Quote:K sai wrote:I'm about twenty chapters in and so far I'd have to say this is a good fic. Very solid character development with some great moments - the foot-in-mouth incidents between Soka and Azula here are howl-inducing. Early on, Soka nearly makes a fatal verbal faux paus, but then turned the tables on Azula by making her almost make the same mistake herself.
I'm of two minds reccing this one as I know it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but:
Gladiator
It's an A:tLA AU with a couple of key differences.
1) The Airbenders are destroyed 7 years later than in canon as the Fire Lord decides to wait for the Comet to show up to do it. Aang is therefore older, partially trained as a WaterMaster (and racing back from the South Pole to save the temples) when he is caught by a storm and flash frozen.
2) Katara decides to help Gran-Gran with chores, than accompany Sokka on a particular fishing trip, and therefore does not wake the Avatar as in the show.
3) The story begins 10 years after canon - after the Fire Nation has used the Comet's return to defeat the Earth Nation completely, the Avatar is still missing and only the Water tribes remain. All the main characters are therefore in their late teens/early twenties.
Note, that this is not at any time spelt out directly during the story, which is long and focuses very heavily on character development and world building. The writing starts out as reasonable quality and improves steadily, focusing on Sokka after he is captured by the Fire Nation during a raid and sent into slavery, winding up as a Gladiator in the Fire Nation's new blood sport where bored Fire Nation Nobles bet on fights in arenas and/or sponsor fighters to compete in a ladder for prestige and political points.
Sokka eventually winds up being sponsored by Azula (and Toph by Iroh - long story).
It is a Sokka/Azula pairing but the author is building up the story very, very slowly so that the relationship is believable. Possibly too slowly for some readers.
It's a story that actually makes Azula a very strong, well rounded character - and constant exposure to the 'blockhead' is slowly giving her more to focus on than the rivalry between her and Zuko or impressing her father - thus stabilising gradually - the elements that drove her insane in canon.
It is absolutely hilarious to see these two in action. It's almost like Ranma and Akane at their finest in the sense that Akane can actually hurt Ranma in this instance, and Ranma knows it but he's gonna get his licks in anyhow. There's no megaton punches or other slapstick of that sort, just a lot of tit-for-tat verbal sparring that only a couple in denial can pull off. And with this being the Fire Princess and the Mouthiest Mouth... let's just say that the view from the blimp is 'inspiring'.
