⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎ ˖ ⌬ ⋆ ༘ ⚛︎ ⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎ ˖ ᴊᴀɴᴜᴀʀʏ, ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄᴜʟᴀʀʟʏ ᴄʀɪꜱᴘ ᴇᴀʀʟʏ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴛ ᴄᴀᴍᴘᴜꜱ ⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎ ˖ ⌬ ⋆ ༘ ⚛︎ ⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎ ˖
Elsie knew in her logical, university-level scientist brain that her friends had just roped her into calling a truce with Jack a mere month ago, and yet, as she sat across from him so early in the morning that the sun had not yet begun to shine, she found herself seriously debating the merits of using the collar of his ridiculously ornate Christmas sweater to throw him across the room. He hadn’t done anything particularly that insufferable since they’d begun their meeting a mere half-hour before, and it only served to stoke the flames of her fury, like an already-blazing fire provided with an abundance of carbon-based accelerant. It would make her life significantly easier if he would just say something patronizing, or even just mildly cold, given her some sort of ammunition to rush back to her friends with so that she could continue to justify their little version of the Cold War, but she should’ve known that Jack would never be so kind as to just hate her properly.
Instead, he had been cordial and polite in his stupid Christmas sweater. Worse still, he’d been downright gentlemanly, going so far as to offer to pay for her tea and pulling out her chair. His stupid curls were winding around the arms of his glasses and his collared shirt just barely poked out from that soft blue neckline and she could swear that the snowman on that offensively cheery off-season sweater was smirking at her.
“Elsie?” Those different- colored eyes were peering at her strangely through those horn-rimmed glasses, speckled with brown and black in a dappled tortoiseshell pattern. His blond hair shifted slightly, and Elsie was briefly reminded of an Australian Shepherd. “Elsie?”
She wondered briefly whether it was anti-animal of her to so intensely loathe a man who so closely resembled a breed of puppy. Malcom would certainly think so- while his area of interest was centred in cellular biology, he spent practically all of his free time volunteering at animal shelters to make up for the anti-pet policy that was firmly in place in the apartment he shared with Olive and Ahn. She imagined the furious back and forth she and him would have had were she to bring the topic directly to Malcolm, but the laugh that materialized at the thought was quickly stamped out by the jolt of shock that ran through her system when she registered that Jack was attempting to directly address her.
⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎ ˖ ⌬ ⋆ ༘ ⚛︎ ⊹ ࣪ ⚛︎
- preview of ch6, quantum entanglement, by quillthrills on ao3
reblog for a bigger sample size!!!! i'm so curious to hear how many people schedule vs go with the flow
rex going from most irritating character in invincible to my most adored character was not on my 2025 bingo card but i welcome it anyways
the absolute best part is that this isn't even the only fairytale kataang y'all are getting this week because i'm doing MORE fairytale stuff for a prompt later this week 😏
can u guys tell that i'm a disney adult???? (but literally only in the way that i specifically love rewatching the disney princess movies, and not in the way that i pour tons of money into merch and tickets and whatnot)
guys it is going to be like two days late atp because i last minute got indescisive and started some heavy editing, but my fic for kataang week day two (the protectiveness prompt) is a rapunzel tangled AU where katara= rapunzel and aang= flynn rider and i am so beyond excited to share it with you lovely ppl!!!
guys it's OUT NOW!!!! i'll do a proper promo post tomorrow so i guess anyone who sees it before then can be part of a super secret club hehe
new chapter of "the teenager in the iceberg" is gonna be out tonight!!! so excited to show you guys the fortuneteller ep!!
my #1 tip for making the workday go faster at ur minimum wage service job is to pretend you are cinderella and are being forced to cook lukewarm pre-frozen chicken strips for your ungrateful stepsisters and stepmother
guys it is going to be like two days late atp because i last minute got indescisive and started some heavy editing, but my fic for kataang week day two (the protectiveness prompt) is a rapunzel tangled AU where katara= rapunzel and aang= flynn rider and i am so beyond excited to share it with you lovely ppl!!!
this one's for all the kataang shippers that got a little sad every time they saw absolute husband aang slander in a zutara fanfic.
OR: the common zutara trope of "zuko helps katara escape an unhealthy relationship with aang" is flipped entirely and completely on its head.
...
The liveliness of this mountaintop temple was nothing like the cold quiet that she had felt in Zuko’s castle these last few years. After she and her friends had saved the world, ending the Fire Lord’s reign, Katara had found herself at a crossroads. Although it made the most sense, she couldn’t bring herself to return back home, to the Southern Water Tribe. The memories were… too much.
Sokka had extended an offer for her to join him at the Northern Water Tribe, where he planned to find a teacher to aid him in mastering the traditional non-bending fighting styles of their people, but Katara just couldn’t bring herself to go back there, either. Toph and Aang were both headed to reconstruct important cultural monuments destroyed during the war, including the Air temples. She had considered coming with them, she really had, but ultimately… she made a different choice.
...
So she had stayed with Zuko.
Through his breakup with Mai, she had been the one he came to.
Through his first year as the Fire Lord, she was at his side. Attended every meeting, talked through his ideas, dragged him out to social events when he felt so in over his head that he would sit paralyzed in his room. That closeness had turned into something else the first night that he had kissed her.
...
And after what felt like years of quiet complacency and mild agreement, Katara felt her temper awaken, flicker. She calmed herself, reasoned that she didn’t know what he was doing with them. He could be checking for threats on her life, for poison sealed into an envelope. She held fast onto that tiny scrap of belief that he was still the man she had married, trusted, loved and been loved by.
Until that last thread of hope and trust was pulled taunt and then snapped entirely when Katara slipped into his office and found them.
There were entire drawers of letters with her name on them.
...
Her attention drifted to the bottom of the bag. To Aang's scrolls. The ones she still hadn’t let herself read.
...
Katara,
How’s the fire palace? Started any underground dance clubs yet? I guess they’d be pretty tricky to start right under the nose of the new Fire Lord. Is Zuko adjusting well? I’m a bit worried about the burden of dismantling an entire empire falling squarely on his shoulders. Do you think I should head back, stick around for some peacekeeping? Give me any reason to come to be with you help, and I will.
Yours, Aang.
...
(Fire Lady) Katara,
I heard by word of mouth from a few Fire Nation travellers that passed through the Western Air Temple that you and Zuko had gotten married. Congratulations are in order, of course, but… Sokka, Toph, your dad and I never got our invitations. Was it a Fire-Nation-only event, or something? Your dad is pretty broken up about it. Sokka and I tried to console him, but he’s fairly upset, and honestly? I’m worried about you, Katara. This doesn't seem like you. You don’t sound like yourself.
Yours, always, Aang
...
She selected a third scroll, dated only a month before.
Katara,
I can’t deny that I’m concerned about how you’re doing. Especially considering that the Katara I know would never shut down every single opportunity to see her friends. We don’t mean to be overbearing, but we love you. So much. If all the new duties that come with being wife to the Fire Lord are too much, please, please, talk to any of us. Talk to me. I care about you, Katara, I always have, and I miss my best friend.
Forever yours, Aang.
Katara slid the scroll closed before her tears could drop onto it, and she quietly packed the papers away. She reached up, rubbing those tears away furiously the way she did as a child whenever Sokka called her a crybaby. The attempt to hold the tsunami of emotion back was fruitless. She doubled over, shoulders shaking with sobs.
She knew where she would go once the cargo ship reached the land.
Master Katara and her beloved Avatar Aang 💙🧡
wow, i am on a writing spree today! new chapter of my aged up aang au fanfic should be coming at all of you weekly on wednesdays or thursdays, and the following is an excerpt from my draft of ch2 of "the teenager in the iceberg"
without further ado, enjoy water tribe sibling chaos
for context, this immediately follows aang being hauled off by zuko and the rest of his ship.
---
Katara felt a little piece of something inside her break with the click of the ship’s hull closing.
There was something so unsettling about being given so much hope and having it all ripped away from her only over the course of one day. She watched the ship push off from the ice and turn away, moving toward the imprisonment of the boy Katara had just realised could save the world. Her gloved hand stayed clasped over her mouth, her body frozen in shock, as she watched the ship fade. After a few minutes, she became aware that Sokka was tugging at her coat. She blinked, shook her head, and turned to him.
“Katara,” Sokka said urgently, and Katara knew what he was going to tell her before he said a word.
“I know. We have to go after him, somehow.” Katara bit her lip, absent-mindedly playing with Aang's bracelet, still woven around her wrist.
Sokka nodded sharply. “He’s our responsibility, no matter how much I berated him when we met earlier. We need to find that sky monster of his, it’s the only way we’ll be able to catch up with the ship.”
“Aang called it a sky bison.”
“He also didn’t tell us that he was the Avatar, so I’m not sure if we can take everything he says at face value,” Sokka pointed out as Katara rolled her eyes. He cocked a grin. “C’mon, let's go get the little guy.”
“Aang’s taller than you!” Katara called after him, rushing to keep up with Sokka’s longer strides.
“Sure, in his dreams!” The decidedly-shorter-than-Aang boy called back.
When they did manage to find Appa, he was sitting at the rear entrance to the village, peacefully napping and ignoring the flood of small children poking at his fur. When he raised his head to look up at Katara and Sokka as their footsteps approached, the sky bison looked less than amused.
“Here’s the deal, bucko.” Sokka said matter of factly, accompanying his words with sharp gestures and exaggerated syllables, as if Appa was deaf. “Your friend needs your help, and WE need YOUR help to get to him. You get the picture?” Without waiting for any kind of affirmation, Sokka nodded briskly then scrambled up to Appa’s back, settling into what appeared to be the driver's seat.
Appa did not move, didn’t even blink.
Sokka blinked, utterly bewildered. “How do we get him to, y’know, go?”
Katara scoffed, stepping closer and resting a hand on the creature’s nose. Appa huffed and leaned into her touch, then sniffed, making a sad rumbling noise. Katara’s brow furrowed in confusion until she followed Appa’s line of sight to Aang’s wood and linen bracelet, clasped loosely around her wrist. She clumsily reached for it, sliding it off awkwardly to hold out to Appa.
“He needs you.” Katara breathed, “Aang needs you.” “He’s not gonna-” Sokka started, but as Katara slid onto Appa’s back, they felt him begin to levitate. Sokka huffed, crossing his arms dramatically. “Spirits, I hate when you’re right and I’m wrong.”
hi!!! i'm quill 🕯an a03 writer trying to figure out an entirely new platform!!she/her
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