#and ursa too

[demaparbat-hp]

“Feeding and checking on two animals a couple of times a day is hardly a chore for you. Meanwhile, I've got to deal with a sexist and—even worse—a stupid piece of koalasloth dung.”

“Still not my problem.”

“I'll make it your problem,” she growls.

She wanted murder. He needed sleep.

Technically, the scene this dialogue is from doesn't match the artwork, but the vibe is most important! Their banter must be one of my favorite things about Itch, Akai Kotou's second chapter (read it here!). The dynamic between Suki and Jian Li is terribly amusing, isn't it?

[pagliaccis-clown]

"she would not fucking say that" but it's me shaking canon fashion and shouting "they would not fucking dress like that"

Anyways canon is a coward and people from Krownest should dress warmer thank you ❤️

[novaae]

Azula fans when you remind them that both Zuko and Azula were probably results of rape and interfering too much in Ozai's golden child would bring heavy consequences on Ursa, not to mention that all the abuse she's been subjected to for so long it makes sense for her to protect the child whose abuse is more visible than the one who seemingly takes joy in acting just like their abusive father.

[beaulesbian]

Every once in a while I think again about the end of Thriller Bark and feel completely insane and ill about Zoro's sacrifice, FOR LUFFY, specifically (you know, the character Kuma's threat was directed at). It wasn't even that long into traveling together, a few months maybe, yet Zoro was ready to give up everything in that moment - in the chapter with Kuma appearing being titled The End of the Dream ! - to protect his crew and Luffy, so he could continue in his journey.

Since Luffy and Zoro met, they always understand how words and promises were imporant to them - with Luffy punching Helmeppo in ch. 3 for lying to Zoro. Zoro learnt how serious Luffy was about his dream, and soon he realized he backed up his words with actions as well - untiying Zoro and giving him his swords back - his biggest treasures. It meant that Zoro could be honest and honor-bound in the same way to Luffy, to gain this mutual respect and trust between them since day 1. To wield his swords to protect both Luffy and later their whole crew, and to step in a way between Luffy and danger.

He was being actually more upset that Sanji got up from the previous Kuma's attack and interrupted their fight - Zoro was trying to keep the whole crew safe by this exchange for Luffy's head - if Sanji was offering his life for Luffy half dead and without much strength left to fight for himself (he started the offering of his own life already believing he woudn't survive, with a "you should find a new cook"), then this very specific sacrifice would be meaningless to the crew (- if this arc was taking place post WCI, then it would turn out very differently, with the strength of Sanji believing in Luffy, but it wasn't his moment during this scene) - it would hurt them more than help them, because as much as Zoro was prepared to die as well, he was prepared to keep fighting until the last breath.

Zoro was thinking he might die - Kuma's words were pretty certain he WOULD die - but he still had the willingness and strength to take on the deal for Luffy, for his captain and his crew. ("if i die here, it just means I wasn't worth much to begin with" this line he says times and times again during the overall story, like in Rogue Town throwing Kitetsu and waiting if it would cut off his arm, up until standing against King in Wano "it's my power that was lacking", and all the other times he was questioning his worth - it's something he tempts the fates he doesn't believe in, to actually harm him, to take his strength away if he doesn't deserve to survive. and it's him saying he knows and accepts his own weaknesses - of not being strong enough (in comparison to Sanji in this example), and always fights through them.)

He threw away his swords, including Wado Ichimonji - literally throwing aside his and Kuina's dream, to compell Kuma into a duel (with the anime playing 'The Very Very Very Strongest' when Zoro bowed down and pleaded Kuma, offering him his head instead of Luffy's) so Kuma wouldn't go after the crew and specifically Luffy later - no matter the outcome if Zoro would surive or not.

And then, he was actually strong enough to survive taking his captain's fatigue, agony and pain! Possibly being the only one who could survive taking Luffy's pain.

Zoro could have back out when Kuma offered him the 'taste' of the pain, with the realization of the scale of the hurt with the very possibility of dying from it. But that wouldn't be Zoro now, would it? He accepted and took all of Luffy's pain so his captain wouldn't have to suffer or die, and when they found him afterwards, he still kept standing, tense with the fatigue but alive! (again, with anime adding the music of 'Luffy's Fierce Attack' to underline the importance between these two).

He was training for this since the beginning - to become stronger to shoulder the pain of his crew if necessary. (And not only that - he was preparing for that so another Kuina incident didn't have to happen). He was the first one to fight one of the Warlords before anything really began: his fight with Mihawk at Baratie really set the tone and his own goals to overcome - a glimpse to see on how much different levels the Warlords actually were in comparison to Zoro, Luffy and the others, and if they were supposed to beat them so Luffy could become the Pirate King, that always meant to be ready and to get even stronger than them.

(small spoiler for egghead, ch. 1102: seeing Kuma (a Warlord at that time) remembering this Thriller Bark event later, during Egghead arc, and thinking that even he might have passed out from the pain, makes it all the more meaningful that it was Zoro who took the pain and withstood it - establishing how high was the strength of his willpower, already before timeskip.)

There could be so many other nuances and details from these last few chapters of this arc, and even what this deal meant for the following arcs! Zoro was still in pain on Sabaody, and because of that the crew wasn't as strong as it could have been (not to say they would have a chance anyway, knowing what all was in the motion).

The next is the tragedy and beauty of LUFFY never finding out about this. Half of the crew knew: Sanji, Brook and Robin knew the details, but would never tell Luffy - and that shows their loyalty to both Luffy and Zoro (and Zoro's decision). Luffy woke up and first thing he did was to jump up and down, excited not to be weighted down by his injuries, and only seeing his swordsman being down with injuries so severe he was out more days afterwards, knowing that something else attacked them (him = Zoro), after he was passed out from the fight against Moria, brought down his mood (even if it's not much noticable, but the change into subtle worry is there in the few next chapters).

"I can't explain it either!" - meaning he was thinking about it too, possibly how weird it was for him to move normally after such long fight. We don't really ever hear/see Luffy thinking about something, except when it's mentioned how he came up with a solution or idea, telling us there's more to Luffy than just being straightforward in his goals and speech. With Luffy being sometimes very emotionally intelligent when he wants to be, he could have figured it out from all these other people in the room asking similar questions and deducing. Even Usopp was putting two and two togehter. We might never find out if Luffy actuallly knows or not. Luffy probably wouldn't ask Zoro directly, especially if Zoro wouldn't tell first and didn't want to talk about it

- because for Zoro, nothing happened! Nothing, that would compromise his and Luffy's first promise. For Zoro to become the Strongest he couldn't back down from the duel with Kuma (just like before with his duel with Mihawk at Baratie. When he's faced with something he swore to overcome, he can't back down or evade. Even back then Luffy understood that as he held back Johnny and Yosaku, but Sanji was perplexed how far Zoro (and Luffy) would go to reach their dreams). When Sanji was asking him in front of Kuma "What about your dream?" Zoro was still thinking about his dream- it was just that the context has changed, it changed into a journey. His dream is the most important thing, but it wouldn't mean much, if, when on his way to accomplish that, he would betray his other words and promises.

[mad-tears]

ⁱ'ˡˡ ᵐᵃᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ᵖᵃʸ - said a 5'0 foot girl

[zuko-always-lies]

It's very hard to beat Ozai in a "worst parent ever" competition, but comics! Ursa is trying her best.

[boomerangguy]

Forgotten Firelord

As much as I want to see a well-executed Azula redemption, I also need Ozai to get some attention.

Not asking for a long dramatic arc where he “unlearns imperialism” because that’s never going to happen and trying to moralize through education (especially to a deposed monarch) doesn’t work. Personal values need to change.

So his ‘redemption,’ if we can call it that, is all very subtle and delicate, completely confined to his own thoughts and spanning several decades. The regret has to gnaw at him. He has to spend those years imagining what would have happened if he’d defeated Aang, reliving the day of Sozin’s Comet over and over and over until all his bitterness runs dry and his ‘what ifs’ grow stale.

Reluctantly, he finally admits — maybe just subconsciously — that world conquest would not have satisfied him. That sort of thing cannot offer the deep fulfillment he yearns for, so he starts wondering what would.

Participating in a loving, fruitful marriage. Companionship with his brother. Watching his children grow and flourish. Protecting his own people’s way of life instead of using them as fodder to conquer other nations. Ozai spends years dwelling on what he might have missed, gradually delving deeper and deeper.

He eventually faces regrets that he doesn’t know how to process. Missing his chance to kill Aang becomes the furthest thing from his mind — instead, it’s blindly following his ambition, mutilating his son, exiling his wife, mistreating his daughter, failing as Firelord.

But it’s too late to fix any of that now. All he can do is whisper in the darkness of his cell, late at night when no one else will hear:

“I’m sorry.”

When he finally dies forty years after Sozin’s Comet, no one knows that he had a change of heart — and no one particularly cares that he’s gone, either. The Fire Nation has moved on. Most people had forgotten about him or assumed he was already dead. Just one person bothers to visit the lonely cell where Ozai spent nearly half his life.

Decades before, Aang sent a small gift — something of a gag, but not intended to mock — to the prison for Ozai. To his surprise, the Firelord noodle art he’d made in Fire Nation school is still hanging on the cell wall. Only a few moldy old noodles are left, but there’s no mistaking what it means: The noodle art is how innocent children would have seen their Firelord — the man and ruler he should have been.

He buries the art with Ozai and resolves to find him in the Spirit World.

[akiizayoi4869]

I keep on thinking about Ursa's favoritism with Zuko and her neglecting Azula, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it was interesting to see the quote on quote "good parent" in this dysfunctional family also playing the favorite child game, when we're already shown that Ozai doing the very same thing is bad and you shouldn't favor one child over the other, because it will inevitably fuck up both kids. So it was shocking to see the parent who is supposed to be the exact opposite of Ozai doing what he's doing, even if it was for an entirely different reason. Ozai favored Azula over Zuko and neglected him because Azula was the powerful firebender that he wanted Zuko to be, and was disappointed when Zuko wasn't that. Ursa saw how much Ozai's rejection hurt Zuko, so she tried to fill in that gap as much as she could by spending more time with Zuko and making sure that he knew that he was loved, that she loved him. As a result of this, she ended up neglecting Azula and not really spending any time with her at all (and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if things were like this between them before Ozai began treating Zuko that way since Azula didn't really act like how a girl of her status should be, and Ursa didn't know how to deal with it) and this put a strain on their relationship. This is fine and even interesting because it makes Ursa a complex character and not the perfect mother that Zuko sees her as, who we as the audience are meant to see her as.

The problem comes when the narrative never addresses this. At no point in time is Ursa ever made to realize that she screwed up with Azula when we see her again in the comics, and the narrative frames it as being AZULA'S fault that the relationship between these two is so strained, which is absurd. She is in no way at fault for how the relationship between her and Ursa is like. She's the child. Ursa is the adult. You shouldn't blame the child for the mistakes of the parent.

[somewhereincairparavel]

Can I just say that the atla animators were absolutely genius when it came to family resemblances?? At first, I thought Azula looked like Ursa, but then I saw pictures of her without makeup, and she's basically ozai's twin??

Overall they emphasized her sharp features so much to the point I literally only see ozai when I look at azula.

The expressions, the frown lines, the lips, the hairline?

(look at their eyebrows here, they're basically copies)

Like it's actually crazy how accurately they got the characters to look different but similar at the same time? They both have the same sharp edge to their eyes aswell

(credits of the triple collage image below)

Even with makeup, over here, they have the same frown lines on their forehead and scowl like in the exact same way?

I'm never shutting up about how well the designs look

[reislesbian]

SW Rebels characters in the Clone Wars style>>>

[demaparbat-hp]

Oh, Aang, you're really in it now...

This is Zu—I mean, Jian Li and Katara's second meeting in the Kyoshi Warriors AU. The first proper one, anyway.

Once they get through a minor difference of opinion or two (“I can carry my own basket!” “Never said you—” “I'm not weak!” “I didn't—” “Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean—” “Would you listen for once, woman?!” ) they'll become nearly inseparable.

For now Jian Li will carry Katara's basket all the way to the Kyoshi Warriors' dojo and, once there, they'll mercilessly tease Sokka when they see him in uniform.

[mock-arts]

A few little extras from the cover for @popjeckdoom’s fic, “Bonds of Beskar: Daggers Dominion” (on ao3!) (also on ao3, this cover)

We got the textless version so you can see all the details without any of the colors washed out and also got a comparison with last years cover (the first fic in the series, also on ao3!)

[samtamdan]

Azula: *sneaking in through their window*

Ursa: *turning in their chair and flicking the light on* You want to tell me where you've been all night?

Azula: I was with Ty Lee?

Ty Lee: *turning in their chair* Wanna try again?

[beifong-brainrot]

Part of me wants to see Azula and Noren/Ikem interact more and maybe have him be a part of her recovery in at least some small way. While, yes, Azula's relationship with her mother is incredibly important and Azula has a lot of pain associated with that relationship.

But her relationship with Ozai and her skewed perception of what a father is one of her more insidious wounds. Azula had a positive relationship with Ozai, but he still abused her and was very responsible for the damaged teen she has become. And, frankly, I can't see Ursa, or Iroh being trustworthy adults in her eyes.

And while she would likely percieve Noren as "one of Ursas agents", he is a very good father to Kiyi, and an "outsider" in the Royal family, mostly undamaged by the machinations that transpired between them.

I do also find the (most likely unintentional) parallel of Ursa (who, in her benefit, is being coerced/in an incredibly difficult situation) "choosing" Ozai over Noren and Zuko over Azula compelling. As well as them both having ties to the dragon emperor character, but that feels surface level.

Idk, I think there's potential for them to find some common ground, and for Azula to realise that dads aren't supposed to act like Ozai did, which would probably give her a new light on her family and Ursa's behaviour.

It's also not a far stretch to rationalise Ikem helping in the search for Azula, as he is quite the survivalist and Azula originally went missing in the Forgetful Valley, a place he was well acquainted with.

Idk, I think Azula needs someone who isn't Zuko, Ursa, Iroh, Ty Lee or Mai, people who have betrayed her in the past, reaching out to her and a step dad wouldn't be the worst candidate for that.

Maybe one day I'll write that fic but honestly I doubt my ability to write Azula well lmao.

[shiningstarr15]

Run, Little Gremlin…

If yall don’t have this as a hc for them at least once, what are you doing? 💀 /lh

You can decide whether he got grounded, told on, or marked up as well. (Personally I shoot for the 3rd option, bc chaotic revenge seeking Nessa is best idc)

Will he ever learn? 😅

[fanfic-obsessed23]

choose your fighter

my cuties 🥺

p2