Sun-Child AU Mini-Meme!

[weirdlet]

Okay, ladies and gents, on a slightly inebrient whim (and if that isn't a word, it is now), here it is- a mini-meme for the Sun-Child AU, of late stalled out in Ba Sing Se and oft with requests for more of the Gaang.  Gimme a person, pair, whatever, and a prompt.  Soft limit of three, no guarantees.

Usual warnings and apologies apply- I may be slow and unreliable, especially right now with the thing with the teeth.

EDIT-!-   Hey, all, just wanted to clarify (as I should have at first, but was a bit, well, out of it at the time)- you can ask for small moments as well as big, AUs of AU, what-ifs, future, past, weird little character/relationship moments, and all that there fun stuff.  In fact, I encourage it.  Most of the major events of Season 3 and late Season 2, such as WAT, Crossroads of Destiny, Sozin's Comet, etc I do have plans for- it's those set-up moments and in-between spots I'm looking to fill in, so that I can get the big ones to flow freely.

Comments

[floranna.livejournal.com]

And now I'll finally give my prompts.

The AU where Zura is married to Zhao? More of it. Especially Zura/Zhao explosions.

Aang playing with Lan Min.

Zura is sick, Iroh is too busy doing...something, so the whole crew has to take care of Lan Min. Okay, I just want Jee, the crew and Lan Min crack.

What if Zura had been pregnant with twins? Okay, now I am going a bit insane...

Twins.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Lan Min is bright and clever, born under the hands of a swamp-witch whose people sheltered the battered Fire Nation ship and its crew from the storm. She is strong and well-favored, and all the court takes delight in her cheer and rapid progress under fine tutors.

Little Lu-Ten is not strong. Born in the height of the typhoon, only Uncle's breath kept him alive until they crashed into the mangrove swamp and limped into the shallows. He is not- simple. But he does not speak often, for all he speaks well, and the court has focused their attention on his brightly-shining sister, leaving him to the shadow path. Born at a bad hour. First, but last. Can't keep up.

Zura finds her heart hurts when she looks at him, the extremity of her own slights as a child. When she first notices how the favor of the lords and ladies slide, she watches, fearful, for the signs of her life repeating itself amongst her children. Even when her father and her brother are locked away, one oozing venom and the other spewing brimstone, she cannot still the rabbit-mouse in her heart, thrumming with unspoken fears.

Their trail is a slimy, poisonous thing, and it lingers in their wake, in the attitudes of the courtiers, long after the official policies have come undone.

She comes upon a scene one day, shedding royal robes and heavy crown to head to the courtyard where the noble children have been playing, while their parents spar at verbal war. Lu Ten is crying, angry through the tears, and another boy is on the ground with the imprint of Lan Min's fist in his eye.

"Don't touch my brother!"

The young boy (admiral's child, third rank, mother's side is a removed cousin) quails before the wrath of the princess. The other children make that ooooh sound, when they know someone is in trouble.

It goes silent when they see their monarch's silhouette in the door.

Zura sweeps up her children from where they are embroiled and takes them off. As she reviews what she's going to say (No hitting, you are royals, not bullies, and she's been working hard to make that distinction stick), Lu Ten is glaring and Lan Min is protesting.

"He was sayin'-!"

"-don't need her to-!"

"Hush."

It takes a second, firmer warning to finally get them to quiet, but not before Lan Min says something that warms her heart, even as she metes out discipline for its consequences.

"...nobody says that to my brother..."

Re: Twins.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

ROCK ON LAN MIN!

Re: Twins.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

^^ she is a protective sister.

Re: Twins.

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Sorry about not commenting, but this is beyond awesome!

Re: Twins.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

No problem^^ *hugs* And thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed!

Zura/Zhao Explosions: Slow Burn 1/2

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

She’s young and pale when she comes to him, a scared colt of a girl already branded with another man’s mark twice over. Zhao is so busy with all the other preparations and calculations (his mother congratulates him on his smart match and slaps him upside the head for not getting her approval first) that he almost forgets about the most important part of the coup- the bride herself.

All of his plans for a slow, calculated ascension are turned ‘round in a thoroughly pleasant way when they name him admiral before their wedding, and he’s completely off in his own mind during the ceremony, trying to redraw the maps and plans he’d had in his head. There are cups of wine, and he thinks he sees her eyes burning through the veil when they sip together, but there’s just so much to take in, and she hides her face well.

Well she should- the princess hasn’t been seen in public since the abortive Agni Kai, but he witnessed the ferocity with which their Fire Lord struck down dissent. Protestations of innocence and best interests hold little water when you’ve smeared the royal name.

He smiles through the ceremony, and the dignified reception, and the raucous officers’ party afterward. The procession brings him back to his family compound after winding through too many bars to count, back pounded and wine-soaked and ears burning. The lanterns burn down, and the guests go home, and finally he’s left alone in the dark, with only the door to his chambers to beckon him.
Straightening his mantle, smoothing back his sideburns (good grooming is the mark of a great man), Zhao steadies himself and steps in.

The girl is in bed already (her title is gone, her great name, even so mediocre as it was, vanished), her back to him. He goes through the ritual of removing his armor without bothering to set a light- he can do it drunk, injured, in the dark and on a rocking deck, and has done so before (and will do it again). The fancier undertunic and mantle are newly-tailored especially for this day- the armor is ceremonial, but still scarred from ancestral battles.

He hears a soft sound when he gets down to his boots and trousers, and smirks harshly. Probably never seen a real man, have you, princess? The palace gossips place her among her age-mates for the most part- it’s doubtful she’d entangled one of the generals or lords she might have encountered, and the boys she would have known are merest puppies, half-trained and no use.

At last he turns around. She’s still pretending to be asleep, curled in the coverlet like a stone. Thoroughly annoyed, the groom approaches the other side of his bed and flings back the bedclothes.

The princess stares up at him in shock, and he can see all the damage. Eye almost blinded, still surrounded by healing poultice along half of her face. Her linen shift doesn’t disguise the thin limbs of a growing teenager, nor the rounded belly that suddenly reminds him, despite all his efforts to forget, that he comes to his marriage bed already a cuckold.

She looks up at him in what must be fear, and pity mingles with contempt in him, curdling in his stomach. Weakness- of character, of resolve, of body and mind- is not to be tolerated.

She’s a traitor.

She’s a child.

She’s his responsibility now.

“Let me make this clear, my wife,” he growls, still smiling what’s not a smile. “I am your last, best, and only chance in this world. My will is your law, and no one is going to say me nay. Not the crowd, not the courts, and certainly not your once-upon-a-time crown. Your father has delivered you into my care, and out of his sight, and it is going to stay that way.”

Re: Zura/Zhao Explosions: Slow Burn 2/2

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

She listens like a stone through the deliverance, eyes as gold as her brother’s, as her father’s, flat like coins on marble. He doesn’t wobble, or slur- an officer gets very good at appearing sober on command if he wants to get anywhere in the army. The girl has gotten very good at not flinching, he notes- though it might just be the shock she’s still swimming through. He’s seen it take young soldiers like that, the first big boom of the rockets freezing them like a water-witch’s blast, and sometime they don’t break out of it for months.

Sometimes never at all.

“You will be kept on my family estate. Make no mistake- you will give no orders, nor be allowed out except by my leave. Your education will be in the hands of my mother, and I strongly suggest that you pay close attention. You will not shame me!” he barks, and she jolts. Something in her mask cracks, and the rage that shines through the fear is- interesting.

He studies her for a moment, the moonlight and the setting and the alcoholic haze anything but romantic.

Perhaps there’s some potential to this girl after all. But potential or no, he is an admiral now, and about ten years sooner than he’d planned. Let the raising of children be left to those with more skill at it- he has a war to win.

“When I return- I expect to find a wife befitting an admiral waiting for me.”

.....

The next day the fleet sets sail, and he sails with it.

Re: Zura/Zhao Explosions: Slow Burn 2/2

[floranna.livejournal.com]

Zhao makes me want to hit him really hard. But this piece is excellent, as always.

Re: Zura/Zhao Explosions: Slow Burn 2/2

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

He always is an ass. Though sometimes, he will pull one of those 'Please, I'm not a monster- I just sometimes work for them' lines on me.

Thank you^^