#zuko's scar still bugs me though | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

evienyx · 4 years

Note

You answered that one question about the Earth Kingdom kid Lee and it got me thinking... You know that one line where the kid is like 'When my dad goes... Will you stay?' What about an AU where, instead of saying no, Zuko says 'Yes.'

Gansu and Sela’s footsteps faded away as Lee tugged on his sleeve. Zuko met the boy’s eyes as he asked, “When my dad goes... Will you stay?”

Zuko blinked. Thoughts roared through his head, images of his mother, and his sister, and his father. He thought of a wanted poster he’d seen when he and Uncle had taken a risk passing through a Fire Nation outpost, the words proclaiming he was wanted dead or alive. He thought of Azula, sent by his father to being him home as a prisoner. He thought of his mother, her loving words, and the day she disappeared because his dad was going to kill him. He thought of the Avatar, looking down at him with shining eyes, asking if they could have been friends. He thought of Uncle Iroh, out there somewhere, alone and yet, surely, still wishing the best for him.

Zuko thought about about how, for the first time in a long time, he truly had no one left, and nowhere to go.

So, instead of moving on, he looked down at the young boy’s shining eyes, so much like the Avatar’s own when he asked that question all those months ago, and said, “Yes.”

- - -

“I’ll get you some food for the road,” Sela said the moment Zuko entered the house. She was wrapping food up already, for her husband, he guessed. “I assume you’ll be leaving around when Gansu does?”

“Uh, actually, I...” Zuko hesitated for a moment. Was he being presumptuous and just assuming they’d still want him around? “I was wondering if I could... stay here, a while longer? Help... Help around the farm, or something?”

Sela’s hands stopped moving and she turned to look at him, her eyes widening a bit. “What?”

“If... If that’s fine?”

She stared at him for a moment, her hands slowly beginning to move again as she said, “We don’t have any extra money to pay you with. All I could give is a place to sleep and something to eat.”

“That’s fine,” Zuko said, his heart pounding in his chest. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Sela’s eyes moved to the bedroom where Gansu was packing up his things, and then out the window where Lee was out in the sunflower field, whacking at a bug flying around his head. Her gaze moved back to Zuko and she cracked a smile, her face tired as she said, “We’d love to have you.”

- - -

Gansu was gone, and Gow was coming down the path to the house. The pigs squealed at him as he and his men came toward them.

Zuko met Gow’s gaze as the men got closer and was reminded of another man who cared only for himself and his own glory, who fought for himself and himself alone until the Ocean Spirit dragged him into oblivion.

Zuko’s swords rested at his side, but he didn’t make to grab them, yet.

“Seems we caught you on your way out, stranger,” Gow said. His smile was akin to that of Zhao when he knew he got the one-up on Zuko.

Zuko’s lips felt dry as he shook his head. “Actually, I think I’m gonna stick around for a while.”

Gow’s smile fell into more of a sneer. “Shame. Thought you were smarter than that, stranger. Seems not.”

Zuko’s hand slowly moved up to rest on the hilt of his swords. “Why are you here?”

Gow glanced back at the door to the house, where Sela and Lee stood, watching. “The army’s in need of food. We’re going around to... collect, from all the wonderful families in town. We know how much they all support our troops and are eager to show their appreciation.”

Sela was out of the house in a moment, carrying two bags of feed. Her eyes were even more tired than they had been when Gansu had set off. She hands the bags to Gow, who looks satisfied, though his eyes flash when they meet Zuko’s again. Zuko almost starts forward, but Sela places her hand on his shoulder and shakes her head, and instead Zuko stands there, watching, until the Gow and his men are long gone.

- - -

It’s during dinner the first night after Gansu’s left that Sela asks him his name.

“If you’re going to be staying here, that might be a bit of valuable information,” she said as she spooned more rice into his bowl/

Zuko freezes for a moment. He glances up at Sela, and then at Lee.

“My... My name’s... Well, my name is Li.” They both stare for a moment and he quickly adds, “Li with an ‘i’.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Sela snorts and Lee throws his hands in the air and rounds on his mother, exclaiming, “Why did you have to name me the same thing that everyone else is named?!?”

Zuko doesn’t realize he’s smiling until after it’s already happening.

“So, what should we call you, then?” Sela asked.

Zuko thought of the mask sitting hidden deep in his bag and replied, “Uh, I’ve been called Blue, before.” At the questioning eyes, he shrugged and said, “It’s a long story.”

“All right, then,” Sela said, nodding. A soft smile graced her lips as she bowed her head in a formal greeting. “Nice to meet you, Li. May I call you Blue?”

Zuko returned the greeting. “Nice to meet you, too, Sela. You may.”

Her smile widened a bit more. She told him to eat, and he did.

- - -

The soldiers come every day.

Every day, Zuko does his very best to stop them from taking more.

Sometimes, it’s not enough.

And yet, sometimes, it is.

(Every time Gow approaches and sees Zuko standing there, again, he seems a bit more on edge than the time before.)

- - -

It was the eleventh night, when he’s laying in the barn, staring up at the ceiling and trying to go to sleep, when the realization hit him.

Father didn’t care about him.

Father didn’t love him,

Father didn’t even want him.

Zuko had been banished over three years ago, and the Avatar hadn’t returned until late last autumn. No one had known that the Avatar would come back. And yet that had been the only way Zuko would have been able to go home.

Agni, if he had been captured for good at Avatar Roku’s temple on the solstice, he would be dead now.

He was banished.

“He didn’t want me,” Zuko murmured to himself. “Oh, Agni, Dad doesn’t want me.”

He sat there for a moment, and then he started sobbing.

Sela found him about an hour later, pressed against the back wall, trembling, tears still streaming down his face. Agni, Dad didn’t want him. He never had. He had never loved Zuko. Burns dotting his body (and one marring his face) proved it.

“Blue. Blue, it’s all right.”

Zuko shook his head. “It’s not, it’s not.” She didn’t get it, she didn’t get it. She didn’t understand, and she couldn’t, because if she did, then that was it. Nowhere left for Zuko to go. End of story.

(He hadn’t been in one place for this long since before he was banished.)

“Could you tell me what’s wrong?”

The words escaped him before he could stop them. “He doesn’t want me. He never did. He doesn’t love me, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t want me.”

“Who?”

“My father.”

She’s quiet for a moment, and Zuko’s not looking at her. He’s simply trying to breathe and to stop crying but he can’t, he can’t, he can’t-

“Why do you think he doesn’t want you?”

Zuko let out a wet laugh and shook his head. “He knows me. He doesn’t want me.” He paused. “You wouldn’t, either, if you knew.”

“Why?”

He didn’t respond.

Sela stepped forward and knelt in front of him. “Blue, please, talk to me. How do you know that neither your father nor I would want you?”

“I know that he doesn’t want me. He’s made that pretty clear.”

“What do you mean?”

Zuko felt a surge of emotion run through him as he looked up and met Sela’s sad, tired eyes. He yanked up the sleeve covering one of his arms. “I know he doesn’t want me, because he gave me these.” Zuko waved at the small burn scars visible across his skin, from training gone wrong, and, more, from discipline from Father. These ones were light, fading already. “And he gave me this.” He gestured at his scar, and Sela’s face scrunched up, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought deeply.

“What... What do you mean he gave you those?”

He supposed that she was going to figure it out already anyway, so he reached a hand out, folded down all fingers but one, and then, with blood rushing past his ears and his heart pounding in his chest, lit a single finger on fire.

Her reaction was instantaneous. She jumped back from him like she was the one who had been burned, her eyes wide and fiery, even after Zuko let the flame fall away. Her gaze moved from him to the house, as if she was wondering if she could get to her son faster than Zuko could burn down the farm.

“I told you,” he said. His voice must have been more exhausted than he thought, because something in her eyes softened just a bit. Still, she remained silent.

Zuko stood up, and Sela tensed, her shoulders rising just a bit. He stared at his feet for a moment before saying, “I’m going to go grab Lychee. I’ll be gone in five minutes, I promise.” There was a beat of silence, and then he added, because he felt obligated to, “I’m sorry.”

Zuko took a few steps to grab his swords. Just as he was leaning down to grab the straps, he froze as two arms suddenly wrapped around him.

When he was released, he turned around, and Sela looked up at him and cupped his good cheek and asked, “Your father did that to you?”

Zuko’s throat felt tight, and he nodded rather than speaking.

Her eyes were so tired, and sad, as she whispered brokenly, “They won’t even spare their own children...”

Zuko didn’t leave that night. Instead, Sela dragged him inside and had him sleep in the recently emptied attic.

There was a small hole in the roof, and through it he could count the stars.

- - -

The next day, Lee didn’t speak to him. Just glared.

Then, the morning after, he did.

The boy’s voice was tight as he said, “So. My mom said you’re a firebender.”

Zuko’s throat felt tight again and his mouth was dry and his heart was pounding as he nodded.

“She also said your dad was the one who burned your face.”

Zuko paused, and then nodded again.

Lee made an odd face. Then, he said, “The Fire Nation sucks.”

Zuko slowly shook his head. “Not all of it.”

A beat. “No. Not all of it.”

Lee sounded years older than he was, and it made Zuko hurt inside to think about another child forced to grow up too soon.

- - -

It was the fourteenth morning when Sela visited him as he fed the pigs (just as Gansu had shown him, before the man had left).

“What’s your name?” She asked.

He paused, and then said, “I told you. It’s Li, with an ‘i’.’”

“No, it’s not. I know it’s not.” She took a step forward. “Please,” she said, her voice tired. “Don’t lie.”

“...It’s Zuko.”

“...That’s the name of the prince.”

“...I know.”

She didn’t say anything else. He didn’t know if she thought he was the prince, or if she thought he was simply named the same thing.

He didn’t deign to say anything more, and she didn’t deign to ask.

- - -

It was the seventeenth day when everything went really wrong, really fast.

Zuko was in town with both Sela and Lee. The boy was slowly warming up to him again, which made Zuko happy in a way he couldn’t quite describe.

Zuko watched Lee play with two other children while Sela traded some of the farm’s grain from the last harvest for a variety of medicinal herbs. Zuko was tasked with selling the sunflowers they had picked to the merchant that came by every few weeks. The flowers would be made into dye, and Lee was excited about the extra coin they would have. Sela had promised him a nice dinner.

“Looks like a storm’s coming in,” said a woman to her husband. “We need to make sure to bring the cows in before it hits.”

The merchant handed Zuko the coin for the flowers. Zuko pocketed the money before turning and scanning the sky. Sure enough, dark clouds gathered to the west.

“Gonna be a big one,” said an older man across the square. “Weird to see something that big outside of monsoon season. Spirits, it’s weird to see something that big during monsoon season this close to the desert.”

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows. The way the clouds rolled, the color, it all seemed... wrong. He moved toward an alley between two buildings and passed out of the square. Zuko’s eyes trailed the clouds. Why did it feel like he recognized the way the clouds looked?

It hit him like a sack of bricks.

It was because he did recognize the way the clouds looked.

Because those weren’t clouds.

That was a blanket of smog.

Zuko didn’t know why the Fire Nation was moving that many machines into the Earth Kingdom right now, but he didn’t have the time to wonder. He guessed that they were aiming to capture another large piece of land in one swoop, and, based on how close that ‘storm’ was, he guessed that this village would be in the blast zone.

Zuko ran back into the town square and, without even thinking much, yelled, “That’s not a storm! It’s smog. The Fire Nation is on its way!”

Silence. Gow and his men moved forward.

“Stirring up a panic is not a good look on you, stranger,” Gow said, even though Zuko had been here for three weeks now.

Gow took a step. Then, a fireball shot out from nowhere and struck him in the face. Another hit him in the chest. Gow flew back with a pained cry, and didn’t get back up.

Someone screamed, and then panic.

It was hot, and there was fire, and suddenly Zuko had scooped Lee into his arms and had Sela’s hand in his and was running.

Zuko’s bag was packed already when they made it back to the farm. Sela told her son to grab clothes and food and stuff it in a bag and then get to the barn and untie the one remaining family ostrich horse. Zuko grabbed up his bag, stuffed feed into the remaining space, secured his sword, and went to grab Lychee from the barn.

“Where are we going?” Lee asked five minutes later when Zuko was helping him onto the mount, Sela securing the boy in front of her.

Zuko hopped onto Lychee and the horses started moving as the pigs started squealing, as if someone was coming.

A plume of smoke rose behind them as Sela handed a map to her son to hold. She glanced down at it, then at Zuko, and then said, “We’re going to Ba Sing Se.”

The sky was dark with smoke and Zuko rode away from the town he had entered as a single traveler after three weeks of labor.

Now, his muscles ached, and his heart pounded, and he wasn’t alone anymore.

#ask #ask away #any ideas on the name for this au?#cause i could go on forever #i really really could #sela aggressively adopts a fire child #who may or may not be the banished prince #but shes invested now what are you gonan do you know?#burning plains au

177 notes · View notes

bellatrixobsessed1 · 3 years

Text

Protea (Part 18)

Being in the Forgetful Valley once brings a kaleidoscope of emotions and none of them are kind. Mostly there is a sense of some distant melancholy with a touch of anger and a dash of fear. There is an unexpected undercut of guilt. She stares at her mother. Her mother who she had tried to kill the last time she had ventured to this place. And Zuko who she had bickered with the whole time.

“Yer not happy?” Kaz remarks.

Azula shakes her head.

“But don’cha like the jungle?” Zenyul asked. “Ya loved it the last time we were here.”

“This one doesn’t like me.”

Kaz quirks a brow.

“She was setting a lot of things on fire.” Zuko remarks.

“Why?”

“I was mad.” This time around she is simply uncomfortable and uneasy. She tries to muster up the enthusiasm that usually comes with a chance to scavenge and pick up little oddities and trinkets. But she can’t seem to settle her nerves, even if the spirits are leaving her alone--likely they don’t recognize her as the same person who had antagonized them last time. She still doesn’t take comfort in this.

Not until night falls. She thinks it strange that she finds comfort in the darkness. But the darkness offers a cozy campfire and an opportunity to nestle closer to Mai in her sleeping bag.

It is only when the fire is roaring and blazing that she finally she begins to settle down. It’s crackle along side the the chirp of crickets and crooning of the toad-squirrels creates a much friendlier ambience. Something that feels like home. Something that resonates with the part of her soul and mind that Snapdragon inhibits.

It is Zenyul who begins the campfire stories and Kaz who cooks the meal. She and Zuko keep the fire going nice and well while Mai relaxes and watches sparks trail up towards the star dazzled sky.

It smells divine, the smoke and the freshly cooked meat. It burns the last of her anxieties away. She falls asleep in Mai’s arms to the sound of the jungle stirring.

.oOo.

Now that the fear has dissipated and the gauze of guilt and sorrow have been lifted away, she feels light. She feels free. She leaps onto a fallen tree and walks along it until there is no more length to walk. Mai extends her arm and Azula takes it as she hops down.

Every now and then patches of sunlight spill through the canopy, she watches gnats and dragonflies flit about within the rays. She finds herself wandering ahead of the group, but it is just as well, it leaves her time to kick over rocks and inspect them. Occasionally she finds one that she likes; one that is particularly smooth another that has the imprint of a long dead fern and another that shimmers with small foggy quartz. She slips all of them into a small pouch.

She also comes across an old arrowhead, a cluster of beads, and a broken necklace. Each trinket finds its way into her pouch. The greatest treasure that she comes away with is a little chunk of hardened sap--an small bead of amber that holds a dragonfly.

“How do ya keep spottin’ all’a these things!? Spirits, I can’t even find me a decent lookin’ rock.” Kaz grumbles.

“You have to know what to look for.” She thinks that she has simply acquired an eye for them. “Or maybe you have to wander ahead of the group and find them before I do. You won’t though.”

“I’ll wander ahead!”

“But I will still spot them first.” She holds her chin high. She springs up onto a tree stump and jumps from it to a rock and then another larger rock. She takes pause as the others catch up.

“Be careful.” Ursa winces when she very nearly misses her mark.

“If I can survive a fall from a smoke stack, I think I can manage a rock just fine, mother.” She means to be reassuring but she thinks that she has missed the mark.

“Do you want me to tell Mohi that you have been doing reckless things?” Ursa asks.

“It’s not reckless. Mohi won’t care.” She shrugs.

“Why don’t you come down and walk by me for a little while?” Mai asks. She hears her mother’s sigh of relief when she takes Mai up on the offer.

“How much further do we have to go anyways?” Mai groans. “My feet are getting sore and look at this.” She holds out her arm. It is red and lumpy with bug bites.

“You’re a good guard, Mai.”

“A good guard?”

Azula nods and rolls up her own sleeves revealing unblemished arms, at most there is one small bump. “They have been busy with you.”

“Whatever.”

.oOo.

The Mother of Faces looks none too pleased to see her again. Especially after what feels like so soon. It has been a good year or two, though she supposes that is only a fragment of time in someone as long lived as the Mother of Faces.

“Well?” Zenyul gestures towards the spirit.

“Give me a moment.” Azula mumbles.

“Give you a moment?” Zuko quirks a brow. “The last time we were here, you marched right up to her and demanded to know where our mom was.”

“The last time I was here I was…” angry, impulsive, reckless, “...not myself.”

“By all means, you’re still not yourself.” He points out.

“I was not thinking like myself.”

“Go get it over with.” Mai nudges her forward.

“The worst thing she ken do is tell ya to screw off.” Kaz shrugs.

“Or she can give me a hideous face like yours.”

“I’m downright beu-ti-ful, actually.”

Azula inhales and approaches the spirit. The vines twisting up her body write and pulse, she smells of resin and kelp. She smells like comfort and yet she is intimidating all the same if only for height alone.

She isn’t sure what to say. She has already pushed her luck speaking to the spirit more than once and she is absolutely certain that she had worn her patience thin the first time. That the spirit was more than happy to take the face and memories of someone like herself.

“I had a feeling that you would be back.” The Mother of Faces finally speaks when she realizes that Azula wouldn’t be initiating conversation. “I cannot say that it is pleasant to see you again.”

Azula’s stomach sinks. Perhaps she should retreat while she still has her memories intact and a face that she has grown to appreciate. Absently she traces her fingers over the scars on her cheek. “Is it a pleasure to see my mother again?”

Ursa gives a small wave and comes to stand next to Azula. She must admit that it is a comfort to have the woman’s hand on her shoulder. “My daughter would like her face back.” She gestures to Zuko, “we would like to be a family again.”

The Mother of Faces seems to scan them over. “That means very little to me. And even less concerning you.” She doesn’t have to look at her for Azula to know who ‘you’ is. She waits for her heart to sink but she finds that it doesn’t. Evidently she doesn’t think that she would be too troubled to keep Snapdragon’s face. It is the face that Mai fell in love with. The face that found her Mohi, Kaz, and Zenyul. The face that made amends with Zuko.

“You have only made demands of me all while disrespecting my jungle. And now you would like my help, again.”

“I haven’t disrespected your jungle this time.” She frowns. “Unless you’d like your rocks back.” She holds out the pouch.

“I would.”

Azula shifts through the pouch, she has collected several particularly lovely things. Things that she isn’t sure she’d come by again. She retracts her hand.

“Azula, what are you doing?” Mai grumbles.

She hates to admit it but, “I like them.” She clutches her treasures to her chest.

“More than your old face?”

Azula shrugs. “I’m fine with this one.”

“Seriously, if we walked all of this way for nothing…”

“It wasn’t for nothing. We walked all of this way so I could add these to my collection.”

Mai rubs her hands over her face. “Well I hope that they make your nest look extra pretty because I’ve been eaten alive to get them.”

“They will.”

“That is your decision?” The Mother of Faces draws attention back to herself. “You’d rather have little trinkets than your face?”

“I’ve gotten used to this one anyways.” Azula shrugs, suddenly unsure if she wants to go through the process of getting reacquainted with her old one. She finds that she doesn’t really have a choice; the Mother of Faces is reaching out, her hand clamps over and around her head.

And with it comes a sense of unbearable vertigo. She has only enough time to dread losing the memories that Snapdragon has made for her before her knees buckle and her world goes blurry and then dark.

.oOo.

It is one thing to watch Snapdragon leap energetically about and another matter to watch Azula do it. It is harder to get used to than Mai would like to admit. Though Azula herself seems quite content.

But then, Azula hasn’t yet looked at herself. It might be better for her to wait. It is better to not risk spoiling her cheerful mood. She is seated upon the roots of a mangrove tree, kicking her feet at the water below. From the mangrove she has harvested a few roots and an abandoned nest of some sort. This too is jarring. It is no longer Snapdragon whose clothes are caked in mud. No longer Snapdragon whose face is smeared with it. No longer Snapdragon who has loose, tangled hair.

She watches Azula slip into the water below and scrub at her face. “Where are my shoes, Mai?”

Mai holds them up and Azula takes them. She squeezes the excess water out of her hair and clothing.

“Ugg, you smell like pond water.”

“You aren’t going to bathe?”

Mai supposes that she has a point. She probably doesn’t smell much better but she doesn’t fancy a dip. “I don’t want pentapus sucking on my legs.”

“There are no pentapus in this lake.”

“Then what’s this?” Kaz asks. Azula cringes as he pries one off of her neck and releases it back into the water.

“A single pentapus. It is not an issue.”

“What ‘bout that one?” He lifts her left arm and plucks another pentapus.

“That’s the thing ‘bout pentapus. Ya ain’t feel ‘em until they come off.” Zenyul remarks.

“Just take a bath.” Azula folds her arms across her chest. “All of you.”

.oOo.

Azula sits in front of the mirror for the longest time, staring at the face within and only staring. Staring until she begins to grow used to it. Begins to remember it. Remember the one or two freckles that are there without makeup to conceal them. Remember the shape of her lips and the curving slope of her nose.

She is almost sure that her face had been sharper, more pointed like Mai’s. Instead she finds that her features are quite delicate. Likely they always had been. Unlike her eyes, sharp and fierce. She likes her eyes.

“Geez, you’re making that Chan guy look humble.” Mai comments. “Stop staring at yourself and let's get dressed. We have a shop to run, remember?”

Azula touches her fingers to her lips. “I…” she trails off. “It feels strange…”

Mai’s face softens. “You’ll get used to it. Just give yourself some time.”

Azula nods and turns away from the mirror. Mai bends down and gives her a small kiss. “Come on, we can go to your factory and drop your new trinkets off after we close the shop.”

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Mai #Maizula #Fanfiction

8 notes · View notes

seyaryminamoto · 4 years

Note

hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen.

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him.

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments.

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again.

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow.

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko.

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said?

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

#anon #all this is about the ship itself #I have no qualm with the shippers except a select few #who exhibited some really gross behavior years ago #and whom I've happily not crossed paths with since then #I have no severe qualms with this ship's supporters #not like I do with OTHER ships #that won't be mentioned #so no I'm not saying no one should ship it #but I'm saying this is why I don't #*breeeathes*#anyways I hope you enjoy the veeeery long post anon

18 notes · View notes

benjimatorarts · 5 years

Photo

Some Ocs from the Incredibles universe that nobody asks and don’t give a shit about but I’m talking to the void anyway! It’s my personal Oc story for my dysfunctional family of Ocs and my fave boi Buddy Pine. And guess what? A redemption arc as well. Let me explain my poor excuse of redemption arc compares to Prince Zuko’s.

Theo Pine, the youngest and the rascal of the bunch. A young child that somehow found themselves in a dark alleyway with no memory or any idea where they are. They only have a wet piece of paper with some name and what they believe to number… Somewhere in their head, it was an address and they search for this place. It’s their only lead to anything. Which lead them to the doorstep of Aiden Hay. The nice scarred man helped them get warm and tried to help them find their family but they don’t even remember their name and their family… After some time I have Theo and Aiden (later on Buddy) helped each other out with finding their memories and figure out who they really are as a person. Theo became Buddy’s adoptive sibling and from being a complete scared kid to a jack ass kid (thanks to their big brother Buddy) who teases their teammates and sometimes has to be the mature one of the gang.

Buddy Pine (Aiden Hay) After the plane crash, the NSA did try to find Buddy’s body and all but they presume he was dead. And they couldn’t even continue their investigation because the government shut the NSA down. His body was found by the government and to prevent him from going “evil” they wipe his memory and gave him a new fresh start while still using his skills to help them out. They told him that he’s Aiden Hay and was in a car accident. After some time Aiden was having a joyful “Raindrops Falling on My Head” mood. UNTIL, Theo came into his door and while trying to help Theo finds their folks, Buddy’s old memories started popping up his head. Apparently, there’s a connection. While taking care of Theo and reflecting on his past, Buddy starts to understand the consequences of his actions and tries to be a better person for Theo (and late on tries to be a better teammate to the gang). Though he’s still the arrogant, intelligent, and fanboy with love.

My grumpy dad of the Group, Martin Reynard the ex-supervillain and the most experienced of the bunch. In the supervillain world, he has always been the sidekick/advisor/henchman/right-hand man/beta/father figure to many supervillains. He’s been everywhere from underwater lairs to the underworld to the darkest place on earth. Martin himself recently is actually enjoying his time off and enjoying the spoils from his successful clients, living a humble calm life for 15 years. But he still misses the action and excitement from surprisingly… not villainy he misses… Is it too late for a season ex-villain to become a superhero? Having a midlife crisis! Somehow he finds himself taking care of 4 adult babies and 1 child in his mansion. (Aiden) Buddy Pine is his least favorite of the bunch.

Blanket guy: My quiet marshmallow therapist, he’s the guy you can platonically cuddle with, and he’s a good listener. More like a rescuer than a crime fighter. He tends to trip on his blankets and is a pretty clumsy guy, so it’s best he stays a comfort the citizens with his bug warm hugs and safety. No one really knows what he is….. He works in a small grocery store as a late night stocker.

Juan Soto, the muscle man of the bunch. He’s a tall, muscular man that can take on ten guys at once. At a young age, he works with his father and other henchmen digging the infamous escape tunnel for one of the most terrifying mob bosses in the world. He also knew Martin way back when Martin was the right-hand man for the mob boss himself. So Martin and Juan are pretty close as uncle and nephew like a relationship. Despite being a pretty scary security guard for Kmart, he’s really super sweet, kind-hearted, and always open to talk to others about their day. And he has the most cutest buck teeth smile in the world.

The White Rabbit, the strong, charming, and assertive woman leaping from one place to another. Or more like teleporting and kicking some bad guys' ass. A lot of her design and inspiration is from Mary Lambert. I just love her singing in the song “Same Love” and imagining this inspirational rabbit figure representing those who have plus size bodies and be proud of who they are. Maya (the white rabbit) has the haters eat her dust and destroy them with her powerful punches. Maya and Peter go way back in elementary school and she always has his back when kids picked him for being “gay” and calling her “fatso”. But she whoops their asses to their lockers.

Wicked Witch of the west, Peter’s the spiritual mage/witch of the gang. Using his potions and spells to cast curses on his foes and reinforcement for his gang. He’s very popular with guys and gals, they just can’t help but fall his sense of fashion and his ass don’t lie. He loves to mess with Buddy (Buddy doesn’t exactly believe in magic and curious on how Peter is able to do those spells) with his spells, blowing his mind. Like how can he make Buddy’s week into a living nightmare and able to contact his late Grandmother?

“HOW!?! THERE’S HAS TO BE A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION!”, Buddy screams in confusion.

Peter smirks.

How the team came together?… To be honest I don’t completely know yet. (at this moment 12:42am) This was all my attempt to piece my ideas together because I just seem to fall in love with these characters and I’ll have to see where they lead me to and make their story. That no one wants to read. XD These are only the concept art of the gang. Love you all, especially mai haters.

*BIG SMOOCHES ON CHEEK* MUAH!

#incredibles #the incredibles #ocs #Martin Reynard #peter #maya #juan #juan soto #theo pine #buddy pine #aiden hay #incredibles 2

87 notes · View notes

kuchee1 · 6 years

Text

Kindling

(humour, fluff) 1.8k words of the Zutaraang revival of my heart 2k18, based on this post 💨🔥💧

Summary: Zuko and friends on a cool summer night. If 'friend' was even the right word for people whose current purpose seemed to be annoying him to no end. He wasn't flustered.

Zuko stretched his feet out against the cool, stony Earth. The sun had almost disappeared over the horizon, and a few bugs were beginning to buzz around the fire, settling down and soon enough flying again to capture its elusive warmth. Staying at the Western Air Temple had always been a respite of sorts for him - right from the days when he and Aang would escape here to take even half a day's break from the long and arduous work of putting the United Republic together (and keeping it running), all the way to the present day. Regular Fire Lord duties definitely took their toll too.

He looked around the circle. Sokka and Suki sat across from him, the blanket of evening sky guarding their backs. Toph was perched on a recently-erected stack of her own, feet dangling far above the ground (Zuko figured this was her way of resting her eyes). Aang sat cross legged, tending to the fire in the middle. The altitude up here and the cool breeze tonight weren't really conducive to the campfire atmosphere they had been going for.

Nevertheless, they were here. It was rare enough that the whole gang found themselves free of some duty or the other to gather together these days, and Zuko knew that they were all going to take what they could get. He stretched and lifted his head to let the breeze ruffle his hair. Katara shivered next to him, and he drew his arm around her. Toph was explaining some anecdote to them, but he hadn't been keeping up. The weight of Katara leaning against him, and the cool wisps of her hair brushing his cheek occasionally, might have had something to do with that. Well. He tried not to dwell on that. Instead, he was content to just hear the chatter, which now seemed to consist of Sokka contesting some detail of Toph's story, so really, it was more like bickering now.

He felt calm and he treasured it. It was crazy to think that this was the same place he had approached them a million years ago, offering his services and pleading for their acceptance. They didn't know then, how the course of Zuko's life had depended on their whims. Maybe he should have stopped being grateful years ago, but a night like this, surrounded by friends, made him feel no other emotion more.

Aang, being Aang, had planted the first seeds of Zuko's… renewal. And no, he wasn't being dramatic with that notion.

He was currently twisting his hands in frustration, mouth quirked into an annoyed pout as he worked the fire. It was a little crazy how he still managed to give off that same guileless air he did when Zuko first met him as a tiny, overexcited kid aged twelve; despite being the most powerful being in five nations, a formidable political figure, and even, maybe possibly slightly taller than Zuko.

Zuko took pity on his friend. "That's not how you do it - you need more juice, Aang. Focus on getting the centre hotter, not making the whole thing bigger."

Aang made a face that really should have been less endearing than it was. "Hey, are you telling the Avatar how to firebend?"

"Are you telling the Firelord how to?"

"Oh, not at all, Your Fieriness." He changed tactic, finally concentrating on holding his palm still over the feeble fire.

"I'm just saying, it's not going to keep burning on its own until you make it hotter."

Sure enough, the flames began to glow brighter as Aang continued. Aang glanced at him sheepishly, and Zuko wasn't too big to not feel smug over that. It caught him off guard, even now, after they had worked together for so long. Aang would always take his advice so freely, like he wasn't the one who had saved Zuko, and seen Zuko, and bothered to stay and build Zuko's life again after the war.

Well, not just him. He shifted so he and Katara were leaning on each other. She smelled like the sea, which revealed that she had been back home recently, even more than her relaxed demeanour today did. She smiled and nuzzled his shoulder. It was the rare nights off like these when that normally aching, confusing draw towards them felt almost normal, like it should ease him instead of worry him. It wasn't jealousy, exactly.

He had family. Family that would make his breath catch and his heart stop when he caught them pulling each other close in a corner, but still. He didn't begrudge either of them anything. Not the swift hands Katara pressed over her husband's ears as she embraced him (the same ones that healed Zuko's scars, though not literally, through reassuring touches over their many late night conversations); not the way Aang seemed to melt and sober the moment his eyes rested on her face, an expression that stirred Zuko more than he would like to admit.

Aang watched the fire with a pleased expression. "Well, it looks like I defer to your expertise, Your Hotness."

"Don't call me that," Zuko snapped.

Aang only laughed. He leapt to his feet and sprang in front of Zuko, bowing so deeply that his knees began to wobble under his tunic. "Sure, Your Hotness."

Katara giggled in delight next to him. Zuko grumbled incoherently under his breath. Seriously? He saw the gleam in Aang's eyes as they met Katara's over the fire. He felt like he should look away. He would have envied the way they seemed to understand each other, play off each other, and the steadfast way they could reason with each other; if that wasn't also the main reason she was squeezing Zuko's arm now, full of affection and not fury.

"I said don't." He felt his face flush, caught between them.

Aang's face lit up with pure glee, even by his standards, and that was clearly egging Katara on to join in. She nodded seriously, "Fire Nation etiquette says you must always use the appropriate title."

"It's true, Your Hotness," Aang concurred, briefly looking at Zuko before lowering his eyes in mock deference.

"Shut up, Aang."

Aang and Katara were heedless, clearly having their own conversation via smug looks in firelight. Aang whizzed towards where they sat, not taking his eyes off Katara's for a second, and sat by her feet. Satisfied, he looked up at Zuko earnestly, though his lips were threatening to twitch.

"I'm sorry, but I have to be honest, Your Hotness, " he said, his face the picture of innocence.

What did Zuko do to deserve this? He really, really wished he was imagining the way Aang reddened, despite his tone, but to tell the truth it wasn't that dark yet.

"Careful, Twinkletoes, your wife can see you blushing," came a sing-song reply from their audience.

Trust Toph to make it worse. Zuko put his head in his hands.

"Well," Katara's voice glittered with humor, low and silvery next to him. Was she doing that on purpose? "I like it when he's blushing."

She sidled up so she was resting against the back of the dais, and slid her arm around his shoulders. "And besides, who wouldn't call Zuko Your Hotness?"

Mortified, Zuko opened his mouth noiselessly before closing it again and hiding his face in his hands. "Please, please shut up."

"Touche," Toph remarked, impressed with Katara's reply, as Sokka screeched and mimed gagging into the bowl of mini moon cakes that was making its way around.

Aang, Zuko suddenly realised, was also covering his face. No doubt, it was Katara's comment about the blushing that was the one to put him over the edge.

(Zuko didn't need to admit it for her to know that he silently agreed).

He appreciated the solidarity of that facepalm, until Aang lifted his head and piped up through another bout of giggling, "Your Hotness, I readily defend that statement regarding your hotness."

Zuko would gladly have liked to pass out right then, or have Druk come and rescue him immediately with some important Fire Nation business, if it wasn't for the way Aang beamed up at Katara and him, eyes bright and flitting preciously between their faces.

He wasn't kidding, then. Oh.

Zuko fidgeted, adjusting his collar. He hoped Katara didn't notice, but every bone in his body told him she definitely did.

The snack bowl made its way around to Katara. Immediately she grabbed it with both hands and urged, "After you, Your Hotness."

"Oh Supreme Lord Hotness of the Fire Nation," Aang was whispering solemnly. Suki and Sokka howled in delight, and Aang's expression betrayed nothing. "The mighty and regal Hotness." He pulled Zuko's wrist into Katara's lap and gave it a friendly squeeze, and held on to it, maybe as a strange sort of consolation for the embarrassment, Zuko supposed. Well, it didn't help.

"Hotter than all Firelords past, present and future," Katara added.

"The hottiest."

"Guys!" Okay, now it was more than ridiculous. He felt laughter rise in his chest, despite himself, and that just irritated him more.

Aang was on a roll, "Oh, do bestow that Hotness upon your humble subjects - "

"-Your Fiery, Hotty, Hotness," Katara cooed into his ear. She didn't release him.

Toph's loud laughter echoed the walls as she loudly slapped the stone next to her. Suki stifled hers behind a hand, eyes twinkling. Aang was almost horizontal. It wasn't that funny.

Sokka stood up, shaking his head. His voice was high in disbelief, "O-kay, I think that's all the weird foreplay I need to see tonight," He pulled on Suki's hand, "Come on. I'll see you guys in the morning." Toph followed suit soon after.

Zuko mumbled a goodnight to his friends, Katara and Aang only managing brief waves, still giggling at their own stupid joke. The moment they were alone Aang leapt up to sit on Zuko's other side. He made himself comfortable on Zuko's shoulder, glancing amusedly at Katara across his stiff frame. Their laughter faded away to amused little sighs.

"Uh - guys," Zuko managed, before realising they probably weren't going to budge. He tried to calm himself down a little. Steady breathing. Aang caught his eye, and breathed along with him - something that made him smile instantly (not shyly) despite himself, recalling the days they would practice their firebending with each other.

Katara's arms were wrapped firmly around his waist, and she seemed deep in thought. She nudged his arm until she was under it. Zuko wrapped his arm around her shoulder, breathing in her hair deeply.

They must have felt it, the fast, awkward catch of his heartbeat, yet they were both still here.

That's what family was, he gathered. He sat back and relaxed into it, watching the flames flicker and the moths gather, feeling stupidly grateful for even those tiny things. He was grateful for the cool wind keeping certain other things in check, too.

#zutaraang #atla #zutara #zukaang #kataang #my fic

24 notes · View notes

squiddybeifong · 7 years

Text

Tophzula - Touch

Azula closed her eyes as a warm pair of lips peppered kisses onto her hairline. The kisses dotted her temples and a feeble sound threatened to escape her throat; she bit down on the inside of her cheek, tasting blood. The pain calmed her in the face of such uncharacteristic softness. She didn’t deserve this.

She deserved the burns and sores on her fingers but not the soft lips that kissed them better. She deserved the horribly uneven, knotted mess of hair but not the calloused hands that carefully ran through them. She deserved the soul-sucking darkness of her cell but not the blind eyes that brought her so much light.

Toph’s hands were warm as they cupped her cheeks. The pads of her fingers were rough as they slid along the curl of her lips and the fallen princess sighed at the feeling. She refused to open her eyes, even as the younger girl leaned in until their noses brushed.

The earthbender breathed in, hesitated for only half a heartbeat, then kissed her. Azula allowed herself to hug the shorter bender against her chest; a sigh escaped her – or was it Toph? It was hard to tell when their mouths were joined so soundly – and both sunk into their not-quite hug. As Toph’s mouth moved against her own, the princess felt light, happy, free.

The wonderful taste of Toph turned to ash in her mouth and an acute sense of shame came over her at the feeling. She sadly hummed into the embrace as something heavy settled in her stomach. While the metal cuffs were no longer holding her down their weight still clung to her wrists. This rehabilitation wasn’t working. She had done nothing of worth yet; well, nothing besides gaining the love of an annoyingly stubborn earthbender.

Azula let her eyes flutter open as they continued to kiss. She hadn’t done anything to deserve this happiness. Toph had bent the chains away. Toph had whipped her insides up into a frenzy with her kisses. Toph had given her the chance to feel like a person and not a patient. Toph was the one putting in effort for her to get better. Zuko may believe that she deserved to feel happy, but she didn’t deserve to feel free.

As if sensing her thoughts the earthbender pulled away, her hands still framing her girlfriend’s too-thin face. Her brows were furrowed and her foggy eyes seemed to shine in the dimness. Azula watched her blankly, unable to suppress the shivers as dusty fingertips trailed down to her wrists.

Toph intertwined their fingers and brought their hands up, pressing kisses on all five knuckles of her left hand. “Look at me,” Her voice was muted and another shiver slid though the princess. Azula watched, transfixed, as her lover’s kisses marched from her knuckles to the inside of her wrist. Pale fingertips settled at the base of her palm, “Open.”

Azula did as the girl commanded. Toph’s hands enveloped her own, uncaring of the scars and still-healing burns on her skin. Slow and steady, they moved until the princess’ hands were cupping the tomboy’s cheeks, her thumbs stumbling as she tried to replicate Toph’s earlier movements.

The earthbender let out a little snicker, her tone light and encouraging, “Now look at me, Lightning Bug.”

Azula opened her eyes, confused at the instruction. Instead of speaking, she observed her girlfriend, quietly waiting for something, anything. A half minute passed and Toph’s brows raised. The princess tilted her head at that; she had never noticed that Toph couldn’t raise one brow independently. It made her look even more mocking than usual. It suited her.

Another half minute of silence. Azula’s brows furrowed and she cleared her throat, watching the pretty curl of Toph’s lips as she snorted, “Look at me like me, Zula.”

Oh. Nodding confidently, her fingers pressed into Toph’s skin. Her thumbs fanned out, rubbing the curve of cheekbones right below those magnificent blind eyes. For all of three seconds she was finally in control, feeling the contours of her lover’s face, until she tried to move the rest of her fingers.

A surge of panic rippled through her chest when she realized that she didn’t know what to do. Azula angrily shoved it down; she was once a prodigy, never demure nor weak. She could do this. Still, her movements were awkward and unsure, her fingertips going from too rough, almost enough to bruise, to too soft, not even touching the bender’s skin. Azula gnawed at her cheek, her nails nearly scratching the pale skin underneath them.

Toph’s face was getting closer and she pecked her lips. Her hands enclosed the firebender’s again, “Let’s try again. Slower this time.” Languidly, their hands moved together, trailing down Toph’s jaw until their fingertips hit her chin.

Azula felt something unidentifiable bubble in her throat, breathless as they trailed their fingertips over the Earth noble’s features. She swallowed thickly and shakingly shut her eyes as she looked at her earthbender. She already knew that Toph was pretty, but she didn’t realize the full extent until now.

Under her fingers Toph’s features were delicate, handsome: the smooth curve of her nose, the slight pudge of her cheeks, the triangular part in the center of her hairline, the way her left eye was ever-so-slightly lower on her face than its twin, the heart-shaped line of her jaw, the thin lines of her lips.

The ends of those lips curled up, exposing her teeth and Azula smiled with her. Leaning down, the brunette pressed their foreheads together, not once stopping her hands’ exploration. Toph let out a hum, raising her face to give her girlfriend another kiss, “Not that horrible, huh?”

The princess snickered into the kiss, unable to resist the urge to smile at the fluttering in her chest, “You look pretty good, actually.”

#tophzula #toph beifong #princess azula #my writing #fluff #guess who finally wrote something in the past 5000 years???#gosh i hope this stupid writers block is gone #i seem to really like writing azula when she's still unsure and healing #like all of my stories are her getting better

110 notes · View notes

zukoofthenations · 7 years

Text

Chapter 6: Five Years Later