Could you ever see Maikka settling down and having a family? (Personally I get the notion that Sokka would slowly lure Mai into domesticity one step at a time. One day sheâs like âno Iâm not giving birth to any smelly little monstersâ and the next she and her husband are driving a minivan to soccer practice with 3-4 kids in the backseat, or the equivalent of that in the ATLA universe.)
Just asking because you write Sokka and Mai as well as anyone in the fandom and your fics with them are superb
Thank you very much! They're my two favorite characters to write, so it's gratifying to hear that I mix them well. I was having fun a lot more efficiently when I was writing them together. XD
Usually, when I pair them up, I cast Sokka as more of a nomad. He's driven to protect the people he loves by going all over the world trying to solve the dirtier and more dangerous problems for them. Of course, that suits Mai just fine, who if she's not lairing in the Fire Nation has no where else she's inclined to call home, and constant travels and dangers definitely keep her life exciting.
But we saw in LoK that the canon version of Sokka does indeed eventually allow himself to take on real leadership positions, and I very much like that even though I haven't given myself many opportunities to write about it. (Hm, perhaps I should finally finish that "Trapped" Maikka trilogy with "Trapped in Republic City"?) I see that as a natural extension of his work as a globe-trotting troubleshooter, only Republic City never runs out of trouble for him to shoot so he ends up staying and helping to run the place. A city that exciting would service Mai as well, and even when she's not helping to solve a crisis, I think Republic City itself offers enough pleasures and vices for her- or at least the version in my head does, as implied by most of the pre-release material.
And something I'd love to explore for Mai in particular is her physical decline. Yeah, it's fun being a teenager and 20-something able to throw knives with pin-point precision and get into massive martial arts brawls and jump off running lizard-horses and all that. But what does an adrenaline junkie like her do when her hands start to shake and her knees protest when she leaps off a building? I think Sokka would take getting older more naturally, because he's never particularly wanted to run around saving the world. As long as his expanded horizons and thirst for knowledge can be accommodated (and I think Republic City could do that), he'd be happy to stay in one place.
And Sokka is definitely someone who values family. It's the center of his world. So once he settles down, I very much think he'd want a family. I'm okay with LoK not showing that, but my headcanon is that he does indeed eventually have both a love-of-his-life and kids that he is very active in raising.
So yes, I think your read is very good. A Sokka who gets together with Mai would slowly acclimate her to the idea of a family, and I think once she's given the opportunity to experience a non-toxic version of that, she would eventually grow to love it. I'm not saying everyone who doesn't want a family should get one and will definitely grow to love it, but I think Mai really does want that type of thing, but her childhood taught her to do like she always does- try not to care and maybe put on a show of hostility to convince herself when necessary.
And I can totally see Sokka inventing the minivan for the express purpose of getting all his kids to soccer practice.
"I added an extension to a standard-body Cabbage-Mobile. Now we can fit all the kids at once without stacking them!"
"I am not being seen in that thing."
"What?! Why not! It's so efficient!"
"...all right, what if I remove the wood paneling and paint it a different color?"
