knife knife

Anonymous asked a question

Hey i get that you're trying to be a good cis writer and it IS good thst you're doing research but how you're reacting to the info is really off putting and to me insulting. Like essentially going squeeeee. It's infantilizing. We're real people not attributes you can add to fictional canonically cis cartoon characters to make them cuter. Sokka would not be "caught" doing that. (that one especially insulted me because it's not naughty. You are caught doing bad things. Euphoria is beautiful)

So let me start by saying your feelings are totally valid, so please no hate for this anon in the comments.

Let me continue by saying that people are sharing their life experiences. LOTS of people are. Which is inherently exciting because look at this beautiful community, look at these amazing people, look at these lived experiences that hurt and heal.

EXTREME EXCITEMENT is how I react to amazing things, and all y'all's input on this is indeed amazing. I'm sorry if it comes off as infantilizing, but I'm also unsure that pretending to be another dead-inside adult who doesn't find other people's experiences Astounding, Beautiful, Very Good is a thing that the world needs.

I would definitely not turn this enthusiasm on unsuspecting people, but everyone replying here has voluntarily stepped forward to do so. My general feelings on that subject is to validate the hell out of that act by showering credits into whatever novel comes of this + giving previews of how the character is shaping up based on responders' feedback. This is my version of "You have been heard and it shall be done."

And the Sokka who lives in my head, if caught doing fun and self-validating but rather private-for-him things in front of a mirror, would absolutely scream. If it had been the Suki, Toph, Jun, etc who live in my head, they would have grinned and OWNED it. That was meant as a personality-reflecting post, not a summation of the experience as had by all.

Which is sort of the problem in media, and I can absolutely see where that post could be taken wrong: there are so few queer characters of any persuasion that anything risks becoming associated with the queerness rather than the individual character. We needs more rep and more diversity of personality within that rep. We needs it muchly.

Which is very much what I'd like to do in my writing, but I can freely admit that a day-and-a-half of research does not make me any kind of expert on any kind of topic, and I apologise preemptively for any missteps I make along the way.

Also, uh. Between the fact that someone said "agender" in their comments and my brain went "wait that's an OPTION?" and the fact that I stared at the "cis" in this ask for far too long before realizing you meant me, I think it is possibly bold of either of us to assume I'm cis.

first!! You imply several times that gender is a choice. "Responding to .... By refusing to be defined as either" "chooses independence over overt femininity" "plausible developmental path."

People dont choose their gender. Sure, being gender non conforming is a choice but being agender is not something people just decide to do when faced with nasty gender roles. "Independence from overt femininity" could be shown through being gender non conforming or just. Many many things. an agender person is not necessarily masculine or unfeminine – presentation does not equal gender!!! and being agender in itself doesn't mean breaking away from femininity.

Being trans isn't like. A fun way to do character development or to show someones reaction to that. Its not a "developmental path". Sure identity is fluid but it. Doesn't work like that. Discovery of your own gender is a sort of developmental story, emphasis on DISCOVERY, and not like. Changing it or whatever ur implying. Again, not a choice. If you actually want to incorporate an agender character into a plot about misogyny and gender roles, consider the dysphoric effect of having the society you live in divided across such binary lines! Consider the ways in which your existence poses a challenge to people's entire worldviews and the implications of that!

However, this does somewhat confuse the narrative of a female character pushing back against misogyny - it suddenly no longer applies to her, she's the exception and jumps over the line rather than raging against it. There are ways to tell the story that are still deep and compelling but it's a different story to cis girl katara. Misogyny can still affect afab people esp if their identities arent recognised by the society around them, but they arent the primary targets.

In short:

Zuko’s like no, yeah, I totally get it, and just makes her one of his advisors. At first it’s just so she has a good excuse to stay but after the first meeting Toph storms out shouting about how EVERYONE was lying why would you even need to lie about what kind of tea you want??

Zuko: I mean they’re politicians.....but also who, and when, and in what way

They make a subtle Morse code system so Toph can warn him when someone is lying to him without tipping anyone off that she can sense lies.

Azula read through Ty Lee’s letter once, twice, and set it on fire. This was mainly for her own safety, but she couldn’t deny the catharsis it brought her. Of course Zuko had been captured by ‘lovely’ Water Tribe pirates. What else was he going to do? Catch the avatar? Stay in the Earth Kingdom where he probably wouldn’t die? Make a thought-out decision for once in his stupid-worthless-precious life?

Father was going to have him killed, and Mai and Ty Lee couldn’t get him out or they would have done it already, and Azula couldn’t rescue him because she had responsibilities, and she was going to fail and it had been the one thing Mother had thought she could actually succeed at and then she would completely and utterly-

Unless.

Azula knew what she had to do to keep Zuko safe.

(She’d known for years.)

She couldn’t betray her country.

(She could.)

She shouldn’t act so dishonourably.

(Where was the honour in trying to have your own child - a child that didn’t even realise - killed?)

It wouldn’t be easy.

(It was. A knife stolen from the kitchens and one of Mother’s old theatre masks because it looked cool and Mother had been too cowardly so now Azula had to do it.)

—

Ty Lee held up an arm for the Enemy Bird with a wide grin.

Everyone on deck - Fire Nation children excluded - tensed.

“Don’t worry,” she said, with her usual cheeriness, “it’s for me.”

That only made things more worrying. Ty Lee remained oblivious as she uncapped the small wooden tube and tugged out three scrolls, tied in pink, red, and blue ribbon. The pink ribbon came off first and the two girls tilted their heads together to read it. After a moment, the scroll with the red ribbon was handed off to Zuko and they turned to Hakoda.

“This one’s for you!” Ty Lee handed him the final scroll. “I imagine it must be important, blue ribbon is hard to come by in the homeland.” She smiled, like usual, but this one was slightly pinched.

Nervous, Hakoda realised, and wondered if he should be too. He didn’t get to ask, as Ty Lee retreated to the little corner of the deck she and Mai had claimed. Mai kept her eyes on him as he unrolled his letter, but Ty Lee seemed to be re-reading their letter.

He skimmed the letter, then blinked and read it closer.

– Fire Lord tragically passed away tragically a few days ago. Her Majesty, Fire Lord Azula is interested in renegotiating for Prince Zuko’s safe return, if he remains with you and your crew –

“Tui and La,” he muttered.

He caught a glance of Zuko’s scroll. It had two large words on it.

Dum-Dum.

—

“You have an aunt?” The chief asked him, trying to be friendly. Probably

“No,” Zuko replied, because he couldn’t see the harm, “but I have a sister! Azula.”

The chief nodded. “Older than you?”

Zuko nodded back, smiling because he was now pretty sure that this was a Good Conversation, like Pai Sho with Azula or Uncle. The chief seemed to be relieved. “She’s sixteen,” he explained, and that was the wrong this to say, because the chief was frowning and frowning was bad and Zuko didn’t know why he was upset but he was.

“Zuko,” Mai materialised at his side, “come on, Ty Lee needs your help with her hair.”

Zuko mouthed ‘thank you’ between shaky breaths as he crossed the deck to help Panuk and Toklo with Ty Lee’s hair.

“Zuko, finally,” she said. “These two are trying their best, but they don’t do a lot of the rope work on this ship, apparently.”

Panuk looked faintly embarrassed. Toklo just looked grumpy, but he was harmless.

“You can practice on my hair after, if you want,” Zuko offered, midway through a clumsy demonstration. “Ty Lee will probably explain better than me, and she knows how to do loads of different kinds.”

—

Azula went over the numbers again, just in case. They were all correct and in order. Budgets were fast becoming her favourite part of governing. So simple.

Unfortunately, their simplicity meant they were usually finished rather quickly. Azula was left with nothing left to do but go to bed in her new quarters. Father’s old quarters.

(The sheets had been replaced but the bloodstains were still there.)

Azula swallowed past the lump in her throat and flicked back to the first page of the budget report. You could never be too careful.

—

Hakoda glanced at the scroll poking out from beneath Mai’s sleeve. He was curious by nature, and longed to know what the new Fire Lord had written to her brother’s keepers.

“We haven’t told him,” Mai said, quietly enough that only Hakoda could hear, despite Aake only being a few feet away, sanding the rails. “Azula will. It’s her duty.” You won’t either, was the silent threat.

Hakoda had seen her target practice, the outline of her friend and the prince studded into main mast with terrifying precision and not a speck of blood on either of them. He nodded.

“You think the negotiations will go well, then?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Either way, Zuko will go home.”

Hakoda thought about the letters he’d received from both Fire Lords. A father who’d asked for his son’s head and a sixteen-year-old girl who had had to ask if her little brother was still alive. He thought about Sokka and the fierce protectiveness he held for Katara.

Zuko, half burnt after fistfighting his latest assasin: “It’s not that bad. Besides, you’re like twelve, you don't have to worry about this”

Aang: “only tw—I was the one who—! No, you know what? I’m calling your grandpa!”

The councilmen, thinking of Azulon: “?!”

Zuko: “WAIT NO AANG I’M SORRY!”

Aang, meditating aggressively: “TOO LATE.”

Roku, taking Aang’s place: “ZUKO I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS!”

Zuko really believed that Ty Lee didn’t understand who he was at all. He completely bought into the act that she’s just a puppet for Azula, who lives in her “little Ty Lee world where everything’s great all the time”. But the thing is, Ty Lee is one of the most perceptive characters in the show, and she’s excellent at keeping that on the down low, but she sees a lot more of Zuko than he thinks, and a lot of what she sees is very familiar to her.

Overshadowed by prodigious siblings?

Wanting to be acknowledged for the talents you have rather than the talents you don’t?

Kept in line by fear?

Spending your whole life bending over backwards to fit the persona the royal family has set for you?

Azula used blatant intimidation tactics to get Ty Lee to comply, ordering the net to be set on fire and all the animals released (which, for the record, would not only have endangered Ty Lee but the circus creatures themselves–I bet Ty Lee was attached to them, and that would’ve been a double threat in itself). Ty Lee is visibly terrified, but instead of calling her out or letting Azula see that she was intimidated, she says this:

Instead of endangering herself by pointing out that Azula crossed a line, Ty Lee falls back on her talk of “the universe” and “auras,” talk that canonically gets her indulged or dismissed but never taken seriously. 

She knows that Azula’s dangerous. There’s no way she doesn’t know that Azula is threatening her. But if she can keep Azula from realizing she knows that, she’s a little safer. 

Because she’s one of maybe two people Azula never considered as potential enemies–even (especially, but that’s another thread) Ozai is a threat in her mind, but Mai and Ty Lee are the closest thing Azula has to trusted friends, right up until their betrayal. 

Ty Lee’s spent a lifetime cultivating a personality that not only allows her to stands out among her siblings–it protects her from being treated as a threat. When you’re friends with Azula, that is an essential facade to maintain.  and she does it consistently enough that no one ever sees through it.

Azula gets jealous of the male attention that Ty Lee is getting. It’s not the same as being a threat, but it does put Ty Lee in a dangerous position because she has something Azula wants. It doesn’t take much for Azula to turn dangerous and threatening when there’s something she wants and perceives an obstacle in the way, and Ty Lee knows this. And with just a few words, a compliment to Azula, she sets her at ease and makes herself seem vapid (“just laugh at whatever they say even if it’s not funny”) while giving advice. Which means Azula can take or leave her advice but won’t perceive Ty Lee as a real threat to the attention she craves because Ty Lee is getting attention for “being vapid” and not because she’s naturally beautiful and charming.

Zuko, born with his face half done up in vividly beautiful Water Tribe wolf warrior paint: *canon typical scarring occurs MUCH earlier* *hey, at least Ursa caught him when Ozai tried to instintively yeet a newborn out the window*

--- Years later, but not nearly long enough ---

Hakodad, fishing a shivering Fire Nation gremlin out of the water and seeing wolf warrior paint starting to bleed back in wherever his scar has healed: Shit, whose child is this?

No, no, it gets even WORSE!

*Cut For Length* @muffinlance​ @duleypostnoted​

This is a huge FUCK YOU to the Fire Nation Royal Family. The spirits have declared that Ozai and Ursa’s first born, 4th in line for the throne, should have been born into another family. That a “savage water tribe barbarian” is Zuko’s True Parent. Depending on the legal structure of the Fire Nation, Hakoda may have just gotten in-lawed into Fire Nation Royalty. He most definitely has some sort of Foster Parent rights. Which, considering, Zuko at age 13 was allowed a say at a WAR COUNCIL solely based on his birth...

Hadoka: whats that on your face?

Zuko, murmuring, with that good ole fashion ‘fathers b a d and don’t wanna see my mark’: sorry, I can burn it if you want.

Hadoka, confused and a lil concerned: ......burn what exactly?

Zuko: Spirit Mark.

when all was right with the world.

ozai's ready to conquer the world—nine years earlier than planned, nine years before sozin's comet was set to arrive.

...

what he did not expect was that the one thing standing in his way of success was his eldest son—in the body of a five-year old.

Ozai: I suggest we send Prince Zuko with the 37th battalion to fight against the Earth rebels.

War General, very concerned: Prince Zuko is a five-year old.

Zuko: I have no idea who posted those wanted posters of my father

Zuko: Nor do I have any idea who keeps harassing him with rotten food

Zuko: And who chooped off his goatee

Zuko, after an hour of low-key arguing with Ozai: I apologize for cutting you off, Father.

Zuko: But can you speak louder?

i want zuko sneaks down into the capitol, not to spy, not to make a scene, just to be near his people and see for himself how the changes he makes in the palace are affecting his citizens

i want zuko who visits the same pub every time and maybe the old bartender who’s father used to work in the palace recognizes him and doesn’t say a word

or maybe it’s the soldier who’s face is young and his eyes weary who’d seen the young prince on a balcony once before but stays silent because he’s there to drink alone and forget and what does it matter if some royal is tucked in the corner

i want zuko who misses the anonymity he had before when he was the banished prince. who just wants a few nights without table manners and stuffy nobles in heavy robes talking circles around him

more firelord zuko who treats every member of his household staff with the utmost respect. at first they’re wary of him, he doesn’t hold it against them- azula and ozai are frightening people.

so he’s patient. kind. he learns everyone’s name, and as the months and years go on he asks more about their lives. he knows he could demand and they’d tell him anything he wants to know. but this is zuko, he wants people to feel safe in this place (a place that was so often unsafe for him, he wants to bring life back into the palace) so he goes slow, never pushes. if they mention a child he asks their names, remembers them; when one of his serving staff mentions his son is sick zuko insists he take time to be with his child. the man thinks he’s being fired until zuko says he always wished to have his parents when he was sick. the mans job would be waiting for him when his son is well

i just want more firelord zuko content. more of my boy caring for his people long after the war is over. helping an entire nation heal and find peace, as well as dealing with the geopolitical aftermath of being the aggressor for 100 years of conflict.

Korra did not go in for the kind of nuanced villians I appreciate in my media. An eternal war between a spirit of order and a spirit of chaos has so much more potential than "Imma turn purple, grow large, and stomp things Because."

Evil and chaos are not synonyms. Chaos is a necessary force in the world, and maybe having its patron spirit sealed away is how we end up with places like Ba Sing Se. Or a rigidly isolationist North Pole. Or a well-oiled Fire Nation military machine.

Maybe y'all could use some Chaos Avatar up in here.

People who have seen the show already and know what happens:

When I first saw Ty Lee’s character design, I was immediately struck by how… not fire nation she looked. Something about her design just seemed different. After a few episodes, it struck me what it was.

She looks more like an airbender.

Most notabe is her airbender eye color, which we only see with Aang and others airbenders in the show. she also has the softer, round face face sbape often seen with Airbenders such as Aang and Jinora. Though this isn’t an 100% pattern (not all airbenders have this face shape and some who aren’t airbenders do), I still think it is a worthwhile point to note. 

What I find so interesting though is that Ty Lee’s skill set is directly tied to air. She’s learned to balance and fly through the hair, laughing at gravity (as Aang jokes). Her belief in auras and listening to the universe also implies a heavy spirituality which we see throughout air nomad culture. 

She also looks suspiciously like Jinora and I am convinced she is their grandmother on their mother’s side but I disgress. 

Hakoda: come on son, I mean it's not like you or Zuko were going to get involved with anyone else

Sokka and Zuko:

Zuko:

Aang: Sokka your two nations are furious, they both saw you guys refusing the betrothal as an act of war, you guys nearly caused an international incident over a wedding you ended up holding anyway