I'm Cooking Up Another Maiko Oneshot...

👩‍🍳I'm cooking up another maiko oneshot...

but this time it focuses on Mai's relationship with her mother while growing up as Fire Nation nobility and how it impacts her relationship with Izumi

(this is really just me being self-indulgent bc the lack of Mai and Izumi fics compared to girldad Zuko is CRIMINAL)

(I'm at 1,500+ words so far and hoping to post it within the week!)

AYO MAIKO NATION LET'S GO!!

Announcing Maiko Week 2024!

Daily Maiko announced on Twitter that MAY-Ko week will be from May 1st - May 7th 2024!

Here are the prompts, they look amazing. It will be so great to have our first Maiko week in two years

Please tag your friends, artists, and writers to make this week extremely special!

@bluespiritshonour @an-aspiring-jester @akiizayoi4869 @count-horror-xx @justinedont

@leantailean @privatefire @attackfish @loopy777 @swan2swan @rms10 @valkyrie-kun +MORE

Since Netflix Zuko can draw, I decided to accept it as canon. Only because now I can’t stop thinking about that Maiko portrait in Mai’s bedroom.

What if Zuko painted/draw it!?! To give her as a gift!

I love childhood sweethearts maiko 😔

Do you think that Maiko were in a relationship* before Zuko was banished? Or atleast were aware of their feelings? The getting together after S2 seems to be approached very casually in a way that a new relationship wouldn't be

* relationship here meaning a silly middle school one where they hold hands and cute stuff like that

OH YES I DEFINITELY THINK SO !!

I actually think their relationship would have been kind of similar to how it is shown in s3, being casual but very supportive and loving too (not without some disagreements and silly arguments though of course) but more awkward and childish. I also think they would have been less guarded and closed off with each other, being younger and it being before Zuko’s banishment and all. I think that’s part of why Zuko is often trying to get Mai to open up and express herself more. He remembers when they trusted each other and would confide in each other a lot as children and wanted that security back. This isn’t to say I think he was unhappy with their relationship in s3 or that Mai or, Zuko for that matter, was ever super open with their feelings. I think Mai is naturally a very closed off person and so is Zuko to an extent. What I mean is I think they would probably be the type to complain about things together in a very dramatic pre-teen and/or early teen way. Very emo/goth and dramatic like “Life is a prison. There is a black void inside me. The world is a dark and miserable place. Wanna write poetry and hold hands about it?”

I think they also seem like the type to play harmless pranks on people but specifically more the type that irritate or confuse people and not the like “bucket of water above the door way” type. I feel like they would do shit like make the guards think there was a ghost in the palace or move Mai’s parents’ belongings to weird places in the house and watch them get annoyed and confused about it. Both of them having an interest in blades is something I always thought would have been something they would share with each other. I can see them both practicing their skills together. There’s probably a tree in the palace garden with lots of long slashes in it from Zuko’s dual swords and deep indentations from Mai’s throwing knives and maybe even their names carved in it (twice because Azula stole Zuko’s knife and scratched it out once out of jealousy).

That’s all I have right now, I could probably spend hours coming up with cute and silly little scenarios of the two of them if I tried. Thank you for the ask I love having an excuse to talk about these two.

in a similar vein to this... I also love it when maiko fics have zuko and mai call izumi "turtleduck"

I'm so obsessed with maiko fics where zuko calls mai "firelily"

I was today years old when I learned that when you type “otp: true” in AO3 search results it filters out fics with additional ships, leaving only the fics where your otp is the main ship