#one single thread of gold tied me to you

[zukosdualdao]

one single thread of gold tied me to you

zutara month, day 15: scarf, @zutaramonth

summary: when zuko and the rest of the gaang arrive in the south pole for the winter solstice festival, katara notices something strange: zuko's flush with cold, even though he could easily firebend to avoid it.

other notes: title taken from invisible string by taylor swift.

Katara’s used to the frigid air of her home, the flurries and full-blown storms of wind and snow, the ice that can crystallize against one's skin if they're not careful, the grey skies in the deeps of winter, the crunch of her footfalls against the ice and snow.

In a way, she’s missed it. The cold caresses her like an old friend she grew up with and that welcomes her back with open arms.

It’s a little strange but mostly funny to see the way their other friends react to it, though, as they arrive for the winter solstice festival that their tribe is celebrating this year—a way of marking the newly-ended war.

Aang, of course, has been here before—when they first met and many times in recent months, regaling Katara and Sokka with stories of his travels. Toph’s teeth chatter, yet she refuses to wear more than the basic parka she’s offered, though she’ll gladly accept a hot cup of tea—and has tried to accept mulled wine before Katara pulled it away from her—and hold it close to her chest. Suki doesn’t complain, though that may have more to do with how she can simply huddle closer to Sokka whenever she starts shivering.

Most of them have been by already once or twice since the end of the war. Zuko, though, committed as he is to his new role of Fire Lord, has only been here once before—and things between were decidedly different then.

As they make their way to walk down the iced-over river to release glowing lanterns, Katara glances to her side—Zuko has been gravitating near to her ever since he arrived, which makes her smile—and sees that his nose is darkly flushed and his arms are crossed over his chest and tucked into his sides as he tries not to so obviously shiver, which makes her frown.

Like Aang, she knows he could ward off the cold—though she thinks it may take more intention with firebending, the other elements are fascinating but sometimes still mysterious to her—or use his breath of fire to warm himself up, so why isn’t he?

Looking ahead, she sees their other friends, Toph with an arm slung around Aang’s shoulders and making some loud, obnoxious joke, Sokka and Suki snickering, and beyond them, her father, and Gran Gran, Bato, and the children of the tribe.

Zuko’s trying not to firebend in front of them. It’s… sweet, actually, and probably smart for his first visit here—but she doesn’t want him to suffer for no reason.

Katara pauses and pulls him aside as the group marches on. Sokka turns back briefly to check on her, and then to make aggravating kissy faces when he sees who she’s pulled aside—he’s certainly noticed and commented on the letters they’ve been exchanging back and forth—but she only waves him off.

“Are you cold?” she asks, and she can’t help laughing as he mock-glowers at her.

“No,” Zuko insists. Katara raises a brow at him, amused, and waits. “...Maybe.”

Giggling before setting her lantern in the snow, Katara then unwraps her own scarf from her neck and casts it over his head, circling it around his neck and moving a step closer to tie it for him. His flush darkens. This near, she can hear Zuko gulp, his heart stutter. 

“Better?” she smiles up at him.

“Yeah,” he smiles back, and then offers her a gloved hand, the one not holding his lantern. "Thank you." Katara takes it, picking up her own lantern from her other side, and joined in hand, they walk briskly together to meet again with the group.

[youdroveusofftheroad]

" You drew stars around my scars, but now I'm bleedin' "

[stateofgracetvacousticversion]

drawtober day 11: invisible string @taylortober

[catasthrophicblues]

btw, did yall know that alchemy is pretending something is gold when it isnt

[prettymoongirly]

"hell was the journey, but it brought me heaven...."

orr me combining my hyperfixations and making it pretty <3

[fearsomeandwretched]

Invisible string is sooo tender

[stedesbonnets]

reading the first chapter of my fic and i wanna cry because these two silly men have no idea what’s coming for them......... so much has happened.............

[suuho]

240524 SWC6 샤이니 콘서트

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

have I mentioned lately how much "one single thread of gold" sends me because of the implications? 🙃

the thing about "invisible string" that everyone has pointed out is that it's not that they were actually fated to be together, it's that there are all these things in their past that made them who they are and where they are, and the love they share is so special to them that it feels like it could have been written in the stars. (But the whole thing is that, everything about them is so ordinary and a series of happenstance. But love makes everything feel magical even when it is the most normal thing.)

So throughout the song she's musing about the imaginary, invisible string that ties them together, a metaphor about all the decisions they've made along the way that led to them meeting, until the bridge which ends with, "one single thread of gold tied me to you," the only instance of something tangible between them binding them, representing their love (and commitment).

It's interesting that she's used gold a lot in her music to refer to love (and specifically with him), but the "one single thread of gold tying me to you" has always seemed so sweet to me, yet also had such... important implications. (I know I'm talking around it lol) It's just a lovely way to end the song, "look at all these random occurrences in our lives that made us the people we are and now we've built something permanent together."

anyway I will never shut up about this song even if it's now dead in a ditch and listening to folklore was a great idea today instead of working!

[bluntexposed]

FMK: jim from the office, lee abbott from a quiet place, and jack ryan from tom clancy's jack ryan

Oh, come on.

F - Jack Ryan. Nuff said. M - Jim. Since I did already do this, in a way. K - Lee Abbott. Only because we already saw the movie and have a good idea of how things go there and killing the other two seems blasphemous. @jkrasinski

[ofengineers]

MID & JOSHUA (@bymargrace) + GAME / POST-GAME VERSES

Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons One single thread of gold tied me to you

[hcrctic]

isn't just so pretty to think, all along was some invisible string tying you to me?

for @aquamanandfriends ❤

[starvinginbelair]

your reblog on my sideblog post was just <3 <3 please tell me your fave part of the artist friendly episode!

hi !!!!!! i get so few asks these days so every time i get an ask i'm like for ME?????? 😊😊😊😊

i haven't listened to the artist friendly episode in full for a while but there are SO many little moments i adore from it. i really love hearing ashton talk about his artistic process as a whole, because i find he's so unbearably passionate about it, in a very sincere way. i always get this sense of authenticity from him that i feel doesn't really come across often with many other artists!

my first favourite part is obviously when he talks about his writing relationship with luke. of course, we know they write hit songs together (and like they are hit songs), but the fact that he describes it as a safe zone for him is so sweet. like it's very clear they're comfortable with one another, and hearing how deep their connection is, was just very nice. ashton's also talked about before how he "writes songs he thinks luke needs to hear" sometimes so, that's also incoherent screaming inducing cause wow their relationship is just so so so special.

second fave part was when ashton was talking about calum and their musical relationship! i think it's so heartbreakingly beautiful that he feels like he and calum are connected on a soul level, with their music. as a former band and choir kid, i feel like it's so so underrated how making music together and performing it just bonds you like no other, and there really is a language made between bandmates. it's also special with 5sos in particular because they are one of the only bands that sort of came up in their "scene" that pretty much equally share writing and singing duties. when they get into that "groove zone" or however ash described it, it feels different from other bands because it's like oh! this is all music that we created from start to finish together, and isn't that just beautiful

finally, i really love ashton's take on just being in the industry, as a growing artists and as a drummer in general. especially with more of an optimistic look upon it. he's said in interviews for superbloom, that before 2020, there was a really long time where he thought that his role as a drummer in the band was suffocating. something along the lines of "i'm going to sit behind this drum kit and drum until i die and that's all i'll really be". but now, he really views the band as a vessel of creativity and that it is open and flexible to his ideas and own projects. and it feels like he's adopted more of a role as a guiding force in the band, and a creative, and i just think that sort of growth is amazing !

thank you for the wonderful ask and yk if you want to chat about this stuff i would be so open 🥰

[idk-i-just-really-like-tsc]

just ugly cried to invisible string by taylor swift while thinking about magnus and alec 😄🫶🏻

[starseternelle]

@nightstriumph asked if i had muse for anything; the answer is always yes

__________🏹 THE FACE SHE WEARS IS NOT HER OWN. dark hair, dark eyes ( her opposite in every way ) plain, even. it is a face that a gaze is meant to skip over, remarkable perhaps in just how unremarkable it is. forgettable, doesn't draw too much attention. if this godsforsaken plan of hers is to work, she cannot afford to be recognized for just what she is. a grieving mate, an absent high lady, a survivor out of her own time. at first, she hadn't believed the stories she came across as she wandered, of a human girl living in spring, until she saw it with her own eyes. herself, with rounded ears, considerably thinner than she was now ( the very early days of her exile with tamlin )

🏹__________ SHOCK GAVE WAY TO CUNNING. the world she came from could be changed, the war she lost could be won ( her mate's life could be saved if she knew just how pull certain threads of the grand tapestry of fate ) perhaps it was that hope, or her own stupidity to think she could alter the plan of the gods, that has led her back to the mountain. she has to force herself to breathe through the nausea && the memories, but the war started here; it is the best place to begin. the air shifts around her, her skin buzzes. attention has found her even when she tries to avoid it. only she knows whose eyes have landed on her; she nearly chokes to see him a vision of life, so very different from her last image of him cradled in her arms. she averts her gaze, stares down at her feet, makes herself small. it is what would be expected of a servant ❛   i'm terribly sorry if i disturbed you. was there anything you needed ??   ❜

[tsireyqs]

AND IT’S IT JUST SO PRETTYYYYY TO THIIINK ALL ALONG THERE WAS SOME INVISIBLEEEE STRIIIING TYING YOU TO MEEEEEEE