First Fic I Ever Felt Good About Enough To Post, Ha

first fic i ever felt good about enough to post, ha

@sukkaweek2021

prompt: moonlight

Yue uses her position in the sky to her advantage. She likes to keep an eye on Sokka and his friends and give them a little help every now and then, even if they don’t realize it.

One day she sees Sokka on the Serpent’s Pass. She sees him with a girl. A girl in a green dress and armor, red and white on her face. A warrior. One that could protect him. She listens to their conversation.

“It’s a beautiful moon,” the girl said, slightly smiling.

“Yeah, it really is,” Sokka replied, his voice shaky, and Yue’s heart ached. Get over me already, Sokka! I’m not worth being sad about!

“Look, I know you’re just trying to help, but I can take care of myself,” the girl said. And Yue knew instantly why. Sokka, get over me. It’s not your fault. I chose this fate.

“It’s just so hard losing someone you care about. Something happened at the North Pole, and I couldn’t protect someone. I don’t want anything like that to ever happen again.” It’s not your fault.

“I lost someone I cared about,” the girl confessed, smiling slightly. She’s good for him. “He didn’t die, he just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him, but he was smart and funny, and brave…” She’s talking about him. She’s amazing.

Sokka cut her off. He asked jealously, “Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?” Yue laughed. So smart, but such a dumbass.

She knew that the girl was laughing inside. “No, he’s about your height,” she teased.

“Is he better looking?”

“It IS you, stupid!” Yue was taught that stupid was a harsh word, but the way the girl said it was so full of warmth.

“Oh.”

They leaned in, eyes closed. Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

But Sokka turned away.

“I can’t.” Sokka, you stupid, I-

“Sokka, I’m sorry…” and Yue was screaming, It’s not your fault!

And the girl-the warrior, the protector, walked away.

TO UKRAINIAN FRIENDS

If you are looking for an emergency exit from Ukraine, Poland will open EIGHT safety points on the border with Ukraine (you will get warm food, medical help and from there you will be guided to safety) in two of our voivodeships: lubuskie and podkarpackie. It is confirmed by the Polish Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Paweł Szefernaker.

SOURCES:

https://www.rp.pl/konflikty-zbrojne/art35748991-szefernaker-na-granicy-z-ukraina-powstaja-punkty-recepcyjne-dla-uchodzcow

https://www.wprost.pl/polityka/10633681/polska-reaguje-na-agresje-rosji-na-ukraine-powstana-punkty-dla-uchodzcow.html

I've marked those voivodeships on the map!

Please share because it can save lives!!!!!!

I've been obsessed with Jiang Cheng since halfway through my first watch of cql, and here's why. He always keeps doing better than I expect him to.

(wow, this got long. rest is under the cut!)

He's introduced as the brother-killer, the ruthless sect leader with a reputation for being merciless. Then cut to the flashback, a Jiang Cheng who is fifteen, surrounded by his sister and brother and happy about it, occasionally doing stupid teenager things, trying so very hard to be Ideal Heir, while Wei Wuxian is the prodigy that keeps stealing his thunder effortlessly. And you go, "oh, I know this story. It's a tragedy, because these brothers loved each other once, but one's ambition will eventually breed jealousy which will fester into hate and end, tragically, in the death of the better half." It's Cain and Abel! You've seen how it ends, it's the first scene you see, of course that's where it's going!

And then you see how the three siblings help each other survive a frankly horrible and abusive household. They try to do for each other what their parents couldn't; Yanli tries to be their mother, Jiang Cheng doesn't believe the rumours about Wei Wuxian being jfm's illegitimate son or hold it against him as he very easily could've learnt to from his mother, and Wei Wuxian does his darned best to get jfm to acknowledge and love his son as he does for Wei Wuxian.

You keep waiting for the other shoe to drop!! Yunmeng burns, Jiang Cheng chokes his brother in the rain, and you think this is it, this is where it finally breaks. But he sticks with his brother and sister, he makes some stupid decisions in his grief and pays dearly for it. When he wakes up without a core he is broken, his 'ambition' is destroyed, and you remember him choke his brother and think this is it, and then... it isn't. Other than the one grieving rant in the rain, he never blames his brother for their loss, never demands that he fix it all. When Wei Wuxian does come with a solution, Jiang Cheng doesn't act like it's something he was owed. It's his brother, his brilliant genius brother, who miraculously fixed this impossible thing! He's the most Jiang of them all, of course he achieved the impossible!

And then he's the young sect leader in a bloody war, needing to win, needing to prove his worth and his sect's worth at every turn. This is where he becomes the ruthless, powerful man we meet in the first few episodes! Only.... he finds Wen Qing, who is the enemy in the eyes of the Jianghu, and offers to protect her (only her because he knows his limits, he can't protect all her people and his own, and his duty to his sect is first). He goes looking for his brother, months on end, haggard to the bone.

Then Wei Wuxian shows up wielding a power that's the worst taboo in their world, a power frighteningly similar to the power-drunk villain that they war is being waged against! He's doing unspeakable things, terrible torture in the name of revenge! Ah, so this is what it finally is! The moment they finally fall out for good, where Jiang Cheng cannot abide to tarnish his sect's reputation with Wei Wuxian's, and their love turns to hate.

But.... Jiang Cheng sees what he's done, and the first thing he does is to hug him tight. He asks about Wei Wuxian not carrying his sword, but even after the diplomatic nightmare of a war council, Jiang Cheng is just worrying. It's the most open, the most honest we've seen him so far, and he is concerned for his brother. He shuts it down when Jin Zixun tries to pick a fight. He takes responsibility for the person everyone's wary of, because that's his brother and he trusts him! He's hiding things, yes, but one day he will be ready to talk and Jiang Cheng will wait till then.

Then the war's won (by Wei Wuxian, of course!) and he has a sect to rebuild. And his brother is not at his side. First he's slacking off and drinking around town, then he runs away with the Wens to the Burial Mounds. It's terrible for the sect's and Jiang Cheng's own precarious position in Jianghu. Surely, this is the last thread of Jiang Cheng's love for his brother, the beginning of the man we were introduced to? But it's fucking not! Yes, he's frustrated. Yes, he's mad. And yet, he doesn't force his sister into a diplomatically advantageous marriage (which I strongly believe is the bare minimum of being a decent human being, but is something that wouldn't have been a questionable or dishonourable thing for him to do in the culture and world this story is set in) because she is not a pawn and he respects her choice above the politics! He tries to defend his First Disciple, his brother, and is overshadowed by much more powerful leaders who are bigoted and/or afraid of his power. And when it all goes to shit, they fight! This is the end of it, surely? But no! It's all fake! They fight, make up a lie about how the Yunmeng Jiang has supressed Wei Wuxian and his Wens in the Burial Mounds so they can live without being under attack for however long, and then have shady meetups to discuss their nephew's name!!

In the carnage of Nightless City, their sister dies at his hands, and the horrible realisation dawns that this is what pushes them over the brink, literally. And then!! AND THEN!!!!! EVEN THEN IT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR HIM TO KILL HIS BROTHER!!! The first scene was a lie, WEI WUXIAN HAD TO THROW HIMSELF OFF!!!!!! And when he's finally back, what does Jiang Cheng do? Kill him? ban him from ever returning to their home? No! He wants to drag him back home and make him apologise, explain himself!!

A lot of this is very focused on the brothers, but even outside of that, Jiang Cheng keeps subverting the expectations that the story builds for him right in the beginning. For all the talks of 'disciplining' his nephew (which could unquestionably entail some form of corporal punishment, as we see in other parts of the story) and the childhood Jiang Cheng himself had, the idea of his Jiujiu raising his hand against him is unthinkable to the point of incredulity for Jin Ling. When Jin Ling has his breakdown over Suihua on the Lotus Pier docks, I was full bracing myself for Jiang Cheng to yell at him for crying in public without any shame or dignity, but what does he do? Calls his nephew to his side and demands to know who made him cry, so he can fucking wreck them for daring to do that! He has a mere day to process the Golden Core reveal, and after all the yelling, he actually apologises to his brother!!

Then, in the mother of all sucker-punch moments, we find out that the one grief-riddled, frustrating moment of apparent stupidity whose domino effect this entire thing has been, was in fact Jiang Cheng willingly sacrificing himself, sect be damned, to save his brother and sister. And like!! How do you have such a character who simultaneously is and is not what he seems to be!!!

I (and a lot of the audience) immediately played into the simple brotherhood-destroyed-by-jealousy plot that it seems to be at first, but that's the intention! The entire story keeps showing how misleading, how vicious rumours can be and how horribly it can affect who someone is in the eyes of society. We see this happen in the story, of course, but the narrative also relies on the audience to make the same mistake, to take the tropes that seem obviously implied at the start, and then unravels the true complexity of the story as it moves forward. We got played by the narrative and it was so worth it!! Wei Wuxian is the prime example, of course, but cql (and mdzs from what I gather, though I haven't read the books) does it with such nuance and brilliance for Jiang Cheng, how do you not immediately lose your entire mind about it for the rest of forever!!!!!

Currently thinking about an atla au where almost everything is the same except it takes place in the modern world

Just the sheer chaos of blurry photos of the gaang being snapped across the globe. The cabbage merchant has uploaded the most of them and they’re all captioned with full caps, no grammar, boomer-style

Appa must be faster than cars, but what about planes? What the fuck are the gaang going to do against PLANES? The fear of an aerial assault might actually slow their journey down a lot

Also the thought of Aang emerging from the iceberg and not only finding century-old skeletons, but photos from the days/years following the massacre…. Photography was relatively new, so the images are blurred and uncoloured but still fairly clear. Do you think anyone photographed the aftermath? The generals celebrating the defeat. The pillagers ravaging the temples.

A less morbid thought: there would be hundreds if not thousands of forum boards speculating about the Avatar’s disappearance and Zuko would be on ALL of them. His username is well-known on the boards, though no one knows who this weirdly aggressive but well-traveled dude is

The White Lotus probably has a group chat/fb page disguised as a pai sho fan club where they trade information via coded discussions about the game. Bumi communicates almost entirely in gifs.

Information control is already a huge thing in atla, but in a modern au? Ba Sing Se would have insane media control and online filters. Any posts about the war are taken down and the culprit tracked. If there was a rebellion in Ba Sing Se, it would be from the tech savy population who can get around the censorship

Speaking of media: can you imagine the media attention on the royal family in the Fire Nation? The media would adore Iroh and Lu Ten and either ignore or occasionally criticize Ozai - until Lu Ten died, then the press tears Iroh to pieces and becomes Fire Lord Ozai’s unofficial fanclub overnight.

Azula is the media darling of the Fire Nation. Zuko is praised as often as he is criticized. In canon, the pressure already fucked with these kids, but can you imagine if they had tabloids and a 24-hour news cycle? Zuko’s banishment is warped and vague, and yet covered extensively. Photos of the banished prince sold to tabloids for a fortune in the weeks after his exile - until Ozai shuts that down, then he vanishes from the public’s eyes until Aang returns, then Zuko goes through periods of blind, worshipful praise by the press and intense negativity and hate, swinging wildly between the two extremes. The media will always be extremely polarised around him, until he eventually retires and hands the crown to Izumi. Only then will the press drop their hostility and talk about him as if he has always been the Fire Nation’s darling

Also he looks painfully awkward in every single photo the press take of him. His PR person has tried to coach him on body language with limited success

After Book 2, Azula gets a very similar treatment to Zuko. But while Zuko grew up criticised and hated and learnt to ignore it, Azula has always been adored. So when the press starts documenting her downward spiral, starts questioning her perfection, she loses it

Years later, when she’s an adult, she learns how to bait and play the press like a cat toying with a mouse, laughing at every negative article posted about her or Zuko. But for now, she’s fourteen and never been anything other than perfect and the pressure is killing her

Momo has his own insta. It’s wildly popular. Most of the canon characters are following it, including Zuko and Iroh - the former for any possible hints on the Avatar’s location, the latter because he thinks Momo is very cute

He has a twitter too. For some reason. It has 5x the amount of followers as Sokka’s twitter account and Sokka is SO bitter about it

Ty Lee is a very successful influencer

Do you think there’s a “#ty lee is over party” when it’s revealed she committed Actual Real-Life War Crimes?? I’m losing my mind

Ghibli Movies x ATLA

Ghibli movies as atla ships (romantic or platonic)

Howl’s Moving Castle: I’ve always interpreted it as a maiko movie. Sophie’s conflict with herself and how reserved she is at the start feel very Mai to me and my whole family agrees that Zuko is a like. Flamboyant Howl. (that scene where Howl starts to ooze reminded me of when Zuko got sick from making a good decision)

Ponyo: Yuetara. Katara as Sosuke? She would take such good care of Yue/Ponyo I just KNOW it. Koichi as Hakoda...it just makes sense. Yue as Ponyo would be cool because her dad keeping her trapped kind of makes sense from what we know about Yue’s life. (I actually made some Yue as ponyo art but I will never post it)

My Neighbor Totoro: this one is 100% Sokka and Katara. Kya being sick, Hakodate taking them to visit? Appa as the cat bus and Aang as...idk? That doesn’t make as much sense but um. Anyways I just think this one is really sweet 🥺

Princess Mononoke: I’m not the first person to say this, but suki n sokka. Wolf lady Suki? Yes. And the whole ‘I’ll cut your throat! That’ll shut you up!’ Scene...I would pay to see them as San and Ashitaka. Katara as Ashitaka’s little sister would be so cute 😫

Spirited Away: This one was harder- i can see it as katoph, tyzula, or azutara, but I decided on Tyzula because I’ve used Katara so much already. Azula as Haku??? Ty Lee and no face (mai)? but anyways this au would be everything. Lin would definitely be suki, and the cleaning ladies would be like the kyoshi warriors.

When Marnie Was There: going to be honest I thought this movie was about lesbians til Marnie left the silo with the guy. when I learned they were related I immediately was horrified i thought it was sapphic 😫anyways, it would be cool to see this as Katara and Ikki, or Toph and Opal. I’d go with katara and Ikki though because Marnie is much softer than Toph. Ig the guy katara left the silo with would be Aang, or zuko, or whoever you ship her with. anyways I think that would be sweet :)

thanks for reading!!! I had a lot of fun with this :)

wishing him a calm and peaceful year, happiest birthday to my birthday twin <3