Favorite Atla Fics Are The Ones Where The Gaang Finds Out Roku Is Zukos Great Grandfather And Aang’s

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my pet peeve is azula fanart that draws her sexy af. short schoolgirl skirts and cleavage out and bold lipstick 24/7. and like. i get it. her color is red. she’s intimidating to u. she’s #meangirl #darkacademia #trustfundkid to u. she’s an east asian girl and you’re having some trouble w metacognition right now, to say the least.

but this is a 14yo girl who is TERRIFIED of displeasing her father in any way or any amount. ozai is tyrannical, prone to violence, w black-and-white vision where you’re loyally in or you’re permanently out of his in-group, and prone to taking any actions of his children as personal attacks, statements, embarrassments, and injuries. he is a narcissist who nearly killed her older brother in front of her, then tossed him out to sea for an entirely age-appropriate social mis-step, who inhabited a world of domination and violence, likely displayed some level of domestic and spousal violence in front of and possibly against azula when she was younger. ozai regularly treats and respects azula as a possession of his.

all that and you think 14yo azula is dressing sexy?? azula is wearing dad-approved jeans and plain solid-color t shirts. azula is begging to get her ears pierced. canon azula is dressed, advised, served, and socialized by adults. she has no comprehension of how to do makeup or her own hair. she lives in a massively, toxically radically masculine world of logic, violence, dominated/dominator duality, career-focused, emotionless, loveless lives, and u think that this girl, raised by her violent and possessive father, without a mother or single older woman around, can do anything for her hair besides a ponytail?

azula uses st. ives apricot facial scrub and neutrogena grandma lotion her elderly housekeepers buy for her, she wears ponytails and buns she learned exclusively from youtube tutorials that she watched in secret, she wears practical polo shirts and dark wash jeans that ozai approves of his daughter wearing outside, and for occasions she has a stylist that puts her into designer blazers and adult black dresses. on those occasions she looks so 14 trying to be a real adult, like the soulless and joyless ones that surround her. she’s intimidating in spite of/with her non-sexiness. not because of it.

and i do see azula going high femme as an adult. and i do think when she wants to rebel against ozai, in scenarios where she’s taken in by iroh as well, she goes for daring teenage tiktok looks (“one positive side to my first guardian being put in jail is that apparently my new guardian is willing to let me download social medias, so I have a tiktok now. he even fired the intern in charge of my official instagram and let me be the one to delete it.”)

but like. cmon guys. azula, as we know her in canon, will not rebel an inch. she is safely, terrifiedly sitting in her approved corner, and that’s not where sexy is. where’s that post abt how zuko is an iroh-advised grandpa sweater polo shirt prep kid. real after-school kumon/mathnasium core. that’s azula too. she’s wearing lots of gold jewelry and a halter top in the beach episode but don’t let that fool you. that’s her first time dressing up “to be a normal teen” and she coats herself in the equivalent of head-to-toe gucci because that’s how other #teenz dress, right??

and like. how come the nerdy dorky sheltered traumatized brother is often acknowledged as the grandpa sweater polo shirt prep he is, w thirst traps, as is his human right, but some ppl view azula, who shares most of those traits, as constantly seductive? how come it’s this character, an east asian teen girl, who wears the miniskirt and the red lipstick of the gaang to some of u? let’s think abt it for 2 seconds

okay rant done i have a capri sun now :)

Zukka neighbors AU, enemies to lovers 100k+

while it's not the same story i got the idea from @kurisu-80's neighbors AU comic, which i definitely recommend checking out, i think about it a lot

Master Pakku promised that he would keep an eye on Zuko (a promise made to both the chief and to Iroh). Pakku had initially thought the prince would be selfish and rude, but watching him spar with the other boys, it's obvious the kid is actually a little ball of nervous energy ready to be told he failed. Time will tell if he's any good at fighting, but maybe Pakku needs to step in and offer a bit of tutoring.

Zuko's crew. T_T I'm now convinced every night had some sort of family activity soused with boiler room hooch. Zuko has zero poker face on mahjong night, while Jee wipes everyone clean with his RBF. And let's not forget Zuko and Aang are Azula-lightning-scar buddies, too. In through the chest and out through the back.

SOBBING!! you are so right about everything omg. I mean zuko lived on the ship with that crew for three whole years, and like. ok yeah he was at peak bastard mode during that time but they MUST have bonded in some way!! Mandatory game night at least once a week! zuko might be shitty at table games but they find out he obliterates everyone at charade.

And AAA OMFG DID U READ MY MIND. I DO HAVE a doodle of aang & a very crispy zuko being “mortal wound from azula” buddies lmao. Slapped some color on it just for you. mwah.

(while we’re at it they also have an epic tsungi horn duo going on as a side gig)

Their wedding has been planned for 3 years and it's finally happening! General Iroh is there to witness the union, with Commander Zhao and his fleet as protection. Sokka knows something is up, but no one believes him. But what is Zhao doing sneaking away?

Luca reminded me of the camp camp trio so I had to draw this (also this is my first time posting to tumblr so hello)

Might draw them again lol idk

AU in which Zuko is painfully aware that his dad is an asshole and decides to vibe on his ship rather than chasing Aang-

rewatching ALTA rn (cough quarantine really do be like that) and- I cant help but laugh when watching Zuko act like a spoiled brat with heavy daddy-issues throughout the first season, knowing how awkward he’ll become later on (”Zuko here” is all I’m gonna say rip-)

now, instead of waiting for uncle Iroh to spill the tea (no pun intended) about his scar and chasing the avatar without telling his crew a word about wHY he’s so hellbent on steering his ship all over the fucking world to chase a ghost… Zuko’s just aware of why exactly he was put on this ship and decides “well, might as well enjoy the ride”

One of the first things he does after boarding the ship (after waiting for his injury to heal rip) is ask Iroh or Lieutenant Jee to cut his hair for him, since,,,, well he’s a banished prince that was sent out to chase a ghost,,, no real reason to cling onto the illusion of royality any longer, is there? so off with the hair-knot

*cue tiny, 13 year old Zuko with a bandaged eye and freshly shorn head walking up to the ship-railing and chucking his hair overboard. he waves the severed hair-knot goodbye, Uncle Iroh just brews himself another cup of calming tea-*

He knows his dad’s not expecting him to come back, or… even wants him back, for that matter.

“Sir, where is our next course leading?”

“Idk, you decide.”

Either spends his time holed up in his private quarters or fucks around on the ports whenever the ship needs to stop for supplies. Instead of spending his ‘pocket money’ on anything that could help him find the avatar he just buys whatever crap would unnerve the crew the most. (last time they let him run off on his own he came back with 67 tiny, wooden sky-bison figurines and has hidden them all over the ship. It’s been 3 years and the crew is still finding bisons hidden in their belongings.)

If it weren’t for the nasty scar you’d just assume he’s the bastard-child of one of his crew-members they’re letting tag along, not, y’know, the crown-prince of the fire-nation.

He still trains a lot- just not to capture the avatar. Just because there’s literally nothing else to do on the ship-

Because he doesn’t have such a nasty temper, the crew doesn’t wanna throw him overboard all the fucking time. Instead they just all collectively decided that they’re adopting the brat- no one’s sure how Iroh feels about suddenly having to share his nephew with 20-something sailors, but no one caught him complaining so far.

Zuko can and will take advantage of that. Watch him yell “Uncle!” on the main bridge and grin like a demon as he sees 5 old sailors’ head snap around and give him a concerned look.

His dad may be an asshole but at the very least he got 20 new uncles-

People tend to recognoze him, because… uh. Well. When he was freshly banished he easily took offense when he was recognized as the banished prince of the firenation, even in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere…. as he grew older Zuko just came up with creative ways to change the topic.

“Nah, his scar’s on the other side.”

“Oh, no, I was just seeing a firenation-girl for a while and learned the hard way why you shouldn’t get them too excited in bed.”

“A scar? What scar- OH MY GOD UNCLE WHY CAN’T I SEE???”

When he eventually stumbles into team avatar, he *could* technically capture the avatar and bring him to the firelord to restore his honor and reclaim his throne… but he’d rather fuck with his old man for a bit.

Cue him inviting them onboard to play Pai sho with uncle. Zuko and Sokka going around, terrorizing the locals with Sokka’s terrible humor and Zuko’s scar. Toph and Zuko befriending each other, using the excuse “We only have one eye between the two of us.” whenever they end up in deadly situations together-

He sleeps in the rhino-pen. No real reason behind it, it just terrifies Lieutenant Jee and if anything brings Zuko joy, it’s terrorizing his crew by endangering himself in the most creative ways

Zuko (as Lee) to Jet: is that a knife in your pocket or are you just happy to, yeah fuck he’s got a knife, everyone run

I just remembered my second Pride, where I made different flag themed daisy chain bracelets/necklaces to hand out. I need folks to understand something:

They were free.

They were fucking free.

They were maybe ¢60 of acrylic yarn each at the most, and the whole ziploc bag of them took 2 hours max.

Three people gave me sad eyes until I took their money.

Someone who was clearly the mom friend of their group made me take a $5 and gave a 10 minute pep talk.

At least four more people insisted on getting change to pay for the, once again, free bracelets.

In spite of all these shenanigans, the absolute best was this one person who I can only describe as, “queer surfer dude who looks like a boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend.” I can remember nothing of the outfit, only the impeccable vibes. I did the same thing I did with everyone else, explaining the bracelets were free, and they nodded along as they took the last 6 strand rainbow bracelet. As soon as they had it on their wrist, they pointed at something over my shoulder and, like a fool, I looked.

Next thing I know, they’re running off cackling, yelling, “YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME!” and I’m holding a fucking $20. I had to stop at least two people from chasing them, cause they thought the person stole something, and then they tried to give me money cause they thought it was funny seeing me flail over people being Too Nice.

That was the year I got reverse-robbed at Pride. I hope everyone out there is having a good time and, in particular, that queer surfer dude is out there still causing benevolent chaos.

drawing sokka & katara with a polar owlcat to try to cure the artblock

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