So Happy I Finally Sat Down To Write This - Blog Posts

we all agree that aang would absolutely try to make katara a betrothal necklace, right? and we all agree that he would... definitely not get it right on the first try?

꩜ an excerpt from "i'd marry you with paper rings": ꩜

Monkeyfeathers .

Aang cursed softly under his breath, scrambling to straighten out the fabric under his fingers. Already, his fingertips were stained with the lychee nut, moon peaches, and plums he’d used to dye the scraps of fabric before him, and already, his fingertips had been pin pricked with needles over and over again. Sokka had reasoned that jewellery making couldn’t be as difficult as bringing an end to a war that had spanned nearly a century, and yet, here Aang was, seriously considering using firebending to burn every one of his terrible attempts at a proposal necklace that he was sure would horrify any member of either Water tribe. 

That thought, however harrowing, was not enough to stop him from sighing profusely, carefully picking up his latest attempt, and shuffling sleepily over to Sokka, who had passed out hours ago, and had looked increasingly irritated with each attempt of Aang’s to wake him up.

“Hey,” Aang whispered in a hushed tone, “Hey! Psst. Sokka. Sokka. Sokka-”

“What?” Sokka hissed, his eyes shooting open.

“What about this one?” Aang dangled it in front of him, the pale blue stone catching the divots of Aang’s admittedly shoddy craftsmanship. Despite the Airbender’s best efforts, each of his attempts at etching symbols on the smooth surface had ended in pigeon- chicken scratches and wayward lines. He thought that perhaps this one looked a little bit smoother, but as it sparkled with moonlight, illuminating the primitive, childish markings, Aang felt himself wince involuntarily at the sight. 

Sokka pulled himself up onto his forearms, peering down through eyes thick with sleep at the necklace Aang had laid along his palm. A moment passed as he scrunched up his eyebrows, tipping his head incredulously. “Why did Momo make Katara a betrothal necklace?”

“Spirits, I’m screwed.” Aang slapped his hand to his head, leaving behind an angry red mark. “It’s awful.”

Sokka, who had gotten used to trying to talk Aang up over the last few days, did his best to pacify him. “It’s not awful .” Sokka, naturally, was lying through his teeth. He was rather certain that were his waterbending ancestors to ever see Aang’s attempts at replicating a traditional water tribe proposal, Katara would almost certainly be plagued by dreams filled with spirits begging her to reconsider wedding such an incompetent carver.

“It’s unforgivable.” Aang sighed dramatically, turning his gaze over his shoulder to the quickly growing pile of failed attempts he had accumulated over the last few days.

“Mm.” Aang whirled back at Sokka, his eyebrows creased as Sokka decidedly didn’t disagree. “Only a little.”

Aang brightened, just a bit. “I’ll ask Zuko.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “Zuko is not qualified to tell how awful that is. The only time he’s seen a proposal necklace is when he stole Katara's for a few weeks, back when he was hunting us.”

Ignoring Sokka entirely, Aang crawled over to Zuko, dangling the necklace in front of the sleeping boy’s face. “Psst. Zuko. Zuko . Zuko-” 

“This is awful.” Zuko’s words were flat as he rolled over, his tone brutally honest and characteristically direct. “I want to burn it.”

꩜ - i'd marry you with paper rings, quillthrills on ao3 ꩜

NOTE: i was inspired by the original 2012 minicomic with the same premise by @ngoziu. check it out here <3