Ask the Author: For want of a nail

[lavanya_six]

Ganked from askerian by way of suzukiblu by way of attackfish


Inspired by Doctor Who's "Turn Left:" Pick one of my stories and tell me a point in the tale that you'd change. Something tiny (e.g. "and then Gendo decided to play Eye of the Tiger instead of 99 Red Balloons") or big (e.g. "and then the Blue Spirit decided to try escaping from Mai rather than reveal he was Zuko") and I'll tell you how that one difference would have altered the course of the entire story.

Comments

[loopy777.livejournal.com]

Siege of the South- Hama didn't successfully punch Aang out of the Avatar State, and was blown away. Wooooooosh. Oops.

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

Aang would have a heroic blue screen of death, then be wracked with guilt for the rest of his life. Him ever mastering the Avatar State would be very difficult because of what happened to Hama. He'd never return to the Southern Water Tribe, although they'd probably send out people to search for him (being the world's last hope and all). Kanna would make a raft out of debris and paddle onwards to the South Pole, because the only thing that can bring down Gran-Gran is Kryptonite.

Aang might still eventually master the elements and defeat the Fire Nation but it would take years longer. He'd pull his punches against his enemies, having killed somebody already. There'd also be a lot more heat on him than in canon. Since Roku is still a figure in living memory of a lot of people, Fire Lord Azulon won't leave hunting Aang to his favorite toy general/admiral/princess like Ozai did. Azulon will see Aang as an existential threat to the Fire Nation, and without the training and protection the Southern Water Tribe offered him Aang will be in danger all the time.

[(Anonymous)]

I figured that he would have avoided returning to the Tribe, but you raise a good point that it would involve pretty much running right into the Fire (if I may indulge in an appropriate elemental metaphor). It's too bad that the time frame doesn't offer many canon characters for Aang to befriend, as it would have been fun to think about who and how he might have tried to form a support group. (Hm, maybe the Jeong-Jeong you introduced could be co-opted...)

[loopy777.livejournal.com]

Dangit, that was me.

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

>t's too bad that the time frame doesn't offer many canon characters for Aang to befriend, as it would have been fun to think about who and how he might have tried to form a support group. (Hm, maybe the Jeong-Jeong you introduced could be co-opted...)


That's pretty much why I limited it to a one-shot. While worldbuilding things at an earlier point in the war might be fun, a lot of the colorful minor characters and stuff from canon would be inaccessible. For the short drabble sequel I'm doing for Omoni -- ( I really need to finish that ) -- I made Li and Lo into Aang's antagonists.