#lol whatever. this is based on vibes JUST LIKE THE LIP SCAR THAT I ALWAYS DRAW HIM WITH ‼️

[doyouknowthemossinman]

...and I'll tell her so she knows That I'm broke, but I'm real rich in my head That I broke a bone that never healed in my hand So when I hold her close I might loosen my grip, but I won't ever let her go I won't ever let her go.

this is mostly what i was really wanting with that concept art i posted forever ago. that's why i drew the bones with pens lol.

the chorus of Forever is so tanguish and helsknight that it hurts meeee!!! like maybe the song itself has too much of its own story to be them but specifically this part of the chorus goes crazy. and also "I won't be alone for the rest of my life."

if you give me blorbos i WILL relate them to a noah kahan song it's just a matter of time

(also this means u can stop rb'ing the concept art bc it sucks!!!!!)

[Redstone and Skulk] is written by the amazing @silverskye13 ‼️ go read it ‼️

[secondhand-trash]

Tyrant

A/N: hi sorry to interrupt the event content but I just have to write this before I run out of motivation lol

Pairing: Fushiguro Toji x afab!reader

Description: You knew you were already conquered when he looked up with an uninterested gaze, and suddenly he did not look so uninterested anymore.

Warning: vaginal penetration, unprotected sex, degredation, daddy kink, Toji is not nice, yes I used the word “cunny”, breeding kink, he called you a good girl once, creampie, might give dubcon vibes at one point depending on how you interpret it (I don’t think it is but just putting it here to be safe)

Word count: 4018

-

The most subconscious, most primal base of your instinct told you to run when you met eyes with Fushiguro Toji for the first time. 

He wasn’t even doing anything, just his hands twirling the empty shot glass in his hand mindlessly as he stared at it aimlessly with boredom. You had been avoiding this particular patron of the ragged pub you worked at for as long as you could, risking the annoyed eye rolls from your coworkers just to find whatever excuse you could to not go up to him. 

They did not understand why you were so afraid of this man who was not even affiliated with any of the gangs that were a known danger in the city. You could not tell them why too, but you were convinced that some gut feelings were best to be trusted.

A sheep would know a wolf even if it had never seen one.

The other people who frequented this place was by no means the elite of the city, anyone who would choose to come into this shady bar shoved at the very center of one of the messiest neighborhoods of the city came because any other place would call on them the moment they even tried to walk through. They were all the same, same bunch from the same world and as a result, these people that were your customers had no issue talking about what they do for a living right in front of the bar table where many others could hear.

They knew that no one would rat them out, especially not the people that worked there, because it wouldn’t be very hard to trace back to exactly who it was that did it.

These people intimidated you, but the number of people from different walks all of the same field who gathered here also meant that none of these people would bother to hurt you and ruin the perfectly tipped balance of this safe spot. You could deal with the other customers just fine, they might be dangerous but most of them wouldn’t do anything but looking at the exposed skin of your short top far too directly when you put down their drinks. 

It was an unwritten rule for the staff to stay as impersonal towards the bar-goers as possible, but the people who did the same thing always managed to find their circle and after a while, you would have a blurry image of what they do. Gang leaders would always found another man of their rank from the corner of their eyes, snippers and hired guns had their own corner of the pub they crowd at. Fushiguro Toji was not the same as the rest of them. He always came along, slipping into the far end of the bar counter without a word and just stayed for hours until most others had already left. You had never seen him interacting with any other people at the bar, making what he did for him to come here instead of any other place still a mystery to you. He was not eager to tell people what he did, how many scars he had under the same black shirt he always wore. He had never gotten drunk, never raised his voice, never showed a hint of interest when brawls broke out between the other drunken men. And it seemed the neglect was mutual, you didn’t think you had seen anyone trying to slip into the empty seat next to his at the bar even when it was the only one left. He was in his own bubble, away from the other gangs and mobs.

He did not look like he cares about anything, and that was terrifying in a man

Running away was not really an option, not when he was always here and you could only excuse yourself so many times before you started to sense that if you run again, it wouldn’t be so long until you wouldn’t even have a job anymore. 

“Sir, your drink,” You were sure your voice was near shaking when you had to break him out of his daze as you put his usual shot in front of him. It was a Wednesday midnight and it was just you working at the front, and surely he was there on the day you finally had nowhere to hide. Heat drained from your face when you walked up to him, the feeling of the cooler’s wind fanning against your exposed skin beneath the skimpy uniform you were wearing made you feel all the more self-conscious. If he looked up, he would see the way your shirt rested just below your chest, the fabric taut against the curve of your bra. The cut of your jean shorts was almost meaningly, with the fray resting at the root of your thighs and barely below the roundness of your ass.

You knew you were already conquered when he looked up with an uninterested gaze, and suddenly he did not look so uninterested anymore.

Your body could not move when his eyes trailed down from your wide eyes to your nervously pursed lips, to your collarbone and your tits that were pushed out as you crossed your arms in front of you like a child, and down the skin of your stomach before going back up when he got to the flesh of your thighs. You gulped, feeling the fever that speeded through your veins and holding back the unknown urge to clench your legs tighter together out of reflex.  

He knew you were afraid of him, and your timid posture seemed to entertain him greatly when he picked up the shot glass that looked miniature in his large hand and brought it up to his scarred lips. He was smirking now, opening his back as he tilted the hard liquor into his mouth. The knot in his throat bobbed, and you almost let out a disgraced whimper when you saw the lines of his abdomen against his shirt when he let out a sigh.

“Waiter!”

You jumped when you heard the yell from the other side of the pub, frantically pulling your eyes away and swallowing down the chills on your scalp. You gave him a quick nod before you nearly stumbled away, and your heart pounded in your ear when you heard a grumbled chuckle ringing behind you.

He was gone by the time you gathered enough courage to look at his usual seat again, but you could not stop thinking about the way he looked at you even after you were alone in your bed that night.

-

“What had you done with the man who always sat at the corner?” your coworker asked you in the changing room when you came back from your day off.

Your hands that were zipping up your hot shorts froze in place. “Nothing,” you hid the fact that you felt your skin heating up just as the familiar image appeared in your head, tugging your shorts as low as you could to hide more of your skin as you followed up, sounding as nonchalant as you could, “why did you ask?”

“Really?”

You felt goosebumps exploding on your skin when they said the one thing you had feared they would say.

“Because he asked about you when you weren’t here yesterday.”

-

Once the wolf locked onto its target, it wouldn’t stop until the little lamb finally fell into right where he wanted it to be.

He started to request for you to serve his drinks. Your owner couldn’t wait to send you his way, because the man who usually ordered two shots max was now ordering repeatedly as long as you were the one walking up to him. The more you could not meet his gaze, the wilder he seemed to grin as he started coaxing you to stay with him for longer after you put down his drinks. The primal instinct to bow down to the dominant and the one that pushed you to run from the predator battled in your head when he asked for you to sit down with him, with the former winning when you realised you were nothing but a puddle of water as soon as he put his hand on your wrist.

That was the most dangerous part about him, because he seemed to have figured out that your body wanted to obey him.

One hand on the wrist eventually turned into his palm on your thigh. His touch always soft enough for you to flinch away, delighting him all the more when you didn’t. It was only a matter of time before he asked for your name, how old you were, what you do when you weren’t here serving beer to gangs.

You told him you need the money, and he looked very understanding when he nodded and gave your thigh a pat before taking his hand back. “No wonder,” you sat up straighter when you felt the chills running along your spine from his calloused finger brushing against your skin, “I was thinking why a little thing like you would be at a place like this.”

One night, Toji did not come into the pub like he used to. He was already there by the time you walked up to the backdoor, your mouth parting but nothing came out at why he was here at the staff entrance and so early too.

“When does your shift end?” he asked, long fingers picking out a cigarette from the packet before holding it between his teeth.

Your skin crawled, before the warmth stirring in your stomach won over.

He nodded when you answered him, the sharp click of his lighter followed by a spark as he dipped his head down.

The shivers were back when he exhaled, throwing his head back as he leaned against the brick wall. 

“Good,” he said, putting the lit cig back between his teeth when he made a gesture with his hand for you to go inside.

When you came out, he had just taken his last puff. There was a glint in his eyes when he saw you standing there in front of the door, your hands gripping onto the strap of your bag.

The half-burnt butt joined the several others on the floor when he pushed himself off the wall and walked up to you.

-

The wolf showed his claws once the lamb was in his lair.

Your head was hazy when Toji backed off of you for the first time after your back hit his mattress. A manic smile hung on his face when he looked down at the figure beneath him, shaking and panting as you were trapped between his knees. 

He had an image in his head of how you would look with your body sunk into his bed, and boy were you a fragile, pretty little thing when he finally got to put his hands on you.

Your lips were puffy from his nibbling and sucking, looking awfully like a pout as heavy breaths fell from the trembling petals. Your arms remained where he had pinned them down above your head even long after his hands wandered away, your face buried to the side of your upper arm as you tried to hide your expression away. His rampant lips had left your head light and with his weight off of you, you finally remembered to breathe. 

Toji licked his lips as his gaze burned into you, darting his tongue out to wet his lips as he racked his eyes all over your exposed torso. The first thing that he tore off of you was the flimsy crop top that he had always see as a pain in the eye, pulling it above your tits roughly right after he shoved you onto his bed. The gasp that fell from your lips had him hard in an instance when he yanked down your bra, your arms completely helpless from shielding your chest from him with him one step ahead of you and pinning them above your head. You made the most pathetic noises when he sucked on your nipples, licking and flicking the bud with his tongue as you writhed underneath him. Now they were hard and standing for attention as he groped the flesh while staring right into your face, the sheen left on your peaks from his saliva as he rolled it between the gap of his fingers.

Fragile, pretty little thing, and a sensitive one too, Toji sniggered to himself as he  palmed his erection over his pants, his cock already twitching when he thought of how he could train your body to react the way he wanted you to.

A wet patch had already formed at the crotch of your panties and you let out a broken moan when his thumb pressed down on where your clit would be. “Little slut, getting so wet just from having your tits played with...” he mused, hooking the strip of fabric under his index finger and watching you squirmed when it stuck between your folds. You whimpered when he tugged it back and forth, your juices gushing out when it rubbed against your clit.

Your body jerked when he snapped it against your cunt, and he laughed. Your arousal formed a string when he pulled your soaked panties off of you, shoving it in the pocket of his pants but not before bringing the fabric near his nose and took a hard sniff. Your face burnt with humiliation and arousal at the sharp noise, but the heat dropped when he shoved the band of his wide-legged pants down roughly and his hard cock sprung up against his abdomen.

His head was already leaking with pre and a thick, pulsing vein crawling all the way down to his base from the crown. Your eyes widened when he fisted it in his hand, giving the girth a few jerks before tapping it against your cunt. His fingers dug into your thighs as he hooked it around his waist, rolling his hips slowly as he slid his length along your wet folds.

The weight between your legs was hard to brush off. He was hot, heavy, and his tip was right below your naval when his balls tapped against your ass. A loud squelch echoed in your ear when he pulled back, your wetness coating his cock from top to bottom as he dragged it along.

The fuse in your head burnt to ashes when you felt his hardness lining up at your entrance.

“Wait, please-” 

Your blood curled when Toji froze in place, the drop in his lust-riddled gaze shifting from your cunt slowly to your face.

“Huh?” he huffed, the grumble sending shocks straight to your core as he hoisted your legs higher up his sides.

“Please, it’s not going to fit,” your voice was weak as you whimpered, feeling your nervous tears gathering at the corner of your eyes when something nudged at your pussy.

You hissed when he pushed his tip in. He let out a wolfish chuckle when your body shuddered, “It seems like it’ll fit in this needy hole just fine.”

“No, no...” the tears were pushed down your cheeks when you shook your head, “please, I’ve never had anything this big. I-”

The wolf, so hungry and ready to devour you, halted any of his movements. Your eyes widened when the grin on his face dropped, and a dark cloud hazed over his sharp eyes.

You had said the wrong thing, you realised that when a wide grin split on Toji’s face.

“Never had anything this big,” he repeated mockingly, staring at your watery eyes from above when he pulled his tip out of you, “I see how this is...”

You yelped when he suddenly pushed your knees all the way back until it was right against your chest. The pain at the sides of your thighs had you slamming your head back, arching yourself off the mattress as Toji licked his hips at the sight of your dripping cunt all out for his eyes to see.

“You are such a slut for me because no one has ever fucked you right before...” he mused, gripping you by the back of your knees as he positioned himself at your clenching hole.

“Tell daddy,” your face heated up when he purred, “how big were the other people that you’ve had before?”

A sharp mewl ripped from the back of your throat when he pushed in, not even halfway through but your hands were already clawing at the sheets beneath you at the stretch. Your walls clamped down at the newfound fullness, stretching apart by a girth you had never experienced before.

His cock pulsed in you when he laughed, his lips curling up at the way your toes pointed straight and your eyes rolling back. “This big?”

You could only whimper when he pushed more of his cock inside. “This big?” he asked again, his throat bobbing when your tight walls fluttered around him.

More. “This big?”

The laugh rumbled out from the back of his chest when your voice came out high pitched and broken. The painful hiss stuck at the back of your throat when he gave one final push, his heavy balls slapped against your ass when he was finally all the way in. Your body was being torn apart by the seams, treading between the line of pain and pleasure as your vision saw white from getting stretched. He was hot inside of you, and his cock sitting inside of you was impossible for you to ignore as every cell in your body was set aflame by the numbing feeling.

“Hu- ah!” you panted when he shifted his weight onto your body, nuzzling his tip deeper into you as if it was even possible.

“Let daddy show you how real men fuck their whores.”

Loud slaps echoed in the room when he started thrusting, holding your shaking legs tight as he pounded into your cunt with feverish intent. The crescent marks of his nails digging into your skin was painful, and your body did not feel like it was under your own control as he drilled in and out of your sloppy hole. Your ass jiggled under each slap of his thighs against your cheeks, everywhere his cock had dragged against feeling like it was set on fire as he fucked you at a frantic pace. Your mouth parted when the initial pain was taken over by an undeniable lust, your brain melting into mush with his cock bottoming out in you so hard you could not even think straight. 

“Hm- mm! ‘S good, feels so good- Daddy, please please please...” 

Toji laughed at your incoherent babbles. His chest pressing up against the back of your thighs as he thrust deep into you, there was nowhere for you to hide your lust-blown gaze from his eyes. Drool was rolling down your jaw as your mouth hung wide, your tongue almost lolling out with each slam of his hips against yours. Your vision was blurry and you could barely keep your eyes open, fighting against the urge to close them up under the stimulation your body was being put through.

He only went harder when aroused tears ran down your face, the wetness of his tongue licking away the salty droplet making you whimper. “Aw, what’s wrong?” the condescending tone made your face burn, his warm breath brushing against your cheek as he accentuated each word with a roll of his hips, “Crying because this is the first time someone has reached so deep into your cunny?”

You let out a loud whine. Cunny, how humiliating for him to talk to you like you were a thoughtless child when he knew you could barely breathe properly with how he was rearranging your guts. The tantalizing tuts of his tongue made your walls clench and he let out a beastly grunt at the sudden friction around his cock.

“Any of the men you always flaunt around would kill someone to trade places with me,” he grunted, nibbling at the sensitive skin of your neck as he dragged his teeth down. He chuckled and the vibration made you roll your head back, “A cock whore like you would love that, won’t you? People killing just for a chance to pound your naughty hole?”

“No, no-” you shook your head when he suddenly slowed down, every hair on your body standing up at the sudden drop and your hands flew to grab onto his shoulders just for a chance for him to keep going, “only want you. Only want daddy’s cock- Ah! Hng!”

Your pleas satisfied him greatly, even more so when your wanton moans rang loudly in his ears as he aimed each thrust right at the spongey spot deep inside of you. “I should just knock you up, huh?” he smirked when you clamped down around him the moment his words dropped, “fuck a baby inside of you so other men can’t ogle at your tits and ass in that fucking uniform anymore.”

You could not process a word of what he was saying, the only thought your head could generate was that you would do anything for him to keep going. One strong pound tipped you off the edge, and you could not stop the rambling from falling off your tongue as his cock kept driving in and out of you while the orgasmic waves rush over you.

“I’m not gonna stop fucking you until you’re nothing but daddy’s little cumdump, is that what you want?”

“Yes yes yes yes- fuck yes, don’t stop, please don’t stop-”

Toji cackled, and kissed you square on the lips.

“Good,” Thrust, “fucking,” Thrust, “girl...” Thrust. 

He kept going as his load spilt inside of you. You whined at the warmth that filled you up, the stickiness leaking out with each push of his fat cock out of your abused hole and running down where your bodies connected. Toji leaned his body back as he slowed down, his eyes gluing onto the mess between your legs as your juices mixed with his released dripped onto the sheets.

You whimpered at the soreness when he slipped his limp cock out, the fluttering of your folds pushing his cum out of you. “Ha...” you sucked in a deep breath when he put your legs down, the twitching not once stopping when he leaned down and kissed your puffy clit.

Your sensitive body jumped at the touch, and he kissed the nub again as he pushed the leaking cum back into your pussy. “Good girl.”

You were far too worn out to do anything when he took your top off of you and unhooked your bra that had been sitting uncomfortably under your chest. The things he had said to you while he was ravaging you finally sank into your skin when you had the breaths to think about it, and Toji gave your head a soft pat when your eyes followed him like a lost puppy when he got up.

“Sleep,” he kissed your temple, and it appeared you still couldn’t win over the want to listen to him as the tiredness in your lids took in.

Fushiguro Toji watched as you drifted away into slumber, the silence stirring in the air as he contemplated what to do with you. It had been a while since he had last wanted something but he had been quick to recognise the fume in his chest when he saw you walking around and forcefully smiling at people not less dangerous than himself the first time he went into that pub. 

The tyrant would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, and he had no plans to let go once he took his first bite.

You did not hear him, he took your sleepy whimper as an answer on his own when he whispered against your hair.

“We talk about you and that job when you wake up.”

[zutaras-where-its-at]

Can you do 46 “I thought you were dead” please?

Okay, I got very carried away and this became a threeshot. But I’m only posting the first part for now, lol. Also, I know I should be writing stuff for Zutara Week, but I really wanted to get all these drabble prompts finished first before starting anything else so looks like I won’t be contributing anything original this year lmao. My bad.

[based off this tweet because it made me laugh so hard that i got a plot idea // aka katara goes ghost]

xxximstillonmobileandiknowisuckfornotknowinghowtoaddareadmorelinebutpleaseforgivemexxx

His friends think he’s insane for accepting the job offer at Caldera Memorial Cemetery to clean the graveyards in the middle of night while the establishment is closed.

On his first night, Azula had handed him a black, engraved hunting knife (that he never wants to know the backstory of) and laughed as she wished him good luck. Even Iroh gave him a serious look and warning to be careful, but Zuko knows his Uncle only worries because of his unusual and creative beliefs about the supernatural world.

Zuko suffers no such ideology and therefore accepts the position because it promises to pay off his rent in a way that half-baked superstitions cannot.

On the third day of his second week on the job, Zuko wishes he had paid more attention to Uncle’s fanciful stories.

He’s in the middle of raking a pile of leaves out of the walkways under the light of a full moon and a service lantern his boss had provided him, when she appears.

“Why don’t you just use a leaf blower?”

Zuko isn’t proud of the high-pitched “fucking shit” that tears its way out of his throat and into the still night air. He whirls around, hefting the rake like a sword, and his wide eyes meet the calm, if not amused, pale blue gaze of a girl standing behind him.

He seethes and winds himself up to tell her off for trespassing on private property in the middle of the night when something unusual catches his attention.

The tips of her long, wavy hair seem to almost float in a nonexistent breeze, and the ends of her shoulders, fingertips, and feet simply faze in and out of sight.

“What the hell.”

She laughs a little and tilts her head to the side. “What? Never seen a ghost before?”

His jaw unhinges, and a chill sweeps through the length of his spine. Stubbornly, he blinks hard, attempting to rid himself of this frighteningly realistic mirage.

The girl rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I am real. No amount of trying to convince yourself otherwise is going to get rid of me.”

Zuko stares unabashedly for a few moments before making the split second decision to rally whatever is left of his pride, and face this situation head on. She doesn’t look like a threatening ghost, after all.

“You can’t be a ghost.” Her eyebrow raises incredulously, but he plows through. “If you were really a ghost, then why are you the only one here? Why aren’t there any others?”

An almost frustrated look overcomes her and she huffs. Zuko notices that he can see his breath in the cold night air, but hers leaves no trace.

“There are others. Lots of them. But for some reason, none of the other spirits can see you except for me. And I don’t think any living people can see me except for you.”

He doesn’t know quite what to say to that, and can’t help the perfunctory look that he gives to the rest of the empty cemetery, before looking back at her.

He hadn’t realized it before, but she’s dressed in surprisingly modern and stylish clothes. Her yellow sundress with little white daisies scattered across the fabric is at odds with the cool fall air and the bright moon above them. Zuko almost does a double take at the red stain stretching from one side of her torso to the other.

“What’s that?”

She blinks in confusion before following his eyes to her stomach. Her figure goes slightly rigid, and she looks back up at him with a resigned expression. “I think that’s how I died. I don’t really remember much, but I know I was in the car with Sokka—my brother—and someone ran a red and hit us at the intersection. And then... Well, I woke up at the hospital, but the entire building was empty except for all these other spirits who had also just died. I didn’t know what else to do, so I followed them here. You’re the first live person I’ve been able to see.”

Zuko wrings his hands around the handle of the rake he’s still holding. “And how long have you been here?”

At this, the girl groans and rubs violently at her eyes with the heel of her palms. “Weeks. I’ve been here for weeks now, which is way longer than any other spirit I’ve ever met. But whatever I do,” her breath hitches here, “I just can’t pass on.”

Something aches in him, because he knows what it feels like to be left behind—to feel like you’re always sprinting just to catch up.

“How long do the others stay for?”

“All the other spirits—they only stay here for a few days at most, usually just to make peace with their death, and then they disappear.” She sits heavily on am ornate headstone beside her, and he’s fascinated by how it makes her seem that much more tangible. “But I’ve done everything I can to prepare myself for the passing. I went and visited my home to say goodbye. I went back to the hospital room that I had first woken up in over and over again until it didn’t hurt anymore to be there. I—I even sat at my mother’s grave for days and hoped that she would come to take me to whatever the hell comes next... but...”

She chokes off and Zuko watches a glimmering tear drop from her lashes and promptly dissipate before it even hits the ground.

“None of the other spirits will even talk to me. I know they can hear and see me, but every time I try to approach one, they just look the other way and move on.”

The dejection in her voice assuages the last of Zuko’s uneasiness, and he feels his sympathy pulling towards this strange ghost girl.

“I’m sorry.” He hesitates for fraction of a second before continuing. “I—I also know what it’s like to feel alone.”

She lifts her chin, a hopeful look brightening her face.

Zuko sighs. “A lot of people tend to get scared off by—well, I mean,” he gestures half-heartedly to the deep red scar marring his otherwise normal features.

Understanding bleeds across her expression and she stands to walk closer to him. The air around him drops in temperature with every step she takes, but he suppresses his shiver and holds his ground.

Her hand raises slowly, giving him enough time to reject her advancements, but Zuko just closes his eyes and stifles a gasp as the faint impression of ice cold fingertips graze the edge of his scar. He would almost swear in that moment that she’s a live person standing before him, caressing the ruined skin of his face.

“I’m sorry.” There is pity in her voice, but there is also pain, and somehow he knows that she does not think less of him for his mark of weakness. “If it helps, I think it makes you look badass.”

He opens his eyes to squint at her, a lopsided grin stretching over his lips to match her soft smile. “Really?”

She nods sagely, her not-quite-opaque eyes glittering with mirth. “Oh, for sure. Definitely gives you a devil-may-care vibe that every chick secretly digs.”

A huff of laughter escapes him, and he suddenly remembers that he is supposed to be doing a job and—perhaps slightly more importantly—that he is allowing himself to be distracted from said job by an oddly extroverted ghost girl.

Uncle would have a field day.

She seems to notice his hesitancy and drops her hand, backing up from him. The laughter still lingers in her eyes, but she just shakes her head and smiles. “I’m Katara, by the way.”

“Zuko.”

“Thank you, Zuko. For not being scared, and for letting me vent to you about my post-death conundrum.”

“I wish I could have helped you.”

Katara grins. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It doesn’t seem like you have a whole lot of experience in this department, and I can’t begrudge you the fact that you’ve never died.”

Zuko nearly laughs, but settles for an only slightly awkward smile. “Well, let me know if there’s, uh, anything I can do for you. You know, for my next shift.”

She bites her lip, apparently racking her brain for something within his scope of ability, before perking up. “Actually, if you could bring a speaker and play the new Elementals album for me, that would be incredible. It was supposed to drop a week or two ago, and they’re my favorite band. I’ve been dying to listen to it.”

“I thought you were dead.”

The joke slips out before he can think twice, and Zuko winces. Azula has told him before that his comedic delivery is dry at best and insulting at worst, and he isn’t trying to cause unnecessary pain to this already suffering spirit.

But Katara only snickers and stifles a groan that somehow comes across as wistful. “You would get along way too well with my brother. And besides, it seems like I may only be half-dead.”

With that, she gives him a final parting smile and simply ceases to exist.

Zuko stares blankly for a few minutes at the patch of undisturbed grass she had been standing in and wonders why all the weird things always happen to him.