#ultranos

[segfaultfault]

fic rec! I had otter thoughts. And have you read That otterly amazing fic by ultranos, "the two-body problem" (AO3 registered users only link).

“Not unless you get a tac vest, Alex.” Okay, wow, J’onn sounds way too reasonable about letting an otter do… whatever Alex is pondering that is clearly dangerous, but oh gosh she’d look adorable in an itty-bitty tac vest

-excerpt "the two-body problem", ultranos (AO3 author page)

You're so right. She does.

[kalahannikolai]

The Magnum Chargers, led by Pyra Magna herself and consisting of Lockdown (first), Stockade (third), and Ultranos(fourth)! A group of mercenaries that the former Autobot founded, also including Dagdan cyberkin (human) Shamir Nevrand and a Srengren mini-con by the name of Buckrush among their number.

Pyra Magna and Lockdown are my own takes on the characters of the same names. Stockade is based on a Decepticon from the Bayverse comics, but he's essentially an OC. Ultranos is entirely an original character, both named and designed in homage of my pal @ultranos.

Lore and backstory below!

When Pyra Magna found herself adrift after the Civil War, she followed those of her faction that travelled to the mysterious world of the cyberkin. Fleshlings with sparks and energon fascinated her, and she gladly embraced them as cousins. But even as she did, she still found herself quite challenged in regaining purpose. Pyra had seen the truce with the Decepticons as a mistake, seen Optimus Prime's refusal to execute Megatron as weakness.

Don't even get her started on Ultra Magnus' negligence towards those that split off to Brigid, Dagda, and Sreng. Every cybertronian that went neutral she envied, and eventually she followed their examples. Pyra Magna made for forge her own path, and along the way she encountered friendship in unlikely places. Lockdown, a mercenary from the War who lacked in clients during this peace; Stockade, a youth born during the War who couldn't find a place in any faction; Ultranos, a former khadracon who'd befriended the cyberkin Shamir Nevrand and the mini-con Buckrush.

They all formed a mercenary band together, and the group became akin to family as they survived the lands of Fódlan together. Then, one day, Pyra Magna found herself in a precious and dangerous position. Her life on a razor's edge, only the intervention of Archbishop Rhea saved her. From then on, Pyra Magna offered the services of herself and the Magnum Chargers (as she'd proudly dubbed them) to the Church's service.

There was no length to which Pyra Magna would not go for the Immaculate One, for the Nabataen that trusted her with even her closest secrets. The former autobot would defend Seiros, Cichol, and Cethleann with everything her spark had to offer. Even if it meant lying to the rest of her Chargers...even if it meant one day turning her back on them. She would not forsake the goddess, not for anyone.

[bittertomato]

It's so fun to be in different primary fandoms from the people you follow because you either see some nice fan art or you'll see some of the drama secondhand and remember how so many people in fandoms need to be slapped over the head.

And by fun I mean absolute jaw-dropping weird.

[bearsandbeansart]

The way Zuko and Azula's face are lining up where the washi was torn is cracking me up. I'd say this could be Azula in @ultranos fic, but I think her burn scar is around her mouth.

(washi tape by @petricorah)

Edit: here's the photo that I forgot to add, like the idiot I am

[zuko-always-lies]

Credit to @ultranos for the template

[sokkastyles]

Alright, this needs to stop.

As I mentioned over here, someone is stirring up drama between Zuko/Zutara and Azula blogs by harassing people in their inboxes. At least this time they have (mostly) used their own words instead of directly copying posts from other blogs. Or used a chatbot because boy, howdy, do these messages make no sense, even when they aren't directly copied from other blogs. The eye contact one is a post copied from another tumblr blog, and doesn't even make sense to plop into my inbox because there isn't even an argument presented.

You can see though that this blog has no content, but their followers list is full of Zutara/Zuko and Azula blogs, probably for the purpose of stealing posts to cause drama with. I would suggest everyone on the follow list block and report them immediately, and do this every time you get a message from a blog that looks like this.

@comradekatara, @atla-recluse, @ask-ozai, @ask-azula, @azulas-daddy-kink, @justanotherthrowaway1959, @betteravatarpolice, @a-s-fischer, @fireladyazula, @tinky-dinky, @attackfish, @ultranos, @loopy777, @innocentimouto, @dragynkeep, @atla-fandom-confessions, @wingsfreedom, @zuko-always-lies, @atla-lore-archive, @prying-pandora666, @zuctionary, @zvtara-was-never-canon, @burst-of-iridescent, @waywardbananawolf, @firelxdykatara, @waywardavatarenthusiast, @juniperhillpatient, @super-hero-confessions, @azulas, @firenaition, @waterfire1848, @ly0nstea, @the-badger-mole, @phoebester, @err0r4x, @doodlesanime

If you notice a blog like this following you, liking your posts, or sending you messages, they are stealing posts and trying to cause drama. Block and report them.

You can also follow the link to my previous post to see the list of other blog urls they have used, and you can go to each page and see that the blogs look very similar and have similar if not identical follower lists.

[the-genius-az]

As The Azula connoisseur on this app, what are your fav fics you've read so far?

-Squid

They are all my favorites! but these are the most memorable for me.

Robust/Balsa_margarita

Ashes like snow/Cielocomedown

You have unmade your creation; do you feel like god?/Cielocomedown and Dragonmont

唯一無二/Cielocomedown

Utterpok/Maizula

My Virtual Girlfriend/ItspronouncedJulia

Avatar: The Blue Flames/ButterflyBeeStevenwithaV

The sun don’t shine underground/Ultranos and RakshaTheDemon

Blue Azalea/Esaleyon

From Ashes To The Inferno/GlaucusPacificus

Crouching Azula, Hidden Dragon/GlaucusPacificus

Azula: Dragon Tales/Acelilman

The most dangerous thing is to love/AspenRoman

The Dragon Emperor/Drpoisonoaky

A will of fire/A_sassin

A Bite Of Mochi/LyonsTea

[phoukanamedpookie]

how would you feel if azula had a found family arc?

As with anything, it depends on the execution, although I am increasingly put off by storylines that ignore the East Asian cultural influences of the Avatarverse since Azula the character demonstrates attitudes and behaviors that would fit right in with imperial China or the shogunate.

@lightdancer1 and @ultranos can speak on that with more authority than me.

[julietwiskey1]

What are some of your Azula headcanons?

Fluff

Azula is really clingy in her sleep. She grabs something and just cuddles up to it never letting go. Sparky from @ultranos is her all time favorite. Though people who have put her to bed as a child have found themselves trapped as she held on tight to their arms.

Azula can be a bit of a dorky nerd. While she usually comes off as cutting to those she talks to briefly those who know her see another side. She remembers almost everything she was taught in school and tends to bring it up in nerdy ways. And her confidence masks her social awkwardness.

Azula and Zuko were enemies six days a week and best friends one day a week. And it was always a surprise when it would happen. Pretty much no words of understanding or reconciliation would be shared with them. They just wake up and start playing in the garden.

Angst

Post war Azula is struggling with her identity and knowing what she should do with her life. She grew up always being told what to be and what to do. Now that she doesn't have anyone telling her what that is she feels completely lost.

Azula does not know what healthy relationships look or function like. She is prone to entering into abusive relationships and unwilling to leave. She craves to be loved and accepted so any little bit given to her is powerful and lets her look past the mountain of pain they cause.

Ozai never burned or hit Azula. In fact he often became furious if she ever got scratched or burned while in training. He would tell her that those were all signs of weakness and failure. But she needed to be perfect as she was a direct reflection of him. And any burn or scar she got would be a sign that he was not prefect.

How about another comforting thought before I end this? Post war Azula and Ursa reconcile. Azula was actually rather willing to give Ursa a chance as she was desperate for love. Ursa helps Azula develop her self esteem and learn how to judge if things are good for herself. And her proudest moment is when Azula yelled at her when she messed up. It showed growth in Azula in understanding that she no longer had to morph herself to be a tool for a parent or others.

[unfortunately-rogi]

I'm crazy about your art! Can you draw Azula with a scar similar to Amons (Korra) with the mouth?

Ooooh ok so I totally took this ask as an excuse to draw fanart of one of my fave fanfics by @ultranos Salt and Ashes!!

[latuarts]

i started drawing s&a azula again. check out @ultranos's fic if you haven't.

[krastbannert]

AU where Azula is the banished one and Zuko is the prodigy

OK back to these asks, cause I didn't forget about them.

This AU is one that I've never been sure how to start it off, but I love the idea of. (Obligatory plug for salt & ashes by ultranos, because the AU you ask about here is the setup for that, and it's an outstanding series.)

I can't really think of a reasoning for why Azula would be banished, so we'll just...ignore that for now.

Azula, upon waking up, has what amounts to a breakdown. She's scarred, just like Zuko was. Over her eye, over her cheek and jaw - she can't heard out of her left ear and can barely see out of her right eye. And she just...can't believe the whole situation. At first, she locks herself in her cabin, and refuses to come out or let anyone in.

Iroh still goes along with; he might not be the closest with his niece (in fact, he's never taken much interest in her, he realizes at one point as he watches one of the crew talk to her), but someone needs to make sure she'll be alright. Azula might be many things, and have the potential for many things, as Ozai's shadow - but she deserves to have someone familiar along with her. (The day he hears of Azula's banishment, he swears: he will never forgive his brother.)

Zuko writes her letters, almost every day. He has to do it in nigh secret, as Ozai only gets even more strict on him, but he keeps at it, because...the longer she's gone, the more Zuko realizes, he misses having his sister always hounding after him.

Jee might just be a grouchy, bitter lieutenant, twenty-three years, three demotions, a court martial-and-a-half, and one ruined family into his naval career, but he's beyond apoplectic. Banishing your own child is bad enough - banishing your child when they are eleven years old? He's ready and willing to kill the Fire Lord the moment Azula is brought onto the ship.

Azula is given the same task that Zuko was: return home with the Avatar in chains, or not at all. At first, she's in denial - she's father's favorite, of course he'll let her come home sooner or later. But a day turns into a week turns into a month turns into a year, and the more she hears from Zuko, about how harsh Ozai has become, and the more she travels, looking for a ghost of ghosts, she realizes he won't just bring her home. And after that, she's lost, because if she was father's favorite, and he won't love her, won't let her serve her nation - then who is she, and what does she do now?

[balsa-margarita]

I feel like there's a fundamental misunderstanding about hard work here

Another thing about that post yesterday - do these people not realize that Azula isn't the only character who focused almost all of their efforts into bending? Look at Katara, who became a master waterbender in the span of a year! How hard did she have to work to accomplish that, do you think?

(Heck, these people's beloved Zuko undoubtedly had an unhealthy fixation with becoming a master swordsman!)

The eternal problem with getting really, really good at something is that it requires you to put a lot of effort into it - often enough effort that it does detract from the rest of your life in some way. I've experienced this, mutuals of mine such as @ultranos and @akiizayoi4869 have experienced this, many people have. Mastery requires sacrifice.

What we've also experienced - and what is bad - is perfectionism. That is what causes people to burn out and break down, because perfection is impossible to achieve. And there is a thin fucking line between unhealthy perfectionism and the amount of effort you have to put in to master something. But it is so, so, so, important that that line is there.

Saying that Azula's hard work is natively a bad thing (or Katara's, or Zuko's) is stupid. There is a difference between the work you put in and the mindset you do it under, if that makes sense. Perfectionism does not exclude you from knowing the value of hard work!

(It is even more stupid to say that Azula did not work hard.)

[zuko-always-lies]

i was reading frankenstein and the monster reminded me of azula a bit. do you know if there are any fics where it focuses on the monster complex azula has or ones where she actually becomes one, metaphorically and/or literally? i have no idea what to search except angst

I don't really remember any, but maybe one of my followers does? @ultranos has one where Azula turns into a dragon, but that's not really the same as what you are asking for.

[dawnsiren]

Im interested to know how you came up with the idea to write the Dragon!Azula au

Well, the Dragon!Azula thought in general started from me reading Scaled Over by MuffinLance and going ‘okay sure but What If Azula’

As Empires Fall specifically is a bit more complicated. In that what y’all’ve read from me is not actually the original story I had in mind. The original plan I had was for Azula, Zuko, and Iroh to go to the Southern Water Tribe and from there…. Well quite honestly I didn’t have a plan after that, which is why this version of the story doesn’t exist. Because I lost any motivation and abandoned it. This version of the story, iirc, lacked dragon!Ursa and had Magic Shenanigans resulting in Azula being in an actual egg that Ursa was pregnant with. As you might know, I cut this. This was just kind of a thing I was writing for the heck of it, without much real planning.

And then I read @ultranos’s dragon!Azula fic ‘I don’t want to set the world on fire’ which like…. Rebooted me and resurrected As Empires Fall in the form you’re familiar with. The first part of the prologue is genuinely a near-direct copy/paste from the forgotten draft, with only a few edits to line up with the place they go being the Sun Warriors instead of the South. And then the idea just kind of…. Grew prolifically until I had a full outline, complex plot, and 51 planned chapters.

[elym13]

Fanfiction Writer asks

I never did this one, and its OLD, but I am writing, so why not.

How many works have you finished so far? AO3 says 16, FF.net says 9. AO3 includes vids but also Anon work, so 10.

How many WIPs do you currently have? 3 One Frozen that has been in hiatus since 2019. One TLT that is rolling slowly along. One TLT that I just started pondering.

How long is the longest fic you have written so far? Queen's Rook at 75k words.

How long is the shortest fic you have written so far? How I Met Your Sister; or, Snow Good to Meet You

Do you do research for your fics? With an obsession boarding on madness. Ask me how many articles on formal dining I have saved?

Of all the fics you have written so far, which one is your personal favourite? I love all my babies. Right now it's Educating Corona because that's what I'm writing. Of my Frozen Fitzverse romances, I would say Queen's Rook because I had a great beta who made my writing so much better. Of my vids, and no you didn't ask, "Black, Black Heart" a Emma Frost/ Jean Gray epic.

Post a random line from one of your WIPs. How does one pick randomly from one's own work? Here is a not so random selection. "Coronabeth took the proffered tissues and blew her nose, whimpering, “I tried. But I suck at memorizing. All those bones. All those bone words.”

Do you write more oneshots or more multichapter fics? Multichapter, and one series of one shots masquerading as multichapter

What is the most difficult part of writing to you? Getting what I'm thinking about in the shower, or while moving the lawn, onto the screen without completely losing the feel and spontaneity. I think my writing is quite stilted.

Which fanfiction trope have you written the most often? Future Fix It. or just plain Fix It. Emma would NEVER sleep with Scott, that man is so boring.

For which fandom have you written your first fic? XMen

Does your first fic still exist? Somewhere on Live Journal maybe?

Name one of your fics that you are proud of. All of those little motherfuckers.

Share a headcanon about one of your fics (optional: a specific fic). Coronabeth Tridentarius has an endorphin addiction. (that's probably canon actually) Elsa can't ride horses unless she makes them or they are strange elemental horses.

Who is a fic author you like/look up to. Sooo many. LesbianJesusLovesYou, UninspiredPoet, sniperct, Redisaid, justonemoreartist, ultranos (specifically the brilliant Ghost on the Wire), Jessica-X, Sionnain, fembuck, and my actual RL friends Grrlgeek72, Jedijae,

What’s the longest time you ever needed to write a fic? I think I'm going on 6 years for Queen's Gambit.

Share a sfw headcanon about one of your OTPs (optional: a specific pairing). Fitz's ex-lover the Comptesse d'Artrois thinks that Elsa is very good for Fitz.

Share a nsfw headcanon about one of your OTPs (optional: a specific pairing). Everything Ianthe demands of Coronabeth: the submission, the extreme sex, and the conservancy, is for her own good.

What’s a fanfiction trope that you haven’t written yet, but you could imagine/are planning to write? dunno

What’s a fanfiction trope that you couldn’t imagine writing? Anything with the death of someone I like