Looks Like You Made A New Friend, Sokka.

au where sokka, not their mother, is the one who sacrifices himself for katara (inspired by this post about sokka looking like his mom)

Sokka and katara are together in their house when the southern raiders attack

Their parents are out when the soldier yon rha breaks into their home

He knows that the north only trains boys in waterbending… he thinks the south is the same way

The kids are cornered by yon rha, who tells them

“I won’t hurt you kids if you tell me who in your village is the last waterbender”

Katara is terrified and knows he’s come for her

Sokka looks at his sister and thinks it’s up to me to protect her

So he says “it’s me. I’m the last waterbender of the southern tribe.”

Yon rha was planning to kill the last waterbender, but it’s only a child… he decides to kidnap sokka instead

Katara watches as her brother is dragged away, unable to stop the man as he takes sokka from her

All that’s left of sokka is his beloved boomerang

Yon rha takes sokka to a fire nation prison far inland in the earth kingdom colonies, even though he’s the only child there. Without a master or water around, he reasons, sokka is no threat.

Katara still has both parents, but she’s lost her brother and best friend and feels that it’s her fault

Sokka grows up in prison, learning how to fight when he’s smaller and weaker but cleverer than his fellow prisoners

As the only child in the prison, sokka has to play up his role as a harmless and agreeable kid. He’s funny and the other prisoners derive amusement from it, which means they’ll keep him around

He never forgets his water tribe roots though, or his family

Katara grows up lonely and determined, learning to hunt with the boomerang and a spear and waterbending all together. She’s not the caretaker role now, but the angry rebel daughter, brave but rash and proud and desperate to prove herself

One day she’s out hunting alone when she discovers a very special iceberg. Curious, she breaks it open immediately (bc let’s be real sokka is 95% of her impulse control in canon)

When sokka is fifteen, he successfully escapes from prison and makes his way west to the coast

He gets ambushed in the forest one day, and almost gets killed by a boy with hooked swords who accuses him of being fire nation (his prison shirt is red)

Sokka argues “no! I’m water tribe!” jet doesn’t believe it at first, but the blue of his eyes doesn’t lie

Jet is impressed by sokka’s fighting-dirty style and great aim and invites him to stay

Sokka joins the freedom fighters but is disgusted when he learns about jet’s distorted sense of justice. He starts planning a way to overthrow jet from the inside

Meanwhile, katara and aang travel north to find a waterbending master, and they just so happen to run into jet while flying over a forest

When they get to the treehouses, they run into a skinny, scrappy dark-skinned boy whose jaw drops when he sees katara

She doesn’t recognize him at first, and then all at once she does

“SOKKA?” “Katara, is that really you?”

There’s much crying and hugging and “how are you here?”

Sokka explains his plan to katara and aang, and they know not to trust jet

Jet’s plan is foiled by sokka and gaoling is never flooded

Katara gives sokka back his boomerang (“You kept it all this time?” “Of course. I’m probably better at it than you are, now.” “No way!!”)

They fly north. Katara has to relearn her brother, relearn his mannerisms and his personality. She’s surprised by how little he’s changed, even though he’s been through so much

Sokka is a harder version of himself, sharper and more cautious. But he still has his sense of humor and his clever plans, his same hairstyle and bright blue eyes.

I was trying to talk about those other forms, all the different ways you can love, some of which are sexual, some of which are romantic, and some of which are platonic,” she says. “None are necessarily better than any other, but all of them have the capacities to help shape who we are and hopefully set us on the path to become the people we really want to be.

THE HALF OF IT (2020, dir. Alice Wu)

WEAK HERO

You guys need to read Weak Hero on Webtoons. It centers around a kid named Gray who hands bullies their asses. But he is not like and underdog. He is a goddamn OVERdog. Like the thing is BEAUTIFUL and y'all should check it out. Read the description yourself and get into it.

Who do you think is smarter, Sokka or Azula?

well I suppose one’s answer depends on how they define intelligence. personally, I value intellect far less than I value one’s capacity for critical thinking, self-awareness, and empathy. I believe that those are the fundamental pillars that define one’s character, and whether or not they know many things and possess many skills matters far less to me.

sokka and azula have a lot in common. they’re both strategic, calculating, resourceful, creative, and most importantly, they both enjoy stupid puns. (also they’re both entps but u didn’t see me say that...) another thing they share in common is that they are deeply motivated by a desire to emulate their fathers, to be the strong, respected, infallible leader they see him as, and due to their subconscious worship of patriarchy, they consider any sign of vulnerability, even amongst those they supposedly trust, to be a weakness—and they consider any weakness a sure sign of failure.

now, crucially, sokka grows out of this mindset. he learns to open up and express his feelings, and he learns to be his own person. he realizes that his father is proud of him regardless of how great a warrior he is. sokka desperately wants to prove himself, but it is in realizing that he should follow his own path that allows him to fully self-actualize. (zuko gets it.) azula doesn’t.

by the end of the show, azula is only just realizing that her father does not truly love her, that he only sees her as a pawn, to be discarded when she is no longer useful. azula doesn’t know who she is outside of her abuse, and she never got the chance to self-actualize. due to the brainwashing she experienced all her life, she lacks true self-awareness, whereas sokka has only been growing more and more self-aware through the seasons. (he’s still far more insecure than he should be, but he’s getting there.)

sokka and azula are both extremely intelligent. there’s no denying that. but to frame it as who is more intelligent is folly. the better question is, who would win a game of pai sho? and the answer to that, of course, is that sokka beats azula easily. not due to her lack of skill, strategy, or cunning, but due to her hubris.

sokka’s self-esteem is so fucking low he is literally incapable of processing any form of compliment. the problem isn’t just that no will tell him he’s good, but that when they do, he refuses to believe them.

They are married warner bros told me

Listen, I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder.

I commissioned @all-things-geekie to combine my two favorite fictional characters of all time into one and I will never stop screaming over how beautiful the result is