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When I first started writing fanfic, back in the mid 1990s (yes! the late twentieth century!) one of the discouraging things about it was that people treated fanfic as if it was disposable. It seemed like what most readers wanted was a constant stream of new content, whereas I tend to produce one big work every 6-12 months. It made me sad that people seemed to think there was no point to re-reading or saving old fic. There is no sell-by date on fiction! It does not get out of order! It can still work even years or decades later! 

You can vote for your favorite seven prompts here.

Thank you to everyone who voted in Round 4!  There are 18 prompts remaining to choose from.

Round 5 Voting will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, May 24th! 

Please reblog and spread the word!

- The Mods

The 14 prompts cut after Round 4 are listed below.

"I haven't wanted anyone this bad in a long time." "I hate that I have to ask this, but do you mean that in a romantic or violent way?" "Both."

"How do you stay so good, even through all of this?"

"I need you to stay alive... please... I don't know how to live without you."

"I'm really glad you feel that you can be honest with me." "Well you drugged me so I didn't really have a choice-" "Shh. I really love the growth our relationship is going through."

"Are you ok? And don't lie to me."

"Taken your meds today?" "Yeah, why do you ask?" "No reason."

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up." "Please don't, this car's new-"

"I think I'm ok now..." "You're not." "Why do you care, anyway? Aren't you supposed to hate me?" "Be quiet. Lie still."

"Ok bestie, I see what you're saying." "Please stop talking like that."

I’m actually begging everyone who hates Aang this fucking much to just watch another show. How can you possibly misinterpret an entire protagonist this badly? Like it genuinely boggles the mind. This is such a bullshit response to Aang in this episode, but here goes…

Please show me where Aang ‘downplays’ Katara’s grief in any way. He isn’t making her grief about himself - he only brings up the examples of losing Appa and his people to the Fire Nation when Katara says he doesn’t understand why she’d want to go after Yon Rha.

“Wait! Stop! I do understand. You’re feeling unbelievable pain and rage.” shows that he gets it. There is no one, besides Sokka, who gets it more than Aang. And in this moment, Sokka, the person who arguably understands Katara more than any other character in the show, agrees with Aang. You can’t shit all over Aang for not wanting Katara to make a mistake she’ll regret and leave Sokka out of the conversation when he is right by Aang’s side backing him up throughout this entire conflict.

‘Aang immediately compares her to an attempted mass murderer’ is such a ridiculous hyperbole when a) they’re already well into the argument at this point and b) Jet was a child/victim of the war and Aang has sympathy for him up until the very end of his life. Jet is someone who Aang called ‘friend’, and Jet made up for the crimes he committed during their first meeting. It’s not like Aang is comparing Katara to Zhao or even Hama. Him saying “you sound like Jet” in a moment when Katara is talking about enacting revenge is less about him correlating her words to an ‘attempted mass murderer’ and more about exemplifying how Jet let his desire for revenge consume him, considering Aang presently does not view Jet as an attempted murderer and the context of their conversation, aka Katara saying vengeance is what Yon Rha deserves.

Never, at any point, does Aang ‘insist’ that his values are the only valid way. I do not understand this interpretation of his words whatsoever. He never says ‘no, you can’t borrow Appa’ or ‘you have to forgive this man.’ His advice is punctuated with ‘I thinks’ and ‘pleases’. He is giving Katara advice and his perspective because that’s what they do. It’s shown over and over again that Aang and Katara keep each other balanced when they are grieving and in pain. 

Even if you truly believe in your heart of hearts that Aang is some kind of self-righteous prick in this episode, which is honestly a terrible fucking read of his character, why are you completely omitting the consensus that he and Katara come to?

Katara: Don’t try to stop us. Aang: I wasn’t planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don’t choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him. Katara: Thanks for understanding, Aang.

Katara l i t e r a l l y says that Aang is understanding of her situation and why she feels the need to seek out Yon Rha.  It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

Recent commission for @kataangisforlovers of an outtake from the famous family photo. Thanks again for commissioning me!

like…yes they did lol, they grew up, and ‘the thing’ is completely normal especially for a couple who are in love with each other. some people make it seem like it’s a bad thing? you don’t have to be comfortable with it of course but it’s not disgusting or anything. nobody would be here right now otherwise.

also when people say “they did it atleast 3 times”……THEY WERE TOGETHER 54 YEARS AND YOU THINK OR EXPECT ME BELIEVE THAT THEY ONLY DID IT 3 TIMES- And Aang in Legacy is like: “Unless your mom and I bring you an Airbender brother or sister” like cmon

lastly if I hear “I just can’t imagine it/ it doesn’t seem right/ they’re too innocent”, well I sort of get this in the sense if you’re only thinking them from the show because they are innocent there, and of course they are, they’re kids. But for someone like me who thinks about kataang at every single point in their lives together, it definitely isn’t something hard to imagine considering:

1: they grew up, they didn’t remain kids forever, they became adults (and became so fine for what like I would not resist them how could they resist each other-) and that is something adults do

2- In the show Katara is already very physical and touchy with Aang, it’s a big part of her love language.

I mention this because Aang hasn’t even gone through puberty yet and then he turns out looking like this:

Likewise Katara:

My point in mentioning this is that they already both found each other beautiful, attractive or whatnot during the show so the fact they just continue to grow up looking more and more attractive- I think that speaks for itself once hormones are added ok that’s just part of growing up

3- I know it’s not canon that they were sharing a bed together here but I think it’s heavily implied. I am not saying they were doing anything though, they’re not even married here yet (and yes I do believe they were a waiting until marriage couple + they’re still a bit too young in my opinion).

Anyways, Katara says the gaang are all sharing a house that Toph’s dad arranged for them to stay in. They have their rooms, but is it not ironic that Katara and Aang just happen to come out of the house at the same time? And how the panel doesn’t even have any text to it, just letting us know that they came out together? They don’t go through the effort to show Sokka coming out of the house or his room for example. And they are a couple. So I think we can safely say they were sharing a bed or a room.

Sammy? Are you in there? Sam, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here. I’m not gonna leave you.

Canon : Aang has been supportive of Katara since day one. Need I remind you that he offered to take Katara to north pole so that she could also learn water bending. He could’ve easily refused Katara ’s request if he didn’t care about Katara ’s ambitions and go to North Pole all by himself since he had Appa and was already a good enough air bender that he could protect himself. But he didn’t do that because he wanted to help Katara. Also, when Pakku refuses to teach Katara water bending because she is a girl, it was Aang who refused to learn water bending from him because he wouldn’t want learn from a master who didn’t teach Katara and vehemently protested against even if he didn’t have any other source to learn water bending. It is only on Katara ’s insistence that he agrees to it. Even then, he secretly teaches Katara all the water bending moves he had learned, knowing well that this might snatch his only chance to learn water bending. When Katara starts to teach him water bending, he shows all due respect and appreciates her help and is her biggest #1 fan consistently. Also, after her marriage to Aang, Katara was more than Aang ’s “trophy wife”. She was regarded as one of the world’s best  if not the best healers, she fought for blood bending to be banned (showing that she was very much active in politics), she taught water bending to the next Avatar. Don’t know how it sounds to you, but to me it sounds like that Aang showed Katara plenty of support and never considered her ambitions or needs to be beneath his.

Fanon : Aang never gave enough consideration to Katara ‘s emotional needs. Katara was the one who had to do all the emotional lifting and she was practically Aang ‘s mom.

Canon : While on surface, this argument might look like it has merit but it feeds off of racist and sexist trope of the mom!Katara that reduces Katara as the “mom” or “caretaker” of the group with her emotional needs never taken in consideration. The thing is, that Katara has had to look after everyone ever since her mom’s death and her father leaving the tribe for war. She is expected to do all the chores, look after her brother Sokka and the war forces her to grow up and become more mature than a child her age should be. However, that doesn’t mean that Katara providing verbal affirmations to Aang when he’s feeling sad is to be seen as her being the “caretaker” in the relationship. They’re friends and it is pretty normal to want to cheer up your friend when they’re feeling sad. Plus, those kind of interactions aren’t the only kind of interactions Katara and Aang have. Often times, it is Aang who makes sure that Katara has fun like penguin sledding with her, amusing her with his antics, gifting her a hand made necklace and going to a mountain top to bring a rare flower (the plan might’ve failed because of the volcano but the emotion behind it stands) speak volumes just how much Aang wants to make Katara happy. It is by Katara ’s admission that Aang brought back something that had been missing from her life : fun! That’s why she likes Aang so much; he knows how to have fun and she doesn’t have to pretend to be the “mature” one who is expected to not do any kind of child like activities and have fun. My point is, Aang never treats Katara as his “caretaker” and Katara had plenty of fun in Aang ’s company and let go of all her burdens, even if it is for a moment.

Fanon : But Aang stopped Katara from killing her mother’s killer! Zuko fully supported her and he is the only one who understands Katara ‘s trauma of losing her mother. Aang is always trying to force his principles on Katara.

Canon : Umm, technically Aang didn’t stop Katara from killing her mother’s killer. He wasn’t even there when Katara, on her own, decided to not kill her mother’s killer. Aang only expressed his anxiety because he knew the toll of killing a person couldn’t be borne by Katara (and she is just a kid! The fandom loooooves to forget that, don’t they? They just want to a fourteen year old to kill someone for their fanon ship,never taking into account how it would affect a literal fourteen year old to have blood on her hands). And even then, he never stopped Katara from going. He gave Appa to her and didn’t try to stop Katara and Zuko even once during their journey because Aang understood that Katara needed to do this in order to gain closure. And it is solely Katara ‘s decision when she decided to not kill that man. And as for understanding Katara (and her trauma), Aang gets it how Katara feels because he’s been there. He’s a genocide survivor and he lost his culture and all the people he had ever loved and he was so angry and upset over it that he entered in Avatar state and was only bought back when Katara told him that she and Sokka were his family. Aang has already been in Katara ’s place (not that their traumas are identical or that either ’s trauma was interchangeable or anything like that) and knows the anger, resentment and grief that Katara feels. Also, in that episode, Zuko doesn’t go with Katara just because he has sympathy for Katara ‘s grief but because he wants to be in her good books since at that time she was the only one in the gaang who didn’t trust Zuko. He doesn’t understand the mental state Katara ‘s in and how Katara would be affected. He is only focused in winning Katara ‘s trust back so that he can be fully be a part of the group. At the end of the episode, he is the one who admits that Aang was right and that violence is never the answer. I know it sucks for fans to admit that Zuko was in the wrong but it is true that Zuko was kind of an asshole in the episode.

Fanon : Katara never returned Aang’s affections. It was one-sided.

“Katara and Aang’s relationship wasn’t necessary for the show”

This is correct. This show was aired on a children’s channel as a Saturday morning show. Romance is usually regarded as a more “mature” topic for older kids, teens and adults. So a romantic subplot wasn’t necessary for the show.

But here’s why it fits;

This show is heavily focused around destiny, yin and yang/ balance, and team work. All things that the Kataang relationship encapsulated.

The show starts off with Katara monologuing about their world. She talks about the war and how the avatar vanished 100 years ago. But she still believes that he would one day return and save the world. Katara believes in Aang before she ever even knew who he was. She knew it was destined for him to return but there is no possible way she could’ve known she’d be the one to find him.

In the early scenes of the show, Katara is fuming at Sokka for his sexist remarks. This causes her to break the ice behind them freeing Aang from where he had been trapped for the past 100 years. She takes Sokka’s club and breaks Aang out of the ice. Aang stumbles out and lands in her arms. The avatar she has been believing in just falls out of an ice ball into her arms. The first face he sees in 100 years. She is instantly fascinated by him his tattoos and ability to airbend. She tells her grandmother that she senses he’s filled with much wisdom. She knew there was something special about him. After Aang is captured, her grandmother permits Katara and Sokka to go on a journey to find Aang and for Katara to learn waterbending. She says that “Your [Katara and Sokka’s] destinies are now intertwined with his.” Katara was destined to find Aang.

Katara and Aang set off to learn waterbending together. Though Katara is frustrated early on because of how quickly Aang progresses, she surpasses him and becomes his master. They practice and learn from each other as the series progresses. And work together using the best of their bending ablilities to defend and protect each other.

When Aunt Wu tells Katara her future she says she is going to marry a powerful bender. This bender, obviously being Aang due to the fact that he is the most powerful bender. But for Aang she didn’t actually see anything. She then tells him “Just as you have reshaped those clouds, you have the power to shape your own destiny” He and Katara shaped the clouds together. Just as they would end up. Continuing the destiny theme.

Tui and La. The ocean and moon spirits. Both waterbenders like Aang and Katara but one is in the sky as in air and the other is the water. Like Aang and Katara’s native elements. Yin and Yang imagery. Push and pull. Katara is shown in one of her first scenes acting out of anger. Breaking ice and shaking the water around them. Yelling and voicing her opinions loud and clear. She’s confrontational and uptight but smart and mature. Aang is shown to be calm and levelheaded. Giving himself up to avoid further conflict between the village and Zuko. Avoidant and childish. Tranquil and decisive. Opposites. Tui and La, Yin and Yang. Another motif throughout the show. They balance each other out. Aang is able to show Katara how to be more passive and how to loosen up. Katara shows Aang how to be more mature and to face things head on. A balancing act if you will.