#he hates being assumed to be weak because he's a non bender

[cold-neon-ocean]

While yes I draw Baatar really buff to please my ‘muscular glasses man enjoyer’ brain, I also have genuine plot and character reasons for it. Like I love the idea that he still comes across as unassuming as any sort of genuine threat bc he’s a non bender, so he coasts on that societal presumption meanwhile he’d just... crush your spine instead lol

[thevictorianghost]

Wish there was some kind of consequence for aang not killing ozai. (And i hate the excuse for it's a kids show) like say aang spares ozai's life and takes away his bending. Sacrifice for that is aang doesn't have bending either. Aang wants to keep his principals than there has to be a big cost for it to himself. He can't have it both ways.

Also hate the idea that just because someone loses their bending it makes them less a threat. I would understand that if they explained that the way aang took ozai also made him incredibly weaker and can't move that much anymore. Yes losing to a kid would effect ozai's pride but it doesn't make him less dangerous.

When I saw the last episode of atla, i assumed that what aang did also made ozai physically weaker(him looking so sick and stuff). But than I watched lok and that theory went out the window. It's insulting (to characters like sokka and suki) and lazy writing.

I know!

A/ang not wanting to kill Ozai should have been brought up way before Sozin’s Comet. It should have been brought up at least before the Day of Black Sun if they really wanted to go there. I think it would have made it more palatable to the audience. As it stands, while Aang seemed to be completely on board with facing Ozai (especially in Nightmares and Daydreams) before, suddenly at the last minute, it’s an issue? What was A/ang’s plan during the eclipse, then?

Removing Ozai’s bending was a weak writing choice, I believe. They wrote themselves into a corner and had to find the easy way out. We’ve seen many non-benders fight just as well as the benders, such as Sokka and Suki as you mentioned, or Mai and Ty Lee. Ty Lee doesn’t even have bending and she can literally TAKE AWAY YOUR BENDING temporarily. So if you can block chi by pressing a few pressure points on a person’s body, what makes energybending so special? Is it just a more permanent form of chi blocking?

I’ve heard the comics delve more into the Fire Nation’s politics after Ozai is put in jail. And it’s... not pretty, as far as I’ve heard. Another reason I’ll never read the comics, since they make Mai part of the New Ozai Society’s assassination plot against Zuko. (She didn’t participate per se, but silence is compliance. She knew of the plot and didn’t tell Zuko, because apparently her father being involved meant she had to be loyal to him, and she says to Zuko that “he, of all people, should understand that!” Which is just. URGH.) 

Anyway. The comics show that even though Ozai’s bending has been taken away, he is still eligible to the throne and a threat to Zuko’s reign.

I like the idea of there being a cost to A/ang’s energybending, but I think A/ang giving up his selfish attachment to Katara, as he should have since Crossroads of Destiny, would have been enough. It would have allowed him to open his last chakra and take full control of the Avatar State. Instead of just. Having a rock poke him in the back.

As I’ve said, removing Ozai’s bending wasn’t enough, and I like this take I found in a Youtube comment some time ago (I can’t find the original, sorry). The person said that instead of removing Ozai’s bending, A/ang’s energybending should have sent Ozai to the Spirit World. And I think that’s brilliant! Ozai is removed from this plane of existence, removing him as a threat to Zuko’s reign, but Aang doesn’t have to kill him. And he’s basically banished, much like he did to Zuko (though Ozai deserved it, while Zuko didn’t). Let him get a taste of his own medicine, for once.

And Ozai’s storyline could have ended up with him stumbling upon Koh’s lair. Let the Face Stealer take care of the villain!

(It makes me think of that scene where Scar is eaten by the hyenas in The Lion King. Or Gaston falling to his death in Beauty and the Beast. Or Ursula getting impaled in The Little Mermaid. Or Mother Gothel falling to her death in Tangled. You get the gist. And those are still considered kids’ movies!) 

[misanthropic-succulent]

Some klance atla fic idea

Okay I found myself thinking of atla and vltron crossover again, and it got me thinking a little. So everybody likes to crossover with these three tv shows (Voltron and ATLA and LOK), usually making keith a firebender and lance a waterbender. Which is understandable because of their lions. But as you know in season 3 they have to switch lions, (Keith to Black and  Lance to Red), so for some reason my brain went "Wouldn't be cool if they're bending abilites in the aus changed also" that was the part that got me thinking. So my addition to this aus is interesting (to me at least) For my rendition (for like a fic idea lol) Lance and Keith actually kind of switch places. Lance will learn fire bending and Keith growing up in the Air Nation (stick with me) As you know Keith and Shiro have a brotherly dynamic or at least Shiro was there for Keith when others weren't so you can't deny their close bond which is why I put Keith in the Air Nation.  Keith is raised in the Western Air Temple which only had women but they made an exception to Keith seeing as he needed to hide (we can't baby keef die now can we?) Since there's a war going on that's the reason why Keith's father  is there, to help the Western air nomads.  Keith's Mom is a Fire bender while his dad is a Air bender. But since the war was going on (the timing of this is completely made up , lol ) Keith's dad decided to leave Keith with his mother and go back to help defend his nation (He didn't abandon  them)   In this Keith's mom is the sister of Ozai (Which will be Zarkon) (Lotor will be Zuko or something) Zarkon now (like he ever wasn't) is trying to destroy everyone (like the air nation *nudge*) Since Keith hasn't shown any bending abilities. Zarkon wants to get rid of him (for some reason). Of course Keith's mom would never let that happen and fled to the Air nation to find her husband. She was able to make in time and explained the situation to Keith's dad. Even though the Air Nation wasn't the safest at the moment it was better than the fire nation. Knowing she would probably not be able to see her son again, she leaves him her necklace (the stone in Keith's knife in vld)  Keith is two when his mom gives him to his dad. Upon returning home Keith's mom was confronted by Zarkon, and upon learning she hid Keith, Zarkon sort of rage kills her (didn't see that coming did ya?~) Lotor happens to see this and is also filled with confusion seeing as he's only 8, and is just like wtf is happending to aunt...whatever her name is. As Lotor grows up he begins to realize the fire nation's true colors, and what really happened that night. Enraged from being tricked his whole life and full of vengeance for his little cousin and deceased aunt he vows to himself to find Keith and keep him safe. When Keith is 5 his dad and almost the whole air nation is annihilated. Keith vows to never to forgive the fire nation.  (This is still in the past) Back in the Air nation Keith is able to grow up to (let's make it 10) he's already made friends with the air benders (he doesn't know that he's fire nation yet~) He's best friends are Pidge (7), Shiro (15) and Matt (14) One day Pidge's dad, Shiro and Matt went MIA when they were scouting (?) the Fire Nation.(They were captured, the dad is dead) They find Sam's body, but that's it. Leaving Pidge and Keith to mourn more of their loses,  this only fuels Keith's hatred more. smol timeskip

Keith (still being in the air nation) gets upset easily since he just can't get air bending down, he along with some of the others think that he doesn't have any bending abilities. So Keith decides to train on something different, his combat skills. He figures out one day when the fire nation attack again (only leaving him and pidge left alive) that his necklace is dangerous (a fire bender almost chokes him with it) so he asks Pidge to help him put it (engrave?) inside of a knife (hence Keith's garla knife). Btw Rover is Appa, or more like Appa is now named Rover, (but Pidge isn't the avatar, lol). (They are 15 & 12 at this point) Keith and Pidge travel on Rover in hopes that they'll find Shiro and Matt one day. timeskip-o (Keith is 18 and Pidge is 15) One of the days they're travelling Rover gets tired and they decide to land on the closest land possible. Unfortunately for them it's all icy there. Rover is warm but you can only do so much against the wind, Keith is mostly fine but Pidge's teeth are clattering. He opts to holding pidge (very platonically). Pidge: "H-How are you s-so warm?" Keith *shrugs* "I don't know, the cold has never really bothered me."  (*belts let it go*)  Pidge looks at him for a moment before letting her thoughts roam. She knew Keith literally since she was born, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a possibility of him being...She didn't even want to finish that thought. Shaking any thoughts that could form in her head she snuggled closer to her heater of a friend and drifted off to sleep. NOW TIME FOR LANCEY LANCE!! Lance and Allura are really close freinds who act like siblings and Coran is their crazy "uncle". Lance's family much like Allura's got destroyed by the fire nation, making them hate the fire nation. When Lance was 9, Allura 12 the fire nation came to their village killing most of the men, sparing some of the women (if they were non-benders). The water tribe decided to fight back and go fight the fire nation (Much like Sokka's dad did in atla). Allura's dad (Alfor was the head of the water tribe) had died in  combat, along with Lance's father. They mourn and they grow stronger, becoming who they need to be for their tribe. Lance and Allura can waterbend, Allura a lot better than Lance (she picked it up faster) they are two of three left in their tribe who can bend. Coran is the third. Lance is determined to surpass Allura in waterbending and practices frequently, most people see him as laid back or carefree but he cares for the people he loves and will protect them with his life and he can't do that if he doesn't become stronger. His mom, his siblings, his father all gone, because he was to weak to help them fight. So he'll practice and practice to protect the ones that are still here to protect. (*sniff*)  -- (This is where Keith and Lance see each other and the main plot kicks in...sorta)-- Lance is complaining to himself because Allura made him go patrolling by himself, which is fine he can take care of himself but it's really boring. He almost took Coran with him which honestly wasn't really saying anything since Coran was the closest thing Lance had to a friend (besides Allura) not that he minded. Lance is too caught up in thinking when he bumps into to something really soft and huge. Once he recollects himself he practically screams, wait no scratch that Lance does scream. Which alerts Keith and Pidge and within a matter of seconds he finds himself pinned against the ice, air knocked out him. He looks up at his attacker, he's beautiful (insert description of Keith, lol) and then he sees a...knife. Face blanching he quickly knocks the person off of him, and gets into a fighting stance.  He more aware of his surroundings now and notices a girl that's with his attacker, his sister? they don't look alike. His girlfriend maybe? Keith speaks up and asks Lance why he's here, which leads them into bickering with each other.  Lance: "Why wouldn't I be here, this is my territory!?" Keith: "Says who?" Lance: "ME!" Keith: "What are you two?" Lance: "Three and a half actually." Pidge is so done by this point. She had already figured out where her and Keith were, or at least assumed. The boy they have yet to get the name of clothes just confirm that assumption. They were in Water nation territory.  Keith: "You woke us up screaming and scared Rover!"   Lance: "What in the world is a Rover!?"  Pidge: "Are you two done bickering or can we talk, now that we know we won't kill each other?"  Keith & Lance: "NO!" 

(I kind of got stuck, so the rest of this is bits of parts I've planned)

Pidge internally: “These two are idiots”

Pidge finally gets them to calm down (or at least stop bickering) long enough for her to ask Lance his name and what he’s doing out here. Lance is a little skeptical to answer her, like obviously those two pieces of information are too important to just throw around. So Lance asks her question right back at them. Pidge sighs and says they’re from Western Air Temple. Lance is of course still skeptical and asks Pidge to prove it, she does by bending.

Lance looks expectantly over to Keith but he’s avoiding his gaze. Pidge explains that Keith doesn’t have any bending abilities to their knowledge. Lance kind of pities the guy, which bristles Keith a bit, but he doesn’t comment on the look Lance gives him.  Lance eventually introduces himself and tells them that’s he’s from the Southern water tribe.  

Keith mockingly asks him to prove it, to which Lance responds with slapping some (a lot) of water in Keith’s face.

Pidge laughs, Keith looks pissed, Lance looks smug. Pidge and Keith eventually end up following Lance back to the tribe.

  When they get there Lance is immediately "attacked" by Coran, who was crocodile crying into Lance’s shoulder. Saying how he thought he got kidnapped but the Fire nation and would have to come and rescue him. *cue dramatic hero pose*

This made Lance roll his eyes (playfully) he’s about to speak but gets cut off by Allura. Lance is in trouble now. Allura looked scary, he could practically see the dark aura radiating off her body.

Allura: “Where were you?”

Lance: “I was out patrolling like you told me to” he gives her this face that just screams “duh”

Allura: “I know that but why were you gone for so long?”

Lance: “I met these two” he gestures to Pidge and Keith who are standing silently (and Keith awkwardly) behind him.

Immediately Coran tries to intimidate Keith, but it doesn’t work of course.

(This is somewhere after they meet Hunk (earth-bender), and find Shiro and Matt) --In Ba Sing Se--

 Lotor (24) sees a group of people, who look nothing like firebenders, except one. The boy had his black hair tied into a high ponytail, with his bangs down, framing his face. He looks just like...and just like that Lotor finds himself running, leaving his friends confused and shouting behind him.  He found him, he exactly found him. His cousin, Keith.

Lotor: “I found you!” he says as he grips onto Keith’s hand, making Keith and the other’s startle.

Lotor: “I found you Keith.”

Now the rest of them really are on high alert, because not only did this firebender catch them, he also knows who Keith is.

Keith shifting uncomfortably: “Um, who are you?” he’s trying to act like he’s normal (he's failing).

Lotor: “Oh right! I guess you wouldn’t remember me since the last time we meet you were like two” Lotor mumbles the last part, but they hear him just fine.

Shirp steps in putting a hand on keith's shoulder: “May I ask who you are?”

Lotor senses the hostility their sending his way, but that was to be expected, he was a stranger to them after all.

Lotor: “I am Prince Lotor, Keith’s cousin”

The group is in shock and look over to Keith who is also in shock.

Keith: “B-But I don’t have any cousins, my dad never had any siblings”

Lotor’s face softens: “But your mother did, I’m sorry Keith.”

Keith stepped back from Lotor, and let the information sink in. His mom was a firebender, from the fire nation, and the sister of the firelord no less. He was a prince (would Keith be a prince?).

A fire nation prince. Keith’s face blanched, it made sense now. Why he was always warm, why he couldn’t bend air like Pidge or his father, because he that was only half of who he was. He was a firebender. Keith’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish’s. He felt like he was going to throw up.

 Suddenly a group of firebendy-soldiers found them, Lotor cursed under his breath, and started to fight them.

Lotor: “You guys leave, I’ll hold them off!”

The gang was skeptical but didn’t need to be told twice and ran for it, unfortunately the it seemed like the fire nation had some earthbenders on their side, and the gang found themselves falling into a hole.

Hunk was able to part ways in the rocks and make a passage for them. Luckily it seems the earth and firebenders didn’t follow them in and if they did then they didn’t know where they are at least.   

 *Back to Lotor who isn’t able to fend them all off and the floor collapses beneath Keith and the gang*

 Lotor: “No!” he screams as he sees Keith’s face disappear from sight. He found him and now he lost him.

Lotor to himself: “I can’t even save the person I promised to protect”

The rest of his team catches up and sees Lotor’s face, they know now that something happened and they were too late.

Keith is gone from Lotor’s sight once again.

 *They’re stuck in a cave, Hunk fell asleep because of the panic and exhaustion*

 Allura: “You’re a firebender? Not to mention a prince?!” not really a question. Allura looks betrayed and pissed.

Keith: “I swear I didn’t know” his eyes are downcasted.

Allura: “How could you not know!?”

Shiro and Matt touch Allura’s shoulder, hoping to comfort her but she shrugs them off.

Keith is silent, after all what can he say? He knew his mother left him went he was a baby, and he knew his dad was keeping something from him when he was alive. Now he finally knew his secret.

Everyone stares expectantly at Keith when he still doesn’t answer.

Keith shrinks away from everyone’s eyes it feels like he’s in a lion’s den and he’s slowly being eaten alive by their looks alone.

Keith looked at Pidge who also had to look to her, like she’d knew all along but also pitied him, and it kind of pissed him off.

Shiro and Matt both looked confused, but not angry, so that was a bonus.

Allura was straight out glaring and Lance had yet to even make eye contact with him.

It hurt.

Allura: “Did you trick us this whole time?”

Silence.

Allura: “Hoping that you could gain our trust then kill us off?”

Keith: “What?”

Allura: “Or maybe you were planning to make us your personal slaves, was that it?”

Keith: “No! I would ne-”

It didn’t matter how much Keith tried to explain he didn’t know, Allura just came back with another ludicrous accusation, and maybe it would’ve hurt less if the rest of his friends weren’t letting her do it.

Lance finally looked at him, his face was hard and devoid of emotion, but his eyes looked like he was sad, they looked like he was in pain.

Lance’s eyes had always captivated Keith, ever since the first day he meet the tan boy, but right now the pained blue orbs felt like they were piercing into him, but he can’t help to look at them. It’s like he’s drowning, he can feel his body shaking, and his breath start to quicken as he tries holding onto his consciousness. The only thing he can see is Lance’s eyes, and for a moment he thought he saw worry flash across them.   

Lance taking a step forward: “Keith are y-”

And Keith blackouts. [There should be some sort of moment where Lance sticks up for Keith when's he's unconscious] Welp, this is all I got, feel free to add more, or write it if you're interested. Just credit and link it back to me if you do ^0^/

[cold-neon-ocean]

Thoughts re: Baatar and his dad (and a little of Toph) since I touched on it lightly in tags and it's something I have big feelings about lol

100% Baatar has a favorite parent and it's absolutely his dad. The whole "living in your shadow" thing is less animosity towards his father directly and more so Baatar lashing out over the fact that he wishes his father felt similarly to himself. As opposed to being satisfied with his complacency and their shared places in the family/world. Baatar in his mind is like "Dad please tell me you feel the same. Tell me you're also upset that the world treats us as lesser than. Tell me you see it. Tell me you see how we're treated even in our own family, how I'm treated. Tell me you want better for yourself, for us. Tell me you also want more than this because that means my feelings are real and valid, because if you feel them too, then I can't be making this up and my hurt is real and actually comes from somewhere and it's okay for me to feel this way." but it's clear his father just doesn't feel the same, and Baatar takes that as kind of a wordless betrayal because they share this experience and he hates it and he wants his father to hate it with him so he can feel vindicated in his feelings because from the outside most everyone would say he has a cushy rich man life and should have no reason to complain.

As for Sr. being Baatar's favorite parent, it's a given Baatar spent more time with him that Su, but he also internalizes a lot of his father's feelings- or at least what Baatar thinks he should feel, and essentially feels them for him. He's VERY defensive of his dad from literally everyone (except for himself ironically), like if you say anything even remotely mean to Sr., Baatar will obsoletely go at you like a mad dog because why? Why are you giving his dad a hard time? He did nothing to you? He never does anything wrong? And Sr. is back there like "Son, Son it's okay, I'm not upset-" like he's trying to hold back his aggressive guard dog going "He's harmless really, I promise!". No he is not harmless actually. Baatar wishes his father would be more assertive and stand up for himself more, but he also sees how easily he could become his father- and in some cases will become him. Especially with how society essentially wants Baatar to become that way. A complacent non-bender who's happy assuming whatever role someone more powerful than himself wants for him. Baatar is too ambitious and self righteous for that, and he'll give no more power over himself than what any bender would naturally have by default.

Which brings us to Toph and her dislike of Sr. for reasons we're never told. I can't help but assume the reason is because she sees him as weak and soft because of his demeanor and passive nature. And you can bet Baatar HATES IT. Like Baatar and Toph do not have a good relationship AT ALL. For one thing she was way too rough on him as a kid when they were trying to determine if he had bending or not, with Su letting Toph just beat the shit out of her child like she did with Aang way back when and Baatar never got over that. Nor how they talked about him when it was determined he was a non-bender and everyone treated it with an air of disappointment. It's a big contributing factor to his overall anxiety regarding benders as a whole but also it's a grudge he's been carrying for his grandmother and mom, the latter of whom never stood up for him. Of course Opal never went through that because she was her mother's delicate baby girl and they already had Huan to be their bending prodigy if need be. And then the first time he ever witnessed Toph being dismissive of Sr. it was OVER. He came out the gate straight up like "What's your problem with my dad??" and everyone was mortified at his disrespect but he will literally argue with anyone in defense of his dad and it lead to a tumultuous family argument everyone got dragged into but Baatar stands by his actions to this day. It was definitely an EVENT, and Baatar took it as a show of how people thought they could just talk to him and his father however they wanted, and Baatar and Toph have pretty much never spoken again since then. When she visits he removes himself, and makes sure his silence is deafening. And he even get's on Sr. like "Why do you just let her talk to you like that?" because not only is it a slight against Sr. himself, but because Baatar internalizes it and thus also takes it personally against himself. Like a "you letting her talk to you like that is equal to her talking about me like that." sort of perception. He doesn't outright say that but it's a subconscious part of how he feels. Baatar is very good at taking offense to things even if they aren't directed at him, nor were what the other party intended. He is on high alert, always on the defensive so he's quick to feel slighted. In his mind he's standing up for the both of them because there is that intrinsic kinship with his father that he can't deny is there. But he's quick to try and find an enemy to be the source of why he feels the way he does which makes him quick to alienate- aka what happened with Toph.

I could go on, I want to eventually get into Baatar and Opal specifically and how I like the idea that they used to be very close, closer than any of the other siblings save the twins, as the two non-bender kids and what their relationship used to be like before Baatar and Kuvira left. But that deserves its own space lol so I'll leave this here for now thanks for listening to my ramblings lol.