Geekyness

I’m not picky!

I’m not demonizing it for another ship. It demonized itself and I’m calling the writers out on writing something so horrible.

Mai and Zuko’s relationship is purely physical. There is not one instance in which she is there for him emotionally. Zuko tries to make her happy multiple times. Mai has no respect for Zuko. She never says one good thing about him. She doesn’t understand him nor try to. She disagrees with him standing up against his abusive father. She doesn’t even know who he is other than some kid she ogled at when she was six. Their relationship is shallow and cold.

Things we don’t see Mai do: -manipulate or attempt to control Zuko in any way shape or form. She’s always upfront with him about their relationship and her feelings during it, and she supports him even to the point of endangering herself

Things we see Mai do: 

• The Awakening: Mai tells Zuko that his abuse is “silly” and refuses to listen to his very real worries and fears about facing his abuser again after three years away. Zuko opens up, and Mai yawns at him, tells him “I just asked if you were cold, I didn’t ask for your whole life story.” Then, Mai leaves him alone outside, visibly distraught over a very real fear. She does not care about his life. She does not care about the past three years she did not see him. All she cares about is that when she was six, she thought he was cute, and he’s the prince, so that’s pretty cool to date him. The Awakening is the first scene in which we, the audience, are show their relationship. The only foresight we are shown is in a half-assed comic strip in a magazine only diehards would know about. In that comic strip, Mai also is set up as a manipulative scheme by Azula to be with Zuko. Mai also throws an ice dagger at his head, and laughs when he tells her that wasn’t okay. 

• The Beach: Mai ridicules Zuko the entire beginning of the episode. She scoffs at him when he brings her ice cream, and mocks him. She derides him for giving her a shell. She barks at him at the party and orders him around like a dog. She slaps him by the campfire. She screams at him, encouraging Azula and Ty Lee to shout at him aggressively to open up about his strife until he emotionally cracks. 

• Nightmares and Daydreams: Mai only cares about Zuko’s royal perks. Zuko is visibly distressed, and all she cares about is fruit tarts. Mai calls the war meeting “stupid” and reminds him “what happened the last time he went to a war meeting”, shoving his failure and biggest regret in his face. When he tries to open up again, she talks about fruit tarts. Mai kisses him on the couch and cuddles, but all they have is physical things. You are using cuddling as a pro to their relationship, but that has nothing to do with what a real, genuine, loving relationship should entail, which is support, love, understanding, and trust. They have none of that at all whatsoever. 

• The Boiling Rock: Mai throws things at Zuko. Mai insults Zuko. Mai does not attempt to understand at all why Zuko left. When he explains, she shuts him down, again. She does not care about his dreams, hopes, beliefs, morals, or goals. All of these things are of exemplary importance to Zuko and integral to his character. Mai is gray morally and cares for nothing. Zuko talks about how he has to save his country, and she calls it a betrayal. This shows, beyond doubt, that she does not even know who Zuko is, nor does she care. Zuko told her she stood up to his abuser. Mai should be proud. He did it in a bad way, of course, but he did it to protect her, and she refuses to understand. She does sacrifice her life for him, but it felt like a last ditch to “convince the audience” she did care because it felt like we were supposed to believe she didn’t. 

• Avatar Aang: Mai threatens Zuko with implicit violence to stay in a relationship. I don’t care if it was ~a joke~. Would that be funny if Zuko did it to Mai? Reverse the roles in any of these scenarios, and ask yourself, would you be okay with that portrayal if Zuko was a woman and Mai was a man? I don’t see how anyone could say yes. It’s harder to see abuse through a man’s lens due to the way society has crafted it, but once biases are set aside, this relationship is very disturbing. 

(I don’t know how you feel about the comics. I think they’re shit, but if they are of any validity to you, it only paints Maiko in a harsher and more abusive light) 

•The Promise: Mai abandons Zuko at his lowest moment when he is suicidal and people are trying to murder him just because he didn’t tell anyone he was so upset and felt he couldn’t confide in anyone and he went to his father because he was so low emotionally. 

•The Search: Mai is not there for Zuko the entire heart-aching search for his long lost mother, arguably the most important mission of his entire life to him. 

•Smoke and Shadow: Oh boy. Buckle up. There are so, so, so many fucked things Mai does in this, I have written several meta on it explicitly. I’ll try to précis for you. Mai exploits a boy who loves her to get to Zuko. Mai witnesses her father attempt to kill Zuko and his entire family, and lets her father go. Zuko asks Mai upfront if her father is leading the coup that tried to assassinate him, and she lies to his face, saying no, therefore endangering Zuko and his whole family’s lives. Mai knows that her father will stop at nothing to kill Zuko, he told her this, and she still says nothing. Mai defames Zuko the entire time. She says he is a terrible fire lord. She says that he is turning into his father. She slanders his choice in friends. When she is forced to come clean for her little brother’s sake, not Zuko’s, or because she feels guilty or scared for him, she yells at Zuko for not instantly sympathizing with her situation and for being upset. This is the definition and paragon of gaslighting. Zuko should have had her executed for aiding and abetting: treason. She never apologizes once to him, instead: she makes Zuko apologize. 

You know what’s the best part about the Agni Kai that screams ZUTARA? It’s these; Zuko reaching out for Katara even with all the pain he’s in and Katara reaching for him in desperation even with Azula on the offensive.

The cool thing about being an artist is I can draw literally whatever I want lol I just wanted to draw him looking absolutely needy .__.

WHY HAVE I SEEN NO ONE TALK ABOUT HOW THE GRACE SCULPTURE LOOKS LIKE THE LITTLE DUDE FROM THIS MEME

< Intro | Chapter 1 Self aware Sylus x gn reader, hurt/comfort CW: vomit, derealization, general sickness wc: 1.7k

You slowly stir back into consciousness, a gooey exhaustion clinging to your entire body and weighing you down uncomfortably. A wave of motion sickness flows through you as you attempt to sit up, having to try multiple times in order to get your aching muscles to cooperate.

Your vision spins as you try to reorient yourself. Everything feels just slightly wrong, like a space you were once familiar with has been tampered with, all your belongings moved an inch out of place, causing your body's instinctual memory to falter and stumble over what once felt natural.

But, by far, the greatest discomfort comes from your heart. It aches, a deep, pulsing pain; and it thumps harder than it ever has in your life. Each beat jostles your whole body, and you slump over, your hands clasped over your chest as you tremble.

After a couple of deep breaths to hold the nausea at bay and attempt to calm yourself, you sit upright again, and your vision clears enough to be able to make out your surroundings.

You're in a large, intimidating room with gothic-style decor, dimly lit by flickering firelight that's dampened by walls painted completely black. Your aching body is gently cradled by silk sheets with the highest thread count you've ever felt. Something about this room tugs at the edges of your memory, but it slips away whenever you attempt to grasp at it. A canopy drapes above you, framing the view of a shadowy-looking city outside the large floor-to-ceiling windows, and…