#it's not that long! TT0TT)

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Hei-Ran: *standing on the patio, sipping her tea, eyes closed* Kelsang, wandering by: Hey, Hei! Whatcha doin'? Hei-Ran: Just wait. *a few moments pass* Kelsang: What are we waiting for? Hei-Ran: You'll see. *a few more moments* Kelsang: It's just air we're looking at Hei, I would know. I bend it. Hei-Ran: Patience. *few more moments* Kelsang: Hei-Ra- Hei-Ran, opens her eyes: Something fruity this way comes. Rangi: *sprinting across the estate like a fucking loon* Kelsang: Oho! I see, so she's on her way to see Kyoshi! So you're making this into a daily little show to watch! Right, Hei? Hei-Ran: Daily? Kelsang, this is the eight time she's done that- Kelsang: I think it's more than eight. Hei-Ran: -today. Kelsang: ......you may need to have a talk with her.

[silly-plays-p3r]

so since you're up to ryoji, any conclusive thoughts on the new vas, if any?

I'm not that far. He only just showed up and I got one rank in.

.....Let's just say shit hit the fan for me on Thursday and I've gotten REALLY busy....ummmm.....fixing it so I can get back to my normal routine? Is that the best way to describe it (I still have stuff to do, but I'm not longer in "emergency mode")? I haven't picked up any game stuff since then (I literally passed out yesterday night cause I was so tired jfkldsjf). (oh wait, I'm so out of it I misread it as only asking about Ryoji....lol, well I'm talking about him first I guess, )

Going off the one interaction....... Yuri. I prefer Yuri. I already preferred Yuri's Pharos to Aleks' Pharos. I like both as MC.

There's something about Yuri's........Between OG/FES/P and the manga...... But Aleks' Ryoji feels more like it fits the P3 movies (same with Ikutsuki tbh). There's something about THAT portrayal of Ryoji that hits different compared to the other's.

THAT BEING SAID. I'll take Aleks. BUT ONLY if that means we can have Yosuke going back to not sounding as squeaky. TT0TT I can handle Adachi's voice change (feels like he decided to put on a more deranged mask). But Yosuke I want him back to sounding chiller. orz

Oh right, other chars fjdsakfja

Um....Aki's ok. I don't mind him. There's something about Liam's voice I prefer BUT, I wouldn't mind the new guy coming back.

Junpei is good (both in general and as a replacement). Keep him (if I have to deal with Junpei again that is)

Mitsu is good. I prefer Tara tho. Nothing against the new girlie, Tara's just one of my fav VAs. (the other VAs I like are Naoto's OG, Laura Bailey, Lily Vonnegut, Jamie Marchi, Kristen Bell, David Gallagher, and KH1!Haley Joel Osment, Santino Fontana...something about their cadence makes my brain go brrrrr but like for diff reasons)

Speaking of Brrrr, I really like Yuko's and Shinji's a lot.

Both old and new Shinji are great. Love them.

Love the new Ken. I never hated his OG, and Cindy did a good job too. But the new one is really good.

Fuuka......she's cute (I'm more annoyed that they didn't add to her at all so far :'D thanks atlus). I miss the OG one. Wendee Lee did great too (she always sounded like a higher pitched ver of the OG to me).

I think I liked both Natsuki's VAs? I do miss the old one. I can't recall the new one's voice atm TT0TT

Koro is fine lol

I don't like Takaya's new VA. I like the old one give him back.

I think I like this Chidori VA more? I didn't mind the old one. (also Chidori run, stay away from Junpei TT0TT)

Jin.........I think I like him more?

Ikutsuki. Prefer the old one. New one would be good for the movie ver tho!

I miss the old Igor. Gimme back Dan Woren you cucks! TT0TT Kirk is fine but I want Dan back! (wait Dan is Byakuya from Bleach???? Gimme him back! TT0TT)

Aigis is better. I didn't mind the old one, but this was an improvement.

All the VAs for the SLs are great so far tbh (haven't done Moon yet, not cause I don't want to, but because it's optimal if I wait)

Yukari is................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................her directing is.......................her direction.....the way the director is directing her...........................................................................................................I hope the VA does well in other works. She can come back as a diff character tbh. "So you'd rather have Ruff come back?" Or Yukari can just....not come back as a character. :"D

I think the thing that irks me about the new voices are.......the new voices for the already existing secondary/background chars (chars who were never voiced before? no problem). I. DON'T. LIKE. THEM.

"Oh but it's cool to hear!" or "We need Yuri to still get a check" I don't care. I don't like it. It's weird. It's weird hearing P3MC's voice coming out of Yukari's dad ("oh like Aki's is any better?" AKI ISN'T A LOVE INTEREST FOR YUKARI OUTSIDE HC! TT0TT)

I hate that they swapped Mitsu's dad and Kurosawa. Did they eat? Yea, they did great. Does it bother me because I find it COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY???? YESSSS!

My 9/11 is the damn principal's voice being changed. oh my god, it's not the same. He was so perfect in the OG, he was bumbling it just.....god it worked. The new guy.....doesn't give the same doddering vibe. man orz (I know most people are coming for the new Aki guy, or someone else, but man I'm very annoyed by the NPCs being changed orz)

I think one of THE BIGGEST issues I have with them just....redubbing the whole damn thing is (MORE SO the side NPCs than the main cast).....just how costly that must've been. Like stupidly costly, like they didn't need to do it. It was just wasting money kinda costly. Like they coulda used that money for something else, like I dunno....PUTTING THE FUCKING ANSWER AND FEMC IN????? >_> *inhales* I know I know I KNOW. Before you say it. Before my lil strawman I talk to in my head says it. The english localization's funds were probs separate from the JPN devs funds. I mean, unless Atlus JPN controls Atlus USA's funding directly, and thus have more direct involvement. I mean, haha, that'd make sense. Haha, but if I was them, and that was true, I wouldn't let other people know that. haha

Apollo: *compels Midori for no reason tomorrow* Midori: The localization funds were actually allocated and tied to the JPN funds. It wasn't just SEGA USA that decided to replace all the actors, it was also SEGA Japan. Me: I'm at my limit is2g

They probs would've saved a lot more money from just....keeping most of the OG voices (maybe replace Vic). And then maybe dub all the SLs/additional side content.

Ummmm.....tldr; Liked some, loved some, was eh on others, hated the existing side NPCs got new voices. All in all I think it was probs a waste of money tbh. Don't do it again for the inevitable P4 remake. (P1/2? sure there's not a lot of dubbing in that one anyways)

[aeipathcy]

Covered in head to toe with snow, Alex stood outside her doorway with a bouqet of paper flowers, accompanied with a box that was full of all and every plushie he made by hand, except the black cat. "Happy Valentines Day!" He exclaimed, muffled by his scarf. Like a boy, he extended the gifts to her. "I couldn't decide. Please keep all of them." Had it not been for the scarf, Reanne would be subjected to the flustered expression he had on his face.

UNPROMPTED ┊always accepting.

The last thing she expected this holiday was to be greeted with the sight of her crush at the door. Honestly, she had only gone out to maybe catch that high end dinner deal she saw on a mall flyer, but seeing a familiar dark haired boy standing at her door threw that plan out the window. Considerably baffled by the exclamation—Reanne hadn't expected him to show up at all—the auburn haired girl looked at him speechless. Then a box of crochet dolls and a bouquet of paper flowers was thrust before her.

She couldn't help but peer into the box filled with the cutest renditions of critters in it—a little green frog, a dark blue whale, a yellow octopus, a white rabbit, and lastly a light blue penguin all with those beady black eyes that maximized the cute factor.

Woah, such... cute... crochet dolls!! And the flowers too?

❝ These are... for me? ❞ she murmured in disbelief as she took the flowers carefully from the boy's reddened and cold fingers, a blush blossoming on her cheeks. What was with the sudden spotlight she felt she was under? Gingerly reaching her free hand out towards the adorable light blue penguin doll that was calling her name, Reanne gently wrapped her hand around the delicate craftsmanship, stroking its head with her finger.

Was it just her or was she seriously surrounded by such talented and skilled artist friends now? This little penguin was so cute she just had to cuddle it tonight!! Ahhh! It was such a perfect little thing! She'd keep it on her bed and squeeze it and throw it in the air and— Gosh, she was absolutely smitten with this little guy! And the best part was that the guy she liked was the one who made it! How could it be any better than that?!

Her gaze momentarily returned to Alex, cutting her internal gushing short. Should she reaffirm how she felt about him? Definitely! Clearing her throat, Reanne shyly lowered her gaze to the dolls, fixing her eyes on the little penguin. She began to open her mouth but then her chance slipped away when the boy insisted she take all of them. Huh, wait. S-She couldn't take all of them! That would be— wasn't she only supposed to take one of them? Taking all of them would be rude wouldn't it, even if they were all super adorable?

Pulling her arm back she lifted her gaze to the boy in front of her, the one currently hiding away in his scarf, ❝ Hey! I can't—! ❞ Hold on, Reanne. Tell him your feelings without any doubts this time. Then you can address the other stuff.

❝ Um, I as much as I hate the idea of saying it today of all days... ❞ she slowly trailed off, weighing whether or not it was worth officially taking their relationship to the next level. She could always pretend they got together on a different day if she really hated it that much—not that she was ever good with remembering anniversaries anyway; yeah, that was reassuring—just forget the date and only remember the memory. Looking into Alex's eyes, she grew more serious, her free hand twirling locks of her hair around its fingers, ❝ I want to officially be your girlfriend if you'll let me. ❞

As her gaze lifted, she finally was able to face Alex properly, and it was then she noticed all the snow piling in his hair too. Eyes widening as she realized the amount of snow he was covered with, Reanne scrambled to somehow help him warm up, brushing the snow off his jacket the best she could with her bare hands.

Alarmed at the possibility of him giving himself a cold, the girl abruptly ushered him inside her apartment by tugging at his arms with her hands, ❝ Ah! Come inside before you freeze! ❞ she exclaimed hurriedly, only just realizing how long he was likely waiting out there for her to open the door if not preparing himself for this conversation. She couldn't let him freeze out here! ❝ we can keep talking inside! ❞

[squishescommishes]

I'M POKEMON WOAHG THIS IS SO COOL!!!

i adore this so so much oh my god thank you for participating!!!! this is so delightful i'm !!!!!!! 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛shfkdsjsdkjfd chomping and howling and going insane!!!!

my entry for @squishescommishes' dtiys!

(likes do nothing, please reblog if you want to support my art!)

i might do proper lineart for this one later, i'm just feeling really worn out rn

[swiftsaltsweet]

Two Knives Chapter 5: Kyoshi- Escalation

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi (RoK characters tbh)

Pairing: Rangshi

Rating: M

Summary:

Things have been stressful for Kyoshi. First, she sang a poem and now the whole kitchen staff thinks it’s about Rangi, and is sure that there will be gossip. Then, Yun asks her to join him for the Fifth Nation treaty signing. Now Rangi’s acting strange. It’s becoming a bit much for Kyoshi’s small corner of the world.

(Canon Divergent AU- Kelsang wasn’t the one who heard the poem?….aka What if it took longer for them to realize Kyoshi was the Avatar?)

Other Sites: AO3 

A/N: The spray bottle isn’t enough, I need the horny stick and a jail for them. u_u *posts chapter and runs away embarrassed* TT0TT

_____

About two weeks passed before Kyoshi was able to talk to Yun. 

It had become extremely hectic around the mansion. Hei-Ran was really on Yun when it came to his firebending training. And when she wasn’t taking up his time, Jianzhu was. They were arranging several political meetings for the upcoming months. Treaties and laws needed signing and other such important things.  

Auntie Mui also had an enormous amount of tasks that Kyoshi needed to do. The list was so long every day, she almost didn’t have time to finish them all by the end of the day. 

There must’ve been a lot to do, because even Rangi had to chip in. Unfortunately for Kyoshi, a lot of the tasks seemed to take Rangi to the complete opposite side of the peninsula, let alone the mansion. 

But somehow, every night, Rangi would find a way to make her way back to Kyoshi. It would usually be after everyone had gone to sleep that she would show up at Kyoshi’s door.

Seeing Rangi had become the highlight of Kyoshi’s day-well…night. The only downside was they couldn’t progress their relationship as far as they wanted, due to being so dead tired every night. A combination of the overwork, and the time they spent sacrificing sleep so they could steal what tired kisses they could, would do that to you.

Today, Rangi was in another village delivering a “secret package.” She wouldn’t be back until that night, again. Kyoshi couldn’t help but sigh. 

On the brightside, Yun finally had time to talk about whatever it was that was so important. 

She and Yun were alone in the garden while she fed the koi. In the end, she lied about a frog squirrel eating the lost feed.

“What was it you needed to talk about, Yun?” Kyoshi asked as she scattered the feed into the pond.  

“First off, Kyoshi, I would like to sincerely apologize about what happened with the Fifth Nation,” Yun looked down at his palm. It had been stained by the ink when he earthbent the container to defend himself. “I shouldn’t have put you in danger like that. You even put your life on the line to save me, and it gave me the opportunity to break free of my ice prison.”

Kyoshi put a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. “Yun, it’s really ok. Don’t beat yourself up, I’m just happy you’re alright.”

Yun grimaced. “But still…..”

“I’m just happy you’re safe. You’re important and people care about you, Yun. And not just because you’re the Avatar! You’re important,” she laughed. “Don’t worry about me.”

Yun smiled at her. “Thanks, Kyoshi. You always seem to know what to say.”

Kyoshi scratched the back of her head. “I don’t know about that.” Her mind wandered to the multiple goofs she’d made in the past month. “Is that what you needed to talk about?”

Yun’s eyes widened and looked away. He stood there silently for a moment, then he nodded to himself. He turned back to Kyoshi, drawing up his full height. He had a serious look in his eye. “Kyoshi, I-” he stopped. His eyes widened and face fell in surprise. “R-Rangi?!”

Kyoshi’s heart fluttered upon hearing Rangi’s name, and quickly followed his gaze that led behind her. When she turned around, she dropped the bag of feed to the ground in surprise as she saw Rangi running towards them. She was a mess, covered in dirt and other foliage. There was even a tiny branch sticking out of her topknot!

Rangi stopped right next to her friends, and stood at attention like she wasn’t covered in grime and sweat. 

“Hey… Guys…. What’d I…. Miss?” she paused between deep gasps of air. 

“Y-you’re…..back,” Yun looked at Rangi, completely surprised.

Kyoshi’s hands hovered over Rangi, the intense urge to clean threatening to overcome her. “W-what happened to you? What happened to your delivery? I thought you wouldn’t be back here until tonight!”

Rangi smiled at her, “Funny story. Turns out, the carriage that was supposed to take me back broke down. So I most likely wasn’t going to be able to come back until tomorrow night at the earliest.”

Kyoshi would’ve hated that, especially if she didn’t get word from Rangi that she'd be late. She would’ve stayed up all night worrying….. But that didn’t mean she wanted Rangi to run headfirst into…..whatever happened to her!

“So, uh, how’d you get back?” Yun let out an exasperated noise. 

“I took a shortcut through, or I guess it was over, the mountain,” Rangi said matter-of-factly. As if it was the most normal thing in the world. Just a typical stroll for the firebender. 

Kyoshi stopped her hovering, only because she needed her full attention to not grab the firebender by the shoulders and shake her. “You took a shortcut through the mountain?!”

Rangi gave Kyoshi a dazzling smile so bright, it’d make the sun jealous. “Of course, it was easy. I think I might make it my go-to shortcut in all honesty.”

Kyoshi was at a loss for words. Rangi sure was….something at times like this. So Kyoshui decided to just…… let the urge to clean overcome her. She started by brushing off the foliage on Rangi’s armor. 

“Well you should be careful, I don’t want my bodyguard getting hurt,” Yun laughed. 

“Thank you for your concern, Avatar. But you needn't worry, I’m very capable,” Rangi laughed back.

“So what was it you wanted to say again, Yun?” Kyoshi asked as she brushed off Rangi’s pant leg.

Rangi flashed her dazzling smile towards Yun. “Oh, were you two talking about something? I’m so sorry for interrupting.” 

“Uh…..” Yun paused, trying to collect his thoughts, then he grinned. “I got a new pai sho board.”

Kyoshi stopped what she was doing and grimaced. “That’s the forty-fifth one! Get rid of it!”

Yun laughed. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I plan to.”

“I seriously have no idea why people keep sending you those! You have more than enough.”

“No idea either, I guess people are just persistent.”

Kyoshi sighed, and turned her attention to Rangi’s hair. She needed to get the leaves and sticks out of it. “Was that all?”

Yun laughed. “No, I do have some-” He stopped.

Kyoshi picked a leaf off of the crown of Rangi’s head, then looked at him. Wondering why he went quiet. “Something else?”

Yun stared at Kyoshi with a wide-eyed, aghast expression. Kyoshi returned it, puzzled. Then she followed his eye’s path, and it led to where her hands were, on Rangi’s hair.

Is something wrong? I know her hair is a mess but I’m trying to fix-

Kyoshi’s heart sank and her hands stiffened, then she slowly pulled her hands away from Rangi’s head.

The hair! She thought, terrified. The hair is the most sacred part of a firebender! And….and I….. I-

She's gotten so used to touching and caressing Rangi’s hair for the past two weeks, she’d forgotten about how sacrilegious it was to touch in general, especially in public! And Kyoshi did just that, she had dishonored Rangi!

No wonder Yun was looking at her horrified, she basically just stabbed and cursed their friend all at once! No, worse!

Kyoshi was starting to spiral, but found herself being grounded by a soft hand holding her’s. 

“Why’d you stop?” Rangi asked her, completely unfazed, if not a little disappointed.

“I-I-” Kyoshi stuttered.

“Rangi, it’s your hair!” Yun said exasperated.

“That it is, I’m aware.” She closed her eyes with a small smile gracing her lips. Then she bowed her head forward, offering it to Kyoshi. “I really don’t mind, Kyoshi. If anything, you're helping me.”

If…if she says she doesn’t mind then…. Kyoshi’s heart began to pound as she resumed picking the foliage out of Rangi’s hair, gently. She went on in silence for what felt like eternity. It wasn’t until she removed the final stick from Rangi’s topknot, that she felt like she could breathe again.

“There,” Rangi smoothed her hair out as she stood up. “Much better.”

Kyoshi could feel her face blazing as she turned to Yun. He still looked shocked. Rangi may have said it was fine, but judging from Yun’s reaction, Kyoshi knew they did something that would’ve been considered taboo in the Fire Nation.

Then, as if coming out of his stupor, put his hands on his hips and laughed. “Well aren’t you two close!”

Kyoshi flinched. She and Rangi had agreed on keeping quiet about their relationship, mostly to not cause unnecessary trouble for them. Though, Kyoshi couldn’t help but feel like they weren’t exactly the best at hiding it. 

“Of course, we’re friends,” Rangi said with a smile, but she grabbed Kyoshi’s hand as she said it. Kyoshi’s face grew hotter at the contact, she was getting a lot of mixed messages at the moment. It was better if she just kept quiet. Let Rangi lead.

Yun laughed. “Well, we’re friends too. Does that mean I can touch your hair?”

Rangi returned the laugh, then said with a slight melody, “If you do, I’ll burn more than just your eyebrows off~!”

Kyoshi watched as her two friends talked and couldn't help but feel….that something was up. Perhaps….she should speak up.

“A-anyway, Yun, you said you had one more thing you needed to talk about?” Kyoshi interrupted.

Yun tapped his chin, in thought. “Well, I still need to work out the kinks. But I wanted to offer you something Kyoshi.”

“What is it?”

Yun grinned widely at her. “I want you to become my Official Avatar Companion!”

There was a long, stunned silence. After hearing the eighth croak of a frog squirrel nearby, Rangi was the first one to speak.

“What?” Rangi said in a dead tone.

Uh oh. Kyoshi thought. She was already envisioning a sequel to Rangi’s mood after she found out Kyoshi was going with them to the Fifth Nation.

“Of course, we’ll make sure Kyoshi is trained,” Yun put his hands up in a surrendering fashion to the firebender's oncoming wrath. “You have a real talent Kyoshi, a lot of raw power. I saw it on the iceberg. And I think learning to fight would be the best thing for you.”

Rangi was taking very audible deep breaths as she squeezed Kyoshi’s hand. Kyoshi could feel her shaking with anger. “No.”

“I think Kyoshi is the one who has to decide for herself, Rangi.” 

Rangi didn’t turn to Kyoshi, she just kept glaring at Yun. Kyoshi….didn’t know what to say. Becoming an Avatar’s companion was what so many people dreamed of, but seeing Rangi’s reaction….. Right now, Kyoshi’s primary dream was just having a happy girlfriend. 

“Yun, I-” Kyoshi started.

Yun put his hand up. “You don’t need to decide yet. Mull it over a bit. I really think this is the best, for all of us!” His grin grew wider. “We’ll be able to spend all our time together! You’ll be able to explore the world! And, most importantly, you’ll know how to defend yourself.” 

Kyoshi felt Rangi grow stock-still. 

Yun clapped his hands as he looked up at the sky. “Well, would you look at the time? I better get back to training. Kyoshi, Rangi, you should take the rest of the day off. You’ve both been working so hard.”

Kyoshi watched as Yun left them, rounded the corner, and walked out of sight. As soon as he left, she felt Rangi’s hand go limp, and Kyoshi quickly caught her as the rest of her body began to fall. 

“A-are you ok?”

Rangi groaned and then grimaced. “Yes, just…. a little tired.” 

Of course you ran up and down a mountain! “Let’s get you to your room,” Kyoshi said, as she held Rangi close to her, arms slung around each other’s waist. Kyoshi half carried the firebender as they walked. 

___________________

Rangi sighed, “Kyoshi, I’m fine.”

Kyoshi ran the damp towel down Rangi’s cheek, trying to get what grime she could off. “Then why did you almost collapse?” 

Kyoshi had decided to put off discussing Yun’s proposition for now. Taking care of Rangi was more important at the moment. 

Rangi grimaced. The firebender didn’t like showing weakness. “My legs were sore from all the running,” she finally admitted. “And exhaustion just….. caught up to me.”

Kyoshi stopped the towel and looked down at Rangi. Rangi was out of her armor, dressed down to her sleeveless white tunic and shorts she wore underneath. She’d also taken her hair out of her topknot. Rangi needed a bath, but Kyoshi wanted to make sure the firebender had the  energy to make it to the bath first. 

Her eyes flitted down to the bandage on Rangi’s leg. It looked worse for wear, not because mountain grime had gotten to it, but because of sweat. Kyoshi grabbed the medkit from Rangi’s nightstand and knelt down by the firebender. 

“Kyoshi! Really, you don’t need-” Rangi started to protest as Kyoshi unwrapped the bandage.

Kyoshi pouted and glared up at Rangi, “Just let me help you.”

After a brief battle ran through her eyes, she sighed and looked away. Kyoshi didn’t know why she was putting up such a fight, she didn’t act this difficult when she first cleaned the wound.

Kyoshi inspected the wound, it didn’t look too bad. Which was good, it meant Rangi was taking care of it when Kyoshi wasn’t looking. Maybe in another week or two it’ll be healed…..

She got to work, cleaning the wound with soapy water, and then applying the salve onto it. She wouldn’t bandage the leg for now, because it’d just get wet when Rangi went to take her bath. But at least the wound would be cleaned until then.

As she worked the ointment in, she lightly blew on it to help it dry a little faster. As she did, she heard a strange noise. Kyoshi looked up, and saw Rangi gripping her armrests tightly, her face red as she looked away.

Kyoshi blinked, fascinate. She blew on Rangi’s leg again. Rangi’s upper body flinched as she suppressed another noise. Her face turned even more red. Then she looked down and gasped.

“Y-you’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” she accused.

Kyoshi didn’t really know what she was doing, but she liked the reaction. She felt her eyes sparkle as she gazed up at her glowing girl, and then she smirked.

Kyoshi blew air once more.

Rangi’s hands flew to Kyoshi’s mouth. The girl lost her balance and fell forward onto Kyoshi, who caught her and held her in a tight embrace as she laughed.

“S-stop that! Don’t laugh!” Rangi shouted, nuzzling her face into Kyoshi’s shoulder as she lightly smacked Kyoshi’s collarbone. It just made Kyoshi laugh harder. “Ugh? Are you secretly an airbender or something?”

“No? Why?” Kyoshi said between giggles.

“Because you were blowing so hard the air went up my-” Rangi cut off with a grumble.

“Your shorts?” Kyoshi reached down and lightly tapped the back of Rangi’s exposed thigh. Rangi squirmed at the touch.

“Stop! I-I’m sensitive right now!” Rangi cried.

Kyoshi felt a fire ignite in her, emboldened by the firebender on top of her, as well as Rangi’s scent permeating all around Rangi’s room. Kyoshi’s grin grew wicked. 

“Sensitive?” Her lips dove for the firebender’s neck, peppering it with a bunch of light kisses, and let her hands wander freely over Rangi’s body.

Rangi didn’t stand a chance. She was puddy in Kyoshi's hands. She cried and laughed and kicked her feet. She was both trying to wiggle away from Kyoshi and hold on tighter.  

After a minute, Kyoshi decided to stop her assault, to let Rangi recover. Rangi collapsed completely onto Kyoshi again, exhausted, remnants of giggle still escaping her lips.

Kyoshi kissed Rangi’s forehead a few times. Then she sniffed.

“You really need a bath,” she chuckled.

“Screw you,” Rangi smiled, breathless.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Kyoshi joked back, then the two of them grew stiff as the words started to sink in. Kyoshi’s heart began to beat strong and steady like an o-daiko drum, each beat felt like it vibrated the two of them.

Maybe Kyoshi propositioned too soon? Even if it was just a joke…. Well, in this case it was only half a joke. 

Rangi, shifted her body. Her face was now facing Kyoshi. Her legs straddled one of Kyoshi’s thighs. “It can be,” she mumbled, hot breath hitting Kyoshi’s neck as she flexed her thighs.

Kyoshi looked down as the beats got louder and more steady. She saw the same steady look in Rangi’s eyes. They leaned in, both of their eyes looking at the other’s lips with heavy intent.

And then Kyoshi felt a new drumming sound encroaching on them.

Footsteps! 

“S-someone’s coming!” Kyoshi whispered hurriedly. 

Rangi shot up out of Kyoshi’s arms. Kyoshi went to follow, but Rangi shook her head and rolled her girlfriend under her bed instead. Both were thankful that Rangi’s raised bed was a lot bigger than Kyoshi’s. 

Rangi quickly started picking up the medical supplies, and hopped around on one foot, trying to play up her injury.

The footsteps stopped, there was a knock, and before Rangi could answer, the door opened.

Kyoshi watched as familiar looking red boots and robes walked into Rangi’s room. It was Hei-Ran, her mother. 

Kyoshi said a prayer, thanking all the spirits in existence that she and Rangi had stopped just in time. That she didn’t have to deal with Rangi’s mother witnessing Kyoshi ravaging her daughter on her bedroom floor.

“Mother, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Rangi asked, a little breathless. She hobbled on her foot, trying to hint at it as the reason, rather than Kyoshi having been the one to steal her breath away. 

It took a moment for Hei-Ran to respond, she was possibly analyzing her daughter. “You came back…..early.”

Rangi let out a sigh of air. “Yes, I took a shortcut through the mountains.”

“The mount-” Hei-Ran began, surprised. Then she recomposed herself. “I….I see. I assume there were no issues?”

“Other than the carriage breaking down, and that I desperately need a bath? No.”

“Erm, right, I can see that. Wait, just a moment, it broke down?” 

“Yes, it should be back sometime tomorrow from what they told me,” Rangi sighed. “Is there anything else you need, mother?”

Hei-Ran let out a harsh sigh herself. “Is it so wrong for a mother to check up on her daughter?”

Rangi didn’t respond, and another long silence followed. 

Hei-Ran was the one who broke the silence. “Get your rest, you’ll need to return to Hongcun Village tomorrow to retrieve a few packages.”

Rangi was silent again.

“Be sure to bring Kyoshi with you, it should make the trip a little easier.” Kyoshi flinched on instinct when she heard her name, but made sure not to move any muscle further.

“H-huh?!” was all Rangi could force out. 

“You heard me. She’s strong and can help carry them,” Hei-Ran said as she turned to leave. “Oh, and do you know where she is? I believe I heard Auntie Mui was looking for her. I know Yun said you two should take the rest of the day off, so I don’t believe it involves work. Just send her over when you see her next.” Then she left the room.

Kyoshi couldn’t help but feel like the older firebender knew she was hiding under the bed, despite being completely concealed. However, she chose to live on the path of ignorance, until new information was otherwise revealed. Ignorance was truly bliss as they say.

Kyoshi watched as Rangi got on her hands and knees and poked her head down so she could see Kyoshi. It was adorable. 

“The coast is clear,” she said with a warm smile. She held out her hand to help pull Kyoshi out.

“I think we should probably play it safe for the rest of the night,” Kyoshi said after she got out from under the bed. “It just seems luck isn’t on our side tonight.”

It was Rangi’s turn for a mischievous grin. “Suuuure. So what should we do now?” She approached Kyoshi with that hypnotic sway she loved to do, and grabbed her by the lapel, and gave her a swift kiss. Seeming more interested in pushing their luck farther rather than playing it safe.

Kyoshi let herself melt until Rangi pulled away. “I think you should take a bath,” Kyoshi said with a smile. Rangi responded with a pout. “I need to go see Auntie Mui.”

Rangi straightened up Kyoshi’s clothes. “I think you should take a bath first, then go see Auntie Mui. I’ll take mine later.”

Kyoshi looked at her confused. Rangi smirked, placing her hands on Kyoshi’s shoulders and stood on her tiptoes as she whispered in Kyoshi’s ear. “You smell like me.”

Kyoshi’s face blazed as she looked at Rangi. 

“Plus, your clothes got dirty, sorry,” Rangi didn’t sound sorry in the slightest, and Kyoshi didn’t mind surprisingly. Rangi started guiding Kyoshi’s dazed body to the door. “Now hurry up, the sooner you get washed, the sooner I can too.” And promptly pushed Kyoshi out of her bedroom door.

__________________________

“Rangi, I have a question,” Kyoshi asked, bandaging Rangi’s leg. The firebender had just finished her bath, and she snuck into Kyoshi’s room a lot earlier than she usually was able to.

“Fire away,” she said.

“Was that a firebender joke?”

“Is that the question?” 

“No,” Kyoshi mumbled. 

“The pun wasn’t intended. Now, what did you really want to ask me?”

Kyoshi finished tying the bandage, and drummed her fingers on the exposed flesh of Rangi’s knee, wanting to avoid the shin that was cut. Kyoshi wasn’t able to keep the blush from rising in her cheeks, suddenly embarrassed. “How do….how do you keep your legs so smooth?” 

She saw Rangi tilt her head out of the corner of her eye.

“It’s just, I’ve heard people talk about Fire Nationals growing up. They mentioned how, despite your hair and topknot being super sacred, you never have hair anywhere else….. Like, uh, how men don’t have chest hair…..” She drummed her fingers on Rangi’s knee one more time. “And I noticed how smooth your legs were and…. Um….”

Kyoshi finally gathered the courage to look Rangi in the eye. Rangi looked down at Kyoshi with a small flush, and laughed.

“D-don’t laugh….”

“What? It’s funny!” 

“It’s a serious question! Is there some special volcanic razor you use or….”

Rangi inhaled a few times to catch her breath. “Ok, ok. Serious answer. Firebenders don’t shave, we just firebend it off.”

Oh, well that was simple. “Is that why you felt so confident about burning Aoma’s eyebrows off that day?” Kyoshi remembered the threat like it was yesterday. She’d also made the same threat to Yun earlier that day, but Kyoshi didn’t think it was a good idea to bring his name up. 

Rangi laughed again. “Yes. But not every firebender does that. It’s a preference. Though, I guess most of us do. You know, less pieces of us to catch on fire.”

Kyoshi laughed and leaned a cheek on Rangi’s knee. “So you guys like to be hairless except for your head?”

Rangi choked on her laughter, the back of her hand flew to her mouth, attempting to poorly cover up a rising blush. “Um, the head? Yes, but there’s….one other area that we don’t usually touch…..”

Kyoshi’s eyes raised in interest, this was new information to her. Something about as sacred as a Fire National’s hair? She better pay attention so she could be careful.

“I’m guessing it’s off limits to touch in public too?” Kyoshi asked innocently.

“K-Kyoshi, it’s, um, I’m pretty sure it’s off limits in public…. regardless of which Nation you’re from….” Rangi trailed off as her blush deepened. Heat felt like it was rolling off the girl which each shade she turned. 

A place that had hair, but no one could easily see on a Fire National, otherwise the hairless rumor wouldn’t have been spread. But it’s also a place no one usually saw in public in the Four Nations. Did such a place like that exist?

Rangi moved one of her hands and rested it on the inside of her thigh. Kyoshi stared, wondering if it was a hint.

Kyoshi was slow to connect the dots at times, but, by the spirits, when she connected them. She connected them. 

“Oh….oh!” Kyoshi exclaimed, her eyes widening in realization. “Oh it’s- Oh!”

Rangi cleared her throat, “Yes.”

“So….it’s also not-”

“I-it depends on the….. preference. Either the person’s own preference…..or their partner’s.” Rangi kept her head facing away, poorly trying to hide her blush, but she looked down to Kyoshi out of the corner of her eye. Kyoshi could see that Rangi really wanted to know her opinion.

Kyoshi stared up at her. Kyoshi didn’t really have a preference, she never even thought about having a preference before. The only thing she knew was that she wanted Rangi. All of her. 

The deep heart pounding started to radiate throughout Kyoshi again, as the fire inside ignited and started to burn bright. 

“I-I don’t really have a preference. I’ve never thought about it…..” Kyoshi could feel a flush spreading throughout her body like a wildfire. 

“I see, well do keep me in the loop, I’d love to know,” Rangi barely made her voice audible. 

The thrumming felt like it was getting stronger. Kyoshi attempted to swallow, but found she was unable to. Rangi was drying the room out with her heat. It was maddening, and it was igniting Kyoshi even more.

No, no we need to rest tonight. We need to play it safe. We already had a close call, luck’s not really on our side tonight. She tried to advise herself. 

Kyoshi stood up, and looked at Rangi sitting on her bed. Rangi looked up at her with half lidded eyes, bearing the same hunger Kyoshi felt inside. 

 Kyoshi promptly ignored her own advice.

Kyoshi shifted her body so it was in between Rangi’s legs, then she pushed the firebender all the way down onto the bed in a fierce kiss. The temperature in the room started to rise rapidly as they both clung and clawed at each other with abandon.

Kyoshi broke the kiss and tried to form words. “Can…can I touch-” Her eyes flickered downward.

“Yes!” Rangi hissed, then slammed her lips into Kyoshi’s. 

Kyoshi's hands found their way to Rangi's waist. Then her hips. Then she found Rangi's waistband and-

A knock at the door. Kyoshi stilled. No idea who it was, because the only person that it could be was underneath her at this very moment.

“Maybe if we ignore them they'll leave-ngh!” Kyoshi whispered, then muffled her cry as Rangi bit into her neck. Apparently Rangi wasn't as deterred by the new surprised guest as Kyoshi was.

Another wrap at her door. “Kyoshi? Are you awake?” Hei-Ran asked through the door.

That stopped Rangi. Kyoshi and Rangi looked at each other through panicked eyes. Then Kyoshi picked the firebender up, and threw her into the closet and shut the door.

She grabbed her night robe and ran to the door to greet Hei-Ran. 

“Yes, Mistress He-Ran?” Kyoshi all but squeaked out when she flung the door open. Despite her closeness with Rangi, she was more than a stranger to Hei-Ran herself. 

“Kyoshi, do you know where my daughter is?”Hei-Ran raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on the heat that was surely billowing out of Kyoshi’s room. 

“No, Mistress, I-I've been asleep! And it's the middle of the night, why do you think she'd be here?”

“I see,” Hei-Ran folded her hands in front of her. “My daughter seems to have gotten into the habit of….exploring at night lately.”  

Kyoshi felt clammy beads of of sweat go down her neck. “Oh, well, no. I didn’t know that…. I haven't seen her.”

“I see, well, I’ll keep looking then. If you do happen to see her, tell her I’m looking for her.”

She turned on her heel, and slowly walked down the hall. As soon as Kyoshi saw her turn. She counted to ten, and then shut the door and ran to the closet.

“Coast is clear, you can come out,” Kyoshi said, feeling deja vu.

Rangi was curled up into a ball. She laughed nervously as she took Kyoshi's hand.

“What's so funny?”

“This isn't my first time coming out of the closet.”

Kyoshi laughed and then sighed. “I guess this means you have to leave early?”

Rangi sighed. “I suppose.”

Kyoshi pulled Rangi into a tight hug.

“Hey now, you'll see me tomorrow, you'll have the whole day with me!”

“I know.” But I want you with me now.

Eventually they let each other go, and Rangi left, and Kyoshi returned to bed. She laid awake, too wound up from the events of the day, and contemplated what was next to come.

______________

A/N: Hongcun Villageis made up for the story, I needed a place that was close but not Chin’s village (I know it’s not called Chin during Kyoshi’s timeline, it’s just easier to remember/spell TT0TT). Hongcun (宏村) DOES exist tho irl. It just means “Hong village”? I just chose it at random from a list (didn’t feel like trying to be creative like I did for Hunt jfklajf), but ironically enough, apparently it was a filming location Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon….. I say ironically because I believe CTHD is a big inspo for a lot of Rise of Kyoshi (such as the dust/mist/jet stepping techniques). So it all works out! :D

Also, gdi Rangi you lunatic! Sprinting over a mountain? I wonder how tall those mountains are? Let’s pretend they are taller than a 14er and aren’t the most foot friendly, to really sell the point home. (because you can climb Mount Quandary in like 4-7 hours, though it feels like eternity >_> -1000000/10 do not recommend climbing mountains against your will)

“We’re just gonna ignore how horny these two are getting so you can geek out over a movie, and to bitch about mountains?” Yes. Yes we are.

[cebwrites]

babygirl trifecta

i love them all so god damn much <333 extra notes and rambles under the cut for kakashi and law highlighting some differences as well as my journey with them!

well i tried to keep it brief but this ended up getting cluttered pretty quickly lmao, i can only hope it's legible for anyone who takes the time out of their day to read this

i already mentioned it but it really is funny how my little martini glass meow looks so much broader than kakashi (it's not even that much of an actual difference, i overlayed them to check!) it just looks like that because kakashi looks evenly proportioned but law has their cunty little whore waist TT0TT

in the five years that i've been completely absent naruto fandom circles i've gotten over my wild aversion to facial hair lol, what a weird hill to die on?? i'm still not the biggest fan of huge beards, but you put a mild stubble on a tired little guy?? i'll go bonkers bro, straight COCONUTS-- i draw law with a little extra scruff to their goatee and it's just sdfjskghdkfh!!! 💓💖💗💞 my baby's so masculine oh my gawwww <3333

i suspect it's aizawa who started it all and one piece just doubled down my slightly piqued interest (everyone was just so smooth in naruto and when they did have facial hair it was full beards and no inbetween, that's potentially what turned me off it initially lmao)

wrt law's pronouns i feel unhinged every time i have to talk about it but like skhdskgb i almost exclusively refer to them with they/them pronouns verbally (this counts maybe?? whenever i'm not writing anyway) but sometimes in headcanons or fics the "he" and "him"s just sort of slip out and they feel natural but not when i'm talking about them casually

by and large i'd much rather people use they/them for law when interacting with me but idk i feel compelled to "pick one" and it's one of those silly things that really shouldn't bother me but does sdkhfskgh

i doodled the old oc i used to have paired with kakashi (they still do live together somewhere in the back of my mind!) alongside law's little kirin chibi but they technically do have an OP version and that's vastly different from who they used to be in the narutoverse nobody's particularly interested in that but me but i still think it's a neat little tidbit :3

i could've easily done this interaction with iruka or shisui - since they were very much comfort characters too, hell, shisui even ended up as an OC (reiji!) cause i loved him that much - but ultimately i ended up picking my og naruto king 💕

okay that's enough rambling for one day, i didn't touch that much on aizawa because this is long enough as is sdjfskghkdg back to my little corner i skitter--

[summerwritesfics]

🗺️We’re Far From Anything That Feels Like Home

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang, Onesided Quan Chi/Kuai Liang Length: 2545 Words Rating: Mature Warnings: Alien AU, Royal AU, Alien!Kuai Liang, Prince!Kuai Liang, Alien!Bi-Han, Prince!Bi-Han, Alien!Quan Chi, Personal Assistant!Hanzo Hasashi, First Meetings, Arranged Marriage, Potentially Forced Marriage (idk Kuai’s pretty reluctant to go through with it), Marriage as part of a deal, Arguing AU-Gust 2024 Day 31: Two Of The Above (Secretly Alien + Princes & Princesses)

AU-Gust 2024 Masterlist

Notes: Aaaa last day! I don’t know how I got through but I did! TT0TT Last prompt was to combine two of the previous prompts and I just got this idea of Kuai & Bi-Han as secret alien princes and ran with it lol. Title is from Frozen by Celldweller

Kuai stared out of the limo window, casually fanning himself as he watched the world go by. Earth was a strange little planet, and much warmer than Artika was. Though given Artika was an ice planet it wasn’t too hard to be warmer.

“Remember, let me do the talking,” Bi-Han ordered, and Kuai looked away from the window to observe his brother. “These humans are a tricky bunch.”

“I am confused about what we are hoping to achieve here, brother,” Kuai admitted, returning to look through the window. His attention was caught by a lady and her pet dog, running down the street to try and catch a bus. Public transport was a novelty to Kuai Liang, and at some point while he was on this planet, he would convince Bi-Han to let him ride at least one train. “If we are not supposed to be noticed on this planet, then surely selling our planet's goods will arouse suspicion?”

“Let me deal with that, Kuai Liang,” Bi-Han huffed and Kuai could only frown. Why did everyone always treat him like he was incapable of even the most basic task? What is the point of me even being here? “All you need to do is sit down and flutter your eyelashes, and win this man over.”

“So, what? You want me to seduce him?” Kuai sarcastically replied. If that was all Bi-Han thought Kuai Liang was good at, it was extremely insulting. Sure, Kuai Liang had a way with people, but that didn’t mean it was his only skill.

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Bi-Han growled and Kuai found himself rolling his eyes. He sometimes forgot how weird Bi-Han could be regarding Kuai Liang and potential suitors. “Be friendly, but not that friendly.”

“Uh huh.” It wasn’t worth fighting over. Kuai had learnt a long time ago there was no point in doing so. Bi-Han’s will tended to be absolute.

“We’re here, your majesties,” Tomas called back to them from the driver's seat.

“Thank you, Tomas,” Bi-Han replied, reaching over for the door handle. “We shouldn’t be too long.”

“Good luck, Prince Kuai,” Tomas shouted once Bi-Han was out of the limo.

“Thank you, I’m going to need it,” Kuai muttered, hearing Tomas chuckling behind him. He shook his head, slipping out into the street.

Ahead of him, there was a large skyscraper. Human resourcefulness always surprised him. They could make such impressive structures with very little technology. He slowly followed Bi-Han inside the building, breathing a sigh of relief when he was immediately hit with the building’s air conditioning. Probably his favourite invention of humanity, if only because it helped cool him down immensely.

“Ah, Mr. Song,” a voice called out to them, and Kuai looked around in time to see a man in a red suit walking towards them. He was tall, bald, and had red tattoos over his head. Kuai Liang swore he’d seen the markings before, but he couldn’t put his finger on where. “I’m Quan Chi, it’s nice to finally meet you at last.”

“Likewise,” Bi-Han replied, holding out his hand so Quan Chi could shake it. “This is my younger brother, Kuai Liang.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Quan Chi claimed, reaching out for Kuai Liang’s hand too.

“Ah, you too,” Kuai awkwardly replied, holding his hand out. He was surprised when instead of shaking, Quan Chi brought Kuai’s hand up to his mouth and kissed the knuckle. Kuai made a short squeak, pulling his hand back and looking toward Bi-Han. Big brother looked less than impressed by the move, but to Kuai’s surprise didn’t say anything.

“If you’d both like to follow me, we have a lot to discuss,” Quan Chi continued, voice light like he was oblivious to Bi-Han’s anger, but the smirk told Kuai he knew exactly what he’d done.

As Quan Chi turned his back to them, Bi-Han shot Kuai Liang a look. Without speaking, he knew that Bi-Han was debating killing the guy. Kuai just shook his head, before going to follow Quan Chi, Bi-Han striding beside him.

The three of them ended up in an elevator, Quan Chi clicking the buttons for the floor they needed. Kuai Liang took the chance to get a better look at those tattoos. The more he looked at them… He swore these were symbols from Netherrealm. How would a human know of symbols from a planet they didn’t know existed?

Unless… Quan Chi wasn’t a human.

Kuai Liang couldn’t ask if the man was a human and asking if he was an alien would look strange. If Bi-Han knew, he hadn’t mentioned it, and given their situation, Kuai couldn’t ask him either. He bit his tongue, keeping his suspicion to himself, even as the elevator doors slid open and he followed Quan Chi out and across to an office.

“Please, take a seat,” Quan Chi offered as he gestured to two chairs in front of a desk. Kuai and Bi-Han did so, as Quan Chi walked around to take the seat on the other side. “Now, your sample product was very interesting. I’ve never seen anything on Earth like it, I just had to learn more about it.”

Wait. On Earth?

Bi-Han seemed to miss that as he countered with “yes, our scientists have been working on the materials for a while now.”

“Would these be your human scientists or the one’s back on Artika?”

I knew it. Kuai glanced over to Bi-Han, who looked surprised by the question. So it seemed he hadn’t known beforehand that Quan Chi was also not from Earth.

“Relax, your majesties,” Quan Chi said in a reassuring tone, holding his hand out flat. “I’m not exactly from Earth myself, I’m not about to reveal what you both are.”

“Then what do you want?” Bi-Han demanded, slamming a hand down on the desk. “Because you went out of your way to get my attention. You have it. So, why did you want it so badly?”

“I wish to propose an alliance on behalf of Lord Shinnok of Netherrealm,” Quan Chi explained, holding his hands together in front of him. So, Kuai was right again then, he was from Netherrealm. “It seems both our planets are interested in Earth, so, why not combine our forces?”

“What exactly do you propose?” Bi-Han questioned, glancing at Kuai Liang. He wasn’t happy about this, but didn’t seem completely opposed to the idea.

“Well, I am genuinely interested in the wares you are selling here, particularly your steel. It had properties that I have genuinely never seen before.” Quan Chi smiled, as he tilted his head. “Netherrealm has some interesting wares, weapons that could bring entire armies to their knees. You share yours with us, and we’ll share ours.”

“Interesting. I would want to see these wares first,” Bi-han explained, crossing his arms over his chest. “And what exactly would prevent you from betraying us the second you get your hands on what you want?”

“Well, it is tradition on Netherrealm, that large deals are accompanied by an arranged marriage as a symbol of unity.” Was that true? Kuai Liang hadn’t done any research into this aspect of Netherrealm culture. He would have to look into it. From the corner of his eye, he could see Bi-Han shift uncomfortably, clearly expecting to be the subject of the arrangement. “As the leading force in the deals, I would be the one put forth on our end. And as for yours…” Quan Chi’s eyes landed on Kuai Liang, and suddenly he got a sinking feeling on where this was going. “Well, I believe your youngest Prince is available, is he not?”

“Absolutely not,” Kuai blurted out, feeling his entire face going hot. He opened his fan, trying to cool himself down and ignore the somewhat amused look on Quan Chi’s face. “I refuse to go through with such absurdity.”

“Kuai Liang,” Bi-Han softly warned beside him and Kuai couldn’t stop his head from snapping around, eyes wide with shock. Bi-Han, his beloved big brother, the man who had chased away every single suitor who had ever come before Kuai, was agreeing with this?

“You cannot seriously expect me to go along with this, Bi-Han?” Kuai exclaimed. He’d chased off far more trustworthy individuals than Quan Chi before now. Men Kuai Liang was actually interested in.

“It is just a suggestion,” Bi-Han said as if this was no big deal.

Kuai Liang scoffed, “and would it be just a suggestion if it were your hand he was asking for?”

Bi-Han’s eyes narrowed, and it was clear that was in part where this was coming from.

“That is irrelevant. He asked for you, not me.” In all their years, Kuai Liang had never felt more hurt and betrayed. That Bi-Han would sacrifice Kuai Liang in order to avoid an uncomfortable situation. “Besides, this will not be either of our choices. It will be Fathers.”

“Like hell it won’t be my choice,” Kuai shouted as he stood up and dramatically stormed over to the door. “There is nothing you or Father can say to make me go through with this. I. Refuse.”

He opened the door, slamming it behind him as he stepped outside. He stomped over to the wall opposite, throwing himself against it and letting out a frustrated growl. Hit his fists against the wall, he tried desperately to suppress his rage. This felt silly, like he was a child having a tantrum, but did he not have the right to be angry about this? Did his autonomy mean that little? Would Father reallyagree to just handing over his son in the name of an alliance?

“Um. Are you okay?”

Kuai spun around to where the voice came from. There was a man standing not too far off, holding a coffee cup and looking at Kuai with a very concerned expression on his face.

“Oh. Um. Yes. Sorry, just… A little frustrated about something,” Kuai explained with a sheepish smile, glancing back towards the door to Quan Chi’s office. Bi-Han hadn’t come after him yet, so he could only imagine they were continuing to discuss the details of the deal.

“Something Quan Chi did?” The man questioned with an eyebrow raised. Kuai nodded and the man laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. He is a very frustrating individual to deal with.”

And Bi-Han wants me to marry him. Yikes.

“Do you work for him then?” Kuai asked, pushing himself away from the wall to approach the man.

“I’m his personal assistant, Hanzo Hasashi.” Hanzo held out a hand to shake Kuai’s hand. To Kuai’s relief he did a normal shake, and not the weird knuckle kissing Quan Chi did earlier.

In hindsight, his desire to marry me should have been obvious.

“Song Kuai Liang, second in command of Lin Kuei Industries,” Kuai introduced himself with a smile.

“Ah. Yes, he did mention having a meeting with yourself and your brother today.” Hanzo looked towards the door and grimaced. “I do hope he didn’t say anything to offend you.”

“Not offend, just…” Kuai sighed, he didn’t exactly know how to explain. From what he could tell, Hanzo was a human, and probably didn’t know of places like Artika or Netherrealm. Kuai knew arranged marriages did happen on Earth, but they tended to be within certain cultures. “I do not agree too much with the terms of his proposed agreement.”

“Somehow that does not surprise me,” Hanzo sighed, running a hand through his hair and taking a sip of his coffee. “I may work for him, but sometimes I do wonder how the hell he does any business with the way he acts.” Hanzo shook his head. “You’d think he was an alien sometimes, with zero knowledge of human culture.”

Kuai really hoped his laugh wasn’t as nervous sounding to Hanzo as it was to him. Curious, that Hanzo should come to the correct conclusion without even knowing it.

“You might be onto something there,” Kuai tried to joke, hoping it would cover his own weird behaviour at the suggestion. “He definitely didn’t seem to understand why I’d be upset at the suggestion of marriage.”

Hanzo spluttered, spitting his coffee back into his cup. He continued to cough for a couple of seconds, slamming his fist against his chest.

“You’re kidding me?” Hanzo got out between laboured breaths. “He actually suggested that?” Kuai nodded, watching in sympathy as Hanzo rubbed his chest. “No wonder you were so angry. I hope you’re not actually considering going through with it.”

“Oh, believe me I do not want to,” Kuai claimed, shooting a glare towards the door. He still couldn’t believe this. “But apparently, it might not be my choice, it might be my Father’s.”

When he turned back, Hanzo was wincing and he muttered “I have never been more glad to not be from a rich family as I am right now.”

Kuai laughed at that. “It does have its downsides.”

Before they could talk more, the door opened, and Bi-Han stepped out of the office. His eyes darted between Kuai Liang and Hanzo, before narrowing in Hanzo’s direction.

“What is going on here?” Bi-Han hissed, looking like he was about to punch Hanzo in the face. Oh, so now he wanted to be the overprotective big brother, huh?

“He’s Quan Chi’s personal assistant,” Kuai Liang explained, clenching his fists. “We were just talking.”

Bi-Han rolled his eyes, coming over and grabbing Kuai by the arm. “We’re leaving, we need to discuss everything with Father.”

Kuai huffed, but looked towards Hanzo and offered him a smile. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Hanzo briefly looked towards Bi-Han, before he added “I hope we see each other again sometime.”

“I’d like that.”

Before Kuai could say anything more, he felt his arm being roughly yanked and then he was being dragged towards the elevator. Bi-Han basically threw him inside, before getting in himself and punching in the buttons. As the door slid closed, Kuai got one last look at Hanzo, standing with an eyebrow raised and his teeth bared. Soon though, he was cut off and the elevator started to go down.

When the doors reopened, there was no time to react before Bi-Han was grabbing him once more and guiding him out of the building. He was bundled into the back of the limo, and the next thing he knew, Bi-Han was sitting opposite him, a scowl all over his face. Kuai just held his head up in defiance.

“Hello your majesties, did the meeting go well?” Tomas cheerfully called from the front, completely oblivious to the tension between the two brothers.

Kuai stared Bi-Han down, as his brother did the same. Neither spoke for a long time. Tomas coughed awkwardly, finally gathering that it ended badly. He just started the engine, and began to drive off.

“I am not marrying him,” Kuai Liang finally announced, hands clenching the seat he was sitting on.

“We will see what father says,” Bi-Han snidely replied.

Kuai just gave an angry growl, before turning away to look out of the window.

If his Father decided to accept the deal, there was no way in hell Kuai Liang was going to make things easy for anyone involved.

[jorrated]

Hey (drunk typing so sorry in advance) just wanted to let you know that your clown magical girl post from however long ago inspired me to draw my whole immediate family as clowns and my dad was so enchanted by them he got all four as tattoos. No money was made off the concept (minus the hundreds of dollars given to the tattoo artist i suppose) but you have irrevocably altered my life and my fathers flesh. Thank you. Also do you have venmo of cofi i feel like you deserve it

OH MY GOD YOOOOOOOO

Thats so cute!!! TT0TT, holy shit. If you're okay with it I'd love to see the tattoos themselves! Sending love to you and your family <333

(And don't feel obligated to, but the Ko-fi is appreciated!)

[nymphrasis]

Now that I have caught up on your jaw-dropping art I missed, I have an important question.

*Holds out Bowl*

Please may I have some of your AMAZING SKILL AT ART. Even but a drop would be a blessing. Your art is so cute and pretty. You even can do animations and such so well. Nymph you are Godly!!! 😊

VALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL HIHI >w<! This is me when you made such a request!

I 100% WOULD BE WILLING TO DONATE ANY ART SKILL THAT I COULD, HAD IT BEEN POSSIBLE TT0TT!!! Thank you so much, ahhhhhh. Your words are super kind and has already made my day <3!!! I really try the best I could! As for animation, they are still practice but I am happy with how they've turned out nwn! I have already admitted this to a few people, where I have stated for mouth movements I use the example of my own mouth ( See what words cause what direction of openness my mouth goes, see how far the chin goes down depending on how short or long I open my jaws, ect. The thing I did forgot is cheeks being pushed slightly during certain speeches. But that is fine for next time! ). With the Kuruna lemon meme, when her paws was going up, I had to use my own hands to see how to make the paw be folded up and moved back to make it seem like it makes sense xd. I am not aiming for crazier movements yet! I do still need to continue to practice more with simpler stuff first! I do plan to watch animation tutorials to learn other movements! Like something I do want to do is a simple ear flick for Kuruna! But I admittedly am struggling on how to make that look ( Esp considering I have not seen an animated ear that has large inner ear fluff. This case being her soot ear fluff! ). I do want to make the eye on the ear fluff change expression, as a sort of reaction to the ear it is in being flicked! Animation is something I am not super consistent in! It is on and off, here and there. It really just stuck with me because I grew up with Flipnotes ( Like the old 2008/ 2009 DS flipnote release era ) ;w;

I have never been the greatest but I have done practices and used others flipnotes as a teaching system for myself :D! Hence why mouth movement is something I feel best at, but do still need practice on!

That and there was a point and time where I've wanted to animate cartoon! Doesnt matter what type of cartoon ( As long as it isnt incite hatefulness towards a particular group or encourage irl harm. Those sort of stuff. Oh and I dont want to do cartoons that gives out a heavy religion message because, well, I dont believe in those things xd. Funny considering my main story has angels and demons, heaven and hell existing. While I may not believe in them, I dont mind using them in just fun fiction x3 )

But, ah, I am rambling again--

Thank you for the ask, as I just woke up ( Real late ) and it has plastered the biggest of smiles on my face ;;w;; As mentioned earlier, I would love to donate a piece of my art skill, if it were possible ;3;

[edge-lorde]

She ra expanded worldbuilding notes

currently in the process of trying to get my sister to do expanded brightmoon concept art for me! To be used for future comic reference! .3.

here are my gathered notes and observations because im excited about what she will give me.

first: Brightmoon

The show doesn't do a good job of showing how any of the kingdoms actually work. We’re told that Brightmoon is the biggest kingdom on Etheria, The kingdom of snows being the 2nd biggest and described as “Huge.” Yet, the most we see of Brightmoon is a few shots of buildings next to the palace. 

As you can see from the 2nd image, Glimmer is talking from her bedroom window, and it appears to be located within one of the towers next to the palace. This means that at least one, probably more, of the towers are additionally part of a greater palace complex and also not where normal people would live. 

I already have a post floating around somewhere where i described a few of my other headcanons about Etheria world building that i don't feel like digging up, but the gist of it is that many of the named settlements we do see in the show like Sea worthy, Erelandia, Elberon, even Dryl, are cities and towns that are in the larger jurisdiction of one of the 7 runestone kingdoms even if they act as self sufficient city states. Think like ancient greece. In this case i place all of those places and probably a few more as being in the country of Brightmoon, and the buildings around Brightmoon palace that we can see are part of a low-tech urban fantasy city also called Brightmoon, kind of like how Rome is/was a city and also was (for a while at least) the capital of the Roman empire. To make it more clear I’m going to call the city around the palace “Brightmoon Proper.” 

I forget which episodes these backgrounds are from but I think this has to be the long bridge that we can see leading out from the back of the palace. 

I imagine this bridge to be the main walkway into the palace compound; all of the buildings on the side of this rock next to the palace are involved in the running of said palace. All of the Queens guards and staff and anyone else she might need nearby such as positions like the royal historian (I imagine the position still exists even if it isn’t Bow in the main timeline) and their families and everything needed to support them live here. The towers that we see would contain many businesses and apartments and terrace gardens made walkable by delicate bridges connecting neighboring towers and enchanted floating rocks acting as public transportation. In this way urban residents of Brightmoon could live indefinitely without touching the ground. 

This field would be farmland used to supply the palace. Sidenote-- it seems awfully close to sea level. I wonder if it floods? Is that water saltwater or fresh? What crop could need to flood with seawater to grow? Seaweed? Hmmm a lot of worldbuilding potential here....

 Since I’m adding things, I also imagine Brightmoon Proper to extend out beyond the palace, on the other side of the mountain. 

The bridge would be the main thoroughfare into palace part of the city but I imagine for the skyscrapers to be on both sides. We do also see some smaller buildings on the ground as well, so I also imagine that the farther away one lives from the palace the more normal the settlements are, being either on the ground or in the mountains. I imagine the hinterlands of Brightmoon Proper to spill out along the coast and countryside, and extend into the whispering woods a little. Sea worthy seems to be close enough to the palace for a day trip. The Library where George and Lance live would be on the farthest limits of Brightmoon Proper settlements, placed just remotely enough to not have to pay taxes to the crown and close enough to Erelandia to have groceries delivered. 

I don’t know how to draw all of this so I hope my sister can give me something good to reference. TT0TT it has to look pretty!

i also found this map

among the prop designs on crew member Soyun Park's website. Idk if I'll use it but its there.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I think it's both ngl. (oh noooo I thought this reblog would be a paragraph or two not an essay ahhhhhhh I'm sorry *sobs* Halfway through it stops being about her childhood, but the latter half I think reinforces the temper being learned/reinforced behavior bc of the FN so jakslfjdalkjf fuck it we balllllll!)

I think she started out as a dutiful and sweet little girl, but one with a very solidified view of her own justice. I wouldn't say she was "soft" in any way (she's FN, I'm sure if she had to she'd ball in a fight), but sweet and emotional comes to mind. She's a cry baby even years later as a hardened soldier and it's something we see she represses.

I think when she was really young, she'd be one to cry a lot more freely. Trips and skins her knee? Cries (but she's gonna put on a show of trying to look tough). Something bad happens in a bed time story? Cries. Something happy happens in her bed time story? Cries.

But.....alas she lives in the Fire Nation......life happens, and she goes to school.

Prior to school: Hei-Ran seemed to have gotten into many Agni Kais around the time of meeting Junsik as she climbed the ranks at the academy, which resulted in a lot of deaths.

Not long after Kuruk's death, she gave birth to Rangi, Junsik dies not long after (Rangi has some memory of him so he had to have hung around a few years), and Hei-Ran became headmistress.

And then Rangi goes to school....and politics and bullshit get involved (gotta get them young! At, like, what? Starting at 5? 7? :'D)

THIS is when Rangi starts to change. That sense of duty and justice? Strengthened 1000% fold. Solidified. Steeled and tempered by the injustice and bs she had to go through but not be able to fight back.

Buuuuut this is also where the temper comes in. And the repressed emotions (she stifles her crying, even in her damn sleep! TT0TT)

Now, I'm not sure if she only breaks chairs if it's REALLY bad, or if she just learned to mellow out during her Yokoyan blank periods....OR if being home just ignited that particular issue in her again. (gonna loop back to this at the end, I have more to say). But she like...must've done it often enough.

So often, Hei-Ran is literally NOT EVEN SURPRISED when her daughter flips A FUCKING TABLE out of the palace balcony in SoK. TT0TT Nor blinks an eye at the shattered chair that was left in Rangi's wake. (jesus christ hide the good furniture when she's over jkfdjask)

Considering WHY Rangi gets mad in SoK to cause this: her mother's actions endangered her loved ones, her country, and dishonored them both (SoK really drills in how much dishonor or even others slighting your family name can cause a brawl), her dear best friend was wilding out, and now her girlfriend and other best friend who is the DAMN AVATAR has to shoulder a lot of blame and totally on the cusp of wilding out AS WELL, oh and a war is about to break out to boot! .....Rangi is at a big ass breaking point, and......

Considering how Rangi talks about her academy days, and her mother not being surprised by her behavior..... I think there's the overlap. The cause and effect.

It had to be similar. Similar issues and similar degree of stress. Well we know one, and that's the rumors and slights to her family's name.

Rangi is constantly surrounded by people slighting her and her mother....... And in a country where one has to avenge every slight upon her and her family's name....well:

But Rangi can't do that. She can't "avenge" anything:

Rangi had no outlet. She had to deal with insults in a country where it's grounds enough to start a brawl or burn your opponent in an Agni Kai (can't even say which one is "best" or "worst" because one doesn't involve burning but isn't a controlled environment, while the other is controlled/ceremonial but involves burning). And she couldn't do any of that.

Maybe she'd get lucky and settle an after-curfew playground fight, but it was constant. Endless. And she probably still couldn't fight most of her opponents (because they were too weak).

We saw what happens when at least Agni Kais are taken away from someone, and thus can't settle their grievances that way..... The Szeto Festival, North Chung-ling, and the Saowon's. It was enough to start a Civil War. (tho would Rangi WANT to do that? We know she's "won every duel" she's been in....because "she never gets burnt"....but I'm sure she'd also want to avoid Agni Kais because of her own mother's reputation...but she must've competed in a few and...jesus the fucking stress on this kid. Constant slights, and when she DOES duel she has to be sure to win but NOT win like her mom would and fjkasdjfkaj girlie should be at the spa or club save her TT0TT).

And that's what Rangi had to deal with Every. Single. Day. No wonder she was trying to graduate early. TT0TT No wonder she gets so pissed at Kyo's bullies.

So then what's her outlet? Repressing her emotions until she bursts it seems. We know she stifles her crying, to the point it's even in her sleep (she's still a cry baby ;^;). The same could probably be said about her rage (in fact we see instances of her holding back a few times in RoK, will explore much farther below). And....the furniture was probably her only outlet. TT0TT

I can see her trashing her room and walls because her home was literally the only place she could privately blow up and blow off all the steam. And her being a trust fund baby with a rich mommy (same mommy that was causing ALLA THAT stress and issues to begin with!), Hei-Ran was probably like "Yeah.....fuck it. I'll be ordering a new dining room set every month it seems. Yeah, yeah. I want a monthly subscription for Spackle to be delivered to my home, we're gonna need it."

Not the most healthy, but considering the FN is hella unhealthy already, and all "healthy" alternatives were cut off for Rangi....I think we got lucky. TT0TT

THAT BEING SAID, I think that toxic trait left her by the time she came to Yokoya.

The beginning of RoK is where she first EVER confronts Kyoshi's bullies (within the 2 years of living there). We know she knows about them, she talks as if she's at least seen them from a distance (I doubt Kyo's mentioned them, she likes to keep things to herself). She mentions "pushing" Kyo to confront her bullies (so she's done it more than once, even if she never saw it in front of her).

But when she has a chance to confront them, she doesn't burn them. She wants to. She gets a fireball ready, but she chooses not to in the end. (Why? Could be a few reasons. Rangi's stronger and doesn't want to appear as the bully, Kyo's not in danger anymore, their backs were turned and were running and Rangi is nothing if not honorable, or maybe she thinks Kyo is the one who needs to stand up....OR there's a jar that's about to hit them in the heads and they need to figure out how to catch it... Or all of the above!)

That, and like two other instances (chest poking and almost punching a wall) are the only other instances I can think of that get anywhere close to her table flipping behavior in SoK. And even then she's restrained! (there's also a time where she smacks Kyo's collar bone for not listening to her, but I think that's more Rangi being gruff/rough and not realizing her own strength in the instant, the moment is more softly charged too which is why I don't read it the same)

She has a "finger poking into Kyo('s chest)" habit. Esp when she's angry, but after accidentally burning Kyo after the whole "Kyo might be the Avatar debacle" she stopped doing that (she didn't mean to hurt Kyo then, she she def didn't want to do it in the future, accident or no):

So the finger poking is the closest she gets to following through on temper. As for the closest she gets to being home decorum's enemy number 1? It's the The Town scene after they found out they had to pay off FoC's debt (and Kyo was "mean to them" about it TT0TT):

But golly, she doesn't hit the damn wall! She'll respect a daofei's town's wall structure but not the Fire Lord's jsakldfja That's HILARIOUS jdskalfj TT0TT Esp when in this point in the story, she still HATES daofei (and girlie is a good lil FN soldier and Fire Lord bodyguard in SoK so fjkdlajf it's great. Great stuff).

It makes me wonder why she shows so much restraint in RoK compared to SoK. 🤔It could be a sense of duty, her need to keep Kyoshi (her crush and the Avatar) safe overrides her firey temper (instead when she does get angry it's more cool and calculated like on the lei tai). It could be that the stress was just different, SoK was more personal and that particular (personal) stress that only her nation could bring out. It could be because she mellowed out during her years in Yokoya, and returning to the FN in SoK reopened all that progress/healing. It could be all three or a mixture! Or something else!

For the later two, I think Kyo's words near the end of SoK sum up that mentality pretty well:

So....ummmm...yeah. I think Rangi was probably a sweet (cry) baby when she was young, but the FN fucked her over.

So Rangshi nation what do we think Rangi was like as a child? I am so curious. Like I need others opinions- I can’t decide if she would be extremely temperamental and constantly fighting or a very dutiful little girl. I am so curious- we know like nothing about Rangi’s past or childhood and I wanna know.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Maryke Hendrikse/Revy voice as Rangi

(I thought she had a nice rasp that worked for Rangi. I think both guys, Brian Drummond and Brad Swaile,who Yun represented worked for him as well tbh fjskldfj Also that first clip, woof. :'D haha that's how the lake scene went right? no? kinda just mor aggressive? :'D)

[silly-plays-p3r]

*My bf and me playing through P3R* Me: *gets to the first day you can unlock Hermit and starts the link and we see the portrait* My Bf: Lol I bet we know who that person is IRL. Me: *slowly turns to him* .......You don't remember how it ends? Then again FES was like.....super long ago..... Bf: ...........so we do know them? Me: *nods slowly* Bf: Oh! It's Mitsuru! Me, expecting a Yukari guess: W-ha-no! I mean, that'd be funny but no. Bf: ..............Aki.....hi-no! Yuka.....ri? Me: *shaking head slowly* Remember.....Simba...... Bf: ............................................oh! That teacher! Me: Yup. You can tell by the portrait TT0TT You really forgot huh? orz Bf:..........................maybe

[soundwavemain]

This one was a long time coming.

Original scene with closed captioning can be found here!

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Recap time?

>:( no

[swiftsaltsweet]

Two Knives Interlude 1: Rangi- Damn

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi (RoK characters tbh)

Pairing: Rangshi

Rating: M

Summary:

Things have been stressful for Kyoshi. First, she sang a poem and now the whole kitchen staff thinks it’s about Rangi, and is sure that there will be gossip. Then, Yun asks her to join him for the Fifth Nation treaty signing. Now Rangi’s acting strange. It’s becoming a bit much for Kyoshi’s small corner of the world.

(Canon Divergent AU- Kelsang wasn’t the one who heard the poem?….aka What if it took longer for them to realize Kyoshi was the Avatar?)

Other Sites: AO3 

A/N: (Future me edit: Phew! Glad you guys seemed to like the little twist at the end, was a little nervous ngl TT0TT Also YAY! I CAN FINALLY START SHARING THE RANGI CHAPTERS! *sobs* so excited and haha oh man now I’m nervous akfjskfdaj)

(back to past me:) Heyyyyyy it’s POV switch time, just like The Hunt For Kyoshi’s: The Hunter and The Hunted chapters :’D

I only had this POV flip planned so………u_u but hey! It’s like 3 chapters worth in one chapter so :’D Wait…3 chapters….. *looks at the length of this chapter vs the others* Oh someone save meeeeeee TT0TT Haha this is gonna be a long chapter-Oh wait I’m getting a call. Ahuh. Hmm. Yup… 27 pages????......AND YOU AREN’T DONE……. THREE CHAPTERS AND NOT ONE?! Ok We’re splitting this into three chapters sorry. :’D

I underestimated how much Rangi yaps. u_u Pining more than a damn pine tree.

Me from the future (again): *stumbles in* Heyyyyy-o. Oh boi. Um….yes. So….THIS chapter was supposed to be chapter 4, but then I changed it. :’D So like….just remember how these were written/structured: Kyoshi’s first 3 chapters, and then Rangi’s first three chapters, then chapters 4-6, then Rangi’s 4th chapter (that 4th chapter wasn’t originally going to exist too jaklfjds. Man this fic has been shuffled about more than a deck of cards kjfdslafjs

____

Rangi was an idiot. She couldn’t believe that she walked all the way down to the kitchen, and had forgotten to tell Kyoshi the one important news she wanted to relay to her! She cursed that Aoma girl and her cronies for bullying Kyoshi, because they’d distracted her as well. Instead of telling Kyoshi the good news of Master Kelsang returning from a relief mission early, she was trying to give the giant girl tips on how to defend herself.

All those tips falling on deaf ears, as usual. 

She slowly and silently made her way back down to the ruckus kitchen. She heard them from the hallway, something about singing a dirty song or something about unrequited love. She really hoped Kyoshi wasn’t still wasting her time down there. 

“Kyoshi next!” someone said, and the sound of Kyoshi’s name made Rangi stop on the stairs. “She’s never here, so let’s make the most of it!”

Rangi stood in the middle of the staircase, just out of sight from the kitchen. Unsure of what to do. On one hand, she was annoyed that her hunch was right, and Kyoshi was still down there. But on the other hand, she wondered if Kyoshi was going to join in. If she was going to sing. What her singing voice sounded like. What she was going to sing about. 

She stood there, heart thrumming in her chest to the beat of the kitchen appliances.

“I’ve got two knives that are cast in bronze / they pierce all the way to the soul / they draw you in with the promise of sin / like the moth to the flame to the coal.”

Rangi’s eyes widened as she heard Kyoshi’s singing voice for the first time. It was such a lovely alto. Her voice was smooth, strong and rich. 

The kitchen howled. Someone clucked in disapproval. “Keep going, you naughty girl!” a voice shouted.

Oh, right, she supposed she should be listening to the lyrics. She shook her head, as much as she’d love to listen to Kyoshi’s voice. The song itself might give her an indication on if Kyoshi liked someone.

Let’s see, something about bronze and fire? Rangi’s heart leapt at the thought of the second description, but tapered it down. She didn’t want to get ahead of herself. 

“I’ve got hair like the starless night / it sticks to my lips when I smile / I’ll wind it with yours and we’ll drift off course / in a ship touching hearts all the while.”

Kyoshi drummed on, more percussion started filling the air. And Rangi’s heart started to pound harder. Starless night. Black. A hand flew to her chest. Ok, now she couldn’t stop from getting ahead of herself. There were only a handful of people on the estate that had black hair, and she was one of them. 

“For the way I walk is a lantern lit / that leads you into the night / I’ll hold you close and love you the most / until our end is in sight.”

Rangi could feel the blood pounding in her ears, she could feel the blush covering her body. She knew she was beat red. Black hair, fire, light. Entangled hair. Wanting to hold and love them. Rangi leaned against the wall for support, and prayed. Prayed to every spirit imaginable. Prayed to every Avatar. Prayed that the person Kyoshi was talking about was her. Was Rangi. 

“It’s Rangi!” someone shouted. Rangi nearly leapt out of her skin. She stumbled back a few steps, fearing someone saw her. 

I thought I was out of sight!

“It is Rangi!”someone else cooed, the sound of kissing noises were heard.

“W-where?” Kyoshi asked, alarmed.

“Not in here, idiot!” a male voice said. “In your song! Just admit it, you just sang about Rangi.”

Rangi feared she was going to go into cardiac arrest. So she wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t the only one who saw the resemblance between her and Kyoshi’s song. Now, would Kyoshi admit it? Should she admit it? What should Rangi do if she did?

A million questions spiraled in her mind. 

What she wanted to do right then and there was run down there and…. Take Kyoshi right where she stood? Take her hand and run off with her? Both? 

Rangi drew a breath as quietly as she could. At some point she’d forgotten how to breathe. No, no, she couldn’t act brashly. Kyoshi had to confirm. And….there were other obstacles Rangi may have to overcome if Kyoshi did confirm. 

Rangi, and the rest of the staff waited for Kyoshi’s answer.

“I-I, uh, I,” Kyoshi started. 

Did Kyoshi not mean to sing about Rangi? Did the kitchen staff guess wrong? Did Kyoshi think no one would be able to guess it was about Rangi? 

The wait was killing her.

“I, uh, I have to go get ready for my gifting duties,” Kyoshi said hurriedly, and the sound of movement could be heard.

Rangi jumped and sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could. She quickly ascended the stairs, scratching and clawing on all fours, unable to keep her balance. Surely she was not as silent as she’d wanted to be. As soon as she got to the top she dove through the open window on the other side of the hall from the stairs without thinking. 

She landed in the bushes, and sat there, under the windowsill out of view. Her hand over her mouth to stifle any noises. She heard Kyoshi finish ascending the staircase, and then run in the direction of her room.

Rangi sat there for a moment, trying to catch her breath, and to cool her features off. She didn’t need to be walking around with her face flushed the same color as her red armor.

She placed her forehead on her knees and breathed. She likes me? Does this mean she likes me? She thought to herself, unable to stop the hope rising in her chest. 

For the past two years she’d resigned herself into thinking Kyoshi wouldn’t like her back. That her crush would go unanswered. So this hope was dangerous, if she completely gave in then…. What if Kyoshi still didn't like her? What would she do then?

Rangi took a few more calming breaths, and then slapped her own cheeks. She needed to calm down. She had duties to attend to!

…but first, she should probably go wash her face in her room. The water might help cool it off.

She scrunched up her face into the signature Sei’naka- or maybe it was just the Fire Nation?- stoic look. No one would be able to tell what she was thinking if she kept it like this. 

She made sure now one was looking before she escaped out of the bushes, and ran to her own room.

________________

Rangi ran the cool towel over her face, it warmed almost instantly at the contact of her skin. She repeated the process about a dozen or so times until her reddened face had finally calmed down. 

She grabbed a nearby dry towel and dried her face off. When she finally pulled it away, she began inspecting her appearance in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, so she fixed it. Trying not to think of the lyrics.

She inspected her skin, it was back to the normal pale it usually was, only a slight red hue scattered across it. Her fingers brushed at her neck, then her jaw, then her cheeks and then they froze. Her gaze lingered on her eyes. Her bronze colored eyes. 

“I’ve got two knives that are cast in bronze / they pierce all the way to the soul”

Rangi gasped, and pressed the towel into her face again. As if the pressure could stop the lyrics from forming in her mind. 

Kyoshi had been singing about her eyes. No! No, she needed to think rationally. Kyoshi might’ve been singing about her eyes. Might!

 “They draw you in with the promise of sin / like the moth to the flame to the coal.”

Rangi let out a muffled scream into the towel, her flush coming back red hot. Did Kyoshi really say her gaze was sinful? 

Have I been too obvious? Please tell me I haven’t been too obvious!

She thought about every longing look she thought she snuck and it caused her to do a little dance of embarrassment. Which led to her tripping over her own feet, and falling backwards onto the floor. 

Rangi’s face was still in the towel as she screamed and cringed into it with each memory that passed in her mind; kicking her legs on the floor all the while. It was a pathetic sight. If anyone were to walk in, that might be the final blow to her ego. She may never recover. Thankfully, there was nary a person in the estate that would just barge into Rangi’s room unannounced.

Rangi heard her door slide open with a click.

She slowly removed the towel to see a pair of familiar boots.

She looked up at her mother with absolute dismay. If anyone could or would see Rangi at her lowest and most vulnerable, her mother would always be there with a front row seat. 

Hei-Ran gazed down at her daughter with a deep frown. “What on earth are you doing?”

Breaking down. She thought. Rangi did her best to screw her face back into a stoic expression, the flush be damned. She stood up straight, inhaled, ready to give the excuse of her life. 

She exhaled…..and stared at her mother.

She had nothing. No excuse existed in this world that could’ve explained such disappointing behavior. It’d be better if she told her mother the truth, but she’d never do that. She feared what her mother might say or do if she mentioned her crush on Kyoshi.

Instead, she kept the staring contest up with her mother, until Hei-Ran finally broke it by pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Oh, nevermind. I don’t think I want to know,” Hei-Ran conceded. Rangi was going to leave the biggest and bestest offering for the spirits when she had time. 

Rangi cleared her throat. “What brings you to my room, mother? Shouldn’t you be with Yun?”

Hei-Ran sighed, “Yes, but we are taking a break. However, it appears he wants his break extended. It seems he galavanted off somewhere.”

Rangi nodded. That sounded like her Avatar.

“And I was wondering if his bodyguard would know where he was,” Hei-Ran glared at her daughter.

Rangi stiffened. She’d been neglecting her duties for the day. To be fair, she didn’t necessarily have to bodyguard Yun when he was in the presence of his Sifus, but still. She was slacking.

“I’ll go and fetch him,” Rangi said with a bow.

“Good,” Hei-Ran replied, turning on her heel to leave. 

As she exited the door, a group of servants passed her room in the hall. “Did you see the Avatar?”

“Yeah I saw him on his way to the gifting room, you know where Kyoshi is!”

“How scandalous-Hey!”

Rangi practically barreled into her mother and the other maids as she passed, face pale in distress.

_____________

No! No no no no! Not the gifting room! Not those two alone!

Rangi’s mind was now screaming as she sprinted through the estate, she didn’t care if she looked like a spirit out of hell. She had to get to the gifting room, stat!

She was having a possibly amazing day, she didn’t need it to be ruined by the memories from around eight months ago. When she last left Yun and Kyoshi in a room together, alone. How they looked at each other. How Kyoshi sprinkled Fire Lilies over Yun’s face. How they….kissed. Or, almost kissed? Rangi didn’t know, she didn’t stick around to watch.

Rangi rounded the corner, she was running at the door with a full sprint. Body ready to catch them in the act this time, mind not as prepared.

She reached the door, stopped just in time, and slid the door open with a smooth click. 

She gazed at the two in front of her. Kyoshi and Yun were a respectable distance apart. Nothing nefarious happened this time. She sighed inwardly, and then remembered to keep her face in its stoic placement. She didn’t trust her real emotions at the moment. 

"Avatar." She bowed deeply and solemnly to Yun. Then she turned to Kyoshi, Kyoshi appeared more sullen than usual. “And you! You’ve barely made any prog-”

Rangi cut herself off and tore her eyes away from Kyoshi, looking around the room. Her eyes widened a bit. “Oh….it’s…. actually almost done.” She wasn’t expecting that….

Almost all the presents were in neat little piles, all that needed to be done was transfer them.

“I got here early….” she heard Kyoshi muttered. She wouldn’t look at Rangi at all. 

Rangi could feel her pulse race. Is it because of the song she sang? Is it true? Or is she just self-conscious because the kitchen staff had teased her? Questions began to fill Rangi’s mind once again.

“Yeah Rangi,” Yun laughed. “This is Kyoshi we’re talking about, how dare you question her skill of working fast and efficiently?”

Rangi turned on her heel to face the Avatar, glaring at him. He was throwing her under the bus in front of Kyoshi! Again! “D-don’t put words in my mouth! I simply thought due to the volume that came in, and the fact you are skipping training to be a distraction, she may not have gotten as far as she did.”

“Well, I left the kitchen as soon as possible and got to work, just like you wanted,” Kyoshi mumbled. 

Rangi looked back, and Kyoshi had a slight glower on her face. She could feel her palms getting sweaty. Had Rangi upset her? Had she been upset before Rangi arrived? More millions of questions flew through her mind. Too many, she didn’t know which ones to ask first.

Kyoshi looked back at them, eyes widened a little, and then scratched her nose in embarrassment. “Did I say something wrong?”

Rangi stared at Kyoshi, trying to read her but found it too difficult. She looked down at her feet in defeat.  “No… it’s just….” Do you like me? Do you hate me? Do I upset you? So many questions.

“I think Kyoshi’s just a little nervous,” Yun announced.

Was it because of the song? How did he know about it? Did gossip already spread? Wait, if he knows about it then-

“I just asked her to join the Fifth Nation signing and she agreed to go,” he continued calmly.

Rangi’s train of thought came to a crashing halt when she heard him finish his sentence. Kyoshi was…..coming with them? To the daofei meeting. Sweet, innocent, never seen combat before, Kyoshi. She was going to go to a possible battleground. A war. A maid who has never held a weapon in her life, and might have to fight to the death. Her Kyoshi.

Rangi turned on Yun, glaring at him with the heat of a thousand suns. “Wh-what?! What do you mean she’s going?!”

“I was going to tell you,” Yun smiled, putting his hands up in surrender. 

Rangi spluttered and looked between Yun and Kyoshi. Why wasn’t Kyoshi saying anything? Did he pressure her into it? Was she stupid?! Did she not realize how dangerous this was? 

“Have you lost your mind? The both of you? She’s not going!” Rangi couldn’t believe she had to say those words aloud.

“Are you going against your Avatar’s wishes?” Yun grinned at her, his tone was joking. He didn’t mean it. But it hit Rangi like she’d been run over by a komodo rhino. Because that’s exactly what she was doing. She was disobeying the Avatar, to keep the girl she was in love with from harm. “Calm down, it’ll be good to have her there.”

“Good for who?” Rangi groused. He was being selfish again, thinking only of himself and not Kyoshi’s well being. No she couldn’t assume that! He was the Avatar. The Avatar was always well meaning. Maybe he just….didn’t realize the risk? Yes, that’s what it was. She just needed to talk some sense into him!

She pressed a fist to her forehead and sighed. Then she glared at Yun and grabbed his sleeve. “We’re talking about this later. Right now, I’m taking you back to your training!”

She started to pull her charge towards the door.

“Gah! Rangi! Wait!” Yun bemoaned. 

Rangi practically threw the Avatar through the doorway in front of her, and then stopped with her hand on the doorframe. She looked back at Kyoshi. Kyoshi sat there with the same calm and beautiful, silent strength she knew the girl possessed. She didn’t want to see it destroyed by some daofei. She wanted her protected. She hated the idea of some dumb bullies harming the girl, but if that pirate laid a hand on her-!

Rangi gripped the doorframe slightly. She looked around the room, trying to find something for Kyoshi to do. “And you-! Clean-no. Just. Gah. Do whatever you were doing!”

Apparently she couldn’t find anything. So she just slammed the door behind her.

____________

Rangi was greeted by Kyoshi with a scream to the face. 

“I’m sorry,” Kyoshi gasped, looking sincerely apologetic. “You surprised me!”

Rangi began walking, indicating for Kyoshi to follow her. She would escort her to the next destination.

Rangi didn’t mind Kyoshi screaming like that, partially because it wasn’t the first time this had happened. In all honesty, Rangi brought it on herself, sometimes she was too stealthy……or Kyoshi was too absentminded. Another reason why she shouldn’t come.

Rangi seethed inside her head. Yun wasn’t listening to reason. He had it in his head that Kyoshi needed to come along. To remind him of the little people he was doing it all for. 

What a load of bull cow crap! He should be able to see that with the servants that work here every day! Or the villagers he sees when he sneaks a peak over the wall! He didn’t need to drag Kyoshi into it!

Kyoshi had already suffered enough growing up. At least, from what Aunti Mui had let slip to her about Kyoshi’s life before the mansion. Kyoshi didn’t need to be put into peril again, and she most certainly didn’t need to suffer an agonizing death at the hands of some daofei!

She just wanted Kyoshi to live a long and healthy life. But she couldn’t do that if she was dead!

Rangi looked up and realized they were somewhere in the garden. She didn’t notice how she got there, when they got there, nor cared. 

An idea passed through her head. If she couldn’t convince Yun, maybe she could convince Kyoshi.

“Kyoshi,” Rangi started, breaking the silence. She saw Kyoshi flinch out of the corner of her eye.

“Y-yes?” 

“You aren’t going,” Rangi said. Rangi tried to say it with a finality. Try to push Kyoshi into the same mindset as her. Whatever it would take to keep her safe.

Kyoshi sighed. “I don’t think I have a choice, Rangi. It’s a special request from the Avatar.”

Rangi stopped walking and turned to glare at Kyoshi. “Of course you have a choice! You just have to tell him you don’t want to! Just tell him ‘no,’ Kyoshi!”

Please, just for once. Don’t think of him. Don’t give in to him. Just tell him ‘no.’ Rangi sobbed internally. Lately, she couldn’t stop the thoughts she’d usually fought to ignore from bubbling to the surface. 

Kyoshi raised an eyebrow and gave her a joking smile. “And disobey the Avatar?”

Rangi stiffened. Yes. That’s exactly what she wanted. Every time she brought it up, it was another hit to her honor. Disobeying her honorbound duty. Each time she tried to find an excuse, to cover up her own horrid act and shame. “It’s not ‘disobeying’ if he gave you an option in the first place, right?”

“I don’t mind though,” Kyoshi said, smiling at Rangi. The same smile and expression she would make whenever she’d come home with dirty clothes and poorly covered bruises. When the other village teens had roughed her up or thrown mud and rocks at her. Rangi knew Kyoshi was lying, and it was making her sick to her stomach.

Kyoshi got closer to Rangi and whispered. “Plus he practically begged me. How could I say no?”

Rangi’s eyes widened. Is that it? Is that all? All Yun had to do was beg Kyoshi and he had her? A simple plea and she’d willingly give herself over?

Nausea started to take over and Rangi started feeling dizzy. It wasn’t fair. People took advantage of Kyoshi’s kind nature so often. And now she was marching herself to an executioner's block to unknowingly stroke Yun’s ego.

Rangi couldn’t have that. If she must, she’d stoop as low as those worms!

She saw Kyoshi had started walking and grabbed the girl by the arm, pulling her back.

“Then what about me, huh?” Rangi got in Kyoshi’s face. Her space. Trying to take up as much residency in Kyoshi’s being as possible. She only wanted the other girl to see her, only her, no one else. “What if I begged? What if I begged you not to come along? What would you do then?”

Would you afford me the same treatment as Yun? Would you give yourself to me too? Do I want you to? 

Rangi shook Kyoshi’s arm once and let her stoic mask crumple. She wanted Kyoshi to know how she truly felt. She wanted Kyoshi to realize someone cared about her. Wanted her to be safe. Not to run into danger because of some misguided duty. 

Rangi shook her arm again. “Please. Kyoshi, please don’t come with us,” she begged again. She’d beg as many times as it would take. 

Rangi watched as Kyoshi bit her lip and held the package she was holding tighter to her being. Recoiling from Rangi. 

She watched as Kyoshi went to form the words “I’m sorry” from her lips, before they got caught by the heat Rangi had started to form around them.

Rangi realized she couldn’t make Kyoshi do anything. Even Yun couldn’t make her do anything. Kyoshi was doing this because she chose to. Just like how she’d actively choose to not defend herself against her own bullies. 

Rangi was a fool, an idiot, to not see it before. Kyoshi had chosen and was doing what she wanted to do. In doing so, Rangi realized Kyoshi had also chosen Yun over her.

Rangi grimaced and released Kyoshi. “Forget it,” she said in defeat, as she walked away. If she couldn’t stop Kyoshi from going with them, then she’d need to find a way to protect her.

_____

A/N:Me: Rangi’s side is more serious! You need to treat it more seriously!Also me: Ok she’s kind of a loser, gotcha. TT0TT

 I love high blood pressure!Rangi, I love gremlin!Rangi. But lovesick!Rangi? Hmmm yes! *throws all three in a blender to mix them up* uwu