Graphic Design … Is My Passion

siblings stealing each others fits and making fun of each other. thats all

A grumpy man adopting a daughter who is entirely the opposite of the personality spectrum is the only kind of story I care about !!!!!

@lesbians4sokka‘s post made me feel a lot of feelings on how Sokka’s grief was denied in “Southern Raiders”.

when sokka needs advice about how to process something internal, private, he’ll typically take it to toph. her calm manner of listening puts him at ease and he never doubts that she’ll keep his vulnerabilities to herself. her advice is frank, realistic and fair. 

when he needs someone to distract him, he goes to suki. she has a way of assessing what’s on his mind and pivoting madly away from it. her charm is impossible to resist, so when she puts her mind to it, she never fails to make him smile. 

when he wants someone by his side while he fixes a problem, he can’t go wrong with zuko. zuko proved that at the boiling rock. he’s ride or die, and sokka will never get over how validating it is to have an ally he can rely on no matter what. well, two allies. they also bring momo. 

when he wants someone to just sit with him and understand, that’s a job for katara. she’s his shadow and his witness, just as he is hers. no one else will ever be up to that task. 

but when there’s an external problem out in the world and he doesn’t know what to do about it, that kind of question can only go to aang. and nothing makes sokka happier than getting to watch the gears in aang’s brain work as he figures out a solution. this is what aang is great at, and it’s a treat to watch him excel at what he does. there’s that sense of pride, too, that sokka was part of this kid’s upbringing and now here he is, all wise and shit. (he was always wise, but let sokka have this one!!!) sokka was taught that it isn’t right to ask for help, but he knows better now, and when it comes to his amazing, brilliant, empathetic, wise friends, he never minds at all. 

(Yes you do…)

Bonus: ft last ronin Casey’s

rough animation of this x

I’ve seen lots of future Leo going to the past-present content, and it got me thinkin abt how this ptsd ridden turtle might accidentally mistake or forget that the present bros are not his bros… especially Mikey who he didn’t even get the chance to grieve.

and we all know Leo had no plans to go to the past without him and be the last one left.

gotcha!

to celebrate 1300 followers, a bit of detail on my sokka owns a knick knack store au, first mentioned here:

sokka does a portrait of the month series. every month he’ll paint a different “historical figure” and sell prints

the first one he does is zuko, newly crowned fire lord after fire lord iroh abdicates. zuko sighs and complains more and more as he’s sitting for his portrait because he has work to do sokka, not that you would know anything about that, running a silly store instead of focusing on your actual job—

sokka just stares at zuko silently until zuko realizes he’s messed up.

zuko sits very quietly and stays still for the rest of his portrait session. he also pays for production of the first set of prints.

zuko’s portrait ends up being him looking directly at the viewer, eyebrows furrowed like he’s going to scold them, but mouth open in laughter. sokka hangs it up next to the cashier’s area.

the second portrait sokka does is aang cause avatar, duh. before sokka starts painting, aang is a ball of energy, all over the place, but once sokka starts aang channels all that energy into talking. he sits perfectly still, but his mouth is going a mile a minute.

the end result is stunning. aang’s body is facing slightly off to one side, with his head turned over his shoulder closest to the viewer. he’s glancing off into the distance, one eyebrow raised, gleefully smiling.

the third ‘portrait’ sokka does is toph, as she’s the only one in town at the moment (and also a badass in her own right). instead of doing a formal portrait that toph wouldn’t be able to see, sokka works for weeks on making his own little statue of toph from the shoulders up.

toph definitely doesn’t tear up when she holds it for the first time.

sokka’s arms hurt, both from sculpting so many copies and from toph’s punch after she doesn’t cry over the statue.

the fourth portrait sokka does is suki. he does the initial portrait in one go while she’s practicing her forms, a powerful image of suki with her kyoshi makeup and her fans, mid pose. he does the formal portrait from memory of all the times they’ve fought and practiced alongside each other.

the suki portrait is amazing, although people seem to think sokka was trying to do kyoshi herself. suki isn’t offended, she just takes it as a compliment.

the fifth portrait is of katara. this one is done entirely while katara is practicing her bending. the first draft gets dowsed with katara’s water when kya startles her by being pushed off a wall by bumi.

the final portrait is an image of katara with two orbs of water circling her head, joy clear on her face. the light shining through the water makes her face look like it’s glowing. (sokka sneaks kya and bumi into the background, falling off one of the garden walls)

the sixth portrait was supposed to be of iroh, but the old man cancels the meeting so many times that aang convinces sokka to do a self portrait. sokka does a caricature of himself for his part.

however, aang thinks it’s unfair that sokka will do amazing portraits of everyone but himself. he rifles through sokka’s works until he finds a self portrait sokka did. he’s in front of the shop with little kids surrounding him, laughing his head off with a toy in his hands. aang sneaks around, buys a bunch of copies of this painting, and replaces the caricature with his choice

sokka is embarrassed and angry and refuses to speak to aang

...but then his self portrait sells out the fastest of them all

and now people know he owns the knick knack store ugh aang this is all your fault

once again, sokka has aang to thank for his store’s success. aang is unbearably smug about it.

iroh has all five portraits and one statue (as well as the eventual portraits of mai, azula, and ty lee) in the same small room where he keeps his memorial to lu ten, his wife, and the others he has lost. they remind him of the joy he has found in life as it is now.

Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka.