Latest Posts by dadriusstan - Page 5

Ohmygods Jee in the cooler talking about how it’s nothing compared to the North Pole 😭

And then hearing Zuko get put in the one next to his and immediately thinking ‘must get him out of here’

I love this so much 💜💜💜

oh gosh, really glad you liked the drabble!

And yeah -- all of Zuko’s crew would probably go into “protect child mode”, mostly because they can all remember when zuko was ACTUALLY a child. hell, to lt jee zuko is STILL a child and still needs to be protected n

For a prompt could u do one where zuko finds some of his old crew at the boiling rock and they escape with everyone. I've never seen this done before and I thought of it like last night but I think it could be fun

The coolers aren't so bad. 

One day in the coolers is enough to crack most of the firebending inmates in Boiling Rock, but most of them haven't been to both Poles. Jee and his crew have a lot of experience in swimming in the polar seas — both of them, and for weeks in the North Pole, with nothing but half-remembered lessons on the Breath of Fire from General Iroh to keep them alive. The cooler is nothing compared to that. He's dry here, for one, and it's not truly isolation if he can still hear Teruko mouthing off at the guards in the cooler right next to his.

“I can take you back to your cell if you’ve learned your lesson,” a guard jeers at the prisoner in the cell on the other side. 

The voice that answers is a punch to Jee’s gut. “I have — completely,” Prince Zuko says, sounding sullen and angry and alive, definitely alive.  

Teuko suddenly shuts up; that's confirmation enough for Jee.

The brat had managed to survive Zhao's fucking pirates. The wave of relief that hits Jee is short-lived; the prince might be alive, but he's in the cooler next to Jee's. The Fire Nation's prince, thrown into his own country's most secure prison, and locked into the worst torture chamber ever conceived of for firebenders like them. 

They need to get that boy out of here. Jee has to round up the old crew tomorrow; figure out where the brat's regular cell is, make an escape plan —

But first, he needs to survive the night in the cooler. Jee takes a deep, fortifying breath, and settles down to wait. 

Lol I have a baby zuko au in the works where he angers a spirit who says if he acts like a child so he should be one and the crew thinks hes gonna be a brat but hes really sweet and kind until he accidentally breaks something and cries begging not to be hit and the crew and iroh are ready to commit treason for this baby

Lieutenant jee becames papa jee and basically adopts zuko lol

Baby Zuko AU’s are honestly amazing because whether or not he has memories of being a teen changes the whole ass dynamic he has. Because actual baby Zuko is the absolute epitome of a well-behaved child who would do anything to make sure people are happy, but teenage Zuko in a child body is the one who’s like “I can trick them- wait they’re nice and don’t know... I’ll enjoy this a bit longer” and then never actually does shit because he’s getting positive attention from people.

Also, the crew finding out how bad Zuko had it as a kid because of his reactions to breaking something (likely inconsequential) is absolutely perfect.

Also, Jee gets a kid and the rest of the crew is just like, “This is fine.”

Pirate Zuko

Alright so Zuko doesn’t go running from his ship once he wakes up, but he also doesn’t buy anything he’s being told anymore. So he turns to his crew, explains what’s going on and essentially goes, “So I’m gonna be a pirate now. I’ll fill out all the paperwork for you to be dismissed from the navy and get you guys as close to home as I can.”

Iroh’s shocked, but doesn’t say anything about it and that night the rest of the crew have a big discussion. They all come to the same conclusion and wait for the opportune time.

By the time Zuko’s filled out and sent off the proper paperwork relieving them of duty he’s also cut his hair short. So then he’s about to take the ship as close to the nearest colony as he can to let them go home they all just go… no.

Zuko: What do you mean no?!

Jee: We mean no, you can’t get rid of us.

Zuko: I’m your prince, go!

Jee: Technically you just went and threw your title away after discharging us. We’re civilians of the Fire Nation and you’ve got no title. You can’t make us leave.

Zuko, fuming and nearing screaming: What do you want?!

Jee: Oh, we’re staying. You want to be a pirate? You need a crew. You’re not a prince now, you’re the captain.

Imagine a thirteen year old in charge of a ship full of ex-navy officers turned pirates. Except he’s dangerous as well and no one knows how to deal with him.

And when Aang wakes up? Ooooh boy.

Headcanon that Jee and the rest of Zuko's crew wreaked havoc on Zhao after being pressed into service. Loosening screws. Putting laxatives in Zhao's food. Damaging a board in Zhao's cieling so it'll leak. Stuff like that.

Iroh: Have you guys seen Prince Zuko?

Jee: No, haven’t seen him since the storm started.

Iroh: Since the sto- ZUKO NO!

Zuko standing in the middle of a thunderstorm with an iron shovel raised high: STRIKE ME DOWN ZEUS, YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS!!!

Jet preparing dinner for the 92738382929 Freedom fighters....

I BELIEVE THAT HE WOULD BE A GOOD COOK.

[ID: an image of jet drawn over a real image. He is frying rice and is sautéing it in the shape of a perfect wave. He is looking directly at us, wearing his signature outfit and wheat in mouth with the addition of an apron that says kiss the cook.

End ID]

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

au idea where Zuko comes across Lieutenant Jee at Boiling Rock because once Jee found out about Zhao blowing up Zuko’s ship he actually either abandoned Zhao or straight up turned on him, causing him to be eventually apprehended. He’s happy to see Zuko alive, and actively helps the team escape. He urges Zuko to flee while he stays behind to help Mai.

He’s in the crowd during the coronation and is so proud of Zuko and continues to serve him until he retires and Zuko makes sure he keeps in touch and visits him on Ember Island with Iroh.

Concept: Fire-sibs with Congenital Prosopagnosia. They’re face-blind.

Azula is fine. She chose 2 friends with extremely distinctive voices & body-language and decided that was enough. Recognizing anyone else is beneath her station as a princess. If they were important they’d wear a crown.

Zuko on the other hand has been on this ship for 3 years and he’s concerned that if he doesn’t capture the Avatar soon, this group of middle-aged men might begin to suspect can’t tell them apart.

Literally any disguise will fool Zuko. Cover Aang’s tattoos and he can’t pick him out of a lineup. Fortunately water-tribe teens are rare outside of the poles, and Aang has a habit of declaring himself the Avatar so he stands a chance as long as they don’t catch on…

Bonus: Ty Lee’s sisters don’t even look that much like her. It’s just a standard familial resemblance. But Zuko and Azula both made the mistake several times as children and have complained about how hard it is to tell them all apart, and nobody bothered to correct them (because royalty) so Ty Lee believed them.

there’s a little detail that i didn’t notice about “the blue spirit” when i first watched it.  when zuko returns to his ship after his misadventures at ponhuai, avatar-less and honorless and still puzzling over aang’s speech and having made an enemy of zhao and probably severely concussed, iroh is there on deck.  

music night happened the previous night.  and yet it’s morning when zuko returns, and iroh is still playing the tsungi horn on deck.  

iroh waited up all night for zuko to come back.  

it’s such a small detail, but speaks volumes about their relationship.  iroh not only allows zuko to sneak out in order to free the avatar in order to preserve his chance at regaining his honor, iroh actually subtly encorages zuko to free aang from ponhuai, even though he clearly knows that there’s every possibilty that zuko will be caught by zhao and iroh will not be able to save him.  

as the guardian of a teenager, iroh’s influence over zuko is limited.  iroh must allow zuko the freedom to chase after the destiny he thinks he wants, iroh cannot always protect zuko or keep him out of danger, iroh cannot even demonstrate affection to zuko in the way he would clearly like to because zuko is too hurt and guarded to be able to accept it from him - 

- but iroh can wait up for him.  

iroh can sit up all night, just to make sure that zuko gets home safely.  

and it is such a striking element of their relationship, because I waited up all night for you becomes the unspoken love language by which they communicate caring and affection for each other.  

iroh waits all night for zuko to return safely from ponhuai stronghold. iroh stays up while zuko sleeps on the ferry and waits up for zuko to return home from his date with jin. iroh sits up all night watching over zuko when he is sick and feverish.  

and it’s not one-sided, because zuko waits up for iroh.  

zuko waits up all night watching over an injured iroh after azula blasts him with blue fire.  zuko sits up all night waiting for iroh to wake up when they reunite at the white lotus camp.

and this gesture becomes so important to zuko that it even becomes the way he demonstrates caring and concern for the members of the gaang.  zuko waits up all night in appa’s saddle, knowing that sokka is planning a rescue mission.  zuko waits up all night for katara to wake, knowing she needs to confront her own deeply-felt anger before she can understand and let go of it.  

and this even is the gesture by which aang first demonstrates friendship to zuko.  after zuko is knocked out by an arrow to his blue spirit mask, aang sits up with zuko for the rest of the night until zuko wakes up, just to make sure zuko is all right.

and the concept of sitting up all night for you is such a poignant contrast to zuko’s memory of his mother, who vanished out his life in the middle of the night, waking him up for a last goodbye.  

it’s pretty clear that iroh sitting up all night with a sick child was far from an unusual occasion.   i think it was probably really important for zuko to be shown, again and again and again, that he has someone who will be there when morning comes.  

one parent left zuko in the night - but one parent will always wait up for him to come home.  

I just love the moments when Zuko acts younger than his age due to his severely stunted social skills.  like when he’s acting like a bratty preschooler while being gently bossed around by iroh in ba sing se or when he’s trying to socialize with the gaang for the first time.

I mean, let’s be real: Zuko has been starving for the attention of his peers for years, and once he gets his first dose of social approval and acceptance on his field trip with aang, he ends up going a bit off the rails chasing the high of Friendship.  like he’s trying SO HARD to be Just A Normal Guy here, but he waaaaay overshoots his mark and ends up going all the way back around to “something’s a litttttle off about this dude” again.

I can’t get over how Zuko, when confronted with the mystifying quandary of how to make friends for the first time in his socially-deprived adolescent life, draws an absolute blank and, with no actual hands-on experience to draw from, simply defaults to “imitate Uncle.”

Zuko’s thought process immediately after joining the gaang was clearly: “I really want these people to like me.  Uncle would say that I should just be myself and show them the real me.  but that will never work!!  I’m not likable!!!  …but Uncle is.  everyone likes Uncle.  obvious solution: just be Uncle and everything will be Fine,” and then proceeded to give his best imitation of iroh down to the tea and bad jokes.

Zuko after possibly the world’s worst punchline delivery: “This is great! I’m going to get a good grade in Being Uncle, a thing that is normal to want and possible to achieve!” 

“nailed it”

everyone always writes jet as super suave and zuko getting all blushy and easily flustered and thats great but have you considered; jet tries laying on the charm and saying the lines. three quarters of the time zuko has no idea what he's talking abt and misses the insinuation entirely, sometimes throwing a 'none of that bullshit' look bc when he has no idea what ur saying he assumes hes being proverb'd on. the other quarter of the time is him just blinking confusedly in response and being like 'oh. uh. thanks?' and giving a sweet little smile. zuko, due to being an unsocialised gremlin boy, sometimes just says sorta romantic things in a super intense way seemingly out of nowhere - like 'you know, i think could stare into your eyes for hours and never get bored' - with literally zero shame or impulse control. every time, without fail, jet goes super wide eyed and stumbles over his feet and words, attempting to respond in the charismatic way but sounding so choked up and flustered that he butchers it every time (zuko thinks those attempts at suaveness are the cutest things hes ever seen and goes to hold jet's hand every time he gets like that)

that’s it. that’s their relationship

its love

silly advisors with their silly questions

Give Hunter all the family

Please reblog, don’t repost :)

can’t stop thinking about an iroh-and-zuko-never-leave-ba sing se au where zuko, having no other outlet for all his internalized perfectionism and single-minded drive to succeed at something, has no choice but to get really, really intense about the jasmine dragon.   and, perhaps inevitably, ends up mutating into the shouty, hypercritical, detail-oriented manager of every restaurant worker’s nightmares, who is a menace to iroh’s employees and potentially even more passionate about the right way to serve tea than even iroh himself.  

zuko runs the tea shop in the exact same way that he once ran a fire nation navy warship.  he WILL stand there and time you to make sure you’re brewing the oolong EXACTLY the right amount of time and won’t let you strain the chamomile a second too soon.  he insists that the tea blends are all stored according to his current pet organizational system and woe to the poor stock boy who mixes them up.  the store room is organized alphabetically one week and the next the teas are lined up from weakest to to strongest flavor and the week after THAT all the containers are shelved based on brewing time and zuko never bothers to tell the workers when the system is changed.  

the dishes MUST be cleaned according to his scrupulous standards of perfection and he stands over the dishwasher and points out every single smudge left unscrubbed.  zuko has posted a chart with detailed directions for exactly the right way to mop the floors and he WILL fire you for going off course.  the turnover rate at the jasmine dragon is incredible because zuko goes through tea servers faster than emily gilmore goes through maids.  

iroh has created a tea monster and he has NO idea how to stop him.  zuko has shattered a tea pot for no other reason than “it poured too loudly, uncle!!!”  no customer dares send their tea back even if they end up with the wrong order; they’ve all seen zuko take his dao swords out on a tea wholesaler who tried to cheat him.  when zuko says the jasmine dragon is going to be the best tea shop in ba sing se, it’s not a promise, it’s a THREAT.

Zuko wakes up from his angst coma after releasing Appa as a sane, rational, and emotionally stable human being

So I keep misreading this as “...after REALIZING Appa is a sane, rational, and emotionally stable…” and I. I cannot be held responsible for my actions.

- - -

“Nephew, I do not believe you are quite so well as you think—”

“I’m fine, Uncle,” said his nephew, who was smiling like this was a good-humored statement, instead of scowling like he was the teenager Iroh knew. “Oh, let’s stop here.”

They stopped. His nephew haggled, with minimum yelling, for an assortment of vegetables and fruits. Perhaps it was time to change tack.

“While I am sure the gesture will be appreciated, this may be a bit sudden. Perhaps we could begin with a note? Sent by courier.” Preferably one that would not be able to tell the recipients just where said note had come from. “I do not believe we are quite on unannounced visiting terms…”

“If they didn’t want people coming to their house, they wouldn’t have put their address on a poster,” said his nephew, who was occasionally capable of catastrophically (in)correct logic.

“Still,” Iroh said, “perhaps in light of past, ahem, acquaintanceships, a more delicate approach may be—”

But Iroh had not been paying enough attention to said addresses. As he realized, when his nephew vaulted over a stone wall, into the courtyard of a modestly appointed upper-ring home. 

There was a low rumble, as if of a ten-ton animal pleasantly surprised. 

Then much shouting, as if of several children, who did not find ‘pleasant’ to be applicable. 

Iroh sighed and, not finding a gate, politely knocked on the stone wall itself. 

The Avatar’s earthbender obliged him a moment later, a gap in the wall opening as easily as a shoji door slid. 

“Hey, Uncle,” the girl said, with a smile toothier than most predators. “Did you misplace your nephew again?”

“I also have tea again,” said Iroh, lifting up the conciliatory basket he’d only just had time to pack before chasing his nephew’s upbeat attitude out the door. 

“Score,” said Miss Beifong, stepping aside. 

“Toph!” barked the Water Tribe boy. “We do not double the Fire Nation’s invasion forces!”

Iroh set out a teacup for him, regardless. Miss Beifong helpfully bent a stone table for him to work atop. Overall, this neither lessened nor greatly increased the level of shouting in the courtyard. 

“I’m not here for you,” his nephew was saying, with familiar levels of scorn. “Move aside, Avatar.”

“You can’t have him!” said the young Avatar. “I just got him back!”

“Who do you think got him back?”

Iroh let both tea and confusion steep. 

“Do you like persimmon-oranges?” asked his nephew, much more hesitantly.

“I… guess?” said the Avatar, before over his head, a great tongue licked the fruit from his nephew’s offering hand. Similarly, the rest of the basket. And then the rest of his nephew, who stared down at his dripping clothes with the same befuddlement with which the Avatar’s group were staring at him.

“Did we all get some kind of crazy fever from the lake water? Or from evil cave mold?” asked the Water Tribe boy. “Is that what this is?”

…That would make more sense than a spiritual fever, perhaps.

Hahn (16) is quite a bit jealous that the princess is spoken for when it should have been HIM becoming the next chief. He and his group trick Zuko (14) into climbing the cliffs.

Zuko falls all the way in and has to melt his way out. But it's OK because he found a gem that perfectly matches Yue's eyes! A couple years later, this will be the gem he uses to make her betrothal necklace.

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?

Zhao attempts to kill the moon, but the Gaang manages to get there in time. Zuko gets in the way, attempting to push the fish out of his hands and gets hurt.

With the use of water from the spirit pond, they heal most of his injuries. The only one they couldn't fully heal is the one over his left eye. He's so scared that Yue will hate him now with such a disgraceful burn. But she loves her husband no matter what.

Bow before Chieftess Yue and her consort Chief-King Zuko.

Zukos rank is directly below Yue, which was decided by them. Arnook and the council didn't like the idea, since that goes against their culture, but Zuko was raised in a society where gender doesn't determine role. He loves his wonderful, intelligent, determined wife. She's a great leader and Zuko is a good support.

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.

Making fire flowers was something Zuko learned to entertain Lala, but she never found it as fun as Princess Yue does.

Doodles of Zue au

This is the beginnings of a Zue au where Zuko is banished to the North Pole/used as a pawn to keep the water savages under the Fire Nation thumb. If their prince marries Yue, he becomes the chief consort, so it's like the Fire Nation took over without having to actually do anything.

At first they are distrustful, since they've both been raised with stories of the other nation being evil. But Zuko is such a sweety and Yue is smart, they figure out that they are actually destined to be bffs!

Also, the person giving Zuko away here isn't Ozai. It's some diplomat.

Noodle incident

Inktober 2022 Day 2 - Scurry

Katara: I’m getting worried about how many nightmares you’ve been having.

Zuko: It’s okay. My nightmares are usually about losing you, but I’m okay once I realize you’re here.

What if zuko has body dysmorphia. Like along with the hearing and sight loss he just hates the scar so much. He can stand to see it, cringes anytime his hand brushes against it. It triggers him when people mention it.

I want zuko clawing at his face, growing out his hair just to hide it at much as possible, immediately tenses when he hears 's', the gaang is super protective of him and defends his honour anytime someone goes for a low blow, uncle tries to help zuko accept that part of himself, and the scar is like the only thing azula avoids because she's never seen zuko react like that.