#ember island players fic

[safereturn]

let me hold your hand (and dance around the flames)

Another Ember Island Players Fic Word Count: 1956 Zutara one-shot Read on ao3

Zuko is sure his shame will consume him, obliterate him, turn him to ashes and blow him away in the wind. The only evidence of his existence will be that awful play and the wake of destruction caused by his own implosion.

And yet, it pales in comparison to the anger flowing off the water bender walking beside him. Fearing retribution, he keeps his gaze steadily ahead, focusing on the trio walking in front of them. Sokka, Suki, and Toph chatter about their portrayal; Toph lets out a roar that sends Sokka yelping into Suki’s side. Suki laughs so hard she snorts and slaps Sokka’s back as his cheeks tinge red. 

Zuko bites back a snarky comment. It’s simply propaganda, the events told with the inevitable agenda of a Fire Nation playwright, but at least they were written as comic reliefs. 

They weren’t failures and traitors. 

As they approach his family’s old vacation home, Katara’s sandal gets caught in the transition of cobblestone to sand. She loses her balance, but just as Zuko reaches a steadying arm out toward her, she rights herself on her own. Aang huffs behind him. 

Not to mention the resentment radiating off the young Avatar. Aang all but limps toward the house like a wounded puppy, head tucked into his chest. 

Katara pulls away from the group and storms off toward shore, back stiff, fists tight. Zuko slows to a stop as he watches her. She marches on to the beach, right where the tide stops overlapping the sand, and slumps to the ground, knees to her chest. 

The rest of the group carries on into the house. Aang sends one last glare at Zuko, then runs up the stairs and slams the door behind him, rattling the frame and sending an explosion of sound that evacuates nearby cicada-crickets from the trees. 

Zuko feels his chest constrict at the thought of following them inside the house. He isn’t claustrophobic–years spent at sea on a Fire Navy cruiser in close quarters with his crew desensitized him to any fears of being too enclosed. But there was a sort of heat burning under his skin. He was restless and itchy. Like if he walked into that house, he would explode, bringing the walls down around him in a terrible blaze.

Zuko glances over to the silhouette of Katara sitting in the sand again, still hunched, gently swaying back and forth with the tide. He’d seen her move like this once before, flying high over the ocean on Appa, the rain coming down around them. 

After confronting her mother’s killer, Katara had been near catatonic. They’d walked away from the quaking old man, but the further they got, the more she had withdrawn. Zuko had helped her climb onto Appa’s back, and she collapsed onto the saddle and stared blankly ahead. She might have been crying, but the rain had cast everything in a haze. As if it were all a dream. And then, like a child being comforted by a mother, she rocked herself side to side. 

She hadn’t spoken to him until they landed back at camp, and Katara had thrown her arms around him and granted him forgiveness. He remembers the warmth of her body against his, it had spread through his chest and she gave him a gentle squeeze before letting him go.

Zuko decides he would rather drown at her hand than suffocate amongst childhood memories. He approaches her as one would approach an injured turtle duck, softly and with no sudden movements.

“Go to bed, Aang.” Katara’s words are thick, tinged with finality that left no room for argument. It doesn’t escape him how maternal she sounds, as if she were scolding a petulant child. 

“It’s me,” he says. Katara peeks at him over her shoulder, then looks out toward the ocean. “I can go further down the shore if you want to be alone,” he offers, “but I’d rather not be in the house right now.”

He watches her shoulders rise as she fills her lungs with a long breath. Then, slowly, she places a hand on the sand beside her and gives it a pat. 

“You can stay.” She sounds tired now, but her tone is softer than her previous chiding. 

He sits cross legged beside her, sitting a little closer than intended, his shoulder brushing against hers. Zuko’s nerves were raw, his fingers had been trembling since the end of the first act. The gentle warmth of Katara’s arm against his was like an anchor, grounding him, giving him something to brace against. She doesn’t acknowledge it, she simply sways into him, then back, her chin resting atop her knees. 

“I’m sorry about tonight,” Zuko says. “That wasn’t a good play.”

Katara raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t write the play, Zuko.”

“No.” He grabs a handful of sand, it’s clumpy and coarse, still damp. Zuko squeezes it in his hand, then lets it crumble between his fingers. He does it again. “I'm just– sorry. I’m sorry you had to relive that. Relive me.”

She’s examining him. Zuko doesn’t dare make eye contact, but his skin prickles at the heat of her gaze on his face. It travels down his arms, to his hands, until she’s watching the grains of sand trickle between his fingertips. 

Again, he feels too large. He waits for his skin to burst open. 

“That wasn’t you on that stage, Zuko.”

“It was all the things I’ve done. All the ways I’ve hurt people.” 

How much good would he have to do to counter balance all the bad? Terrorizing citizens for any knowledge about the Avatar, burning down villages…

The Catacombs under Ba Sing Se.

The look of terror on Katara’s face, the smell of burning flesh, the cry that tore itself from her lips as she fought to get to Aang, fought to get them to the surface, fought against Azula, fought against him.

The look of anguish on Uncle’s face as he fought to keep Aang and Katara safe. 

Zuko chokes on a shuddering breath. His skin burns, his chest burns, his eyes burn.

“I’ve hurt so many people.”

So much blood.

Katara grasps his hand, grains of sand gently chafing against skin as she twines their fingers together. “Stop,” she whispers. “That was not you on that stage.”

His mind stutters, trying to pull himself from the memories. Katara squeezes his hand once and brushes her thumb over his knuckles. Back and forth. He sucks in a breath, then lets it whoosh out of his lungs. The tension in his shoulders drops. 

“You have done more than enough, Zuko.”

Enough. 

If there is wetness on his cheeks, Katara doesn’t mention it. She simply keeps rubbing soothing circles in his skin with her thumb. They watch the waves crash over the horizon.

 “Maybe I should apologize to Aang,” Zuko says, thinking of Aang’s glare. 

He can feel her deflate next to him, slumping into herself. Katara presses her face into her knees and heaves a sigh.

“He’s not angry with you,” she mumbles.  

“You didn’t see the look he gave me.”

Katara shakes her head and with a shrug says, “He’s angry with me. We had a fight at intermission.”

“What could he possibly be mad at you for?” Zuko saw the way Aang looked at Katara. He worshiped the ground she walked on, what could she have done that was so bad? And why would Aang take it out on him?

“It’s complicated.”

Zuko huffs. It’s not quite a laugh. “Try me.”

Katara gives him an uncertain look, then turns her gaze back to the ocean. Just when Zuko thinks she’ll ignore him, her voice breaks over the sound of the waves.

“Aang had… a hard time distinguishing between the play and reality. Ever since we met we’ve been really close. For months it was just me, Sokka, and Aang. And then Toph joined and it was the four of us. I always trusted them with my life, but it felt like Aang was on my side when Sokka and Toph pushed me too hard. He helped me through some pretty bad things, and I helped him, too.

“I found him in an iceberg, so I was possessive , I guess. He was going to save the world. My world. And I would have done anything–” Karata’s voice cuts off, followed by a frenetic breath. The waves wash higher on the shore, in time with her quick breaths. The water sweeps against their feet.

“I would have done anything to make him happy. He’s my best friend and of course I love him, but what he wants...” Katara heaves a shuddering breath. And then another. Her next words come quickly, garbled. “It’s too much. I’m trying to win a war, and so is he! But I can’t–I feel like I can’t even breathe.”

And then Katara makes an awful sound, a low whine cut off by a choked gasp. And then, even worse, she’s apologizing .

“I’m sorry,” she breathes, pulling her hand from his and swiping under her eyes. “This is stupid, just like that ridiculous actress.” Her hands leave behind grains of white sand on her cheeks. 

And for the first time, Katara looks defeated. Not even nine months ago, in a much colder continent, with her family's lives at stake and only a water whip to protect them did she look so small. She had built herself up with fury, indignation. She made up for what she didn’t know in determination. 

Now, with her eyes squeezed shut and shoulders hunched, there was nothing she could fight to make this hurt go away.

Zuko is at a loss for how to comfort her, and he hates himself for it. She so effortlessly brought him from the edge of panic. Forgave him when he was the face of everything that was taken from her. 

He thinks of her arms thrown around his neck. Her thumb brushing circles into his hand.  

And he does what he should’ve done when Katara sat numbly in Appa’s saddle. Zuko pulls Katara into his side, tucks her head into his shoulder, and hugs her. He winds his arms around her back, and sways her gently, his chin tucked over top of her head. Katara lets out a whimper, and then her arms circle around his waist. She buries her face into the crook where Zuko’s neck meets his shoulder. 

For a moment, all there is is the roar of the waves and his stiffness. He doesn’t want to jostle her, spook her. But her fists clench handfuls of his shirt and she is shaking, chest heaving with silent sobs. 

Zuko thinks of his mother and turtle duck bites and cries met with warm arms and soothing whispers. And he sways her, side to side, soothing a hand down her hair. She smells of sea salt and the old bath oils left in the wet room.

“Okay,” he says into her hair, “okay.”

It’s not okay. Zuko knows what it’s like to collapse under the weight of expectation, knows what it’s like to choke on the disappointment of others, knows the taste of desperation. It had almost killed him, back in that apartment in Ba Sing Se. And when he’d made it back to the Fire Nation on the basis of Aang’s murder, there were times he wished the fever had taken him. 

So much pain.

“Nothing like the actress,” he says. There is wetness and sand and shuddering breaths against his neck. “You are strong, this is strength.”

Katara takes a deep breath. Then another.

The waves wash back out to the ocean and quiet to a lull.

“You’ve given more than enough."

[biconickyoshi]

If the ember island players episode ever happens, will you include the original play narrative, one where they perceive Zutara but instead, Aang gets jealous of Katara. Maybe worse, Jet and Zuko. Considering whilst Zuko wasn’t exactly smitten, he did take somewhat of an interest in him. He did think he was handsome.

Good news is yes, I definitely am planning on adapting the Ember Island Players episode! However, while with most chapters that are a ways off I usually have a vague idea about what I want to stay the same and what I want to change, this chapter is one that has been more vague than others in my mind. This is because there’s so much plot I haven’t covered yet and I don’t know how differently all of that will affect the EIP plot.

I’ve definitely thought about leaving the Zutara implication scenes in, but again, there’s so much else that I have not covered yet in the overall story that I don’t know if it would make sense to include it as part of the play in this AU. There definitely still is an opportunity for jealousy there, especially with Zuko and Katara’s Southern Raider revenge spree happening not long before this (which results in them getting closer).

In regards to the Players adapting anything Jetko-related, initially, I was gonna say that I don’t know for certain if I would include that simply because the Fire Nation is so homophobic during this time period. However, now that I think about it, this could honestly be an interesting thing to explore - like maybe the play heavily queercodes both Zuko and Aang without stating it outright (kind of like Hays Code-era villains in real world media), and the audience knows clearly what’s being implied and laughs at it (bc homophobia). And maybe there’s some dramatic moment where actor!Aang and actor!Zuko are tragically killed off in front of each other (Bury Your Gays trope). I think that this portrayal would seriously shake both Aang and Zuko and make them even more anxious about the future than they already were.

I won’t say anything else because I am now thinking of a lot of interesting ideas on where to go with my adaptation of this ep that I had not previously considered, and I want to save them for when I get to writing the chapter itself :) Thanks for getting the wheels in my brain turning, anon!

[stupidkitten]

Hi!! I'm looking for a fanfiction I read a while back on ao3. it was a Zutara fanfiction and I remember it stated in the start of the southern raiders episode. It was an au where katara killed yon rha. . . I only remember two dialogues, one where Sokka asks where katara is because she's been gone for a while and toph answers saying she's in her tent. The other dialogue I remember is post TSR where the gaang are discussing that aang should kill the fire lord, then katara says something and aang responds by saying "for him is not as easy to kill someone like her" and then both go away, zuko then proceeds defend katara to the gaang and sokka says "she needs to accept it" and zuko responds "she already has, she just doesn't want for you to see her that way". Sorry if it long and confusing, english is not my first language.

[allo-ho-mora]

it's been so many years but I've finally realised why the ember island theatre troupe cast avatar aang with a female actor (which was obviously for comedy, etc.). the play is based on civilians testimonies with creative liberties taken at every turn but at the earth kingdom tournament when aang challenges the blind bandit, toph calls him a little girl (which is a reasonable assumption to be fair). did your brain just explode or was this smth everyone knew...?

[most-tragic-character-tournament]

Fellas what does it mean to learn about your lover’s life and trauma through a shoddy play (and one of you is quite literally, A Play) but yes, Oppenheimer exists as a Performing Arts School, not a joke. Idk anything about the movie, is it about a person? Bc creative liberty sees the name and that’s enough to make the connection to elevate this pairings iconic status. How lovely it works in duos, as that blog found the most perfect Barbie song ever to describe them as well.

It means it’s true love~

(Also it’s movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb. aka the “I am become death, destroyer of worlds” guy)

[didisficrecs]

ZUTARA FICS

Read

The Sun, the Moon, and the Truth – by thee senlinyu, post war, angsty angst, smut, pining

Purr – modern uni au, TA zuko, zuko pursues katara, sliiiight angst, smut & fluff

Sunshine Riptide – post war, smut, tension

The Sparrowkeet series – angsty angst, one shots, gaang

My faves from the series — Sparrowkeet – e2l kinda, angsty angst I don't have a clue – jealousy Heartbeats (or, Wherein Toph is Smarter and Generally More Awesome Than Everyone Else) – angst A Rush of Blood to the Head – e2l kinda The Fourth Wall (or, The Ember Island Players) – angst

when you say "it's gonna happen now" – modern au, f2l, fluff

it's late and i think it's about time for you and me to get closer – character study, smut, yearning, longing

as if you were on fire from within/the moon lives in the lining of your skin – modern au, rivals to lovers, smut, fwb

To be Read

Journeys – modern uni au

Dancing in the Dark – Ba Sing Se

Twist Me to the Left – modern band au

and expectations she won't meet – modern au, TA zuko

indigo summer – modern au, surfer katara

Lotus Lake – modern boarding school au

The Penance Series – smut

His Majesty Prefers Blue

When The Mask Comes Off

Rumour Has It

This ffnet list This ao3 list

*stories w smut have aged-up characters as far as i know😭

[seraphixv]

I don't know about on here, but on Twitter I see so many posts about how the Fire Nation thinks Zuko and Katara are a thing because of the Ember Island Players, that I think someone should write a fic about it.

A fic where after the war, Zuko and Katara have to constantly put up with a Fire Nation tabloid writing up articles about them every time they're seen together. One where a journalist just strings up all the "evidence" and now even more people buy into the rumors. They both want to die. People ask Zuko about it at meetings. People see Katara and immediately start whispering and she knows why. It's chaos. Just for shits and giggles.

And if this fic exists, please send me a link.

[jo-the-bass-stealer]

okay but mermaid au zukka fic set in the year 1989

here are some ideas I have for zuko, before he meets sokka

hopefully this will be a published fic before the end of mermay!

zuko seems like the type to study like an absolute fiend during exam season so by the time summer rolls around he just wants to lie on the beach till september

he thinks life is finally looking up when ozai has to go on a business trip for a month, then his mom and iroh decide to bring their kids out to Ember Island, since they haven't been since they were little

queue the longest car ride ever. iroh bursts into song every time zuko is about to nod off, who's sat in the back squashed between his cousin and sister. lu ten and ursa are having deep conversations about the cold war. azula plays tetris on her gameboy. she refused to get into the car till her mom confirmed there was a phone at the beach house so that she could ring mai and ty-lee whenever she wanted. zuko's cassette player is in the trunk and he is literally going crazy

he 100000% listens to the cure and the smiths and the stone roses. he's that kind of gay

[fidget-scribbles]

Sparrowkeet Series In Reading Order

I am a Sparrowkeet stan. Reread the series (OMG IT IS EVERYTHING) and realized it's a little bit hard to follow since it's posted in writing order not chronological order. It's 90k over 18 fics, so that becomes a lot of scrolling around.

So… here's the series in the author's recommended reading order, with length and POV character noted

Same list in a Google doc Sparrowkeet Katara - 15k https://archiveofourown.org/works/830028

Concurrent to Sparrowkeet Highly Modifiable Strategies for Sister-Rescuing Sokka - 4k https://archiveofourown.org/works/839057 then The Teachings of Tea Iroh - 4k https://archiveofourown.org/works/838101

Concurrent, directly after Sparrowkeet Ling Katara - 7.5k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846695 The Princess Azula - 2k https://archiveofourown.org/works/831264

In order after that A Man of the Sea Hakoda - 3k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846817

Heartbeats Toph - 1.5k https://archiveofourown.org/works/836822

I Don't Have a Clue Zuko - 2k https://archiveofourown.org/works/832597

Observations from a Rock Ledge Haru - 2k https://archiveofourown.org/works/839055

A Rush of Blood to the Head (The Southern Raiders) Zuko - 7k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846756

The Fourth Wall (The Ember Island Players) Script format - 6k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846768

Aang and the Avatar Aang - 2k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846804

Of Edged Weapons and Eavesdropping Suki - 1k https://archiveofourown.org/works/833490

Duels of Honor Part 1 Katara - 7k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846821

Hot Leaf Juice Zuko - 1k https://archiveofourown.org/works/847293

Duels of Honor: Part 2 Katara - 8k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846821/chapters/1617580

The Final Chakra Aang - 1k https://archiveofourown.org/works/846887

Post-canon Who I Am (or Who I Was) 3 chapters - 5k https://archiveofourown.org/works/852155

Harmony 8k https://archiveofourown.org/works/17095094

[broadwaybalogna]

So I was think of pining Katara I desperately need more pining Katara fics. So the prompt is pining Katara in Ember Island being just a tennager trying to make sense of a pretty boy

Hey Anon! When you said “ember island” I’m sure you meant during the ember island players. HOWEVER, I think the headcanon that Zuko dropped Katara off at Ember Island after TSR and her realizing her feelings THEN would also be hella cute!

Enjoy~

“You sure you’ll be alright by yourself?”

“Yeah, I just need some time alone.”

“Alright… I’ll be back with the others by sundown.”

Zuko began to walk back to Appa, who had just groggily woken up.

“Zuko?” Katara called, once he was secured on the flying bison. She didn’t turn to him, she barely even acknowledged him. But she still called out to him.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Of course,” and with that, Katara could hear the sound of Appa leaving the ground and flying away. Now, she was by herself, alone with only her thoughts. She had at least twelve hours to herself before Zuko came back with the rest of their friends.

Hours one and two:

Katara decided to spend the first two hours or so walking along the beach of ember island. The sun was still rising in the horizon, which was able to give Katara some sense of calm. She continued to walk until her feet started to hurt, then she walked all the way back to camp.

Hour three:

Katara sat at the edge of the dock massaging her feet and stretching her legs. She hummed an old hymn her mother used to sing to her when she was little.

Then she remembered Yon Rha. And after hours upon hours of her night already thinking about him and what she could’ve done, she cried.

She cried louder than she had ever let herself. No one was around to hear or judge her, so she cried even louder. She cried until her eyes were as sore as her feet, and then, when she finally gained control of her body again, she cried some more.

So many emotions that she had left under wraps for years came bubbling up and exploded, and she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop to the point where it physically hurt to continue. Even more, she couldn’t stop because it felt so good to let it out.

Katara came to the conclusion that she was an ugly crier.

Hour four:

Once Katara had finally calmed down, she walked into a nearby lake to wash herself off. The ocean was too salty for her to feel like she was properly cleaning herself, so she found an abandoned lake to lay in. She sunk under the water until she was only breathing out of her nose and closed her eyes.

An image of Zuko flashes across her mind, if only for a second, and Katara shot up. Why would she think about him now of all times?

She scowled and got out of the lake, it had been ruined now anyway.

Hour five:

Katara decided to make herself lunch by the beach. She caught a fish and used Sokka’s fire starting technique to cook it. She thought about how much easier it would be to cook if she had Zuko’s fire.

Hour six:

She just couldn’t get Zuko out of her mind! What was wrong with her!?

Maybe it was because he actually encouraged her to face her mother’s attacker instead of telling her to just forgive him. Maybe it was that he empathized with her pain instead of separating himself from it. Or maybe it’s just that he was there when she needed someone to be.

Hour seven:

She felt really bad about what she said to Sokka, she needed to apologize to him when they got back.

Hour eight:

She can’t stop thinking about that one time she grazed Zuko’s lips while in the catacombs. How she had laid her hand on his scar in sympathy and grace, and how her thumb had just lightly touched his lips, and how soft they felt.

Hour nine:

She wonders what Zuko might’ve looked like had he been in the lake with her washing off.

Hour ten:

She stares up at the sky and the changing of the tides by the beach. She smiles.

Hour eleven:

She thinks about confronting Aang and Sokka when they get back. Also Zuko, maybe a little bit too much Zuko.

The more she thinks about it all, the more her face hardens. She wonders if Aang and Sokka will understand. She wonders if they’ll listen.

She goes to the end of the dock and holds her arm in her hand.

Hour twelve:

Zuko, Toph, Aang, and Sokka all arrive not long after the twelfth hour has passed. Aang goes up to her and tells her he’s proud she chose forgiveness.

“You’re wrong. I didn’t forgive him, and I don’t think I ever will.” She pushes past Aang who stands alone and climbs up Appa. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Zuko walk up to Aang.

“You were right-“

She turns her head around and blocks their conversation out.

She can’t cry now.

[sokklasaturdays]

Sokkla Saturdays 2023: October 7th to November 25th

Our poll is officially closed! The winning and assigned prompts of this event will be as follows:

October 7th: Water // Azula escapes the asylum and Sokka hides her from Zuko's search parties

October 14th: Spring // Azula joins Team Avatar

October 21st: Earth // Sokka overhears the Ember Island Players' audience saying that Sokka and Azula should have ended up together

October 28th: Summer // Azula gets lost in the South Pole and ends up becoming a prisoner of the Southern Water Tribe

November 4th: Fire // Azula is dragged into a redemption arc in the Boiling Rock

November 11th: Fall // Sokka finds out about the inhumane conditions in the asylum, helps Azula escape and recover

November 18th: Air // Azula protects Sokka from Hakoda because she doesn't know how fathers are supposed to be/that Hakoda won't hurt Sokka

November 25th: Winter // Free Day

With all dates and prompts assigned, let’s get ready for Sokkla Saturdays!

Feel free to integrate both prompts in one entry, should you wish to, or to create a full-scale fic based on a single prompt, should that strike your inspiration better. We aim to be flexible, and whatever stirs your creativity best will always be welcome.

Please, tag #sokkla saturdays 2023 and/or #sokklasaturdays within the first five tags of your entry. Feel free to message us with links to your entries if we miss them, as some content might not show up even when adequately tagged in Tumblr’s search system. Make sure to tag your entries appropriately if they contain mature content of any nature. We encourage all participants and members of the community to be cordial to others. Please observe this fundamental and critical courtesy so as to create a positive environment for this event.

See you on Sokkla Saturdays!

[the-badger-mole]

AU Bot Plots: Cooking Contest

I saw this and I was so excited because it's an idea I've had already, and part of a scene I'd already drafted for a fic I'm probably never going to get to. Then I looked at the prompt again, and I realized it's Chopped... My idea is Worst Cooks in America. In my defense, they're on the same channel. Anyway! I'm going rogue...again...

Katara and Zuko are world class chefs who have been rivals for nearly their entire careers. Now, a TV station devoted to food (a "food network" if you will) has turned their rivalry into must see TV (for housewives and hungover college students). In a battle to see who can take one of the worst cooks in the country and turn them into a five star chef in just a few weeks. This is The Worst Cooks in the Nation.

"Hey, Zuko," Katara taunted her opponent. "Are you mincing that garlic or liquifying it."

"Don't ever come at my knife skills, sweetheart," Zuko quipped. He looked at his team and directed their attention to the carrot next. "What I want you to focus on is making each of these carrot sticks the same size. Otherwise they won't all cook down the same. Then you'll have some carrots mushy and some that aren't done enough. Like Chef Katara's seaprune stew."

"Oh please!" Katara scoffed. "My seaprunes kill your ocean kumquats. You're just mad I won't share my recipe."

"I'll get it out of you, one way or another," Zuko promised with a wolfish grin. Katara's cheeks flushed slightly as she rolled her eyes and moved on to her next demonstration.

Confessional Booth:

Red Contestant 1: Is something going on between them?

Blue Contestant 1: I feel like I'm interrupting a date...or a fight? I don't know, but the tension is weird, right? (To the camera crew) You see it, right?

Blue Contestant 2: Whew! The steaks weren't the only thing sizzling in that kitchen. You feel me?

Red Contestant 2: Chef Zuko moves so fast. I get terrified whenever I see him chopping up all those vegetables without even looking. I can be staring dead at my thumb and still manage to cut it instead of the carrot.

Red Contestant 3: RC2 is the least observant person on the team. They almost chopped their own thumb off. And I asked them last night what they thought was happening between Chef Katara and Chef Zuko, and they just looked at me like I was the crazy one. I hope RC2 goes home next.

Chef Katara: Zuko and I have a little side bet going. The loser of this season of Worst Cooks has to take the winner wherever they choose. I'm going to have him take me to see the Ember Island Players performance of Love Amongst the Dragons....A date (laughing). No, it's not a date, I just know Zuko hates the Ember Island Players.

Chef Zuko: Oh, yeah! We do have a side bet. When I win, Katara has to take me ice skating. She keeps bragging about how good the skating rinks in the Southern Water Tribe are, so I'm finally going to have her show me what's so special about them...What do you mean? There's nothing romantic about that. She thinks she's a better ice skater than me, and she gets this funny little wrinkle over her nose when I prove I can do something as well as she can...Flirting? Of course I'm not flirting with her!

There's now a Part 2...sorta.

[lifebloodblue]

I’ve probably broken some kind of world record for most fix-it ideas for what happened in Star Trek Generations

Only written a couple of these into fics so far but my ideas include:

• Kirk and Spock are reunited in the afterlife when Spock passes away

• Spock saves Kirk from the Nexus the next time it passes into the galaxy after he was lost (and it makes a copy of him so canon is still intact)

• Spock arrives on the scene right as Kirk dies and uses his katra to heal him and bring him back (like what Sarek did to Michael)

• When the bridge falls, Spock saves Kirk using his rocket boots from TFF

• Kirk comes back as a ghost after he dies and just hangs around Spock for the rest of Spock’s life and then they move on together when Spock dies

• While Kirk is still lost in the Nexus, his mental bond with Spock is still intact so they can communicate with each other telepathically

• The circumstances that take Spock into the Kelvin timeline somehow get Kirk there too and when they realize that Spock won’t live much longer Spock offers to give Kirk his katra so Jim can live out the rest of his life with Spock being part of him

• What happens to Kirk in Generations (and what happens to Spock in the AOS, sorry) are just dreams or false visions that one or both of them have

• (I think I saw something about one of the novels framing the events of TFF as a play being put on Ember Island Players style so you know what I’m doing that with this movie too)

•Kirk and Picard just go back in time far enough that Kirk falling off the bridge doesn’t (have to) happen

•some kind of time travel shenanigans (like whatever the hell happened with the Enterprise-C that led to Tasha Yar having a kid with a Romulan) made it so Kirk getting lost never happened

•speaking of time travel, maybe Boimler accidentally tipped off Spock about what was going to happen to Kirk and Spock has proven that he’s willing to break rules for Kirk so he uses his accidentally-acquired knowledge of the future to prevent it from happening

•Kirk being brought back by the Borg like in Shatner’s novels happens but Kirk marries Spock instead of whatever woman it was in those books

My point is I refuse to believe or accept that Jim was lost and presumed dead for 78 years and then when he’s finally rescued he dies literally minutes later without being able to even see any of his old friends again first

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

Your ATLA posting has brought me joy! And also makes me wonder, do you have any zutara fic recs? Perchance? 🥺

Omg!!! Thank you And I'm so glad. 🥰 I love the show and my love for Zutara knows no bounds! Lol.

As for recs, I haven't been reading a lot lately (in any fandom) so I don't have many (and some are E that I can link in the replies if you want them) but here are ones I remember being absolute bangers:

(forgive me: most of them are from ffn.net and years old lol. Once I start reading more on AO3 I'll come back and rec those too!)

The series says E but most of the fics are not. It's a classic so I wouldn't be surprised if you already know of it! (I originally read it on ffn.net)

Such a good play off of the Ember Island Players

My favorite fic that incorporates the LoK! Also pregnancy! It has one sequel.

So good!!! Such a good mix of Avatar and The Hunger Games (there's sequels for this one!) warning: it does follow the Hunger Games format so there's death and blood and sadness but I think it's so good!

Let me know if you want more!

[forevermore05]

What's your opinion about A@ng? As someone who likes Zutara, what version of A@ng do you like to read or write? Perhaps there are more to the list, but these are what I can think of off the top of my head.

There's the:

He supports Zutara wholeheartedly, never had a crush on Katara

He's hurt, but is willing to let go so she and Zuko can be happy. He grows both as a person and Avatar

This is the ultimate betrayal from Katara, and Zuko is a forever girl-stealing back stabber. This can even turn into a tragedy, as A@ng never truly lets her go

Divorced kat_aang

I've read several fics with these premises and have enjoyed them all, though I prefer the version of him where he grows as a person.

Well, my friend, I think this is a very good question and there's a lot to unpack.

In my posts, I've been very critical of Aang and I think I am justified to do so. However, do I hate him? No, I think he's a very good character that has been destroyed by the writers in the third season and honestly, I felt like his character was showing through the cracks in the early seasons too. However, I digress, I still think he's a good kid and can be extremely wholesome. However, he does have flaws that are almost ignored by the mainstream fandom outside the Zutara and non-shipper community.

If you notice in my own works, my first 2 fan fictions are very anti Aang. I felt like I needed to give some artistic commentary on my opinions of how Aang treated Katara. Maybe I'll write a few more, who knows. I also want to take this time to repeat that I do not hate his character. I am very critical of it.

So right now I'm looking at the options you've provided for me and I think you've summed it up very well. Ideally, I would like to see Aang be hurt and feel that hurt and learn how to let go, so he's able to move on and grow as a person as and as an Avatar. However, I will also be honest with you that I have indulged in fanfiction where he is forever upset at the 2 of them. Because of the botched writing from Bryke with Aang's character In season 3, it is very possible for him to be jealous and upset, as seen in the Ember Island players.

However, I think he deserves to be able to move on and be able to let go and grow up and be a good avatar.

[mysticaltora8276]

I would also like to point out of this blog I tend to in the case of avatar the last Airbender ship Kataang and Maiko. I personally don’t understand why so many people seem to think Zuko and Katara would make a couple when I see two very similar people who would get sick of each other shenanigans very quickly. Zuko is highly emotional and impulsive as is Katara so they would not be good for each other. They would probably encourage each other worst tendencies. Mai on the other hand is very calm and does not put up with the crap. Aang is very kind and is attentive to Katara’s needs while helping her become a better person. And yes, this is a pro Aang blog. I will not hear of that sweet cinnamon roll be demonized and turn into a wouldn’t even say a caricature but turned into a completely different character because of shipping purposes. I have yet to find a Zutara theory or fic that doesn’t involve demonizing him in a way that just doesn’t fit in canon. Wonder how on earth they treat their axes if they think that for some reason, demonizing them is OK. They take one mistake that he made in the Ember Island players and they blow it up to such a huge proportion that I’m just just going like “did we watch the same show?” oh yeah and the southern Raiders totally misinterpreted and basically think it’s OK that Zuko made fun of a ideology from group of people that his people genocide to their lone survivor. And somehow Katara was right in going after revenge, but as it turns out the show made it clear that she didn’t do it because she realized that Aang and was right. So no, I’m not a fan of that ship I have yet again to find one that treats Aang like a person as opposed to this demonized thing. Heck, I even ran into someone that said that he would be because he “go down a dark path by manipulations.” As if suffering a genocide wasn’t dark enough.

Also, as I’ve stated before, and probably another post, I don’t understand why some people thought that she was “betraying herself.” By becoming a mother and a healer. Nothing in the show indicated that she hated being a healer. And sometimes when you get older, you stop doing certain things. She decided to concentrate more and being a healer as opposed to a fighter. That’s fine. She’s been through war she’s allowed to do that. Heck, who do you think taught Korra to waterbend? It was probably her.