My Absolute Favorite, Most Cherished ATLA Fic Recs: Character Study Edition
The ATLA series holds a very special place in my heart and I love stories that explore the characters beyond what we were able to see on the screen. Let me know if you've read any other fics similar to these, or just any character studies set within ATLA at all. I'm always on the look out for more :))))
to walk among giants
Let’s talk about Hakoda, who left.
Let’s talk about Sokka, who was left behind.
(This is a boy so defined by loss. )
Sokka: A character study.
rain dance
Five times Aang took a friend dancing in the rain.
One time where they all took him.
monsters underneath
Team Avatar gets captured, and it is not the end of the world but it is still an experience unpleasant and unkind. Katara grits her teeth and she does not grin but she does bear it.
“Life isn’t fair, Katara,” Sokka had told her once, eyes hard and knowing and caring and real, and she had tasted a challenge on her tongue and decided you couldn't know unless you tried.
Because listen, listen, her kindness is not in her predisposition, it is an effort and a battle all to its own, and she will fight for her right to live in a world of her own making with her every breath. Her core is made of ice as hard as steel. She is not a blessing- she is a warrior, and if you think she will stand to be knocked down or belittled or broken you have never been more wrong.
Life has never been fair but Katara will never stop trying to make it so. This is not soft or naive or an illusion of bravery, this is a strength, and it is hers, it is hers, it is hers.
(Team Avatar gets captured, and they escape, and they live. This is how it happens.)
The Sound of Tears
You don't get over the genocide of your entire people and culture in a day.
You just don't.
OR: Aang is grieving, Sokka is a good big brother, and he's not sure what he thinks of this crazy kid who's suddenly turned his life upside down, but he's gonna try and take care of him anyways.
Safe Return
“What are you doing here, Stinky?”
Aang lifted his head, blinking at a rather tall aye-aye that stood on its hind legs, upright and bipedal. Like a human. Its gigantic yellow eyes were boring into him, observing him with outright judgement. It tapped one of its long, spindly fingers on its pointed chin.
“These humans are making you work for it. You should be outside! Enjoying nature! You look like you need a bath too! Did you forget to wash again?”
-
Or, the winter solstice causes Aang to be all of his past lives. All at once.
The Boy from Babel
AU. All four nations speak different languages from each other.
i am through finding blame
Sokka was fourteen the first time he realized people didn’t apologize to him very often.
Or, Sokka during The Southern Raiders.
heirloom of the heaviness we've known
He thought he was so much, Zuko thinks, his eyes never leaving the tapestry. He thought he would be remembered for something great.
“When Fire Lord Sozin started the war,” Zuko says, voice surprisingly firm, “he destroyed every piece of history that came before him. He rebuilt the Fire Nation under his image, and by doing that, he rebuilt what qualified as truth. He erased everything he considered weak, everything that could be interpreted as a wrongdoing or a failure. It didn’t fit with his narrative of our country. He thought that by destroying the shame of the past, he’d guarantee the glory of the future. And he was wrong.” Zuko takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to make the same mistake as him.”
Or, what it means to make history. Featuring Toph's enthusiasm for destroying property, Aang being allowed to have negative emotions, and Zuko figuring out life.
Leaves in the Wind
“There is this one festival that the Fire Nation used to do,” he started. “It was a happy time when people would celebrate their ancestors. Gyatso and I ran into Kuzon while we went to buy a lantern,” Aang said with a smile.
“Fire is life,” said Zuko.
Aang furrowed his brows, something flashing in his memory that could not have been his own. It was like something distant, something familiar. He imagined for a second that he was an older man standing on the banks of a different winding tributary. Beside him was his beautiful wife, Ta Min, and his two children. He saw himself hold onto a lantern of his own, but this one was white. He used a finger to spark a flame and let it go onto the water.
Or, after the war the Fire Nation offers reparations to the three nations. Aang remembers that there used to be a fourth one.
ozymandias and pies
The western air temple is a haunted place.
(when aang looks at the floor, all he can see is ash)
like how the night wind felt more changeable than cold and distant stars (like how sometimes it just all still seems so far)
"You see, for me, it’s like this,” Aang makes a swirling motion with his hand, and Katara can feel a cool breeze running through the three of them. “Air is everywhere, so it’s easier for me to feel when there’s a lack of it, instead of where there is a lot of it. It’s almost like whispering. Like it’s waiting for me. But for waterbending, Gyatso said it was like a wave, lapping at your spirit. Just—”
“Just under your skin,” Katara completes, quietly. She closes her hand into a fist in front of her. “Like humming."
Aang smiles brightly, nodding. “Yeah! You feel it, then? The rain?”
Katara nods. “I just didn’t know it was a waterbending thing. I thought it was a me thing.”
“What’s the difference?” Aang asks.
She opens her mouth. Closes it again. “I don’t know,” she says, finally. “I guess there isn’t.”
Or, Katara lives happily ever after. Or she lives happily. Or she just lives. Featuring sleepless nights, holding history on your shoulders, and Sokka being a good big brother.
all i know is gone (but i am not alone)
“I want you to make me a promise, Avatar Aang,” Katara whispered. This time, when she placed her hand on top of his, he didn’t pull away. “When this is all over, when the war is won… Promise me that you’ll grieve.”
(alternatively: grieving is hard. aang’s friends work harder. a series of missing/expanded scenes from a:tla exploring aang’s grief through his friends’ eyes.)
Refs! Feel free to use them for your aus (with credit) The gist of this au is Shroud leads SDN. Z-team are a bunch of mediocre heroes who fucked up in one way or another. Roberts gets captured and is offered a deal to become a part of the phoenix program. He's hired as Z-team's dispatcher (totally not as a way to torture him) and given limited freedom.
[ID: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint fanart. Kim Dokja shrugs casually and says, "Yeah I feel no connection to my name and barely recognize myself, honestly I feel like an intruder in my own body lol." Han Sooyoung stares at him with a thought bubble of the trans flag. Yoo Joonghyuk scowls at him and thinks "god he is just like me fr." Yoo Sangah looks worried and thinks of the Wikipedia page on dissociation. End ID]
I always get confused by the descriptions of love in media the “I’m thinking about you all the time” or “I’m crazy in love with you.” I know that people do crazy things for love since I read history but at the same time it baffles me. I’ve never had feelings that align with media’s descriptions of love however I know I feel something beyond friendship at times.
When I’ve felt attraction in the past the primary feeling was discomfort. It wasn’t elation or misery just an ick. My desire for pursuit of love has consistently felt particularly lackluster. Especially since it usually goes away in a day or two. But I can’t dismiss that I have felt something however brief it is.
Additionally, in my experience there is usually a level of control I have to will any weird feelings away. I’ve read enough romance literature to believe that that doesn’t seem normal for romance.
I know I occasionally feel something beyond platonic love but I don’t know what that is… Is that love? How do I know? Is my discomfort just butterflies? Why do I feel a level of disgust when feeling love?
Sophie doesn’t know her father, But she’s determined to find out who he is. She’s getting married very soon and is determined to have her father walk her down the aisle so she makes a plan: send three letters to the three men that could be her father…
Meanwhile three letters show up at Camp halfblood to Cabins one, six, and thirteen addresses to their owners. Percy, Thalia, and Nico have to wrangle their fathers into attending this girls wedding especially since she’s unclaimed at 20. What will happen????
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You guessed it it’s a mama mia/ pj crossover fic. now someone please write this for me
Any recommendations for Durarara fanfics about Mikado Ryuugamine manipulating people?
I really like stories where the main character seems innocent even to the audience and then we find out that they’re controlling things behind the scenes.
Actually I’d also take anime/manga/fanfic recommendations with that trope as well in any genre. plz help me find something up my ally.
finally done with my newest silly little comic <3 casually planning for it to be fully out here just in time for yoohyun's birthday too <3 enjoy!
[ part 1 ] - [ part 2 ] - [ part 3 ] - [ part 4 ]
you can of course wait for it to happen or read through it on itchio for a small price of telling me if it is as evil as i hope it is OR throw a coin at me if you so desire ^^
I think today begins the next AO3 attack. The loading gets ridiculously slow because of the influx of bots then the site crashes. Save your fics now while the site isn’t completely gone.
@ao3org
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