Avatar // Common Ground // Part 1 of 1
Title: More Common Ground than One Might Think
Fandom: Avatar
Rating: K-M
Word Count: 1,000-ish
Summary: 1sentence themeset beta for Zuko/Katara, served with an itty bitty side of Toph/Sokka. I'm not officially signed up for it, though.
Other: Oh yeah, and these were written with Stars' Hearts and Set Yourself On Fire albums on repeat.
*
#01 - Walking
(frostbite)
Katara makes him stop, now, when Zuko mutters that he cannot feel his feet during the snowstorm.
...
#02 - Waltz
(new places)
"Don't worry about the steps, let the music lead you, no one is going to laugh."
...
#03 - Wishes
(three)
To rule his people well, to love his children without condition, to see her smile every day until he passes from this world.
...
#04 - Wonder
(growth)
The prince admits that he might - might - have been wrong, maybe, and Katara remarks that wonders really will never cease.
...
#05 - Worry
(trust)
"Aang believes you won't do any backstabbing, but I'll be watching you all the same."
...
#06 - Whimsy
(eccentricities)
She likes flower arrangements that are slightly lopsided best; he would rather spend an afternoon at a surveyor's tripod than in a council room.
...
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
(for any reason)
He is too honorable to take a mistress and she is too proud to be anyone's second choice.
...
#08 - Whiskey and Rum
( in-joke; with 9, 10 & 12)
The Water Tribesman is drunk - that's the only explanation for the part about the flock of penguins.
...
#09 - War
(family; with 8, 10 & 12)
Sokka decided that he would personally start another one, if he heard so much as a word of complaint against the Fire Lord from his sister.
...
#10 - Weddings
(foreign; with 8, 9 & 12)
There was something strange, something inexact, about seeing Katara in the narrow lines and warm colors of his homeland.
...
#11 - Birthday
(the other's omen)
Katara was born at noon on a day when the sun did not set; Zuko at midnight as the full moon shone overhead.
...
#12 - Blessing
(father of the bride; with 8, 9 & 10)
"I like you less than my son does, if such a thing is possible, but that isn't the issue at hand."
...
#13 - Bias
(blue spirit)
"Do I want to know who you are? Would you tell me if I did?"
...
#14 - Burning
(state of matter)
The first time he touched her like this, she knew with a sharp kind of certainty that her impression was correct - fire was as fluid as her own element.
...
#15 - Breathing
(death)
The Fire Lord is dead; the princess is in chains; Zuko is not waking up - oh please no, not now, not when you're needed like this, please, why did I have to be so stuck on learning to fight?
...
#16 - Breaking
(cast)
Katara gave a long-suffering sigh, "If you keep wiggling like that the bone won't set right, so stop it or I will knock you unconscious."
...
#17 - Belief
(truth)
Katara says aloud what his uncle doesn't - that all this 'Avatar stuff' is his ticket home, if he doesn't do anything stupid to jeopardize it.
...
#18 - Balloon
(compete)
"The Avatar isn't the only one who can take you flying."
...
#19 - Balcony
(view)
Hers overlooks a fishpond, koi swimming on the bottom and turtleducks floating on the surface.
...
#20 - Bane
(order)
"Tell my husband," she said to the midwife, and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as another pain took her, then passed, "that he's never going to touch me again."
...
#21 - Quiet
(perception)
Her words: You remind me of your uncle, actually.
...
#22 - Quirks
(homesick)
She spent the first night of each monsoon outside with her head tilted back to meet the rain, unable to draw her eyes away from the black of the sky.
...
#23 - Question
(invitation)
Katara's words won't come out quite right, "Can I - I mean, would you mind - I should - " but Zuko cuts her off, "Stay."
...
#24 - Quarrel
(this is totally a sport)
When the Lord and Lady fight, their duels attract audiences, odds-takers and occasionally entrepreneurial, refreshment-selling children.
...
#25 - Quitting
(we lost)
Zuko says it as much for himself as for her, "Are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself or are you going to get up and do something about this?"
...
#26 - Jump
(on the count)
Zuko snorted and asked Sokka if he was really going to let his sister do that - she had already hit the surface of the water with a resounding smack when the younger boy admitted that he could not make Katara do anything that Katara did not want to do - the idea was a vaguely reassuring one.
...
#27 - Jester
(parenthood)
He hid his growing smile behind his hand and composed himself enough to tell his son that it was not a viable career option.
...
#28 - Jousting
(persistence)
When Katara knows she's right, she won't back down until her Lord Husband has swallowed his pride for long enough to hear her side of it.
...
#29 - Jewel
(reincarnation)
The student archaeologist calls his fellow inmate intern over when he uncovers a carved pendant at the dig-site, "Hey Tara, I found something the tomb-robbers missed!"
...
#30 - Just
(fair)
Though Lord Zuko would have given any bride price, Katara was no commodity to be bought or sold.
...
#31 - Smirk
(self-satisfaction)
It is the expression he wears when he leaves her bedchamber and the one she delights in dragging off his face at the sparring court.
...
#32 - Sorrow
(genetics)
The Fire Lord must be master of his element; no child of theirs will be able to bend anything.
...
#33 - Stupidity
(go)
Zuko shouted, "So leave, then!" and Katara growled, "Fine, I will!"
...
#34 - Serenade
(music night, with 35)
"Your uncle ... isn't quite a tenor, huh?" she hedged.
...
#35 - Sarcasm
(make it stop, with 34)
He deadpanned, "What a remarkable observation."
...
#36 - Sordid
(dream)
Her eyes locked on his and her hands (rough hands) roving the length of his body and her lips at his neck and her doing the most terribly delicious things for him, with him, to him - Zuko woke with the waterbender's name caught in his throat and closed his eyes again, wanting in equal parts to forget and remember.
...
#37 - Soliloquy
(just when you think nobody's listening)
People forget that she isn't deaf, too, and Toph knows things because she listens: that Aang is smitten with Katara, who as it bad for Prince Zuko, who wouldn't know a crush if he was bashed over the head with one, which leaves Sokka relieved, even if he is entirely uncomfortable with thinking she herself will grow up into a very nicely polished woman, and all of it leaves Toph feeling pleasantly smug.
...
#38 - Sojourn
(back at the beginning)
She was small and scared when his ship ran into her village, arrogant and unprepared when he captured her with the pirates, swift and severe when she fought him in the north, willing but terrified when he turned away her help after his sister's escape.
...
#39 - Share
(an impossibility)
Zuko belongs to his people - Katara belongs to no one, he knows, but she gives herself to the Avatar.
...
#40 - Solitary
(why?)
Zuko has visited his father's grave at the end of each summer for five years now, as if he still owes something to the man he could not please in life; Katara does not understand his reasons, and knows better than to ask them just yet.
...
#41 - Nowhere
(where we're getting)
They all wanted the same thing, in one way or another - Zuko to return home with the Avatar and Aang to learn firebending, never mind the 'Overthrowing the Fire Lord and saving the world' part - yet here they were, in the earliest part of morning, still sitting across from one another at an impasse.
...
#42 - Neutral
(agendas)
"And you? What is it that you want from me?" Zuko asks; she replies, "I want you from you," and, "Tui and swimming La, could you be any more oblivious?"
...
#43 - Nuance
(language of flowers)
The day Katara left for the south - she was needed there, after all - she wore a short jacket with azaleas embroidered around the collar.
...
#44 - Near
(beside you)
"Here, be still," she pressed the flat of his palm to her belly, "hush now, there, do you feel it?"
...
#45 - Natural
(complement)
It isn't a surprise, really, that every inch of her fits so perfectly against every inch of him.
...
#46 - Horizon
(the sensible thing, with 47)
He watches each evening as the sun sinks into the land and the moon rises from the sea, and thinks of what might have come to pass, if he had been a reckless man.
...
#47 - Valiant
(for the good of the world, with 46)
"I may be a war hero," she said and kissed the young Fire Lord once, chastely, "but I'm not the alliance you need."
...
#48 - Virtuous
(the waterbending scroll, avatar day)
Says one thief to another, "You know what they say about honor and us."
...
#49 - Victory
(you win)
"'Tara - " / "- Don't call me that - " / " - 'Tara, 'Tara, 'Tara - " / "- Don't - " / "- 'Ta -" / "- Zuzu, don't -" / "... okay, I'll stop."
...
#50 - Defeat
(to fight another day)
They retreat, oh how they retreat - every last one of their rag-tag little band - but there's a saying about battles and wars and they're far from beaten yet.
Fandom: Avatar
Rating: K-M
Word Count: 1,000-ish
Summary: 1sentence themeset beta for Zuko/Katara, served with an itty bitty side of Toph/Sokka. I'm not officially signed up for it, though.
Other: Oh yeah, and these were written with Stars' Hearts and Set Yourself On Fire albums on repeat.
*
#01 - Walking
(frostbite)
Katara makes him stop, now, when Zuko mutters that he cannot feel his feet during the snowstorm.
...
#02 - Waltz
(new places)
"Don't worry about the steps, let the music lead you, no one is going to laugh."
...
#03 - Wishes
(three)
To rule his people well, to love his children without condition, to see her smile every day until he passes from this world.
...
#04 - Wonder
(growth)
The prince admits that he might - might - have been wrong, maybe, and Katara remarks that wonders really will never cease.
...
#05 - Worry
(trust)
"Aang believes you won't do any backstabbing, but I'll be watching you all the same."
...
#06 - Whimsy
(eccentricities)
She likes flower arrangements that are slightly lopsided best; he would rather spend an afternoon at a surveyor's tripod than in a council room.
...
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
(for any reason)
He is too honorable to take a mistress and she is too proud to be anyone's second choice.
...
#08 - Whiskey and Rum
( in-joke; with 9, 10 & 12)
The Water Tribesman is drunk - that's the only explanation for the part about the flock of penguins.
...
#09 - War
(family; with 8, 10 & 12)
Sokka decided that he would personally start another one, if he heard so much as a word of complaint against the Fire Lord from his sister.
...
#10 - Weddings
(foreign; with 8, 9 & 12)
There was something strange, something inexact, about seeing Katara in the narrow lines and warm colors of his homeland.
...
#11 - Birthday
(the other's omen)
Katara was born at noon on a day when the sun did not set; Zuko at midnight as the full moon shone overhead.
...
#12 - Blessing
(father of the bride; with 8, 9 & 10)
"I like you less than my son does, if such a thing is possible, but that isn't the issue at hand."
...
#13 - Bias
(blue spirit)
"Do I want to know who you are? Would you tell me if I did?"
...
#14 - Burning
(state of matter)
The first time he touched her like this, she knew with a sharp kind of certainty that her impression was correct - fire was as fluid as her own element.
...
#15 - Breathing
(death)
The Fire Lord is dead; the princess is in chains; Zuko is not waking up - oh please no, not now, not when you're needed like this, please, why did I have to be so stuck on learning to fight?
...
#16 - Breaking
(cast)
Katara gave a long-suffering sigh, "If you keep wiggling like that the bone won't set right, so stop it or I will knock you unconscious."
...
#17 - Belief
(truth)
Katara says aloud what his uncle doesn't - that all this 'Avatar stuff' is his ticket home, if he doesn't do anything stupid to jeopardize it.
...
#18 - Balloon
(compete)
"The Avatar isn't the only one who can take you flying."
...
#19 - Balcony
(view)
Hers overlooks a fishpond, koi swimming on the bottom and turtleducks floating on the surface.
...
#20 - Bane
(order)
"Tell my husband," she said to the midwife, and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as another pain took her, then passed, "that he's never going to touch me again."
...
#21 - Quiet
(perception)
Her words: You remind me of your uncle, actually.
...
#22 - Quirks
(homesick)
She spent the first night of each monsoon outside with her head tilted back to meet the rain, unable to draw her eyes away from the black of the sky.
...
#23 - Question
(invitation)
Katara's words won't come out quite right, "Can I - I mean, would you mind - I should - " but Zuko cuts her off, "Stay."
...
#24 - Quarrel
(this is totally a sport)
When the Lord and Lady fight, their duels attract audiences, odds-takers and occasionally entrepreneurial, refreshment-selling children.
...
#25 - Quitting
(we lost)
Zuko says it as much for himself as for her, "Are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself or are you going to get up and do something about this?"
...
#26 - Jump
(on the count)
Zuko snorted and asked Sokka if he was really going to let his sister do that - she had already hit the surface of the water with a resounding smack when the younger boy admitted that he could not make Katara do anything that Katara did not want to do - the idea was a vaguely reassuring one.
...
#27 - Jester
(parenthood)
He hid his growing smile behind his hand and composed himself enough to tell his son that it was not a viable career option.
...
#28 - Jousting
(persistence)
When Katara knows she's right, she won't back down until her Lord Husband has swallowed his pride for long enough to hear her side of it.
...
#29 - Jewel
(reincarnation)
The student archaeologist calls his fellow inmate intern over when he uncovers a carved pendant at the dig-site, "Hey Tara, I found something the tomb-robbers missed!"
...
#30 - Just
(fair)
Though Lord Zuko would have given any bride price, Katara was no commodity to be bought or sold.
...
#31 - Smirk
(self-satisfaction)
It is the expression he wears when he leaves her bedchamber and the one she delights in dragging off his face at the sparring court.
...
#32 - Sorrow
(genetics)
The Fire Lord must be master of his element; no child of theirs will be able to bend anything.
...
#33 - Stupidity
(go)
Zuko shouted, "So leave, then!" and Katara growled, "Fine, I will!"
...
#34 - Serenade
(music night, with 35)
"Your uncle ... isn't quite a tenor, huh?" she hedged.
...
#35 - Sarcasm
(make it stop, with 34)
He deadpanned, "What a remarkable observation."
...
#36 - Sordid
(dream)
Her eyes locked on his and her hands (rough hands) roving the length of his body and her lips at his neck and her doing the most terribly delicious things for him, with him, to him - Zuko woke with the waterbender's name caught in his throat and closed his eyes again, wanting in equal parts to forget and remember.
...
#37 - Soliloquy
(just when you think nobody's listening)
People forget that she isn't deaf, too, and Toph knows things because she listens: that Aang is smitten with Katara, who as it bad for Prince Zuko, who wouldn't know a crush if he was bashed over the head with one, which leaves Sokka relieved, even if he is entirely uncomfortable with thinking she herself will grow up into a very nicely polished woman, and all of it leaves Toph feeling pleasantly smug.
...
#38 - Sojourn
(back at the beginning)
She was small and scared when his ship ran into her village, arrogant and unprepared when he captured her with the pirates, swift and severe when she fought him in the north, willing but terrified when he turned away her help after his sister's escape.
...
#39 - Share
(an impossibility)
Zuko belongs to his people - Katara belongs to no one, he knows, but she gives herself to the Avatar.
...
#40 - Solitary
(why?)
Zuko has visited his father's grave at the end of each summer for five years now, as if he still owes something to the man he could not please in life; Katara does not understand his reasons, and knows better than to ask them just yet.
...
#41 - Nowhere
(where we're getting)
They all wanted the same thing, in one way or another - Zuko to return home with the Avatar and Aang to learn firebending, never mind the 'Overthrowing the Fire Lord and saving the world' part - yet here they were, in the earliest part of morning, still sitting across from one another at an impasse.
...
#42 - Neutral
(agendas)
"And you? What is it that you want from me?" Zuko asks; she replies, "I want you from you," and, "Tui and swimming La, could you be any more oblivious?"
...
#43 - Nuance
(language of flowers)
The day Katara left for the south - she was needed there, after all - she wore a short jacket with azaleas embroidered around the collar.
...
#44 - Near
(beside you)
"Here, be still," she pressed the flat of his palm to her belly, "hush now, there, do you feel it?"
...
#45 - Natural
(complement)
It isn't a surprise, really, that every inch of her fits so perfectly against every inch of him.
...
#46 - Horizon
(the sensible thing, with 47)
He watches each evening as the sun sinks into the land and the moon rises from the sea, and thinks of what might have come to pass, if he had been a reckless man.
...
#47 - Valiant
(for the good of the world, with 46)
"I may be a war hero," she said and kissed the young Fire Lord once, chastely, "but I'm not the alliance you need."
...
#48 - Virtuous
(the waterbending scroll, avatar day)
Says one thief to another, "You know what they say about honor and us."
...
#49 - Victory
(you win)
"'Tara - " / "- Don't call me that - " / " - 'Tara, 'Tara, 'Tara - " / "- Don't - " / "- 'Ta -" / "- Zuzu, don't -" / "... okay, I'll stop."
...
#50 - Defeat
(to fight another day)
They retreat, oh how they retreat - every last one of their rag-tag little band - but there's a saying about battles and wars and they're far from beaten yet.