"there was a star danced, and under that was I born."
owl /// she/xe/he
Find me on AO3: OwlWolf22091
You can always send me pictures of your cat(s).
Icon by delphina2k
I'm Owl, Nonsense, and/or Noth. Use whichever name you like. (I use Owl most often but I love the others too!)
I use she/xe/he pronouns. I do not use "they".
Feel free to pop in my ask box or my DMs. I don't bite.
I'm in a lot of fandoms. Please send me writing prompts, and/or cat (or Cats) photos!
I would love to beta for you. Seriously I fucking love it it's so fun! Please ask me, betaing is something I really enjoy and I like to think I'm quite good at it.
If the online world goes to shit, I'm contactable at [email protected]. The most reliable way to contact me is by ask or email.
Some links and social media:
I'm on AO3 (and most other places) as OwlWolf22091.
My Discord is @owlwolf22091. (The tumblr blog with that name is mine, but I'm locked out of it.)
@yourghostwrotethis is my Good Omens (book and show) sideblog, @give-us-euphoria is my Muse (the band) sideblog, and @sleepyhollowstories is my Shipwrecked Comedy sideblog, though mostly dormant.
Known issues:
Asks get eaten. It happens. I don't know how or why.
Tumblr sometimes doesn't tag me in posts. I don't know why, and I don't know how to fix it. You can always send me a post by DM.
Normally my blog search has been fixed, but I can't guarantee anything. (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I am still at a loss for why.)
I don't usually participate in tag games unless they really strike my fancy, but feel free to tag me in them! I'd rather see them than not :)
All the links I share in my own posts are non-tracking if I can help it.
(Also, please do talk to me about the Enchanted Forest Chronicles if you know them.)
[Image ID: a photo f1 drivers on a fan stage all squatting. From left to right is George Russell in blue Mercedes gear, Lewis Hamilton wearing a gray track suit and holding up a peace sign, Lando Norris wearing a McLaren hoodie, Ollie Bearman in a Haas shirt, and Arvid Lindblad in a VCarb shirt. End ID]
re: zutara prompts, Katara cheering on Zuko fighting an agni kai to be taken seriously by the fire nation after the war?
[From this prompt request]
Katara wasn’t sure how it started. She’d been taking care of Zuko, at first, healing him and pushing her bending to its to limits to please, please, help him survive this, I don’t have spirit oasis water but I need it, I need him, please, Tui, La, Yue—
And then he’d healed but she’d stayed by his side while Sokka went back to the South Pole to rejoin their father and help them heal and rebuild and Katara was betraying her country staying in the Fire Nation for “diplomatic liaisons” but really, because she didn’t know what to do without the boy who was ready to die for her, who threw himself in front of Azula’s lightning for a reason she hadn’t herself examine quite yet.
Except now the foolish boy, the one who occupied more space in her thoughts than she’d ever thought he would, that boy, the fledgling Fire Lord, had accepted an Agni Kai because Katara, I may be the Fire Lord, now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve restored my honour in the eyes of the nation.
“Are you planning on making a habit of fighting Agni Kais?” Katara snarked, her nose wrinkling at the thought. She crossed her arms, leaning against a column in the palace as Zuko looked at her with a vaguely sheepish expression that somehow didn’t hide his earnestness.
“I need to do this, Katara,” he told her. “I don’t particularly like them, given all the ones I seem to fight end badly, but I promise it won’t this time.”
Katara glared at him, flexing her wrist to hit him with a ball of water. “If you don’t come back in one piece after all of that, Zuko, then I’ll go to the spirit world and fetch you myself.”
“Ow! I get it, Katara, I’ll be safe.” His lips crooked into a smile that she refused to look at for too long for fear of being blinded by the sun’s radiance that lit up his face.
“I didn’t spend all that time healing you just for you to ruin my efforts,” Katara said firmly. “I’ll be watching, and, Zuko, if at any point it looks like you’re not okay, I don’t care what the Fire Sages or Fire Nation tradition says, I will go in there myself and stop you. I’d rather you be a dishonoured Fire Lord than a dead one.”
Zuko swallowed and nodded, wordlessly moving forward and taking her into his arms to comfort her.
The day of the Agni Kai arrived, and it was sunrise and the sky had traces of red traces of blood and fire and thank you Katara I think I’m the one who should be thanking you—
Katara tried to inhale and frantically gasped for air, feeling the memory of the last Agni Kai she saw Zuko fight crash back into her memory.
Zuko looked up at her and tore away from the attendants who were helping him prepare, rushing to stand to grab her arms and shake her out of her trance. “Katara?”
“Zuko– you’re here– but you were–” dead and dying during the end of the world
His eyes softened, even the scarred one. “I’m here, Katara, I’m fine. You healed me. We won.” he reassured her.
Katara’s hiccoughs calmed, burying her face in his chest, pulling him closer and closer as if she needed to feel him to understand what he was saying. “You’re okay,” she wept into his shoulder. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.”
The attendants were silent, recognising a grief and a fear that’d been theirs for a hundred years of war.
She felt him hug her tighter a final time before stepping back. “I need to do the Agni Kai now, Katara.”
Katara furiously rubbed at her eyes, still sniffling, before tugging a ribbon out of her hair and gesturing for Zuko to come closer again.
Zuko looked around, confused, but walked to her and knelt when her hands pressed down on his shoulders. “Katara, what are you–”
Silently, Katara undid his topknot that the attendants had so carefully tied just moments before, running her hands through his hair and tying it anew with her unmistakably blue Water Tribe ribbon. Zuko looked up at her once she finished her knot, gazing at her steadily.
The oldest Fire Sage, the one who’d been there even in the time of Azulon, gasped at the sight of the Fire Lord kneeling in front of a waterbending peasant, and having his hair played with and tied by a ribbon from that same waterbender’s own hair, even if she was a friend of the Avatar.
“Fire Lord Zuko, this is inappropriate, you must stop at once!” he shouted, straining his old muscles to hurry by their side. “General Ling is waiting for your Agni Kai, and– and– a waterbender cannot break our traditions like this!” he sputtered, waving his arms around helplessly.
Zuko took Katara’s hand and squeezed it in the promise of a conversation to be had later. His voice turned to ice as he addressed the Fire Sage. “Katara is a friend of the Avatar and a hero of this nation. You will not disrespect her. It is an honour for her to give me her token.” He gave the Sage a dirty look as he walked towards the space marked out for the Agni Kai, taking his place and nodding to General Ling before turning his back as was custom.
Katara watched from the side, relieved at Zuko’s casual demeanour in front of General Ling. She wasn’t really worried he’d lose, but a part of her, the part that had seen a lightning strike of death touch him, still panicked at seeing him in potential danger. As if reading her thoughts, Zuko twisted slightly to the side before giving her a quick, private smile to reassure her.
The disgruntled Fire Sage had taken back his place and proclaimed the duel started. Katara’s breath caught as she saw Zuko in action, his lithe body moving faster, stronger than General Ling. It was a fair fight; Ling had been trained well and clearly still fought regularly, but few could compare to Zuko’s skill and knowledge. The dragons had taught him a way of firebending that seemed effortless in front of the practiced katas of General Ling, and his inclusion of moves from other bending styles made his style unpredictable for one who had been trained only against traditional, rigid firebenders. She bit her lip when Zuko briefly faltered, tripping on some uneven patch of ground, giving Ling a clear opportunity. He yelled in pain as a blast of Ling’s fire hit him, and Katara’s heart raced, in a pattern of no no not again not yet please I can’t lose him it’s too soon and don’t you know I love him. She fought to stay still, knowing that this was important to Zuko, that there was more at stake than just his health, the symbolic restoration of his honour and the respect of an entire nation.
But Zuko caught himself quickly and regained the upper hand, eventually managing to push Ling to the ground.
“Do you yield?” he panted, holding himself up over the general’s body.
Upon Ling’s acceptance, Zuko let out a breath of fire, almost as if he was exhaling the past years of humiliation and dishonour and self-doubt. He raised his head and smiled directly at Katara, clearly relieved of his victory and his overcoming of all the baggage he’d had since he was a scared boy of thirteen.
He jogged towards her, breathing hard but grinning and exhilarated. “I did it, Katara, I did it!”
Katara smiled back, draping her arms around him and pulling him to her in a tight hug. “I’m so proud of you, Zuko. Now please don’t ever do that to me again.”
---
Thank you to anon for prompting this! Part 2 will hopefully be up shortly :)
i cannot actually believe that the kotlc fandom existed back in 2020. I just discovered a bunch of ships like brony and fintan and bronte being brothers😭 idk. some of yall are real old i just realized
You know what's wild? I started reading before we got the "long history" quote. I have a post somewhere on my blog asking what the ship name for Fintan/Bronte should be.
re: zutara prompts, Katara cheering on Zuko fighting an agni kai to be taken seriously by the fire nation after the war?
[From this prompt request]
Katara wasn’t sure how it started. She’d been taking care of Zuko, at first, healing him and pushing her bending to its to limits to please, please, help him survive this, I don’t have spirit oasis water but I need it, I need him, please, Tui, La, Yue—
And then he’d healed but she’d stayed by his side while Sokka went back to the South Pole to rejoin their father and help them heal and rebuild and Katara was betraying her country staying in the Fire Nation for “diplomatic liaisons” but really, because she didn’t know what to do without the boy who was ready to die for her, who threw himself in front of Azula’s lightning for a reason she hadn’t herself examine quite yet.
Except now the foolish boy, the one who occupied more space in her thoughts than she’d ever thought he would, that boy, the fledgling Fire Lord, had accepted an Agni Kai because Katara, I may be the Fire Lord, now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve restored my honour in the eyes of the nation.
“Are you planning on making a habit of fighting Agni Kais?” Katara snarked, her nose wrinkling at the thought. She crossed her arms, leaning against a column in the palace as Zuko looked at her with a vaguely sheepish expression that somehow didn’t hide his earnestness.
“I need to do this, Katara,” he told her. “I don’t particularly like them, given all the ones I seem to fight end badly, but I promise it won’t this time.”
Katara glared at him, flexing her wrist to hit him with a ball of water. “If you don’t come back in one piece after all of that, Zuko, then I’ll go to the spirit world and fetch you myself.”
“Ow! I get it, Katara, I’ll be safe.” His lips crooked into a smile that she refused to look at for too long for fear of being blinded by the sun’s radiance that lit up his face.
“I didn’t spend all that time healing you just for you to ruin my efforts,” Katara said firmly. “I’ll be watching, and, Zuko, if at any point it looks like you’re not okay, I don’t care what the Fire Sages or Fire Nation tradition says, I will go in there myself and stop you. I’d rather you be a dishonoured Fire Lord than a dead one.”
Zuko swallowed and nodded, wordlessly moving forward and taking her into his arms to comfort her.
The day of the Agni Kai arrived, and it was sunrise and the sky had traces of red traces of blood and fire and thank you Katara I think I’m the one who should be thanking you—
Katara tried to inhale and frantically gasped for air, feeling the memory of the last Agni Kai she saw Zuko fight crash back into her memory.
Zuko looked up at her and tore away from the attendants who were helping him prepare, rushing to stand to grab her arms and shake her out of her trance. “Katara?”
“Zuko– you’re here– but you were–” dead and dying during the end of the world
His eyes softened, even the scarred one. “I’m here, Katara, I’m fine. You healed me. We won.” he reassured her.
Katara’s hiccoughs calmed, burying her face in his chest, pulling him closer and closer as if she needed to feel him to understand what he was saying. “You’re okay,” she wept into his shoulder. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay.”
The attendants were silent, recognising a grief and a fear that’d been theirs for a hundred years of war.
She felt him hug her tighter a final time before stepping back. “I need to do the Agni Kai now, Katara.”
Katara furiously rubbed at her eyes, still sniffling, before tugging a ribbon out of her hair and gesturing for Zuko to come closer again.
Zuko looked around, confused, but walked to her and knelt when her hands pressed down on his shoulders. “Katara, what are you–”
Silently, Katara undid his topknot that the attendants had so carefully tied just moments before, running her hands through his hair and tying it anew with her unmistakably blue Water Tribe ribbon. Zuko looked up at her once she finished her knot, gazing at her steadily.
The oldest Fire Sage, the one who’d been there even in the time of Azulon, gasped at the sight of the Fire Lord kneeling in front of a waterbending peasant, and having his hair played with and tied by a ribbon from that same waterbender’s own hair, even if she was a friend of the Avatar.
“Fire Lord Zuko, this is inappropriate, you must stop at once!” he shouted, straining his old muscles to hurry by their side. “General Ling is waiting for your Agni Kai, and– and– a waterbender cannot break our traditions like this!” he sputtered, waving his arms around helplessly.
Zuko took Katara’s hand and squeezed it in the promise of a conversation to be had later. His voice turned to ice as he addressed the Fire Sage. “Katara is a friend of the Avatar and a hero of this nation. You will not disrespect her. It is an honour for her to give me her token.” He gave the Sage a dirty look as he walked towards the space marked out for the Agni Kai, taking his place and nodding to General Ling before turning his back as was custom.
Katara watched from the side, relieved at Zuko’s casual demeanour in front of General Ling. She wasn’t really worried he’d lose, but a part of her, the part that had seen a lightning strike of death touch him, still panicked at seeing him in potential danger. As if reading her thoughts, Zuko twisted slightly to the side before giving her a quick, private smile to reassure her.
The disgruntled Fire Sage had taken back his place and proclaimed the duel started. Katara’s breath caught as she saw Zuko in action, his lithe body moving faster, stronger than General Ling. It was a fair fight; Ling had been trained well and clearly still fought regularly, but few could compare to Zuko’s skill and knowledge. The dragons had taught him a way of firebending that seemed effortless in front of the practiced katas of General Ling, and his inclusion of moves from other bending styles made his style unpredictable for one who had been trained only against traditional, rigid firebenders. She bit her lip when Zuko briefly faltered, tripping on some uneven patch of ground, giving Ling a clear opportunity. He yelled in pain as a blast of Ling’s fire hit him, and Katara’s heart raced, in a pattern of no no not again not yet please I can’t lose him it’s too soon and don’t you know I love him. She fought to stay still, knowing that this was important to Zuko, that there was more at stake than just his health, the symbolic restoration of his honour and the respect of an entire nation.
But Zuko caught himself quickly and regained the upper hand, eventually managing to push Ling to the ground.
“Do you yield?” he panted, holding himself up over the general’s body.
Upon Ling’s acceptance, Zuko let out a breath of fire, almost as if he was exhaling the past years of humiliation and dishonour and self-doubt. He raised his head and smiled directly at Katara, clearly relieved of his victory and his overcoming of all the baggage he’d had since he was a scared boy of thirteen.
He jogged towards her, breathing hard but grinning and exhilarated. “I did it, Katara, I did it!”
Katara smiled back, draping her arms around him and pulling him to her in a tight hug. “I’m so proud of you, Zuko. Now please don’t ever do that to me again.”
---
Thank you to anon for prompting this! Part 2 will hopefully be up shortly :)
just remembered a fic on AO3 (or more likely LJ because it had that distinct late 00's experimental vibe) that appeared double-spaced oddly, in that some paragraphs would be spaced normally and others would have double or even triple spaces in between. it was about one half of the otp getting over the other's death (or coma, can't remember which), so all the comments were about how poignant the use of visual spacing was as a means to convey all the emotional holes in the character's life.
and then the author replied like... *giggle* guys it's NOT double spaced. try selecting the whole text
and we were all like "no WAY"
but we selected the text, and yes!!!
the "holes" in the story? they were actually lines and actions from the dead/coma character's ghost, rendered invisible to the eye by the simple trick of coloring the text the exact same as the background, revealed by nothing more than a click and a drag of the mouse
a story about the profound loneliness of losing your the partner of your life and having to make do without them, without anything to fill the holes they'd left behind, suddenly became a story about the profound helplessness of seeing someone you love suffer from your absence while you are right there, unable to do anything about it, unable to communicate that you love them enough to suffer unseen and unheard with them, just to keep them company they'll never know about
it was then that I truly realized how *superior* the digital medium is to plain printed paper, how the medium and the format can add to a story.
I think about that fic about once a year. I wish I could find it again
UPDATE: Y'ALL WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FINALLY FUCKING FOUND
to be fair I was misremembering the fandom AND conflating it with another fic. also it turns out it was so late 00's that it was actually posted in 2010. so gimme a break on the embellishments etc, seeing how I read the fic 12 years ago....
BUT LO AND BEHOLD I HAVE FOUND IT
yes, I am gonna give you the link. but you gotta promise me a couple of things first, alright?
one: turn off your Dark Reader extensions or whatever you use so that the white bg of websites doesn't burn your retinas.
you done that? you suuuuure? please double check
Ok I believe you.
two: you HAVE to read it as is first, ponder it, be delighted, and ONLY THEN you can highlight it, or turn your Dark Reader back on, and read it again. OK?
look me in the eye and PROMISE ME that you're gonna appreciate this the right way.
you swear?
alright.
it's an LJ kinkmeme, so click the link and scroll to the bottom of the post, where the comments start, or use ctrl+f to search for "leave a comment". without further ado:
moonlight and sunshadow by @grapefruittwostep. read here.
this is a norwegian tale adapted to zutara that is chef's kiss. I was looking for dragon!zuko stories and feasted with this fic. the story is sort of similar to beauty and the beast, I explored the tale while reading because I saw the parallels and liked it.
