#@orangepanic

13. Do they have potential to be toxic if they’re usually healthy?

Yeah. They definitely do.

Neither of them are incredibly good at expressing their emotions. Zuko is passionate and loud, but also very rash and temperamental, Mai is quiet and composed but that means she holds everything back until she explodes. When they fight, they fight. And it's not pretty. So I would say what toxicity their relationship does have is less like not supporting each other or being controlling or dishonest or anything like that - if these two would be toxic, it would be due to lack of communication. (Good communication, specifically - Zuko yelling and Mai not talking is not a good combo. And yeah, Zuko does, canonically, get jealous. So maybe a little of that, too.)

42. Who is the sensible mature one?

I would argue Mai, personally. I think Zuko is smart - a lot smarter than many people seem to give him credit for - but like I said above, he's a little rash and temperamental, and while he can definitely be mature and make hard decisions, he can also act purely on instinct. I think Mai is more the one who sits back, thinks about the possibilities a bit more, and makes the "mature" choice.

(Which is something, I think, that she has to un-learn to an extent as she grows up - she has to unlearn how to always be the quiet thinker, and has to learn that sometimes, it's okay to act on instinct alone.)

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5. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?

No. It's more like @authorjoydragon's squishmallows take over my side of the bed every night and I'm left with about 1 inch of space before the edge of the bed.

28. How are you, really?

Fuckin tired of living in a hotel room, that's for damn sure.

49. What does your last text say?

I congratulated my sister on graduating college (not typing it out because I can't be bothered and because it has potentially identifiable info that I don't want online).

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Taangst, you say?

Okay it's not too bad actually. This isn't Taangst Week 2.0. Not yet, anyways. (@mycomfortblanket and @authorjoydragon still won't let me do that.)

One of Toph's biggest regrets is that she didn't make a move on Aang when she could. They'd been young and free and single...and she hadn't made a move. She's never sure why she didn't - just that she regrets it every day that she never had the chance.

She always thought she would, and then police departments, conflicts, new nations, and time got in the way, and before she knew it, a lifetime had blinked by.

And then Aang was gone.

The one comfort she has, running her fingers over the metal versions of group portraits Aang had made her for her, decades ago, is that each day, she's a day closer to seeing him again.

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9. What do they dislike most about the other? Why?

Zuko, occasionally, dislikes how quiet Mai is about the things she actually wants and needs. She's very independent, and he respects her immensely for that, but he'd like to be able to do things for her or get things for her, and sometimes she just...doesn't tell him, and it can, sometimes, be very hard to figure it out.

Mai dislikes how emotional and loud Zuko can get sometimes. She admires his passion - actually, that's part of why she loves him - but sometimes, if she just needs a quiet moment to herself, Zuko can unintentionally interrupt that. He means well, but it still grates on her nerves from time to time.

10. Do they share any hobbies or interests? How do these things bring them together?

One of their main hobbies that they like, one that Mai introduced Zuko to, is bladedancing. It's mostly Mai's thing, but Zuko enjoys it when he has time, and they have a tradition that at official events and festivals they perform a bladedance together.

Another one is art, stemming from Zuko's time studying under Piandao. Painting isn't something he really practiced for a long time, but he re-learned it slowly over the years. Mai, for her part, enjoys making charcoal sketches - she's not as good as Zuko, admittedly, but still very good and she finds it relaxing. So when they have time they'll sit on the balcony of their chambers together, Zuko painting and Mai sketching. Usually while shit-talking members of the council.

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OCEAN - What lurks in the depths of the ocean, if anything?

Well, like our world, a lot is down there. Goblin sharks, giant squid, spider crabs, volcanic vents, strange animals and plants that, at least, at the time the stories for this world are set in, no one has seen (no one has ventured, personally, to the deepest depths of the ocean). But arguably the most notorious and most awe-inspiring creatures to be found in the sea are the leviathans.

Gigantic creatures ranging from a hundred to feet to up to a mile long, they resemble eels or sea-going snakes (although, technically, they are a cousin to dragons), and have large eyes, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and in some deep-sea species, even an echolocation system, similar to that of sperm whales. They are generally considered to be a terrifying species, something of nightmares, but the truth is quite different.

In reality, leviathans are highly intelligent and quite docile - sailors have reported leviathans swimming alongside ships, as if racing them, and even playing with the sailors on deck (squirting water at them, playing "fetch", breaching the water to splash them, and so on). They are, for all their fearsome appearance, regarded as some of the most beautiful creatures in the sea, with multicolored, luminescent scales that are said to shine at all hours of the day.

Some sailors have even reported that, when they were lost at sea beyond all hope, that it was leviathans that saved them. The Kasoni have legends that, in the ancient days, the leviathans were the first life to emerge, and were the protectors of all that came afterwards. Rare, today, they are a celebrated sight whenever one comes near the surface, regarded as a symbol of good luck for sailors.

(That said they can still be incredibly dangerous - they will bring down ships if angered, and nothing will stop them short of a small nuclear weapon.)

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Ah, yes, I remember that fic. Taangst Week Day 5. The Week of Pain. You got your revenge for that, though. Like, a lot of revenge.

(Yo @stitch1830 @authorjoydragon @mycomfortblanket @badlucksav when is Taangst Week 2: The Pain Continues?)

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This. I like this. I guess technically these fit more alongside the idea of "sword and planet" or "sword and stars", but eh. It's close enough.

The "Freedom Fighters" are a group of smugglers/bounty hunters, mostly doing good with a little bit of bad. They travel the galaxy aboard their ship, the Gaipan, just trying to pick up the pieces of themselves they left behind in the "War in Heaven" between the Firestar Empire and the Terran Kingdom that tore the galaxy apart when they were kids.

Jet is the snarky, wise-cracking captain, Longshot his taciturn second in command and pilot. Smellerbee is the weapons and demolitions expert, Pipsqueak the cook - complete with the eyepatch and prosthetic hand, because every sci-fi ship needs to follow Treasure Planet's example and have a funky cook with a weird hand - and the Duke is a much-younger thief that Pipsqueak adopted during the War. Sneers, meanwhile, is the ship's supremely grumpy A.I. who just kind of shows up when he feels like it.

They have a pet space whale. Well, they it a pet, but they're not really sure what it actually does - it just kinda follows them around, system to system, and they don't really know why. They even asked Jet's ex, Katara, an expert in interstellar life, and all she could do was shrug, because it mystified her, too. (Its name is Whale, per suggestion from The Duke.)

Longshot and Smellerbee have a tendency to, uh, disappear for several hours at a time. The Duke always wonders why, and Pipsqueak and Jet find it hilarious that the kid hasn't figured out that they're dating yet. (It's not that The Duke is pretending to be stupid as a joke - he seriously just hasn't figured it out, and no one is sure how he hasn't.)

Jet is madly in love with an expert hacker and martial artist from a rival crew named Ty Lee. This usually ends up causing the Gaipan to lose out on contracts, mostly by accident because she and Jet end up getting stuck in ridiculous situations together, and both the rest of the Freedom Fighters and Dangerous Ladies have to take time to find them and get them out of their sticky situation. It's gotten so bad that there's a betting pool between the crews on how long it takes them to end up stuck.

Asami is a sucker for Water Tribe food. She tried it once on a business trip, and fell in love with the stuff - but she has absolutely no idea why. It confuses her so much because she'd never liked it before, and suddenly she just can't get enough. Iroh, especially, is confused, because he is...not the biggest fan of Water Tribe food. Especially sea prunes (Asami's favorite, much to Katara and Korra's delight). He hates them, but pestered Katara and Korra into teaching him how to make them for her. Iroh is willing to make them for her - but spirits, he will never, ever eat them again.