Universal Truth

In the past three years the Wani crew clung to the few constants in life. Lt. Jee’s armour failing to not creak. Cook Dekku taking the Princess’ side in an argument. General Iroh drinking questionable plants if it had the slightest possibility of being a good tea. Princess Usha making Bad Decisions regarding her safety if it had the slightest possibility of leading her towards the Avatar.

But the biggest constant was that Zhao was The Worst and they had to kill him.

They’re not kidding, well, not anymore.

In the beginning it was just an off handed comment. A response to seeing him push and push and push the buttons of their recently banished commander. A catopus toying with a mouseguppy.

Later, as Usha grew and developed, they became serious. Zhao’s gaze lingered, his smile grew sharper, and his words gained double meaning. And he touched, casual and fleeting, careful enough to seem innocent but with intent.

They never left Usha alone with him. Not after the Hair Incident. If General Iroh wasn’t available then it was Natsuo, who could earthbend, or Hanako, quick and precise with a knife, or Minh, large and stern faced.

...

So when they finally found the Avatar, they knew it was their chance at finally keeping Usha safe.

They pushed down the guilt of chasing after a child. A cackling, baby faced boy who was easily swayed by the smile of a pretty eye patch wearing girl and the promises of sweet cream and cakes.

They pushed further down the guilt of fighting a gangly limbed boy and a fierce faced girl struggling to control her bending.

Usha came first.

(Princess Usha already apologized for the whole ship to ice wall misunderstanding, so they were absolved.)

...

Lips were pressed tight and tongues were bitten when they docked at Zhao’s port. The Avatar was Usha’s to capture and not for the ladder climbing leech that was Zhao.

...

He still found out. You can’t accidentally set Kyoshi Island on Fire and not have the world find out why.

Nice going, Daishi.

...

What kind of asshole challenges a teenager to an Agni Kai?

The same one that gets beat by a teenager who’s still practicing her basics.

...

Normally one would discourage wearing jewelry found on the floor of a prison. But the Princess pulled it off quite well.

...

Natsuo really deserves a promotion or a raise or both. Cause it’s one thing to save General Iroh from a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers, but it’s a completely different thing to save a naked General.

Thank Agni none of them had any Fire Nation ancestry else they might’ve figured out Natsou’s little lava trick.

...

Fuck Zhao. And fuck Roku too, worst ancestor ever.

Who makes a volcano erupt on purpose!?

...

They really needed to talk about Usha’s habit of pinning people to flat surfaces. Poor Waterbender is getting redder than their uniforms.

It’s Minh’s fault to be honest. The moment he showed her how to wrestle larger opponents they had lost the battle.

They could’ve gone without the unexpected ambush by the pirates. But it did give them an excuse to punch people in the face.

They lost the avatar, again. But they did end with a boatload of treasure. So, win?

...

WHY IS THERE AN ARROW ON YOUR SHOULDER!?

...

They’re not getting a Shirshu. No matter how much Usha and Genji beg.

Sure they can afford one now. But they’ll need to train it. And Satomi isn’t very optimistic about General Iroh’s blood pressure if June continues to interact with the Princess.

...

Music night.

Music night was safe and relaxing. Where they could unwind and take a breather. Maybe even have a little drink or two. If they were lucky Usha might even sing.

Nothing can go wrong on music night.

...

Bad news, Zhao was Admiral now.

Worse news, he was commandeering them to be part of an invasion force against the Northern Water Tribe.

Good news, Zhao will now be too busy and too far away to make moves on your still very much underage commander.

Fun news, you get to watch the Princess blow holes in the logic of planning to attack a polar city full of waterbenders during winter.

Weird news, instead of blowing his lid like usual Zhao is instead inviting Usha to be part of the invasion.

Horrible news, she said yes.

Worst news, you later find out that her rooms are close to Zhao’s.

Good news, no one will ever suspect foul play if Zhao dies during the invasion. They just had to keep Usha way from Zhao until they reached the North Pole.

Nothing but smooth swimming from then on.

...

Was gonna write a Drabble but it basically turned into a mini outline. So, yay(?) structure.

More Posts from Dadriusstan and Others

dadriusstan

1 year ago

Ellie can have 2 girlfriends. As a treat.

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dadriusstan

2 years ago

Sokka: I told my sister you have a crush on her.

Fire Lord Zuko: Guards!!

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dadriusstan

2 years ago

"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.

729 notes View Post

dadriusstan

2 years ago

pov you're Darius

18K notes View Post

dadriusstan

1 year ago

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*

96 notes View Post

dadriusstan

2 years ago

Somebody give Ellie a camera rn

ellie finds a polaroid camera

11K notes View Post

dadriusstan

2 years ago

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

43 notes View Post

dadriusstan

2 years ago

Artist Zuko really is one of the best things in the world!!😍

HE IS!! I love the idea of it being therapeutic for him (hence his characterization in All the Lights are Shining). I also love the idea of him just being super casual about it. I headcanon that it was something he had to learn as part of his formal education like all of the other noble kids, but he just became exceptional at it. His mother encouraged him (of course) and Iroh continued to do so once Zuko was in his care. So Zuko is just like, “Yeah. This is a skill I was required to learn, but it’s also one of my favorite hobbies and it helps me work through all of my emotions and trauma. And I guess I’m kind of decent at it?”

Also, when the Gaang finds out he can draw, Suki and Toph mercilessly tease Sokka about how much better an artist Zuko is than him. And Katara and Aang want Zuko to teach them how to draw. They keep asking him and he finally relents. It turns out Aang is pretty decent, but Katara is just as bad as Sokka. Zuko is just perplexed by that because Katara excels at so many things, so how is she so bad at this?

(I just have a lot of ideas surrounding artist!Zuko. 🥰)

50 notes View Post

dadriusstan

2 years ago