Title: Deep Red
Author: kosm
Rating: T
Wordcount: ca 30k as of 11.09.2018
Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender (ATLA)
Summary: You are Akane, older sister of Zuko and Azula, and Crown Princess of the Fire Nation. And you think, someday, your father is going to kill you.
Link: fiction.live

So, while it is a fiction.live story, there is no smut and it seems unlikely to change on that front. What this is is rather a character driven and political story about an OC, the eldest daughter of Ozai and Ursa. She's a rather interesting character. As she isn't reincarnated or anything she is genuinely a product of her time and place, fully believing in the fire nation mission of conquering the backwater places to bring civilization and order to them. Additionally, she has a truly fascinating relationship with her family. While she might be the eldest child, she isn't the favorite of either parent and she knows it. But since she is actually talented and skilled, Ozai had a greater interest in her progress so she is actually closest to Azula rather than anyone else. So her interactions with all members of her family are actually really great. She has different dynamics with each.

The writing is top notch, all characters so far have been handled excellently. The story is taking its time so it doesn't rush anything, giving everything time to breathe and for us to really get to know the characters and see how they develop.

The story is still in its early stages though, only 30k in and we just had a rather big thing happening so I am really curious as to how it will progress.

So yeah, check it out. 4/5 so far and I have the feeling it will get better.

 

Seconded. Just read through the lot, and it's pretty good. All the fucked up characterization a royal family like Zuko and Azula's should have, without anything too cringy besides

Spoiler

a weird aside into the Fire Nation taboo of homosexuality and Azula using it as leverage. I mean, while it's certainly possibly, it kind of sticks out as sort of starkly mundane, which ends up seeming sort of bland and unimaginative in a world like Avatar.

It gets major points for doing something I've never seen in ATLA fic,

Spoiler

taking real potshots at Ursa of all people, who in my experience is usually treated as some angelic figure or martyr. Sorry sweetheart, Azula may have fucked up being a good daughter, but you sure as shit also fucked up being a good mom.

4/5. Eagerly awaiting more.

 

Looks promising, and I'm always in the market for darkish Azula-related ATLA fanfic, but I'll probably hold off reading until there's more of it. I find it's usually pretty hard to get into or rate the quality of a fic until there's about at least 60k of it.

 

Spoiler

Agreed, it was the one thing that kinda soured it to me as well. Rather bored/confused by homophobia like that in fantasy stories, really see no reason to include it when you are creating a new world. That said, it's not like it doesn't make sense or is used/handled that badly yet. The airbenders doing it, the fire lord banning it because he wanted to vilify the airbenders and justify their genocide and that becoming a new cultural paradigm which Azula is seemingly exploiting because it clashes with the protag certainly isn't awful, I just could have done without it.

 

Spoiler

I honestly didn't mind the aside into the stigma of homosexuality. The way Azula was played in relation to it felt real.

Enjoyable, but as of Ozai's ascension it feels like the prologue has come to an end and we're about to start the story...which is a fairly long prologue at 30k words. It'll be interesting to see how the world opens up in light of what happened surrounding it.

The quest side of it wasn't a turn off either; the author doesn't appear to be giving readers the chance to be fuckwits. 4/5 from me.

 

The quest is online right now, in case anyone wants to vote and such.

 

It has also just been posted on SV

 

So, so far it’s interesting, well written, and the quest doesn’t feel like a bunch if bumbling idiots. That said, the whole homosexual bit came out of left field, especially the conversation with the mother where it first made its appearance.

Other than that, the characters are exceptional. Their dialogue is well written and they all feel very dynamic.

4/5

 

I saw it coming for a while before that, but I'm also a lesbian starved for solid lesbian romances in fiction.

 

Fuckin love this fic. For such an amazing show and fandom there are severe lack of good ATLA and LOK fics.

Despite being a quest, voter autism as its called, is really kept under control by the DM. It reads more like a story then a quest, and you can literally just ignore the quest-y bits and its just a really good story.

5/5

 

Good god, the most recent decisions are so utterly retarded they almost make me want to cry.

 

Shit, what've they done?

 

Basically confronted Ursa about an extremely delicate issue while the poor woman is trying to treat the burns and unwanted pregnancy of one of Ozai’s rape victims. They then proceed to tell this extremely traumatized woman to fuck off and that her problems are insignificant compared to those of a fourteen year old. This woman slaps the main character, who then threatens her, a woman who was just burned, raped and beaten. The questers then repeatedly accuse Ursa of putting this woman ahead of her daughter.

It’s absolute insanity.

 

Quests were a mistake. So much for the author preventing readers from being fuckwits.

 

I'm not even mad, it's actually impressive how bad they managed to fuck up. The icing on the cake is that they started blaming SV for that whole mess. Personally I think Kosm is too good for that site.

 

I discovered this yesterday and read through what was posted, but I didn't bother with the live chat. Having read the latest update, I can understand some of the complaints. The problem is that this is a character-driven story, and all the responses have been in character. Akane's a princess in a Feudal state; I find the servant's behavior less plausible, given the background. Why would she expect humane treatment from those she serves? Wasn't she raised knowing that fire-benders in general and the Royal family in specific have the right to kill her if she steps out of line?

Ursa's behavior is a bit wild, too, though knowing she came from humble beginnings explains some of the compassion.

Not unlike the show, where Zuko had to be a jerkbag before he started to learn wisdom, I see Akane's journey just beginning. My hope is that Iroh returns and she gets the guidance she's missing.

 

I think expecting a Quest to be played 'in character' is asking for a lot.

 

If this was a regular fic, then Akane being an utter cunt to the servant and then learning to be better would be some straightforward character development. A red flag at first, but this story has earned enough trust from me where I could see the author pulling this off in the end.

But it's not a regular fic. It's a quest. To get character development, the voters will have to develop and change. That ain't happening. If the voters are really going to jump into a full-cunt bend, then this is going to get aggravating until/unless kosm starts taking things out of their hands.


Edit: Oh, and 4/5. Good shit. Good character work. Kinda waiting to get into a main plot but for now the fucked up family life is satisfying. But as recent events show, kinda afraid of the voters being cancerous.

 

I just read this, and don't have too much to add that's new. Yes, this is good. Yes, the handling of her developing homosexuality is an off-key note. Yes, this most recent episode is a weird scene, one part in how the players made her act (which is fine in setting, to be fair), one point in the servant's response and Ursa's response (which seems odd in setting, but reasonable from a modern day perspective).

I really liked how the author was able to play with player choices on some parts. They have this very good ability to offer two interpretations of one event and make it richer for it. For example, Azula ripping her sister's sleeve - you're probably not choosing whether she has a scar but rather whether she acknowledges it. It's rich in these subtle things, for a quest, with a pleasant amount of narrator subtletly, except where it comes to her burgeoning sexuality, make of that what you will. 4/5 at the moment.

 

For anyone interested in this story but is turned away by the horrendous interface and unmoderated chat at fiction.live, Kosm has now posted a story-only thread at Sufficient Velocity:
Deep Red