a long (don't say I didn't warn you) post about post-finale Avatar characterizations, aka help plz

[jade_sabre_301]

So I’m trying to write this Avatar fic-or maybe a multitude of them, I dunno, because I keep hitting a roadblock.  

Comments

Re: part 1

[styromgalleries]

Or maybe all Avatars don't need to be alone, but Avatar Aang does. His personality is such that he can't focus on the job and love at the same time. Other Avatars in the past...some could handle it, some couldn't.
Hm, I think I like this. The being-aloneness (???) is not what determines a successful Avatar or not. Think about Kyoshi. She was alone, as far as we know. But she still made a sort-of mistake in creating the Dai-li. She had all her time to devote to being an Avatar, and one of her decisions ending up kicking her butt in a future life.

It's about the individual, not the Avatar. Yeah, Jade, I think you should definitely consider this idea of Rashaka's.

replying to both of y'all

[jade_sabre_301]

1. Um yes I am in love with this. It's...shifting the argument from "the Avatar has to be alone" to "the Avatar has to be able to balance personal concerns with worldly ones" (which is a duh statement), but like Kyoshi was all worried about her little island and Roku about his family and Kurik about his dead girlfriend and

plz ignore how long it took me to getting around to replying

[jade_sabre_301]

3. I kind of see Mai being all like "woo, you're the Fire Lord, we can veg now!" and him being like, "no, there's a lot of work to be done," and her being, "fine, let's work," and him being, "okay, now we do international things," and her being like*, "isn't your nation enough?" and him being, "no, we have to be global now!" and her going, "what is wrong with you?" and him being, "well what's wrong with you?" and her saying, "I just want to spend time with you!"** and him saying, "Fine, we'll spend time together!" and her saying, "no, it's too late, never mind!" and then him asking "What does that even mean?" and her saying "It's over Zuko!" and then him just exploding in rage (WHATDOYOUMEANIT'SOVERWHAT'SYOURPROBLEMOHMYGODmy problem is that I would either start the fic with them already broken up but not saying anything about it, or start it off with the actual dumping, which would involve less actual explanatory conversation and more Zuko-hissy-fitting. oh well. things to worry about for the future

Re: part 2

[jade_sabre_301]

5. In the plot of this one, there's a colonial dispute between FN and EK colonies, and Katara is sent as the neutral party to handle it, and Zuko goes along because Mai came along to the summit and he wants to get away from her. (That is, he wants to show the EK that the Fire Lord is personally invested in seeing peaceful coexistence between the two countries.)* Over the course of their little adventure, awkward tension develops, so the real problem is what happens when they get back. Which is where all of your "give her an occupation" stuff comes into play (thank you I think you really hit on a problem there), because then she's dumping him for more than just not wanting to be with him anymore, which might soften the blow

Re: part 2

[jade_sabre_301]

7. as I was describing this to my sister Aang's main dissatisfaction came from the fact that Katara never wanted to make out anymore. Will have to come up with more ideas. I do like the idea of a mutual breakup--or at least, Aang's like, "okay, a break is a good idea," while Katara might be thinking more permanently--baby steps, and all that.

You were basically right in that the EK plot can only accomplish A and B, which was really all I wanted to do in that one--well, and [re-]introduce Zutara UST. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand actually I think the rest of this comment would be better placed in replying to a different comment, so I'll end it here.

...I know I used to have a kick-ass!Katara icon WHERE DID IT GO.

[jade_sabre_301]

8. I guess it's not so much about Katara being that as people calling her that. Like, being with Aang, no matter what happens, she will probably not be introduced as Katara, [insert title], the Avatar's girlfriend, but rather the other way around, which is obviously obnoxious and wrong etc. etc. etc., but sexism still exists in Avatarverse. I mean, it depends on where she goes and who she's with, but when she's with Aang I can see her being introduced as his girlfriend,* which would grate on her while Aang would probably not notice it. So it's that versus being the Fire Lord's girlfriend (which makes me wonder if Zuko would be more aware of how she's Not Just His Girlfriend, but I suppose if I give her time to be something else before she becomes that [or at least before she becomes that publically], that would solve part of that problem

PLOT SUMMARY TIEMZ

[jade_sabre_301]

re: but Zuko formally invites Katara to the Fire Nation to do something. and all the awesome YES YES THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO that followed it:

while they're off frolicking around in the EK, they end up talking about their alternate identities--Blue Spirit and Painted Lady--which is going to be fun because I was never really into BS/PL fanfic [BS/Katara a la that one fic you wrote, on the other hand, totally hot), but here I could go more into the psychology of why they did it--and so Zuko can invite her to continue her Painted Lady work.

Yes! Katara can go back to the FN and help other villages that have been poisoned by industry! She can heal people, organize cleanup efforts, add commentary to the engineers' plans for fixing factories (which, okay, Sokka would be better at, but she can at least try?)--she can be an environmentalist(has this been done? I'm going to be so sad if this has been done before. Like, brokenhearted. I kind of want to run over to ff.net and post something that says NO ONE CAN TAKE THIS IDEA IT IS MINE

[jade_sabre_301]

ah-hahahahaha that was part of the plot of my first big Zutara fic, except that it was right after AU!series end and they had the added awkwardness of being already married. But healing was her occupation in that one--gave her something to do other than just being the Fire Lord's Diplomatic Immunity.

Heeheehee. I remember I started off shipping Zutara because it was just--OMG NECKLACE, without knowing anything about the characters, and then watching more and really coming to love Zuko and wanting him to be happy, but also not being really sure about Katara--was I just shipping them because she was there? And then I saw "Imprisoned," and watched her give that huge rousing speech to the prisoners, and said, "Hot damn, this girl will make an awesome queen," because she independently kicks so much butt.

Anyway, thanks for all your comments--you've really helped clear away a lot of the muddle. Now, if only I could come up with the actual plot-plot of the thing...

:-D

[sartorias]

It seems to me that at some point Katara is going to realize that her love for Aang is the same as her love for her brother. That Aang is like her little brother. I just do not see any chemistry there, but then I was totally squicked by the ending of Henry Esmond, too.

It also seemed to me that Zuko and Katara had chemistry from the gitgo, it's just that they defined it as 'enemy' for so long they still need time to get accustomed to 'ally.'