#katara is not at all surprised by the turn of events
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To Tell the Truth...
Sokka was against it from the beginning. As soon as they spotted the stall, Sokka tried to steer his friends away from it. Especially his sister. Specifically his sister.
"Come on," Katara insisted. "What harm could it do?"
"It's a waste of money!" Sokka threw his hands up in frustration. "It's going to be Aunt Wu all over again."
"Aunt Wu didn't charge," Katara said. "She was also right. And besides, this isn't that expensive. Especially not since Mr. Moneybags here gave us access to the coffers." Katara grinned at Zuko and nudged him in the ribs. He'd shown them where his father had kept a supply of money in his office at the Ember Island beach palace. A combination of spite and an eagerness to make his new friends happy led him to be very generous with it's use.
"We might need to save that for later," Sokka groaned. "And you say I'm impulsive."
"It's a copper piece for each fortune," Suki pointed out. "That wouldn't even dent our grocery budget."
"Well count me out," Sokka folded his arms and glare at the ground. "The last time I went to one of these crackpots, she said that I was going to be the cause of my own misery."
"And that was wrong because...?" Katara smirked at Sokka. He just glared back at her.
"I'm not going," he repeated.
"Fine," Katara shrugged. "So you can wait for the rest of us."
"I think I'll pass, too," Zuko said eyeing the dilapidated stall dubiously. "Someone needs to be outside in case this place collapses."
"Fine, spoilsport," Katara scoffed. "So that leaves me, Suki, Toph and Aang."
"Wrong, Sweetness," Toph said. "I'm just fine living in the present, thank you."
"I'm in!" Aang chirped. "I had fun the last time." Sokka snorted and rolled his eyes, but that seemed to be the end of his protests.
Aang went first rushing forward to hand the fortuneteller- an elderly man with yellowing eyes- his payment. He motioned Aang into the back of the stall wordlessly. The reading took less than five minutes, and when Aang reemerged, he looked uncharacteristically subdued.
"What happened?" Sokka asked. "What that guy say." Aang's eyes went wide for a moment and shot a sideways glance at Katara.
"Well, he...er...he said..." Aang stammered. "I mean, it was bunch of nonsense, anyway. I think you were right Sokka. That guy's a quack. Maybe we should just go."
"No way!" Suki said emphatically. "Who cares if he's not the real deal. It's all in good fun."
"Waste of money and time," Sokka grumbled. Suki and Katara exchanged looks and rolled their eyes. Suki took her turn next. She paid and followed the fortunteller into the back room.
"What did he tell you?" Katara asked Aang. "Was it really so bad?" Aang looked at her and his face went bright red.
"It's not that important," he said. "It's just...he...he said that... I need to grow up?" His friends blinked in surprise.
"That's all?" Toph snorted. "Of course you need to grow up. You're 12."
"Yep," Aang chuckled nervously. "Like I said...a quack." Toph raised her brow at him.
"What else did he say?" she asked. Aang swallowed hard and looked around at his friends nervously. His eyes landed on Katara and he immediately looked downward. He was spared from answering by the reappearance of Suki.
Where Aang had been troubled by his reading, Suki looked positively delighted. She didn't wait for her friends to ask.
"He said that I am going to be an international name," she told them. "That I'm about to have a very big success soon, and it will catapult me into fame."
"I didn't know that was something you were interested in," Sokka said. "But I'm not surprised."
"Don't you get it?" Suki asked. "What...big event do we have coming up very soon that we want to succeed in?"
"You know that guy is just trying to tell you what you want to hear, right?" Sokka rolled his eyes again. "He just said something vague and positive so you'd fill in the blanks with whatever you want it to mean."
"He didn't do that with Aang," Suki pointed out. "And even if he's not the real deal, isn't it nice to hear that we're going to have a win? Especially after that play?"
"Yeah," Sokka scoffed. "Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to hear some whack job predicting fame and fortune."
"He didn't say fortune," Suki said, shrugging.
Katara went last. She paid the fortuneteller and followed him into the backroom. It was as dark and stuffy as she anticipated, but the furnishings were much nicer than she expected. There were red and gold silk hangings all around the small space, making it feel even closer. A brass lamp hung overhead, the fire burning inside of it cast intricate, flickering shadows all around. The incense was just a touch too strong for such a small space, and it almost immediately made Katara dizzy. She sat at the low table on the surprisingly plush cushions while the fortuneteller settled in on the other side. The flickering lights made his already aged face look even more ancient. His eyes, dark and unnervingly still, fixed on her. His face remained expressionless, which unsettled Katara further.
"Um...d-do I ask you a question or-"
"You can," the fortuneteller said.
"Alright," Katara said. "Um...I guess...I want to know if me and my family will be okay."
"That's a broad question." The fortuneteller's mouth hardly seemed to move as he spoke. It was a trick of the dim light, Katara decided firmly.
"It's the one I want answered," Katara said. The man's face didn't change, but suddenly he seemed amused.
"I suppose that's not completely a lie," he said. Katara was taken aback at that. She didn't have time to respond. "Your family will be fine for the most part. There will be a lot of things to mend and rebuild in your near future, but the ones closest to you will be there to help."
Katara breathed a sigh of relief, even as her brother's assertions of fraud echoed in her mind. It was comforting to hear from the fortuneteller, regardless. She thought that was the end. She started to stand up when the fortuneteller's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
"What are you-"
"I have one more word of caution and a gift for you," the fortuneteller said. "First, the caution. You are very dishonest, Katara."
"How did you know my name?" she demanded. The fortuneteller went on as if he hadn't heard her.
"You use dishonesty to protect the people around you. You lie to yourself, too, and it will only lead to future heartbreak for you and those who rely on you. And now, a gift. Until the sun rises again, it is yours."
"What?" Katara stared at him. "What gift? What are you talking about? How did you know my name?" The fortuneteller sat placidly at the table. He was no longer holding Katara's arm. It hardly seemed like he'd moved at all. A shudder ran down Katara's spine, and she rushed from the stall. Her friends were immediately concerned.
'What happened in there?" Sokka demanded.
"I got my fortune read," Katara said, taking a shaky breath in.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked. Katara nodded.
"I'm fine," she assured her friends. "It was just...very stuffy in there. His incense was too strong."
"Let's get out of here," Sokka said. "We should head home."
When they got back onto the palace grounds, Aang seemed to have bounced back from whatever funk he'd been in. He turned to Katara with a hopeful smile.
"Hey, Katara, do you want to walk down to the beach with me?" he asked. Katara smiled back at him.
"No," she said. She balked in surprise along with her friends.
"A-are you busy?" Aang asked. Katara started to nod uncertainly.
"I'm not busy," she said. "I just don't want to go for a walk with you." Aang was stunned by Katara's bluntness, but Katara was too distracted to notice. The words she'd spoken were her own, but they were her thoughts, and not what she'd meant to say. Her friends looked at her in surprise. She was never that blunt. Not with Aang, anyway.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked.
"I am," Katara nodded uncertainly. "I just don't feel like walking with Aang."
"What did I do?" Aang asked. He sounded hurt, and his eyes were wide with shock.
"The last time we were alone, you kissed me," Katara said. Around her she heard her friends gasp. "I didn't like it. I'm afraid you're going to try to kiss me again." Why had she said that? Katara's hands flew to her mouth. Her friends had all rounded on Aang, and suddenly they erupted into loud demands and questions. Sokka bore down on him furiously, his voice rising above the others.
"You did what to my sister?" Katara slipped away in the confusion, fleeing for the shelter of the palace. She ran to the kitchen and sat against the door. She hadn't meant to say that. She hadn't planned to tell anyone what happened with Aang on the balcony. Why had it just come out like that? Part of her wanted to go back and calm everyone down, but she was afraid of what else she might say.
(Aang deserved the wrath he was facing).
Katara jumped up, shaking her head of that last thought. What Aang did to her was wrong, but he didn't deserve to face Sokka's wrath. She leaned against the counter in the middle of the room and took several deep breaths. He didn't deserve that...did he?
"Katara?" She spun around and found her friends standing in the doorway. Aang wasn't with them, unsurprisingly, but Katara felt a sting nonetheless.
"Sokka sent Aang to his room," Toph said.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked.
"No," Katara said honestly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I didn't mean to say that. I wasn't going to say anything about what happened at the play. It just...came out."
"Good!" Sokka exclaimed. "You should have told me when it happened! I'd have kicked his butt right there!"
"I'm surprised you didn't do it," Toph said.
"I-I couldn't," Katara gripped the counter behind her. The words felt like vomit rising in her throat. She tried to hold them down, but they came spewing out. "I wanted to protect him. I didn't want him to kiss me, but I thought I still had to protect him." What was happening?
"That's not your job," Suki said.
"It is though!" Katara tried clenching her teeth, but they wouldn't stay shut. "He's the Avatar. He's supposed to end the war. I need to make sure he gets there."
"Woah..." Sokka took a step back. "Is that what you've thought this whole time?"
"Yes!" Katara was frantic. "I can't stop saying what I'm thinking! Why can't I stop?" Her distress finally registered with her friends. They froze, uncertain what to be most concerned about at the moment.
"Katara," Suki ventured first. "Are you feeling sick?"
"No," Katara shook her head. "I just can't stop myself from saying whatever's in my head."
"What do you mean?" Toph asked. "Like you can't lie?" Katara shook her head. Her entire body was quaking now.
"I don't know what's happening to me," she said. Her friends watched her quietly for a moment.
"Did that fortuneteller guy do something to you?" Zuko asked. Katara looked up sharply and gasped.
"The gift," she said.
"What?" Sokka leaned forward. "What gift?" Katara told her friends exactly what had happened during her reading. The fortunetellers positive prediction. How unsettled she'd felt in the claustrophobic room. How he'd reached out to grab her before she left and spoke about how she was being dishonest.
"Then he told me he was giving me a gift," she concluded. "He said I'd have it until sunrise. Did-do you think he...had something to do with this?"
"No!" Sokka said firmly. "No way! It's one thing to say that guy can predict the future, but a truth spell?"
"Well, how else do you explain it?" Katara asked. "It's either he did something, or I'm losing my mind!" Sokka stared at her for a long while, mouth opening and closing uselessly.
"We don't know that anything's actually wrong with you," Suki said. "You spilled the beans about Aang kissing you without your permission. It's clearly been bothering you. Maybe him asking you to be alone with him again set you off."
"There's one way to test that theory," Toph pointed out. Katara leaned forward eagerly.
"What is it?"
"Tell us the truth, Katara," Toph's mouth turned into a wicked grin. "What do you really think about Zuko?"
For a moment nothing happened. For a split second Katara started to relax. Then she felt the words rising into her throat again. The thoughts that she intended to keep to herself prickling the back of her tongue, threatening to gag her if she didn't let them out. She tried to trap them with her teeth, but then she glanced at Zuko, with that adorably confused look on her face, and she knew she was going to lose this fight.
But at least now she knew what was going on. She'd find a way to make Toph pay later.
#atla#zutara#zutara month#day 27#truth serum/spell#anti aang#anti kataang#got this in under the wire#THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!
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Do you know of any metas that disprove the argument of aang being a bad father? :/
I haven't seen any metas but i personally found the argument for Aang being a bad father weak at best
Aang wasn't a perfect father, that much is clear. But imo no Avatar can ever be a perfect parent (no one can be a perfect parent but i digress). The Avatar has a responsibility to the world. There are times where the Avatar isn't allowed to be selfish. For example, think of when Aang had to let go of Katara in order to access the Avatar State. How would Katara feel if he ever told her that this is necessary for him to activate it every time? I'm sure she wouldn't be fond of the idea.
The only thing we have to go on when it comes to Aang and Katara's parenting, is episodes 3 and 4 of Tlok book 2 (at least that i know of). Tenzin tries to recall his childhood memories that he thinks Kya and Bumi were a part of but turns out, they weren't. We don't know the reason for this, and we don't find out. I'm assuming these trips were perhaps intended as "airnomad lessons" or something like that, and that would be a reason for the other siblings to not be present. We do have to remember that Aang has a nation to rebuild. He's the only one in the world that was physically present during the time of the airnomads, and he only has so much time between his Avatar duties. He's the only one that can authentically pass on the customs. That's probably why these trips felt so frequent to Bumi and Kya, the few times Aang was present he was off with Tenzin for airnomad teachings. (Again this is my assumption. The writers never gave us a reason for the other siblings being absent or for the trips to even have occurred.)
(Personally i do feel like this is affected by bad writing. Why on earth would Kya and Bumi not also be considered part of the airnomads, as well as the watertribe? Why would they not learn everything there is to know about their heritage, even though they don't master the element? Instead bryke made Kya a mini Katara, Tenzin a mini Aang and Bumi just kind of floats lost in the middle, and is clearly supposed to be a mini Sokka. It's a very poor example of a mixed family.)
Kya and Bumi's version of the events are obviously going to be biased. They felt like their father was never there, and they're very angry with him for being absent (who wouldn't be). Tenzin's view is also biased, he was the youngest and spent the most time with Aang. It surprises me that throughout this episode, they never once mention what Katara was like as a mother. All of their anger is aimed at Aang (easy target, the mf is dead already) but Katara is also responsible here as the other parent. What were discussions like? Did the kids ever tell Katara how they felt? She was still married to Aang it's not like they had separated and started co parenting. They were a team. Did Katara spend a lot more time with Kya to teach her about the watertribe? Did she take Kya on girltrips? What was Bumi doing during all of this?
At the end of these episodes, when the siblings reconcile, Kya shows them a family photo. They all look back on it fondly. If Aang was truly such a horrible father (or even abusive like some people have claimed bc why not throw every term around) they would not look at this picture like that. They like their family, as flawed as it is. They clearly have good memories too, but because these particular episodes are about how parents aren't perfect (the conflict between Ikki and her siblings mimics that of the one Tenzin has with his) those memories aren't talked about.
Anyway to summarize this into a point: i don't think Aang was a bad or abusive father. I think he was unfortunately an pretty absent father as a byproduct of being the Avatar, and that he committed the ultimate parent sin: picking a favorite. I wonder what type of parent Roku was, or any past Avatars that had children.
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How Class 1-A Reacts to a reader with a quirk Iike in H2O Mermaid
Your quirk allows you to waterbend, but at the cost of transforming into a mermaid everytime you touch water. And the full moon has you going all mermaid stir crazy.
Part 2
The Girls
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Shoto Todoroki has been catching up on a normal childhood since joining UA (through Class A movie nights) and has since discovered a profound love for The Little Mermaid and Avatar the Last Airbender. And so yes, post sports festival arch when he started out the whole “making friends” thing he immediately took an interest in becoming your friend. And y’all are besties now <33
Shoto thinks your quirk is the coolest!!! You’re so pretty when you’re practicing moving these giant spheres and ribbons of water! And, he loves seeing you swim laps in the Olympic sized training pool.
The two of your routinely train and spar against each other as part of your quirks are both elemental. You’ve been partnered together to practicing making complex shapes out of water and ice; and have much to Aizawa’s surprise and dismay the two of you have only succeeded in creating dazzling ice sculpture together.
But now you make ice sculptures for all kinds of parties and events that UA hosts! The crowds love them!
If there’s any costume parties the two of you always go for Katara and Zuko!! It’s the perfect costume duo.
You even have a plan on getting matching water/fire bender symbols tattooed after UA Graduation!! And Shoto is very on board bc he gets to piss off his dad and it’s symbolic of making fire his power: permanently. Plus a matching tattoo with his best friend? He’s signed up.
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Izuku Midoriya thinks your quirk is so cool!!! It’s almost more like 2 quirks like Todoroki’s and so he’s spend a lot of time endearingly questioning you about it.
Little bean immediately makes it a goal to become best friends with you!
Izuku is the one that actually discovered that your toenail polish affected your scales. He noticed it in training after a girls slumber party and partly because you wore sandals the next day. Some of your scales and the iridescent shine in class that day had turned pink! The same color as your new pedi?? Hmmm
so now you have Izuku to thank for your collection of nail polish and the pinkish shimmer to your scales!!
Izuku also spend the entire summer before UA cleaning up that beach and he continues doing beach cleanups on the weekends throughout highschool. And once you found that’s where he goes out to on the weekends you invited yourself. And he loves to go together!
He doesn’t know why he didn’t think of inviting you himself!? I mean, mermaid + the beach?? That’s a match made in heaven. Now the two of you go. A little jog around the beach and some cleanup before you gleefully sprint into the waves. He thinks you look so happy out there and sometimes he’ll clumsily splash in and join you.
Gets scared out of his skin, but loves to see you pop up your head above the waves near him and hold a hand out of the water brandishing pretty seashells!!
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Katsuki Bakugou exclusively calls you Fish Face. To which you frequently reply by splashing him with water. And he paid no mind to you until he found you one night drunkenly waltzing around the dorms. I mean first he got kidnapped and now he had to live with these kooky extras??
Luckily for you, you had no memory of this night or what it is that you did. Although, you did ask a lot of questions when you woke up in your dorm room wrapped like a giant human burrito, but now it’s no longer a secret to your classmates.
Now he begrudgingly keeps an eye and ear out for any mysterious mer-trouble at night. Not because he’s confused or concerned or anything. He’s just a light sleeper, yeah that’s it. He unknowingly is usually the only one woken up by your moonlight stirrings.
As the primary cook in the 1-A dorm kitchen he appreciates your astounding praise and butt wiggles and hums of delight at the dinner table when he cooks up anything seafood.
And, he’s got a list of good sushi places that non of the other nerds wanna go to. So he’s taken up dragging you out to lunch every so often.
you frequently ask Katsuki to help haul you out of the pool because he’s one of the few strong enough to do it on his own. And he always acts like he hates it because he always says, “geez, fish face, why do you weight so much?” But will still come over to the edge of the pool where you stick your wet arms out and will haul you up.
He’s forcibly encouraging you to go to the gym more for upper body. :’(
Overall he’s still snappy at large, but he can tolerate you and your tail.
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Eijiro Kirishima thinks you’re so manly and so very pretty too. He never thought he’d be classmates with a real life mermaid. Like aren’t you supposed to be in his childhood storybooks and not in his highschool classes??
Thinks you quirk is a little goofy espically the whole touching water and moon thing, like isn’t that a werewolf thing? But admires your dedication to being stronger and trying to make the best of the mer-wolf stuff. Is totally happy to see Bakugou drag you over to the corner of the gym where he usually hang outs. Totally helps encourage and spot you while Bakugou makes you pump some iron, even if he’s not sure why it started.
Kiri too, routinely gets asked to help get you off the floor or out of the pool when you fish out. When Jirou or Mina starts flagging him down from across the hallway he’s already turning to grab the wheelchair and rush to your aid. Calls himself the fishomobile with a big fat grin.
Eijiro also loves to pick out rom-coms for movie night and will sit next to you and Ochako, except he’ll actually genuinely cry through it while the two of you only sniffle or laugh. He’s very manly about sharing his tissue box tho.
has a soap that he watches on the reg. during his down time and you always seem to be passing through to get a snack from the kitchen when it’s on. You always join him on the sofa as he happily explains the convoluted plot
also this boulder LOVES sharks. Sometimes makes trips to your job and walks around looking at all the crazy cool shark tanks. you think he’s maybe gotten every single shark plushy that’s sold in your gift shop at this point.
he has no regrets!!
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Denki Kaminari thinks you’re gorgeous and super bubbly and he wishes that you guys would be put in more training exercises together!
Calls you pretty much any water Pokémon name that comes to mind: Vaperon, Squirtle, Sealeo, Wishiwashi, Pyukumuku, Alomomola, Luvdisc, Goldeen, etc. although he usually just does the cute ones.
also tried to retaliate against Bakugou’s calling you Fish Face and that’s how you got the nickname Fish Cakes. Bc hey why don’t you call her something a little nicer? it’s ok, it’s actually kind sweet.
He’s always cracking the lamest jokes that get you snickering bc of how bad they are. It’s an admirable skill, honestly.
the two of you keep trying to figure out how to safely do a team-up together with your quirks!! you brought the issue up to the big-brained thinkers in your class like iida, momo, deku, shoto, bakugou, and got nothing. Somehow it turned into another analysis of Pokémon team ups with the rich kids squad being left in the dark.
resulting in you and kaminari battling Izuku and Bakugou. And for being frienemies they sure make a good team.
Not to fear! Team ThunderStorm will try again someday. For now you and Kaminari are not allowed in the pool at the same time.
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Tenya Iida thinks your quirk is very suitable to be a hero on the coast. He’s still mentally debating if it’s a good rainy season hero quirk or not. He’ll let you know when he come to a conclusion.
appreciates your dedication to studying and training. You somehow make a pretty good work/life/school balance that he’s slightly envious of. Seriously how do you schedule so well?! What’s your secret??
Really sympathetic to your “water allergy” and is very good at managing liquids around you. Very frequently waves people with open water bottles away from you.
You two take turns being stopwatch buddies for each other. There’s definitely a competition to see who’s faster in their element. Unfortunately you’ve been at a stalemate for the past few weeks.
really can’t get over how you drink water like an astronaut tho. Using your quirk to drink without spilling. always making a loud sigh afterwards, low key drives him crazy. But he refrains, girls gotta do what a girls gotta do right?
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Mineta finds you an easy target. I mean, gorgeous body, no clothes, and you immediately drop to the ground with no chance of escape when in contact with water. You know this grape is on the case.
keeps acquiring a spray bottle to use to spritz on you whenever you’re in the dormitory, or library, or gym, or cafeteria, or you get the picture.
always “apologizing” when he spills something in your direction. Asking to help you back up, to which you normally mercilessly punt him across the room with your tail. Or sometimes you’re too bothered to touch him and will just move the water around his legs so he can’t move while you army crawl away.
although normally you and Todoroki aren’t too far apart so Mineta usually gets a decent chilling while Todoroki comes over to help carry/drag you around.
you always give the frozen block of pervert a smirk and wave from over Todoroki’s shoulder. The boy tall enough that holding you this way doesn’t have him tripping on your tail. Let me tell ya’ it hurts when someone like Denki is trying to carry you out of there.
*sigh* you really hope Aizawa see’s the classes petition and kicks that scum out soon.
#mha fanfiction#bnha fluff#bnha fanfiction#reader insert#fem reader#shoto todoroki#bakugou katsuki#izuku midoriya#tenya iida#eijiro kirishima#mineta minoru#mysteriesmusing#mha headcanons#bnha headcannons#mermaid quirk#h2o just add water#denki kaminari
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flickers (chapter five)
sokka x female reader
summary: after the events of the swamp and avatar day, the gaang try and rest for a couple of days before continuing the search for an earth bender to train aang
warnings: mentions of death - nothing else i think this ones pretty lighthearted :)
wc: 3.5k
masterlist
prologue --- chapter four -- chapter six
a/n: long time no see - this is actually a record for me not posting anything in a year, i was just so busy and then when i wasn’t i didnt have the motivation to write. so sorry for taking so long and i dont even know if people are interested in this fic any more but i’ve written some more for it again so might as well post it and hopefully will not disappear for a year again. anyways i went back and made a few changes through the story already written including the addition of a nickname for the reader (mainly because i dont like using y/n all the time) but yeah this a little filler chapter so there is more of a connection between the characters before i ruin it for them in a few chapters time :)
“Alright! This place looks great!” Aang clapped his hands together as Appa landed in a large clearing, a stream running through it and into the forest that surrounded them.
She watched the avatar jump from the bison’s saddle and onto the dirt below where he stood with his arms wide, a huge smile on his face. And she couldn’t help but smile back at him - his positive energy was infectious and it meant the prospect of staying in this clearing for a few days more appealing - especially as the water tribe siblings were still a little hesitant towards her.
Although, after their experience in the swamp, and whatever went on in Chin on Avatar Day, she had noticed Sokka being a little more caring towards her and Katara was doing her best to be civil. So even if they didn’t trust her yet, they were trying and so was she - so hopefully, their relationships could only improve from there.
The idea of having a break from the Avatar's group constantly getting into trouble and other situations that make her head spin if she thought on it for too long, put a smile on her face as she climbed off Appa’s saddle, the feeling of dirt beneath her feet allowing the tension to melt from her body. She may have only been with this weird group for a week or two now but she wasn’t yet used to flying on Appa, her fear of heights making her uncomfortable every time they travelled on him.
Caught in her own thoughts as she reached for her bag, she didn’t notice Aang trying to get her attention, that was until he airbended himself right in front of her a bright smile on his face as he spoke, “Hey Lia I was calling your name, do you want to play a game?”
She blinked at him, surprised by the nickname she hadn’t heard someone else call her in over a year now.
The lack of response confused the young avatar, waving his hand in her face he asked, “is everything okay? You seem a little out of it?”
“Yeah I’m fine,” she nodded at him, “it’s just you called me Lia.”
“Oh, am I not allowed? It’s just you said to Momo that’s what your friends call you and we’re friends right?”
A warmth spread through her chest at Aang so nonchalantly calling her his friend, she was Fire Nation and apart from Ria, had never really had friends that weren’t themselves from the Fire Nation as well so this meant a lot to her.
Realising she hadn’t replied back to him yet, she gave him a small smile, “Yeah we’re friends, I just haven’t had someone call me Lia in a while.”
“Well get used to it, travelling with Team Avatar gives you the opportunity for loads of friends! It’s one of the best parts!” He gave her a thumbs up before turning to look at the Water Tribe siblings who had been watching the interaction silently, and when Aang subtly indicated they should do something, they both smiled at their new acquaintance. And even though their smiles looked more like grimaces, y/n felt just a little more accepted into the group than she was this morning and that was enough for her.
She turned back to Aang, answering his original question from before she’d gotten sidetracked “well we should help set up camp first but then we can play a game if you want?”
“Yep sounds great!”
It didn’t take long for the four of them to set up a small camp, Sokka going off into the trees surrounding them to collect some wood for the fire, Aang scouring through the bags for some food for them and her and Katara setting up the tents. It was quiet whilst they completed the task but y/n didn’t mind, it allowed her time to think about all she had already experienced with the Avatar and his companions.
She still avoided thinking too much about the swamp debacle where she saw her mother and the old man, less she become emotional, but the whole Avatar Day situation they’d stumbled into in Chin was much easier to focus on if not confusing in a different way. It was interesting to see a place not associated with the Fire Nation hate the Avatar as much as they did, even if they had their own misguided reasons, but the similarity of misinformation on specific topics between the people of Chin and what was taught in the Fire Nation had struck a chord in her. Obviously, there were still great differences between the situations but it still had affected her more than she had thought it would. And it led her to become more grateful that she had started to push past her previous teachings and learn how much damage the Fire Nation was doing to the rest of the world and all the people in it, especially how it had affected the people she was starting to become close to.
It didn’t take long for the group to finish setting up camp and whilst Katara began cooking, refusing the offer of help from y/n, Aang began his task of having fun and tried to drag his new friend into the game he had planned earlier.
“So it’s called ‘don’t fall in the quicksand’ and basically the first one to touch the floor loses, but you have can try and sabotage your opponent by trying to get them off balance however you can.” Aang briefly explained to her.
“Oh I used to play that when I was younger, except we called it ‘the floor is lava’! And you’re looking at the reigning champion young Avatar.” She smiled teasingly at him whilst she gloated, ignoring the pang in her chest at the thought of her and Zuko playing this in the palace gardens when their parents weren’t around.
“Ha! I’m an airbender Lia, so unless you have a miracle tucked into your tunic you’re going to lose,” he looked over at Sokka to see if he wanted to play as well but he was already shaking his head at the pair.
Y/n chuckled to herself at the Avatar’s confidence, yes he may be an airbender which gives him an incredible advantage, but unfortunately for everyone she has ever known, she had always been unbearably competitive and today was not the day she was going to start losing at a child’s game.
She tied her hair up into a top knot and started walking to the treeline, waiting for Aang to call the start of the game. She didn’t have to wait long before his shout of “QUICKSAND!” was heard across their little camp, she quickly jumped onto the tree beside her and climbed up the trunk to perch on a branch strong enough to hold her weight. Happy with where she was she began looking for where Aang had ended up, only for him to be on a tree on the other side of the clearing, waving at her.
Waving back to him she started figuring out how she could get over to him and get him to touch the floor without herself falling and losing the game.
Unbeknownst to the two already chasing each other through the trees trying to push the other one off, the Water Tribe siblings watched them from their spot next to the campfire. Katara shook her head at the pair, turning back to the food she was preparing and muttering under her breath, “one of them is going to get hurt if they’re not careful and then it will be my problem.”
Sokka turned to look at her from where he had been watching y/n laughing at Aang as she flung a branch at his face so he almost fell off the branch he had been on. “Come on sis they’re having fun, not committing crimes, lighten up.”
She glared at her brother, “She’s Fire Nation Sokka, we know as well as anyone the damage they can do, I still don’t fully trust her - what if this is some plan to capture Aang?”
“Look,” he placed his hand on her shoulder pulling her focus from where she was angrily chopping vegetables, “I agree that we should be wary around her, but honestly from what I’ve seen, she seems to be, I don’t know, a nice person maybe? Definitely not what I expected from someone from the Fire Nation. And at the end of the day if there was some ridiculous plan to capture Aang, I’m not sure it would involve playing games with the Avatar.”
The pair looked up at the trees again to see y/n throwing some sort of berry at Aang’s face in quick succession, momentarily blinding him before kicking at his ankles so he fell of the low branch he had been standing on, and before he realised what had happened he had touched the ground and the Fire Nation girl was hooting in victory in the trees above him.
Sokka gave a small smile at the site and turned to his sister, finishing off what he wanted to say, “I’m just saying I think we should maybe give her a chance to prove herself and earn our trust before we decide she doesn’t deserve it. I’m thinking of asking her to teach me some of the fighting tactics she knows tomorrow, maybe if she offers to help you with dinner tomorrow you could let her? And actually try and talk to her if you do - we’re a team and Aang seems to already loves her so we could try and do the same?”
Katara thought to herself for a moment before nodding at her brother, wondering what she could even talk to their new companion about given the opportunity.
As they made their way back to the campfire, Aang laughed at how happy his new friend was at winning their game, even if he was surprised in her victory - he had never lost at that game before, but there was always a first time for everything and maybe if she was happy about this she’d start feeling more welcome in the group. He may have been the youngest here but he could still see how tense the others were around each other and he wanted to fix it.
———
Dinner that night was a quiet affair, everyone just happy to not having their lives threatened or experiencing something insane for once, and instead just enjoying the quiet world around them. Once they had finished, Katara got up to start clearing everything away, and when y/n offered her help, there was a small moment of hesitation before she nodded at her, taking Sokka’s advice of trying to give her a chance.
Y/n was pleased when Katara allowed her to help, sitting next to her when she used her water bending to clean the dishes and y/n dried them up. It would’ve been even quicker if she could have used her fire bending to dry the dishes but she was still not ready to reveal that bit of herself.
As they finished their task Katara turned to her, “Um, I was wondering why your nickname was Lia? If it’s alright to ask?”
She smiled at the water bender, “Yeah of course. It started with my mum actually, my favourite flower was always the camellia flower, so she’d always call me ‘her little camellia’, and then enough people heard it and started calling me Lia, or Little Lia at the time,” she smiled at the memories of the people who loved her and who she had lost, “But yeah after a while Lia just stuck and it makes me feel closer to my mum I guess.”
Katara had felt enough pain at her own mother dying that she recognised the glassy look in y/n’s eyes as she recalled her mum, and she felt herself softening towards the older girl, reaching out she squeezed the Fire Nation girl’s shoulder, “I understand, since my mum died I’ve worn her necklace to feel closer to her. It’s the small things I guess.”
Y/n nodded at the girl, giving her a shy smile, “The small things.”
Feeling some of the tension between the pair dissipate, they both made their way back to where the boys were sitting feeling slightly lighter, Momo launching himself at his new favourite member as soon as they were sat down, cherishing the warmth her body emitted as a fire bender.
It didn’t take long until the events of the past few days caught up with the group and they all fell asleep, the embers of the fire casting a small glow over their campsite.
———
Sokka woke up with a groan, he had never been a morning person and living on the road with the constantly happy and chatty Avatar was something that he suspected he’d never get used to. Not to mention their new companion was somehow always awake early as well and would also chat to said boy - it was all just a lot in the mornings. He looked over to the Avatar himself and witnessed him trying to flirt with his sister in his own weird way, somehow getting her to agree to go exploring with him for the day.
That left him with y/n for the day, and he was hoping to ask her to teach him some combat skills, if he actually got the nerves to ask. He’d already been impressed with her skill with a blade on numerous occasions and even if just a few months ago he would’ve turned his nose up at her teaching him anything due to the fact she was a girl, his time with Suki had started changing his mind then and he’d since been proven wrong multiple times. So all he had to do was ask, that wouldn’t be so hard would it?
It turned out it was that hard. He was being ridiculous he knew but as he watched her practice her forms next to the stream - the perfect time to him to ask for some pointers, he was well aware of this - he just couldn’t bring himself to ask.
So instead he watched. She looked calm as she went through her movements, the sun shining on her dark curls, as she span and lunged with no weapon in her hand, a true warrior even with no sword in her hand. He hated to admit, especially because he knew he should be wary of her, but he was starting to admire her, not just for her skills in combat but she was already good friends with Aang and maybe even starting to gain Katara’s trust if their relaxed attitude towards each other last night was any indication - and that in itself was nothing short of a miracle. But other than that she was pretty. She was really pretty, and Sokka couldn’t help but notice it anytime the firelight danced in her eyes or she laughed at one of Aang’s dumb jokes, or sometimes his dumb jokes, and it was beginning to annoy him. Why after everything, after Yue, did he start thinking a Fire Nation girl was pretty? It was stupid and he shook himself out of his thoughts and started walking towards her before he could psyche himself out of his plan.
“Hi,” y/n opened her eyes and raised a questioning eyebrow at the Water Tribe boy who had interrupted her morning forms, “I, um, was wondering, if you’d be able to teach me some sword skills or something I don’t know - it’s just I feel like I need to know more than just my trusty boomerang and you are you know, um, really good with a sword and you could help me? Maybe, if you want, if you don’t want to you don’t have to. Please stop me from talking.”
She couldn’t help but laugh a little at how flustered he had gotten trying to ask her for help - it was kinda cute and she smiled as he avoided her eyes.
“I can teach you somethings if you want, although can’t say I’ll be a good teacher, if you get hurt I’m not taking the blame when Katara gets annoyed at us.” She joked, pleased with herself when Sokka gave her a hopeful smile.
“Yeah I would like that, and don’t you worry my sister knows I’m to blame in any and all accidents, she’s had practice dealing with me for years.”
“Okay well we can start off with the basic defensive forms if that’s alright with you?” He nodded at her, glad he’d gotten over himself and asked - hopefully if he learnt a lot from her over time he’d no longer feel useless when Team Avatar found themselves in dangerous situations.
They went over the numerous defence stances for hours until the sun was at the highest point in the sky and they declared it was time to have a break, both of them lying down on the hard ground, a comfortable silence enveloping between themselves.
Y/n was busy thinking about how she’d initially been taught her combat skills to better help Sokka when her thoughts were interrupted by the older boy himself.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I’ve been thinking about that dumb swamp, and was wondering what was it you saw when we were in there? Again you don’t have to answer if I’m being too nosey.”
She turned to look at him, making eye contact briefly before she lay on her back once again, debating whether she wanted to talk about it or not.
Silence stretched between them, and just as Sokka thought he had been too inconsiderate in his questioning, she spoke.
“I saw my mother.”
She could feel Sokka tense slightly beside her before facing her fully, her eyes remained on the sky above her, the clouds moving across it in various shapes, calming her down.
“She died a few years ago now, there was this illness in our city, it claimed a lot of lives but that didn’t make it any less painful when I lost her I guess, and my father-“ she took in a sharp breath at the thought of him, “none of us took it well and seeing her in that swamp, I just wasn’t ready for it.”
Sokka watched as she wiped a stray tear with her hand and was getting ready to say something to her before she continued speaking.
“But that wasn’t the worst of it. I… I touched her shoulder so I could see her face for the first time in so long, I wanted to make sure I still remembered it you know? But when she turned around it wasn’t her anymore.”
There were lots of tears falling down her cheeks now, as she remembered what she’d seen, but she continued telling the silent boy beside her, hoping that talking about it would make things easier.
“Instead of my mother it was a man who I… hurt a few years ago. It’s the thing I’m most ashamed of and it was why I left the Fire Nation actually, it’s just seeing his face and remembering what I did, even though at the time I didn’t want to, it was just too much.”
She sniffed turned to look at Sokka again, scared but curious as to how he would react to her admission, even if it wasn’t a full admission, but she needed to know that he didn’t suddenly hate her.
He leant over and wiped a tear of the cheek closest to him, “Thank you, for telling me, I’m not sure it’ll make you feel better but the person I’ve learnt you to be is not someone who would willingly hurt others, so to me, you’re not a bad person, and this does not change that opinion at all.”
She hiccuped, feeling a small weight off her shoulders even if he did not know the whole story he didn’t think she was a monster and that was enough for now. She went to reply to him when their moment was broken by the arrival of Aang and Katara from their little adventure, happily chatting away and asking about lunch. Y/n gave Sokka one last smile, wiped away the rest of her tears and went to greet Aang, trying to listen to him whilst he spoke about a mile a minute about the animals they’d seen.
———
That night, after dinner had been eaten and cleared up, there was, for the first time since y/n had joined the group, a nice and relaxed atmosphere surrounding the group and it stayed that way until they departed their small campsite the next day. Their break was over and now the hunt for Aang’s earth bending teacher was back on the schedule.
taglist: @kaylove12 @bestyearsof5sos @neemonroe @aangsupremacy @ladylizzieofdarbyshire @lizziel1410 @idalinette @jasminedrgon @avocados-and-lemons @chewymoustachio @http-jackass @theamandaaashow @plutoneu
strikethrough means i couldnt tag you - also because it’s been so long, if you no longer want to be tagged you can just ask :)
#sokkas-sword#flickers series#sokka x reader#Avatar The Last Airbender#atla#atla fic#sokka x y/n#sokka x you#katara#katara of the southern water tribe#sokka#sokka of the southern water tribe#aang#avatar aang#sokka fic#zuko x reader
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Blood Bending Can Be Traumatic (Katara x reader)
You comfort Katara after the whole blood bending experience with Hama and she was forced to learn blood bending.
A/N - I'm new to this franchise. I've just finished watching this series and I'm partway through Legend of Korra. I'm loving this franchise a lot though! Also my work is not and never will be proof read! Final thing, if anyone can think of a better name for this one shot I'd be grateful!
Word Count = 712
“Congratulations. You’re now a blood bender.” Hama says with an evil laugh and I watch as Katara bursts into tears and collapses to the ground. Man, that woman is pure evil to force someone to do a cruel ability, especially when I know for a fact Katara wouldn’t have wanted to learn something like that if she had a choice.
As she continues to cry, I kneel down in front of her and bring her into a hug. There’s nothing I can say to comfort her and we both know it. So, the best form of comfort I can give her is to be there for her while she gets through it and we remain in this position for a while. Until Aang speaks up. “We should really get out of here and make camp for the night.” We all agreed, and I stick with Katara the entire time. Not like I had a choice since she has literally lung herself to me, but I don’t mind. In fact, I’m secretly loving this I just wish it was under a different, happier circumstance.
///
Eventually, we land, and we all dismount off Appa. I set up Katara’s tent given the state she is in and then set my own up next to hers. “You gonna be okay tonight?” I ask her. “Yeah, I will be. if you stay with me y/n?” I am definitely surprised she asked that, but I guess it makes sense to not want to be alone after such a traumatic experience. “Of course, which tent shall we go in?” She chooses my tent and so we both go inside.
When we go inside my tent, I roll out our sleeping bags and try to make it as comfy as possible for her. I know all I would want is all the comfort I can get if I was in her position. After a few minutes I am satisfied, and we both climb into our sleeping bags and we both quickly fall asleep.
///
I wake up in the middle of the night to the feeling of being kicked so I naturally assume someone is trying to attack me and sit right up. Only, there is no attacker. It is just Katara but she is still asleep and by the looks of it, she is having a nightmare. I shake her awake which was proven more difficult than I thought it would have been.
“Are you okay?” I ask. She doesn’t say anything but bursts into tears again. I can only assume it was about the events from blood bending. “I’ll never blood bend again.” She tells me. “I know.” I answer and bring her in for another hug. “It was awful. To control someone using their blood knowing it causes them a lot of pain.” “I’m not a bender at all so I can’t even begin to think of how it must have been to go through it but because of the person you are, I know you’ll get through this and I know you would have never used blood bending if you had a choice but you didn’t. Heck, had you not used it, who knows what that woman would have done to you and then to Sokka and Aang.” “That’s besides the point. I still used it.” “And you even said yourself that you’ll never use it again and those two never held it against you so there’s no point beating yourself up over it.” “You really think so y/n?” “I do. You reckon you’ll be able to get back to sleep now?” Katara nods and we both lie back down.
Once we are both lay back down, Katara scooches her sleeping bag over to me so that we are lying next to each other. I turn over so I am lay facing her. We just stare at each other momentarily and what Katara does next, I never would have guessed she would do. She gently connected her lips against mine. The kiss was short and sweet but held a promise. That we’d always be there for each other. When we pull apart, she rests her head onto my chest and cuddles into me and we spend the rest of the night in a peaceful slumber.
What did you guys all think of this one? I currently take requests for Katara, Korra, and Asami. Hope to see your requests soon! :)
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Hi! I’ve made a few asks before lol
I believe I made a request about a katara!reader but I’m super curious about an Aang!reader.
It’d be interesting to see how they all react to a reader who is capable of controlling the elements of Pandora but due to her pacifistic nature and Keenness to see the best in people.
Perhaps she has her tattoos and to see the Metkayina would feel about her having them.i believe they get tattoos as a sign of a major life event (e.g becoming a hunter/weaver/singer.maturing/becoming one of the people) I feel like Tonowari and Ronal would be very interested at how a human,such a young one in fact,got such tattoos.
She also has her own sky bison.I’m just imagining how the Metkayina would react seeing this BIG ol fluffy guy just chilling next to the sullys ikrans (turns out appa is about 40ft long and ikrans are 10ft long) just seeing how gentle and docile he is with the sullys and reader.
Aonung:what could that fluffy log possibly beat in a fight?
Appa:
Aang!Reader:appa is a lover not a fighter!
Random Metkayina:*pushes reader walking past them laughing*
Appa:*stands up towering over them behind reader*
Random Metkayina:o-oh crap,I’m sorry! I’m sorry! *running away*
Aang!Reader:*oblivious to appa behind them* it’s ok accidents happen!*waving to the retreating na’vi*huh that was odd-*turns around*
Appa:*already laying down on his back*
Aonung:’Eywa if you can hear me,please protect me’
Aang!Reader:aw you wanted some belly rubs buddy?
Also since readers first element would be air and being the avatar she’s very spiritual and connected to Eywa I feel she would be very close to kiri.
They would often be laying on one of the beaches of Awa'atlu or floating in the water/on appa just feeling the presence of Eywa and Aang!reader would be meditating next to her.we all know that as immature and energetic Aang can be he is wise beyond his years,he’s vey in tune with his and others feelings.
Kiri:*laying on the sand in the sun*
Aang!reader:*meditating on a rock next to her*
Kiri:*sits up*hey reader….can I ask you something?
Aang!reader:*opens eyes and turns her head*yea of course kiri,always!
Kiri:….do you…do you think I’m a freak?
Aang!reader:*uncrosses her legs and fully turns to her*what?
Kiri:it’s just….even in Omatikaya I’ve always been ‘that weird girl’ or ‘the girl who thinks she’s a tree’ or something…it doesn’t feel like that’s changed….and…well so many different na’vi saying the same thing makes me think they may be right…
Aang!reader:*gets off rock and sits in font of kiri*no
Kiri:but-
Aang!reader:*gently grabs her hands*no.your not a freak.
Kiri looks down not meeting her eyes.
Aang!reader:kiri….your anything but.I’ve never met or heard of anyone who’s been able to tame their Ikran just by asking them to be their friend.you tamed an ilu as easy as you breath.the wood sprites flok to you as if Eywa herself wishes to embrace you.
Kiri:*looks up with tears in her eyes looking surprised*
Aang!reader:you are not weird.you are not a freak.you are unique.you are connected to the all mother in a way I believe is stronger than even the Tsahìk themselves.
Kiri:*tears slip down her face*
Aang!reader:*hugs kiri close*so no.I don’t just think your not a freak,I know your not one,I know you are something so much more beautiful and special than anyone knows.*pulls back slightly lifting kiri’s face up*you are kiri,daughter of toruk makto and toruk palulukan,the girl who took to her Tsahìk training as easy as breathing.As if it were in your body’s memory to do so.You are incredible,anyone who cannot see that is blind.Anyone who cannot hear your voice deaf to Eywa’s song that flows through all of us.but I truly believe that it flows strongest in you,that you hear not only her melody but the words she wishes preech.
Kiri:*hugs Aang!reader*thank you…thank you
Aang!reader:I speak only the truth Kiri…I will never utter a single lie…especially not to you.
Sorry for late reply-
I ignore everything else on tumblr lately lol
When i first read it like yesterday,i was confused on who aang is- oof- i know i know,how could i possibly forget the great avatar's name
Anyways, the idea is awesome as always!👍🏻✨
The Ao'nung part was funny XD
And you wrote the kiri scene so wholesome🥹
I think every na'vi would thought Aang!reader is also able to connect with water if they just air bend the water and move it around for practice or for fun- but idk ┐( ∵ )┌ it's just a thought
Would it be more interesting if a Katara is also in it- like another rival for the love interests or just someone that's like a past lover to the reader and maybe there's a chance they'll get back together or reader still has a crush on them thus making the love interests feeling more determine to get their attention lol-
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for the fic ask game: 1, 14, and 24!
Happy belated New Year, northern! I'm very sorry I'm *just now* getting to the end of year ask game... but here goes!
1 favorite fic you wrote this year: I think my favorite fic of the year has to be Unspoken, Undeniable (rated T). It's completely self-indulgent, but apparently that's what other people wanted to read, too? Because it's also my most kudos'ed fic of the year. I'm also really proud of myself for outlining, planning, writing out and finishing a multi-chaptered work in less than a year (I think I started planning in March, wrote a few chapters, then took a break bc the kids were on summer vacation and I could barely write, then picked up again in the fall and finished in mid-November). I could not have done it without @coyotelemon's help and encouragement and excitement.
14. a fic you didn’t expect to write: Definitely Free as the Wind (rated T). I've mentioned this in asks before but from my very first days in fandom I never ever ever wanted to write this event. When I started for the kataang week prompt "sneaking off" I honestly thought it was just going to be a mildly spicy little drabble or one-shot, but then it turned into this 6k behemoth full of cultural elements that I had to painstakingly research and that I was constantly second-guessing. I'm still glad I wrote it, ultimately, but it definitely surprised me with the direction it took.
24. favorite fic you read this year: I have read many many great fics this year, though not nearly as many as I would like to. My favorite completed fic that I read this year is I think Without Water (rated T) by @chocomd. I love love love the way choco explored that time when Aang was in a coma, its intense affects on Katara, the way physical touch--something we all know as Katara's love language--becomes healing in ways she couldn't foresee, and so much more. It's emotional, but the best kind of hurt/comfort.
In terms of long-fics that are still currently updating, I cannot praise Beautiful Boy (rated G) by @anervoussapphic enough. It has everything I have ever wanted in terms of mixed-race cloud family fic. The kids are older, but we get so many flashbacks to the post-war period, and a lot of clues into how the war affected each member of the gaang. I love how the whole gaang is aunties and uncles to each other's kids: it is the most truly authentic Asian diaspora family fic I have read, and the ways this author explores the cloudbabies' relationship with their mixed heritage is so relatable I could cry. I'm so glad to have this fic in fandom, even if I'm several chapters behind right now because life has gotten in the way of reading. EVERYONE should read this fic!
Thank you so much for the ask and deepest apologies for taking so long to answer it and not sending one in return! I will try to be better in the New Year <3
#fanfic end of year asks#done in the new year oops#ask game#northerngoshawk#asks#kataang fanfic#atla fanfic
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I posted 2,382 times in 2022
47 posts created (2%)
2,335 posts reblogged (98%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@nobodysuspectsthebutterfly
@rainhadaenerys
@spreadhavoc
@stitch1830
@sskuvira
I tagged 2,264 of my posts in 2022
Only 5% of my posts had no tags
#fanart - 1,593 posts
#tlok - 932 posts
#legend of korra - 929 posts
#the legend of korra - 927 posts
#lok - 925 posts
#korra - 404 posts
#kuvira - 295 posts
#avatar korra - 277 posts
#atla - 262 posts
#asami sato - 233 posts
Longest Tag: 130 characters
#my confort characters become someone else when depowered and transplanted into the modern world and i can't recognize them anymore
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Just a quick thought.
IMHO, the TLoK writing staff and the creators dropped the ball when they overlooked the possibility of adding emotional stakes to Book 4 by presenting the future antagonist Kuvira having a preexistent friendship forged after the events of Book 4 with Korra. Instead, they chose the surprise reveal that made Kuvira's participation in the previous season and her place in the Beifong family confusing. So, how could this been done? Hear me out to find out.
Before departing for Ba Sing Se, Kuvira receives an invitation to the Southern Water Tribe to be honored for her heroism in saving the Chief of the tribe and Korra's dad. This is one of the few moments besides Jinora's master induction ceremony where Korra feels compelled to put aside her grief because she wants to express her gratitude to Kuvira in person. After the event, they could've spent some time enjoying a friendly rapport with Korra realizing that they shared things in common. The subject of Suyin's open discontent with Kuvira's involvement with the Earth Kingdom's crisis could've led to Korra's encouragement of her mission, noting Kuvira's willingness to step up to do something. After all, she was unable to do something until she completed her recovery.
Flash forward to Kuvira's radicalization during her three years in power and during her undercover journey in the EK, Korra's pained realization that her former ally was now committing heinous acts while realizing she wasn't yet strong enough to stop her. This would have been deliciously tragic and would've made their encounters more poignant and emotional because Korra now had to face not only a person she felt she had a debt with. Kuvira had also been a person with whom she had identified and was the person she had encouraged to act during her absence, only for things to turn out like they did: with Kuvira corrupted by absolute power under the delusion she was doing the right thing for the right cause.
The Spirit World scene would've been more than Kuvira's surrender and emotional breakdown after opening up to Korra: it would also be reconciliation among estranged friends after they've had become enemies. Now that's increased emotional stakes and it would've been beautiful. At least it sounds good enough for an alternate universe take.
86 notes - Posted April 11, 2022
#4
Talk about awkward family diners, right?
Just a normal, peaceful, not at all tense family meal 👀
And for the record, my money is on Kuvira being team black. Kuvira dragonrider when.
104 notes - Posted October 11, 2022
#3
@beyaarca you've absolutely outdone yourself because this is beautiful beyond words! 🥺
Based on the story Stargazers on AO3, Korra and Kuvira deserve a well earned peaceful moment.
And don't forget to check Beya's Carrd!
139 notes - Posted March 11, 2022
#2
Is it just me or in Korrasami's dynamic Asami's behavior towards Korra (sometimes) come off as motherly? it kinda reminds me of Katara's behavior towards Aang. :/
I think we should establish this right off the bat: caring is not equivalent to motherly. There’s this misconception that attributes a female character that cares for another character what are commonly considered “motherly” traits. It is something I’ve heard when referring to Katara behavior towards Aang or Team Avatar as a whole. I believe fans way more knowledgeable than I can offer their opinions on this specific topic of Katara’s alleged motherly tendencies but I don’t think making comparisons between Aang and Katara with Korra and Asami are helpful because I don’t think there’s many resemblances between them, aside that there’s an Avatar involved.
So the question is, is it Asami’s behavior towards Korra “motherly”? The series due to plenty of behind the scenes situations that we are aware of now, couldn’t develop Asami and Korra’s relationship as openly as the creators or the fans for that matter, would’ve preferred, so they had to be extra subtle about it. Still, we’re provided moments like this in which we can witness Asami being caring and protective towards Korra:
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200 notes - Posted April 24, 2022
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834 notes - Posted January 2, 2022
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STMS
AO3
MASTERLIST
Strength To My Soul by electroniccollectiondonut
I was given permission to build upon electroniccollectiondonut fanfic.
The first few chapters will be world developing like the show before the whole being soulmates changes the plot.
~~~~~~
Snippet
Chapter 2: Our Soulmate's the Avatar!!!?!!!
“Aang! Are you okay?” Katara asked worried as she kneels down to hold Aang in her arms
Aang wakes up and upon seeing Katara and Sokka he replies to them weakly, “Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Thanks for coming.”
“Well, I couldn’t let you have all the glory,” Sokka joked
“I dropped my staff,” Aang gestured to where his staff is
“I got it,” Sokka stood up and ran over to grab the glider. Just as he’s lifting it Zuko’s hand grabs firmly to the other end that Sokka wasn’t holding. Sokka appears horrified as Zuko attempts to pull himself upward onto the deck. The two struggle for a bit before Sokka pokes Zuko repeatedly in the head with the end of the staff the way Zuko did earlier with him. Zuko grunts and falls backward as he lets go of the staff. He falls off the side of the ship but manages to grasp the anchor chain. Sokka mocks him triumphantly “Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!”
Katara helps a still exhausted Aang climb atop of Appa’s head, Appa rises from a puddle of water after getting as low as he could for Katara and Aang. Katara is still standing beside the large beast while Aang lies on top of his head, waiting on Sokka. Three soldiers rise after being knocked down by Aang's water attack and start to menacingly approach her. Katara takes a step back and slowly and precariously bends a stream of water from the puddle, causing the men to slow down and gasp in surprise. She swings her arms around in an attempt to whip them, however, only succeeds in freezing a channel of water behind her on the deck, encasing Sokka's legs in ice in the process.
“Katara!” Sokka whined
Katara gives him a sheepish smile before turning around completely and tries to do what she did but to the soldiers this time. She closes her eyes tightly, swings her arms behind her, and turns around to see one of the soldiers completely frozen in a casing of ice, his arm extended outward to her, still twitching in an effort to grab her. She backs away slowly, but turns around and quickly runs toward Appa. She begins mounting Appa, while Sokka is trying to cut himself free by smashing his icy chains with his boomerang.
“Hurry up, Sokka!” Katara complained urgently
“I'm just a guy, with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic!” Sokka muttered to himself using his boomerang to chip the ice breaking his legs free. He races up Appa's tail after freeing himself completely, “Yip-yip! Yip-yip!”
Sokka mounts Appa, who grunts and takes flight, flying past the cabin of the ship. Iroh emerges on deck, having just woken up from his nap.
“Duh? Huh?” Iroh rubs his eyes staring up at Appa in surprise before moving to help Zuko back on the Wani while the other soldiers who fell in the water finally make it back on board the ship.
Appa is soaring away from the ship just as Iroh got Zuko back on deck.
“We have to shoot them down!” Zuko shouts angrily
Appa is gaining altitude when both Iroh and Zuko synchronize a firebending move and fire a powerful blast at the bison. Sokka and Katara stare at the incoming attack in horror, while Aang leaps onto the saddle no longer as exhausted as before. He opens the small tail wing of his staff and swings his glider around, using a powerful swipe of air to redirect the fireball into a nearby cliffside. The impact causes an avalanche of snow and ice to begin falling. Zuko looks up in horror at the event, raising one arm protectively but Iroh manages to yank him back enough to avoid the snow and ice. The front of the ship becomes buried in a mass of snow and ice, while Appa climbs higher and higher. The trio is laughing as they escape successfully but just as Appa is about to gain speed Aang decides to say goodbye.
“BY THE WAY, MY NAME IS AANG!!” Aang shouted his introduction as Zuko looks toward him freezing in place, “GOODBYE!!!!”
Appa and the gang disappear around the cliff and into the clouds. Katara and Sokka are looking at Aang in confusion and curiosity.
Zuko shook his head before bending in rage as Iroh stood back and watched his nephew curious as to why he froze in place.
“Good news for the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation's greatest threat is just a little kid,” Iroh commented calmly trying to not fuel Zuko’s anger.
“That "kid", Uncle, just did this. I won't underestimate him again,” Zuko hissed holding back his rage not wanting to let out his anger at his uncle. He began to yell orders to his soldiers as he pointed to the giant pile of snow, “Dig the ship out and follow them!”
He turns around to see three soldiers using their firebending to melt the icy encasings coating the three soldiers who were Katara's victims.
“As soon as you're done with that,” Zuko looked away slightly embarrassed before his eyes shift to look at his uncle, “I’ll be in my room, no one disturb me until after we get moving.”
He walks away knowing his uncle was looking at him curiously but he needed privacy to see if what he felt was true and if he needed to reevaluate his destiny. Once in his room, he took off his armor and then his shirt and stared shocked at seeing one of the remaining soulmate marks he had to find filled with color. The arrow with the swirls was now orange and blue.
Zuko wanted to scream.
~
Appa is soaring lazily in the sky while the sun is beginning to set. Aang is perched on the rim of the saddle, while Sokka and Katara sit at the back of it.
“How did you do that?! With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!” Katara asked bewildered
“I don't know. I just sort of ... did it,” Aang answered quietly, slightly downcast, sitting on the edge of the saddle
“Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?” Katara asked curious but serious
“Because,” Aang started turning away slightly as he hugged himself saddened, “I never wanted to be.”
“But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war,” Katara tells him quietly
“And how am I going to do that?” Aang queried downcasted
“According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?” Katara questioned
“That's what the monks told me,” Aang confirmed finally looking at Katara
“Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!” Katara presented smiling brightly
“We can learn it together!” Aang beamed turning to face her fully smiling just as bright as Katara
Katara faces her brother cheerfully, “And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way.”
“I'd like that. I'd really like that.” Sokka sighed contently
“Then we're in this together!” Katara acknowledged optimistically
Aang laughed cheerfully but after a moment he decided that he needed to know something that’s been bothering him since he found out that it’s been a hundred years since he last been awake to the world, “Hey, Katara?”
Katara turned to him noting the serious tone he had, “Yes?”
“You saw my soul marks correct?” Aang asked voice almost a whisper as he moved into the saddle. Sokka froze as Katara nodded now knowing the question, “Was the dragon wing black?”
Katara could only nod and Aangs breath hitched as he nodded back and held himself tighter. Katara moved to hug him as he started to cry with Sokka not far behind her. They held him as he grieved his lost friend and soulmate.
He never felt the pain and wondered if Kuzon did.
After a few minutes, Aang pulled himself together and they separated from the hug. Aang got a smile on his face, a small one but a real one, and got out a map from a bag strapped to the front of the saddle.
“All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to,” Aang said, “Here, here, and here.”
@whatsorryiwasntlistening @readingfanficismyhobby @superspecialsumer12 @storylover04
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Watching Avatar, Part 12
Breaking from my usual four-episode-batch approach, because the various multi-parters make consistency difficult. Instead, let's wrap up everything before the main event. Everything being a lot of Special Fieldtrips With Zuko.
12. “The Western Air Temple”: Zuko finally joins the Gaang! I was fully not expecting his base personality under all the issues to be Dorky Loser, but I guess that probably is pretty accurate for most over-aggressive tryhard teenagers, so. Still, the 180 was very funny. Also, “I bet you’re surprised to see me”/ “Not really, since you follow us everywhere” was absolutely hysterical. Was surprised Sokka wasn't more upset about Zuko helping cause Yue's "death". Called it on Katara, and also called it on Toph’s encounter with Iroh being pretty important to how the group would ultimately feel about Zuko. I didn’t expect her to go so far out of her way to try and do something about the group’s rejection of him, though. That was a cool moment for her, since she’s so prickly and antisocial normally. When Combustion Man showed up I fully expected Zuko to have paid him to attack the Gaang again so Zuko could “rescue” them, with disastrous consequences, and was very relieved to be wrong. Fun as it would have been to watch him chasing after them, ineptly trying to help, for a few episodes, I’m glad we’re getting on with things. I do wish we got more of the Expanded Gaang, though.
13. “The Firebending Masters”: I had worried in the previous episode that Aang was rejecting Zuko (and all those other suggestions) as firebending teachers because he’s still hung up on hurting Katara (and further disheartened by his failure during the eclipse), but that seems not to be the case. I liked how they handled Zuko needing to find a new emotional source for his bending, that was cool. I 100% bought the “Iroh killed the last dragon before he reformed” thing and was delighted when that turned out to be a cover for Iroh once again being the best ever. I loved the statues teaching them the form, I loved the dragons, the whole episode was great worldbuilding.
14. “The Boiling Rock, Part 1”: Aww, Zuko serving tea like Iroh is adorable. (Where IS Iroh, anyway?) Why tf does Sokka not bring Katara in on this? It’s her dad, too! The island prison is brilliant, very screwed up and the “cooler” thing is great—it makes total sense as a horrible torture for firebenders. (Sticking Hakoda in there probably would have backfired, though.) Loved using it as part of the escape plan. THRILLED to have Suki back and in pretty good shape. Concerned about Zuko being recognized, even if they do escape—they’ve now been located. I hope they don’t kill off Hakoda during Escape Attempt 2.
15. “The Boiling Rock, Part 2”: Sokka really needs to learn to ID himself to his allies, lol. Ooooh shit, here’s Mai. I’m impressed with Chit Sang still not giving Sokka up. OOOOH SHIT, here’s Azula. I suppose she was inevitable. Awww, the poor anger management guy, I love him and hope he gets out and has a very nice life. The escape plan was going very well until the Warden turned out to be suicidal??? Why would he give that order? Exact opposite energy as MAI COMING IN WITH THE STEEL CHAIR and saving Zuko despite what Azula will do. Aww, Ty Lee, you weird sweetheart, I loved watching her save Mai in turn. Will Azula learn from this? Probably not but I live in hope. (How does Chit Sang feel about leaving his gf & bff behind this time?) Nice to have Hakoda back alive (and Suki)—will we start seeing more of the expanded Gaang now? How will having a grownup around affect things?
16. “The Southern Raiders”: Oof. Great shock opening (and great line from Azula about becoming an only child, true sibling energy there). No more expanded Gaang, which is a missed storytelling opportunity for me, but this late in the series probably makes the most sense. I would have liked to see a bit more about Katara being entitled to her feelings and not being required to forgive on others’ schedules, but an Inigo Montoya-themed field trip works too. (It’s a very old-Zuko thing to suggest, though.) Deeply uncool of her to tell Sokka she loved their mom more, though. Watching this episode and how it mirrored Aang’s worst side after they lost Appa was interesting—we don’t get to see Sokka, Toph, or the others in their darkest moments in the same way. (Zuko doesn’t count, the whole show is his darkest moment.) (Where IS Uncle Iroh?) But bloodbending? Wtf Katara! I kind of expected she’d end up using that as a last-resort-before-death thing, but I guess this emphasizes its evil nature far more. No good use for it, only bad ones. I wasn’t shocked that they went with the “you’re not worth murder” approach to the revenge arc, and it did set up the conflict over killing Ozai well. (I did notice that they showed us Yon Rha’s life is miserable, though. Would it have been harder if he’d been a happy man who “just followed orders”?)
17. “The Ember Island Players”: Oh, HERE is the episode that gets referenced all the time. Ngl, it was… uneven for me. I feel like it could have gone a little earlier in the series instead of right before The Main Event, both tonally and in terms of emotional continuity. Knowing that Aang and Katara end up together at the end of the show, it seemed weird to have their relationship issues here, instead of earlier. Likewise, the play lasting the whole episode with no other plot was odd. It essentially functioned as an extended “previously on Avatar”. Maybe it’s just because we’re speeding toward the end of the series and I’m going to miss it, but I would have preferred to bask in the world a little bit more, instead of this dvd-extra-vibes ep.
Next up: Sozin's comet and the end of the show! I'm not ready.
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Thirty fifth birthday of Carmel
Event that took place once upon a time, way back in 15th of July of 2022, it was a humid Friday afternoon when everyone gathered once in awhile to celebrate the 35 years of existence of Carmel Baltonado.
No surprise party has been set as the hotel check in procedures has to be done by Chef Julius with the presence of Carmel for smooth transition. Venue is here at Hilton, Pearl.
Before I begin further for the narrative. Let me introduce four characters:
1. Maria Analaida Campitan a.k.a. “Tata” – 37 years old, in a relationship with Abbes Soltane (Recently promoted this month of July from Arabic chef to Sous Chef) Mabrouk on your future together.
2. Jennifer Secillano a.k.a “Mama Jen” – 40 years old, in a relationship with Arun – Indian, as far as I know they live together in the same roof. Not always but almost. She does not believe in marriage – as of today.
3. Carmel Baltonado a.k.a “Gurl by Sheena, Dzai by Tata, Carms by Mama Jen and Shiela by her immediate relatives. 34 Years old and will turn 35 anytime soon. In a relationship with the guy in Canada – Joseph. They were in a relationship way back in college and they found a way back into love.
4. Lastly, Me. Sheena Miranda with no alias – I am just an ordinary gurl with an ordinary life but I lied. I am fun to be with, even I enjoy my own company. In a relationship with Raymond Ariado my future “Mister”. I do believe in marriage, and I do. May I kiss my Mister? Definitely! – When the time is right.
Please listen to your own voice while you read because I won’t always be here with you gurl.
Intro
There was no itinerary in place, and everything just went with the flow. Around five in the evening, we began filling the balloons with air with the help of modern technology – air pump. “Happy Birthday” in red color, in addition – a combination of orange and yellow balloons was inflated for more aesthetic ambience. Photoshoot is an obligation rather than for fun as it has been invented for the sole purpose of capturing memories and treasuring them whenever we look back at them.
“Hotel View”
We also went outside and paid a visit for the good view, despite the current situation as we face global warming, more particularly, humidity – we have to appreciate the moment that we are all here in one place having a great time along with our friends - And after some time. We began sweating, A lot. I had that feeling that my armpit was like an open faucet, and oh my. Carmel was sweating like a river. Jen gave her a fancy dress for the photoshoot, it was quite small for her body type but manageable for a short period of time. Who knows how long can the zipper hold itself together? Don’t answer. It is a rhetorical question. Don’t get offended because it is just my humor and hello? You are thirty-four-year-old female, act like your age.
“Birthday dinner with a reckless gulf cart driver”
In a short notice, Carmel told us that she booked a dinner at L’wzaar seafood restaurant by seven o’clock. The only short notice that made us happy in our entire life existence. At Six forty-six – we are seated at the lobby of the hotel waiting for our uber. The driver dropped us on the designated area, and from there we rode a golf cart. I would say that the golf cart driver is having a rough day, or he is just a fan of drift racing – Jen was seated at the front while three of us chose to ride at the back, just even before we settled in – without any hesitation, the driver suddenly pressed on the gas pedal that gave us a mini heart attack! I was taking a clip too as we are hooked with the song of Madi “Sun & Moon” by anees. That whole travel experience is traumatizing. Believe me.
In just three minutes we have reached our destination, luckily in one piece. Healthy and well. After that ride, Jen began to speak and said with her poker face “I really thought one of you will fall”. Do not worry Jen, we all thought the same thing!
Six fifty-nine on the dot we are at the entrance of Katara, L’wzaar seafood restaurant.
“L’wzaar Seafood Experience”
Table twenty has been booked for us by the help of Carmel’s friend.
Ordering was solely done by the thirty-four-year-old female girl, Carmel. She first selected from the menu via QR code because it is 21st century and they have to continue their business sustainably. Hence, making it online for ordering food. Started by various sushi, two type of soup – two tom yam and two fisherman soup – a soup that blew away our mind. It was tasty! The feeling of having a good hot soup filling our tummy is just so pleasant.
We asked the waiter to refill the bread twice with the three special dip. Then we stood up and joined Carmel to order seafood with the preference on how it will be cooked. Mussels – five bitter taste sauce and the other five is buttered cheese, so creamy-licious. Okay, that is not a word, I just made it up so please no big deal. Pad thai noodles, couple of fish, and fresh juice of our choice. Jen and I have chosen watermelon, Tata for strawberry, and Carmel for Mixed juice – I am unsure if I recall it correctly and oh! The button of our trousers will pop up at any given time. Due to that, we had a small stroll in Katara to let the food be digested properly, disregarding the humidity. Right after we passed the door of L’wzaar – I began singing out loud “na nanana nana nana nana, baby give it up, give it up, baby give it up!” and the vibe lit up effortlessly – finding ourselves dancing with enthusiasm. This is one of the great nights to be remembered when we are gray and old. It was a shocking realization when I have just discovered only to this day that there is a drainage designed for the air condition to be cast away in an open area – that makes the outdoors cool even during summer season. It made it even worse when Maria said it was way back from year twenty seventeen. For goodness sake, give me strength!
“Tiktok – Permission to Dance”
As we reached back into the Hotel, still bloated with what we had. Carmel has no intention to let the time pass. Every moment is golden and as soon as she mentioned we had to do Tiktok. Wholeheartedly, all three of us gathered at once! Determined not to disappoint her – well firstly because this gurl is easily irritated if you show any slight hint or unwillingness, you will sense a bad omen or worse – this might be the last time you get invited! I am kidding. Don’t take this personally because life is too short, even made shorter due to the pandemic trend – so called coronavirus. Well, I mean I can dance but I am more in to Singing. Secondly, it is her birthday, we can cooperate.
Oh my gosh, the rehearsal of “permission to dance” went on for like almost one hour and in many attempts, finally she was convinced that one clip among all videos stands out, so we thankfully rested for a bit.
Until she asked us to do another one! That part we have not been able to accomplish. Apologies for that, we tried our best – but we do have our own limitations. Mine is my “Kabuhi” (Gastric issue – or filled air on my stomach due to excessive laughing). I had two cups or hot water and tried to fart it out but no luck.
“Nighttime”
Everyone started showering, except for me. I don’t shower at night my body is not designed for nighttime showers. Jenny was told to order beer – five beers for two hundred riyals. Everyone had except for me, not because I am a good girl but I have gastric issues and I know it will worsen the pain I am in. Confetti popped by Jen.
“Sing along with Spotify lyrics”
I have used the rotating tv as my stand for the tripod. First song selected was “All this time” a song that has always been sang by my neighbor in my hometown back in Angeles city of Pampanga. Followed by “Total eclipse of the heart” by which it was a controversy and also a mystery as Carmel got also confused who has the correct lyrics – if it was Me or Tata. I told her that – As long as the intention is pure, and we are not stepping on other people lives, then it is fine. Same tone will hurt no one – and this has made me and Carmel go insane, we were out of breath and even gasping for air as we find it so hilarious! While the other two – Maria and Jen was busy munching the popcorn I brought and gulping the cold beer.
What a night? Thankful for this memorable event gurl. I want to thank you for inviting me in this beautiful hotel with beautiful people. We had fun and we have got the relief from all the worries and stress accumulated from both work and life. This signifies a true bond is possible when at least one of your friends is generous. We are just funny but Carmel has the money, it seems be that way at this trying times.
“By the Morning of 16th of July, Saturday”
I woke up first as I have “Panata” (Devotional Prayer) for our upcoming Midyear Thanksgiving, connected from webex at five thirty early morning. Even the chickens are still asleep and wearing pajamas too.
Meanwhile, tata left while both Carmel and Jen are still asleep.
Right after tata left, Jen woke up as well – leaving Carmel alone in the bed. Then finally! The thirty-five-year-old female gurl has risen. Good morning sunshine.
We had the only food available in the fridge. Cake for breakfast? Why not. So, we had chocolate cake from Chef Julius while I drink a hot water, and a tea for Carmel and Jen. We had a healthy conversation about our love life, politics – Guanzon more specifically, and to the plans that we have in the future. By Ten we are all packed up and ready to check out. It was my first experience to ride your red car, I just hope you will not drive the same way as the gulf cart driver did to us. He was a bad example.
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All expenses paid even for the car lift, and a Big chocolate cake for my family in Bin Mahmoud. Cheers on your thirty fifth Birthday, Carmel gurl.
May God bless you and be with you wherever you go.
May He guide you which path to take and for you to make the right choices.
We love you always and for a lifetime. You are our sun and moon.
I hope you had a lovely time reading the summary of your thirty fifth birthday celebration. It was, indeed - a delightful experience. Cheers to more years!
From your true and witty friend.
– Sheena Miranda, 27 years old.
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Hey there, this is for the prompts special you guys are doing. Could I get the first one, oh, there's only one bed for Zuko from atla pls.
Thank you.
Your doing great guys. And congratulations on 100 followers:)
hey thank you so much <3 i'm so glad someone finally requested Zuko, he's so cute!!
100 follower event~ N/SFW
Zuko x reader: oh no, there's only one bed
- You are part of the avatar gang and are traveling with them. Zuko has recently joined you guys and the gang is slowly warming up to him.
- You had been getting along with everyone pretty well. And after Zuko joined you realised you actually have the most in common with him. You two became pretty close friends and would talk quite often.
- Your platonic feelings became replaced with romantic ones overtime when you watched Zuko teach Aang how to fire bend.
- One night, Zuko noticed that his fire bending powers have significantly weakened. He decides to train and increase his power. While practicing his fire bending, he accidentally sets fire to everyone's belongings. Luckily Katara was able to put out the fire before the damage was severe. Turns out only Zuko's tent was damaged in the fire.
- Everyone decides that Zuko will sleep in Sokka's tent tonight and they'll go get a new one for Zuko tomorrow. They all go to bed for the night.
- Zuko lets Sokka get settled in first, opting instead to gaze at the stars with you in companionable silence.
- Once you turn in for the night, Zuko walks into Sokka's tent to find Sokka sprawled across the entire tent. Zuko tries moving him over to try and find some space but the jostling only yields in Sokka's cock slipping out. It resembles a shriveled raisin and Zuko mutters, "That's rough, buddy." and leaves the tent to report to you his findings.
- You're surprised to find the crown prince at your tent at this time of the night. You look at him questioningly and he shrugs shyly and starts babbling about raisins. You sigh and invite him in thinking it can't be helped. You figure it was too much to ask Zuko to share a bed with Sokka no matter how friendly they had become.
- Suddenly it crosses your mind that there is only one mattress in your tent. You look over at Zuko and it seems that he has realised this too based on the redness on his face (no not his scar, he is blushing).
- You get a bit flustered thinking about how you're going to be sharing the same mattress with a great and handsome guy like Zuko. After a small awkward silence Zuko offers to sleep on the floor.
- Right when he's starting to move his body towards the floor you grab a hold of his shirt to stop him. "It's gonna be hard for you to sleep on the floor, let's just share the mattress. We're friends after all, it's fine." you say with a smile on your blushing face.
- You sit on the mattress and pat the small space next to you. Zuko joins you but refuses to look at you. You put the blanket over the two of you and lie down thinking if you act like everything is normal then maybe he'll feel more comfortable.
- Zuko eventually lies down next to you. Your backs are touching each other and you can feel the warmth emanating from him. It feels so strange to be in such close proximity to him. You both are really good friends but you've never been this physically close to him.
- A few minutes pass and you feel Zuko moving around a bit. You hear him whisper "Uh hey y/n.. are you asleep?". "No I can't sleep for some reason."
- A few seconds pass. He whispers again "Maybe this isn't the right time to say this, but thank you for everything you've done for me. All my life it's been so hard for me to be accepted by others. Yet you accepted me and made me feel so welcomed even though we've known each other for a short amount of time." You feel and hear him move around again, this time he flipped over and your back is pressing against his chest. "You mean a lot to me y/n".
- You flip around as well now your chest is pressed against his. You look into his eyes and see a very tender and loving gaze staring at you. You reply, "You mean a lot to me too Zuko. Meeting you has made my days livelier than they used to be."
- Both of you are staring into each others eyes, and Zuko's eyes flutter back and forth between your lips and your eyes. Taking the hint, you close your eyes and lean forward planting a gentle kiss on his lips. He reciprocates a little sloppily, but lovingly.
- He wraps his arms around your waist, while one of yours is on his shoulder and the other is in his soft hair. Your chests are so close, the tent feels like it's getting hotter and you feel something hard pressing against your stomach.
- One of your hands roam downwards and palms his member. Zuko lets out a moan and starts paying attention to your neck. The heat in the tent increases and you're sweating even more.
- Now that his attention is on your neck you open your eyes slightly to get a peek. As your eyes open you see red all around you. Your tent is on fire.
- Holy shit your tent is on fire. You see small fire sparks on the surface of Zuko's body. He had been producing fire without realising it. You push a very puzzled Zuko off of you and open the entrance to the tent. You grab his arm and get him out of there with you.
- You both watch the fire grow bigger and bigger while holding hands. Katara awakened by the smell of smoke puts the fire out once more and goes back to bed.
- Zuko and you cuddle and fall asleep on the ground upon the ashes where your tent was.
your bed lover,
admin sar
#zuko x reader#zukoxreader#zuko x y/n#zuko x you#gn reader#atla#atla x reader#atlaxreader#reader insert#zuko#avatar the last airbender#prince zuko#avatar the last airbender fanfic#zuko fanfic#prince zuko x reader#fluff#zuko fluff#atla zuko#zuko fic#zuko x f!reader#avatar zuko#zuko atla#zuko hc#zuko h/c#zuko headcanon#headcanon#headcanons#100 follower event
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@zutaramonth day 18: What If
AU: What if Yon Rha hadn’t retired?
Tw: Mentions of bloodbending and murder.
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Perched on Appa's head, Katara was still going over the night's events.
They'd found Yon Rha steering his ship; she'd recognized him right away. The captain had admitted to the crime. The Southern Raiders’ commander had begged, and pleaded, and offered the life of all of his crew in exchange of his own. He’d even told him where his mother lived. Katara blessed the full moon that let her force his heart to a standstill without much effort. It was a quick and efficient murder. The worst of Katara's instincts screamed at her to prolong it, to savor the fear in his eyes, but the man had been so pathetic that it would have just made her pity him further.
Next to her, Zuko steered Appa quietly through the night sky. They'd been silent for what felt like hours. Only when the night started turning into dawn did Zuko break the silence, soft and tentative.
"Katara," he said, "are you okay? Do you need to talk about what just happened?"
That did it. All Zuko had to do was reach out. Suddenly, Katara found herself sobbing and shaking uncontrollably against his shoulder. Those tears that she'd pushed back and hidden from the world for years were flowing freely down her cheeks and onto Zuko's shirt. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, calm and gentle, filling her with the sort of relief that made it all the more difficult to hold herself back. It was like coming home to a warm fire after spending hours in the freezing cold.
"I'm afraid he will haunt me in my nightmares."
It seemed silly, but it was the only truth. He'd done so before, when he took her mother's life. Now, all Katara could see in her mind were his terrified eyes as she forced his blood to stop flowing.
"Do you regret it, Katara?"
She thought about it for a moment. Yon Rha hadn't been an honorable man living an honorable life. He'd been a state-sponsored, cold-blooded killer. Had she left him alive, there was no telling how many more innocent lives he could take, how many hard-earned livelihoods he could ruin.
"No, I don't think I do." She wiped her eyes, pulling away from Zuko's embrace. "I just... I don't know if it will stay this way. I don't know how I'm going to face everyone."
"I'll be with you," Zuko reminded her, his face inscrutable. "Whatever you say to them, I'll back you up."
Katara could only stare at him in awe. Zuko was showing blind faith in her judgment when she was at her lowest, at her most despicable. It was a vain thought, but she hated how ugly she felt, inside and out, with her bloated red eyes and her hands tainted with blood. And yet, Zuko was looking at her as if there was no one or nothing more worthy of his devotion. It was puzzling.
"Zuko, you don't have to... I mean. I think... I think I forgave you long ago. You don't—"
"Do you really think I went with you just to clear my conscience?" Zuko narrowed his eyes, leaning toward her ever-so-slightly. The wind blew his hair around his face and Katara would never forget how he looked just then. "I care about you, Katara."
That impassionate assertion was enough to make her eyes fill with tears again. Truth was, she could no longer fool herself. She'd long seen the heart behind the burning anger and she'd always wanted to believe Zuko could be his better self. And there he was—for her.
"I care about you too," Katara admitted quietly. "That's why it all hurt so much."
"I really am sorry, Katara."
"I know," she said. And to her own surprise, a hint of a smile wanted to creep up her face. This was the most solace she'd felt in years. "Thank you, Zuko. For everything."
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Love Conquers All
Zuko x Male Reader
Word Count: 1856
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Y/n could understand where Zuko was coming from, but he knew he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't go as well as he had perhaps envisioned.
It was all very well and good that he had finally found his way, but he had hurt the Avatars group a fair bit before finding his way. Y/n also knew that as someone who had been a part of Zuko's attempts to hurt them, he had no leg to stand on in helping smooth the situation over. He hadn't been as single-minded in his focus on capturing the Avatar, but he had only cared because Zuko cared.
He didn't think that would matter to them, but then, Y/n didn't particularly care one way or the other how they felt about him. The only person who mattered to him was Zuko. Well, and Iroh, but that was a given of anyone who had met the calm old man.
When they made it to the kids campsite Y/n hung back, staying by the exit. It wasn't that he didn't trust them not to ambush him and Zuko, oh wait, it was that. Never mind.
Y/n watched the exchange carefully. He could feel it in the air mere seconds before she struck.
Faster than their eyes could follow, Y/n moved. By the time that everyone had caught up with the events, Y/n was standing in front of Zuko, sheathing his sword after having deflected Katara's water whip.
Silence reigned for a single heartbeat. Then Katara shrieked in outrage.
"How dare you!"
Y/n was sure she was still speaking, but he had a habit of being selectively deaf when it most benefited him.
And then, with almost no warning she was throwing water at him with increasingly wild movements.
It was no match for Y/n's technique.
It wasn't common knowledge, in fact, he had hidden it for most of his life, but Y/n was an airbender.
Yeah, literally the biggest lie in their world was that there were no more airbenders. The Air Nomads had had the practice of removing non-benders from their society and giving them to the other kingdoms.
What they didn't know was that all it took was for the right circumstances to happen and suddenly you had airbenders in the descendants of those non-benders.
It didn't change much ultimately, they were so few that they wouldn't ever be considered a threat to anyone, not that the Air Nomads had been when the Fire Nation had attacked them a hundred years ago.
What it all came down to, was a confused child suddenly developing powers that no one was able to control anymore.
Luckily for Y/n, the only person who had been around the first time he had bended was Zuko. As secrets tend to do, it had bound the two closer together than anyone would have thought ever since that day.
It was a loyalty that had seen Y/n stowing away on the ship Zuko had been banished on, and one that had been returned by Zuko had never once considered that the apparently Fire Nation child could be the reborn Avatar.
What it came down to, was that Katara was having no luck besting Y/n. Much as he wanted to put her in her place properly, Y/n knew that what they were trying to accomplish here would be hurt by that. From the looks of things though, they might have lost that chance.
Y/n stayed on the defensive, letting her tire herself out instead of outright attacking. He was worried about the look the Avatar was giving him though. That wide eyed expression couldn't mean anything good for his secret. He had always known that it would come out eventually, but he had hoped it would last longer than this dammit!
"Katara stop!"
The kid was trying to get in between then now, but the water tribe girl was apparently past the point of caring. She was just not backing down.
"Wait, I wanna talk to him!"
"No! They need to get out of here and never come back!"
Y/n was sure that her words might have been more intimidating if she weren't so clearly out of her league. He decided to ignore the voice in the back of his head that whispered that if he had used even half of his abilities properly before this they might have caught the Avatar long ago.
The element of surprise couldn't be taken for granted after all, and judging from the kid's reaction just now, all they would have had to do was show him Y/n's powers and he probably would have stayed on the ship that first day.
Y/n pulled himself out of his thoughts with a shrug. It was a bit late for that right now.
The Avatar had managed to get between Y/n and Katara, and seemed to be trying to talk her down from her rage. Y/n watched, only mildly interested. This wasn't how he had thought today would go.
He turned to Zuko, who was still standing behind him.
"Are you okay?"
He just looked Y/n over, head to toe looking for injuries.
"I'm fine, but are you sure it was a good idea to show them that? I could have taken a few hits. I've had worse before, you know that."
Y/n clenched his jaw at the reminder.
"I know. I'm sorry. You know how I feel about you willingly putting yourself in danger though. You didn't even try to defend yourself. Don't think I didn't spot that."
Y/n leveled a flat stare at Zuko.
He at least had the good grace to blush in shame and hide behind his fringe.
Y/n turned back to the group of kids gathered in front of them.
He gave them his best blank stare. He had nothing more to say to them, this was about Zuko teaching the Avatar firebending after all.
Besides, he was sure that anything he said would be twisted around and spat back at him by the water tribe girl.
"You're an airbender!"
Y/n refused to give up his secret that easily.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The little blind girl perked up.
"You're lying. You are an airbender? I thought they were all wiped out."
Y/n stubbornly refused to respond. He could see the water tribe girl's eye narrow at his silence. She was just about to explode on him again when Y/n felt a shift in the air. Less than a second later he felt Zuko's hand on his shoulder.
He slumped slightly. Damn Zuko's soft heart.
"Yes. I can bend air."
The shout of pure joy that the Avatar let out was enough to make Y/n feel slightly guilty about keeping it from him the whole time he had been after him.
"I'm not alone! There must be more, right? Some of the monks survived and hid right? Please tell me!"
Man, this kid was excitable, and as happy as he was, Y/n didn't want to be the one to tell him that he was wrong. He couldn't take the soft option of letting Zuko tell him though, they would probably turn on the both of them and Zuko wouldn't be able to fulfill his destiny.
"No."
"No you're not going to tell him?"
That girl was really starting to get on Y/n's nerves.
"No, they didn't survive."
That shut her up.
It also made the kid tear up, but there was no point building a lie just to make him feel better in this moment. That would be more cruel than the truth.
"The only reason that I exist right now is because of your ancestors though. Your people had a practice of testing their babies for airbending potential."
The Avatar was nodding along. Good, this wouldn't be a surprise to him.
"Well, when they showed to be non-benders your people gave them away. They were sent off to the other kingdoms, not welcome in, nor considered to be, a part of the Air Nomads."
"Air Nomads are airbenders, so if they aren't airbenders they aren't Air Nomads. That's just the way things are."
Y/n grit his teeth. It was an old hurt, but it still stung. He pulled in a deep breath and the only thing that stopped him from screaming about the injustice of it all was Zuko's hand that was still on his shoulder lending him the strength to continue.
"Your people were wrong. Occasionally their methods would be wrong, and they would let a bender slip away into another kingdom. But more than that, its in our blood, in the thing that makes us who we are. When enough of your ancestors were born from the Air Nomads, no matter whether they could bend themselves or not, you have the possibility to end up as a bender."
The Avatar's jaw was hanging open as he stared in horror at Y/n.
"But, they couldn't possibly have known that! If they had, maybe they wouldn't have done what they did."
Y/n's eyes shone with a dark light. This was something he would ultimately have to give up, but it was worth planting the seed if he could.
"So your saying that the only possible use non-benders have is the possibility of benders being born from them?"
The Avatar stopped cold and stared at Y/n in horror.
"What? No! Of course not!"
"Then what? You had no problem with the idea that they would be thrown away like yesterday's garbage up until now. The only thing that's changed is this piece of information."
Y/n pulled back as he saw the tears form in the Avatar's eyes.
"Think on that for a while. You have a non-bender in your group. Do you consider him to be useless?"
The kids all looked like they had been hit over the head.
Y/n was sure that this would be the end of their interaction for the day.
"We'll come back tomorrow. Maybe then we can talk without resorting to violence."
He turned back to Katara who looked like she was getting ready to unleash whatever thoughts had been happening in that head of hers.
"Before you put your foot in it, consider this. We have two things you want. One you desperately need, the other, something you desperately want. Have a good night."
Zuko turned and walked back the way they had come, with Y/n bringing up the rear. He didn't trust them not to attack them from behind.
Y/n hoped that with the reminder that they needed Zuko to teach the Avatar firebending, they would be more open to meeting the next day. If that weren't enough, then there was the added bonus of Y/n being the only other airbender that they knew. He was sure that the Avatar wouldn't be able to resist the pull to be around someone who was like him for long.
Either way, they still had a long way to go to convince them that they didn't want to hurt them and that this wasn't a trap.
'Oh well,' Y/n thought as he lay sleepily beside their fire, 'things always look better in the morning.'
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Request: Imagine being Lin Beifong’s daughter and having a crush on Iroh II
Tags: @tincdraws
Growing up as the daughter of Lin Beifong metal and earth bending were your whole life. You learnt to earth bend by the time you could walk and your mother had you in training from a young age so you graduated from the earth bending school at the top of your class with your eyes firmly set on following in your mother’s footsteps whilst also trying to emulate your grandmother’s success. You had a sharp focus and nothing else really caught your attention. You had friends but training came first and dating seemed something superficial you could live without. Republic city was your life and you would never dream of leaving it but your mother had other ideas.
Your mother thought you needed more worldly experience before you joined the police force so she sent you to the fire nation to gain some training as an officer. She claimed the fire nation had some of the best officers in the world and that they would help you learn invaluable real-life experience. You did not agree and protested the whole thing. All your training had revolved around the needs of Republic City specifically and you couldn’t see how you’d learn anything new about how to protect your city by travelling all the way to fire nation but your mother refused to change her mind and that was that.
So you were shipped off to the fire nation fresh out of the academy. Your mother had spoken to Firelord Izumi and it was agreed you’d be staying at the palace so not only would you be unfamiliar with the environment, you’d be in a place where every small look, word or action had large consequences. You didn’t know much about the fire nation and couldn’t really recall the royal family. You were aware your grandmother was very close with the late Firelord Zuko but since then things had changed. Although your grandmother’s friends (mainly Katara) had tried to keep the group close it was hard with everyone scattered across the four nations and so with each generation the group had drifted further and further apart. You knew Firelord Izumi had a daughter older than you and a son around your age called Iroh. You recalled meeting Iroh when you were younger at some event in the south pole but couldn’t remember much more than a serious fire nation child. So you arrived on the steps of the palace utterly out of your depth determined to see these three months through so you could return to your beloved city. You were shown into the palace immediately, your belongings taken by maids who refused to let you carry them yourself as you were a royal guest. You weren’t used to finery so proceeded through the palace partly in awe and partly in utter confusion why someone needed this many paintings of old men everywhere. You were finally shown into a large room. “Ah you must be y/n Beifong” a voice called and you turned to see someone who looked vaguely familiar. You knew he wasn’t Firelord Zuko or Firelord Izumi’s husband as he was too young so figured by his royal outfit this was Izumi’s second child the prince. “Prince Iroh, it’s an honour to see you again” you said bowing and he chuckled “I bet you thought that would be a winning line with any fire nation citizen didn’t you? Because we’re still all obsessed with honour like we were centuries ago?” Iroh asked and you hesitated. “If I caused any offence...” you started but Iroh cut you off breaking out in a large smile “no I was only kidding, it is a winning line we are still obsessed with honour”. You watched as Iroh laughed at his own joke surprised, you didn’t expect the prince of the fire nation to be like this. You figured royalty lacked the ability or the clearance to have a sense of humour but apparently not. “So have I really not changed since we were eight?” Iroh asked and when you frowned he elaborated “you recognised me but the last time we met was just over ten years ago”. You paused “ow no I didn’t actually recognise you, you were young, dressed in fine clothes with royal hairpins, not to mention you’re in the palace...you had to be the prince”. “Good deductions officer” Iroh said saluting you before he grinned “i’m in training too”. That piqued your interest “really? for the fire nation army?”. He nodded “yep! I’m an officer but my hope is to be general one day and to fully earn it, rather than just get it because of who my family is...hopefully in a few years i’ll get there”. “I’m sure you will” you agreed and Iroh led you into a large dining room. “Are we dining alone?” you asked confused and Iroh smirked. “Why? Not pleased with me?” he asked and you rushed to assure him that wasn’t the case when he laughed again “I’m joking again y/n, I know my grandfather told you the whole family would be dining with you in his letter to your mother but he, my parents and sister were all called away to an urgent matter and asked me to fill in as we’re similar ages”. “Ow” you nodded “that makes sense...is everything okay?”. Iroh nodded “everything’s fine just boring fire nation stuff...so shall we?” he asked holding out his arm to you. You weren’t sure if this was appropriate so averted your eyes and only took his arm lightly. Iroh smirked at your caution and led you into the room.
The meal with Iroh was nice. He was friendly, hard-working and interesting. You soon got used to his humour and learnt not to take him too seriously. You hadn’t met many other people your age who shared your passion for a military career and found it was nice, a sentiment Iroh apparently shared. He enquired what you were doing the rest of the week and when you replied nothing as training didn’t start for another week he soon had several of your days planned out with fire nation sights to show you. Iroh seemed to understand you didn’t know much about the fire nation so planned to take you to all the important sites as well as areas relevant to the army to peak both your interests. You enjoyed the prince’s tours greatly and even when training did start you continued meeting with Iroh regularly. You liked his company and were surprised that didn’t fade the more time you spent with him, if anything it grew more and more. You thought he’d be a spoilt entitled prince but he was kind and considerate pleasantly surprising you.
You didn’t become aware that you liked Iroh as anything more until one of your friends at the academy pointed it out. Since starting training you were progressing well, you achieved high grades and were held in high esteem by your fellow recruits. You had made some friends and often trained with them after the academy retired for the day. After a long training session you were heading to the palace when one of your friends called out to you “hey y/n some of us were going into town to celebrate our class’s good progress, do you want to come?”. You smiled pleased they wanted you to come when you remembered you couldn’t go “I’d love to Shani but sorry I can’t I have plans”. “Of course you do” she smirked as your other friend Aizori grinned “is it with Iroh by any chance”. “Actually it is” you said frowning at their shared look “why?”. “Ow nothing just it’s not every day your friend is dating the crowned prince”. “Me and Iroh are not dating!” you cried “our families are old friends that’s all”. “Uh...hu, if that’s true then what are your plans together may we ask?”. “We’re attending a party at the palace”. “Together?” Shani asked and you blushed “yes but he only asked me because it’s a formal event that’s apparently really boring so he wanted a friend there, trust me we’re not dating”. “But how can you resist?” Aizori asked “I’ve only seen the prince a handful of times but he seems to get better looking every single time! How don’t you get lost in those golden eyes and that chiselled jaw? The royal family has some amazing genes not even a Beifong can resist”. You paused considering it. For you looks weren’t very important so you didn’t tend to notice them. You held work ethic and determination as much higher priorities and Iroh scored very highly in both but in looks...you honestly couldn’t say. “I’m not sure I’ve noticed” you admitted and the girls rolled their eyes not believing you.
When you arrived back at the palace your friend’s words were ringing in your head and when you next saw Iroh something felt different. You took note of his looks and were surprised by what you’d found. Iroh was attractive, very attractive, how had you missed that? You stared at Iroh wondering if his eyes had always been that bright? Was his jaw always that sharp? His hair that good regularly when he frowned “why are you staring at me?”. “Nothing” you cried and he paused before shrugging “Are you ready to go?” he asked “the party has already started” offering you his arm. You nodded and took it cautiously following Iroh into the ballroom.
You could see why Iroh had wanted to invite you, everyone in the room was at least 60 years old or some stiff nobel person from an ancient line of fire nation families. All they seemed to want to discuss was old family bloodlines, territories or ancient traditions. After your fifth boring ambush by some old fire nation man Iroh pointedly headed for the gardens. You frowned as he exited discreetly, closing the door behind him, and headed away from the hall. “Iroh I’m pretty sure the party is inside” you commented and Iroh grinned “I know but I can’t take another second in there so humour me? One lap of the gardens then we’ll head back, please? I know you haven’t seen them properly yet so how about a tour?” Iroh holding out his hand to you. You rolled your eyes but took his hand happily.
Iroh led you around the gardens explaining the different flora to you and their history. “I spent so many parties hiding in here as a kid” he grinned “this place is so huge they couldn’t find me for hours”. You smiled at the thought “my mother would’ve killed me if I did that”. “Mine did” Iroh chuckled “but I’d honestly rather face her wrath than some boring commander who wants to lecture me about our family’s history and why it’s so important...they’re literally my own family and even I don’t care” Iroh cried making you smile. “I see why you escaped out here so often, I’m very grateful formal parties were not a part of my childhood”. Iroh smiled and went to comment when the smile was wiped from his face and he grabbed you, quickly pushing you behind a large fern. “Iroh what are you...”. “Shhh they’ve come for us” he hissed and you frowned when you heard a voice. “Prince Iroh?” a man you recognised as the palace coordinator called “Are you out here? You’re needed inside”. You smirked and Iroh rolled his eyes “they’re relentless”. “Master Iroh if you’re out there please return to the ballroom, your mother’s orders”. There was silence and then the sound of the butler coming closer. Your eyes widened and Iroh put a hand over your mouth pushing you further into the bushes. “Prince Iroh?” a voice called literally right beside you and Iroh smirked as you grabbed his arm in surprise. You heard a sigh and the sound of the man retreating. When the footsteps died away Iroh dropped his hold on you and you both burst into laughter. “I thought we were going to be caught and then royally punished...literally” you added and Iroh smirked “I wouldn’t let them punish you, it’s not your fault I dragged you out here”. “True but I didn’t try hard to stop you”. “You did encourage me” Iroh nodded thinking “okay it’s all your fault”. You gaped laughing “I never said that! You are such a liar” you cried pushing him and Iroh laughed grabbing your arm “okay okay maybe we share the blame 50:50?”. “No way” you smiled and Iroh paused “60:40?”. “I think 90:10?” you said grinning and Iroh sighed “fine, i’ll take 10% of the blame”. You shook your head at how wonderfully infuriating he was and smiled at him fondly. Iroh grinned back and you realised suddenly how close his face was to yours. Iroh seemed to notice too, he glanced down at your lips and you panicked moving away from him suddenly. There was an awkward tension in the air and you broke it with a cough “so want to show me more of the gardens then?”. Iroh nodded “right this way my lady” the awkwardness gone and led you further into the garden.
When you were safely hidden from the ballroom Iroh stopped walking, explaining this was one of his favourite spots in the whole garden and you gratefully took a break sitting down. “I can’t believe you’ve already been here a month” Iroh commented and you nodded “I know only 2 more to go then my mandatory 3 months work experience is done”. Iroh frowned “mandatory...so you could stay longer if you wanted to?”. “Hypothetically” you agreed and Iroh hesitated “do you think you’d extend it? Hypothetically?”. You paused “I’m not sure, I have enjoyed the fire nation far more than I thought I would but I’ve always wanted to complete my training as quickly as possible, I hope to be chief of police one day and I’ll need many years of service for that...”. Iroh frowned “isn’t the youngest chief like 41?”. You nodded “yeah so i’ve got time I guess, maybe i’ll stay for longer...is this just so you have someone to skirt your royal duties with?”. Iroh laughed “maybe...I like you being here, it’s nice not being the only person under 30 in every room”. You smiled “well i’m glad my presence isn’t displeasing to you...you’ve been pleasant as well” you added blushing and Iroh grinned. “Wait did I make a Beifong blush? That’s like a legendary occurrence, this is amazing!”. “Stop it” you cried but Iroh wouldn’t let you turn away “no, this will go down in history, Beifong blushes are rarer than dragons so I’m soaking up every second”. For the second time that day Iroh stared at you closely and you blushed more under his gaze but this time you didn’t move away. Iroh continued gazing at you before he lightly moved his hand to your cheek “y/n...” he said softly leaning in closer when a figure appeared. “There you are!” a voice cried and you both jumped away from one another. Your jaw dropped when you realised who it was and you dropped into a bow “Firelord Izumi...i’m so sorry I didn’t see you approach”. “Rise child you did nothing wrong” she said warmly “my son on the other hand...” she trailed off glancing at Iroh who paled. “Hey mom” he frowned and she raised an eyebrow “really? That’s all you have to say? No apology or grovelling”. “Erm I’m sorry for ditching?” Iroh offered and Izumi sighed. “Y/n would you please excuse us, I want to have a word with my son”. “Of course” you agreed bowing and you rushed away.
Iroh returned not long after with his mother and told you he had to stay in the ballroom for the rest of the party. You agreed to stay with him and he smiled gratefully at you making you blush and look away rapidly. The night passed and neither you nor Iroh spoke about what happened in the garden. How he’d almost kissed you and how you were going to let him. You couldn’t believe your own recklessness. What good did you think would come out of kissing the prince of the fire nation? You were obviously not an appropriate match and so there was nothing to be encouraged there. You resolved to never find yourself in that situation again and decided to just stay as friends no matter how much you got along or how attractive he was. Getting involved with a fire nation prince was not responsible behaviour. So after that night you made sure to put distance between you and Iroh. You didn’t stop seeing him you just made sure to emphasise it was a friendship. You didn’t let yourself get caught up in him the way you had in the gardens and always kept a level head. Iroh never tried anything or mentioned that night either and you supposed he picked up on your not so subtle hints. You carried on as before but there was definitely an unmentioned barrier between you which you never let fade.
You left the fire nation 2 months later. You didn’t extend your stay as with your feelings for Iroh you didn’t think it would be wise. Iroh saw you off and hugged you tightly before you got onto the airship. “It’s been nice having you around Beifong, I’ll miss you”. Iroh’s words made you hesitate and you hugged him tighter. For that time in Iroh’s arms you imagined what would have happened if you’d kissed him in the gardens that night. Iroh didn’t strike you as someone who flitted from person to person taking what he wanted, you think if he wanted to kiss you he must have felt something for you too and perhaps would have suggested dating. You imagined all the things you’d have done together but as a couple and wondered if you’d made a mistake, maybe you should have just gone for it? But then reality set in. If you really wanted to be chief of police then you couldn’t have short relationships with high ranking members of the fire nation. Other candidates could use it to show you had compromised morals and there was no way it would be a long term relationship due to your lack of fire nation heritage. Sure the fire nation was pretty progressive but that didn’t really apply to royalty. They had thousand-year-old traditions to uphold that couldn’t be broken easily so Iroh was never a long term option for you. Therefore all logical signs said you’d done the correct thing not persuing something with him...so why did it feel so shit? You finally pulled away from Iroh and he noticed your expression. “What’s wrong?” he asked and you shook your head looking away “nothing i’ll just miss it here...promise you’ll keep in touch?”. “Cross my heart” Iroh smiled “you’re not someone I intend to let slip away, expect a visit every time I come to republic city”. You pushed away the rational voice in your mind telling you to keep a distance from him and smiled “you’ll always be welcome and I’m very much looking forward to it”. Iroh blushed “thank you y/n” and you nodded back, just looking at him in admiration before catching yourself. “I should go...” and Iroh nodded “safe travels” and with a final look you walked away.
2 years later
After your departure you and Iroh stayed in regular contact and your letters only halted when he was deployed by the military but the second we was out he would write and arrange to come visit you in Republic City. You still thought about him and your feelings for him regularly and every time you saw him you knew your crush hadn’t lessened. You loved Iroh’s visits and soon they became the thing you cherished most. You told yourself all of this was fine because you’d never act on your feelings but sometimes you wondered if Iroh felt something too? You’d catch him staring at you or he’d blush if you smiled at him in a certain way. The very idea of Iroh liking you made you very excited but you also knew it would only lead to heartache. He wouldn’t be allowed to settle down with someone outside the fire nation so it didn’t matter if he liked you too. So you settled for his friendship which was more than enough for you. When Iroh was posted in republic city when he became general you were thrilled and you only continued to grow closer.
However republic city wasn’t as peaceful. There had been multiple attacks on the city from Amon’s chi blockers to Vaatu’s take over and you and Iroh were constantly pushed into the fray. Multiple times you’d faced staggering odds and every single time you wondered if you should confess your feelings to Iroh in case the unthinkable happened but every time you chickened out. You and Iroh had been safe every time but there was only so much you could push your luck.
You’d been wary of Kuvira’s take over of the earth kingdom from the very start. Your aunt Su Yin had told you all about her so you weren’t surprised when she set her sights on Republic City but that didn’t mean you weren’t terrified. The avatar and her friends informed you what you were facing and you weren’t sure how you could even think about facing a giant mecha suit with spirit cannons. Iroh shared your sentiment but as general of Republic City’s army he was forced by President Raiko to lead his troops out there. Watching Iroh take to the front line you were swept with the desire once again to be honest with him, to tell him how you felt before it was too late. You decided three was too many times to chance it and so decided to finally tell him how you felt. You made your way to the general’s tent and found Iroh with Korra discussing strategies. You greeted them both warmly before making your way to Iroh’s side “could we please talk? I have something to tell you”. You knew Iroh had a hundred things to do but he nodded warmly squeezing your hand “of course just give me one second to...” when the radio sprang into action. President Raiko had surendering to Kuvira’s demands. Republic City was hers.
The avatar was furious and you matched her sentiment. You and Iroh joined her as she met with other leaders in the city like Tenzin and your mother and they all agreed something had to be done to stop Kuvira. A plan was quickly assembled, it was agreed that airbenders would attack the suit from the sky and earth benders would attack from the ground. You didn’t actually expect to damage the suit, you only had to distract Kuvira long enough for Korra to get inside. You were agreeing fervently getting ready to leave with your cousins when Iroh grabbed your arm. “Wait Y/n are you sure you want to do this?” he asked nervously “that mecha suit is dangerous there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to stop it”. I know but it’s my home, I swore to protect it and I won’t break my oath. I have to try and help”. Iroh sighed thinking and you watched him wondering what he’d say. “I understand why you’re doing it and I want to come too”. You paused pleasantly surprised “You do...but I thought President Raiko told you to retreat and surrender?”. “He told me to surrender the army not that I couldn’t personally engage in fighting, i’m not fighting as a general but as plain old Iroh” he announced proudly and you smiled “there’s nothing plain about you even without your titles”. Iroh beamed at you “Does this mean you agree? We can fight this giant together!”. You nodded your head “okay let’s go meet up with the others”.
You and Iroh rushed after the others and found them all suiting up. “Finally” your mother said spotting you but she frowned when she saw Iroh with you “y/n tell me you didn’t bring the general who is also the prince of the fire nation into this”. “She didn’t, I volunteered” Iroh spoke up “I’m not here as a general or as a prince but as a civilian so, where can I help?”. “You know your mother won’t like this” Tenzin commented and Iroh nodded “I know but some things are worth facing her wrath for” he said shooting you a smile and you blushed.
So it was agreed Iroh would stay. Your mother thought it would be best to place him on the roof with the airbenders, she ordered him to shoot lightning at the joints to try and cause some malfunctioning. When you’d all suited up the teams said their goodbyes and Iroh appeared in front of you. You didn’t have long, Kuvira’s giant suit was already in view and the ground shook whenever it took a single step. Iroh stared at you and sighed heavily “Y/n...”. “Don’t say it like that, we don’t have time and we’re both going to be fine okay?” you said faking a smile but Iroh saw right through it. “What did you want to tell me earlier?”. You froze caught off guard and blushed “I...I just wanted to...it doesn’t matter”. The ground jumped and Iroh looked at it nervously before stepping closer to you “I think I can guess what you were going to say”. “You can?” you asked nervously and Iroh smiled “yeah...you had another Beifong blush moment and I’ve noticed you do them around me a lot”. You went bright red and Iroh chuckled “yeah like that...”. You looked down embarrassed but Iroh took your hand gently “don’t, I blush a lot around you too”. You smiled blushing more and Iroh chuckled softly. “Y/n are you ready?” your mom asked and Iroh gripped your hand tightly. “Wait I want to tell you everything before you leave” Iroh cried but you squeezed his hand gently. “It’ll be okay” you smiled “you can tell me everything later and I think I can guess too”. Iroh grinned blushing “later then...just got to get through this”. “We’ll be fine, this is what he trained for” you smiled confidently “I promise I’ll see you on the other side”. Iroh nodded and stared at your lips, he went to move in when your mother called “y/n are you coming or are we leaving you behind”. “I’m coming!” you yelled and stepped away from Iroh “mothers” you commented and he smiled “go, i’ll see you after” and with a last look you both rushed off to your assigned group.
The battle
The fight went about as good as could be expected. The suit swatted the air benders away like flies and your group’s earth, metal and even lava bending barely slowed it down. But it didn’t matter, all that mattered was the avatar and her team managed to find a way into that thing and your team cheered when you saw she’d done just that. Now the fight was Korra’s so you let your guard down when suddenly the machine began malfunctioning. Your mother yelled for you all to take cover but you were too far away from the building. The suit exploded with a blast and you saw a blinding light and then black.
After the suit exploded everyone assumed the battle won. Half the air benders went after Korra to help her with Kuvira and the other half went to the ground to make sure the others were okay, of course Iroh went with the latter. He saw Bolin, your aunt and cousins but no sign of you or your mother. They told him they were all searching for you and he rushed to join in. With each street he passed his heart began to sink when finally he spotted you! In the arms of your mother unconscious. Iroh ran forward dropping to his knees beside you. “What happened?” he cried and your mother clutched you desperately “that thing exploded and she was too far to get into cover, it hit her sending her flying through the street and now she’s...she’s...”. Iroh saw the blood seeping through your mother’s hands where she held them against you. “No” he said viciously “y/n won’t...she can’t! We need a medic” he yelled loudly before taking off his jacket to wrap around your wound. “Maybe I can cauterise the wound?” he asked “seal it to stop her losing so much blood?”. Lin paused “I think the wounds too big but it’s worth a shot”. Iroh nodded and Lin lifted the bottom of your uniform. Iroh saw a large gash across your stomach and winced. He lit his hand on fire and pressed his hands against the wound. You gasped suddenly and your eyes shot open. “Y/n” your mother and Iroh cried in unison and you blinked trying to make sense of the situation before you groaned in pain. You tensed trying to get away from the burning but your mother held onto you “please y/n just hang on Iroh is trying to cauterise your wound”. “It’s not working” you grimaced resisting the urge to scream “Iroh stop! Please!” you cried and he yelled in frustration moving his hands away from you. “No it has to work if it doesn’t then you’ll.....we need a medic down here” he yelled again but he knew everyone else was spread out and there were no healers in the group. “It’s okay” you said breathing heavily as the situation dawned on you “Iroh it’s alright”. “No it’s not” he cried sinking onto his knees beside you “it’s not y/n, you can’t...you have to fight this, you can’t leave me”. You nodded “trust me i’m trying but Iroh if I do...”. “No y/n don’t even think about it! I won’t let you go it’s not going to happen”. “I don’t think we have a choice” you admitted trying to smile but Iroh just shook his head “but we never got our shot, we never got to talk, I never got to tell you...I love you y/n” he said simply “I have for years, that’s why I never found anyone from the fire nation because the perfect person for me is you. I know there’s traditions and rules but I don’t care, I don’t want anyone else but you. I’d give up anything for you and we were finally heading in that direction and now that stupid spirit cannon”. Tears leaked down Iroh’s face and you reached out a hand to him shakily. He took it and you stroked his face “it’s okay, i’m sorry for being too scared and cautious, I’m sorry for wasting our time together but I love you too, I hope that’s enough”. Iroh nodded “It’s more than I ever hoped, you didn’t waste time you have nothing to be sorry for y/n Beifong, do you hear me?”. “I do” you smiled before coughing in pain and your mother clutched you tighter. “Y/n” your mother cried and you smiled up at her “it’s okay mom, don’t worry. It’s all going to be okay”. You clutched her hand against your chest and took Iroh’s other one. “I’m with the two people I love the most, I’m happy. This is the best way for it to...”. “Stop” Iroh said crying but you just gripped his hand tighter “Iroh look at me”. He blinked through the tears but looked at you. “It’s okay, I promise you everything will be okay”. Iroh just said your name softly and rested his head against yours. Your mother wrapped her arms around both of you and you held onto both of them the best you could when you felt the world fading away. You heard sobbing and your mother faintly saying your name until everything turned dark and it was over.
Epilogue
Following your death the fire nation, earth kingdom and republic city all paid their respects in their traditional fashions. A statue was raised by your mother in the spot of your death and every year on the anniversary of your death both her and Iroh would visit it. Iroh and your mother supported one another following your death being the only one’s who understood how monumental the loss of your life was. They managed to get through it together and although neither of them ever stopped loving you they found a way to carry on. Iroh never married, he couldn’t even consider the idea and his family never pushed him to. He still lived a long and happy life. He was very involved with his sister’s children who he loved dearly and his family never stopped supporting him. If he went quiet and got a teary look in his eye or if he struggled serving in the earth kingdom they understood. Your family also treated him like one of their own, with Lin even calling him her son on a few occasions, and he was invited to all your family’s events in recognition of your love for him. Your memory never faded and when Iroh’s life eventually ended he passed on to find you waiting for him. He knew all the suffering and heartache was over, you were finally together at last.
____
So initially I was going to write a happy ending as well but then I thought screw it, I want to cry so I killed off the reader...but I can release the happy ending as a part two if anyone wants it.
Edit: For the happy ending version click here
#iroh ii#general iroh#prince iroh#lok iroh#iroh II imagine#Iroh II x reader#prince iroh x reader#prince iroh imagine#general iroh imagine#general iroh x reader#legend of korra iroh#legend of korra imagine#fire nation#lin beifong#lin#lok lin#lok lin beifong#Avatar The Last Airbender#atla#atla Iroh II#iroh junior#izumi#princess izumi#firelord izumi#firelord zuko#lok izumi
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in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny
tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough.
disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!
“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.”
I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--
“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”
now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role.
also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all.
“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.”
the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.
“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.”
this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--
“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~”
y’all WHAT.
ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back.
what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai.
and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too.
“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!”
there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse.
(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.)
now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out.
fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)
(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)
“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”
Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show.
And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.”
So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring.
again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what?
Azula
no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her.
Conclusion
misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked.
what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here.
so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice.
if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us.
#fandom crit#longpost#like seriously long post strap in#misogyny#death tw#murder tw#abuse cw#sexualization of minors#ableism#racism#fandom racism#zukka crit#swearing tw#suki#yue#katara#ty lee#mai#toph#azula
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