#it feels like i'm doing chores for someone who's incapable of handling things on their own

[sebille]

Being around the same character non-stop is getting boring

[askthatoneanacondraikaiguy]

Do you have any headcanon about Kai?

I'm assuming you mean the show version of Kai and not Permanent Anacondrai Kai. And honestly not a whole lot of solid ones rn, but I do have enough to share here;

He definitely likes spice. That boy loves it when his food is spicy.

A little bit of projection; Kai is not good at emotional regulation when he's younger. Idk if I HC him with ADHD (which is what I have and is the biggest cause of my emotional disregulation) but the stuff he went through when he was young and the fact he wasn't really taught how to regulate his emotions would've resulted in that.

Wu giving him the opportunity to express his anger and other feelings in physical training was the healthiest outlet Kai had really ever been shown by someone else when he was young. Living with Zane and Cole also definitely helped.

I like the idea that Kai and Nya were supported by the village they grew up in. A lot of people like the headcanons that Kai had to work really hard to keep him and Nya housed and fed. While I do like those HCs, I personally like the idea that the village kind of collectively helped out, bringing the children meals or babysitting/teaching the kids. They probably didn't worry too hard about Kai and Nya covering the costs to keep their parents' shop or house around.

In my HC, Maya and Ray were important members of the community and their disappearance was concerning and upsetting. They were elemental masters and war heroes. They provided the village a sense of security just by being there along with providing weaponry. With them gone so suddenly and without explanation, that sense of security was gone.

There was a period where the entire village was waiting for them to come back somehow. None of them wanted to tell Kai and Nya their parents were never coming back. But Kai figured that out on his own as he grew older. Once Kai was old enough to do chore work but not man his dad's shop, the villagers would've offered to pay him for that, because Kai would've begun to feel like he needed to 'grow up' and be responsible. I personally follow my friend's HC that Kai was around 14 or 15 (Nya being around 12-13 and Jay being about 13; youngest of the Ninja before Lloyd) at the time of the pilots. He definitely worked really hard before becoming a ninja but I don't think he had, like, five jobs at the time to support them both. He likely did odd jobs around the village and then the blacksmith shop once he was tall enough to use the forge.

Kai didn't make as many friends in the village as he probably would have otherwise, because between the abandonment anxiety and grief that came from losing his parents so suddenly, taking care of his sister, and also being just generally more stand-offish because everyone treats him differently (not cruelly; just differently, and kids are very good at noticing those things), he just had a hard time developing new relationships on his own. Especially in the shadow left behind by his parents' disappearance.

He wanted Nya to enjoy being a kid and that meant he wasn't super willing to let her help him in the more dangerous part of the shop, which definitely annoyed her. Kai was well-meaning there, but he didn't exactly convey that super well to Nya all the time cause he was a young teenager and she was a 12 year old who wanted to be seen as just as capable as her older brother.

The above bit is definitely inspired by that one exchange in the pilot; "I can handle this myself!" "No, you can't, stupid!"

I have a little brother who's 14, but in my brain he's still 12, and I definitely HC that Kai sorta sees Nya the same way. Not that she's incapable, just that she's also baby and it's his responsibility to provide helpful life advice to her, which is kinda funny when she has shit more figured out than he does.