#;i'm twisting allegories now (HEADCANON);

[iinexorabile]

transfiguration magic isn't a very widely studied or used area of sorcery, and even in the eyes of those who do know about it and use it themselves, jia's innate affinity for it often makes his applications of the craft seem otherworldly and arcane-- understandably so since he can effectively manipulate reality with it at times.

the fact that jia often refuses to elaborate on how his transfiguration magic works, or how he's so good at it, only adds to the mystique, too. jia personally likes to think it adds to his image as a 'magician'.

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Autistic Steve Rogers my beloved 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Steve who just thought he was different. He didn’t really care too much, too worried about the fact that his body was constantly failing, the money that wasn’t there that needed to be there, the fact that his Momma was gettin’ sicker by the day. Who cares that he can’t understand most of the other kids at school.

Then, he wakes up. His baby’s gone, his life is gone. And for some reason, he still ain’t got a clue how to talk to people. He sorta thought Erskine would fix that, but… maybe be don’t need fixing?

Sometimes he hates being this way. When he does press conferences and has to wear special contacts that Tony designed so that the lights don’t get to him so much, and the earplugs (also Tony) that make it so he processes noise better. During said press conferences, he has to have Nat next to him to basically translate. He feels like he’s crazy some days. A lot of days. 

Other times, he wants to cry over the stupidest things. Why do the tags on my clothes feel like claws? Why does the taste of a certain food make him want to crawl out of his skin? Why can’t he be normal?!

Bucky comes back, and Steve clings to him. Bucky knows, Bucky understands. Bucky knows that sometimes physical touch drives him up the wall, and that sometimes he craves being hugged until it feels like he’s being crushed. Bucky doesn’t judge him when he can’t make eye contact, when he has to hole up under piles of covers because the world is too much. Instead, Bucky just makes him his favorite food, gives him his big headphones and weighted blanket, and holds him tight if he feels up to it.

Steve Rogers, who shows little kids like him that it does get better, and that they’ll be okay. 

No, but there really is something about Steve that makes so much sense when compared to the signs and experience of autism!!

(Also, generally, that's something I love so bad about Steve's arc and character. You can apply so many lenses to him and see his story as an allegory for so many different things. Queerness especially.)

"Steve who just thought he was different. He didn’t really care too much, too worried about the fact that his body was constantly failing, the money that wasn’t there that needed to be there, the fact that his Momma was gettin’ sicker by the day. Who cares that he can’t understand most of the other kids at school."

YES

I agree wholeheartedly that he doesn't need fixing. However, when he first wakes to the future, he probably just brushes it off because it's been so many years. Of course, he can't talk to people! There's nothing going on with him. It's an excuse to bury the tugging feeling of being different that he sometimes hates so much 🙃

Ooh, and that's so interesting--the contacts and earplugs. I'm always so intrigued to think about Steve's hyperattuned senses and those being affected by his autism, too, would, I can only be imagine, make shit like press conferences practically agonizing. Sandpaper against his skin. Special contacts and covert earplugs would probably do him a lot of good!

Speaking of Steve's superhero responsibilities interacting with his autism in layers, I bet those sensory overload/texture issues/clothing sensitivities get so much worse post-mission when he's adrenaline crashing. And now I'm picturing him crying and twisting violently around to rip himself out of his cap suit, and I just hurt my own feelings. Oof.

But Bucky being back, yes!

Bucky understands, and it's enough for Steve. And, maybe, if you're thinking that Steve has no idea why he works the way he does since he probably wouldn't've been diagnosed in the 20s, he could encourage him to seek a diagnosis. I enjoy the headcanons that Bucky, being a science nerd, would adapt to modern technology faster, so maybe he finds online others' experiences with autism or whatnot? And I get that being diagnosed is controversial within neurodivergent communities, but I do imagine having a formal one, as a national icon, would have profound ripple affects on Americans and Steve might seek it out, if not for understanding himself, then for the greater good and lessening of stigma. Exactly what you wrote-!

"Steve Rogers, who shows little kids like him that it does get better, and that they’ll be okay."

I hadn't read that yet when I wrote about him being an example, lol, but great minds think alike.

Anyway, yes! Thank you very much for the thoughts <3

P.S. I think you'd like these @turtle-steverogers posts about autistic Steve Rogers here and here

[heir-of-0range]

here's a music theme headcanon for Narumitsu: P!atD's Too Young To Die, from the perspective of disbarred, 7yg Phoenix and, maybe, Miles, too

(+ here's the song's lyrics:)

I've never so adored you

I'm twisting allegories now

I want to complicate you

Don't let me do this to myself

I'm chasing roller coasters

I've got to have you closer now

Endless romantic stories

You never could control me

[Chorus]

Well, I never really thought that you'd come tonight

While the crown hangs heavy on either side

Give me one last kiss while we're far too young to die,

We're far too young to die

Fixation or psychosis?

Devoted to neurosis now

Endless romantic stories

You never could control me

[Chorus]

[trickandmxgic]

          Jia’s constitution doesn’t really allow him to use his own blood for any magical applications/spells (not in any meaningful capacity or without seriously harming himself in the process anyway), but his blood itself can be a useful tool regardless. The magical/supernatural immunity that Jia possesses (which makes him immune to  to outside magical or otherwise supernatural effects aside from those involving intense heat) is carried in his blood, making his blood itself a sort of hard counter to magical or supernatural things. For example, Jia could flick a few drops of his blood at a magical barrier and shatter it instantly, or if he somehow manages to get his blood into someone else’s body (be it through a wound or their mouth) it could temporarily disrupt or even strip the target of their supernatural abilities (depending on how much of Jia’s blood got into a target of course).

          Naturally there are a few drawbacks to Jia using his blood in this way, first and foremost being that it requires him to either actively hurt himself (the blood must be fresh to be effective) or sustain damage during a fight, neither being too great for someone with constitution like his (he’s got big glass cannon energy). Secondly, just as Jia’s immunity doesn’t apply to magical or supernatural effects/abilities that involve heat, so does his blood, meaning that it isn’t effective against people who specialize in heat-generating magic (fire, lightning, magma, etc) or tools and people who possess supernatural abilities of that sort.

          Using his blood to get an edge on foes isn’t a tactic Jia usually resorts to anyway if he can help it, but if he see’s the opportunity or believes it’s necessary, he will put his pain and blood to good use.

[trickandmxgic-blog]

          //friendly reminder that Guo Jia could climb his way to the throne, but he chooses not to. Guo Jia is quite possibly the greatest mind of his age, so it’s not far fetched to think that he could carefully maneuver his way to the top. In Wei’s hypothetical route, his genius was enough to ensure Cao Cao’s victory over the Sun and Liu families after Chibi, and there is no reason to assume that Guo Jia couldn’t overcome them in some way if he assumed control over Cao Cao’s army.

        Emperor Guo has a nice ring to it too, lets be honest with ourselves, but Guo Jia avoids taking this path for three reasons. For starters, ruling an entire country is a  whole lot of work, far more work than Guo Jia is comfortable with. Almost all of his time would have to be invested in his rule, if Guo Jia wanted to do thing right-- which he would--  and not be like the countless other incompetent Emperor’s that would precede him. This is because, despite how he is on the inside, Guo Jia does want to see his homeland at peace, and it’s people happy, so for their sake’s, he would have to be that ‘good’ emperor, and he wouldn’t have much fun doing it. His life would become the very definition of lackluster (as far as he would be concerned), and that’s a big no-no in Guo Jia’s book; having the rest of his (likely) short life become so dull would be a nightmare.

          Secondly, Guo Jia doesn’t see himself as the kind of would-be ruler that his homeland desperately needs. He thinks highly of himself, don’t get me wrong, and Guo Jia could see himself being a decent ruler in theory, but at the end of the day, he knows that there are dozens of people who could do the job 100x better than him, especially with the state his homeland is currently in. What the former Han and it’s people truly need is not just a strong, capable ruler, but a hero, and Guo Jia is aware of how flat he falls in that category-- which brings us to the third, and most important reason Guo Jia abstains from advancing himself toward the throne (or maybe it’s just an addition to the second but w/e)...

          Of all the people in the land, from those in positions of power, to those serving beneath them, there is only one person who, in Guo Jia’s mind, is best suited to assuming the roles of ruler and hero, and that person is Cao Cao. He was able to gauge this during their first chat with each other, and Guo Jia has believed it ever since, with the leadership Cao Cao has displayed since then and the deeds he committed thereafter only bolstering this belief. 

          That’s what it all really boils down to in the end, Guo Jia just doesn’t want to rule the land himself, plain and simple-- he WANTS Cao Cao to rule, he desires it to be so, and he will do anything to make sure that reality comes to pass.

[iinexorabile]

One screwed up thing about Jia's condition (which results from the curse placed upon his soul and constantly has him playing the 'will i die today' lottery) is that while the 'life' that he currently knows will eventually end, most likely much earlier than preferred, his soul itself is doomed to a cycle of sorts for the rest of eternity.

See, Jia possesses a mortal body, but his soul is of a Divine nature, and souls of the Divine, barring certain circumstances, don't really 'die', or have 'ends', they, like the beings they are usually attached to (deities, fallen deities, transcendents, etc) are eternal things.

This means that while 'Jia', will one day perish, his soul will go on existing, and will eventually-- likely during another era but also potentially in another timeline or world even-- find itself in a newborn body, where it will develop a new consciousness and identity, live another short painful life, and then repeat the process all over again, for the rest of time.

And all of this, not because of anything Jia ever did himself no, all of this because of one very spiteful, very salty, power-tripping Supreme Deity that was angry at Jia's mother for breaking some arguably inane rule. Aren't god's grand?

[iinexorabile]

there's a decent slight possibility you may not like jia, you may in fact hate him, but you'll never hate him more than che.n q.un.

qun was a famous scholar who served under c.ao cao alongside jia, who was renowned for creating and instituting the nine-rank system, a system that fully reorganized and overhauled the nomination of officials for public office. this system was so efficient that it went on to be used for hundreds of years, and inspired other similar systems that were used after the s.ong dyn.asty--

really impressive stuff, the man definitely deserves props for that and many other things, but what was even more impressive was how much of a stick in the mud they were, and how salty they could be.

you see my friends, qun stubbornly made it their mission to try and enforce proper behavior in other officials who served alongside them, and this naturally made them the ire of many people, not just jia.

jia, however, embodied everything that qun hated to see in a member of society, let alone fellow members of the government and military, and so they eventually became his number one hater detractor.

qun was constantly rebuking jia during meetings or out in public when they came across each other, he was always complaining about them to ca.o cao, and he even tried to have them arrested on numerous occasions for what they saw as excessively poor conduct.

qun even wrote a handful of speeches, and poems that criticized jia and their behaviors, and you can bet he read these to jia's face, sometimes at meetings, or court.

it didn't help that jia would often flirt with qun and try to woo them regularly-- actions they, understandably, abhorred.

to qun's credit, they weren't entirely wrong about jia's behavior-- he definitely could have cut back on the drinking and other substance abuse, been more respectful to his superiors or fellow officers, cut back on the sleeping around, and all around acted more serious about his position and duties.... but this guy wouldn't have changed his opinion on jia if he became a saint overnight. like i said, they were an absolute stick. in. the. mud. if someone so much as breathed in a way they perceived as improper, qun was on them.

despite all of this though, jia, perhaps infuriatingly to qun, never took them very seriously, and neither did ca.o cao, at least when it came to all of the complaining they did.

if anything jia was impressed with qun, impressed that someone practically made it their life's work to lambaste him any chance they got-- not even some of jia's actual enemies, people who wanted him dead, were that dedicated to hating him!!! the man was truly a legend.

[iinexorabile]

a little tag dumping for your woes

[iinexorabile]

Tong and Jia are, all things considered, pretty close in a majority of their other verses (FE, the Modern!Fantasy stuff, etc) but its actually hilarious because in their canon main timeline they wind up ultimately being responsible for each other's deaths.

[iinexorabile]

The Enigma's Tong and Zh.uge L.iang are often cited as being the 'best' among the Eight (and this is reflected by them holding the titles of F.ledgling P.hoenix and Cr.ouching Dr.agon respectively), but if there was anyone who could contest either of them, it would be Jia.

While Tong and Liang have far more experience than Jia when it comes to the magical and strategical arts, Jia, despite being much younger than the two, is very close, and thanks to his Divine Parentage, there are a few areas where he even outstrips them--

Jia's innate affinity for Transfiguration Magic, for example, is arguably more powerful than most things Tong or Liang could throw out (outside of the Fallen God one is bound to and the Celestial Dragon the other is partnered with), and the superhuman nature of his intellect has often kept both of them on their feet, and even tripped them up occasionally (to the extent that even years after Jia's canon death for example, there were still schemes of his playing out that were screwing with Tong and Liang).

If Jia were destined for a long life, its very likely that he would grow to truly outshine both of the top Enigma's in every way, but that's the unfortunate tidbit for him, he isn't destined for a long life.

[iinexorabile]

In his modern verses, Jia does eventually come into ownership of a nightclub, and it does end up becoming one of the more prominent sources of his income (especially after his fellow Enigma Tong joins him in the venture), but with the lifestyle he leads it still doesn't end up being enough, leading him to seek other avenues for $$$$.

But even so, the nightclub does provide Jia with a sort of 'base of operations' for the other jobs he takes and his overarching goal's that are shared by him and the other Enigma's-- it also provides him with no shortage of entertainment.

[iinexorabile]

There’s two people from Jia’s past who seriously wronged him when he was much younger, and while he does one day want to potentially seek them out, it's not because he wants revenge.

Jia has every reason to seek revenge to be honest, and he might end up having to kill those people anyway if only because they will want to kill him, but what he wants out of them isn't retribution, he just wants answers; he wants to know why they, people he thought of as the closest of friends, did what they did to him all those years ago.

Jia's come to his own conclusions about the actions of those people of course, he's no moron, he figures what was done to him was likely done out of greed if nothing else, but he wants to hear it from them personally-- to him, it would be a bit of closure he would greatly appreciate.

[trickandmxgic]

you know that trope where someone basically asks a character to fork over all their knives and weapons and you see the character pulling multitudes of them from all over their person, that’s literally jia but with alcohol-- the guy keeps as much of it on his person as possible. even without all the alcohol he keeps in the pocket dimensions of some of his tops, he’s got it hidden all over his body, too. at any given time (unless he happens to be broke lmfao) there’s at least ten or fifteen flasks of wine or vodka either strapped to various parts of his body under his clothes (you’d think he had a ammo belt strapped to his thigh but nope that’s all alcohol), or in the most unsuspecting places (like underneath that small hat he wears sometimes). it’s amazing-- maybe a little concerning, or sad, but amazing in it’s own way.

[trickandmxgic]

          Jia definitely enchants his clothing with protective spells!!! Magic and powers that involve heat notwithstanding, Jia doesn’t really have to worry about protecting his body too much against the magic of other spell-casters or the powers of supernatural beings/people (since he’s immune to most of that), but he’s just as susceptible to getting punched, stabbed,  shot (bullets,arrows, etc) or generally hurt by any number of non-supernatural or heat based modes of attack, so it pays to keep his attire magically reinforced.

          The spells that Jia enchants his clothing with makes them function similarly to if he were wearing an advanced suit of armor-- his clothes will look and feel like normal clothing, but when struck with weaponry (melee or projectile), the clothing’s threads will suddenly become reinforced with magical energy, either negating the blow altogether or severely reducing it’s impact / damage.

          These ‘magical armor’ spells/enchantments that Jia weaves into his clothing are very useful to say the least, but they aren’t a be-all-end-all kind of thing either. Naturally, like real armor of any type, the more damage that is dealt to the spells enchanted in Jia’s clothing, the more they are worn down, and if these ’magical armors’ sustain too much damage, they will shatter. Another caveat is that, while these ‘magical armor’ type spells/enchantments are more effective at protecting Jia than other cloaking-type spells of the protective nature, they cannot be re-enchanted into his clothing in the middle of a fight, so if the enchantment/spell is worn down, that’s that.  Also, unlike other cloaking-type spells of the protective nature, these ‘magical armor’ type spells/enchantments don’t protect the areas of his body that are exposed (hands, head, face, etc).

           All of that taken into account, these ‘magical armor’ spells/enchantments aren’t something that Jia solely relies on to defend himself against less magically-inclined threats-- they are just one of many tools he employs.

[trickandmxgic]

In Jia’s verses that take place in more modern settings, he’s got a deep love and appreciation for classic cars, especially those of the Cadillac variety. If Jia had the money, he would probably have whole garages full of classic cars, and that’s actually something he dreams about, but he never seems to have enough cash around (he’s got plenty of other vices and expenses to fund unfortunately) to pursue that dream in any meaningful way.

One time, however, Jia did end up winning a matte-black, 1956 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in a high-stakes game of Weiqi, and ever since, it’s been his vehicle of choice whenever he does decide to drive. Jia naturally had a number of alterations made to the car, too, making it suitable for his typical lines of work in modern settings (bulletproof/magically resistant tires, windows, and plating come in handy when shit hits the fan), but for the most part he’s kept it as-is, wanting to preserve it’s unique style that he feels meshes well with his own.

[trickandmxgic]

THE EIGHT ENIGMA’S

The Eight Enigma’s are a group of geniuses and magic-users who have banded together with shared aim of ushering in an age of ultimate peace. The Eight Enigma’s were assembled by Sima Hui, a famous teacher (and reputed immortal), and while they can best be described as a group of “frenemies" on account of many of them having their own, conflicting ideas on how to achieve “ultimate peace“ (each member either ascribing to ideologies of the benevolent or dark varieties), they see the collective chaos and great evils of the world as more pressing foes, and work together to quell them.

That said, each of The Eight Enigma’s make it a point to work for other organizations, groups, or notable individuals, too, using them or their resources as vehicles to further The Eight Enigma’s collective goal (though this isn’t always the case-- Jia has been known to sometimes stray from this purpose, for example).

The Eight Enigma’s members themselves come from a variety of backgrounds, some belonging to more affluent families and others having risen from the dregs of society (like Jia, for example). The Enigma’s, as their name suggests, originally tried to keep their identities hidden from each other, only ever appearing at gatherings clad in cloak and mask, and one of the Enigma’s in particular, the Eighth, is still completely anonymous to this day, but some have discerned the identities of their cohorts, while others have revealed themselves willingly.

There is no true hierarchy within the Eight Enigma’s either-- the two Enigma’s seen as the ‘greatest’ by Sima Hui are given special titles (Sleeping Dragon & Fledgling Phoenix respectively) but no Enigma has any real authority over the other. Sima Hui is seen as something of a figurehead for the Enigma’s, having assembled them and even taught some of them personally, but even he does not command or lead them. The Enigma’s act more like a council, voting on overall goals to pursue and missions to carry out, with Sima Hui only ever acting as a ‘tie breaker’ when the Enigma’s are split on an issue.

In some of Jia’s verses, The Eight Enigma’s (if they exist in a given verse at all) are officially disbanded, but regardless, it’s members all maintain contact with one another, and still work together like they did before (as each of them still strive to bring forth an age of ultimate peace), only in a far more sparse, and sometimes more conflicting manner than before.