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lifewtr · 5 months

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and the difference is this | M+ | 1/7

After a horrible moment that leaves her befuddled, Katara seeks out the most undesirable route to her problem. For Zutara Week 2023 (@zutaraweek), Day 5 + 6: Respite, Forge.

Katara stares at the envelope in her lap. Sighs. The bleak scent of antiseptic clean burns its way up her nose and stings at the back of her eyes, pricking harshly at her tear ducts. 72 hours in this hospital bed, and you’d think she’d be used to the smell of 99.99% nothing by now.

“..checked for underlying abnormalities, of course. There were none,” her doctor, an older woman with a shock of long, white hair, continues explaining details that flow through one ear and out of the other. Katara understands innately, by the tone of the doctor’s voice, that the woman is only trying to do her job in reassuring her that everything is going to be fine; at least, as fine as can be considering the circumstances, but...

‘But,’ Katara thinks as she stares, unseeing, at the corners of the paper, ‘it seems the shock has finally caught up with me.’

Just yesterday—no. Three days ago, Katara had landed in Yu Dao with nary a thought to her wellbeing aside from, maybe, the headache she would surely acquire from the week of back to back meetings that had awaited her. Always the prepared one—always mindful of her blood and the disdain the rest of the world tended to dish at those like her because of it—she had carefully and meticulously planned her trip in order to encounter the least amount of resistance possible. Her cycle was on track. The usual scent and pheromone suppressants necessary to navigate life outside of the South Pole were introduced into her system normally, just two weeks prior. She had even gone out of her way to get well and thoroughly debauched the night before her morning flight—just in case.

Imagine her surprise when, only a few short hours after checking into the lodging at the Embassy and venturing out for something to eat, she’d nearly fainted with the dizzying onset symptoms of pre-heat.

She hadn't been able to get to the nearest emergency clinic fast enough. In hindsight she discerned that returning to the Embassy was the smarter thing to do, but in her bit of panic, in her bit of pre-heat, the only thing that had been on her mind was making it fucking stop.

The emergency clinic staff had gotten one whiff of her—one look at the wad of cash she’d dug out of her purse—and then promptly stuck her in an empty room in an unoccupied wing. Three cups of ice chips and a hefty injection of the fastest-acting heat inhibitor on hand later, Katara remembered who she was, where she was, why, and did not stay for paperwork or questions.

Thank La for money.

Frazzled, upset at her body’s strange bout of betrayal, and undeniably starving after the brief stint of overtime her immune system had just pulled, Katara ordered delivery on her walk back to the Embassy in the hopes that it would arrive before she did. ‘The most random thing just happened,’ she’d texted Suki the details, not one to alarm the entirety of her family if it wasn’t bad-bad, and left a shorter, though similar voicemail for her primary care physician back home. The instant relief of the heat inhibitor and the late-summer air of the evening on her walk back to her lodging had calmed her into concluding that it really was a freak occurrence—it wasn’t her first time in Yu Dao, but she did used to get ill when hopping from country to country as a kid. She’d concluded, with the distant mind of someone used to compartmentalizing their immediate issues in the face of tasks-needing-to-be-completed, that the incident was similar. She took a plane into the city this time around, and maybe she should just stick to boats.

The food she’d ordered had indeed been waiting for her by the time she’d flashed her badge at the guards posted at the Embassy’s western entrance, and then again at the receptionists desk where she gleefully collected it from. ‘See? Everything is fine,’ she’d told herself while swiping the keycard to her suite. She felt good, considering, and then even better once she’d tucked into her steaming plate of korma-smothered komodo chicken. She reviewed a few notes on her tablet while she sipped away at her rose-milk, as she definitely would be at that meeting first thing in the morning, and did not resist when fatigue finally poked at her.

‘Fine,’ she remembers thinking after she had finally showered; after she had taken an actual, no-nonsense moment to observe her physical state with the glow of her own hands. Clean, lotioned, and not at all freaking out anymore, Katara had set out her clothes and gone to bed.

Three hours later she woke up shaking. Burning. Covered in icy sweat and so nauseous that her vision dotted black in her efforts to roll over and flick the bedside lamp on.

“Oh,” she remembers gasping out, guttural and disgustingly sick with the scent of her own over-ripeness; with the aching, pulsating flare of painful need that had suddenly wracked through her womb, “what the fuck.”

read AND THE DIFFERENCE IS THIS in full on AO3! ↬

#zutara week #zutara week 2023 #zutara #zuko x katara #atla fanfic #avatar: the last airbender #zutara fic #author is trying her best with these prompts #to keep it interesting and entertaining #for herself and all her readers #withering away on the next chapter as u read this...♥#happy zk week!#***

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jasmine-tea-latte · 2 years

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When the ZK antis are trying to spread their toxicity yet again but you're too busy living your best life shipping ZUTARA and having ✨FUN✨ unlike those lame haters:

So the next time you hear "iT's NoT cAnOn" just tell them to SMILE and thank them for letting us live in their minds rent free for 15+ years 💜

(and yes, I redid the gif from the OG post because that's been bugging me all this time ahahahaha)

#anyways who else is excited for Zutara Week?#life's too short to spend it hating on zutara y'all #zero fucks given for the ZK haters #zutara supremacy #back on my zutara bullshit and idgaf #haters can stay mad #zutara #zuko x katara #living my best life

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zukkaart · 7 months

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A brief summary of the most popular A:tLA ships

Kataang: the definition of a power couple

Sokkla: The mental image alone is lethal, unironically the sexiest ship

Zukka: grumpy x sunshine trope at its finest

Mailee: black cat x golden retriever (yes there’s a difference)

Azulaang: pure unfiltered comedic potential

Sukka: walk him like a dog sis walk him like a dog

Jetko: which one will end up dead? Tune in next week to find out

Zutara: enemies to lovers with so much angst you need to just have your emotional support snack in hand

Tyzula: me and the bad bitch I pulled by being mentally ill

Taang: one is a pacifist and the other is entirely unhinged- the world would burn

Maiko: that relationship you have in middle school with your “best friend” before you realize you’re both gay

Yukka: the single most heartbreaking ship in existence

Azutara: two chronically jealous and lethal women? no one would leave that wedding alive

Yueki: they never met but this is somehow entirely plausible

Yuetara: princess x savior trope but in the cute way not the toxic way

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quillthrillswriting · 1 month

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i think that by far, the most common zutara trope i've seen is zuko freeing katara from her unhappy marriage with the clingy, unappreciative aang.

i've always felt that that aang would genuinely worship the ground katara walked on and be exceedingly kind and respectful, and so i've always thought that this trope would make a lot more sense flipped, with aang in the position of being katara's safe space after zukko reverts back to his angry, sullen, lashing out persona that he was before uncle iroh & the gaang's involvement.

this fic is the result of me having the thought "might f around and write a kataang fic that flips the usual zutara trope of "zuko helps katara escape a failing relationship with aang" 😳"

---

Zuko was all alone, heading an entire empire and facilitating the transition of his nation from a war-bringer to a force for peace. At first, she told herself that it was only because he had needed help that she chose to stay with him, but that wasn’t being entirely honest. After that play on Ember Island, all of the scenes where the two of them were in love had opened Katara’s eyes to the possibility, and try as she might, she couldn’t shut them again. And Zuko, after all that he’d sacrificed to help them, after redeeming himself in her eyes, even fighting alongside her, he had seemed like her best chance at home.

So she had stayed with him.

---

Zuko proposed, after just six months, but Katara thought little of the brief timeline. When you know, you know, right? He had given her his mother’s ring, and had her dress in Fire Nation colours for the ceremony. She had been under the impression that the wedding would be a welding of cultures, and so she had spent weeks painstakingly carving a traditional water tribe proposal necklace.

When she had presented it to him, Zuko had only said that a Fire Lord couldn’t be seen wearing another nation’s trinkets . She had quietly dabbed away her tears when he wasn’t looking.

---

The moon rose and set six more nights before Katara rose with it, slipping outside of the castle during the changing of the guard, draped in traditional water tribe colours for the first night in years. Before anyone had seen her, she had made it, slipping between Fire Nation homes almost silently. She only paused to pull clothes and a cloth head covering from a clothesline, silently apologizing to whatever family she had just stolen from. She tucked a couple of coins and a piece of gold jewellery into one of the pockets of the pants still on the clothesline, an attempt at making amends for her crime, then blended into the night again.

She hadn’t stopped moving until she’d finally found a small forest, then she’d made herself a bed of moss and curled up as if she was a child back on the tundra, pretending to be a sleeping snow fox alongside Sokka.

She missed her brother. She missed her home.

---

She knew where she would go once the cargo ship reached the land. The last location Aang had been in was the Western Air temple. So that was where she would go. If she needed to, to find Aang, she’d scour every inch of the mainland. She knew he would do the same for her. Which begged the question- why hadn’t he come to her when he began to feel that something was off?

It was that question that Katara started with, as she settled into a comfortable position on Aang’s woven rug, a cup of hot tea curling steam around her body that she absent-mindedly bent into shapes around her.

---

Aang sighed, looking away. “Katara, I hate to give you more reasons to feel distressed, but in case you hadn’t remembered, you told me to stay away. Told me my “juvenile crush” was ridiculous and made you uncomfortable. I felt awful, and so, I backed off. I kept sending letters every couple months, trying to make sure you were okay, but you told me you were too busy, and I respected that.”

Katara’s tone was unsettlingly neutral when she responded. “...What?”

Aang titled his head, confused. “You said, in your letters, that-”

She responded in that same tone. “What letters , Aang?”

♥ the rest of the (completed) fic can be found here!! ->

youtube

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sapphic-agent · 2 months

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So, a Kataang fan made a post about a week ago "asking" (rhetorically, of course) why it's a bad thing Katara acts like Aang's mom. And I just-

First of all, isn't that something that Kataang shippers have been trying to actively dispute for almost two decades at this point? That Katara doesn't treat Aang as a younger brother/son? There's literally an entire post about it from The Headband that's made its rounds on almost every single social media platform.

So which is it, besties? Does Katara act motherly towards Aang or not?

(The answer is yes of course, as The Runaway outright confirms it multiple times. The whole premise of that episode is that Katata acts as a mother to Toph, Sokka, and Aang)

Now, why is it a problem? The fact that I have to explain this is telling for how little a lot of Kataang shippers understand Katara.

Katara was parentified. She took care of Sokka (by his own admission) as well as her entire village after Hakoda left. Even before then really, as she says in the very first episode that she's been doing all the chores around the village since their mother died which was years before that. She was delivering literal babies while basically being a baby herself.

Traveling- and being- with Aang is supposed to represent her freedom and childhood, right? That's what the first episode shows us and what Kataang is built on. But if anything, it has the opposite effect.

Book 1 wasn't terrible. Katara was very free-spirited and joyful in addition to being caring and empathetic. Her and Aang could still goof off together, even if she was doing her best to support him emotionally. You could easily see that as her being a good friend.

But somewhere between Books 2 and 3, that changed. Katara went from being his supportive friend to being his emotional crutch. During The Desert, she bears the brunt of him lashing out (he does yell at Toph once, but he's the most volatile with Katara). He also gets frustrated with her during Sozin's Comet, even though Zuko and Sokka were the ones pushing him. It's always Katara who has to bring him back when he loses control of the Avatar State, risking her own safety.

(This isn't emotional, but it was Katara who healed Aang after Azula's attack. She was the one who stayed by his side, staying awake for hours to make sure he would be okay. I like to look at it as a physical representation of their relationship. Aang's wellbeing is always put on her shoulders. If she isn't there to lift him up, he'll fall. And if he falls, the world falls. No 14 year old should be responsible for that. But it's so easy for the show- and y'all- to shove it onto her because this part of her character is never addressed. It's just used as a testament to her caring nature)

Even without Katara's parentification, this causes a major imbalance in their relationship. It puts Katara in charge of managing Aang's pain and being emotionally unsupported in return. The Southern Raiders is proof that Katara can't depend on Aang emotionally the way he does her. She's been his shoulder to cry on through everything and the one time the tables turned, she couldn't even get that from him.

And the saddest thing about this? Katara says to him, "I knew you wouldn't understand." She never expected Aang to support her. She's become so accustomed to being there for others that she's never once expected anyone to do the same for her, least of all Aang.

(But Zuko does. He's the only one who recognized Katara's pain- admittedly, mostly because it was directed at him- and tried to help her. Without being prompted. I gotta give this one to the Zutara folks)

In what world is this dynamic healthy for a romantic relationship?

#anti kataang #anti kataang shippers #i had to process that post for 3-5 business days #i was flabbergasted #aang critical #i really don't hate aang #at least not in books 1 & 2 #but pushing kataang ruined his character #i might make an analysis on that later #but this isn't about him #criticizing kataang and criticizing aang are two different things for me #because kataang is awful all around #and aang WAS a good character until bryke ruined him #anti bryke #parentification #pro katara #katara deserved better

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mysticwolfshadows · 13 days

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Taken - Zutara

Pt 1 (Here), Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6

So, as far as I know, we don't know much (if anything) about Azulon's wife. And I have a soft spot for fics that set up her as the origin for much of Iroh's (eventual) kind nature. Knowing a bit about world building and government structure (thanks DND), Azulon being a very militaristic leader means that the Fire Nation, to survive, would need a second in command (Fire Lady) that kept things stable on the home front. I love fics that include this, too. And we do see hints of that in ATLA. The polluted river? What smart leader puts a factory shooting chemicals into a river right housing a floating town???

Anyway, the fic that I was working on had Azulon's wife (who I called Ilah) as a main character. Basically, Fire Lady Ilah has fallen ill, and out of desperation to keep the balance of their power, Azulon managing the war front while Ilah kept the mother land alive, Azulon searches for something that can be done to save her. The only thing that was suggested that could work was a water bending healer. Of course, the Fire Nation had no access to any water benders. They executed all of the prisoners after Hama's escape, and an assault on the North would take to long to be effective. Thankfully, word had just come that there was a new waterbender spotted in the South.

Some worry its the blood demon (Hama) returned to rally dark spirits. Others hope it is a potential healer for their ailing leader. Either way, an investigation must be made. They must find the waterbender in the South.

When the ships arrive, led by Iroh (maybe Lu Ten, or with Lu Ten aboard), the tribe is helpless. Hama is not there, and hasn't been in decades. No warrior, no matter how many there are, could stand to the well equiped soldiers of three high class cruisers. So when the leader steps out, wanting to see the waterbender, the village can only cower. Hakoda tightens his grip on a spear that will be useless against so many. It's when an officer mentions a rumor that waterbenders instinctively save themselves from drowning, and suggests holding each tribesman under water until the bender is found that Katara, only 8, screams out that its her, so the Fire Nation won't hurt her family.

She's taken, her family screaming, onto the ship. There, she's kept by Iroh and/or Lu Ten, who sits with her and gives her tea. Iroh or Lu Ten explain why they came, how his mother/grandmother is ailing, and needs a healer. He tells her that, while she may be young, she's their only hope of a healer. Katara has no choice but to promise to do her best, knowing her village would take the punishment for her failure.

They dress her in Fire Nation clothes, which she hates, and as they sail back to the Fire Nation, Iroh and/or Lu Ten do their best to trian her. They have her practice on soldiers that are injured either from training or work accidents. She becomes surprisingly competent in a short time, all because she had a master (even though a firebending one) to guide her.

When she finally reaches the Fire Nation, she's taken by how bright and colorful everything is. She's amazed by how load and plentiful the people are. And when she's taken into the Fire Palace, she's shocked by how big everything is.

When she's brought before Azulon, the Fire Lord rages. A peasant child? This is the hope of the Fire Nation?! Iroh asks his father to trust, and they take Katara to the Fire Lady.

And, by some mix of sheer force of will and some miracles, Katara succeeds.

Ilah is able to recover, at least partially, and Katara is placed as her 'ward', always at the Fire Lady's side, lest the sickness return. But Ilah is a gentle soul. She won't have a child acting as a nurse full time. Whenever there is a moment, she makes sure to be where Katara can be around others her age will be. In the Fire Palace, that is anywhere Zuko and Azula will be.

Katara spends a lot of those first weeks stiff and cautious, hesitant to go near the Fire Nation royals. But Azula constantly pokes at her with Mai and Ty Lee. She bites back, snaps when Azula sneers. It is only because Ilah is there that Azula doesn't try to burn her. Later, Zuko starts to come by. He's awkward and kind of rude, but it's not meant in a mean way. Ursa encourages Zuko to be kind, to make friends with her, so Zuko does his best.

After a couple months, Katara isn't skittish or cautious. She surrenders to the fact that she's never going home. Ilah doesn't need her as much, so she is mostly locked in her room, a small room attached to the Fire Lady's personal chambers. With little to do, Katara begins to despair. It's Zuko, still trying because his mother asked and he would never disappoint her, that becomes her ally.

He brings her snacks, books, even trying toys and things, to get her to brighten. Eventually, she opens up, relying on Zuko as her only friend. It brings out more of Azula's spite, and Zuko becomes worried about safety. He asks if Katara would maybe like to come with him to practice instead of sitting around in her little room, hoping to keep her closer in case Azula tried anything.

It's at these firebending practices that Katara starts to learn combat bending. She mimics and mines certain moves when she thinks no one is watching, slowly learning what does and doesn't move the water. She learned, if she loosened her stance, made her body just a bit more fluid as it moved instead of sharp like firebenders, she could waterbend. Slowly, she adapts, teaching herself to fight by changing firebending moves to fit her needs.

It's about a year after Katara arrives in the Fire Nation that it happens. The sickness returns with a vengeance, and Fire Lady Ilah needs full time care again. Katara, attached to this woman whose life she holds in her hands and has been at the side of for over a year, weeps when she realizes she's not enough to save her. At 9, Katara must tell Fire Lord Azulon that she is weak and can not do the one thing that they kept her around for. She cowered as the Fire Lord raged, knowing that it could be the last thing she ever sees.

"It is only by Fire Lady Ilah's will that you live," Azulon tells her after the funeral. "It is her memory that stays my hand. Do not sully it, lest I forget why you are here."

Katara is put into Ursa's care, and is placed in lessons. She attends private classes, learning Fire Nation history, math, and literature. Her life becomes so busy, she barely has time for anything but her studies. Zuko is her only reprieve, and they share their wants and desires. Zuko wants to become someone that his mother and father can be proud of. Katara just wants to go home. Zuko promises that, some day, some how, he'll make that happen for her. Katara thanks him, but she knows that it's impossible.

#zutara #wip #fanfic idea #atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #katara

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the-badger-mole · 6 months

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How about a prompt with Zutara meeting doing some kind of volunteer work?

"There must be something Dad can do to get us out of this." Zuko rolled his eyes as his sister complained for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes. He wasn't thrilled, either, but he'd chosen to have a more philosophical attitude towards their court mandated community service. After all, as his uncle always told him, it was good for the soul to give to those in need. That, and he hated talking to his sister and her friends.

"It won't be so bad," Ty Lee, ever the optimist, comforted her friends. "I bet there'll be some interesting people there."

"Doubt it," Mai mumbled. She had said it low enough so Zuko was pretty sure he was the only one who heard her. She met his eye and rolled hers, inviting him to join her in her quiet derision of one of her oldest friends. Zuko managed a half-hearted smirk, but kept his thoughts to himself. At least Ty Lee was trying to make the best of things.

"As if I have nothing better to do with my Saturday then spend it passing out food to people who are too lazy or stupid to feed themselves," Azula snorted. She put her foot up on the back of Zuko's seat.

"Get your foot out of my back!" Zuko snapped. Azula huffed and gave his seat one solid kick before she put her foot back on the floor.

"I don't know why you're complaining so much," Mai said, looking at Azula in the rearview. "It's mostly your fault we're in this mess in the first place." Azula scowled at her.

"I didn't twist your arm to break into that warehouse," Azula reminded her. "I didn't force any of you to come with me. It wasn't my idea to bring booze, either, Mai." Mai just shrugged, keeping her eyes on the road. It was true enough that Mai had been the one to bring the vodka and whiskey she'd stolen from her parents' collection, but the four teens would probably not have been caught if Azula hadn't decided it would be fun to set a fire and burn several boxes of very expensive imported teas. Had the owner of the company not been Zuko and Azula's uncle, they would probably have all been tried for arson, instead of given probation and community service. Zuko shut his eyes and tried to think of anything but the disappointment on Iroh's face when the cops had led Zuko and Azula out of the still smoking building in handcuffs. It had been three weeks since the incident, and aside from a brief appearance to speak at their hearing the week before, Zuko hadn't seen his uncle since.

"We're here," Mai announced. She turned into a parking lot and found a space near the exit. The four piled out of the car and headed reluctantly towards the entrance.

Hama's Haven for Families was a slightly run down brick building that used to be a school. It had been shut down almost two decades earlier and used as surplus storage for the school district for a while. Then eight years earlier, someone had bought the building from the city and converted it into temporary housing for women and families with children. They provided meals, counseling, and for the youngest residents, daycare until the adults could find work and permanent housing. Why this was chosen as their service project, Zuko wasn't sure. It wouldn't have been his first choice of project, and he was certain his companions wouldn't have even put this place on their list. But the judge had given Iroh the right to decide what punishment he thought would fit the crime his family and their friends had committed against him. Zuko figured the least he could do was not whine about it.

"Ugh!" Azula's face contorted in disgust. "I can smell them from here. Don't they get showers?" Zuko gave the air a subtle, experimental sniff. Immediately, he identified the pungent scent his sister was complaining about as manure, probably from the community garden behind the building. It wasn't his favorite smell, but Azula was way overreacting.

Inside the building was bustling with activity. There was a cheerful energy in the air, which shocked Zuko, considering why they were there. A few people wore light blue t-shirts with Hama's Haven across the front in graffiti block. On the backs, the shirts read either Volunteer or Staff. A man stood at the front desk, expectantly. He was tall and muscled in a way that suggested a lot of physical labor, rather than spending hours in the gym. He wore his chin length brown hair half up. He didn't seem to be much older than Zuko and Azula's father, though his dark blue eyes had a weathered look. As if he'd seen a lot and had learned stoicism in the face of it. He looked familiar to Zuko, but he couldn't place the man's face for the life of him.

"I'm Hakoda," he greeted them politely, but not with much warmth. "Are you here for the mandated service?"

"What was your first clue?" Azula snorted. Zuko felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"We are," he said quickly, trying to mask his sister's rudeness. He stepped forward and held his hand out to Hakoda. The older man eyed Zuko's hand hesitantly for a moment, before grasping it in his. Hakoda had a strong, firm hand shake. Zuko could tell he was holding back, but when Hakoda let him go, Zuko felt the blood rush back to his hand with a throb.

"Nice to meet you," he said, turning his attention to the clipboard in his hands. "I see we have you for one hundred and fifty hours. You have to be here once a week for four hours a shift, so that'll take you about nine months. But if you'd like to get through your mandatory hours quicker, you're welcome to contact me for opportunities during the week. We have tutoring and after school activities, along with an upcoming food and clothing drive. We could always use a few more hands.

"Sure," Mai scoffed. If Hakoda heard her, he ignored her. He turned to the desk and reached down on the other side, coming back up with four t-shirts, light blue with the shelter's name on the front. Azula and Mai regarded them distastefully. Despite the instructions to come to their shift in comfortable clothes they didn't mind getting dirty, the two girls had come in the same chic, dark clothing they would wear any other weekend.

"No thanks," Azula said with a sneer. "I'm fine with what I've got on." Hakoda raised an eyebrow at her and Mai.

"I'm afraid it's not optional," he told them. "This is the uniform that staff and volunteers wear. You're expected to be in them for every shift you have with us."

"I'm not wearing this cheap, tacky thing!" Azula insisted.

"Ditto," Mai said, folding her arms across her chest.

"That's fine," Hakoda said with a shrug. "But you won't be permitted to stay and work. You're welcome to take that up with Judge Jeong-Jeong."

"Guys, we won't get the hours we need," Ty Lee whispered nervously to her friends. "The judge said we could still be sent to juvie." Azula and Mai shot Ty Lee the most scathing looks, and Ty Lee shrank back a bit. Zuko turned his head to roll his eyes. He wondered, not for the first time, how someone like Ty Lee had ended up in his sister's inner circle. He took his t-shirt and slipped it on over his clothes. Then he looked at the three girls expectantly. Ty Lee hurried to get hers on over her long-sleeved pink shirt. Hakoda favored them with a smile and approving nod before turning back to Azula and Mai.

"I'm not putting that on." Azula's jaw was set mulishly. Mai didn't say anything, but she fixed Hakoda with a cutting scowl.

"Your choice," Hakoda shrugged. "Either put the shirts on, or get out. I'm sure if you ask really nicely, Judge Jeong-Jeong will get you on highway clean up. Maybe orange jumpers will suit you two better."

"I'll tell my father about this," Azula hissed at him. "He can buy and sell you. He can have this dump turned into a parking lot."

"Do what you've got to do," Hakoda scoffed at her. "In the meantime, you have your two choices. So what's it going to be? I don't have all day." Azula and Mai glowered at Hakoda. But in the end, they didn't have much of a choice. Mai snatched a shirt from Hakoda, and after a moment, Azula took the last one. Hakoda's eyes gleamed smugly as the girls yanked the shirts on over their dark, designer blouses.

"Now that that's over with-"

"Dad!" Hakoda was interrupted by a girl running up to the desk with an exasperated look. Zuko suddenly realized why Hakoda looked so familiar. His daughter bore a striking resemblance. Katara Imiq was in Azula's class, the year below his, but she was in a few of his advanced placement classes. She was also on the track team with Azula, and in drama with Ty Lee. He and Azula both seemed to be in constant competition with the over achieving Katara in some form or another, though Azula was far more antagonistic about it than Zuko was. Beside him, Azula went rigid and shook with quiet rage at the sight of her chief rival for grades, athletics and popularity. Katara, though hadn't even seemed to notice them yet.

"What's up?" Hakoda asked.

"Sokka can't get the dryer to work," Katara explained with an annoyed huff. "It turns on, but it won't heat up. He put the last load in an hour ago and it's still soaking wet!"

"Can you get Bato to handle it?" Hakoda asked.

"He's not here today, remember? His niece's dance recital."

"Right." Hakoda sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm on it. Can you take over for me? These are the new volunteers. They need their assignments." For the first time Katara seemed to realize that there were new people there. She froze when she saw Zuko and Azula, but before she could say anything, Hakoda had passed her his clipboard and jogged off to the laundry room. Katara's jaw clenched, but she took a deep breath and greeted the four with a cordial, if clipped tone.

"Did you get to look at the list of jobs that need to be done?" Katara asked them. She was met with stony silence, but it didn't seem to bother her. "Did you have a preference for where you wanted to work?"

"As far away from these disgusting beggars as possible," Azula said snidely. Katara's mouth pressed into a thin line and she glowered at Azula.

"Fine," she said. "You can sort the recycling."

"What?" Azula gasped.

"The residents also volunteer here," Katara explained with a saccharine smile. "Recycling sorting is the only job where there are no disgusting beggars currently signed up to work."

"I'm not touching garbage," Azula snarled. Katara met her with a feral looking grin of her own.

"You can leave if you want," Katara said. "I'm sure the judge will be happy to give you the poshest cell on the block." The four balked in surprise. Katara smirked smugly, assuring them that she knew exactly why they were there.

"Whatever," Mai snorted.

"Is there anything left in the kitchen?" Ty Lee asked shyly. "I-I'm pretty good at cooking." Katara's face softened a bit and she even smiled a little at Ty Lee.

"We actually have chefs who do the actual cooking, but they could use someone to help prep and wash."

"Perfect!" Ty Lee agreed with alacrity. Then Katara turned to Zuko. Her lip curled as if she smelled the manure from the garden.

"I don't have any preference," he told her. "I'll go wherever." Katara blinked in surprise. She had been expecting the same attitude from him as from Azula. Zuko was glad to have proven her wrong. He bit back a smirk as she went down the line of duties to be done.

"The maintenance crew is painting the stairwells," she told him. "They need another set of hands."

"Fine," Zuko nodded. Katara looked at him appraisingly for a moment. Zuko stood straight under her scrutiny. Azula was determined to make this as unpleasant for the people running the shelter as possible. Zuko was just as determined to prove that not every member of the Kaji family was as obnoxiously snobbish.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

#atla #zutara #ask box prompt #volunteer work au #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!#this isn't strictly where katara and zuko met #but they don't really know each other so...#count it!

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zvtara-was-never-canon · 4 months

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The Problem With The Southern Raiders

Brynn_Sasha191 asked: And what do you have to say about TSR episode as a whole? And how ZK shippers constantly refer and think of it as 'the Zutara episode'.

***

The episode itself is alright. Katara and Zuko looked cool as hell in their ninja outfits, sneaking around and being menaces. The scene of Katara choosing to bloodbend (and her horror after) were shocking. The moral of the episode ("Unnecessary violence is never the answer, BUT that doesn't mean people who wronged you are entitled to your forgiveness") is pretty good. Zuko looked like he gained some genuine understanding for Katara's situation, as well as respect for her mom, when he was told about how Kya's death happened. Plus the Sukka bit, and Zuko's reaction to it, was one of the funniest moments in the show.

The only thing that REALLY bothers me about it how it is the ONE time the show tried to sweep Zuko's mistakes under the rug. Katara was not mad at him because she was wrongfully "projecting" her grief over her mom, and her anger at the killer, on poor, innocent Zuzu.

She was mad because this entitled prince that had threatened the people of her village, tried to use her mom's necklace to blackmail her and then threatened to burn it, had been chasing her group all around the world, endangering them several times, to kidnap her best friend managed to convince her for five minutes that maybe there was some humanity to him - and then immediately helped his sister essentially win the war for the Fire Nation, and killing Aang. Then after Katara saved him, the same goddamn prince sent an assassin after them.

It doesn't matter that he was never fully evil, that he had understandable reasons to do what he did, that truly changed sides, and that he doesn't intend to ever do something like that again. Katara does NOT have to forgive him, and she sure as hell does not owe him her friendship, and it's not cool how the episode keeps allowing Zuko to act all entitled, without ever calling him out for it - and worse, activelly saying KATARA is the one in the wrong.

Plus, it's kinda fucked up that it's never acknowledged how Zuko, the guy who was disfigured and banished for wanting the soldiers of the Fire Nation to be treated fairly and with any humanity, and saw harming them for daring to OBEY ORDERS as an absolute betrayal, was willing to kill one of these guys for the crime of... following the Fire Lord's orders - which Zuko had also been doing mere WEEKS before.

Don't get me wrong, I can understand Katara being out for blood and not giving a shit about "well, if he didn't obey, he'd be traitor" when what he did traumatized her for life and made her grow up without her mom, but Zuko just seemed a bit hypocritical, and like he was betraying his beliefs there. It just doesn't make sense in my head that he wouldn't be thinking "What that guy did was fucked up, but I nearly got all of my current allies killed just a month ago because they were still enemies and it'd make sure my dad would not disfigure/banish me again or even kill me, it'd not be right of me to act like I can judge this guy"

But this one doesn't bother me as much since the whole point of that episode was for Zuko to unlearn all the awful "lessons" his father taught him by fully normalizing violence to him - and considering the finale showed us he was feeling sorry for Azula (hell, he was already giving off Concerned Big Brother vibes on the opening scene of TSR) and was willing to spare even Ozai, I think it's safe to say he will never make that kind of mistake again (the comics are not canon, I don't care what anyone says).

So yeah, it's a deeply flawed, but entertaining episode that MOSTLY works - but it's NOT the "zutara" episode, not just because there's no romance there, but also because, if anything, 99% of it just shows how these two have the potential to bring out the absolute worst in each other, and that, at least until he genuinely started bonding with her during their mission) Zuko had no problem with playing the victim whenever Katara dared to be mad at him for doing horrible things that hurt her, the people she cared about, and innocents in general.

Thank God they grew as people AND have other friends that can pull them out of destructive spirals.

#anti zutara

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addictofreading · 2 years

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Zutara Week 2022 Day 6: Closeness

She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Yes, she wanted to stay by the fire after everyone else went to bed and she’s willing to admit it was because he intended to stay up as well. But that was only because she was tired of fighting the pull that had been tugging at her these past weeks. Ever since they’d gotten back from their journey together she’d been trying to ignore it. The near constant desire to be closer to him. She didn’t even know what she wanted to do once there, but she wanted it just the same.

Their group was small and everyone tended to stay within a small radius of each other wherever they camped, so it wasn’t like she was ever really that far away from Zuko at any given point, but that didn’t mean she was close enough to him either. Because when they were close, she felt it. She felt the initial speeding of her heart as he offered to help prepare dinner, felt the comforting playfulness that washed over her when they inevitably started their teasing banter. She felt the tension, foreign yet not unpleasant when they tried not to share shy glances. She would try so hard not to look at him yet she always knew exactly where he was, how close, and how far he stood.

It’s not like she meant for it to happen. They all were in the middle of a war and she obviously had more important things to think about than Zuko and how strong he looked with his shirt off when training Aang. Or how absurd it was that he could be a confident and demanding instructor one moment and a socially awkward teammate the next. She tried to keep a friendly distance, made sure she spent the same amount of time with everyone else as she always had. But she always wanted him there.

And late at night, she’d think about how good it felt to be alone with him as they returned from hunting her mother’s murderer. Her grieving had felt raw, like a wound that had never quite scabbed over, but he knew what she needed. He knew when to stay silent, when to distract with travel logistics, when to take charge and make her sleep. What surprised her the most is when he knew she needed comfort. The quiet, easy comfort of scooting closer to her and allowing her to find her way into a soft embrace. She likely would have found comfort with anyone else in their group had they done the same. But he was the only one who had supported her quest and so was the only one there. And it just felt different with him. It felt safe in a way that was unfamiliar and yet felt so natural.

So yes, she purposefully stayed up last night to spend time with Zuko. Because she wasn’t a complete idiot. She knew what the tugging meant and it was clear he felt it too. And yes, they were fighting a war. But did that really mean they had to fight this constant pull to be closer as well? They could spend one late night talking and for all she knew that could be enough to put an end to this feeling.

Except it didn’t. Instead, the night got later and later and they sat closer and closer. And the next thing she knew she was waking up to the pre-dawn stillness of day, tucked in close in Zuko’s arms. The ground was just as firm as always, but somehow she was too comfortable to move. She was reminded of the coldest of winter mornings when getting up and out of the perfect warmth of her bed and blankets felt like the most difficult task on earth. It had to be done. The others would be waking up soon and then there was the whole potential for embarrassing awkwardness with Zuko. But maybe…

“Um. Good morning?” Zuko’s voice is hushed and sleep rough. Katara sighs internally and makes herself sit up, moving out of the circle of his arms to look at him. The sun is just coming up behind him, making a soft halo from his mussed-up hair, and is bright enough to highlight his growing blush as he offers a lopsided smile. And nope. Katara is done pretending this pull between them is anything other than what it clearly is. She’s willing to let it take its time, to simmer on the side while more important things are dealt with, but the tugging can’t actually be fought against. Not anymore. And it feels so good to give in.

---------------------------

Happy @zutaraweek again!

So this ficlet wasn't supposed to be that long, but it just sort of ended up that way. I hope you enjoyed it! Honestly, I didn't plan on doing a second prompt this week just because the first one took longer than planned and my health has been a bit iffy, but then I had the sudden inspiration for this prompt and I just didn't want to let the week pass without trying. And I made it in time! Woot! (I may go back and tweak the image if I can pinpoint what's off about it, but woot all the same!)

Anyways, I wanted to give a shout out to the official Zutara Week mods for keeping this event going. I don't care what time of year it happens, I'm just thankful that Zutara Week is still a thing. It has become something joyous I look forward to each year and I know I'm not the only one who values the beautiful creations and the sense of community it brings. So thank you! <3

#zutara week 2022 #zutara week #fanart #ficlet #zutara #zuko #katara #addictofreading #avatar the last airbender #atla #closeness #zutara week is the best week

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grapefruittwostep · 2 years

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Day Two: Familiar

It’s just an excuse to do witch!Katara, I have no excuse except I really really wanted to put her in a big hat with a big Zuko snake

#zutara week #zutara week 2022 #zutara #familiar #my art #fanart #atla #avatar: the last airbender #witch time is the best time #i had to go simple this year because I’m insanely busy with work and school #so we’re just doing whatever our hearts desire here

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geotheraider · 3 months

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ATLA Live Action

Evening ATLA fans and shippers alike, I just wanted to pop in and make a quick post. I've seen a lot of discourse over the past few days and weeks that think both positively and negatively about the Live Action reimagining of the show. I'm personally a Zutara fan, but I've consumed some Kataang content over the years. From a shipping perspective, I think we should all do our best to calm down a bit and try to enjoy whatever is placed before us.

Now - meat and potatoes of this: From an avid enjoyer of ATLA in its various media (no, the comics don't necessarily tickle my fancy, and 2010 didn't exist). Regardless of our shipping backgrounds, Kataang or Zutara mostly, we all enjoy countless retellings of the same story involving the same cast of people. In the past 6 months, I've read around 30 novels worth of the same people falling in love and saving the world alongside incredible friends and family. What's one more fanfiction in the bunch, just one that makes it to a bigger screen? So long as it's good, let's enjoy the content given to us. If this first season is awesome, the big thing we need to be concerned about as a group is whether Netflix produces more episodes.

PS: One thing to note - this is not directed at any one person or post or anything of that sort. I love just about all of ya, and want to encourage you to keep making your loved content of choice. BE CREATIVE! <3

#zutara #kataang #atla #geotheraider writes #avatar the last airbender #atla fanfiction #cautiously optimistic #aang #zuko #sokka #katara #toph #suki

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linnoya-writes · 8 months

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Zutara Childhood-Friends-to-Lovers Alter-Egos Forbidden-Romance AU (part I)

Their first kiss comes at the absolute worst time, with Katara and Zuko exchanging fruit under his late mother’s favorite tree in the palace gardens. It comes with a disagreement between Fire Lord Iroh and Chieftain Hakoda of the WaterTribes.

A Southern tribesman and two of the palace guards are the ones who walk in on the teenagers’ awkward little kiss.

The Southern tribesman coughs for attention; Zuko flinches and Katara jerks her head away. Her cheeks are so flushed, Katara barely recognizes her father’s guard. Whatever he’s there for, it’s not good.

“Lady Katara, I’ve been ordered to escort you back to the ship. We leave port tonight.”

Immediately, her world caves in. “W—What?”

“What’s going on?” Zuko can’t help but interject in that voice that is both regal and concerned. As they stand up, Katara feels her frame staying close to his.

“I’m afraid I cannot disclose anything else, your highness,” the kinsman bows his head to Zuko respectfully, and the palace guards approach almost instinctively. “My orders are only to take our princess home.”

The way he’s suddenly referring to her so possessively, and distantly, it makes her brows furrow.

“Kievel—“ it takes her a century to remember this man’s name, “There has to be some mistake. Sokka and I still have a few more weeks here!”

“Let me talk to my uncle," Zuko rasps to her, "they should still be at the council meeting.”

“Your highness, council has already adjourned," Kievel chimes in. "His lordship expects you and her highness Azula to meet him at the royal hall before any more news goes public.”

Katara can see Zuko’s eyes widening into a confused, unexpected gold. This is bad, she thought, and yet her fingers instinctively searching for Zuko’s knuckles.

Staring at the guards, Katara and Zuko find their fingers entwining in the obscure folds of their robes. She can feel Zuko’s hand still holding some kind of fruit, the little shivers in his finger debating whether to let it drop to the ground, if it meant he could hold her hand just for that little moment.

“Princess…” Kievel brought them back to the present. “…it’s time to go.”

They glance at each other, looking like they’d lived a glacial sixteen and fourteen years for a moment like this to happen… and yet here it was… so easily being taken away. It wasn’t fair.

The glistening of his eyes said exactly that, but the flaming gold said something else: I don't regret it.

And Katara met him with her glimmering blue eyes.

Me neither.

As she stepped forward and their secret hands parted, Zuko instinctively let her grab hold of the fruit he’d kept curled in his hand. The last thing Katara saw was his serious face, sandwiched between his two guards. He seemed so stern, regal and untouchable, but his eyes spoke of hope.

Katara could only imagine that she would see him again, that whatever this premature separation was about would someday eventually fade. She waited until making it to the dock to finally pull out the fruit from her robes. It was a plum-- ripe and ready for eating-- the size of tiny goose-otter egg.

She smiled, keeping it in her robe pockets as a parting gift to take for her long journey back home… feeling like a part of her had still remained under the shade of that tree with her best friend. It wasn’t until she saw Sokka at the dock that she learned the gravity of this separation; their countries were in a feud regarding the discovery of a remote island off the Fire Nation's archipelago, the Water Tribe proclaiming it an ancient burial site of their ancestors and arguing how this island should be deemed theirs. This feud has halted their their trade agreement, and they are willing to readdress it after a ten-year separation.

“TEN YEARS!?”

She as princess of the WaterTribe was forbidden to touch ground in the Fire Nation for ten years, and the idea of not seeing Zuko for that length of time…

“No— that can’t happen.”

“Katara, it’s done. It’s the law.”

“Well, the law stinks!”

Before she can even think of making her way back to the palace gate, the Watertribe guards hold her back with a Water-bending wall. And in the distance, she could see a faint figure trying to wrestle his way past his own guards at the beacon point.

The way he'd been so athletic and agile as The Blue Spirit back when they were kids, Katara didn't have to guess who it was.

His voice bellowed. “I said,' Let me through!' You can’t do this— I- I HAVE to talk to her!”

“Zuko!?”

She didn’t care if she referred to him so informally, or that her voice echoed through the entire capital, or that Sokka was grabbing her wrist and edging her back towards their ship.

She could see his face softening as he saw her.

“Katara— I— I’m so sorry.”

“No— it’s not your fault. This isn’t over, okay? I love you.”

There was an abysmal wave gasps at the dock, and Katara didn’t care- she was only speaking to one person, anyway. Zuko was also taken aback, amazed as much as the others surrounding them by the sheer boldness his best friend had chosen to demonstrate.

His heart pounded in his chest, feeling that same boldness take root inside of him more and more.

Zuko breathed, and spoke out, “I love you too.”

And with those words, Katara could almost feel his warmth next to her, hands grazing… lips touching…

No, it wasn’t over.

“I’ll see you,” he shouted, his hands gripping the rails of the beacon.

“See you," came her reply.

It’s what they’d always said to each other as young playmates in the palace, always on the day that Katara would have to to leave Zuko's side at the end of summer… but it felt different this time, because the tides had turned so monumentally.

They could feel themselves becoming something else.

When she finally boarded the ship, Katara could hear Sokka muttering that she was an idiot to say something like that out loud.

Katara wasn’t listening. Instead, she was looking down at her hand, at her little plum. And as the ship set sail, she started to take little bites of the fruit... savoring the sweetness of it… thinking about the seed, and wondering if it was possible to raise a plum tree in the arctic tundras of the south.

#zutara #katara #zuko #avatar the last airbender #katara of the southern water tribe #atla #zutara ficlet #zutara fic

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dreamchasernina · 1 month

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you’re so real for that post bc i really feel that some ppl dont get atla at all. Like this show is a masterpiece and you look at the fandom and it’s just a shipping war??? And ppl hating on aang and it’s like. damn. and I feel like the bad netflix remake just exacerbated this feeling bc of how it’s unequivocally worse than the original, yet people defend it as if small changes don’t have huge consequences for the narrative. and yeah i completely see where you’re coming from. This show means a lot to me and it’s weird seeing people treat it like a flash fandom on the week without putting much thought into its themes and characters

Yup, you got it. The discourse is filled with “this character is bad” or “this character should’ve done that” or “this character is weak” and it’s so disheartening. Is this all you took away from this amazing show?

All the character bashing, like Katara or Aang…If all you can say about the main character of the show is how bad they are, why do you even like the show? People say Katara sucks because she’s still traumatized from her mom’s death, or Aang sucks because he’s childish and not aggressive enough. That’s who they are! If you don’t like it, just say it wasn’t for you and move on. Seriously, if I hated the main character so much I would not consider myself a fan of the show (LoK for instance. I’m not a fan of Korra so I don’t like that show but I would also never ever go out of the way to tell everyone how bad Korra is, just let people enjoy things!).

Especially when people feel the need to hate on Aang to make their own ship justified. Like, ship whoever you want, who cares, but why do you need to hate on a character just because he’s not your taste and you want the girl to end up with someone you like more? Just say - Aang is not my cup of tea and I’d like Katara to end up with Zuko. That’s great, have fun. I ship Kataang with all my heart but I love Zuko and you will never ever see me go into a Zutara tag and hate all over their ship…like, get a life people!

But that’s not even the worst I’ve seen in this fandom, people miss character arcs completely, rewrite them to fit their own narratives, focus on all the mistakes those characters made, instead of looking at how those characters learned from them, and it’s just exhausting. I love being a part of a fandom and sharing my thoughts and theories but this is just straight up missing the point of the show completely.

People want to see everything in black and white when the show is the complete opposite of that. People say - Roku didn’t kill his best friend so he’s the worst Avatar. Or Korra lost her past lives so she the worst Avatar. Or Aang is selfish for not killing Ozai so he’s the worst avatar. If you want to watch a show with perfect characters that don’t have any depth, flaws or desires of their own, maybe this isn’t the show for you.

Go watch the Netflix version, I guess, no one has any depth there, you’ll forget all about it in like a month but that’s probably for the best.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #avatar #aang #the legend of korra #zuko #avatar aang #Katara #kataang #zutara

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