#Also mean Mo Guan Shan my beloved

[snezhishka]

[nightfayre]

saying you're going to binge atla, do you have any headcanons for a 19 days bender au ?

ohhh honey, I’m way ahead of you!! I’m so glad you asked! rewatching atla has allowed me to revisit a lot of the underlying insecurities, nuances, and meanings of each element and their role in society. honestly, it’s so much more than the people’s ability to spout fire or manipulate water. right now I’ll only focus on what type of benders I think all the boys would be because I have way too much to say about other potential headcanons and I don’t want to clog anyone’s dash. (maybe later I’ll type up a post to drabble about my general headcanons about this AU? we’ll see!) anyhow:

Jian Yi is definitely the easiest one to decide. airbender! his bouncy and carefree personality matches it so well, and a lot of airbender culture revolves around joking around and living in harmony with their neighbors/nature. they can be serious when they need to, but in general they have their head in the clouds (pun intended). thus, airbender!

Zheng Xi would be either an earthbender or a waterbender. he is sturdy and reliable just like an earthbender, but he is also confident and caring like a waterbender. earthbenders tend to be protective with strong moral values, and waterbenders are highly intelligent and self-aware. Zheng Xi fits both criteria. if I weren’t so brain dead from binging this show, perhaps I’d have a more concrete answer about Zheng Xi. get back to me later if you want my final decision! :)

He Tian. lol. well. I feel as though a lot of people would automatically place him into the firebending group because of his generally teasing but “evil” personality. but you’ve got to remember that the fire nation was not the villian prior to sozan’s comet, and the people as a whole should not be held responsible for their government’s wrongdoings. anyway that’s a different (political) story. firebenders in my opinion have a lot more baggage than all the other elements regardless of the war, and whether they choose to embrace it or suffer from it is such an integral part of their existence. (more on this to come later!).

my final answer for He Tian is this: waterbender. no, I’m not joking, haha! there are questionable sides to waterbending too, i.e. bloodbending, pulling water out of nature/other defenseless living objects and effectively killing them in the process, forming ice sharp enough to impale and kill. this is a bit deep, but such as in the canon universe, He Tian has the choice whether to participate in the darker sides of his life or lean towards the more morally-acceptable sides (which he obviously strives to do, but struggles with because he’s never learned how). this internal struggle can also be replicated if he were a waterbender in this AU. again, I have a lot to say about this, so hmu if you want more details on my thoughts on this topic later when I’m in a better state of mind, haha!

and finally our beloved Mo Guan Shan. firebender. absolutely, without a doubt, no room for argument: firebender. the element in itself is such a fascinating and conflicting thing. (if you are an atla fan, I will be referring to the concepts referred to in the The Deserter episode in Book 1 and the episode in Book 3 where Aang and Zuko learn from the original firebenders — the dragons — throughout this response).

I will be as quick as possible about my reasoning for this. firebenders tend to have an eternal, ongoing battle with the two sides of firebending: the first is the destructive, painful, and uncontrollable nature of wild fire. the second is the warmth, loving, and providing nature of fire. Guan Shan, in my opinion, would constantly flip back and forth between these two “identities” of firebending. he would never intend to unleash the “bad” side of firebending on something/something (unless they deserve it, of course) but sometimes his temper might get the best of him and he would do something he would later regret. really regret. as in, regret to the point he would vow to never firebend again because it only brings pain and destruction. he would deny the talent he has been blessed with simply because he’s scared of what he could do. but when it comes down to it, Guan Shan knows he can’t escape his bending abilities, and it fucking kills him inside.

listen… I could go on about this for hours and hours and hours. I don’t know if anyone is interested in hearing more of my thoughts about general headcanons, but I’ll be more than happy to share more info of this AU once I’m finished with the series and in a better state of mind! thank you for sending this anon, I absolutely love the idea of this universe!! <33