#so yue!lives yue? very cool

[l33n1s]

No but Shen Twins AU where Shen Yuan is technically a member of Cang Qiong Mt sect but he's almost never there cause he's too busy traveling and studying/documenting all of the cool plants and animals.

But when he Does spend time at the sect it's Qing Jing Peak's emotional equivalent to Christmas, cause Shen Jiu is actually in a good mood (as good as his moods get at least) and Shen Yuan has picked up a habit of bringing sweets for the disciples. He just shows up and suddenly the bamboo house doesn't seem so empty, Shen Jiu actually seems comfortable for once, and the whole peak's atmosphere seems to shift.

And, it's always a very jaring experience for new disciples the first time they meet Shen Yuan. Cause there's this guy who looks exactly like their teacher but is so much less severe. His posture is a little more relaxed, he Actually smiles at them every once in a while, he doesn't get annoyed when they ask about his adventures and is instead very willing to share his stories (if he dresses them up a little who's to blame him). For many of them it stuns them to see Anyone be so casual with their teacher and be left alive after; to see him argue with someone in a way that is actually harmless rather than scathing.

It doesn't help though that noone actually knows When Shen Yuan will ever show up or how long he'll actually stay. It definitely varies, sometimes he'll just be passing through the area on his way to some other cool place, sometimes he stays for a few months in order to teach a couple classes on useful plants and dangerous animals.

Often during his visits, he visits the other peaks too. He talks with Mu Qingfang about about medicinal plants while he's treated for any injuries he has (it's not his fault he's accident prone, and if he fell of that cliff while trying to follow a very cool bird-thing no one needs to know). He has tea with Yue Qingyuan (who met him for the first time and said "our younger brother"); Shen Jiu is decidedly not happy about this but "oh well he'll live"

[wileycap]

So, uh, Netflix Avatar, huh? Yeah. I guess I'll make a really long post about it because ATLA brainrot has is a cornerstone of my personality at this point.

So.

It's okay. B, maybe a C+.

That's it.

Now for the spoilers:

The biggest issue with the Netflix version is the pacing. Scenes come out of nowhere and many of the episodes are disjointed. Example: Aang escaping from Zuko's ship. We see him getting the key and going "aha!", and in the next scene he's in Zuko's room. And then he just runs out, no fun acrobatics or fights, and immediately they go to the Southern Air Temple where he sees Gyatso's corpse, goes into the Avatar state, and then sees Gyatso being really cheesy, comes out of it, and resolves that conflict. Nothing seems to lead into anything. The characters don't get to breathe.

The show's worst mistake (aside from Iroh fucking murdering Zhao) is its' first one: they start in the past. Instead of immediately introducing us to our main characters and dropping us into a world where we have a perfect dynamic where Aang doesn't know the current state of the world and Katara and Sokka don't know about the past, thus allowing for seamless and organic worldbuilding and exposition, they just... tell us. "Hey, this is what happened, ok, time for Aang!" There's no mystery, no intrigue, just a stream of information being shoved down the audience's throats and then onto the next set piece.

The visuals are for the most part great, but like with most Netflix productions, they just don't have great art direction. It feels like a video game cinematic, where everything is meant to be Maximum Cool - and none of the environments get to breathe. It's like they have tight indoor sets (with some great set design) and then they have a bunch of trailer shots. It's oozing with a kind of very superficial love.

Netflix still doesn't know how to do lighting, and with how disjointed the scenes are, the locations end up feeling like a parade of sets rather than actual cities or forests or temples. As for the costumes, Netflix still doesn't know how to do costumes that look like they're meant to be actually worn, so many of the characters seem weirdly uncomfortable, like they're afraid of creasing their pristine costumes.

The acting is decent to good, for the most part. I can't tell if the weaker moments come down to the actors or the direction and editing, but if I had to guess, I'd say the latter. Iroh and Katara are the weakest, Sokka is the most consistent, Zuko hits the mark most of the time, and Aang is okay. I liked Suki (though... she was weirdly horny? Like?) but Yue just fell kind of flat.

The tight fight choreography of the original is replaced with a bunch of spinny moves and Marvel fighting, though there are some moments of good choreography, like the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko (there's a million things I could say about how bad it was thematically, but this post is overly long already.) There's an actually hilarious moment in the first episode when Zuko is shooting down Aang, and he does jazz hands to charge up his attack.

Then there's the characters. Everybody feels very static - Zuko especially gets to have very little agency. A great example of that is the scene in which Iroh tells Lieutenant Jee the story of Zuko's scar.

In the original, it's a very intimate affair, and he doesn't lead the crew into any conclusions. Here, Iroh straight up tells the crew "you are the 41st, he saved your lives" and then the crew shows Zuko some love. A nice moment, but it feels unearned, when contrasted with the perfection of The Storm. In The Storm, Zuko's words and actions directly contradict each other, and Iroh's story gives the crew (and the audience) context as to why, which makes Zuko a compelling character. We get to piece it out along with them. Here - Iroh just flat out says it. He just says it, multiple times, to hammer in the point that hey, Zuko is Good Actually.

And then there's Iroh. You remember the kindly but powerful man who you can see gently nudging Zuko to his own conclusions? No, he's a pretty insecure dude who just tells Zuko that his daddy doesn't love him a lot and then he kills Zhao. Yeah. Iroh just plain kills Zhao dead. Why?

Iroh's characterization also makes Zuko come off as dumb - not just clueless and deluded, no, actually stupid. He constantly gets told that Iroh loves him and his dad doesn't, and he doesn't have any good answers for that, so he just... keeps on keeping on, I guess? This version of Zuko isn't conflicted and willfully ignorant like the OG, he's just... kind of stupid. He's not very compelling.

In the original, Zuko is well aware of Azula's status as the golden child. It motivates him - he twists it around to mean that he, through constant struggle, can become even stronger than her, than anyone. Here, Zhao tells him that "no, ur dad likes her better tee hee" and it's presented as some kind of a revelation. And then Iroh kills Zhao. I'm sorry I keep bringing that up, but it's just such an unforgiveable thematic fuckup that I have to. In the original, Zhao falls victim to his hubris, and Zuko gets to demonstrate his underlying compassion and nobility when he offers his hand to Zhao. Then we get some ambiguity in Zhao: does he refuse Zuko's hand because of his pride, or is it his final honorable action to not drag Zuko down with him? A mix of both? It's a great ending to his character. Here, he tries to backstab Zuko and then Iroh, who just sort of stood off to the side for five minutes, goes "oh well, it's murderin' time :)"

They mess with the worldbuilding in ways that didn't really need to be messed with. The Ice Moon "brings the spirit world and the mortal world closer together"? Give me a break. That's something you made up, as opposed to the millenia of cultural relevance that the Solstice has. That's bad, guys. You replaced something real with something you just hastily made up. There's a lot of that. We DID NOT need any backstory for Koh, for one. And Katara and Sokka certainly didn't need to be captured by Koh. I could go on and on, but again, this post is already way too long.

It's, um, very disappointing. A lot of telling and not very much showing, and I feel like all of the characters just... sort of end up in the same place they started out in. I feel like we don't see any of the characters grow: they're just told over and over again how they need to grow and what they need to do.

To sum it up: Netflix Avatar is a mile wide, but an inch deep.

[tcfactory]

Okay, we all know that Shang Qinghua (Airplane) can't fight well, but consider:

A year before the scheduled demon invasion Sha Hualing was sneaking around the northern demons' castle during a diplomatic whatever and stole something from Mobei-jun's room that she would eventually use to get into Cang Qiong Mountain Sect. An emergency token that can let Mobei through the wards if his teleportation fails or something, it's a nonsense bauble Shang Qinghua literally put there for Sha Hualing to steal.

But Mobei-jun is both pissed at Sha Hualing now and justifiably worried that his spy would die if the Sha clan attacks the sect. So he gets the wonderful idea to whip Shang Qinghua into shape until he can hold his own!

And Shang Qinghua can't say that he knows when the demon invasion is going to be and he plans to be elsewhere, so Airplane bro gets to experience the worst training montage ever. It works, for what it's worth. It was never his lack of potential holding Shang Qinghua back, it was his different priorities.

He also uses his new focus on his cultivation to get permission to cultivate in Lingxi caves just before the invasion, so he can step in and save Liu Qingge's life (may or may not be necessary, depending if it's Shen Jiu or Shen Yuan, it works for both).

Then the day of the invasion rolls around and Shang Qinghua still planned on sneaking away, but Mobei-jun got it in his head that he wants to see the results of all that training, so Shang Qinghua is not sitting it out, no matter how much he wants to. Luo Binghe won't even get to fight, the third match is Shang Qinghua against Elder Sky Hammer and it's woefully one-sided. Shang Qinghua is feeling a little good about himself even! So not worth all the suffering he was put through to get to this point, but being strong kinda rocks.

But then Sky Hammer tries to take him down with him anyway and Mobei-jun steps in, all tall, dark and looming and uses his ice to cordon off the demon invaders. "You have stolen something that's mine, little brat."

He ends up chasing Sha Hualing's gang off in a deadly hail of black ice before Liu Qingge can even get on the scene and Shang Qinghua is fine. He's fine, he's unharmed and he's internally screaming because that was too close and his king is so cool, but also wtf Mobei-jun why are you out in the open?!?!!

He can. Somehow make it work? It really does help smooth things over that Mobei-jun just potentially saved a lot of lives. Makes it easier to convince people that Mobei-jun is Shang Qinghua's friend and he can be a really good ally, like, do you want this power on your side or as an enemy? Mobei-jun plays along because he realizes that this will give him free access to the Sect and an easier time to coordinate with Shang Qinghua. And hey, maybe he gets to spar with Liu Qingge and Yue Qingyuan every now and then, that's a really nice bonus actually!

Which is to say, Mobei-jun becomes a regular fixture at the sect and spends enough time there that someone will notice his very awkward crush on Shang Qinghua and sets him straight about human courtship customs. At which point it all transitions into a wacky romcom where half of An Ding is trying to discourage him and the other half is actively supplying him with questionable dating advice, all the while the rest of the sect is taking bets about how long until either they get together, or the whole thing crashes and burns. It's a fun time either way.

[ittsybittsybunny]

ATLA Live Action Series Review:

The Good

Aesthetically this show felt right. Sure sometimes the outfits didn't quite feel lived in, but I always felt like I was watching a fantasy world with decent effects and interesting design. Also, I really enjoyed the sets!

Bending: Yes some of the fights feel very quick, but the bending looks cool. It is certainly better than 10 benders lifting one big rock. I can honestly say the opening bending fight scene gave me so much hope for this show.

Kyoshi Warriors: I loved seeing them in live action, and I thought Suki's performance was great!

Omashu: I think the mashup of the mechanist made sense since that is an important character overall and I would hate to see him cut. However, both Jet & the secret tunnels felt sloppily thrown in.

Northern Water Tribe: I really loved the way it looked, and appreciated the two episodes we spent here. I think Yue gained more agency in this interpretation, and why shouldn't the moon spirit be a waterbender. Also, episode seven felt the most in tune with the original show's spirit.

Zuko: I think he was one of the most fleshed-out and best parts of the show! Dallas Liu really captured Zuko's spirit, and the scene between him and Aang in episode 6 was wonderful!

Soundtrack: Hearing the original soundtrack bits is always great, and when I first heard the ending music I was so excited.

Is the show perfect, no - but I wouldn't mind a season 2.

The Bad

Pacing: Turning 20 episodes into 8 was bound to lead to some cuts...but oftentimes times things felt too quick or disjointed. I think there were editing problems contributing to this for sure, but sometimes things skipped around too much without a clear purpose as to why. Also, why bring in plots from later seasons when you barely have enough time already?

Writing: This show definitely suffered from exposition dumping, though it did get better as time went on. I think the biggest example of this is actually opening in the past rather than the present. We do not get to learn along with Aang that the world has changed, instead, we get to learn that 100 years have passed....which doesn't hold the same tension or worldbuilding.

Clunky Dialogue: Along with exposition, clunky dialogue is another example of bad writing. I think sometimes I felt like the acting was kind of meh in the beginning, but then over time I began to realize it had far more to do with the lines characters were trying to deliver. The actors themselves are not bad, just cursed with awkward writing and lines that feel out of touch with the setting they're in.

Main Trio: I don't entirely know that I believe Katara, Sokka, and Aang are friends as opposed to 3 people stuck together to save the world. Aang feels a little too somber for a young kid running away from his responsibilities, Sokka is protective, but not exactly the heart of the team, and Katara is sort of just there until the last two episodes. Where is her struggle, her desire to learn so strong she steals from pirates? Also, while Gordon Cormier did a great job, Aang does zero waterbending on his own, is overly serious, and tells Katara not to fight. Where is his desperation to protect his friends? It feels like they all lost emotional depth.

Tension: Bringing Ozai, Azula, and Zhao out in the beginning immediately causes us to lose the realization there is an even bigger bad. Part of why Ozai is so terrifying is he is a primarily silent villain until the third season when we finally see the face of the "big bad evil guy" behind it all. Yes, they add to Zuko's backstory, but again, they are revealing the villains too early. Azula is the antagonist of season 2 and one of my favorite characters, so I hope they do more with her in the future. Finally, Zhao is supposed to be an example of the uncontrollable nature of fire unrestrained, instead, he comes off as vaguely threatening with the supposed true power being Azula.

Characterization: While all characters are bound to lose something in a shorter show, it still felt like certain characters were more mutilated than others. I am sure there are 100 different opinions on who, but I think the biggest victim was Katara.

Katara: Katara manages to go from a complete novice to a bending master in what feels like a matter of days. The journey feels short, and that makes the results feel largely unearned. Katara is one of the strongest personalities in the show, determined, kind, and fiery. In many ways, she is the unpredictability of water - equally dangerous as it is necessary to live. She is the child of a war who lost her mother, forced to grow up too soon, and even raised her older brother. Yes, Katara often gets stereotyped as the mom friend, but overall she feels underutilized in this show. We really don't see enough of her journey until the very end.

Iroh: Iroh was always comedic but most importantly wise. Even when Zuko is trying to give himself advice, he mimics Iroh. Instead, he seems to be used more as comedic relief without the underlying experience. He just doesn't feel right. Also, he kills Zhao instead of Zhao getting himself killed - which is less about Iroh and more about the writing than anything.

Ozai is weirdly a little too nice. Yes, he burned Zuko and pits his kids against each other, but he feels toned down in a show claiming to be more mature than the original cartoon.

Azula is perhaps more realistically worried about losing her status as the golden child, but she is also missing the cruelty she and her father share. I understand worrying about making your character cartoonishly evil, but the Fire Nation is currently a deeply nationalistic empire trying to control the world. Where is the deep-seated belief that they are better than other people, not just trying to bring balance to the world? There is a line between creating complexity and toning down the very real evil inherent in this plan.

Roku: I can only say what the fuck was that. He was barely there, and not the serious master to Aang's youthful exuberance.

The Ugly

Show, Don't Tell: The show's single biggest issue seems to be speeding through story parts by simply stating things. Instead of allowing the audience to discover, trusting that we are smart enough to understand, let's just blatantly say things like Zuko is the only reason the 41st division is alive to their faces. Even though in the context of the story Ozai literally already said that.... it's the division, the division for Zuko, Zuko's division.

Thematic Misunderstandings: I think this show makes several minor changes with major implications, such as airbenders actively fighting the firebenders, when airbenders are known for their pacifist nature and the lie of an Airbender fighting force is actively propaganda. Similarly, Aang very quickly accepts his role as the avatar and doesn't even run away in the beginning. Without this conflict between his desire to be a carefree child and the fact that the world needs him - the show loses a key aspect of Aang's character. Also, the obsession with downplaying the avatar state as something dangerous feels like a disservice to the tradition, connection, and strength of the avatar, which can be permanently destroyed as the trade-off for that kind of power. It's dangerous for the balance of the entire world, not just because it's powerful!

The Agni Kai: Zuko's fight against his father is one of the defining moments of Ozai's cruelty, not just because he is willing to fight his child, but because Zuko tried to do everything right. Zuko shows deference to his father, apologizes, and most importantly refuses to fight! The determination not to upset his father and still be grievously injured and banished is a hugely important theme for the fire nation and Zuko's life as a whole. He tries to do everything he is supposed to and only regains his father's acceptance after he "kills" Aang. Zuko's struggle between moral vs. social right and wrong in contrast to his family is hugely important to his character.

-----

TLDR: ATLA was a fantastical animated television show that was never afraid to show character development and flaws. When you turn 20 episodes into 8, you are bound to lose something. You hollowed out the middle, leaving the shell of important moments and events without ever wondering if all the times in between formed the true spirit of the show.

Rating: 6.5/10 It's perfectly fine and worth a watch. Not a disaster, but certainly falls flat of the original.

[doyouevenshipbr0]

examples of atla live action’s attempts to be more feminist and how they actually had the opposite effect and/or hurt the integrity of the show

already talked about katara and pakku. does not make sense that she did not have a master. point blank. just because something sounds empowering (ie katara saying “yes. and ur looking at her.” after zuko asked if she found a master) doesn’t mean it automatically is. there still needs to be logic and katara “being her own master” defies logic imo im sorry!

katara in general. she has no ferocity here which to be very honest i dont think is fully the writers’ fault. some of the blame goes on them but the actress for katara just delivered alllllll of her lines w the same exact mild tone. katara is overly motherly. she is bossy. she is passionate. she is nurturing. she is emotional. THERE IS POWER IN THESE THINGS!!!!! why would we take away her spark?!?!?!

i loved live action suki. however, i LOVE the line in the original when her and sokka part ways and sokka says “i treated u like a girl when i should’ve treated u like a warrior.” and suki says “i am a warrior” *kisses sokka on the cheek* “but im a girl too.” THAT LINE WAS SO PERFECT like lemme say it again there is POWER IN FEMININITY! there is no shame in that!!!!! why does this show wanna take that away so badly. at one point live action suki says something like “im not just a warrior, im a kiyoshi warrior” and before she parts ways w sokka she thanks him for showing her some of the world or something like that. which was fine but i just love the simplicity of the original. a girl can be a warrior and have a crush. why do we have to change that?

this is a small one and it doesnt REALLY matter, but i cant help but think they changed this to be more “feminist” which is just dumb. yue isnt betrothed? well she was but she broke it off? and hahn (her ex) isnt a huge dick? i mean it wasn’t the worst thing and i didnt really mind it but i was just kinda like ?????. feel like yue being betrothed tied into her sense of responsibility and foreshadowed the sacrifices she will make for her people. so. feels rly weird that they changed it. i think it was to show more women agency which is always cool. but in the original, yue finally gets her agency by becoming the moon spirit. that should be the end of her character arc. idk. a weird change that seemed unnecessary.

sokka not being sexist. honestly i think the live action did a good job at omitting this while not REALLY making it feel like something was missing. with that being said, something was still missing lol. once again, its apart of sokka’s character. i feel like everyone has already expressed their hate for this so ill just leave it at that.

i am a TAD indifferent on the women of the northern tribe joining the forces during the fight. on one hand i cant lie i smiled bc obviously i love water bending and i love women so there was definitely apart of me that was happy to see that moment. however. it was kind of giving like in endgame when theres that random shot of all the women superheroes in one frame so the movie could have a “slay queen. we are girlbosses:)” moment. like it just felt a little empty and it wasnt the feminist battlecry they thought it was. these women have been healing their whole lives. why would they be any good on the frontlines of a fight? they never learned combat skills! HOWEVER, when we see them, its mainly just them reinforcing the walls so like. that makes enough sense. im cool w that.

i know im dwelling but as we know i hold atla in the highest regards. it does a lot of things perfectly imo. and one of the things i think it does PERFECTLY is its treatment of female characters. literally the only thing i can think of that i dont like is when team azula beats the kiyoshi warriors and ty lee says something like “u are NOT prettier than us” NDBSKSJDJ like ok that was weird. but anyways. it irritates me how the live action kind of seems to have this pov that says “the original was good, but there were some ideas and plots that were outdated so we changed them to keep with the times” like they’re fixing something that was broken if that makes sense. when in actuality, i think atla’s representation of women is perfect and timeless. it was relevant and powerful in 2005, and it is equally as relevant and powerful in 2024. there was nothing about its feminist themes that needed to be “fixed” or “updated”.

[evilcarmona]

Fem!Sokka AU

So, I thought a little about this AU.

(For starters, I don't speak english, so, well.. ehe)

To begin with, she is at least 19-20 years old. I would like to make her older, because I like to draw beautiful adult women, but then the plot will not work. The age of all older ATLA teenagers has been raised. The age of the younger ones does not change.

The story is the same. Initially, Sokka is a man. He probably remained the only boy in the tribe for longer. This may affect Katara, as he has been her parent figure for longer than in the canon. In general, I believe in Sokka's parental vibes.

He's also a little more mature. Responsible, strong. But still a sexist. Father said that he was the only warrior of the tribe. Then he left them and went away with other men for many years. It couldn't end well. On the other hand, living among women affects Sokka more than he thinks.

So, about after Kiyoshi Island, gaang stops at the shrine of a female warrior. This is not Kyoshi, because I don't want Aang to feel that he is indirectly to blame for the situation. In general, Sokka offends the spirit with some kind of sexist comment. The Spirit takes revenge and curses him. Sokka falls into a magic pond. Poof! He's a woman. Aang has talked to the spirit, and the spirit is ready to cast spells on the water in the pond again. But she won't do it for two years. Lol

So, Sokka can only put up with it. Saving the world is more important than a little curse. Somewhere in the background, Zuko is trying to figure out where gaang took this beautiful woman and where they put that beautiful man. Really, where did he go? (Uncle Iroh is very funny)

The fact is that during the journey, Sokka realizes that he actually feels good. He likes it. In addition, he likes to be beautiful and do hairstyles.

Besides, becoming a woman, he feels the injustice of the situation at the north Pole more acutely. Sokka understands that putting someone in a frame because of gender is unfair. He and Yue become friends. Sokka kicks Khann's ass. And he also kills Zhao before the disaster with the Moon happens. Yue deserves to live.

In the future, Sokka thinks a lot. He supports his sister and Toph more than anyone. In fact, he used to have his father's vibes. Now it's the mother's vibes. Vibes of the coolest mom in the world. She can cut off the offenders' heads with a halberd. Literally.

In fact, I have nothing to justify the halberd with. I love halberds as much as I love women in sexy dresses. A lady may have small hobbies)

Okay, maybe Sokka decided to explore more weapons. She loves her boomerang, but does not refuse to develop like a warrior. Halberd is clearly defeating bending, haha. Maybe Sokka will be given some cool nickname on the battlefield. The Moon Witch? Heh

(Somewhere far away, Hakoda and the South Pole fleet are wondering what kind of Moon Witch is this? They will be surprised)

Perhaps before they meet after Ba Sing Se, Hakoda meets someone who has met the gaang before. Someone: You have two wonderful daughters! Hakoda: What?

So Zuko comes to gaang and asks where the boy has gone. The explanation was awkward because Zuko barely had time to accept that he was bi. What does it mean that the two people who make his heart beat faster are one person?

I forgot to tell you! Just because Sokka was bewitched by a spirit doesn't mean that Sokka trusts Aunt Wu! It's a matter of pride, lol

So two years go by, and you know what? Sokka does not ask the spirit to lift the curse. He's fine as it is.

[hetaliahyperfix]

Hetalia Headcanons: Why Human Names Exist

Now, a popular theory of why nations have human names is that the nations use them when interacting with humans. My personal headcanon is the opposite: it is for each other.

One of the things I found while researching history is that nations often go through many different name changes. Just look at China. He went from Xia to Shang to Zhou to Qin to Han... ect. Imagine how hard that would be to keep track of?

India: "Hello, Qin. It is good to see you again!"

China: "Oh, I'm not Qin anymore, I'm Han."

India: "Wait, you've changed your name again?! How many civil wars are you going to have?"

This isn't even getting into the fact that different languages call countries different things. For example, the citizens of China do not call their nation "China," they call it "Zhōngguó." The name "China" is the English version of the native name Zhōngguó. As you can see, even if a nation's name remains the same, it can be totally different depending on the languages

So, I personally headcanon that human names are something nations can call each other that will always remain consistent, even through language barriers and even if the name of their nation changes.

China will always be Wang Yao (or Wong Yue), even when his nation is called Song or Zhou or Qin. If nations are talking to each other, and one doesn't know who "Zhōngguó" is, the other can just say, "I'm talking about Wang Yao. Zhōngguó is the new name he is going by now."

These human names are universal and, for the most part, don't go through nearly as dramatic of changes as their nation names when it comes to language variation. For example, for English speakers, the People's Republic is "China." To Chinese speakers, it is "Zhōngguó." Meanwhile, "Wang Yao" remains "Wang Yao" across the languages, it just varies in pronunciation between English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that nations having human names is both a simplicity thing and a matter of convenience. A singular name that will never, or barely, change no matter how much time passes is very useful for immortals whose other names are constantly changing.

Of course, besides simplicities sake, I think there could be other reasons too.

For example, I think it could also be an exercise in autonomy. They can't control what their nation is called, but they sure can pick their human name.

They do this to pick human names that they think reflect who they believe they are, or perhaps because they simply think a name sounds cool and they want to be called it. Regardless, they get a choice in this name while they get no say in their nation one. This isn't to say they hate their nation names, most love them! But there is just something different about a name you chose for yourself.

You can see with China, for example, that his human name is actually very reflective of him. The first character in his name "王/Wang" meaning "king," and the three lines in it represent heaven, earth, and people, which represents the king's rule over China. The last character "耀/Yao" means "shining" or "glory," which feels like the type of name China would call himself. He wants to let everyone know he is heaven's gift to the world, lol.

Another reason they might have human names is that it makes them feel more... human.

They have a sort of twisted existence. They exist because of humans and their continued existence is entirely tied to humans, but they also can never really be connected to humans. It is canon that, if a nation spends too long with a human, their immortality will rub off on the human and drive them insane as the human mind can't comprehend immortality. This isn't even mentioning how short human lives are compared to them. See: Davie.

So, nations live in this limbo of existing because of their connection to humans but also never being able to truly connect with the very humans that make up their existence. Because of this, their use of a human name makes them feel artificially closer to humans, even when they know they aren't.

Now, do I think they would use human names all the time? Do I think it would be rare? How much would they use their human names compared to their nation ones?

This sounds like a cop-out, but I think it totally depends.

I believe it would totally depend on the culture and also the relationship between the two nations. In general though, I think that the closer nations are together, the more likely they are to use human names. Or, if the nation doesn't stress over the use of names as a sign of respect and are quite laid back, they might also be fine with anyone using their human name.

Also, culture plays a part. Americans, for example, are much more laid back about names than compared to East Asia. Ergo, I think America would be totally cool with people using his human name. Heck, he might even insist as proof he and that person are "buddies."

On the other hand, some nations might absolutely expect to be referred to as their nation name only. Yeah, they have a human name, but that is reserved only for the people most precious to them. If they are a conqueror, then they expect the conquered to refer to them with a nation name. They are a nation, dammit! Not some measly human, so don't use the measly human name. Use their great nation name, instead! They didn't become the greatest empire in history to not be referred to with the name of this great nation!

I know I have been using China as an example of why it is good to have human names, but I personally headcanon he was actually a pretty big stickler of making others refer to him as his nation name only, especially his vassal states. Yeah, knowing what to call him got confusing, so what? He is worth the effort.

(Though, I do think he relaxed on it as he got older, especially after the communist revolution.)

On the other hand, nations he saw as equals and/or was close to, he would allow them to use his human name. Like Ancient Rome, Russia, and India, for example.

One last thing I want to add is that I think the biggest reason nations all have human names is just plain, ol' peer pressure.

It sounds a bit silly but, I think when a bunch of nations started using human names, other nations saw this and thought, "Crap, everyone is getting a human name! Do I need one too? Will I fall behind if I don't adapt to this new trend?!"

Eventually, it got to the point where all nations had human names and all the nations that came after them just saw the universal usage of human names and assumed that they had to pick one, that it was just part of being a nation. Now, by modern times, very few nations even know there was a point where human names weren't universal. Having human names even got to the point where nations were bestowing these names on younger nations the way a human parent would name their child (like my headcanon of England giving America his name "Alfred" after Alfred the Great).

Honestly, this is a really long headcanon for something that probably isn't anything more than an easter egg in canon. But, tldr: human names make it easier for nations to speak with each other when their nation names are always changing.

Anyways, here's a fabulous China gif since I talked about him so much. Thanks for reading!

[centuryberry]

Flourish AU

Me, looking back at the Replanted AU after posting the recent Unpaid Babysitting update: Yishan needed better parents. Also, I wish I could incorporate Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU without more dimension shenanigans.

Me:

Me: Wait -

And so, this AU came to be. Say hello to Iceflower's Son!Yishan, everyone. He's here to bring Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU, grow up better than he could've been, create a myth or two, and - most importantly - father Yue, Louhou, and Jidu so all four Celestial Primates can have grandbabies to spoil.

Background: The Land of Eternal Snow still doesn't exist in the Sundown Era AU. Shanzha and RinRin are also nowhere in China during the Rebellion against Heaven. Why? Because they're in Goryeo (Korea) and Nippon (Japan), respectively, making a name for themselves. After inheriting the powers of the Celestial Primates and shaking up their respective pantheons, they headed over to China to retire together since one of their own ascended as Jade Emperor.

In one another life, Yishan was the firstborn son of a prestigious clan who grew up viewing almost everyone as his enemy. In this one, he was the son of legends posing as common herbalists living in the mountains.

What does a more well adjusted and untraumatized child Yishan look like? Well, he has more friends growing up. And when I mean friends, I mean animals. He likes animals more than people. He also has a habit of bringing home wounded animals for Shanzha to treat. (He begs to keep them every time but his moms keep telling him no.) He’s also incurably blunt and judgy - even to his mothers.

Shanzha makes sure to train her son in healing and martial arts while RinRin teaches him how to socialize and act. These are very necessary lessons since Yishan tends to piss off a lot of people just by being himself.

(Despite being raised by Shanzha and RinRin, there are some things about Yishan that stays the same lmao.)

Yishan ends up being a nerd over medicine and poisons. As for his social skills, he technically knows what to do in theory but doesn’t bother to extend the effort towards those he considers stupid.

As a late teen, Yishan became a traveling doctor so he could leave the nest and explore the world.

While Yishan heals people and battles against stupidity (and make more animal friends), he gains a reputation for being an amazing healer with the worst bedside manner. He also beat up a couple of powerful yaoguai because either 1) they were in the way of a key ingredient of a medical breakthrough or 2) he pissed them off first.

During his travels, Yishan meets and makes his first non-animal friend: a soldier named Mensheng. He turns down the offer to serve the soldier’s Ivory Lady and continues his journey.

Eventually, Yishan is kidnapped invited to the Celestial Realm by some very pushy attendants (one of whom he gives a nasty black eye) so he could become Laozi’s new apprentice.

Despite Yishan kicking and screaming through the entire process, he ends up being Laozi’s favorite. The man wouldn’t let him go.

Yishan frequently conspires with Laozi’s Bull to break out. They fail every time. The only reason why Yishan wasn’t as successful in leaving was because of the cool shiny new medicinal plants Laozi kept waving in front of his face.

Then, Yishan was tasked to assist Laozi in checking up on the health of the Princess of the Celestial Realm and acting ruler of Flower Fruit Mountain.

"Princess?" All of you are probably asking. Yup, Wukong and Macaque did end up having one (1) kid and it's Sangshen. Because of an attempted poisoning incident, she came out weak and sickly. Sangshen is adored by her parents but is seen as a disappointment to the Celestial Court (since she's female, weak, and takes after Macaque), so she prefers to stay in FFM.

Still, because of her poor health, Wukong would frequently send Laozi down to check up on her. At this point, Laozi spends more of his time at FFM than in the Celestial Realm. He even has his own room and lab there.

Laozi's plan was to drop Yishan off to FFM and take over in keeping tabs on Sangshen's health.

When Yishan first laid eyes on Sangshen, he was a complete goner. It was love at first sight. As for Sangshen, she fell slower, but no less harder. Yishan was so considerate and charming and devoted that she couldn't help but develop feelings. (Everyone else who knows him: Are we talking about the same Yishan?!?!)

Yishan being Yishan beings ridiculously rare and hard-to-obtain stuff to shower Sangshen with. With his attention (and daily offering of super rare medicine), her health improves by leagues.

Sangshen eventually breaks it to Yishan that he probably shouldn't be courting her since her parents would kill him where he stands if they caught wind of this. Her parents established pretty early that they wouldn't let anyone marry her unless they lasted 15 min in a battle against both of them.

Instead of being deterred, Yishan takes this challenge and asks for some PTO to visit Shanzha and RinRin.

Yishan: Hey moms, how do I stay alive in a spar against the Emperor and Empress of the Universe? Shanzha: What RinRin: What happened to "hi"? Also, wtf Yishan: I'm in love and it's the only way I can get permission to marry her

*Cue intense training montage*

After training his tail off, Yishan presents himself to the Emperor and Empress as a suitor for their daughter's hand. They are less than pleased and put him through the wringer for daring to ask. They beat him to the ground.

And yet, Yishan lasts for 30 minutes. So, after recovering, Yishan happily accepts the begrudging permission of his future in-laws and heads down to FFM to tell Sangshen the good news.

FFM: You mad bastard, you actually did it. Yishan: Obviously. If I didn't, Sangshen would cry and that's unforgivable.

Yishan wasted no time in proposing and Sangshen wasted no time in accepting. A wedding was then arranged in the Celestial Realm and Yishan's mothers were invited. Shanzha and RinRin come, of course.

An official freaks out at seeing Shanzha since he recognizes her as the Godslayer who wiped out the entire court of Korean Primordial Gods.

Another official flips his lid when he recognizes RinRin as the Trickster who swindled him during his time abroad in Japan.

When Shanzha and RinRin's identities as Celestial Primates come to light, the entire Celestial Court is filled with dread. Oh no, there's FOUR of them now.

Shanzha and RinRin get along with Wukong and Macaque like a house on fire. They trade unhinged stories of their youth and make plans to hang out. Shanzha jokingly offers to take out any Celestial who annoys Wukong too much. Wukong takes this offer very seriously, making many of his ministers sweat.

Yishan and Sangshen get married and spend many years of wedded bliss before Sangshen announces that she's pregnant.

Say hello to Yue~

This cutie pie made Wukong cry. At first, he was a little disappointed to see that she took mostly after Yishan's side of the family. Then, she sneezed and lo and behold, six ears popped out. Yishan had to fight with his father-in-law to get his daughter back.

Wukong wasn't any better when Louhou and Jidu were born. He might've been reluctant to be a father, but he took to being a grandfather like a duck to water.

Shadowpeach would squabble with Iceflower for grandbaby time. In the end, Iceflower simply moved into the Celestial Realm so all of them could have grandbaby time.

Extra Facts about Iceflower:

Shanzha used to be a devotee of the Primordial Korean gods. An event shattered her faith and took away everything she's ever cared about. Eyes opened to their cruelty, Shanzha started her quest in wiping them all out. Shanzha trained under the Long-Armed Gibbon as the Celestial Primate was sympathetic to her circumstances. She's very much inspired by Kratos as she was very unhinged during this period of life.

RinRin, on the other hand, was a pet monkey of a daughter of a samurai who evolved into a yokai after a tragedy. She sowed discord as a shapeshifter until she was killed by an angry god. The Red Buttocked Baboon found her in the Japanese Underworld and found her amusing enough to be his successor. RinRin then proceeded to cheat death, harass Japanese deities, and become a Loki-like figure.

Shanzha, born as “Nari” (Lily), renamed herself after a Chinese Hawthorn fruit usually used for medicine solely to outsmart a god who could cut a life short by calling out their name three times. The new name kept the god guessing long enough for her to shoot them down. Since it helped her keep her life, she ended up keeping the name.

Since RinRin had many names and faces during her time as a trickster spirit/deity, she was much more attached to her true name. Fun fact: Her name means “dignified bell” in Japanese.

[piosplayhouse]

Scum villain account posting about breyers made me look twice haha I never see anyone talk about models on my tumblr only Facebook 😭

Who in scum villain do you think would collect model horses and do u think they would collect plastics/resins or clinkies?

Personally I think mobei jun would have a little secret room with shelves of $3000 ultra-rare ceramic and porcelain horses. He doesn’t tell anyone, not even sqh

I'm what you would call the number one scum villain breyer poster on this site (because I'm the only one) 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ they're not with me because I'm only staying in my current apartment temporarily but I actually got breyers and little cowboy boots for my bingqiu nendoroids to turn them into horse girls. Fun fact the classic scale figs are roughly proportional to nendoroids (1:12) so the dolls fit on the horses back perfectly

Ning Yingying is the easy answer but also the most boring I'll admit. But I do think she's a horse girlie at heart. I want to see Shen Jiu taking her to breyerfest and beefing with a ton of middle aged white women

I agree that mbj would be a great option as well though I don't think he would be *that* secretive about it since he really dgaf. Maybe while his uncle is still alive because he wouldn't be above breaking mbj's precious breyerfest live auction OOAK models but I don't think he would be embarrassed about his ponies. Because horses are objectively super cool and every lord needs them. Also I think he'd mostly collect unicorns and breyer winter decorators. I'm not sure if he'd be into the holiday horses though, probably depends on the year. I could see him fw celestine and snowbird and whatnot but probably not apres ski. These filigree decorators would definitely be in his collection with highly coveted winter gambler's choice models like the collectors club colored xaviers

Admittedly don't know a ton about clinkies (very shameful I know) but yeah mbj would be my top pick for those too. He'd probably have a bunch of Lladro sculptures now that I think about it. Unrelated to horses though I think the number one porcelain collector in cang qiong would probably be Yue Qingyuan, who is a Precious Moments Fiend

[itsthislake]

Shen Yuan transmigrated as a Spirit Cat AU (part 2)

First chapter.

---

The rest of the examination, all dutifully narrated by Mu Qingfang, passed in something of a blur comprised mostly of internal screaming and a great deal of cursing, and he only came back to reality when he was picked up by a pair of warm hands.

Shen Yuan flinched and looked up at the man who could only be Liu Qingge, the War God of Bai Zhan and older brother of Best Wife, Liu Mingyan. Living proof that this was a time before the protagonist joined Qing Jing Peak.

Liu Qingge died by Shen Qingqiu’s hand sometime around then, after all.

“Come on,” he said, easily settling Shen Yuan on the crook of his arm and starting to walk like this was an established routine of many years instead of something that had happened twice so far and once under duress.

Distracted as he was, Shen Yuan didn’t bother to question it until they were already flying on— on Cheng Luan again. This sword was as cool as he had imagined, now that he looked at it properly. He smacked Liu Qingge’s arm with his paw until he got his attention, then meowed in question.

Liu Qingge stared for a second before seemingly realizing what he was asking.

“We’re going to see the sect leader, Yue Qingyuan,” he explained. “I need to give him my mission report. And inform him of your presence on the mountain.”

“Meow?”

“Cang Qiong has a rule about bringing in any Spirit Cats that we find. For protection,” Liu Qingge clarified, giving him an unreadable look. “There aren’t many left, so Spirit Cats sell high in many circles. None that our sect supports, of course.”

Huh. Shen Yuan hadn’t known that, even after jogging his memory post realizing which world this is.

He remembered Colored Claw Spirit Cats being mentioned in one of the later chapters of PIDW, something about how they had all gone extinct because of human greed and whatnot. He thinks it might have been wife #629 who complained about how tragic it was to Luo Binghe before the protagonist comforted her with his tried-and-true heavenly pillar. In hindsight, that was probably the last bit of actual worldbuilding Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky had given them before deciding to write terrible papapa and needlessly convoluted harem shenanigans for the next sixty or so chapters before the end of the novel.

What Shen Yuan hadn’t known, however, was that Cang Qiong Mountain Sect actively rescued and protected Spirit Cats. Of course, with the sect long since destroyed and most of the Peak Lords dead or integrated into the harem and promptly abandoned, there was no reason whatsoever for that to come up at that point in the novel.

Regardless, it was an interesting detail of this world, as well as an incredibly convenient fact for him now.

“Liu Qingge,” Liu Qingge said abruptly. Shen Yuan blinked at him, watching the red slowly creep up his ears with slight fascination. Woah. He even blushed prettily, how unfair. “My name. It’s Liu Qingge. I realized I didn’t introduce myself earlier.”

Oh, that was very polite of him. Which was a little strange coming from the guy who chased him through a village for almost four hours earlier that day and who he just saw kick his shidi’s office door in for no real reason. Shen Yuan huffed, then rubbed his face on the man’s arm, purring pleasantly.

“Hmm. Do you have a name?”

“Meow!”

“I see.”

What do you see? Shen Yuan wanted to ask, genuinely confused as to what Liu Qingge thought he understood. Alas, for lack of the vocal cords necessary for human speech, he just settled back down instead and decided to enjoy the ride.

Flying was kind of fun, he was learning.

---

Yue Qingyuan met Shen Yuan’s sudden presence on his mountain with a not inconsiderable amount of polite confusion.

Then, after Liu Qingge explained the situation, including the results of Mu Qingfang’s examination that Shen Yuan had missed almost entirely and was thus glad to hear summarized now, the sect leader just rolled with it with as much grace as his character in the novel took anything unrelated to Shen Qingqiu.

So far, Shen Yuan’s first impression of the sect leader was very much in line with what he already knew from PIDW.

Afterwards, Yue Qingyuan helpfully elaborated on Cang Qiong’s policy on Spirit Cats that Liu Qingge had mentioned earlier. Apparently, the claws of adult Spirit Cats sold very high among a significant number of cultivator circles because of their special properties, and the declawed creatures were usually sold as ‘exotic pets’ to nobles, where they would inevitably die from either improper care or health issues brought on by the loss of their claws. If caught by the wrong people, young Spirit Cats like himself would most likely be caged and tortured to quicken the awakening of their special abilities.

Because of this massive traffic that was both somehow legal and absolutely horrid to think about, the number of Spirit Cats left had been on the decline for many decades now, and none had reached a point in their cultivation where they could take a human form in over three centuries, as far as anyone was aware.

Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, as well as a number of other sects, strictly forbade the abuse of Spirit Cats and the use of their claws to further their cultivation, as well as offered sanctuary for any that they found in the wild or rescued.

“It has been many years since the last time a Spirit Cat resided in Cang Qiong,” Yue Qingyuan said regretfully, tone somber. “When this lord was still head disciple, he had the privilege to meet with one. Master Zhou’s meridians had unfortunately been crippled before he came to our sect, so he never managed to cultivate to a human form despite achieving immortality. This one was told that he was the youngest of a trio of siblings who were rescued together, but that his older sisters had already been declawed and thus did not manage to survive long even in our care. Lan Qingyi, the current Lord of the Shan Shou Peak, was the one who took care of Master Zhou during his final years.”

Listening to Yue Qingyuan’s recounting felt like a bucket of cold water had been dropped on him. All the terrible, horrible things that had made PIDW’s worldbuilding engaging were now real. It was his reality, and that of the people who were here now and had been here before him. The reality of Master Zhou who in the end was unable to reach Ascension, of his sisters who suffered so much and died long before their time. It caused Shen Yuan’s fur to stand on end as he listened to the sect leader speak.

However.

It also felt a little bit like hope. Because, see, for every trafficker out there, for every cruel bastard out to get his kind, there was also a person willing to protect them. Willing to give Spirit Cats a place where they could grow and live peacefully. 

And those people were here, in Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, offering him that help now as well.

Huan Hua Palace, on the other hand, was perfectly fine with capturing Spirit Cats and using them as they saw fit. There were even rumors that the Old Palace Master had kept one or two declawed Spirit Cats as pets not so long ago.

Needless to say, Shen Yuan had dodged a massive bullet there. It was nothing short of a miracle that Liu Qingge was the one the villagers asked for help and not a cultivator from Huan Hua Palace, seeing as it was literally their territory.

Shen Yuan had seen Huan Hua Palace disciples flying around, for fuck’s sake.

Liu Qingge’s other hand had come up to rest lightly on top of him at some point during the story and Shen Yuan silently leaned into it, rubbing his cheek against his palm in an instinctual, soothing motion as he tried to burrow his body deeper into the crook of his arm.

“This conversation has taken a dark turn, my apologies,” said Yue Qingyuan softly, when the silent became too heavy. “I’m afraid that this topic is not one that can be avoided for long and it is better to be aware of the dangers sooner rather than later. This master would like to formally extend Cang Qiong Mountain Sect’s protection to the esteemed spirit, as well as an invitation to stay here for however long he wishes.”

Shen Yuan meowed quietly in agreement, and watched as the sect leader smiled gently at him. Then the man nodded, reaching for a brush and some paper.

“We’ll need to record your arrival and arrange everything for your stay,” he informed them. Even if the heavy thoughts lingered in his mind, for now the dark atmosphere seemed to have lifted as they moved onto another topic, for which Shen Yuan was grateful.

Yue Qingyuan paused, as if only now remembering something, and looked up at them curiously.

“Ah. We require a name for the paperwork. Since it was Liu-shidi who found and brought him to the sect, perhaps he could name the esteemed spirit as well?”

Without a moment of hesitation, Liu Qingge shook his head.

“He already has a name,” he informed solemnly.

“Oh?” Yue Qingyuan raised his eyebrows, looking expectantly at him. Shen Yuan also stared, wondering what he would answer. He obviously never told him his name and he was certain that the War God couldn’t read minds.

(Well. Mostly certain, anyway. Great Master Airplane was hardly reliable when it came to developing characters who weren’t wives or Luo Binghe past a certain point in the novel, or any characters at all past another point just slightly ahead in the novel, and Shen Yuan wouldn’t be surprised if he’d somehow forgotten to mention such an important aspect of this awesome character that he’d killed off-screen.

Would he be angry? Of course. Disappointed by the wasted potential? Most definitely. But surprised? After reading that whole godawful story? Ha! As if. Shen Yuan knew exactly what he was in for when he paid for each chapter.)

“He did not tell me what it is,” said the man who, as expected, could not read minds.

Liu Qingge! Shen Yuan cried in his mind, a little exasperated.

“Ah. Of course,” said the sect leader, smiling politely at both of them. He looked like he wanted to sigh but was too polite to do so and had instead defaulted to smiling. “However, I still need a name for the report. Until he can tell us his name, how does the esteemed spirit feel about having a nickname?”

Liu Qingge frowned at the same time that Shen Yuan perked up.

“A nickname?”

“Yes. Something simple and easy to remember that we can use in the meantime.”

Shen Yuan meowed pointedly, tapping Liu Qingge in the arm. The man just stared back silently, clearly deep in thought, before he nodded.

“The children at the village called him Xiao Maomi,” he declared.

“Xiao Maomi?” Yue Qingyuan repeated, looking at Shen Yuan for confirmation.

Shen Yuan considered it. It was very on the nose for a nickname, likely because it was a bunch of little kids who thought of it in the first place, but ‘little kitty’ wasn’t too terrible all things considered. He could have gotten stuck with a name like Doudou or Danhuang. Now that would have been embarrassing.

Therefore, he meowed positively. It was only temporary anyways so he didn’t care much.

Yue Qingyuan smiled politely, reaching for a brush. “Very well. We’ll put ‘Xiao Maomi’ down in the paperwork for now. It can always be changed at a later date.”

While Yue Qingyuan wrote, Shen Yuan looked up at Liu Qingge, considering. Then he wiggled out from under Liu Qingge’s hand, earning himself a curious look that he ignored, and used his claws to quickly climb up his arm and settle on the man’s shoulder, head resting on the collar of his robes.

The reason why the children of the village had taken to calling him ‘little kitty,’ as opposed to only ‘kitty,’ was immediately obvious to anybody with working eyes. This body of his was quite small even for an average cat’s, even a kitten’s, which had worked in his favor while he was sneaking around the village and against him during fights.

Shen Yuan had originally attributed this to a lack of proper nutrition coupled with a young age, but even after months of stealing food he remained around the same size. Now he wondered if maybe it had something to do with him being a Colored Claw Spirit Cat. He made a mental note to find more information on them later.

Right now, however, his small body meant that he was the perfect size to lay down on Liu Qingge’s shoulders and not have to worry about falling, something he intended to take full advantage of.

Liu Qingge huffed quietly, but made no moves to stop Shen Yuan.

Eventually, the sect leader set down his brush and looked back at them with a considering expression.

“In regards to Maomi-xiansheng’s new living arrangements,” he began lightly. “Normally, all Spirit Cats would be sent to the Shan Shou Peak where they’d be able to settle down and live their lives comfortably. However, Peak Lord Lan is currently in seclusion, and this master is uncertain whether any of her disciples are equipped to house and care for Maomi-xiansheng, as they are all quite young and inexperienced still.”

Ah, Shan Shou Peak, the Beast Taming Peak. One of many places that only got one or two lines when Luo Binghe joined and later destroyed Cang Qiong in PIDW. Shen Yuan had always been curious about this particular peak and all the (obviously wasted) potential it held, something he had ranted about on many occasions in the comment section. Infuriatingly, that hack author had once replied to one of his comments with, “okay okay chill dude, I’ll describe more of the sect in the next chapter,” and then spent six whole paragraphs describing Xian Shu Peak’s bathhouse and all the shijies in it.

Shen Yuan had never genuinely considered murder in his past life, but by god did he get close that day. He was sure his comment, written in a fugue state of pure rage, had reflected that.

“Doesn’t Lan Qingyi have Hall Masters on her peak?” Liu Qingge said, and though Shen Yuan couldn’t exactly see his expression from his position, he got the impression that the man was scowling as he said that.

“I believe they are occupied caring for all the creatures already in-house and teaching the disciples during Lan-shimei’s absence,” Yue Qingyuan answered, tone as close to exasperated as possible while still remaining polite. “Lan-shimei’s approach to her duties as Peak Lord is very different to Liu-shidi’s, after all.”

Shen Yuan had no idea what that was about, but he could almost feel the self-restraint it took Liu Qingge not to huff. The sect leader continued before he could question it.

“Nonetheless, with Shan Shou Peak not being an option, Maomi-xiansheng will need another place to stay, at least until Lan-shimei is back. Since it was Liu-shidi who brought him here, perhaps he wouldn’t mind housing Maomi-xiansheng until then?”

“En,” Liu Qingge nodded, after a moment of thought. “I do not mind.”

Yue Qingyuan smiled in response.

“Thanking shidi.”

And thus, Shen Yuan moved in with Liu Qingge.

[highfantasy-soul]

Things I LOVED in NATLA Episode 7 - The North

Lt Jee actually being worried for Zuko!!!!

And Iroh tenderly bandaging Zuko's head 🥺

Zuko desperate to make sure his father doesn’t truly think he's turned against him!!!!!

A FANTASTIC set-up for his eventual ACUTAL turn against his father

Zuko genuinely thanking Lt. Jee 😢

And aaggghhhh!!! Zhao being a tricky slimey mf

This is a slick way to get Zuko being blown up without the pirates - though they're fun characters, I think this set-up enhanced the themes they were exploring in the season more

TEAM AVATAR!!

So cute that Aang excitedly tells his friends he made a connection with Zuko - Sokka is unimpressed while Katara has hope that people can turn out to be good.

Agna Qel'a!!!!

It looks GORGEOUS! And love that it has a name now!!

Apparently it was given a name in one of the books, but they never did name it in the show, so I'm glad they did it here

I don't even care that they know it's the Avatar right off bat and they're ready to welcome them in - it was cool as shit flying over the city on Appa

Maybe they had scouts out that saw Appa flying and brought news to the city, same as the scouts who saw the Fire Nation fleet - I'll accept that

Them treating Aang like a weapon rather than a person 😡

It's something that comes up a lot in the series and I'm glad they aren't shying away from it

Lol Katara's sibling jibing at Sokka staring at Yue 🤣

I love these little sibling moments - they're just so cute

And Sokka now hard-core staring at the ground instead of at Yue because Katara said he looked like a weirdo doing that 😅

Zhao's overacting at how pissed he is 🤣

Then his 'omg I can yes and this. I can SO yes and this!' as Iroh tells him what he 'think's happened

Oooohhh Iroh's understated insults at Zhao's qualifications

And Zhao's comeback about no record of failure unlike Iroh😐 bitch, that still doesn't make you qualified!

More Azulaaa!!!!

I really love this added storyline to see exactly why Azula is the way she is

It's great to see that her place as next-in-line isn't a shoe-in here - she's desperate to show her father that 'she's the one' and will do anything to get there

Sokka's heart eyes 😍

Stewed sea prunes 😭😭😭

"It tastes like home" 😢

I like this intro to Pakku - like with Sokka, they're not doing a comical level of sexism, they're making it more realistic

YUE IS A BEEENNDDEERR!!!!!!

Also, using it for the most important things: dessert

Sokka's absolutely abysmal (bet very endearing) interaction attempts with Yue 😅

Her little fake gasps as he keeps saying the wrong thing, but smiling because she knows what he means, she's just teasing him 🥺 incredibly adorable

Love that they have a conversation that actually has substance!

Don't hate me, but in the cartoon, they never had a substantive conversation ONCE. It was just Sokka flirting, Yue giggling, then Yue freaking out and running away - rinse and repeat like, 5 times in the course of 3 episodes.

Omg Hahn isn't a dick!!!

I like the more mature tone they've taken in the live action - they can have jokes, but for serious topics like…idk, a battle against the Northern Water Tribe being genocided, they make the characters take it seriously

GOOOOODDDD the adults expecting Aang to be a master strategist and offensive weapon!!

This actually makes sense that they'd believe he could do it - Aang is the culmination of all the past Avatars, so they'd assume he has all their knowledge and power.

The poor kid just got out of his iceberg, though!!!

"Airbending is primarily a defensive discipline"

You tell them, Aang!!

"But you're not JUST an airbender" :( don't bring logic and reality into this, Arnook

"I did it with the help of my friends 😊"  sweet baby Aang

And here's Pakku, telling Aang what a lot of watchers were frustrated about this season: uuhh maybe you should have been focused on your training

While that's a legit comment, I think the live-action showed why Aang didn't pretty well

Love love LOVE that we're introduced to healing with respect rather than the distain it was shown in the animated series

Healing is a wonderful and beautiful skill and I'm glad we got to see Katara interested in it (and it being used) rather than Katara sadly moping into the igloo filled with children learning healing

Sometimes, when people try to make things less sexist, they end up making it more-so. I think that happened with the animated series where healing was actually put up in conflict with combat - where combat was clearly shown as the 'better' skill and healing was 'stupid and bad, we don’t want to do that'. The live-action showed that healing is an important and powerful skill, the only issue comes when you aren't ALLOWED to do anything else. Healing itself isn't the issue, the fact the women are kept from combat IS the issue.

Nice Hahn and Sokka fishing for info about Yue

Avatar Kuruk RESPECT!!!!

LOVE Yue getting more character here!

She can pop into the spirit world! It makes so much sense with her having part of the moon spirit inside her!

The live action fleshed her out soooo well!

Poor Sokka not understanding AT ALL why someone would want to go to the Spirit World for fun 😂

"Don't do that. Don't make it less than what it is"

Such an important message for EVERYONE. You don’t have to have the most tragic of backstories for your trauma to be important. This isn't the oppression olympics - we aren't doing the whole 'well someone else has it worse so you can't complain' bullshit.

Everyone has hurt in their lives and everyone deserves to have their hurt taken seriously and healed. It isn't 'strength' to pretend it's nothing - it's strength to face it and accept that it was important, not something to shove under the rug

Yue reminding Sokka about what makes him special - his care for his friends! He's not a selfish guy - just because he wasn't the best leader or warrior when he was 13 doesn't mean he has nothing to offer the world

"Hahn is everything a girl could want. But he is not the boy of my dreams" 😭😭😭

"Being the Avatar means being the one who bears the burden: alone."

The thing is: like in the animated version, this advice MAKES SENSE! But it's how you USE the advice that makes the difference

No, you can't put all the weight of responsibility on your friends, but neither can you do it without any help - or without caring for others. It's very much advice coming from pain: all the Avatars got hurt because they DIDN'T abandon their friends and so they're giving a skewed version of the advice onto Aang to try to spare him the pain they went through.

It's Aang's job to find the balance

Sokka's fish carving that Yue thinks is a bear 😭😭😭

I wanna see it, props department!!!!

Yeess!! Katara's first confrontation with Pakku!

I like how she still tries to lead with diplomacy, making her case, and Pakku has 'reasonable' excuses not to let her fight

Instead of him being cartoonishly sexist, he's much more realistic giving 'logical' reasons for Katara not to be in combat, but she stands up anyways because she knows it's wrong.

I can see how some might find Aang not wanting Katara to fight to be jarring, but this is in line with the animated series

When they're going into particularly dangerous missions, Aang does have a tendency to try to do it himself and tell Katara to sit this one out - he does it in The Winter Solstice: Part 2.

He's just been told a past life's love was killed because he didn't keep her out of his fight, he has no idea how he's going to win this battle, and he's realizing that he does see Katara as someone incredibly important to him. It's in line with who Aang is to try to keep her safe and away from the battle

Zhao coming up with nicknames for himself 😑

Iroh straight up calling Fire Nation 'info' propaganda!!

While some people could see this as 'treason', when you're in positions of power in high-control groups, you KNOW it's propaganda - you HELP CREATE the lies and when people are going to do something stupid (like attack the North without a solid plan), you let them know that they're being stupid if they're going to make battle plans based on the lies you've helped spread.

Zhao and his dumb bitch destiny 🙄 he's such a great villain - he's one who's bought into his own lies

"The plan is to prove my father wasn't wrong to trust me with this mission. The plan is to go in and capture the Avatar once and for all. The PLAN is to reclaim what is rightfully MINE!! 😤" - "So, no plan? 😐" - "I'm working on it uncle 🥺"

This exchange = gold. Pure gold.

"It's almost as if he's working for someone else - someone much smarter"

WOOOOWWW Iroh, throw that shade a little more, why don't ya 🤣

Though I LOVE that they're giving Azula her brainy due - she's smart and she's the one not to be underestimated.

AZULA'S LIGHTNING!!!!!!!

Love how she stood up to her father, but because she was able to 'prove' her strength, he respected it rather than punished it

"Set me loose" AAAAHHHHHHH

SUPPORTIVE BROTHER SOKKA!!!

Love how matter of fact Katara is "I'm going to challenge Pakku to fight" - just like that. She's decided, so it's going to happen.

Sokka admitting Katara was right 😭😭😭😭😭

"Who's talking sense? What I'm trying to say is: go kick his ass" FUCK YEAH THAT'S RIGHT!!!!

Aang trying to go forward and help Katara, but Sokka holds him back

Love the sibling solidarity!!

The fight is almost beat for beat the one from the animated series!!!

I love that the live action knew exactly which sequences to put in almost 1-1 from the animated - this fight being one of them

"Is that all you got?!?!" FUCK YEAH!!

"They'll just say I lost" "Did you?"

The fact that it wasn't just Pakku's opinion that would change everything - Katara's actions inspired everyone else, even if Pakku didn't want to change his decision.

Change isn't made by changing one man's mind - it's about standing up to them and inspiring others (like in the Imprisoned storyline) to stand up too

Even inspiring Aang to realize that the conclusion the other Avatars came to from their pain was wrong - that Katara was right and that EVERYONE gets to choose whether to fight or not for themselves

Avatars aren't the only ones who worry about protecting people - it's a human, family thing, not just a mystical force of balance thing

Only Aang can write his own story - not anyone else.

This is a great through-line for the whole series where everyone has expectations put on them and they have to decide themselves who they want to be

Don't eat the sooty snow, Momo!!!!!

"Ok, time to fight"

I like that we end on the fire nation ships arriving: next episode is going to be THE BATTLE

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

[ariihen]

some thoughts on netflix's adaptation of atla:

kiawentiio was done dirty cause she has so much of katara's bite and sass in her interviews

u can really tell the writing is the series' weakest point because the actors have what it takes to bring those characters to life but they'll only be able to do so much with the script and direction they're given

the wigs are SO ugly. yue had it the worst imo. she deserved better

suki was perfect

LET SOKKA WEAR DRAG U COWARDS

why the fuck are ppl just bending without bending forms and stances. why is aang able to fly without needing to lose his earthly tethers

why are they randomly cutting and pasting scenes in weird places

why is the swamp scene combined with the spirit world????? that was important in setting up toph's introduction????

the fact that the writers knew it made no sense for katara and sokka to end up in the spirit world with aang so even the characters said it and they just handwaved it bc plot lol

so much exposition. clearly the mark of a good story is when the character have to TELL u everything that's happening 🫠

the writers are such big kyoshi stans

like why is she taking other characters' roles

why is gran gran doing katara's intro

iroh and zuko are cute

zuko's choreo is so good

zhao is still a dumbass

his death is unsatisfying. what happened to getting fucked by the spirit world if u fuck with it. where's the ocean spirit dragging his ass to its demise. why is iroh providing his sentence

mai and ty lee are doing nothing but have terrible wigs and give exposition on ozai's motives that they somehow knoe about

aang: *gets told there's no easy way out in being the avatar*

also aang: *gets told everything he needs to know*

badgermoles are empaths now????

bumi they nerfed u

aang they nerfed u

gyatso u deserved a cooler fight to the death they really nerfed u

it's so fucking stupid that aang has to be in shrines to talk to his past lives

kinda cool they go into more detail of the past avatars' lives ig. even if only slightly

katara vs pakku was so lackluster

these bending fights are so lackluster unless ur zuko ig

no srsly how are some ppl just bending without forms. like sozin in episode 1 roasting that dude by just holding him

jun exists only to flirt w the dragon of the west and good on her, me too girl

what's the point of sokka getting suki's fan if he's not even gonna use it...

there's no stronger relationship than sokka x momo

oma and shu are gay i think. love that for them

why tf did aang spend this entire story not even trying to pick up another element. katara literally offers to learn with him a few times and he just didn't feel like it lol

OG azula was impressive and scary. netflix azula feels more like the eldest asian daughter trying rly hard to get her parents' approval. idk she's just alright

so much expositions

ok sure let's have time sensitive plot A not conclude in one episode, have it stretch to the next episode, and still only rush in concluding it at the very end in the backburner of plot B. let's just handwave the fact that those people definitely should've died in like the three days it takes them to resolve plot B

the cabbage merchant is cabbage merchanting

effects are good

[big-nerd-boi]

A sneak peak of a part of my very own storyline/ au/ fanfic or something- I don’t know guys I’m just here for monkeys.

But I do have a name for it!

Kill the crown.

Pretty cool right? I think so-

Okay basic run down!

At the end of

“the journey to the west”

Which I have not read yet so bear with me on this canon divergence— Wukong goes to the jade emperor to have his crown removed. JE decides that no, Wukong is too unruly and dangerous to keep around; unfortunately killing him is out of his options because Wukong is effectively completely immortal now, so instead— JE recites a variation of the crown’s spell and effectively puts Wukong into a coma cannot wake himself up from.

From there, Wukong is thrown back onto flower fruit mountain ( the art is of Wukong in his coma) and left to rot. Neither his brothers nor master know where he is, so they wait… and wait- until they continue with their own lives.

Eventually heaven is taken over by someone else, the jade emperor destroyed by a creature only known by the veiled emperor.

No one knows their face, their real name, or the extend of their powers. Only that they’ve laid siege on the celestial realm, destroying anyone who stands in their way.

Fifty earthly years pass, parts of China are now controlled by the veiled emperor as well- and said power is creeping along, covering more and more kingdoms.

Humans and demons alike of course fight back, warring against the celestial realm.

One free kingdom is The Kingdom of the Eastern Sun. Ruled by a demonic king, and his empress… the stone ape, the long armed gibbon, Min-Yáng. Together she and Bojing ( her husband ) have four children.

The main of which is the second oldest, Ming-Yue/ Yue for short. Over the years, there have been rumors of Monkey King’s staff being hidden among the earth- and she was fascinated by it.

She was even more intrigued when a general spoke about finding what they thought to be said staff, requesting her parents for an expedition group.

Heng, Min-Yáng’s sworn brother and the stone baboon, offered to join this party. Yue snuck out, hiding away to join the crew. No one was any wiser until it was too late to bring her back.

Finding the staff is the catalyst, even more so when Yue plucks it from the crater it had formed when falling from heaven.

From then on, she and her uncle Heng are hunted by misguided ( if not outright forced ) celestial soldiers, even other demons! All of them wanting the staff to give to the new emperor.

There is only one person still on the mortal plane that can help, the legendary monkey king. But only one of equal power and strength can awaken him from the crown’s curse.

Someone that had been dead for decades, the last monkey born from stone… the six eared macaque: Luhan.

And that’s a quick summary of Kill The Crown so far!

Of course there’s so many more characters and details I’m skipping over like Yue’s siblings, Guanyin’s role, and so much more!! But dang I’m so excited to share this story with everybody! Of course, soon to come is art of everybody once I format it all to Tumblr. But if you’re too impatient- my insta has quite a bit of kill the crown art!

[tcfactory]

Since my brain has been full of SVSSS brainrot lately:

I want a fic where the transmigration mostly fails and Shen Jiu wakes up from his qi deviation as User002 with the goddamn System treating him like he is Shen Yuan. Trashy yellow book what??? No, he doesn't need stats on his fellow peak lords, if he is supposed to follow a plot then he wants to see the script! You wretched floating rectangle, how is he supposed to play along if he doesn't know the source material?!

The stress of having what feels like a very pushy curse or an insanely weird demon inflicted upon him makes him deviate from some minor plot points and he gets punished for being OOC a couple of times until the System takes pity on him and directs him to Airplane bro, with the very clear suggestion that if he can't remember the early arcs of the story - System understands, User! It's very long after all. UwU - he should go and discuss it with the author.

He basically kicks down Shang Qinghua's door in desperation for some clarity and maybe an explanation, right now before he works himself into a stress-induced qi deviation, Shang-shidi. Shang hamster looks at his miserable scum villain, takes a deep breath, brings out all of Shen Qingqiu's favorite snacks that nobody should know about, makes a pot of calming tea and tells him everything.

Shang Qinghua expects Shen Qingqiu to be angry, to rip into him for writing him into this wretched life. And Shen Jiu is angry, but not at Qinghua. His anxious, mousy little shidi who lives his entire life under the looming threat of a horrible, seemingly unchangeable future doesn't look like a god. Shang Qinghua, who does his best to run his peak well and look out for his disciples despite his admittance that in the story the original Qinghua did a shoddy job - he doesn't look like someone who would have put pen to paper and written a tragedy if he knew it would become someone's reality.

And how could Shen Jiu, who has seen people sell their bodies and their very dignity for a cup of stale water, judge someone for writing a very bad yellow book so he can eat? Please. Peak Lord Shen might have developed a very discerning taste in literature over the years, but you can't fill your stomach with artistic integrity, Shang-shidi. Shen Jiu understands.

So they sit and for that first evening, Shen Qingqiu listens to all the differences creeping into the story, Shang Qinghua's retelling of the drafts he abandoned due to peer pressure, the long rambling tangents of the research he's done, even if they never made it into the story. Qinghua is so caught up in having someone to talk to that he doesn't realize that Shen Qingqiu put everything that happened to Qi-ge together, somewhere between the musings about how a sword inspired by kintsugi would be so cool looking, shame that nobody ever sees the thing, and the griping about how much one of his patrons complained about Yue Qingyuan dying without ever drawing his sword.

Later, when the snacks are gone and the tea is replaced with something stronger, he tells Shen Qingqiu about the stories he really wanted to write. About how he shamefully sneaked his dream man into PIDW, just so he could have some small part to himself, and oh, Shen Qingqiu will have to remind him about demon courting practices when they are both sober again, because it sounds like that Mobei prince is down bad for him.

He leaves that night with a newfound determination. Shang Qinghua might be resigned to the whims of his System and the shackles of the Plot, but Shen Jiu didn't burn the Qiu manor down and break his chains to give up so easily. This is his world, his sect, his Qi-ge on the line, and he would sooner wrest control from the System and become custodian of the world himself than let something take away and ruin what is his. He is the strategist of Cang Qiong Sect, there is no situation he can't think a way out of and he has had enough of tragedies.

Before any of that, however, he needs to go and have a good yell at his Qi-ge, smack his stupid face and then curl up in his arms for a good night's sleep. It's long overdue.

[momoee300]

˗ˋˏ 𝒮ℴ𝓁𝒾𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓇ℯ ˎˊ-

Notes: I was a little late but I didn't like what I was writing hahaha 🙂‍↔️

TW: None.

•─────⋅☾ Chapter one ☽⋅─────•

𓇢𓆸

I was sitting on the stairs at the entrance of the Sakamaki mansion, that driver had helped me bring down a small brown suitcase. Apparently the real Chiyo doesn't have many belongings.

I hugged my legs as I thought about my situation, the cold air chilled my skin and chilled my bones.

Why is this happening, what happened to the real Chiyo, should I run away?

I pulled my cell phone out of my right coat pocket, I didn't have a password so I just went in and checked Chiyo's contacts.

Let's see...Priest...Yue...Dad.

Apparently he only has those three numbers, that damn priest I won't even consider. We'll leave it at two contacts; Dad and Yue. I tried my luck calling Dad but it went straight to voicemail. I tried that Yue guy and he didn't pick up either.

So...I'm completely left to my own devices. I don't even own this body...why do I feel like this?

I let out a sigh as I put my hands to my face, I had many doubts but no answers. My only advantage was that I knew the characters, my disadvantage was that I am not special like the protagonist. I took a deep breath analyzing my options, running away was not one of them, I had nowhere to go. The only thing left was to face my reality.

I really don't want to do it, but there are no other alternatives. If there is a God, I only ask him something. Let me live.

I thought as I stood up, feeling anxious. I was about to enter a dangerous place without a plan in mind, but it was simply impossible for me to think. Maybe it was because I was feeling so overwhelmed.

I grabbed the handle of my suitcase to at least have my belongings, plucked up my courage and knocked on the door three times. I waited patiently at the door for someone to open it for me.

The huge door creaked as it opened, a tall man opened it and when he noticed my presence he spoke.

"Excuse me, I was not informed that someone was coming. So I will ask who are you?" he asked very respectfully.

"Ah..yes, my name is Chiyo Kuse. Nice to meet you" I nodded slightly while lowering my gaze to the ground, I was being cautious.

Reiji looks even more elegant in person, he looks so cool.

"Well, Miss Kuse, what brings you to the Sakamaki residence?" he asked as he judged me with his gaze. It seemed like she was somehow already picking out flaws in me.

I'd better speak the truth, the more naive I appear the better chance I have of survival.

"I come on behalf of the church" I replied trying to remain composed on the outside even though inside I was feeling overwhelmed and distressed.

"So from the church..." He mumbled, looking somewhat doubtful of my words. "You'd better come in, such a fragile girl shouldn't be outside in this cold."

Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed. This body seems to be very delicate.

I nodded slightly, took my things with me until I was inside. I looked around, the interior was stupidly elegant and majestic. It felt like they were important.

"My name is Reiji Sakamaki" He formally introduced himself, making me turn my attention back to him. I heard the sound of something being dragged, I turned in the direction of the noise and looked at a butler taking my suitcase and disappearing into the shadows.

"Don't be distressed, they are taking your belongings to your room." He said nonchalantly. "Follow me."

With that he started walking, I was right behind him. I'd be lying if I said it was fine, of course it wasn't. Me being a fan of games I know that they are really...questionable people.

That's right Yui...is she here yet? Did I arrive before the events of the plot happened?

I was thinking a lot about it, if she had already arrived it would be better for me. No one would even notice I existed.

A throat clearing snapped me out of my mind. "This way" Reiji said pointing elegantly.

"Ah..yes" I nodded resuming my walk, we had reached another room.

What a fool! He must think I'm so weird by now.

"Shu, did you know they would send another sacrifice?" Reiji asked sternly as he looked at an armchair. I leaned over a little to see that person, lying down with her eyes closed.

She looks like Goldilocks...wait..another sacrifice? So the other girl is Yui? Wow...she's the one I'd really like to interact with.

"That person told me last week" He spoke serenely while giving a yawn. There's no shame at all in this guy.

"When were you planning to say it?" Reiji asked with annoyance in his voice. "Well, what can one expect from you." He said returning to his usual composure.

Watching him reprimand him is even more fun in person.

"Then..I'll introduce you to the others."

I looked at Reiji in disbelief, when I followed his gaze I realized they were all already here. A shiver ran through my body, as if my instinct was warning me of danger.

Damn...I'm scared.

"This is Shu, the eldest" He started to name them. I just nodded, I didn't want to draw anyone's attention. Although it seems like I already did.

Why do I feel like they're staring at me so hard, is there something on my face? I'm worried..

"Huh? With another girl arrived, this is going to be so much fun~" I heard someone's giggle. Well, it was long overdue to show up.

"The third one is Laito" Reiji continued, I felt someone took my hair and twisted it on his finger.

"It's pretty...Don't you think so Teddy?" said the purple-haired one. I turned to look at him, he was very close, I could even see his fangs up close.

Kanato is so cute...He takes my breath away.

"The fourth is Kanato" I turned my attention back to Reiji. I still can't believe it, seeing them personally is even a feast for the eyes. They are very beautiful men. "The fifth, Ayato."

"She's just as flat as chichinashi! ‘Yours truly’ does not like that" Ayato exclaimed, He really has a personality....

Chiyo isn't that flat..she's just quite thin....

"The sixth and the youngest, Subaru" I looked at the aforementioned, he just let out a grumble.

I became engrossed in my thoughts again, with nothing to say. I was just trying to put feet and head to the situation.

"Well?" Reiji said. I just looked at him confused. I didn't know what he wanted.

"Excuse me?" I asked in a mumble as I clasped my hands together, I felt so nervous.

"You haven't introduced yourself to them" Reiji said stiffly as he looked at me dismissively.

Surely he thinks I'm rude....

"Ah~ The little bitch is quite absent-minded, tell me what's on your mind?" Laito spoke with a mocking tone in his voice, suddenly appearing behind me.

"I don't think about anything. I'm sorry" My voice came out barely a whisper. "My name is Chiyo Kuse, nice to meet you" I spoke trying to sound serene, but the atmosphere was starting to get suffocating.

I backed up several steps backward without realizing it. I couldn't stand the undue attention.

"How much longer are you going to pretend you don't know?" I pressed my lips into a thin line when I heard Subaru's question.

How did he figure it out? It's impossible..if I didn't say anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about" My voice barely came out. I felt trapped.

"Oh~ little bitch, what a naughty girl! For a second there I thought you didn't know" Laito laughed. "You thought you could lie to us?"

Agh..I never thought Subaru would tell on me.

I was about to say something but I felt a hand on my coat bag, it was Subaru who had teleported without me noticing. He took out my cell phone and squeezed it in his hand.

"What's your problem? Give it back to me" I asked with some wariness in my voice, I was starting to get frustrated.

"I saw you. You were sitting outside, you looked like you were hesitating..you knew before you came." He reprimanded me, I looked irritated. I furrowed my brow slightly, I didn't know what to do or say. "Don't even think you can escape. You walked in on your own two feet."

He shattered the cell phone in his hand, I felt helpless as I watched the rest fall to the ground. As if the world stopped, I became absorbed, without thinking about anything. I was just dissociating.

Zap!

I heard a click near my ear that brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at whose hand it was and it was Reiji who let out a heavy sigh.

What? What did I do?

"I'm telling you again, did you understand what I said?" Subaru asked annoyed.

Understand what? What did I miss?

"What?" I asked him back. He gave me a very bad face, so much so that it made me shudder in fear.

"That if you try to escape you're dead" He said with harshness in his words. I only slightly opened my mouth but my words wouldn't come out. I preferred to stay silent.

"Little bitch~ Did it affect you that much that Subaru broke your cell phone?" He asked in my ear.

"Looks like the sacrifice is stupid..hehe" Kanato commented with an amused smile.

I kept quiet, I didn't know what to say. I looked at Reiji who seemed to be examining me with his eyes.

I want to go to my room. I need to sleep.

As if Reiji had read my mind I cleared my throat a little. "If there is nothing else to say. Follow me" I nodded.

"Reiji, don't bite her. ‘Yours truly’ will be the first to do it" Ayato exclaimed. Boy did he like to be the first in everything.

Reiji said nothing, turned around and started walking. As I didn't want to stay with everyone, I followed him again. I looked out of the corner of my eye at the room where everyone was, it seems that Subaru claimed to Ayato.

𓇢𓆸

We were walking through the corridors, silence prevailing. We had nothing to talk about.

Where is Yui, is it that I should ask?

"Reiji" I said standing behind him. He turned to look at me and I followed. "Where is the other girl?" I asked he stopped looking at me and was silent for a few moments.

"Sleeping, she'll show up tomorrow" He said downplaying the matter. I just nodded.

We kept walking until we reached a door, Reiji opened the door and motioned for me to come in. I examined the room, it was big, the furniture looked old. But it was very nice, it gave that nice gothic look.

"Chiyo" Reiji spoke. I turned to look at him letting him know I was paying attention to him. "I hope you recognize your place. You must know like Subaru said. There is no escape" He looked at me seriously, I nodded to let him know I was aware.

Before he left he gave me a strange look, somewhere between a bit of curiosity, irritation and domination. I let out a sigh when I was all alone, I lay down on the bed and looked at the ceiling.

I must do something. I must find out what happened to the real Chiyo. I must find a way to live.

I told myself, my eyes feeling heavy and my energy drained. The excessively dark atmosphere made me exhausted. One thing was certain. Something strange happened.

[aangarchy]

What is twin avatars? I’ve heard of “Yue was going to be the avatar if Aang lived his cycle” and that one’s cool but never heard of the twins

It's a theory that's been around for a while. Ppl think that if twins are being born while the previous avatar dies, the avatar spirit would somehow manifest in both twins, resulting in twin avatars. Usually this is paired with one of the avatars being "evil". They never explain why one would be evil though lol. This theory however does not make sense bc twins aren't born at the same time, there can be minutes or even hours in between the birth of twins. So only one twin can be born at the same time the previous avatar dies. Also i'm quite certain that it's impossible to split Raava into two.

Another popular theory is that if one twin is the avatar, aka a reincarnation of Raava, the other twin would carry the spirit of Vaatu and be a dark avatar. Once again this makes no sense bc Vaatu is not attached to any human being, and therefore isn't able to reincarnate. There was a short while where he was attached to Unalaq, but Korra destroyed both, leaving Unalaq disintegrated and Vaatu needing to remanifest which could take thousands of years.

It's very weird that people seem so enamored with these theories bc they don't even sound that cool to me. Why is it always a thing that when there's one being with superhuman abilities, and the lore establishes that it can only be One Being, that people automatically go "ok but what if there were two". Like it makes no sense and it makes the idea of an avatar less special.

Also think of the worldbuilding problems twin avatars would create. What if they don't agree on each other's idea of balance? What if one says yes to sign a treaty and the other doesn't? In the Kyoshi novels it's established that when Yun (the kid falsely thought to be the avatar) oversaw trades deals, peace treaties and made diplomatic decisions, all of those were declared null and void as soon as it was discovered that he wasn't the avatar. It would be near impossible to declare which treaty is legit and which isn't if it's only signed by one of the twin avatars.