#obviously since i included the link in the main post you'll have to reblog since it won't show up in the tags

[serpentinegraphite]

This is a Zukka series, in which Sokka attempts to get rid of the gaang's Zuko problem (re: seduce and then assassinate) in the middle of book one and failed spectacularly (okay, he fails at the assassination, but succeeds very hard at the seduction) and then it's canon divergence from there (and it does diverge pretty significantly aside from their feelings).

The author's tags and summary are pretty comprehensive, but I really want to emphasize the way they focus on canon expansion esp with Southern Water Tribe culture and heteronormativity, esp in conjunction with Sokka being a) bisexual and b) on some kind of gender journey (from early on, the journey seems to be Sokka is transfem, but you know what, it's a WiP, and there's a lot of wiggle room for idk demigirl or nb feelings, so I'm not going to commit to a label here, since one hasn't yet been given in the story).

The writing is fucking impeccable, from Zuko's accelerated but still kind of messy redemption arc ("messy" here refers to the fact that Zuko is a mess, like, as a person; the writer's craftsmanship is unimpeachable) to the ensemble interactions (I would never dream of rec'ing anything that didn't prominently feature Sokka + Katara sibling bonding).

A lot of the romantic theming is based around equating Sokka to the ocean. Zuko refers to him as "Umi," like Japanese for ocean/sea; there's a fantastic metaphor about love and the ocean in a flashback; obviously the titles for the prologue, "Secrets for the Sea," the main fic, "A Sailor in Search of Drowning," and the series as a whole, "she/her like sailors refer to the sea."

Updates are regular (roughly weekly, late on Saturdays/early Sunday depending on your time zone) and of a decent length.

Please read this and scream about it with me, it's so fucking good.

[uraichievents]

Welcome to this year's UraIchi Prompt Challenge! For our 8th PC, we will be focusing on crossovers!

Like we did for a previous mini-event, this year will also have a spin-the-wheel component. For PC8, you will be spinning for at least one random fandom and creating a crossover fanwork with it. A total of 300 different fandoms were nominated in the space of a week, so you'll have plenty to choose from. For most of them, I tried to copy the fandom names straight from the AO3 tags. The only exceptions are if they're not on AO3, or if I thought a catch-all name suited it better (ie. Marvel Comics (Any) because there are just too many of them, and this way you can pick whichever Marvel comic/movie/etc. you want). But overall, all fandoms that were nominated have been included in one of the wheels.

Before we get into that though, here are the rules for PC8:

1) Fanworks must be UraIchi-centric and complete. Obviously, this year, they must also be crossovers in some shape or form. UraIchi can be romantic or platonic (lovers, friends, family, enemies, etc.), so long as you can stick a / or an & between them, and they and their interactions are the main focus. 2) Any kind of fanwork is allowed if you can pull it off (fic, art, vid, gifset, etc.). There is no word limit for fics. 3) Poly ships are fine so long as UraIchi is in there somewhere. 4) The general definition of a crossover is a fanwork where two or more fandoms are combined in some way. For the purpose of this event, dimension travel, fusions, isekai, reincarnation, and resurrection would all count so long as your work includes at least one other fandom outside of Bleach. Likewise, Bleach must obviously be one of the fandoms. Basically, so long as Bleach and 1+ Other Fandom(s) are combined in some way, starring UraIchi as the main characters, then you should be good. If you are unsure whether your idea of a crossover counts, you can always send in an ask to check.

Post Date:

The due date for this event is December 31st, 2023, and the AO3 Collection will open at 12am (PST). I’ll reblog this post with a link to the collection closer to the date.

Tags:

If you’re posting your work (or a link to your work) as a post on Tumblr, you can tag it #uraichi prompt challenge 8 in the first five tags so I can reblog it here.

And finally, what you've all been waiting for:

As I mentioned before, I used Wheel Decide to make the wheels, but each wheel has a limit of 100 items, so since we ended up with 300 fandoms, I've had to split it into 3 wheels.

There's no specific theme or category for each wheel. I threw everything into a random choice generator, and then threw the results onto each wheel in batches of 100, so it's all random, and you can play this in a number of ways. You could just pick one wheel, spin, and get your fandom that way. You could also spin two or three wheels, and then pick your favourite out of the fandoms you get. Or you could spin all three wheels and write a four-fandom crossover like a crazy person. The point is, there's pretty much no wrong way to go about cobbling together your crossover.

If you want to submit more than one fanwork, feel free to spin for as many as you want to write/draw/etc. (of course, they should all be complete). And yes, you can spin more than once if you're really stuck on the fandom you get, or you just don't know the fandom at all.

I think that's about it, if anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to send in an ask. Then, without further ado, here are the wheels:

WHEEL 1

WHEEL 2

WHEEL 3

Have fun!

[andiinaraethtash]

Chapter Ten is Up!

Here's the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35710339/chapters/91489288

And here's the chapter:

You’re Not Safe Here Anymore (This Is the Sound of War)

Notes: I have been looking forward to posting this chapter since I first conceptualized this story, so... EEEEEEEEE!!!!! Hope you like it. Also you'll notice that Pix is included in the fight against Xornoth. That's because I found I post on Tumblr--and I'm sorry, I don't have a link to it, this was months ago that I saw it and, stupid me, didn't like or reblog it, so credit where it's due but I don't know your name--that basically said there was no point to Pix's story arc if he didn't help in the final battle against Xornoth, to which I could only agree. So I included him.

TW: Um... so, this is where the graphic depictions of violence tags starts kicking in. This is a big fight, and while I only show about half of it, there's still a good deal of blood and a snippet that will probably make weak-stomached people a little queasy. Basically just skip the paragraph that starts with "Black blood," and you'll be good!

Chapter Title from The Sound of War by Fleurie and Tommee Profit With that ridiculously long author's note out of the way... on with the story!(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Gem sets off, leaving the other two behind her as she heads back to her tower, puzzling over the spell. Eight items, significant to the land… What fits that description? She mulls it over in her head the entire flight back, then as she paces back and forth on the one place no one bothers her: the top of her wizard’s tower.

It takes probably about an hour for her to come up with a list, during which time she notices that some of her books have been misplaced, then she gets started, claiming a shulker box to hold the items and an amethyst shard for the item from her land. She debates stopping by the Grimlands and getting some redstone, but decides against it. It’s not significant to the ruler anymore, so what would be the point?

Instead she heads to Scott’s, grabbing a block of gold from the antler design on top of his enchanting tower, then she heads to Shrub’s, grabs a mushroom, then to Lizzie’s, where she grabs a sea lantern, leaving a small IOU at the shop where she stores her goods.

It’s tedious work, gathering those items, so she takes a quick break to drink something (and how do they have drinking water in the middle of the ocean? She needs to ask Lizzie) before heading off to Pixandria. She made a promise, after all.

As soon as she explains what’s going on, Pix has his gear and a copper block ready to go, the former of which he equips, the latter of which he hands her. She sends him on ahead to the Overgrown, while she finishes her mission.

She swoops down to Jimmy’s to get a cod head, then she stops by the Gilded Helienthia, where Pearl is conspicuously absent. Deciding she must already be at the Overgrown, too, Gem scoops up a sheaf of wheat, making sure to replant, before taking off.

Her last stop is the Overgrown itself. She takes a cluster of pink tulips—one of Katherine’s favorites—before heading back to the main village, where the others are all gathered, waiting for her.

She nods at Scott, letting him know he can start, and he squares his shoulders. “Alright, everyone, we know where Xornoth is, we know how to defeat him, and we know he has Shrub hostage, so if we are ever going to finish this, now is the time. Everyone has their tasks?”

Katherine nods, her eyes hard and cold. She’s obviously taking Shrub’s abduction hard, and seeing how close they are, Gem understands to a degree.

(Void, but she wishes she had someone to lean on. Now that fWhip’s gone, and she’s not speaking to Sausage, her only friends are Scott and Pearl, and they’ve never been as close as the former Wither Rose Alliance had been.)

Pearl cracks her knuckles. She’s obviously ready, but then, she’s always ready for a fight, and she usually wins. Gem would really not like to be Xornoth or Joey right now.

Pix doesn’t say anything, he just inclines his head. She wonders what he’s thinking, then realizes she can probably guess. He went into a mostly self-imposed exile after the dragon’s defeat; he blames himself for the demon being free. If he’s ever going to atone for himself, now is the time.

Scott looks at her, and for a moment, as their eyes meet, she swears she can see fear, genuine fear that this isn’t going to end well. She feels the same, and almost feels reassured that she’s not the only one. Then that moment passes and Scott is waiting for her assurance that she knows what she’s supposed to do, and she nods once, firmly.

They’re ready.

_______

Scott’s hands are shaking. He knows this, and he’s doing his best to steady them, but they’re shaking, and he’s scared, and there’s no way this ends well. Xornoth—Exor—is too stubborn to give up a fight easily, and if this doesn’t cost one of his friends’ lives, he’ll be greatly surprised. He’s not ready, he knows, but he has to be, and it’s the possibility of his not being ready costing his friends’ lives that has him shaking so badly.

He’s leading the way. It’s a short flight, but the others are deferring to him in a way that terrifies him, and for one moment he’s thankful beyond belief that Jimmy isn’t here, because he knows if he was worrying about his… friend… then he wouldn’t be able to perform at the necessary level.

And it’s going to be him that faces Xornoth, he knows that. It wouldn’t be fair to ask any of the others to face him, not after the revelation that the demon is his own brother. He’s just hoping with the antlers to power him, he’ll be able to do what no one else can and put the demon in his place so Gem can cast the spell.

The place comes into view, and Scott can’t help the gasp that escapes at the sight. It’s covered in corruption, lava pouring from what was once a waterfall, and the cliffs are covered in twisted red plant life that throbs with unholy power.

From this distance, it’s hard to make out, but when he pulls out his spyglass, it’s clear as day: there’s a cage made of crying obsidian and iron bars hanging where the corruption box used to sit, and inside is Shrub. Oddly enough, she’s not alone. He can't see much, but there’s a black form in her lap, large enough to be a person, but he can’t make out a face.

His heart is in his throat the moment he observes that, though, because his first thought is, ‘what if that’s Jimmy?’ He quickly rationalizes that away, though, because Lizzie would have come to them the moment Jimmy was taken, so it can’t be him. It also can’t be Lizzie herself, because she’s blue, not black, and it can’t be Joel, because he’d never be caught dead in something that wasn’t so colourful that it hurts the eyes.

That leaves… Sausage. Great. They’re here to rescue Shrub and Sausage, and Scott prays to Aeor that Gem won’t get distracted by her former friend to the point that she casts the spell incorrectly.

“Look, there’s Shrub!” Katherine points out unnecessarily, but Scott could forgive her that. She is under a lot of stress.

Gem adds, “And Joey. Look!”

Sure enough, Joey is approaching, red eyes and corrupted crown in plain view even from this distance. He’s holding an ornate bow in one hand and what looks like a small egg in the other.

“You shall not pass!” Joey proclaims haughtily. “My boyfriend won’t let you disturb his work!”

“His work is going to destroy the empires, Joey,” Pix rejoins, and Joey crosses his arms as best he can with his hands full.

“But I’ll be right by his side, so why should I care?”

Scott steps forward, not sure if Joey even understands what he’s saying. “You should care because it’s wrong, Joey, and you know that!”

Katherine nods. “This isn’t like you, Joey. We’re your friends, you know we wouldn’t lie to you!”

(He’s not so sure the ‘friends’ bit is entirely true, but then, Katherine was never one to give up on people.)

Joey scoffs. “Tell you what, I’ll give you a little gift. After all, I don’t want to hog all of my boyfriend’s generosity to myself, and what’s a little sharing between friends?” He sneers that last word, then throws the egg, grabbing two more and throwing them as well.

As soon as they hit the ground, the eggs burst open, and fully-formed ravagers come barreling out. Scott immediately takes to the air, spotting Xornoth on top of the cliffs, looking ecstatic, holding what looks like Sausage’s Dark Mythland Scythe. He scowls in his direction, but his friends are being pursued by the ravagers, so he focuses on them for a moment.

He's pulling out his bow when Shrub calls out a warning, her voice barely carrying over the sound of the ravagers bellowing and the lava crackling, and he turns to see Joey barreling through the sky towards him. He barely has time to pull out his sword and shield before the Lost Empire’s ruler is in his face, swinging his weapons—and he’s duel-wielding his axe and sword, that’s entirely unfair—and nearly taking off Scott’s head.

Scott only just gets his shield up in time to intercept the blow, but then has to backpedal furiously, flapping his wings to give himself space to actually attack. Joey is coming after him relentlessly, his multi-coloured wings cutting through the air with ease, whereas Scott, used to the colder climates, is having a hard time adjusting to the unnatural heat billowing out in waves from the heart of the corruption.

He ducks the next blow, somersaulting through the air to appear behind Joey, where he manages to clip off a few flight feathers and nick the wings themselves before Joey is spinning around, suddenly losing control of his flight.

He starts dropping, and Scott dives, pulling out his bow to assist his friends, but they seem to have it handled. Pix and Pearl are finishing off the last ravager, while Katherine is moving toward the cage, pillaring up with some stone she had on hand. Gem is doing… something, taking down items from a series of pillars around the cage. Hopefully she’s preparing for the spell.

As soon as he lands, he draws his sword and goes to intercept Joey, who’s about to land in a heap just past the lavafall, but before he takes so much as a step, pain lances through his foot, and he looks to see Xornoth next to him, the scythe buried between the bones of his foot.

The demon pulls the weapon out quickly, and Scott screams. Stars, that hurts. He manages to get his sword up to deflect Xornoth’s next blow, but only just. He deflects the next, then twists the next as he struggles to disarm Xornoth, but it doesn’t work. Xornoth just switches around his hold on the staff of the scythe, before bashing Scott in the face with the blunt end of the weapon.

He reels backwards, barely keeping his balance, but he’s distracted again, this time by Katherine letting out a scream, and he glances over in time to see her clutching the broken body in the cage, Shrub helping support her as best she can with her smaller stature.

Xornoth, thankfully, is gloating instead of attacking. He turns to say something to Scott, but Scott is moving before he can so much as open his mouth.

It hurts, but he charges in, shield out and sword pointed ahead, and rams in the demon with the force of a charging mountain goat. Xornoth stumbles back a step, and Scott slashes, managing to land a hit on his leg.

They’re both limping now, though Xornoth less so than Scott, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re both still standing, and neither of them can let that be.

Scott raises his sword again, and Xornoth snarls, swinging the staff in a series of figure-eight movements that have the blade arcing dangerously close to Scott’s head. But there’s a moment in the pattern, a moment where Xornoth’s grip is weak, where the blade can be blocked, and Scott waits for a millisecond, then darts in, planting his shield and swinging his sword, and taking off Xornoth’s left hand.

Black blood sprays out of the wound for a moment while Xornoth screams, then the demon kneels, sticking the stump of his severed hand into the stream of lava behind him, and Scott’s eyes widen. The sound is horrendous, but the smell is worse, making him and the others gag and cough.

But Xornoth’s distracted for a moment, and Joey is being oddly silent, so Scott is free to move, throwing his shield to the ground and grabbing for the scythe with his now free hand. He almost manages to wrench it away, but Xornoth flings some lava at him with his stump of a left hand, and Scott screams in pain as the molten rock splatters on his wings, but he doesn’t let go.

Instead, he yanks backwards, and Xornoth lets go, leaving him to stumble backwards and land on his back, clutching his sword and the scythe to his body as he tries frantically to make himself get up, but it’s so hard, he’s so hurt and tired and he just wants this to be over.

“Give up, Scott,” Xornoth says, pulling out a long, dark rapier that he vaguely recognizes as also having belonged to Sausage, “You are beaten. There is no way out of the dark.”

Scott is about to reply when he hears Pix shout his name, and he glances his way in time to see a splash potion headed his way. He lets it smash against his chestplate, sighing in relief as the feeling of wellness sweeps over him.

He hauls himself up to his feet, tosses the scythe over to Pearl, who snatches it from midair quick as thinking, and kicks his shield up into his hands. As soon as that’s equipped, he salutes his brother tauntingly. “You’re wrong. There’s always a way out, always a light, and it will always beat you.”

Xornoth roars and charges, and Scott meets him halfway, catching his sword on his shield and swiping wildly at Xornoth’s legs. The demon hops back, right into Pearl’s swing—she must have finished off Joey, or at least knocked him down for the count—but the swing connects, knocking Xornoth onto his side.

He springs upright, summoning his sword back to his hand from where he dropped it, and swings it in a manner that Scott recognizes as an intimidation tactic. It doesn’t work. Scott and Pearl simply exchange a look and charge, Scott going high, Pearl swinging low. He catches Xornoth in the face, and she knocks his legs out from beneath him.

Xornoth looks almost scared as he rolls away from Scott’s next blow, then his next, then his next, until he’s right where Scott—where Gem—wants him.

Scott lets him scramble to his feet, smirking at him, then nods to Gem who puts the last item—a solid copper block—on the pillar closest to him and Xornoth.

Xornoth doesn’t seem to realize what’s happened until he tries to charge forward, bouncing off an invisible wall with a cry of rage. “No! No, let me out!”

“Not a chance,” Scott says, pausing for air. Aeor, but he’s exhausted. Not sore, not anymore, but tired. Oh, so tired.

From the other side of the clearing, Joey emerges, without his crown, and with normal green eyes, crying for Xornoth, but before he can reach the circle, Scott nods to Gem, who braces herself, whispers, “For fWhip,” and launches the spell she’d had gathering at the end of her staff for the last minute or two.

The moment it collides with Xornoth, Scott has to close his eyes against the blinding white light. It dies down after a moment, leaving stars in his eyes, and as Joey cries, “Xornie!” he looks at Gem to see her picking up a red crystal off the ground.Next to him, Pearl asks, “Is that…?”

Gem nods. “It’s Xornoth. He’s in there. Here,” she hands it to Scott, almost reverent except for the look of revulsion on her face. “You should have that.”

He tucks it away in his inventory as Pix tries to corral Joey back, explaining in hushed tones what just happened and why it had to happen. The Copper King is holding Joey’s crown of corruption in one hand, but he’s clearly trying to keep it out of sight as best he can.

Scott exchanges a look with the two girls, then frowns. “Where’s Katherine and Shrub?”

Gem and Pearl look around, like they’re expecting the other two women to be hiding behind the nearest azalea bush, several of which have appeared in the moments since Xornoth was defeated. The egg is on top of one, and Gem was in the middle of trying to grab it without anyone noticing when he’d asked.

Now, she tucks it into her inventory as she calls out, “Katherine? Shrub?”

“Over here!” Shrub’s voice calls from behind one of the pillars of the cliff-face the battle had taken place underneath, and Scott exchanges a look with the wizard and the farmer before hurrying over, remembering suddenly that someone else—probably Sausage, but definitely not moving—was in the cage with Shrub.They round the pillar, and immediately they freeze.

Shrub is sitting against the cliff, holding the other person propped up against her chest, while Katherine hovers nearby, her hands quavering over the numerous bloody wounds that mar the other person’s body, but she’s not doing anything, too frozen in shock and horror to do anything other than shake and stare.

Scott understands, and is frozen doing the same, because the other person isn’t Sausage, and it’s not Jimmy, or Joel, or Lizzie, either.

It’s fWhip, and Scott isn’t entirely sure he’s not breathing.

Notes: :D