s PoV we know that Ty Lee’s parents wouldn’t actually notice if one of their daughters disappeared. Which may make it easy for Ty Lee to fake her death and switch with one of her sisters. If indeed she is one of the killers. I could just be reading into something that is’t there after all.

One of the killers expressed heartbreak over Azula. And we know that something happened between her and Ty Lee. Maybe enough to push Ty Lee into being a killer? Their’s also Mai, who may have been acting the fool this whole time. Her anger at Azula is readily apparent. My distrust of the two stems from canon. Though their actions are understandable I’ve got a thing about people betraying their friends. So their deeds at the Boiling Rock still leave a bad tastes in my mouth. Minus saving Zuko/Sokka/Suki’s lives of course.

So I like Suki and Sokka for Ghostface. With Mai coming in as a secondary suspicion. And If my theory about Ty Lee faking her death is right, she immediately jumps to #I suspect

In the end scene, where Katara is perving on Azula. Is Azula blacking out like in the first chapter? In which Zuko is taking of Azula in that moment?

And a message for Azula. “Tell your girlfriend important shit! Your brother being accused (supposedly at least) in being a killer definitely qualifies. Also don’t cheat on her”. That’s a bit fucked up. Unless you blacked out for it. Which makes Zuko’s action monumentally more fucked up. But then, every character in this story is a bit screwed in the head. But then, that’s one (though by no means the only) of the reasons we love all the ATLA main crew (Gaang+Dangerous ladies+Yue).

Also, I’m pretty sure Kiyi is Hakoda’s and Ursa’s bastard child. Does Sokka suspect which married women that Hakoda slept with (Ursa?). He’s been a big brother figure to her thus far, so maybe. Out of all the characters, I’m hoping Kiyi lives. Even more so than Azula or Katara (I know, It me saying that!). Also hopeful she doesn’t end up as one of the killers…

I enjoyed the chapter, and am greatly looking forward to next! I want to see this mystery unraveled!

Bestie I wish you could like.....watch my face journey as I read through your speculations because I had a BALL reading this!

I seriously LOVE all the theorizing & I feel like I'm interacting less than usual with readers when it comes to this story because I'm always just like -

"love the theories :))))" but also I literally CANNOT respond with anything to theories without giving away if you're close or way off LMAO

But just know. I feel so validated in putting as much thought as I do into this story (trust me it's a lot lol) & I just get SO excited about seeing the different possibilities when I get messages such as this. Just - AHH !! :)

As for Kiyi - I can go ahead & confirm that she is indeed Ursa & Hakoda's child. I don't consider this a spoiler given it is pretty much confirmed in the latest update. More on how much Sokka knows about this very soon!

Anyway - THANK YOU. Whenever I see notifications from you I get so happy because you are so thoughtful & insightful & so supportive <3

#scream au #asks #mutuals #<33333

[bookishgalaxies]

I'm back🤸‍♀️

here to request a possible friends to lovers katara x reader based off the prompt “Every time I see your face I go crazy.” “Crazy in a bad way or crazy in a good way?” “Undecided.” maybe it happens during that one play they go to in book 3 i think it was. and readers making a big deal about how everyone sees katara and reader together instead of zuko and her. Just a suggestion though. you can make the setting wherever you want doesn't matter to me. THANK YOU FOR READING !!!!!!!!

I absolutely love this and had to re-watch the episode that you are referencing to (which was amazing bc it’s been a minute since I watched the show) honestly, this was fun to write! 💕💕

“Then Do It.”

pairing: katara x fem!reader

info: oneshot, not proofread

warnings: none

summary: you go with the gang to a play that you all end up hating. The only good part was seeing a certain someone loosen up and laugh a bit.

a/n: I have no words other than please don’t call me cringe, I already know I am.

Watching Zuko and Aang train wasn’t the most entertaining thing in the world. After awhile, even firebending gets really old to watch. The only reason you were out here was because Katara was. She insisted on keeping an eye on the two boys to make sure they didn’t get injured. You tried to tell her they knew what they where doing and that she should go inside and enjoy some shade but she wouldn’t listen. That was Katara, stubborn as ever.

You made yourself a promise that if she was going to sit out here you were at least going to let her get some stuff off her chest. She was always so stressed out and worried about other’s, that stress needed to be relieved. So, you let her talk, spill out all her worries and thoughts. You actually listened to, because you cared, maybe a little too much even.

“Okay, now that you’ve gotten all the doom and gloom out, what’s the first thing you want to do after we win the war?” You asked her

“You’re so sure we’ll win.” She said

“We will, now my question.” You replied

She sat there for a second and thought, then said

“Maybe a nice spa day like the one you, Toph, and I had. Oh, and possibly go to a nice bakery afterwards and get some sweets!” She explained, a smile forming on her face.

“And think about it, we could find a nice pond to spend the day near and just have some good old fun.” You added on.

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” she said, “also scaring Sokka by drenching him in a wave of water.”

You both laughed, imagining her brother’s face after getting completely drenched out of nowhere.

“We have to win the war first though.” Katara stated, dampening the previously light mood.

“I’m telling you Tara, we will, I mean, we have the literal Avatar, who can bend all four elements! Zuko��s father doesn’t stand a chance.” You explained

“Yeah, but Aang’s just a kid, he shouldn’t have the burden of the world on his shoulders.” She sighed

“He shouldn’t, none of us should, but we just do the best we can, and keep going.” You spoke solemnly.

“Maybe after all this is over you’ll get to see my home for the first time.” Katara perked up, speaking of something you had imagined many times.

“I’d really like that! We could go penguins sledding!” You exclaimed

“Yes!” She agreeed.

“Guys, guys, look what me and Suki found!” Sokka cheered as Aang and Zuko walked over to join You, Katara, Sokka, and Suki.

“What is it?” Katara asked

“They made a play! About us!” Sokka exclaimed.

“About us?” Toph asked

“Yup, probably because we are 100% coolio to the max.” Sokka explained.

Suki laughed at the phrase.

“I know that theatre. My mother always made me go watch their plays. Butchered my favorite story every single time.” Zuko piped up from where he was standing next to Aang.

“Is it really a good idea to go to a play right now? We’re in the middle of a war.” Katara pointed out.

“Katara, this is the kind of crazy random stuff we’ve been missing out on!” Sokka protested.

Eventually everyone agreed that they would put on their fire nation attire and attend a play about themselves that evening. You knew Katara was worried that it was a “waste of time.” And you tried to talk to her about other things to keep her brain distracted. She seemed to appreciate it, always giggling and smiling when you made a joke or told a funny story. Good, your plan to de-stress your friend was working. However, you will admit every time she laughed at something you said, it gave you immense butterflies in your stomach. That was probably just nerves about the play though, right?

When you got to the theatre the first thing that happened was Suki, Sokka, and Aang grabbing every snack imaginable before we got to our seats. Then, Toph made a comment about where we were sitting and that she couldn’t pick up anything with her feet. Very understandable complaint since that was her way of sight. Katara promised to explain everything to her, oh how kind she was.

-☾❤︎☽-

The play was definitely something. No one liked how their character’s where portrayed, not even you. While they where accurate to an extent, everything was horribly exaggerated. That was the point of theatre, you knew, but this was too much. When intermission hot, you were more than happy to get out of the theatre and get some air.

You could tell you weren’t the only one who was upset. It wasn’t that you didn’t like how they portrayed you, well, yeah, that was it. You weren’t a bender and the play definitely got that spot on. Except, they made you out to be this weak person who just follows Katara around like a puppy letting her protect you.

That was hardly the case. Sure, you might not be a bender, but you had studied at the university in Ba Sing Se, where you met the gang. You had learned how to make small gadgets there that would help in combat and everyday life. So, being portrayed as helpless just because you couldn’t bend and you were a girl didn’t sit right with you.

Zuko and Aang didn’t seem to happy either.Zuko was more than his usual grumpy and even seemed a little sad. Him and Toph were sitting together, you assumed she would take care of him. Suki and Sokka were attempting to sneak backstage so Sokka could recommend some better jokes as the “dedicated fan” he is. Aang had gone out on the balcony to sulk, or at least that’s what it looked like he was doing when he walked out. Now, where was Katara?

You walked the halls for awhile, and made a full circle back to where everyone had been sitting. Your feelings hadn’t gotten any better. In fact, quite contemplation might have made them worse. You saw Katara walk back in from the balcony where you assumed Aang still was since he didn’t seem to follow. She looked exhausted, yet still somehow had a small smile on her face.

You tried to lift your chin, put on a smile, and pretend like nothing was wrong. She saw right through it the second you told her you had been looking for her. How? How could you be so good at hiding your emotions and yet she was always one step above at sniffing them out? She asked you what was wrong, you told her you didn’t want to burden her with one more thing.

“Y/n, I care about you, a lot, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.” She told you

“Katara, do you really think that I’m just the tag along in the group. I hate saying all this because it sounds so pitiful and I don’t mean to but, am I really the weak bender who doesn’t have a use?” You rambled off to her.

“No, absolutely not Y/n, you are a valuable part of our team. You matter so much to the others, especially me. I, personally, don’t know where we would be without you and your handy gadgets and gizmos.” She explained to you

“Really?” You asked

“Yes!” She exclaimed

“I really matter that much to you?” You took a leap of faith with the question.

“Y/n, every time I see your face, I go crazy.” She confessed

“Crazy in a bad way or crazy in a good way?” You chuckled a little as you questioned her.

“Undecided.” She replied

“Oh.” You said, trying you hardest not to sound too disappointed.

“It’s just been so hard with the war to sort out my feelings. I mean, so always get this weird feeling in my stomach when you are around. Also, I find myself wishing you were right beside me all the time. It’s crazy, sometimes, I even just want to lean in and kiss you!” She ended her aggressive ramble.

You were in utter and complete shock. She confessed, this was the moment you had been waiting for ever since you met them in Ba Sing Se. This was it, and now that it was here, you couldn’t think of a single thing to say. So, you blurted out the first thing your brain thought of.

“Then do it.” You said

She did

-☾❤︎☽-

When you two pulled apart the. Rest of the gang was there wide eyed. Of course, the first one to speak up was Sokka.

“Ha, Toph, you owe me five gold coins AND a full statement saying that I, Sokka, was right and you, Toph, were wrong.”

“Wow, I mean, I always saw you guys look at each other funny, but I never guessed,” Aang started “I’m happy for you two.”

“I won’t lie I always thought Katara would end up with Zuko.” Suki admitted

Katara laughed, probably harder than she should have.

“Hey, it’s not that funny.” Zuko said,

“Don’t take offense to Zuko’s mood, he’s always like that, he’s quite pleased with this pairing, and so am I.” Toph explained

“Well, at least one good thing came out of this horrible play.” You jested

“Yeah, and it’s not even over yet.” Sokka replied

—————🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔—————

#avatar the last airbender #atla x reader #atla☄️ #atla katara #katara x reader #katara #atla sokka #atla toph #atla zuko #anti aang #atla suki #x you #x y/n

[justsomewritingblog]

Avatar:TLA (Part 2)

Request:  None

Requested By:  Nobody

Pairing:  Zuko x reader

Summary:  Jet

Warnings:  Mentions of violence, arguing

A/N:  Buckle up boys and girls.  This series is gonna be a long one.

Word Count:  3K+  (WHOOPS!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had all set up camp in the woods.  The leaves on the trees were red, and they were very lovely.

“Where’s Momo?”  Aang asked suddenly.  Momo made a noise, and you all headed in that direction.  You arrived in a small clearing and above you were three small cages.  One held Momo.

“Hang on, Momo!”  Aang instructed, using airbending to quickly get up the trees.  He let the cage down as Katara and Sokka opened it, letting the lemur out.  Momo ran away a few paces and ate some of the food you assumed was the bait for the traps.  Sokka groaned.

Aang looked up upon hearing more noises and saw two more cages with animals of some kind inside.

“Alright.  You, too.”  Aang said, floating his way up again.

“This is gonna take forever.”  Sokka determined, pulling out his boomerang and throwing it.  It sliced the ropes holding the cages up, and they fell just as Aang was reaching them.

“That works.”  He said, letting go of the tree he was scrambling across and landing with the group.  Sokka placed a hand on the cages.

“These are firenation traps.”  He determined.  “You can tell from the metal work.  We better pack up camp and get moving.”

You nodded and started packing.  Katara was handing something to Aang who sat atop Appa when Sokka spoke.

“Nuh uh.  No flying this time.”

“What?  Why wouldn’t we fly?”  Aang questioned.  Sokka took the object from him and sat it on the ground.

“Think about it.  Somehow Prince Zuko and the firenation keep finding us.  It’s because they spot Appa.  He’s just too noticeable.”

“What?!  Appa’s not too noticeable.”  Katara defended.  You pat Appa on the head, telling him how cute he was.

“He’s a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head; it’s kind of hard to miss him.”  Sokka retorted.  Appa let out a groan noise.

“Sokka’s just jealous cause he doesn’t have an arrow.”  Aang told the bison.

“I know you all want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk.”  Sokka said, ignoring Aang’s comment.

“Who made you the boss?”  Katara asked her brother.

“I’m not the boss; I’m the leader.”  Sokka declared, jerking a thumb at his own chest.  Katara let out a short laugh.

“You’re the leader?  But your voice still cracks!”  She said.  You fought the smile that was itching to take over your blank expression.

“I’m the oldest, and I’m a warrior, so I’m the leader.”  Sokka told her.  His voice did crack at the beginning of his sentence, but he forced his voice lower by the end of it.

“Actually, you’re my age.”  You muttered, earning a glance from Sokka.  You held up your hands in mock surrender.  “Just saying.  I’m not fit to lead, anyway.”

“If anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang.  I mean, he is the Avatar.”  Katara voiced.

“Are you kidding?  He’s just a goofy kid.”  Sokka defended.

“He’s right.”  Aang said, dangling upside-down from Appa’s horns.

“No offence Katara, but Aang's not fit to lead.  He’s a good kid, but he is just a kid.”  You crossed your arms over your chest.  “From what I hear, he wanted to make several stops places just to do goofy things.”

“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?”  Kat asked.

“I’m not a boy and I think a leader is a good idea.  They help keep order.”  You stated.

“I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.”  Katara told her brother, ignoring your statement.

“I’ve kissed a girl.”  Sokka announced.  “You just haven’t met her.”

You quirked an eyebrow and shared a look with Aang, who was staying out of this conversation.

“Who?  Gran-gran?  I’ve met Gran-gran.”  Katara said.  You bit back a laugh.

“No, besides Gran-gran.  Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance slipping through on foot; and a leader has to trust his instincts.”

“Okay.  We’ll try it your way, oh wise leader.”

“Katara, stop sassing your brother.  He has the group’s best interest at heart.  I know he’s your brother, and that’s what siblings do, but try to not be a jerk?”  You said, picking up some of the things.

“Besides, who knows?  Walking might be fun.”  Aang declared.  He was also holding a few things strapped to his back, Momo sitting atop them.  You looked to Sokka and gestured for him to go on ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Walking stinks.”  Aang declared.  “How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?”

“Well, I don’t know Aang.  Why don’t you ask Sokka’s instincts?  They seem to know everything.”  Katara said, a heavily sarcastic edge to her voice.  You rolled your eyes.

“Ha ha, very funny.”  Sokka replied.

“I’m tired of carrying this pack.”  Aang complained.

“You know who you should ask to carry it for a while?  Sokka’s instincts!”  Katara told the boy.

“That’s a great idea!  Hey, Sokka’s instincts, would you mind-”

You spun around.  “Shut up!”  You whisper-yelled.  “You’re both so childish!  Aang, I’ll take your pack, but you both need to leave Sokka alone.  He’s trying to be helpful, unlike you two.”  You scolded, ripping Aang’s load off his shoulders and adding it to your own.  It was silent for several moments before Sokka spoke up.

“I get it!  I’m tired, too.  The important thing is, we’re safe from the…firenation.”

They had entered a clearing, where a group of firenation soldiers were camped out.  You face-palmed.

“Naturally.”  You muttered.

“Run!”  Sokka instructed, dropping his pack, Katara following in pursuit.

“We’re just going to leave the supplies!?”  You asked.

“We can replace them later, go!”  Sokka instructed.  You quickly ripped your own pack off and followed your friends.  A firebender shot at a bush just ahead of you, fire consuming it.

“We’re cut off!”  Sokka yelled.  You looked at him, eyes widening.

“Sokka!”  You yelled.

“Your shirt!”  Aang added.  Sokka looked down and saw the sleeve of his shirt was on fire.  He yelled.  Katara opened her canteen and bended water at him, putting the fire out.

“That’s smart.”  You complimented.  You turned around, only to notice all of them had formed a semi-circle around the group.  Sokka held his arms out protectively.  Your heart melted at the action.

“If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you.”  He lied.  You rolled your eyes.

“Like that’s going to work.”

“Hey, I’m trying.”  He said, looking back at you.

“You, promise not to hurt, us?”  The lead firebender asked tauntingly.  He then made a noise and collapsed.

“Great job, Sokka!  How’d you do that?”  Aang praised.

“Uh.  Instinct?”  Sokka replied.

“It wasn’t him, you idiot.”  You told Aang.

“Look!”  Katara said.  You all looked, and sure enough, up in the trees stood a figure.  He jumped down, using his weapons to swing around on branches before landing on two guys, then hooking his weapon around two others and throwing them.

“Down ya go.”  He said.

“They’re in the trees!”  One of the firebenders shouted, just as a small figure jumped down and landed on his shoulders.  Other firebenders had their swords shot out of their hands by an excellent archer.

“Should we get out of here while we have the chance?”  You whispered to Sokka.  He turned to you.

“Hmm?  Oh!  Yeah, probably.”  He turned, ready to tell the others, but they were fighting as well.  You rolled your eyes.

“Great.”

A man charged Sokka, and he drew his boomerang, yelling.  He was just about to strike the firebender when the man from before swung in and kicked him, knocking him unconscious.

“Hey, he was mine.”  Sokka complained.

“Gotta be quicker next time.”  He said, jumping away again.  You rolled your eyes, for the third, or was that fourth, time.

“Rude.”

“I know!”  Sokka agreed before running off.  You ran off as well and were confronted by three firebenders.  They shot at you and you smiled, dodging in what felt like slow-motion.  You leapt into the air and grabbed a low-hanging vine, tearing it from the tree.  They continued to fire at you, but you kept dodging, getting closer and closer.  You took a final leap towards them and in a blur, tied the end of the vine to the clothes of the man on the left.  You grabbed his head, and the head of the man on the right, and brought their heads to the man’s in the middle, knocking the three of them out.  You took the other end of the vine and wrapped it around the three, tying them up.  You turned around and were met with a face, inches from yours.  It was Sokka.

“Nice work.”  He complimented.  You turned a pale shade of red.

“Thanks.”  You muttered.  You turned and saw that the firebenders had all been vanquished.

“You just took out a whole army, single handed.”  Aang was saying as you and Sokka made your way over.

“Army!?  Pftt.  There were only like, twenty guys.”  Sokka retorted.

“And he had help.”  You defended, crossing your arms.

“My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters.”  The man said, turning around.  He began to introduce them.  “Sneers, Longshot, SmellerBee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak.”

“How nice.”  You commented with much sarcasm.  Jet turned and began giving his people orders.  He was leaning against a tree while the others worked.  Despicable, you thought.  You saw Sokka standing a few feet off.  He was also watching Jet as Katara walked over and started talking to him.  You listened.

“We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning.  We just needed the right distraction.  Then you stumbled in.”

“We were relying on instincts.”  Katara told him.  You weren’t a firebender, but you were certain if you could see yourself you would have steam coming out of your ears, and fire in your eyes.  Why did she have to be such a jerk?  Sokka walked away, a look of…..actually, you couldn’t place it.

You turned feeling something tugging on your arm.  It was Aang.  You raised an eyebrow, silently asking what he wanted.

“They have a hideout they’re going to show us!”

You shrugged.  “So?”

Aang’s mouth dropped.  “What do you mean, ‘so’?  I bet it’ll be super cool!  Come on!”

You allowed the small boy to drag you away.  You felt a strong sense of attachment to the kid.  You supposed he was the little brother you never had.  You were in the middle of the forest, you’d guessed, when Jet announced that they had arrived.  You halted your movements and crossed your arms.

“Where?  There’s nothing here.”  Sokka voiced.

“Hold this.”  Jet instructed as he handed Sokka a rope.  Sokka took it.

“Why?  What does this do?”

All of the sudden, Sokka was pulled into the air.  He shouted as he went up.  Jet offered a rope to Aang.

“I’ll get up on my own.”  Aang declared, airbending himself up the tall tree.  You watched him leap from branch to branch, some of the wind he was bending rippling through your hair.  Jet took ahold of a rope.

“Grab hold of me, Katara.”  He said.  He took her hand and spun her into him.  Her face was only a few inches from his, and she blushed like mad.  They went up slowly as she looked at him in awe.  You cringed and shuddered, sticking out your tongue, making gagging sounds.

“So gross.”  You muttered, grabbing a rope and being drug up.  You were also drug up slowly, and you took this time to observe the colors around you.  You saw reds, browns, oranges, and yellows.  At the North Pole you only saw white and blue as natural colors, so anything besides that amazed you.  You arrived to the top and set your feet on the wood.  You looked around at the many tents that were placed on platforms.  You heard a noise and saw Aang fly past you on a zip line.  Your eyes widened.

“What is that?”  You asked yourself.  You looked to Sokka and Katara walking away with Jet and Pipsqueak, then back at Aang.  You smiled and climbed up a tree, grabbing hold of the zip line as well.  Now that you were here, the panic started to set in.  You swallowed hard as you cautiously inched your way closer to the edge.  You looked down and took a deep breath.  You stepped a foot off the platform and you let momentum carry the rest of you.

You opened your eyes, you had squeezed them shut, and a smile formed its way onto your face.  You zipped through the air, and saw branches before you.  Your eyes widened in terror, but the zip line went under them.  You let out a happy shriek.  Aang zipped past you.

“Isn’t it great!?”

You laughed, looking over at him.  “Watch this!”

You looked down and let go of the zip line, Aang making a worried noise.  You fell and grabbed onto the line that was previously below you.  You began sliding on that one, letting out another laugh.  Aang laughed as well, now seeing you were alright.  He also kept switching lines, going both up and down.  You, of course, couldn’t go up because you couldn’t airbend.

You had no idea how long you and Aang were swinging around, having fun, but it was now dark, and you joined Sokka, Katara, and the Freedom Fighters for supper.  You were all seated, a few small lights flickering.  You sat next to Sokka, who sat next to Katara, who sat next to Aang.

“Today, we struck another blow against the firenation swine.”  Jet announced, raising his cup.  Cheering was heard.  You, however, frowned.  “I got a special joy from the look on one soldier’s face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet, and rode him like a wild hog-monkey.”

The Duke climbed on the table and walked around on it, earning more cheers.  Jet continued.  “Now, the firenation doesn’t think they have to worry about a bunch of kids hiding in the trees.  Maybe they’re right.”

This earned him several boos.

“Or maybe, they’re dead wrong!”

More cheering.

“Huh.”  You muttered, leaning over to Sokka.  “Easy crowd.”  You whispered.  He didn’t seem to notice, however, as he was glaring holes into the side of Jet’s head, or trying to, anyway.

“Hey, Jet.  Nice speech.”  Katara said, as the man himself sat between Katara and her brother.  Your nostrils flared at the nerve.

“Thanks.  By the way, I was really impressed with you and Aang.  That was some great bending I saw out there today.”

“Well, he’s great.  He’s the Avatar.”

You abruptly stood and walked away.  No one seemed to be aware of your exit.  You walked to where the entrance of the hideout was, and you sat down, swinging your legs back and forth over the side.  You sat there for several minutes, wanting to get away from Katara’s ignorance, Aang’s innocence, Sokka’s bitterness, and Jet’s………..suspiciousness.  You sighed as you felt the cold night air brush against your skin.  The wind pushed and pulled your hair, causing it to tickle your face and neck.  You sat there for what felt like an eternity before Aang came to find you.

“Y/n?”

You turned around and saw the child.  “Hey, Aang.”

“What are you doing out here?  When did you leave?  Why did you leave?”  He asked as he sat next to you, resting his forearms on his bent knees, and his head on his forearms.  You debated in your head.

“I was thinking, and taking a break.  And I left shortly after Katara said you were the Avatar because I don’t think that telling everyone we meet is such a good idea.”  You confessed.  This gave the boy pause.

“Why not?”

“Why not?  Aang, you’re the Avatar, correct?”

“Um.  Yeah?”

“The firenation is looking for the Avatar, correct?”

“Yeah?”

“Then why are you telling everybody so freely?  Why is it getting around so fast?”

“I, uh.”  Aang paused for a long time.  Several minutes, in fact.  You rolled your eyes and stood, seeing as he wasn’t going to answer anytime soon.

“Forget it.  I’m going to bed.  We have to leave in the morning.”

“Actually, Sokka has a mission with Jet.”

You stopped.  That blasted ego of his.  You shook your head and kept walking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning rolled around.  You winced at the sunlight and stood, exiting the tent.  You walked around for a bit and saw Sokka sitting with his back to a tree.  Aang swung in off the zip line and landed next to him.

“Sokka, look what The Duke gave me!”  He exclaimed, clearly excited.  Momo landed next to his owner.  Aang pulled out a ball and threw it on the ground by Momo.  The ball made a tiny explosion.  Momo let out a shriek.  He climbed atop Aang and threw some at Aang’s feet.

“Ow!  Quit it!”

You whistled and Momo abandoned Aang, landing on your shoulder.  You smiled and handed the lemur a handful of nuts.  Aang’s jaw dropped in betrayal.

“Don’t be rude to him.”  You advised.  Katara suddenly appeared, having climbed a tree.

“Hey, Sokka.  Is Jet back?”

“Yeah, he’s back, but we’re leaving.”  He declared.

“Finally.”  You remarked, crossing your arms.

“What?”  Aang asked Sokka.

“But I made him this hat.”  Katara said, pulling out a knitted red hat, with a yellow flower on the top.  You rolled your eyes.

“Your boyfriend, Jet’s, a thug.”  Sokka announced.

“What!  No he’s not.”  Katara replied.

“Not your boyfriend, or not a thug?”  You responded.

“He’s messed up, Katara.”  Sokka told her, ignoring your words.

“He’s not messed up.  He’s just got a different way of life.”  Aang added.  You stepped forward.

“Do you really think Sokka would say this if he didn’t have a reason?”  You asked.  Katara opened her mouth but you held up your hand, signaling her to remain silent.  “Do you really think he would call Jet a thug and messed up for simply having a different way of life?”  You asked, now looking at Aang.  You crossed your arms.  “Have some decency and respect.”

“Decency and respect?  He’s just fifteen!”  Katara voiced.

“He’s trying to protect us!  You’re the one going around spouting to everyone that Aang’s the Avatar!  Yeah, I wonder how the firenation keeps knowing where we are.”  You retorted.

“What proof do you have, Sokka?”  Aang asked, seeing as Katara was currently holding a glaring contest with you.  Which you were winning.

“He beat and robbed a harmless old man.”  Sokka announced.  Katara looked to her brother.

“I want to hear Jet’s side of the story.”

“So you don’t trust your brother?  You little-” You started, but Katara had walked away before you got to finish your sentence.  You let out a holler and punched the tree, breaking some of the bark away.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Sokka, you told them what happened but you didn’t tell them he was firenation?”  Jet asked.

“No, he conveniently left that part out.”  Katara replied, pointing a glare in Sokka’s direction.

“Fine, but even if he was firenation, he was a harmless civilian.”  Sokka defended.

“Yeah.  Honestly, you people don’t think there can be any decent human beings that just happen to live in the firenation?”  You added.

“He was an assassin.”  Jet said, pulling out a dagger and digging it into a stump.  “See?  There’s a compartment for poison in the knife.  He was sent to eliminate me.  You helped save my life, Sokka.”

“What a shame, he should have left ya.  Besides, how do we know that isn’t your knife?”  You asked, crossing your arms.

“This is a firenation knife.  You can tell by the design.”  Jet responded.

“What was it you said again?  Oh, yes.  You’ve been taking their resources?  Was it?  Or does my memory fail me?”  You asked, only a few inches between you.

“Y/n, are you really suggesting Jet is making this up?”  Katara inquired, a snappy tone in her voice.  You didn’t take your eyes away from Jet’s.

“Well, if the boot fits.”

“But what he’s saying makes sense.”  Aang replied.

“Gosh, are you all so stereotypical?  You truly believe everyone that lives in the firenation is a monster, don’t you?”  You finally peeled your eyes away from Jet’s to look at your friends.

“Of course not.”  Aang stated.

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that.”  You challenged, peering into his grey eyes.  Aang looked down at his shoes.  You stood up straight.

“You can’t.”  You determined.  “Very well.  Enjoy your journey, guys.  I can only hope it goes well for you.”  You say, turning to exit the tent.

“Why are you always taking Sokka’s side?”  Katara asked.  You spun around.

“Because he’s the only one making sense!!”  You shouted.  The room was silent.  The only sound that could be heard was your ragged breathing.  The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  You took a deep breath.

“Maybe I’ll see you again.  Maybe by that time you would have grown up.”  You muttered, turning to leave.  You glanced at Aang, who looked like he was about to burst into tears.  You felt bad, but he really needs to get his act together.  You made eye contact with Sokka as you walked out.  Momo hopped off Aang’s shoulders and flew over to you.  You gave the lemur a hug.  Aang was currently buried in Katara’s arms, crying.  You began to reach out, to try and comfort him, to take it all back, but you forced your arm back down and giving one last nod to Sokka, started the journey home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n:  Repost!  Sorry if you thought Y/n was a jerk in this chapter.  I had a lot of feelings toward Katara I had to get out.  XD

#Avatar: The Last Airbender #Avatar: The Last Airbender x reader #A:TLA #A:TLA x reader #x reader #reader #reader insert #Zuko x reader #my works #Mara's works #my imagine #Mara's imagine

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Skin & Scale (Part 7)

Azula’s hands shake. The blue is about halfway to her elbow and she has to stop it before anyone can take notice. She has to stop it but she is terrified. Embarrassingly so. She can’t afford weakness not when it is decisive and swift action that is needed. 

She tries not to think too much about it. But it is hard not to.

She tries to hold her hand steady and inhales sharply. 

She wants to close her eyes for this but she needs to see what she is doing.

A flame bursts into her open left palm.

It is hard to keep her breathing level when she is holding the right over the left. 

She takes one more deep breath.

It might hurt horrifically, it might come out blistered, blacked, and ugly but at least burns are normal. At least they aren’t freakish. They are extremely common in the Fire Nation, really she can’t name one person who doesn’t have at least one small burn from some bending related accident or crime. 

There is a moment of bliss where her mind goes blank, she plunges her hand in before rational can kick back in. She grits her teeth against pain that…

She furrows her brows. 

It doesn’t come. 

She peers into the flames at her hand. Into the flames that burn exceptionally hot but haven’t even begun peeling her skin away. Her sleeve slipping down her arm and into the fire compels her to retract it. She holds her hand up to her face, steam rolls gently off of it, serene as a morning mist unfurls across a pond. She flexes her fingers. They bend without a sting.

The only black upon them is a gentle coating of soot from her singed sleeve.

By all means, it actually feels quite pleasant. The intense heat…it feels powerful and soothing all at once. 

But of course. She has dragon skin.

Not skin, she realizes; she can see the intricate linework of scales. They are still outlined faintly in ember orange. For a moment, she thinks that it is quite beautiful. 

Hesitantly she brings her left pointer to her afflicted skin. It is still quite warm, it has soaked the flame into itself as desert cracks drink rare rainwater. The scales are rough on her human skin. Skin that has always been quite delicate–it only took using the wrong soap for it to break out in a rash. It had always been so soft and easy to cut and bruise.

And now she has some flesh that can withstand a fire. 

It makes sense but it still leaves her feeling dizzy.

A lot of things are starting to make sense now. 

.oOo.

"Come on Azula, let me see it!"

"No." She mumbles

"Azula let me see your hand."

"No." Katara makes a grab for it so she does the only thing she can think of, she pulls it away and sits on it to make it that much harder to snatch.

"Really, Azula!?" She throws her hands up. "You're acting like a child."

And she is pouting like one too as the blush creeps across her face. “Why do you want to see it anyways?”

“Why do you want to hide it?” She quirks a brow. “And don’t try to tell me that you just like the gloves. That might have worked on Zuko but I remember you telling me that you’d never want to go to the ‘stupid’ Water Tribe because you hate gloves.” 

“I…you remember that?”

“Of course I remember that, it was the first not openly hostile conversation that we had.” She pauses. “Let me see your hand. You’re not burning yourself again, are you?”

Azula’s face flushes. “No. Well, sort of.”

“Either you’re burning yourself again or you aren’t.” 

Azula doesn’t like when she gets that icy, steely tone. The one that almost matches hers or her mother’s. “I, it wasn’t for the reason you think.”

“But you still hurt yourself.”

“No.”

“Then prove it. Show me your hand.” For a moment she thinks that Katara is going to go for another grab but her hands remain at her sides. “Please show me your hand. If you hurt yourself I can heal it before it leaves a scar…” just like the last time. 

It is the unspoken words that get to her. 

Or, perhaps, this time it is that Katara isn’t being particularly pushy. There was, afterall, a please thrown in there. Reluctantly Azula holds her hand out. Katara hesitates for herself before delicately peeling the glove back. Her brows knit, “Azula, what?”

“I don’t know.” She mumbles. “Actually I do have a vague idea…” 

Katara holds her hand up, twisting it this way and that. Her scales have a shimmer to them. This opalescent sheen that displays flashes of gold and orange when cast under certain light. “These are…they’re scales?” 

Azula nods. “Glove.” She flexes her fingers and Katara hands the glove back. She pushes her sleeve up. The scales have reached her elbow.  “I thought that I could burn the blue away…” She trails off. “Scales don’t burn. It didn’t burn myself. It didn’t even hurt.” 

But everything else does. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Recent development.” She shrugs. “I noticed it after you guys departed for the Fire Islands. 

“So why do I get this feeling that you would have kept this a secret if I didn’t get you to talk?”

“Probably because I would have kept this a secret if you didn’t get me to talk.”

Katara laughs. “You don’t have to do that, you know?”

Azula shrugs again. 

“Why were you trying to burn the blue away?”

“Do you know what Fire Nation society tends to do to people who are different? People who are born with limps or born missing fingers or toes? Those conditions aren’t common but they happen often enough. This…?”

“Don’t Fire Nationals like dragons?”

“We hunt dragons.” She deadpans. “It’s a sport. It’s a show of power.” 

“You think that they’ll hunt you?” 

“Maybe. It isn’t something that I would like to test.” Not that she has a choice. She can’t imagine that she will be able to hide this for very long at all. “The alternative isn’t very pleasant either.” 

“The alternative?”

“People are already terrified of me, they already think that I’m a monster.” 

“Do they?” Katara inquires. “Or do you think that you’re a monster so you’re assuming that everyone else does? Because I’ve only ever heard Fire Nationals say good things about you. Most people liked what you got done while filling in for Zuko.” 

.oOo.

Katara tilts her head; Azula cares what people think of her.

It is decently hard to process that Azula might be feeling insecure. 

A smirk creeps over Katara’s face. She thinks of calling Azula out on it. She immediately decides against doing so. The last thing she needs is to make Azula uncomfortable enough to stop being open, it had been ridiculously difficult to get her to take some of those walls down. Most of them are still solidly erect to the point where Katara is surprised that she has shared this much.

She still sits stiffly and proudly but the way she cradles her right hand speaks volumes. 

“You’re going to have to tell everyone eventually.”

“Don’t worry, if I don’t the scales will speak for themselves.”

“I think that it would be a lot better if you told everyone before the wings pop out.”

“Wings…” Azula murmurs to herself and Katara can’t tell if it is with fondness or dread. 

“You do realize that the dragons are…they’re looking for you. We can avoid a war.”

“We will avoid a war.” But there is something in her voice that doesn’t sound too certain. “Unless they decide to attack anyways. Dragons are very territorial, they don’t take well to their possessions being stolen. They have a history of charring people over silver goblets. Father…” her brows scrunch. “Ozai took their egg. One of their last eggs...”

“Which is why we’re lucky that you’re the dragon!” Katara grins. “You can tell them that it wasn’t so bad and that you were treated well.”

“I thought that you all wanted me to work on not lying.” 

Katara flinches. 

Sometimes it is easy to forget. Azula always seems so prideful. She has a tendency to boast about all of the ways in which her father had spoiled her during the war, all of the lavish gifts he’d give her. Sometimes it is easy to forget that one of those gifts was loneliness and another was social ineptness. Sometimes it is easy to forget that there was an in between. That span of time between her initial downfall and her warming up to them. 

“Is this one of those times where lying is morally acceptable?” 

“I don’t know.” 

Azula tilts her head. 

Katara finds herself wondering, more often than she’d like, if they had been too harsh with Azula in the beginning. She didn’t make things easy at all, in fact she had gone out of her way to be as impossible to deal with and as cruel and biting as possible. But underneath that was a whole lot of hurt that they just kept adding onto. 

She knows that Azula is still weary. 

“Tell them the truth, Azula. You can tell them that you’ve been hurt but that you don’t want them to start hurting people on your behalf.”

“Assuming I’ll be able to tell them anything at all. I don’t speak dragon. I’ve studied the language a bit but the language itself is so archaic and hard to decipher. A lot of it is done through gestures or mind to mind depending on which text you are looking at.”

“Yeah, I guess that that does make things difficult.” Katara looks her over. She is still staring at the scales creeping over her arms. Still stroking them gently as though she thinks that they will flake away if she is too rough with them–or that they might cut her skin if she touches them wrong. “No wonder you’ve been in so much pain. You’re going through this huge transformation.” 

“I have been told that the first bleed tends to signify a transformation…” 

“Do you want to go to the hot springs again?”

Azula thinks for a moment and nods. “My back hurts. And my teeth.” 

Katara nods. Azula is quiet for the rest of the night leaving Katara with a lot of time to hope that she will fill everyone else in and prepare to present herself to the dragons. It leaves her with a lot of time to dread what might happen if she doesn’t.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Katara #Dragon Azula #Fanfiction

[comradekatara]

it’s pretty funny to me that when katara positions herself as the more mature sibling in the pilot, a lot of people just take her claim at face value?? as if every single person in the world doesn’t think that they are infinitely smarter and more mature than their sibling(s). sokka also considers himself smarter and more mature than katara, he just doesn’t vocalize that belief as explicitly. but in truth, they’re both mature and immature. neither katara nor sokka has a monopoly on maturity and competence, or lack thereof. sokka is cynical, condescending, and neurotic, but he’s also selfless, responsible, and loyal. katara is impulsive, naive, and recalcitrant, but she is also brave, resilient, and caring. and they’re both strong, courageous leaders who are brilliant, innovative, and skilled in their respective domains. it’s not a competition.

#katara #sokka #katara&sokka #unless you’re natla white devil sokka that is #who loves telling katara to ‘grow up’ #🙄🙄 #but like. i definitely think I’m superior to my brothers #and my brothers definitely think they’re superior to me #it’s hardly an uncommon occurrence nor is it grounded in objective truth #just because katara THINKS she’s always right doesn’t mean she is ACTUALLY always right #true katara girlies have the capacity to recognize this. in fact

[dykesynthezoid]

ooo 3, 13, and 14 👀

let’s gooooo

I tried to edit this down but it’s still extremely long. I’m not sorry

3. Screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Oh but there’s so many. So, so many. Truly an unending amount.

A somewhat funny but overwhelmingly bizarre take I’ve seen is that when fandom has a female character they don’t like, they just decide to claim she’s homophobic??? Lmao?? Like they’re both so invested in all their gay ships and also hate her so much for not being 100% accommodating to everyone else at all times that their solution is to claim that. She must be the token straight who’s also a homophobe.

It’s always the same type of female character too btw. “Katara is homophobic” “Nancy Wheeler is homophobic” “Sam is homophobic” literally people hate women SO MUCH and the shit they have to come up with to justify it can be honestly fascinating. People will see a girl who has been even slightly bossy or headstrong or complicated once in their fucking lives and decide she’s the most evil bitch to ever exist. Like get over yoursellllffff!!! It’s SO embarassing for them

13. Worst blorbofication

Any blorbofication that 1. completely sandpapers any interesting flaws or nuance, 2. entirely invents positive or sympathetic traits that the character does not actually possess; these treats are frequently stolen from other characters within the same media, but who are in some way marginalized and therefore fans ~just can’t put their finger on it, but they don’t like them as much as their blorbo for some reason… But here’s all the character traits they stole from them and gave to their blorbo to make the blorbo seem cooler, of course

(Bro people will literally see a female character or a character of color with an interesting trait and go “YOINK!” and just slap it onto their boring white guy blorbo)

I would say an example of the first type, though, is Terry Silver. I don’t think it’s strange at all to feel affection for his character or be fascinated by him. I mean, look at him. There’s some wacky shit going on there, how can you not be fascinated? I do think it’s strange to build up a thing in your head where he’s always the victim, nothing is really his fault, he can’t be blamed, poor poor Terry he’s so sad and lonely, etc. Like idk maybe he wouldn’t be so lonely if he weren’t Terrible To Be Around because he actively enjoys hurting people. And I like that about him! I like that he’s so campily evil!!!

Anyway just let him be a fucked up little weirdo!! It’s what makes him interesting!! He’s literally a psycho biddy mixed with a byronic hero in the shape of the campiest gay villains imaginable, love and cherish him as he is.

19. That one thing you see in fics all the time

Hmm. Okay. So. I have a couple of these; one I truly dislike and another I just tend to note and go “hmm, interesting.” Let’s start with the more controversial one.

So. There’s such a thing in TKK and CK as canon-typical racism, right? It’s a reality that exists in both. And I think it would be wrong to expect any author, regardless of race, to just wholly ignore that, because again, it’s a reality of the story (and of the real world).

However. Would it be nice if people could let you know when the story is going to be full of slurs? Yeah, I think it would.

I understand why and how those are things that end up needing to be touched on. I don’t think authors should have to censor themselves in that aspect. But also; there’s such a flippancy, in how sooo many ck and tkk authors approach using those things in their stories. And I think it’s really fucking easy to be flippant, right, if it doesn’t affect you, if you’re not a part of the race that’s being targeted, and especially if you’re white. Of course it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

I also think people seem to genuinely somehow forget that someone could read what they’ve written and be triggered by it. Like. As if; in particular; Asian people don’t exist or wouldn’t be reading their stories??? It’s very strange. And it’s so easy to put in a little warning! It’s so easy! And why wouldn’t people be sensitive about something like that, when fandom racism can be so rampant on a broader scale?

And you could say oh, well people should expect that content because it’s in the source material. But like… we all regularly tag and warn for things as milquetoast as say, underage drinking. Which is also in the source material. So I’m really not getting how popping a quick content warning for canon-typical racism is so difficult.

(I also think some people genuinely seem to forget; or don’t care; about the history and trauma that comes attached to certain derogatory terms and slurs. “J*p” should not be something you are just throwing into your fic for fun. You need to have really thought about why you’re putting it there, the purpose it’s serving, what you’re saying about the character who says it).

On a slightly lighter note! Something I see all the time in Lawrusso fics (and sometimes other M/M fics with Daniel as well) is people just sort of struggling to figure out what to do with Amanda. And I’m not trying to condemn that, at least not altogether.

And I certainly prefer the current trend of her being supportive and finding any developments hilarious to the earlier portrayals of her just being the villain for no reason. But also, just leaving her in the wingwoman position and not bothering to add any dimension there can leave her very flat, and it’s a position female characters get put in often in regards to M/M ships.

One solution is of course in going the poly route, because it usually necessitates at least a little bit of rumination on Amanda’s perspective. But even then there’s no guarantee people add any dimension to her.

And of course; we’re speaking in trends here. This isn’t an issue of individual preference, or a pursuit in lambasting anyone on their personal work; it’s a discussion of something much larger.

I don’t think Amanda should somehow have to be an extremely nuanced focal point in every M/M Daniel fic (that’s just not possible, for one, lmao). But when people do choose to include her in a major way, I think it’s good to stop and consider how you can add a little depth or nuance. I mean, I’ve had to struggle with that myself, and I’m never really sure if I’ve succeeded or not. But I thought about it, and I kept it in mind, and I think even that can make a difference.

I myself often go the divorce route in writing her; although it. Usually doesn’t even have anything to do with what Daniel and Johnny are doing? It’s just that I think Amanda deserves to be with someone who’s not obsessed with karate. And I like Damanda, and I love Daniel, but like. Idk man! It’s a whole lot! And I think anyone could get tired of it. She quite literally did not sign up for that. And if you think her being Daniel’s wife puts her under some kind of obligation to always be understanding and always take his side and never question him; well. Ew, frankly. Just because Daniel also deserves support doesn’t mean she has to be on the same page as him or she’s a bad wife.

She’s literally her own person!! Let her be her own person!!!

(Literally I wish I could pay for her and Carmen to just go on a long fucking vacation. Let them have a fucking break and have mind-blowing gay sex away from all the karate nonsense and their identities as partners and mothers. What if they were just two hot perimenopausal women with complex inner lives and complicated pasts experiencing life together on a beach in Cabo. Y’know. And they could have a time together that’s about them, they’re the point, they haven’t somehow been relegated to a background pairing. And also there’s the gay sex).

(I think I got off track. What was I talking about? Oh, right.)

I think how quickly my mind will shove Daniel and Johnny out of way the moment Amanda and Carmen appear IS #feminism tbh. Like they might as well not exist to me when Amanda and Carmen are onscreen together, or when a story’s supposed to be about them. Daniel who? I’ve never heard of him. Also I think people should write long, beautiful Carmanda fics and then tag Lawrusso just bc they appear in the background for five seconds. I think it would be hilarious.

#some of these Should Not be controversial opinions but they do seem to be! #basically just me complaining about fandom misogyny and racism for a while #cobra kai #asks

[the-zk-directory]

Has the Zutara fandom ever analyzed this (x) interview with Aaron Ehasz? ‘Cause I really think we should...

I think it’s the only time he’s ever directly addressed Zutara publicly. And, of course, he doesn’t say much, and certainly doesn’t confirm the rumours -- but I still find this video incredibly interesting, especially within the context of said rumours.

Girl (Ingrid): “Okay so, if you could change one thing in the legend of Aang, what would it be?”

^^Starting off with an interesting exchange because she knows what she’s really asking

^^And he knows what she’s really asking.

AE: Y’know, I’m, *stutters* --- It’s hard, because I’m happy with how it turned out…

                                                           ----x----

AE: I’ll tell you the one thing that comes to mind…

                                                          ----x----

AE: …which is not what you’re expecting and it’s a little bit… petty *proceeds to go into something else which, while interesting, is not at all related to shipping*

                                                          ----x----

AE: I don’t know, that’s probably not the best answer you were hoping for but uhhh… MAYBE that’s the thing that I would change…

                                                          ----x----

AE: but, I respect the choices that the directors made and that Mike and Bryan made, y’know – probably good reasons.

“I respect the choices Mike & Bryan made” does not sound to me like someone who always agreed with the choices Mike & Bryan made.

So, he successfully deflects away from talking about shipping. But then he gets a little bold:

AE: What were you hoping I was going to say, Ingrid? *jump cut* What would you change?

Ingrid: Are you sure you want to know this? Are you sure?

AE: You can tell me. You can trust me. You can tell me. I wanna hear it.

Seems he really wants to hear it. Hmm, why would a writer, who, ~potentially~ had quite a few arguments with the creators of a show in which he advised them about a certain topic (advice which would have evidently been ignored), and who seems ~potentially~ unwilling to speak about the topic directly (but ~potentially~ still harbors a bit of frustration about the whole thing)… be so eager to hear an audience member’s public opinion on said topic?

(Especially when said opinion ~potentially~ validates his side of the ~potential~ argument?)

Just a hypothetical.

Ingrid: I would like Zuko and Katara to be together…

AE: *nods*

Ingrid: [...] because, that scene, where she almost uses the water from the oasis to heal his scar it was, like, so much tension…

AE: …yeahhh

Ingrid: And they seemed like, so in love…

AE: yeah

                                                          ----x----

*jump cut* (I believe)

AE: I will say, I’ve seen some “fake” interviews with me online from time to time in which… I’ve seen fake interviews with me where – where it was not actually me

“fake”

This is interesting; I actually only noticed this as I was working on making this post. Why does he put air quotes around ‘fake’?

Definition of air quotes from idioms.thefreedictionary.com:

A hand gesture done when speaking to draw attention to a particular statement or indicate that it was someone else's words or that one is skeptical or critical of its use (similar to scare quotes in print media). Air quotes are made by curling the index and middle fingers of both hands at the same time in order to mimic the shape of quotation marks.

AE: *proceeds to wheedle out of giving an answer one way or another on ZK vs. KA by just saying that he lets the characters guide him, blah, blah, blah.*

No one brought up the rumours either. He brought them up himself, only showing that he’s well aware of them, but doesn’t want anyone to mistake what was written in that “fake” interview (this one (x)) as something he’s said publicly.

                                                         ----x----

AE: Like the question: Are you Zutara? *jump cut* I try not to root for ships because… I have to stay open minded to what the characters are gonna tell me and what -- what it’s going to tell me and the other writers. So, we try to follow them through on their stories and figure out what’s happening and pay attention to like, the signals that the characters are giving us, and then be open to the natural thing happening right.

I mean, sure, this is what a good writer’s supposed to do.

But like, clearly, as the show was coming to a close, there must have been a pairing that he felt was the more natural thing, right? Which one was that? Did Kataang feel like “the natural thing” to him???

He doesn’t tell us. And if he did feel the canon pairing was a natural ending, I don’t know why he wouldn’t just say that.

If it was a non-canon pairing that felt more natural to him though, well…

(“I respect the choices […] Mike and Bryan made, y’know – probably good reasons.”)

AE: So, if I rooted for it, I would contrive something, and it would feel contrived.

Cue Mike and Bryan (technically just Mike): “we always had a soft spot in our hearts for ‘Kataang.’” (x)

                                                           ----x----

*jump cut*

Last note: I really want to know what was said right before this.

(‘Cause if I was Ingrid, I would have pressed him for a real answer and then just agreed to not put it in the video.)

She’s laughing too. I JUST WANNA KNOW.

#Aaron Ehasz #Speculation #my contributions #Useful info. #I could have also capped his face as he said 'because I'm happy with how it turned out' and commented on that but I got lazy #Zutara #zukoxkatara

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine the Ember Island Players creating a romance between you and Zuko which hits a little too close to home

You sat beside Katara and noticed how Zuko sat on the other side of her. Aang faltered, obviously wanting to sit there and you smirked as Zuko obliviously missed Aang’s look. Zuko had been with the group a few weeks now but his social skills still weren’t very good and you found it made for some very interesting interactions. His attempt at telling jokes alone made you smile every time you saw him for a full week afterwards and you found Zuko did a lot of things that amused you but apparently not so much the others. “I was going to sit there” Aang whined and Zuko shrugged “so? Just sit next to me”. Aang pouted and you laughed to yourself “here” you said standing up “take my seat Aang” and you moved so he could sit beside Katara. Katara was oblivious and you sat on the other side of Zuko chuckling at Aang’s blush. “What was that all about?” Zuko asked and you smiled “ow nothing you just almost ruined Aang’s evening”. Zuko frowned and went to ask what you meant when the lights dimmed so you knocked his arm shaking your head “i’ll tell you later now shhh”. Zuko folded his arm huffily but stopped talking. The play was wonderfully awful. As you hadn’t joined the gang straight away you knew you had time to just enjoy the first few acts and make fun of the way they portrayed all your friends. Plus what could they do to your character? You didn’t have any old flames like Katara or Sokka and you didn’t have an emotional backstory like Zuko or Aang. So you relaxed arms spread over the back of the bench and waited for *yourself* to make an appearance.

The second your actress walked on stage you knew it wouldn’t be good. They had your character all wrong! Your actress flirted with everyone and acted like a lovesick idiot. You didn’t think it could get much worse and then your character met Zuko’s.

“I’ll save you from the pirates” Zuko’s character purred to yours and you spluttered. “That...that wasn’t even me! That was Katara!” you whispered angrily. You looked to Zuko for confirmation who nodded “yeah I didn’t say that to you...and I certainly didn’t tie you up while staring at you like that”. “And I did not flirt with you like that either”. You both glared as your characters bonded and they actually invented Zuko letting you go voluntarily. As Zuko’s character stared off into the distance and said your name you heard Sokka and Suki wheezing from laughter while you simmered with anger and embarrassment. “I didn’t do that!” Zuko cried and you saw he was blushing vividly. That made you blush too and crossed your arms tightly “they better not stick with this theme”.

Of course they did. By the time act 3 had ended you and Zuko were living a star crossed lovers lifestyle in Ba Sing Sei. They again got you mixed up with Katara and said Azula kidnapped you to lure Zuko to the Earth King’s palace. The act ended with Zuko charging in to save you, offering his own life in exchange for yours, but Azula outmanoeuvred him and arrested him too. As the lights went up for intermission you and Zuko paused before exploding.

“That never even happened!”.

“I knew he was in Ba Sing Sei but we never went on a date”.

“Yeah that was a different girl”.

“And you did not fight with Jet over me”.

“I didn’t even know you knew Jet!” Zuko agreed and you both paused for air.

The gang all looked at each other before bursting into laughter. “What is so funny?” you cried and Sokka smiled. “We all know none of that stuff happened, we were there too remember?”. “Yeah so...can’t we rant?” you asked. “Well yeah but why get so mad about it? Are you trying to convince us or yourselves that the idea the two you flirted is so impossible?”. You and Zuko exploded again at the thought and Sokka and the others burst into laughter again. “All i’m saying is this is a lot of emotion to come from nowhere” Sokka smiled “now i’m going backstage so yell at each other or something” and he disappeared with Suki. Katara and Toph left for snacks and Aang went to the toilet leaving the two of you alone. “But i mean it is ridiculous” you muttered and Zuko nodded “utterly ridiculous”. “Sure we ended up together a few times” you shrugged “but that was completely by chance, it wasn’t like you were hyper-aware of me or vice versa”. “Yeah not at all” Zuko agreed but he wasn’t looking you in the eye for some reason. You stared at him confused and noticed his neck looked slightly red as if he was blushing. “Wait did you?” you asked suddenly “notice me more?”. Zuko looked up and he was indeed blushing deeply “what I....of course not! I never...I mean I did learn your name before anyone else’s but that’s because we spent that time together when I helped the pirates kidnap you and you wouldn’t shut up the whole night”. “Then why are you blushing so much?” you asked and Zuko shrugged “I don’t know I...it’s just them insinuating I like you. I’ve had it a lot”. “You have?” you asked amazed and Zuko nodded “when my uncle heard you’d seen me in Ba Sing Sei and that we’d reached a deal not to tell on one another he had this annoying smirk like i’d done it for any other reason besides the fact it was mutually beneficial. Then when I went back home Azula made it seem like me and you had a thing and Mai got jealous and started asking about you and I had to explain all our interactions and it was very awkward...she wanted me to reassure her by putting you down and making the idea seem impossible but I must have failed because she didn’t believe me. So I guess that’s why it makes me feel weird, everyone keeps telling me I act differently with you and I suppose I do but I have no idea if that’s because everyone keeps saying it or if I always have”. You nodded your head but were unsure what to say. “Well which one do you think it is?” you asked eventually and Zuko paused “what?”. “If you had to guess, would you say you act differently around me because of what people say about us or have you just always acted that way”. Zuko thought, staring at the ground and basically anywhere but at you, “i’m not sure but I guess maybe the second? They must have got it from somewhere I suppose”. “The second?” you asked surprised and Zuko’s blush returned vividly “I’m only guessing, I honestly don’t know”. You nodded your head and went to speak when the others returned which stopped you right in your tracks.  

The second half of the play began of course with you and Zuko reuniting in the prison under Ba Sing Sei. You and Zuko did end up there together but you definitely did less staring at one another. You rolled your eyes as your characters began to passionately speak to one another stepping closer and closer. They finally reached one another and you laughed when your character began yelling at Zuko’s. “Ha maybe they got some things right!” you whispered to Zuko who nodded “you did yell at me a lot”. You smirked and went to apologise when Zuko’s character kissed yours. You and Zuko abruptly shot away from each other. “That is not even close to what happened!” you cried at the others who were all laughing. Zuko nodded “this is just slander! They didn’t even bother to try to get our characters right and anyone with half a brain would realise that!”. Someone shushed Zuko and he glared “shush yourself” he cried before storming from the room. He didn’t return for the rest of the play and honestly you thought that was probably wise. It got worse and worse. They still kept in Zuko’s betrayal of Iroh but changed it making you at the centre of Zuko’s struggle. He chose the crown and they made you react dramatically (even getting a love ballad moment). They then skipped forwards to Zuko at the palace, who got his own song when he realised he’d made the wrong choice. Your characters reunited not long after and promptly confessed their love for one another. Then you were both murdered by Ozai very much in line with the tragic forbidden lovers style.

“I mean I’m just glad she’s dead” you shrugged on your way out “anything to end that romance”. The others smirked when Aang paused “do you think Zuko went back home to the villa?” looking around for the angry fire prince. “No he knows we don’t know this place well, he’s probably just sat outside somewhere” you replied looking around but you couldn’t see him brooding anywhere either. When you walked out the front door and still didn’t spot him Aang frowned “okay everyone split up and look for him, meet back here in five minutes”.

You returned five minutes later to see Katara, Suki, Sokka and Toph all hadn’t found him either. “I wonder where he is” Katara frowned and you shrugged “he’ll be fine, that boy has nine lives”. “He didn’t in that play” Toph commented and you nodded. “True but that play was a mess and there’s one thing I still can’t get over. Zuko said his family and friends thought he liked me that’s where his side of this rumour started but in the play they acted like I encouraged him! Where on earth did they get that idea?”. The group all went quiet and you paused “what?”. “Well...I mean you kinda do encourage him” Sokka frowned and your jaw dropped “I DO NOT! When have I ever...”. “When we got kidnapped by the pirates you teased Zuko constantly and refused to be quiet until he spoke to you” Katara pointed out. “Yes but that was to annoy him not flirt with him!”. “Okay how about when June asked if you were his girlfriend and you replied he wishes instead of no?”. “I was joking” you shrugged and Toph smirked “or how about when I was sneaking out to see Zuko at the Western Air Temple and found you already on your way to see him? What were you popping in to see Zuko for huh y/n? Nice date by the campfire?”. “I was doing the same thing as you! I was going to see if he would tell the truth and given that I knew him best I thought I....”. The gang all erupted and you paused “what?”. “You know him best?” Sokka asked smirking and you nodded “that doesn’t mean anything it’s a fact”. “Ow is it?” Sokka asked and you nodded “It is! Fine if I don’t know him best what was his fake name in Ba Sing Sei?”. Everyone went quiet and you nodded “or how about how long ago he was banished from the fire nation? Better yet just tell me his parent’s names!” you cried. When nobody replied you smirked folding your arms victoriously “told you I know him best”. “Yeah you’ve definitely proved how much you know about Zuko” Suki smirked looking past you. You frowned before you heard someone behind you. You turned to see Aang had found Zuko and by the look on his face he’d heard everything. You blushed and looked down “Zuko we were...”. “Having a competition to see who knows me best?” Zuko asked mildly amused and you paused “well sort of...Sokka started it”. “No I didn’t” Sokka retorted “you declared you knew Zuko the best and when I asked if you were sure you started spouting your favourite facts about him”. “They’re not my favourite facts about him” you snapped and Sokka’s smirk just grew “whatever y/n” and he turned leading the way home. The others all followed and purposefully made it so you and Zuko were at the back. “Why were you talking about me anyway?” Zuko asked and you paused “ow nothing I was just er...trying to work out why the Ember Island Players thought I had a thing for you but the gang was not helpful”. “They couldn’t think of a reason?” Zuko asked innocently and you frowned “no they could actually think of lots of reasons, it appears similar to your family they were also under the impression I held a flame for you as it were”. “Ow really?” Zuko asked. He kept his voice flat but you could swear he was smirking slightly. “Stop enjoying this” you whined pushing him “it’s not funny, it’s embarrassing”. “Liking me is embarrassing?” Zuko asked and you paused “no I didn’t mean that, I just meant having all your friends claim you like someone when you can’t see it”. “You really can’t see where they’re coming from?” Zuko asked and you shook your head “nope not at all”. Zuko looked away and you frowned “I saw that, what did that look mean?”. “Nothing...” Zuko trailed off but you sighed grabbing him by the arm to make him look at you “I’m sick of everyone saying things about me for once just say it to my face!”. Zuko sighed “fine, I just think i’ve been honest with you but you’re not being honest with yourself”. “Not being honest?”. Zuko nodded “Yes, I admitted I could see where my family were coming from and how the rumours started but you’re acting as if they plucked them out of thin air!”. “Well maybe they did! I don’t see how any of our interactions could be interpreted as romantic”. Zuko didn’t look convinced. “You don’t think there’s some truth to what the Ember Island Players said? That maybe there is something here?” Zuko asked gesturing to the small gap between you. “No of course not! Do you?”. “No” Zuko yelled back and you nodded “fine! You are the most infuriating...” you started when Zuko grabbed you kissing you. You initially tensed at the sensation but soon melted into it. Zuko seemed to be trying to prove a point by kissing you passionately and not wanting him to win you kissed him back matching his intensity. Finally Zuko pulled away for air and stared at you “still not want to admit there’s something here?”. You stared at Zuko torn between admitting he was right and your pride. You were annoyed, frustrated, excited and exhilarated all at once. You were breathing rapidly, your cheeks bright red as were Zuko’s and neither of you made to move away. “I...” you started eventually “that was a good kiss”. Zuko nodded, his frustration melting away “it was, I enjoyed it...I’ve been wondering what it would feel like to kiss you for a while now”. “You have?” you asked and Zuko nodded “as annoying as it is to admit my family and friends were right, I like you and I have for a while”. You smiled despite yourself at how adorable Zuko looked all bashful and embarrassed. “I tried ignoring it for a while but then when I joined the group your friends all saw it straight away. Then tonight...the play was bad but I was frustrated that everyone seemed to see it apart from you the person I actually wanted to see it...you”. You looked down wondering how to reply “I’m sorry I bet that was really frustrating”. Zuko nodded “It was and I figured this was just one-sided but that...did you feel it too?”. Zuko looked so unsure and unlike himself it was endearing and gave you confidence. “Yes” you said shakily “after that kiss I can tell you it is definitely not one-sided. I like you too Zuko and probably have since the start”. “Probably?” Zuko asked and you sighed “I’m not good with my emotions, I can be oblivious to them so I can’t with certainty tell you it’s been going on as long as the play made it out to be but I know I like you. Right now in this moment...I hope that’s enough, I know it’s a shit confession and you probably wanted something more solid but I...”. Zuko began laughing and you paused “what’s so funny?”. “Something more solid? Y/n I’m on the run from the Firelord who is my father, my sister is hunting me to kill me and I could very likely be imprisoned for the rest of my life if Aang fails and that’s if i’m lucky...I’m not even sure if I have a future so trust me all I need is the present. To know in this moment right here you like me back” Zuko blushed but he stepped closer and took your hands “that’s more than enough for me”. “It is?” you asked and Zuko nodded “yes and if by some chance it becomes more long-term I’ll be very happy but for now I just want to enjoy this time with you”. You smiled and leant in to kiss Zuko again when someone coughed. “Hey what are you two doing?” Sokka called. Apparently the others had finally realised the two of you were no longer with the group and walked back to find the two of you as you currently were. Luckily it was dark so you moved away from Zuko but still held his hand. “Yeah we thought you’d gotten lost are you okay?” Katara called. Zuko sighed and you smirked at his expression. “We’re fine” you smiled “we were just talking and Zuko’s going to show me this beach he went to a lot as a kid”. Zuko’s eyes shot up to yours and he smiled. “You are?” Aang asked and Zuko nodded “yep, it’s not far from here so we won’t be long. You guys head back to the villa and we’ll meet you there” and with that Zuko tugged you away from the others. You smiled at Zuko and he smiled back at you “quick thinking, I didn’t think we’d get out of there so easily”. “You can thank me later” you replied when you heard Sokka gasp “wait are they holding hands? Y/n are you holding hands?”. “Run!” Zuko cried and you laughed but did as he said. You kept running even after Sokka’s voice trailed off and only stopped when you reached a sandy beach. You both collapsed on the ground and you turned to look at Zuko “did you know this was here or did you get lucky?”. “Totally the former” he smiled and you shook your head “you’re lucky I like you”. “I really am” Zuko agreed and he stared at your face tenderly. His fingers brushed your cheek and you smiled “what are you waiting for?”. “I have no idea” Zuko admitted and he leant in to reclaim the lost kiss from earlier. This time you weren’t interrupted.

#zuko #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #avatar #avatar imagine #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender imagine #atla #atla imagine #atla zuko #prine zuko #prince zuko x reader #ember islands #fire nation #aang #sokka #katara #suki #toph #prince zuko #azula #ozai #iroh #mai #avatar zuko #avatar ember island players

[melina-ya]

What they’re like as boyfriends;

Characters; Seishu ‘Inupi’ Inui, Hajime Kokonoi.

Warnings; a bit angsty.

Seishu ‘Inupi’ Inui;

Don’t you dare hurt this man’s feelings. I’ll be coming for ur neck.

You better treat him right, because he would go to the ends of the world for you.

He doesn’t want to lose another person in his life so he’ll always show you how much he values you and how much you mean to him.

It can be hard for him to find the right words sometime, that doesn’t stop him from showing you little acts of service and physical affection to make you feel loved.

Wants you to feel comfortable around him, at all times.

Is in general a very considerate person, but especially when it comes to your feelings. So you will never witness him trying to down play your emotions.

He is in touch with his feminine side and holds absolutely no place for toxic masculinity in his life.

I fr want his fashion advise.

Would never judge you for anything. Especially not for your body. He loves your body.

Beats up everyone who dares to talk bad about you. Can’t stand people who only have the courage to talk shit about you someone behind their back.

Loves laying on your chest. He says it’s more comfortable than a pillow, but actually just listens to your heart beat.

If you two were together while he was still in black dragons, he’d make you be besties with Koko.

Koko’s approval of your relationship is important to him. They’ve been there for each other for a very long time now an he really wants Koko to like you and you two actually get a long great.

After Tenjiku arc he’d have some kind of complex about you thinking of him as something/ someone he isn’t is.

Doesn’t want you to leave like Koko did. He isn’t Akane, you have to assure him you know that. You also don’t expect him to be, which takes time for him to understand.

When a insecurity or a issue pops up he isn’t too shy to talk about it, that’s why problems in your relationship never last that long.

He’s very mature, but knows when to let loose and also be childish for once.

He’s such a cutie.

Hajime Kokonoi;

This man-

Treats you like a princess. Like u deserve.

Spoils you so bad. You’re literally swimming in designers bags and clothes.

Does not care how many times you decline his gifts, you will accept them. Period.

In the end you always give in anyways. I mean why wouldn’t you lmao.

Let’s you do his makeup and even goes out with it on if it looks good. The healthy masculinity is immaculately.

When you want to try out a new makeup look on him and it doesn’t end up the way you wanted it to, he’ll tease you a bit, but would encourage you to try again and again until you get it.

He’s very patient, so just take your time and don’t stress. He knows you can do it.

Always believes in you and supports you. Is your personal cheerleader.

You know how Aang looks at Katara? Yeah that’s how he looks at you.

After Akane it was hard for him to fall in love again.

When you to met it took him a lot of thinking and time. But he did it, he moved on from her.

Don’t get me wrong she will always hold a special place in his heart as his first love, now nothing more or less.

Sometimes tho, in the itsy bitsiest moments you remind him of her. Even if it’s just for a second, he’ll feel so bad.

After sometime he’ll find the courage to talk to you about it. You’ll literally have to beat it out of him. When he admits it you just look at him as if he’s dumb, ‘they’re just intrusive thoughts, it’s not your fault. It’s okay.’

And since he moved on it’s most likely that you only got together later on, where he was already part of the Kanto Manji gang.

Meeting Mikey and the rest of the gang was an experience for sure. Even more so if it was after the fight of the three deities. Sometimes you question if he’s in a relationship with you or them, considering how much time he spends with them.

a/n; is it obvious that inupi is one of my favs lmao? Anyways I had a lot of fun writing this and thank you for reading.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo rev headcanons #tokyo rev x reader #tokyo rev fluff #tokyo revengers seishu inui #inui x reader #inui x y/n #tokrev inui #inui imagines #inui seishu #kokonoi hcs #tokyo revengers kokonoi #kokonoi hajime #kokonoi x you #kokonoi headcanons #dating headcanons

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically  and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her  to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend. 

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way. 

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina).  Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s  protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

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