Fixed Those Hexside Multitrack Uniforms For Ya 😩

Zutara Week 2022 Day 6: Closeness

Katara doesn't like losing to Sokka, now she needs some reinforcement.

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Woops! Don't worry, Katara. Get some little payback >:3

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This will be my last entry for the zk week. Thank you everyone! 😊 I'm so glad to celebrate the event with you guys! And thank you for Zutara Week mod for organizing this event, for 15 years this ship is staying strong 💜

My entries look mostly a bit rushed on the lineart and bg haha, it had been a bit of a juggle between irl stuff 😅 but I wouldn't miss celebrating this ship. Happy 15th Zutara Week, everyone! 💜

This flashback in ATLA, Azulon becoming enraged with Ozai for disrespecting Iroh and the recently deceased Lu Ten, is usually interpreted as Azulon then ordering Ozai to kill Zuko. I disagree with this for two reasons. 1: We don’t actually hear Azulon say that, it’s only referred to by Azula (who was around seven or eight at the time and might have misunderstood what she heard) and by Ozai, years later, when he is taunting Zuko on the Day of Black Sun. Neither Azula nor Ozai are reliable narrators. 2: Azulon is, at the time of this flashback, the ruler of the Fire Nation who has just lost one of his only two grandsons and heirs. What kind of monarch loses one heir and then turns around and demands the death of another, especially when losing Zuko would hardly bother Ozai? My interpretation of this situation is Azulon ordered Ozai to give Zuko into Iroh’s care, replacing Lu Ten as Iroh’s heir, neatly removing any argument Ozai had about Iroh’s line having ended. Ozai of course would never accept this. He either lied to Ursa, claiming Azulon wished Zuko dead, or outright told his wife he’d kill Zuko before seeing him get ahead of him in the line of succession, thus manipulating Ursa to help him assassinate Azulon. I think this theory makes far more logical sense than ‘Azulon ordered the murder of his nine-year-old grandson’.

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

Zuko

he's very good at masking about 90% of the time

struggles with social cues sometimes?

he walks a very odd line between missing social cues because autism and being hyperaware of social cues because abuse victim

positive attention is a little foreign to him - people flirt with him all the time and he just barrels right on through

he scripts things out everything. practices random conversations with turtleducks. has entire scrolls of "what to say if..." laying around his room.

unrelated but his customer service voice is ever-present in Official Political Meetings

a fascinating special interest in tea

can and will infodump at the drop of a hat

lots of finger stims (they're small and easy to hide)

facial expressions mean nothing folks

super smooth fabrics bother him

he doesn't really like how fire feels - his own is pretty nice, and aang's is usually okay, but everyone else's is sketchy

hates hates hates the texture of his scar

listen zuko just infodumps a lot

Family breakfasts with Tommy have become somewhat of a routine.

He comes over on the days Maria leaves for her work early (which is more often than not), eats her granola and drinks Joel's coffee, and they talk about whatever they feel like, though Ellie loves asking him about his recent patrols. She kicks her feet up into Joel's lap and draws it out as long as she can before sprinting all the way to school, but it's worth it if it means just one more story.

Today, though, she's late. Really fucking late. It's not her fault she got a bit distracted by the new book Tommy had brought her last afternoon (it's about SPACE Joel, that trumps school and sleep by a mile), but now she had about five minutes to get out of the house and into the classroom. Ellie barrels down the stairs, bag slung over her shoulder, and has to catch herself on the banister to not slip on the floor once she jumps over the last few steps

"Careful, baby," Joel calls over, worriedly watching her put on her shoes while standing on one leg, jumping to keep her balance. Tommy, on the other hand, looks majorly amused, and she can hear him chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, old man, I can keep my balance just fine."

She ties her laces so she doesn't trip once she starts running and is about to leave when Joel whistles to call her back.

"Breakfast, Ellie."

Fucking Joel and his stupid rules, but Ellie spins on the spot and uses the kitchen door frame to propel herself toward the counter and pick up two apples for later, stuffing them into her bag with a happy? thrown over her shoulder.

"Mh, have a nice day at school, kiddo," he tries to sound all parental, but she can hear the softness bleeding through and just knows he's holding back a grin. Ellie crosses the distance between them with two big steps and slings her arms around his neck, allowing herself the luxury of melting against him for a few precious seconds when he gently rubs his thumbs over her wrists and lifts her clasped hands to press a kiss to her knuckles.

With a heavy sigh and a silent fuck you to whoever invented math, she pulls back, but not without pressing a kiss to Joel's cheek, basking in the smile he gives her; it's so easy to make him happy, and she does it as much as she can.

Ellie can feel Tommy's eyes on them, he always watches them with a gleeful mixture of amusement and affection, and over the last year, he has settled into the warm parts of her heart, too. He is right between her and the door, sipping on his coffee, so, really, it's not even a conscious choice, more of a reflex.

Her hand comes down on the table when she steps toward the front door and away from Joel, balancing herself so she can lean around the back of his chair and press a quick kiss to his cheek, too. Ellie bites back the small laugh bubbling up when she sees the expression on his face, mouth slightly open, eyes seeking help from Joel, who simply shrugs and picks up his cup again.

Another minute ticks by on the kitchen clock, and she is finally on her way out, the goodbye she yells at them cut off when the front door slams close behind her.

-

("What the hell was that?"

"She is laying her claim on you."

"Whatever that means, Joel, she's your kid, not mine."

"Better get ready to give up your personal space and half your closet."

"My clothes, really?"

"You never know what she might do next, prepare for the worst."

"Are you sure she's not yours? 'Cause this sounds oddly familiar."

"Oh, she is, she just found me all on her own."

"Glad she did, haven't seen you smile like that in twenty years."

"Give it a week and I'll tell you the same thing.")

"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.

here's a thing

Deep deep deeeeeeep down, buried under layers of "DONE" and existential crisis, I'm sure our lieutenant cares about the teen toddler. I mean tyrant. I mean---

[ID: digital sketch of zuko and jee form avatar the last Airbender. jee is lying on his bed, frowning up at a small child version of zuko that sits on his chest and holds a wet sock in jee's face.End ID.]

I know it's not… something anyone of us expected…

but I want you two anons to know that you set in my head, thoughts and ideas in motion, and now Zuko's a bit too big sock is wet and lt. jee has to fix it because uncle is sleeping!

and… jee never expected to have kids… but here we are…

sorry jee… (at least you have the bunk bed with the porthole!)

okay but the idea of ellie just. gaslighting people in jackson who try to be nosy and ask about her being adopted by maintaining that she’s his biological child 

just totally deadpan “yeah everyone says i look JUST like him” 

*visible confusion of someone DESPERATELY trying to make the math work*

Camp Camp au where everything’s the same but every time Preston gets scared/frightened he jumps into Max’s arms