#when katara still hates zuko's guts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

abilouwrites · 2 months

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Hihi I was hoping I could request enemies to lovers Zuko x fem!reader?

The reader is a traitor to the fire nation and can bend fire (also a street peformer before she joined the gaang? 👀) 💕💕

Omg getting a request just made my day I love these!!!

I hope you like it 🫶🫶🫶

YOURE STILL A TRAITOR

Id like to say that my life is good, that I’m happy where I am but I’m not. I’m upset and frustrated; but most of all I’m living on the street, preforming stupid acrobatic tricks just to feed myself. I’ve left everything behind. My family and wealth but most importantly someone I never wanted to live without.

I’m upside down when I see them; soft flames coming from the soles of my bare feet. Resting on my forearms and twisting and contorting my body.

“You.” A teenaged girl approaches me and I turn right side up, “you’re a fire bender aren’t you!” She says, “what’s your name?”

“Uh” I stare at her and smile nervously, “y/n Huǒ” I repeat slowly, and quietly. People of the fire nation know the traitor I’ve become outside the walls of the fire nation. Meeting the avatar, going against my friends for his life. All because I believed in something greater than all of this.

“I know you” a boy says, bandana around his forehead, “your grandpa, Yújìn. I know- or knew him” He says

“Oh.” Realization hits my face, “you’re the avatar!” A short girl slaps me.

“Wow way to tell everyone!” She retorts, god are little kids sassy.

“You could teach Aang firebending” Katara says, it’s hard not to know someone’s name when there’s wanted posters all over town.

“I’m good at fire bending but I’m no master” I say, “I thought Prince Zuko abandoned the throne to teach you” I ask

“Well he’s uh.. learning a new way to firebend” Toph laughs a little and I smile awkwardly.

“I don’t bend very traditionally” I reply, “but if it will get me off the streets I guess why not” I stand up straighter and brush my hair out of my face.

“You brought that back?!” Zuko shouts, we’ve had a long history. One that includes a betrothal, and a knife to the gut. He looks at me with disgust which I’m not surprised at.

“I’m a girl. Not a thing!” I cry out, “the only reason I’m here is because Aang needs a firebending teacher because you suck!” I scoff out at him, there’s fire burning in his hands but I never raise mine.

He groans at me, “you’ve always been like this! Even when”

“Zuko I don’t want to talk about that” I warn, there’s a plea in my voice but he accepts that, “it was a long time ago”

“Yeah like it was that long ago” he sasses and I roll my eyes.

“Zuko!”

It doesn’t take long for things to settle down; I’m essentially useless now that Zuko has gotten his bending back. Even if he did it how I told him to do it all along but whatever.

The bickering still happens, and I want to throw a knife at him but part of me still loves him. I didn’t hate being betrothed to him as much as I thought I did.

“Did you ever miss us?” I ask him, “after you were banished. I refused to Azula to give away your location and then the Avatars when you wrote me” I confess, “so I left”

“I think. At first I did, but I don’t— I don’t think we would’ve worked together. We fight all the time. I hated you at first. And you hated me” He admits, looking down slightly. He sighs heavily

“Yeah. I guess. But I didn’t really hate- hate you” I admit, “I missed you. I liked knowing you”

He nods, “I did like knowing you too, you’ve changed so much. I mean your fire it’s pink” he laughs

“Maybe it’s from my bubbly personality” I tease, he laughs

“You. Have a bubbly personality!” He laughs and it’s so good to hear, “you were so shy, like if I sneezed too hard I would scare you”

I smile softly, “I’ve changed so much sense I was twelve” my hair falls around my face and he tucks the loose strand around my ear

“What now that you’re fourteen?” He teases softly, his hand lingers behind my ear. But he removes himself quickly.

“Zuko. Im fifteen” I remind him, it’s embarrassing when he says he knows how my heart flutters and I feel weak in the knees.

“I remember, once you turned eighteen we would’ve” he looks away with a blush on his cheeks

“Yeah. Gotten married” I laugh, and I keep laughing because the thought of getting married feels so small and childish to the war we’re supposed to be preparing for.

He laughs; rolling laughs that make me keep laughing. My laughs turn short and wheezy before his face straightens, “are you ok? Can you breathe?” His face turns to me and he smiles seeing my smile. It’s a smile that makes my cheeks hurt and heart race.

“As the Prince of the fire nation. I’m supposed to hate you. Because you’ve betrayed our nation. But as Zuko. As your Zuko. In this moment I don’t feel anything but hate. I feel love for you. A fire that I never want to put out” he tells me, scooting closer to me. I let him cradle my face, “I never hated you”

“I never hated you either” a weak laugh escapes me but he kisses me before it truly develops. It’s a kiss that devours me whole, wrapping itself into my heart and soul.

“If we make it through this. Let’s make good on that betrothal”

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tonberry-yoda · 1 year

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hii, loved ur zuko x reader post, it made the zuko simp out of me rise ✨️

I was wondering if u could write a zuko x fire bender! reader where they re together in the gaang and talk with the rest about how they would train together on the ship back when zuko was obsessed w catching aang and reader making fun of him along with sokka and toph,

thank you <3

OMG HI!! i am so glad you were here for that zuko writing and here for a request!! seriously, rewatching Avatar made my inner simp come out bruh (also, i love your pfp so much monster high was my CHILDHOOD lmfaoo). thank you so much for the request! this was super fun to write and i am so happy i got to write it for you <3 have a wonderful rest of your day and please stay hydrated <333

The Past - Zuko

Pairing - Zuko x reader

Warnings - none!

Word Count - 663

“Remember when you were bald?” You said through a cough, giving Zuko a sideways glance with a little smirk on your face.

“Oh come on!” Zuko exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “What the heck did I ever do to you, y/n? Stop making fun of my bald self.” He crossed his arms and pouted and you just giggled to yourself as Toph and Sokka were holding back laughter.

“You have to admit it’s a little funny, Zuko.”

“It’s not!”

You walked over to Zuko and put your arm around him. “Okay, okay, it’s not that funny.”

“Thank you!” Zuko turned away from you still pouting and the campfire you were around with the others went silent.

Until you spoke up, of course.

“Remember when all you wanted to do was capture the Avatar.” Everyone started laughing and Zuko’s face went as red as a tomato. It definitely didn't help that Aang, you know, the literal Avatar, was sitting right there.

Sure, Zuko was happy that the gaang took him in, but it was definitely a little embarrassing that he had once made it his whole life and every waking moment to capture him.

“I have to capture the Avatar and restore my honor.” You said in a mocking dramatic voice.

Sokka and Toph were completely out of breath laughing while Aang and Katara were trying not to laugh in respect of Zuko.

“Okay, y/n.” Zuko turned to you, his face flushing a dark crimson. “I'm serious. Stop.”

“Zuko,” you walked over to him and tucked his long hair behind his ear. “You know I'm just playing. Sure, capturing the Avatar was definitely number one on your list, but you were still just a kid.” You rubbed his arm and Zuko smiled at you.

Zuko didn't know if he could live without you or his uncle. You were both there for him through thick and thin since he was banished from the fire nation. Heck, you even decided to go back to the fire nation with him after that awful crisis in Ba Sing Se. No matter what, you were always there for him.

“Remember when we would train on the boat?” You smiled.

Everyone turned to the both of you, intrigued.

You just smiled and hugged Zuko’s arm. “You’ve always had the potential to be a great fire bender. Who cares if your sister was some prodigy since she was born? You've always put in the work, making you that much better.”

“Stop,” Zuko said with a bright red face, hugging you to him. “If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be as good as I am.”

“Oh, come on, Zuko! I'm not that good.”

“YES YOU ARE!” You laughed at Zuko’s sudden outburst.

“Yeah, y/n!” Aang butt in, beaming at you. “You’re not only one of the best fire benders I’ve ever met, but also the nicest. No offense Zuko.”

“None taken.”

“You guys are a riot.” You said with a joking eye roll, standing up to stretch your legs.

Zuko stood up with you and wrapped his arm around you, looking at the full moon.

“You know,” Aang said, standing up and walking over to the two of you. “If it wasn't for the both of you hating my guts for that period of time, I honestly don't think that I would have any firebending teacher.”

You and Zuko smiled at Aang, pulling him in for a little group hug. Aang smiled and ran back to the rest of the group and you turned to Zuko and pulled him into his own hug, kissing the crook of his neck. “I'm so proud of you.” You whispered and looked at his bright yellow eyes with small tears of your own.

“I'm proud of you too.” He leaned down to you and gave you a small, but loving kiss on the lips before the two of you cuddled in each other’s arms, watching the clouds cover the moon.

~~~~~

atla masterlist --- pinned post

@tonberry-yoda

#i hope you enjoy it #i love this one its just so fluffy #writing #fanfic #my writing #fanfiction #<3 #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla x reader #avatar the last airbender x reader #zuko #zuko x reader #prince zuko

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 3 months

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Always find it funny that Katara wanted to obliterate Zuko 9/10 and did so on most occasions. Yet people still want to ship her with Zuko when the first gaang member to see past his anger was aang.

Aang was trying to befriend Zuko from the first season, and even after the betrayal in ba sing se, he got rlly comfortable with Zuko rlly quickly. Like Katara threatens to kill him, but aang is teasing him and doing funky dragon dances.

He's so quick to be pulling Zukos hand and practically hugging him in the sun warrior civilisation, but Katara hates his guts.

Again, even as someone who doesn't ship Zukaang, that ship makes WAY too much sense - Zutara wishes it had what these boys have.

(And I still like to imagine Azula making a drunk speech at Zuko's wedding or some other big day for him in which she just has to bring up "the time Zuzu had a romantic dance with the Avatar to appease two gay dragons")

#anti zutara #pro zukaang #zukaang

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balanceoflightanddark · 2 years

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On Whitewashing the Fire Nation

I've already talked about some of the problems with whitewashing various Fire Nation characters in my past posts. In particular with Ursa in regards to the comics, and how Azula got an unfair treatment compared to everyone else.

The thing is...Ursa was not an isolated incident. In fact, I would go so far to say that almost all of the Fire Nation characters (sans Azula of course), gets off easy in the narrative. At least in comparison to the victims of their campaigns of conquest during the Hundred Year War.

Now again, this was present in the original show. After all, the Earth Kingdom soldiers that went after Iroh were portrayed in a negative light while Jet and Hama were ultimately portrayed as antagonists for lashing out against the Fire Nation (ultimately in destructive ways but still). And again, this was mitigated by the Fire Nation being the ultimate bad guys and having needed to be taken down.

The problem comes along the moment when the Fire Nation become the good guys...and not a whole lot about their behavior changes.

I'm gonna be using images from the comics so...get those goggles on.

As mentioned before in various posts, the comics seem to take a belief that colonialism isn't inherently bad, and that progress supersedes tradition and whatnot. Case in point:

He says things are better in the colonies...despite seeing a citizen in Earth Kingdom garb shine the shoes of an old Fire Nation citizen.

Now there have been a lot of discourse and posts about the pro-colonialism on display in the comics so I'm not going to go into much depth there. What I am gonna go in depth though...is Zuko. I will admit I am not the biggest fan so feel free to take my opinions with a grain of salt.

I feel Zuko's character has regressed to his Book 1 self without the narrative actually calling him out on his bullcrap. Aside from his colonial attitudes, he does a lot of the same shit he did in the beginning: being hungry for the throne, hotheaded, picking fights, and overall just making things worse. Yet because he's now a "good guy", none of these actions are called out on.

Hell, in *North and South*, he shows up in this:

Yeah! That's not gonna cause problems for a people who got raided and brought to the edge of extinction!

Oh! And when somebody rightfully questions Zuko on why the hell he's even there and calls him an Ash-maker (an apt title since Zuko did raid Katara's village and ash became a feared substance following the raids)?

Zuko is able to get away with shit he pulled in Book 1 because he's on the "good side" now. And anyone who's against him is automatically treated as being a bad guy or at the very least in the wrong.

To be fair, it's not like Zuko can't regress. That is obvious. The problem comes when he's not called out on any of his shit. Which of course includes:

No I won't let him live that down. Ever.

Also let's talk about Azula for a minute.

In stark contrast, Azula's demonization often goes hand in hand with this whitewashing. Aside from Zuko of course, almost every character from the Fire Nation hates Azula's guts and think she's some kind of bogeyman out to get them. Since Azula is our designated villain here, that means that whoever hates her is automatically a good guy or at least treated better by the narrative.

There's just one little problem with that.

None of the characters who hate on Azula automically look better. In fact, I'd argue it makes them look even worse.

Take Mai and Ty Lee for example:

They just flat out admitted that they were fake friends to Azula. Even though she genuinely enjoyed their company in the series proper, otherwise their betrayal wouldn't have affected her so damn much.

Not to mention this is a piss poor attempt to garner sympathy since even if they didn't like Azula, they sure as hell didn't mind going along with her to cause trouble in the Earth Kingdom and conquer Ba Sing Se.

Hell, Mai was raring to go without much convincing:

As for Ty Lee...did you see her face when she was ambushing Katara?

Yeah, I call bullshit on their attempts to whitewash those two.

Then we get to Ukano. Ukano...you know this asshole:

The guy who canonically was in control of an occupied territory by the Fire Nation, the guy who canonically was responsible for Mai's terrible upbringing and made her feel like a doll, the same guy who wanted to put Ozai back on the throne...STILL GETS TREATED WITH MORE SYMPATHY THAN THE LITERAL CHILD SOLDIER!!!!!!!

...clears throat...

I'm sorry, but you cannot have Ukano pull all that shit and have him be sympathetic when he's against Azula.

And the same goes for the rest of the Fire Nation characters. Azula is a scapegoat to try and make them look better, but it fails since it seems like they're trying to dodge responsibility instead of improving themselves. And they STILL haven't changed meaningfully at all from the series proper. Meaning they still have that Fire Nation colonialist and imperialistic attitude yet somehow they're the good guys.

In the process of whitewashing and playing the blame game, the writers made the Fire Nation look holier-than-thou and thus utterly despicable. Like they never needed to change outside of having Zuko as a ruler. Sorry, but that's not how it works people. Especially since these guys are the ones in power while Azula is labelled a terrorist despite not pulling any of the crap mentioned above.

#atla comics critical #atla critical #smoke and shadow #the promise #north and south #the search #anti atla comics #azula #princess azula #azula deserved better

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bunthebreadboy · 2 days

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Azutara Ask Au/scenario could take place during book 2 or 3 or perhaps even a few years after the war.

So what if Azula and Katara are in a battle. While they’re fighting they get interrupted by an annoyed spirit. The displeased spirit with his rest disturbed, decides to curse Azula and Katara.

This curse did not remove either of their bending abilities. Instead the spirit switched them. Or rather forcefully gave Azula and Katara each other’s bending powers. Rendering Azula a Water bender, and Katara a Fire bender.

What happens from there? Do Azula and Katara continue to fight? Do they freak out? Do they decide to stay together and teach each other? How/when does a relationship form?

oh i love this. ok so in my head this happens in book two. in the catacombs maybe? after katara revives aang because i want him to survive and there’s no way azula as a freshly minted waterbender could do that.

anyways. both of them flip when they realize their bending switched. katara is a natural with firebending because she’s a super passionate person. azula can’t waterbend for shit.

they end up teaching each other basics because katara is like “ok i hate her but i can’t just leave her defenseless” (having a lapse in judgement and forgetting that azula can do hand-to-hand combat) and azula’s somewhat worried that angry katara would set her on fire if she refused to help.

canon stuff proceeds as normally but with random katara and azula fights thrown in there for “training”.

somehow (i haven’t decided how) azula shows up at the same time the combustion bender shows up and their bending goes back to normal. this is mostly because i refuse to not include a bloodbending arc for katara.

once again proceed with canon until the final agni kai. katara, being the prodigy she is, has figured out azula’s technique by experiencing it herself. she manages to take down azula quicker than in canon, but the azula reaction is the same (absolutely gut wrenching).

zuko does the asylum thing but katara is 100% against it and fully decides to break azula out (i’m thinking painted lady style since that episode wouldn’t happen in this au??) and they become travel buddies! azula still hates katara but also finds her attractive (although she’d never admit it) and they get along like a house on fire for awhile but we do get an azula redemption arc cause i said so!

i’d have to think about how that happens, but for a while the katara/azula dynamic is murder buddies without the murder (katara says no). so basically vigilante stuff. that’s legal because zuko and aang are too scared of katara to say no to her medically advised azula therapy program (azula in a rage room, basically).

but yeah it’s definitely super slow burn. katara falls first, azula falls harder type of beat. i don’t think they’d get together until they were at least 18, azula definitely wouldn’t be in the headspace for a healthy romantic relationship for years.

i am now considering writing this.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #azula #azutara #kazula

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onigiri-dorkk · 11 months

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Every time I see posts exploring Zutara’s dynamic it makes total sense why there seems to be a lot of overlap of Rivamika and Zutara shippers 😭 Like this is so Levi and Mikasa coded!

Idc if neither pair was canon or romantic, but this creates sweet sweet tension and growth. Levi knew Mikasa hated his guts in the beginning — she was very clear about how much she disliked and disrespected him, especially their first solo interaction in the forest against female Titan. Similarly, Zuko knows well enough that Katara hates his guts too for all the reasons. The key thing to both Levi and Zuko, though, is that neither men lash out at Katara/Mikasa for their ill feelings. They don’t call them delusional for holding things against them, or get frustrated that they haven’t forgiven them. Levi was in the literal position to confront or even punish Mikasa for her disrespect. Instead they let them feel what they feel, and they work hard at reversing it. Why? Because Zuko cared about what Katara thinks of him. And even though Levi never says it, he absolutely cares about what Mikasa thinks of him — quietly over time he does things to prove she can trust him and respect him as a captain and as a person (saves her life/injured himself for her, utilizing her in his new squadron, looking to her to fight alongside him, showing he trusts her to be by his side, considering her words with attentiveness, etc). Isayama’s graph said that Levi was especially concerned about Mikasa so it makes sense he cares about what she thinks of him.

The satisfaction between Zuko and Katara is that they got their solo moments to really hash it out and find full resolve, and this led to their final battle moments against Azula which was the ultimate statement of trust — saving each others lives even if it meant sacrifice (thankfully Zuko survived that lightning!)

I think that’s what we craved for Rivamika too. Their trust and bond is implied, but I wish we had scenes that blatantly shows us this. We needed Ackertalk! We needed that soooo bad!!! It would’ve been the equivalent of when Zuko and Katara hug and she tells him she forgives him/she trusts him fully, she welcomes him by her side fully now. Something like that would’ve made Levi and Mikasa’s final battle together against Eren even more impactful.

I remember tweeting about how important it was that in the final battle, Mikasa takes the lead and she orders Levi to aid her while she takes the final kill (a direct parallel to their first interaction when Levi orders Mikasa to aid him in taking down the female Titan). It shows their growth individually — Mikasa stepping up to take down Eren, choosing the safety of the world over her personal interest, and Levi stepping down to let Mikasa take the lead because he trusts her now; he doesn’t see her as a ‘gloomy bitch’ (lol) who impulsively acts on her feelings anymore. I discussed this and there were antis who said none of that is important, that Rivamika people are just delulu lmao

I say all of that because if, again, we just had that smaaaalll Ackertalk — that Zuko/Katara forgiveness episode!! — it would have made Levi and Mikasa’s interaction in the final chapters way more obvious to the fandom. Literally we still have antis saying Levi and Mikasa don’t even interact. HELLO?

Anyway wow LOL this is a huge tangent! We love Zuko/Katara for all the same reasons we love (and love the potential of) Levi and Mikasa 😭😭😭😭 ATLA/AOT fans, where ya at?!?!

#rivamika #levimika #levi x mikasa #mikasa x levi #levimikasa #zutara #Zuko x Katara #Katara x Zuko #AoT spoilers #spoilers

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ssreeder · 1 year

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Katara’s and Sokk’s confrontation made me so sad. Which I think was the point, so good job! Like I understand why Katara snooped, I probably would of done the same if I was her. She knows shit is up and wants to help, but in order to understand how fucked up everything is she ends up unintentionally hurting Sokka and it ends up in confrontation. (Which you know, sounds familiar, but what do I know?)

Sokka shouldn’t of called her a bitch though ): I understand being upset about it but he could’ve handled it a lot better. I know the trauma makes it hard but he needs therapy. I’m interested to see how he handles (or doesn’t handle) the fallout of his actions. Oh, and the reunion. I need to see the boys reconcile.

That being said, when you preemptively apologized at the beginning of the chapter I was starting to expect Sokka was going to get kidnapped by the Dai Li if he ended up straying too far in the library scene. I’m glad that it didn’t happen, but I’m still worried about the possibility.

(Also Katara’s dawning horror of Toph and Sokka getting along could be an entire different field of trouble if they didn’t made me smile)

(And Zuko’s backstories are so cute and made me smile. Love me some bursts of happiness in the middle of angst town.)

Hiiiiiii!

Ohhhhh boyyyyy… how Sokka handled his confrontation with katara was a semi-typical heated teenage sibling argument where the more passive sibling finally snaps but Sokka could have probably controlled the level or hurt he dished out to katara (they have always had a good bond & what he said to her was uncalled for)

The biggest reason I think he went right for such a gut punching word stems from his trauma, more specifically “female trauma” - he was hurt by a woman who betrayed him and created a lot of hurt and anger inside him. Sokka refers to her as ONE WORD (I’ll let you guess) & when Sokka lost his cool back at the SWT camp when he saw her he used that same word freely to display he anger and hate toward her. She was a trigger for his anger and when katara pushed him and triggered that same anger he was already so accustomed to using that word to attack it came out without him even realizing until it was too late.

He shouldn’t have said it, absolutely not, but it’s kind of his fault because he conditioned himself to attack that way…

OMG YEA SOKKA KIDNAPPED LETs gooooooo - but yeah I think people would riot if he got captured for like a 47th time haha. Because we all know if SOKKA gets captured SOMEONE… *cough* *COGUH* is going to rip through BSS to get him back. Idk if does sound fun haha. ;)

#ok yeah yeah siblings fight #name calling does happen #it’s just hard to see it between the water tribe siblings #they’ve always been so close #but this could also possibly open a door for them to become even closer #it’s always been kataras pain and sokkas being there for her #but now his pain is too big to hide so hopefully they can come together and bond over that shared pain #& katara can have the chance to be there for Sokka #idk am I making sense?#probably not #but also Zuko Sokka kidnapped 2023 LETSSSSSS GOOOOOOO #IM ALL ABOUT IT #LAKE LAOGAI 2.0 #hahaha thanks anon you’re the BEST #;)#<3 #liab #ITF #ask

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jeremy-ken-anderson · 2 years

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Been Dead Twist

I really want to see an animated series pull off The Sixth Sense’s twist.

Like.

Imagine a show like Avatar. But instead of the wielder of all elements, it’s still a spirit-communicator but from more of a necromantic direction.

And then imagine if Toph never really acknowledged Sokka. And Sokka helped the group in his own bumbling way, but by sheer chance only made physical contact with spirit entities or magic fields. Maybe there’s a witch who sees him and says he has to wait outside while she advises the others.

And then, book THREE, Zuko joins the party and at some point asks who Katara and Aang are talking to and Toph is like, “Katara’s dead brother” totally deadpan. And Aang grins uncomfortably and through gritted teeth says, “Toph, he doesn’t know he’s deaaad...”

And Sokka’s like, “What? Yes I did!”

And Katara’s like, “Well I DIDN’T! When were you going to tell me?”

And you go back and rewatch and all those scenes with Sokka comically dodging around people who would otherwise just walk into him, the respect and kind advice the blind old prophet has for him, his frustration with his sister including him in her plans for the future, everything hits so different.

Obviously not actually with Avatar. But you get the idea. I think the comic relief, the Sokka, would be the optimal target for this because a) it’s such a big gut-punch when bad things happen to the comic relief but also b) there isn’t the same expectation that they’ll be truly impactful or effective, so the character not achieving huge things in combat wouldn’t be as suspicious. And he’d be an actual ghost, not a hallucination, so he actually could still do the roles of planning and investigation.

The person haunted could also have a habit of saying “You’ll live” when the ghost complains, and they reply with “I hate when you say that” and you think you know why - because it’s dismissive of their complaint - but NOPE it’s because they’re dead!

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koiotic · 3 years

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Fuck it, posting the glass eye fic I’ve been sitting on for a few months

•••

Katara didn’t trust Zuko as far as she could throw him, and based on past experiences, she couldn’t throw him very far without waterbending. Not that she’d hesitate to waterbend at him if he tried anything- and at this point, she was just waiting for him to slip up.

Which was why she was immediately ready to water whip him off the side of the temple when she heard Sokka’s terrified shriek. Okay, so maybe she didn’t exactly have proof he’d done anything, or even that he was anywhere near Sokka, but she ran towards the noise, water pouch at the ready, planning the best way to toss him out a window anyway-

And it was Zuko! She let herself have the vindication for a moment. Just a moment. Then asked “Sokka, what did you do?”

Look, she hated Zuko’s guts, but he didn’t look like he was actively hurting anyone right now, staring at Sokka in shock and clutching his face (the scarred side, she noted).

For good measure, she repeated the question at Zuko, because Sokka had screamed and he didn’t usually do that for no reason.

“I was just getting dressed!” Zuko protested, halfway between confused and afraid. “And he just came in and started screaming!”

Sokka made a strangled noise and gestured emphatically at Zuko, which cleared up absolutely nothing. “He- he- his- I-“

“Sokka!” She snapped. “What happened?”

Zuko lowered his hand a little and Sokka let out another half yelp. The firebender glared, then winced a little, still not uncovering his face.

“Wait, Sokka, did you hit him?”

Katara was a responsible person, who disapproved of hitting people on principle. She was not frowning at Sokka because she was jealous.

“No!” Sokka managed to get out. “Zuko- he- his eye fell out!”

Oh.

“Sokka...” she sighed. “Are you high again?”

“Wait-“ Zuko cut in, looking a little less confused (Katara would be angry with him for interrupting later, when she was less desperately perplexed). “You were freaking out because I took my eye out?”

“You... you what?” Katara was now matching Sokka’s confused horror. “You took your what out?”

Zuko lowered his hands, and yep, one eye. One eye and one not-eye, because Zuko only had one eye, and an empty eye socket, because what in Tui’s name was-

“What the fuck-“ She wasn’t sure if that was her or Sokka.

One - one - creepy gold eye blinked at them. “It’s a glass eye,” Zuko said slowly. “I kinda have to take it out sometimes.”

That explained everything and nothing at all. “It’s a what?” Sokka demanded.

“Glass eye,” Zuko said, then waved something small and eye-shaped in their general direction. He looked slightly more annoyed than usual, and then it struck Katara that someone screaming when they saw your face probably didn’t do wonders for self-esteem. “An eye. Made of glass.”

Sokka looked outright terrified. “But... how did your eye turn into glass? That happens? Do I have to worry about that?”

Katara did not slam her head into the wall, showing incredible self restraint. “Sokka, you idiot!” she groaned.

He grabbed her by the shoulders, eyes wide. “Katara, why didn’t you tell me this could happen?!”

As a healer, she had a duty to tell him he was being an absolute idiot and that it was clearly a prosthetic.

As a little sister, she had a duty to fuck with him, and that was a far more sacred duty.

“I’m sorry, Sokka,” she managed to sigh. “I didn’t want you to worry, with all the stuff you do that- no, don’t worry. It’s not so bad.”

“What?” His voice was strangled in fear. “Katara, what? Katara what am I doing?! How do I stop it?! Katara?!”

She’d almost forgotten about Zuko until he very sadly said “why do you think Aang doesn’t eat meat? The Avatar needs two eyes, and if one falls out, it could cause problems.”

She did not like Zuko at all, but right then, she loved him.

Ten minutes later, Sokka had sworn off meat, and then the other contributing factors to eyes spontaneously turning into glass and falling out: sarcasm, boomerangs and being an annoying big brother.

“He knows we’re joking, right?” Zuko asked cautiously after Sokka sprinted out to apologise to the spirits for making fun of waterbending.

“Eh, he’ll figure it out.”

———

“So,” Toph said as they settled down for dinner - with Sokka being late for a meal for the first time in his life, “why is Snoozles throwing seal jerky into the canyon?”

“I have a glass eye,” Zuko explained.

The earthbender nodded sagely. “Yeah, makes sense.”

Aang was slowly looking between the three of them like it would make any of this any more sensical. “Uh... what?”

“Long story,” Katara sighed.

Her brother strode up to the campfire with his usual level of theatre, then remembered that being dramatic was also a risk factor and very calmly and slowly sat down. “I think I’m safe.”

“What about your hair?” Zuko asked, completely blank faced.

“... please tell me this isn’t why you had the bald ponytail.”

“You think I did that willingly? No, I needed at least one eye working.”

Sokka sprinted into the temple.

“You’re not actually going to let him shave his hair, are you?” Zuko asked, looking mildly concerned.

Okay, this was perfect and Katara would remember it lovingly for the rest of her life, but even her natural little sister sadism wouldn’t stretch that far. “Toph, please bring him back here.”

———

“Toph, let me out of the rock! I need my eyes!”

———

“Wait... what?”

———

“What do you mean it’s not a medical condition?!”

———

“What do you mean it’s a prosthetic!?!”

———

“YOU LET ME THROW THE SEAL JERKY AWAY!”

———

“Okay,” Sokka said calmly, two hours and a lot of yelling later. “That was a very cruel prank and I’m never forgiving any of you.”

“Shut up, Snoozles,” Toph scoffed.“There are more important things than your dignity. For example,” she turned to Zuko with a huge grin, “can I touch it?”

“It’s been in his head!” Sokka screeched. Apparently the dramatics were back on. “It has head goo on it!”

Katara frowned. “Sokka, how do you think bodies work?”

“Please?” Toph begged, giving very impressive polar-puppy-dog eyes for someone who couldn’t see. “No one ever lets me touch their real eyes.”

“Because you’re a menace,” Katara scoffed.

“Please, Sparky?”

“Ugh, fine,” Zuko sighed. “Give me a second.”

It occurred to everyone a moment too late that, oh yeah, if anyone was going to spontaneously invent glassbending, it would be Toph.

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dragynkeep · 2 years

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I've seen fics of Katara refusing to heal a life threatening injury for Zuko, scratching his face with waterbending and attacking him and randomly accusing him of hurting Aang and saying he deserves his scar and I think they've forgotten that Katara has offered to heal Zuko's scar even when they were enemies, offered to heal Iroh even though he helped Zuko track them down and tried to save Jet and undid his brainwashing even though she hated his guts.

i have no idea what's up with people painting katara as wholly more vindictive than she has ever been but it's rank. this is the same girl who took on the role of a minor deity to heal a sick village in the nation that attacked her home, katara tried to the bitter end to redeem hama until she had no choice but to fight back, katara doesn't even try to be lethal until she has no other option. one of the most defining traits about katara is her sense of justice & her heart.

even after trying to kill her & near fatally wounding zuko; katara still looked on at azula in pity & compassion. azula, who nearly killed aang & took away katara's one hope of her home ever being the way it was. who hunted her & her friends for days on end. if katara can do that for azula, who's shown not even a lick of remorse or regret for all the pain she's inflicted; why would she withhold that from zuko who made all the right steps in righting his wrongs when in canon she was willing to give that compassion before he'd even fully left the grip of the firenation.

people are mad dumb over stuff like this because they hate katara's compassion when it's given to the wrong person; i.e the person she has the deepest bond with on the show.

#atla #zuko #katara #zutara #ais.txt #answered #q

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azenkii · 4 years

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A Long List of Trash Fire Lord Zuko Headcanons

...that i couldn't get out of my head:

(warning: SUPER LONG POST i havent figured out how to trim posts yet)

he's the one who unchains azula despite iroh's protests. she doesn't even try to fight him, just cries into his shoulder and keeps mumbling about how father's going to be so disappointed in her. he takes her to her rooms and has her drink a sleeping draught, then stations the best guards he has left outside her chambers.

his first council meeting takes place literally a day after sozin's comet. he hobbles into the council chamber shirtless with his entire torso covered in bandages and every council member just looks at him like '...what'

he does NOT sleep for like,,a week after sozin's comet and then another two weeks after his coronation. katara, aang and suki try to persuade him to sleep and he doesn't listen. eventually sokka, toph and mai team up to literally drag his ass to bed and tell him he's not allowed to get up until he sleeps (does mai pin him to the bed with her knives? yes. is it kinky or sexual in any way? definitely not.)

he drinks So. Much. Tea. at this point it's practically tasteless to him but he drinks it anyway because he just needs something to do and tea is something familiar. he keeps iroh on his toes because he's constantly asking for new tea blends, uncle, i think i actually tasted the last one,

he flat-out refuses to grow his hair for at least a year after ozai's defeat. the second it starts getting close to his chin he shears it off himself, with his knife, and his stylist has a heart attack every single time

when he's tired he'll occasionally jump up when one of his guards moves. it stops after a bit, but for the first month and a half or so he's really twitchy. when sokka asks, the only explanation he can come up with is that he's not used to having people stand behind him silently and not want to kill him, much less want to protect him (sokka immediately takes him out for a shopping trip and makes a point of walking behind him the entire time, but only on zuko's right side, where he can clearly see it if sokka moves towards him)

when the healer declares azula mentally unstable and in need of an institution, he shuts himself in his office for the rest of the night. no one's allowed in, not even iroh. he finally emerges in the morning, eyes red from crying and sleep deprivation, and tells the librarian that he'd like a list of the best mental institutions in the country, please, the best in the world if you can get them

he loves theatre (is this even a headcanon?). unfortunately it practically died out in the fire nation along with the rest of the creative arts, leaving nothing but small troupes like the ember island players. one of zuko's personal goals (meaning things he wants to accomplish that aren't as important as restoring his country) is to bring back theatre; he finally manages to do it after about eight months or so of being fire lord, along with other arts like dancing, music and sculpture

he establishes a national day of mourning, on the first day of autumn every year, to commemorate the genocide of the air nomads. from 100AG onwards, every calendar printed in the fire nation has it marked. at first it was called the day of repentance, but aang persuaded him to have it changed (by arguing that he didn't want guilt to be a literal staple of fire nation culture)

he introduces literally So Many educational reforms, plus a mandatory class that teaches students about the cultures of the other nations (air nomads included) and how some of their traditions overlap

he turns down the offer of having a statue put up of him in the capital. toph ignores him and does it anyway.

he visits azula regularly, makes sure she's (relatively) comfortable and well-fed, and sometimes just sits down outside her door and tells her about everything that's going on right now ('some of the far colonies have developed their own standardised writing, azula, you wouldn't believe it, and i've asked the fire sages to come visit more often—but you never liked them, did you? oh, well; i'll make sure none of them go into your chambers by mistake')

(he doesn't know it, but when he does this azula sits by the door and listens. she wonders what kind of writing the colonists have developed, and whether or not the fire sages have taken on some new recruits.)

he hates being above anyone else. never sits in the throne if he can help it, nor does he sit on the dais in the council room. when he talks to people shorter than him, he finds himself stooping a little bit to talk to them on their level (the exception to this rule is sokka, who he mocks for being shorter all the way up until sokka grows taller than him, the bastard)

the first time he visits the earth kingdom, the earth king's ministers call a toast. he ends up being the only one who has to sit out, because he's too young to drink by earth kingdom law

once his servants figure out he won't kill them for talking to him, they start becoming a lot more bold, telling him off when he doesn't take care of himself. at one point, they force him to let them take care of him so much that he literally just bolts into the gardens and hides there until the staff rope in mai and ty lee

when he needs to escape, he does one of two things: (a) he dresses up as the blue spirit and does some parkour until he calms down, or (b) he goes to work at the jasmine dragon. (b) happens less often bc the jasmine dragon's in ba sing se, but there's been a few memorable incidents when an earth kingdom diplomat walks in and yells, 'LEE?!' when they see the fire lord

the first court artist who draws him also happens to be the one who drew azulon and ozai. he draws zuko without his scar. zuko takes one look at it and tells him, very calmly, that he'd like him to leave, please.

zuko burns the portrait. he doesn't fire the court artist, but he never calls on him again unless he has to. a second court artist is called, and can't help but be a bit confused when the fire lord tells him to be sure to include the scar

he forgets the crown. a lot. sometimes he walks into council meetings in his sleepwear with his hair tied up in a messy ponytail and a bunch of scrolls tucked under his arm. none of his councilmen have the guts (or the heart) to tell him that this is not, in fact, formal council wear

he goes to feed the turtleducks when he's stressed. he thinks he's being subtle. he's not. the entire palace knows, and they consciously give him space when they see him in the turtleduck garden

most of his staff are older than him, so they look at him and see this teeny tiny fire lord who is So Small and who Must Be Protected. the day after zuko's coronation, the head chef holds a meeting where they commence Operation Do-Not-Let-That-Boy-Turn-Out-Like-His-Father (subsection He's-The-Only-Good-Thing-We-Have)

one night he wakes up to find suki sitting in his room, decked out in full kyoshi warrior garb and makeup, and just about screams blue murder. suki tells him there are suspicions of an assassin in the palace, and would you please stop yelling it's very distracting, we won't be able to hear anyone coming over that racket

zuko gets very, very paranoid of random spirits after that. yeah, suki looks like a possibly malevolent spirit when she's wearing her makeup, what about it? (when he tells sokka he's highkey terrified of spirit shenanigans, sokka just looks at him and says, 'man, the stories i could tell...', and THAT'S when zuko remembers sokka spent like six months more than he did travelling with the avatar)

on his first visit to the southern water tribe, he removes his boots and leg guards, rolls up his pants and kneels barefoot in the snow. even though chief hakoda immediately starts trying to pull him up, he's stubborn as hell and stays kneeling for the entirety of his very long, very sincere apology-on-behalf-of-the-fire-nation speech. he nearly loses his toes to frostbite after that, and both sokka and katara never stop giving him shit for it

the first time he grows a 'beard' is completely accidental. he's stressed over some trade miscommunications with chief hakoda, hasn't slept in a few days...and then when sokka arrives as water tribe ambassador to help smooth things over, he takes one look at zuko and says 'man, facial hair does not suit you'

zuko: facial what now

he checks a mirror to find that he's got stubble covering his chin, dark enough that it almost looks intentional, and holy gods how the fuck did he not notice this before

'UNCLE WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME' 'i assumed you were doing it on purpose' 'WHEN HAVE I EVER DONE ANYTHING ON PURPOSE'

he shaves it all off immediately, of course, which prompts a lot of teasing and rib-poking from sokka until zuko finally snaps that he's scared it'll make him look like his father. sokka stops after that.

(the day after sokka leaves, zuko finds that a mysterious someone has scribbled all over ozai's royal portrait, giving him a frankly ridiculous beard and moustache that literally CANNOT be grown in real life. oddly enough, he can't bring himself to care about the defamation of royal property. he's too busy laughing.)

his paths cross with toph and sokka more than any of the others, because sokka is ambassador and toph is technically still a beifong. most of the time, at formal functions, he ends up sequestered in the corner with toph and a hoard of snacks, and they talk and swear much more than they usually do (zuko's ministers once heard him when he was drunk with toph, and the servants swear the older ministers' ears started bleeding)

he restores fire nation cultural festivals, and in doing so subjects himself to learning a lot of complicated dances

during one memorable week, he wrote so many letters and drafted so much legislation that he ran out of paper. he had to go visit the nearest school and ask for some

he keeps up with his firebending and sword training even though it's hard to fit into his schedule. his ministers refrain from reminding him that he has guards to protect him now; it's still hard for zuko to trust his safety with anyone but himself (team avatar is the exception).

he started sleepwalking about two months into his reign. no one knew why. one time, he nearly sleepwalked right off the edge of a balcony, and one of his guards had to grab him by the back of his robes.

the sleepwalking stopped after around a month and never happened again. at this point it's practically palace legend.

after freeing the war prisoners, he went around collecting every single earthbender-proof wooden cell he could find in the capital and surrounding areas. when he'd gotten most of them, he gathered them into a huge pile in the city square and set fire to them with his own hands.

unfortunately he couldn't do that with the waterbender metal cells but he did get toph to come in and bend them all into pretty shapes (well, toph thought they were pretty shapes. everyone else thinks they're meaningless squiggles)

he learned how to write with both hands at the same time out of sheer necessity (he refused scribes until it became clear that he'd be putting some people out of a job; that was when he started letting scribes write very, very minor things, but all important documents/drafts/letters are still written by him)

he once put the wet end of an ink brush in his mouth instead of the wooden end by mistake. didn't even realise until he bit down to keep it in place and ink went oozing everywhere

when his guards rushed in to find him coughing and spluttering black liquid all over his desk they thought he'd been poisoned but no he's just stupid

on his 17th birthday, his first one after being crowned, he got tackled by team avatar in the middle of the ballroom and ended up at the bottom of a cuddlepile for like ten minutes

this cuddlepile happened at an event that was very much public and very much formal. it was a scandal for weeks

just. fire lord zuko, guys. so much potential

#holy cow this ended up so much longer than i intended #atla #avatar #zuko #firelord zuko #headcanons

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picnicbitchsokka · 2 years

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this may be over analyzing and idc but look at this first

zuko and katara & flynn rider and maximus have the same dynamic. i’ll get to who is who…later

ok listen

first, both friendships start out hating each other’s guts. which is…….valid. they have good reasons

in atla, when zuko first joins the gaang, katara still doesn’t trust him and hates him, but she has to put up with it until he proves he’s not necessarily “bad” anymore

similar thing happens for flynn and maximus. once maximus finds flynn to arrest him, rapunzel makes an offer

she asks maximus not to arrest flynn for 24 hours until she gets to see the lanterns on her birthday, then after that, they can do whatever they want to each other.

similar way that katara basically threatens zuko saying if you mess up even once, i’ll end you myself (which she’s perfectly capable of)

going back to tangled, maximus isn’t on board right away bc he has to work with flynn, JUST like katara was when zuko asked to join to gaang

see where i’m going with this? hope so.

anyway, this is where it differs, but still play similar roles so bare with me here

after boiling rock, zuko has come closer with aang, sokka, and suki, but he still hasn’t made any progress with toph and katara. based on this post, he doesn’t even knows katara’s name after “the southern raiders” episode. he only knows her by “sokka’s sister”.

zuko had to prove himself to katara that he’s truly a good person and he helped her overcome and officially have closure with her moms death which is an important factor in katara’s character development

so at the end of “the southern raiders” katara is able to forgive zuko for his past actions

in tangled, maximus doesn’t technically forgive flynn

maximus cares a lot about rapunzel and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her and when he sees flynn trying to protect her as well, he starts acting nicer to him realizing they both have the same goal. to help and protect rapunzel.

AND and, in atla, katara and zuko have the same goals. to take down the fire lord and to help and protect aang.

but what’s different about how the friendships came to be friendships is that flynn and maximus slowly and naturally developed into a frenemies type of friendship

katara just forgave zuko and they’re friendship just grew from there

both flynn and zuko have a past of doing bad things

both maximus and katara are willing to forgive and offer second chances

this part is based on a popular hc so i’m gonna incorporate it into this

in conclusion, both friendships make fun of each other platonically

both friendships went from “i hate you” (derogatory) to “i hate you” (affectionate)

both friendships are enemies to friends

these are one of my favorite friendship dynamics in entertainment because it’s just so comedic and can get so creative

i think you’ve already connected to dots but

katara’s maximus and zuko’s flynn.

#this took two days…#this is useless but i love it #this is NOT a ship post my god #atla #tangeld #zuko #katara #flynn rider #maximus tangeld #eugene tangled

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serafilms · 3 years

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FEELINGS

song #1 – feelings by lauv (lyrics, song)

“I wanna do whatever you wanna do. If you wanted to, girl, we could cross that line.”

↳ PAIRING – zuko x reader

↳ GENRE – drabble; fluff; f2l

↳ WARNINGS – none

requested by anon – “Hello there, would you hate me if I ask for song request #1 for Zuko x reader? Thank you for writing such awesome pieces of art ☺️”

You didn’t know what to do. Even your pleas to the gods for help had gone unanswered. You could picture the spirits just laughing at you now.

All you were left with was Katara and Toph for advice, and they weren’t exactly the best at it.

Katara was a hopeless romantic with no realistic approach to relationships (“Oh! Take him on an ostrich horse drawn carriage ride, with flower petals strewn along the path! And then take him to a lake under the stars with a candlelit picnic and kiss him!” “Katara, we’re literally camping in a cave right now.”).

And Toph had no experience with relationships whatsover, and had also made it very clear that she didn’t care (“Punch him in the gut and he’s yours.” “Um, Toph, I don’t think that’s how it works.” “Oh, then I don’t know, you figure it out.”).

“A TURTLE DUCK!” You heard Aang exclaim from the other side of camp. You turned and watched as Zuko clamped a hand over the young Avatar’s mouth and his face flushed red.

Zuko didn’t know what to do. Aang was a 12 year old boy who had a hopeless crush on a girl and couldn’t even do anything about it, and Sokka’s girlfriend was more man than him in their relationship. And neither of them gave him good advice.

Sokka had insisted that he should play the hero and win you over with his “manly charms and badass fighting skills,” which was apparently how he’d won over Suki (though from Suki’s tellings of the story, he guessed it was the other way around). Aang, ever the animal lover, suggested that Zuko bring you an animal for a pet (“Because nothing represents love better than animals!”).

Somehow, Zuko didn’t think either of those would work on you. At least, they didn’t seem like the right ways to tell you how he felt. He knew how you felt about relationships. They scared you, and from past experiences of yourself and others, you had always concluded that love only resulted in broken endings. A big, suffocating gesture was not the way to tell you he loved you.

And yet despite all your preaching of love being a lie, sometimes it almost seemed as if you’d changed your mind about it. Zuko had no idea whether it was just his mind playing tricks on him, or actually the way it was, but he saw love in the small smiles you sent him when the gaang’s laughter started to die down, the way you slept closer to him on colder nights and helped him pack up camp in the morning. He felt it in the way your gaze fixed on him when he and Aang trained and the way you had hugged him after he’d helped to save your lives.

He wanted to change your mind about love. And sometimes it was easy to convince himself that he was.

“Zuko?”

His neck whipped around as he turned to face you. “Hey! Y/N! Uh, what’s up?”

Your smile was nervous, an expression that you hadn’t worn around him since he first joined the gaang.

“Um, nothing really. I just…” you took in a deep breath. “Can I talk to you about something?”

He nodded immediately, concern creeping into his stomach. “Of course! Is everything okay?”

“No, yeah, everything’s fine!” You shook your head reassuringly before muttering, “More or less.”

Zuko snuck a glance at you, before nodding his head in the direction of the river near where you’d been camping. “Shall we?”

A smile graced your face as you nodded and the two of you fell in step with each other.

You seated yourselves side by side on the grassy banks of the river, listening to the rushing water in silence.

“So–” “Um–”

Flustered, he gestured for you to speak first.

You took in a deep breath. “Okay, so, I’ve asked for a lot of help with this, but Toph and Katara are nothing but unhelpful, so I think I’m just going to wing this one.”

Zuko watched you as you fiddled with your fingers, eyes cast downwards.

“So we’ve known each other a while now, and I’d say we’re pretty good friends, and uh, I hope you think so too otherwise this is just totally embarrassing. But lately I’ve been feeling like maybe friends just isn’t what I want anymore? Oh god, I don’t even know how to say this. Like, there’s a line there and a part of me wants to cross it, but I don’t know if you do, and, oh my god.”

You stopped to take a few more calming breaths when Zuko, who’d been examining you carefully, finally spoke up.

“I want to cross that line with you.” He took your stunned silence as an invitation to continue, looking down at the water below. “I know you’ve always said that love only knows broken ends, and feelings are too hard, but I want to change your mind if you’ll give me a chance to.”

Still, you said nothing and Zuko was afraid he’d misread your feelings, misread the situation until he glanced up and saw your smile as you whispered.

“Kiss me.”

Zuko had wanted to change your mind. And it seemed he had.

#zuko x reader #zuko imagines #atla #avatar #avatar imagines #atla imagines #atla x reader #avatar x reader #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender imagines #zuko #sokka #aang #katara #toph #toph beifong

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 7 months

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idk if zuko is a peoples pleaser or he just felt untitled to katara’s forgiveness but he does say “she hates me and i don’t know why, BUT I DO CARE WHAT SHE THINKS OF ME “ and before that he does safe katara from crushing rocks 🪨 and katara lends her hand when he is falling and appa caches him, i think zuko genuinely start to care about katara and sees her as an ally or friend and the southern raiders quest wasn’t JUST for Zuko’s selfish reasons, a part of it was, sure, but not the whole reason, Zuko’s cares about kataraa or at least cares what she thinks of him, we all that saying doesn’t he is in love with her or at the end he ends loving her in a romantic way lol nothing about what happened in canon or the way the writers wrote was about falling in love hahahah

There's a difference between "I care that this person I'm trying to befriend thinks I'm absolute scum" and "I am recognizing my mistakes and want to be better."

Zuko full on made up some bullshit theory of Katara directing her anger towards her mom's killer onto him instead of recognizing the simple fact that Katara was still pissed at him for the events of Ba Sing Se - in which they talked about her MOM, hence her bringing Kya up again.

This is the complete opposite of what zutarians claim Zuko did - they claim he wanted to be better for Katara, not just in the sense of being inspired by her into becoming a better person but in wanting someone worthy of dating her. Meanwhile he is REAPEATEDLY told why she hates his guts, and goes "This cannot possibly be my fault. She's projecting her issues onto me. If I help her fix her trauma, she'll HAVE to be chill with me being part of the group."

And him saving her doesn't change that - they're on the same side, on the same team. OF COURSE he's going to save her. Doesn't mean they have some deep bond.

I believe Zuko WANTED them to be genuine friends, hence him saying he cared that she thought he was a terrible person, but the way he went about it was COMPLETELY wrong and selfish.

It just so happened that, in true Zuko fashion, following the wrong path eventually led to him doing the right thing - aka actually listening to Katara, understanding her grief, realizing that VIOLENCE WASN'T GONNA FIX HER TRAUMA, and finally, looking genuinely surprised when she decided to forgive him, because, by that point in the episode, he was no longer demanding her friendship and forgiveness because he felt entitled to it, but was instead started actually showing genuine empathy towards Katara and her family. And the key thing is HE HAD NOT EVEN REALIZED IT UNTIL THE END OF THE EPISODE, aka it wasn't a case of Zuko making an effort for Katara.

Not to mention: That was ONE episode. Just one. One single instance of Zuko allegedly wanting to be better "for Katara" (which as I've already explained, it's bullshit). Meanwhile we have three seasons of his character arc having NOTHING TO DO WITH HER because, surprise surprise, Katara was not important to Zuko at all for 95% of the show, including during a good chunk of his "good guy" days. She is completely irrelevant to Zuko's redemption, no matter how many shippers insist otherwise.

#anti zutara

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zutaraplatter · 3 years

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Avatar: The Last Airbender Critique

There are already a million of posts like this one, and I might be saying things that’ve already been said a million times but I’ve recently become reheated about the ATLA ending and wanted to let it out -_- No one asked, this is true, and this may or may not be a way to stall from this final project I still have to complete, but here’s 10 things I didn't like and/or would change about the show that likely shouldn’t need changing because they should have been done in the first place.

1. Katara should have apologized to Sokka after TSR

It should have happened and it didn't. In my canon-avoiding mind, Katara and Sokka have a heartfelt conversation where she apologizes for the awful things she said, Sokka says he forgives her and he's sorry if he wasn't as there for her as much as he should have been, which he follows up with "but I'm happy you listened to Aang and took his advice," leading into my next point

2. Katara should have said that not killing Yon Rha was her choice

And thats why it was the right one. Not because Aang already said it was wrong. No no. It was the right choice because that's what she chose. I love my mom to death and can't imagine losing her in any way, let alone the way Katara did. And I can't say for sure that if I was in her shoes that I know what I would have done f that yes I do I would have killed that motherfucker. But I also know that if Katara decided not to kill him, then that was one of two correct choices because they were Katara's choices to make. Not Aang's or anyone else's and this should have been clarified. I know it's a kids show but I said what I said. Next point.

3. Katara should have said more after telling Aang she was unsure at the Ember Island Players

Katara hasn't had any trouble saying how she feels, especially when it comes to helping others and making them feel better, whether she was right or wrong. But she holds back or overly softens blows and seems to even shrivel up at times when it comes to Aang. And me no likey. I had a boyfriend who I adored and admired and just genuinely looked up to. I'm also a shy and anxious person who hates confrontation, but because I loved him, I never refrained from telling him when he was wrong. I might have been a little shaky about it but I did it tho because when you want to be with someone you walk through the grass and stomp through the mud. And I personally feel like either in that moment or later on in an added scene that Katara should have voiced to Aang how unheard and disrespected she felt about his words before TSR and his actions on the balcony. I hate being uncomfortable and my secondhand embarrassment is toxic but I would love to see a scene of this. I always imagined Katara saying stuff like "But I'm not you Aang, and I'm not an Air Nomad," or "Zuko could understand why I needed to go, and I'd hoped you would too," or...I'm out of ideas but you get the idea. And you know what, I know I'm a hard Zutara shipper, but them having this conversation would honestly make me respect their relationship a whole lot more should it be believably written to end on a good note (I don't see how it could be but hey I'm an open minded person and I did think they were cute together once upon a time). Basically, all I'm saying is that Katara is no small voice and she should have been written that way when with Aang. Boyfriends can make you shy but should never make you weak. Period. Next point.

4. No rock! ONLY GROWTH!!!!!!!!!!!

I still squint my eyes whenever I remember that rock that unblocked Aang's chakra. What even was that? The laziest writing possible in my opinion. That's what. And Aang deserved better. What should have happened should have been that Aang started to lose to Ozai. And then as Ozai's about to deliver the finishing blow, Aang has flashbacks of everyone he's trying to save and honor, ending with a very prominent flashback of Katara with the guru's disembodied voice reminding Aang to let go of his attachments to become all he needs to be...then BOOM! Baby boy is back on his feet, chakra unblocked, he kicks Ozai's ass, I'm crying hysterically on the floor, as are the rest of us, and he wins. Then at the end of the series, instead of a kiss, he gives Katara an apology. She accepts, everyone else comes to join them on the balcony, cinematic group hug, camera pan into the sun. I don't know lol. Basically what I'm saying is that Aang did not deserve some deus ex machina. He deserved to grow and become his best self like everyone else got to.

5. Aang should have heard differently in The Storm

Katara is a very fate-minded person and this is when I saw potential for her to become a toxic character in regards to Aang. When he admits that he ran away from home 100 years ago, Katara tells him that that was basically a good thing because he was meant to be here and now. Like...no? What Aang did, though understandable for someone so young, was still wrong. Yes he would have maybe been killed but I'm like 10000000% sure they had a plan to protect and evacuate the literal avatar. And what was technically "meant to be" was a new avatar. But hey, what's done is done and kicking Aang while he's down is a no-no in this household. But that doesn't change the fact that Aang needed and deserved honesty. Maybe the fisherman could have said this, I don't know, but I feel like Aang should have been told by someone that although running away was wrong, it's a blessing he and Appa were able to survive and be able to help save the world now with his amazing friends found-family. Maybe this is too harsh, and maybe even outright wrong, but I felt like Aang deserved a truer answer here to support and comfort him.

6. MAILEE!!!!

Do I even need to go into detail?

7. Spiritual sigh*

Don't make me go into detail -_- I will say though that although Aang and Katara are both amazing individuals capable of earth shattering things, they were not a healthy fit for one another. This is evident in the original series and especially in their children from LOK. They both deserved the best but better than one another.

8. ZUTARAAAAAAA

This is a Zutara blog you KNEW this was coming, as it should. There's just too much. There's too damn much. I would give a real paragraph to this too, but, I mean, there's already so much proving that this was the pair. Fics, metas, rants, this site. Scroll through my blog or any of the ATLA related blogs I follow and...dude. These two were meant to be together and I'll mourn the narrative brilliance WASTED for no good reason every day for the rest of my life. No reason these two shouldn't be married with three kids. sob. I will take this part to say thank you to the amazing fic writers that gave Katara, Zuko, Mai, and Aang what they deserved that the writers didn't have the guts to give them themselves. Next point tho.

9. AANG AND ONJI

Good God almighty. Why not this? WHY NOT THIS? I'm putting on my bullet proof vest and I'm going to say this; Aanji is cuter than Zutara. Now before you scorn me or whatever, let me explain. Zutara for me is like steak. No. Chicken parmesan. I like chicken parmesan better. The point though is that Zutara is savory. You know? I don't see them as cute, I see them as Obviously. Aanji on the other hand is like a bag of my favorite candy. They are like a brownie. A cookie. Girl Scout Samoas!...I don't know what words are anymore. This post got way out of hand. I guess what I'm saying is that for Zutara, I scream, but for Aanji, I squeal. I hope that makes sense. But here's the main point I want to make. Onji never knew who Aang really was. And Aang was always, at his core, himself. She very obviously had a crush on Aang for his personality and that was crazy cute and frankly preferable to Katara's "I...guess he is." (you know exactly what I'm talking about) Anyway, I kept wanting more of them together. I wish all the time that we'd gotten to see her again, with a more fleshed out character and all. And in the way that I imagine the show should have gone, she could have been the perfect love interest for Aang, during this episode or way later, even in the comics! Another WASTED opportunity for greatness and I will, again, never recover T-T

10. Iroh get your ass back here

Maybe this is a misguided critique but I hated that Iroh just left Zuko alone in the fire nation at the end of the series. Baby was in trouble in every sense of the word and Iroh was just like "See ya! You got this nephew." I'm expected to believe that? I'm expected to accept that? No no no. He should have at least stayed for a few years to help Zuko stay upright and, you know, alive. And by "upright" I don't mean "good." I just mean been there to support him because Lord knows he needed it, at least in the beginning of his reign. It was cute that Iroh was able to settle down with his own teashop after all those years of violence and mourning and running and this and that. I was more than happy for him for being able to have that peace finally. But I still think it could have waited a little while longer so he could support Zuko.

That's it I guess. I know not everything I've said makes the most sense in one way or another, but I enjoyed putting it together all the same. Thank you for reading and have a great day. I'll go finish my final now.

(Edited for a typo)

#zutara #katara #aang #aanji #avatar the last airbender #uncle iroh #onji #on ji #Im wasting more time with these tags #avatar the last airbender critique #avatar critique #mai #avatar mai #ty lee #avatar ty lee #tylee #avatar tylee #the southern raiders

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