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#this will feature kataang later!
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A rough simple work in progress of a piece I’m working on, mainly for my own library but I thought I’d share anyway! There is going to be a couple but I thought I’d start on this one. This is set post war, at some sort of dock in the Earth Nation where the Gaang are on holiday.
Image ID: Lineart of the gaang at a dock in the Earth Nation. In the background, on a hill, there is Appa, stood up and Momo, who is sat on the ground next to Appa. Closer the front, but still away from the ground, is Toph, who is lying on their back making an Earth angel in the ground. At the front of the image, is Katara and Zuko, who are performing a dance, Aang watches happily from in the water, but they are resting his forearms on the dock. To the left, is Suki and Sokka, walking hand in hand towards Katara and Zuko, the pair are happily talking to one another and Suki is holding a fan in their spare hand.
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shrinkthisviolet · 3 years
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Sometimes I think back to when I first started watching ATLA. I figured I’d find Kataang cliché and prefer Katara’s other romantic interest (I’m not gonna name the ship but y’all know which one I’m talking about).
Now I’m neck deep in Maiko, Bumizumi, Zuko&Aang, the Gaang in general, and Zuko&Izumi, and I don’t know how this HAPPENED but here I am 🤷‍♀️
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alfredolover119 · 3 years
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I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.
thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)
angsty zukka wips
first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe
-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen
-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!
An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.
Yeah, nah.
and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka
-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature
-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.
It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.
Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers
-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.
-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao
Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.
breakable heaven by @fruitysokka
-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen
-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.
With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.
angsty zukka fics (completed!)
(i’ll put these in wc order)
lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka
-7k, rated g
-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.
Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.
This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas
-9k, explicit
-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story. 
If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.
put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci
-9k, teen
-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that. 
Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?
the thing about dancing by anodymalion
-9k, teen
-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.
The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.
i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey
-10k, mature
-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.
Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.
this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee 
-18k, teen, major character death 
-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.
Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.
Anything for You by beersforqueers
-23k, explicit
-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN. 
In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.
Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead
-64k, mature
-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham. 
Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.
In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning
-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence
-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.
As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.
That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey
-103k, teen
-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN 
In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?
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jyndor · 4 years
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I cannot overstate how much more katara deserved
like idc if you like the ships, what did she end up BEING, girl peaked at 15 that is fucking heartbreaking
(but lbr she was always treated kinda weirdly in some of the episodes, like shocking /s that the one indigenous girl with deeper skin on the show was sexualized like she was)
one of the things i love so much about a lot of the katara standom is that the fic often features katara running off, saving the world on her own, learning to find herself and who she wants to be in a post-war world, and a whole lot of emphasis on HER feelings as opposed to the guys' feelings about her feelings (and this features a TON in later zutara fandom, idk if this is a thing seen a lot in kataang fic. but that is only because I don't read kataang fic).
like I cannot help but feel like, for a character who never hesitated to say what she felt about patriarchal bs, she kind of... just ended up being defined by her ties to other men.
i'll always feel icky about how little concern the show had for resolving her conflicting feelings for aang in a way that didn't look... um... forced.
i'll also always feel icky about how the show was like, these characters are barely teens but now they are with their future spouses, like... idk lol they are CHILDREN
anyway im back on my bullshit katara stan for life
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zukoesestupido · 2 years
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Predawn
For Kataang Smut Week//Theme: Need to Be Quiet
@kataang-dungeon​
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He was moaning her name without sound. Breath puffed against her neck as his lips traced the single word against her skin, the trembling of his lips varying the intensity as much as if he were saying it aloud. 
Katara ... Katara ... Katara ...
Many people didn’t understand the properties of ice. Namely, that ice reflected sound waves rather than absorbed them the way snow did. As such, the smallest  noise that would be smothered under a blanket of snow would be amplified in an icy environment.
Understandably, this little feature of nature had ... interesting consequences for those who lived in homes made of ice. Katara learned that at age 6 when one night she heard a shriek that roused her from her bed. When she’d heard it again, sure that it was coming from her parents’ room, she’d slipped into her furry bedtime socks to see what was happening, only to be stopped by Kanna, who was returning from their compound’s main outhouse.
It’s fine, little one. Even now, Katara remembered the glance of amusement Gran-Gran cast toward the bedroom of her son and daughter-in-law. There’s no worry. Go back to sleep.
The next morning, when Katara had asked her mommy and daddy what those sounds had been, a red-faced Kya and a spluttering Hakoda had put it down to a strange dream that mommy had been having.
Katara ... Katara ... Katara ... 
She bit her lip. There was no way to play off any screams or shouts as “a strange dream,” not with Hakoda just down the hall and Sokka in the other spare room. Katara was quite proud of how calm her father and her brother had been about her and Aang sharing a room. They were betrothed now so it wasn’t like it was some random guy she was dating, and it was Aang, whom they’d both known for over a decade. But Katara had still blushed when, after settling them into the second spare room with requisite blankets and pillows, her father had told her, with averted eyes, that every little noise these days seemed to wake him up.
She’d gotten the hint. And later that night, when she and Aang had climbed into bed together, naked and nearly insane with desire, she managed to whisper a set of instructions just before all else went by the wayside. 
Katara .... Katara ...K-Katara ...
He was bottoming out with almost every thrust now, grinding against the lips of her each time he pressed in and drawing back almost to the crown of his cock. The bed was trembling now and the wet sounds of fucking were interspersed by the harsh panting they were trying unsuccessfully to muffle.
K ... Oh spirits ... Katara ... Kataaaara ... KATARA ...
She arched toward him, holding him tight against her body, her mouth open in a soundless scream. A very small whimper escaped her as she felt a surge of wetness coat his cock and run down to his balls to pool on the mattress.
Katara ... Katara ... Spirits, I love you ...
Katara panted softly in the heavy air, feeling giddy and weightless as they reversed positions and she lay atop him, his cock still nestled deep inside her. He murmured that he’d take care of the mess, and with a wave of his hand, the evidence of their passion was bent away to become just one more aspect of the snowy, wet landscape.
It had, Katara thought, as she felt the pull of sleep, been fun having to keep quiet. Usually, she and Aang made enough noise to be heard all the way in the burgeoning Cranefish Town business district. Maybe she could suggest they build and maintain a small igloo somewhere on the grounds of the island that was soon to be their new home ... just for variety’s sake.
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kataraslove · 3 years
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katara: “do you hear that?”
aang: “sounds like it’s coming from over there...”
for kataang week day 3: post canon @kataang-week​
newly wedded aang and katara (now sporting a cute little bob) were travelling across the world for their honeymoon. on their way to the kingdom of omashu, the two decided to stop and revisit the cave of two lovers. as aang and katara leaned in for a quick kiss by the entrance of the cave, they heard a blood-curling scream come from inside. immediately pulling away, the couple shared a suspicious look with each other before deciding to investigate.
katara cautiously grabbed her pouch as aang drew out a small flame to lead the way. however, the waterbender stopped her husband to remind him that the tunnels were filled with fluorescent crystals that glowed in the dark. 
“oh yeah,” aang recalled. he looked down at the flame dwindling in his palm. “i’ll put it out when we get further in there. if we hear screaming again, we’ll be able to find out where it came from.” 
“you can also use your earth bending this time around.” 
aang nodded. “that i can.” the gentle lines of his face - reserved especially for his wife - quickly switched up to the avatar look, the signature look that he bore whenever there was danger and people in need of his help. 
“let’s go.”
(continued under the cut, 2.4k words)
the broad sunlight of the summer day was reduced to a small crevice against their backs, as the two lovers made their way into the shadows of the labyrinth. their primary light source came from aang’s flame, which had grown brighter the farther they travelled. the avatar could not help but become a little bit mesmerized with the vivid red and orange hues that danced in his left palm, the warmth that occupied his hand having stretched out to his entire body. the flame synchronized so perfectly well with his heartbeat. fire is life, he recalled the words of the sun warrior chief. not just destruction. 
aang nearly chuckled out loud. firebending came so naturally to him now - almost as natural as his airbending. to think that there was ever a time that he had outright hated the element and vowed to never learn it, even if it had meant jeopardizing his avatarhood.
however, a small voice crept to the back of his mind, uncomfortably reminding of the exact reason as to why he initially refused to learn the element at the age of twelve. it was the same reason that brought shame and guilt inside his gut - even eight years later - whenever the memory unexpectedly crossed his mind. what he had done to katara on that day, how he had refused to listen to jeong jeong’s advice and lost control of his fire, the image of her fresh burns - it was all there, forever smeared across his brain and heart as a painful reminder. no matter how many times katara had insisted that good had come from that day through the discovery of her healing abilities, aang could never wash away the trauma associated with that event.
he inhaled sharply. it won’t happen again. he wasn’t twelve anymore, and he had full control over all the elements now. fire was energy, he had learned, and life.
sparing a glance at katara, who had been awfully quiet since they got into the cave, he noticed that his wife was chewing anxiously on her lower lip. the trouble in her beautiful features was easily detectable by the bright flames within his hand. he moved closer to her, his shoulder gently bumping hers in an attempt to comfort her. “you okay?”
she met his eyes, and he could see the hint of fear reflected in them. “aang, i’m worried.”
“you have nothing to be worried about,” aang reassured her with a small smile. “whatever it is, or whoever it is, we can take ‘em.”
katara shook her head. “i’m not worried about the who. we’ve probably dealt with far worse than whatever is lingering in this cave. but i - aang, what if it’s bad?”
he frowned, confused. “what if what’s bad, then?”
she studied her hands carefully. her hands were the hands of a fighter, of a healer. the same hands who had resurrected an avatar back to life and saved a firelord from near death, while dismantling another firelord from the throne. he felt the sudden urge to draw her hands in his own, to hold her tight enough to ease away her fears.
“what if there’s a bunch of dead bodies stashed away in this tunnel, rotting away for days or even weeks?” she answered in alarm, eyes widening at the dark path ahead of them. “or, what if there’s a bunch of people lying around in pain, on the brink of death, and I don’t have enough water to save them all?”
his eyes turned to the road ahead. he saw nothing, except for earth and more earth. but he knew better than to dismiss those kind of fears. 
“that wouldn’t be your fault.” he responded gently. “we’ll do our best to help, to make sure that whoever is out there is safe and unharmed. but if they do happen to be harmed - or worse, dead - and we’ve tried everything that we could,” he shuttered out a breath at the imagery. “i don’t want you to blame yourself for whoever you can’t save, katara.”
“and i don’t want you to blame yourself, aang.” she placed a hand on his shoulder as they walked on. he tried to ignore the immediate sweep of panic churning in his stomach at her proximity to the fire. if he envisioned a future with both katara and firebending, he would have to get used to accepting that she would be around the times when he required the element. 
“i know you feel a sense of responsibility, as the avatar, to ensure that the world is kept safe,” she continued on. her voice softened, a sad tone. “i know it upsets you when it isn’t.”
“wasn’t i the one consoling you just a second ago?” aang joked, deflecting. 
“we’re consoling each other.” katara insisted with a small smile. the corners of her mouth dropped at her next statement: “i know you don’t like to talk about it, aang, the stress and pressure that you feel. but i also know how it keeps you up at night. why you choose to sometimes spend long periods of time meditating.”
just like that, she had flipped the switch on him in the way that only she knew how. katara was undoubtedly right. of course he had seen and experienced his fair amount of injustice and morbidity; they all had. but the guilt of not being able to do anything about it - to know that people all over the world were counting on him to end their suffering and plight and despair, while there were many days when all he could do was sit in lavish cushions arguing endlessly with politicians who could not relate to the earth kingdom boy who had nothing to eat, or to the water tribe girl who had lost her parents, or to the air nomad who was the sole survivor of an entire culture - ate away at his heart and mind at every minute of every hour. even now, when he was supposed to be enjoying his blissful vacation with his wife.
“aang.” he felt katara lightly pull his chin towards her, forcing him to look at her before his mind could wander down the same dangerous road that it had so many days and nights before. she stopped the two in their tracks, the light from his palm illuminating their darkened features.
the fire reflected back in the indigo of her eyes, embodying the energy and intensity and life that was katara, his best friend, his saviour. suddenly, he was transported back to a time during the war, when he had just been a fidgety twelve year-old boy staring up at his fourteen year-old best friend. his heart thumped furiously against his chest the closer he inched to her face. when their lips met, he felt electricity course through his veins and wondered if the warmth that pooled in his stomach was what love felt like. 
as he caught her lips in his own again, this time at the age of twenty, he could confirm - a memoir to his twelve year old self - that the warmth was indeed love. but love was also so much more, he came to realize over the years. love was the cautious hands of a fourteen year-old girl spending weeks at his side, healing him from his coma, sobbing in despair and frustration when he would not wake up. love was the way that he had thrown his arms around her waist, and she around his neck, relief flooding each other’s veins at the knowledge that they were both alive and safe and together after his defeat of ozai and her defeat of azula. love was the way her hand fit so perfectly in his, palm pressed to palm and fingers intertwined, as the two watched the early formations of republic city from their home, vowing to leave a lasting legacy on a world where benders and non-benders of all types could live together in safety and harmony.
love was also the brief kiss in an abandoned cave that said a million more things than he could ever say in words. 
when the two pulled back, he noted the way that her eyes twinkled up at him under the fluorescent light. the crystals shone overhead, leading them down a familiar path, just as how it had done when he was twelve. aang checked his left palm and realized that he had extinguished his flame during the kiss. 
katara’s smile reached her eyes when she grabbed for his hand, pulling him along. “funny,” she said, bemused. “that thing you said when we were kids. guess it held up all these years, didn’t it?”
“what thing?”
“oh, you know,” she replied with a casual shrug, a mischievous glint forming in her eye. “you choosing to kiss me over dying - ”
he groaned. she was never going to let him live that one, was she?
“did i say that?” aang feigned innocence. “i can’t quite recall. maybe what my awkward twelve-year old self had meant to say, instead, was that the thought of not being able to kiss you is just so unbearable that i would rather have chosen death.”
“mmhmmm. sure you had.” a blush slowly crept up her cheeks, betraying her sarcastic tone. success.
“good thing that hasn’t happened yet, though. the not being able to kiss you anymore part.” he paused, adding as an afterthought: “the death part, too, if we’re being honest.”
“don’t speak so soon. what if there’s a serial killer in here?” she hushed him, looking around conspiratorially. 
“you’d rather a serial killer kiss you instead of your own husband? ouch.” 
she smacked his arm. “aang! i’m serious. with the recent bender supremacy uprisings going on in major cities of the earth kingdom, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. what’s stopping a bender supremacist from kidnapping a bunch of non-benders in omashu and dumping their bodies in this cave right now?”
“well, for starters, we would’ve heard by now if that were the case, wouldn’t we have? there’d be rumours, like with what happened with hama. so far, there hasn’t been any reports of mysterious non-bender disappearances in the cities where the uprisings are taking place. definitely not any in omashu.”
a dark look settled across katara’s face at the mention of the estranged bloodbender. “an earth bender supremacist could be dragging bodies from the city and burying them in the rubble of the tunnels. no one would even think to look because the legend says that the cave is cursed.”
aang scratched his head, suddenly very wary about his surroundings. his eyes scanned everywhere around him, from the plethora of crystals that provided them light on top to the solid stone that held the cave in place, trying to spot any semblance of a decomposing body. just as before, he couldn’t detect anything unusual.
while he knew that katara’s suspicions had merit to them, his mind still hesitated over the idea of a bender supremacist trapping people in caves. he would have heard something by now, if that were the case. besides, they were drawing all of these inferences from a scream that he wasn’t even sure came from a human. the high-pitched sound could have belonged to a species of wolfbats, for all they knew. and even if it were to emerge out of a person, who was to say that it was connected to the victim of a bender supremacist murderer? it could have been from a lost and hungry traveler stuck in the cave for days, unsure of their way out. or perhaps it was from someone whose foot was trapped under rubble, screaming out in sheer pain. maybe it even belonged to a villager being chased by an angry spirit.
he walked over to one of the walls, running his hand over the sharp rocks that pricked at his skin. or perhaps, he thought bitterly, gritting his teeth, it was his own refusal to accept that he was failing the world again that led him to dismiss such possibilities. given the political climate, it was entirely possible that bender supremacists were using their bending to hide bodies within the cave. he just wasn’t aware of any of it because it was all taking place underneath his nose, while he remained in blissful ignorance with the women he loved on what was supposed to be his vacation.
aang closed his eyes. he focused on the vibrations emitting from the ground, trying to detect if there was anything that could give him a clue, like a direction to the source of the scream. he was even searching for the large footsteps of badger moles or the fluttering wings of wolfbats. while he was no toph, his earthbending had vastly improved over the years to the point where he had gotten very good at perceiving the world around and underneath him through vibrations. but this time around, he was sensing absolutely nothing. 
well, not entirely nothing. aang noted that some parts of the earth below his hand felt kind of fresh. and quite warm. it didn’t take an earth bender to realize that their texture and temperature were evidently different from the rocks comprising the rest of the cave. this new formation of rock - whatever it was - also felt very familiar to him, almost like he had dealt with this type before. 
his eyes widened in recognition. it was rock that had hardened after the eruption of a volcano. and not just any ordinary eruption; a special kind of eruption that didn’t require any volcano whatsoever.
lavabending.
“hey, katara. would you be able to come over here? i think i found something.”
aang’s words were interrupted by the sudden howl of a blood-curling scream. this time, he had felt the vibrations perfectly through the earth, and spirits did they hurt. he winced in pain, his ears ringing, reflexively removing his hand off the ground.
the screaming did not seem to stop the longer the seconds passed. multiple more emitted from the path ahead in unison, echoing off the chambers of the cave. his heart pounded. there was no denying that the cries had unmistakably belonged to humans. 
katara already had a stream of water out from her pouch. she had sprang into action, pointing in the precise direction that the noise was coming from. 
“this way,” she shouted, running ahead. 
be careful, he couldn’t help think as he trailed after her.
--
this art was adapted from the following comic panel in imbalance part 2:
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Kataang Week 2021: Day 2: Blending Cultures
Summary: The morning after they become engaged, Katara and Aang talk some about their wedding and marriage.
Rating: T
Word Count: 926
Katara stirs sleepily, luxuriating in the warmth pouring off the lean body pressed up against her back. A strong arm drapes across her hip, holding her close. She blinks her eyes open slowly and is surprised at the light filling their bedroom. A warm golden glow touches everything, gilding and softening the edges of furniture and bedding alike. But Aang usually awakes before full light and steals away to meditate. Why is he still in bed?
Suddenly wide awake, she rolls over to face her boyfriend. He is awake, watching her intently. The morning light spills over him, too. She never gets to see him like this, in bed with morning limning his elegant features and the clean lines of his body. She likes this view of her sexy, kind, wonderful boyfriend. No! She corrects herself with a smile. Her fiancé. She had finally asked Aang to marry her last night. And he had said yes. She grins, her joy irrepressible.
“Hi” she whispers, voice husky with sleep.
Aang's levels his sultriest gaze at her and quirks one eyebrow. “Hey.”
Deciding he must never know how hot she finds that look, she allows the happiness filling her to bubble over in a giggle. She winks broadly and purses her lips in an air kiss. They flirt back and forth with come-hither looks and suggestive leers until both are convulsed with laughter. She wants to freeze this moment and live in it forever.
Abruptly, she remembers the concern that initially led to her quick awakening. Her smile fades a bit as she asks “why are you still in bed?”
The sparkle in his eyes dims. But he holds her gaze and asks “Are you sure? About marrying me? Marriage always involves compromise, but it seems like ours will force you to always be the one who gives something up. I know you miss your home, but there's no way I can relocate to the South Pole. A few years of peace hasn't healed the wounds left by a hundred years of war. I have to do what I can to support continued peace. Not only because I'm the Avatar, but because I'm the last Air Nomad. I have to be a reminder of why we work to keep the peace.”
Katara strokes the side of his face, then cradles his jaw in her hand. “Sweetie. You're my home now. Wherever you are is where I want to be. I know being in love with the Avatar is not an easy path, but I'm strong.” She presses closer to him, resting her forehead against his. Their breaths mingle as she adds “There are things I won't change or give up and we both know about those. Anything else is more than compensated because I get to be with you. Were you really lying here worrying that I'd made an ill-considered mistake in asking you to marry me?”
He huffs a small laugh then nods. He pauses, then admits “I was also enjoying having you in my arms and watching the sunlight wash over your hair.”
Katara smiles and squirms closer to him. She presses her face into the curve of his neck, closes her eyes and breathes him in. She is beginning to feel sleep stealing back over her when Aang speaks again.
“This is nice, but we should get up soon. We need to plan a wedding and invite our family.”
Katara traces the line of his neck with her lips. She kisses him behind his ear, delighting in the hitch in his breath it causes. “Do we need to do that right now?”she murmurs, then gently nips at his exposed throat and traces her fingers along the path of his tattoo up his spine to the back of his neck.
Aang groans and tilts his head down toward hers. Just before their lips meet, he whispers “Later.”
And, indeed, it is much later in the day that they rise and dress. They begin to speak of wedding plans while they drink Air Nomad-style tea, which is thick with butter and barley powder and makes a satisfying breakfast. Aang no longer grimaces when she sprinkles dried fish over hers.
“I read as much as I could find about Air Nomad weddings. I want to write you a poem and have your poem to me tattooed on my wrist. I want to make your tea and for you to make soup for me. I wonder if the gliders the people at the northern Air Temple make could be used in the wedding dance?”
Aang's smile fades and his face goes still. Katara falls silent. She has read a lot about Air Nomad culture and weddings, but Aang had lived it. She will let him tell her about wedding rituals as he understands them. As he wants them. It matters more that everything seems true and meaningful to her love than that they follow a description written by an Earth Kingdom scholar two centuries ago.
“Katara, love, you're not an Air Nomad. I don't want you to be. If there were thousands and thousands of Air Nomad women, I'd still only want you. We should have a traditional Water Tribe wedding. We'll go to the South Pole and--”
Katara stops his litany with a single finger laid upon his lips. She smiles softly and shakes her head “How about we do what we always do? A bit of Water Tribe, a bit of Air Nomad?”
Aang replies “Some you, some me. All us.”
A/N Well, I thought this would be longer, but somehow I covered what I wanted to in fewer words than I thought I'd use. I'm adding this as a second chapter to "Passion Put to Use." And have also started to work on a third chapter covering the wedding. Weird. I thought that story was a one-shot but I can't stop revisiting it.
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flameohotwife · 2 years
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I don't want to start discourse but why is Jet@r@ a thing? He was a douchebag to her. What Long Feng did to him wasn't okay, but that doesn't erase the stuff that went on in "Jet." I'm seeing so much meta and from some Kat@@ng people too that Jet and Katara were star crossed lovers and tragic lovers and even some weird shit where Bumi should have been named Jet. Jet was a cute guy Katara had a thing for until he revealed himself to be a dickhead. Why is this even a question 15 years later?
Why, hello anon! This is the first discourse anon ask to grace my inbox, lol, welcome.
I'm probably not the person to ask this question, however, because I tend to stay in my tiny corner of fandom and really haven't seen that much jetar@ discourse on my dash, if any (I've seen a decent amount of jetaang, but that's because a lot of my fandom friends multi-ship and write Aang rarepairs). If you've been around my blog enough though you know I have all those tags blocked bc my heart can't take it so I don't really even know what all the discourse is.
Based solely on what you said, though, you're right that Jet was a cute guy and Katara absolutely had a thing for him. I've seen people try to erase that, too, but you can't deny her crush. He was the first "tall, handsome" guy she met outside her tribe (which you'll recall was almost exclusively women and children and Sokka at that point). She was 14 years old. I don't know how many fourteen year old girls you've hung out with, but they're not always the most discerning when it comes to crushes at that point, because everything is so new! They haven't learned, yet. Katara saw him, was attracted to him, thought he was a hero, and voila! Instant crush. It doesn't make her a bad person or mean she was treating Aang badly or anything (and we all know she wound up giving Aang the hat she made for Jet even before he revealed himself to be a jerk to her so...).
They weren't star-crossed or tragic lovers in canon. Katara's attraction to him ended the second he revealed who he truly was. HOWEVER that doesn't mean that people can't make their own fanworks and ship who they wanna ship. There are a lot of ships out there that I don't find realistic or true to the characters I know from canon, but I don't begrudge anyone else for exploring them. Jet did kinda redeem himself before his death. Personally I'm not completely sold on his change of heart, but if other people want to read it that way I'm not going to stop them.
Overall, the block tags feature is your friends. I have an embarrassing number of ship tags blocked because I really *am* only on tumblr for kataang and kataang content. I don't care about the anti- discourse and I don't want to see or read things that make me upset. I'm just here to have a good time. So if the discourse is bothering you, anon (and it's totally okay to be bothered by it), I recommend blocking any tags (or even blogs) that might cause you distress and finding a good safe corner of fandom to reside in. I wish you well!
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soopersara · 4 years
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Okay I have seen several people say that Bryan and Mike supported the original movie until after the backlash and was wondering if you knew of any sources on it?
Okay, I know you just saw some of the stuff I managed to dig up (or had friends find for me, thank you so much @lady-of-bath, you truly are the queen!), but since the internet has been blowing up over the announcement that Bryan and Mike are no longer working on the Netflix live action ATLA remake, I might as well throw this out in public too!
So, in the interest of being as objective as humanly possible, let me start off by saying that the internet being what it is, it’s hard to find sources of information about the creation of a 10-year old, widely panned movie. The fact that I can’t personally find it doesn’t mean that it isn’t out there, or that it wasn’t purged in the past 10 years. But, that said, I wound up with more than I expected. Brace yourselves 😉 (sources will be linked!)
So, back in 2008, both Bryan and Mike were very enthusiastic about the movie. And, in their own words, well... Bryan said:
The one thing we weren't joking about is that we really are helping on the movie quite a bit. Night has been very collaborative from the get-go, from the first time we ever met him. Very respectful of the project and of us. So we're helping out a lot on that.
They also did this interview with M. Night Shyamalan (posted in July 2009, though I’m not sure when it was filmed), in which it was confirmed that:
Bryan and Mike were actively working with M. Night
Bryan and Mike looked over M. Night’s script and approved of the changes 
Bryan and Mike were planning to be on set for filming
Based on the content of the video interview, it’s clear that casting wasn’t complete at the time the interview was filmed, though the initial cast was announced in December 2008, before the interview was posted. So it’s hard to say whether Bryan or Mike had strong feelings about the whitewashing of the cast at the time, but based on the fact that Mike said (6:05 in the video linked above), “Well, if you don’t find anyone for Aang, I’d like to suggest perhaps I could, y’know, maybe play him”, I don’t think whitewashing was high on their list of concerns at the time. I know it’s a joke. I know that. But given Bryke’s tendencies to make insensitive, or downright insulting jokes, then double down on them years later (Book 4: Air, and Bryan’s later repost of the video with the world’s most condescending caption (featuring a dictionary definition of the word “joke”), I’m looking at you) rather than admitting that they were in poor taste (and the fact that that adult Aang looks exactly like Mike with a jawline), I’m inclined to believe that they genuinely DID NOT CARE about the ethnicity of the actors cast at this point. And again, this interview came before the casting and before the associated backlash.
Now, admittedly, this is the last information I can find from Bryke relating to the live action movie before the movie’s release in 2010. And a lot can change in 2 years. According to this post, a lot did change, and not at M. Night’s request, though this is a secondary source of a now-deleted forum post, so the reliability of the information is anyone’s guess. But, that said, there was an active controversy surrounding the casting of the live action beginning in 2008 (taking the timeline from the wiki because I can’t find a semi-comprehensive rundown anywhere else). The movie was released in 2010. Plenty of people associated with the original series made their disapproval public. Bryke, though? The first time I can find them even referring to the live action disaster is in this interview from 2011:
Wall Street Journal: Have you heard anything about whether there will be a sequel to the "Last Airbender" live-action feature film? Michael DiMartino: Uh, no. It's definitely not up to us, so.
No mention of their opinion of the thing. And three years of silence doesn’t exactly equate to an endorsement of the movie, but uh... three years is a lot of time in which they could have made their opinions known, especially about the whitewashing, which was a widely-known problem. 
If they were truly concerned about representation, which seems to be the thing that a LOT of the internet is worried about after their exit from the Netflix live action, wouldn’t they have had something to say about it? Just asking. 
Oh, but they did... eventually. In 2013, 3 years after the movie’s release, and 5 years after they (to my knowledge) last expressed an opinion on the movie, Bryan made this post in response to criticism of the Kataang kids’ skin color in LOK. And he had this to say about the live action movie:
I prefer to stay out of this type of discourse on Tumblr and let the large body of work Mike and I have put out there over the years speak for itself (which obviously DOES NOT include the gross misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our work in this guy’s work). 
That’s as specific as it gets. Pretty passive-aggressive and open to interpretation if you ask me. The only reason you can tell that he’s actually referring to the live action movie is because in the original post, “this guy” links out to M. Night’s page, and the only reason you can tell that he’s referring to the whitewashing of the cast is because the post is a response to similar criticisms levelled against LOK. 
Then apparently there was an interview in 2014 that finally went more in depth on the subject of the live action, but the original was deleted, and the transcript I was able to locate is practically unreadable. No names attached to any of what was said, so I really couldn’t tell you who thought what about the movie, and honestly, if anyone can decipher this garbled mess, I salute you. It seriously looks like a cat walked across a keyboard for an hour while autocorrect went bananas. 
Ah, old internet drama. So hard to track down. 
Anyway, all of that is why the wiki summarizes the situation by saying:
Before the film's release, co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino vocally supported the film, even appearing in an interview with M. Night Shyamalan. However, following the film's release and the negative reception it had received, the two remained quiet on the film, making only brief statements on it.
And that is why I’m laughing my butt off with every person I see lamenting Bryke’s exit from the Netflix live action. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have high hopes for the thing. Ideally, I’d like to see the whole thing cancelled, ATLA allowed to go down in history as a great show, and the creators to move on to new, unrelated projects (come on, dudes, you’ve gotta have at least one more original idea you could try instead of beating the ATLA universe into a bloody, unrecognizable pulp). And failing that, I’d like to see the show recreated faithfully, some plot threads in Book 3 tied a little tighter, and no canon romances with the possible exception of Suki/Sokka. But Bryke’s involvement was never a guarantee of quality. Sure, it might suck without them. But it could have sucked just as badly with them on board. Maybe now it will suck in new and unexpected ways!
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zukkaoru · 3 years
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11, 12, & 16 for the writing asks! <3
11. who or what do you find yourself writing about most
i mean. zukka at the moment - they just worm their way into every fic i write and i encourage it bc i love them skdjgfdj
but more broadly and not just sticking to atla, i write a lot about characters coming out/coming to terms with their sexuality and especially when they were raised by homophobic parents/in a homophobic environment. you can uh. probably guess why. self projection and wish fulfillment via fic who????
12. tell us about a wip you're excited about
i will tell you about what i am currently working on and will probably (hopefully) be the next thing i post: my fic for day six of gen week, filling both the siblings and disability/chronic pain prompts
basically, it's about jinora and ikki and about how jinora views both ikki (and later on, meelo and rohan) and being an older sister in general throughout her life. the biggest dynamic i focus in on is jinora & ikki, but there are appearances from several other characters as well (namely the kataang kids and the zukka family). it features hard of hearing ikki, hard of hearing zuko, nonbinary izumi, nonbinary jinora, probably nearsighted jinora, aro bumi ii even if it isn't explicitly stated, interpreter bumi ii, the air babies with chronic ear infections, and jinora with severe Eldest Daughter Syndrome (yes i did say let me see how many niche headcanons i can fit in this one fic thank you very much)
it is currently sitting at just over 5k words and i'm not sure whether or not it's even halfway done, but i'm really enjoying writing it and i like how it's coming along so far so i am very excited for it!!
also coming soon is my fic for gen week day three: unexpected allies, which is an azula-centric modern au oneshot and focused on azula & sokka and azula & katara friendships, but that one shouldn't get as long as the jinora and ikki one
i'm also hoping to write something with suki for the kyoshi warriors prompt but we'll see how much time i have left after finishing these two skjgfd
16. any guilty pleasure trope(s)?
group chat fics skjgfdjkhj
listen. i know they're usually written very out of character. but sometimes i just want to see my faves doing stupid stuff and teasing each other via group chat bc it makes me smile and it doesn't take a lot of brainpower to consume compared to angsty fics. and yes i have written them before but no i will not be putting any on ao3 <3 i wrote those for myself and myself alone
fic writer ask game
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army-of-mai-lovers · 3 years
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@katarahairloopies thank you so much for the tag!! talking about my writing to procrastinate writing is one of my favorite hobbies <3
prompt-share your: 
first fic: the actual first fic I ever wrote was a pjo self insert fic I wrote in a binder when I was eleven and shredded six months later, in which the whole love triangle plot between Leo, Frank, and Hazel was resolved in three pages because even then I hated love triangles, my self-insert proudly declared that they were “too smart to date” (this was the excuse I was using at the time to escape the fact that I was a lesbian), and the completely un-child friendly myth of Philomena and Procne featured heavily because it was the coolest thing in the Mythology Book For Adults That Little Arthur Should Have Never Got Their Grimy Little Hands On, among other things. the first fic I ever posted was a 1D self-insert fic that I regret deeply. 
favorite fic: ughhhh this is so hard I think it’s a tie between let him fly, victory lap, and like ripples, like love. let him fly was really important to me to write because the way the kataang family was portrayed in lok felt like a horrible twisted funhouse mirror version of my own family, and I knew that a lot of other mixed folks were upset by that portrayal, so I wanted to do something that showed Tenzin growing up with both Water Tribe and Air Nomad influences. honestly that’s the fic I’m proudest of, because I got feedback from a lot of other mixed folks saying that they felt seen by what I wrote, which is really all I’ve ever wanted. victory lap I love because I love writing and reading character study fics of characters who don’t get to do much on their own in the show, and I just love the concept of deconstructing the perfect badass Suki whomst we all stan and making her an actual human being. And like ripples, like love just makes me feel good, honestly. Writing it puts me in a good mood, and none of my other profoundly depressing wips do that quite as well. 
EDIT: ok I think the original intent of this question was favorite fic that someone else wrote fjsdkfjsdjfklsjf my bad. for me it’s between Hooked by @listless-brainrot, Balance My Heart in the Palm of Your Hand by the lovely sukis_fans on ao3, where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor on ao3, and paint it red, they’ll cover it up anyway by snowandfire on ao3. Hooked I love because it’s the original Jetru fic and because it’s one of the most nuanced characterizations of both Jet and Haru that I’ve seen in any fic ever, also List’s descriptions are phenomenal, also BRUH THE FRAMING DEVICE ok listen framing devices are so easy to mess up and List just made his perfect the rest of us can all go home I guess. Balance My Heart is to this day my favorite mailee fic, I’m obsessed with it it’s so sweet and so well thought out. The author pays so much attention to Mai and Ty Lee as characters and also!!! Mai and Sokka friendship!!! we stan!!!! where the stars do not take sides is honestly a fandom classic (or should be, anyway). Y’all know I love a good major canon divergence and this is honestly one of the most well thought out ones I’ve ever seen. Also the characterization of Azula and of Azula and Zuko’s bond is INCREDIBLE. god-tier content honestly. paint it red is also something that should be a fandom classic and really readjusted my opinions of Jet as a character with its well thought out characterization. I love the concept of past jetko when it’s not “Jet was a total asshole and Zuko was perfect in every way” and paint it red ABSOLUTELY delivers on this it is so wonderful. A common thread with all of these is that they prioritize characterization over “ship dynamics” and they make sure that all of their characterizations are nuanced and three dimensional, and I love them for that. 
most recent fic: love will always find you, the second installment in the donnaverse (in which the girls of Avatar inexplicably love Donna Summer and start a band together), which is about Yue and Suki going on their first date. There’s lots to love about this fic for me: it’s yueki (my favorite atla wlw ship), there’s a philosophical discussion of a Donna Summer song as they drive through LA, Suki backstory, background mailee, just good vibes all around. 
fic with the most notes: like ripples, like love by far, but my most popular fics on ao3 are the greatest of them all (in which Toph and Bumi I duel and become besties) and keep the world at bay (Avatar Sokka) 
a line or two from a wip: what I’m currently working on for atla femslash week-
She’d never needed anyone before, and she didn’t want to need anyone ever again. It was torture, picturing Yue’s face without being able to see her for real. 
Just one night. Only one night. 
How do you know? 
The moon always comes back. 
Suki felt the tears roll down her cheeks, the dry sobs wracking her body as she hid her face in her chest. I don’t know. I don’t know.
favorite character to write for (and why): Mako 100%. I vibe so hard with the tired older sibling with several undiagnosed mental illnesses energy he gives off. 
character(s) you find hard to write: I hate to say it but Katara. I love her to pieces but I have no clue where to start with her characterization wise, which is why if she’s in a fic she’s usually not the pov character and she’s sidelined more than I would like her to be. 
tagging: @listless-brainrot @the-hot-zone @miannmian @scrtminlikesdrawing and anyone who wants to!
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Modern Au where the gaang is under the same dance company
A few things before I start writing everything is that I am changing the ages so here they are when the main story happens ig?? Here they are:
Zuko: 16
Mai: 16
Ty Lee: 15
Sokka: 15
Suki: 15
Katara: 14
Aang: 14
Toph: 14
Azula: 14
Anyways, here we go!
•Ozai is killed by Ursa when Zuko is 12 and Azula is ten
•Which sucks of course, and because this man owns a super famous dance company thing, the police have to investigate
•They question Ursa, Iroh, Lu Ten(yeah he’s alive thank you), Zuko and Azula
•They quickly realize that Ozai was super abusive
•Instead of looking for his murder(which they are pretty sure is Ursa or Iroh), they say it was a suicide (normally I would say acab but police can be okay here)
•Ursa takes over the dance company and renames it to Roku Dance or something
•Before it was named after Sozin, and that’s yuck
•Anyways, all of the dancers that Ozai ever chose were Fire Nation dancers
•So Ursa immediately decides to hire an Earth Kingdom group called “The Kyoshi Warriors”
•They are comprised of dancers who are all about 14-18 besides one girl
•Suki!!! Anyways, 11 year old Suki meets 12 Zuko and they are friends really quickly
•It’s really nice for Zuko because he doesn’t have friends :(
•The Kyoshi Warriors see how close Zuko and Suki are and just go:
•Oh Suki you should be doing duets with think boy ;)
•So that’s what goes on with Suki and Zuko
•Also Zuko is blind in his eye where the scar would be, but since Ozai got murdered that DIDNT HAPPEN
•So Zuko is just blind in that eye
•His school decides that he should be friends with a girl name Toph because “!!Zuko!! She’s!!! Blind!!!”
•Zuko hates this at first because he hates being forced to get along with people
•But Toph is cool
•So Zuko, Suki and Toph are a little trio for a while
•About a year later, Zuko is living in a little apartment type thing in the dance studio (sh it’s my AU and I have my reasons) because his mom and step-dad’s house is far away from his school which is very close to the dance studio
•Suki has the same situation just as the Kyoshi warriors do, she has her own little apartment thing
•Mai, Azula and Ty Lee have their little apartment thing too (because I said so)
•One day, Zuko finds this boy Aang, who is 12 and was raised by monks
•He just ran away because...
•Honestly your choice
•Anyways, Zuko is like “Oh bro, you can stay in my apartment for a bit.”
•Aang is super excited because, wow!! People who aren’t monks!!
•Toph and Aang get along right away
•Suki thinks he’s chill
•So Zuko pleads with Ursa to let Aang stay
•And she does!! Because Aang can dance!!!
•Anyways, Aang and Zuko share an apartment and become really good friends
•At some point they adopt a puppy and name him Appa
•They regret adopting him as a puppy because he was a lap dog when he was tiny, but is now giant and almost crushes people
•They also adopt a ferret that they name Momo
•Zuko adopts a lizard and names him Druk
•Aang refers to the three animals as his and Zuko’s children
•Zuko hates this but eventually gives in
•Then!!! When Zuko is 16, Ursa accepts this girl named Katara to be in the dance studio!!
•Katara so excited!! Her fathers(I said Bakoda rights) move her and her older brother Sokka to the place where the dance studio is
•Katara begs Sokka to come with her and he obliges
•They walk in expecting to see a bunch of dancers practicing some really hard music
•Instead they see
•A boy will blue arrow tattoos sitting on the back of a girl doing push-ups (Inspired by a post that I will link at the bottom because Tumblr is being RUDE) the boy is on his phone
•A boy with a very neat bun and gold eyes(Sokka notes that last part in his mind) is sitting on the floor and there is a giant fluffy dog sitting on top of him
•A girl with short hair just laying on the ground
•Katara is just like, “Uh?? Hi???”
•She gets a hi from all of them
•The boy with the tattoos calls out “That’s 69 Toph!”
•The girl, (Apparently Toph is her name)doing the push-ups, just calls back “Nice”
•Sokka is like “Okay Katara, I’m going to go”
•The girl on the floor hoists herself up onto her elbows and is like, “You can stay if you want, it’s not like anyone else is here today”
•Sokka is confused because?? Aren’t people supposed to be there
•Suki explains that this specific dance studio has the Kyoshi Warriors; Whatever Azula, Ty Lee and Mai’s trio is called; Zuko; Aang; and now Katara
•The Kyoshi Warriors (besides Suki, since she accidentally sprained her ankle) are at competition and so are Azula, Ty Lee and Mai
•Katara gives Sokka a pleading look so he complies(though he really shouldn’t)
•And that is how Sokka and Katara meet the rest of the gaang
If I write this (I probably won’t haha) it’ll feature Zukka, Kataang, Toph x Suki(no I don’t know the ship name thank you very much) Tyzula(but Azula won’t be toxic because I just want them to be happy), and Bakoda.
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kirbyspits · 3 years
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Korrasami was toxic too but nobody wants to admit that. They didn’t like each other in book 1-3. The only reason why they look so perfect now is because they started dating post-redemption when everyone matured.
*Part 2/2 Asks
If no one talks about it, it’s because nobody wants Korrasami shippers coming after them! Me included!
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All jokes aside, I thought Korrasami’s dynamic was fine until I rewatched Book 4. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Korrasami is toxic, just because there’s not much we can actually go on in the show, but I can point out interactions I felt didn’t help strengthen the romantic bond between the girls. 
But before we get into it, Anon, you gave me a lot of books to cover with a statement I’m not sure I agree either with because I need details 😏. I need to know which “like” we’re talking about. Are we talking about liking like friends? Or liking liking, like, like 👀? I have so many thoughts about both, but I’ll summarize and maybe write an analysis later! 
Korra & Asami’s Relationship Development
Book 1: Acquaintances Book 2: A step below acquaintances? I swear they only spoke 3x 😬. Book 3: Friends! Book 4: Up to Interpretation if you watch only watch the show. Crushes if you read the comics.
Bryke’s Choices on Developing Korrasami in Book 4
The Reunion (B4E7):
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Let’s start here since the posts I’ve seen in the past covered this fight to call out why they didn’t see the Korrasami ending coming. After Asami reveals that she might be ready to forgive Hiroshi, Korra questions Asami’s judgment. Asami snaps at Korra and then brings up the length of time Korra’s been away.
I get what Bryke was trying to do here. This episode is all about Makorrasami butting heads before making up in the end and getting back into their groove like the good old times. The premise is fantastic. Unfortunately, Asami and Korra don't have your typical Pride & Prejudice banter here. Instead, Asami gets upset, and Korra becomes defensive. Not exactly great for a budding romance. And before you say Korra and Mako fight all the time, yes, they do, and I talk about it in the first Ask. Also noting that Mako and Korra don’t have P&P banter in this episode either, but there is sentiment. 
I actually misinterpreted Asami’s lines. I initially thought she was mad at Korra for being gone, based on Korra’s response:
“It’s not like I planned to be gone that long. I wanted to come back, but I never felt ready until now.” 
I wish the context for this line was a little different. Viewers need to know Korra’s feelings on being away from her friends and Republic City for three years, but it’s a mistake to have her say it as a response to Asami’s anger. The tone does nothing to help bring the girls closer and stir up feels.  
What sucks is Bryke was so close! Asami stating she was worried about Korra is perfect! It shows Asami has been thinking about Korra and, most importantly, that she cares about Korra’s well-being. Great recipes for shipping. Then Bryke ruins the connection by having Asami talk about a sensitive subject. Hiroshi. It has nothing to do with Korra, unlike Mako’s lines when talking with the girls. 
Is Asami’s dialogue problematic tho? Nah, just because Asami was saying she’s no longer naive. I understand why Asami got upset with Korra, and I don’t mind that being the reason why she snapped. However, red flags start waving when Asami throws Korra being gone to her face. That was completely unfair and makes Asami unlikable in this instance. You know how hard it is to not like Asami?!
If the goal was to mention how Korra didn’t feel ready and needed the three years, give Korra the agency to talk about. All the sentiment that was just built up a minute ago is now gone. Instead of longing, there’s anger, which makes my ships sink.
The Last Stand (B4E13):
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I don’t mind Korra feeling guilty about being gone for so long. That’s fine and natural. I do mind it when the narrative leads me to believe Asami makes her feel guilty about it. I also mind that this happens two minutes before the end of the episode. My question is, why the apology? Why make the choice to have Korra feel guilty for taking the time she needed to heal with Asami? 
I don’t recall Korra apologizing to anyone else for the time she spent healing and I read it as an understanding that she never felt the need to. Why end a show with Korra, who pretty much suffered every type of abuse, carry this guilt with her? Especially when she’s around her future lover? Then Asami mentions her father, and I know Bryke meant well, having Asami emphasize Korra did nothing wrong, but it’s noted that Korra apologizes again for Hiroshi’s death. 
Now I have no qualms with the second apology. It’s a natural response, and it was about time the show addressed it. However, we now have too many instances of Korra looking sad and feeling guilty around Asami. I didn’t mention Rememberances because we’re talking about toxicity and the dialogue in that episode is fine. But when we pull in Korra and Asami’s lines from that episode, in which a sweet conversation spirals into Asami struggling to comfort Korra as she reveals her insecurities and concerns, it can overshadow the instances of happiness Korra feels when she’s with Asami. I don’t want a depressed insecure lover. I want lovers that inspire one another and look up to each other. That’s just not something we see a lot of in Korra & Asami in Book 4. 
Now let’s backtrack real quick to Korra and Asami’s Relationship Overview. I said Book 4 is up for interpretation if you don’t read the comics. Why? Because the comics state when Korra and Asami develop feelings for each other, which is in-between seasons. We have no way of knowing that in the show, so it’s up to the viewer to find enough context to know when Korra and Asami develop romantic feelings for each other. 
The narrative that makes the most sense and is more satisfying for the few lines in Book 4 that seem out of place, like Korra apologizing to Asami, is when I picture the girls already going out. I actually see them together at the start of Book 3, if I’m trying to be canon-compliant for the show (yeah, Korra moved on real quick 😭). Picturing the girls together makes Korra’s sadness and guilt less concerning because it adds on a complicated layer. She needed to heal, and in the process of healing, she cut ties with everyone, including her girlfriend. It’s understandable why Korra did it, but now I can empathize with both Korra and Asami instead of just being confused why Korra thinks she did something wrong.
The Perfect Relationship
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Lol, they’re canon, so it’s not like they can not work out and break up. They’re also the first LGBT+ couple featured on a major television network. Bryke cannot mess up their relationship and treat it like Makorra or any other relationships that had issues. It would be beyond insulting because there’s so little representation. So I think they deserve to have a perfect relationship. To me, it’s in the same realm as Kataang, so even if Korra and Asami continue to fight, it’s going to work out and be handled maturely. Not just because they’re older and more mature, but because they’re canon, and Bryke can’t break from that.  
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wayward-wren · 4 years
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My 11 year old brother watches Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book Two: Earth
(featuring my 14 year old brother who's watching with us)
Me: so what do you think of Azula? Him, with a small grin: there are some aspects of her character that I like.
Cave of Two Lovers: Will you just tell her you love her!! They keep putting it off and putting it off and then when you say it it turns out she does love you too!
Muttering: luv, tuw luv. (me, internally: we're gonna be in opposite sides if the Kataang vs Zutara shipping war huh?)
*coming into my room couple hours later* [Wren] thanks to you I now have that stupid song going around my head. Me: SECRET TUNNEL Him: OKAY BYE
Zuko stealing Song's Ostrich-horse: okay I take back what I said about his character getting better (it's honestly been a roller coasting of a ride watching him react to Zuko's arc and it can only get better)
Me: so what do you think of Azula and her team? Him: One of them looks like a Gothic teenager, one looks like she'd like a ride on a pretty pink pony and the other is royalty so yeah.
After The Chase, when Iroh gets zapped by Azula: I can't believe Zuko just doomed his own fath- I mean uncle *sits in silence on my bed staring at the screen for a good five minutes before going to bed*
"You know what Zuko needs? A piece of metal" - after watching Zuko's breakdown/trying to get struck by lightning
My other younger brother, who's 14 and and absolutely loves animals was wiping his eyes a lot during Appa's Lost Days. He's got down syndrome and isn't as expressive in giving his reaction as my other brother so this was the first time he obviously reacted to an episode
Me: that was an exciting episode wasn't it! 14-year-old: No it wasn't! He got needles in him!
"Ah, the more you loved him the more you hate him when he betrays you" - about Katara's reaction to seeing Jet again.
Iroh: you are under going a metamorphosis and when you're finished you will emerge the beautiful prince you were always supposed to be Brother: and then you're gonna change your hair style again
Me: so what'd you think? Brother: wa-bu-Zuko! He's had like two seasons of character development and he still chooses Azula! Two seasons!
Safe to say, they both enjoyed it! Onto season three!
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Note
Have u written any fics featuring Kataang?
Yes and no.  I haven’t written any Kataang fics, but most of my fics have Kataang in them.  Some of my Avatar World Week 2017 stories featured Kataang.
Cactus Juice Flim-Flammery
10 Years Later
Free Day
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catie-does-things · 6 years
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On My Way to Steal Yo...Seat: Ember Island Players & Zutara Shipbaiting
(Or: The best time for a Zutara Rant(TM) is all the time.)
Ah, Zutara, the ship of dreams, technically sunk ten years ago but still afloat in countless shipper hearts. The ways in which the creators of AtLA did the fans dirty on this one could be an entire discussion unto itself, but right now I want to focus on a particular episode, which I think suggests that, when it came to the show’s romantic relationships, the showrunners’ priorities were not where they should have been.
That episode is The Ember Island Players. And the trouble all starts with one little comedic moment.
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An extremely awkward moment they went out of the way to include.
Before we dive in, let’s take a step back and establish our priorities here. I’m not going to use this post to make claims about secret Zutara subtext, or even argue the merits of Zutara as a ship, really. Conversely, to the extent that I critique Kataang, it’s going to focus strictly on writing choices and leave aside the question of whether Aang and Katara are romantically suited for each other as characters or not. For the purposes of this post, we will take as granted that Kataang was the intended endgame pairing from the beginning, and romantic Zutara was never intended at all, and look at how the showrunners went about handling that.
(under a cut because woah this got long)
The Ember Island Players is an entire episode built around the show parodying itself and its fandom. In such an episode, it would be almost impossible to avoid at least alluding to the ship wars, which for those of you not part of the fandom back then, were absolutely massive. (And encouraged by the show’s promotion - but that’s another story.) Whatever Bryke’s intentions, the Zutara phenomenon had grown so influential that Zuko was perceived by fans as Aang’s main rival for Katara’s affections - in spite of never being presented as such in the show. That’s begging for a joke or two, isn’t it?
So before the parody play even starts, we get the moment in the gif above, a joke which is painfully dragged out by Aang shyly pointing out that he wanted to sit next to Katara, and Zuko’s utter obliviousness as to why. (Katara herself shows no reaction to any of this fumbling - perhaps unintentionally foreshadowing some of the problems to come.) Aang relents, and sits on the other side of Zuko.
In practical terms, there are two things that justify this gag beyond a bit of awkward humor. The first is that subsequent moments in the episode where the characters comment on the play involve both Katara and Zuko interacting with each other, and Zuko and Aang interacting with each other, making it most effective for Zuko to be seated between Katara and Aang for blocking purposes. 
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Aang and Katara don’t interact much during the play. More unintentional foreshadowing? You be the judge.
The other reason is that this moment of making a fuss over seating arrangements sets up early on what is actually going to be a significant theme addressed in the episode - the question of whether Zuko is going to figuratively come between Aang and Katara the way he literally does here. And make no mistake, the episode is very concerned with this question.
After a brief spoof of Jetara that gets only a mild reaction of embarrassment from Katara, the first time the play-within-the-show really dives into shipping is its sendup of ridiculous Zutara expectations of the crystal cave scene in The Crossroads of Destiny. Actress!Katara declares the Avatar to be like a little brother, professes her attraction to actor!Zuko, and the two embrace. This is, of course, absurd for these characters at this point in the story, but to be fair, it’s a pretty accurate rendition of the wildest Zutara fandom predictions for the episode. The silliest of enemies-to-lovers tropes have always had their place in Zutara fandom. Capture!fic was very much a thing. Haha, it’s good for us all to laugh at ourselves sometimes. 
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Pictured: Artist’s reconstruction of Zutara fan fic c. December 1, 2006
Aang, however, is not laughing. After growing increasingly frustrated with his own portrayal in the play, this scene makes him so angry that he storms out of the theater. It’s clear that, to Aang, this is no joking matter - and that means it’s quickly going to become more serious for the audience as well, as we soon move into what might be the episode’s most controversial scene, and certainly the one that has the largest dramatic impact on the actual narrative of the show. The tone of this scene is a stark contrast to the majority of the light-hearted, self-referential, tongue-in-cheek episode.
When Katara goes to find Aang, he confronts her about what her actress counterpart said, and we finally, after fifty-six episodes, get a scene where Aang and Katara directly talk about their relationship. This is a big moment, not just because it’s a weighty scene in the middle of a fluff episode, but also because it’s a huge opportunity to push forward the relationship that, remember, we’re accepting as intended endgame all along. The writers know Aang and Katara are going to end up together. They’ve known it for years. After playing coy about Katara’s feelings for nearly three full seasons, they must have been dying to get to this moment. 
This isn’t a shy kiss-or-die scenario. (Let it never be said that Zutara has the monopoly on silly tropes.) This isn’t a heat of the moment, one-sided pre-battle kiss that will be ignored later because of more pressing concerns. This is the chance for these characters to have a frank conversation about where they stand and what the nature of their relationship should be.
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Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t go well.
Obviously we can’t have any actual Kataang resolution in this episode - we have to save that for the finale. Fair enough. So what do we do instead? We muddy the waters a bit more, make things even more complicated to resolve in the four episodes we have left, after giving this relationship little to no serious development in the previous fifty-six episodes.
Katara dismisses what her actress counterpart said in the play, but admits she’s confused about her own feelings. When Aang tries to kiss her again, she’s upset by it and storms away. This is the first and last time we ever see Katara address the possibility of her romantic feelings for Aang, until they kiss in the final seconds of the very last episode, her confusion apparently resolved off-screen.
Zuko isn’t mentioned in this scene, but from the perspective of showrunners trying to set up Kataang and unexpectedly confronting a popular rival ship they never intended, in the context of the previous scenes discussed above, this having Katara be dismissive of the play’s portrayal of her also seems like a pretty clear dismissal of Zutara. In fact, arguably this scene is a better casual dismissal of Zutara than it is a setup of the last-minute Kataang endgame.
And then, when the gaang returns to the theater for the final act of the play with the seating arrangements now reshuffled, we get one last awkward reaction shot of Aang and Katara when their stage counterparts declare their platonic affection for each other. And look who’s also in the frame for some reason.
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Since they’ve all left the theater and come back, Zuko doesn’t need to be sitting next to Katara at this point. 
So the overall effect of the “shipping” subplot of this episode comes across as the writers assuring us that Zutara is silly, and that in spite of fandom expectations Zuko is not a romantic rival for Aang, while at the same time maintaining enough ambiguity between Katara and Aang so as not to preempt the resolution of them getting together in the finale.
What’s bizarre about it is...they didn’t actually have to do any of that? Within the world of the show, nobody had ever raised the possibility of Zuko and Katara being romantically involved prior to this episode. If it was never going to happen, it wasn’t something that needed to be addressed. Instead of taking this opportunity to give us reasons why Katara is going to get together with Aang - perhaps the review of their past adventures helps her clarify some of her own feelings, while still leaving her reservations about the timing? - this subplot seems more interested in trying to tell us that she’s not going to get together with Zuko. 
This is writing to the fandom, rather than writing to the narrative. From a storytelling perspective, it’s a waste of time. If the Zuko/Katara/Aang triangle is just a product of silly fans and doesn’t actually exist in the show, then there’s no need to make such a big deal of it. Rather than a throwaway gag, the seating shenanigans and dramatic weight given to Aang’s insecurities make the on-stage Zutara romance a central feature of the episode. There was no reason this had to be the case. 
So why was it?
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Welcome to the realm of speculation.
One possibillity is that the writers of this episode (or Bryke themselves, directing them) simply got carried away with spoofing the fandom and lost sight of the actual narrative work they should have been doing. This is a case of bad priorities and poor judgement, but it’s fairly innocent.
The other possibility, and the less innocent one, is that it was deliberate shipbaiting. The shipping subplot seems meant to dismiss the possibility of Zutara in hindsight, working under the assumption that Kataang was always intended and Zutara never was - but it obviously wasn’t read that way by Zutara fandom at the time. With Zuko and Katara’s dramatic reconciliation in The Southern Raiders coming immediately prior to this episode, now the question of romantic Zutara is introduced and Katara’s feelings for Aang are less clear than Kataang shippers had assumed? Sounds pretty promising for Zutara when you look at it that way.
Was this actually intentional? As mentioned earlier, promotional material for the show did outright encourage the idea of the love triangle, even though the show itself hadn’t before. If the idea of this subplot wasn’t explicitly to give Zutara shippers false hope and set them up for disappointment, it may yet have been the last effort to throw kerosene on the fire of the ship wars before the show’s finale. 
It’s hard to believe that fan reactions wouldn’t have been considered when writing such a metatextual episode that engaged with the fandom so directly, but I do hate to assign malice as a motive where incompetence is a suitable explanation, so let’s assume that if this was the case, Bryke thought it was all in good fun. It still reflects poor judgement and priorities, because egging on drama among your fans shouldn’t be more important than developing the narrative you’re actually trying to tell.
So whatever the reasoning, in this episode, on the eve of the show’s finale, it seems that dissing Zutara was more important than developing Kataang.
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YMMV on whether this is better or worse than the finale itself, where developing Zutara was more important than developing Kataang.
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