#i have a long list of headcanons specifically about atla dancing

[woodlaflababab]

So, I got heavily inspired by this art by shange0211/Yishu and wanted to write a quick fic

This is just a snippet of Aang teaching Zuko how to dance.

-<>-

“Okay!” Aang started, brushing his hands over his robe to dispel nonexistent dust, “now that you know some simple solo moves, I want to teach you how to dance with other people.”

Zuko, who had progressively been getting over his reservations about this whole thing, went right back to looking at Aang like he was crazy. “What?”

“You know, dancing with a partner. Like the dragon dance, but uh,” Aang rubbed at the back of his head, “less firebending lessons.”

Zuko blinked at him a few times before putting his hands up and turning around. “No, I'm done.”

Before Zuko could take more than three steps, Aang was by his side, clinging to an arm. “Zuko!” Aang practically whined. “Come on, you've come this far, and dancing with other people is even more fun than dancing solo.” He tugged on Zuko's arm. “At least give it a shot.”

Zuko, becoming very familiar with this particular weakness of his, sighed and let Aang drag him to the middle of the room again.

“Okay, before I teach you any Fire Nation dances, I actually think we should start with a basic Earth Kingdom one.”

Zuko wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Why?”

“Fire Nation dances, while not as complicated as Water Tribe or air dances,” as Aang spoke, he backed away from Zuko and slid one hand behind his back while holding the other up in front of him, “move around, a lot.” With that, Aang started some dance routine, quickly moving across the floor. 

As he went, working his way around the room in a large circle, Zuko felt like he could kind of see where Aang was completing half of a dance, watching him move as though there was some phantom he danced with that only he could see. Zuko decided not to examine his immediate dislike for this theoretical phantom too closely.

After a bit, Aang seemed to close up his dance, coming to stand before Zuko once again and holding his hands neatly behind his back before dropping them. “Earth kingdom dances, however, tend to be simpler and easier to learn. At least,” he shrugged, “the common ones. There are a lot of special dances they do in specific cities or areas but I don't know a whole lot of those.”

Zuko had to refrain from snorting. Imagine that, Aang not knowing something. The way he went on sometimes, one would think he'd seen everything there was to see.

Aang paused for a second to think before lighting up again. “Oh! I know which one we can start with. It's actually a nobleman's dance, the rich people do it at parties and stuff, and it's really simple, give me your hand.” He stuck his own hand out expectantly.

Zuko hesitated just to nonverbally make the point that he thought this was stupid, but placed his hand inside Aang's nonetheless. He was then immediately thrown off his game as Aang pulled him forward so his hand could go on Aang's waist while Aang's went to his shoulder. Before Zuko could really catch up, Aang already had his other hand and was holding it out to their sides.

“This is the basic stance. Sometimes you break apart for other moves, but for the most part, you get to just stay like this and it's all in the foot work.” 

Aang grinned up at Zuko like that was supposed to reassure him, but Zuko was still trying to process the current situation.

“There's two parts to this, the lead and the follow. You should start by learning to lead though, that's what you're doing.” He nodded his head toward the side where he had his hand on Zuko's shoulder and Zuko's hand on his waist like that was supposed to mean anything to Zuko. “Now, just follow my steps. It's a basic three moves, okay?”

Aang looked up at him expectantly, and Zuko figured it sounded simple enough. Then something else occurred to him. “Wait, if I'm ‘leading’ why are you,” he hesitated as he tried to figure out how to word it, “leading?” was the word he uselessly landed on.

Thankfully Aang understood what he meant and let out a light easy laugh that coaxed some of the gathering tension from Zuko's shoulders. “It's just the name for things. Dancing isn't something you think about, you just do it. It doesn't matter what words you use, just follow me.”

“Whatever you say.” Zuko muttered.

Aang nodded before slowly taking a step back. It, a bit embarrassingly, took Zuko a second to figure out how he was supposed to follow Aang, but when he stepped forward to match Aang's movement, the proud grin he got as a reward seemed so much more poignant that close up.

Aang moved his other leg back in a bit of a sweep and Zuko, expecting it this time, followed along easily enough, ended by them bringing their feet back together. “Great!” Aang praised. “Now it's the same thing but backward, so now you step back.”

As he obeyed and repeated the moves backward, he found it was strangely gratifying as Aang moved with him step for step.

“Now we just do that box again.” With that, Aang once again stepped back.

Zuko followed after him as they moved smoothly through the cycle. It felt almost as easy as breathing, moving and matching Aang step for step and despite how simple the repetitive moves were, he was captivated. The flow of it, the simple trust that each step would be matched, how close they could be together and yet never run into each other. 

He found himself staring at Aang as Aang watched their hands for some reason Zuko was sure he'd never really understand. The simple focus in Aang, the ease with which he did everything, as though there really was nothing to think about, just movements shared, it was all fascinating to Zuko.

So much so that it took Zuko a moment to realize he was probably staring too hard when Aang turned back to him and gave him a weird look. Then it was Zuko's turn to look at their hands, but even that caught his eye in such an unexpected way. Getting to see the blue arrow cradled in his own hand as they glided over the floor, never wavering, like it was meant to rest there, caused a confusing flux of emotion he couldn't quite name.

Not that he'd ever been particularly good at that to begin with, but he felt even more lost than usual, like there was something he was missing.

“Zuko?”

Zuko's focus snapped back to Aang who was looking at him with an amused confusion. “You look like you're thinking, and I'm pretty sure I just said no thinking.” He teased and thankfully didn't ask about the thinking. Zuko had no idea how he'd answer.

So instead he latched onto the familiar easiness of teasing. “Sorry, not all of us can magically turn off our brains whenever we want.”

Aang's wide amused grin was almost difficult to witness when he was standing that close. “It's really not that hard. Maybe I should teach you how to meditate next.”

Zuko scowled. “I know how to meditate.”

“But you're really bad at it.” Aang pointed out without mercy. “Besides, maybe if I'm there it'll be easier to not overthink things.”

Zuko, for some strange reason, highly doubted that.

[masterweaverx]

Ilia Amitola has captured the mind and heart of certain parts of the internet. She certainly seems well suited for adventure, given her storied backstory and her usage with the White Fang. But if we’re going to set her Dungeoning and Dragoning, we’ve got to come up with a good series of goals for her.

Fortunately for us, while Ilia may be a complicated character emotionally she’s relatively simple from a mechanical perspective. Sneakery and agility is our primary objective with this young lady, accompanied and abetted by her crafty skinshifting. Oh, and there’s the whip--an electric stunning swordywhip thing that needs to be able to zap and stop. Personally I’d also say she needs to dominate the dance floor--not anything strictly canon, but just a headcanon of mine. All that said, let’s get to it.

Point arrays are standard for good reasons, so we’ll take the standard option and put a 15 in Dexterity--very good at the hopping and the hiding. Wisdom will be next with 14 points, Ilia has a very good internal compass even if she supresses it sometimes. Intelligence and Charisma are at 13 and 12 respectively--she’s had an education, and she can be a good speaker when she doesn’t get emotionally tongue-tied. Constitution has ten points, because she looks pretty healthy all things considered, but strength is at eight--Ilia’s kind of small, which is good for sneaking but bad for lobbing boulders at peeps.

For any 5E aficionado, you’re probably thinking we’re going to make Ilia a Changeling. And... you’d be right! This gives her +2 to her Charisma (upping it to 14) and +1 to her Dexterity (upping it to 16). She also gets two skill proficiencies out of a list of four; I picked Insight and Persuasion, since she’s not really that good at Intimidating people and she’ll be getting Deception from somewhere else. Changelings are good at language, automatically knowing Common and two other languages of their choice; I’m guess that stint in Atlas taught Ilia the esoteric languages of Legalese and Technobabble. And then there’s the big reason we picked Changeling...

Okay, quick side note here: When I construct these things, I look for ‘closest fit,’ not ‘one-hundred percent exact.’ Ilia Amitola can change her skin color, hair color, and eye color. Changelings are full-on shapeshifters--sex, size, apparent species, if they see you they can mimic you to a hundred percent. Doesn’t affect clothes, mind, but the point is D&D Ilia is going to be a touch more potent than RWBY Ilia, if you decide to use her that way. This is a role-playing game, not a rule-playing game. Mmkay? Mmkay.

For Background, I dug around a bit and found the Secret Identity background from the Adventurer’s League. And frankly it’s practically built for Ilia: pretending to be an Ordinary Human in the land of Racist Humans Who Hate Nonhumans. She gets proficiency with Deception, Stealth, Forgery Kits, and Disguise Kits, as well as the feature ‘Secret Identity.’ Meet Aili Alotima, a definitely totally normal human who does not, we assure you, have any skill at forging legal documents she has seen before, and has a totally real history you can absolutely check if you’re curious. (And if you believed that sentence, Ilia is going to be wondering exactly why she needed to go to the effort to trick the laws in the first place.)

And now we get to classes. I’m sure you were all expecting twelve levels in Thief Rogue, but I’m pretty certain you’ll all be surprised by the eight levels in Kensei Monk. Well, most of you, anyway. Some of you? Look, Monks are a pretty agile class, and Kensei monks specifically come with a few things that will be crucial to Ilia’s build.

But before we get to that, we have to get to Ilia’s Ability Score Improvements. Twelve Rogue levels and eight Monk levels give her a total of six. Every ASI can be used to either get two ability points or burned to get a feat; we’ll be using half of them to add two points to Wisdom and three to Intelligence (upping them both to sixteen) and one to Dexterity (making it 17--don’t worry, that’ll get patched soon). The remaining three points will be burned for feats--Acrobat, Skulker, and Magic Initiate.

Acrobats gain proficiency in the Acrobatic skill, and +1 to their Dexterity--so now Ilia has a full Dexterity of 18. And, as a bonus action, she can make a DC 15 acrobatics check to ignore difficult terrain till the end of the turn. Skulkers are extra good at sneaking, being able to hide when lightly obscured, suffer no sight penalties in dim light, and their location isn’t revealed even when they miss with a ranged weapon. Not that Ilia uses a gun, mind, but she’s pretty good at the whole shadow-hopping thing, so that’s nifty.

Magic initiates, though, choose a caster class and pick two cantrips and a first level spell from their list. They can only cast the spell once per long rest, but we’re really only here for the cantrips (which can be cast at any time and scale based on total character level). Lightning Lure drags a target from fifteen feet away up to ten feet closer and does some shocking damage if they wind up within five feet--perfect for some zappery dragging. And Sword Burst is great if you want to knock back enemies right up next to you--they have to roll a Dexterity save or take a hit from Ilia twirling a sharp metal rope around herself. As to the first-level spell... well, Longstrider increases a target’s speed by ten feet for an hour, and it can be cast on self. Ilia is really, really mobile, so...

Rogues get proficiencies with Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, Thieves’ Tools, Light Armor, Simple Weapons, Hand Crossbows, Rapiers, Short Swords, and Long Swords. They also get four skill proficiencies--Athletics, Perception, Performance, and Sleight of Hand fit Ilia the most. And with twelve levels of Rogue, she’s really benefiting from a life of skullduggery--Expertise in four skills (Acrobatics, Deception, Persuasion, and Stealth), Reliable Talent in every other skill she’s trained in, and Thieves’ Cant for reading and writing secret messages to those who don’t want to be seen. And of course Sneak Attack, which means she deals an extra 6d6 damage on ranged or finesse attacks, as long as she either has advantage or her target is being flanked.

And then there’s all the mobility options being a Rogue, and a Thief Rogue specifically, gives Ilia. Uncanny Dodge to half damage on an incoming attack as a reaction, Evasion to possibly neutralize damage from any Dexterity-Save based attack, Second-Story work that makes her climb speed equal to her land speed (as well as adding her Dex bonus to her jump distance), and Supreme Sneak gives advantage on Stealth checks if she moves only half her speed (which, with her Monk levels, is going to be pretty fast).

And of course, there’s Cunning Action. As a bonus action, Ilia can Dash (take an extra movement action), Disengage (avoid attacks of opportunity for the round), Hide (make a stealth check to, well, hide), and Aim (give herself advantage on her next attack if she hasn’t moved this turn). Being a Thief Rogue gives her Fast Hands, which means she can also use her cunning action to Use An Object, use her Thieves’ tools, or make a Sleight of Hand check. Mobile and able to exploit that mobility? It’s no surprise the Belladonna’s need better security.

But all that is defensive mobility and sneakery. If we want to talk about Ilia’s attack capability, we need to talk about her eight levels in Kensei Monk. Sure, being a Monk in general does give her some bonus mobility--her Unarmored Defense means her AC is ten plus her Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers while not wearing armor (so 17), her Unarmored movement gives her a bonus to her base speed while not wearing armor (+15 at level 8), her Slow Fall allows her to reduce falling damage by a total of five times her monk level as a reaction (that’d be 40 points), and her Evasion... is actually exactly the same as her evasion she’d get as a rogue, so that doesn’t stack.

Martial Arts gives Ilia a few benefits: she can choose to use Dexterity instead of Strength for unarmed attacks or attacks with monk weapons, the attacks do 1d6 base damage instead of their standard form, and if she takes an attack action she can make one unarmed attack as a bonus action. Speaking of which, Extra Attack lets her make two attacks per attack action, Ki-Empowered Strikes mean her unarmed attacks count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagic damage, and Stillness of mind allows her to use an action to shake off being Charmed or Frightened.  And that’s all before we talk about Ki features or anything regarding Kensei Monks specifically.

Monks get Ki points equal to their monk level, which regenerate on a short or long rest, and can be spent for various actions. Options are added as the Monk levels up, both from standard sources and from their path; Flurry of Blows allows a Monk to make two unarmed attacks as a bonus action immediately after an attack, Patient Defense lets them take the Dodge action as a bonus action, and Step of the Wind doubles Jump distance and allows the monk to take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action. Then there’s Deflect Missiles--technically a free reaction to any incoming ranged attack that reduces the damage by 1d10+Dexterity Modifier+Monk Level (so 1d10+12 for Ilia), but if that reduces the damage to zero, a monk can spend a ki point to throw the projectile back as a ranged attack immediately. Stunning Strike can be used to try to Stun a character with a melee weapon attack, which lasts to the end of the next turn, and Deft Strike (the only Kensei-related Ki skill we’re getting) allows a monk to add an additional 1d6 damage to an attack with a weapon.

Which leads us to the whole reason I picked Kensei monk. See, Monk Weapons are specifically shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property. Which doesn’t include whips. But Kensei Monks have, as the foundation of the whole class, the choice to pick other weapons as Monk Weapons--as long as they lack the Heavy or Special properties. At eight levels, Kensei Monks have a total of three Kensei weapons--one melee, one ranged, and one that can be either. So going for Whip and Scimitar for Ilia’s weapon, and Hand Crossbow to satisfy requirements, is a pretty good option.

Of course that’s not the only benefit. Agile Parry gives Ilia +2 AC if she makes an unarmed strike as part of her Attack action, Kensei’s Shot means she can take a bonus action to make her Hand Crossbow deal an additional 1d4 worth of damage, and Magic Kensei Weapons mean her weapons count as magical for purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities to nonmagical damage. And of course there’s Way Of The Brush, which gives Ilia proficiency in Calligrapher’s supplies--perfect for planting secret messages, forging documents, or writing hidden notes in her diary about how hot various ladies around her are... although that last one isn’t strictly canon, but you know, shippers gonna ship.

If we tally all this up, we have a woman with a base 45 running and climbing speed that can jump 12 feet forward and 7 feet up without effort, with Acrobatics and Slow Fall meaning she’s able to handle unusual terrain, and she can up that to 55 speed for an hour once a day with longstrider, as well as double the jump distance up to eight times before needing a rest. That makes Ilia fast, and she’s also hard to hit--unarmored defense gives her an AC of 17, plus 2 with Agile Parry, she can Dash or Disengage or Dodge at will, and even if you get past all that she’s got Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, and Deflecting Missles to reduce damage. Of course that’s assuming you spot her at all--Supreme Sneak lets her remain hidden at 22 feet speed--27 if she’s got Long Strider up--Skulker means she can hide when lightly obscured, such as by shadow, and combining her expertise in stealth with her shapeshifting ability means Ilia can slip in and out of scenes unnoticed.

And for those of you that want some damage, allow me to direct your attention to this combinatorial explosion: Martial Arts Whip, Extra Attack, Deft Strike, Flurry of Blows. That’s 1d6+7d6+1d4+4, then 1d6+4 , then 1d6+4 , then 1d6+4 , for a cost of two ki points. Even without Deft Strike and Flurry of Blows Ilia can hypothetically pull 1d6+7d6+4, then 1d6+4 , then 1d6+4, per round--or sacrifice that last 1d6+4 for a different bonus action. And Ilia can give herself advantage either with Aim or Stunning Strike; Aim only lasts for the current turn, but Stunning Strike lasts till her next turn and renders a target stunned for her allies to deal with. Throw in Lightning Lure for 4d8 damage to any target she draws to herself, Sword Burst for 4d6 damage to ALL targets surrounding her, and the fact the whip has the Reach property, and we wind up with a fighter built to manuver and manipulate her opponents around the battlefield.

So yeah, that’s Ilia.