Everyone Is Like “zuko Is The Dad Of The Gaang” And “Katara Is The Mom!” But Consider- You Are

what is wrong with him

favorite atla fics are the ones where the gaang finds out roku is zukos great grandfather and aang’s immediate reaction is to start hollering “GREAT GRANDSON!!!” at zuko like. aang’s 12 but is canonically the embodiment of embarrassing grandpa it’s perfect

its so funny how katara stays being the only person zuko doesn't yell at when they're rightfully mad at him.

zuko with everyone: 🤬😤😡🙄

zuko with katara: im sorry 🥺 thats something we have in common 😔 what can i do to make it up to you queen i waited outside your tent all night 😕

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. 🥰)

zukka week 2019 day 5: touch

nothin like a good ol avatar zuko au to soothe the soul

i had the most MESSED UP idea last night where joel gets bit, but instead of attacking ellie he just gets like, ferally protective of her. (More than usual, i mean)

(Maybe this is because of her weird fungal variant, maybe because their love is ONE IN A MILLION or maybe some combination of the two idk)

Like ellie SOMEHOW got all his weapons from him before he could off himself, because she just couldnt watch him do that. Cordyceps!joel coming towards her, and she’s holding her knife up between them, sobbing because SHE CANT DO IT she cant hurt him, but he just pushes the knife aside and grabs her arm, inspecting her bite marks, sniffing her all the way up her arm to her neck to her head, then gathers her up in his arms under his chin. She can feel his lips on her hair, can hear him grunting in a strange rhythmic way, almost like he’s trying to hum. Eventually she feels something other than his lips on her head, realizes it’s the fungal tendrils coming from his mouth.

cordyceps!joel brings her dead deer and rabbits, destroys any infected who threaten her, cradles her like a baby when he can tell that she’s upset. When they come near humans, he heeds her when she makes him hide and not attack. (Except when the humans are raiders, she lets joel eat those.)

on the nights it’s so cold she needs a fire, cordyceps!joel sits 20 feet behind her, grumbling, until ellie yells at him to be quiet. (he is NOT a fan of the fire)

Joel eventually becoming a clicker. She leads him by the hand through the wilderness, learns to communicate with him by clicking just as much as talking. She finds herself in front of a mirror one day in an old cabin looking for supplies, and doesnt recognize herself. If anyone saw her they’d assume she was infected without a second thought.

Oh god HOW DOES IT END does he finally get taken down by a bullet, ellie holding him as he chokes on his own blood, soothing him with her voice because he doesnt even understand what’s happening??? Does she finally put him down, knowing joel is long gone and he wouldnt want to live like this?? do they continue on like that forever, until ellie’s forgotten how to speak? OH ITS TERRIBLE someone take it away from me

Ok but Zuko using the knowledge he acquired during his banishment to help him as the Fire Lord. Like making small talk with Earth Kingdom dignitaries about their local foods that he enjoyed and even misses. Like having in-depth conversations with his captains about sea currents and navigation. Like, in the middle of a meeting with several high-ranking naval officials, pointing out flails in security, like how a person can cling to a Fire Nation ship for hours at a time, or climb aboard using hatches on the upper decks, or disguise themselves as a lower ranking guard with easily accessible spare armour….

Though none of his experiences can prepare Zuko for the long, awkward silence that comes after he admits to doing or at least knowing something illegal and/or completely buck wild

She will (and he'll let her)

Hey, I wanna talk about a piece of fridge brilliance (pun intended) in The Boiling Rock.

Specifically, about the Coolers. And about Zuko.

The Coolers are, first and foremost, a means of firebender suppression. They are invoked as a punishment against unsanctioned firebending. They are designed, specifically, to shut down firebenders who have toed out of line. Like the metal prison in Imprisoned, like the suspended cages in The Puppet Master, these are prison facilities designed with a specific sort of bender in mind.

So then - Zuko.

Why throw Zuko in the Cooler as part of the escape plan? He should be EXACTLY the sort of person the Cooler is designed to work most devastatingly against. It would almost make more sense to try to get Sokka thrown into the cooler - he’s from the South Pole at least. Or maybe Suki, who’s not a bender at all. But they choose Zuko. And he’s successful. Subjected to the most severe form of firebender suppression in the Fire Nation’s most high-profile prison, Zuko is able to dismantle the Cooler and walk away smiling.

Why? 

I want to walk you through some facts:

In a tidbit of behind-the-scenes trivia, it was revealed that airbenders can regulate their body temperature with their breath alone. This is why Aang is so weirdly comfortable traveling around the South and North Pole (and really any climate in the series) in his normal monk garb. Everyone else changes outfits to reflect the changing climate, but not Aang, his breath has that covered.

It would be quite useful if a technique like that could be adapted to another style of bending. The same way that a waterbender’s redirection of their opponent’s energy could be adapted to the redirection of a firebender’s lightning. I bet the man who invented lightning redirection by studying waterbending would have some brilliant insight into using the breath for warmth by studying airbending.

In fact, that exact man tells Zuko “Remember your breath of fire. It could save your life out there.” back in Siege of the North. We see Zuko use his breath to warm himself that very episode, per his uncle’s instructions.

And we see Zuko use his breath of fire in one other case:

To endure the cooler.

I’m willing to bet - Breath of Fire, as a means to keep oneself warm, is not a native firebending technique. If it was, the whole concept of the Cooler would be laughable. Any prisoner would just Breath-o-Fire himself warm in there, and the prison guards would all collectively say “oh wow, the Cooler was a stupid idea, time for a new plan.”

But we know a traditional firebender would be sapped so cold in the Cooler that his firebending becomes unusable. If Zuko were relying on traditional firebending techniques, the same would happen to him. But he’s not.

Zuko’s Breath of Fire is an airbending technique. 

One that Iroh taught him. One the Fire Nation has no precedent for. One which lets Zuko ward off the freezing effects of the Cooler like it’s nothing, and allows him to dismantle it from the inside and come away smiling, unhindered, unaffected, warm to his core. 

It’s another case of Iroh’s brilliance. And I’m betting he and Zuko may be the only two firebenders in the world who could pull this off.

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