好きです

thank you so much🩷🩷

one thing i think is so Neat about atla is how all the main bender characters have an arc that corresponds to their "opposite" element. zuko's arc is about the capacity to change yourself and your worldview, and the culmination of his arc is learning a move inspired by waterbending. katara is all about passion and drive, wanting to become a great waterbender and fight for what she believes in, and over the course of the show she comes into her power. toph's arc involves getting free of her restrictive family and connecting with a community, and aang's arc is about learning to stand fast in his beliefs and confront difficult issues head-on. it's a beautiful bit of symmetry that reinforces the show's point about the illusion of separation

i think this might be why i've never thought aang's decision in the finale was "selfish". aang was someone who ran from responsibility bc it (understandably) scared him, and often when he did try to "be responsible" it was out of guilt rather than a genuine commitment to his role as the avatar (agreeing to fong's plan in "the avatar state", striking out on his own in "the awakening"). he either avoided the issue or did what he thought others wanted him to do to "atone". but in the finale when he approaches the issue of killing ozai, he is not running from responsibility. he knows he must take down ozai and is prepared to do so. and his final course of action is not based on guilt or what he thinks others want from him, but on how he approaches the task of being the avatar, from his perspective as the last airbender. he takes ownership of his responsibility as the avatar and does his duty in his own way

for those wondering about the Fic in question Through Fire and Rain by Kemnam

the reveal that mizu is not only the ronin but also the bride is so well executed. the way she walks the line between man and woman, white and japanese, victor and victim... it's good fucking writing.

im normal about this monologue and think about it an ordinary amount