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I updated killing fields just now. Also posted out a new short fic for mdzs called silver dew on petals fine. Hope y'all enjoy.

#turtle writes #atla #mdzs

4c-aperture

Art for As They Emerged From the Killing Fields

[IMAGE ID: A papercraft portrait of Zuko from the chest up in a color scheme of greens and browns. A papercraft tea set and serving tray are in front of him. His background is a green tinted underwater shot of the ocean. All of this we see through a hole being burnt through a white piece of paper. END ID]

#I'm still absolutely crazy about this art ngl #Revisiting my old stuff to try to get my mojo back

animentality

Sometimes I think about an AU where when Jiang Fengmian brings wwx to Lotus Pier, wwx insists he's only like 5 bc his parents said "we'll be back before you're 6" and then they didn't come back and he can't be six until they get back.

#and it takes a few years still before he fully accepts and understands that theyre gone #but maybe jfm doesnt know wwx's exact age so wwx ends up getting treated like he's a lot younger than he really is #and madam yu maybe doesnt get angry/upset about him potentially being a bastard bc the timelines dont add up for it #and jc is both more and less competitive bc now wwx is his LITTLE brother #but also wwx is still a genius so he's still outpacing everyone and its a little embarrassing (for them)#ALSO wwx is really small for his actual age due to childhood starvation 🙂

What if the Avatar wasn't a single person? Like, I get the dynamic of the Avatar as the embodiment of all elements working together, and having the team of mentors from each element works out pretty great.

But what if the Avatar was always just a team of people? Aang for air and katara for water and toph for earth and zuko for fire and it wasn't "I'm the avatar" but "we're the avatar"?

Or maybe if the Avatar really was gone? And they group up to embody that stabilizing element for the people, to embody what the avatar stood for. And in doing so, learning from each other and becoming paragons of their elements and their peoples.

#atla #not me shirking the chosen one narrative #in favor of pure found family teamwork narrative where no one is more special than another #but together they are the greatest they could ever possibly be

Current vibe:

Wangxian to the tune of these lines from Shane Koyczan's poem "For Instance":

I keep rereading the ending of your life expecting a next chapter.

I expect laughter - as if it was always there.

I unexpect your death so hard that part of me believes I can make it not true.

You kept a rock on a satin pillow on your bookshelf, and told me:

"It's a star!"

You said you found it in a junkyard. And it had been broken down for quite some time. Because too many people wished on it and that's a lot of pressure for one little star.

You are the smile I have kept secret. The atari 8bit hero of my youth.

And also

"I knew him - only as well as he knew me. And when you told me he was gone, I missed him. Instantly."

Just

Ugh

The grief!

Lwj after wwx's death and all of these feelings he has to hold secret in his heart. The precious memories he can never talk about.

And the overt metaphor idea of wwx speaking about the star as a reference to himself and all of the burdens he took on and the suffering he took on that he can never tell anyone.

Trying to trust without confessing.

The way they know each other, better than anyone else and yet still with misunderstandings. Equals in everything, even this.

#vibing with poetry #ignore me lol #wangxian

If you still do the fic recs: Ironstrange?

I really like your take on them, so I'm curious which fics you like.

Ahhh I'll be honest, I haven't read an ironstrange fic in a While.

BUT

I bookmark almost every fic I like! So if you go into my AO3 bookmarks and filter for ironstrange, you will find a TON. Like a lot.

I read a truly absurd amount of fics every time I get into something.

My tumblr fic recs list is just something I did to highlight some of my lesser-known favorites, bc I wanted them to be appreciated more. I never did finish going through my bookmarks for fics to rec here...

Maybe one day I'll get back to it.

But in the meantime, here.

#ironstrange #ironstrange fic recs

getintherobot

this fic will never be done

Today I rewrote part of the next chapter of killing fields

Y'know, if any of you were wondering how THAT is coming along

#as they emerged from the killing fields #writing is like pulling teeth rn #but it’s happening #my sole motivation for getting this chapter done is murdering you all #just so you know

wordfather

its just me and my 74 unfinished WIPs against the fucking world

getintherobot

this fic will never be done

#as they emerged from the killing fields

We're all just grocery store songs in the end

An idea I had while working on the next chapter of killing fields bc my brain is a bag of cats and I just might have adhd but am far too shy to investigate that:

Lan Xichen out for a walk - maybe bc he's a tall ball of stress, maybe just bc he likes the exercise - when he hears a small child crying for their baba. He follows the sound to an alley bc he's a good person who helps lost children and finds lost pets and volunteers at a local homeless shelter when he has the time, which isn't nearly as often as he'd like.

He finds he's correct about the small child and much less correct about the small child being lost. Instead, he's met with a toddler tugging a bone-thin hand out from under a pile of rags that's wheezing weakly into the winter wind - Baba, presumably.

They both look like they've been here a while.

Lan Xichen greets the child quietly and reaches out to shake the man's shoulder, which garners him no response. So he goes to push the man's hood back to check for a fever and then he's calling an ambulance.

He hopes it's good fortune that brought him here today.

Pneumonia, dehydration, severe malnutrition, bruised and broken ribs, a doctor tells him when he asks to visit and is led to a drawn curtain, with a word of warning of what would likely have happened even a day later. But Lan Xichen has stopped listening because they've cleaned the man's face and he's smiling weakly at his child, barely conscious, and Lan Xichen knows that smile.

He can't believe he didn't recognize the love of his little brother's life. Who's been missing for nearly ten years now. Whose family thinks he's dead. Who has somehow acquired a tiny child.

Wangji is going to be ecstatic.

Except.

Wangji is out of the country, furthering his life's work.

Hm.

Well.

Lan Xichen makes a few phone calls. He'll just have to look after Wei Wuxian himself. Anything for his baby brother.

#the untamed #turtle writes #me: im not gonna write anything else until i update killing fields #the untamed: bitch here's some plot bunnies #where are the wens in this? i do not know #plot bunnies more like dust bunnies in my brain

catnippackets

idk who needs to hear this tonight but your comfort character would love you

#...not if they knew what i do to them in fic....

Quick question, when are you going to update "killing fields" That is one of my favorites of the "Prisoner Zuko" fics.

Glad to hear it!

I've had a bit of a writing slump lately. Haven't written a thing in a couple months now. BUT! I've been feeling the itch to get back to that one and finish it up. There's literally like ONE scene in chapter four that has me tripped up and the rest of that chapter and the following one are done, so once I figure that out, it's over for you guys. Emotionally.

But first I have to figure out this scene.

I'm probably gonna have to rewrite it completely.

UGH.

#atla #turtle answers #as they emerged from the killing fields #killing fields