#katara's parenting

[tielmamon]

sunset therapy sessions go hard with these two

[sleepyzukka]

Yeah. More textposts.

silly little stuff I made 4 a friend :3

[comradekatara]

listen to me carefully. a key part of toph’s arc is going from dismissing sokka outright bc he’s not a bender to thinking that he is the coolest person ever. you do not understand toph if you don’t get this.

[pineapple-frenzy]

art request: more cat parents!zutara please!!! perhaps in the style of those 80s family pictures that are cringey but funny, thank you <3

I had to google what those 80s family pictures looked like and this is what I came up with

Hope you like it!!

[punkeropercyjackson]

This is just me stating facts not tryna brag but with the male characters i grew up with and the ones i started stanning in adulthood it confuses me and pisses me off when fandoms go nuts and off the walls for guy characters literally just being decent men.Aang fell in love with Katara for her brown girl swag on SIGHT and put her as his number one priority constantly to the point he said 'Why would i choose cosmic energy over Katara?' with his whole chest zero hesitation,Percy Jackson worships every woman he meets and is a misandrist king and grew up a bully beater who got kicked out 6 schools by 12 because he wouldn't stop standing up for others and that stayed into the greco-roman mythos world too and is literally immune to gentrification(explicitly shown multiple times he's simply incapable of wanting to become a cop-i mean god)and pretty much adopted the series' first gay boy and darkskin black fem mc as pseudo-siblings and kids,Ichigo Kurosaki's introduction scene was him jumping a bunch of grown men at 15 for defacing a little girl's memorial and then comforting her ghost and he spent the whole series non-creepily obsessed with his pastel autistic girl love interest that has huge tiddies but never sexually harrased her and actually told off multiple characters for doing so and twins with Percy in that last point(but replace 'god' with 'Soul Society member'),Jason Todd pushed a guy off a roof as Robin for SA'ing a woman and killed a pedophillic teacher for abusing one one of his student's as Red Hood and instantly beefed with all his brothers EXCEPT the one who's the first EVER black Robin and instantly loved him instead and calls him a Robin no matter how much DC tries to erase him and roasts amatonormativity/cisheteronormativity and Hobie Brown is a femme afropunk who kills fascists and took in a homeless 16 year old trans girl who's abusive dad kicked her out for doing actual justice and always had the back of the 15 year old black boy who's the mc while also not faulting the aformentioned girl for the awful situation she was put in.My standards for male characters and even irl men to an extent reach the stars by now.So no i'm not gonna praise that nigga from The Little Mermaid or that motherfucker from Spy x Family or ESPECIALLY not any man written by Jane Austen.Y'all too easily impressed and it gives me secondhand embarrasment

[quillthrillswriting]

aang being a bad parent is CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and i won't stand for it. i just know that him and katara wouldn't be focused on just passing on bending, but the *teachings* and ideals of both of their tribes to all their children, regardless of bending status.

OR, aang and katara become parents and aang finds out that parenting is his proudest achievement, more so than stopping a hundred year war or holding the position of avatar

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Of all the battles he had fought as the Avatar, all the struggles through which he had prevailed, Aang thought that perhaps parenthood was his life’s true proudest achievement. He’d known from the moment Katara had found out that they’d be parents that she’d be a wonderful mother, but he’d be lying if he said that he had been entirely confident in his own abilities.

---

Despite the many hats he had to wear for work, he always made a point of coming home to Katara as much as he possibly could. What was being the Avatar for, if not to use his abilities to race home to the love of his life?

---

Their third child, Tenzin, had immediately been identified as an airbender by Aang. He told Katara that he could just feel it, he could see it in the way his son moved through the air , waving his hands as if the oxygen itself was a tangible thing he could touch. As Bumi grew up, it was clear that he would be much more calm and stern than his two rambunctious siblings, perhaps in an unconscious attempt to balance them out.

Aang taught him the airbending traditions the same way he continued to teach Tenzin’s siblings-  he brought the three, along with Katara when she could take a break from work, to the air temples to aid in their restoration. He taught Tenzin the airbending forms, but he taught him in a group, with his other two siblings. For Kya, the airbending forms were applicable to her own waterbending, and for Bumi, they were a way for him to better understand the flow of chi through the body and calm his energetic nature. 

---

“Do you think they’re going to turn out alright?” Katara asked, and both pride and nervousness were present in her tone. “Are we doing a good job?”

Aang smiled softly at her, wrapping his arm around her smaller frame. “For a couple with only one parent between the two of us, I think we’re doing alright.”

Katara’s only response was a laugh and a splash of water to his face from the water she carried at her hip. She carefully bent it back into the bottle.

“They’re doing wonderfully.” Aang looked into the courtyard, where Kya and Bumi were locked in the mud, Kya bending mud-balls and Bumi throwing them back at her, while Tenzin tried in vain to get between them. “We have beautiful kids, Katara. Beautiful souls, too. The air nomad culture will live through them. It doesn’t matter if just Tenzin is an airbender- what the nomads would have wanted to be passed on is their way of life .”

♥ check out the rest of the (completed) fic & my ao3 here! ->

[the-badger-mole]

In a Time of Adversity

It was just his dumb luck, Zuko thought. All year he had been butting heads with the city's most annoying overachiever. Katara, the prodigy with a 9000 IQ, who'd managed to skip a grade and end up in all of Zuko's advanced placement classes, had been thorn in his side since the day she'd corrected one of his physics equations in front of the whole class. Ever since they had been locked in an increasingly heated battle of who would earn the highest marks in their class, and every week felt like a new face off.

Sometimes he would come out on top, but he had to grudgingly admit that while gave as good as he got on tests and assignments, she had the upper hand when it came to quips and put downs. Too often Zuko had been left sputtering in her wake, struggling to find a comeback from some scathing retort she'd just delivered. It wasn't until after yet another one of these exchanges, when Zuko in his frustration had the thought that he would love to throw her against a locker and kiss her until she didn't have the breath for one of her smart remarks, that it occurred to him that there might be more to his feelings towards her than animosity. And that was the last time he ever spoke to her directly. Disaster averted.

So, of course, when their science class goes on a weekend long camping trip in the middle of Backwoods, Nowhere, he would end up being partnered with her to find a rare fungus. Of course they would end up losing the trail and wandering through the forest with no clue how to make it back to camp. And of course, it would start raining, sending them scrambling up the mountain to a cave that was hopefully abandoned.

"At least we won't have to worry about dehydration," Katara said, pulling the water from their clothes.

"Sure," Zuko replied gruffly. He looked around for something to burn, but there wasn't anything but some leaves and twigs around. Not exactly the makings of a bonfire.

"I'm sure they're looking for us already." Katara sat down against a wall and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Great." Zuko wasn't optimistic about the prospect. Their science class wasn't exactly full of the great outdoors types. Katara had the most camping experience of anyone. The best they could hope for was that the chaperones would call search and rescue early the next morning.

"Do you think we should look for some firewood or something?" Katara suggested. She was shivering a bit, and Zuko could feel the chill settling onto his skin, too.

"It'll all be wet," he told her. "All we'll end up doing is smoking ourselves out."

"I can dry it," Katara reminded him. There was a sharp edge to her voice now. Zuko looked over at her and realized she was scowling at him.

"What's your problem?" he asked, irritably.

"You!" Katara shouted. Her voice bounced around the shallow cave jarringly. "You're my problem."

"Me?" Zuko drew back, affronted. "You're the one who got us lost, Katara, Queen of the Jungle!"

"Alright, fine! I'm sorry, alright?" Her voice cracked dangerously. "I just thought we could work together on this and things could go back to normal between us." Whatever Zuko had been expecting her to say, that was not it.

"Normal?" he repeated, completely baffled. "Normal between us? What are you talking about?" Over the sound of the falling rain, Zuko thought he heard Katara sniffling. Was she crying?

"You-you've been avoiding me for weeks," she said. Zuko was stunned. He'd heard Katara laugh (usually at him), and yell (again...usually at him). He'd heard her confidently dressing down a teacher that once made the mistake of telling her that women didn't get far in the science field. But this...this vulnerability in her voice. That was new.

"I haven't been avoiding you," he said. It wasn't entirely a lie. It's not like he turned the other direction when he saw her in the hall. He just didn't engage in their verbal sparring matches.

"You won't talk to me," Katara said. "You barely acknowledge me when I talk to you. When Piando assigned us as partners, you looked like he had just told you to eat a raw snail. I don't know what I did to offend you this badly, but I'm sorry, okay?" She was definitely crying now, and Zuko was panicking.

"I'm not...I'm not angry at you," he told her hesitantly. "I just...it's just that our bickering was beginning to feel....I don't know...childish?"

"So it's because I'm younger?" Katara demanded. Zuko winced. That was a frequent sore spot for Katara. Because she'd been moved ahead in school, some of her teachers and classmates made a big fuss over her age whenever she did something they didn't like. Zuko thought it was stupid. She was a year and some change younger than him, and only two years younger than the oldest people in their grade. Hardly a mind bending gap, especially given how mature she was generally.

"No, that's not it," Zuko said. "It's not about your age, or grades or anything like that. I just don't feel like having an enemy I don't need to have." Katara fell silent for a moment. Zuko thought he could still hear her sniffling every so often.

"I didn't think we were enemies," she said softly. It took a moment for Zuko to understand what she'd said. Then he snorted.

"Right," he scoffed. "That's why you called me a spoiled brat who probably paid someone to do my homework for me."

"Okay," Katara huffed. "I'm not saying we were besties or anything. But I thought we were at least friendly rivals. I wasn't seriously accusing you of cheating. It's just...school isn't always a challenge."

"Egghead," Zuko muttered. Something small-an acorn, probably- hit the wall next to his head. He smirked at Katara in the dark.

"That's more of a criticism of our curriculum than a brag," she said defensively. "Anyway, I was saying that you challenge me. If I wasn't trying so hard to be better than you, I would be so bored."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Katara's soft spoken vulnerability hung in the air between them for a long moment. Then Zuko laughed. He sensed Katara stiffen, draw into herself, and he slid over to her side of the cave.

"I'd be bored without you, too," he admitted. "And for the record, the only one in our school who would be worth paying to cheat from would be you." Katara scowled up at him, Zuko was actually close enough to see it in the dark. Then she laughed, too.

"So what did I do to piss you off so bad, then?" she asked him. Zuko drew back, feeling the heat rush to his face.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "You didn't say or do anything. I just wanted to be different, I guess."

"Oh." Katara wrapped her arms tightly around herself and a hard shiver ran through her.

"You're cold," Zuko said.

"Aren't you?" Katara asked through clenched teeth.

"Firebender," he reminded her. "Um...if you want, you can..." Zuko opened his arm towards her, an awkward invitation. Without hesitating, Katara scooted over and curled into his side, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You're better than a heating pad," she sighed contentedly.

This was a mistake, Zuko thought immediately. Katara lay her head against his shoulder and every thought he'd had about kissing her until she was dizzy came rushing back. He would be a complete gentleman, of course, but he prayed that sleep would come quickly and end his torture.

"Hey, Zuko?" Katara lifted her head to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here with me." Zuko's mind screeched to a halt. What did that mean? After a moment he decided it didn't really matter.

"I'm glad, too," he said honestly.

[burst-of-iridescent]

not to beat the "sokka's misogyny" disk horse even further into the ground, but while i agree with the take that sokka being sexist logically doesn't make sense, i would go further to say that the water tribes themselves being sexist is both illogical and thematically contradictory.

the flaws of each nation in atla have always been linked to their element, and specifically what those elements represent. fire is the element of power; power, left unchecked, leads to imperialism and authoritarianism. earth is the element of substance and stability; stability, prioritized too highly, creates and justifies the rigid class system and rampant corruption of ba sing se. air is the element of freedom; freedom, taken too far, becomes irresponsibility and abandonment.

meanwhile, water is the element of change... therefore the water tribes cling to antiquated ideas about gender roles instead of adapting with the times (especially when the times involve a fucking war going on).

not only is this unrealistic, it also breaks the thematic pattern of the nations' flaws being virtues taken to extremes, and how this dovetails into the show's overall message about the importance of balance. if we're keeping with the pattern of virtue and vice being two sides of the same coin, then the flaw of the water tribes has to be related to change. and here is where some of the (badly executed) ideas in the comics and legend of korra could have come into play: change, left uncontrolled, can lead to progress... but at the cost of tradition and spirituality.

(imagine a nwt cut off from the world and forced to rely solely on itself, ingenuity and creativity flourishing out of sheer, desperate need. imagine a nwt where waterbending is nothing more than a tool, used to build and defend and maintain a fortress always at risk, its spiritual origins slowly lost to time. imagine a nwt more military than community, whose architecture and technology far exceed anything the world has ever seen, who look down upon their less advanced sister tribe, and see no need for the avatar - after all, where was he when they had no one but themselves for the last 100 years?

when warned that the fire nation is coming, they show no fear; they have held strong on their own for the last century, bolstered by their weapons and wits, and will continue to do so. you need the spirits, aang implores, and is met with derision, for there is no place for spirits in a society always chasing more, greater, better. the spirits have not helped us before, avatar. why would they now? we are all we need.

when the moon spirit falls, unprotected and forgotten in an abandoned, rundown spirit oasis - so do they.)

not only would this fit better thematically, it would also ensure that the nwt's flaw plays a role in its own downfall. where the fire nation's warmongering resulted in the poverty and suffering of its own people, and the earth kingdom's corruption led - at least in part - to the fall of ba sing se, the misogyny of the water tribes is never shown to negatively impact them in any way. the north isn't defeated by the fire nation because they relegated half the population to healing. the south doesn't suffer raids or lose their waterbenders because they (supposedly) didn't let women fight. this lack of narrative punishment means that - outside of a few girlboss moments for katara - the sexism of the nwt isn't significant to the overall story whatsoever.

furthermore, while the ba sing se arc last almosts half a season, and the fire nation's actions drive the entire show, this supposed systemic oppression of women shows up for one episode in the first season before disappearing entirely. pakku is reminded of his lost love, magically turns into a feminist, and somehow the entire tribe follows suit? no one else protests, not even the other students or the chief?

and yet, though there are still no female waterbenders other than katara, or agency for kanna in her relationship, or any indication that women stopped being forcibly betrothed - the entire issue is simply swept under the rug and never brought up ever again in the show. i understand this was a children's cartoon made in 2005, and that even having female characters openly speak about and challenge misogyny was a radical feat for the time and genre, but the reality of patriarchy is that it's structural, sustained and immensely difficult to resist - if the show was going to depict that resistance, it should have done so with greater depth and nuance, as it did for many of the other difficult topics it tackled.

ultimately, handwaving misogyny away like it never existed is far more disrespectful to katara's character, her fight against injustice, and the girls who saw themselves in her, than simply toning it down or removing it could ever be.

[merrysithmas]

the ultimate zukaang KO in the atlaverse is the line in TLOK when Korra tells old!Zuko in front of everyone's salad that he knew Aang better than anyone

[hashtagnevermore]

girl i liked ONE (1) zu*tara post bc it was cute and nothing else WHY’D TUMBLR BOMBARD ME WITH ZU*TARA POSTS LITERALLY 3 SECONDS LATER

GET THAT SHIT OUTTA MY FACE IM A KATAANG GIRLIE AT HEART

[johnskleats]

okay zutara hades and persephone au but katara is hades

[coralpaperthoughts]

funniest thing abt the atla kids is that they're not all fatherless but they are all motherless

[greenapplebling]

I am once again asking people to stop assigning family roles to found family. It beats the point of having a found family in the first place

Also: "this character is a mom friend" ≠ "this character is the mom of the group"

One implies the friend is naturally caring, nurturing and thoughtful. While the other implies there's an assigned person in the group who gets emotionally burdened by people of their same age range to act like their mom

[comradekatara]

Would Sokka, Suki and Zuko form a band? And would they call it boiling rock (but Zuko still gets on stage with like... a grand piano or a violin or smth to make it more emo) ?

zuko plays the tsungi horn, sokka plays …

this thing . and suki probably plays the pipa.

sokka writes the lyrics (they just flow out of him, he has a gift!), zuko edits the lyrics to be more poetical by employing more allusions and using more symbolic language, and suki sings (she’s the only one who can sing while she plays, but also, i genuinely doubt zuko or sokka would have nice singing voices anyway).

the idea of them calling their band the boiling rock is so funny it’s like the ultimate fuck you.

and most importantly, iroh gets to see his dream of zuko playing the tsungi horn during music night finally realized.

[iela-0989]

Parents (DadZuko & MomTara🥰)

Zutara Month 2023

I was slightly overwhelmed with emotion while drawing this. The feeling almost feels like, when you witness your best friends, or your dearest people, finally found their soul mates, the love of their lives & their true happiness. I would draw & then take a step back, & admire the sight in front of me. It is somehow beautiful, bittersweet & precious to me🥹

In order to make Zuko appears more mature, I purposely added a little beard as one of his facial features🤭  I saw someone made a fanart of Zuko with beard, & I love it, thus decided to apply it here☺️

I originally wanted to draw Zutara with their two children, a toddler & a baby. BUT, since I'm not so good at drawing kids (especially babies😅), I changed the plan to just a toddler & a baby, who is yet to be born🤭.

Also, I really love the headcanon that, Zutara has a daughter named Kya (please note that CANON DOES NOT VALID IN THIS HOUSE. Thank you☺️) Thus I portrayed that Zuko & Katara first born is a daughter named Kya😊

@zutaramonth

[punkeropercyjackson]

Jsyk 'Troubled Kid' means 'Minority kid,usually autistic or black or abused,who's treated badly for being a minority and deliberately dosen't get their needs met for the same reason and victim blamed even though their traits are either not their fault or not bad',not 'school bully' or 'quirky kid who's otherwise normal and dosen't get picked on'.And if you're gonna say 'Well Percy Jackson was the one who popuralized the term in fandom!!!' then babygirl i got some news for you about Percy Jackson