OPEN SHIP WITH ME POST

[desertions]

I'm in a very shippy mood and mostly on top of my tags right now so I thought instead of combing through memes I'd leave this as an open post.

Basically leave me prompts: quotes, pictures, song lyrics, whatever with a muse and what muse of mine you want and we'll see what happens. Alternately, if you don't request a specific muse you can leave it up to me to choose who i throw at them.

I make no apologies for the choices made when that happens.

So please, come and enjoy all the ships with me!!

Comments

[waving]

"No, it doesn't, but they have enough on their mind."

Ultimately, Katara would rather people didn't worry about her. It's the caretaker in her, while it's nice to have someone come after her for once she wouldn't of known what to do with it if more of them had. It's easier this way. If they don't see her moments of weakness it's almost like they don't exist.

Aang has enough to worry about with being the Avatar. Sokka is her big brother but she's usually the one taking care of him instead of the other way around. And she and Toph have trouble getting along most days, let along reaching out to one another.

Zuko is different than the rest of them though -- maybe because he is the oldest. He's able to see outside of his own situation in a way the rest of them can't really. He sees the big picture, even the things they didn't want to face.

(If Aang doesn't want to kill anyone how does he expect to defeat the Fire Lord? It's a difficult question but a vital one)

A small smile tugs at her lips at the small fire he produces, granting them some light other than the lightening from the storm. For someone she had once written off as a liar and selfish -- he's surprising thoughtful sometimes.

"Thank you."

[banishment]

Aang doesn't seem to get it, but he supposes that this is why Avatars usually do the great things they're supposed to accomplish in their lifetimes when they've reached a certain mature age and have had time to really hone their bending. Thanks to having been on ice for a good century, Aang hasn't had that luxury. Then again, if Aang hadn't taken off in the first place and wound up frozen, he would've had that time and been able to take on his grandfather and stop this war during Azulon's reign instead of Ozai's. He could've prevented the genocide of the Air Nomads, but Zuko wasn't about to bring that up to the young Avatar. It was very likely that Aang already realized that was — at least in part — his fault.

"It's no trouble." Even if keeping a flame alight in the rain while also bending internally to keep his chi warm enough to ensure he didn't get sick from standing out here with her was requiring a lot of concentration, even if he didn't show it. "We should probably get out of the rain."

Though he has the feeling she wasn't too keen on returning the group right now.

[waving]

"You're right. We can't afford to get ill."

There's too many important things to be done to be that careless or selfish, Katara realizes that. While she gets that Aang doesn't want to overly stress before the battle she worries sometimes if he just isn't taking things as seriously as he should. Despite being alive for over a hundred years it is often very obvious how much younger he is to everyone else.

He's very much still a child. Which is probably part of the problem.

[banishment]

It was very much a part of the problem, but not something they should be contemplating in the rain.

He wouldn't be able to give them light by doing so, but he snuffed out his own flame to grab hold of her hand anyway. The tug on her arm is gentle in comparison to his rough around the edges exterior, his touch soft where his words and mannerisms are usually clipped, sharp, and stiff. His grip is slack enough with the water rolling down his arm that she could very easily slip her hand from his grasp if she wanted to, but he'll be leading her in the direction of a shallow cave made of boulders that have fallen in towards one another. It'll get them out of the rain without forcing them to return to camp.

"You could make it better if we did, though, right?"

[waving]

The gentleness of his touch surprises her, somehow. It's not what she would of expected from him -- but she's been learning more and more than what she'd expect from him wasn't necessarily fair to him. She doesn't pull her hand from his, though she easily could, allowing it to remain loosely wrapped around his as he tugs her into a nearby cave. It's not much but it'll give them shelter without forcing them to go back to the others just yet.

At his words she smiles, nodding. "I think so. I've healed injuries more than illness but I think the same principles would apply."

[banishment]

He debates, for a moment, telling her that what she did — how she managed to save Aang (using the spirit water she'd offered to heal his scar with, he assumes) — was amazing. Azula took him down, and even Zuko had been convinced for a while that the Avatar might not have survived. But even then, when he was living back at the palace and welcomed home as an heir to the throne, he had faith in Katara's ability to heal.

Of course she would've saved the Avatar, of course Aang would be alive. But he didn't tell Azula that. He withheld Katara's talents from her and his father.

"It's, uh, kind of a tight squeeze."

Zuko sits down anyway, scooting as close as he can to the cave wall he's nearest to in attempt to give her some more room. As if she'd have qualms with bumping knees and hips with someone she'd hugged and just held hands with on the way here. He tries not to read too much into that.

[waving]

"Somehow, I think we'll manage."

They had just been hugging and holding hands so what'a a tight fit going to do? She doesn't try to give it too much thought, really. Instead she sits down next to him against the wall. It's close enough that her knees bump against his but what can you do?

Like she said, they'll manage. It's not that bad, really. Not as uncomfortable as it probably should be but she tries not to think about that much.

[banishment]

Zuko shifts so he's facing her and his back is to the rain (because somehow, it makes sense in his head to be a gentleman and shield the waterbender from the water falling from the sky). Both of his knees bump against her leg, and he's close when he holds his hands out, cupping them around the flame he bends to give them light.

"There. That's better."

[waving]

She actually laughs a little as he tries to block her from the rain. She can't help it -- a firebender trying to protect a waterbender from the rain is pretty funny, all things considered.

The little cave lights up nicely thanks to his flames.

"Hopefully, it won't keep up too long."

Because eventually the others might realize they're missing and come looking for them.

[banishment]

It's the thought that counts, though, right? Zuko's trying to be a gentleman here, even if his awkwardness tends to hamper any of his attempts. At least he's not tripping over himself and digging a hole for himself that he never intended to dig. He's getting better at that, though it helps that Katara no longer hates him and he no longer feels like he needs to keep his guard up around her.

He's not sure whether he feels more comfortable with his guard up or down around her, though. What's up with that?

"Your brother might come looking for us after while."

And he was against that idea. For some reason, Sokka finding him sitting in a small cave with his sister wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

[waving]

It is the thought that counts -- even if the thought might be a little strange, like protecting a waterbender from the rain. She could direct it away from them, if she really needed to.

"You act like Aang wouldn't tag along with him for the search."

Which bothers her as well. She can more than take care of herself -- and they'd be more concerned about her being off with Zuko than if she was simply off by herself. It's not like anyone else seemed to even realize she had wandered off because she was upset.

[banishment]

He would, and that bothers Zuko more than the thought of Sokka coming after her. Aang hadn't been happy when Zuko whisked Katara off on a quest to find her mother's killer, and he had a strange sort of inkling that it wasn't just because he was against the idea of Katara extracting revenge when it went against his people's customs. There was something else, something that had the airbender not wanting Katara to go, because it would mean days of keeping company that was just him.

"Yeah," he deflates, expression souring unhappily. "He probably would."

[waving]

It's hard to ignore the fact that Aang has feelings for her -- a crush that she thought would have gone away by now. But still, it bothered her how it made him act. She took has an inkling that his concern was over more than just wanting revenge, though she never dared to say that out loud.

"And then Toph would come simply so she wasn't left alone," She offers, trying to lighten the suddenly more sour mood. "It'll be a regular search party."

[banishment]

But what nobody expected, including the firebender himself, was for Zuko of all people to develop feelings for her as well. Like Aang, Zuko was his own brand of obvious. If it had been Toph or Sokka who insisted on holding a grudge against him, he would've played niced well enough for civility's sake, but left it alone. Changing someone's opinion, especially their opinion of you, took effort — and Zuko went above and beyond to prove that he was sorry and that she'd been right about him in Ba Sing Se, that he had changed and there was no reason to keep hating him.

"They'd have to notice we were gone first," Zuko counters, settling back against the cave wall at her right now that the winds have changed the rain's direction. It's a tight squeeze and it has Zuko's shoulder and hip pressing against hers. "They probably think you've got some weird waterbender thing going on with the rain and I just enjoy wallowing in my misery."

A shrug. He wallows, but he's not doing that right now.

[waving]

It had surprised her how hard he had fought to prove to her he changed -- she didn't realize her opinion matters that much to him. Nor is she sure of why it means so much to him. Or why it means so much to her that he had tried to prove it to her at all. (Or why it had been so important to stay angry at him -- what exactly had she been trying to keep at bay?)

It is a tight squeeze -- but she tries not to pay that much attention, instead laughing a little at his words, knowing there's some truth to them.

"It probably wouldn't occur to them that we might be together somewhere."