Random-Draw Meme

[beckyh2112]

I've tipped into a manic phase right now, which means I can't concentrate for beans on long stuff. But I can do LOTS of memes! :D

Pick one or two or three numbers from one to twenty. Give me a prompt. Get a beer because it might be a while before I answer. :D

You will note the lack of letters. This is because I don't feel like doing AUs in this one. Or at least not being limited in which AU I write. Maybe the next one.

MEME IS CLOSED.

Comments

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

One, five, and seventeen.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

argh- forgive me, feline on the enter key. Consider that the prompt, in fact- feline.

[dark-puck.livejournal.com]

I will be predictable and choose 9. And then I will also choose 4.

Prompt: now you are lost in your way
deep in an awesome story
so I will find you again

Ozai and Bato - now you are lost in your way/deep in an awesome story/so I will find you again

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I blame reading An Artificial Night last night.


Ozai crouched by the fire, coaxing the embers to life.

Bato ignored him. For once, it wasn't a struggle. It was easy as drowning; all he could focus on was Hakoda's lifeless hand in his, the frost riming his friend's hair, the barely-there breaths slowly coming from Hakoda's mouth.

"Give me your knife," Ozai said suddenly, and Bato lifted furious eyes to the fallen Firelord.

Strange gold eyes looked back at him, intense in a way Bato had never seen before. His lips peeled back in a snarl but he handed the man his knife anyway.

What did it matter if Ozai killed them both?

Ozai took the knife, his eyes falling back to the low-burning fire. He chanted softly in a language Bato did not speak, then slashed his fingertips with the knife. Blood spattered into the flames, and-

Bato stared, because gold eyes were gone.

Not literally, but wherever Ozai was, whatever he had done, the man was no longer there.

Instinctively, Bato reached for the pouch holding a protective amulet and other bits of luck he'd found over the years. Touching it felt like touching glacier-ice and his scarred arm burned.

Eyes blinked, and gold looked back at Bato. "The winter arrived and you buried me here."

"What?"

"The Winter Queen took him," Ozai said in a more normal voice - anger and contempt all wrapped around smoke-bound pride. It's almost soothing, amid all of this.

Except for what he was saying.

"What?"

"The Winter Queen took him," Ozai repeated, irritated. "She does that sort of thing."

"How do you know?" Bato growled, reaching for his knife. Ozai might have stabbed him, but Bato did not make the mistake so many did of trying to grab the fallen Firelord himself. He grasped the knife-blade instead.

Ozai looked down as the blade cut his fingers and blood trickled down onto the clear ice around the hearth-fire. Something changed in those gold eyes.

"Well," he said softly. "There's blood on the snow." He lifted his gaze to meet Bato's eyes. "My father meant for me to be a Fire Sage, Bato of the Water Tribe. I've had few uses for those skills over the years, but."

"But?" Bato demanded as Ozai held onto the knife.

"But I can put us on the path after him." The corner of Ozai's mouth lifted in a smile. "All it will take is knife, candle, and flame."

Bato gave him a suspicious look. "Why would they make you a shaman?"

"To keep me from being a soldier," Ozai said, voice soft as minksnake fur. "How many miles to Babylon, Bato?"

The answer came to mind and tongue before Bato could think. It was a rhyme he'd heard much - every child he'd ever met seemed to know it. "Threescore miles and ten."

"You can get there and back by a candle's light, if your feet are nimble and light." Ozai's smile was jagged, his gold eyes fell. "I need a candle."

"You need two," Bato growled, and something almost like respect flickered in those gold eyes.

[floranna.livejournal.com]

19, 6 and 16.

The prompt? Mmm. Rubbing the scabbed wound.

Piandao, Haru, and Hahn - rubbing the scabbed wound

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

There's apparently something about the Water Tribes. Piandao isn't sure what it is, but they seem to enjoy working in a forge.

This time, sweat sheens pale skin instead of dark, and dark hair brushes shoulders rather than pulled up high and tight. Hahn doesn't have Sokka's glib way with words, either, and his eyes are the blue of the storm-dark sea rather than the blue of the sea on a sunny day.

The contrast is remarkable. Night and day, he thinks as Hahn pumps the bellows.

"Push and pull," Haru mutters as he pounds on the steel under Piandao's close supervision.

Hahn gives him a suspicious look, but Haru doesn't respond. His green eyes are on the steel that once belonged to a navy ship's hull and will now belong to a plow.

Muscles ripple as Haru raises the hammer again. The boy is not so lithe as he was when he first came to Piandao to learn smithing. His shoulders are broadening, his muscles thickening. He will be an oak when he is fully grown - large and powerful.

They are remarkable boys.

They are, like every other child he has met besides the Avatar, broken boys.

He gives them what they want by teaching them to forge, and he gives them what they need by teaching them art as their own fathers never had been able to.

He will not let them walk away as broken men.

He already had to do that once with Sokka.

[nuitsongeur.livejournal.com]

2 and 14.

The Prompts? How 'bout some song lyrics? :D

I follow the night
Can't stand the light
When will I begin
To live again?

Men grow cold as girls grow old,
And we all lose our charms in the end.

'Cause we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

Some for you to choose from.
And yes, if you've noticed, all from Moulin Rouge.

[moonys-autumn.livejournal.com]

MOULIN ROUGE! ;_; <3

Ursa and Jin - when will I begin/to live again?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Jin went down to the Miss Ursa's shop to buy herself something sweet. The confectioner never opened before noon and never closed before midnight. When Jin had asked her about it once, the war-lady had smiled and said she wanted to be sure to miss the dawn.

"Hi," Jin said tiredly as she pushed the door open. A brass bell jingled, and Miss Ursa looked up from the batter she was pouring onto a marble countertop.

"Hello, Jin. Did you have a good day?"

She liked Miss Ursa's voice. It reminded her of her mother. It reminded Daddy of her mother, too, which was why he always sent one of them to get things rather than come himself.

"Sort of," she said, inhaling the scent of all the delicious candy and wandering over to peer at the pralines. "I had a date."

"Was he handsome?" Miss Ursa asked with a smile.

"Not like most people would think," Jin said, smiling a little herself. "He's a war-child with gold, gold eyes. One side of his face is covered in this horrible burn scar-"

Crockery crashed, and Miss Ursa cursed. Jin jerked around to see the confectioner picking up her fallen bowl, batter splattered everywhere.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

5 and 12
"An age will come after many years when the Ocean will loose the chains of things, and a huge land lie revealed; when Tethys will disclose new world and Thule no more be the ultimate."
– Seneca; Medea

Tyro and Song - "when the Ocean will loose the chain of things, and a huge land lie revealed"

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

"Why did the Fire Nation never attack out of the east?" Song asks curiously as she leans over Lee's shoulder to look at the map spread on the ground.

Lee- Zuko shakes his head. "The ocean is too big. Ships get lost if you go west."

"The Sun Warriors came from the west," the Avatar says brightly then he turns imploring eyes on Song. "Can I have some more apple griddlecakes, please?"

She laughs and rubs his head. "Of course!"

***

"The Sun Warriors came from the west," Song says quietly as she lays out a map. "But they didn't come from the Earth Kingdom."

Haru's father nods and the pirate captain looks very interested.

"I think there's something that isn't on our maps," she continues. "The Fire Nation can't confirm it, but maybe..."

"Your boy's Dai Li, isn't he?" the pirate captain asks, eyes on Tyro.

Haru's father grunts. "Dai Li won't know this. But the Sun Warriors would. Maybe the Water Tribe."

"North or south?"

"North," Tyro says quietly. "Definitely the north."

Song nods. "So we'll go there first."

The pirate captain raises his eyebrows and mouths 'we?', but Tyro only nods in agreement.

[robina1984.livejournal.com]

3 and 20

Pathways

Hakoda and Jeong Jeong - pathways

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Hakoda pulls on his gauntlets. "The eclipse is coming."

***

Jeong Jeong extinguishes his candles. "The eclipse is coming."

***

"Sokka's plan will work," Bato says calmly as he helps Hakoda with the straps of his armor.

***

"Sokka's father said they were going to attack the Firelord..." Chey says nervously as he hands Jeong Jeong a cup of tea.

***

"I know," Hakoda says.

***

"They'll fail," Jeong Jeong says.

[charles-rb.livejournal.com]

4 and 5 - "I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going"

Bato and Tyro - "I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going."

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

"I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going," someone says with a Water Tribe accent.

Tyro turns, seeking the voice. Over by the ostrich-horses, he recognizes the scoutmaster getting scowled down at by a tall Water Tribesman. The man's arm is a massive burn scar, his expression implacable as winter.

"Someone needs to," the scoutmaster wheedles. "We need to know the defenses on the fortress-"

"Go yourself then," the Water Tribesman says scornfully. "Chief Hakoda already told your general all we know. We've already lost good men to their archers."

Tyro frowns. He knows this fortress. Worse, he knows the archers. His son is lying in the medical tent now, doctors trying to save his arm.

The Yu Yan Archers are not to be trifled with.

"Everyone knows the Water Tribe-" the scoutmaster says, and the Water Tribesman's eyes narrow.

"Yes, we're good. Those archers are better. We can't afford the losses a scouting mission would sustain."

"General Fong will not-" the scoutmaster starts to threaten, and Tyro takes seven steps.

He's a big man, as tall as the Water Tribesman and twice as broad. More, he's a powerful earthbender and everyone in the camp knows it. Worse, for the scoutmaster, he has no respect for General Fong and he does have the respect of the men who follow him.

He will not allow the fool to alienate their Water Tribe allies.

"Is there a problem?" He asks, deceptively mild.

The scoutmaster looks like he'd rather crawl under a rock than be between the two of them. His eyes flicker to the Water Tribesman.

"Yes. The Fire Nation is trying to kill us all," the Water Tribesman says drily.

For the first time since before Haru got hurt, Tyro grins.

[moonys-autumn.livejournal.com]

7 and 13.

Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
lyrics from "Black Sheep"

Zhao/Katara - now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

"A lie of omission is still a lie," Zhao murmured, soft and silky. His tongue traced the curve of the shell of her ear.

"I'm not lying," Katara hissed, nails digging into broad shoulders. "I need to know what you know about Prince Rudra."

"Oh?" One hot hand slid down the arch of her back. He squeezed her rump, pressing her harder against him.

She let out a little gasp, her hips undulating as she was torn between the feel of his cock rubbing against her and his fingers tracing patterns over the curve of her skin.

"Why don't I believe you?"

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Fifteen and sixteen - nobody gets left behind.

Arnook and Hahn - nobody gets left behind (1/2)

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Warning: YES. THERE ARE DEFINITELY WARNINGS NEEDED.


Hahn's half-fucking-dead, the moon is sealblood-red, and people are screaming. Warriors are screaming, healers are screaming - his sister was pulling the drowning-ice out of his body and she's just stopped.

He lifts his head to see her desperately clawing at the icy wall. He turns, takes in the spreading blood and the frightened healers.

Bad night.

His head thunks back down.

***

The moonlight is still blood-red, but there's no screaming anymore. There's labored breathing, smoke-torn coughing, rattling breaths that fight for air. The healers move with a kind of numb despair.

In the distance, he can hear the roar of flame.

It's getting louder.

Hahn reaches for his spear. It takes him two tries to grab on, three tries to sit upright, and he nearly falls down again when he tries to stand. But the spear makes a poor sort of crutch, and he forces himself step by painful step to Grandmama.

"Master Yugoda," he says, "You have to go. You have to take who you can, and you have to go."

She looks at him, eyes terrible and warm, and nods.

They both know he isn't one of the ones who can go. Not still mostly drowned and halfway dead like he is.

***

The healers leave everyone alive, of course. They're Water Tribe, they live in hope. But they also live in a world that tries its best to kill them even without the Fire Nation, so they give everyone left behind knives.

Hahn sticks his in his belt and goes to stand in the shadow of the doorway. Every movement makes his lungs feel like they're filling with water again. Maybe they are. Or maybe it's blood.

Someone has to stand watch, though.

The moon is still so red it hurts, and he knows it's never going to get better. He also knows he's going to kill the first Fire soldier through this door.

***

He does. The second and the third, too. The fourth brings a blazing hand down on his face-

He lies insensate on the ice-floor, his only thought about how cool it is. Bits of babble flow all around him.

"-fought like a demon-"

"-Avatar's gone-"

"Prince Zuko-"

"-the Moonslayer."

"-controlled retreat, we'll never catch them on the ice-"

"-we got their Chief."

***

Hahn wakes in a ship made of steel. He can barely feel the pulse of the Ocean, and he can't see out of his right eye. Something thick and heavy presses down on that side of his face.

He tries to push himself upright, only to find he's tied down.

"Careful," someone says with an accent like he's never heard before. "You took an awful lot of damage, little wolverine. The admiral wants you intact, though, so I'm not going to let you hurt yourself further."

Hahn's eye narrows.

"Talk all you want, Kyou. The savage won't get it," another voice says.

Narrowed eye becomes a snarl, then Hahn turns his head and spits-

The Fire Nation man who spoke first sighs. "More poppy-milk, I see."

[hedgehog39.livejournal.com]

Six, Eight

And I looked,
And behold a pale horse:
And his name that sat on him was Death,
And Hell followed with him

Sokka and Haru: And his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Yugoda could save Katara.

That was what Granpakku said, and Sokka chose to believe him. Yugoda could bundle Katara's guts back into her where they belonged and heal her shut. Since Aang had the speed of the wind, Aang would take her there. Since Toph could hear hearts beat, Toph would ride with to hold onto Katara's life.

Since Sokka was her brother, he would stay here and kill the bastards who did this.

He rubbed ashes between his fingers, then painted the wolf-face over his.

Haru watched him with eyes like rotted copper and cracks spreading out from under his feet.

They stood together, and the village shook.

"You can't go up to the spirit mountain!" The village elder cried in alarm, tugging at their sleeves. "It will close the forest to you, it will drown you and burn you, and kill you before you reach even the first stone of it!"

Haru's mouth lifted in something that was not at all a smile.

Sokka grinned like a sword at the strongest earthbender in the world. "Then I guess we'll have to bring the mountain to us."

[gigabomb.livejournal.com]

1, 20; they could not be any further apart

Mai/Jeong Jeong - they could not be any further apart

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Mai slid herself slowly onto the master firebender. The way he thrashed, she would think he was the one in pain. It's terrifying, that moment. She was giving up something of value, something she could have brought to the negotiations table for her marriage.

The candles in the bedroom roared high in a holocaust as she settled all the way down. Jeong Jeong tipped his head back and blew out a long jet of red fire.

Mai sat and wondered if intercourse was overrated or if she was doing it incorrectly. The foreplay had been... not boring. The little spark-scars across her breasts, the scratches her nails had left on his chest attested to that.

Hands settled on her hips, and Jeong Jeong began to move under her.

Well. She frowned. She supposed it was an interesting sensation. Still. Ty Lee's novels had implied it would be more interesting than this.

She much preferred what he'd done with his mouth and hands earlier.

[spyridona.livejournal.com]

4, 16.

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

Bonus: Iroh and Ozai

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Long, dark hair seeping into shadows. Long, red robes clinging to a willowy frame. Long, fine limbs moving with firebender's grace.

Mother?, Iroh thinks for an instant, utterly at a loss.

Then the figure turns, and he sees it's the Second Prince. His little brother, by blood, though Iroh finds it easier to think of Jeong Jeong as his brother. They have shed blood together, while this ghost of his mother has never been more than someone who Zolena mentioned in letters.

The Second Prince looks at him with quizzical eyes, as if not quite placing his face.

We are strangers to each other, Iroh thinks, his heart growing heavy. We are brothers, and we have never met before at all. Our lives have passed each other by.

[dark-puck.livejournal.com]

I have been deputised to end requesting here.

No requests below this comment will be filled.

Thank you.

---