The Only Time Hunter Sneaks Out

its love

parental caretaker and kid writing prompts

- younger kid standing on their caretaker's shoes and rocking around. almost like they're dancing or waltzing.

- the thing where the caretaker pulls the kid closer to them by like wrapping their hand around their head and covering their ear and tucking them against them.

- kid sitting on caretaker's shoulders. always a good one.

- "shh, shh, I know, I know"

- any sort of "take me instead" situation, said by either character. devastating.

- dealing with sickness. like obviously the kid getting sick and accidentally calling their caretaker mum/dad/parent in their feverish delirium is super cute and top tier.

- BUT ALSO. hear me out. caretaker getting sick but trying to push through to look after their kid and their kid works super hard to make their job easier or look after them in small ways.

- kid hiding for some reason (minor anxiety or major trauma or anything in between) and the caretaker comforting them or trying to coax them out.

- caretaker sweeping kid up in a big ole bear hug and spinning em around.

- kid hiding behind caretaker.

- "you should be in bed" "I can't sleep" "...alright, get over here, you can stay up for five more minutes"

- caretaker and a maybe slightly older kid arguing and making up.

- caretaker picking up slightly older kid from a party that's gone wrong in some way.

- caretaker who's maybe less like a parent and more like an older sibling. they take their kid to abandoned buildings and eat cheap takeaway/takeout with them.

- caretaker teaching their slightly older kid life skills that they maybe didn't have the chance to pick up on when they were younger.

- or yk just caretaker teaching their younger kid life skills. like trying to get them involved with cooking and lifting them up to help grab things and letting them watch things get cut up and prepared.

- caretaker indulging their younger kid in tea parties with their stuffed animals.

- caretaker looking after a kid's comfort items (bonus point if the kid is older, and double bonus points if the kid is too embarrassed to care for their comfort items themselves).

- younger kid curled up by their caretaker while their caretaker plays videogames. bonus points if the caretaker lets them play like baby mode co-op (like luma in mario galaxy). bonus bonus points if the caretaker is like an older sibling and gives the kid an unplugged controller.

- older kid playing co-op with their caretaker and getting way too invested. bonus points if it's mario kart. bonus bonus points if they're showing each other their favourite games from their respective childhoods (because yk different eras).

- caretaker carrying an exhausted kid to bed.

- better yet, the kid pretends to fall asleep in the car so they can be carried inside (caretaker knows their game but is more than happy to carry them).

- caretaker having a hard day working late and coming home to their kid sleeping peacefully on the couch, clearly having waited for them to come home.

- kid having a hard day at school and caretaker is in the middle of making dinner for them.

- caretaker shielding kid from danger with their body.

- kid refusing to leave caretaker's side when they're both in danger.

"please feed the author don't poke the author"

*Grins in Challenge Accepted*

Okay, so you know how Zuko has this whole honor complex mixed with daddy issues? Well, what if he didn’t…? And in another universe he instead had something WAY STRANGER? Like, if instead of being obsessed with regaining his honor he was obsessed with tracking down unknown spirits because he literally believes the spirits have it out for him personally?

Cuz’ everyone knows Zuko has the worst luck, but what if his whole life he grew up seeing glimpses of spirits no one’s ever heard about before Zuko’s life royally screws up? Zuko’s having a good time firebending? He sees the tail end of some spooky spirits for half a second and suddenly BOOM! The next day Azula starts trashing Zuko around by lighting BLUE FREAKING FIRE! Zuko reading a nice letter from his cousin Lu Ten on the warfront? Next thing you know he hears dwindling laughter, and the following week BAM Lu Ten is DEAD and uncle Iroh has disappeared from the face of the Earth! The few hours before he and Azula present themselves to Fire Lord Azulon in their white robes? Yeah, he could have SWORN he saw something else staring at the mirror behind him smiling like a maniac, and now the Fire Lord’s dead and his mom has mysteriously vanished too!!!

Like he’s totally a diehard, reckless spirit conspiracy nut, and he’s totally obsessed on proving what would amount to be a Spirit world version of the Illuminati set on making his life miserable? And everyone in the Royal Court would be completely embarrassed and blow him off, but to Zuko it just makes perfect SENSE! Everything he tries to do in life goes unreasonably wrong, and if there’s millions of people in the Avatar world, then wouldn’t it be possible there might be BILLIONS/TRILLIONS of Spirit beings they haven’t even discovered yet some of which are DEFINETELY out to get him!?!? RIGHT?!? He just can’t prove it. Yet…

So when Zuko finally does get banished to go find the Avatar and regain his honor he’s like.

Screw it.

Screw the Avatar.

Screw this stupid war.

I’m going to prove this conspiracy ON MY OWN!!!

Next thing you know he’s traveling around the world investigating Spirit tale cases, making frenemies with Wan Shi Tong in his library (cuz’ why wouldn’t a knowledge seeking Spirit Owl not be cynically interested in this human being’s futile quest for knowledge?), and trying really hard NOT to get entangled with this monk kid named Aang and his friends who somehow always end up destroying Zuko’s hard-earned evidence DAMMIT!!!!

At least the cabbage merchant still believes him…

Welcome to the world of Avatar: The Spirit Files, and the regaling tales of Prince Zuko the Spirit Seeker! THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!!!!

*Plays Theme Music*

Sokka Scully finds all this VERY suspicious, are spirits even real?

Aang: I was frozen for 100 years! I survived because a spirit merged with my soul a millennia ago and I've been reincarnating ever since!

Sokka: Allegedly.

Katara: You got kidnapped into the spirit world last week, Sokka.

Sokka: Allegedly.

Aang, surrounded by baffled councilmen, interrupted mid meeting: "ZUKO I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS!”

Zuko, half burnt after fistfighting his latest assasin: “It’s not that bad. Besides, you’re like twelve, you don't have to worry about this”

Aang: “only tw—I was the one who—! No, you know what? I’m calling your grandpa!”

The councilmen, thinking of Azulon: “?!”

Zuko: “WAIT NO AANG I’M SORRY!”

Aang, meditating aggressively: “TOO LATE.”

Roku, taking Aang’s place: “ZUKO I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS!”

The councilmen, losing their fucking minds: “?!?!?!????!??!???!”

If there’s anything Iroh misses about his time as crown prince, it’s getting to roast his little brother at any given moment

(Also this sort of pertains to my own headcanon (vaguely inspired by the comics) that Ursa is a proficient dancer, and often performs for big celebrations)

Zuko: The food is too hot, I can't eat it.

Mai: You're also hot, but I still eat-

Azula: *slams down hands on the table*

Azula: ONE DINNER-

Ty Lee: Here we go again.

Azula: ONE NORMAL DINNER IS ALL I ASK FOR!

Once Ellie learns what a sleepover is, she regularly bullies Tommy into having them with her (he goes willingly but he makes her work for it nevertheless).

He's not only the cool Uncle tm but also the person she can talk to about stuff she doesn't always want to talk to Joel about, either because it would make him worry a lot or because it would be an incredibly awkward conversation she has no intention of having with him. Tommy knows how to keep a secret and he would never betray Ellie's trust.

They maneuver mattresses onto the living room floor and eat enough sugar to kill a small toddler. Most of the time, their nights consist of Ellie doing weird shit to his hair and painful face masks that she discovers in old magazines, watching movies Joel either deeply dislikes or doesn't want her to watch (trying to protect the last of her innocence, sweet attempt but futile, since nothing of that is left anyway), and gossiping; Tommy is GREAT at gossip.

Joel is a bit jealous that he isn't invited, but when he comes to pick her up in the mornings and sees her curled up with Tommy the exact same way he and Sarah would when he made his brother babysit, the bittersweet surge of affection is worth the comparably lonely night in his bed.

Ellie deserves every bit of family she can get.

au where Zhao survives to see Zuko become Fire Lord and in their first meeting after the fact Zuko’s like “I am the leader of a nation and I will be a mature adult and I will not insult you BUT MY FRIENDS CAN, SOKKA GET IN HERE” and he makes Zhao stand there while Sokka roasts him for like an hour

Darius: Hunter is stuck in the human realm! What if something happens to him?

Alador: My daughter is there too, but it'll be okay. They're with Luz. Your son will be safe.

Darius: Son? Hunter isn't my son.

Alador: He isn't?

Eberwolf: He isn't??

Raine, Eda and the rest of the Boiling Isles: He isn't???

whoever wrote on tiktok after the finale that “anna’s taking care of sarah whilst joel’s down there taking care of ellie”, i’m in ur walls tonight