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chitsangenthusiast · 3 years

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ive always seen a zuko oh moment, but can you give me some examples of sokkas oh moment? 💞

i love so much that you asked this bc imo sokka would have several oh moments throughout their relationship 🧡

it happens when sokka finally realizes why he's so worried about gran-gran liking zuko.

he's right in the middle of confiding to his dad, trying to both-sides the situation because "i understand if she wouldn't. i don't think i would either if it hadn't been for going with aang and actually getting to know what he's like—but, dad, i just feel like he's similar to katara enough that she could come to like him, right? i mean, gran would appreciate how straightforward he is—he's so determined too, she'd love that, and i have gran's humor so he'd definitely find her funny and would totally put up with her picking on him, and—"

i want to see him spend time with my family. i want to see his first time trying gran's signature dish with freshly-caught sea prunes. i want to see what his smile looks like when it's snowing.

and i just want to see him.

and i really want him to visit more often.

"and—" sokka feels a little faint as the weight of this revelation makes its home into his heart. "and—oh."

"i do like him, you know," hakoda says, carefully casual when sokka stays quiet for a beat too long. they had been looking at each other when it happened, and so he got to watch the way his son's eyes widened with a new sparkling wonder before sliding to the ground in a daze—and how his face suddenly flushed, probably in embarrassment and possibly even wary excitement.

hakoda doesn't try to catch his eye, but he does make sure his voice is strong enough to break through the obviously raging whirlwind of sokka's mind. "and i have a feeling your gran will too, son."

(she does. because sokka's right, it is incredibly fun to pick on zuko.)

—

the thing is, it never really occurred to sokka that these kind of revelations don't always have to be big occasions reserved for special things—like realizing you like someone, or realizing you want to marry them. sometimes, those little oh moments can just be sweet reminders of how much you love someone, which means he's somehow always caught by surprise every time the next one happens.

(some of those little moments do feel pretty monumental to him though.)

—

he's not expecting the second time to happen so quickly—or at all—but zuko apparently thought he was impervious to the cold or something and his clothes aren't as heavy as they should be. katara ends up giving him one of sokka's old coats ("stop pouting you didn't even make this one!") and—

zuko has a tendency to put his hood down and forget to put it back up, despite how cold it is outside, and eventually sokka just starts fixing the hood himself before tucking any loose strands back behind his ears, so that zuko doesn't have to keep batting any flyaways out of his face.

they make eye contact once, after the fifth time, and for some reason it startles sokka enough that he feels he needs to explain.

"uhm—" oh. zuko looks nice in sokka's old furs. his smile is also nice. "sorry—ears. don't wanna lose them, you know."

zuko just rolls his eyes, and lets him keep going it for the rest of the trip.

—

when they get together, sokka didn't think zuko would be big on pda—but apparently it turns out he's the pda king. he has no problem with draping his arm over the back of the couch to give sokka the opportunity to lay his head on his shoulder, or to give sokka a quick kiss before heading off to his next meeting, regardless of who's around. sokka's pretty sure zuko doesn't even think before he does it, and that it's somehow just a natural thing for him to do, except sokka isn't really used to being treated like this, and it takes him awhile to get accustomed to it.

until one visit, when his afternoon is free but zuko's isn't, so he chooses to go laze by the turtleduck pond to work on an upcoming lecture (read: nap).

zuko's stomps are more like little thumps as he stalks over the grass, but all sokka needs is one whiff of that crackling frustration to know it's time to open his eyes.

"was it minister chen?" he asks. things have improved over the years, but that doesn't mean that politics have stopped being politics.

"it's always minister chen," and sokka figures it's good this courtyard is private because zuko never has any issues with being loud when he's annoyed.

"figures. so are you here to hold a turtled—"

sokka doesn't get to finish his question before he's being semi-gently pushed forward and away from the tree trunk he was leaning against, before zuko swiftly shoves himself into the scant space to sit behind him.

there's barely any room for him, and sokka doesn't have to go far to lean back against his chest as zuko wraps his arms around his waist—it happens instinctively, sokka realizes. he had moved to be held without a second thought, and the thought makes him drop his head back onto zuko's shoulder in quiet surprise.

"no, wanted to hold you," zuko grumbles heatedly, but the kiss he drops onto sokka's cheek is incredibly soft. he then peers down at the papers still in sokka's loosened grip, and snorts. "are you working on the ba sing se university presentation? i didn't realize you had already gotten the data or whatever from that project. what'd you find?"

and oh. oh, sokka realizes that he's never going to be able to let zuko go.

—

zuko doesn't get a betrothal necklace right away, partly bc he's the one who proposed first, and partly because it's not really a prominent swt custom again just yet.

(sokka instead gifts him a handmade hunting knife to replace the one he lost on their last camping trip, bc thoughtful practicality is what he grew up with, and seeing zuko's obvious excitement over it is all sokka needed to send him into full-on wedding planning mode.)

instead, zuko gets a necklace for their first anniversary after the idea of it grew on sokka, and—oh, the first sight of his husband wearing the necklace sends him falling in love all over again <3

#lol i do my lil zukka brainrot dancey dance~#this got long and needed a cut bc ofc it did. it's me uwu #also for what it's worth i also 100% imagine ambre's art where zuko laughs and sokka's starstruck by it as a perfect sokka /oh/ moment!!#thank you for the ask anon <33 #only lightly edited so i hope that's ok and that it's enough to have answered your thought!!#(sorry for answering this so late my brain went kaput yesterday+i couldn't properly write my thots until i got more sleep lol)#ask #anon #zukka #zuko #sokka #own post #my writing

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raewritez · 3 years

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Enough | Sokka

based on this request: You want requests? I have an idea/request if you don't mind and are still accepting them, if not I’m sorry. Maybe “friends to lovers/teammates to lovers” where Reader joins the team from Ba Sing Se and while they’re preparing for the invasion, or beyond, Sokka and Reader fall in love, or start to fall in love? I hope that makes sense. Thanks! Your writing is all wonderful! <3

word count: 3.6k

The last thing you'd expected was for the Avatar to break into your house.

You'd been upstairs in your room when you'd heard a ruckus from down below, drawing you to your feet with nervousness and light footsteps. Who was it, burglars? You made your way down the stairs, body pressed against the wall. You heard muffled whispering.

"We can't just break into random houses, Sokka!"

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?! Do you have any better ideas?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought, Aang. Just trust the process."

You peered over the corner, catching sight of the intruders. A boy, a bit shorter than you, stood awkwardly in the corner of your living room. He was dressed in yellow and orange robes, his head decorated with a blue arrow. Huh. Beside him, pulling the curtain back cautiously to scan outside, was a boy seemingly about your age. He was tall, tan skin and dark hair, dressed in a sleeveless blue tunic. You didn't peg these guys as particular threats, so you stepped down.

"Uh, hello?"

They spun around with a yelp, assuming defensive positions. The taller boy held something in his hand - a boomerang? He narrowed his eyes at you.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Um, this is my house? Who are you?"

He lowered his arm, glancing around sheepishly. "Oh, uh, sorry. We needed to hide."

You raised an eyebrow. "Hide? Hide from who?"

The younger boy spoke up. "The Dai Li."

You furrowed your brows. "The Dai Li?" You questioned, confused. "Why would you need to hide from them? Did you, like, break the law?"

The older boy crossed his arms. "What? No!"

"Then why are you hiding?"

"Because they're after us!"

"Why would they be after you if you didn't break the law?"

"Because!" He was flailing his arms now, and you almost chuckled with amusement. "They - they're bad guys!"

You looked at him flatly. "That sounds like something a criminal would say."

He groaned. "Ugh, ok, ok. Once we know they're gone, we'll leave."

"Are you sure? I was gonna invite you for some tea and cookies," you teased. He glances back, as if seeing if you were serious, before turning back grumpily.

The younger boy scratches his head awkwardly. "Um, anyway, thanks for not kicking us out. I'm Aang."

You chuckle. "Yeah...no problem. I'm Y/n." You aren't quite sure why you're having a conversation with the guys who just broke into your house, but they seem nice enough. The older one's a little grouchy, but for some reason you feel safe.

Aang smiles brightly. "Nice to meet you. This is Sokka," he says, nudging his shoulder.

Sokka glances back at you. "Hey." You offer him a wave.

"So...why are you hiding in my house?"

Aang glances at Sokka, and it seems like a silent argument passes between them. Sokka shakes his head, Aang gives him an imploring look, and Sokka glares. Then he throws his hands up, mumbles a "Fine", and Aang turns back to you with a grin.

"Well, you see, I'm the Avatar," Your eyes grow wide. "And we're trying to get some important information to the Earth King. But the Dai Li don't want us to, so they're kinda chasing us."

"You're the Avatar?" You breathe. He nods cheerfully. "Wait - so, why are the Dai Li chasing you? Shouldn't they be helping?"

"Yeah, they should," Sokka says. "But they decided to, you know, not."

You're confused. The Dai Li are the highest level of protection for the people of Ba Sing Se. Why wouldn't they help the Avatar? You look around the room, spotting the closet near the door. An idea pops into your head.

"I can help." They both turn to you, looking skeptical. "I mean I can help you get out. Without being noticed."

They look at each other, hold their gaze, then turn to you and nod.

///

"I look ridiculous."

You stifle a laugh, taking in Sokka's appearance. "I think you look great. And it'll help you get by unnoticed, so that's what matters."

He's dressed in your father's trench coat, a heavy, brown beast of a thing that's so long it pools at his ankles. He's also sporting a dashing top-hat; the brim so wide it effectively shelters his face. He glares.

Aang comes bouncing in, dressed in a hooded cape that provides coverage for his tattoo. He stops short when he sees Sokka, doubling over in laughter. "Oh, you look great, Sokka."

Sokka groans, slumping over. "Let's just get out of here."

You lead them out the front door, scanning the road for any sign of threats. You step out, the boys following in tow, and walk as confidently as you can past the agents lining the street. Eventually, you successfully make it out of the middle ring. Sokka immediately sheds his disguise.

"Well, here you go," you say, looking around. Although only one ring above you, the Upper Ring is much nicer than you're used to. "Good luck with the Earth King."

Aang's eyes grow wide. "Wait! You should...you should come with us!"

You tilt your head. "Come with you where?"

"Back to our place! You could meet our friends!" He nudges Sokka, who appears disinterested. "Right, Sokka?"

Sokka's eyes snap to yours. "Oh, uh, sure. I guess."

You're about to politely decline, but Aang is staring at you so hopefully that you can't turn him down. You smile softly. "Sure, Aang."

"Awesome! Let's go."

You're led through the cobblestone pathways, eyes trailing after ornate carriages and towering buildings. Soon, you reach their house. The home of the Avatar. Sokka walks up and turns the knob, jumping back in surprise. In front of him stands a girl, not much younger than you, with her hands on her hips and her eyes bright with anger.

"Where have you been?!" She demands, dragging him inside by his collar. "We've been worried sick! I mean, you didn't even leave a note, didn't say anything-"

"We're sorry, Katara," Aang intervenes, hands raised in peaceful greeting. "We got caught up."

It's then that her eyes fall on you, gaze softening into uncertainty. She looks at Sokka expectantly.

"Oh!" He exclaims, stepping back and gesturing towards you. "This is Y/n. She helped us get away from the Dai Li."

The girl, Katara as she'd been called, offered you a slight smile of gratitude. "Thank you for helping my idiot brother."

You chuckled, grinning at the look of betrayal Sokka gave the girl. "It was no problem."

She nodded, extending her arm. "Do you want to come in?"

You glanced towards Aang, who was smiling excitedly. "Oh, yeah, sure."

You stepped inside, feeling a bit awkward. You didn't really understand why Aang wanted you to come so badly, but it was a kind gesture nonetheless. You scanned the interior; emerald walls adorned with gold plating that was probably more expensive than your whole apartment. You fidgeted your fingers, standing by while Katara and Sokka bickered about responsibility. A slam startled you out of your thoughts.

"Who's this?" A girl stepped out of the - hole? Yeah, hole, she'd just kicked a hole in the wall. Katara paused her lecture.

"Toph, this is Y/n. She helped Sokka and Aang with the Dai Li."

"Cool." She yawned, walking past you and plopping on the couch.

"We need to get to the Earth King," Sokka said, assuming a demeanor of focus and determination. "If the Dai Li aren't going to help us get to him, we'll have to do it ourselves." He briefly explained his plan, something about breaking into the fancy party that was happening later that night. They came up with roles, with guidelines for what each person should do, working together like a well-oiled machine. You felt out of place, you didn't know what your purpose was here. Aang turned to you, smiling softly.

"Y/n, you in?"

You stared. You couldn't comprehend the reason this boy had so much faith in you, the reason these kids were so willing to let you in on their scheme after just meeting you less than an hour ago. You didn't understand why you trusted them, either. You smiled.

"I'm in."

///

That was your first mistake.

When you'd agreed to break into an Earth Kingdom party with the Avatar, you didn't think you'd end up having to flee your home. You sat upon Appa's back, knees pulled to your chest as Ba Sing Se grew smaller. Sokka was steering, and the rest had their heads tucked into their hands. Except for Aang, who was lying unconscious next to Katara.

You'd remained in the city with Katara as the rest of the group separated, happy to spend some time with your newfound friend. It was then that things got messy; you found out the Fire Nation had infiltrated the government, the local tea-boy was actually a banished prince, and you found yourself in the crystal catacombs as a battle went on around you. You'd been there with Zuko and Katara, and you weren't sure exactly what'd gone down between them but it was obviously something serious, and you'd been there as he joined his sister - Azula. She was pretty scary.

You fought the best you could, your unpracticed earth-bending not doing much damage against the Dai Li agents, before Aang was struck by Azula's lightning. Now, you sat atop his sky-bison, mind racing and body numb from the shock of it all. You were in way over your head.

The five of you met up with Sokka and Katara's dad after dropping off the Earth King, because, you know, he was just casually there, too, boarding a Fire Nation ship as a means of disguise. Sokka introduced you to his father, Hakoda, who welcomed you with a warm smile and a firm handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Y/n. Sokka's told me a lot about you. You two must really get along well," he said when Sokka was out of ear reach, voice laced with mirth. You flushed when you registered what he was implying; the mischief gleaming in his eyes. You frantically tried to put a sentence together.

"Oh, we're not - he doesn't...I mean we do, but not like-" He cut you off with a chuckle and a friendly pat to your shoulder.

"I'm just teasing. Come on, let's join the others."

You sat with your friends and the Water Tribesmen aboard the steely deck, huddling with Toph and Sokka for warmth. Katara went downstairs to heal Aang, who had yet to wake. Your meals mainly consisted of rice as it was too risky to stop and buy more supplies. You were still dressed in your Earth Kingdom clothes; green-tinted pants and a tunic, feet clad in worn-down boots. Not ideal for posing as a Fire Nation soldier.

You were still in shock, you supposed, at how quickly things changed and how fiercely your life was ripped from you. I mean, just a few days ago you were a normal kid living in the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, where nothing remotely exciting ever happened. Then, the Avatar and his friend had broken into your house and now everything was different. You weren't upset, it was just a lot to process. You were worried for Aang and a bit overwhelmed at the reality that seemed to be your new friends' normal. So when everyone else returned to their rooms for sleep, you made your way to the overlook.

The moon beamed down over the sea - ivory light caressing the waves and kissing the surface. You breathed deeply, inhaling the cool night air that smelled of salt-water and a freedom you'd never experienced. You sat there, slightly chilly from the cold, when a warm presence took place by your side.

You glanced up, seeing Sokka's skin glowing under the starlight. Woah, had he always been this pretty? It was probably just the moon...that and your sleep deprivation. Yeah, that was it.

"What're you doing up?" He questioned, eyes cast out to the horizon. His hair was loose from its usual ponytail - wolf-tail, as he'd passionately pointed out to you days earlier - the dark locks flowing freely about his face. You tore your eyes away, following his stare.

"Just couldn't sleep," you glanced over. "You?"

He sighed, leaning against the metal. "Me neither. Just worried."

You turned to face him, face softening into concern. "About what?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "About Aang. About the Earth Kingdom...just...everything."

You moved closer, resting your forearms against the edge of the ship. He pressed his shoulder against yours.

"I get it. I am, too. Everything that's happening is just...crazy. There's no way I could've even imagined it."

Sokka tilted his head towards you, blue eyes glimmering with compassion and softness. "Yeah...how are you doing? I haven't really asked, I mean, this must be kinda shocking for you."

You snorted, nodding your head. "Well, yeah. But it's ok. I'm not the one who has it worst right now."

"Sure, but you can still talk about it. You can talk to me...if you want."

You smiled up at him, his face shadowed by the abyss of the night. "Thanks."

He offered you a grin before staring up at the sky. "You know, that's my first girlfriend," he said, pointing at the moon.

"The moon?" He nodded. "That's...rough."

///

It was finally here. The day of Black Sun.

You'd be lying if you said you felt totally prepared, but with some rigorous earth bending lessons from Toph and sparring with Sokka, you felt more confident in your abilities.

A finger poked your cheek. "Hey, are you listening?"

You glanced at Sokka's teasing grin, scratching the back of your neck sheepishly. "Uh...yes?"

"Really," he said, moving to stand in front of you. "What did I say?"

"Something about...food?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "It's ok, I'll tell you later." He looked behind him, taking in the sight of the preparing fighters and looming submarines. He took your hand in his. "Are you ready for this?"

You sigh, squeezing his fingers between your own. "Ready as I'll ever be."

He smiles down at you, and the look in his eyes is pure adoration. He reaches to tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear. "You know, I'm glad I broke into your house."

You snort, swatting his hand away. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot, nerd."

He chuckles. "Hey, I know you're glad, too. Otherwise, you never would've met me and would've been miserable and bored your whole life."

You laugh, but it's probably true. You and Sokka had grown much closer over the past weeks, days spent in playful conversation and evening strolls, in play-wrestling and heads rested on shoulders. You were the one he came to when his mind was troubled, when his energy was too spent to conjure any jokes. Yeah, you were glad, too.

You were called into the submarines - Sokka's invention, something you were unfathomably proud of - and off you went. Into the Fire Nation. Your arrival went mostly smoothly, disregarding the few punctures in the submarine walls, and you ran out of the carrier with the earth at your fingertips. Aang had flown off to fight the Fire Lord, and it was up to the rest of you to deal with everyone else. Your heart pumped loudly, blood rushing in your ears and adrenaline flowing in your veins. You raised your arms, summoning the ground upwards to knock out a few soldiers.

"Y/n!"

You turned around just in time to see Katara swoop down on Appa, Sokka and Hakoda climbing up with her. "Come on!" she yelled. "We're going to take out the soldier's battlements."

You nodded, running towards the bison and pulling yourself atop the saddle with help from Sokka. Appa lifts off, reaching between the battlements.

"Katara and I will take the one on the right," Hakoda said, his voice one of a true commander. "Sokka and Y/n, the left. Let's go."

You climb the battlement, hoisting yourself inside through the window before scanning the room. Pointed outwards is a sort of cannon, aimed perfectly towards the group of fire benders that were advancing towards your friends. You step forward, trying to figure out the mechanics while Sokka climbs in. "Oh-ho," he says, taking note of the projection of the cannon. "This thing is just begging to be fired."

You nodded, toying with the controls. Sokka stepped behind you. "Here, I'll show you."

He placed his palm over your hand, guiding it to where it needed to be. From his pocket he pulled a match - where did that come from, anyway? - and nudged it between your fingers. "Light it up, Sunshine."

You place the tip to the ignition, Sokka aiming the cannon. He pulls you back against him, arms wound tightly around your waist, and you cover your ears. The canon booms, sending out a flurry of smoke. You rush forward, fearful of the damage you might have just inflicted, breathing out when you see that it only landed between the soldiers and your friends. It didn't hit them, something you were a bit grateful for, but it allowed the fighters to evade the onslaught. Sokka chuckled in your ear.

"Not bad, not bad."

"You did all the work."

"That's not true! You were vital."

You shake your head, fighting off a grin. "Ok, we should probably get rid of this thing now."

"Agreed."

You climb back out the window, jumping onto the ground with a thud. Breathing deeply, you concentrated your mind on the earth that lay below the battlement, and with a flick of your wrist, it crumbled. From the cliffside it fell, effectively ridding you of one other thing to worry about.

Sokka let out a low whistle. "Impressive."

You turned to him, out of breath. He stepped closer, brows knitted in slight concern as he lifted your chin with his knuckles. "Hey, you ok?"

You nodded, swallowing and trying to rewatch your breath. "Yeah, still a little new to this."

His thumb stroked your cheek before he moved his arm, placing it over your shoulders. "Come on, just stay with me."

You did, gladly.

///

So...things didn't exactly go as planned.

It turned out that the Fire Lord knew all along about the invasion, and Aang never had the chance to fight him. You'd come face-to-face with Azula again, something that made your blood boil. You'd had to leave - leaving the adults behind while the kids climbed aboard Appa's saddle. You were all exhausted, slumped over and falling to your knees when you finally reached the Western Air Temple.

You tried to mull your sadness; that guilty feeling that it was you who should've been left behind instead. You knew everyone was hurting - some in ways you couldn't really fathom. Aang felt like he had failed - again - and he went to bed that night with a half-hearted side hug and tired eyes. Toph felt weak, something she hated more than anything in the world. And Sokka and Katara...they'd lost their dad again.

So when you saw Sokka on the mountainside, head held in hands, you felt that he was more important. You plopped down next to him, his eyes snapping up and softening when they laid on you. No words were spoken; they didn't need to be. Instead, he sighed, pressing his cheek against your shoulder. You ran your fingers through his hair, soothing him with your touch. You only halted when he laced your fingers with his own, pulling your hand to his lap and tracing patterns across your skin.

"It's not your fault, Sokka."

He nodded against you, but you heard his sniff. You straightened up, his head begrudgingly lifting from its place against you before you cupped his face with your palm. "It's not," you implored, desperate for him to stop feeling so down on himself. "None of us could've predicted that they knew. And with Azula...she knew what she was doing. None of this is because of you."

He glanced away, blue eyes brimming with the tears he'd fought so hard to keep at bay. He dipped his head in silent acceptance, nuzzling against the warmth of your palm. You smiled sadly.

"It's not over, Sokka. There's still hope, now more than ever. And I know we'll figure it out."

He raised his gaze, and it seemed like his soul was carried in his stare. Slowly, enough so that you thought you imagined it, his eyes drifted down to your lips. He leaned in slowly, bringing his calloused hand to brush back your hair. You were frozen, as if one wrong move would shatter you from this dream. His palm was warm against your cheek, and his nose bumped your own. Your eyes met his, close enough together that it was a bit funny to look at, and he offered you a silent question. You answered with your lips against his.

He breathed against you, fingers carding through your hair. His lips were warm and oh, so soft, and they moved against yours with ease. You wound your arms around his neck, bringing him closer. He was warm, and he was familiar, and he was safe. You pulled apart when your lungs ached for air, peeling your eyes open with effort. He was looking at you, and you were looking at him, and suddenly a grin broke out across his face. He laughed breathily, nudging his head into the crook of your neck. You laughed with him, holding him tight. You sat there together for who knows how long, melted in each other's embrace under the light of the moon. He pressed soft kisses against your neck and whispered thanks into your ears. You responded with a peck to his tanned cheeks. You were right, he knew. It wasn't over. There was time left, and there was hope. Wrapped in your arms, he was sure of that.

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bloodbenderz · 3 years

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humaniterations (dot) net/2014/10/13/an-anarchist-perspective-on-the-red-lotus/ this article from oct 2014 is very dense — truly, a lot to unpack here, but I feel like you would find this piece interesting. I would love it if you shared your thoughts on the points that stood out to you, whether you agree or disagree. you obv don’t have to respond to it tho, but I’m sending it as an ask jic you feel like penning (and sharing) a magnificent essay, as is your wont 💕

article

i know this took me forever 2 answer SORRY but i just checked off all the things on my to do list for the first time in days today so. Essay incoming ladies!

ok im SO glad u sent me this bc it’s so so good. it’s a genuinely thoughtful criticism of the politics in legend of korra (altho i think its sometimes a little mean to korra unnecessarily like there’s no reason to call her a “petulant brat” or say that she throws tantrums but i do understand their point about her being an immature and reactionary hero, which i’ll get back to) and i think the author has a good balance between acknowledging like Yeah the lok writers were american liberals and wrote their show accordingly and Also writing a thorough analysis of lok’s politics that felt relevant and interesting without throwing their hands up and saying this is all useless liberal bullshit (which i will admit that i tend to do).

this article essentially argues that the red lotus antagonists of s3 were right. And that’s not an uncommon opinion i think but this gives it serious weight. Like, everything that zaheer’s gang did was, in context, fully understandable. of course the red lotus would be invested in making sure that the physically and spiritually and politically most powerful person in the world ISNT raised by world leaders and a secret society of elites that’s completely unaccountable to the people! of course the red lotus wants to bring down tyrannical governments and allow communities to form and self govern organically! and the writers dismiss all of that out of hand by 1. consistently framing the red lotus as insane and murderous (korra never actually gives zaheer’s ideas a chance or truly considers integrating them into her own approach) 2. representing the death of the earth queen as not just something that’s not necessarily popular (what was with mako’s bootlicker grandma, i’d love to know) but as something that causes unbelievable violence and chaos in ba sing se (which, like, a lot of history and research will tell you that people in disasters tend towards prosocial behaviors). so the way the story frames each of these characters and ideologies is fascinating because like. if you wanted to write season 3 of legend of korra with zaheer as the protagonist and korra as the antagonist, you wouldn’t actually have to change the sequence of events at all, really. these writers in particular and liberal writers in general LOVE writing morally-gray-but-ultimately-sympathetic characters (like, almost EVERY SINGLE fire nation character in the first series, who were full on violent colonizers but all to a degree were rehabilitated in the eyes of the viewer) but instead of framing the red lotus as good people who are devoted to justice and freedom and sometimes behave cruelly to get where theyre trying to go, they frame them as psychopaths and murderers who have good intentions don’t really understand how to make the world a better place.

and the interesting thing about all this, about the fact that the red lotus acted in most cases exactly as it should have in context and the only reason its relegated to villain status is bc the show is written by liberals, is that the red lotus actually points out really glaring sociopolitical issues in universe! like, watching the show, u think well why the fuck HASN’T korra done anything about the earth queen oppressing her subjects? why DOESN’T korra do anything about the worse than useless republic president? why the hell are so many people living in poverty while our mains live cushy well fed lives? how come earth kingdom land only seems to belong to various monarchs and settler colonists, instead of the people who are actually indigenous to it? the show does not want to answer these questions, because american liberal capitalism literally survives on the reality of oppressive governments and worse than useless presidents and people living in poverty while the middle/upper class eats and indigenous land being stolen. if the show were to answer these questions honestly, the answer would be that the status quo in real life (and the one on the show that mirrors real life) Has To Change.

So they avoid answering these questions honestly in order for the thesis statement to be that the status quo is good. and the only way for the show to escape answering these questions is for them to individualize all these broad social problems down into Good people and Bad people. so while we have obvious bad ones like the earth queen we also have all these capitalists and monarchs and politicians who are actually very nice and lovely people who would never hurt anyone! which is just such an absurd take and it’s liberal propaganda at its best. holding a position of incredible political/economic power in an unjust society is inherently unethical and maintaining that position of power requires violence against the people you have power over. which is literally social justice 101. but there’s literally no normal, average, not-politically-powerful person on the show. so when leftist anarchism is presented and says that destroying systems that enforce extreme power differentials is the only way to bring peace and freedom to all, the show has already set us up to think, hey, fuck you, top cop lin beifong and ford motor ceo asami sato are good people and good people like them exist! and all we have to do to move forward and progress as a society is to make sure we have enough good individuals in enough powerful positions (like zuko as the fire lord ending the war, or wu as the earth king ending the monarchy)! which is of course complete fiction. liberal reform doesn’t work. but by pretending that it could work by saying that the SYSTEM isnt rotten it’s just that the people running it suck and we just need to replace those people, it automatically delegitimizes any radical movements that actually seek to change things.

and that’s the most interesting thing about this article to me is that it posits that the avatar...might actually be a negative presence in the world. the avatar is the exact same thing: it’s a position of immense political and physical power bestowed completely randomly, and depending on the moral character and various actions of who fills that position at any given time, millions of people will or won’t suffer. like kyoshi, who created the fascist dai li, like roku, who refused to remove a genocidal dictator from power, like aang, who facilitated the establishment of a settler colonial state on earth kingdom land. like korra! she’s an incredibly immature avatar and a generally reactionary lead. i’ve talked about this at length before but she never actually gets in touch with the needs of the people. she’s constantly running in elite circles, exposed only to the needs and squabbles of the upper class! how the hell is she supposed to understand the complexities of oppression and privilege when she was raised by a chess club with inordinate amounts of power and associates almost exclusively with politicians and billionaires?? from day 1 we see that she tends to see things in very black and white ways which is FINE if you’re a privileged 17 yr old girl seeing the world for the first time but NOT FINE if you’re the single most powerful person in the world! Yeah, korra thinks the world is probably mostly fine and just needs a little whipping into shape every couple years, because all she has ever known is a mostly fine world! in s1 when mako mentions that he as a homeless impoverished teenager worked for a gang (which is. Not weird. Impoverished people of every background are ALWAYS more likely to resort to socially unacceptable ways of making money) korra is like “you guys are criminals?????!!!!!” she was raised in perfect luxury by a conservative institution and just never developed beyond that. So sure, if the red lotus raised her anarchist, probably a lot would’ve been different/better, but....they didn’t. and korra ended up being a reactionary and conservative avatar who protected monarchs and colonialist politicians. The avatar as a position is completely subject to the whims of whoever is currently the avatar. and not only does that suck for everyone who is not the avatar, not only is it totally unfair to whatever kid who grows up knowing the fate of the world is squarely on their shoulders, but it as a concept is a highly individualist product of the authors’ own western liberal ideas of progress! the idea that one good leader can fix the world (or should even try) based on their own inherent superiority to everyone else is unbelievably flawed and ignores the fact that all real progress is brought about as a result of COMMUNITY work, as a result of normal people working for themselves and their neighbors!

the broader analysis of bending was really interesting to me too, but im honestly not sure i Totally agree with it. the article pretty much accepts the show’s assertion that bending is a privilege (and frankly backs it up much better than the original show did, but whatever), and i don’t think that’s NECESSARILY untrue since it is, like, a physical advantage (the author compares it to, for example, the fact that some people are born athletically gifted and others are born with extreme physical limitations), but i DO think that it discounts the in universe racialization of bending. in any sequel to atla that made sense, bending as a race making fact would have been explored ALONGSIDE the physical advantages it bestows on people. colonialism and its aftermath is generally ignored in this article which is its major weakness i think, especially in conjunction with bending. you can bring up the ideas the author did about individual vs community oriented progress in the avatar universe while safely ignoring the colonialism, but you can’t not bring up race and colonialism when you discuss bending. especially once you get to thinking about how water/earth/airbenders were imprisoned and killed specifically because bending was a physical advantage, and that physical advantage was something that would have given colonized populations a means of resistance and that the fire nation wanted to keep to itself.

i think that’s the best lens thru which to analyze bending tbh! like in the avatar universe bending is a tool that different ethnic groups tend to use in different ways. at its best, bending actually doesn’t represent social power differences (despite representing a physical power difference) because it’s used to represent/maintain community solidarity. like, take the water tribe. katara being the last waterbender, in some way, makes her the last of a part of swt CULTURE. the implication is that when there were a lot of waterbenders in the south, they dedicated their talents to building community and helping their neighbors, because this was something incredibly culturally important and important to the water tribe as a community. the swt as a COLLECTIVE values bending for what it can do for the entire tribe, which counts for basically every other talent a person can have (strength, creativity, etc). the fire nation, by contrast, distorts the community value of bending by racializing it: anyone who bends an element that isn’t fire is inherently NOT fire nation (and therefore inherently inferior) and, because of the physical power that bending confers, anyone who bends an element that isn’t fire is a threat to fire nation hegemony. and in THAT framework of bending, it’s something that intrinsically assigns worth and reifies race in a way that’s conveniently beneficial to the oppressor.

it IS worth talking about how using Element as a way to categorize people reifies nations, borders, and race in a way that is VERY characteristic of white american liberals. i tried to be conscious of that (and the way that elements/bending can act in DIFFERENT ways, depending on cultural context) but i think it’s pretty clear that the writers did intend for element to unequivocally signify nation (and, by extension, race), which is part of why they screwed up mixed families so bad in lok. when they’ve locked themselves into this idea that element=nation=race, they end up with sets of siblings like mako and bolin or kya tenzin and bumi, who all “take” after only one parent based on the element that they bend. which is just completely stupid but very indicative of how the writers actually INTENDED element/bending to be a race making process. and its both fucked up and interesting that the writers display the same framework of race analysis that the canonical antagonists of atla do.

anyway that’s a few thoughts! thank u again for sending the article i really loved it and i had a lot of fun writing this <3

#this is 2.1k words LMFAOO #asks #analysis #do i have an analysis tag?#crit #lok crit

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turtle-paced · 3 years

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A:tLA Re-Watch: Fine-Toothed Comb Edition

This is what I mean by the recaps getting shorter. There’s still plenty here for a twenty-minute episode, it still moves the plot along, it’s just not as dense as those big plot-crucial episodes.

Book 1, Chapter 5 - The King of Omashu

(0:55) Previously, on Avatar, Aang owns up to being the Avatar. The Avatar who has friends all over the world. Aang realised he’d lost his friends and family, but Katara and Sokka decided to stick with him. The knowledge of the Avatar’s return became public, including to the Fire Nation.

(1:42) It’s winter in the Earth Kingdom, as we can see from the snow on the ground, but we’re also somewhere temperate enough that grass is still growing underneath.

(1:52) Aang introduces the city of Omashu (another cool design!), which he’s visited frequently in order to hang out with his friend Bumi. As the previously on reminded us, Aang’s done quite a bit of travelling around.

(1:58) Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka experience a bit of culture shock at seeing a city. Note that Katara focuses on the size of the city, i.e. the number of people, while Sokka focuses on the difference in construction. Without making a big deal of it, the show’s furthering its characterisation of Katara as most interested in social relationships and people, and Sokka as most interested in technology.

(2:05) After running from the burning village at the end of last episode, our protagonists start this episode by taking precautions and insisting that Aang wear a disguise. Learning! And note that they’re insisting on this even in a free, Earth Kingdom city.

(2:24) A mention of Sokka and Katara’s grandfather! I think the only one we get all series.

(2:44) The pan over the walkway to Omashu shows us some basic earthbending defensive fortifications. Aside from Omashu being basically a mountain with walls in the middle of a canyon, the walkway is narrow, sheer, and switches back and forth. It’s clearly not natural. Local earthbenders either raised Omashu or levelled the nearby mountains to give it a ‘moat’, then raised a high, narrow, switchbacked walkway. This has got to be the work of lots of earthbenders, over a long time.

(2:56) Aang says that Omashu is the friendliest city in the world, cut to our new friend the cabbage merchant being rudely dealt with by the gate guards.

Back on the defensive fortifications front, there’s no actual gate. Omashu needs a spot designated as a gate, but when you’ve got earthbenders aplenty, why bother having a permanent opening in the walls? Again and again we’ll see casual bits of setting design that show how the writers and animators actually put some thought into how a society where large numbers of people can manipulate various states of matter looks like. Here, we see it in the way Omashu is built.

(3:16) From the friendliest city in the world, to hovering a rock over an ‘old man’s’ head, just because. The war has damaged the social fabric of every society depicted in the series.

(3:31) “Bonzu Pippenpadalopsicopolis the Third.” It’s amazing that this isn’t the most ridiculous alias of the series.

(3:39) Major props to Katara for flawlessly going with it, though.

(4:10) Omashu’s walls open in three distinct stages. It is because most earthbending guards can’t open a wall that thick in one go? Who knows.

(4:27) Pan over Omashu, a free Earth Kingdom city. Lots of people, lots of green, the occasional bridge over a gap, and prominent ‘aqueducts’ for people to deliver things. Infrastructure in Omashu is based around earthbending.

(4:56) Aang flashes back to a hundred years ago series time, and what has to be only a few months previous, his subjective time. His friend Bumi has distinctive eyes and a noticeable gap in his teeth. He opens the flashback with a question for Aang and encourages him to think about their surroundings differently. Bumi also has a distinctive laugh.

(5:28) The fact Aang insisted on going to Omashu before anything else, after having accepted the Air Nomads were gone and that he can’t afford to stay in villages, is actually pretty heartbreaking. He just wants one slide down the mail chute. One chance to re-enact part of the life he lost.

(6:05) So much property damage. So much potential for people to get hurt.

(6:11) The joke here is that the Earth Kingdom soldiers were not prepared for three kids and a lemur to land a mail chute carriage in front of them, but again the context of this joke is that in Omashu, there are people being trained to go to active combat. The war gets into everything, even the comic relief.

(7:21) That poor cabbage merchant. It is not his day. Honestly, it’s fair enough Aang, Katara, and Sokka got taken into custody for that stunt.

(7:38) And so our protagonists get hauled into a big, empty, green-lit hall, with an old man in fancy robes. The old man reacts when he sees Aang.

(7:46) The earthbending guards address the old man as ‘Your Majesty’. The guard also shushes the cabbage merchant, saying that only the king can pass down judgement, handily introducing the monarchical structure of Omashu. Not as important as other monarchies we’ll be seeing, but yeah, it’s there.

(7:59) Close up on the king of Omashu, as he looks at Sokka, Katara, and Aang in turn. The king has distinctive eyes. This isn’t supposed to be super subtle. It’s way easier for viewers with knowledge of dramatic conventions to work this out than it is for Aang, who in-universe doesn’t have a director handing over a bunch of narrative cues. A few months ago, in his subjective experience of time, Bumi was his own age.

(8:15) The king of Omashu says to throw them…a feast! Which already shows us how Bumi works with expectations. The expected end to that sentence would have been “in the dungeons” or suchlike; “a feast” works grammatically, but isn’t what you’d think to hear.

(8:20) Pan over the feast. Lots of meat. Including chicken on Aang’s plate. Aang thanks Bumi for his hospitality, but says he doesn’t eat meat. Now this actually is subtle. Bumi recognised Aang, that’s clear by the end of the episode, if it wasn’t already. So what Bumi’s doing here is checking whether he can believe his eyes. Is this his old friend or just someone who looks like him? In his experience of time, it’s been a hundred years.

Note that even if vegetarianism was cultural to the Air Nomads, the overwhelming majority of Air Nomads have been dead for a century, and travel’s become much more difficult (particularly travel to Air Temples only accessible through airbending), limiting opportunities for others to learn about their cultural practices. Seriously, this is some excellent stuff from Bumi. Bumi knows Aang doesn’t eat meat. Who else would?

Aang’s dietary practices are also good characterisation for him. We know he loves animals, and we can understand his vegetarianism as a manifestation of how he respects life.

(9:04) The Kangaroo Island pun was exactly bad enough for Sokka.

(9:19) Then Bumi suddenly flings a drumstick at Aang without warning, testing his reaction. Which is airbending. Unlike people in previous episodes, Bumi distinguishes ‘the Avatar’ from ‘generic airbender’. Bumi knows it’s Aang in front of him.

(9:35) Bumi then becomes the next person to go with Aang’s ridiculous alias.

(9:58) Aang leans into the corollary of being the Fire Nation’s most wanted - the Earth Kingdom should see him as an asset. However, as the show starts showing us right here with the arrest of the party despite this reveal, the enemy of your enemy isn’t necessarily your friend.

I mean, in this case, yes, Bumi is literally Aang’s friend, but it’s not something the group can rely on. The show will go into more detail next episode and in a few other memorable instances.

(10:18) Bumi randomly decrees that Aang will face three deadly challenges.

(10:38) I do get a giggle out of the “who’s on first?” nature of the “newly-refurbished chamber”.

(10:50) Like the city walls, Earth Kingdom prisons don’t necessarily bother with doors. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but note that the light’s generated by mushrooms. (In the main hall, by contrast, there are crystal lights.)

(11:21) The party immediately starts planning their escape. Yet another situation that wouldn’t have been possible later in the series. This chamber couldn’t hold a trained earthbender.

(11:55) With the thwarting of Aang’s admittedly kind of half-baked escape plan, we get a skip to the next morning, when Aang wakes up completely alone in the cell. The terms of the deal are explained: Aang passes the deadly challenges, and his friends go free. If he doesn’t…something something. The danger is implied.

(13:00) The creeping crystal is arguably the most cartoony peril the series has included thus far. Until now, our protagonists have been dealing with deadly serious and actually pretty realistic issues - raiders, genocide, suspicious local authorities. The tone shift to “and now I will trap your friends in fast-growing crystal” is a jarring tone shift, which with hindsight we can take as a good indication that Bumi’s nothing worse than a troll. Avatar’s real villains would have thrown Katara and Sokka in a deeper dungeon or killed them outright. Even the one-and-done antagonists are more serious.

(13:30) “It seems I’ve lost my lunchbox key,” Bumi says. This episode isn’t even a little bit subtle about what Aang needs to learn (it doesn’t have to be, incidentally), and it will ultimately outright say what Aang learned from the episode. It’s Bumi’s over the top, trolling characterisation that helps stop the episode from being a dreary recitation of “Aang needs to think creatively to overcome obstacles.”

(14:01) So after Bumi sets Aang to fetching his lunchbox key from the middle of a waterfall with a ladder leading up to it against the flow of the water, Bumi says sarcastically, “Ooh, climbing the ladder, nobody’s thought of that before.” Which raises the question - how many people has Bumi tried this on? (My bet is that Bumi’s taught earthbending before and this is a standard lesson to get students to change up their thinking.)

(14:17) Also worth noting is the fact that after one unsuccessful attempt to get the key, Aang immediately changes his approach as he realises his previous angle won’t work. He’s entirely capable of learning Bumi’s lesson, and probably would have got there on his own eventually. Bumi’s just speeding this process up a bit.

(14:48) As we see when Aang gets the key on his third attempt. Didn’t take him long at all, really.

(15:02) On to a more pointed lesson, and one that applies to the viewers evaluating what’s going on in-universe. Bumi wants Aang to retrieve his pet, Flopsy. On screen, the viewer sees a cute rabbit.

(15:13) As soon as Aang says “come here, Flopsy,” however, he’s attacked by some sort of…sabre-toothed gorilla-goat?

(15:38) Until Aang’s shoulder-deep in a crevasse trying to catch the rabbit and going “hang on…”

(15:43) Aang addresses the sabre-toothed gorilla-goat by “Flopsy” and Flopsy, who is a very good boy indeed, very well-trained, stops on a dime, tail wagging. So there we go. Flopsy looks scary, but never meant to harm Aang.

This is a very gentle reminder to a boy who just learned that he’s the only survivor of a genocide but has duties to the global community, from a man who’s in contact with Fire Nationals working against their nation’s goals - don’t judge by appearances. And like I said, it’s a reminder to the viewer, too.

Also Aang’s enthusiasm for Flopsy is adorable. He gets past the scary exterior in a heartbeat.

(16:24) Our first look at an earthbending arena! Unsurprisingly, it’s underground.

(16:31) Bumi gives Aang an actually very simple final test - a duel. In which Aang may choose his opponent. Two very scary weapon-users leap down from above to flank Bumi. “Point and choose,” Bumi says.

(16:56) Aang points at Bumi. “Wrong choice!” Bumi says. For the first time in the episode, he stands up straight, and when he takes off his purple robe, he’s in remarkably good shape for a man of 112. He’s one step ahead of Aang here, anticipating that Aang would be smart enough to see that Bumi’s a valid choice, but twelve years old enough not to question why Bumi would leave this loophole.

This is the inverse of the previous point. Where Flopsy looked dangerous and actually wasn’t, Bumi doesn’t look dangerous and is.

(17:32) “I’m the most powerful earthbender you’ll ever see,” Bumi says. Almost certainly not - but given his helpless old man performance here, I think Bumi would be able to appreciate blind little Toph kicking serious ass.

(17:43) This is our first proper look at earthbending. In this episode we’ve seen it used to open doors, deliver mail, and threaten hapless travellers, but Bumi brings out a fight scene. He quickly and explicitly calls out Aang’s tactics (typical airbending tactics, he says) as predictable evasive techniques.

(18:01) “Sooner or later, you’ll have to strike back,” Bumi tells Aang. We’ve already seen Aang’s difficulties with this.

The fight scene itself is a brief class on how a creative bender can shut down a predictable one, and one that shows Bumi knows airbending tactics as well as earthbending strengths. He stops Aang taking to the air by collapsing the ceiling, leaving Aang at risk of getting hit from behind by falling rocks. When Aang tries to use airbending-assisted speed over the ground, Bumi breaks the ground up, forcing Aang to slow down and swerve into the path of other attacks, and later dissolving the solid ground into dust beneath Aang’s feet. That’s two ways Bumi has to slow Aang down.

Meanwhile, Aang’s offense is casually blocked, and Bumi’s good enough to block when Aang dodges a rock that was going to hit them both.

Aang might be an airbending master, but this fight scene with Bumi shows how he’s outclassed as a combatant, at the moment. And yeah, that’s the sort of tactical depth the show’s bringing to a two-minute fight scene, because the point of this fight scene is to establish something about how Aang fights.

(19:59) The fight finishes with the biggest demonstration of non-Avatar State bending we’ve seen yet. Bumi hauls a giant chunk of rock into the air, Aang generates a tornado to redirect it. In the spirit of Bumi’s lessons, Aang uses the opening when Bumi’s forced to block his own rock to follow up with his own attack (having worked out that while his own offense isn’t good enough to defeat Bumi, Bumi may be vulnerable to his own attacks, and can’t recover instantly).

But as we saw when Bumi was one step ahead of Aang when he said “choose wisely,” Bumi’s anticipated that attack, too, and has a countermeasure - he grabs half the rock he just split apart and holds it over the both of them, the surface area too great for Aang to dodge if Bumi dropped it. Nevertheless, Bumi’s made his point and seen the improvement he wanted to see, so he calls it a match.

(20:45) “What’s the point of tests if you don’t learn anything?” Surprisingly deep educational philosophy here from Bumi. It’s not about the mark, it’s about the learning process.

(20:55) Bumi’s final question is apparently random: “What is my name?”

(21:10) The “Rocky” joke was too bad even for Bumi.

(21:35) Katara shows her own quick wits as she helps prompt Aang into the line of thinking he needs to work out Bumi’s name.

This is also where Aang spells out the whole “think outside the box” thing. This isn’t a bad episode. (This show has two, maybe three, bad episodes. And even then those episodes are more just total nothings than they are actually bad.) But it’s this sort of heavier-handedness that makes season one the weakest of the three sseasons.

(22:00) Heartwarming moment. Aang’s old friend might now be an old friend, but he’s still the same person. They’re still glad to see each other.

(22:30) Here comes Sokka with his brains. Why do any of this?

(22:44) Aside from the fun of messing with people, Bumi says that Aang’s got some big problems on his plate. The world has changed. He also gives Aang Ozai’s name.

In response, Aang thanks Bumi for his wisdom. I suspect that what Bumi’s saying about confronting the Fire Lord and defeating the Fire Nation hasn’t sunk in properly, and that he’s not thinking about these things as things he’s actually going to have to do. But dealing with that is a plot point for future episodes.

(23:17) The episode leaves off on a much more positive note than previous episodes. Aang gets his slide down Omashu’s mail chutes, with the very friend who inspired the escapade to begin with. At the cabbage merchant’s cost.

#a:tla #fine toothed comb edition

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flydunes · 4 years

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the cheesecourse is upon us.

this started as a joke. then i took it seriously. thank you to the zukka nation for this monstrosity, i love you all, i’m sorry to everyone who had to witness this (@cqjalm sash i’m so sorry shhjd)

@voidcenturyscholar (its not letting me tag u?? offensive.) @klabautermanns @firelord-zuzu-the-jerkbender @enby-toph and ali who does not have a tumblr but is just as valid <3

aang: is vegan. no cheese for him. valid of him.

katara: is lactose intolerant bc there's no dairy in the swt. she tries cheese at some point and does not like it. no cheese for her. valid.

sokka: also lactose intolerant, but this boy LOVES cheese. he will Suffer for the cheese. he eats cheese with every meal and Suffers for it but he doesn't care bc cheese good. all the cheese. every cheese. mild? loves it. spicy? loves it (some sort of semi-soft cheese with a fire flake topping? Yes Please) anyway he's more mad about being lactose intolerant than he is about being the only nonbender, so he invents lactose-free cheese. king.

toph: she's a bougie bitch. she's a cheese snob. she grew up eating the finest cheeses the earth kingdom could provide. she loves Stanky Cheese, mainly because that way she can get a lot of her senses involved, not just taste. so valid.

zuko: he used to be a cheese snob, but living on a ship and then being a refugee and then being with the gaang changed that. he likes a good mild cheese tho. he's had too many experiences with Mould Cheese from living on a boat that he can't stand anything with a smell. so valid. except he unironically likes those peely cheese sticks so he's not as valid lol

suki: cheese-neutral. she'll eat cheese, but she doesn't particularly go for the fancy stuff. from @klabautermanns, "suki what kind of cheese do you like?" "i... i don't know... i guess the yellow one?" valid af.

jet: from @firelord-zuzu-the-jerkbender, "eat the rich instead of the cheese"- jet, when sokka is suffering after eating 5 blocks of cheese. he eats the inside of the brie and puts the rind back on the cheese platter. he eats babybell cheese, wax and all. not valid, never valid, disgusting.

azula: massive cheese snob. the more opulent the better. the spicier the better. she has a texture issue, so only hard cheeses. she ate kangagoat cheese once and it had fruit in it and that put her off kangagoat cheese forever. she's valid.

pianjeong: oh you KNOW these bougie bitches are snobs. jeongjeong likes stanky cheeses whereas piandao likes more mild, but bc they love each other so much they work around it and meet in the middle and also surprise each other with the other's preferred cheeses sometimes and its so valid.

ozai: blue cheese. not valid. cheese should not have mould on it, but alas, his cheese is as mouldy as his personality.

pakku: cheezwhiz. urgh. he eats those squares of packet american cheese with the plastic on. urgggghhhhh.

#cheesecourse #please if anyone has anything to add to this i wholeheartedly encourage it #n e ways this is very cursed #atla #avatar #aang #katara #sokka #zuko #suki #jet #azula #piandao #jeongjeong #ozai #pakku #tagging this as #pianjeong #bc i can <3 #zukka nation #thank u to everyone for encouraging my chaos #also @ how we almost immediately started the spelling bee discourse and i had to physically stop myself #join the zukka nation its fun and we scream about zukka they said except this shit happens on a daily basis #and there's ben shapiro copypasta running rampant in the 18+ servers #and we started a cult around sash bc we all have so much love for sash #i wouldnt have it any other way #love u all so so so much #its 1am im emo and ready to screammy love for yall #especially sash. we started a cult just for u <3 #anyway i fucking hate cheese and yet chose to compile and post this. love that for me. also sry abt the epic tags lol

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appleb18 · 4 years

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Cartoons Relationships Are Terrible

Back in the day of cartoons, the romantic subplots were simple and yet very heartwarming to see such as

Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Phineas and Isabella from Phineas and Ferb

But now, modern cartoons are taking romantic subplots into heavier territories that something that some live-action shows would do. While it does sound interesting that making relationships more realistic and complex but the way that has been written in the previous decade is pretty bad. The writers try to make romance relatable to the audience but fail on doing so such as making likable characters to really cringy and awful people, shoving down our throats of how cute it is and having the romantic subplot more focus than the actual plot.

Adventure Time and Regular Show

So you must be wondering why I put Adventure Time and Regular Show together instead of separate categories. The thing about these two shows is they used to have bad romantic subplots but as the show progresses, they really did it well and I have to say it did better than most cartoons that failed to do which I’ll talk about later.

For Adventure Time, Finn and Flame Princess broke up in “Frost and Fire” due to him deceiving her by having FP fight Ice King/Simon Petrikov for his amusement

After their break, he tries to rekindle his romantic feelings for Princess Bubblegum and thinks age is just a number in “Too Old”. However, it doesn’t end up too well that she has people to watch over and that’s when he realized that he really did donk up with Flame Princess.

Although he apologized to FP in “Earth and Fire” to her it didn’t fully restore their relationship and Finn still had romantic feelings for her and Princess Bubblegum.

Thankfully, Finn matures in later seasons.

Finn realized it’s better for him to be friends with Princess Bubblegum

He then fully apologized and realized what he has done wrong to Flame Princess and she tells him that he really matured and hang out by playing guess who and rapping in “Bun Bun”

and Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline. They both finally reconcile at the end of “Varmints” and start to hang out more which develops their relationship from being platonic to romance.

For Regular Show, in “Steak Me Amadeus' ' Mordecai asked Margaret to be his girlfriend and although she would like that, she can’t because she got accepted into college which broke his heart.

It didn’t last when he’s been reunited with CJ in “New Years Kiss”.

As the show progresses, the two become a couple but then things get complicated when Margret returns. It made things awkward between CJ, Mordecai, and Marget like CJ always gets jealous and runs away when she sees Mordecai and Margret together.

By the end of season 6, he dumps CJ in front of everyone in Muscle Man's wedding.

Like Adventure Time, Mordecai and Margret hangout and realized they should stay as friends in “Just Friends”

While Eileen and Rigby become a couple.

Now it’s time to talk about other cartoons shows and their romantic subplot problem

Steven Universe

Steven Universe relationships can sometimes be well written but most of the time can handle poorly.

Such as Lars and Sadie were starting to develop their relationship in “Joking Victim” however it repeats itself throughout three seasons until the end of season 4 where Lars develops. Then there’s Sadie trapping him and Steven on the island in “Island Adventure” so he won’t have to leave and they don’t resolve and don’t even mention it ever again in later seasons. All they show was Sadie scar and that’s it

In “Steven Universe: Future”, Sadie and Lars didn’t get together and she’s now with Shep and they did it off-screen. So throughout the whole thing with Lars and Sadie, they don’t get together. The show kept teasing it and they might get together in the future but the writers just said screw it, let's have her date a nonbinary while Lars goes on a space adventure. It feels like a waste of seeing those two characters that the show keeps showing them together and not have them become a couple. Unlike SvTFoE, Shep just came out of nowhere with no proper introduction and doesn’t establish they and Sadie's relationship and it’s really bothersome!

Connie and Steven's relationship was good for the first four seasons. It was really had good chemistry and she was a good partner for him

then season 5 came in and it kinda got ruins by after Steven escape from Gem Homeworld and coming back to Earth, it starts off with Connie leaving Steven with lion and never to be seen for a month according to “Keven Party”. The Steven and Connie arc was really bad like why was it dragged for five episodes? The whole thing could’ve been resolved in one episode by having them talk about their feelings like how “Mindful Education” and “Full Disclosure” did by they talk about their emotions instead of running away.

Then in “Gemcation”, Steven the most important thing to him is Connie's relationship than worrying about Lars and the Off Colours' safety. That has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life and I can’t believe Rebecca and the Crewniverse have written it like that.

Then there’s Ruby and Sapphire. I’ll be honest, the relationship feels like old Disney love stories like Cinderella, Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty and that’s not a compliment. In “The Answer”, after they accidentally fused, they escape and wander Earth that caused them to fall in love which kinda contradicts what Garnet said to Jamie about love, at first sight, isn’t good in “Love Letter”.

In “Pink Diamond” Arc, the plot came to hold to make room for Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding.

While it is revolutionary that they show an LGBT wedding live on television but as a narrative standpoint, it feels rushed. The reason for that is after that Blue and Yellow came in after the wedding. They were no build-up or anything, they just came.The reason why they did it so some countries can’t take it down due it the main story which is stupid. It’s nice they represent LGBT but why in the middle of a major story arc, that’s just sloppy.

Voltron

So Voltron has a reputation of queerbaiting the audience that Shiro is gay and he has a boyfriend. The writers keep telling us on Twitter that they’ll show his boyfriend in season 7 but when it finally aired. It was terrible

The first time we saw Adam was a flashback but it was nothing, it was more friendship than romance.

When he finally shows up in the present he dies. Shiro goes to the memorial and signs than that’s it.

The writers really made a dumb move of hyping it up but they let us down by having him die. They try to make it up by having Shiro marrying some guy who has a very little screen in the final season. Similar to Regular Show with Mordecai marrying a batgirl but not dumb while Voltron trying to get brownie points for having LGBT rep.

Lance and Allura were really forced. For six seasons, Allura was never interested in Lance and only saw him as a friend but in season 8, the two confessed their love for each even though there wasn’t any chemistry nor sign that they truly love each other and they insensitively become a couple for one date. I would’ve supported if their relationship was established back in season 2

The Legend of Korra

The love triangle between was handled so poorly with bad timing, making characters look terrible, making things force and having it engage more than the plot.

For the first season, there was a love diamond. Bolin liked Korra, Korra likes Mako and Mako liked Asami and those two go out. Korra and Mako kissed which broke Bolin’s heart but he got over it but when Asami finds out when Korra was missing, she gets jealous. I understand that she was concerned about her relationship with Mako but during when Korra, the avatar that is missing while Equalis are on the move? That’s not the right moment to get jealous when Republic City is gonna be under attack but of course, Mako and Asami break and Korra gets in with Mako.

In season 2, things get worse when the happy couple keep nagging and they break up

Which he tries again with Asami

After Korra got her memories back but forgot breaking up with Mako, she asked him if it was bad however though he lied and everyone judged him for that dick move, especially Asami who started to have feelings for him again. Thankfully they broke up because that was just an awful way to get someone back by having their mind erased.

Also, Bolin was with Eska and it was abusive. Forcing him to be her man, changed his whole entire to match with hers and she forced him to marry her.

What’s worst about it is no one is concerned about him being with her and instead they just laugh like it’s supposed to be funny. Being in an abusive relationship isn’t funny and I hate how the show treats it so. By the end, they just forgot the whole thing that ever happened and moved on with their lives.

Season 3 and 4 kept the romance to a minimum with Bolin x Opal and Jinora x Kai but there was one romantic relationship that had to happen with no hints or build up and it’s Korra x Asami. By the end of the series, they decided to go to the spirit together while holding hands and having their eyes glazed toward each other and they become a couple.

While many of you may say that they hinted it since season 3, however, it looks like friendship. Blushing and writing to her isn’t enough to say they have feelings towards each other. That is what best friends do too. The creators even have to confirm that they are a couple and the comics showing their love while it’s nice and all but it would’ve been a lot better to show it either on streaming service or live television than buying volumes to see more of their pairing, it’s balderdash. Now it’s time to talk about a cartoon that has one of the worst romance I’ve ever seen in my entire life of watching shows.

Star vs The Forces of Evil

Star vs The Forces of Evil has one of the WORST romantic subplots I’ve ever watched, it is even worse than CW’s Arrowverse romance and that’s saying something. The romantic subplot makes Star and Marco look like terrible people that only care about each other more than other characters.

Jarco

Out of all ships in SvTFoE, Jarco has the most establishment than most others. Marco liked Jackie when he was little and it was bound to happen that those two will date. Ever since season 1, the relationship has been growing to platonic to a romantic couple in season 2.

Their chemistry together worked well but then “Sophomore Slump”. When Marco finally went back to Earth, he was obsessed with Mewni and Star and he won’t stop talking about and he still wears the cape. When Jackie told him to stop obsessing over Mewni which he tries to do but it got the better to him by he still wears the cape when he was on his date with Jackie. It’s really BS when Marco said to Jackie “You’re my best friend” which ruined everything that it established since season 1 and this, of course, caused them to break up.

Then he left Earth to go to Mewni the day after their break up. It’s a real shame that building up their relationship and giving Jacie character got shoved aside for Starco. Although she returns and meets up with him again I can’t help feeling that it just for fan service and being inclusive for Jackie being Bi

Tomstar

Before the show started, Star and Tom were a couple but broke up due to him getting angry very easily and he wanted her back for the past two seasons luckily he stopped trying in “Mr. Candles Cares”. Their relationship becomes healthier when Tom gives Star space and that causes them to get back together and not have feelings for Marco anymore.

Tom went through a lot of development for Star and it was a Mewni x Monster romance which is similar to Eclipsa and Globglor and it fits season 3. After rewatching it, it was pretty good. However, like Jarco, it was doomed from the start due to fans wanting Starco to be canon even though Tomstar was getting good. Also, Star was a terrible girlfriend to him.

Star never told him she kissed him, Marco did and when Tom confronted her about it, she got mad and tried to walk away.

She mistreats him by nagging somethings, blowing on his face and angrily ask translate

She declined on going on a vacation with him so she can be with Marco.

Even his mom was afraid that she might break his heart again and her response “Everybody breaks up. That’s what teenagers do! Teenagers are dumb”. He went through so much development, changed his character and gave her so much but she never returned the favor. What an awful girlfriend

Kellco

With Tom and Star getting together (for now) it left Marco feels devastated that she’s dating someone and can’t get rid of his feelings for her while Kelly doesn’t want to be with Tad which she broke up with him. They both have something in common and start to hangout and their relationship has developed throughout season 3 and he’s with her more than Star.

They became officially a couple as “breakup buddies” in “Kelly’s World” and it also when they did a perfect synchronization between two partners.

So they’re pretty much a good pair but everything changed when the episode “A Boy and His DC-700XE” and did an off-screen break up. I don’t care who or what you write but never, ever a major plot point or character development offscreen. Kelly finds happiness when she leaves Tad but they break up with no explanation. It was glossed over like for five seconds and Marco doesn’t even care about their break up, what an a*hole.

This relationship feels like a real waste of time and serves nothing to the plot nor character development, it was just there to waste time.

Starco

Before I talk about Starco, I used to ship it and I thought they were enjoyable characters. They would've worked in a relationship if things were written better and would have been the next Phineas and Isabella but sadly the writers messed up probably the easiest romance to write.

Season 1, Star and Marco became best friends. Although there weren't many romantic moments they still look pretty good together

Season 2, As Star was happy for Marco that she’s finally dating Jackie, the girl he has had a crush on since preschool,

on the other hand, she started to have feelings for him and she has trouble expressing it.

In season 3, Marco started to have feelings for Star which caused him and Jackie to break up. Star told him that he wants nothing to do with him romantically in “Lint Catcher” and Tad told him that he does have feelings for her in “Lava Lake Beach” and he wasn't happy to find out about it at all. Then in Booth Buddies, they were held hostage by some freak until they kiss and they were completely in denial about having feelings for each other

Then season 4 is when Starco becomes really sour. Star and Marco always keep saying that they don’t want to have feelings for each other and yet the writers have several episodes before the end of the series

. They never showed any romantic interest until “Mama Star” where he confessed his feelings to her and then they kissed in the second last episode. By the finale, instead of either of them going back to their dimensions they went back to the World of Magic and held each other. It would’ve been more meaningful if they got together before the end of the show.

It’s very odd that they risk their lives for a relationship that just started. However, for some miracle, both of their worlds collide and become one with no explanation of what so ever.

Starco could’ve been a lovely ship but the writers have to keep messing around with it till the very end.

Conclusion

Whenever a show presents a romance, I don’t mind as long it either fits with the narrative of the story it be fun but 2010s romantic subplots have been written very terribly by having it the main focus but sacrifice pacing and quality of the story, forcing characters to become a couple without establishing it enough in the show, and having characters go off for the sake of drama. Romantic stories can be simple and cute like Kim x Ron from Kim Possible, Suki x Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Starfire x Robin from Teen Titans and that’s all right. I do hope that this generation will fix what the previous decade of cartoons has failed to do.

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freedmfighter · 3 years

Text

dossier — JET.

FULL NAME. jet MEANING. named after the gemstone, it is known as a highly prized magical and protective stone, meant to guide those on their journeys and protect against evil. NICKNAME. n/a GENDER. cis male. ETHNICITY. earth kingdom HEIGHT. 5′11″ AGE. 16/17 ( verse dependent ). ZODIAC. aries ( passionate, motivated, and confident leader / impulsive, temperamental, daring ; element : fire. ; ruling planet : mars. ) SPOKEN LANGUAGES. verse-dependent ; multilingual .

physical characteristics !

HAIR COLOR. dark brown, almost black in some shades EYE COLOR. a dark hazel, perceived as brown unless in the right light they have hunts of a forest green SKIN TONE. warm brown BODY TYPE. between ectomorph and mesomorph ; has the body of a martial artist ACCENT. / VOICE. confident, somewhat drawling , someone who when speaking everyone listens to despite what volume he’s using. DOMINANT HAND. ambidextrous POSTURE. slightly hunched but because everyones so fucking short, in all fairness. THE WAY HE CHOOSES TO SIT IS ON HIM, THOUGH. he has a relatively loose and confident stance, often putting his hand on his hip SCARS. beneath his clothes, he is actually branded with several areas of scar tissue from sword fights and burn marks -- significantly ones that wrap around his ankle when he couldn’t climb a tree fast enough and on his shoulders and upper-arms. he also has scars ( undetermined location ) from having to be self-taught with his lethally sharp hooked swords. TATTOOS. eventually he does in modern verse via stick-and-poke... MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). his eyebrows are seemingly always in an arched state, he’s significantly taller than a lot of his company, and he has very fluffy/shaggy dark hair. he also usually is chewing on wheatgrass.

background !

HOMETOWN. a small earth kingdom village somewhere near gaipan MANNER OF BIRTH. natural. FIRST WORDS. undetermined ; debating on “ma” ( which daiyu was really happy about ) or “jet” ( which was a response to them saying ‘your name is jet’ , and him echoing that. ) alternatively, it’d be funny if it was something he wasn’t supposed to repeat, like a curse word. SIBLINGS. n/a, but he thinks of the freedom fighters as his siblings. PARENTS. daiyu ( birth-mother, deceased ). qingling ( non-biological mother, deceased ). PARENT INVOLVEMENT. raised by two mothers until the age of eight years old when they were murdered ; his biological father wasn’t really in the picture, but I’m still weighing between whether he was merely a donor or someone daiyu was in a relationship with but went off and was killed in war, and qingling stepped in the picture to originally help but in the process they fell in love with each other ; up until his parents deaths, they were extremely loving and protective of him, attempting to balance between letting him have fun and educating him in very blunt means on the horrors unraveling around them. jet loved both of them equally, and mourned them intensely. in how he raises the freedom fighters and orphans he takes in, he mirrors a lot of their mannerisms and keeps their legacy alive in that way. ( hot take: they would be very proud of who he became, though greatly saddened by the cause for it. )

OCCUPATION. social activist, public speaker, and founder of post-war orphanages and shelters. CURRENT RESIDENCE. changes depending on his travels, but he likes to stay in the earth kingdom FINANCIAL STATUS. born in a respectable “middle-class” home turned destitute CRIMINAL RECORD. theft, aggravated assault with a weapon, attempted murder, acts of terrorism, murder ( though out of self-defense or legal in war-setting facing hostilities ) VICES. anger, arrogance, swearing, wrath

relationships !

CLOSE FRIENDS. all his freedom fights <3 , eventually he likes to consider aang a close friend with hopes for the rest of the group. RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single. SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. demi/biromantic. LOVE LANGUAGE. physical touch & acts of service.& words of affirmation RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. jet is fairly unexperienced regarding romantic relationships as his priorities have been directed towards survival and familial bonds ; as a resort of this, he often makes exceptions towards romantic interests by bridging the familiar with the new, picking partners that can reflect what traits he praises himself for: goal-oriented, seeking justice, talented, can hold their own, and come with flaws. he is very affectionate when having romantic attraction and tries to find ways to hold their hand or face or shoulders. he does have jealous tendencies based off fear of loss, but over-all those of romantic interest are those he has deep admiration for and trusts them. he will only be protective if he feels like he needs to step in, which in case he doesn’t hesitate. seeing as he’s NEW to relationships, he will go about having conversations about what they like and don’t like, what they do and don’t want him to do. he’s big on communication. it should, however, be noted he has slight manipulation tendencies/tactics if he feels he has to prioritize something over the relationship.

miscellaneous !

THEME SONG. Landslide - Fleetwood Mac ( especially because of this video ) / You’ve Got to Run ( Spirit of the Wind ) - Buffy Sainte-Marie / Take Back the Power - The Interrupters HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. practicing his swordsmanship, sparing, climbing as high as he can and seeing how fast he can either get down, or helping others pass the time by inventing games. On the occasion when he wants alone-time, he spends time trying to mimic bird-calls. MENTAL ILLNESSES. severe case of post-traumatic stress syndrome ( ft. insomnia, constant attempt to re-live/re-enact trauma, violent flashbacks, constant vigilance, angry outbursts, intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma. ), possible borderline personality disorder ( seeking an explanation for such a black/white mentality , impulse, and rage that might not stem from PTSD, but unsure if i’m just projecting. ) PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. due to PTSD, his body suffers from a state of autonomic hyperarousal with hypervigilance, an enhanced startle reaction, and insomnia ; I’m still working out the lasting effects from the lake laogai incident LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. a balance, but slight leaning towards right brain for creativity and intuition. PHOBIAS. I would say he has pyrophobia, but he isn’t afraid of fire so much as the people who weaponize it ; and even then, he’s less scared of fire-nation, rather than scared of what they’re capable of. I wouldn’t put that under a phobia, as its reasonable or an attribute to his PTSD symptoms. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. extremely high to the point he almost has a god-complex and I debate if he has narcissistic personality disorder ; he is unbothered by criticism and is extremely self-assure and confident in everything he does. VULNERABILITIES. it is very easy to manipulate jet by triggering his ptsd ; he also has lasting effects from the dai li brainwashing him to the point the phrase “the earth king has invited you to lake laogai” still triggers him, though not to the extremity aang had witnessed, as jet was capable of breaking out of it once and had a short-lived experienced with the dai li. ( HEADCANON UNDER CONSTRUCTION ) ; he is also extremely loyal to his friends and loved ones to a point he’ll do anything to keep them safe ( don’t mistake this as cooperation with the enemy, rather I will kill anything that stands in the way of their safety without hesitation )

TAGGED BY. stole from @burnbanished TAGGING. YOU?

#ⅱ. › STUDY.#ⅴ. › HEADCANON.

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fridasfantasy · 4 years

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The Girl in the City

A/N: First one-shot, imagine thingy. And it is Avatar: The Last Airbender. No one saw this coming, especially not me. I went through the tag the other day and saw someone say that there’s a desperate need for more Sokka x Reader fanfic. And I agree. So, here is my contribution. I hope you enjoy! <3

Word Count: 2198

Pairing: Sokka x F!Reader

Summary: During their stay in Ba Sing Se, the Gaang luckily meet their neighbour – a brave and outspoken teenage girl. From the very first day, she tries to help them with information she knows as a member of the Upper Ring society. Sokka just happens to stumble into her one day while in the city and enjoys getting to know her. Very much.

~o~o~

Something is rotten in the city of Ba Sing Se. After a whole day spent walking around the city and trying to get any kind of information about Appa, all they managed to get was a sinking feeling in their stomachs. Sokka had a hunch that it had something to do with that Joo Dee woman and her strained smile. How was it possible that no one would talk to them about the war?

As soon as Joo Dee’s carriage pulled away, Sokka noticed two faces watching them through the window from the house across the street. When he locked eyes with one of the curious culprits, they both slickly hid away.

“Hey, come with me,” he said to his friends.

They made their way to the house and knocked. A grey-haired man hastily opened the door and greeted them with a wide smile.

“You’re the Avatar. I heard you were in town. I’m Pong,” the man said.

Those words were followed with quick footsteps, as the teenage girl who Sokka caught peeping through the window made her way back to the door and joined her father at his side.

“So it’s really true,” she added and bowed, hitting her father lightly and urging him to do the same. “I’m Y/N. We’re honoured to have you here.”

“Oh, there’s really no need for… That,” Aang said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “It’s nice to meet you, though.”

Y/N sent them all a confident smile when Sokka quickly interrupted the pleasantries, despite being temporarily distracted by her beaming eyes.

“So, Pong, Y/N. what’s going on with this city? Why is everyone so scared to talk about the war?”

“War, scared? What do you mean?” Pong replied nervously, while Y/N stiffened next to him.

“I can feel you shaking,” Toph said to him.

“Look, I’m just a minor government official. I’ve waited three years to get this house. I don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Get in trouble with who?” Katara asked.

“Shh, listen, you can’t mention the war here. And whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li,” Pong said and slammed the door shut. Sokka saw Y/N flinch and shoot her father a reproachful look.

As they turned back to go to their house, he could hear their muffled voices behind the door and noted how Y/N’s quickly overpowered her father’s.

After dinner, the group’s chilled evening was interrupted by an unexpected knock on their door. Katara went and answered it, only to find Y/N standing there with a nervous smile and a tray of baked goods.

“Hi, again,” she greeted. “I’m sorry to barge in, but my mom and I thought you might enjoy some dessert after dinner. She’s a baker in the city and brought these traditional cakes home from work, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. The recipe is one of Ba Sing Se’s greatest secrets,” she shot Katara a meaningful look.

Katara looked at the tray and saw a piece of parchment poking out from under the cookies. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she seemed to understand the girl. Thanking Y/N, she took the tray and called for her friends so they could find out what this secret recipe was all about.

~o~

Y/N’s note helped them understand that the Earth King won’t be the one to help them. It is silently understood in her father’s work circle that all the orders they have to deal with don’t come from the Earth King, but they do not know for sure who the string-master in this play is. This lead the group of friends to work out a plan to go to the King’s party, where they made the unfortunate acquaintance of the grand secretary Long Feng.

A few days passed with no sign of Appa or any hope of an uprising against the Fire Nation. Sokka found himself one evening walking along the streets of Ba Sing Se, when he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice.

“Through all the long night. Winter moon glows with bright love. Sleet, her silver tears,” the voice read in a lyrical tone.

“What is this?” Sokka asked himself once he detected the window from which the voice was coming from.

There he saw Y/N standing on a small stage, reading to a room full of girls their age and a middle-aged tutor. He noticed how calm and collected she looked in comparison to the other times he saw her nervously fidgeting. She was wearing a fancy kimono, one of the fanciest he saw in Ba Sing Se, actually. And the lights were highlighting her soft features and his face took on a dreamy expression as he watched and listened to her voice.

“Ah… Poetry,” he sighed.

Before he could realize what was going through his mind, he felt a kick on his behind and ended up painfully hanging from the window, for everyone to see.

“I am so sorry,” he blushed. “Something struck me in the rear. I just… Wound up… Here?”

He heard slow laughs around the room, the loudest one coming from his right. Only then, he noticed he was already on the stage, just a few feet away from Y/N. He sent a glance her way, accompanied by a smug smirk on his face.

“Hi,” she mouthed and gave him a small wave.

Who knew that soon after that whole scene one of the most important battles of his life would take place. It was only him and the teacher, going back in forth in a haiku battle while the girls in the audience, including Y/N, laughed at Sokka’s antics, much to the teacher’s displeasure. But then, Sokka did the unspeakable and miscounted his syllables. Y/N almost felt sorry for the guy, letting out a hiss as she knew what was about to happen. She gave him a small shrug as he looked at her for help before the guard basically sent him flying out.

The last thing Y/N expected was to see Sokka outside after the lesson, casually leaning against a building. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and made her way to him.

“Um, waiting for someone?” she asked him.

“Yeah, actually,” he said as he straightened up. “You.”

Y/N looked even more confused than before.

“I figured I could sit and wait for you, so neither of us has to walk alone,” he explained, still rather surprised at himself for actually deciding to wait for this girl.

“Oh, well, that’s very kind of you. Thank you, -” she paused. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name back there.”

“Sokka,” he said and smiled awkwardly, realizing how weird it must have been for her to have almost a complete stranger wanting to walk her home. However, she still seemed confident despite the weird situation.

“Want to get going then? I kind of need to be back home soon,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go,” he started walking straight down the street.

“Sokka, it’s actually this way,” Y/N called after him, pointing to the opposite direction.

“Oh, right. I just went to check out those… Cabbages,” he said, trailing off.

“What do you have in that weirdly shaped bag?” she asked him suddenly once they started walking.

“This old thing holds my trusty boomerang,” he answered enthusiastically.

“Your boomerang?”

“Yup. My father gave it to me a long time ago and ever since then it has been my weapon of choice.”

“Well, interesting choice,” she bit her lip to hide her smile.

“Hey! What have you got against my boomerang?”

“Nothing! I just got to say, I’ve never met anyone who’s chosen a boomerang for their weapon of choice. I actually don’t think I’ve ever met someone who even owns a boomerang.”

“Then all those people are missing out. What do you even know about boomerangs? Or weapons for that matter?”

“Excuse me?” she scoffed. “I actually know my fair share about weaponry, thank you very much.”

“Oh, is that so?” he teased her.

“Yes,” she answered with determination. “I’m in a rush to get home because I have class with my sword master. And my weapon of choice just happens to be a ninjato sword, if you happen to wonder.”

Sokka’s mouth was wide open, showing how he truly didn’t expect that answer.

“How come you’re walking around unarmed then?” he asked her.

Y/N stopped where she stood, deciding to just look down at her outfit and letting the boy figure it out by himself. It took him a minute, but-

“Right, poetry-haiku-thingy you were just at. Dress. Make up. All that,” he mumbled uncomfortably

They continued their walk down the streets of Ba Sing Se’s Upper Ring while making small talk. Finally reaching their street, Y/N suddenly turned to Sokka.

“Say, Sokka, would you like to join me in my sword fighting lesson?”

“What?” he asked with wide eyes.

“You heard me. Come on. Join me today. It would be nice to train with someone new, more challenging. Besides, I’d love to see how you fight with that thing,” she nodded towards his boomerang.

His face still showed a stunned expression and he looked at the girl in front him. She shuffled a bit, fixing her expensive-looking kimono that began to feel uncomfortable. There was no need for him to be shocked by any of this. The girl did risk her and her family’s position the other day by giving him and his friends a snippet of information the Dai Li and Long Feng would rather have concealed. And after the Kyoshi Warriors, meeting a brave and armed girl such as Y/N should not have surprised him.

“I would appreciate it if you would stop staring at me like that and try giving me an answer instead,” Y/N said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Okay. I’ll train with you.”

He enjoyed just watching her lesson and marvelled at how agile she was with the ninjato sword. He never saw anyone wield that weapon back home. Her master was very gifted, but it soon became evident that the student had surpassed the teacher some time ago. Sokka got to show off his boomerang; to the master, to Pong, and to Y/N as well. She even admitted that the weapon had more to offer than she had initially thought. And after a small misaim that nearly cut half of the girl’s hair off, Sokka put it neatly away in his bag, smiling innocently.

Now, she was standing in front of him, both of them unarmed. They were ready for a sparring match to finish her lesson off. She was the first to attack, which he kind of expected at this point. He began figuring this girl out. Or so he thought. She may have started the fight but her blows were noticeably weaker than she had displayed just moment ago during the training session. He easily blocked her and soon began to strike back. She wasn’t tired, he could tell that by how fast she was able to react. So what was she playing at? Soon enough, he found himself desperately trying to be quicker than her but somehow couldn’t even match her pace. All it took was just one sloppy and tired hit for Y/N to grab his arm and twist him into a yielding position.

“Yeah, it figures,” he mumbled. She pulled the age old trick of tiring him out at the very beginning and took advantage of a single moment of weakness. She knew he would overcompensate.

She loosened her grip on his arm but left her hand linger on his upper arm as he turned around.

“This was great! You’re so good!” she said excitedly.

“Wha-? But, I lost,” he was once again confused.

“That doesn’t matter at all. I had so much fun,” her other hand found its way to his other upper arm. “We have to do this again another day! Please?” she sent him a hopeful look, squeezing his arms lightly as she jumped slightly in the air from excitement. He couldn’t help but smile as a fleet of butterflies made their presence known in his stomach.

What? Where did that come from?

“I-I would like that very much,” he smiled softly and she returned it, suddenly feeling shy.

~o~o~

A/N: A few things, if I still have your attention. If not, that’s okay too lol I am bad at action sequences. I am bad at titles. Actually, I am new to writing all together. This might be really bad and I’d appreciate if you’d let me know what you think. Also, anyone interested in a second part? This is a F!Reader imagine, I will try to make my other ones more inclusive, universal so to say. I just really wanted to post this to get myself motivated.

Okaaay, I’m done now. Have a nice day/evening/night ^_^

#sokka #atla #atla sokka #sokka x reader #sokka x oc #avatar #avatar the last airbender #sokka imagine #sokka one shot #avatar: tla #avatar sokka #avatar fanfiction #atla fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #sokka fanfic #sokka fanfiction #atla fanfiction #avatar fanfic

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koala-otter · 4 years

Text

the teacher and the scientist au: worldbuilding

I am writing some original stuff right now, and as a break where I can keep writing, I’m going to explain some of my worldbuilding/choices that I make when it comes to my modern “the teacher and the scientist” AU. The hope is that it will be fun for others to see what goes into a fic, or give people ideas for their own fics!

*a quick note: I am a white Latina! I have no East Asian heritage! I studied for a while in Beijing and speak Mandarin Chinese fluently, so I kind of defer to my experiences there when making worldbuilding choices in fic (because I believe strongly in writing what you know, especially given the damage you might cause by writing what you don’t know), but will also do research online or through friends on other countries and cultures that inspired the four nations in ATLA. But all of this is just to say that while I do put a lot of thought into this stuff, I am by no means the authority on any of it, and I am open to criticism and of course always want to make sure I’m not doing anything harmful with my writing. I promise to listen and adapt if you approach me about literally anything in my fic or in this post.

Ok now let’s get into it!

1. The setting: Ba Sing Se’s Natural History Museum This is based on a combination of the Beijing Museum of Natural History, the American Natural History Museum in New York, and Beijing’s Forbidden City/Gugong. Beijing I think is probably the biggest inspiration for Ba Sing Se with the ring system and centering of the palace (and I mean the Earth King’s palace is pretty directly based off of Tiananmen Square), so it seems like a pretty solid model for a modern Ba Sing Se to me.

2. The field trip I went on so many field trips to the Natural History Museum when I was little, and they were always the absolute most fun of the year. And I feel like we went to the planetarium basically every time? It was kind of fun to recall and try to capture the experience of being a little kid on this trip in this fic

3. The Lower Ring & the Middle Ring I put Zuko and his students as coming from the Lower Ring for a few reasons. Firstly, I couldn’t imagine Katara and Aang living in either the financial district that is the Middle Ring or the ostentatiousness of the Upper Ring. I think if they were in Ba Sing Se they’d work and raise their family in the Lower Ring (I will be getting into their jobs in later installments of this story, so I won’t explain them here!), which means Bumi goes to school in the Lower Ring, which then means Zuko has to work there in order to be his teacher and for this entire concept to work out (and also the reasons explained in the actual fic where he lived there with Iroh and wants to give back). And the museum is in the Middle Ring because I wanted it connected to the university, which canonically is in Ba Sing Se’s Middle Ring.

4. Sokka as an astrophysicist Because Sokka is a smart kid and a huge science nerd, okay??? And Yue and the space sword. It makes sense. Also, because Ba Sing Se = ATLA’s Beijing, I think of Ba Sing Se University as Beida （北大）or Peking University, which is China’s first national university and one of the most, if not the most, selective university in the country (disclaimer: I did not study at Beida!!). But yeah BSSU is the Earth Kingdom’s most illustrious university and one of the best research institutions in the world, and Sokka’s a tenured professor there. My boy’s world-class brilliant.

5. “Teacher Zuko” Ughhh I really struggled with this. Basically, I was taught in learning Chinese to address teachers as “Surname 老师 (lao3shi1),” which is “Surname Teacher.” But! I didn’t want to give Zuko a surname, because that seemed rife with opportunities for missteps (there’s a lot that goes into surnames of literally any country or culture, from geography to family history and occupations, and I didn’t want to co-opt anything that wasn’t mine to use). So I knew the kids would call him by his first name. But “Zuko Teacher” sounded off. And in Chinese, titles like Mr. or Miss or Mrs. go after one’s surname, while in English it’s the opposite, so I figured for this fic it was appropriate to implement the English convention. So! “Teacher Zuko.”

6. Sokka’s appearance Sokka’s one of those hot, young professors that appear only in popular media, or once in a blue moon. He finds out from Katara that white sneakers are an easy way to look in the fashion know while remaining marginally professional for class, and they become a staple of his uniform. I picture him in Stan Smiths. (And of course they’re a little beaten up! It’s Sokka!)

7. The gaang’s ages Okay, so, I can’t find the actual post where this is broken down, but I think canonically it makes sense that Katara and Aang were 22 and 20, respectively, when Bumi was born. I put them in this fic at being maybe a year or two older in this fic, so let’s say 23 and 21, when they have Bumi, in Katara’s second year of med school. So when this fic takes place, as Bumi is six years old, they are 29 and 27, and Sokka and Zuko are then 30 and 31.

oh my god we’re only 700 words into a 4,000-word fic why did I decide to do this to myself

8. Sokka looking at his watch and having a penchant for exact minutes He’s a master scheduler. That’s it.

9. “My Uncle Mushi lives in Chin City” This was just kind of an opportunity to integrate more from the ATLA universe! Obvi “Mushi” is Iroh’s refugee alias, but whatever another kid can have it, and yeah Chin City is that terrible village with all of those wacky people from “Avatar Day.” So we know the kid’s uncle is wacky. Fat chance of going on a field trip to visit him.

10. Zuko calling Bumi talented There’s that scene in the episode where they go to the Sun Warriors that Zuko calls Aang “a talented kid.” Bumi’s Aang’s son, so I figure by the transitive property Zuko would describe him the same way.

11. Zuko’s scar I don’t know why but I often forget to mention Zuko’s scar in other fics! Either way, I find kids usually respond to people’s differences better than most adults do. Kids just see things and comment on them, which, yeah, can be rude by societal standards, but I’d imagine it would be very refreshing for Zuko after going much of his life with people trying to avoid either staring at the left side of his face or talking about what happened. Also, I didn’t really want to get into the cause of the scar. Obviously Ozai did it. I don’t have an idea of how. Other fics have done that better. Explaining it within the fic the way Zuko would explain it to his class seemed like a good way to tell the reader, “Hey yeah it’s the same cause as in the show,” but then not have to get into it.

12. Sokka hates intro classes Ughhh no one likes intro classes, and I’d imagine it’s even worse for professors. Prerequisites are often too easy for the kids intending on majoring or too hard and meant to weed out the kids who can’t stick with the department’s program. College is funny.

13. Aang volunteers in Zuko’s class From what I can tell, parental involvement in schools is only getting bigger. And Aang is a great dad and I think he’d take any opportunity to get involved with Bumi’s school.

14. Zuko’s backstory I should probably take the time to explain this! Basically I think of this story existing in a universe where after they moved to Ba Sing Se under circumstances comparable to their being refugees in the show, Iroh and Zuko actually stayed in the city, and Zuko got his education there. And yeah! My boy went to BSSU, too!

15. Stargazing at the South Pole and seeing the moon at the North Pole Oh my god the pure amount of thought that went into this. I worked with the assumption that A:TLA takes place on Earth, and that then the rotations of Earth, and the rotation of the moon, are the same as what we experience now (I’ve thought about this extensively, especially as it pertains to the hemispheres and the seasons, but I don’t want to talk about it here, we simply do not have either the time or space). So the South Pole is essentially the same as our Antarctica/South Pole, except that it is capable of sustaining human life for an extended amount of time, and in theory has greater biodiversity (clearly I have also thought about this extensively, but again, we have neither the time nor the space for my theories). I had to read a NASA report on the phases of the moon as seen from the South Pole! And it turns out you can’t see much of the moon down there, and it is always in crescent form. but yeah, you see a lot of stars (but in the opposite rotation of what we see in the Northern Hemisphere), and I thought that was intriguing, especially given the importance of moon imagery throughout the show. Thus, Sokka’s first seeing the moon in the Northern Water Tribe, which ties in perfectly with his meeting Yue, his first love: “You could say the moon was my first love.” (Which someone pointed out in a comment on Ao3, and it absolutely delighted me that they noticed!)

16. Pipsqueak Just looking for more people from the show to serve as first graders in this fic. Someone commented that they pictured him the same size as he was in canon, and I laughed out loud.

17. Tuyanjing I was trying to think of constellations that look like badger-moles, and I honestly just thought, “Ursa Major. Badger-moles look like giant bears.” And “Tuyanjing” (土眼睛) is my own translation of “earth eye,” which was meant to be a nod to the animals’ connection to Toph and their blindness and earthbending.

18. All the stars & mentioning the Fire Nation & Water Tribe navigation I was initially going to write something in this scene about ancient constructions, like the pyramids, that were built using the constellations, and then create some elaborate metaphor about them and Zukka. But the only coherent thought I had about it was that it was “Too Much Work.” Instead I realized okay sailors always use the stars for navigation, and the Water Tribes and Fire Nation are the only nations we’ve seen with boats, so let’s go for that, and it works out because if you squint maybe you’ll read something about the stars guiding them to each other. Maybe we’re evoking thoughts of star-crossed lovers. And then we mention the moon again, and Zuko’s really seeing it for the first time, kind of like Sokka did, so hey I don’t know maybe that’s a symbol of something. Maybe.

And that’s really it I think! Hopefully this was at least entertaining if not entirely informative. I don’t normally write stuff out like this, but it is a good reflection of my thought process while writing most fics. Again, I am open to any kind of communication about the above as well as anything else I’ve posted! And I’d love to hear about any of your own ideas that help you with worldbuilding and writing your own fics :)

#atla #writing stuff #my writing #zukka #the teacher and the scientist

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zi-i-think · 4 years

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3 | Yu Dao

Pairing: Zuko x Ama (OC)

Word Count: 3300+

.☽☼☾.

Ama waited in the gardens for what seemed like hours. When I'm reality, it's only been sometime over thirty minutes. She tried to pass the time by reading, but after a while she gave up. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked around the garden. There was the pond, the pavilion, the trees. But no Zuko.

He was usually there in the morning to talk and be with each other until he had to get to his Fire Lord duties. He was never late. In fact, the only times that he wasn't in the gardens in the morning was when Ama wasn't there either.

With a huff, Ama closed her book and walked back inside where the closest guard would be. "Good morning, Officer Chasu. How is are you?" She greeted the officer with a chirpy tone and a warm smile.

"I am doing well, Lady Ama. Thank you for asking." The tall soldier responded. He didn't break his stance for a moment, but he gave the waterbender a smile. She was always friendly and kind to the people working at the palace, and everyone appreciated it.

"Have you by any chance seen the Fire Lord?" It felt weird to address Zuko that way, but Ama knew that when address people in power and other people formally she had to use proper etiquette.

"I- you haven't heard?" He asked in confusion.

Ama's head tilted and her eyebrows furrowed. "Heard what?"

"Fire Lord Zuko left his morning to Yu Dao." He told her.

"He left?!" She couldn't help the frustrated tone that left her mouth. "Without telling me? Goodness, I swear..." She held her tough. The waterbender couldn't really speak freely in the middle of the palace after all. Turning back to the guard, Ama gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Officer Chasu. Have a great rest of your day."

"Likewise, Lady Ama." He replied.

Ama walked away, into the long, silent hallway. How can he leave like that? No warning. No note. Nothing. A long breath escaped through her mouth and she fiddled with her nails. It was like a needle in the heart.

She knew he was stressed. He refused to talk about work with her no matter how much she insisted to help. But that didn't mean he could leave without a word. An idea popped into Ama's head. A way to help out.

Her pace quickened, hurrying back to her room to write a letter.

.☽☼☾.

A whole week passed when Zuko returned back to the Royal Palace. His feet hit the floor with heavy steps. He was tired and overwhelmed.

Ama found him in the throne room. "So the Fire Lord has returned." She spoke up by the door.

Zuko turned around, seeing the Water Tribe girl approach him with a frown. "Ama." He started, walking towards her as well. "The mob outside Yu Dao is gone. For now, at least, the Fire Nation citizens are safe."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows, she didn't even know what he was talking about. And as much as she wanted to ask about what was happening in Yu Dao, there was a different thought on her mind.

"You left without saying anything to me!" She growled. "I had to figure out where you were by one of the guards!" Zuko looked at the ground and stayed silent. "Zuko, I've told you. If you're having problems you're suppose to talk to me. I'm you girlfriend for crying out loud."

"You're right." He sighed and Ama stepped closer to him. "It won't happen again."

Ama put her hand on his cheek her eyes observing his face. More specifically, the dark bags under his eyes. "You're still having trouble sleeping." She noted out loud.

"Yeah." He admitted.

Ama took his hand leading him out the throne room. "You're bodyguards are fine, but I mean, you're Fire Lord now. You need the best of the best." She moved the red curtain to the side, revealing five Kyoshi warriors. Two of which were her good friends Suki and Ty Lee. "So I asked some friend to come help."

.☽☼☾.

Ama enjoyed reading. She didn't get to do it often during the war, but after, she found herself engrossed in a good fantasy or mystery. But reading the laws and the history of the Fire Nation left her bored. She found herself zoning out and then having to re-read certain passages.

The sound of footsteps caught her attention. Looking over, Ama saw Suki walking through the library. "Oh, thank goodness." Ama grinned. "I need a distraction." Closing the scroll, Ama leaned her head in the palm of her hand.

"Ama there's something you should know." Suki's serious and hesitant tone make Ama sit upright and her grin disappeared. "Zuko has been visiting Ozai."

"What? Why?" Ama wondered. That didn't make sense. At least, she didn't want it to make sense. She wondered if what she feared was actually happening. If Zuko was starting to turn into his father.

"I don't know. He didn't tell anyone about it." Suki answered. "I was hoping that you could talk to him about it. Just to make sure that-"

"I know." Ama interrupted Suki. She quiet for a minute before she stood up from her seat. "I'm going to talk to him." The Kyoshi Warrior watched as Ama walked out of the library.

The waterbender found Zuko in the throne room, yet again. This time he stood on the stage for the throne. The fire in front of the throne was lit with a thick flame. She learn him mutter "this isn't me." before he got rid of the fire.

Walking forward, Ama revealed herself on the lower floor. "I know you've been meeting with Ozai secretly." She said up front.

"Ama! Who did you hear that from?" He looked surprised to see her.

"Not from you, that's who." She snapped with a light scoff.

Zuko sighed, shutting his eyes tightly. "I know I've been distant, Ama. I'm sorry. I- I love you."

The way he begged, the way he stumbled in his words, he sounded distressed. "Zuko. I just need you to talk to me." Ama told him. Her voice was soft, caring, soothing. Zuko felt safe when hearing her speak.

"I'm been getting advice from him father." He started. Surprisingly, Ama didn't react badly. She looked at the ground in thought, but allowed for him to continue. "I just, I need to protect my people. The people of Yu Dao, they have lives, families. I can't break that up. I went to him for guidance."

"He want's me to be fierce. Show no mercy. But, I know I need to wait." He said firmly. "Listen to Earth King Kuei first. But I worry that thing might go into a different direction."

"You know I'm just worried about you." Ama told him. "I just want to know what's going on. You never let me in." Zuko was quiet. He opened his mouth to say something, but a new voice came into the room.

"Fire Lord Zuko." A general spoke respectfully and bowed on one knee.

"General Mak!" Zuko was expecting for the general to visit and anxious to hear what he had to say.

"A message has arrived from the spies you sent to the Earth Kingdom." He reported.

"You sent spies?" Ama sounded surprised, but at this point, she didn't know if she should be.

"Your suspicions are confirmed." The general continued. "The Earth King's army now marches towards Yu Dao."

"Father, you were right." Zuko mumbled to himself. Ama gasped. Another war? Over a city? King Kuei wasn't willing to talk. He believed that Zuko was completely turning back on his promise That he wasn't honoring the end of the war.

Zuko immediately started barking orders, setting up a meeting for that day. The intent was to prepare to meet the Earth Kingdom's troops. To protect his people.

"Zuko..." Ama started as the general started to walk away.

"I understand that you may not want violence, Ama, but I have to do this. For my people." Zuko interrupted her.

Ama shook her head. "You're not going alone." She spoke firmly. Zuko was surprised at her position. After all, the Harmony Restoration Movement was an idea that she agreed with strongly before. But now, it seemed she had a change of heart.

And she did change her mind. Hearing about the families that would be broken up. The entire cities society could collapse. She could stand by and let that happen. She'd stand by Zuko. She didn't always understand his methods, like the part where he kept secrets. But she trusted him enough.

.☽☼☾.

Ama rode on a Komodo rhino beside, but a few feet behind, Zuko. He wore his traditional Fire Lord robes and armor, helmet and all, to meet the battle. Ama wore black clothing with blue accents on the hems. She didn't want to represent the Fire Nation Army, despite that being exactly what was happening.

"We don't look like ourselves." Ama muttered to herself. It felt so wrong to be going into battle again, especially with a Nation that wasn't hers. But she believed in what Zuko was saying. If the people in Yu Dao can't keep their families, can't keep their homes, their lives. What did that mean for her and Zuko?

Besides, it was King Kuei who sent the troop. He refused to hear the Fire Lord out. To understand why he was turning his back on the Harmony Restoration Movement.

So caught up in her conflicted mind, Ama didn't realize that they were at Yu Dao's gate until her rhino stopped. Taking in the scene, she was overwhelmed. The Earth King's army stood proudly on their ostrich-horses or in their tanks and King Kuei in an air balloon. In the middle was General How, along with Aang, Katara, some teenage girls in orange and protestors of Yu Dao from both sides of the argument. Then there was the Fire Nation army on the other side.

One of the Fire Nation tanks rolled up further than the others and stopped in the middle, by Aang and Katara. And the people who came out weren't Fire Nation soldiers, they were Toph and Sokka.

"Fire Lord?! What's going on?!" A general asked at the commotion.

"I'm not sure...!" Zuko answered, having to shout so that the general would hear him.

Katara and Ama caught each others eyes. The sisters shared a terrified and sympathetic look for each other. Ama saw that Katara wasn't angry at her, or betrayed. She looked understanding.

Something Toph must have said, made Katara turn away and argue with the little earthbender. Until Toph jumped down from her tank and the ground cracked towards the Fire Nation tanks. The bolts flew out form the wheels, making the tanks fall apart.

"Quickly, Earth Kingdom Troops, while the Fire Nation of in disarray! By Royal Decree, enter Yu Dao and arrest the colonials!" General How of the Earth Kingdom ordered.

"Fire Lord, our tanks-!" General Mak started, but there was no time.

"Soldiers of the Fire nation, defend our people in the city of Yu Dao! Your Fire Lord commands you!" Zuko commanded loudly. Ama took a deep breath in and out, keeping her place by Zuko.

"No!" Aang shouted, flying above the Fire Nation soldiers and landed in front of Zuko. But he flew up again, this time in the Avatar state. His eyes glowed it's blue-white and the air around him spun. "The Harmony Restoration Movement was such a simple plan! Why couldn't you just follow it through?"

Ama couldn't express how much gratitude she felt for Katara when she slid on ice over Ama's head and grabbing Aang out of the air. "Snap out of it Aang!" Ama let out a sight of relief that Aang didn't go through with his drastic promise.

But she couldn't just stand by anymore. Throwing her leg over the rhino, Ama spilled off the animal and onto the ground. But she bent water into ice to catch her and moved it forward with her on top. It created a slide-like structure with her at the front.

She landed on top of the city's wall where Katara and Aang were just talking. But the Avatar took his glider, leaving the situation to contemplate the issue. Katara turned, seeing her sister step off her ice-slide. "Ama." She sighed and embraced her sister. "This is all-"

"A mess." Ama finished. "I know."

"Let me see if I got this." Sokka's voice appeared. He, Suki and Toph took a rock elevator, so to speak, in order to meet the sisters on top of the wall. "The protestors and the Earth Kingdom army want the colonials to go, the Fire Nation Army wants the colonials to stay, and the Yu Dao Resistance just want their city to be left alone?"

"Yes!" Katara basically shouted in frustration.

"So where's Aang flying off to then?" He asked.

"He needs a place to be calm, to figure things out." Katara answered.

"What is there to figure out?!" Toph interjected, her tone was annoyed and angry. "If he wants harmony-" Ama rolled her eyes. Of course Toph would side with the Earth Kingdom army. She was an all or nothing kind of girl, and to her the Harmony Restoration Movement was only option.

"Look, I trust him!" Katara snapped to defend her boyfriend. "And after all we've been through, you ought to, too! So for now, we need to keep all those people down there from killing each other. Kind of like what Aang's fan club is trying to do."

"Aang has a fan club?" Ama asked in confusion, looking down at the battle and seeing girls in yellow Air Nomad clothing and red bandanas covering their foreheads and were half-bald.

"Yes, Ama. That's old news. Living in the Fire Nation has really got you out of the loop." Sokka shook his head in fake disappointment.

"Tell me about it." The oldest sibling grumbled.

"We need to split up!" Katara got them back on track. "Toph and Suki, you disarm as many Fire Nation troops as you can. Ama and I'll work on the Earth Kingdom soldiers."

"And I'll take care of the protestors!" Sokka early claimed the task for himself. "But how am I supposed to get down there?"

Toph bent the earth, creating a steep slide down the wall. "Here you go, Sokka." She crossed her arms smugly.

"Aw, not another one!" Sokka groaned and Ama could assume that Sokka has had unpleasant experiences with Toph's earth slides.

Ama and Katara gave each other a determined nod and both created slides of ice to get to the ground. They both stuck to using water whips in order to knock out and push back the Earth Kingdom soldiers.

Ama practiced regularly in order to maintain her chi. Her body flowed like water and her fighting looked so natural. Her water followed the flow of her hand, smacking the soldiers to the floor with it.

Katara looked up, seeing King Kuei's hot air balloon flying above their heads. "I'm going to try talking to the Earth King." Katara told her sister urgently. Without waiting for a response, the youngest sibling took off on a slide of ice.

With a grumble about how Katara was leaving her to deal with all the soldiers, Ama kept up her pace, focusing on keeping the Earth Kingdom soldiers back. Until minutes later, she, along with everyone else, was interrupted by a boom and a bright, blue light in the mountains.

Everyone in the battle looked at the light in awe. Aang in his Avatar state, with all the elements surrounding him in the form of a sphere. He flew between General How and Fire Lord Zuko, staring down at Zuko emotionlessly.

"Aang, I know how this looks!" Zuko pleaded with him, believed that Aang had the intent to fulfill his promise. "But I swear to you, in my heart...!" He stopped, sighing as he removed his helmet. "None of that matters, does it? I'm doing exactly what my father would have none."

The earth underneath Aang, between the two armies cracked and broke, creating a deep cavern. Zuko was too close to it, the earth under him fell, and so did he. "Zuko!" Ama shouted, running to the cavern.

Aang flew down, grabbing the Fire Lord by the wrist and flying him back up. As Aang sat him onto the ground gently, the Avatar state left him. Ama slid on the ground beside the shocked and confused Zuko. Her arms wrapped around him and she tightly hugged him.

"You gave me a heart attack. What the fuck, Zuko." She worried and pulled away. Zuko was too much in a state of shock to respond. He sat there, staring at absolutely nothing.

Ama looked over to her friends. King Kuei stood alone as Aang and Katara stood together in front of him. Along with Yee-Li, the daughter of the firebending mayor and an earthbender, her boyfriend, Sneers, and the rest of the Yu Dao resisters.

"Earth King Kuei, look at who you're fighting!" Aang demand for the king to look at the people around him. "Fire Nation, yes. But also Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, and now, Air Nomad. This is who stands against your army."

"And against the Fire Nation army, too!" Sneers added.

"It took me a while but I finally understand, but I finally understand." Aang continued. "You're fighting a whole new kind of world."

King Kuei's eyebrows arched up, realizing that he may have been wrong. That he overreacted. The chants and shouts of the protestors interrupted his thoughts. "Don't listen to that ash-maker propaganda, Earth King Kuei! Harmony now!"

The Earth King held up his hand to silence them. "Quiet! Quiet! I need to see that I.. what I..." He turned to the resistance, seeing them stand strong together. From both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. "I just need to see."

While he looked around, Zuko was standing up slowly with Ama's assistance. "Zuko...?" Aang looked over at the Fire Lord.

Zuko was taking deep breaths in and out, trying to steady himself. "So I was right, then?" He was almost shocked that he made the correct decision. "All along... my decision... was right?"

His body was too overwhelmed and he passed out. Ama had her arm on his shoulder before, but as he fell, she moved her body in front of him so that he'd lean on her instead on being collapsed on the dirt floor.

"Zuko!" Aang exclaimed and ran over to the Fire Lord.

Ama looked from Aang to Zuko, her soft hand running through his hair. "He's okay, Aang." She assured him. "Our favorite Fire Lord has just exhausted himself."

"Let's take him to Iroh's." He suggested, which was likely the best option. "He can get some rest there." Ama nodded in agreement. They got Zuko onto Appa, took him to Ba Sing Se, and where Iroh eagerly allowed for Zuko to rest.

Standing outside and looking over the vast city, Ama felt the wind on her face. Only a year after the war ended, another one almost started. The world was changing. The nations couldn't just go back to being separate again. Yu Dao showed that.

Now, it was only a matter of time until something else came along. Until something else was hurled at them and their lives took another turn.

.☽☼☾.

This might be the shortest chapter in the entire book, so that’s fun. lmao.

Hang loose, amigos 🤙

#fire lord zuko #zuko #zuko fanfic #zuko x oc #atla fanfic #aang #her sun his moon #atla

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kuchee · 5 years

Text

a silly 5+1 ficlet for zutaraang week, day 1 ‘confession’, sokka confesses he doesn’t know wtf is going on 🌝. post-Heartlines. read it on ao3!

All things considered, Sokka would say he's a pretty shrewd guy. Sure, he might not be the most perceptive person in the world when it comes to people's feelings – his first kiss with Suki comes to mind - but he's had a lot of life lived, since then. He would know, for example, if something weird was going on in their little Team Avatar.

"I think Kuei is actually losing it," Toph remarks, once Sokka finishes recounting today's paper to her. Toph is practically the United Republic Council's unofficial sixth member, with the amount of time she spends after her shift here whenever Sokka is present, sharing noodles and news - owing to the terrible mush they serve at the police station canteen, according to her.

"Tell me about it. I know he doesn't have the best track record with this stuff, but I think twelve zeppelins full of bodyguards is a little excessive for a routine national tour."

Toph crosses her legs and rests her feet over the table in front of them, digging her chopsticks into her noodles. Sokka winces at what the other council members might think if they knew the furniture was being used this way. She nods, referring to the other headline today, "It's pretty cool what they're doing with healing in the Northern Water Tribe, though."

"I guess." Sokka cringes a little, even though he agrees. He doesn't know if he'd let anyone mess around inside his veins for any reason. Even if it was going to save his life. Even his own sister. "I'm just hoping I never get injured enough to need a bloodbending surgery." He shudders.

Toph makes a tutting sound. "Don't be such a baby. It's pretty amazing. I'm totally asking Katara if she can help me repel mosquitoes like that."

Sokka raises an eyebrow, his pride a little bruised at the comment. "Well, that would be after it bit you wouldn't it?"

Toph pauses. "Oh yeah. Well, whatever. Where is she, anyway? She said she'd meet us here at the council when she finished teaching today. She's been working overtime since her honeymoon."

Sokka nods around a bite of his seaweed rolls, "I wonder what Aang's still doing in the Fire Nation, too. He went back to the capital with Zuko after we left, right?"

Toph snickers. "I could guess what."

Sokka continues, not really understanding her comment. "Those jerks doing some kind of jerkbending training again?"

Toph cackles again, actually slapping the table this time. "Hah! Good one."

Weird. Sokka doesn't think it was that funny, but he'll take it.

Later that evening, they join Katara in her and Aang's apartment, since she ended up working late. Back on the topic of their recent trip, Sokka waggles his eyebrows at her, "All that time spent in the Fire Nation can't be good for him. You'd better make sure the Fire Lord isn't trying to steal your husband, Katara. You know what the rumours are in certain parts of the city."

Across from him, Katara gives him a withering stare. When Sokka whips his head around to Toph, her hand is pressed over her mouth in giggles.

Toph digs her elbow into him. "Way to be subtle about the new development."

Sokka doesn't get it. "What development?"

At his comment, both of them actually laugh, Katara's skittering into an uncharacteristically high pitch. Sokka finds this development worrying. It's as if they're having a secret conversation, Katara making amused, furtive glances at Toph, who simply stretches with a cocky languidness, and puts an arm around each of them, like she knows the answers to something very important.

Toph coughs. "Oh, nothing."

"You really don't know?" Katara seems flustered despite her laughter.

Toph is whistling, an irritating tune that makes Sokka bristle.

"Hey!" Sokka jumps in, defensively. The more amused the two of them get, the more he panics. He laughs lightly, mimicking them. "I totally know what you guys are talking about. Of course I know."

Sokka is on high alert for any odd behaviour the next time they're all together again. Is it something to do with Aang? Is he doing some top secret mission that involves Zuko in the Fire Nation? Maybe it's something that happened when the three of them were in the Earth Kingdom?

Well, they're in the Earth Kingdom again, so maybe something will give. Sokka's planning the rooms for the Liberation Day ceremony in Ba Sing Se. They get invited every year, being key players on the city's side in the war and all. It's not often that they all get to be in the same place at the same time so Sokka takes it upon himself to book them into the same hotel. A few late-night gatherings after the festivities sounds about perfect.

A nice apartment suite at the top of the Royal Earth Hotel does the trick (The Earth King's favour for the Avatar, of course). Katara and Aang get the big room, on account of being recently married. Toph - never a fan of Ba Sing Se - just scoffs and says she doesn't care as long as there aren't too many rules, so Sokka gives her the one farthest from the door, with a nice balcony so she doesn't feel too stifled. Sokka's happy to take the second nicest room with Suki.

He only learns at the very last minute, when they're heading home after the first day, that Zuko has ditched his royally uptight entourage and will be staying with them too.

"But we're all in one apartment," Sokka frowns. He doesn't want the poor guy to get left out.

"I think it'll be alright, Sokka," Zuko says. Oddly, he glances quickly at Katara on Sokka's other side for some kind of assurance and back again.

Sokka puts his chin in his hand, thinking. It's safe to say that it's so late at night they can't exactly go knocking for the Earth King and ask for a bigger suite. "Wait! We'll get Toph to earthbend another bed! Don't worry, Mr Fire Lord, we'll find you somewhere." He puts a friendly arm around Zuko.

"I– uh– actually I can-" Zuko, for some reason, looks deeply uncomfortable.

Toph interrupts, utterly gleeful. "Well, with recent developments," she emphasises, clearly aiming her words at Sokka, "this apartment's just the perfect size!"

Sokka laughs, trying not to sound alarmed. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that?" Everyone is looking at him; Zuko with his hand over his face, Katara, Toph and even Suki wearing matching looks of mischief.

He wishes Aang was here and not entertaining whatever big Earth Kingdom officials there were back at the festival. That kid would definitely have his back, and tell him what's going on.

"Sokka," Katara says, trying to sound firm, but Sokka can't help but scowl at the trace of amusement he detects in her voice. "It'll be fine. You don't have to worry about it."

It's almost midnight and Aang still isn't back. Sokka sits in the middle of his bedroom, racking his brain. Toph and Suki are hanging out in the common area, nursing dizzy heads and tea (there was more than enough alcohol back at the festival) but he needs to be away from the chatter. Think. What could possibly be going on that they all think it's so funny to hide from him? Zuko had almost told him back there.

That's it! He'll just ask Zuko straight. Maybe take him out to the balcony, under the pretence of having a hearty catch-up, man to man, over the ongoing fireworks.

Sokka marches to his destination, knowing he heard Zuko's voice in the kitchen earlier. He swings the door of the kitchen open, "Zuko, I thought you might– Katara?!"

Zuko is there. And so is his sister. And Katara's arms are around Zuko's neck, both of their cold teas forgotten on the counter. For a split second Sokka thinks he might just have caught them in the middle of a deep conversation. But no– he'd be fooling himself, it's as clear as day. Zuko's hands are wrapped around her waist, and his hair looks recently loosened from its style, and his expression is soft. Katara's hair is messy from where she was – and Sokka feels faint – pressed against the wall. Neither of them heard him, clearly. He looks down into his own cup in his hand to check it isn't cactus juice.

"I thought… you...might like to come out for the fireworks," he squeaks. And promptly leaves.

His mind is reeling. Suki or maybe Toph says something to him as he takes a seat in the common room, but Sokka doesn't hear it. He's going through a hundred different thoughts with every passing second. He swallows. What's he going to say to her? I want you to be happy? You know if something happened between you, I'd have to take your side. But do you really think it's fair to…?

"Sokka–?"

But you just got married and…

"Sokka!"

Sokka almost jumps off his seat. He turns. Oh, crap. It's Aang. He's back.

"What's up? Are you alright?" Aang's eyes widen, taking in his frazzled state.

Crap, crap, crap. What should he do. "Um," Sokka mumbles. "Katara– Zuko– kitchen?"

Aang's brows furrow minutely at his stuttering, but he clasps Sokka's shoulder and says, "Awesome," heading in that direction.

Suki and Toph are watching him intently. Is this what–? Is this what they were–? What is wrong with all of them? Aang returns a moment later with a steaming cup of tea in his hands. Calm as a summer breeze.

"Did you, are they– are you–" Sokka says, feeling sweat beading on his forehead.

Aang's about to open his mouth and answer (oh no) when his expression changes and Sokka whips his head around just to catch Suki making a no motion, waving her hand across her neck. Sokka's head is a jumble.

"What are they up to in there?" he squeaks, changing tack.

Aang laughs evasively, a hand scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, you know. Talking."

"Mhm," Sokka says. Next to him, Suki clasps his arm and gives it a squeeze. Good. He needs that.

Sokka's feeling a little calmer the next day. Mostly, he's tried to put it out of his mind and enjoy the festivities. But when they're all seated together in the vast courtyard in Ba Sing Se's palace, and Aang gets up to give an opening speech, he feels the guilt weigh in the pit of his stomach.

"Some of you may be aware I spent weeks this summer in Daoshu after the record-breaking earthquake. Witnessing the resilience of the Earth Kingdom's people, over and over again…"

Poor kid. Always so earnest. Sokka zones back when Aang is finishing up, once he manages to get his worry under control.

"...in this great country, of both happiness and hardship. It's been a crazy year, full of things both amazing and terrible. I want to hand over this ceremony to the mayor on one particular note. I've learnt so much through the years since the War and this year, in Daoshu. The thing about disaster is you never know when it'll hit, even when you've been safe and protected for so long. We can't control the strike of tragedy, but we can control what note we want it to leave us on.

"That's why there's nothing more crucial than knowing what's important– the people we love. Write to your mom and dad and tell them you miss them. Visit your grandparents, your grandkids. Tell your kids how proud you are. Hug your friends!" The crowd raises its voice in a string of whoops.

Aang leaves behind his solemn tone and fully grins right at their group, in the midst of the crowd. "And you better tell that particular person exactly how much they mean to you." An even bigger cheer shoots through the audience. Sokka feels Suki take a heartfelt sigh next to him at those words. He turns to her, curious. Her eyes are glittering with feeling from the whole speech, but the twist of her lip means she's thinking of something more specific than that. "Isn't it so great that it all worked out?"

Sokka could scream, if he wasn't in the middle of a captive audience. What?

He takes advantage of the ensuing applause to leans behind Suki and look at his row of friends. A few people are glancing at Katara; they're probably thinking about their recent wedding. But Katara is only looking at Zuko, beaming at him, her hands clutching his in his lap, and Zuko is absolutely, completely, without a doubt blushing. Even Toph can't help a small smile, patting Zuko's shoulder on his other side.

Again, what?

"Psst. Suki."

She cranes her head towards him to hear him over the crowd. "Yes?"

"Listen… I act like I know what's going on – with Zuko? And Aang? Katara? The three of them? But I'm not sure I have any clue at all."

Boy, does it pain him to admit it.

Suki draws her eyebrows together in consideration, and then raises them all too suddenly understanding."Sokka…" she starts, gently, trying not to laugh. "You really haven't realised, have you?"

+1.

He would not have guessed in a million years. Nope. Never. What a world, huh?

"When were you gonna tell me?"

Katara's patting his back in sympathy. It's nicer than the first five minutes she spent just laughing. "Toph thought it would be funny once… and your reaction was so hilarious, we just kept going with it."

Sokka scratches his head, still trying to put it all together. "Wait– how long?"

Katara stretches her arms out in front of her. They're sitting together far from the rest of the party, snatches of music and murmurs still audible in the night air. "Since we were in Daoshu."

"At least I got that part right."

He has a thousand questions running through his head - only some of them he actually wants to know the answer to – but only one surfaces. "Are you, you know, happy?"

Katara sits up straight, nodding, like she has to prove something to him. She doesn't, of course, but it makes Sokka's mood lift. Like, a lot.

"Yes. Oh, you don't even know."

"And Aang?"

Katara shifts into an affectionate smile. "Honestly, I think he's been in love with Zuko longer than I have."

Woah. That is very strange to hear. And hearing her talk so nonchalantly about her husband and the Fire Lord is different to– well, maybe his entire worldview. But he'll get over it.

"You know," Sokka says, once he's spent a few minutes digesting, "I don't know if it's him or Zuko who lucked out on this one, then."

"It's me," Katara says before he even finishes his sentence, a breathless grin on her face. "I'm the one who lucked out."

That's when Sokka knows he won't have to worry. And it maybe takes the edge off the humiliation he's endured. Still, the sting remains.

"Katara?"

"Yeah?"

"You have to help me get back at Toph."

#zutaraang #zutaraangweek #zutaraangweek2019 #heartlines #my fic

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avatarwindboy · 6 years

Text

Why I should be hired to work on the ATLA Netflix Series: A Resume by Avatarwindboy

1. I am actually so obsessed with this show that not including me at this point would be kinda weird.

2. So I can forcibly shove all my headcanon’s into the middle of the table and stare at producers and writers until they get uncomfortable.

Ideas include but are not limited to:

- Aang biological parent backstory as Bryke hinted originally wanting to include.

- Iroh’s wife and past pre-Lu Ten’s death backstory.

- King Bumi giving more insight (and letting us, the audience see it play out) into the early years of the war.

- More flashbacks involving Kya. Just to really make us upset, you know?

- More Jet time. Like, not just one episode. Leave him with the Gaang for an entire season almost. Let us quickly fall in love with him and then slowly, painfully, shockingly realize how disturbed and troubled he is. Make it hurt. Hurt me real bad, please.

- Things could ALWAYS be gayer.

3. So I can point out plot holes with the originally TV series. Like, really, it don’t make sense that Zuko wouldn’t try to rescue Mai. It really doesn’t. Fix it, please.

4. I got a bubbly personality and a can-do attitude.

5. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone crying harder than me over just the announcement. This kind of energy can be good for crew morral.

6. No seriously, plot holes and betterment--There needs to be multiple languages, you have the chance now DO IT. It looks silly without multiple languages, you’re welcome.

7. I don’t even know them but I will already protect these children playing my children with my life.

8. I could really use the job.

9. I can quote the entire originally series, so you don’t really need anyone else to fact-check, I got you.

10. I’ll physically karate chop any Netflix producer who even breathes the suggestion of making the show “More Edgy for the teens... Like Riverdale!” don’t even worry, I’m here to protect the whole project, you can count on a genuine, good-faith, heartfelt effort at bringing Avatar’s best story to life.

11. I am always open to more suggestions which everyone reading this should add:

@bryankonietzko @michaeldantedimartino

#ooc #atla #avatar #im SO EXCITED #im trying to be cool #like i cant even process all my emotions into words #i have high hopes for this #and after last time i really cant be let down worse so its already off to a promising start #but serious #hire me #i might actually have a degree that could work #just saying #AND WHAT DO YOU ALL WANT TO SEE??#If you were to be hired what suggestions would you make??#whats the one thing you really #really want to see in live action?#TELL ME EVERYTHING

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softlysoftlysoftly · 6 years

Text

Every Precious Thing (Interlude)

Summary: “It’s supposed to be easy,” she says as the ashes fall into the sea. “The life you have after you save the world is supposed to be easy.” It’s not long before the Gaang admits that things might have been simpler when they were fighting a war. -A series of scenes in an undeservedly tragic life- (Post Series, non-Korra compliant)

A/N: Happy early update! I entered an outtake (if you squint) from this story into Zutara smut week. Check it out if that’s your style. I’m not sure if I’ll do these 50 sentence interludes for every cycle (and of course after I wrote half of it I realized there were set word prompt lists for all the sentences, so I kinda cheated). But I really love the way this one turned out. Hope you enjoy!

#1 - Silver

The servants whisper that widows are cursed women; Katara reasons that this means she should get an extra bun with dinner.

#2 - Rock

She loves him with everything she is, but Zuko’s tsugi horn playing should be considered an instrument of war.

#3 - Three

There are still days when she struggles to leave her bed, but now she has Koza to whine and needle and bother and cry and drag her away from her sorrow.

#4 - Wedding

Sokka marries Suki and swears to her that there is nothing she could ask for that he will not give.

#5 - Covenant

Zuko marries Katara and explains to her how few things she could ask for that aren’t already hers by right.

#6 - Heirs

It takes a week of questioning before anyone will tell her why Koza’s nurses go to weeping every time she declares her intent to give him a bath.

#7 - Queen

The Water Tribes are ruled by tradition, the Fire Nation by honor; Katara looks at where she’s been and wonders if she has either.

#8 - Phantom

On her worst days she listens to Koza laugh and hates the world for the little blue-eyed boy he isn’t.

#9 - Honor

The servants call her “Lady Katara;” Zuko corrects them before she has a chance.

#10 - Yinyang

She rises with the moon, he rises with the sun, so for balance’s sake they must sometimes spend the whole day in bed.

#11 - Mother

The Fire Nation doesn’t have a formal ceremony; she stands with her toes in the ocean and introduces Koza to the moon and swears that henceforth he will be as her own.

#12 - Traitor

“It’s possible that this might be at least as good as stewed sea prunes.”

#13 - Sweet

Katara could be crowned Supreme Empress Overlord of the Known Universe and Beyond and Toph would still call her Sugar Queen and flick toe gunk at her head.

#14 - Mine

It never occurs to Koza to call her mom; her name is Katara and that means the same thing anyway.

#15 - Armor

The Fire Lord doesn’t travel during the new moon.

#16 - Sovereign

With time, she learns to make every seat into a throne and every room into a cathedral.

#17 - Kindred

She never feels as close to her mother as she does on the nights when she dreams that she burned instead of them.

#18 - Buzz

No one warns her about the potency of fire whiskey; Zuko remembers their wedding night fondly and Katara remembers it not at all.

#19 - Forever

(He makes up for this with a hundred more fondly-remembered nights, several dozen mornings, a handful of middays, and one particularly instructive week.)

#20 - First

“Of course I’m glad you did well, but I really shouldn’t have to explain to you why a pie eating contest is not becoming of a Fire Lady.”

#21 - Raw

She tells him about the lost days (when they took me, when they broke me, when they used me, when I was gone) in shreds and whispers over the course of years, but she does not speak of it unless the moon is full.

#22 - Logic

Koza seems skeptical that there’s really a baby hidden in Katara’s swollen belly, but is polite enough not to tell anyone how stupid that sounds.

#23 - Feather

His lips move softly across her skin and she smiles even as she moans; Zuko does gentle ember just as well as he does raging flame.

#24 - Rule

The hearts of the Fire people are won with wise judgements, true words, and ferocity when it’s called for.

#25 - Link

“We’re a team,” she whispers and hooks a pinky around his as the Fire Sages present them to their people.

#26 - Reflex

It happens when she’s exhausted, when she’s been drinking, when she’s upset, that Zuko reaches for her in the middle of the night and her body recoils in terror.

#27 - Home

There’s a day when they’re touring a smaller Southern town and the crowd calls out her name and Katara’s heart expands.

#28 - Priorities

“People who are incubating the royal line of succession don’t have to attend budget meetings.”

#29 - Dirty

Zuko says there’s no honor in cheating and Katara agrees emphatically as she teaches Koza to aim kicks for the groin.

#30 - Eclipse

Eventually the good days overshadow the bad.

#31 - Cobalt

Drunk Zuko’s favorite topic of conversation is the indescribable blueness of her eyes.

#32 - Legacy

They call Katara the Southern Serpent and her daughter the Little Asp.

#33 - Religion

He says her name as if it’s a prayer; she says his name as if it’s a talisman.

#34 - Bind

Aang doesn’t talk about what he saw in her mind, but a season never goes by without a letter or a visit.

#35 - Alarm

Sometimes Zuko kisses her awake and sometimes he chooses a squealing child and tosses them onto her bed.

#36 - War

Koza chooses his bedtime stories from the assortment of scars that crisscross her arms.

#37- Porcelain

She is secretly relieved when the baby is born a girl; she doesn’t trust herself to love another blue-eyed boy without falling to pieces.

#38 - Sunlight

There’s something unbelievably sweet about the way Zuko’s smile can fill up a room.

#39 - Apples

“Why do I even bother letting you two out of my sight?” she sighs and ignores Zuko’s exact scowl pointed up at her from two small, bleeding faces.

#40 - Tarragon

When Koza asks how the baby got in there in the first place, Katara becomes suddenly absorbed in the delicate flavor profiles of her soup.

#41 - Diamond

Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it’s messy, but this life is always exactly what she wants.

#42 - Phobia

“Don’t die,” she whispers as he kisses away her tears, “don’t ever die.”

#43 - Echo

Mai’s spirit haunts her when she least expects it: in the color of her sitting room, a forgotten gown in her closet, or the dry wit of the son she left behind.

#44 - Aurora

The night she is born, Katara kisses every tiny fingertip on her daughter’s hands and feels the heaviness drop away, if only for a moment.

#45 - Eagle

In the evenings, they stand together at the top of the tallest tower in the palace and watch over the Nation that is theirs to fix.

#46 - Roots

“My daddy is a dragon,” the girl tells the shopkeeper as she takes her flavored ice, “and my mama knows the moon.”

#47 - Hush

She sits on the floor just outside the nursery and listens to Zuko sing tentative lullabies.

#48 - Obedient

“Is that an order, my Lord?” she drawls and squeals with laughter as Zuko pounces.

#49 - Sentinel

He is her husband, her king, her protector, her heart; though he stumbles, Zuko does not let her down.

#50 - Infinity

“What if we call her Koana?”

#fanfic #atla fanfic #Zutara #Zuko #katara #Fire Lady Katara #fanfiction #writing #romance #50 sentences

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disneygirl2202 · 7 years

Text

The Banished Commander (Zuko x Zara) Chapter 4

Prologue 1 2 3

Zara’s P.O.V.

“Thank you so much King Boomy.” I say

“My pleasure to help an old friend.” He says

I look back at Aang and he just smiles. I bow to Boomy then walk over to Appa, climbing in.

I watch as Aang says his goodbyes then we take off.

-~-

“Guys, look, its an earthbender.” Katara says

I walk over and look through the bushes, to see a boy earthbending.

“Guys, we need to be careful.” Sokka says “We don’t know if he’s an enemy or not.”

“Hi!” Aang says, showing himself

I laugh softly then see the boy run off.

Aang looks back at us and we shrug.

-~-

We walk into the village, seeing people everywhere. I follow Katara and Aang into a shop and freeze when I realize that the same boy from earlier is standing there.

“Hey, we saw you earthbending.” Katara says

“Haru, they saw you what?” The woman says

“They were the only ones.” He says

“Don’t worry. His secret is safe with us.” I say

“How can I be so sure? You’re one of them.” She says, motioning to my clothes

“I was banished by the Fire Lord himself almost 4 years ago.” I say

“She’s trustworthy, I promise.” Sokka says

“Why would you keep your bending hidden?” Katara asks

“If army here were to find out that Haru had the ability to bend, they would take him away, just like they did with his father and the others many years ago.” His mother says

I look out the window and see some of the Fire Nation men coming this way.

“Speaking of them, we have some coming this way.” I say

Zuko’s P.O.V.

I shoot one of the men back as he comes running at me. I look at him as he gets back up, ready to keep fighting.

“That’s enough for today.” My uncle says, walking out

“I can continue training. I feel fine.” I say

“I said that’s enough for today. You can continue tomorrow.” He says

“Fine.” I grumble, walking to my room

I sit on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

-~-

I walk into the courtyard and see Zara, standing in her stance, facing away from my uncle, sweat dripping down her forehead.

I stop at the fountain, watching her as she tries bring up a wall of fire again, only for her fire to sputter out.

“Why does it keep sputtering out?” She groans

“Are you breathing correctly?” My uncle asks

“I think so.” She says “This is one of the simplest moves, yet I can’t get it.”

“Try again, but try to straighten you stance.” He says

She takes a deep breathe, taking stance again and tries again, this time, getting it to about her head then it dies out.

“There you go Zara. It just takes concentration and practice.” My uncle says

She nods and grabs the towel and wipes her forehead, taking a deep breath, looking around.

“i’m never going to live up to my father’s name. He was one of the best firebenders and commanders this nation has had.” She says

“Zara, don’t worry about your future, you will be great as you practice and learn more.” My uncle says

“You’re right. I should get going. I have homework to do before tomorrow.” She says

She runs past me, holding onto her school bag, not noticing me as she is in a hurry.

“So this is where she rushes off to after school every day.” I say

“There you are Zuko. Your father was looking for you.” He says

I nod and walk inside, heading towards the throne room.

-~-

I look out into the sea, watching it as it all blends together as we continue our search for the Avatar.

“I don’t want to hurt it, but it’s about to the point where I’m going to have to.” I say

“We all know this Zuko. But we are leaving it up to you to make that choice.” My uncle says

Zara’s P.O.V.

“Thank you so much for letting us stay here.” I say to Haru’s mom

“It’s our pleasure.” She says

I look over at the cliff and see Katara talking with Haru as they were looking out towards the village.

“I think I am going to head to bed if that is alright with you guys.” I say

“Yeah. We’ll wake you up when it’s time to eat.” Sokka says

“Thank you again ma’am.” I say

She nods and I walk into the building that we are staying in and get into my bed, closing my eyes.

-~-

“Hey Zara, how is everything coming along?” Zuko asks

“What are you talking about?” I ask

“Your training.” He says

“Oh, right. They’re coming along. Just have to work on my breathing when I get frustrated.” I say

“Don’t we both.” He laughs

“Shut up. It’s not my fault that I have worse anger problems than you.” I laugh, giving him a light shove

“I know. You got it from your father.” He says

“Exactly. Who knows which one.” I say

He nods then sits next to me on the bench as I am looking at my hands.

“How are you holding up?” He asks

“I’m getting along, just wish they were still here to help guide me down the right path.” I say “What if I’m not meant to go this way?”

“You’ll figure it out on your own. Just follow your instincts.” He says

-~-

I wake up to hear Katara come in yelling. I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“What’s up?” I ask

“They took him.” Katara says

“Who took who?” Aang asks

“The guards took Haru in the middle of the night.” She says

I stand up and see Haru’s mother come out. I walk past her and set my hand on her shoulder, watching her as she looks up at me, tears in her eyes.

“We’ll get him back.” I say

-~-

I watch as the guards take Katara away. I bite my bottom lip, hating having to watch this.

“This better work you guys.” I say

“You know she’ll be fine.” Sokka says

I glare at him then walk towards where Appa is, getting into the saddle.

-~-

I look at Katara in shock then nod.

“I know the warden, he hated my father. He doesn’t know that I was banished, so I can come up with a lie and watch over everybody until you two are ready.” I say

“That should work. Just be careful.” Aang says

“You know it.” I say with a wink

-~-

“Warden, this girl claims to be General Jian’s daughter.” A solider says

I watch as the warden turns around and looks at me, crossing his arms and sighing.

“What might she be doing here?” He asks

“My father wanted me to train to lead under you as he could not be here to teach me the strings to being a leader.” I say

“Hmph.” He says

I shrug, crossing my arms, studying him.

“Bring her to the watch tower by the prison yard. She can watch over the runts.” He says

The guard nods and leads me towards my new station. I walk past where Katara and Haru are standing and I see Haru’s shocked expression.

I motion for him to be quiet and nod at Katara as she goes on her tip toes and whispers something in his ear.

I reach the station and look around and watch as the guard walks away, leaving me be. I shut the door behind him and lock it, heading to the glass, trying to spot Katara from my area.

-~-

I watch as Haru finally gets the courage to throw a piece of coal at the warden and I smile as I move out of the way of the other soldiers, standing next to Katara.

“Oh, so you’re working with them?” He asks, looking at me after he tries to attack Haru

“Maybe you should stay updated on the banished ones.” I say

“Only if your father could see you today. He would have been so proud as you made the choice he died for. As I am jealous that Zhao was the one who took the pleasure of killing him, he had it coming though.” He says

I summon some fire to my hand and throw it at the warden.

“Don’t ever talk about my father like that again. He has done more than you ever will.” I say

-~-

I watch as the warden struggles to stay afloat, I laugh and look back, walking over to Katara and Haru with his father.

“Thank you for everything Katara. If it wasn’t for you, all of us would still be stuck there.” Haru’s father says

“It was nothing.” She says

“You did great back there Sweetie.” I say, setting my hand on her shoulder

“I hope you realize that you had me nervous back there when you first showed up.” Haru says

I laugh and rub the back of my neck, looking at the ground.

“Yeah. Sorry about that, that was just the best way for me to contribute and protect Katara here.” I say

“How did you even get them to let you do that?” Tyro says

“My father was one of the Fire Nation’s better commanders, Commander Jian.” I say

“Commander Jian?” Tyro asks

“Yeah. He was killed a few years ago, before I was banished.” I say

“Father, wasn’t he the one who tried to keep you at the village?” Haru asks

“I think that was his name. He never told me his name.” Tyro says “But if I remember correctly, when the other fire nation man killed him, he did say something about his daughter back home.”

I look at him, a little shock on my face.

“I didn’t know he was stationed here. The Fire Lord sent him somewhere and he wasn’t allowed to tell me or my mother.” I say

Tyro nods and takes my hand, looking me in the eyes.

“He was a good man. He would be very proud of you.” He says

“Thank you Tyro.” I say

“Guys, my necklace is gone!” Katara yells

I look back at her and see her hand where her pendant should be.

Zuko’s P.O.V.

I walk through the prison and see a piece of blue fabric on the ground. I pick it up and see that it is the water tribe girl’s.

“Uncle we barely missed them.” I say, holding the necklace towards him

“Iroh, that student of your’s has gotten out of hand.” The warden says, storming up

“You mean Commander Jian’s daughter, Zara?” He asks

“Exactly! Did you not teach her she is not allowed to mess with this place. She came here and helped all of the prisoners escape.” Warden says

“Well, maybe you should stay up to date on who is currently banished.” I say “Uncle, we should leave.”

“She’s just like her father.” He says

“And that’s a bad thing? She’s better than you.” I say

“I still wish that I was the one who got to kill her father, not Zhao.” He says

Before my uncle can grab me to hold me back, I attack the warden, knocking him onto his back.

“Don’t talk about her family like that, or next time, I will do much worse.” I say

“Somebody is rather sensitive when it comes to the girl.” He says

“Zuko, that’s enough. If we want to catch up with them, we need to go now.” My uncle says

I get up and nod, clenching my fist around the necklace and head back to the ship.

“If you don’t want people knowing about your feelings for her, you need to hide them better than that.” He says

#Zuko #prince zuko #zuko imagine #Azula #princess azula #aang #katara #sokka #atla #atla imagine #Avatar The Last Airbender

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