Birthday AU Commentfic Meme!

[attackfish]

It’s my birth month, and to celebrate, I’m hosting a commentfic meme!  I’m in the mood to write some AU fics, so that’s the theme of the meme.  I’m open to both Avatar: the Last Airbender and Harry Potter requests, and I’m also taking requests in any of my existing AUs (Except Children of Mars), including the ones I established im my last commentfic meme, as well as new ones.  Comment with up to five requests, and I’ll guarantee you at least one commentfic.  I’ll probably answer with more, knowing me.  weirdlet , beboots , and floranna  get seven requests and a guarantee of two fics, because beboots  and floranna  are the best betas ever, and weirdlet  has a truly bizarre AU I inflicted on her rattling around in her head.  Also, anyone who wants me to write anything from my AU of Sun Child needs to ask weirdlet  and floranna , because it’s theirs.

*Closed and Finished*

Given that this meme has spawned a fair few universes, sorting the fics by requester would be clunky, so instead, I'm sorting them by universe this time.

One Shot Universes:

Another Wacky Day: Sokka3PO and KataraD2 (Star Wars/A:tLA fusion)  requested by avocado_love 
Oh Come On, Of Course Zuko’s a HufflePuff (Harry Potter/A:tLA crossover) requested by avocado_love 
Zuko muses on his fellow ruler, his sister, and the big universal questions of morality NOTE-not actually AU, requested by beboots
Dwarf!Toph (D&D fusion, sort of) requested by weirdlet 
Don’t even ask- I don’t even- What is wrong with you, woman? (Kyoshi Warrior Ozai) NOTE- Not AU, just crack, requested by weirdlet 
Suki's a Firebender requested by clockwerkchaos 
Toph is the one who finds Aang requested by panaili 
Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile: Parts One, Two, and Three requested by lavanyasix 

Mirrorverse (The Avatar is an evil spirit):

Meetings requested by clockwerkchaos 
Aang's Little Crush requested by gamiel 
In This Verse, Azula Totes Rescues Puppies requested by avocado_love 

Lightning Strike (from this commentfic on a previous meme):

Sneaking out of Bed requested by lavanyasix 
Zuko and Kuei, chillin’ together requested by beboots 

AU of Ice Flows Through:

Mai, taking Azula's plan down from the inside: Parts One, Two, Three, and Four requested by beboots 

Quiet Shadowed Places verse (from this shortfic):

Zuko Finds Out He’s Blind requested by floranna 
Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect requested by beboots 
Fire Bending Masters requested by Hillary (anonymous user)
Agni Kai During Sozin’s Comet requested by Hillary
Toph and Zuko bonding NOTE- crack, and absolutely not universe canon, requested by beboots 

Iroh Dies in S2 (from these three commentfics in a previous meme):

Crossroads of Destiny Parts One, Two Three, Four, and Five requested by beboots 
The Throne Room requested by beboots 
Royalty Lessons requested by beboots 

Fail!Incubus Zuko:

Attempted Seduction *warning for sexual coercion and slavery* requested by weirdlet 
Courting Mai requested by gamiel 

Life Spirit:

Toph Bei Fong requested by clockwerkchaos 
Winter When He Goes requested by weirdlet 
Zuko and Iroh requested by clockwerkchaos 
Sokka and Katara requested by clockwerkchaos 

Koizilla Destroys the Fire Nation (from this commentfic from a previous meme):

Song requested by clockwerkchaos 

Modern Day:

Toph and Aang Meet requested by panaili 
Sleepover requested by panaili 

AU of Sun Child:

NOTE- Sun Child belongs to weirdlet and an index of fics in that verse can be found here.  This AU of the Sun Child AU began in these two commentfics from a previous meme *Warning for heavily implied Rape by Coercion and Sexually Abusive Dialogue*

Zhao and Zura's Child is Born requested by floranna 

Zuko Hurt His Leg on the Run and it Won’t Heal (from this commentfic on a previous meme):

Teo and Zuko Bonding Parts One and Two requested by Hillary
Assistive Technology is a Beautiful Thing requested by Hillary

Comments

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Can I change number 4 to - "Ice Flows Through" Zuko and crew meeting the GAang

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

No you can't, because I'm in the process of continuing Ice Flows Through into a three part novel, and said meeting with the gaang is going to be part of that, and I'm no where near there yet. But since I have no reference point for Mystery Men, and like a dolt I didn't tell you that Zuko's cane is much to light weight to be a suitable weapon (as the uses his kind of cane is put to requires light weight) you get a free request.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

No reference point?! What you need to do now is to go to nearest well sorted library (or if you have the money your nearest comicbook shop) and get 'Lobster Johnson: the Iron Prometheus'.
Or go to http://decoderring.libsyn.com/ and listen to the free adventures of Canadas greatest hero the Red Panda!

Thanks for the free request (I did not know the cane needed to be light weight) - Culture bending Classical antiquity style - The Water tribes are now the Water Kingdoms and resemble the antique Mediterranean city states and island kingdoms (Athens, Knossos, etc.) except for the southern Water Barbarians who resemble Vikings with elements of other cost living “barbarian” people.
Fire Nation is still Fire Nation and is inspired by ancient Persia and Babylonia.
The Earth Kingdoms are the shattered Earth Tribes and are inspired by the pre-roman Celtic and Germanic tribes.
The Air nomads are Jewish or maybe Egyptian or something else if you have a better idea

Toph is the one who finds Aang

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get Toph to the south pole to find Aang’s iceberg. You almost got Toph the waterbender.

On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but three out of five requests isn’t half bad!



I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get Toph to the south pole to find Aang’s iceberg. You almost got Toph the waterbender.

On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but getting three out of five requests answered isn’t half bad!

The tunnels branched out in all directions under the Bei Fong estate. The earth moved with the girl as she wound her way through the passageways, steps certain in the absolute darkness. Dirt stuck to her bare feet, reluctant to leave her. She squished her toes in the solid rock, and the rock bent under them.

The tournament season was over. Even her covert fun was over for the year. All she had left were her tunnels and the earth itself. She punched the wall and tossed the boulder that flew out from hand to hand. This called for new tunnels, going further beyond the borders of her parents’ estate, out beyond Gaoling. This called for doing something her mother and father would never ever get to know about, even if she lived to be a hundred, and they lived until she was that old too.

She shoved the wall with both hands until the stone gave way. Dust puffed out from the crumbling stone and buried itself in her nightgown. She let it coat every bit of her, like a second skin, her real skin.

The earth yielded to her. It didn’t think she was helpless, and it always told her the truth.

She pounded the wall, just to feel the rock give way, and for a moment, she felt a strange sort of grief. If she ever needed to hit something solid, and know it wasn’t going to give way, to just feel the blow all the way up her arm, she had to hold her target in place.

And that didn’t seem fair.

She slammed her hands into the wall again and the rock split open, the embryonic tunnel slowly growing outwards. Hands met new wall in the soothing rhythm of her earthbending. The stone pushed back with her hands. Until she met something in the middle of the new wall that wouldn’t give. The rock around it fell away, and it dropped to the ground.

It was stone.

Toph poked it with her foot in bewilderment. Why hadn’t it given way? Stone always yielded to her. This stone wasn’t doing what it was supposed to!

The stone she couldn’t bend lay against the tunnel’s living rock and Toph knelt down next to it. It was so weird, lying there it felt almost like a small, heavy person.

But people were strange, blurry things when they weren’t made out of stone, shapes that she could only see because they touched the earth and affected it. But this person was earth. She traced her fingers over his nose and mouth, into the curve of his ear, down his arms, and over his fingernails. His clothing didn’t swing, but stayed stiff, frozen in folds and ripples. In frustration, she struck it with the heel of her hand and bent as hard as she knew how, furious at it for not acting like stone should.

It cracked. Toph ground her teeth. Great, she’d found some sort of weird mystery, and she’d broken it. Just-

Suddenly, inexplicably, a bit of it vanished. Left in its place was something lighter, something warmer. Something moving.

The tiny bit of it that had vanished was the hand. Only a thin layer of dust remained over the living hand, attached to the stone wrist.

Toph poked it’s palm. The fingers snapped closed just after she snatched her finger away. She heaved out a hard breath and pounded the heels of her hands up along the statue’s arms and chest, and into his legs and feet. The stone fell away. Slowly, and with each strike, a little more of the statue came to life, until she came to his face and he opened his eyes.

He blinked in drowsy, slow voice. "I need to ask you something.”

“Yeah?”

“Please... come closer.”

He was so small, like her, slight, and safe. She could fight him off. She could fight off anything. Toph leaned in. “Okay, ask.”

He grinned, and pulled himself up from the ground, voice suddenly fast and excited. “Will you ride the badger-moles with me?”

Toph stumbled back, into the tunnel wall. “Are you for real?”

Re: Toph is the one who finds Aang

[panaili.livejournal.com]

omg IN EVERY WAY YES

And after she got over the whole "okay, random boy in the middle of the ground" nonsense, he'd be like, "So, uh, back to my question -- wanna ride badger-moles?" And Toph would be all, "Sweet" and use her magic badger-mole language abilities to summon them up.

And they would have WACKY CRAZY FUN. I'm trying to imagine a plot line in which the whole "Aang is the Avatar and is Important and Needs to Save the World" bit comes up quickly, and I really can't. Like, he'd mention it in passing, and Toph would be all like, "Whatever, weirdo. Let's go throw rocks at people."

Eventually Aang would airbend too much at Zuko would find out. Like, four months down the road. Y'know, maybe.

Re: Toph is the one who finds Aang

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The universe would totally make sure that Zuko found out about Aang earlier and so mess up all Toph and Aang's WACKY CRAZY FUN, though. Dang.

Actually, I kinda think Toph would be a bit possessive of the badger moles. She'd take a lot of coaxing. They would spark off each other, and it would be GLORIOUS!

Life Spirit: Zuko and Iroh

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I saved this one until last, because I had a feeling it was going to be one of the long ones. So I figured I’g get rid of the short ones first. No luck, they decided they wanted to be long too. Anyway, calling him the spirit of the earth hits me as kind of like the ocean spirit, or the sun spirit, an Earthbender spirit. So the Avatar is the spirit of life.



Ozai’s line was the line of the old Fire Lords. Every member of every Fire clan left knew that, but none of them cared anymore. Zuko picked his way over the rocks, the sea spray lashing his body and face. His eyes darted into the pools between the stones, his knife in hand. “Ha!” Falling to his knees on the slick stones, Zuko shoved his arm into one of the small pools and pried loose a clam-mussel to throw into his skin bag. Once, before the Avatar had disappeared and everything had easy, clam-mussels had covered the beach. Uncle told him that once, there had been other people to gather them, people who were paid with money. Zuko had never seen money.

It was so hard not to eat them, crouched among the sea-slicked stones instead of carrying them away to share with Uncle.

~*~

The sun had gone down behind the clouds by the time Zuko made it back to camp. Uncle had his pot on the fire already, full of cricket-moths frying with oily Huangyou seed pods.

They hadn’t eaten in two days. Zuko’s stomach cramped with hunger, and tonight, he was going to be full, actually full.

Uncle pulled the pot off the fire. People killed for good steel knives and metal pots.

Nobody cared anymore that Ozai’s line was the line of the old Fire Lords. What they cared about was that his clan held the old capital city and all the wreckage inside, with all the odds and ends, and good steel knives and metal pots. What people talked about was that he had two children. Ever since the Avatar had disappeared, one child born was a wonder, two was a miracle. What people talked about was that he had kicked one of his children out of his clan. People wondered out loud what kind of person would throw away a miracle, what was wrong with him.

Or wrong with the child.

Uncle handed him the waterskin, and it tasted slimy, like the water had been in there too long. Uncle sometimes talked about something called tea, that he had drunk when he was still a child, before it had gotten really bad. But he said it didn’t fill up his stomach, so Zuko didn’t see the point.

Zuko picked a moth-cricket out of the pot and popped it into his mouth, eating as quickly as he could so he could put the clam-mussels into the pot while they were still alive. “If we’re going to search the southern Air islands, we’re going to have to leave now.”

Iroh nodded, mouth full of moth-crickets and glanced at the outrigger canoe carved from one of the big, dead jungle trees from the Fire islands, its main hull packed with nets and sail. People killed for those too.

When Uncle had been young, he had travelled the world searching for the Avatar to capture him for the Fire Nation. Back when there had been a Fire Nation. Zuko needed to find the Avatar so there would be a Fire Nation again.

Life Spirit: Sokka and Katara

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

“I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!”

Hakoda of the Water Tribe had two children, two golden children. Two children to hunt when he was to old to, if he lived that long, two children his tribespeople called miracles, and gifts from the spirits. Sokka and Katara had been born so close together. People talked. Things were going to get better, weren’t they? Children were being born again, like they used to be.

Sokka and Katara were almost grown, and nothing was getting better.

“Uh... Katara?” The water lashed at the sides of their canoe. Sokka sank low and clung to the sides, but Katara didn’t seem to notice.

“I even wash all the clothes!” She shouted, the water growing wilder and wilder. “Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!”

“Katara, settle down!”

The wall of ice behind them split and fell into the water, sending waves crashing into their little canoe. The golden children were going to die together. Katara stopped yelling and stared, arms wrapped around her brother as a new iceberg rose in place of the one falling into the sea. It was glowing.

Even when the boy inside came out, he didn’t stop glowing with the kind of life the world hadn’t seen for a hundred years. Katara and Sokka just had to stand near him to know things were going to get better.

Life Spirit: Toph Bei Fong

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

They should have left her to die in a field. That’s what everybody whispered. It would be kinder than to let her grow up and be absolutely useless to their village. It was the kind of thing that made villages choose new leaders. It was the kind of thing that made villages kick out old leaders. No village could afford permanent dead weight, not anymore.

Gaoling used to be a city. Of course it did. All of the villages did. In the Earth Kingdom, people stayed rooted. They didn’t abandon their homes. Toph grew up without one. Every day, her parents tried to protect her from the sad, horrible fact that they had no one but each other because of her.

But Toph wasn’t dead weight. She could tell where every rabbit-pheasant, and every pigeon-mouse in every den was. She could catch any one of them and bring them home. She could keep her family fed every day. No one else had that.

And when she rode into Gaoling with her parents on the badger-moles, that everybody thought were gone from the world, no one called her dead weight. They called her a gift.

Re: Life Spirit: Toph Bei Fong

[beboots.livejournal.com]

AWESOME. I'm really enjoying this gritty alternate universe!

Re: Life Spirit: Toph Bei Fong

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I actually have know idea where the plot would come from after Aang came back, what with no one having the resources to take over the world. Course, Ozai and a bunch of other greedy clan leaders from all over the world could start trying...

Re: Life Spirit: Zuko and Iroh

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm quite enjoying this alternate universe! So biological things are slowly dying?

(Iroh with NO TEA = most tragic thing about this fic. ;) )

I think that it makes sense for certain manufactured goods - stuff that requires, y'know, INDUSTRY and thus a surplus of labour - like metal would be in high demand in this world.

I really liked this pair of lines: "People wondered out loud what kind of person would throw away a miracle, what was wrong with him. /Or wrong with the child." It makes sense that actual SIBLINGS would be a bit of a miracle, if fertility has gone down so much...

I like this Zuko, too. I get the impression he's like "yeah, sure, uncle, mm-hmm, of course you used to boil leaves for something that tasted good but had no purpose." XD

Zuko's motivations in all of this are MUCH more noble! ;)

Re: Life Spirit: Zuko and Iroh

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Iroh with no tea... it's like the apocaly-, oh yeah, that's right...

Oh no, he's really just as desperate as ever, it's just this time his desperate self interest is more in line with everybody else's.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Not filling this (I've picked out two from your original to fill out, as soon as I've filled out the huge list of ones I've decided to fill... Why do I run memes?) because this would take a novel to fill, but of course the Air Nomads are Jews. Everybody's always trying to kill us. :D.

Zuko hurt leg on the run and it wont heal: Assistive Technology is a Beautiful Thing

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I’m still figuring out things like how Zuko feels about fighting his people since he threw in with the Gaang during CoD, so...




“Does it fit?”

Zuko pushed himself up to his feet and walked. The ankle bent when he put weight on it, and popped back when he lifted it again. The mechanist’s clever system of hinges and springs almost felt normal. If he could feel it past his stump, it might have. “Yeah.”

Teo beamed. “You going to try it out?”

Zuko nodded, and followed him up the improvised wooden ramp laid over the staircase up to the deck. The ship rolled beneath his feet, but the wooden foot moved with it, like his real foot did. Excitement rushed around his body. He wondered if he could run.

The sun glittered off the field of icebergs, and Zuko exhaled a thin jet of fire. He pulled his gloved hands inside his sleeves for just a second, before he punched the air. He lunged, and punched wit his other hand, and pivoted as he kicked, the wooden foot trailing fire. He could feel his bending run through the leg, like it did through his boots, and gloves, and he kicked again, out into the empty air over the frozen sea.

He turned to Teo and took a few more clumsy steps. “I can walk! I can-”

It was such a stupid thing to say.

But Teo smiled, even if it passed through a grimace before becoming a smile. “Great, I’ll tell Dad it works,” he said before rolling away.

Zuko turned back to the ocean and swept his wooden foot out in an arc of flame. They sailed closer and closer to the North Pole which each moment, and Zuko tried not to think about what it was going to be like when they got there, or what it was going to be like when they left. Sometimes it was easier just to forget that everybody else was getting ready to invade his home. It was so much easier just to stay out there on the ship’s deck and send streaks of fire into the air with his new wooden foot.

He had to show his uncle.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

That's true, but what period/kind of jews? and what would there riding animal be?
Good luck with the writing.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

No idea about the riding animal, but part of me wants to say to hell with consostancy and make the Airbenders be Medieval Jews or even 1930's and 40's Jews because of the whole genocide thing. I could make them Jews under Roman occupation, or in Babylonian exile, or... No, I'm not gonna write it!

Re: Life Spirit: Toph Bei Fong

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

Oh my spirits can I say how much I love this verse. To keep from comment spam I'm going to put them all here.

Zuko: I love how you managed to nicely weave into the narrative how devastated this world is. That luxury goods (even very small ones) are gone that decent level "practical" goods are the luxuries. And most kids can't even comprehend the idea of luxury or it's point.

Nasty thought, given how rare children are, I wonder if there's significant kidnapping of healthy ones. Might explain why Ty Lee has air nomad eyes (and I really doubt she has six sisters in this verse)

Sokka and Katara: Again I love the. Because for all the ruinous of the world, the ending provides such a nice contrast. It springs with a hope that offset's and balances the piece. I did have a little disappointment that the topic of conversation hadn't changed. But I guesse it has some sense to it, the SWT was a devastated culture already, brought to substantive existence in canon.

Toph: Oddly, in some way Toph's probably a lot happier in this AU. She got a real validation her parents choose her over anything else in the world. And at the same time without the distance the house provides, they can witness her abilities directly (to the point survival depends on it) so they probably respect her more. Less materially wealthy, but happier.

Thinking about it, she might not even go with the Gaang. There's less of an immediate need for Aang to learn earthbending, and less of an incentive for her to get away.

I wonder how everyone else is doing (on the general assumption that the missing chars are the backround ones.

Suki, is her island constantly praying to Kyoshi, hoping for them to deliver them? (I wonder, has she become bitter and doesn't believe, or is she the only one who still does?) She's probably less of a skilled warrior, villages can't afford to spend time training, she needed to help look for food.

Mai: Interesting thought, I wonder if her parents prestige is based on the presence of Tom-Tom? A single child is good, two makes you special. Thought I doubt she's throwing knifes here, maybe she's a really good stone thrower?

On Ji: I just have this odd image of a little village in the corner of the Fire Nation that keeps it's school open. Only one child is there, but it keeps it open. Stubbornly refusing to knowledge the Fire Nation is gone, the world has changed.

Long Feng- There is no starvation in Ba Sing Se. (if Ba Sing Se exists, larger cities, quicker famine, though it does have the advantage it grew it's own food)

Course, Ozai and a bunch of other greedy clan leaders from all over the world could start trying...

You know, if your interested, I'm currently doing a meme* with a premise that amounts to "what if when Aang woke up, instead of having to deal with a nearly victorious Fire Nation, he's dealing with a multi way free-for-all between the NWT, SWT, Ba Sing Se, and the Fire Nation all of whom are out to TAKE OVER THE WORLD**" Not to mention all the the minor factions, including the surviving air nomads....

*http://clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com/1485.html
**Okay, the Northern Water Tribe just want to take the world's stuff. And Ba Sing Se just want to reunited the earth kingdom, and, you know, kill every non-earthkingdom and halfbreed polluting their territory.

Re: Life Spirit: Toph Bei Fong

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

this verse Zuko: Your life is so easy.
canon Zuko: *spittake* what?!?!!

Actually, I see Ty Lee's family (extended family) having their own Airbending clan. Ty Lee has two sisters. Huge family.

Actually, other than the pervading sense of hopelessness and inability of most people to conceive, the Southern Water Tribe's actually a little better off. The Fire Nation was never able to wipe out all their waterbenders. There's always a silver lining.

My head!canon for this verse says that Toph and her parents have just as strained a relationship in different ways (they nag like it was a competitive sport). But they aren't the only people who know she's alive anymore. And someday, when Omashu's just getting off its feet again, she's going to be their badass queen. And only then is she going to teach Aang earthbending.

I haven't thought about Suki, but Mai has a badass sling, like the biblical ones, whoosh!

On Ji's school is held four all the island children of all ages in one class. The Fire Nation is still the superior nation. No questions! And no dancing. Hey, I saw that.

There is no famine in Ba Sing Se. Those emaciated corpses in the street are an illusion.

*goes off to look*

Re: Zuko hurt leg on the run and it wont heal: Assistive Technology is a Beautiful Thing

[(Anonymous)]

thank you thank you thank you. (I love it) Of course I want more. So how does it work when he runs or walks on uneven ground or when he climbs (do the toes bend?)or walk on sand. Or how bout when he lands a jump. (I cant shut the analytical side off can I). I cant wait to see Azula's face - she will swallow her teeth!! You are the best most thoughtful author. H

Medieval Jews?!

[(Anonymous)]

how about Khazars from near the (black or caspian)sea. around 400 - 800 very progressive society and welcoming to different religions but mainly Jewish. IM a medieval reinactor and considering basing my persona in that area and time period. Lots to work with there but different universe huh. H

Re: Medieval Jews?!

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Or the Jewish Berber tribes!

Mostly I just keep thinking because the Air Nomads were all killed that I go with the slightly more killed off Jewish groups.

Re: Zuko hurt leg on the run and it wont heal: Assistive Technology is a Beautiful Thing

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The toes don't bend, and since his knee's still intact, and the ankle has a full range of motion, the foot would land a jump rather normally. Also, because he wears his boot over the foot, it deals with sand just as badly as normal as feet in boots do.

Re: Medieval Jews?!

[(Anonymous)]

Even Better!!

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Your AU of Sun Child: Child is being born.

Your Harry Potter Avatar AU is really intriguing, so...What if Voldemort is Zuko's father? and if that isn't in your canon, then someone giving shit to Zuko.

Blind!Zuko AU: The beginning. When he found out he is blind, and/or Ozai's reaction to it.

Zuko changes into a girl every night.

Zuko died when he was a baby, but Ursa made a deal with somekind of a fire spirit. Which means that Zuko isn't completely human...

Zuko is chronically, deadly ill. Has been since his childhood.