redbrunja | Fic: "Or Else This Heat Might Turn To Frost"

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fanfic

Fic: "Or Else This Heat Might Turn To Frost"

Title: Or Else This Heat Might Turn To Frost
Author:

redbrunja
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: R
Author’s Note: Written for

zutara100, prompt 001 "Beginnings"
Summary: “This was the true beginning: the heat of her skin, the taste of saline and sweetness."

This was the beginning.

This, Katara’s skin under his lips, her nails scraping down his back, her hips bucking against his. She muffled her cries in his shoulder, biting on his neck as his fingers and mouth and cock made her writhe and twist.

This was the beginning. Not when he first met her and threatened to destroy her village, not when he bound her to a tree, not under Ba Sing Se: this.

The heat of her skin, the taste of saline and sweetness as he licked into her and she dug her heels into his back and bit her lip and broke apart under his ministrations.

He imagined he could use the sound of her cries, the slow smile she always got after, and erase his mistakes, or at least ameliorate them, that he had found the beginning of a path after years of stumbling half-blind, in dark forests.

This was the end: Katara harshly yanking her hair back, hiding the dishevelment that his hands had wrought, and saying, voice cool, “This was a mistake, and it’s over.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why is it that every time I want to comment on your fics all I can think of is "oh, pretty"? For other authors I can leave detailed comments pointing out what I liked, but something about your fics (and your characterization, so amazing) reduces me to an incoherent puddle of goo.

(So, um, in simpler terms: oh, pretty and yay, characterization!)

Well, I do like to hear "oh, pretty". ^_^

(and your characterization, so amazing) reduces me to an incoherent puddle of goo.

This makes me so, so happy. I try really hard to get my characters right. Glad that you enjoyed this.

Um, awesome. DX

Also...is that a Labyrinth quote I see on the icon used for the katara_zuko comm?

Thank you! And yes, that is a Labryinth quote. (I swear, everytime I use that icon, people comment about it. Two great fandoms in one!)

(deleted comment)

Thank you!

This was short but wow. I enjoyed the intensity of emotion, first sensual and then almost spiteful. It was a lovely read. Hope you write more! :)

Thank you! And trust me, there has been and will be more Zutara from me. ^_^

As I mentioned to someone below, I'm surprised by how many people say Katara as being spiteful or malicious - rereading, I can see where they're coming from, but in my head she was much more symapthetic and clearly suffering as well.

Also, that icon is fantastic.

Well, to clarify, I don't think Katara is a generally malicious person and she clearly does not seem the type who premeditates or enjoys manipulating others to bring them pain or shame (or else, of course, she would have seen no harm in Hama's bloodbending). She is, in fact, quite empathetic and caring. That, however, was what made made think she was acting a bit spiteful. She's good at figuring out other people's feelings (and let's face it, Zuko has his all written on his face) and she's normally a person who cares about others, but, within this fic, she writes off her emotions and his reciprocations as a mistake due to just a climax of emotional conflict. I can understand the fake appeal to reason and don't think it's OOC at all, but it's Katara acting outside of her normal element. I hope that makes sense!

Also, that icon is fantastic.

Thanks, it's from

isaia's art, which is always marvelous! :D

Edited 2008-03-09 03:50 (UTC)

*nods*

Well said. And I think (in my head at least, and I'm actually writing a sequel to this, and I'd be interested in what you think) is that Katara is putting other people's emotions ahead of hers, and thus, Zuko's. And yeah, she is being a bit spiteful in that she's not explaining herself, or really factoring his emotions.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I interpreted Katara's emotions. And I'm laughing because of your highly appropriate icon. XD I have your sequel open in the next tab over so I'll go check that out! :D

I know, I really love this icon - it's so apropos.

. . . woah. *applauds*

Thank you!

Oh, Katara, Hama would be so proud of you now! :(

I loved this drabble. Loved the description of Katara 'breaking apart' and the detail of her yanking her hair back from him.

So good to read fresh new, well-done Zutara in the morning! :D

Okay, wow. I have to say, I'm surprised at how many people seemed to think Katara was being premeditated about this. I was writing this thinking she feel to prey to her lusts, and then was breaking this off because she couldn't handle being in a relationship with someone she should hate.

(Not that that's a bad interpretation.)

And thanks for being so detailed about what worked for you - I love knowing what exactly I'm doing right.

So good to read fresh new, well-done Zutara in the morning! :D

Isn't it?

Oh, let me clarify! I actually didn't think that Katara was being premeditated (although I also don't think that's a bad interpretation). By my Hama remark, I only meant the fact that Hama would love knowing that Katara was choosing to hold on to hate and past wrongs and inadvertently stinging a Firebender to the quick.

Oh, okay. But yeah, Hama would love that, especially because (in my head at least) Katara's really miserable with this.

I am reminded of this song (http://www.mp3lyrics.org/m/mirah/cold-cold-water/), even though the lyrics don't match your drabble, the emotional impact does perfectly.

Great drabble, thanks for posting it!

Oh my god I love that song so much! And the lyrics are actually... frankly the lyrics work, especially if I think about this more from Katara's perspective.

('Cold, Cold Water is a Lee/Kara song to be, due to a great vid, but since I've started watching Avatar, it's started to morph into a Zutara song. *points to icon*)

Thanks for commenting!

Edited 2008-03-08 21:20 (UTC)

I saw that vid a long time ago, it was well-made but my enjoyment was handicapped that neither Kara nor Lee are in the tiny tiny "characters I don't hate on BSG" circle.

Oh my god I love that song so much! And the lyrics are actually... frankly the lyrics work, especially if I think about this more from Katara's perspective.

I think the first half and the end work great for this story concept and for K/Z, but only if you ignore the choruses about jealousy and wandering eyes. The metaphors for sex and for emotions and complexities in the relationship suit them very well, especially since neither the song nor drabble ends on a happy-lovey-dovey note.

Oh, and.... I LOVE THIS SONG TOO. YES. All the ups and downs and varying instruments.

It's just so awesome! With her voice, and the power of the instruments and the way it builds, and builds to such heights of power, but has these little lulls... words fail.

I saw that vid a long time ago, it was well-made but my enjoyment was handicapped that neither Kara nor Lee are in the tiny tiny "characters I don't hate on BSG" circle.

Oh, ouch. Burn. *snicker* I love Starbuck beyond reason, and Lee... was rather awesome when he was playing the square-jawed hero to Kara's reckless frack-up self, but 2 1/2 season in, that show decided to rape both their characters.

In my head, the show ended around the time they killed off Cain.

*nods*

And if you don't mind my asking, why don't you like Starbuck? (I'm just curious, don't feel you have to hold back.) And which are the few characters that you like?

The metaphors for sex and for emotions and complexities in the relationship suit them very well, especially since neither the song nor drabble ends on a happy-lovey-dovey note.

Well said.

Edited 2008-03-09 03:37 (UTC)

my thoughts on BSG: Season 2 was when BSG went from "entirely ridiculous and nonsensical but still pretty dramatic and entertaining" to a spiral of suck. It has eeked its way half-way out of that whirlpool of badness, but for every bright moment or great thing there's two things that are so unbelievable I have to physically wince.

It's like-- no, it is-- the act of watching beautiful cinematography, fantastic art design, a decent script, and stellar acting that's crippled by painfully inconsistent characterization, crap sense of continuity, pop psychology, and the fact that everything the Cylons do as a group is stupid, and since the whole show is based on what the Cylons keep doing to the humans the stupid only gets stupider as they go. I want to pull my hair out, often. And the only way I don't is that I try to enjoy the little sideplots and look at the pretty pictures of spaceships and exploding stars.

I get annoyed by Kara a lot of the time, though more because I get annoyed at the writers. I find Kara somewhat more entertaining than Lee, but I can't really relate to Kara at all; even though I admire that she is a strong female character, she does a lot of things that would make me disrespect her if I knew her in person. Also, I get SO FUCKING TIRED of Adama/Lee/Kara bullshit EVERY OTHER FUCKING SCENE. I was never that much into Lee's drama in the first place because try as I might I just can't sympathize or care about him at all, and the times when Kara is wrapped up in that are the times I like her least. With her husband she's palatable and with her cylon / prophecy issues she's almost interesting to watch, but every scene with any two of those three characters turns into Unresolved Parental Issues / I Just Don't Love You Like I Loved Your Brother Or Even That Guy I Married, Sorry.

A lot of the characters on this show just bug me after a while.

Characters I do like:

The President (she wins)
The terrorist leader/politician
The Chief
Baltar (more "appreciate" than "like as a person")
Kara's husband
Athena
Helo/Halo (whatever his name is... I haven't watched the show in 6 months...)

And the really cute one who was a spy in the work camps, with the dog bowl.

Thought of a succinct way of saying what I don't like about Lee: he's boring. His issues are things I've seen a million times in a million male protagonists, and he never rises above a level of mediocre type. He's a type more than a character or a person. Though I am sometimes repulsed by Kara's choices and personality, she is more original and more interesting than Lee is, by spades. Lee just BORES me. Adama bores me any time he's talking to or about Lee, too. As does Kara. It's like his character is a walking infection of lame dullness that spreads to other people in the scene.

I've heard a lot of people have that reaction. Since I was/am a sucker for Kara's season 1 ear angst and Adama's father figureness, I could grove with it (plus, Jaime Bamber is preeeetttttyyyyy) but I can totally see why lots of people disliked him.

my thoughts on BSG: Season 2 was when BSG went from "entirely ridiculous and nonsensical but stil

*nods* I was literally forcing myself to finish season three, and after the crap they pulled towards the end there... I broke up with BSG, which wasn't fun, believe you me.

the fact that everything the Cylons do as a group is stupid, and since the whole show is based on what the Cylons keep doing to the humans the stupid only gets stupider as they go. I want to pull my hair out, often

So much word. And I like most of the other characters you do, with the exception of Baltar, who I want to shank so freaking badly. I hate him with his twitchiness, and his sliminess, and the fact that he has the writer's golden touch on him, and will thus never die.

I get the same twisted amusement out of him that the writers do, I'm sure, but there have been plenty of times I have wished him dead. For me his annoyance factor/sliminess is balanced by the entertainment I get from him, though I wouldn't shed a tear if they did kill him off. They've already passed up a few prime opportunities. Still, I liked him better when he used to be all-out crazy than when he's merely self-serving. I miss him talking to walls and shouting "NO MORE MR. NICE GAIUS!" That phase has passed, I'm afraid, and I don't like his new religious fervor, affectation though it may be.

I haven't totally broken up with BSG, but I don't watch it with a lot of expectation either. I wait long weeks and watch several episodes at once to catch up, then go another few months without. This system works for me. I had mixed feelings when the series began, and I never loved it, but what entertainment I did get has dropped significantly. Season 3 is better than the second half of season 2, but only because I stopped paying attention to anything the cylons said or did. The whole premise of them in this show is based on bad logic and nonsense in the first place, because the way they've behaved up until now doesn't make sense for even their own self-professed goals. And the religion thing... it just hurts to think about it. Why have a race of killer robots if you're going to make them behave like fanatical humans? Why not just have fanatical humans? The whole point of killer robots, even the pretty ones, is to act like killer robots. If they're not going to, then pick some other plot device. It's the logic trap-- robots need logic to make them robots. If you're going to make them use logic, then just make them aliens. Aliens can be explained away without a pretense of logic. A pretense that a child could find gaping loopholes in.

What does shank mean?

See, I never found Gauis amusing, which meant that so, so much screen time was just painful to me. And shank is prison slang for stabbing someone with a (usually homemake) knife.

You. Are. My. Favorite.

You write the best Zutara..and OH that line at the end “This was a mistake, and it’s over.”

Katara, you know you loved it.

Thank you!

I'm so glad that you liked it, and I really like that line as well. (They both loved it, but Katara... well, if she didn't have issues just about doing a firebender, she'd have issues about doing anything just for the pleasure of it.)

i liked it, but it would have been better if you hadn't jumped right into the rough stuff. like maybe an awkward moment to start it off. as soon as i figure out how to post fanfiction on my livejournal, i'll show everybody some great fanfics.

Oohhh I loved Zuko's thoughts and passion here and the kick to his guts at the end...love love love conflicted couples! :D

Oh Katara, you know you love him and you're coming back for more :D

Zuko is like Kakashi who is like Dean: better when he's in pain. And yes, Katara is totally coming back for more, even if she doesn't know it now. (You've read the sequel, right?)

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Fic: "Or Else This Heat Might Turn To Frost"

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cold, Katara

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Re: cold, Katara

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Re: cold, Katara

Die, Die!

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