(Baby screen-smashed delete on the original ask, excuse the janky posting)
Anonymous asked a question
Hey i get that you're trying to be a good cis writer and it IS good thst you're doing research but how you're reacting to the info is really off putting and to me insulting. Like essentially going squeeeee. It's infantilizing. We're real people not attributes you can add to fictional canonically cis cartoon characters to make them cuter. Sokka would not be "caught" doing that. (that one especially insulted me because it's not naughty. You are caught doing bad things. Euphoria is beautiful)
So let me start by saying your feelings are totally valid, so please no hate for this anon in the comments.
Let me continue by saying that people are sharing their life experiences. LOTS of people are. Which is inherently exciting because look at this beautiful community, look at these amazing people, look at these lived experiences that hurt and heal.
EXTREME EXCITEMENT is how I react to amazing things, and all y'all's input on this is indeed amazing. I'm sorry if it comes off as infantilizing, but I'm also unsure that pretending to be another dead-inside adult who doesn't find other people's experiences Astounding, Beautiful, Very Good is a thing that the world needs.
I would definitely not turn this enthusiasm on unsuspecting people, but everyone replying here has voluntarily stepped forward to do so. My general feelings on that subject is to validate the hell out of that act by showering credits into whatever novel comes of this + giving previews of how the character is shaping up based on responders' feedback. This is my version of "You have been heard and it shall be done."
And the Sokka who lives in my head, if caught doing fun and self-validating but rather private-for-him things in front of a mirror, would absolutely scream. If it had been the Suki, Toph, Jun, etc who live in my head, they would have grinned and OWNED it. That was meant as a personality-reflecting post, not a summation of the experience as had by all.
Which is sort of the problem in media, and I can absolutely see where that post could be taken wrong: there are so few queer characters of any persuasion that anything risks becoming associated with the queerness rather than the individual character. We needs more rep and more diversity of personality within that rep. We needs it muchly.
Which is very much what I'd like to do in my writing, but I can freely admit that a day-and-a-half of research does not make me any kind of expert on any kind of topic, and I apologise preemptively for any missteps I make along the way.
Also, uh. Between the fact that someone said "agender" in their comments and my brain went "wait that's an OPTION?" and the fact that I stared at the "cis" in this ask for far too long before realizing you meant me, I think it is possibly bold of either of us to assume I'm cis.
I can assure you I am absolutely Sokka-screaming right now, brain why.
After the last chapter of salvage I spent a whole drive contemplating an Agender Katara. I could absolutely see her responding to the rigorous gender roles of the water tribe by refusing to be defined by either. The show went all in on her as the ‘group mom’ but that doesn’t have to be the path she takes. I doubt I was the only one rubbed the wrong way when LoK thought Kanna 2.0 was the reasonable path for her development. We already have Suki & Toph heading up the the I’m a Bada** warrior AND a girl faction. I don’t think we loose anything if Katara chooses independence from overt femininity.
Disclaimer: these were just my personal musings. Not trying to pigeonhole anyone, I just think it’s a plausible developmental path for a character who already has a complicated relationship with Gender roles.
hi!! I'm transgender and I have a bunch of problems with what you said, @carolofthebell
first!! You imply several times that gender is a choice. "Responding to .... By refusing to be defined as either" "chooses independence over overt femininity" "plausible developmental path."
People dont choose their gender. Sure, being gender non conforming is a choice but being agender is not something people just decide to do when faced with nasty gender roles. "Independence from overt femininity" could be shown through being gender non conforming or just. Many many things. an agender person is not necessarily masculine or unfeminine – presentation does not equal gender!!! and being agender in itself doesn't mean breaking away from femininity.
Being trans isn't like. A fun way to do character development or to show someones reaction to that. Its not a "developmental path". Sure identity is fluid but it. Doesn't work like that. Discovery of your own gender is a sort of developmental story, emphasis on DISCOVERY, and not like. Changing it or whatever ur implying. Again, not a choice. If you actually want to incorporate an agender character into a plot about misogyny and gender roles, consider the dysphoric effect of having the society you live in divided across such binary lines! Consider the ways in which your existence poses a challenge to people's entire worldviews and the implications of that!
However, this does somewhat confuse the narrative of a female character pushing back against misogyny - it suddenly no longer applies to her, she's the exception and jumps over the line rather than raging against it. There are ways to tell the story that are still deep and compelling but it's a different story to cis girl katara. Misogyny can still affect afab people esp if their identities arent recognised by the society around them, but they arent the primary targets.
In short:
Presentation doesn't equal gender, gender roles don't equal gender, being trans isn't a choice or something that happens because u hate gender roles. Agender Katara is not the story you think it will be. I think what you're looking for to tell the story you want to tell is gender non conformity. Maybe look into that instead.
Post canon Toph who doesn’t want to go back to her shitty parents so she just decides to stay in the Fire Nation and bum off Zuko’s hospitality.
Zuko’s like no, yeah, I totally get it, and just makes her one of his advisors. At first it’s just so she has a good excuse to stay but after the first meeting Toph storms out shouting about how EVERYONE was lying why would you even need to lie about what kind of tea you want??
Zuko: I mean they’re politicians.....but also who, and when, and in what way
They make a subtle Morse code system so Toph can warn him when someone is lying to him without tipping anyone off that she can sense lies.
Zuko gets a reputation for somehow being both extremely socially inept and yet somehow disgustingly perceptive?? You can’t get ANYTHING by him???
#my lord what EXACTLY is ms Beifongs role in these meetings #a nervous nobleman asks after the third time she interrupts them with stupid commentary #zuko with perfect deadpan: she’s my scribe
Azula read through Ty Lee’s letter once, twice, and set it on fire. This was mainly for her own safety, but she couldn’t deny the catharsis it brought her. Of course Zuko had been captured by ‘lovely’ Water Tribe pirates. What else was he going to do? Catch the avatar? Stay in the Earth Kingdom where he probably wouldn’t die? Make a thought-out decision for once in his stupid-worthless-precious life?
Father was going to have him killed, and Mai and Ty Lee couldn’t get him out or they would have done it already, and Azula couldn’t rescue him because she had responsibilities, and she was going to fail and it had been the one thing Mother had thought she could actually succeed at and then she would completely and utterly-
Unless.
Azula knew what she had to do to keep Zuko safe.
(She’d known for years.)
She couldn’t betray her country.
(She could.)
She shouldn’t act so dishonourably.
(Where was the honour in trying to have your own child - a child that didn’t even realise - killed?)
It wouldn’t be easy.
(It was. A knife stolen from the kitchens and one of Mother’s old theatre masks because it looked cool and Mother had been too cowardly so now Azula had to do it.)
—
Ty Lee held up an arm for the Enemy Bird with a wide grin.
Everyone on deck - Fire Nation children excluded - tensed.
“Don’t worry,” she said, with her usual cheeriness, “it’s for me.”
That only made things more worrying. Ty Lee remained oblivious as she uncapped the small wooden tube and tugged out three scrolls, tied in pink, red, and blue ribbon. The pink ribbon came off first and the two girls tilted their heads together to read it. After a moment, the scroll with the red ribbon was handed off to Zuko and they turned to Hakoda.
“This one’s for you!” Ty Lee handed him the final scroll. “I imagine it must be important, blue ribbon is hard to come by in the homeland.” She smiled, like usual, but this one was slightly pinched.
Nervous, Hakoda realised, and wondered if he should be too. He didn’t get to ask, as Ty Lee retreated to the little corner of the deck she and Mai had claimed. Mai kept her eyes on him as he unrolled his letter, but Ty Lee seemed to be re-reading their letter.
He skimmed the letter, then blinked and read it closer.
– Fire Lord tragically passed away tragically a few days ago. Her Majesty, Fire Lord Azula is interested in renegotiating for Prince Zuko’s safe return, if he remains with you and your crew –
“Tui and La,” he muttered.
He caught a glance of Zuko’s scroll. It had two large words on it.
Dum-Dum.
—
“You have an aunt?” The chief asked him, trying to be friendly. Probably
“No,” Zuko replied, because he couldn’t see the harm, “but I have a sister! Azula.”
The chief nodded. “Older than you?”
Zuko nodded back, smiling because he was now pretty sure that this was a Good Conversation, like Pai Sho with Azula or Uncle. The chief seemed to be relieved. “She’s sixteen,” he explained, and that was the wrong this to say, because the chief was frowning and frowning was bad and Zuko didn’t know why he was upset but he was.
“Zuko,” Mai materialised at his side, “come on, Ty Lee needs your help with her hair.”
Zuko mouthed ‘thank you’ between shaky breaths as he crossed the deck to help Panuk and Toklo with Ty Lee’s hair.
“Zuko, finally,” she said. “These two are trying their best, but they don’t do a lot of the rope work on this ship, apparently.”
Panuk looked faintly embarrassed. Toklo just looked grumpy, but he was harmless.
“You can practice on my hair after, if you want,” Zuko offered, midway through a clumsy demonstration. “Ty Lee will probably explain better than me, and she knows how to do loads of different kinds.”
—
Azula went over the numbers again, just in case. They were all correct and in order. Budgets were fast becoming her favourite part of governing. So simple.
Unfortunately, their simplicity meant they were usually finished rather quickly. Azula was left with nothing left to do but go to bed in her new quarters. Father’s old quarters.
(The sheets had been replaced but the bloodstains were still there.)
Azula swallowed past the lump in her throat and flicked back to the first page of the budget report. You could never be too careful.
—
Hakoda glanced at the scroll poking out from beneath Mai’s sleeve. He was curious by nature, and longed to know what the new Fire Lord had written to her brother’s keepers.
“We haven’t told him,” Mai said, quietly enough that only Hakoda could hear, despite Aake only being a few feet away, sanding the rails. “Azula will. It’s her duty.” You won’t either, was the silent threat.
Hakoda had seen her target practice, the outline of her friend and the prince studded into main mast with terrifying precision and not a speck of blood on either of them. He nodded.
“You think the negotiations will go well, then?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Either way, Zuko will go home.”
Hakoda thought about the letters he’d received from both Fire Lords. A father who’d asked for his son’s head and a sixteen-year-old girl who had had to ask if her little brother was still alive. He thought about Sokka and the fierce protectiveness he held for Katara.
Fun headcanon that can go with either zutara OR zukka is that Hakoda is really hesitant to see his child dating a fire nation prince, MUCH less one who’s going to become the fire lord, and so he’s grilling the shit out of Zuko asking him a million questions about his history and his plans for the fire nation and whether he’s truly changed and finally he’s ike “where’d you get that scar, kid? A bit reckless with your bending maybe?” And zuko’s like “oh actually my dad lit my face on fire” and Hakoda is like “cool cool. So actually, on second thought, after much deliberation, are you perhaps in the market for a new dad”
people with bad taste are always like “yurr hurr The Beach is about zuko and mai and how they’re a great couple” while intellectuals know that Actually The Beach is about mining any and all of the untapped friendship potential of this striking exchange
One of the best twist moments in Avatar is when Ty Lee suddenly and dramatically turns against Azula at the Boiling Rock. Azula was completely convinced that Ty Lee would obey her without question forever, but Azula wasn’t the only one fooled. Mai is just as shocked when Ty Lee rebels as Azula is. Ty Lee’s survival instincts were so sharp that she never let anyone know what she was thinking, not Azula, not Mai, and certainly not Zuko.
Zuko really believed that Ty Lee didn’t understand who he was at all. He completely bought into the act that she’s just a puppet for Azula, who lives in her “little Ty Lee world where everything’s great all the time”. But the thing is, Ty Lee is one of the most perceptive characters in the show, and she’s excellent at keeping that on the down low, but she sees a lot more of Zuko than he thinks, and a lot of what she sees is very familiar to her.
Overshadowed by prodigious siblings?
Wanting to be acknowledged for the talents you have rather than the talents you don’t?
Kept in line by fear?
Spending your whole life bending over backwards to fit the persona the royal family has set for you?
This characterization is definitely emphasized with Ty Lee’s acrobatics, flexibility, and ability to hit pressure points. There’s a level of subtlety and precision that is required for such skills. She had to know her own body to be able to bend it in such ways, and she has to know other people’s bodies to be able to disable them.
And pretty much from the moment you meet her, it’s fairly clear that there’s more to her than her lighthearted, bubbleheaded persona, long before she uses her battle skills. Look at what happens when Azula recruits her.
Azula used blatant intimidation tactics to get Ty Lee to comply, ordering the net to be set on fire and all the animals released (which, for the record, would not only have endangered Ty Lee but the circus creatures themselves–I bet Ty Lee was attached to them, and that would’ve been a double threat in itself). Ty Lee is visibly terrified, but instead of calling her out or letting Azula see that she was intimidated, she says this:
Instead of endangering herself by pointing out that Azula crossed a line, Ty Lee falls back on her talk of “the universe” and “auras,” talk that canonically gets her indulged or dismissed but never taken seriously.
She knows that Azula’s dangerous. There’s no way she doesn’t know that Azula is threatening her. But if she can keep Azula from realizing she knows that, she’s a little safer.
Because she’s one of maybe two people Azula never considered as potential enemies–even (especially, but that’s another thread) Ozai is a threat in her mind, but Mai and Ty Lee are the closest thing Azula has to trusted friends, right up until their betrayal.
Ty Lee’s spent a lifetime cultivating a personality that not only allows her to stands out among her siblings–it protects her from being treated as a threat. When you’re friends with Azula, that is an essential facade to maintain. and she does it consistently enough that no one ever sees through it.
All of the Fire Nation kids are so messed up. Zuko’s just the one who gets in the most trouble, because he’s the only one who doesn’t have a mask.
Amazing discussion and there’s one more thing to add to it, specifically in the context of the episode with The Beach.
Azula gets jealous of the male attention that Ty Lee is getting. It’s not the same as being a threat, but it does put Ty Lee in a dangerous position because she has something Azula wants. It doesn’t take much for Azula to turn dangerous and threatening when there’s something she wants and perceives an obstacle in the way, and Ty Lee knows this. And with just a few words, a compliment to Azula, she sets her at ease and makes herself seem vapid (“just laugh at whatever they say even if it’s not funny”) while giving advice. Which means Azula can take or leave her advice but won’t perceive Ty Lee as a real threat to the attention she craves because Ty Lee is getting attention for “being vapid” and not because she’s naturally beautiful and charming.
Its a simple, efficient, and incredible manipulation of a very dangerous and volatile person. Again the agility and flexibility, and no wonder Azula didn’t see her betrayal coming. Every time Ty Lee has entered even the possibility of being a threat to Azula in any realm, she’s immediately flipped the situation to put Azula seemingly back in control and put herself back into a nonthreatening role. Right up until her betrayal.
What if air nomads are pacifists bc they used to do shit like suffocating people and then saw the destruction they caused so turned away from it 🤔🤔
secret lore 👀? what if the reason why air nomads distance themselves from the rest of the world is because they don’t want to be tempted back into that cycle of violence
ya when i first saw someone mention the implication that he took all the air in the room, killing all the firebenders AND himself, i had to lay down for awhile
Okay Okay Okay.... so anyone up for Parental soulmarks Zuko and Hakoda AU of Salvage??? Imagine ZUKO knowing who his Marked Parent is but not HAKODA who only has like idk the blue spirit mask or the dao swords or smth. Maybe soulmarks can't be injured off of someone? So Loserdad couldn't burn it off of him (though not for lack of TRYING)
Zuko, born with his face half done up in vividly beautiful Water Tribe wolf warrior paint: *canon typical scarring occurs MUCH earlier* *hey, at least Ursa caught him when Ozai tried to instintively yeet a newborn out the window*
--- Years later, but not nearly long enough ---
Hakodad, fishing a shivering Fire Nation gremlin out of the water and seeing wolf warrior paint starting to bleed back in wherever his scar has healed: Shit, whose child is this?
This is a huge FUCK YOU to the Fire Nation Royal Family. The spirits have declared that Ozai and Ursa’s first born, 4th in line for the throne, should have been born into another family. That a “savage water tribe barbarian” is Zuko’s True Parent. Depending on the legal structure of the Fire Nation, Hakoda may have just gotten in-lawed into Fire Nation Royalty. He most definitely has some sort of Foster Parent rights. Which, considering, Zuko at age 13 was allowed a say at a WAR COUNCIL solely based on his birth...
This is a problem. A huge political problem that Azulon-Kill-Your-Own-Son-For-Suggesting-I-Skip-Succession is going to want gone. Immediately. With the mark forever healing, they can’t just burn it off and call it good. Both Ozai and Azulon are going to try and kill bb!Zuko.
Zuko’s birth was a difficult one, depending on when the mark shows up Ursa may not be awake/healthy enough to put up a fight. 15 years pre-series means Iroh isn’t besieging Ba Sing Se and Lu Ten is still alive.
[In all the ways he imagined using the Royal Family’s secret messaging system, Lu Ten never imagined he’d have a baby tucked under one arm. It is most definitely not Appropriate Baby Carrying Method but Lu Ten needs his right hand free. He also needs a firm hold because this kid is struggling like that’s all he knows how to do.
Keep fighting. Lu Ten thinks as the message takes off. Smoke flicks past his nose. A wing of the royal palace is on fire and if he strains his ears, he can still hear Ursa screaming her rage. Don’t ever stop.
He can’t stop either. Father will get the message and come back from the front and put this all to rights. Grandfather and Uncle will have calmed down by then and be ashamed of their reaction. But until then, Lu Ten needs to get out of the Caldera.
Slipping on a cloak, he strangles a hysterical laugh. Just because he told Father that he was now a man grown doesn’t mean he is ready for a baby, Agni!]
There will be no years of disappointment accumulating in banishment. No slow build up. Only heavy tensions inside the Royal Family and Zuko always knowing Ozai wanted him dead. I forever banish the comics from cannon because of how they turned Ursa into a stereotypical Female Character. THIS Ursa earned her title of “vicious,” this Ursa was happily married to Ozai for several years before his attitude towards their kids broke things down, this Ursa was part of the Fire Nation Imperialism just like Iroh was. This Ursa’s relationship with Azulon is going to make “I only refer to him by his title” of cannon look idyllic. She is complicated, loving and vicious, and exists more than to be the Mom.
There’s a truce. Its a fragile as rice paper next to open flame, but it exists. Until Lu Ten dies. He was just suppose to be running important orders to Iroh. He wasn’t suppose to be near the front and come back in three months. But now’s he is dead and Iroh called a retreat then went missing. Ursa’s greatest supporters are gone and she has to take drastic measures. By the time all is said and done, Ursa and Azulon are both dead. Ozai is the only adult Fire Nation Royalty accounted for.
[Today proves that it was always Ozai’s destiny to be Fire Lord. All he had to do was be patient. Wait for the right moment, spread the right truths to the wrong people, and here he was. Being crowned god over men.
He had hoped those water bending savages would delay Lu Ten’s return but instead they surpassed his expectations and removed the thorn in his side and crippled the other. Without the barrier of Lu Ten and Iroh, Ursa and his Father destroyed each other just like he knew they would.
As the sun shines down on the beginning of his glorious reign, there is one shadow. Even decked in red and gold, can’t wash away the blight that is Zuko. At least the bandages hide what remains of his Mark. The boy is wavering back and forth like a sickly tree as he tries to stand under the summer heat. If Ozai had another heir, he would have killed the boy and be done with it.
Ozai frowns as he recalls Ursa’s refusal to have another child. Now it will be at least two years before he can be assured that Iroh won’t get the throne when he crawls out from whatever cave he shut himself into. Damn, the mandatory “mourning” periods.
“What about Mother?” Ozai has been ignoring this question for hours. He will ignore it for hours longer but Zuko will not give up and finally Ozai snaps out:
“Ursa was a traitor and has been given a traitor’s funeral. Her body was dumped in the pit and buried. Never to see the sun again.” The brat’s face wobbles.
“But she was my Mother!”
“Then you should never have been born.” He points at the side of Zuko’s face that is Marked. “If you had the decency to die instead of limping on, stead of being Marked, then she would be alive.”
Ozai sweeps out of the hallway to sit on the throne. Zuko’s sobs are cut off by the doors closing.]
Azulon, while he lived, definitely took Zuko’s Water Tribe Mark as a sign that he just wasn’t thorough enough in his genocide. It isn’t enough just to kill water benders to prevent the return of the Avatar. He need get rid of them all. Eventually, he’d get Zuko’s Spirit Parent and that would get rid of the Mark on his grandchild.
The war effort is retooled. The Northern Water Tribe must fall next. Obviously, Zuko’s Spirit Parent can’t be from the Southern Tribe. They were crippled years ago. Iroh doesn’t besiege Ba Sing Se. He fights at the North Pole. Whose Polar Winter’s give him a very convenient excuse to come back home for months at a time. Both the Southern and Northern Water Tribes are wrecked by the time Cannon starts.
Hakoda has no idea about any of this. All he knows is that shortly after he married Kya, a blue mask with dual swords crossed beneath, shows up on his shoulder. Bato swears he didn’t give him that tattoo. It takes several tests before Hakoda confirms that it is a Mark. Who its for, he has no idea. No child in the Southern Water Tribe was born with one recently. An Earth Kingdom sailor mentions that the mask is from a famous Fire Nation Play. Hakoda and Kya go see a production held on Kyoshi Island. Hakoda hopes that whoever this kid is, he’s less dramatic than the play.
(Zuko wasn’t a good fire bender. Swords helped. Sneaking helped more in those months between Ozai becoming Fire Lord and Iroh returning to the capital. Especially when Ozai wouldn’t let Zuko be in public if his Mark was intact. Zuko salvaged exactly one thing of his Mother’s before it was all burned and he’ll keep the theater mask until his dying day.)
Hakoda doesn’t have much time to think about his Spirit Child. Not when he has two Blood Children and the Fire Nation taking extreme dislike to the Water Tribe existing. At All.
The Southern Water Tribe doesn’t have a village anymore. Its people flee deeper into the Pole or out to sea when soot rains down. Katara and Sokka have been on a ship more than they have ever been on solid land. Some nights, Hakoda feels bad about that, other nights he thanks La and Tui that he still has his children at all.
Hakoda leads his men into war. Trying to assist the Northern Water Tribe while the Earth Kingdom spends its energy trying to recapture land turned into Fire Nation colonies while ignore the battle ships flocking north and south. How bitter Hakoda is about that depends entirely on how many men he’s lost that month.
Iroh returns to the Fire Nation a changed man...and right into a situation he only envisioned in his worse nightmares.
[”You left.” Ozai snaps at him, wearing their Father’s crown. “Father was dead and the nation needed a leader. Should I have let is dissolve into chaos?”
Iroh has little love for Ozai. Less since seeing his nephew since he got back, but Ozai is a master at using the truth when it hurts the most. Iroh had let grief blind him to the consequences of vanishing into the Spirit World. He won’t regret it, he learned too much, seen truths he would never have found tucked in the arms of the Fire Nation Army, but there are consequences. Such as his heinous brother ascending to the throne because Iroh had naively believed the peace between Azulon and Ursa would hold as it had for years. That his leaving, temporarily, would not be seen as an abdication by the eyes of the Fire Nation.
By law and by force, Ozai has pinned Iroh into a corner. Iroh could challenge him to an Agni Kai but Ozai has no reason to accept. He could force the issue but Zuko standing stock still with Ozai’s hand digging into his shoulder reminds Iroh that there is family he has failed that still breathe.
So, Iroh takes a breath and lets out words instead of fire. He walks back his anger, walks behind his brother, but in front of Zuko. Iroh lets Ozai believe he’s won. That Iroh is a broken man who cares about nothing but tea and his nephew being left alone.
As much as Ozai is a manipulator, he was never good a building things. His strategies are devastating but brief. Iroh takes his time. Building relationships that will be key later, when Zuko is old enough to take the throne himself.
When Ozai’s wife gives birth to a healthy girl, Iroh is already prepped with a ship, a loyal crew, Prince Zuko, and an excuse about finding the Avatar. The official banishment is unhelpful but not unexpected. Zuko takes it hard. He imagined death, not never being able to set foot on the country he loves so much ever again. It’s four days out from port that Iroh gets the second reason for Zuko’s anguish.
“She’s all alone with him.” Zuko mutters as the doctor changes the bandages again. Ozai had scorched his son’s face again. Its part of the reason Iroh was able to move him out of the capital without a fuss. No one was expecting Iroh to risk his health to move him and Zuko certainly wasn’t going to be able to get out of the Healer’s Wing alone. Like any good general, Iroh weighed the pros and cons and deemed which sacrifices were worth it and knows exactly how much pound of flesh he will take out of his brother at the appropriate time. “Mother said...”
Iroh doesn’t ask for more. He knows that Zuko would be a good brother. He also knows that little Azula won’t see her brother until he’s come of age. That Ozai had caught him one last time, because Zuko had been attempting to sneak into the birthing room when he heard Ozai’s wife’s water had broken. Ozai had been waiting for him.
Iroh let it happen and, spirits curse him, one day they will collect their pound of flesh for his crimes as well. He expects it. He hopes for it.
What he hadn’t expected was finding the Avatar.]
So, Zuko-Its-My-Fault-My-Family’s-Messed-Up-And-Mostly-Dead and I’m-Still-Neck-Deep-In-Fire-Nation-Propaganda is desperately chasing after Aang to prove to his nation (if not his father) that he is Worth Something and get his Uncle’s banishment undone (because Zuko isn’t a complete idiot, he KNOWS Iroh’s exiled because of him. No, he will not listen to Iroh insisting that he doesn’t care or take constructive criticism on how he’s handling being 13, abused, and sailing across the world.) and get back to his sister because he knows Ozai is going to do something horrible to her.
This does NOT make him any more together than Cannon!Zuko. Things proceed accordingly.
Let it be noted that the Mark heals at the standard rate for skin/muscle healing without scarring so Hakoda has NO idea that the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation is his Spirit Kid while Zuko takes exactly 56 hours to realize that the Southern Water Tribe Chief is his Spirit Father and proceeds to Not Handle This Well. Afterall, Zuko’s only father figures are Ozai and Iroh. Aka A+ Plus Parenting and Trying But Still Part Of the Web of Abuse. Zuko is not filled with confidence towards Father Figures. But Zuko wants. He wants so bad and as Hakoda shows that he isn’t the Worst, Zuko panics because he’s been hunting Sokka and Katara. He’s hurt them, threatened them, tied to kill them. Hakoda loves them so much, why would he want anything to do with Zuko?
Any way, Marked!Salvage is still messy and heartbreaking and I’m going to die now because just the idea of it has ripped out my soul.
okay but imagine when it starts growing back in and someone notices, and Zuko the child whose reactions to it can be explained by: bad would probably do something that makes sense to him bc abuse but like not to one (1) functional person
Hadoka: whats that on your face?
Zuko, murmuring, with that good ole fashion ‘fathers b a d and don’t wanna see my mark’: sorry, I can burn it if you want.
Hadoka, confused and a lil concerned: ......burn what exactly?
Zuko: Spirit Mark.
Hadoka, now triple concerned and in worried parent mode: wHAT-
dumb atla fanfic idea: ozai is thrown back in time—to the time when firelord azulon still sat on the throne. when ursa had not disappeared into the arms of her lover, ikem. when he still had his bending. when the avatar had not reappeared.
when all was right with the world.
ozai's ready to conquer the world—nine years earlier than planned, nine years before sozin's comet was set to arrive.
...
what he did not expect was that the one thing standing in his way of success was his eldest son—in the body of a five-year old.
((where ozai and zuko travel back in time and try to thwart each other in every way possible while everyone's confused by second prince ozai's great amount of disdain for his only son and said son's pettiness towards his father))
i want zuko sneaks down into the capitol, not to spy, not to make a scene, just to be near his people and see for himself how the changes he makes in the palace are affecting his citizens
i want zuko who visits the same pub every time and maybe the old bartender who’s father used to work in the palace recognizes him and doesn’t say a word
or maybe it’s the soldier who’s face is young and his eyes weary who’d seen the young prince on a balcony once before but stays silent because he’s there to drink alone and forget and what does it matter if some royal is tucked in the corner
i want zuko who misses the anonymity he had before when he was the banished prince. who just wants a few nights without table manners and stuffy nobles in heavy robes talking circles around him
more firelord zuko who treats every member of his household staff with the utmost respect. at first they’re wary of him, he doesn’t hold it against them- azula and ozai are frightening people.
so he’s patient. kind. he learns everyone’s name, and as the months and years go on he asks more about their lives. he knows he could demand and they’d tell him anything he wants to know. but this is zuko, he wants people to feel safe in this place (a place that was so often unsafe for him, he wants to bring life back into the palace) so he goes slow, never pushes. if they mention a child he asks their names, remembers them; when one of his serving staff mentions his son is sick zuko insists he take time to be with his child. the man thinks he’s being fired until zuko says he always wished to have his parents when he was sick. the mans job would be waiting for him when his son is well
i just want more firelord zuko content. more of my boy caring for his people long after the war is over. helping an entire nation heal and find peace, as well as dealing with the geopolitical aftermath of being the aggressor for 100 years of conflict.
this baby inherits a fucked up nation, and turns it into a prosperous and lively nation. he brings art and culture and joy for joys sake back into the fire nation. i want to see more of that, of the amazing man zuko became.
2 things about chaos Zuko. 1: Does Iroh not realize firebenders can be killed by fire? Go talk to the fire sages for fucks sake. 2: Considering Vaatu did seem kinda evil in Korra this AU is basically he gets a therapy dog but the dog is not mentally stable yet still manages to help him while the dog is becoming more mentally unstable.
Korra did not go in for the kind of nuanced villians I appreciate in my media. An eternal war between a spirit of order and a spirit of chaos has so much more potential than "Imma turn purple, grow large, and stomp things Because."
Evil and chaos are not synonyms. Chaos is a necessary force in the world, and maybe having its patron spirit sealed away is how we end up with places like Ba Sing Se. Or a rigidly isolationist North Pole. Or a well-oiled Fire Nation military machine.
Maybe y'all could use some Chaos Avatar up in here.
People just starting to watch A:TLA for the first time: The bending is really cool, but couldn't the waterbenders technically just bend the water inside of people? Like their blood? I'm pretty sure technically they could. Well I guess it's a kids show so they probably won't go into it haha.
People who have seen the show already and know what happens:
When I first saw Ty Lee’s character design, I was immediately struck by how… not fire nation she looked. Something about her design just seemed different. After a few episodes, it struck me what it was.
She looks more like an airbender.
Most notabe is her airbender eye color, which we only see with Aang and others airbenders in the show. she also has the softer, round face face sbape often seen with Airbenders such as Aang and Jinora. Though this isn’t an 100% pattern (not all airbenders have this face shape and some who aren’t airbenders do), I still think it is a worthwhile point to note.
What I find so interesting though is that Ty Lee’s skill set is directly tied to air. She’s learned to balance and fly through the hair, laughing at gravity (as Aang jokes). Her belief in auras and listening to the universe also implies a heavy spirituality which we see throughout air nomad culture.
She also looks suspiciously like Jinora and I am convinced she is their grandmother on their mother’s side but I disgress.
Long story short, I am fairly certain Ty Lee is connected to, or descended from, airbenders.
where's the post-atla comic where some water tribesmen and fire nation nobles decide that an arranged marriage for the fire lord would help smooth out post-war relations between them, but then they realise that the princess of the northern water tribe is now a celestial body and the southern chief's daughter is super publicly dating the avatar so breaking THAT up would just be a terrible move, both politically and also for anyone who doesn't want to get frozen in a block of ice
TL:DR Zuko and Sokka are playing meatsword (in which you eat meat off a sword) when they're told that they're engaged
Sokka: well it took a lot of twists and turns, but who would have thought that in working together to get our marriage called off that Zuko and I would fall in love for real and want to get married anyway? amazing how love works ❤
Aang: Sokka your two nations are furious, they both saw you guys refusing the betrothal as an act of war, you guys nearly caused an international incident over a wedding you ended up holding anyway
Sokka: haha yeah my fiancé can catch lightning with his hands 😍
Love how Aang had to sneak into the Fire Nation on a specific day of the year to get Roku to start talking to him while Kyoshi came back from the Spirit World just to tell a group of villagers “YES I DID kill your ancestor because he was a COLONIZER what are you going to DO about it??”
