#i clearly wanted to ramble about this so bad 'cause I just went off aksdjksdj that was so rambly

[juniperhillpatient]

Do tell us more about your IT x Atla idea 🤪

Ahhh thank you for asking! I don’t have a clear plan right now, honestly. It’s just something I’m thinking about ever since the lovely @745voiceofthepeople brought up the idea

I won’t be officially starting a new project until Happenstance is done & we have a looong way to go 😉 I did start the outline for & write a few scenes for a Scream AU but idk this IT AU idea just really grabbed me. I mean - aside from my love for IT, how enticing is the idea of a demon that feeds on trauma, from a writing perspective? C'mon, there's sooo much you can do with that, narratively. More thoughts under the cut 'cause this got long & rambly!

Just - can you imagine the Gaang as the losers club? I just feel like the whole coming of age & overcoming trauma theme could totally work with their characters. I was playing with the idea of the Fire Nation kids starting off as bullies but NOT popular kids. Just really mean kids that everyone is scared of. But then they have to team up with the Gaang against Pennywise & the losers club is formed. That's obviously very different than the dynamic between the losers & bullies like Henry in IT but...I think it might work, in this AU setting as long as it's clear that everyone involved is a loser who has been hurt by the town because that's core to the story.

I don't think saying "this character will play this character" really works for this AU. Basically - it's a group of traumatized kids fighting an evil sewer clown, not everyone has to fit an existing role as long as I'm true to that.

But like - in terms of inspiration off the top of my head -

Sokka is likely gonna take heavy inspiration from both Ben & Richie. Obviously, I'd give Ben's engineering ingenuity & interest in architecture to Sokka. I forget if the mini-series includes the bit about the losers club building such a good dam that the city makes them take it down because Ben is just THAT good but the new movies definitely do not. However, that's just such a Sokka thing to do. And of course, like Richie, Sokka uses humor to cope. I can totally see him putting on stupid voices & acting ridiculous to try & make the others laugh no matter what.

I've also thought about how Katara could take inspiration from Bill. Not so much personality this time. But the book has so many really powerful passages about grief & guilt. I don't exactly know how I'd manage the Georgie storyline in this AU, I haven't worked that out. But obviously, Katara will be struggling with her mother's death & some parts of the book where Pennywise twists Bill's grief & survivor's guilt - or just parts when Bill is living with the emptiness left behind - could be an inspiration for covering that.

Of course, I'm going to play with the fire siblings & Ozai if I write this AU. I think that it would be really interesting writing them as still living with Ozai & very dependent on him because I usually write them getting away at the start of my stories. Or, maybe Zuko did get away & he lives with Iroh but Azula is still with Ozai. I could get pretty dark with Ozai & Azula alone in a house especially if I take inspiration from aspects of Beverly's relationship with her dad...

I haven't thought much about romances in this story aside from Azula/Katara. I'd definitely take inspiration from Beverly & Ben's romance for them. Especially that kiss when Beverly is in the headlights - imagine that but make it Azutara! I'm obsessed, are you obsessed? I'm obsessed. Don't worry though, no stupid fucking underwater kiss at the end.

I think writing two timelines could be a really fun writing challenge for me. I forget how the mini-series did it but I know the new movies divided the story into parts. But I would likely try to imitate the style of the novel, going back & forth. The idea of writing characters as kids & adults back to back is so interesting to me. I think that it could be super fun!

I have a few other specific ideas that aren't really fleshed out -

I think that some big characters might have to die in this & haunt the narrative a little.....as a treat. We'll see.

Don't murder me but I'll probably take inspiration from adult Beverly basically marrying another version of her dad because she still hasn't escaped the cycle with Azula. And Mai & Ty Lee can share the role of Kay Mccall. Except - you know - different because I also want them to be part of things in the kid timeline. Actually, I'm not sure how that will work since part of the point is that no one's seen each other in 27 years as adults...We'll get back to that, these are vague ideas, okay.

Alright, last vague idea -

I was wondering who could be the "leader" the way that Bill is. I think narratively, it makes sense for it to be Aang. But also Aang becomes a leader figure in ATLA because he's the Avatar. In this AU, he's just a kid & he's not actually the type to choose leadership, like Bill. But maybe he just steps up super well against Pennywise one time to protect his friends after running away the first time he faces him. This could reflect canon Aang's journey from running away to facing problems & the others look at him as a leader after this. To anyone reading this - what do you think about that idea?

And I'd welcome thoughts on how to fit a Georgie parallel into this story. It seems important but I'm not sure how to make it work!

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Thank you for giving me the excuse to ramble!