The MAIKO Conspiracy (Part II)
Oct. 13th, 2006 01:17 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ameonna.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
sparklefictionZUKO/MAI
Oldest to Youngest with Age Differences (from oldest)
Zhi: meaning- "orchid" "love" "perfection(?)"
Kidnapped by the exiled Princess Azula when she was five, Zhi has spent a lifetime dealing with her parents' fear that she might turn out like Zuko's sister. As a result, she's made a concious effort to not be anything like her, often downplaying her own intelligence, being lazy about her bending and martial arts training, and spending entirely too much of her free time trying to seduce boys. She has feminist inclinations, though, which she usually brings up in the context of not wanting to be deferential to a man just because he's a man, and therefore finds her favorite prey to be men of lower or no rank, who have to kowtow to her. She is possibly in love with Bohai, who thinks she just wants him for his body.
-1
Dan Dan: meaning- "red"
Delivered to Zuko and Sokka while they hunted for Zhi by an irritated fox spirit who didn't appreciate Zuko's attitude. "Our daughter" appears to be exactly that, a magically manifested little girl who's half Water Tribe and half Fire Nation. She has the attention span of a kitsune (none to speak of), is a naturally gifted musician who plays a three stringed guitar (shamisen), dark skinned, golden eyed and a water bender, a fact she hides from everyone until she's old enough to be engaged to Tom Tom, who finds her gentleness, naivete, and generous bust irresistable. (He turned down an engagement to Zhi in favor of one to her.) Dan Dan is particularly close to Zhi, though they used to fight all the time when they were kids, usually over Dan Dan's insistence that Zuko is her "mama."
-2
Shaozu: meaning- "honoring the ancestors"
Zuko's heir is a lot like Zuko. His frustrations usually stem from working himself half to death to prove himself worthy of his father's legacy, and the absolute refusal of his sisters to respect his authority (except Dan Dan, who's kind of a pushover anyway.) Shaozu is an excellent bender, a has a strong sense of duty and justice, finds any kind of undignified behavior infuriating, and secretly runs crying to Mai whenever he gets angry to be petted and told how wonderful he is.
-4
Irana: meaning- not sure, similar to Iroh's,
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rawles's favorite, see also Flashover ficsAn unrepentant Daddy's Girl and literally a knife wielding fire breathing ninja baby, Irana has decided that her life's mission is to spread goodwill between the Fire Nation and the other nations of the world by repurposing the Navy, one ship at a time. Her mission is no less than the absolute eradication of crime on the sea, aka, PIRATE HUNTING. To this end, Zuko gives her (at 15) the fastest ship in the armada, a captain older than dirt and as wily as King Bumi (though very dignified and every inch a Fire Nation man), and his blessing. She spends most of her childhood years as a man hater (boys are yucky and they smell), promising her dad when she's 12 and her sisters are getting out of control that she won't care about boys at all until she's at least 18. Thanks to Zhi and Tom Tom, she also has a complex about being flat-chested. She maintains the idea that no boy will ever be good enough for her as her daddy is the best guy in the whole world until she's 15 and a few months into her mission- at which point her best friend, Avatar Aang's oldest son, Yun, confesses his feelings for her, and all hell breaks loose.
-7
Xi Feng: meaning- he was originally intended to be a girl, so it would have been "phoenix", but as it stands, "west wind"
By any Nation's standard, Xi Feng is a weird kid. A bit of a bending prodigy in the way of Ozai and Azula, but with a twist- Xi Feng's obsession is with controlling fires rather than starting them. Jeong Jeong would be proud! He thinks highly of all his siblings: Zhi is beautiful, Dan Dan is sweet but strange, Shaozu is wonderful, and Irana is strong. Almost freakishly intelligent, he spends a lot of time in the library and has been known to fall asleep with his face on a scroll or in a book. He also suffers from insomnia and a compulsion to extinguish things left burning, like the throne. Mai is convinced he may be the reincarnation of a legendary Fire Nation prince who helped a previous Avatar save the world by extinguishing massive fires, but this legend was suppressed during the war and most people are unfamiliar with it.
-14
Li: meaning- upright
We've got nothing but a name on this kid.
-17
Nameless Baby #7, because Mai and Zuko really like babies. A lot.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 05:18 am (UTC)O_o
POOR MAI.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 06:06 am (UTC)Where is dear Toph in this AU? What is she going about?
IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 06:18 am (UTC)Which I think is kind of cool. Though I'm not sure that's what you wanted to convey with the character.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 01:26 pm (UTC)Ahem.
I'd like to try and tackle all your questions at once.
1) Well, unlike poor Water Master Katara, mother of a new nation (six kids and at least the first four are all airbenders), Mai has a virtual army of nurses and nannies to help her, so aside from being hormonally moody, it's actually not that hard.
2) Toph is doing something vague related to prizefighting. I'm thinking some kind of international bending tournament a la the Olympics, with the same original purpose, to unite former enemies in a less dangerous competition than warfare. However, as I've said, it's vague, and you can feel free to fill in the blanks yourself.
( We did make references to the phrases "Tokka = twins" and "Toph/Haru el-oh-el", but as the aforementioned Tokka twins never got names, I'm guessing we're not as married to them as we are to the Maiko explosion and the Kataang bunch. The Spiz may have words to add to this so do not hold me responsible. )
3) Xi Feng is meant, to a certain extent, to provide a counterweight to his older siblings. Zhi is a mess, Dan Dan is otherworldly, Shaozu is exactly what I'd expect, and Irana occasionally borders on Sue-ness. *guilty cough* I'll try to fix that as I write her, but until I get her more hammered out, all descriptions of her are going to make her sound like a superhero. If anyone wants to beta the Flashover series for the express purpose of saying, "HEY PSEUDO, SHE'S SUEING AGAIN RIGHT HERE," I will try to be meek and fix it rather than grumbling and making justifications as is my habit.
Xi Feng is, for a long time, the youngest, and he was born the farthest into Zuko's peace of the "kids with names." Every time I re-watch "Zuko Alone" and "The Storm", it strikes me how careful Zuko always is about fire, and I can't help but wonder, between him, Jeong Jeong, and Iroh, how common that is. So, combining that with Spiz's interest in forest fire fighting, Xi Feng spawned.
I also wanted to make one of Shaozu's siblings his equal (or even his better) as a Fire Master, and the girls would make him nuts. Xi Feng's better for the role because he's respectful, non-threatening, and directs his energies in a different way.
I LIKE YOUR ANALYSIS TOO, THOUGH, SO MAYBE IT IS ALSO TRUE.
AS FOR YOUR BELOVED TY LEE
I like what you're doing with her! My assumption is that Mai would be extremely disoriented by the whole marriage-to-Zuko-omg-babies thing for a while... And then Azula comes back and steals one of her babies. (SEE: ZHI.)
After they get her back, Mai puts all of her assassin training to use, training other people to be her spies. They don't have a name as they don't officially exist, and their only real purpose is to watch over people Mai cares about because she can't be everywhere at once.
Interestingly enough, there are spies assigned to Sokka and Toph. Do what that what you will.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 01:36 pm (UTC)It's cool to read up on your notes either way, though. You guys have really thought this out! It was nice of you to invite me to have a go at stuff. :)
I kind of assume that ALL the Firebenders have to be careful with fire to a certain extent, because it's probably pretty easy to get yourself killed practicing Firebending. Note that Zuko's crew all assumed he fucked up his face in a training accident, and didn't act like that was too uncommon? Yeah.
That said, the active opposition to fire is something new and interesting! At least in a non-Jeong Jeong, non-wangsty way.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 02:01 pm (UTC)Bohai is established, but his younger sister, An, is a total mystery. I think she's Xi Feng's age?
Other than having felt out the characters and relationships a bit, a lot of stuff is vague. Also, once the kids get grown up enough to be married themselves, they go all fuzzy, and it makes me peer back at the younger ones. As my sister likes to remind me, she and Mom still had lives after I went to school. ^^;;
I'M NOT TRYING TO CREATE THE STAR WARS FANON OVER HERE, I JUST THINK IT WOULD BE REALLY FRIGGIN' NEAT IF PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND RAWLES OCCASIONALLY EITHER USED OUR BABIES OR REFERENCED THEM VAGUELY. LIKE RAWLES DID WITH HER BABYFIC WHEN THE BABY WAS A GIRL AND I READ IT AND STARTED SPAMMING HER IM TO ASK HER IF IT WAS ZHI.
(Are you in my time zone? o_O)
PS: PRINNY, DOOD. I GOTTA FINISH THAT GAME EVENTUALLY, IT ROCKS AND THERE'S A BOX SET OF THE SEQUEL AT MY USUAL GAME STORE.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 02:07 pm (UTC)YOU KNOW DISGAEA! I want the sequal desperately, but I blew all of my cash on Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. SO MANY MEMORIES.
(Although realizing that I played VP:Lenneth on the original PS makes me feel oooold).
I do not know about your timezone? It is 10am here. I am
procrastinatingworking in the library.Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 03:13 pm (UTC)Essentially, I am entreating you to write futurefic, and if you do so, to confederate it with mine, that we might form a bloc. The Maiko Conspiracy is a conspiracy so it is by necessity small but well crafted and beautimous. Your fics are beautimous. I want to make fic-babies with you. Here, I brought the babies, we just have to add fic.
I WOULD NOT OBJECT IF WE WERE ALL SO PROLIFIC AS FANFIC AUTHORS THAT OUR FANON BECAME THAT DEGREE OF FANON AND M&B SMIRKED IN OUR DIRECTION BENEVOLENTLY. IN FACT I MIGHT SQUEE SO MUCH I DIED. BUT, THAT IS NEITHER HERE NOR THERE.
REGARDING VP-L, SO DID I, BUT I BOUGHT IT WHEN IT CAME OUT FOR PSP FOR THE CG AND THE NOSTALGIA.
I want a pet basilisk or iguana. An albino. I shall call him Valeth.
NO, I LIVE IN THE FUTURE, WHERE IT IS GOING ON 1 AM SATURDAY MORNING, I WAS JUST AMAZED BECAUSE YOU ARE RESPONDING SO FAST OMFG.
RAWLES GAVE ME THE CAPS. IT'S LIKE THE CLAP, BUT ON THE INTARWEB.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 10:31 pm (UTC)Though probably I gots to be working on Jet alternate-timeline sequalfic for Smilla first. I like my transferrence-based PTSD-haunted homoerotic stalking.
VALETH. Yes. Evil Harry Potter holds a special place in my fangirl heart. <3 Mystina as well, although from what I can tell she did not make it to the sequal. At least there's Hrist to keep me happy. And Silmeria ia suprisingly badass in comparison to Lenneth.
Rawles gave me the keysmash. A MENACE, SHE IS.
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-13 11:01 pm (UTC)Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-14 12:18 am (UTC)MY SLASHY OTP IS STILL ZUKO&SOKKA.
THEIR LOVE IS SO "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU WATER TRIBE PEASANT."
Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-14 01:00 am (UTC)Jet/Zuko is fun but I am more a fan of Jet being crazy and inappropriately attached than I am of Jet/Zuko as an actual SHIP. I find Jet - as the worst-case-scenario product of constant exposure to violence - very interesting.
Sokka, OTOH, kinda bores me.
*IS MURDERED TO DEATH BY SOKKA FANS*I don't DISlike him, so much as I have no great attachment to him. YMV.Re: IN UR COMM, SPAMMING UR POSTS
Date: 2006-10-14 01:17 am (UTC)I ONLY HAVE ROOM FOR ONE HOMICIDAL MANIAC OBSESSIVE IN MY HEART, AND I SAVE THAT PIECE OF TURF FOR AZULA.
I'm looking forward to the iTunes download of the new ep so I can see what happens to the guy, ya. I expect it to be quite Clockwork Orange.
NO SPOILERS, I'LL CUT YOU.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 04:53 pm (UTC)