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seyaryminamoto · 2 years

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I know there's no way you have time to write another multi chapter story aside from gladiator (which is btw amazing) but can I just ask what is the supposedly plot or premise of Played by Fire?

Oh boy, well... that particular fic has been a thorn on my side for a long time, haha. I've never really managed to make it work, and I've tried multiple times, but I've never really felt fully comfortable with any of my different attempts of writing it. But I suppose if you really want to know...

Just to warn you, it's a bit of a relationship drama fest :'D so if that's not something you'd enjoy, don't bother tapping the read more, haha.

So, for starters, the plan here was for Sokka and Suki to still be in a relationship and for everything to look alright between them (to anyone outside their relationship, that is). Suki is serving as Zuko's guard, following what the comics established, and Zuko slowly develops feelings for her that he assumes she'll never reciprocate. Azula, redeemed and serving as his advisor, tells Zuko to get over his crush or do something about it, Zuko being the tortured drama king he is, doesn't want to hear it. Basically, Azula thinks he should get over Suki and marry someone else to secure his lineage, but he's too busy pining over a taken woman to care!

The conclusion Azula reaches is that if Zuko tells Suki how he feels and Suki tells him outright that she's not interested, Zuko will finally be free from his crush, pretty much. Zuko agrees to that eventually, knowing he'll wind up with a broken heart but knowing too that, once he knows there's no future there, he'll have no choice but to move on. Thus, Azula offers to distract Sokka (who's visiting Suki frequently in the Fire Nation, and he's there at the moment) so that Zuko can do this when he has the chance.

The four of them were to travel to Ember Island, not entirely sure why anymore, but they were. Azula found that to be the ideal situation for Zuko to get a grip and finally tell Suki what he feels... so she starts the Sokka distraction strategy by talking nonsense with him and Sokka is certainly entertained with Azula, but Zuko still fails and chickens out of confessing at the last moment because he's Zuko :'D

Anyway, Azula is frustrated but decides to enjoy her beach time because that's what she went there for, Zuko kind of gives up and decides that what matters is for Suki to be happy and that he'll get over her to do what Azula is asking, marry someone else...

... And when they reach Ember Island, Sokka and Suki break up with a big chaotic argument about I don't even know what :'D

As a result of the big, screamy fight she has with Sokka, Suki, outraged, leaves Ember Island and Zuko decides to go with her to make sure she'll be okay. Sokka thinks at first that Suki will change her mind, and he thinks Suki is the one who was out of line so he doesn't want to apologize to her and run after her, since he thinks she's the one who should apologize to him. Thus, he decides he'll stay in Ember Island anyway, even if Suki's not around. Zuko tells Azula to stay with Sokka in case he's just faking being okay and needs help, Azula tells Zuko that this is his chance to confess to Suki, Zuko tells Azula of course it's not...! But even so, Zuko and Suki take off together, leaving the other two behind.

Broken up as they are, Sokka is still assuming Suki will come back to him and realize she made a mistake eventually. After a few days of sulking, he starts to think maybe she won't come back at all and maybe this is the actual end of their relationship. Azula tries to needle him into accepting that he can be with someone other than Suki, that their relationship isn't the be-all-end-all of his life, but Sokka keeps sulking anyhow. Eventually, he decides he's going after Suki after all, and Azula knows her brother won't have had the guts to do anything about his stupid situation... so she decides she needs to keep Sokka in Ember Island.

As a result, Azula baaaasically decides to prove to Sokka that he doesn't have to be with Suki at all. She was supposed to seduce him through some, uh, unorthodox methods, which throws Sokka's head into complete disarray, and he has no idea what to do upon suddenly finding himself strongly allured by Azula. Azula tells him he's not in a relationship anymore, so what's the big deal?

Once Sokka decides to accept that reality, Azula becomes Sokka's rebound romance (at first). Their first night would have been a rather impulsive, messy thing, but by the next day, Sokka would have calmed down a bit and started to realize there really can be a life beyond breaking up with his girlfriend. This, then, translates to Sokka deciding to get to know Azula better. She's certainly interested in him on a physical level, but she's still putting up barriers so she's not really sure about the intimacy Sokka might have been looking for (also because she's started this for what she expects Sokka would think are the "wrong reasons). Still, after a few days of awkwardness (except for when they're banging, of course), Sokka actually starts to appeal enough to Azula for her to open up about things, her family's experiences in Ember Island, her childhood, and so on. She finds he's very welcoming and easy to talk to, so she opens up gradually and in doing so, opens the floodgates to falling in love with Sokka, who's also doing the same thing with her.

By the time their week-long vacation ends (or however long it is), Sokka and Azula are definitely intrigued by what they have going on, and they know that it's going to be awkward to explain, but they hope both Zuko and Suki will be responsive to it and won't jump to conclusions about how Sokka is shameless for rebounding so fast and so effectively (since he'd be pretty much over his earlier distress upon breaking up with Suki).

Cue their shock when they return to find that Suki is remorseful, ready and eager to rekindle things with Sokka.

Azula confronts her brother, who very honorably (and stupidly x'D) chose not to tell Suki about how he felt and instead encouraged her to go back to Sokka if that was what she wanted, helped her open her heart, examine her mistakes and acknowledge them, and so on. Azula is absolutely outraged and probably only realizes how much she likes Sokka when she finds she's at risk of losing him. Sokka isn't completely sure of how to explain to Suki that he's not interested in going back to her...

And this is the part where things would get particularly bad: Azula's insecurities would lead her to think Sokka is going to choose Suki over her. In a panicked bid to keep him with her, she'd tell Suki the truth about how Sokka barely grieved over their relationship before falling into bed with her, also revealing that Zuko is interested in her and that the only reason why Azula got caught up in all this shit was because she was trying to help her brother. Suki, of course, loses her shit, and the situation becomes extremely chaotic since now everyone's mad at Azula for pretty much airing everyone's dirty laundry as she did, revealing Sokka got involved with her when he was still getting ready to explain that and so on. Lots of drama. Too much drama. Excess drama.

Sokka and Suki would take off to Republic City to sort out their problems there, on their own. Azula tries to plead with Sokka before he goes, acknowledging she acted out but that she cares about him, Sokka tells her he needs time to sort out the mess he's in now, since most everyone he knows is bound to think of him as the disloyal asshole who ditched his girlfriend and got together with his friend's sister at the first chance (when the girlfriend in question was the one who ditched him, but life is unfair that way). So Azula ends up in wobbly territory, afraid that she's lost Sokka irremediably, and that her brother is going to be mad at her forever.

Suki and Zuko also have a conversation where Suki confirms that Zuko feels how he does about her. He admits the truth, but tells Suki that he wants her happiness more than anything, and that if she believes she can be happy with Sokka, that's all he wants for her. The thing is, Suki doesn't really think happiness with Sokka would be a possibility anymore, not after everything that's happened, and she's starting to wonder if maybe the break-up was worth taking more seriously than she had thus far.

So she goes to Republic City with Sokka, and they talk things over while Azula and Zuko sulk over their failures to be with the people they like. Sokka and Suki have some really earnest conversations and realize that they really are better off taking the break-up seriously and ending things between them. Suki has started to ponder the possibilities with Zuko, and Sokka already knows Azula makes his heart race in ways it never had before, so... they go back to the Fire Nation some time later, with Suki offering to test the waters with Zuko, since she and Sokka are decidedly done now. Sokka would go to Azula too, and her broken heart would finally begin to heal after he tells her that while her methods weren't the right ones, the outcome is the one it should have been and that he's come to realize a week with her wouldn't ever be enough and that he wants the full thing, pretty much?

AND THAT'S THAT.

... As you can see, it's a lot more relationship-drama heavy than I like for my content, generally. I didn't mind going wild with relationship drama back in the early years when I first came up with this idea? But I've aged and age means I've grown a bit jaded with excessive relationship drama. Therefore, I've actually tried to rework this mess into something a liiiittle bit less chaotic... but it still doesn't work, somehow. I've started this story at least twice and in neither case was I happy with the outcome (I outlined a much more lighthearted version of it for this year's Sokkla Saturdays, but even that didn't work for me at all and I ended up writing something else entirely...).

So... yeah, now you know what the plot was going to be. It's not really something I think I'm bound to write in the future, therefore why I was down for giving you the outline of what I wanted this story to be. I'd certainly say that for each their own, but I'm not sure this story would fall into the realm of things I want to write anymore, unfortunately.

But now you know! And I hope you're happy knowing what the soap opera-like plan was meant to be with this story :'D

#anon #played by fire #I know I wrote about this in the 'my fics' page of my theme #and I assume that's where you found it #I probably should take it down because yeeeeah I don't think it's going to happen #there it goes tho!

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