#I will not accept any aang bashing by the way | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crellanstein · 4 years

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Prodigious

I find it odd how the fandom focuses so much on Aang’s childhood being ruined when he learned he was the Avatar at 12, but there’s very little talk about how discovering she was the Avatar as a toddler affected Korra’s life and how she was raised.

But we’ll circle back to that...

Because this is a good starting point to talk about one of the most prevalent themes in the story, which the mainstream discussion of tends to only focus on a few characters -- That is the Child Prodigy.

We’ll start with the two most obvious. The ones we always talk about.

Azula.

The clearest example of your typical child prodigy (if there is anything typical about a prodigy). Azula showed early mastery of very advanced Fire-Bending techniques, and is the only Fire-Bender to use blue flames, which was intended to make her stand out amongst the other villains but is also indicative that her Fire-Bending is more pure and powerful (blue flame is produced when burning pure O2 or fuel without contaminant at a very high temperature).

All this lead to her being praised and favored by Ozai as a child, but as double-edged swords go, this also meant she had a lot of pressure on her shoulders to never fail, and she rarely did. Her ego matched her talent, and let’s be honest she was the baddest bitch the show had ever seen. Conquering Ba Sing Se, defeating the Avatar in combat, and dropping some of the most devastating lines of dialogue in villain history; she was a force nobody wanted to reckon with.

And that become a problem for one asshole in particular...

Being jealous of his own child is just one item on a laundry list of reasons why this guy is the worst father in the history of fathers. Azula had begun to outshine him with her victories, and Ozai’s maniacal ego couldn’t handle that, so he left her behind to babysit the Fire Nation while he went out to burn/conquer the world, which also was her idea.

And while this wasn’t the only thing that aided in her demise, it certainly was the final straw which sent her spiraling down into this...

In the end Azula is a sad example of how certain unfair expectations are placed upon talented children, and the more they succeed, the more these expectations grow and weigh on the them until they either disappoint those looking down on them or surpass and embarrass their elders.

It is a lose-lose situation which inevitably destroys them.

There is a similar example of the child prodigy, but his story goes a little different.

Aang.

Even as a twelve/thirteen year-old boy Aang by far has the most impressive stats among any character in the Avatar universe.

Basically mastering 3 of the 4 Elements in less than a year, after mastering Air by the time he is twelve (not to mention inventing his own Air-bending move, the Air scooter).

Aang is an example of a child prodigy who had too much thrust onto him at too young an age because of the talent he showed; because of this he panicked and ran away, and the world was worse off for it.

Aang/Sokka/Katara’s story is all about how in times of War, responsibilities normally handled by adults are pushed onto kids who then have to grow up very fast in order to deal with it all.

The message is clear. War robs the young of their childhoods.

Now, let’s talk about a different kind of child prodigy.

The Unacknowledged.

Yes, of course I’m talking about Toph, the greatest Earth-Bender to ever live.

Because of her blindness, Toph’s family tried to keep her sheltered and safe by hiding her from the world. Refusing to believe she could ever be more than helpless. Anyone who has seen the show knows that is far from the truth.

But because her potential went unseen, there were some negative effects to her personality. Initially, she resented her parents, and rebelled; which established a certain level of independence, a bad attitude, and a hot-headed streak. Over time spent with the Gaang these behaviors subsided because she finally had friends and they accepted her for who she was. By the end of the series she was fully willing to accept aid from them when she needed it, like holding on to Sokka’s arm in environment where her bending couldn’t help her “see”.

Toph’s story is a foil to Azula’s, both showed immense talent and badassery, but while recognition of Azula lead to ever-mounting pressure for her to succeed; the lack of recognition for Toph created a need for her to be acknowledged and set an undercurrent of frustration which leads to her acting out in the ways she does.

The lesson to take from Toph’s story is not to shelter your kid from the world out of fear for their safety, and to be open to recognizing their talents, not shun them.

Next are two more Unacknowledged.

Katara and Sokka.

Their story, and the reason behind their circumstances, is one of the more complicated and nuanced ones in the series, so here we’ll focus on how it fits into the subject of discussion.

Because of the War, Katara was robbed not only of her mother but also of any Southern Masters to train her, and any role models Sokka could have looked up to left with his father to fight. Because of this Katara’s potential and Sokka’s genius went unacknowledged not due to neglect but rather due to circumstance. (Yes, I think Sokka is a genius, how many 15 yr olds do you know that can plan an invasion, design submarines, and spit poetry off the cuff?).

This is a further example of how War robs kids of necessary childhood experiences, and these two robberies had particular effects on both Katara and Sokka’s character developments.

Sokka had the responsibility of protecting his home put upon him at a young age. The men of his tribe leaving prevented him from completing his rite of manhood until the Gaang ran into Bato of the Water Tribe, and early on Sokka was constantly trying to prove himself as a man and a leader. Sokka is one of the smarter characters of the series, but he rarely got credit for it until the third season. Not to mention that because he wasn’t a bender he often seemed less useful than the others. The circumstances of war made his talent go unnoticed and because of that he often was unsure of himself and overcompensated to prove something.

Speaking of talent going unnoticed.

Katara is definitely one of the more talented benders of the series. After training herself for years with little progress, she essentially mastered Water-Bending in a few weeks under Master Pakku. While her anger towards the Fire-Nation mostly centers around the loss of her mother, it can’t be ignored that the delay in her training was a direct result of the Fire-Nations’ actions. Toph’s anger and frustration vented itself as rebellion. However, the same frustration and anger is within Katara, but because she wasn’t as natural a bender as Toph she sought to learn and be respected, and when that was denied to her is when that anger bubbled to the surface in some terrifying ways.

While Toph’s talent went unnoticed because of her families neglect, Katara and Sokka’s wasn’t acknowledged because there was nobody to acknowledge it. Because of that both brother and sister wanted to prove themselves to the world.

And then there is Zuko.

I know what you’re thinking. Zuko wasn’t a prodigy, his Fire-Bending skill didn’t catch up with Azula’s until the finale and he never mastered Lightning-Bending, but this section is about the Unacknowledged.

Zuko had many other talents besides Fire-Bending, he was a master swordsmen, and was able to successfully break into every secure facility he attempted in the show (which was almost every secure facility the show featured). Unfortunately, these talents were never recognized, because the only thing the royal family cared about was bending ability (It’s possible the reason he learned the sword was because he lacked skill in Fire-Bending).

As per usual with Zuko, this part of his tale is quite sad. Many can relate to being outshined by a sibling, and when it becomes all too clear that one cannot match another’s talent it’s quite understandable to focus on what they do excel at, but even then there is no promise of recognition for their own talent. Zuko was even mocked by his father during the solar eclipse when Ozai tried baiting him into attacking with his swords.

This lack of recognition is one of many sad aspects of Zuko’s early life, but it is a definitive example of one of the hardest unacknowledged prodigy’s cross to bear. The Outshone prodigy, one whose talents are never noticed because a bigger and brighter star stands in the way of such recognition, and arguably the most frustrating type mentioned here. Toph/Sokka/Katara all came from situations were there was no recognition being given to them or anyone, but Zuko had to bear watching massive amounts of praise be piled on to his sister while he and his accomplishments went by the way side.

Ozai summed up the situation best.

“Azula was born lucky, Zuko was lucky to be born”

Alright now where have I been going with all this?

So, far we’ve covered a lot of wrong ways to treat a child, whether they show talent or not, and how the circumstances of war can also take many things from children.

But what happened to Korra?

(Before we get into to this I should state that I like Korra, and the purpose of this is not to bash her as a character or her arc, but rather to give a little of my insight into it.)

It’s well established that Aang was told of his heritage too young, and that was a detriment on his development into an adult, but what would have happened if he realized his powers himself not long after he could walk? We’ll never know, but we do get to see the effects it had on Korra.

When she revealed herself as the Avatar, Korra set her entire life in a new direction, and because Aang tasked the White Lotus with finding and training her that direction was out of her control. There are two key differences between Korras’ and other Avatars’ lives.

1. She grew up in isolation on a White Lotus compound.

Every Avatar before Korra we know of spent a portion of their early lives traveling the world in order to master the elements; along this journey they not only learned how to bend the other 3 elements, buy also many things about the 3 other nations and the world they are tasked to protect as a whole. By confining Korra in safety and bringing the masters to her the White Lotus deprived Korra of this opportunity to learn and grow and understand the world and the people within in. It also deprived her of learning modern bending styles until she reached Republic City.

While this might have kept Korra safe from the Red Lotus, it grew within her a naiveté about how the world worked, and because of this when she actually did venture out into the world she was terribly unprepared for it.

2. She was trained and mastered 3 of the elements by the time she was 16.

Most Avatars don’t know they have this power until they reach 16 and then they spend several years learning to control it. Korra’s natural talent in the bending lead to her training being expedited not by necessity like Aang’s, but due to her talent and eagerness. Korra excelled at the physical part of being the Avatar and because of this by the time she reached maturity she had become over-confident in her abilities and true to what her Fire-Bending master said in Ep.1 she lacked restraint.

I’m not saying her bending isn’t great, but rather because it is so great it’s her go-to solution to anything, and she enjoys that so she uses it with enthusiastic gusto and not a lot of thinking before striking.

This overconfidence coupled with her naiveté of the world is what lead to many of her rash decisions and actions, most of which had negative consequences, and I believe are the reason behind some fan are dissatisfied with her. Aang had been almost the complete opposite, even by the age of twelve he was an experienced world traveler and an incredibly humble guy.

Some may have been dissatisfied by these character decisions, but they served a purpose, they are only the beginning of her arc. The internal challenge Korra must overcome through 4 seasons is to humble herself before the world, and learn from it. This was finally achieved in the 4th season when the metal poisoning in her body forces her to face others in the world as equals, only then had she completed her journey.

And why did it all go this way?

Because she is a very unique child prodigy, what she demonstrates in the first episode of LOK would be akin to a toddler playing the violin or hitting a three-pointer; she could bend 3 elements close to just after learning to walk. That is the kind of prodigious talent rarely seen because it is mostly impossible. How does a rational person handle a child like that?

It’s a tough question, and something this essay has been circling around the whole time. Each example here is the wrong way to handle talented and different children, but what is the right way?

As always look to Iroh.

Who treated his surrogate son Zuko with both respect and compassion.

Unlike Toph’s parents, Iroh worried over Zuko’s well being, but also allowed him to be independent, make his own decisions, and take his own risks.

Unlike the Nomad Leaders, he didn’t want Zuko weighed down by his position in the world and the responsibility that came with, and always encouraged him relax and take advantage of the moment.

Unlike Ozai, Iroh would always be there to support Zuko in his victories and his failures. Iroh shows him the right path but does not force him down it.

And even after Zuko betrayed and abandoned him.

Iroh was never angry with him, and embraced him upon his return.

He wanted Zuko to grow and be a better man. Even if Zuko wasn’t a prodigy like his sister.

And that is the answer here. The way to raise a prodigy is the same way anyone should raise any child. Love, Support, a Guiding Hand rather than a Forceful Shove, Recognition of What Makes Them Unique, and Forgiveness When They Falter. The problem comes along when you start treating children differently because you see them as different or special. All children are different, all children are special.

Kids are kids, and they all deserve a proper childhood.

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alieinthemorning · 3 years

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Hello! May I request an ochako angst where she really likes deku but deku doesn’t like ochako that way and sees her more as a sister and he has feelings for a fem reader because she’s so sweet and strong, everyone can see how deku looks at reader but reader is also kind of an airhead and sees right past his feelings but she likes him to, but ochako tries to interfere and confess to him but she sees deku confessing to reader and she accepts in a tearful yet cute way and ochako is hurt by this :3

(If you can, can readers quirk be like sans from undertale or like Korea/aangs from the atlab please and thank you for your time :3)

Bestie’s Got Your Back [Deku | Midoriya Izuku]

Content: Idiots in Love, Females uplifting each other

Pronouns: She/Her

Header: @/moon-suki

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don’t forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

This work’s concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries.

Ochako loved you, she did.

“Um… Midoriya?”

“Y-yes?”

“Um… well—”

She hated watching… whatever was going on between you and Deku.

It was obvious to everyone that the two of you had feelings for each other.

Except for the two of you.

“Wow! That’s so nice! Thanks!” Deku smiled.

You nodded. “Yep! That’s what friends are for.”

Although you wore a smile, she knew you were cringing on the inside.

She sighed.

She couldn’t keep watching the two of you skirt around each other like this.

She had to do something.

And do something she did.

The plan was simply really

“Hey, Deku!” She called.

“Uraraka!”

“Can you meet me at Training Ground Beta today?”

“Oh sure!”

“Hey, Bestie!”

“Oh! Ochako!”

“I wanna do some training today. Can you meet me at Beta?”

“Of course! But do know I won’t go easy on you.”

Then she waited for the two to meet.

Deku was the first to arrive, then you shortly after.

“Oh! Deku! Are you here to train?”

“Yeah! With Uraraka!”

You faltered. “O-oh, so am I.”

“Huh?”

Your gaze flicked to her own. She motioned for you to go for it.

If all her not so hard work went to waste—

You took a deep breath.

Looked Midoriya square in the eyes and—

“I LIKE YOU”

Ochako’s brows raised high.

Who would have thought that the both of you would say it at once.

Oh wait,

everyone.

Even when confessing, you two were something.

This is another time a request became a suggestion. I don’t like the idea of “character bashing”, so I decided to make Ochako a friend who is rooting for you. I’d rather not have an “OP character” nor tear down another character. That’s not how we roll in the house. I do still hope that you enjoyed it.

Ko-Fi | Commission | Masterlist

#alie requests #ochako uraraka #deku x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader

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my-bated-breath · 4 years

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On an Immensely Popular Post

Disclaimer: What I’m writing here may not be completely accurate -- like most works of art, literature, and even STEM tend to be -- and as a new fan of ATLA, a few of the metas I publish may be obsolete or unintentionally insensitive. That being said, I like to believe that I can contribute something valuable to this fandom. In all my (real) metas, I wish to be as objective as possible and not rely on my biases, fanon, or common “knowledge” that may just be misconceptions. If anyone reading this finds something to be false or contrived, I am always welcome to constructive criticism. What I am not welcome to is senseless hate or bashing.

My first experiences with the ATLA fandom begun a long, long time ago, but the most recent and powerful revival of my love for ATLA started with me actually watching the show and soon after, with me falling into the endless abyss of ATLA metas on Tumblr. Sifting through the well-written analyses and the emotion-based rants had taught me a lot about critical thinking and the power of influence, so now I’d like to present a meta that critiques an extremely popular post with over 60,000 notes. And since it’s so popular, this is the part where I must make yet another disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I hold nothing against lesbians4sokka (whose name has now been changed to comradekatara). They have the right to share what they want, but since this particular post has become so influential that it’s still being reblogged regularly to this day, I believe it is within my right to criticize it - emphasis on “criticize,” which is different from “hate.”

Now that that’s out of the way, let us begin:

Lesbians4sokka/comradekatara covers 3 main subjects in their post, which I will quote/summarize below:

(1) Ma/iko: “...the entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression— and I think that’s really unfortunate because they would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

(2) Zutara: “similarly, what makes zuko and katara’s dynamic so compelling is that they share the same flaws, only as opposed to mai’s apathy and misery, it’s katara’s rage and guilt that zuko identifies with. they both share trauma over having lost their mothers, and both in a similar way (sacrificing themselves for them) and they both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced… katara and zuko have a deep & profound friendship, but if they were to be in a relationship, they would only bring out the absolute worst in each other thru enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making.”

(3) Z/uk/ka: this pairing makes for a healthy and wholesome relationship because throughout the boiling rock, we see that “sokka and zuko make an excellent team, as they balance each other perfectly. sokka thinks big picture, and plans ahead, but zuko will charge into situations.” They inspire each other, they trust each other unconditionally, they become more open and supportive of each other, they share a lot of common interests and narrative parallels, and in general, just make each other happy (which could work both platonically and romantically).

As for my response: I’m sure many of you are expecting me to start to save the “best for last.” That assumption would be incorrect because I actually have the least to say about point 3.

I agree that Z/uk/ka can be a good relationship. Their dynamic is funny, playful, supportive, etc. etc. (there are so many positive adjectives I could use to describe their dynamic, the list could go on forever). And they could make a great couple.

…

What, did you expect more from me? That’s it, I’m done.

I’m not here to attack Z/uk/ka as a ship, because while I can never actively ship it (I’m a sad, narrow-minded exclusive shipper, always had been and always will be) I can objectively appreciate them as one. It’s points 1 and 2 I’m more concerned about.

Now, since we’ve already begun working backward, I’ll begin my critiques on point 2: I could write extensively about the parallels between Zuko and Katara, including but not limited to shared pain and a few shared flaws - and just a few, because their weaknesses diverge in many important places. However, since I’m trying to write as objectively as possible and since Zuko-Katara parallels have already been discussed to death, my analysis will focus elsewhere.

However, something from comradekatara’s post that I would first like to address is this-

[Zuko and Katara] both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced. in the southern raiders, they both act deeply insensitively towards sokka by acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else.

- or rather, the idea that Zuko and Katara’s shared pain causes them to act insensitively towards Sokka (and though the post does not mention it, Aang as well).

(Note: these points have already been covered by countless metas before mine, so you can skip/skim this section to read a newer argument in the next section.)

Even ignoring the fact that the Southern Raiders had many out of character moments, Katara’s insensitivity towards Sokka is first and foremost a reaction against his insensitivity towards her.

_____

Dialogue from Season 3, Episode 16 “The Southern Raiders”:

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

Katara: [Shakes her head in dismay.] Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand. [Begins to walk away.]

Aang: Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet.

Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster.

Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right.

Katara: Then you didn't love her the way I did!

Sokka: [Hurt] Katara!

_____

While I believe that Aang’s principles of forgiveness are morally sound, the way he pushes his beliefs onto Katara undermines much of her grief. At first, Aang tries to relate to Katara’s experiences by comparing them to his own, but there is a forceful connotation to his dialogue that suggests that Aang considers himself to be the moral authority compared to Katara. Hence, Aang judges Katara (“I think it’s about getting revenge”) without trying to reach out and understand her, forgoing the empathetic common ground in favor of taking on the moral high ground.

Thus, when Sokka tells Katara, “she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right,” Sokka is not only saying that Katara should choose forgiveness, he is implying that Aang is the ultimate moral authority on this matter and that Katara should accept that. Moreover, similarly to Aang, Sokka’s opening line, “she was my mother, too,” had the potential to establish common ground between himself and Katara, but the added “but…” places Sokka on the moral high ground against her instead. Of course, when we remember that just two lines ago Aang equates Katara to Jet, Sokka agreeing with Aang seems even more thoughtless and unsympathetic.

So when Katara lashes out against Sokka, ostensibly “acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else,” it is important to note that Sokka undermines Katara’s louder, more visible way of grieving as well (though that discounts that for most of the show, Katara only uses her grief over her mother’s death to sympathize with others).

Moreover, Katara’s line, “then you didn't love her the way I did!” is hurtful, yes, but it is not necessarily equivalent to “you didn’t love her as much as I did.” Katara’s love for her mother is different from Sokka’s because her pain over her death is different -- after Kya’s passing, Katara had to carry the emotional burden of becoming a pseudo-mother to Sokka (see Sokka and Toph’s conversation in “The Runaway”), a burden that did not cease after she joined the GAang (see the entirety of “The Desert”). To Katara, Kya was not only her mother, but the representation of the childhood she lost and the sacrifice made to protect her life. Sokka simply does not have that same relationship with Kya.

I do not mean to say that Sokka and Aang unfairly taking on the moral authority in this situation means that this authority instead belongs to Katara (and Zuko) - “The Southern Raiders” is filled with questionable moments from all parties involved. However, TSR is an episode that delves into Katara (and Zuko)’s relationship with a mother’s sacrifice, so how Zuko and Katara respond to this specific trauma from their past does not dictate how they respond to painful circumstances in the present/future. Let’s see how this is true.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King

No doubt Zuko and Katara felt some form of frustration upon Aang’s disappearance, so let’s see how they “[enabled] each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making”:

Here, Katara and Zuko make a decision together that turns out to be calm, rational, and not at all emotionally-driven despite their mutual frustration and worry towards Aang.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters

Zuko holds immense pain and self-loathing over betraying Iroh, yet Zuko and Katara’s conversation does not enable/exacerbate negativity from any party involved (since Zuko often translates his grief into anger, and Katara was evidently angry at Zuko’s betrayal). Instead, their conversation is open, encouraging, and constructive.

(Note: this is where the review of points made by previous metas ends.)

Hence, to say that “[Zuko and Katara] would only bring out the absolute worst in each other [through] enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making” - when we are given in-canon examples of the opposite being true - would be a sweeping and inaccurate generalization.

But for the sake of argument let’s say that, hypothetically, Zuko and Katara’s relationship would fail because they only bring out the worst in each other. And here’s where the argument falls apart for me - Is the argument here that Zuko and Katara have an incredibly meaningful friendship yet somehow this “friendship” causes them to enable each other, thus encouraging each other’s worst flaws and regressing each other’s growth? Is a healthy friendship - much less a “deep and profound” one - not one where two individuals can learn from each other in positive ways and balance each other’s shortcomings?

Or is it something different we’re saying here? Are we saying that two individuals can have a “deep and profound” friendship and yet the moment their relationship shifts from platonic to romantic, they are terrible for each other?

While many significant platonic bonds are stunted when they become romantic, I still believe it to be common sense that some of the best romantic relationships stem from a platonic foundation. But since much of “common sense” on the internet sees that “sense” is nonsensical and “common” is a nicer way to refer to mob mentality, I have done my research to show how Zuko and Katara could have been an excellent case of a friends-to-lovers relationship.

An excerpt from my meta, “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.” (give it a read if you want to see references to relationship-research and an overanalysis on diction/tone)

The reason why Zutara is framed as a “toxic and unhealthy” relationship is that their romance would be a classic example of the enemies-to-lovers trope, a trope which modern media has not been particularly kind to. However, when executed correctly, enemies-to-lovers can produce a healthy and loving relationship, frequently relying on friendship as an intermediate between the “enemy” and “lover” stages in the most well-executed versions of this trope. Meanwhile, the trope of friends-to-lovers is just as popular as enemies-to-lovers, though the specific dynamic required between two individuals to achieve this transition is not well-known. Recognizing this, Laura K. Guerrero and Paul A. Mongeau, both of whom are involved in relationship-related research as professors at Arizona State University, wrote a research paper on how friendships may transition into romantic relationships…

According to Guerrero and Mongeau, “...scholars have argued that intimacy is located in different types of interactions, ranging from sexual activity and physical contact to warm, cozy interactions that can occur between friends, family members, and lovers…” Guerrero and Mongeau then reference a relationship model where the initial stages (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) reflect platonic/romantic intimacy through communication while the latter stages (i.e. role-taking, achieving interpersonal role fit, and achieving dyadic crystallization) often see both individuals as achieving a higher level of intimacy that involves more self-awareness.

In the rest of my research-based meta I demonstrate how Zuko and Katara’s platonic interactions in the show fit into the stages of communicative intimacy (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) that Guerrero and Mongeau describe as being mutual between friendships and romances. As such, crossing the line between friends and more-than-friends most likely would not cause a dramatic shift in the Zutara dynamic since much of Zuko and Katara’s platonic intimacy easily translates into romantic intimacy. I’ll end off with another excerpt from my meta.

Excerpt from “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.”

“...it would be remiss to simply dismiss the Zutara dynamic as one that would instantly become toxic should they pursue a romantic relationship.”

With that little thought in mind, let’s move onto point 3: an exploration of friendship, romance, and why toxicity is not exclusive to the latter.

Let’s start with what I agree with:

“The entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression...”

I’m not sure how necessary it is for me to elaborate on this point given that it’s already been accepted by comradekatara and perhaps 60,000+ other users on Tumblr (a gross exaggeration but this remains unimportant), but in her essay, “Zuko, Mai, and the Nature of True Intimacy,” Araeph contributes more nuance to the concept of Ma/iko and mutual misery, stating that,

Unfortunately for [Zuko and Mai’s] relationship, Mai is and will always be a pessimist—a character trait, not a character flaw, in her. The key difference lies in how Mai and Zuko use their negative feelings. When Zuko sinks into negativity, he gives up on any actions that will materially change his world for the better; Mai, on the other hand, can remain negative even at the height of her character development, and it does not impede her ability to act.

So while Mai enables Zuko’s depression, Zuko does not necessarily do the same for Mai. Nonetheless, throughout their relationship for the first half of season 3, neither of them communicate constructively or push each other to grow as people.

This may be the third disclaimer I’m making, but I first want to say I have nothing against Mai. However, I do have something against the idea that “[Mai and Zuko] would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

Their relationship is a dumpster fire, yes, but will the flames cease simply if the amount of intimacy in the relationship changes?

comradekatara state themselves that their entire romantic relationship is quite depressing - they are only able to connect through empty physical intimacy and mutual hatred of the world. Without that, there is little left for them to bond over. Once Zuko overcomes his conflicting morality and inaction from the first half of season 3, he becomes someone who is strongly guided by his principles and beliefs. However, for the entirety of the series, Mai is characterized by her moral apathy. To cite from Araeph again,

It is moral intimacy that is the last and worst omission for Mai and Zuko… Zuko’s struggle to find and follow his principles is the most central aspect of his character, yet it is a struggle Mai neither understands nor respects…

Lack of moral intimacy (not sharing the same core beliefs) is something that applies to both platonic and romantic bonds. Thus, just as transitioning from a meaningful friendship to a romance does not inherently create toxicity in a relationship, switching from a romance that exacerbates one (or both, depending on how you interpret it) party’s misery does not necessarily erase the preexisting negativity in a relationship - perhaps some of it may subside, sure, but as long both parties continue to fail at communicating and understanding each other, even their friendship seems bleak at best. In this case, Mai and Zuko may work well as conditional friends, or in other words, friends who are only friends when they have something to mutually be miserable over. And this tiptoes the line of speculation, but they could be a formidable political team. But unless the Ma/iko dynamic shifts drastically in the lovers-to-friends transition, I’m not sure if there’s much potential in a friendship between them.

In conclusion, there is a lot I don’t agree with from comradekatara’s post, but if there’s one takeaway I want to impart onto everyone who’s read this far, it’s this: crossing and uncrossing the line between platonic and romantic bonds is not always a transformative experience for the relationship, and the nature of human relationships is a complex spectrum -- not a light switch that can only be set between healthy and unhealthy.

Thank you all for reading!

#atla #atla meta #my bated breath analyzes #this is more pro-zukka than anti-zukka #but I will include neither in my tags #zutara #anti maiko #once again this is a critique #not a post meant to tear anyone or their views down #my bated breath's posts

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a-d-curtis · 3 years

Text

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Read on AO3 or Fanfiction.net

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 2: First Impressions

Chapter 3: Stolen Glory

.........

Chapter 4: Pawns & Princesses

“Master Katara, wait up!”

Katara let out a silently-suffering sigh and turned back toward the Avatar as he ran to catch up with her before she left the training courtyard. She had almost made it to the door before he called her to stop! Katara did her best not to interact with him any more than her teaching required. But the Avatar was insistent, it would seem, to foil her plans.

When he was a few yards away he slowed to a walk, suddenly looking less sure.

Katara hoped he wasn’t going to ask her to dinner again. She could hardly fathom what he’d been thinking!? That she was just at liberty to go and do as she pleased? Did he not know that not all foreigners in the Fire Nation were as privileged and free as he was?!

While he wore jewels, she wore chains.

The Avatar stopped a few paces away and held a scroll towards her — a waterbending scroll it would appear from the emblem on the outside. “I brought this for you…” he said with a shy smile.

Katara caught his eye for a moment, before she pointedly looked away. It was a pretty undeniable fact that the Avatar was an attractive man. This fact just added to Katara’s irritation at him.

Katara eyed the scroll in his hand to avoid looking at the dimple that emerged when he cocked that half-smile.

“I thought you might be interested to see it,” he said.

Katara felt a jolt of surprise when she looked more closely and noticed that the symbol on the outside was the Southern Water Tribe’s symbol, not the North’s. Instead of a crescent moon and ocean waves, this one had just waves with three swirling crests at the top.

“Is that… a Southern waterbending scroll?” she asked a little incredulously. Katara had never seen a Southern waterbending scroll. All such waterbending artifacts had long since been pilfered or destroyed from her tribe, before she’d even been born.

“Yeah, it is!” the Avatar said enthusiastically. “There are only a few of these in the library; most are Northern Style. But I wondered if… you know, maybe, you’d be… interested…” his enthusiasm gradually gave way to insecurity, like he was second-guessing his decision to bring this to her.

“Interested in what?” his insecurity was giving rise to trepidation in herself as well.

“Well, in reading it. And then maybe we could…” The Avatar’s hand rubbed the back of his neck shyly. “…discuss it afterwards? Like just to talk. I don’t have a lot of free time, but everyone’s got to eat right? Maybe we could talk about it over lunch or something?”

And there it was.

An invitation she wasn’t even sure she was free to accept.

Not that she would even if she could…

Katara wasn’t stupid; she’d noticed the way he’d blushed and flirted around her. She had valiantly ignored it. She’d gotten used to these kinds of reactions from other men— but the Avatar?! It seemed a very cruel irony.

Katara stole another glance at his face. The uncertain anticipation so obvious in his expression was almost comical. At least she might laugh, if this wasn’t who it was. And she didn’t hate him.

She looked back at the scroll and felt her hands itch to snatch it greedily from his hand. Her curiosity reared. But she resisted. Worried about the strings attached.

Sensing her hesitation, Avatar Aang held the scroll out closer to her. “You can just take it,” he said. “No need to eat with me or anything… that was just, you know,” his bashfulness was infuriatingly endearing, “just an idea.” The rosy spots on his cheeks made him look much younger than he was.

Katara really did want to read the scroll. Like really wanted to! She glanced back at it in the Avatar’s hands.

And she took it from him. “Thank you,” she murmured.

The Avatar smiled hugely, “Oh sure! Anytime!” he swung his arms like he was trying to be casual, but the movement just looked a little goofy. “I’d do anything for you, Master Katara!” His face burned even redder. “I mean, not anything anything, like I wouldn’t steal you away or anything!”

Her eyes opened wide in surprise at that suggestion. His face froze as though his ears had just now discovered what his mouth had said.

Then the Avatar scrambled rapidly to backpedal. “I mean, not steal you. I don’t know why I said that. Not like I could own you. I mean, no one owns you. Besides yourself I mean…” the more he talked the more he blushed and the more he moved away from her, walking backward. “Just forget I said anything!” he finally said rubbing the side of his neck, the blue tattoos on his uplifted forearm putting the red of his ears in stark contrast.

Katara couldn’t help it, she laughed out loud. She tried to stifle it, but the Avatar’s awkward bumbling was more than she could take. “I’ll read this,” she said holding up the scroll and suppressing a smile. “And thank you.” She then turned and walked the rest of the way out of the arena, shaking her head in wonder at the interaction.

She thought she heard the Avatar smack something. She glanced back to see a red mark emerging over the blue arrow on his forehead.

The Avatar’s lack of… smoothness was somewhat… what? Endearing? She didn’t know. But rather than explore those thoughts, instead she simply clutched her prize to her chest and hurried through the giant arena doors into the outer vestibule. She could not wait to read it! The hunger she felt to know more about her Southern ancestor’s waterbending was almost physical.

As the closure of the giant doors reverberated through the room, Katara blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the dimness from the sunshine outside. The guard with her manacles came forward as always. She extended one hand at a time to be chained, switching the scroll from one hand to another.

“What do you have there?” a familiar arrogant voice drawled. Involuntarily, Katara clutched the scroll closer to her chest, causing the chains at her wrists to clink together.

But she couldn’t hide it. And she knew that trying to would be fruitless.

Counselor Zhao’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that scroll?” he asked suspiciously.

Katara opted for the truth. “Avatar Aang gave it to me,” she replied, a tone of defiance in her voice.

Zhao clucked. “Oh no, I don’t think so. Exchanging gifts with the Avatar certainly falls outside of ‘Protocol’.”

He reached for the scroll. Katara turned her shoulder to him, preventing him from taking it. His eyes flared in anger.

“Give. Me. The. Scroll.” he commanded.

“It’s not a gift,” Katara defended. “He just gave it to me to borrow. I’ll read it and give it back. No harm done.”

“I’ll decide what does and doesn’t cause harm,” Zhao replied. Then he moved forward and snatched the scroll from her fingers. The edge of the scroll cut her finger as it left her hands. A small line of red opened up with a sting.

“Remember your place, water-wench!” Zhao spat.

Katara looked at her empty hands, and the red line where the paper from the scroll had cut her. Tears began to sting in her eyes, but not from pain. From disappointment — she had been more excited to read the scroll than she’d even admitted to herself — and from anger. To be so trapped and powerless!

Zhao turned toward the doors to the arena, ready for the guards to open the hulking doors.

“I wonder what the Avatar will say when I tell him you didn’t let me read the scroll…?” Katara said, a lightness in her voice that defied the boiling anger she felt underneath. “I wonder what reason I might tell him for you to take it away? Maybe he would begin to question other things as well…”

Zhao’s shoulders stiffened. Katara let the reckless, veiled threat in her words hang between them.

“What other things doesn’t the Avatar know?” she asked airily, gambling on the possibility that the Avatar was more sequestered and ignorant than the world assumed. After all, he didn’t seem to know about the chains she wore. Katara had a hunch that this man’s power was more a tangent to the Avatar’s power than anything substantial by itself.

Zhao held a hand up stopping the guards from opening the great doors. Then he turned toward her, his face red with anger.

“You worthless savage! You dare threaten me!?”

Katara let her eyebrows raise in mock surprise. Looks like her hunch was right. “Threat? I didn’t threaten anyone.”

Zhao’s eyes darted to the side and then back to her, belaying his doubt. And she knew that she had hit her mark. He feared.

Composing himself, he turned to face her fully. He stood to his full height and walked toward her. Counselor Zhao was a tall man, and she fell into the shadow of his hulking frame as he approached her slowly. He didn’t stop when he ought to, but took one or two steps closer to her than propriety allowed. It was all Katara could do not to step back; but she stood her ground as he glared down at her. She could feel the heat radiating from his body.

With their proximity, the expression on his face changed, an appraising look arching in his eyebrow as he looked her over. She felt dirty. But she didn’t step backward.

The scroll was shoved downward into her hands, all the while Zhao kept his own hand fisted on the other end of it.

“On second thought,” Zhao drawled lazily, a false lightness in his voice that mimicked the one she’d used. “Perhaps there is no harm in you borrowing this. However,” he let his voice drop so that only she could hear; it seemed the temperature in the room dropped with it. “If you think you can threaten me, wench, you will find that you have tangled with the wrong man!”

He glared down at her for a long moment before he finally let go of the scroll and turned back toward the doors. Nodding lightly to the guards they hauled the doors open and he walked confidently through them, not sparing her a backward glance.

But she knew. She knew that she had him. Proximity to the Avatar had made Zhao powerful. But it could give her power too, she now realized. Zhao wasn’t the only one who could use the Avatar as a pawn for their own advantage.

Katara knew that being granted close proximity to the Avatar was a singular opportunity, one that granted power just by the potential it provided. It was also a dangerous place to be — one that she knew had cost more than one person their lives. She knew she was playing a deadly game.

But no matter. Deadly games weren’t exactly new territory for Katara.

Katara looked down at the scroll in her hand. A flash of guilt fluttered through her as she thought of the guileless boy inside the arena. But she squashed the feeling. Soundly. She hated him after all. And she was being used. Why not use him?

She smiled as all traces of regret left her.

……………

He’s late. Azula thought irritably as she lounged on the plush red velvet chaise in Aang’s room.

“I wonder where Aang is?” Ty Lee gave voice to Azula’s own thoughts. Azula glanced at the acrobat who was currently lifting up into a handstand on the bottom rail of the Avatar’s bed. “I wonder why he’s not back yet?”

Azula sat back into the lounge, careful to look nonchalant, vigilant not to let the impatience she felt show in her demeanor. “Maybe he’s visiting that stupid bison of his. Think he fell asleep in the straw again like he used to?” Azula quipped in a mocking tone.

She hid her impatience perfectly, but Azula was irked by how anxious she was to see Aang. Mocking him seemed the best way to mask her feelings. Where was he?

Just then she heard the door handle twist. Without meaning to she sat up expectantly, before commanding her body to recline back again. Mustn’t appear too invested.

As Aang walked through the door, Ty Lee flipped over backward off the bed frame to land lightly on her feet and ran to throw her arms around the Avatar with a squeal. “Oh Aangy! It’s sooooo good to see you!”

Azula tried not to gag at Ty Lee’s pet name. Aangy.

After a moment of surprise at being tackle-hugged unexpectedly in his own room, Aang laughed and hugged Ty Lee back. “Hi, Ty Lee! I didn’t know you were back from the Earth Kingdom. When did you get here?”

“Just this afternoon!” Ty Lee bubbled. “This last assignment felt sooooo loooong. It’s good to be back in the Fire Nation at last!”

“Well I’m glad you’re back!” Aang enthused. “I missed you.”

Azula cleared her throat loudly. High time attention was brought to where it belonged: on her. “Did you now? I assume you missed us both?” she asked acerbically.

“Oh! Azula. I didn’t see you there.” Aang let go of Ty Lee and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly in that annoying quirk of his. “Of course. It’s good to see you too.”

Azula felt a particular irritation, a new unnamed disquiet. Of course she’d known about Aang and Ty Lee’s fling a couple of years ago – they’d been idiots to try to hide it from her. During one of her subsequent assignments abroad she had wheedled the whole story out of Ty Lee. So Azula knew the full extent of their little tête-à-tête, AND that it was a thing of the past. But for some reason the continued warmth between Ty Lee and the Avatar bothered her. There was an easiness between the two of them that, no matter what social strategies Azula implemented, eluded her in her own association with the Avatar.

No matter. Azula had other methods; far more effective at getting what she wanted than simple friendship.

Aang looked around. “Where’s Mai?”

Heat flared angrily in Azula’s gut at the simple question. But she quickly stamped her temper into submission.

No one had dared speak aloud the name of her treacherous “friend” since the whelp had disappeared during their latest deployment in the Earth Kingdom. Azula’s eyes narrowed. Recent rumors alluded that the Rebellion was led by a firebender with a scar over his left eye. Ozai had suspected for some time that his brother and worthless son might be involved in the Rebellion-- no doubt in a desperate effort to overthrow his rule and grasp his power for themselves. But a month ago fresh intelligence delivered directly to Azula had finally given her concrete proof on her brother’s identity and a lead on his location. She had shared the information with her two friends, and made plans to crush the scarred head of the rebellion in the morning.

However, when morning came, Mai was gone. And every ignition wire in every tank under Azula’s command had been carefully slit. By the time repairs could be made and Azula finally arrived at the rumored location, there was no one left.

Mai had betrayed her. And for what? For some trivial crush still harbored over little Zuzu?!

Azula tasted acid in her mouth, but of course she let none of these thoughts show on her face.

“Mai didn’t return from the earth kingdom with us.” Azula said flippantly walking over to the desk in Aang’s room and popping a grape from his waiting dinner plate into her mouth. “But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to meet up with her the next time I’m back in the Earth Kingdom.” It was true. Azula would be sure to find her childhood friend, and return to her a full measure of what she deserved. Let Mai take equal part in the annihilation that awaited Zuzu and her fat uncle.

Ty Lee fidgeted nervously over by Aang, sending apprehensive glances her way. The dolt was sure to reveal more than she should. “Ty Lee,” Azula addressed her, “I think you better be running along now. I’m sure you’ll want to brush your hair before bed, and we all know how long that takes.”

Ty Lee looked at her with wide eyes before recognition that she was being excused dawned. “Oh! Right, Azula. I’ll just be… going then.” Ty Lee turned back to Aang with an obnoxious smile and a twiddled wave of her fingers, “See you later, Aangy!” before she trotted out of the room, closing the door behind her.

A weighty awkwardness settled in Azula’s stomach upon Ty Lee’s exit; the closing of the latch feeling oddly loud.

When the Avatar had first been brought to the Fire Nation, she had seen him only once. A deceptively small boy in chains deep in the heart of a prison on the outskirts of Caldera Island. At her own request, Azula had been allowed to accompany her Father to the prison to see the Avatar for himself. The boy had been sedated prior to the Firelord’s arrival – with the kind of power he had unleashed at the bay, it simply would not be prudent to take any unnecessary risks. Azula had scoffed at how pitiful and harmless he looked with his bald head lolling heavily on his neck, eyes bleary, his body held up by chains. Azula could scarcely believe he was something to be feared. She could have killed him there herself with the ease of twisting a turtleduckling’s head off.

Azula had hardly spared him another thought until Father announced three months later that the Avatar would be moving to the palace. That he would be adopted into the family!

Father had taken time to explain to her, detailing his reasons for treating the Avatar like family. Explaining how the boy was impressionable, and powerful. How he could be taught to have unfailing loyalty to them alone. That if they played their tiles right, the Avatar could both ensure their final and full victory in the war, as well as provide insurance that none could ever challenge their world dominance again.

Azula knew that it was a wise move; strategic and cunning. However, she had to check the resentment that rose in her at the thought of another brother (this one presumably far more talented than Zuzu) infringing on her monopoly of Father’s attention.

When Aang was moved to the Palace he was so painfully awkward. All wide eyes in a tiny, almost skeletal frame — time in prison hadn’t been good to him apparently. At least he’d grown a short shock of black hair to cover that weird blue line. Despite the fact that his hair was not nearly long enough yet to make a proper topknot, Azula had been relieved that his baldness wasn’t some sort of permanent deficiency of his extinct people. The blue mark of his primitive roots was still plainly visible on his forehead, of course, but nothing much could be done about that. Perhaps it was a good reminder of his degraded heritage – a badge of dishonor to remind him, and everyone else, of his inferiority.

Azula didn’t know if he had always been so skittish, or if it was due to the time he’d spent in prison, but Aang had been wary and frightened by almost everything.

But then again, he made so many mistakes back then. Mistakes that rightfully had to be punished.

Of course he would need to be punished for breaking etiquette, for asking too many questions, or for dancing to the national anthem! The boy had cried openly too back then -- such displays of weakness embarrassing for everyone. He laughed too much and even tried to make friends with the servants! He was a true savage.

But even Azula had to admit that he was a quick study. In mere months, he’d adapted to civilized society enough so that he only occasionally required re-education.

Honestly, Azula was relieved that she had not been around for a good portion of the Avatar’s “adjustment period”. Not long after the Avatar had come to live at the Palace, the military’s drill-tank technology had been perfected enough to finally lay a viable siege on Ba Sing Se, and Father had sent her to oversee the invasion of the Earth Kingdom capitol.

It had taken a year (and an immensely helpful half-hour of Sozin’s Comet) to fully conquer the mammoth city. After the fall of Ba Sing Se, the rest of the Earth Kingdom was sure to quickly follow. The Fire Nation had won the war.

When she had returned home triumphant, Father was pleased with her victories. Her service to the nation was unparalleled. She was a hero.

But upon her return home, Azula quickly realized that she was no longer the sole owner of Father’s approval. The Avatar, he reported, had made marvelous progress since she had left. His airbending, according to Father, despite being an inferior element, was something to behold, and a bit of a wild card given that no one in a hundred years had ever trained against an Airbender.

Additionally, in the last year while she’d been gone, the Avatar had begun his fire bending training. A true prodigy, Father had praised. The speed of his progress unlike anyone he’d ever seen.

Azula’s gut burned hot at the words. Anyone?!

Afterwards Azula had marched to the Avatar’s Arena – a building Father had built for him on her old training field – and walked right up to the Avatar. The boy was still half a head shorter than her, and looked light enough to blow over in a stiff breeze. At least he now had enough hair for a proper topknot.

“Fight me,” she’d demanded.

It wasn’t a request. Her immediate offensive was answered by a blur of spiraling movement and a retreat. Her movements were precise and accurate. The concentrated heat from her blue fire casting a strange joint glow on the Avatar’s blue tattoos.

But somehow he managed to counter her on every hand. Azula was both annoyed and exhilarated by the contest. She hadn’t felt challenged in a fight since she was eleven. And fighting the Avatar was unlike any fight she’d ever faced before. To her supreme irritation, he did little more than evade her, but the speed and ease with which he dodged was blinding. She was gratified to find that her firebending was still far superior to his. But the way he caught her blue flames, turning them orange in his control before then turning them aside in his bizarre dancing movements, vexed her.

Even more annoying was his apparent disinterest in winning their match. He seemed content to simply flit around, testing and learning from her as much as she did from him. His merry laugh nearly drove her mad.

They fought a long time. In the end Father had called for a cease-fire. In her concentration she had not even noticed that Father had entered the arena. She berated herself for her unacceptable lack of awareness. She and the Avatar were both wet with sweat and breathing hard, although the boy had the gall to laugh and smile at her. Still Azula took a modicum of pleasure at the disarray of the Avatar’s hair, while hers remained immaculate.

With a greedy delight, Father declared the match a draw.

Azula’s heart dropped.

Father had witnessed her not win. True, she hadn’t lost either, but her non-victory filled her with humiliation.

It was then that Aang became her most heated rival, and she sought every opportunity to fight him, as often as Father allowed.

Azula now looked down at Aang’s untouched dinner plate and stole another grape. “You’re eating dinner in your room like a heathen, I see.”

Aang cleared his throat. “I um, just got back from waterbending practice. Counselor Zhao asked the servants to bring my food up here again since I haven’t had time to eat yet.” Aang looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to be here waiting for me.”

“What? You expected some other woman to be waiting for you in your room?” Azula teased. “You haven’t taken on a concubine now have you, Aang?”

Aang winced. “No, of course not.” Azula watched as he squirmed uncomfortably. Taking concubines was a long-held practice among men of Fire Nation royalty. Although her joke had been intended to needle the Avatar more than anything else, Azula felt an unexplained relief release within her at his answer.

Azula’s feelings towards the Avatar had gotten… problematic lately.

In many ways their relationship was like siblings: they shared space, royal privilege, Father’s attention, friends. But frankly Azula had never really thought of Aang as a brother. Brothers were incompetent failures. And Aang was not.

It was hard to compare the Avatar to how living with Zuzu had been. Zuzu had been easy to out-shine; to be measure better than. He had been incompetent, and effortless to frazzle and manipulate. Aang had proven to be none of these things.

True, Zuzu and Aang were both soft and stupidly trusting. But otherwise Azula saw very little else they shared in common. Beyond the obvious difference of the Avatar being a skilled and powerful bender, where Zuzu had always been a subpar firebender at best, over the years Azula became acutely acquainted with their many other differences.

Zuzu was ever quick to anger; Aang, on the other hand, was frustratingly difficult to get a rise out of, ever prone to making a joke rather than taking her seriously. She didn’t know if he was just ludicrously naive, or if he simply chose not to take offense. But either way it could be quite irritating. Zuzu had been ridiculously easy to manipulate, fighting her all along while she led him to do exactly what she wanted. Azula manipulated Aang too, of course, as she did everyone, but it lacked the same gratification she’d gained with her brother. Like he was fine to let her have her way, his willingness stealing the victory of it. It bothered Azula that Aang seemed to see the same world, but in a completely different way. Like there was something fundamental to Aang that Azula could never fully understand.

Zuzu had also always had Mother on his side. Aang, on the other hand, had never known Mother. For the first time Azula was now forced to share Father’s affections. She didn’t like sharing.

However, despite how much she resented Aang, she’d become paradoxically drawn to him as well. Which was even more angering than the ways he bothered her. Zuzu had always been bent on competing with her. On the contrary, Aang seemed to see her challenges as little more than a game. It vexed her that the rivalry she felt with him was entirely one-sided. It made her feel trite, which of course only magnified her irritation with him. His complete lack of competition with her had driven her crazy.

But what drove her crazy about him now, hadn’t started until more recently.

Azula perched herself, legs crossed, on Aang’s desk, helping herself to another of his grapes. “You can eat. I really don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” Aang said with a sigh. “I’m starving!”

Aang sank down heavily in front of his food. Azula was about to steal another of his grapes when Aang offered her the entire bunch of grapes with a tired smile. Azula’s stomach did a tiny flip at the gesture (and the smile). It was a small example, but Aang was always doing things like this, willingly giving her what she planned to take anyway. It took all the fun out of it, of course. She was simultaneously irritated with him and begrudgingly charmed by his thoughtfulness.

But Azula knew his kindness to be weakness.

It was probably weakness in her that she had grown to like it.

Over the years, Azula was sent abroad several times to help oversee the war efforts. And each time she returned, it seemed the Avatar had taken great strides in his training. He became more and more powerful, more and more accomplished, and her Father more and more enamored with him.

He’d also grown up. Of course she’d noticed he was growing all along, but Azula doesn’t think she really noticed noticed until the summer she’d turned nineteen. She and her friends had just returned from another mission in the Earth Kingdom, and Azula was anxious to spar with the Avatar; a half year of handily beating everyone she fought left her hungry for a challenge. Plus, with all of Aang’s practice, she’d worried she might be being left behind.

When she and her friends had arrived at Aang’s training arena, he was in the middle of a lesson. An earthbending lesson. That was new.

Last time she’d been home Aang had shot up in height, all lanky and uncoordinated. He was even taller now, but earthbending practice had put some muscle on his body as well. He still looked lean compared to his hulking earthbending teacher, but it was obvious the Avatar had been working hard.

In the summer heat Aang was practicing shirtless. It was the first time Azula didn’t find Aang’s tattoos completely disgusting. She forced herself to look away from them. But not due to disgust.

Ty Lee, on the other hand, made no effort at all to look away. Her open admiration was irritating. Even Mai smiled wryly, “Looks like your little admirer’s grown up, Ty Lee.” The dry comment bothered Azula.

It was that summer that Aang and Ty Lee had had their little fling. She didn’t care, of course.

But what she did care was that later that summer Aang beaten her for the first time.

Their spar had started as it often did with Azula taking a quick and calculated offensive while Aang flitted away, evading as usual. She had begun to find his airbending defenses predictable, and any offensive with fire he sent her way she could easily deflect.

She was just turning back towards him from extinguishing one of these fire offensives, aiming two fingers ready to shoot a precise hot flame. However, when she turned Aang was gone. On instinct she looked to the sky, to see where he had jumped. So she was taken completely by surprise when she found both her legs suddenly encased in the stone under her feet. A second later, Aang burst from the ground behind her, grabbing one of her arms, then the other, and pinning them both low behind her back. She caught her breath as he held her hands tightly, forcing her to lean backward into him. He’d laughed in her ear. “Tag, Princess!”

She’d struggled for a moment, but she couldn’t overpower him with strength alone, not with all of her limbs immobilized. Azula stopped struggling, so he let her go, dropping the rock shackles from her feet with a laugh.

Azula spun on him then, scraping her long nails across his face. Three red cuts opened angrily on his cheek. He looked more startled than anything, his hand darting to his cheek, the smile wiped from his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Azula. Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to…”

Azula had said nothing more, but turned on her heel and stalked away. Anger had made her petty, and she burned with shame. She wasn’t sure if she was more shamed at her defeat, or because of her low attack afterward.

Later that night Azula had tossed and turned in her bed, stewing endlessly over her lost fight with Aang. Upon further analysis, she realized that losing the fight was not what bothered her most. True, she had been upset, her loss throwing her usual composure off balance. But what had really flustered her was him. She couldn’t stop replaying in her mind how it had felt to be held up against him, to hear his deepened voice in her ear. She had in turn hurt Aang. And yet he’d been the one to apologize. His kindness put into stark contrast her own bad behavior. She couldn’t stop the frustration mingled with attraction she felt. And it bothered her immensely.

Azula won three consecutive fights with Aang after that. He didn’t seem to mind. But something nagged her that perhaps he’d gone easy on her. Which was absolutely unacceptable. She was beginning to find Aang insufferable! No one ruffled her feathers. And yet somehow Aang managed to, even (especially!) when he wasn’t meaning to.

It had been two years since then. And Azula would like to say she had put all those complicated feelings about Aang behind her. But being honest with oneself was essential for clear analysis. And when she was honest, she knew she had not put those feelings for Aang aside. If anything her feelings had gotten more problematic.

The Crown Princess looked down at him from her position seated above him on his desk.

“You look tired.”

“I am tired,” Aang admitted as he picked up his chopsticks. “Counselor Zhao had me up before dawn for Sunrise Meditation with the Fire Sages. I then had firebending katas, an earthbending spar and three separate waterbending practices today.”

“Waterbending?” Azula asked with a raised eyebrow. “So you’ve finally got another waterbending instructor to teach you.” Azula thought briefly of what had happened to his last waterbending master. Pa-kou? Pakku? Was that his name? Well regardless, the old man had deserved what he got.

Aang nodded, his mouth too busy chewing to talk.

“Is he any good?” Azula asked inspecting her nails.

“She, actually. And yeah…” Aang tensed slightly, “she’s great.”

Azula’s eyes narrowed, noting the way Aang looked down at his rice. Deliberately not at her.

There was a moment’s awkward pause before Azula sat back leaning on her hands and asked with her usual nonchalant superiority, “Oh, a woman teacher? That’s new. I’d heard the Tribers were too backward to teach their women.”

Aang shrugged. “Master Katara is a really excellent waterbender.”

How very noncontroversial. Azula was used to this from Aang. Not taking any kind of stand, just stating something related, but non-confrontational. Azula admitted that he might make a decent politician if Father ever decided to let him out of the dark.

A decent politician, mind. Not a good leader. Leaders had to be decisive. Like Father. Like her.

She watched him carefully when she said, “Maybe I’ll need to come and see for myself sometime.”

There it was. Aang stilled again. He was hiding something. She would find out what.

In time. For now, it was late.

Azula stood from the desk and started toward the door. “But not tomorrow I’m afraid,” she said. “You’ll need the morning tomorrow to spar with me.”

“Counselor Zhao has me busy all day tomorrow. You’ll have to take that up with him.”

Azula rolled her eyes and walked to the door before turning back toward Aang. “Zhao can take it up with me if he so desires. He’s not my babysitter, and I do what I want. First thing tomorrow, I’ll be waiting at the arena.”

Aang laughed and leaned back in his chair. “I won’t complain if it gets me out of meditation with the Sages!”

The breath in her chest caught at the crooked smile he sent her way. So Azula quickly opened the door and left.

……………..

Keep reading in the Next Chapter.

#kataang #aang #alta au #adcurtis #prince Aang #avatar the last airbender #the hand that rocks the cradle

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dualdaospirits · 4 years

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Do you think if they ever reboot ATLA they would make Zutara canon? Reboots have changed quite a few things(the new She-Ra is vastly different from the original) especially with all the support Zutara got post-series

Hmmm, an interesting question. It depends on many things I think, not the least of which being who the showrunners are and the tone they want to set. We may get to see our reboot soon, actually, since there’s a live action Netflix series in the works (they haven’t started production yet though, so don’t get too excited). As far as I know, Bryke is at the forefront, and while that’s great news since it means another abomination hopefully won't happen, it does mean that a Zutara relationship probably isn’t likely since they’re big fans of the Katara/Aang relationship.

That being said, I think it would be a missed opportunity if they didn’t, and I’ll explain why. (Disclaimer for any non-Zutara fans reading this, being a Zutara shipper is not my main motivation for thinking or wanting it to be canon). First things first, the audience. I don’t know if post-series Zutara support would have much of an effect on Bryke, but it’s possible that the producers or Netflix would notice and try to factor it in. However, I don’t think pandering should be the reason they include Zutara--far from it. The original audience that watched Avatar has grown up at this point. Many of us are in our twenties, give or take. We’ve matured, and it would be foolish of the showrunners for ignoring this fact. If there’s a reboot of Avatar, live action or animation, the majority of the audience will be those that grew up with the show, not kids the same age as the audience of the animation. I think that’s evident enough with the release of Avatar on Netflix (notice how many people are rewatching and falling back into their love for the show?) and the comics. Ah, the comics. Some things they did well, others...not. What they did do well is writing the storytelling more maturely than the show. I don’t mean to bash the original show as it obviously had no problems including the dark effects of a war story in bite size, easy-to-swallow chunks for kids (a good thing). However, they treat the audience more seriously, knowing that not everything needs to be spelled out. You see the same in Korra. And to me, that’s part of what makes the Zutara relationship so captivating and intriguing--it’s mature. It’s not easy, and it has faults. It’s not “hero gets the girl after saving the world”. It’s complex.

I’ll say this now: there’s a difference between a relationship being canon and being endgame, and it’s an important difference. I definitely think Zutara should be canon, if not endgame, in any reboot they do.

Personally, I’m excited for a live action version if they ever get around to it. It brings many new factors to the table, and the majority of them have to do with adaptation. (I’ll mainly be talking about a live action version for a little bit, excuse the art student that shows). Adaptation, especially between mediums, is tricky to execute. You see many book-movie adaptations that succeed, and some that miserably fail, and others in between. This goes for other forms as well, ex: book to comic, book to animation, animation to film, etc. With any medium adaptation, the story will inherently change. You can't hear a character's inner dialogue or prose written in a book in a film, so changes have to be made or the filmmaker must write or use film language to substitute for it. With adaptation, changes must happen, that's a fact. To me, more often than not those adaptations succeed when the creator embraces that fact and uses the medium to their advantage. Sometimes this changes the story, and sometimes that change enhances it for the better. Take Game of Thrones or Harry Potter. The former deals with many characters and worldbuilding that is extremely complex, and they did an excellent job in getting you attached to those characters. However, they did have to change some things from the books, and while some weren’t as successful, others did remarkably. (Before anyone starts raging, I’m specifically talking about the seasons where they still had books to go off of). For Harry Potter, we have eight movies to analyze, which I will not be doing, but I will say that the weakest films storywise were the fifth and seventh, simply because they tried to do both too much and too little, if that makes sense.

How would this apply to a live action ATLA? Well, it wouldn’t be like the animation, most likely. It’s a medium adaptation, meaning that the approach they had in the animation won’t work the same in live action. Think about it--you don’t watch animation, especially 2d, the same way you watch live action, psychologically and subconsciously. There’s a separation there between their world and ours. It lessens with 3d animation, but it’s much much smaller when it’s live action since it looks like our world, more or less. Would GOT beheading and other violence (you know what I mean) have had the same effect if it were 2d animation? No, probably not. Yes, I know that anime has its fair share of gore that can be extremely realistic and gross, but it still doesn’t have the same impact it would if it appeared on your screen with quality vfx. Now, these are extreme examples. I really doubt that they’ll make the violence that intense or realistic in the show, as they’ll more than likely want to keep it family friendly (there’s still kids that watch the original). Another disclaimer (ik there’s a lot of them, but people can misunderstand this kind of critique as bashing, which it’s not): I am not saying that the original animation of ATLA is not impactful, absolutely not. I have no trouble getting attached to animated characters, laughing or crying with them, etc, especially if the writing is good. However, it was a kids show, and it was written with that in mind. This is apparent to me as I’m rewatching the show now. There’s some dark stuff that happens, as is the nature of a war story, and the animation handles it excellently. But think of how different it will be seeing the ruins of the Southern Air Temple, practically a garden of bones, Gyatso’s included, in live action. Show us all the nitty-gritty of the lower rings of Ba Sing Se, and the corruption up top. Let this affect the characters. Bring this moral ambiguity into light, as it was done in the show. I think that if they’re going to tackle a show in this way, not a movie or series of movies, it would be smart of them to lean into these darker themes, not shy away from them. Like I said earlier, the audience has matured, and there’s so much more to explore with these stories and themes. I’ll say with confidence that they’ll definitely do this, and possibly add a story or two. Otherwise, it will just be a rehashing of the original, word for word dialogue. Not that the original is bad (obv not), but I don’t think we should want that. There’s a lot of potential in a live action series, and I think they’ve learned lessons from the abomination that already tripped over itself. It was an example of adaptation done badly. However, you can change a story without destroying it, but it’s a delicate operation. That’s why having the original showrunners on gives me a bit more confidence. To be clear, I don’t think they’ll go full PG-13 or higher. It’s still possible to have family/kid friendly media without shying away from the darker parts. ATLA is a great example of that. If you want a live action example of a show that balances humor, heartache, and violence beautifully, look at Merlin (bbc).

I think you bring up an interesting point with She-Ra and it’s divergence from the original. I haven’t seen the original animation, but I can say that the new one was successful in telling a new and fresh story in the same universe. The act almost as parallel stories in that universe. How To Train Your Dragon is the same way--the book and movie have very very little in common story wise, but it’s a beautiful trilogy nonetheless. Would this work with ATLA? Possibly, though I doubt they’d want to stray away from the original’s core themes. Though, you can fight me on this, Zutara does align with those themes, but that’s another post (this one is long enough). However, it’s such a complicated question because it inherently considers countless possibilities, so there’s no definite answer. It’s a beloved show that’s already been butchered once, so how much would they be willing to change?

Now, how does Zutara factor in? (getting to the point now). For many of the reasons above, I think it should be canon. Their dynamic, their rocky relationship, the journey of trust and acceptance, the connection they have, all of it is ripe for exploration, especially in a revamped, inherently more mature story. Instead of a predictable relationship where there was never any real conflict (Katara was always loyal to Aang, and their fights were never truly consequential), you have a relationship coming from a difficult, seemingly impossible place, one that requires time to establish. Like I said, it’s not an easy relationship. Part of it is strengthened by Zuko’s wonderful redemption arc. He needs to build a foundation of trust before almost any of the Gaang trust him (Aang, the angel, is willing to give him a chance almost immediately in Book 1, and though she didn’t care one way or the other at first, he did accidentally burn Toph’s feet). What would a Book 4 have brought us? Despite what Bryke say about it being a false rumor, Ehasz, a co-producer, said that it was at least discussed, plus Book 3 definitely had more to give, so I take it with several grains of salt. Anyways, even wondering about it hypothetically produces interesting theories. We see at the end of Book 2 in the cave that Katara, once she overcomes her immediate, and warrented, repulsion of Zuko, she’s able to connect and see a bit of his heart underneath the layers and layers of angst and anguish obscuring it. This scene is popular in the Zutara fandom for a reason. However, I think that making changes to characters, especially in Zuko’s case should be done extremely selectively and purposefully. His arc is one of the most fantastic accomplishments of the show, and I think very little should be changed. For example, he should still make that doomed, yet inevitable choice in that cave to join Azula, but perhaps they’ll include his mother as a more forefront character, especially when he goes back to the Fire Nation. By all means, give Ty Lee and Mai more than just a conversation to supply their backstory. Thoroughly explore the swampbenders and the Freedom Fighters. Show more of the original airbenders in Aang’s memories! There’s room for exploration without dismantling the world or characters like the M. Night film did. For Zutara, I think that expanding Book 3 and giving the characters more time with each other would be invaluable. Think of how quickly Katara and Zuko grew close, from Katara threatening to off him first time he even hinted at being a threat, to becoming one of the most instinctual and formidable teams in the Gaang, to saving each other’s lives in the final battle. That’s not even mentioning the Southern Raiders. The conflict over the entire show as the backdrop for a relationship like that, romantic or platonic, is incredibly suitable for a reboot. If it was explored, the outcome would be so powerful.

I said before that there’s a difference between canon and endgame relationships. This just means that a relationship can be confirmed and explored without being the outcome. If Bryke include Zutara at all, that’s most likely how they’ll do it: adding a love triangle that ends up with Katara and Aang getting together. Honestly, it would be a method of making K/A a more interesting relationship and a way to have the characters grow a bit. However, this has the awful potential of just shitting on Zutara and turning it into a toxic relationship, which I’d rather not see.

But if it wasn’t Bryke running it? Absolutely, I think Zutara would, and should, be canon. Adaptation should take risks and be willing to explore, and I think Zutara is the type of dynamic we should see.

#zutara #atla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender #zuko #katara #sorry this got really long i have a lot of feelings

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royaltealovingkookiness · 5 years

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Do you validate Katara’s grudge towards Zuko after what he did in Crossroads Of destiny cos there are some fans out there bashing her,complaining she was “ mean” to Zuko

It’s a really interesting question. Katara’s anger is both mislabelled (Zuko didn’t betray Katara, he never promised her anything), but also justified (Zuko betrayed something much more important that day - himself). I think what’s important here is that Zuko accepts fully Katara’s grudge.

Let’s rewind to CoD and the scene in the cave. When Zuko turns around and responds with kindness to Katara’s harsh words, it shook her. It turns the entire dynamic between them around in a matter of minutes.

Katara gets a glimpse of the Zuko who we saw slowly surfacing through Book 2. She sees his potential, to become that person who will be able to walk away from his father with the biggest “Fuck you, Dad!” And Katara instinctively trusts Good!Zuko, because that Zuko is worthy of trust.

Cave!Zuko is on the verge of becoming that person. He reaches out to her in compassion, he reveals bits and pieces of himself that makes Katara realize that they are more similar than she ever imagined. But he never offered to change sides - he’s not quite there yet. All that is Katara making assumptions that if he changed, then he should be on the “good side” now, not understanding fully the complex issues of loyalty Zuko is facing.

In a desire to reach out to him, to reciprocate somehow the trust, Katara offers him something he never asked for (and never really even needed). The healing water - to heal Zuko’s scar - because “it’s something important”.

In the spur of that moment, Katara is recklessly kind. She feels so strongly about reaching out to Good!Zuko, taking his pain away that she’s willing to use her special water on an old scar that’s not life-threatening in any way. Yes, the scar is important - for Zuko. It’s a symbol of Ozai’s cruelty, it’s a symbol of everything Zuko lost, it’s his father’s hold on him. But the scar is just a physical manifestation of the deeper psychological issues, and that’s what Zuko really needs healing for. And no magic water can offer a shortcut to that.

Luckily they get disrupted and Katara still has the water to heal Aang. But she knows that she was ready in a moment when she let her guard down to use up that water and the consequences of that could have been catastrophic. Katara lost sight of the big picture, because all she saw was the boy in pain and his potential and the kind healer in her wanted to fix that.

So I think a lot of Katara’s anger is coming from that. She let her guard down and had a huge lapse of judgement almost costing them everything. Because she trusted in that glimpse of “good!Zuko”. I don’t know if the fight in the cave would have gone drastically different if Zuko took their side; after all Azula had a swarm of Dai Li agents ready to intervene. Zuko never promised her anything, and he didn’t betray her so much, as he betrayed himself - that person he was about to become and he betrayed Iroh.

But from Katara’s perspective - “good!Zuko” is someone who can trick her into trusting him and making reckless decisions. So when “good!Zuko” shows up in the Western Air Temple, Katara holds onto her cold anger, so she wouldn’t do something like that again. It’s a defense mechanism.

I don’t think Zuko fully understands all the complexity of Katara’s anger, but he accepts it and tries to do his best to make her trust him again. He goes all out, throwing himself into danger, always having their backs. But remember? For Katara, trust is what she doesn’t want - because that’s dangerous territory. So the more trustworthy Zuko is, the stronger is her own resentment.

I think that’s why their field trip is so important. Katara there comes close to betraying herself - she bloodbends when she swore she never would, and she comes close to killing Yon Rha. And Zuko is a witness to all that - to the dark rage inside her, to the potential of her becoming someone like Hama. And Zuko doesn’t judge her for it.

When she experiences herself how in certain situations the line becomes blurry, that she herself is capable of evil and of betraying herself is when she’s finally able to accept that Zuko can really change - that his lapse of judgement in CoD doesn’t mean that he can never be trusted again. And finally Katara lets her guard down and is willing to trust Zuko. They are back on the same page.

I think Katara’s grudge from her own perspective is completely logical. And certainly Zuko accepts it, not because he fully understands all of Katara’s thinking, but because he does feel angry with himself about it. So Katara’s anger is just a mirror to his own conscience. I don’t think there is a single harsh word that Katara said to him that he hasn’t said to himself in way harsher terms.

It’s natural to him that he has to prove his goodness and how he changed. And he’s willing to do whatever it takes to prove that he’s trustworthy. But for Katara it’s a huge act of faith to accept that because the first time she did, it cost them almost everything. It’s not only about trusting Zuko, but about trusting herself to let her guard down again.

#atla #zuko #katara #atla meta #zuko & katara #rtk

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kataang-week · 4 years

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What is Kataang Week?

So this information is usually posted once we have the prompts finalized, but since there’s been an influx of new followers, I thought it might be nice to post some of the details now. Welcome to any new Kataang fans!

So, what is Kataang Week?

Kataang Week is when we, as a corner of the fandom, celebrate the relationship between Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Cool, when is it?

Summer Kataang Week 2020 starts on Monday, July 27th and ends on Monday, August 3rd.

How do I participate?

The most common ways to participate are by creating art or writing a fic and posting it online. Some people try and create something for every day while others only fill one or two prompts.

But I can’t draw or write!

That’s totally fine - there are more ways to participate! You can sing a song, create a graphic, write a poem - just about anything really. You can also show your support by reblogging and liking other people’s contributions.

What are the prompts?

The prompts have not yet been chosen. Voting will begin later today and the 28 submitted prompts, through a few rounds of voting, will be narrowed down to 7 for the week.

I wasn’t able to submit prompts in time, could I still submit one or two?

Unfortunately, no further prompts will be accepted for this summer event. However, there is a chance of a small holiday event for around the winter solstice (similar to the winter bash we have done occasionally in the past). If there is enough interest in an event, we would accept prompt submissions for it after the summer event is completed in August.

How should I tag my work?

The easiest way for us to find your work so we can reblog it to this blog is by using the tag “kataang week”. Using “kataang” and “kataangtag” also help. You must tag one of the three in your first five tags otherwise it doesn’t appear in the search.

Once we’ve reblogged it to this blog we add our own tags (a prompt tag and a user tag) for easy organization. This means we can find all the work for one prompt or all the work from one user in one easy click (this also means that if you have changed your username since participating last year you need to let us know so we can update your tag!).

Can I post my stuff other places online too?

Of course you can!

Why seven weeks to work on the prompts?

To give people time to create quality content. In the past (and in other fandoms) we have seen ship weeks pop up out of no where with little to no notice and we just don’t think this works. We don’t know about you guys, but we need time to prepare! We also like to post WIP for Kataang Week and encourage everyone else to do so as well - we reblog it here for motivation!

Hopefully we can have all of the prompts chosen by June 8th (exactly 7 weeks prior to the start of Kataang Week 2020) but if not, I am confident we can have everything finalized with 6 weeks remaining.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t hesitate to send an ask. - The Mods

#Kataang Week #Kataang #Kataangtag #Katara #Aang #Kataang Week 2020

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fangzeronos · 4 years

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Fanning the Flames Ch 2

Ch. 1

Over the next three days, Azula waited outside of the healing ward, hoping she’d be allowed to go inside and see Suki. Taking time only to sleep and eat, Azula spent every waking minute outside of the ward, her arms wrapped around herself. She knew that Shei was the reason she was being kept out, and she couldn’t blame Suki’s mother in the least. When she would sleep, the Fire Nation Princess found her dreams filled with Suki, both of them in some compromising positions, sending her already confused mentality about Suki spiraling out of control.

On the morning of the fourth day since Mahu’s attack, Moya walked out of the ward with Shei behind her. “How’s Suki doing?” Azula asked as she stood up, biting her lip nervously.

Moya smiled softly. “Because of her quick thinking, she’s going to be fine. Nothing internally was damaged, she’ll have another new scar to add to a lifetime of fighting, and her shoulder was simply dislocated. It was easy enough to put back in,” the healer said. “She’s asking for you.”

“I don’t approve,” Shei said, folding her arms. “It’s your fault she’s laid in that bed anyway. If you hadn’t come to Kyoshi—”

“If I hadn’t accepted Suki’s offer to come to Kyoshi Island for my own mental health, I’d be laid up in a hospital with healers watching every move I make, analyzing everything I say and do to make sure I’m not going ot hurt anyone,” Azula said. “Ma’am, I have been nothing but respectful since I walked into your home almost a week ago. I have held my tongue, when as little as three years ago I would have burned you where you stood for talking to a Princess of the Fire Nation like you have.” Her hands clenched at her sides, feeling the faintest sparks of fire ebbing over her knuckles, but she quickly tamped the anger down.

Taking a deep breath, Azula continued. “Consider us both lucky that I am making the effort to change my ways, Shei. Suki is laid in that bed because she pushed me out of the way. If she hadn’t, I would be dead because do you know how many people look at me like I’m a leper? Nobody would have come to my aid if Mahu had stabbed me or used that club of his on my skull. Suki took an attack for a friend, something I don’t know that I’ll ever have the strength to repay if situations are reversed.” She sighed, shaking her softly. “You may not like me, Shei, and that’s fine. I’ll add your name to the list of people that would like to see me hanged or locked away for the rest of my life. Right now, if you’ll excuse me, my friend is asking to see me.” She stepped past Shei, heading into the hospital.

Moya looked at Shei, the slightly younger woman looking like she’d been slapped by a badger-mole. “Shei…you had that coming, my dear,” she said, patting the other woman’s arm before walking in behind Azula. “Nicely said, Princess.”

“I didn’t want to start any trouble,” Azula said softly. “Ever since I stepped foot off of the airship, everyone’s treated me horribly. Except Suki and the other Warriors. I know my past is what’s known more, but I really am trying to be better than that. I don’t want to be that girl anymore. I want to change to be someone that Zuko can be proud of, someone my mother will love, and….someone that Suki can be proud of.”

Moya nodded, smiling softly before putting her hand on Azula’s shoulder. “Standing up for yourself and not incinerating Shei where she stood was a good start,” she said. “Come on. She’s this way.” She led Azula down the hall, knocking on Suki’s door and opening it. “Captain.”

Suki looked up, sitting up slowly with a wince. “Moya,” she said. She looked past the healer and smiled. “Azula.”

Azula walked over, sitting beside the bed, smiling sadly. “I’m sorry, Suki.”

“Don’t be. If it were anyone else, I’d have done the same thing. Any of my Warriors, Zuko, Aang, Katara. Any of them. I’d do it again if I had to,” Suki said, reaching over and putting her hand on Azula’s arm. “Are you ok?”

“I don’t know. I feel bad that you’re in here because of me. Your mother hates me because you’re in here, and I still can’t go anywhere without being treated like I did something wrong,” Azula said. “I know it’ll take time for everyone to see me as anything but the “crazed Fire Nation heiress”, but…until that happens, I can’t stand the looks I get.”

Suki nodded, biting her lip as she thought. “I know you can Firebend like nobody’s business, but how well can you defend yourself in hand-to-hand?” she asked.

“Fairly well. I was trained by Piandao and several prominent Fire Nation masters,” Azula said. “Why?”

Suki smiled. “After I’m out of here, I’m going to train you. As a Kyoshi Warrior.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. Why not? You’re here, we’re supposed to be training anyway, even on vacation, and it’ll be a way to get people to see you as more than a crazy person,” Suki said. “Besides, you’ve already been in the uniform and makeup once.”

Azula smiled a bit and nodded. “True. When we kicked your asses and disguised ourselves to get into Ba Sing Se,” she said.

Suki smiled, sitting up and wincing as she held her stomach. “Oh, damn…” She sighed, shaking her head softly. “I’m sorry about my mother. She’s adamant that this is your fault and that your being here is only going to cause more problems. She even told me “If that upstart little bitch of a princess so much as breathes at the wrong time, I’m cutting her throat.” That set Moya off. Didn’t do me any favors. I told her to shove it up her ass,” she said.

Azula sighed softly, shaking her head. “I understand why she doesn’t like me. There’s nothing I can do about it. Thankfully, some of the other people around the Island have been more welcoming then your mom,” she said. “Rahin’s been nice to me, and his wife has helped me a couple of times while you’ve been in here.”

“Yeah, Kyorah’s a good woman,” Suki said. “She used to be a Warrior.”

“Really?” Azula asked. “Well, I guess that makes sense. She’s got one of those fans above the mantle.” She sighed softly, rubbing her arms. “I wish you were out of here.”

“Me too,” Suki said with a small smile. “Give it a couple of days and I’ll be back home to stop Mom from giving you trouble. Just…ignore most of her comments. She’s just mad I got hurt and she couldn’t break the man responsible. She’s always been like that. Just give it time and she’ll come around.”

Later that afternoon, Azula finally left Suki in the hospital, returning back to Suki’s house. She could hear Shei in the workshop off the side, and she bit her lip, heading straight for the door.

“Azula,” Shei called, walking out with her apron and face covered in soot and ash, a headed billet of metal in her gloved hand. “Come in here. I want to talk.”

Azula bit her lip, nodding and following Shei into the workshop. She looked around, seeing Kyoshi Warrior fans, swords, and shields hanging on the walls, molds for casting weapons and various bits of metal for guards and pommels laying around the benches. She smiled a bit as she had flashbacks to Piandao’s workshop in the Fire Nation, having visited with Zuko and Iroh a couple of times.

Shei tucked the cooling billet back into the forge, pumping the bellows to get the fire hotter again. “I’m sorry,” she said after a few minutes of silence. Taking her tongs, she pulled the billet and put it in on the anvil, grabbing a hammer and starting to bash it into the glowing metal.

“What?” Azula asked. “Why?”

Shei sighed to herself, the sound of the hammer on the anvil ringing in the silence. “For how I’ve been treating you since you came to Kyoshi. Suki’s putting her faith in you that you’ll keep your calm and there won’t be a fiery explosion if you lose your temper, and all I wanted to see was the psychopath princess who wanted to watch the world burn. I wanted to hate you,” she said, tucking the billet back into the fire. “I wanted to hate you and let that hatred spill into others, running you from the Island. But…listening to what Rahin, Moya, and Suki all said, how she pushed you out of the way of Mahu’s attack…I realized I was the one in the wrong.”

Azula nodded softly. “I can understand why you’d hate me, Shei,” she said. “I’m Fire Nation, I tried to burn the Earth Kingdom down, I took over Ba Sing Se, and I almost killed my brother and his friends a thousand times. The last time the Fire Nation was on Kyoshi Island, Zuzu burned the place down. I understand why you hate me. Honestly, I hate myself.”

She watched Shei try and get her fire going again, seeing the forge wasn’t responding. “Let me try.” She walked over, rubbing her hands together, wisps of fire blossoming to life on her hands before using her firebending, reigniting the forge with blue fire. “It’ll burn a little hotter, so your billet will come up to temperature a bit faster but be easier to forge.”

Shei tilted her head and smiled softly. “Thank you, Azula,” she said, putting the billet back in the fire. “How did you know what to do?”

“Zuko and I spent a weekend with my uncle Iroh when he visited Master Piandao. He taught us how to forge, how to work the machines, the hammers, everything. It’s something I haven’t done since I was, Spirits….seven or eight years old. It’s been a long time.”

Later that night, after becoming exhausted from working with Shei, something Azula didn’t realize she’d enjoy, the Princess laid back on her bed, sighing as her eyes drooped closed. Her mind wandered to Suki, her dreams taking on a rather different tone that night.

Azula sighed as she felt one of Suki’s hands sliding up her stomach, her back arching as she felt the captain’s tongue against her clit, whimpering softly. Her hands tangled in Suki’s hair, biting her lip. “Suki…please…”

Suki giggled as she reached her destination, squeezing Azula’s tits, playfully tugging on her nipples. “What, Azula? You want me to stop teasing?” she asked, pushing her fingers into the squirming girl under her. “Maybe. I just want you to feel good.” She lifted herself up and dug her fingers further into Azula’s depths, leaning down and kissing her. “Don’t you want to feel good?”

“Yes…but you’re teasing….please…” Azula begged, her hips rolling against Suki’s fingers. “Baby, please…” She moaned as she felt Suki’s lips against her neck, her back arching slightly. “Suki…”

Suki nipped Azula’s throat, curling her fingers inside of Azula as the heel of her hand ground against her girlfriend’s clit. “I love when you beg. It makes you get off so much harder,” she said, adding a third finger inside of Azula.

“Ahh! Spirits, Suki!” she whined. “Please, Suki…please…let me cum…” Her hips pushed against Suki’s hand, hearing her girlfriend laughing above her. “Suki…don’t be mean!”

Suki smiled, kissing Azula again as her thumb started rubbing against her clit. “Then cum for me, baby,” she said, her voice low and seductive.

Azula screamed as she felt Suki’s fingers digging against her, her entire body arching as she hit her peak. She sank to the bed, her eyes fluttering in a post-orgasmic bliss. “Holy…”

Suki gently removed her fingers from Azula, bringing them to her lips and licking them clean. She heard Azula groan under her before she laid beside her girlfriend, kissing her softly. “Better, love?”

“Mmmhmm…” Azula whispered. “You are so mean. Why do you always tease me?”

“Because it’s fun,” Suki said with a smile, resting her head against Suki’s shoulder. “Besides, if I didn’t tease, you wouldn’t have as much fun.”

Azula laughed and smiled sleepily, running her hand in Suki’s hair. “That’s true,” she said. “I love you, Suki.”

“I love you, Azula,” Suki said, looking up at her and smiling.

Azula’s eyes popped open, whimpering as she pulled her hands out of her underwear, feeling the slick on her hand. “What…in the hell was that?” she muttered. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Azula, no….” As much as she wanted to deny it, the nagging in the back of her head was cheering “Azula yes!” as she got up and cleaned herself up. “How can I face her now?”

A few days later, after helping Shei with some new weapons for the Warriors, Azula stood in her room at the house, tightening the straps down for her new Kyoshi Warrior uniform. She sighed as she applied the make up, biting her lip as she set the brush down. A knock on the door sounded, breaking Azula out of her thoughts as she looked behind her.

“Hey,” Suki said, walking into the room. Her arm was still in a sling, and she was a little slow, but otherwise she was back up and going. “You look good, Azula.” She walked over, putting her hand on the other girl’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

Azula’s face heated up, her mind flashing back to the dream from a few nights before. She hadn’t been able to look Suki in the eyes for longer than a couple of minutes, and she hated lying to her friend. “I just feel…off wearing this,” Azula admitted. “Like a fraud who doesn’t belong.”

“You’ll be fine,” Suki said, squeezing Azula’s arm softly. “You just have to remember not to use your Firebending. I know it’ll be hard, but this is a good chance to learn, Azula. Phuong, Kim-Li, Kikki, and the others are going to be able to help you.”

Azula sighed softly, looking down. “I wish Ty Lee were here.” She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Yes, you can,” Suki said, putting her hand on Azula’s cheek. “You’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. The girls are going to love you. You’ve seen how protective they are already. Remember when we stopped in Omashu? When one of the merchants tried to attack you? What happened?”

“Phuong jumped in and stopped him, breaking his arm and threatening anyone else,” Azula said with a light smile.

“Exactly. If that doesn’t prove the other Warriors are already on your side, then I don’t know what will,” Suki said. She pulled her hand back, Azula swearing that she felt heat on her face from Suki’s touch. “Come on. Let’s get you to the training yard and we’ll see what you can do.”

Azula walked out with Suki, heading down toward the training yard. She saw a couple of older women stop and stare at her, but she decided to ignore them, holding herself a little straighter as she made her way down. The pair walked into the training yard, Azula seeing the other Warriors chatting and having fun, Phuong redoing Kim-Li’s hair while Kikki sharpened her blade.

“Alright, ladies,” Suki said, clapping her hands together. “Let’s gather around. We’ve got a new recruit.”

The Warriors gathered in front of Suki, Phuong smiling. “Azula!” she said.

“Yes,” Suki said with a smile. “I offered her the chance to join us, give her something special to belong to. I expect you all to treat her with the same respect and admiration you’d show any woman of the Earth Kingdom who joins the Warriors. Just because she’s Fire Nation doesn’t mean she gets treated unfairly.” She looked at the Warriors with a cocked eyebrow. “Understand?”

“Yes, Captain!” the group of warrior women sounded.

“And that means no itching powder in her robes, Kikki,” Suki said, looking at her friend.

Kikki sighed dramatically and smiled. “Alright. I’ll behave.”

“Good,” Suki said. “Azula, stand in beside Phuong and we’ll get started. We’re going to start with the basics again, ladies. Always good to have a refresher while showing new Warriors the standards we uphold.”

Azula stood beside Phuong, the other girl giving Azula a smile. She stood and waited for Suki’s instructions, watching the other girls strip off their weapons, setting them aside before moving back into formation.

As the day progressed, Azula found herself struggling to keep up even with the basics of combat. She was doing her best to resist her Firebending, knowing it wouldn’t be good and she didn’t want to hurt anyone. Despite managing to keep up with Kikki and Phuong at various times, she fell to the mat more times then she’d have liked. When Suki called time for the last spar of the day, Phuong helped her up.

“You did good, Azula,” Phuong said with a smile. “You’ll get the hang of it the more you train and practice. It doesn’t come easy at first but give it time.”

Azula nodded, tugging at the skirt of the robes. “I think my problem is I’m used to doing all of my fighting in pants. The robes are throwing a wrench into my usual styles. And it’s so damned difficult not to use my Bending. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I’m afraid that’s what I’d do if I lose control.”

Phuong gave Azula’s arm a squeeze, a reassuring smile on her face. “You’ll be fine. When you start feeling like you can’t do it, take a break and back up. Suki’d understand, and so would the rest of us. Slow and steady, right?”

“Yeah, slow and steady,” Azula said, looking over at Suki as she talked with Kikki and Kim-Li, the two backing up to join the others a few seconds later. She saw Suki look at her, a smile on her face, and Azula felt like every drop of blood rushed to her face, and a maddening heat pooled in her core, her mind flashing back to the dream again.

Phuong looked at Azula and then over to Suki, giggling as she saw how red Azula’s face was under the makeup. “Azula, you’ve got a crush,” she said.

“Shut up. No, I don’t,” Azula said, shoving Phuong and folding her arms. “Just shut up.”

Phuong grinned and smiled, hooking her arm around Azula’s neck. “Awww…it’s adorable.”

“I will ignite you,” Azula said, narrowing her eyes. “Shut up, Phuong.”

“Alright, gather up!” Suki called, the Warriors standing in their rank and file lines in front of the Captain. “You all did good again today. You welcomed Azula with open arms, and some of you took to training her yourselves. You’re living up to Avatar Kyoshi’s standards, and that’s something I’m happy to see. We’ll meet again tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

The Warriors all gathered their things and walked out, Phuong catching up to Kikki and Kim-Li. Azula sighed as she sat on a bench, pressing her hands to her eyes and shaking her head. She felt Suki sit next to her, and she looked down.

“You alright?” Suki asked, putting her hand on Azula’s back. “Azula?”

“I’m fine,” Azula lied, biting her lip. “Just tired. I was on my back more today then I have been in a long time.” She stopped and sighed, shaking her head. “Not remotely how I meant it…”

Suki giggled and smiled. “It’s fine. I’ve probably heard worse innuendo out of Sokka,” she said. She walked out with Azula, locking the training yard behind her.

“What happened between the two of you?” Azula asked, following Suki home.

“Conflict of interest. He was working on Republic City with Aang and Zuko, and I was guarding Zuko all the time, and we never had a chance to meet up. If we did, it was for a few hours and then we were gone again,” Suki said. “And, y’know, him housing a crush on Toph and me sleeping with Zuko didn’t really help anything.”

Azula blinked. “You slept with Zuko?” she asked. “How did that happen?”

Suki chuckled, shaking her head. “Assassin tried to kill him in his suite. I killed the assassin, doing my job as his bodyguard, and the next thing I knew after Lei Fei and the others took the body away, Zuko had me pinned against the wall kissing me. Next thing I remember was waking up with his arms around me, marks on my neck, and my hips sore as hell from, apparently, nine or ten climaxes.”

“Spirits,” Azula said. “Can’t say I’ve ever had that with anyone.”

Suki hooked her arm around Azula’s, giving her a squeeze. “You’ll find someone. Maybe not on Kyoshi, but you’ll find someone someday.”

Azula bit her lip, patting Suki’s hand softly. “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe…”

“The problem is, I already did. But it’s not like you’ll ever see me that way, Suki. I’ll have to suffer because you’ll never see me the way I want to see you,” she thought.

#Fanning The Flames #Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Suki #Y'all ok #this chapter took me a month #A FUCKIN' MONTH #I've picked and pawed at it since August 9th #I hate that #Gonna try and be better #so anyway #we got sexy Azula masturbate dreams in this one #plus some badass ladies #woo #I kinda pirated Kikki from #Madamezuki #Phuong's my own OC #she's repurposed from Young Justice

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loopy777 · 4 years

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following up on your wastly superios republic city, how would you rewrite asami's role in this new city, the city related plot, and her relationship with korra?(i cannot imagine you'dd want to keep the terrible love trialngle for this story). do you think opening their relationship on a romantic note with clear attraction from the start or have it develop more slowly over the course of the first book would better?

I don’t usually talk much about Asami here on Tumblr because I have lots of criticisms of her character and Korrasami, and this site enables such things to be passed along out of context and co-opted for agenda-driven bashing. I don’t think Asami or Korrasami are any worse than any of LoK’s other failures, and at least it’s bad writing for a good cause. Unlike Iroh II, who's just bad writing. Heyo!

Also, I’ve mainly been thinking about Book Air with all my talk of Republic City, but discussing the development of the dynamic between Korra and Asami is going to take us beyond that, and so outside of Republic City.

So let’s see how much I can answer this question without stepping over my self-imposed line.

First of all, I would introduce Asami independently of Mako, and you’re right, I wouldn’t bother with a love triangle. I don’t like that LoK ended on a romantic moment for either Book Air's climax or the finale finale, because the whole first episode is completely devoid of romantic matters or potential suitors. It’s one thing for AtLA, where Katara provides the opening narration and Aang’s crush on her is established at their first meeting; their getting together is the culmination of their respective coming-of-age arcs, which is why Book Fire stretches Kataang out so much and so nonsensically.

Korra's journey is never really about romance. It’s about seeing the world and making connections; Tenzin, her guide into the wider world, is the one who narrates the opening to her story. So I’d expect her final scene to be about all the friends she’d made and her place in the world, not a single romance and a vacation to the Spirit World. But Korra’s main character arc is over by the end of Book Spirits, anyway, so I can understand just ripping off AtLA for something feel-good. Also, considering the limitations in what could be shown, I guess they wanted as many parallels to AtLA as possible to make sure everyone got that Korra and Asami are romantic.

So, with the benefit of hindsight and the goal of endgame Korrasami, we can introduce Asami earlier to give her proper prominence. In the first episode, while careening through the city, Korra encounters Asami. There is no blushing or giggling or anything when Korra and Asami meet, because that's not how Korra or Asami react to attraction. I'm thinking we can replace the whole thing with the hobo and the illegal fishing, since that material can be covered later; perhaps Asami buys Korra food when she sees Korra has no money? But before they can exchange names, something happens that sends them off on a short adventure, and then they get separated.

In episode 2, instead of encountering Mako and Bolin while trying to break out of Air Island to see Probending, Korra encounters Asami again. Asami is likewise sneaking out to see Probending, and she’s a parallel to Korra in that she’s a victim of social isolation. Asami recognized Korra, gives a shout, and they exchange names and bond as fellow probender-geeks. Once that’s done, the girls somehow wind up meeting Mako and Bolin, Korra gets the chance to join the team, etc. Asami would help convince Mako to let Korra play. The end result is Korra with a big group of friends, no romantic hints about anyone (other than maybe Bolin having the hots for her, a situation that will be temporary), and an explicit connection between Korra starting to ‘get’ Airbending and the perspectives offered by her new friends. Perhaps Mako or Bolin shout some advice that gets the circle-walking to click for her, or it could be another thing for Asami to do.

This would be explicit foreshadowing for the Book Air finale, where Korra uses Airbending for the first time to defeat Amon. But instead of Mako being the one in danger, it’s all Korra’s friends, and the scene would be set up as an explicit parallel to the one in the second episode. Korra achieves freedom through her connections, people who show her new sides of herself and the world.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For most of Book Air, I think Asami and Korra can be partners in discovering Republic City. The Bending Brothers can introduce them to some new element, and the girls react to it in similar but disparate ways. Asami can sometimes be a bit of a snob, while Korra can be more into getting dirty or eating nasty food or belching or whatever. But they still do get moments of going to a dance hall together, getting pulled into street racing together, helping each other chase the corruption out of Probending, etc. Still, a little distance comes between the two, as Korra starts to see herself connecting better with the boys, especially Bolin. If we want to deal with Bolin trying to woo Korra and it not working out, this is the place to do it.

However, rather than romance and a love triangle, the main conflict between Korra’s Krew is Asami being courted by the Equalists. As I said in my other post, rather than the Equalists kicking things off with criminal activity and a direct confrontation with Korra, I’d like them to be a running subplot that only explodes at the end of the season. I think Asami could be a good viewpoint character into that, as she starts to learn and hear about the Equalists- and it will eventually be revealed that Hiroshi has been setting this up for her, to manipulate her. Remember, in my vision, he’s the one who got Amon to adopt the rhetoric of saving the oppressed by eliminating Benders.

It starts with Asami thinking it’s silly, then she starts to acknowledge that they have some good points even if they’re wrong about being against all Benders. Perhaps Asami explains to Korra about some of the good points, and Korra is skeptical but admits that the Bender gangs are a problem. I think this should come to a head in a similar manner to the cartoon when Hiroshi comes under some kind of suspicion. Instead of getting tangled in the love triangle, Mako and Bolin side with Korra right away, and Asami starts to wonder if the Benders really are oppressing her. She knows she’s sheltered and naive, and Hiroshi puts into her head that Korra and the Bending Brothers have been taking advantage of her sweetness and wealth. Asami's been paying for all their adventures, after all, and the others seem closer to each other than to her.

It still ends with Hiroshi’s villainy being revealed, and Asami siding with good guys over him. But here, it’s about Asami siding with her friends, rather than just Mako. This is all still without romance, but it’s laying the seeds.

Things continue on from there, and the only major change I feel the need to call out is that the team doesn’t split up for the final battle. They’re all together, and as I said, Korra has to save all her friends with Airbending. And there's no Iroh II, because he's just boring pointless fan-service who detracts from the other characters.

For Book Spirits, I’d toss out Asami’s whole subplot. I used to have an epic post on ASN (which I saved) describing how it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, but you can just take my word on it for now. If we do something similar to my Spiritual Eco-Terrorist Unalaq idea, then we can turn Asami’s part of bringing Korra back away from extremism into a parallel of Korra convincing Asami to turn against the Equalists. This book also sees a minimizing of Mako and Bolin, since part of the story is going to take place outside of Republic City. Asami has more reason to leave, so she emerges as Korra’s strongest friend in this book. Bolin could still get mixed up Varrick, if we want to do that subplot, but we’re completely skipping the whole thing of Varrick trying to steal Asami’s company. It's just filler, and the themes of Book Spirits deserve more focus.

Instead, we say that Asami has been steadily rebuilding up Sato Industries in the background of Book Spirits, so she’s in a position to leave it running when she goes with Korra on the Airbender Recruitment Tour. Again, I’m thinking we leave Mako and Bolin behind. Or, if Bolin went off with Varrick at the end of Book Spirits, as I suggested in that Unalaq post, either just Mako is left behind or else he goes with the girls to try to get over his brother being gone. They support him during his loss, and he maybe develops a real bond with Jinora’s future boyfriend, Whatshisname, rather than that subplot being unceremoniously dropped. Eventually, Bolin and Varrick would come back into the story, although maybe not until Book Balance.

Also, Book Change is where we start to have Korra and Asami blushing at each other and making surprising vows of devotion to each other. As Korra explores romance, in parallel to Jinora, we could get some advice from Tenzin and maybe even discussion of how Aang changed the nature of Air Nomad culture by accepting the idea of family units. At the end, when Korra is injured and Asami practically proposes marriage, it won’t come out of left field; it will feel like a culmination. And Korra gives an explicit refusal, our cliffhanger for that subplot.

Hm, perhaps we can also properly introduce Kuvira while we’re here? She can join the Krew as an ally and friend, and part of what has Asami starting to think about Korra as something more than a friend is that Kuvira is explicitly trying to seduce Korra for fun. That might be amusing. Or it could be stupid. It is a love triangle, after all. It's easy enough to cut if we can't make it work, even if the voice actresses have already recorded their lines.

Anyway, as we launch into our final season, Korra starts to recover to find that the Metalbending chick who was (maybe) trying to seduce her is now leading an imperialist conquest of the Earth Kingdom, and also a new Amon is back in Republic City trying to bring down the government. This new Amon is a creation of Kuvira, to give her an excuse to invade the United Republic as a pacifying force. Korra and Asami have to bring down Amon II, and then also Kuvira. It’s very tragic that they have to beat up their former friend, but not too tragic because it turns out that Kuvira is a real jerk.

Timing-wise, as I mentioned in my Hiroshi post, he dies saving Asami from Amon II. This happens before the final battle, so we get to see Asami mourning for a bit as she and Korra go after Kuvira in a new sub-arc. She emerges ready to confess her love to Korra. They get together, and then Korra rallies all her friends and allies across the world to defeat Kuvira and restore freedom to the galaxy. The end sees Korra and Asami together, as romantic partners, amidst all their friends. The End. Huzzah!

Hopefully, that showed how a functional Korrasami arc could be done that makes good use of their characters and frees them from the really janky storytelling that plagues most of LoK. Most of the problem is that LoK seemed intent on giving Asami something separate to do, rather than properly integrating her into things. For all that the storytellers claim to like Asami and Korrasami, it's stunning how little of either -- even in terms of friendship -- there is to the plots and story arcs.

Ah, but there's the line. I shall now back off, rather than crossing it. Yay for me.

#thekingofwinterblog

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advocaado · 5 years

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Day 8: Wedding Night

@thirtydaysofzutara

Find the whole collection on Fanfiction.net User: Advocaat

Katara had always been in love with love.

It wasn’t until she was wearing of necklace of gold and faced with consummating her marriage to her boyfriend of three years that she discovered that maybe she’d been wrong about what love actually was.

She didn’t want this. This wasn’t the kind of love she felt for the boy two years her junior who smiled lovingly up at her from their bed. Up until this moment, she’d thought she was ready. She’d thought the feelings would come naturally once she was faced with doing the deed.

All she felt in this moment was fear. She feared what this feeling of ‘not wanting’ meant for her future from here on out. She feared what it meant for Aang. She feared hurting them both.

But she had Aang’s necklace around her neck and their coupling had been blessed by the whole world just hours before. It was too late to back out now.

So she swallowed her fear. She crawled onto the bed and into the loving arms of her husband.

oOo

It wasn’t awful. Katara did her best to make the experience a pleasurable one for her partner and in the process she awakened some new feelings in herself as well. But in the end, she’d brought Aang to his finish before they could properly consummate anything and she’d been glad for it. Maybe if they kept at it, they could work their way up to that point—that’s what she told herself—but right now she was just relieved it was over.

Aang fell asleep quickly after spending himself but Katara didn’t feel an ounce of tiredness herself. Rather than attempting to join him in dreamland, she slipped out of bed and crept to the washroom to wash the evidence of what they’d done from her body. When she was finished, she dressed in a casual tunic and tiptoed silently back across the room to the door. With a glance back at Aang to make sure he was still fast asleep, she slipped outside. It was a lovely night and she needed some fresh air to think.

Her feet carried her through the dark palace of the Earth King where the ceremony had been held and out into one of its many gardens. The moon was bright and high in the sky and Katara used its light to find her way to her favorite fountain.

To her great surprise, a familiar figure darkened the rim of the fountain. His hands were laced in his lap and his face was turned toward the moon. He started and looked over at her when he noticed her approaching.

“Zuko?” she questioned in a soft voice so as not to break the tranquility of the night.

Zuko looked at her with an expression full of confusion. “Katara? What are you doing out here?”

Katara felt relief fill her at Zuko’s familiar shape. It helped to chase away some of the discomfort she was still feeling from her realization in the bedroom. “I…um…” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, suddenly bashful about revealing her feelings to the young Fire Lord. “I needed some space to sort out some feelings.”

Upon hearing this, Zuko’s good eye widened and he made as if to leave but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and sat down beside him on the rim of the fountain. “No, stay,” she instructed somewhat awkwardly. “I’m glad you’re here, actually.”

Zuko looked uncomfortable at her request but he did as instructed. “What’s wrong?” he questioned hesitantly when she made no further motion to speak. “You should be up there,” he gestured with his face to the row of balconies several stories above them, “with him. It’s your wedding night.”

Katara twined her hands together above her lap. “I know. I just…” She probably shouldn’t be speaking about this with him, but Zuko had been her best friend for years. Ever since he’d taken Azula’s lightning for her. She shared everything with him and he always did the same with her.

Zuko interrupted her thoughts by tentatively asking, “Did you…you know….?”

Katara blushed and wrung her hands together. Just as hesitantly, she answered, “…Yes. Well, kind of. I mean, we didn’t go all the way.” Her face was flaming and she knew Zuko could see it even in the dark.

Zuko blinked at her in surprise. He almost looked relieved to hear this. “You didn’t?”

She shook her head. “I chickened out. I guess.” She looked up at him, her face still hot. “I couldn’t do it. It didn’t feel right.” Shame burned inside her at revealing these secret feelings but she also felt a little lighter after saying it.

“Oh,” was all Zuko said to her confession. He looked like he was struggling to find the appropriate way to react but he was coming up empty.

Katara knew she should end this conversation now and return to her room, but she didn’t want to. Being out here with Zuko was comforting and familiar. When she thought about going back inside to Aang she felt that same fear and dread from before rise up within her.

She waited another moment as she deliberated revealing her deepest uncertainty to the young man sitting beside her and in the end she decided just to go for it. She trusted him. “Zuko, do you think I made a mistake?” She looked up into his eyes uncertainly. “Marrying Aang, I mean. I thought I was doing the right thing, but tonight the feelings just…” she looked down at her lap, “…weren’t there.”

She peeked up at Zuko out of the corner of her eye and saw him frown. “Are you saying that you don’t love him?” he asked in a low voice, ever conscious of being overheard even at this hour.

Katara played with the fabric of her tunic anxiously. “Of course I do,” she defended quickly. “I just…don’t know if I…” She released her tunic and took a calming breath. “What if I don’t love him in that way?”

There. It was out. This was meant to be the happiest night of her life and here she was confiding to Zuko that it might instead be the biggest mistake of her life. Looking back at him, she said, “Zuko, do you think I rushed into marriage? Or do you think I’m just having some kind of panic attack? Gran-Gran told me I might get cold feet.” She laughed a little shakily and added, “I didn’t believe her.”

Zuko attempted to lift her spirits with a smile. “That could be it. I’ve heard that can happen.”

Katara nodded. “I hope it’s just a temporary thing.” She pulled her feet up onto the fountain’s rim and hugged her knees to her chest. “…But I don’t know. I should want to be with Aang in that way, right? But I don’t. Tonight felt like trying to sleep with a friend. It was weird and uncomfortable and I was happy when it was over.”

She buried her face in her knees and hugged her legs tighter to her chest. The more she thought about it, the idea of being with Aang physically felt the same as when she imagined being with Suki or Haru. “What if I’ve been wrong all this time?”

The warmth of an arm settled around her shoulders and she felt Zuko lean into her. She wouldn’t have blamed him for thinking less of her for this, but she knew he didn’t. Zuko had always known the worst parts of her and accepted her regardless. It was why talking to him like this came so easily.

All at once, a thought occurred to her. An idea of how to put her uncertainty to rest. She lifted her head and met Zuko’s eyes. He was the only one she could ask to do this for her. At any other time, she’d never ask such a thing of him, but she was in crisis and questioning the biggest decision of her life and if she was going to make it right she had a very limited window to do so.

“Zuko,” she said his name hesitantly.

Zuko hummed to show he was listening.

“I have a…request. It’s something I hate to ask of you but there’s no one else I’d trust to do this.”

Zuko didn’t even hesitate. “What do you need?”

That almost made her feel worse. Zuko was always ready to help her at the drop of a hat and she was about to take advantage of that. “I know I shouldn’t ask this,” she prefaced her request. “It’s improper and wrong and if anyone found out I asked you to do this I doubt I’d be forgiven, but would you...” Zuko’s gaze was steady on hers and looking into his eyes made her almost lose her nerve. But she knew this would be her only chance to ask this and she’d definitely regret it if she didn’t so she went ahead. “Would you be willing to kiss me?”

She could feel Zuko’s surprise in the contracting of the muscles in his arm. He didn’t pull away though, which she was glad for. Rather than immediately refuse or ask her what in the world she was thinking asking him such a thing, he instead took a deep breath and said simply, “Are you sure?”

Katara’s cheeks reddened again but she nodded. Looking determinedly into his eyes, she said, “If you kiss me and it feels the same as when he does it, then I’ll have my answer.”

Zuko’s lips thinned. He looked conflicted, as he ought to. She almost took back her request, but then she saw his resolve steel. He glanced around cautiously to make perfectly certain they weren’t being watched and then his eyes found hers again and he nodded. “Okay.”

Relief and nervousness washed over Katara in equal measures and she gave him a grateful smile. In her head, she made a promise to do something extra nice for him later to pay him back for this. Readying herself, she tucked her hair behind her ears and closed her eyes.

It took a moment, but finally Zuko’s arm slid from her shoulders. She felt his hand cup her cheek and she stayed as still as she could while she waited for what was to come. Zuko would only be the third boy ever that she’d kissed—an awfully pitiful number for a girl who’d just been married—and she tried very hard to forget that she was doing it on her wedding night; the night she was supposed to be spending in bliss with her husband upstairs. Spirits, what a fantastic wreck she’d become, smooching the Fire Lord when she was married to the Avatar.

Zuko’s fingers slid up into her hair and she felt his warm breath as he leaned in close. This was it. She still had time to pull away—to forget all this and run back up to her room. Zuko would never speak of the incident and she could live her life pretending that she’d never had second thoughts about her feelings for Aang.

But she didn’t. Her butt stayed firmly put on the rim of the fountain as Zuko closed the remaining space between them and set his mouth on hers.

At once, Katara felt her nerves ease. Zuko’s kiss was gentle and overflowing with consideration. He sighed into the contact and she responded in kind, bringing her arms up around his neck to pull him close, just as she would with Aang.

It felt good. By all expectations, kissing Zuko should feel awkward and wrong, but the reality was completely opposite. The tender way Zuko’s lips pressed into hers filled her with a sense of trust and safety. She could feel his desire to make her happy. He was solid and warm in a way that felt steadfast and dependable. He didn’t feel like he would slip from her grasp like the wind at a moment’s notice.

That had always been Zuko, she realized in that instant. Whether as her enemy or her companion, he’d always been steadfast. He’d always approached every task with a large amount of conviction and he saw it through. He was unwavering to a fault and because of that he was reliable. In that regard, he was Aang’s opposite. Where Aang was flighty and Katara always found herself running to keep up, Zuko was deliberate and purposeful and had a strong sense of commitment. It was these traits that made Zuko’s kiss feel sincere on a level that she was realizing now Aang’s often didn’t. Aang only ever kissed her because that’s what he wanted in the moment. Zuko was kissing her to satisfy her. That, she now understood, was always going to be something her relationship with Aang lacked.

Zuko abruptly pulled back when her tears dampened his cheeks. “Katara?” he questioned, his voice full of concern.

Katara shook her head and removed a hand from around his neck to wipe her face. “I’m sorry, Zuko,” she apologized quickly. “It’s not you. I’m just a wreck right now. I shouldn’t have asked you to do that—it was stupid of me and now—”

She was silenced when Zuko’s head dipped down and he kissed her again. This time he held her face in both hands and slanted his mouth against hers. This second kiss was unrestrained and contained a slew of new emotions. She felt wanting and sadness, hope and fear. She felt a multitude of feelings that she’d never known he harbored. Most of all, she felt his hurt and his desire. She got the sense that he’d wanted to kiss her like this for a long time. Had he had all these feelings inside him all this time? He’d never let a hint of them out.

Katara was helpless as Zuko’s feelings poured into her. It was overwhelming, but at the same time she felt a strong urge to meet them. Her response was instinctual. She grabbed his hair and forced him to open his mouth with her tongue. He obliged her readily and when their tongues connected she felt heat pool within her. To hell with reservations, she thought. To hell with right and wrong. The feelings that had been absent just an hour ago with Aang were here in full force with Zuko. Perhaps it was because her hormones were still buzzing inside her from her mini-romp with Aang, but she wanted to push Zuko onto his back and feel for herself how much he desired her.

She managed to rein in her impulse and with a great deal of willpower separated herself from him. Zuko’s face was flushed and his eyes were dark when she looked at him again but he shook his head and seemed somewhat successful in pulling his good sense back from the aether where it had scattered. “I’m sorr—” he started to apologize but she shushed him with a finger to his mouth.

“Don’t apologize,” she ordered firmly. Her face was still damp but she did her best to sound like she was of perfectly sound mind as she said, “I’m an idiot who just made a terrible mistake and I don’t need you apologizing to me on top of it.”

Zuko tilted his head in confusion and she elaborated before he could go jumping to the wrong conclusion. “I need to talk with Aang. Spirits, there’s probably no way to rectify this without bringing an enormous amount of shame to both of us—mainly me—but if I act quickly we can probably find a way to save someface.” She buried her face in her hands as the weight of what she was going to have to do came crashing down on her. She was going to have to break to Aang that she thought their marriage was a mistake. There wasn’t a single part of her that wanted to do that to him but at the same time she couldn’t bear to live a lie.

She was pulled from her crisis when Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” he requested in a slightly stronger voice. “Don’t go making any big decisions hastily. Take some time to think it over. Like you said, this could just be a temporary thing.”

Katara found herself smiling at Zuko’s earnest request. The advice was awfully rich coming from him, the king of not thinking things through. Although she supposed he had gotten better about that over the years. “Zuko,” she said his name with a no-nonsense edge. “I want to sleep with you. That’s not a very good prospect for my marriage to Aang.”

Zuko’s cheeks immediately flared and he directed his eyes bashfully away from hers to look at his lap.

“Listen,” she addressed him more softly. “I don’t want you to feel responsible for this. I was the one who got myself into this and if I decide to have my marriage annulled, it has nothing to do with you. I won’t let you take any heat for this.”

Zuko’s head rose to look at her again and she watched him frown. She knew he wanted to protest, but they both knew he couldn’t. He was the Fire Lord and if word got out that he had any involvement, no matter how miniscule, in her decision to leave Aang, it would cause an international mess that could sour the Fire Nation’s reputation for generations. Hesitantly, he nodded, then said, “Fine. But Katara, if you need a place to stay for a while after…after you sort things out with Aang, you know you’re always welcome in the Fire Nation.”

Katara smiled and leaned forward to wrap Zuko in a hug. This would be a decision she felt the ramifications of for years to come, she knew, but knowing Zuko would support her through all of it helped to still her fear. “Thank you,” she said honestly. “I’ll be happy to take you up on that.”

#zutara #Zutara Month 2018 #zk month 2018 #30 days of Zutara #This is one of my favorites #I almost didn't write anything for this prompt #But then I had this idea and the story wrote itself

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willowdove · 5 years

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Zutara Meta: Rediscovered Forum edition

I was looking through messages on my old email and rediscovered this forum right here: https://www.fanfiction.net/topic/2507/16292543/1/why-is-Zutara-so-popular-I-mean-no-bashing-intended-just-want-to-know

You can read through the thread, imho I think it’s interesting to look at other people’s thoughts on the matter, but it is a hugely long and rather old thread so I thought I’d republish my own specific additions here.

My original post, 5 years ago:

It is pretty hard to get Zutara right without being all sappy and stupid and throwing the entire plot away. The way the 3rd season is constructed it wouldn't make any sense for Zutara to be together in canon itself. And that's a shame, since they are so perfect.

Yes, I am a 17 year old girl. No, I don't think that it's a good pairing because of the whole opposites attract or good girl/bad boy arguments you often hear. I think it's a good pairing because they understand each other. Zuko can appreciate the dark side of Katara, without judgement. Katara accepts the effects Zuko's horrible past has had on him. They are both dark, but more importantly, they both overcome it.

Personally, I don't like Kataang. Aang really is too young for Katara. But it's not about biological age, as so many people seem to think. It's about mental age. Aang is a kid, has been the entire series. Katara is a an adult. She is the one who understands the actual weight of the world and accepts responsibility for looking after everyone. As for Maiko, I just find Mai's romantic character to be forced.

My new post:

Wow, rediscovering this forum is a trip. Apparently I commented on this when I was 17. I am now 22. Anyway since I'm here I guess I'd like to elaborate on what I said previously.

When I said that Zuko understands and accepts Katara's dark side, I meant that he actually shares her powerful sense of justice and her relentlessness. A lot of people consider his role in the Southern Raiders to be problematic because he "encourages" Katara to murder her mother's killer, but there is more nuance to it than that. Zuko is the only one who relates to and attempts to rectify her need for closure in relation to the death of her mother. Even Sokka, her brother, berates her for continuing to carry emotional pain and tells her she should just let it go. He, and Aang and everyone else, tell her to forgive the man who murdered her mother, who, let's not forget, died in place of Katara herself in a Fire Nation bid at the ethnic cleansing of all Southern waterbenders. Now, some might say he did deserve the death penalty for that war crime. Personally I can't say whether he did or didn't. What I can say is that it was vitally important for Katara to be able to pursue justice for what had been done to her. She needed to be afforded a choice in the matter, and in the making of that choice, she was able to unburden herself. And Zuko, who desperately wished for the same choice to be afforded to him in the case of his own missing mother, and who had been given the chance to face down his abuser and officially cut ties with his father the Fire Lord on the Day of Black Sun, knew that was what she needed and gave it to her. In turn she showed him that it was possible to achieve closure by ending the cycle of violence and become stronger for doing that.

Zuko and Katara do have some personality traits that can make them clash. They are both stubborn, quick to anger. But their anger is a righteous anger, and one that could easily be directly towards the same target of injustice. We have to remember, Zuko got his scar because he vehemently disapproved of using his untrained countrymen as bait in a suicidal tactic that was sure to incur an excess of causalities. Katara famously refuses to turn her back on people who need her, whether it be her family, a boy she found in an iceberg, or villagers suffering from pollution in their river.

One of the best things about Zutara, in my opinion, is the way that they challenge each other to become better people. In the period of their relationship that was adversarial they had to train hard in order to be able to match the other's combat abilities. But beyond that they challenged each other to find the humanity in their opponents on the other side of the war, and ultimately to overcome cultural biases they held towards themselves and towards each other. And when they did come together as friends and allies, they worked together seamlessly. You need only to look at their bending scenes together to see just how well they understand and anticipate each other. That's why Zuko asked Katara to come with him to challenge Azula out of everyone in the group, because out of everyone he had established the deepest bond with her; he trusted her implicitly and completely.

Now that I'm older I can say that Aang can and does make a lot more mature decisions than I gave him credit for, but I still feel that he was first and foremost a child at heart. His character conflict stemmed from that- from the dichotomy between his desire to be an uncomplicated child and the responsibilities of his office of the Avatar.

Meanwhile Katara, who absolutely was not an adult (lol 17 yr old me), took on maternal responsibilities from the age of 5 on and her personality reflected that. She did struggle to reclaim some of that childhood levity and fun, but that wasn't her primary conflict. Her primary conflict was between honoring her culture and traditions and following her inner moral compass. She was expected to drive Aang out of the village to protect them but instead she chose to travel with him and save him from danger. She was expected to only become a healer through the constraint of gender norms but instead she chose to become a warrior AND a healer. She was expected to learn and practice bloodbending from Hama to preserve the Southern style but she rejected it as amoral. She was expected to hate and destroy all things Fire Nation but she put a stop to Jet's plans to flood a Fire Nation village, she helped the polluted village, and she came to understand and respect Zuko. Hers is an internal conflict that closely mirrors Zuko's, who struggles for most of the narrative to unlearn Fire Nation propoganda and understand the harm colonialism and war have brought to the world, and to unlearn lessons about what constitutes good and worth that his father imposed on him.

Some people on this thread have commented that Katara would not be "cut out" for being royalty or taking on the political role of the Fire Lady, but I have to thoroughly disagree. Katara would take that office by storm, making sure that policies were being enacted fairly in the best interest of all nations and people of every economic class, and overseeing countless, massive humanitarian projects. Honestly it's a shame that in canon she retreated into her role as a mom and a healer when those were only ASPECTS of Katara's personality. As the wife of the Avatar, daughter/sister to the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe (you know Sokka succeeded that office), and a master waterbender and a legendary war hero in her own right, there is NO WAY AT ALL she would have rested on her laurels when she could have been so much more involved in the ultimate shaping of the post-war world. But I digress.

In conclusion Zuko and Katara are much more similar than they are different. The ways that they are opposite are only superficial, and ultimately as a team they represent an unstoppable force of moral good. They understand and bolster each other in ways the other characters can't or are unwilling to, but they also hold each other accountable and don't put each other on a pedestal. I honestly have never seen how people could say these two characters "brought out the worst in each other", because actually they inspired each other to change for the better.

#zutara #anti-kataang #atla #zuko #katara #atla meta #avatar the last airbender #zutara meta

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araeph · 6 years

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Okay I know Southern Raiders is well-loved and I don't mean to bash it, but I rewatched it recently and I finally understand the beef I had with it. Zuko and Katara's bonding seemed a bit superficial to me. His field trips with Aang and Sokka felt different. With Aang, the goal was to regain his bending. With Sokka - he was also doing him a favour, but it felt more like "it's the right thing to do" rather than "will you like me if I do this thing for you?" like in Katara's case. 1/2

In Raiders, Zuko seems like he’s just too eager to please, which is… perfectly IC for him tbh, but it makes their bonding with Katara feel a bit unnatural. Especially since Katara forgives him just like that, without even addressing her actual problem with him - that he betrayed her trust once. It almost feels like Zuko “bought” Katara’s forgiveness. I’m not bashing Zutara - I don’t ship it, but I’d much prefer it over Zumai. Just offering my perspective on this episode. Love your metas! 2/2

Zuko was eager to pleaseKatara and make it up to her for his siding with Azula in Ba Sing Se, but thatdoesn’t make their trip any less meaningful. Zuko didn’t buy Katara’sforgiveness; he earned it. See, when Zuko asks what he can do to make it up toKatara, she throws out things that are impossible:

Katara: You really want to know? Hmm, maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King. Or, I know. You could bring my mother back.

This is tell Zuko in no uncertain terms that Katara’s forgiveness can’t be bought; that nothing he can do will pay for hismisdeeds. Zuko easily could have taken that and accepted that she would nevermove beyond her anger. Instead, he tries to get to the root of why Katara is soangry in the first place. At that point, it no longer becomes about earning forgiveness, but about helping Katara. And when he helps her, notice that he never demandsor even asks for her friendship as a consequence. He is doing this becauseit’s the right thing.

Which, ironically, is precisely what allowed Katara to forgive Zukoat the end of “Southern Raiders.” She felt no pressure from Zuko to forgive himjust because he did something nice for her. I love the wording at the end: thatshe is ready to forgive him, becauseit implies that she was allowed to make the journey at her own pace, with noprice tag or guilt attached to it.

I’m not sure why Zuko and Katara’s bonding felt superficial to you; for me, it was exactly the opposite. The reason Zuko and Katara were on the samewavelength during that episode wasn’t just because Zuko wanted to pleaseKatara; it was because he understood her loss of a mother in a way that no oneelse did. (For why Sokka didn’t experience the loss of his mother the same way,see this post.) Their mutual losswas what had originally brought them together in the Crystal Catacombs, so itmakes sense for the same thing to reunite them here. It’s also a continuation ofZuko’s redemption arc; he, too, had journeyed to the South Pole once upon atime to conduct a raid and take away the last bender of an enemy nation.

Andfinally, the entire ordeal was a trust exercise for Katara. She trusted himwith her coldest, angriest self, the part of her that no one wanted to seeagain. She smashed a giant wave into an enemy ship, told him everything aboutthe darkest day of her life, and bloodbent right in front of him. She nearly shredded Yon Rha with ice daggers and openly acknowledged her hatred.

The fact that Zuko was Katara’s companion on this journey speaksvolumes. He didn’t try to make the journey about himself, or his personalrelationship with Katara. He didn’t try to badger her into killing Yon Rha, or balkat the fact that she bloodbent. Katara gave him plenty of opportunities toquestion her, to pull away, to freak out or try to manipulate her. He didn’ttake a single one of them. And his willingness to have her back during thisjourney cemented him as not only an ex-enemy, but a friend.

#zutara #southern raiders

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rickthaniel · 7 years

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Avatar Aang, Feminist Icon?

“Who’s your favorite character?” I hear that question come up a lot over Avatar: The Last Airbender, a show particularly near and dear to me. Iroh and Toph get tossed around a lot. Zuko is very popular. Sokka has his fans. But something I’ve noticed? Aang very rarely gets the pick. When he comes up, it’s usually in that “Oh, and also…” kind of way. Which is strange, I think, considering he’s the main character, the titular airbender, of the entire show.

I never really thought much about it until a couple weeks ago when I finished my annual re-watch of the series and found myself, for the first time, specifically focused on Aang’s arc. Somehow, I never really paid that much attention to him before. I mean sure, he’s front and center in most episodes, fighting or practicing or learning big spiritual secrets, and yet, he always feels a little overshadowed. Katara takes care of the group. Sokka makes the plans. Zuko has the big, heroic Joseph Campbell journey. Aang…goofs around. He listens and follows and plays with Momo. And yes, at the end his story gets bigger and louder, but even then I feel like a lot of it dodges the spotlight. And here’s why:

Avatar casts the least traditionally-masculine hero you could possibly write as the star of a fantasy war story. Because of that, we don’t see Aang naturally for everything he is, so we look elsewhere.

To show what I mean, I want to talk about some of the show’s other characters, and I want to start with Zuko. Zuko is the hero we’re looking for. He’s tall and hot and complicated. He perseveres in the face of constant setbacks. He uses two swords and shoots fire out of his hands. He trains with a wise old man on ship decks and mountaintops. Occasionally he yells at the sky. He’s got the whole 180-degree moral turn beat for beat, right down to the scars and the sins-of-the-father confrontation scene. And if you were going into battle, some epic affair with battalions of armor-clad infantry, Zuko is the man you’d want leading the charge, Aragorn style. We love Zuko. Because Zuko does what he’s supposed to do.

Now let’s look at Katara. Katara doesn’t do what she’s supposed to do. She doesn’t care about your traditionally gender dynamics because she’s too busy fighting pirates and firebenders, planning military operations with the highest ranking generals in the Earth Kingdom, and dismantling the entire patriarchal structure of the Northern Water Tribe. Somewhere in her spare time she also manages to become one of the greatest waterbenders in the world, train the Avatar, defeat the princess of the Fire Nation in the middle of Sozin’s Comet and take care of the entire rest of the cast for an entire year living in tents and caves. Katara is a badass, and we love that.

So what about Aang? When we meet Aang, he is twelve years old. He is small and his voice hasn��t changed yet. His hobbies include dancing, baking and braiding necklaces with pink flowers. He loves animals. He doesn’t eat meat. He despises violence and spends nine tenths of every fight ducking and dodging. His only “weapon” is a blunt staff, used more for recreation than combat. Through the show, Aang receives most of his training from two young women – Katara and Toph – whom he gives absolute respect, even to the point of reverence. When he questions their instruction, it comes from a place of discomfort or anxiety, never superiority. He defers to women, young women, in matters of strategy and combat. Then he makes a joke at his own expense and goes off to feed his pet lemur.

Now there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, and it’s the one that shielded Aang from the heroic limelight in my eyes for ten years. The reasoning goes like this: Aang is a child. He has no presumptuous authority complex, no masculinity anxiety, no self-consciousness about his preferred pastimes, because he’s twelve. He’s still the hero, but he’s the prepubescent hero, the hero who can’t lead the charge himself because he’s just not old enough. The problem is, that reasoning just doesn’t hold up when you look at him in the context of the rest of the show.

Let’s look at Azula. Aside from the Avatar himself, Zuko’s sister is arguably the strongest bender in the entire show. We could debate Toph and Ozai all day, but when you look at all Azula does, the evidence is pretty damning. Let’s make a list, shall we?

Azula completely mastered lightning, the highest level firebending technique, in her spare time on a boat, under the instruction of two old women who can’t even bend.

Azula led the drill assault on Ba Sing Sae, one of the most important Fire Nation operations of the entire war, and almost succeeded in conquering the whole Earth Kingdom.

Azula then bested the Kyoshi Warriors, one of the strongest non-bender fighting groups in the entire world, successfully infiltrated the Earth Kingdom in disguise, befriended its monarch, learned of the enemy’s most secret operation, emotionally manipulated her older brother, overthrew the captain of the secret police and did conquer the Earth Kingdom, something three Fire Lords, numerous technological monstrosities, and countless generals, including her uncle, failed to do in a century.

And she did this all when she was fourteen.

That last part is easy to forget. Azula seems so much her brother’s peer, we forget she’s the same age as Katara. And that means that when we first meet Azula, she’s only a year older than Aang is at the end of the series. So to dismiss Aang’s autonomy, maturity or capability because of his age is ridiculous, understanding that he and Azula could have been in the same preschool class.

We must then accept Aang for what he truly is: the hero of the story, the leader of the charge, who repeatedly displays restraint and meekness, not because of his age, not because of his upbringing, not because of some character flaw, but because he chooses too. We clamor for strong female characters, and for excellent reason. But nobody every calls for more weak male characters. Not weak in a negative sense, but weak in a sense that he listens when heroes talk. He negotiates when heroes fight. And when heroes are sharpening their blades, planning their strategies and stringing along their hetero love interests, Aang is making jewelry, feeding Appa, and wearing that flower crown he got from a travelling band of hippies. If all Aang’s hobbies and habits were transposed onto Toph or Katara, we’d see it as a weakening of their characters. But with Aang it’s cute, because he’s a child. Only it isn’t, because he’s not.

Even in his relationship with Katara, a landmark piece of any traditional protagonist’s identity, Aang defies expectations. From the moment he wakes up in episode one, he is infatuated with the young woman who would become his oldest teacher and closest friend. Throughout season one we see many examples of his puppy love expressing itself, usually to no avail. But there’s one episode in particular that I always thought a little odd, and that’s Jet.

In Jet, Katara has an infatuation of her own. The titular vigilante outlaw sweeps her off her feet, literally, with his stunning hair, his masterful swordsmanship and his apparent selflessness. You’d think this would elicit some kind of jealousy from Aang. There’s no way he’s ignorant of what’s happening, as Sokka sarcastically refers to Jet as Katara’s boyfriend directly in Aang’s presence, and she doesn’t even dispute it. But even then, we never see any kind of rivalry manifest in Aang. Rather, he seems in full support of it. He repeatedly praises Jet, impressed by his leadership and carefree attitude. Despite his overwhelming affection for Katara, he evaluates both her and Jet on their own merits as people. There is no sense of ownership or macho competition.

Contrast this with Zuko’s reaction to a similar scenario in season three’s The Beach. Zuko goes to a party with his girlfriend, and at that party he sees her talking to another guy. His reaction? Throwing the challenger into the wall, shattering a vase, yelling at Mai, and storming out. This may seem a little extreme, but it’s also what we’d expect to an extent. Zuko is being challenged. He feels threatened in his station as a man, and he responds physically, asserting his strength and dominance as best he can.

I could go on and on. I could talk about how the first time Aang trains with a dedicated waterbending master, he tries to quit because of sexist double standards, only changing his mind after Katara’s urging. I could talk about how Aang is cast as a woman in the Fire Nation’s propaganda theatre piece bashing him and his friends. Because in a patriarchal society, the worst thing a man can be is feminine. I could talk about the only times Aang causes any kind of real destruction in the Avatar state, it’s not even him, since he doesn’t gain control of the skill until the show’s closing moments. Every time he is powerless in his own power and guilt-ridden right after, until the very end when he finally gains control, and what does he do with all that potential? He raises the rivers, and puts the fires out.

Aang isn’t what he’s supposed to be. He rejects every masculine expectation placed on his role, and in doing so he dodges center stage of his own show. It’s shocking to think about how many times I just forgot about Aang. Even at the end, when his voice has dropped and his abs have filled in, we miss it. Zuko’s coronation comes and we cheer with the crowd, psyched to see our hero crowned. Then the Fire Lord shakes his head, gestures behind him and declares “the real hero is the Avatar.” It’s like he’s talking to us. “Don’t you get it?” he asks. “Did you miss it? This is his story. But you forgot that. Because he was small. And silly. And he hated fighting. And he loved to dance. Look at him,” Zuko seems to say. “He’s your hero. Avatar Aang, defier of gender norms, champion of self-identity, feminist icon.”

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nyangibun · 7 years

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What about Aang?

At first, I had this really indignant response to this post, along the lines of ‘what about him? does Katara’s feelings not matter?’ but then I thought about it a little more and the answer to that question is: Aang would’ve been an even better, more developed character.

Ending up with Katara stunted Aang’s growth as a person. I’ve seen a lot of people bash him for acting the way he did in ATLA, and while on the one hand, I completely agree because never kiss someone who just told you they were confused about how they feel about you. On the other hand, I also think people are being a little harsh because he really is just a kid. Most of us have done stupid things at his age for a crush or just in general. Kids are stupid and they’re problematic because they don’t know any better but they learn. Mistakes need to be made in order for kids to grow – hell, in order for any of us to grow. That’s just being human. The problem is having Aang end up with Katara didn’t allow him to realise what he did and how he behaved was a mistake and should not be accepted. Instead of learning that, he was rewarded with everything he ever wanted. He never had to learn about true sacrifice because he didn’t have to give up Katara to open his last chakra.

By having Aang grow up to marry Katara, he continued to believe that as Avatar he is entitled to do whatever it is he pleases. He’s justified in treating his loved ones however he so chooses (ie. neglecting Katara and neglecting his children) because he was taught from a young age that regardless of what he does, he’s the Avatar and he is entitled to their love.

By having Aang end up with Katara, he never had to really learn how to take care of himself. He went from being a child raised by monks to being a child raised by Katara to being a husband mothered by his wife. He doesn’t need to take responsibility for himself because Katara will always be there to clean up his mess and look after him.

If Zutara had been canon, or simply Aang had never ended up with Katara, I would hope that he would learn that life isn’t fair. You may save the world but you’re not guaranteed the girl. You may be the Avatar but you still need to learn to respect a person’s boundaries and feelings. You are not nor will you ever be entitled to anyone’s love.

That’s what would happen to Aang.

#aang #zutara #atla #avatar the last airbender

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yeahsokkla · 7 years

Text

“She’s Something”

Pairing: Sokka/Azula Rating: T Genre: Romance Words: 3,324

AN: WOW. It has been a long time since I’ve updated. My apologies, guys. I already tossed this up on FF.net, but figured I should drop it here as well. Hope you all enjoy, and please leave your thoughts and ideas! I would love to hear them. This chapter is un-Beta’d, so please forgive any spelling/grammar mistakes. Without any further ado, chapter 10!

Previous Chapter - x

Chapter 10 - Joy

It was soothing, to let his emotions out in this way. He was safe from judging eyes and gossiping mouths. It was just him, the sky, and all of his painful memories.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, crying. He might have stayed even longer, if it weren’t for the sound of light footsteps behind him. He froze in his spot, not daring to look over his shoulder to see who was there. He could only think of a few options, and each sounded terrible to him,

It could be a guard, or a servant, he supposed. The thought rather embarrassed him, since he was supposed to be a manly Water Tribe Warrior, and what not. He considered the other possibility. Surely, it couldn’t be. The universe did not hate him that much, right?

“...Sokka?”

Wrong. The universe seemed to hate him very much.

It was an early morning, far earlier than Sokka was used to waking up, at least recently anyways. He was seated at the long dining table with Zuko, who was engrossed in a stack of letters placed next to his bowl of fruit.

The two men ate in a companionable silence, both silently lifting their forks to their mouths and then bringing them back down again. By now, everyone had gotten used to Sokka’s strange silence and rather gloomy demeanor. It had been hard to at first, but even something as strange as a sad Sokka was something people accepted with time. Sokka found that he liked it much better this way. He could actually get through a day without someone asking why he was being so quiet, or why he wasn’t telling any stupid jokes.

He still had yet to speak with Azula, which was the driving force behind his recent depression. Since their last encounter at breakfast, he’d seen Azula exactly three times and all of those times he had refused to look in her direction. It was better that way, he reasoned, because surely she wasn’t looking at him? She was the one who didn’t want to do this anymore, the one who refused to love. Sokka loved, and as far as he was concerned, he had done his part.

After all, it was him who had taken the risk of sneaking into the royal chambers nearly every night. It was him who had poured out his heart and let her see him at his most vulnerable, only to be denied. It was him who couldn’t even manage to get out of bed some mornings, but Azula seemed perfectly fine as she lived out her daily routine.

Sokka’s eyes, which were previously trained on his plate, slid up to Zuko. He examined the Fire Lord critically. Would Zuko have really been that upset over finding out that Sokka had been with his sister? Maybe at first, surely, but not after seeing how happy they made each other. Right? Zuko had a heart, after all, and he believed in love. If anything, Sokka was sure that they would have General Iroh’s support and that would do a lot in swaying the Fire Lord. Although, that would mean he would have to still be with Azula, so the point was moot anyways.

Sokka tore his eyes away from his friend and returned his focus to stabbing pieces of duck with his fork. His return to the Southern Water Tribe couldn’t come faster. He only had to wait for ten moons. He could do that, right?

Before he could further speculate over whether he could, or could not, wait the ten months to return home, there was a gasp from Zuko’s end of the table.

Sokka looked up, wondering what could possibly have his friend making such a noise. Zuko was holding a letter, one near the bottom of his stack, and his eyes were pouring over it almost hungrily. After a few seconds of silence, in which Sokka’s curiosity doubled every minute, Zuko finally looked up.

“What was in that letter?” Sokka asked, his eyebrows pulling together in surprise, “What could possibly have gotten the big bad Fire Lord so worked up?”

Zuko scowled and set the letter back down, “I’m not worked up. I was just… surprised, is all.”

Sokka waved his hand flippantly, “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Now, c’mon, what was in the letter? Or was it official Fire Nation business?” There was enough bitterness in his tone to suggest Zuko had previously kept things from him under a guise such as that one.

“Everything I do is official Fire Nation business, Sokka. I’m the Fire Lord.” Zuko smirked and Sokka only shook his head, refusing to respond. He pointedly looked at the offending piece of paper and waited for Zuko to speak. There was a brief pause and a relenting sigh before Zuko picked up the letter. A smile formed on his face as he read over the words once again. “Katara -- and Aang, of course, are set to visit here soon. They should arrive next week.”

Warmth rushed over his body like an ocean wave at the news. Katara would be returning to the Fire Nation! As annoying as his little sister could be, he had missed her so much. They’d been together their entire lives until recently and he found himself missing her comforting presence more than he had ever thought possible.

Sokka lifted his fork to his mouth and slipped a piece of meat between his lips, as his mind ventured towards next week and what Katara and Aang’s visit would bring. He longed to hear the stories they had to tell. After all, they’d been travelling around the world during the entire time he’d been in the Fire Nation. Jealousy twinged in his guts at the thought of the fun they must have had. Two months ago he wouldn’t have cared at all what they were up to. He had been more than occupied back. However, he’d had quite a miserable time in the most recent weeks and it didn’t look as if it were shaping up anytime soon. He would give a lot to trade places.

Sokka glanced back towards Zuko, who was continuing to gaze at the letter in his hands with the slightest of smiles on his face. “Well that’s great news,” exclaimed Sokka, as he chewed the food in his mouth, “I’ve missed them a lot!”

Zuko’s eyes flicker up. He seemed surprised to hear this amount of excitement in Sokka’s voice. He had gotten used to the morose and downtrodden version of his normally funny friend. After a moment, he cleared his throat, “I’ve missed them as well. It will be nice to see them again.”

Their conversation fell flat once more as both men returned their focus to their plates in front of them, Sokka’s mind wandering back to his sister.

In a matter of minutes, both plates were cleared and being taken away by servants back to the kitchen. Sokka rose first and headed towards the doors that separated the dining hall from the corridors. He paused with his hand on the door handle and turned around to look back at Zuko, “Meet you in your study at the usual time for our meeting?”

There was a pregnant pause and it became apparent to Sokka that Zuko hadn’t heard a word he just said. His attention was, once again, back on the letter sent from Katara and Aang.

“Earth to Zuko!” The Fire Lord’s eyes shot up to meet his own. He looked almost bashful. Sokka tilted his head curiously, “Are you trying to memorize that letter, or what?” He teased.

“Shut up,” grumbled Zuko as he finally tucked the letter away into his robes, “What were you saying again?”

“I said, meet you in your study at our usual time?”

“Oh. Yes. That’s fine. See you in an hour.”

Sokka shot another weird look at Zuko over his shoulder, before turning around and stepping through the door. He didn’t really pay too much attention to where he was going, choosing to let his feet drag on aimlessly. It wasn’t until he nearly ran over a few servants that he decided that he should pick an actual destination.

The problem was, he couldn’t figure out where he wanted to go. Everywhere he went, he was reminded of Azula, and how things were no longer how they used to be. He couldn’t escape it. Reminders of her were everywhere. Oh, how he was beginning to hate the color red.

He slumped against the wall and crossed his arms over his shoulder, allowing himself a moment to indulge in his memories. The pain that struck his chest still felt fresh, but he did not hold back. He allowed himself to really remember. He recalled the first time he heard her really laugh. It had surprised him. He’d heard the cold, high pitched snicker plenty of times back when they’d been enemies. But he’d never truly heard her laugh until one beautiful night many weeks ago. The sound filled him with glorious rapture and he vowed to do whatever it took to hear it more. He remembered the way that her hands felt, especially when they interlocked with his. They were so soft and so warm, very unlike his own, which were calloused and cold.

Tears prick the back of his eyes and he grits his teeth together in frustration. Would this hurt ever end, damn it?!

Sokka took a deep breath and turned his head to the left, still unsure what to do. He supposed he could go to his room, but that didn’t really feel like what he wanted to do. His mind wandered back to the places that he used to sit and think in, before his whole world crumbled away. The first thing his mind thought of was his and Azula’s tower. He could go there, he supposed. It was a place that he would no doubt feel close to her. Sure, it would bring back painful memories. But that was no different from anywhere else in the gods forsaken palace. At least on the tower he would have a view.

With a sigh, Sokka pushed off of the wall and began walking towards the West Wing. It took him only five minutes to reach the wooden door that separated him from the spiral staircase. It took him another six to make it to the top.

At last, he pushed open the door and stepped out into the bright Fire Nation sun, It was warm outside, though he had expected that. Thankfully, there was a slight breeze that did much to keep him from getting too hot. He walked forward and settled himself on the ground, looking out through one of the openings at the world below. The city bustled underneath as Fire Nation citizens hustled all over, going about their daily business.

On days past, Sokka found himself taken away with this view. But today, he felt nothing of the sort. He felt empty inside, feeling little emotion despite the wondrous scenery before him. With a frown, he realized that those pesky tears from before were now making a comeback. He ducked his head and wiped his eyes on his sleeves, but still, the tears continued to fall.

It didn’t take long for him to give into his sorrow. At least he could cry in peace up here.

It was soothing, to let his emotions out in this way. He was safe from judging eyes and gossiping mouths. It was just him, the sky, and all of his painful memories.

“...Sokka?”

Wrong. The universe seemed to hate him very much.

Sokka did not move a muscle. He remained in the exact position he’d been found in; head bowed, shoulders hunched, and his arms wrapped around his knees.

The footsteps paused for a brief second, before taking slow, careful steps to his right. He didn’t look up, even as he heard the footsteps melt into the sound of a body settling in next to him. The only sound between them was the sound of the wind.

Tension filled the air and he wanted nothing more than to bolt. He had never been the type to run away, and he never thought that he would be, until this moment. He couldn’t, though. Not when she was right there. This was the closest she had allowed herself to get to him in months, and as terrified as he was, he couldn’t let this slip through his fingers. Fear had paralyzed him, though, and he did not know what to do. Thankfully, she seemed to take the initiative.

“Sokka.” She said again, this time with more emphasis.

He swallowed and lifted his head, turning to the right so that his eyes connected with hers.

His heart lurched. She was so beautiful.

“Uh, hey, Azula,” her name tastes amazing on his lips, “it’s nice to see you.”

Her golden eyes locked onto his and he was frustrated by the indecipherable look in her gaze. He wished he could look into that brilliant mind of hers, so he could know the right thing to say or to do. Unfortunately, he could not do that and that meant he was at a major loss for words.

Azula tilted her head, “You’re crying.” She stated, matter-of-factly.

Sokka blanched, embarrassed at how blunt she’d stated it. He cleared his throat and looked away quickly, “No I’m not! It’s just my, uh-- my allergies, that’s all. They get worse if I’m at a higher altitude.” The lie was terrible, and they both knew it.

“Ah.” Was all that Azula said in response.

Silence settled over them once more. It was not their usual, comfortable silence. No, this one was tension filled and it’s uncomfortable effects could be seen on both of them.

“So…” Sokka said suddenly, his voice rising an octave, “What, uh, brings you up here today?” He couldn’t stand to sit next to her in that unbearable quiet.

Azula shrugs her shoulders, turning away from Sokka to gaze out over her city, “I don’t know, really. I suppose I just wanted to sit somewhere quiet.”

Sokka nodded, blue eyes flickering to her face quickly, “Yeah, me too.”

This was the most that they had spoken to each other in two months. His insides were flipping, twisting, jumping, and somersaulting all around his body. Could this be it? Could this be his moment to make things right? To fix what he had wronged? His mouth went dry and he could feel his palms begin to sweat. Oh Gods, he was nervous. What should he say? Was there anything to say?

Without thinking, Sokka turned his head to look back over at the Princess and blurted out, “I’ve missed you, Azula.”

She tenses and refuses to look his way. For a moment, he thinks that he’s ruined it. Surprisingly, this doesn’t kill him. They’ll just go back to the way things had been for the past two months. At least he got this small moment to bask in her presence. But then, she surprises him.

The stiffness leaks from her body in one swift movement. Her shoulders slump, and her head dips down, and the hands in her lap begin to fidget. She looked nothing like the prestigious royal that he knew her to be. Without turning to look at him, she speaks quietly, “I’ve missed you too, Sokka.”

And there it is. Hope.

It booms like a firework in his chest and sends warmth spiraling to the furthest tips of his body. As if somebody had turned on a switch in his mind, he can feel the parts of himself that laughed and loved ignite back to life. Still, he doesn’t want to ruin this moment by getting ahead of himself, so he chooses to keep it simple.

“Really?” Despite his best efforts, he can not hide the hopeful sincerity in his tone.

Azula bites into her lip, “Really.”

Excitement builds in his gut, and he struggles to think of what to say next. He has to do this right. He can’t let his big mouth ruin things for him once more. A few more moments tick by before he finally decides on what to say.

“Azula, I just wanted to tell you-- I’m sorry. I-- shouldn’t have said what I did. Or I at least shouldn’t have pushed it after you told me you didn’t like it. I didn’t mean to make this happen and I--”

He is cut off by the sight of Azula lifting her head to look at him, her eyes ablaze.

“Do not apologize, Sokka. You did nothing wrong.”

“I-- what?”

She looks away again, a deep sigh escaping her lips, “It’s me who should be sorry. And I am sorry, by the way.” She pursed her lips, “I treated you terribly, Sokka. You-- you cared for me, more than anybody else has in my life… and I just tossed you aside the moment I was scared. I apologize for that.”

He stared, dumbfounded. He’d fantasized plenty about their reconciliation, but never did he expect the apology to come from Azula. It made sense, he knew that. After all, his only crime was proclaiming his love. But still, he never thought that he would hear those words leave her lips. Now that he had, he couldn’t imagine anything different. She was sorry for running away. Did that mean she returned his feelings? Were they going to be okay? A million different thoughts raced through his brain, each more fleeting than the last, and he found it impossibly hard to latch onto any one thing. He was sure that he looked ridiculous, staring at her with this blank stare.

Azula, thankfully, seemed to realize that he couldn’t speak. He didn’t know how she knew, since he had never been at a loss for words before. Normally, she could never get him to shut up.

She bit into her bottom lip and tentatively placed her hand atop of his. “I’m so sorry for the pain that I caused you. I hope-- I hope you can forgive me, after I explain myself.”

Sokka didn’t say it aloud, but he had already forgiven her the moment she opened her mouth to speak.

“I was… taken aback, to say the least, by what you said. Nobody has ever loved me before, not really. And if they had, it certainly wasn’t as pure as yours seemed to be.” She clenched her teeth together, obviously pained by the emotions swirling within her brain, “I couldn’t handle what you had told me. For so long… I believed myself to be unworthy of love. Fear, and respect, yes. But love…” she shook her head, “...no. So to have you, somebody who is good and selfless by default say those words to me,,, well, it terrified me and my first reaction was to lash out.” She finally turned to look at him and their eyes melted into one another.

“But Sokka, I lied. I-- I love you too. And I’m so sorry that it’s taken me two months to realize it. I hope you can forgive me.”

A happiness so powerful settled over his entire being. She loved him too. She loved him. Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation, loved him. Sokka.

Tears swirled in his eyes again, only this time they were of joy and he did allow them to fall. Instead, he laughed, “Didn’t I tell you that even a murderous rampage wouldn’t make me run from you?” He waved his hand flippantly, “This is nothing compared to that.”

Like a beautiful flower blooming before his eyes, Azula smiled. In that instance, Sokka knew this was it. He was hers, forevermore. He had never felt so good, so happy. Unable to help himself, he lunged forward and swept an arm around his Princess to pull her towards him.

His body missed her warmth and he wasted not a single second in lowering his lips to hers. They pressed together in the most beautiful of unions and neither one could help the moans that escaped their mouths.

This was happiness, he was sure of it.

#sokkla #sokka #azula #atla #she's something #fanfiction #mine

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