#kataang and cloudbabies

[kataangiscanon]

Bumi talks about his Dad,Aang. My baby Aang was a Good Daddy.

[leantailean]

The spring sun

Katara🩵

[mintjuliee]

Please draw more kataang they're so cute! 🥰

You draw them so well, I love it <333

Let's fast forward a bit from that last sketch...

[nyamadermont]

kataang “You look adorable in that.”

(fumbled the specific wording, but I hope you'll forgive me)

Katara scrunched her shoulders, clenched her arms, and rubbed her face.

A lovely nap for a quiet afternoon. I wonder how I got away with it.

She curled up into herself for just a moment longer before twisting her body and rolling off the bed that she still couldn’t quite believe she had been sleeping on for most of fifteen years.

If Aang says one more thing about my back, I’ll pull out my pelts and he can sleep alone.

She scoffed to herself and shook her head. They were parted too frequently as it was. There’s no way she’d send him away.

Opening the shutters over the garden answered her primary question.

Down below in the garden, Aang held little Tenzin in his lap while Kya played her pipa beside him, and Bumi danced with his pipes.

Sokka would love to draw this. His art has gotten so much better over the years.

A wave of her hand brought enough water spilling over the windowsill to lower her gently to the garden. The children were oblivious, of course, but she saw the moment that Aang noticed her descending on her impromptu waterfall.

The smile on his face was so gentle and goofy that she had to return it.

“I want to thank everyone for playing so nicely this afternoon. I had a lovely nap.”

At the sound of her voice, Tenzin startled in his father’s lap and jumped up to run to his mother. Bumi and Kya stopped playing just long enough to switch tunes, and suddenly, everyone was dancing to Secret Tunnel.

Bumi reached over and took Tenzin’s hands, spinning him around to their matched cackles while Kya kept playing and singing.

Katara looked up, and Aang was right there in front of her, tall and handsome, with eyes only for her.

His kiss had a whole other playtime in mind, and she melted against him.

Behind him, Kya stopped playing, and Katara heard the pipa get laid down on the grass.

“Daddy! You promised!”

His forehead dropped against hers, but she could feel the chuckle inside his chest.

“You’re right, my little waterspout.”

He gave Katara a quick peck and stepped back, twisting and folding himself down to be eye-level with his little girl.

Kya looked up at him, and raised her hands to be picked up. Aang pulled her in close, and stood to turn to face Katara.

Her heart melted at the sight of matching flower crowns on two of her favorite people.

And then it melted again as Bumi struggled to carry Tenzin closer, both wearing crowns of their own.

Katara knelt in front of her children, wrapping them all close to her chest. She looked up at her beloved husband, and assured them all.

“You look adorable.”

[kataangiscanon]

🥺🥰

I really dont like how they portrayed kataang as parents, mostly Aang, so here’s some head cannons cause im bored.

* Aang coming home after a long tiring day and scooping his entire fam up into a hug

* Using his air-bending when his kids are learning to walk so they stay upright (Katara calls this cheating but still thinks is sweet)

* Bumi pretending he can bend and Aang doing the bending for him

* Aang bringing souvenirs hole from trips but since Bumi cant bend and aang doesnt know much about physical combat, he always brings Bumi these super dangerous weapons. Bumi loves them but they give Katara a heart attack

* Aang tossing his kids in the air but to the extreme (also gives Katara a heart attack)

Toph: It’s so hard to juggle kids and a job and-

Aang: It’s not that hard to juggle kids! Wanna see?

Katara: AANG nO!-

* Their kids fucking LOVE bath time, especially Kya

* Aang training Tenzin and Kya at the same time (Katara teaching Bumi what she’s learned about weapons and fighting from Hakoda and Sokka)

* Aang teaching Bumi and Tenzin how to do the perfect clean shave

* Aang trying to show Bumi how to play the flute and the tsungi horn (bad idea)

* Aang jokingly bowing to his kids and referring to them as ‘Master’ or ‘Sifu’

* Aang pretending to be hurt by his kids when theyre playing

* Aang letting kya pretend to heal him

* Obviously, Aang telling them stories about stuff him and the gaang got into. Their favorite is about sokka and the cactus juice. When they argue, Aang tells them about Wei Jin and Jin Wei

* Aang and katara comforting a distraught Bumi when he finds out he cant bend

* Aang wearing a baby Bjorn on his chest and taking his kids for a trip on his glider (heart attack #3 for Katara)

[corpsedisturbed]

kataang's kids really were going THROUGH it 😭😭😭 tenzin getting fucked since season 1 and after kya and bumi showed up they never disappointed (were always in some life threatening situation)

[cabbageslost]

Improve my sketch!

So.. I am not a digital artist, like, at all. But the thought of Aang using air-bending to push his baby on a swing just would not leave my brain. So.. I present to you this pencil-and-paper sketch for Kataang Week 2024's Parenting prompt. Artists of tumblr (or beyond), I beg of you.. swipe this and work your magic! "Trace" it exactly and color it, use it as loose inspiration to make art in your own style.. whatever. Just tag me so I can see what this works up to!

(And if you're not an artist, work your magic by tagging all the fantastic artists you know who might be interested!)

[mako-enthusiast]

I cannot describe the love I have for the cloud babies/ Kataang kids. They need a KUWTK style reality show for all I care.

[flameohotwife]

Labor of Love

belated tumblr post for @kataang-dungeon's Kataang Smut Weekend day 3 prompt: Work (pregnancy/labor). Rated E. 3.8k words. Written for @coyotelemon after a feral screaming session a million years ago and just finally finished.

“Sweetie? I’m home!” “In here!” Katara called back, and Aang knew exactly where to find her. She had barely moved from her spot in days—ever since the other healers (and Aang) had insisted she stop working—other than for daily walks with her husband to keep her blood flowing and for her frequent trips to the bathroom. Aang had even set a pitcher of water and a basket of her favorite foods on the table next to her that morning, so she wouldn’t have to waste her energy on that. He walked in and knelt down in front of where Katara was sprawled on the couch, taking one foot in his hands and gently massaging it. Her ankles were so swollen, now. She had been carrying this baby for too long. At least a week longer than any of the other healers (including Katara) had expected. He knew she was sore and tired, because the baby had been moving so much and pressing on her bladder so frequently that she was barely sleeping already. Aang had just gotten back from an “emergency” council meeting. He had already informed the Republic City Council that they would be operating without him for at least a few months as he attended to his wife and new child, but they kept finding reasons to send hawks over, requesting his immediate assistance. Katara had insisted he go that morning, saying that she still wasn’t having regular contractions and that someone would send him a hawk if anything changed. “Plus,” she had said that morning, as he reluctantly pulled on his robes, “you can remind them… again… that when things do change, they’ll need to learn how to get on without you for a bit.” Now, though, she moaned gratefully as he heated his hands and worked his way up her calf before switching to the other foot. Unbeknownst to Aang, his heated hands moving firmly up her leg brought another idea to the forefront of Katara’s mind, and subsequently out of her mouth. “Aang, please,” she begged. 

Read more on ao3 (logged in users only, sorry!)

[btheleaf]

We need a holy trinity! We have a Tenzin fan with youu, that Bumi fan, and now just a Kya fan left for the Cloudbaby Fan Trio to be complete!

Any Kya fans wanna be extremely unwell about these characters with me and The Bumi Guy? 😁

[sorikaied]

honestly i may have more worse blogs that i followed and ended up unfollowing after a point more than worst mutuals throughout the decade i’ve been on hellblr

[rms10]

Agree with all the above, and have one additional thought that seems to get overlooked. Bumi appears to be almost a decade older than Tenzin, and presumbably left home at 16, the age of majority in the ATLA world. So, Tenzin is most likely 6 or 7 when Bumi heads off to find his own way in the United Forces. All the vacations Tenzin remembers would be ones where his big brother is out in the world living his own life. Obviously, Kya splits the difference in there somewhere, but the same issues appear to be true of her.

Beyond that, Tenzin works for 20 years of his adult life alongside Aang, so of course they spent more overall time together. Meanwhile, both Bumi and Kya are out in the world. It seems like Aang was happy to have a child work alongside him, and equally happy to allow children to go carve their own niche out in the world.

My personal HC is that Aang always understood in some avatar-way that the universe would fix things somehow. While he wouldn't have expected Harmonic Convergence, he also wouldn't have been surprised by it. I do suspect Katara felt internal pressure at times because she really wanted to give him an airbending child, but it's all of her love for him and his culture, and the fact he'd never ask it of her would make her want it all the more for him.

The presentation of the three siblings throughout S2-4 of LoK actually did a reasonably job of showing that they had fairly normal, imperfect relationships of a healthy family, so I'm always a bit perplexed why people take one interaction and go off the rails with it. The story also clearly shows that all three were versed in the basics of Air Nomad traditions and lore, while Tenzin (a Master in his 50's) knew details by rote. That doesn't mean the other two didn't learn the basics though! One is in his lifetime professional specialty, so of course he's more versed and knows the fine details the other two don't!

I really do hate the idea that Aang was having kids JUST to repopulate the air nomads. The idea that Tenzin was a third time’s the charm situation, that Aang kept “trying” for an airbender and was disappointed with Kya and Bumi

I honest to god think Aang was not thinking “I hope this kid’s an airbender!” Each time. I don’t think the thought would even cross his mind until someone else suggested it. He’d be typed up thinking about how he’ll balance his new child in his life, Katara’s health, how to even be a father having no parents himself. All of those take priority in his mind

I honestly think Aang would be super appalled by the suggestion that “repopulating” was his goal with his family. What it says how about he thinks of his wife.

If anyone is going to have the thought “I hope it’s an airbender” I’d bet it was Katara. It’s still not why. But she knows and loves Aang and has seen how hard he’s struggled without the airbenders, how lonely he’s gotten, I could see Katara having the thought “For Aang’s sake I hope you’re an airbender” before Aang ever thinks “I hope you’re an airbender”

I don’t know man. This idea is just so gross to me, and I hate how it’s thrown around by the fans like it must be the case, with no room for questions, why ELSE would Aang be having kids?

Rubs me the wrong way. Really does

[corpsedisturbed]

cloudbabies i love you soooo much

[flameohotwife]

potential prompt idea: kataang star-gazing in the South Pole 😌

A short drabble for you, my friend! Also on ao3:

Peace in the Starlight

“It’s so quiet out here tonight,” Katara whispered, leaning against Aang for warmth. The absence of the wind was almost unnerving, especially with her husband around. She snuggled in closer and Aang rubbed his hands up and down her arms as they leaned back against the snow of their hut in the Southern Water Tribe.

Aang hummed in agreement. “It is quiet, but maybe it feels extra quiet to us because it’s been such a loud day and this is the first bit of peace we’ve felt in hours.”

Katara chuckled. Loud was an understatement. They’d spent much of the day flying on Appa, and had made the terrible discovery that Kya was getting her two-year molars and that she experienced motion-sickness on long flights. Kya had flown on Appa many times before in her young life without issue, but only for an hour or two at once. Unfortunately, this trip from Air Temple Island to the South Pole was much, much longer than that. 

Kya wailed the entire day. Not quite two yet, it was all just too much for her little body to process. Katara could tell Aang felt terrible, but there wasn’t much they could do. They needed to get South for her father’s retirement celebration, and both of them had been caught up in Republic City for too long to take a ship. Not that a ship would have necessarily been better, Katara thought.

Poor Bumi had tried to cheer her up to no avail, before deciding to spend his time reading or hanging over the edge of the saddle to talk with Aang on Appa’s head. But even he got sick of the noise after a while and, like most nine-year-olds, began to complain himself.

“How much longer?” he’d whined, pressing his hands against his ears in attempt to block out the auditory assault. 

“Still a couple more hours, Boom. I’m sorry,” Aang said. 

“UGH!” Bumi yelled at the sky. Those last couple hours had been filled with Kya’s screams, sickness, and Bumi’s near-constant grumbling, while Momo chittered nervously about their shoulders. 

Now, though, it was quiet. So quiet that their ears were almost ringing with it. They’d arrived in time for dinner, which Kya obviously refused to eat. Aang took her and gave her a soothing bath and put her down for bed while Katara and Bumi caught up with Hakoda, Sokka, Gran Gran and Pakku. Much later, once everyone was finally in bed, Aang and Katara escaped to recuperate and decompress. Together. 

They sat in that silence for a while, relishing it.

“The stars are beautiful, though,” Katara said eventually. They always seemed brighter in the South Pole than in Republic City, but they were particularly spectacular tonight. The universe seemed to twinkle in chorus above them, soothing her frazzled nerves. 

She felt Aang’s head tilt down towards her, and she angled her neck to peer back up at him. She grinned, already knowing what he was going to say. 

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said, leaning down even more to press a soft, sweet kiss to her lips. She sighed through her nose, losing herself in the comfort of him.

“You’re so cheesy,” she teased when he eventually pulled back, but her wide smile gave her away.

“Yeah, but you love me,” Aang said, cocking his head and donning a smirk of his own.

“Mmmmmm, that I do,” Katara breathed, lips so close to his she could feel the warm clouds of breath that escaped. “I love you, too, Sweetie,” Aang replied. Then he closed the miniscule distance between them to capture her in another kiss, erasing the hardships and exhaustion of the day. Maybe the stars weren’t brighter here. Maybe it was just the love she felt in this moment that made everything around her sparkle just a bit more. Whatever it was, she wanted to hold on tight and never let go.

[kataangiscanon]

AWWWW My baby with his baby.

Loving aang with bumi bc im still salty about it

[bumirang]

wait rohans a waterbender? since when?????

Since I made it up? I dunno, I like the idea. I doubt they'll go that direction in canon (unless they HIRE ME to make some damn COMICS)

Rohan being an airbender is boring to me. It's totally expected, practically makes the kid a non-entity. It's much more interesting to make him something else and explore what that means for the family dynamic. That (likely) means non-bender or waterbender, though earthbender is a possibility since Pema's from the Earth Kingdom. I'm just going to assume that Katara wasn't bullshitting when she touched Pema's preggo belly in the very first episode and said the baby would be a bender. She just got the element wrong. It was a safe bet!

First off, it'd raise some questions about how bending is passed down. Based on what we've seen in canon, it's easy to assume that a bender only passes down their own element to their offspring, with it either manifesting or staying dormant, possibly for multiple generations. But what if it's more complicated than that? Tenzin may style himself as Mr. #1 Air Nomad, but his mother's element and culture are part of him, too, right? With the different nations intermarrying more than ever before, it creates the potential for any type of bending to pop up in any part of the world, which has many fun worldbuilding implications. It'd also make a lot of sense, considering how the new airbenders pop up the way they do. They may all have had airbenders somewhere in their ancestry, with that potential lying dormant for centuries or even millennia until it was finally activated by Harmonic Convergence. I know this isn't a groundbreaking fan theory, but whatever.

Anyway, back to Rohan.

The discovery that Rohan's a waterbender would be a surprise, maybe even a shock, and it'd give the Kataang clan a new point of conflict and introspection, particularly for Tenzin. He'd have to grapple with his kneejerk reaction being denial, followed by disappointment. Then comes the doubt...

Why does he suddenly feel more distant from Rohan? He reviews his own interactions with the boy, both before and after the discovery. Does he treat him differently now? Should he? Of course he doesn't love his son any less, but it changes their relationship, or seems like it must. Is it fair to bring him up like an Air Nomad, the way his siblings were raised? Would it be better to introduce him to more Water Tribe traditions? He realizes how little he valued his mother's culture compared to his father's. It's not that he doesn't care, but...

Is this how Aang felt about Bumi and Kya, before he was born? How did he come to terms with that? Did he feel this same ache? And knowing now how alienated Bumi and Kya felt from their Air Nomad heritage for so long, how can he stop himself from making the same mistakes? What does this mean for the future of his people? Can Rohan be an Air Nomad but not a member of the Air Nation? Is such a thing possible?

He sees himself reflected in his son's innocent, trusting eyes, his own expression one of confusion and fear. He's lost again. Nothing in his readings of Air Nomad wisdom or his memories of Aang tell him what he should do, and he's too ashamed to admit his conflicted feelings.

Finally, Tenzin's head explodes.

Plus, hey, it's a great excuse to bring Auntie Kya around for lots of fun waterbending lessons! Both she and Bumi get to say "toldja so" to Tenzin once he admits his struggle over his relationship with Rohan and what that made him finally truly understand about their childhoods, about what it meant for all three of them to be children of the last airbender.

Meanwhile, Rohan's just being this precocious kid—a lot like his sister Jinora—inventing whole new ways of bending water like it's no big deal, and all the adults are too tied up in knots to even notice. His siblings notice, though, and help him figure himself out. He's a true Cloudbaby, a perfect cinnamon roll.

In the end, they do work it all out, and the whole family is closer than ever before... until Meelo announces he's joining the United Forces and all hell breaks loose.