You know what I find frustrating with Shen Jiu fans sometimes ? Just because he had reasons and maybe didn't do other things he was accused of, it feels like that either justify his behavior towards Binghe and/meant it wasn't that bad when he was so abusive ?
Shen Yuan discovers that he had reasons and a tragic backstory and never once does he try to justify his abuse, he is very much "cool backstory still hurting a child who did nothing wrong" and he has so much of this that he makes the choice for Binghe and assumes he wouldn't forgive him either for that and the abyss (when it's not his choice to make).
I wouldn’t mind people discussing the complexity of Shen Jiu if it did not come paired with the need to absolve him of his shitty personality. Shen Jiu is a serial abuser who did 100% of the things he was accused of with only some of those things having a secret intent that others didn’t know about. He does go to brothels but people just didn’t know why, he is antagonistic and physically violent towards Liu Qingge because of an imagined slight, and he has abused multiple children outside of Luo Binghe out of jealousy, so much so that many left the sect before Luo Binghe became the newest target. People trying to excuse his worst behavior because a few of his lesser actions had not-bad motivations is nonsensical, since the reason why people won’t side with him to begin with is because of his toxic personality.
A great example of just how much Shen Jiu made his own bed is the Water Prison arc. Shen Jiu gets thrown into the water prison with no defenders (yqy defends him but not his actions) because with how maliciously he treated people, no one doubted that he would act maliciously in any situation. Shen Yuan, in the same situation accused of the same crimes, gets defended almost to the point of violence breaking out, making it so that he had to willingly relinquish himself to avoid a fight, because with how kindly he acted towards everyone, no one could believe that he’d either 1) kill an entire household or 2) do so without a good reason. Neither man chooses to justify their actions or deny the accusations in the face of the scrutiny, but one is immediately condemned while the other is given the benefit of the doubt. What a massive difference.
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I’m back to thinking about SJ avatar style, so get ready for some rambling.
CW: mentions of trauma and abuse via administered electric shocks
One thing’s stuck in my head about this particular AU of an AU. Leading up to the revolution where animatronics are granted rights, I would think one of the main driving forces behind that is animatronics discovering the ability to bend as well. Up until then, they’ve been treated as machines beneath humans. Not all humans can bend, but they are the sole beings who can. That is, until animatronics discover on their own that they have the ability to bend water, air, earth, and fire—lightning, metal, lava, and ice, every and any iteration of the four elements—just like humans can.
I don’t think it would take them long to discover that they are equivalent to humans in this manner. So in an effort to control the animatronics and hide their bending prowess to further the mindset that humans are above machines, chi blockers would be introduced. Maybe in this specific world, it’s a chip inserted into the animatronics that keeps them from connecting to the elements or figuring out if they even can bend. But nothing can ever be kept silent forever, and when word gets out about this process, advocation for animatronic rights begins to ramp up full throttle. You can only bury the truth for so long before someone else comes around and digs it up.
That’s all to say that I believe the extraction of these chi blocking chips, while severely dangerous but doable with the correct knowledge and force, is exactly what the daycare attendants learn. It starts with Eclipse enduring a terrible cruel shock from the owners for not responding to their call quick enough. What they don’t account for is how this continued abuse is just what he needs in order to dismantle the chip that’s kept him from an intrinsic part of himself since his creation.
In the shadows of the daycare one night, he unscrews the panel in the back of his head, finds the partially working chip, and rips it out.
He blacks out and comes to hours later, hooked up to a charging port and the owners screaming at him because they’ve had to close the daycare for the day due to his supposed incompetence. His fragile wires in the back of his faceplate are still exposed, but the humans make no mention of it, having no understanding of what’s happened or what he’s done.
And that sets into motion what few other animatronics have come to learn on their own: that the chip is removable, and something crucial has been kept from their reach for far too long.
I think there would be a more violent uprising. Those who regain their bending are still outnumbered, but their message reaches the ears of the people who do care, and it becomes a unity of animatronics and humans demanding equal rights be granted. Freedom is still an uphill battle, but it doesn’t escape their grasp.
Like the events of SJ, I imagine that Sun, Moon, and Eclipse still don’t break free until animatronic rights have been established, and the owners have to kick them out. But there’s a strong chance that prior to that, Eclipse removes the chi blocking chips in each of his brothers’ heads, a methodical surgery that comes with the unfortunate need to fry the things first before they can be removed. And wouldn’t you know it, he just so happens to be a firebender with the unshakable urge to use his ability to take back what they are all owed.
He’s not as precise with his fire, still new to it aside from the secret snatches of hours he’s practiced creating it with his hands. He nearly ends up scorching Sun’s delicate wires, something that has him even more afraid to try it again, especially on Moon, but they need this freedom. They need to know like he does what was stolen from them. They need to have it to be ready in case… just in case.
Moon takes to his waterbending like a duck to water. He does have a brief incident where he accidentally gets spooked and ices his hands and nearly panics, but Eclipse melts it right off with a heated flash of his palm. Sun’s practice is a little less than stellar in his eagerness, not for lack of want but because his bending doesn’t come right away. It doesn’t click like it does with the others, and it causes a deep frustration in him that he might not be a bender like them. His frustration and disappointment grow until one night during a practice session following a truly rough day, he claims that it’s just not going to work and in a rather rare show of deep upset, he kicks a stack of crates, wanting to just channel out some of that hurt in a harmless way.
The ball of fire that shoots from his foot lights the crates ablaze, and the three brothers have to quickly stamp out the fire before it can grow. As soon as it’s controlled and doused, Eclipse rounds on Sun with pure excitement that shows the flames of hellfire in his very eyes, and he clasps Sun’s shoulders and proudly tells him that that’s what he needs to channel his fire. He needs anger, he needs rage, just like Eclipse. That’s how he can bend. Eclipse will show him how.
Sun is… not enthused by this. He’s not angry; he was just frustrated. A small moment of anguish because of how he wants to have this connection with his brothers. Moon doesn’t need anger to waterbend. It just dances to his call like it’s meant to.
But with no one else to teach him and with Eclipse being so proud of Sunny for being just like him, proving that he’s right about this, Sun can’t say no. He begins to learn the way Eclipse wants him to, and he struggles to voice his discomfort at needing rage to kindle his fire. It’s why it doesnt come as a shock to him that his fire staggers and fails to remain bright and beautiful after the small incident.
Sun isn’t angry, not truly. He was made for love and compassion and justice, but not anger. His fire is never as brilliant as his older brother’s, and though Eclipse keeps pushing him and encouraging him in the only way he knows, his own frustration at Sun’s inability to progress is still just under the surface. He blames the owners, of course. They’re the ones holding Sun back. They must be, since they’re to blame for everything else.
When they are freed, it is no less rough. But Sun is exposed to a whole world of possibilities, and in the long spans of Eclipse’s absence as he fights to make them survive, Moon spars with and teaches Sun what he’s learned. To their surprise, Sun is able to apply it to his own bending, and together, they create a bond built on striving to use their bending to make the city a better place. They train endlessly so that one day, they can use it to show their strength in the police academy.
It’s the first of many walls that build between them and Eclipse. And it highlights the forces behind their bending that let them become in tune with their core elements. Slowly realizing that this will be the start of what separates them, and the first time Sun and Moon turn their bending on Eclipse without holding back is when they’re detectives and jumping out of range of his sizzling dark blue fire.
That’s when they’re certain there’s no turning back now. Eclipse has already burned the bridge between them and now uses the very tool that he taught them how to wield against his own family. He has become like those he hates, those he blames and faults for the city’s imperfection. He lusts for power and control, and when the old daycare is set ablaze in searing blue fire one pitch black night, it’s just another step in that direction. And wouldn’t it be ironic if he starts the blaze with an electrical fire, envisioning all those days spent under the fury of the owners’ controlled shocks and using those horrid memories to fuel his anger as lightning turns to flames.
The detectives are powerless to do anything but fight back, and it leaves horrible scars that are visible to no one but them.
No one, that is, until the vigilante comes around.
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Wow me, drawing Jersey? Craazzzyyyyy
Anyway, I had an original design for this type of look on the Ipad, ended up not looking at it once since I apparently have memory. Kinda glad I didn't since I could go just by memory and figure it out as I went along ya know. (ps, for those who don't normally read tags just like, please do, i put so many lil things in there lolz)
Okay SO, I have this lil headcanon, nothin big, that Jersey didn't used to wear shorts until like 2000 or something, maybe a bit before then. This is because he has some scars on his legs, just from over the years, and wearing shorts not only shows those but also make it easier for him to get scrapes and such.
He was fine wearing shorts around NY, Del, and Rhode, occasionally Mass as well if he happened to be around at the time. He couldn't wear them around anyone else for a long time, some scars had Memories(tm) attached to them, some good most bad, so he just never wore shorts.
He's gotten a lot more comfortable wearing them around the other states over the years, mainly because of Covid where Mass unfortunately wouldn't let him keep wearing the same two pairs of pants. So he's fine now, if still a lil uncomfortable around some states (the west mainly), you just won't see him wearing them until it's the first day over 60 in state.
Anyway I love NJ but this isn't surprising, I live here. I am NOT a simp for this bitch, he's my state, I have to like him, 'sides who else would I attach to? Pennsylvania? Florida? Or god forbid NEW YORK!? Absolutely not, that's sacrilegious that is.
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slams hand down do it you know you want to do it,,, sugar daddy au and now its just awkward as fuck but they get to Deal with It. bonus points for people laughing at them in the background. i am your inner demon whispering that this is a good idea and you should absolutely write it (no pressure ofc!!! take your time and its fine if you want to!!!)
for ship names. yeah very sad. i havent settled on like. a combination of their names that sound appealing to me so im just. sitting there awkwardly in Yun Taeheon x Shin Junseo. simple but it works. ill bonk my brain for ideas later,, i have cut down on thigns i need to hand in tomorrow im procrastinating because the thing i need to do is so horribly boring
maybe the korean side of the fandom has something going on but that would require me to go on twitter and figure out what korean words to put in the search box and I'm already failing at "go on twitter".
sdkhldfkhg the inner demons are winning. now I'm kinda contemplating how this would even start, which made me realize we know fuck all about Shin Junseo's past??? We only knew that apparently he had a shitty job before he awakened and didn't have any friends and seemingly also has no family.
So like? Local man signs up on an app bc honestly at this point being a sugar baby would not be worse than another horrible shift at whatever minimum wage job he has to pay the bills?
And cool, he hits it off with Yun Taeheon, something something business man. It's a lot less hollywood-pretty-woman than he expected, more nice dinners with genuinely entertaining discussions, and sure getting laid is nice too, and then, well, the world goes to shit for a hot second and well, the contract written before runs out, isn't renewed and Shin Junseo has a moment between picking up a shitty job again and awakening where he comfortably lives on his savings while his,,, ex? well, no, ex would be implying they dated. boss is also not quite the term, his previous situationship, made himself a guild master.
whatever.
and then the world goes even more to shit and he drags corpses and the memories of a world annihilated out of a dungeon. He makes his plan, keeps his head down and then fucking Yun Taeheon is standing in front of him again.
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