#like acting as the Lord of the Forest because although he doesn't remember it he IS the forest

[aphverse-confessions]

I don't like Rebirth because I think it really strips a lot of agency from Aphmau.

In season one of Diaries it starts with Aphmau standing in a forest before seeing Vylad in the distance and chasing him to Phoenix Drop, this opening builds intrigue by making one wonder who Vylad is what he was doing. One initially doesn't question what Aphmau was doing in the forest, but later on the season when she states that she doesn't remember her parents, in makes you interested in her past and what led her to that moment. This also shows her ability to act for herself, although she finds Phoenix Drop by following Vylad, he wasn't directly in front of her nor did he tell her to follow him. She saw him and decided to chase him, this was a choice she made.

In Rebirth we are shown Vylad place that stick he got given by Lucinda's mom and summon Aphmau. This wasn't as interesting as the original because it drops the slower and more intriguing style of the original to instead just show you the thing that was vaguely hinted towards for two seasons. This also makes Aphmau have less agency then in the original. She doesn't notice Vylad and decide to follow him, no she lays there unconscious while Vylad has a cool moment(Vylad's my favorite Lil guy I just think this is a bad way to introduce your main character). Instead of running into Phoenix Drop, she lays there asleep and then some men drag her there while she's barely dressed.

In the original she is a capable fighter, possess good life skills, and survival abilities. Although she cannot recall her past she is capable. She's smart, she just doesn't know the lore. In Rebirth she's a bumbling fool.

In Diaries, she helps the people of Phoenix Drop and acts as a capable leader, so they make her lord. In Rebirth peo0le mistakenly think some guy think she's hot, so they pretend she's lord.

In Diaries Aphmau move a number of people into Phoenix Drop, in Rebirth, at least one of them, Donna, already lives there.

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[panda-noosh]

Omg I just thought!!!!! Angst with Sokka where him and reader are captured and about to be executed by fire Lord azula, and in order to protect her he pretends they're not together or that he doesn't love her. He forces the reader to deny she's with the avatar to ensure she escapes to tell the others what happened.... What happens to Sokka is up to you but my heart is already breaking panda 😭😭

    “Well, your plan is failing so far, isn’t it? I don’t even know who that is.”

   He was doing it. He had told you beforehand that this was the plan, but you had never truly believed he would genuinely follow through. Hearing him say those words with such emotion, such vigour had your stomach reeling, the urge to yell and kick and scream in your own defence suddenly bubbling to the surface.

    You shoved it down, continuing to pretend like you had absolutely no idea why you were here in the first place. Chains were wrapped tightly around your wrists, heating up with every movement you made to defy them. It got to the point where you just slumped down against the wall, looking up at Azula and Sokka through heavy-lidded eyes.

    Azula raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, her lips quirking at the corner as she turned to look at you. Sokka was still huddled in the opposite corner, and upon Azula looking away from him, his eyes shot to your own. You met them, quickly looked away when Azula stepped in your direction.

    “Is that right? Have my people made a little mistake?” she asked. “Tell me, stranger - are you not with the Avatar?”

    “The Avatar left us all,” you replied. The lie was easy. “Nobody has seen him in decades.”

    Azula pursed her lips, slowly straightening up. She kept her dark eyes trained on you, though, as if calculating your next move - you were far too weak to try anything at the minute. Anybody with common sense would be able to judge that from the sizzling skin of your wrists and the black eyes you were currently sporting.

    Azula sighed and clicked her fingers absently. Immediately multiple guards were rushing forward, snatching your arms and dragging you to your feet. You stumbled in their grip, quickly caught yourself because you would be damned if you were to be dragged out of here without getting a glimpse of Sokka first.

    This was how things were meant to go. Sokka had a plan, and you had to keep reminding yourself of that very fact; he knew what he was doing. He would come back to you eventually.

    “Take them away,” Azula ordered. “They’re useless anyway.”

    You wanted to scream out for Sokka as the guards dragged you out of the palace and into the cold. The doors slammed closed, blocking his face for good; the last sight you had managed to snatch of him was Azula teasing a fireball against the ends of his hair, him curling up in a ball in any attempt to get away from the torture that was no doubt about to befall him.

    +++

   You weren’t sure how long you ran for. By the time you came to a halt, you couldn’t feel anything. The cold had chased the feelings of pain away, leaving you trembling as your knees gave out beneath you and you fell into the brambles around you.

    But then Aang was there. Aang, Appa, Momo, Katara, even Toph. They were surrounding you, forming a tight circle around your shivering figure. Katara’s hands were on your face, tilting your head up and down in her attempts to see just what kind of damage she was dealing with.

    You flinched away from her fingers and looked away. “We have to get Sokka.”

    “He’s still out there?” It was Aang. He was still young, yet to learn how to hide the surprise in his voice.

   Katara sent him a glare and turned back to you. Despite her trying to remain calm, it was clear that the news of her brothers continued abduction was chilling her to the bone. “How did you escape?”

    “He pretended he didn’t know me,” you replied, choking back a sob at the memory. “He made me say I didn’t know where Aang was and they deemed me useless and let me go. But Sokka - he can’t pretend. They’ve seen him with the Avatar on multiple occasions. Unless he can find his own way out-”

    “He won’t need to,” Toph announced. “We’ll go and get him. Y/N, you stay here with Appa and Momo-”

    “If you lot are going, then so am I!”

   “If Azula sees you with Aang and realises you lied to her, she’ll kill you on the spot,” said Katara, already shouldering her travellers bag and tucking her hair back into it’s loops. “And besides, you’ll only slow us down with the state you’re in.”

   You bit your lip, trying to force down the protestations that were stemming purely from the feeling of love you held for Sokka. You knew they were right, of course. You could barely stand upright, let along trek through the Fire Nation in search of your boyfriend, fighting off guards on the way. You would be more useful at camp, getting things prepared for whenever Sokka did return home.

    Because he would, and as you watched the group flee through the forest, you told yourself that on a loop: he would return home. He would come back to you. He would be fine.

    +++

    Sokka couldn’t see through his left eye, which was the first sign that he was injured pretty bad.

    He wasn’t really sure what to do about it, though. How did Toph live like this, only with two eyes? Sokka was being driven insane just from being unable to see the left side of him. He half expected Momo to come soaring through the sky and kick him in the side of the head purely because he wouldn’t be able to see him coming.

    Sokka hollowed out his cheeks, letting his head fall back against the concrete wall of the cell he had been thrown into. Trying to keep himself entertained was a difficult job considering he felt nothing; it was easy enough telling jokes, but was it really worth it whenever your body was numb from both emotional and physical feeling? His wrists were charred to almost nothing, his head thumping, his left eye swollen closed. He was fairly certain his lip had been busted open, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint how that injury had appeared - he didn’t remember anyone hitting him in the mouth, but he was in no fit state to question it. And quite frankly, he didn’t have the temperament to ask.

    The only question he desperately wanted to ask was if you had gotten out.

   It was lodged in his throat, being forcefully pulled to the surface every single time a guard came to check on him; he needed to know. It was driving him mad. The last glimpse he had gotten of you was only seconds before the double doors of the throne room had closed, blocking you off from the world entirely. He didn’t know if they had killed you, if they had truly let you go, if you had somehow found your way back to Aang and the others - god he hoped you had. To sit and pretend that he didn’t love you would only be worth it if you somehow managed to get yourself to safety.

    It didn’t even need to be Aang and the others. It could have been a tiny village off the coast, could have been a nice set of travellers who were willing to take you in. Sokka would rot in this cell, Aang and his family unknowing to his whereabouts, and he would do it willingly if it meant you had gotten someplace safe.

   Although, he had to admit, he would prefer to have Aang and the others come to his rescue.

    He was snapped out of his daze by the rattling of the cell bars.

    His head snapped up, his single eye searching for the face in the dark. It was probably another one of the guards, maybe the freaky one who had done a backflip upon initially meeting Sokka. Or worse - the monotone one.

     But Sokka’s entire being was swept up in excitement when his eyes met the familiar pair of ice blue ones that mimicked his own almost perfectly; it was a family trait, though Sokka insisted that his were a little bit more appealing than his sisters.

    “Katara!” he exclaimed before he could think better of it; it probably wasn’t the best thing to start yelling when there were guards a few feet down the hallway.

     Katara shushed him in that way she always did. “Can you stand?”

    “I can try.”

   “Well be quick about it. I don’t know how long Toph and Aang are gonna be able to hold the guards off.”

   Sokka struggled to his feet. His knees were bruised from being tossed around like a ragdoll, and his head pounded. He had to lean against the wall for a few seconds until a wave of dizziness passed, but even as the pain engulfed his body, there was only one question on his mind and lips.

    “Did Y/N get back to you?”

    Katara froze, fingers curling around the bars. Her expression turned dark, and Sokka felt his dinner rising in his throat, because the expression was not a good one. You hadn’t gotten home. They hadn’t seen you and all of Sokka’s torture and method acting had been entirely for nothing.

    He shook his head before Katara had even replied. “No. Please tell me-”

   “They’re back at camp,” Katara replied.

    Sokka pursed his lips, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. “Don’t scare me like that. Ever.”

     Katara nodded. “I’m sorry. It’s just - They weren’t in good shape. They could barely stand when we-”

    Sokka B-Lined towards the cell door. “Get me out of here. I need to get back to them.”

    +++

    Apparently you had fallen asleep.

    You hadn’t meant to, of course. For most of your life, you had been unable to sleep under the influence of stress, no matter how hard you tried. You would stay conscious, twisting and turning in the covers as you overthought every little detail about the day; that was just how things had always been.

    But it seemed that, under the influence of true pain, you were able to fall asleep as quick as a light switch being flicked off. Part of you was grateful for it, though when you woke up, the panic that gripped you was almost enough to chase that relief away.

    You shot bolt upright, gripping for the leaves around you. It was dark now, the only light coming from the dimming fire that Momo and Appa were huddled around, fast asleep. Neither of them shifted when you awoke, which you were grateful for - you didn’t want to explain your distress. Not right now.

    You looked around and very nearly let out a sob. Sokka wasn’t back yet. None of them were. The camp sight was desolate bar the single sleeping bag set up in the far corner and a few flasks that Katara had left out before fleeing to go and find her brother - but there was no sign of them.

    You curled your knees towards your chest and groaned. You should have went with them. Even with the throbbing headache still clawing at your system and the dizziness you were experiencing even upon being seated, you knew you should have gone with them. You had been in that temple, could tell them where to go and who specifically to look out for. Aang and Katara would have no idea, and Toph couldn’t even see to be able to direct them. You could imagine them now, wandering aimlessly through the Fire Nation temples whilst Sokka was being tortured and bruised and humiliated for-

    “Oh god, Y/N!”

   Your eyes snapped open. You hadn’t even fully processed the form of Sokka emerging through the tree line before you were throwing yourself forward and into his arms, as if you were drawn to him, a magnet to metal.

    His arms fit perfectly around your waist, bundling you against his scarred and sweat covered chest that was peeking a little bit more than usual through the top of his Water Tribe robes. The sweat was mingled with dried blood, but you couldn’t find it in you to care, because he was standing in front of you, alive and talking.

    “You’re okay,” you whispered into his neck, a mantra on repeat. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.”

    “I’m okay,” Sokka whispered back, running his trembling fingers through your knotted hair with a struggle. “They barely touched me.”

   “How can you say that?” you hissed, jerking away and gripping his chin. He gritted his teeth against your probing, but nonetheless, the feel of your fingertips against his skin seemed to relax him as he leaned into your touch, shoulders slumping forward. “Sokka, you need some rest.”

    “That’s what we’ve been telling him the entire way back,” Toph said casually. “The little shit thought it was better to give us an hour long speech about how terrified he was that you hadn’t it made it home. Yuck!” She swiftly kicked Sokka in the back of the knees with a precision that she really should not have had.

   Sokka buckled, grunted as he fell to the floor.

    “Now sleep!” Toph demanded. “Both of you. Give me some damn peace and quiet.”

    And even though you wanted nothing more than to sit and talk to Sokka about what had happened, what he had suffered through, Toph was right - you both needed rest. Though you had just woken up, it would take days to recover from the torment you had been forced to deal with back at the Fire Nation. 

    You gently tugged Sokka along to the sleeping bag, ignoring the hushed and concerned whispers of Aang and Katara in the background. You curled up next to him, resting your head on his chest, and said a silent thank you to whoever was listening that Sokka was okay, he was alive, and he had come home.