Ao3 Recs - Blog Posts
guys.....guys i'm writing this and it's gonna come out this week....so excited 🤭
kind of obsessed with disney’s wish even though it wasn’t amazing, and i’m thinking of an au where star was human and fell in love with asha. now that i think about it, it’s the perfect kataang au.
katara’s wish is for the avatar to return, to end the war and bring peace.
her wish is granted quite literally—the boy in the sky is the avatar, and he’s there to assist her in her story of saving the world, including her world/home, the southern water tribe.
do you see the vision?
PSA for all my fanfic writers- CONSIDER USING NOTION AS AN ORGANIZATION SYSTEM FOR WRITING!!
it only just occurred to me that i could use notion to plan out my fanfic writing and just UGH LOOK AT THE BEAUTY!!^
i can put all my fics together and keep track of pairings & how complete they are!!!
AND give them all little covers!!!!
seriously you guys need to try this it is beyond satisfying🤭
the template i used to make this is linked here 🤍 enjoy!!!
guys it's OUT NOW!!!! i'll do a proper promo post tomorrow so i guess anyone who sees it before then can be part of a super secret club hehe
new chapter of "the teenager in the iceberg" is gonna be out tonight!!! so excited to show you guys the fortuneteller ep!!
new chapter of "the teenager in the iceberg" is gonna be out tonight!!! so excited to show you guys the fortuneteller ep!!
if any of you require additional info before making your decisions, please feel free to inquire for details in the comments 😌
and if you need my kataang credentials, you can find my fanfic masterlist here and my ao3 here
thank u lovelies!!<3
call me lady whistledown the way i be writing fanfiction secretly and telling no one irl out of shame
my (quillthills) ao3 ATLA fanfiction masterlist:
"so i will go to secret gardens in my mind":
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"you’re in the wind, i’m in the water":
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"there's a star-man, waiting in the sky":
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
"you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"- multichap
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens. OR: a KATAANG AU where tui and la have split the earth into the sea and the sky. aang is a winged avian, while katara is a siren<3
"well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band":
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
"i’m no longer a kid, and everything has changed":
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
"can you see me using everything to hold back?":
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
"my heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to":
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
"shining down on me":
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski
"the avatar's adventures in parenting":
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
"i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said":
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
the teenager in the iceberg- ch7 sneak-peek!!!
“Psht,” Aang rolled his eyes, sending a breeze to blow back Sokka’s sandy hair. “Katara’s a friend, Sokka. Dependable, just like Appa, or Momo.”
“Thanks.” Katara said flatly, pretending to suddenly be interested in observing the sand at her feet. Dependable. He sure did know what a girl wanted to hear.
“Hah, maybe you should go into the jewellery business, instead of doing your whole world-saving thing!” Sokka exclaimed from the water’s edge, seemingly unaware of the tension that had been crackling between the two benders only moments before.
“I don’t see why I can’t do both!” Aang ambled over to him, leaving Katara thoroughly confused and more than a little hurt. “I would say that you should start a business too, but it looks like you don’t have too much of a chance of breaking into the fishing industry.”
“Mmm, care to help? I don’t see you doing much more than watching from the sidelines.” Sokka shot him with the daggers in his eyes.
“A vegetarian fisher?” Aang raised an eyebrow, but walked into the water alongside Sokka regardless.
“Maybe you can do the bookkeeping for the business. I think you have the potential to have a real head for numbers.” The fish shot up beside Sokka, splashing teasingly, and Sokka lunged, only to come up with empty hands yet again.
Aang doubled over, weak with laughter, which was made worse when the fish came up yet again, just to splash Sokka with a small wave of water. “I think to have a bookkeeper, you need to be able to catch fish to sell,” he managed through his chuckling.
“Yeah, alright, Air-Boy.” Sokka fixed him with another glare, and before Aang could dart out of the water, Sokka tackled him, managing to submerge him for only a couple seconds before Aang erupted from the water in a burst of wind, using the waterbending he’d already learned to combat Sokka’s overeager splashing.
Katara giggled, settling back onto one of the larger rocks, but her smile faded as she watched the way Aang’s eyes shone in merriment, the way he grinned playfully. Katara’s a friend.
She couldn’t stop replaying the words over and over again, even as Sokka finally caught and roasted his fish, even as she and Aang foraged for the nuts and berries that would make up his dinner, even as she extinguished that night’s cooking fire.
Katara’s a friend.
She wasn’t sure if that was fully true. Not after the way she felt when she looked up at him, not after the way he’d jumped to protect her from Jet, not after the way her heart leapt into her throat at every accidental touch.
Was this only friendship, to him?
She cast a sidelong glance to Aang, curled up with Momo under woven orange-and-yellow sleeping sheets. Moonlight danced across the planes of his cheekbones, his skin sparkling as if cast from mica.
It was as if the moon spirits themselves were marking him as hers.
Wordlessly, she leaned over him, quietly adjusting the branches to his right until the moon caught on the leaves above him, until his face was no longer illuminated.
He wasn’t hers. She wasn’t sure why she had to keep reminding herself of that.
♥ check out the six chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
another ao3 poll!! since you guys liked the last one!!
edit: holy cow i meant to write "the secret will die with me" but "the secret will die" sounds SO much more accidentally cryptic that's my bad guys
i am very curious about this because i only remembered this is an option like yesterday so i have to ask
is this enough options now
i am very curious about this because i only remembered this is an option like yesterday so i have to ask
sooo.... anyone else ever wondered how different ATLA would have been if aang had been frozen at age 16 instead of age 12?
yeah... me too 😌 my multichap kataang fanfic "the teenager in the iceberg" follows the events of the show, but with only aang aged up, while everyone else remains their canon age.
to put it clearly, katara falls first, and aang falls harder 🤭 (and they both get a lil jealous hehe)
enjoy the excerpts from chapter 6!!! (the jet episode!!)
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“We’ve got a big plan to score big against the Fire Nation.” Jet kept his face straight ahead, his hooks swinging, and Katara could see the bit of wheat he still held between his teeth over his shoulder.
“Sounds…big.” Aang said the words somewhat sarcastically, earning a choked giggle from Katara, but Jet didn’t quite seem to catch the nuance of it all.
“Oh, it will be.” He hacked aside a final overhanging branch. “Here we are.”
“...A bunch of holes in the ground?” Aang shifted his weight and raised an eyebrow, only to immediately drop to a defensive position when Katara swatted him, hard, on the arm and gave him a glare. He raised his hands in a “don’t shoot” position, and schooled his features into neutrality by the time Jet turned around.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
Aang paused his movements at this, letting the water he was bending drop to his feet, coursing through cracks in the rock floor beneath them. “Katara. You can’t genuinely believe that. Sokka is an idiot, but he’s not dumb.”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“That Sokka can be goofy, sure, but I trust him and his perception, 100%. He doesn’t miss things. If anything, he sees and notices things most people don’t. If he doesn’t trust Jet….” Aang sighed, resuming his bending forms. “I just feel like you’re getting too close to him. Jet, I mean.”
“And what would the problem be with that?” Katara could hear her voice rising, her temper flaring.
“He’s a bad guy, Katara.”
“You don’t know that!”
“He hurt you!” Katara shut her mouth at the raw emotion in Aang’s voice. He was breathing heavily now, his fists clenching as wind whipped around them. He bit his lip, took in some deep breaths. “He hurt you,” he repeated, this time more gently. “I didn’t protect you quickly enough.”
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
Tonight was different. She still couldn’t sleep, that much was the same, but as she rose to drill her forms by the river, she felt a hand clamp around her forearm. She almost screamed, but when she whirled around to face her would-be attacker, she exhaled in a whoosh, relieved that it was only Aang.
“My bad,” he whispered, cringing at his choice to grab her arm without warning. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Katara dropped back down onto her sleeping bag, neatly crossing her legs. Aang did his best to ignore that she was only in her wrappings now, that the moonlight was sparkling on her bare skin, like a spirit in a painting of old. “I was just…wanting some air.”
“C’mon, Katara, don’t even try. You’re an awful liar.” He flashed a grin, and in the dark, the starlight set his teeth aglow. “I know you’ve been bending at night.”
Katara blanched at this. “How?”
“Light sleeper?” Aang shrugged. “Plus, you’re not great at sneaking out, either. You’ve stepped on me pretty much every time you’ve gotten up to practise.”
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“I, um…” Aang trailed off, and even in the dark, she could tell he was trying to hide a blush, could tell he was embarrassed. “I got you something.” He quickly backtracked, his voice somewhat frantic. “If you want. You might not. Want it, that is. And you don’t have to, and I’m not sure if it’ll even-”
“Aang.” Katara caught his hands in hers, looking into his eyes earnestly. “What is it?”
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
♥ the rest of the (ongoing) fic can be found here!! ->
happy reading! <3
i am very curious about this because i only remembered this is an option like yesterday so i have to ask
NEW CH OF TEENAGER IN THE ICEBERG IS UP i'll make some proper promo posts asap!!!! but at the moment my brain is toast from writing so this is all you get!!!!
CHECK IT OUT HERE -> The Teenager In the Iceberg
reblogging because i just spent ages reformatting & updating this 🤧
my (quillthills) ao3 ATLA fanfiction masterlist:
"so i will go to secret gardens in my mind":
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"you’re in the wind, i’m in the water":
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"there's a star-man, waiting in the sky":
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
"you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"- multichap
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens. OR: a KATAANG AU where tui and la have split the earth into the sea and the sky. aang is a winged avian, while katara is a siren<3
"well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band":
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
"i’m no longer a kid, and everything has changed":
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
"can you see me using everything to hold back?":
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
"my heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to":
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
"shining down on me":
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski
"the avatar's adventures in parenting":
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
"i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said":
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
i have two fics ("you're in the wind, i'm in the water," and "so i will go to secret gardens in my mind") now posted in this au! if it sounds like your cup of tea, check them out here!! ->
KATAANG STANS!!!
i need your input.
i'm currently working on a bridgerton-esque kataang oneshot (and by bridgerton-esque i mean vaugely in that era but probably filled with inaccuracies lol) and i'm wondering what types of scenes in that style people have always wanted to see played out with kataang.
in this fic, they do have bending, and aang is basically the very newly appointed king (for reasons that will be elaborated on in the fic), while katara is a high ranking soon-to-be noblewoman just making her debut this season.
i definitely want to throw in a corset lacing scene, and i had a really fun idea where aang uses airbending to dry out every man's quill every time they try to add their name to katara's dance card, but i'd love love love to bring some other ideas to light so if anyone has some regency-era-inspired kataang suggestions, i'm all ears!!<3:)
for those who might be wondering what katara's outfit & jewelry looks like in my new regency-era kataang fic "so i will go to secret gardens in my mind" <3
kataang fans, have you ever thought, "wow, i am experiencing a continuous and severe sense of lack in my life. i need more kataang regency-era fanfic to fill the void." ? i know i have 🤭
"you're in the wind, i'm in the water," is my first voyage into regency-era kataang, and if the idea piques your interest, feel free to check out some of the excerpts below!
it's got a scene like "the headband"...cmon. need i say more 🤭🤭🤭
♔ ♕ 🜲 - ♔ ♕ 🜲
All at once, suddenly broken from the spell that was dancing with Aang, she realised that every other pairing in the room had cleared themselves from the ballroom floor, shuffled off to the side. Instead of dancing alongside her and Aang, as she had assumed they’d been doing, they all stood perched at the edge of the painted tile, their gaze as hungry as that of a lion, their lips buzzing with intrigue and gossip. Katara paled at the sight, suddenly all too aware of the curls that had sprung free from her hair and the uneven positioning of her tiara. She felt a light touch at her chin, and Aang was there, gently tugging at her to face him.
“ Hey ,” He said, and she already felt her heart rate slowing, her breathing calming. He looked so earnest, and yet, so entirely in control, so sure of himself, in a way that Katara found inexplicably intoxicating and magnetic. “Don’t pay any mind to any of them. They are only marvelling that someone as plain as me could manage a dance with a girl who looks as ethereal as a spirit come to earth.” His teasing tone ceased for a minute, the playful grin fading into one that looked almost genuine.
“It’s just you and me right now, Katara.”
Her eyes widened slightly as he took her hand once more, matching her own fluid movement perfectly. “Okay,” she breathed. Internally, she cursed herself for losing all sense of her noble vocabulary, in the presence of a king , no less, but Aang… There was something about him that eluded every regal, noble wall she had spent so much time meticulously constructing to hide any sense of a personality from the world of the Ton.
♔ ♕ 🜲 - ♔ ♕ 🜲
“You know, I’m almost certain that teasing your king could be considered treason.”
She shook her head slowly, mockingly, as she smiled innocently back up at him. “Do you always accuse those who attempt to flirt with you as being treasonous?” She knew she was being overly daring, much more than she should be around the newly-appointed young king, but she didn’t care. Aang was a breath of fresh air among the stuffy suits and pig-minded noblemen that seemed to frequent the Ton.
His eyes sparkled in response to her playful tone, the way she met his eyes unblinking. “ Are you attempting to flirt with me, Princess Katara?”
♔ ♕ 🜲 - ♔ ♕ 🜲
“These look familiar, somehow,” Aang mused, his tone contemplative.
“Ah,” Katara nodded softly as she fixed her gaze to where Aang’s fingertips caressed stone. “These carvings are traditional, in my tribe. There are similar runes carved in-” Her words caught in her throat for a moment, and she coughed once, quietly, before continuing. “In my mother’s necklace.”
“The one you wore during the ceremony? With the pale blue stone?”
“Y-Yes.” Katara looked up, caught off guard. “I hadn’t... I hadn't realized that you’d paid that much attention to what I was wearing.”
As much as he tried not to, his eyes drifted to her lips, her neck, her gown. “How could I not?”
Katara flushed pink, hurriedly breaking their eye contact as she felt sparks of chemistry sizzle in the look Aang had fixed her with.
♔ ♕ 🜲 - ♔ ♕ 🜲
♥ if you'd like to check out the rest of this one-shot, and my other kataang works, head over here to my ao3 ->
i did my very first "no beta we die like" tag and i feel that this was a very appropriate tag choice for an atla fanfic.
i never ever stop thinking about sokka and yue. THEM.
also ASTRONAUT SOKKA. PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
presenting: "There's a Star-Man, Waiting In The Sky," by quillthrills on ao3
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨
“Y’know,” Yue turned back to Sokka, smiling softly, her features bathed softly in starlight. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be up there, alongside the moon.” She reached down, gently picking up another chocolate dipped strawberry, her arm of silver bracelets clanking together.
“Not sure how much I’d trust you in space.” Sokka raised an eyebrow as he leaned in to kiss away the spot of chocolate caught in the edge of Yue’s full lips. He shot her a teasing grin. “Looks like you can’t even properly finish your food.”
She shot him a glare, shoving him sideways onto the picnic blanket. “You know what I mean.” Her eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as she gazed up at the moon. “Can’t you imagine how beautiful it must be up there?”
“Yeah,” Sokka almost whispered the words, his eyes never leaving her face. “It must be breathtaking .”
Yue turned back to him again, her brow slightly creased now, as her once-soft tone became strained. “When I die, I hope to go up there.”
“That won’t be for a long time.” Sokka had intended the words to be decisive, but his voice shook as his eyes drifted back at the white-and-blue paper bracelet around Yue’s too-thin wrist, the hospital blotting out the stars behind them.
She only tipped her head, smiled in that sympathetic, selfless way she had. “I will, Sokka. You know I will.” She raised that same bracelet-wearing arm skyward, her fingers tracing the moon in a soft caress. “And when I do, you’ll find me up there .”
୧‿̩͙ ˖︵ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ︵˖ ‿̩͙୨
Sokka adjusted his helmet, his gloved, bulky hands reaching out to the button- speckled dashboard before him. He moved his way across the sparkling lights as if he’d been born aboard a spacecraft, but his hands still shook. They’d been shaking since he’d awoken that day.
It felt as though he’d been anxious to arrive since he and the other astronauts had boarded three days before. He’d been counting down the hours meticulously, pacing back and forth, so much so that another one of the crew members, Suki, had warily suggested he take a couple extra hours rest that night. When he did sleep, it was dreamless, light.
The first time Sokka had felt truly awake was when that beautiful silver sphere of light and crystalline rock drifted into view of the viewport early that morning. Since then, he’d been glowing with excitement, fighting tears with every minute. With every mile they came closer, and he could swear he saw her, her smile, her lips, her essence in the hills and valleys of the moon ahead. Yue’s photo was tucked into the frame of his helmet, and in the corner of his eye, he swore he could see her smile softly at him as the ship finally began landing procedure. With the gentle whoosh of the airlock, Sokka finally allowed himself a moment to cry.
As heavy boots pressed into the dust and rocks of the almost untouched heavenly body, a boy wept, reunited with the love of his life once more, if only for a moment.
check out this fic, and the rest of my works, on ao3 here ->
KATAANG STANS!!!
i need your input.
i'm currently working on a bridgerton-esque kataang oneshot (and by bridgerton-esque i mean vaugely in that era but probably filled with inaccuracies lol) and i'm wondering what types of scenes in that style people have always wanted to see played out with kataang.
in this fic, they do have bending, and aang is basically the very newly appointed king (for reasons that will be elaborated on in the fic), while katara is a high ranking soon-to-be noblewoman just making her debut this season.
i definitely want to throw in a corset lacing scene, and i had a really fun idea where aang uses airbending to dry out every man's quill every time they try to add their name to katara's dance card, but i'd love love love to bring some other ideas to light so if anyone has some regency-era-inspired kataang suggestions, i'm all ears!!<3:)
i'm writing in jealous aang AND a sparring scene in the upcoming ch of "the teenager in the iceberg"- y'all kataang stans are eating GOOOOODDD 🤭
in order to placate you lovelies, enjoy a couple short & sweet excerpts!!!
also, i love the way that tiny aang in the header looks like he's desperately trying to seperate jet and katara 😭🤍
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Sokka rose, crossing his arms as his expression shifted to anger. “The traps are Fire Nation. You can tell from the metalwork- no other tribes can achieve seams this flawless without the aid of a Firebender that can bend blue flame.”
Aang’s nose wrinkled as he gently landed next to Katara. “What do the firebenders want with these forest animals?”
“We won’t be sticking around long enough to find out.” Sokka said decisively as the three began to walk back to where they’d left Appa. “As the leader, I say we get walking AQAP.”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “AQAP?”
“It means As Quickly As Possible.” Sokka recited the acronym as if it was obvious. “It’s a more efficient method of communication. I call them ‘short-word-quick-talkers.’ Trust me, they’re gonna be very popular.”
Katara and Aang side-eyed one another sceptically before falling into step behind Sokka.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
Katara bent a stream of water from the bottle strapped to her hip, then carefully sent a water-whip straight for their fire, silently proud at how much her late-night practice sessions had allowed her to improve. “Who says you’re qualified to be the boss, all of a sudden?”
“I’m not the boss, I’m the leader.”
Katara scoffed incredulously. “You’re the leader?”
“Naturally.” Sokka puffed out his chest like a peacock pigeon. “I’m the oldest.”
Aang raised an eyebrow, grinning teasingly. “Sokka, I’ve been around for over a century. I have training robes that are older than you.”
Sokka deflated slightly, his shoulders slouching before he managed a retort. “Well, I’m wiser, then. And I have instincts.”
“Ooh, instincts.” Katara wiggled her fingers at him, her voice filled with fake awe. “Please, oh wise leader, share with us your wisdom.”
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“Down you go,” Jet grinned, self-satisfied and authoritative in his stance. Katara beamed back, her lips parted in an amazed expression, while Aang and Sokka’s features quickly settled into irritation. Before long, an archer and a few other kids dropped from the trees surrounding them, and both Aang and Katara jumped into the fray in response alongside the mismatched gang of weapon-slinging kids. Sokka joined in, his irritation visibly rising as Jet took down each soldier before Sokka could even get close to being in range.
“You snooze you loose, man,” Jet shrugged, his hooks snagging on a man who had been about to grab Katara. “Apologise to the lady.” He smirked, then kicked the man hard, dropping him to the side.
“I had her,” Aang grumbled under his breath, occupied with bending currents of wind to sweep soldiers out of the clearing. Katara furrowed her brow at Aang’s irritation, but decided to note it as something to ask about later. Finally, the remaining soldiers scampered out of the clearing in retreat, their shouts and yelps echoing through the forest. Katara still couldn’t take her eyes off of Jet. He sauntered over to her, a roguish grin on his face as he spoke.
“Hey.” He tossed his hair as he said it, his grin directed entirely at her now, and Katara felt a soft blush spread across her cheeks as she looked up at him. She broke her gaze only to check that Aang and Sokka were okay, and as she looked across the field to Aang…
Was she imagining it, or was his jaw clenching? Was she imagining it, or was his normally approachable expression shifting into a deadpan stare?
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His gaze flicked from Jet to Katara, to the brush brushing her cheeks, the soft smile of her full lips. He was hit by the thought that he wanted to be there, next to her, in Jet’s place.
What was it about Katara that made Aang feel as though he could only breathe when she was around?
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Katara was too caught up in her Jet-related nerves to notice the way that Aang’s breathing was coming more quickly, that his fists were quickly clenching and unclenching. She walked towards Aang, who was joined by Sokka, only for Aang’s eyes to flit away every time they met hers. She reached out an arm reflexively, her hand lightly brushing Aang’s bicep as her brow furrowed in concern.
“Are you alright?”
His eyes flashed with something she couldn’t quite read, and his jaw clenched before he spoke. “I’m sorry, Katara, I just… I need a minute. My judgement is…impaired, right now."
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He hesitated a moment before continuing. “Would you… would you care to join me for sparring practice, tomorrow morning? Might help you feel a bit safer next time you need to face off against Fire Nation swine.”
Katara smiled back. “I’d like that.” Jet continued to regale her with stories of all he and his fighters had accomplished as of late, but Katara found herself distracted, her gaze wandering over his shoulder every now and then.
It was not lost on her that Aang’s light had stayed on and his curtains drawn until Jet had returned her to her room for the night.
♥ if you want to stick around for this ch to drop, feel free to head over to the work here! ->
i have an idea for my current multichapter fic, but i want to run it by everyone here to check opinions!! i'm honestly not sure about it.
the next chapter of my kataang fic "the teenager in the iceberg" takes place in the jet episode in s1, and i'm writing in a lot of jealous aang moments after a lovely ao3 commenter mentioned that it was something they'd love to see:)
my fic is intended to be a fairly slow-burn fic, and its mainly from katara's perspective. i'm still writing the jet episode fully from katara's POV, and just making it kinda clear that aang is jealous through things katara notices. i feel that it'll give away the slow burn too quickly if i switch to aangs POV at all.
i had the idea to write a little one chapter offshoot where i give a bit of aang's pov in those jealous moments katara notices. it wouldn't be in the "the teenager in the iceberg" ao3 fic, it would be its own fic and i'd just make it a series and add it there. would people want that, or would it subtract from the slow burn?
let me know:) i'm open to any suggestions!!
art credits<3: @l-a-l-o-u
ever wanted kataang as a little mermaid retelling, with a bit of an extra romantasy twist?
i present- "you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"
years ago, the spirits tui and la split the earth between the sky and the sea. however, they did not lose all hope for the rejoining of earth's peoples- tui blessed one avian a generation with the gifts of the mighty avatar, while la carefully selected one siren to grow into the role of the painted lady. the two were their little sliver of hope- hope that one day, the siren and the air-rider would fulfill their destiny, would find a way to reunite the tribes, would be able to root out the poison seeping through the land.
OR: a KATAANG AU where aang is a winged avian and katara is a siren!!!
the following are excerpts from this in-progress work: <3
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Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate.
And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought.
To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires.
Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring.
Now, they were the monsters known as sirens.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
As if in answer, the winds of the sea whispered back his own song, the melody made haunted. He made to turn himself away, to find shelter for the night, but that very whispering gave him pause. There was a different quality about it, something feminine, not simply his own voice reflected back. His instincts told him to duck, to crawl, and he did, bracing himself against a stone at the beach’s edge. The sound was louder here. He turned around the rock, wincing in anticipation…
…Only to be met with the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever had the pleasure of seeing. He understood all at once why so many men had fallen prey to the charms of the siren.
For this girl to even gift him a wayward glance, he would build a temple. A religion.
She looked like a painting come to life, a sculpture kissed by the spirits themselves.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“I thought that sirens made a point of dragging Airriders to the depths of the ocean long before either party exchanged names.”
“Did you truly think so little of me?”
“The legends seem to think very little of you, at least. Me? I’m still making up my mind.” Aang tossed her a teasing grin.
“You seem fairly calm for a man who believes his fate to be sealed.” Katara raised her eyebrows, crossing her slender arms over one another.
“If my destiny is to spend the last few moments of my life at the side of such a lovely enchantress, who am I to fight it?”
“Handsome and a charmer. Is that your plan, to lull and seduce me into a sense of false security so that you can send a blast of air at my gills and leave me stranded in the bay?”
“If I’m remembering correctly, you are meant to be the lulling seductress of the two of us.”
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He smiled down at her, reaching out to take her hand in his and press his lips against her perfect skin. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Katara.”
She pushed herself up off of her elbows, reaching up to brush her lips against his cheek. “The pleasure has been all mine, Airrider Aang.” With that, she slipped back under the waves of the sea, and Aang was left to wonder if the entire exchange of words had been nothing more than the spirited imaginings of a madman stranded and drowned at sea.
♥ if you want to stick around for this to come out, feel free to head over to my ao3 here! ->
we don't talk enough about how often katara saves aang. like she fully figured out how to pull water from somebody's LUNGS for him. ugh i love her!!!!
the following is an excerpt from my kataang multichapter fic called "the teenager in the iceberg", where aang is aged up to 16 in order to flip him and katara's dynamic into she falls first, he falls harder. this is from chapter four, which JUST DROPPED TODAY!!:D <3
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She watched in horror as dark fins began to rise from the water, and Aang looked back at her with fear in his eyes. He rose from the water, struggling to hold on to the shiny scales of the Unagi. The beast’s head rose out of the water alongside its torso, and it tipped its head curiously at the sight of Aang on its back, baring its teeth as it did. Aang jumped, swinging on the creature’s whiskers, trying to evade its sword-sized teeth. Without notice, it snapped its jaws open, unnaturally wide to the point of unhinging, and a concentrated jet of water shot out of its throat, sending Aang flying across the bay towards Katara. Even from the distance she was at, she could see that his body had landed wrong, unnatural, crumpled.
“AANG!” She shouted, wading into the water as quickly as she could, hoping with all her will that she could somehow outrun this ancient serpent hell bent on getting to Aang before she could. Aang didn’t stir. Against her own pessimistic judgement of their odds of survival, Katara somehow managed to scoop Aang against her, holding him tight. He was unconscious, and she couldn’t see if he was breathing. Another bolt of fear struck through her. Through blurry vision made hazy by fear and anger, Katara watched the Unagi rear its head again, but instead of holding Aang against her and waiting for their inevitable end, she struck back.
It happened so quickly, the wave of water that mirrored the rising tide of anger crashing through Katara’s own body. Her hand moved as if she wasn’t in complete control, and perhaps she wasn’t. Perhaps the spirits of water had looked kindly upon the two kindred souls. Or perhaps, Katara had simply moved in accordance with what the pure adrenaline that seemed to replace her very blood demanded.
The two of them were thrown backwards, Katara’s wave of water pushing them to the safety of the shore. She allowed herself only a second to catch her breath before rolling over to check on Aang.
Still, the Airbender did not stir.
“Aang. Please , wake up.”
He did not breathe.
She closed her eyes, running her hand along his chest, the heat that normally radiated from him snuffed out entirely. She could feel water there, in his lungs, weighing them down. The wrongness of it . She could feel the liquid tugging at her, the molecules themselves wishing to return to the ocean from whence they came.
She obliged them.
Katara coaxed out a thin tendril of the seawater, watching nervously as Aang shuddered involuntarily as the stream of liquid flowed through his lips. He coughed. Coughed again.
Another cough, and his eyes opened, and she was met with the comforting vibrance of his storm-cloud eyes.
“K-Katara,” He managed, the words strained by salt and sea. “Don’t ride the Unagi. Not fun .”
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
♥ check out the first four chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
to everybody who suggested "16-year old aang" as a prompt on this year's kataang week submissions, i actually am currently writing a multichapter AU where aang was frozen at 16, and it is kataang!!! it's called "the teenager in the iceberg":)<3
if 16-year-old aang doesn't get chosen as a prompt for kataang week, but it's something you'd love to see in a fic, feel free to check out the first four chapters!!!
Kataang Week 2024's Round 1 Prompt Voting has begun!
You can vote for your seven favorite prompts HERE.
Thank you to everyone who submitted prompt ideas and shared the announcement post! And please do not be discouraged if prompts you submitted or voted for get cut - as always, there will be a free day in addition to the seven main prompts. This means you can use any of the prompts that were initially listed - or come up with your own ideas!
This round of voting will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, May 7th!
Please reblog and spread the word!
We are using a new system this year and no longer using SurveyMonkey or SurveyPlanet. We have switched to Google Forms. Please note the different interfaces.
Prompts that were similar to each other have been combined, just separated with a slash. For example: Glow/Glowing. Some submissions were longer than the one to two words/short phrases limit, so those longer phrases were not accepted.
In total, we had 142 prompts submitted and then consolidated into 115 prompts this year. Thanks again to everyone who submitted!
- The Mods
actually crying over this interaction katara has in my fic on kyoshi island where she realizes how nice it is to have girlfriends
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“Guess what your brother’s up to…” Ayiti was beaming, barely holding back her laughter now.
“Spirits, I’m not sure I even want to know.” Katara rolled her eyes, carefully curling up the centuries old paper in front of her and tucking it alongside the others in her cloth satchell. “What, did he accidentally get a sword stuck in some important monument after bragging to some poor unassuming villager about his swordsmanship?”
“Better.” Ayiti’s eyes flashed with amusement as she settled into the plush stool opposite Katara. She reached forward, hands resting on the varnished wooden table as her elegantly almond shaped nails drummed rhythmically in anticipation. “I missed his grand entrance, but apparently, he’s been set on helping us poor, untrained Kyoshi warriors! He pranced his way in, going on and on about how he’s the best warrior in his tribe. I got there just in time to see Suki wipe the floor with him.”
Katara groaned in embarrassment, burying her head in her hands as she slumped against the table.
“No, no, you don’t need to be too embarrassed for him.” Ayiti rested a comforting hand on Katara’s arm as the Water tribe girl looked up, her scepticism apparent in her expression. “He was actually pretty sweet after Suki humbled him. He said he was ready to learn, that he had been overly cocky when he came in.”
Katara wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound like the Sokka I know.”
“We were surprised too! He let us paint his face in the traditional style of Kyoshi warriors, even put on the armoured gown too!” Ayiti giggled again, remembering. “Although he was a little embarrassed when Aang saw him in it. I think Sokka interpreted Aang’s attempt to compliment him as Aang poking a little fun at him.”
“What’s Aang been up to, anyways?” Katara tried to make the question seem thoughtless, throwing in a shrug to accompany her words, but Ayiti’s shrewd expression saw right through her.
“Wouldn’t you like to know!” She crooned, a teasing grin on her face. “C’mon, you’ve gotta get your mind off of the Avatar, and you’ve had your nose buried in scrolls the whole day. Let me show the future Waterbending master around my little old village.”
Ayiti helped Katara gather the rest of the scrolls and drop them off in the guesthouse, then dragged her between the different stalls, chattering animatedly. Katara had never really gotten to have a girlfriend her age, and she couldn’t believe all that she’d missed out on. For once, she felt her age. Back home, she took care of so many of the village kids whose parents had been lost to fire nation raids. She felt like it was her responsibility, that it was the least she could do, and she did enjoy it.
But perhaps she hadn’t quite grasped what it had taken out of her.
For every hour Sokka spent hunting for food and training to be a warrior, Katara spent parenting children, washing laundry, cooking, cleaning, repairing homes and weapons. She wished for maybe the millionth time that she and her brother had been able to have proper childhoods, present parents to lift that burden from them. She remembered Aang reminding her that she still was a kid.
Here, walking around the market with Ayiti, she slipped into conversation excitedly, the two’s conversation oscillating between mentions of what the war had taken from them and more lighthearted teasing, and she was beyond grateful for the simplicity of a friend who saw her.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
♥ this will be coming out along with the rest of ch4 on wednesday! check out the first three chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
my (quillthills) ao3 ATLA fanfiction masterlist:
"if happiness were a tangible thing, it would be you":
Katara is tired of the iron grip that Emperor Ozai has over the kingdom of Rosas, tired of watching him spread his influence across the mainland. When Sokka comes home from the palace with the knowledge of an impending tragedy, Katara is left to wish on the stars in hope that they will offer salvation. They do, in the form of the Avatar, a boy transformed into a wishing star almost a century earlier. Her wish for hope is fulfilled, in the form of a boy known to be the embodiment of hope. Will that same hope be enough to stand against a man powered by the dreams and wishes of an entire kingdom? OR: ever since pixina put the idea in my head of a kataang wish AU, i haven't been able to stop thinking about it. this fic is the result<3 if you haven't seen wish (2023) yet, don't worry! you don't really need to to understand this fic:)
"so i will go to secret gardens in my mind":
after he and katara's escape to the palace gardens the night prior, avatar aang, the king of all four elements, cannot stop thinking of the beautiful dark-haired water princess. misunderstandings and deliberate deception constructed by regent ozai makes the reconciliation of these star-crossed lovers more complicated than necessary. OR: the second of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"you’re in the wind, i’m in the water":
aang has only just been crowned as the avatar, the king of all four elements, and already, he struggles to find his footing in a society without any of his people. a dance with princess katara of the water tribe, and a subsequent escape to the palace gardens, helps him find that footing. OR: the first of many kataang regency-era works ♔
"there's a star-man, waiting in the sky":
a flash-fiction atla modern AU in which yue passes away from cancer early in life, and sokka becomes an astronaut so that he can go to space and be close to the moon she always loved so much ☾
"the teenager in the iceberg"- multichap
i feel like a lot of people have wondered how different atla as a whole would be if aang had been older, so in this au, aang was frozen at age 16! naturally, i just had to flip aang being after katara from day one to katara now having a crush on aang from the very beginning. essentially, to recap. ATLA aang aged up AU fic. kataang. where she falls first, and he falls harder. also, cmon. i just had to write a new version of the scene where zuko and aang meet.
"you with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes"- multichap
Avatar Aang had been told time and time again that to venture across the surface of the sea when the moon had risen and claimed what rightfully belonged to it was to sign your own death certificate. And yet, he found himself here, at the water’s edge, skipping stones, lost in thought. To be the Avatar had once meant something, years before. Before the four tribes had separated, scattered to the ends of the earth. Those who formed fire itself chased the other tribes from the surface lands, those who could move rock and metal burrowed underground, those who flowed with the air sent ships with great sails across the sea until they reached towering mountain spires. Those who bent water, who bent blood… they retreated to the depths of the sea, and with time, they became a part of it. Legend told of the way in which the Water tribes had adapted, two legs smoothed into razor sharp scales and voices twisted into something dark and luring. Now, they were the monsters known as sirens. OR: a KATAANG AU where tui and la have split the earth into the sea and the sky. aang is a winged avian, while katara is a siren<3
"well, my (not-yet) boyfriend's in a band":
in which the gaang are in a band, and when it comes time for them to write an original song to submit to the republic city music festival, aang is...suspiciously good at writing love song lyrics OR kataang, if they were in an indie band and aang didn't know how to communicate his feelings except through writing love songs
"i’m no longer a kid, and everything has changed":
after aang falls to azula's lightning strike in the caves of the earth kingdom, toph, sokka, and katara are left to pick up the pieces. katara's healing abilities are put to the test in the weeks that follow, but she finds herself seeing aang in a different light as she realizes how much he's endured since emerging from the iceberg only months before. OR: the weeks-long gap between the end of season two and the beginning of season three of ATLA is finally at least partially expanded upon. ALSO OR: a bit of aangst, or kataangst, if you will
"can you see me using everything to hold back?":
Katara's life after saving the world was filled with a whirlwind romance with Fire Lord Zuko that became a loveless, controlling marriage she is no longer happy in. After finding out the extent to which her husband has betrayed her trust, she escapes to find home in the person she has missed most during her time in the Fire Nation. OR: The common Zutara trope of "Zuko helps Katara escape an unhealthy relationship with Aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
"my heart is yours, it’s you that i hold on to":
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. OR Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
"shining down on me":
sokka can't stop thinking about yue. she comes to him in his dreams, and try as he might, he just can't move on. inspired by the song "my love, mine all mine" by mitski
"the avatar's adventures in parenting":
aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status. OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar
"i'm trying to tell you something, something that i already said":
katara speaks to each member of the gaang individually and finds out that aang has been head over heels with her for years and no one ever bothered telling her. this takes place after the fire lord is defeated, but in my version, they never kissed in the finale:oo katara is basically dumb in terms of love and so is aang and they are peak miscommunication trope and theres too much zutara content and not enough kataang OR katara interrogates each of her friends (toph, sokka, and zuko) and comes to the conclusion that she has lived for years without the kind of love most people wish for their entire lives
if any of these speak to you, they can all be found on my ao3 account:)<3 happy reading!!!
sooo.... anyone else ever wondered how different ATLA would have been if aang had been frozen at age 16 instead of age 12?
yeah... me too 😌 my new fanfic "the teenager in the iceberg" follows the events of the show, but with only aang aged up, while everyone else remains their canon age.
also...cmon....how funny is it to switch zuko and aang's iconic dialogue to "you're just a teenager!" "...so are you?"
this idea was originally inspired by the talented @allgremlinart's aged up aang drawings, so please go show them some love!!:)<3
enjoy the excerpts from chapter three, that just dropped this morning!
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Katara watched Aang take one last, painful look at the temple, then turn to the sky ahead, lit up in shades of orange, pink, and gold. She swore she could see arrows in every cloud, arrows like the ones inked across Aang’s body, and the gentle breeze that carried the crisp night air towards them seemed to wrap around them like a loving spirit.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“...You have no idea where we’re going, do you?” Sokka sighed, turning the map that was held against Appa’s saddle with a couple of rocks toward himself. “I’ve been charting our progress, and it’s starting to look more like a scrap of paper a toddler is practising circles on than a navigational tool.”
“C’mon Sokka, I’m an Air nomad, travel is in my blood. I have a very strong internal compass. Besides, you’ll find that as a nomad, I’m a master of evasive manoeuvring.” Katara raised an eyebrow, looking up from her spot near the back of the saddle as she stitched a rip in Sokka’s pants. “Besides,” Aang continued, typical teenage boy overconfidence emitting from his tone of voice. “I know it’s near water.”
Sokka leaned over the edge of the saddle, eyes scanning the blue expanse below them that stretched as far as the eye could see. “We must be getting close then,” he scoffed, his tone dripping in sarcasm as he slouched back into his spot across from Katara.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩
“Aang,” she said distractedly, “could you hold this for me?” She handed him the mirror.
“Y-yeah, no problem.”
She tugged out her hair ties, flipping her head upside down for a moment to make sure that it had all gotten loose, then she gingerly tugged a few tendrils of water from the nearby ocean and wrapped tiny streams around her hair, tugging out the crimped braid pattern and reviving her curls. Then, she carefully bent the remaining liquid back out.
She couldn’t see his face through her thick hair as she stood back up, but from his voice, Aang seemed impressed. “I get that you haven’t been able to learn any big combat moves, but for someone whose bending is self- taught, you sure have a pretty good handle on these smaller things.”
She properly flipped her head up now, curls and waves bouncing around her face. Her dark brown locks shone with honey-toned highlights, all different shades of caramel and chocolate sparkling as they framed her face. She reached up, gently twisting and clipping a few strands out of the way, but a few wayward pieces still fell forward, gently brushing against soft, full lips and smooth skin. Aang awkwardly froze for a moment, caught off guard by how different she looked when her hair was loose and free. He had a weird urge to tell her so, but bit his tongue, instead focusing on her answer.
“I learned most of the smaller things from helping Gran-Gran.” Katara’s eyes sparkled, clearly caught up in a vision of home as she reached up to brush up her hair. “ As she’s gotten older, her range of mobility has started leaving her. It’s not really comfortable or safe for her to stoop over to wash her hair, so I learned how to bring the water to her and wash it while she was sitting up, then I learned how to dry it for her fast.”
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Sokka yelped, his voice defensive and offensive all at once. “There is no way a bunch of girls in cutesy makeup and dresses managed to tie me up.”
“Awe, you think our makeup is cutesy? How sweet .” The girl's voice was crooning at first, sweet and gentle, but Katara could see from the way her muscles flexed as she held Sokka by the collar that there was venom hiding behind those words. She was right. “Throw him to the Unagi.”
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“Katara, c’mon, we’re supposed to be sticking together, where are you going?” Aang tugged at her arm until she was facing him, looking at her earnestly as if he hadn’t basically been flirting with all of those girls back there.
The words came out before she could stop them. “I thought monks weren’t supposed to go around flirting with any random girl, and they’re definitely not supposed to go around catering to a village full of fangirls.”
Aang raised an eyebrow, his expression teasing in a way that made Katara want to splash the smirk off of his face in a wave of water. “You sure have a lot of opinions on what you think monks are supposed to do, considering that I’m the only one you’ve ever met.” He shifted his weight, leaning in a bit closer. “Matter of fact, maybe it's just that you have a lot of opinions on what you think I’m supposed to be doing.”
Katara stiffened at the memory of the words that Sokka had just said minutes before. “Why would I care what you’re doing? I don’t. ”
Aang shrugged, reaching past her to grab a papaya and biting into it. After swallowing, he reached into Katara’s satchel, his hand brushing her waist as he pulled out some coins and quietly thanked the vendor. “Keep telling yourself that, Katara.” Hearing her name from his lips did something to her, but she kept her gaze level, eyes blazing with flame until Aang backed off.
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♥ check out the three chapters of this (ongoing) fic & my ao3 here! ->
"why are you so quiet, what's on your mind?"
"oh, nothing, just aang admiring katara without realizing he's in love with her"
guys, i am SO excited for tomorrow's new chapter of "the teenager in the iceberg" there's gonna be some great moment & generally im excited to start progressing past the first few episodes
here's a teaser excerpt!
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Sokka immediately jumped off, almost kissing the sand in relief, and Aang followed close behind. Katara moved to stand up and join them, but a combination of that nerve-sick feeling and a bit of light-headedness had her slipping a little, stumbling off the saddle. She would’ve landed face-first in the sand, but Aang smoothly caught her with a current of air, then offered a hand.
Once she was safe on the ground, Katara blushed, embarrassed that she’d lost her balance that easily. She moved to tell Aang, only to have Sokka take one look at her and burst out laughing.
“What?!” She snapped, suddenly overly self-conscious.
“Your hair!” He cackled, a shaking finger pointing at her. Confused, Katara reached out her hand to draw a tendril of water from the cold morning sea. She concentrated, forming it first into a sphere and then a flat oval, then stilled the water so that she could see her reflection…
Only to drop the water in surprise when she finally saw what Sokka was talking about. Her carefully done hair was snarled around in its braids, bits of it loose and bits of it still intact. She huffed in annoyance, then fished out a small glass mirror and her hairbrush.
“Aang,” she said distractedly, “could you hold this for me?” She handed him the mirror.
“Y-yeah, no problem.”
She tugged out her hair ties, flipping her head upside down for a moment to make sure that it had all gotten loose, then she gingerly tugged a few tendrils of water from the nearby ocean and wrapped tiny streams around her hair, tugging out the crimped braid pattern and reviving her curls. Then, she carefully bent the remaining liquid back out.
She couldn’t see his face through her thick hair as she stood back up, but from his voice, Aang seemed impressed. “I get that you haven’t been able to learn any big combat moves, but for someone whose bending is self- taught, you sure have a pretty good handle on these smaller things.”
She properly flipped her head up now, curls and waves bouncing around her face. Her dark brown locks shone with honey-toned highlights, all different shades of caramel and chocolate sparkling as they framed her face. She reached up, gently twisting and clipping a few strands out of the way, but a few wayward pieces still fell forward, gently brushing against soft, full lips and smooth skin. Aang awkwardly froze for a moment, caught off guard by how different she looked when her hair was loose and free. He had a weird urge to tell her so, but bit his tongue, instead focusing on her answer.
⁎⁺˳ ✧༚ ˎˊ˗ ♡ ˗ˏˋയ ✩