esmenet | (no subject)

Current Mood: ack

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Okay, this looks like a meme that's fun and something I might actually finish:

Give me a character I'm familiar with and I'll either write you a ficlet (~100 words) or the equivalent amount of personal canon. (Academic!Zuko is totally a separate character from canon!Zuko, btw.)

Maybe this will help with the writer's block? (fma_ladyfest deadline on the eighth. Eep!)

EDIT: An explanation as to why I haven't written the aca!Zuko fic yet, in response to the question when, where and how you see him diverge from canon!Zuko?

I'm actually not sure about that yet! It's probably either a slight difference in him, when he was young, or a difference in the Fire Nation as a whole. Because I have it in my head that the Fire Nation, and parts of the now-Earth Kingdom, used to speak a very different language than the fairly unified one they do in canon, but I haven't figured out how late they would have given that up as the official language. People would still speak it for a while after it was made un-official, at home if nothing else, but even if Aang's slang was outdated it was still understandable. Which would mean either that it was made un-official more than a hundred years ago, or that people in the Fire Nation still understand a fair amount of it even if it sounds outdated and awkward. (Which might mean that Zuko and Azula learned some of it from Ursa? Or maybe Zuko was a tiny child-academic who studied it on his own?)

And of course I've no idea at all when the Earth Kingdom was unified and made to speak a single language, since it was probably a bunch of different ones for a very very long time. ^_^

So pretty much the difference between academic!Zuko and canon!zuko is all wrapped up in regional and linguistic differences in the A:TLA world and the things he learned/was taught before he got banished. Canon!Zuko, for instance, can probably compose some acceptable poems, but academic!Zuko would have learned enough classical court poetry to spot references to it in everyday speech. (Which could lead to all sorts of fun in Ba Sing Se, when he has a moment of thinking "oh, they're referencing that famous poem that compares alcohol to politics -- wait, no, crap. wrong language, wrong country. no, wait again, are they taking International Poetry at the university? Are they the kind of people who would make cross-language references about plotting against the government? Or is there an Earth Kingdom thing they're referencing here that I'm missing entirely? ARGH.")

So basically my writing of academic!Zuko is stalled by my ignorance of Asian literary traditions and linguistic differences, which are the kind of thing that I could easily spend the rest of my life researching. ~~And it would be AWESOME.~~ And this is why I can't really answer your question, because if I knew enough to answer it completely I could start the damn thing. XD

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooh, underground city! Man, I bet there's some awesome stuff down there. And if it was full of spirits, Zuko would definitely go down there and look at them and try to get a handle on what Mai might be dealing with, and looking at wall engravings and abandoned temples, and almost forgetting to take a torch with him.

And of course the Fire Lord's palace would have been built *after* the royal line came into being, possibly quite a while after, so it could totally lack all the ward-patterns and spirit-traps that would have been standard for buildings before then. So she'd have to supervise construction of those, too.

It is pretty disturbing. And also AWESOME. You could probably retire, but I don't imagine you'd want to. They'd have to make sure you didn't spill any secrets, one way or another, and burn your uniform or something. Huh, I wonder what the Dai Li do on their days off?

There would be a lot of spirit attacks at first -- I mean, they'd have several hundred years' worth to make up for, and no one who actually knows how to deal with them -- but after everything was settled down, shrines built, war over, all that, they'd be a lot better off with Fire Lord Mai than with someone who wants to be an academic for the rest of his life. (Come to think of it, her marrying Kuei would be pretty good for the Earth Kingdom as a whole.)

Well, now that we've got Mai and Zuko and Iroh pretty much down, all I have to do is figure out what to do with everyone else. (What do Aang and Katara and Sokka do if Zuko's not chasing them around? Is he chasing them around? Why? Does he have his crew with him if he's not? What about Toph? What about Suki? Hakoda & co? Is Yue just hanging around being a princess, or is she doing something else? What about Jet and his friends? What are Teo and his dad up to? What's everybody going to do about Sozin's Comet? Someone's going to do something during the eclipse; what? When does the assassination happen, and who did it? Aaaaaaa! *hairpull*) But once enough of that's done, I think I'll write Mai and Ty Lee dealing with the assassinations and the spirits trying to eat everyone and hatching a plan to deal with it all.

I love the idea of the new, un-warded royal palace (especially as we know Roku blew half of it down anyway – which is probably some bad mojo in and of itself). At least if anyone’s likely to know the palace inside out, it’s Mai and Ty Lee – I can imagine tiny!Azula making sure she knew every inch of the place and having her henchkids in tow.

And yep, I guess you’re pretty much Dai Li for life. On their days off (if they had them!) wouldn’t they have to secure their uniforms in some kind of spirit-proof box before they went out to be clumsy and wistful and play pai sho with the old men of the city? Or perhaps they just socialise amongst themselves – I wonder if you could justify female Dai Li, given that I imagine scary secret police are moderately likely to select on merit. And they were founded by Kyoshi! I guess it depends on how sexist you make the Earth Kingdom. And I imagine that after a few diplomat visits to her husband Mai would make sure they let girls in if they didn’t already – as you say, she’d probably be A Good Thing for the Earth Kingdom.

And, yep, the idea of a mini-era of spirit-war, so to speak, following the war proper seems really satisfying, somehow – and of course it would give Fire Nation civilians a very real and urgent incentive to get themselves interested in the old ways, regardless of how keen they might be on true firebending.

... Speaking of which, oh man, Aang and ... everyone. *Hairpull* seems appropriate! I wonder if you could have everyone (well, minus Toph and Suki, probably) coincide at the North Pole? It just seems such a Spirit World focus, and Koh is such a gift. A creepy, creepy gift. Maybe Zuko, assuming Iroh and his wee ship as per normal, could work things out with Aang somewhere along the journey northwards and end up joining forces. And perhaps with Iroh bringing out his Dragon of the West side on behalf of the Northern Water Tribe, things might go much less smoothly for the Fire Nation invasion forces? Which might mean no dead Yue, which is an idea I’m always vaguely fond of, because I object to her storyline in principle if not in execution (that was such a great finale!). And it seems there’d be a lot of stuff you could do with a spirit-touched princess still wandering around. Though, hmm, she could also be very useful as the moon...

And, oh man, the assassination. Azula? Less laden with daddy-issues than in canon, out to claim the throne on the DOBS? Which, man, might pollute the Fire Lord’s line sufficiently that Agni basically disinherits the entire family on the strength of it? Though, hmm. That still leaves you with Azula to deal with. Problems! And I wonder if that scenario isn’t a little glib anyway...

But, yep, Mai and Ty Lee dealing with the aftermath in between fighting off spirits sounds like awesomeness!

I wouldn't be surprised if there were female Dai Li! But of course you can't tell unless you already know, because of the uniforms. And I'd bet it's not so much a "women can't become ____" type thing and more social oppression. "I won't have my daughter doing X," or your friends gradually sliding away from you, that kind of thing. But for the Dai Li or the university or the army(probably) if for nothing else, should your parents let you sit the exams and you pass, you're in.

And I can definitely see Mai introducing the concept of 'promotion on merit' to the other areas of Earth Kingdom life.

Hmm, they probably would have somewhere special to keep the uniforms. Maybe they have lockers somewhere in the Palace?

true firebending

Oh man, I forgot about the Sun Warriors! Iroh would probably send them a letter or something, if they didn't already know. The question, then, is if they stay put, lend any direct help at all (would they be okay with people finding out they were still around? Or would they just send a few people with knowledge of the Ancient Ways (tm) to go out and teach firebending at the newly-built shrines/temples?) or try to take over.

I'm very tempted to put Zuko at the South Pole about when he was in canon, looking for Water Tribe sagas and information on the Avatar, but something about that just doesn't feel right. The thing is, I kind of want to skip over most or all of his time with the Gaang between meeting them and being at the North Pole. :[ Because I don't want this fic to be about Aang's story, I want it to be about Mai's and Zuko's, even if Zuko is the sort of person who would enjoy riding to the North Pole on a flying bison. So maybe he and his uncle are at the North Pole when they get there. (Which you already said, sorry.) Probably pretending to be an Earth Kingdom noble with his Uncle. And Aang would totally notice all the Fire Nation poetry he was reflexively referencing.

And I forgot about Zhao, too. >.< I could totally see him going "Spiritual chaos in the homeland? That's gotta be the moon spirit's fault, LET'S GO KILL IT and win unending fame and glory for me!" And while he probably wouldn't have gotten promoted to Admiral with Ozai dead and the homeland in chaos, he might have enough power and charisma to make a bunch of people think that launching an attack on the North Pole and possibly winning lots of military glory for their favourite possible ruler = GREAT IDEA. (It worked for the Romans, okay.) If the intention was to conquer and subjugate rather than destroy, they might not even know or care about Aang. (Then again, if the majority of the fleet was there for Aang, and Aang just grabbed a waterbending teacher and ran, I can see major major embarrassment and loss of authority for Zhao as a good three-fourths of his fleet just turns around and heads home.) And Yue could continue sticking around the North Pole being awesome, or she might decide to go off and see the world. Maybe hang around with Sokka and Katara and Aang, maybe join Zuko and Iroh on their quest to, um, be wandering sages and send useful stuff home to Mai, maybe go to the Fire Nation and use her spiritual influence a bit. (I'd love to write something where she just sneaks in and fights spirits, and Mai runs into her.)

Leaving Azula alive would create so many interesting problems, oh man. Imagine if the royal line's seal on spirits (or whatever) was broken when Ozai was killed, and Azula had to deal with it all? She might have an even worse time of it than Mai and Ty Lee by themselves, since she's never struck me as the type of person who's good at maintaining already running systems. Mai would just fix everything out of annoyance, but I could see Azula forgetting about unimportant things like spirits eating all the common folk.

Also, I imagine that Koh would factor as a reason people might be so accepting of Mai. If there were ever someone whose life was preparation for a face-off with him, it would be her.

(And I just realized I have no idea where to start reading up on Japanese spirits. No. Idea. What. So. Ever. *hairpull again*)

[First of all: I was just over on LJ commenting on Bookelfe’s (who I’ve only just discovered and she is awesome!) verdict on the high and low points of season three Avatar when I scrolled up and saw your comment! Only of course I didn’t know it was LJ-you, so I was all, Oh internet, you and your weirdzo coincidences! And then I clicked and all was made clear. Which still kinda leaves me going, Oh internet!]

BUT ANYWAY. Yeah, I can see the Earth Kingdom as a place where oppression is very much a matter of proprieties and mores, which would make Earth Consort Mai blandly refusing to give a damn about such things hugely powerful, I think, even if she wasn’t specifically exerting herself to level the playing field for women (not that she wouldn’t want to, but it might come lower down on the list than ‘preventing civil war in the Fire Nation’, at least at first).

And, yes, somehow I find the idea of spirit-touched uniforms really compelling? And I guess they would give plenty of fuel for WACKY GRAD STUDENT HIJINKS, with potential srs consequences and perhaps a side of disguised ninja-ing from Zuko which nearly ends very badly when he finds secret knowledge about the city nudging at the back of his mind and is distracted from IMPORTANT NINJA BUSINESS.

Much as I like the idea of the Sun Warriors coming and teaching Ancient Ways (tm) to the Fire Nation, I suspect that they would be absolutely furious with the place for breaking its alliance with the spirit world? I mean, I guess they might be glad of any return to the old ways, but given that they’re exasperated with the place anyway, to put it mildly, and not exactly given to outreach, I think a palace squabble bringing angry spirits to their doorstep (though one presumes they’d have wards, so no further) might make them pretty recalcitrant about chipping in to help the new regime. Though … somehow the idea of Ty Lee on a diplomatic mission to the Sun Warriors seems immensely appealing!

And good point on skipping to the North Pole asap – and, yes, Zuko being in disguise and getting found out through the power of poetry by Aang sounds like good times. Though I wonder if Iroh wouldn’t at least lobby pretty hard to be disguised as a tea merchant, rather than a noble! And, heh, Zhao. I feel his urge for IMMORTAL GLORY would probably come to the fore pretty strongly in a time of domestic upheaval – perhaps he himself is only a couple of steps lower down the blurry line of succession than Mai and any other major claimants, so he has an even more massive vested interest in returning swathed in military glory. And, hm, if he found Aang already gone and had to skedaddle home with his tail between his legs and half a fleet, I can see him being – well, hardly a worthy antagonist for Mai, but perhaps a useful pawn in some palace plot?

And Yue, hmm. I quite enjoy the idea of her ending up at the head of the Northern Water Tribe, with Mai ruling the Fire Nation and obviously influential in the Earth Kingdom – and, heh, maybe Katara in the South if Sokka is off having adventures and a billion boomerang-throwing babies with Suki! But, then, I also quite like the idea of her throwing it all up and going off to play sweet-but-disaffected royals with Zuko and Iroh. And your idea of her popping into the Fire Nation to do some free-lance spirit-fighting and running into Mai is awesome. So, dilemma, horns of!

And, yes, Azula, very much not the type of person who's good at maintaining already running systems. And yet much too interesting to get rid of as cavalierly as Ozai – plus, seeing her fighting spirits and failing to save peasants and such alongside Mai and Ty Lee would be so fascinating. As would of course the moment when everything turned disastrous enough for Mai to have to step in. Actually … I wonder if it couldn’t be Ty Lee and Azula heading off to see the Sun Warriors. I can see Azula agreeing on the (secret?) basis that, well, if she can’t have the throne and she isn’t going to get a chance to rival her fuddy-duddy uncle in war, she can at least match herself against a dragon.

Also, heh, Koh and Mai’s poker face: a battle with a very clear victor!

Japanese spirits, oh man. A basic library search (for, uh, ‘japanese spirits’) throws up ONE BOOK that isn’t in Japanese. WTF, library? But it does look pretty sweet if you could get your hands on it:

Pandemonium and parade : Japanese monsters and the culture of yōkai / Michael Dylan Foster (Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, c2009)
Contents: Introduction to the weird -- Natural history of the weird : encyclopedias, spooky stories, and the bestiaries of Toriyama Sekien -- Science of the weird : inoue enryō, kokkuri, and human electricity -- Museum of the weird : modernity, minzokugaku, and the discovery of yōkai -- Media of the weird : Mizuki Shigeru and kuchi-sake-onna -- Yōkai culture : past, present, future.

[Oh noez, you found my sekrit LJ identity! :D I love the internet -- where else can you find out you've been talking to one person rather than two after several months of acquaintance? *has done that*]

DISGUISED NINJA-ING. YES. *loves this idea* To get into Ba Sing Se's secret libraries?

Or, on the totally comedic side, Zuko might room for a while with someone who was in the Dai Li and accidentally put on the wrong shirt in the morning. He could wander around the whole day thinking why do I feel like I should be on the rooftops right now? And why do I keep wanting to earthbend? We could even spin some srs consequences out of that! *likes this idea too*

Azula and Ty Lee would so go off to do diplomatic things with the Sun Warriors! And I could see Azula deciding to stay and persuade them to teach her The Ancient Ways (because no matter how cool the Dancing Dragon is, they've gotta have more than one set of awesome secret firebending moves) before heading out to conquer the world, and letting Mai run things at home. (Maybe they could help her work through some of her issues, as well?) Or just, y'know, fighting dragons. For fun. Oh, Azula. <3

Tea merchant. Yes! Though I suspect Iroh would say his brother was nobility, to account for Zuko not being all that great at acting.

I like the idea of Mai pinning Zhao to a wall with her knives and telling him that she'd really rather he didn't end up on top: "Things are pretty boring already, but I'm sure you'd make them worse." And then that could be the catalyst for him to call in favours from his friends and run off to the North Pole.

Yue might be able to portray the last two to her father as what Ozai ostensibly sent his son out to do: see the world, get experience, make influential friends. I just don't know which she'd end up doing -- I like both of those ideas way too much.

Ooh, that book looks excellent. *inter-library loans*

Well, there could be both DISGUISED NINJA-ING and SHIRT-SWAPPING HIJINKS – Zuko could find out the weird properties of Dai Li uniforms through inadvertent shirt-swappage, endure a day of shenanigans, and then find it expedient to get himself a uniform (preferably without a Dai Li agent already in it) when he really needs to know how to find a SECRET LIBRARY.
And yes, I think Azula + dragons could be a winning combination! Aaaand – they’d have to work out at least some of her issues, right? I mean, the dragons test you for something, and even if they aren’t exactly cuddly, I think Azula in any near-canon state would probably qualify for burninating. Or eating, or whatever. And I think an encounter with the magical rainbow fire of peace and balance might also calm her down somewhat – as well as presumably making her bending even more formidable? Plus, I feel that Ty Lee + booby-traps + grouchy/amused Sun Warriors has the potential for good times!
And good point re Zuko’s lack of acting chops. Oh Zuko.
And yes, I can absolutely see Mai sending Zhao packing, and eye rolling massively when she finds out that his brilliant plan is essentially to try and take Moscow, Napoleon style, thus freeing her up to start sorting things out in the Fire Nation.
Oh, Yue, problems! But actually, again, we could have both! A wanderjahr with Zuko and Iroh, perhaps when she realises that marrying jerk-dude isn’t for her and wouldn’t be good for her people either, followed by a trek back to the Northern Water Tribe (perhaps after she hears her father has died?), fightin’ spirits along the way.
And, yep, that book does look good, doesn’t it *crosses fingers*. And I’m sure there must be loads of stuff on Japanese folklore ... somewhere *is too lazy to do more catalogue-trawling right now...* Let me know if you find anything awesome! Plus, I guess a glance (!) across at China and Korea, fr’instance, might be useful – given the mix-n-match nature of the canon Fire Nation, it seems justified. If, y’know, daunting.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only