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pearl-pilots-in-chains · 3 years

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Ice Cream Expertise (All the Little Lights #1)

Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Ships: Kawoshin

Rating: G

Summary: Shinji is faced with a dilemma of sorts, and is characteristically indecisive. Fortunately, Kaworu is there to give some helpful advice. Or maybe just call himself an ice cream expert. Let's be honest, it's a bit of both.

Notes: This is intended to be the start to All the Little Lights, my attempt at a relatively happy Evangelion high school AU featuring the pilots we know (and maybe love) actually getting to live a normal life (including all the cute gay romance they deserve). That said, it also works totally fine as a one shot. Considering it's an AU, there's going to be some rather interesting deviations from canon, some of which are alluded to here. So, if something seems off, that's probably because it is.

As usual, any errors, grammatical or typographical, are mine. I apologize in advance.

This was originally posted to my old AO3 on May 21, 2020. I hope you enjoy it!

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Shinji Ikari was not having a good day. No, perhaps that was an understatement. He was having a distinctly bad day. School had been tedious to say the least, considering that testing week was approaching, and the teachers seemed to be doing their best to “prepare” the students using every form of academic torture known to humankind. Okay, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it had been a hectic hell all the same. Not to mention the fact that his best friend Touji was going through a rough patch (not the first one, mind you), with his girlfriend Hikari, which led to a tense mood within their friend group outside of class as well. Adding onto this was the fact that he was getting worried about his sister (what wasn’t new?) Rei, who had been especially quiet the past week or so, even by her standards. That was usually a sign that her depression was going through a rough spot. He had wanted to mention something to his mother about it, considering she usually had better luck at getting through to Rei than he did when his sister was going through a difficult time, but unsurprisingly, he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. He was gone too often, and his mother was gone too often. There was all of a one to two hour period when they were both home and awake on any given night. Rei always ending up alone probably doesn’t help her state of mind improve either. I wish she had more friends. People she could connect with.

And, of course, to top all that wonderful baggage off, he had had work after school, which had gone lovely. Just lovely. A simply wonderful group of customers had come in, and stayed for a better part of three hours, ordering intermittently while they all talked (way too loudly, in his opinion) at their shared table, which, in a predictable move, they hadn’t even bothered to clean off. He was a barista, not a waiter, despite what some people seemed to think. To make matters worse, they had been laughing so hard partway through their “discussion,” that one of the party had practically flung her iced latte through the air by accident (how someone could do that by accident, was a whole other topic for conversation), sending its contents flying halfway across the room (in a bafflingly impressive display, he had to admit, as irritating as it was). Of course, he had drawn the short straw and been the one tasked with cleaning it up. His boss seemed to get a special satisfaction out of giving Shinji all the “fun,” jobs. Okay, maybe Mr. Anno’s not that bad, but he still gets a kick out of watching me suffer. Or something like that.

Shinji sighed as he pulled his car into the store parking spot. As he exited it, he glanced down at his phone. 7:16. That meant he should have enough time to get home and get dinner going before his mother got home. These days, it seemed as though she worked progressively later and later. It had been a couple months since she’d been home before 8. She was almost certainly still out at the base at that moment. Whatever project she’s working on now is one of the more intensive ones.

He headed for the doors. He was planning on making stir fry, which meant that he needed to get soy sauce for sure, since he knew they had run out from the last time. He thought they had most of the rest of what he needed at home. So, this should be a quick run. Just in and out. After a day like today though, he was tempted to grab something sweet. Come on, after this whole mess, I think I at least half deserve something to take my mind off of it. Just a little.

Inside, he made a bee line for the condiments aisle. Alright, first things first. Get what I need. Then, maybe, I’ll just check out what they have. He grabbed soy sauce, and then wavered for a moment, trying to decide just for what he was in the mood. Okay, just something little. Nothing too big. I am going to be cooking, after all. Hmmm . . . I mean, it’s probably not the best idea, but . . .

Making his decision, he set off for the frozen section. Once again, he paused when he arrived at the aisle, looking through the glass freezer doors at the available options. I’ll just get a pint. That should be more than enough. Even if Rei goes for some too. ‘Cause mom hardly ever eats anything sweet, so I doubt she’ll have any. He tilted his head, tapping the soy sauce bottle against his thigh as he considered the selection. Why are there so many flavors? I didn’t even realize they sold Pumpkin outside of November. And Lime-Raspberry? What would that even taste like? Who comes up with these things? I’ll go for something classic. I could always do Vanilla. But, that’s a little boring. I don’t even really like it that much. Chocolate’s always classic, except that Rei doesn’t like it. And her favorite is Cookie Dough, which I don’t like the texture of . . . there are way too many choices here. Running his eyes over the racks, he did a quick count. Forty-two different flavors. Why are there forty-two different flavors? I wonder if anyone’s ever tried them all. Then again, that might take a while. And be kind of pricey. Dammit, I’m getting distracted again. The only conclusion that Shinji was coming to was the fact that he liked ice cream far too much, and was wasting far more time than he should be trying to pick out something. Maybe I should just get the soy sauce and head home. He peaked down at his phone. 7:29. Yeah, I’ve already been here longer than I should be.

A voice interrupted Shinji’s thoughts. “So, what’s your drug of choice?”

Shinji head snapped to the side, his concentration broken. “What?,” He asked, a little surprised.

The source of the interruption was standing a little further down the aisle, casually leaning on one of the freezer windows, his head cocked to the side, watching Shinji with a friendly smile on his face. Shinji thought the interrupter looked to be about the same age as him, though that fact was complicated slightly by the fact that though his face was youthful, his hair was an ashen grey. He must dye it. Is grey hair a style though? The interrupting individual sported a pair of black jeans and a band shirt for a group whose name looked vaguely familiar to Shinji. Porcupine Tree . . . I feel like Rei might listen to them. Maybe. Not to mention the fact that the newcomer had red eyes. Red eyes. Okay, so maybe this is a look he’s going for. I mean, those are definitely contacts, right? Unless there’s a genetic mutation I’ve never heard of, I don’t think humans can be born with red eyes. Which means that they’re contacts. Which means that the hair is almost definitely dyed too. I’m pretty sure that’s not what ‘scene’ looks like . . . there’d be brighter colors . . . and I don’t think it’s emo either . . . I’m pretty sure his hair would be black then . . . huh . . . maybe that’s goth. Yeah. Let’s go with that. In addition to making him second guess what scene fashion looked like, Shinji’s visual analysis of the interrupter also led him to a more definite conclusion. That regardless of what category his fashion fell under, he was pretty cute. Seriously Shinji, focus here, and stop thinking about how some random boy in Safeway who asked you what type of drugs you like is cute. Don’t be an idiot. Sure, you haven’t been on a date in months, ever since Martin broke up with you, but he was a manipulative jerk anyway— Shinji realized the interrupter had started talking again, which snapped him back into reality and out of his wandering mind.

“Yeah. What flavor is your favorite. I mean, out of the forty-two, there has to be one you’d pick, right?”

“Oh. Yeah. Probably cookies ’n’ cream,” Shinji answered, feeling more than a bit confused. On an afterthought, he added, “You’ve counted all the flavors too?”

“Not a bad choice,” the boy said with a firm nod. “Although, I’m more into mint chocolate chip myself. And yes, I’ve counted them all. It’s an important part to being an ice cream expert. Keeping track of the available flavors at the nearest store.”

“Okaayyy.” Shinji’s tone betrayed his uncertainty concerning just how he should deal with this stranger. “Ice cream expert?”

“Yep, that would be me,” the boy replied matter-of-factly, as though the question was a pointless one. He strolled over to Shinji and extended his hand. “Kaworu Akagi, ice cream expert, at your service.”

Shinji shook the offered hand, deciding he should be polite, despite the fact that his perplexity had not been substantially diminished in any way. This guy is . . . interesting, to say the least. As their hands met, Shinji was struck by the strange, but intense, sense that this wasn’t his first time meeting Kaworu.

“Shinji Ikari.” Against his better judgement, he decided to follow his introduction with, “Have we met before?”

Retracting his hand, Kaworu pursed his lips, ostensibly mulling over the question in his mind. After a few moments, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. At least, not that I can recall. I just got into town a few days ago. Why do you ask?”

Shinji shrugged, trying to play off his earlier question. “Oh, I think you just reminded me of someone I used to know.”

Kaworu nodded, seeming to accept this answer. “Ah, that makes sense. So, have you come to a conclusion, or would you like a second opinion?”

Shinji raised an eyebrow. “About the ice cream, you mean?”

“Indeed. That is the topic on the floor, as they say,” Kaworu responded nonchalantly.

Shinji blinked. “Who says?”

“Why, they do of course.”

“Oh. Umm, alright.” Shinji looked back through the window, surveying his options once more. A obvious choice didn’t present itself. “Well . . . I suppose a second opinion probably wouldn’t hurt.”

“Great,” Kaworu stated, his tone even and pleasant. “Any occasion in particular you’re buying for?”

Shinji shook his head. “Nope, not really. Just . . .” he hesitated, uncertain how much he wanted to tell someone who was still basically a stranger to him. “Just a bad day,” was what he ended up deciding on.

Kaworu pretended to stroke nonexistent hairs on his chin, nodding slowly as did so, in an amusing imitation of the stereotypical philosopher. “Hmm . . . ice cream for a bad day, you say?”

“Uh. Yeah. I guess so.”

“I’d have to recommend Cherry Chip for that. It’s a guaranteed mood improver from my experience. It is nearly impossible to feel down while you’re eating Cherry Chip ice cream.”

“Really?” Shinji’s ice wandered down the display, finally locating the flavor in question. Fortunately, they had it in pint size, which meant that the option was on the table. He couldn’t think of any reason not to go for it. As far as he knew, Rei liked Cherry Chip. At least, he thought she did. He wasn’t entirely sure that he’d ever seen her eat it. For that matter, he wasn’t entirely sure that he’d ever eaten it himself. Which means it might be pretty good, and I just don’t know it yet. You never know. “Really. Trust me, I’ve tested its potency. It won’t let you down.”

“Alright. Why not?” Shinji opened the door and grabbed a pint of Cherry Chip. He examined the container in his hands for a few seconds, before looking back up at Kaworu, who now seemed to be smiling in encouragement, which had the effect of making him look even cuter than before. Come on Shinji, don’t get distracted! Sure, he might be attractive, but he’s also a self-proclaimed ice cream expert. . . not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing yet, to be honest.

“That’ll do the job,” Kaworu remarked, in a straightforward tone that made it sound as though he was utterly confident in the truth of his words.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Shinji furrowed his brow as another question popped into his mind. “Hey .. . you said you just got into town a few days ago. How is it that you already know all the different flavors they have here?”

“It was one of the first things I scoped out after we got into town. Always important to know what kind of ice cream game you’re going to be dealing with. Plus, I had plenty of free time once we finished unpacking, considering I won’t be in school up here until the fall.”

“Ah, okay. That makes sense.” Almost on a whim, Shinji was tempted to ask Kaworu where he had moved from, but decided that could come across as prying a little too much, since Kaworu hadn’t offered that information. As it was, Kaworu gave a partial answer to the question without Shinji even verbalizing it.

“School down south ends earlier. Though, to be fair, it also starts earlier there as well. We left a couple days after my semester ended. Which means I currently have relatively few obligations, other than locating and obtaining a job for the summer.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Shinji still wasn’t exactly sure how to respond, but he decided to field a question of his own. He figured it could come across as a polite inquiry, rather than being nosy, taking into account what Kaworu had just revealed. “So, what brought you up north?”

“My mother got transferred out to the base,” Kaworu returned offhandedly.

Shinji tilted his head in response to this answer, the gears in his brain turning. Well, that’s interesting. He almost wanted to make some sort of follow-up remark expressing their similarity in that regard, but he decided that might be a bit too much to say for the moment. Instead, he merely offered a casually, “I gotcha.” He continued with an amiable, “Well, welcome to Asherdale,” along with a more ironic, “It’s halfway decent, once you get used to it.”

Kaworu’s face broken into a grin at the humor, an expression that Shinji couldn’t help but feel made him look all the more attractive. Oops, getting distracted again. . . don’t do that . . . too much.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Kaworu said warmly.

“No problem.” The thought suddenly entering his mind, Shinji shot a momentary glance down at his phone. Hmm, what time is it? The answer was 7:37. 7:37?! I’ve been talking for eight minutes?! That felt like four or five at the most. I have to bail, now, if I’m going to make it home in time to get cooking.

He looked back up at Kaworu, who was still watching him, his gaze soft, the smile still on his face, his head tilted to the side. Shinji had the strange feeling that if it had been anyone else, the observational pose the boy had struck would have looked unusual, to say the least, but somehow, on Kaworu, it didn’t look half bad. It gives him a kind of elegant aesthetic . . . okay, where did I come up with that? I definitely need to head out.

“Hey, look, I’m sorry to leave so quick, but I need to get going.” Shinji cringed a little internally, hearing the awkward tone in his voice. You could have said that in a way that didn’t basically announced the fact that it made you flustered. Great going.

“Understandable. You wouldn’t want that ice cream to melt before you get the chance to test out its powers.”

“Haha, yeah, you know it.”

Kaworu nodded, imply that yes, he did indeed know it. “Why don’t I give you my number?” He remarked. “That way, you’ll have someone on hand for any future ice cream dilemmas.”

“Ahhh . . .” Okay, that was actually kind of smooth, in an odd way. And . . . it’s not like it could really hurt anything. I mean, he didn’t even ask for my number. Which means he’s not even necessarily flirting with me. It’d probably be a bit of stretch to say he is. After all, if I have his number, and he doesn’t have mine, that means I can choose whether I want to text him or not, and there’s nothing he can do about it. Which isn’t really a good way to flirt with somebody. I think I’m stalling again here . . .”

Shinji noticed Kaworu was watching him again, waiting for a response. “Sure. Sounds like a good plan.” He pulled out his phone and hastily created a new contact, before offering it to Kaworu. “Here, you can put it in.”

Kaworu nodded, his smile remaining intact, and typed in the digits, before handing it back to Shinji. “It was nice to meet you, Shinji Ikari,” he commented affably.

“You can just call me Shinji,” Shinji quickly responded.

“Alright then. It was nice to meet you Shinji.”

“You too . . .” Should I use first and last name like he did the first time? Or just go with first name. I don’t want to offend him, if that’s the sort of thing that’s important to him. After all, he does seem a bit, umm, particular.

“You can just call me Kaworu,” the boy suggested, his smile widening.

“It was nice to meet you Kaworu,” he finished lamely. “Guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yes, maybe so.”

Shinji nodded again, spun on his heels, and promptly made for the registers. Well, that went excellently. You meet a boy who’s kind of cute, even if he is a little eccentric, and straight off the bat, you’re second guessing yourself and fumbling for words. Fantastic.

Shinji shot a brief glance back as he reached the end of the aisle, to see that Kaworu was now retrieving an ice cream carton of his own from the merchandise freezer. Shinji turned away again before the boy could look back in his direction. Don’t want him to think I’m staring at him or something.

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Shinji collapsed back onto his bed with a satisfied sigh. He was glad to have finally reach it, after the nigh-interminable day. Well, maybe not quite interminable. But definitely overlong. Without much thought, he grabbed his phone from his nightstand and spun in about in his hands a couple times, feeling the sensation of the textured case against his skin.

Dinner had been a success, such as it could be, anyway. He had impressed himself with just how fast he managed to throw things together when he went into slight (well, maybe more than slight) panic mode.

The ice cream had been a success as well. He had to admit, Cherry Chip was a pretty good flavor. He still wasn’t sure whether he had tried it before or not, but he was glad he had definitively tried it now. Rei had also enjoyed it, which was an added plus. In fact, their mother had even had a bowl, something altogether unexpected. Apparently, Cherry Chip ice cream was one of the sweets she would indulge in. Didn’t see that coming. All in all, the majority of the pint was no more.

Powering on his phone, Shinji was faced with another choice for the evening. Unlike his earlier ice cream deliberation, however, this cerebration was of a cursory duration. After a few seconds, he had composed the text, and was hovering over the send button. Alright. Let’s do this. He tapped the icon.

Shinji I.: Thanks for the recommendation. It was a good choice! Lol. This is Shinji, btw.

The response to his message came swiftly. Wow, he must type fast.

Kaworu A.: Happy to be of service. I’m glad it worked out.

Shinji found a smile edging its way across his lips. Maybe, in spite of everything, today wasn’t such a bad day after all.

#evangelion #fanfic #kawoshin #shinji ikari #kaworu nagisa #shinji x kaworu #neon genesis evangelion #eva #fanfiction #high school au

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insomniacowl · 4 years

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Neon Genesis Evangelion analysis chapter 11: Eva Unit-02 Mother of Asuka

Trigger warning: Suicide

First time we see Unit – 02 in action

Evangelion Unit – 02 is the third Eva unit that was produced. After the prototype Unit – 00, and test type Unit – 01, Unit – 02 was the very first production type model. Thus, it had improved upon problems that exist on the first two. In simpler words, it is the Unit best designed for battle against the angels.

Unlike the previous two models, Unit – 02 stands out in its difference in design. Contrasted to the Red coolant and brown-toned skin of the previous two, this model has a purplish coolant and dark green skin. Furthermore, it was made with four-eyes, have sharper facial outlines, and a generally slimmer body that makes it resemble a person much more.

My theory regarding this design choice is that there might have been attempts to emphasize the connection between Evas and humans.

Design sketch for Unit – 02 in the making of End of Evangelion

The physical appearance aside, let us talk about Unit – 02’s core. Just like how Unit – 01 contains Shinji’s mother, Ikari Yui’s soul, Unit – 02’s core also contains Asuka’s mother, Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin’s soul. This is a fact that many Eva fans would be familiar with. But there is another fact that is not mentioned as often nor in detail.

Firstly, Unlike Yui whose soul was absorbed into the core completely during the contact experiment, Kyoko’s soul was split into half; only the half that contained Kyoko’s motherly love for Asuka was absorbed into the Unit-02’s core, leaving the other half devoided of her love for Asuka. (The possibility for soul splitting will be important in the discussion of Unit-00’s core)

This is why Kyoko did not die after the experiment and lived a short life in the state that we hear Asuka recount.

Yet it would be inaccurate to think that Unit – 02 contains only the soul of the motherly side of Kyoko, and this is one of the common misconceptions many viewers have when they discuss this topic. In the world of Evangelion, the body and the Soul are clearly different from each other. This means that even when Kyoko’s body has died, the soul did not necessarily disappear. Rather, accounting for the fact that since half of the soul was already inside Unit – 02’s soul, there is a high likelihood that the remaining half was absorbed into the Unit-02’s core when Kyoko’s physical body has died.

We can say that this is the exact moment when Unit – 02’s core became “Complete”; it was complete not when the contact experiment took place, but rather when Kyoko’s physical body has died. This view is supported by the fact that Asuka’s pilot training began around this time as well.

But we should also keep in mind that Kyoko’s soul stayed as two separate entities even when they entered Unit – 02’s core.

Please don’t give up yet! / Please die with me!

One proof of this is in End of Evangelion, part ‘Air’ before Asuka realized her mother’s presence. We hear Kyoko’s kind voice whispering “I won’t leave you to die, you must live on” mixed in with Kyoko’s angry voice screaming “Please die with me”. While this is a representation of the severity of Asuka’s trauma, it also serves to show the viewers that two Kyoko’s souls exist concurrently in the Core and are talking to Asuka separately.

Further proof of this is in episode 24 where Tabris can freely move unit – 02 (Since it is made out of his body after all), he points out that he cannot synchronize with Unit-02 as there is already a soul “Trapped” within it. If we were to think that the soul inside Unit – 02’s core was only the motherly half of Kyoko, it is a sentence that does not make sense. However, if we consider that there are two souls in the Core that are competing against each other for control, we can better make sense why Tabris used the word “Trapped” to describe the state of Kyoko’s soul(s) in the core.

Let die together… Asuka

Now let’s turn our attention to Kyoko herself. We know that she is Asuka’s mother and that she was working on the E-project in Gehirn’s facility in Germany. She took part in the Contact experiment as Yui did and suffered hefty damage to her mental state due to it.

She did not die when this happened. But she was no longer able to recognize her daughter, Asuka and lived the rest of her life believing the doll she had to be her daughter. Kyoko in this state referred to this doll as Asuka and later on hung herself with the doll in an attempt at double suicide with her daughter.Unfortunately, young Asuka witnessed this scene and it became a source of great trauma in her young mind.

To add on, the Langley in Asuka’s name is from her father. To describe him, we can call him the garbage of a person. When Kyoko was isolated in the hospital, he was already having an affair with Kyoko’s doctor.

To add on, on the day of Kyoko’s funeral, Langley was already married to this doctor (The person Asuka now refers to as mother). Since this is conveyed to us not in detail nor visually, but in symbolically, it is easy to miss without an attentive viewing of the episode. Yet it is an important piece of the plot that tells the tragic story of Asuka’s cruel and dysfunctional family.

It tells us that Kyoko was not loved in any way, shape, or form from her husband, and Kyoko was nothing if not for her motherly love Asuka.

I am strong. So I won’t cry. I will think for myself.

Coming back to Asuka, even if her mother were inside of unit – 02, she was unable to realize her presence, neither was Kyoko in a state that would allow her to communicate with Asuka.

Yet fortunately, Eva can be moved if its harmonics with the pilot is above a certain level, and this harmonic can be forced into sync if the pilot have enough willpower. That is how all three pilots, Rei, Shinji, and Asuka were able to pilot the Eva well enough for battle even before they became aware of the souls that reside inside the core.

Asuka was able to show a superior synchronization rate among the three pilots. We will touch on this in greater detail when we come around to a discussion of Asuka herself, but the point I want to raise here is to consider that Asuka was able to move her Evangelion just with her pride alone.

This also is the reason why in the later parts on the series, where she no longer felt pride in herself, her synchronization rate fell below the level required to move the Eva.

Rei: Eva won’t move if you don’t open your heart to it

Asuka: Huh? What are you saying?

Rei: Evas have their own heart and mind

Asuka: heart and mind? That doll?

We can reasonably say that the most important criteria to synchronize with and move the Evas is the willpower of the pilots in their desire to pilot the Eva.

For Asuka, this willpower comes in layers. On the surface, it was fun for herself to be able to pilot a giant mecha. But deep within her psyche, she equated her self-worth with her ability to move the Eva. Just as how Rei sees herself as worthless without her Eva; just as how Shinji is convinced that he has to pilot his Eva, Asuka too, when her Eva was taken away from her, had nothing left of herself.

That is why when Asuka’s pride came tumbling down, it was the last chance for Kyoko to help her. Yet Asuka was unable to recognize her mother’s presence inside the core and this left her to end up in the state that we see her in.

You are my doll. All you have to do is to do as I say.

For Asuka, Unit – 02 was not the person that loved her; it was too late when she realized this. To her, Eva Unit – 02 was nothing but a tool to prove her self-worth to the world. The way she calls Unit – 02 a doll symbolically parallels how Kyoko mistook the doll for her daughter. It shows us that Asuka is projecting the trauma of her childhood directly onto Unit – 02.

As Asuka calls Unit – 02 a doll, the English sub-title flashed at the bottom of the eye-catch is ‘Don’t be’.

Perhaps, this was something Kyoko worryingly wanted to communicate to Asuka.

#Neon genesis evangelion #Evangelion #Eva #End of evangelion #Nge #Nagisa Kaworu #Lilith #Sci-fi #Ikari Shinji #Soryu Asuka Langley #asuka #Ayanami Rei #rei #Anno Hideaki #Katsuragi Misato #Anime #Analysis #Review

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chemicalmagecraft · 3 years

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A Black Wind Howls Chapter 3: The Fight

A/N: I hate finals and am glad that I'm done with them. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone!

By the way, if you haven't noticed by now I decided to give all the chapters titles. A chapter that follows the events of an original ATLA name will share its title, but original chapters will have original names.

Also, in case anyone was curious, my mental image of Lhamo is that she looks and sounds like Scorpia from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, except not a scorpion and with black hair. Meanwhile, I may or may not have thought of Old Toph from TLoK a little when writing Tsering. To be honest, though, I don't really have any one character to point to for Dorji, aside from the in-universe comparison between her and Aang (though it might be more accurate to say she looks like a mix between Toph and Aang, just nobody's seen Toph yet and therefore cannot make that comparison). As for personality, according to TVTropes she might be described as a Rei Ayanami Expy, though I haven't seen Neon Genesis Evangelion so I can't say for sure if that's the best comparison. And just a little fun fact, despite being currently the shortest member of the Gaang (roughly 3'11, and I found a thing that says that Aang is 4'6, Katara is 4'9, and Sokka is 4'11, though it wasn't exactly official so it might be slightly off) she is the second oldest, being a few months older than Katara. Assuming you count Aang as 12 and not 112.

oOoOo

Previously on Avatar...

The firebender that the girl had hit shakily got back up and punched at the airbender's back. Only a puff of smoke came from his fist.

"My name is Dorji. I'm an airbender."

"The power of airbending may have survived through my family line, but unfortunately the spirit of the Air Nomads lives on only through you." Aang winced at that comment.

"Should you really be stealing moon peaches?" Aang asked her in a slightly accusatory tone.

Dorji shrugged. "Not stealing."

Lhamo gasped and hugged the three. "Dorji has friends her age!"

"Is that you, Tsering?" Aang asked.

Tsering grimaced. "I survived."

At some point Katara had shifted in her sleep, ending up with her arm hooked around Dorji's waist. Judging from the red glow dusting her cheeks and ears Dorji had some very conflicting feelings about this. "Shiiiiit..." she muttered softly.

Aang simply couldn't sleep.

oOoOo

Aang and Dorji, both very tired, grunted at each other sleepily when they met in the hall, both rubbing their eyes. "Couldn't sleep?" Aang asked.

"Couldn't sleep..." Dorji nodded after a few moments, like she hadn't heard Aang at first. While Aang had fully opened his eyes, Dorji's were still half-closed drowsily.

"I kinda stayed up all night thinking. You?"

Dorji's cheeks turned a nice shade of pink. "...Also thinking." After a silence that could have been either her insomnia-addled brain trying to think or just her having dozed off for a bit she said, "Actually could you please put your hand on my stomach?"

"What? Why?" Aang asked.

Dorji's blush returned. "I'm... curious about something."

"Oookay..." Aang looked at her weird, but carefully placed his hand on her stomach. "Why?"

Dorji grabbed Aang's arm and twirled around so that his arm ended up hooked around her waist. "Hmm... Nothing..." she muttered as she leaned on Aang's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

Dorji released his arm and started walking away. "Checking something." She sniffed the air. "Smells like Lhamo made breakfast. Let's go." She walked away before Aang could ask her more questions. Aang sighed and followed her down the hall.

"Hey, Lhamo," Dorji muttered when she walked into the dining room, turning her head slightly to face her cousin who was currently placing food on the table. Katara and Sokka were seated at the table, eating.

"Hey, what'sh up!" Sokka said in between chewing. "You two are up late!"

"Sokka, please don't talk with food in your mouth," Katara scolded.

"Itsh sho good, though!"

Lhamo smiled. "Thank you! I made it myself!"

Dorji stared at Sokka, seemingly deep in thought. Sokka swallowed. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Dorji jumped, sailing through the air to land gently on Sokka's lap, causing him to squawk in alarm. She forced his free arm around her waist. "Ew. Weird," she muttered.

"One of us is weird here and it isn't me," Sokka objected. He put down his food and picked Dorji up, placing her in the seat next to him. Dorji started snoring despite sitting up. "She is weirdly light. Is that an airbender thing?"

Lhamo rushed over to Dorji. She placed one hand on her shoulder and the other over her forehead. "Dorji are you okay? Have you been eating well?"

Dorji grunted lazily and touched the thumb of her open hand to her chest and then her chin, then started snoring again.

Lhamo put some food in front of her. "Still, you need to eat."

Dorji made a small noise, but started eating. She made another sign after a few bites of food, then stopped eating.

"Ya gotta eat more, kid," Tsering said as she entered the room. "You're worried about your dad, right?"

Dorji sniffed and nodded after a few moments.

Tsering sighed and sat down next to her, facing her despite the fact that her eyes were closed. "I am too, kid. You have to eat, though. I remember, back when I'd just escaped the massacre, I couldn't bring myself to eat at all. It... wasn't good for my health. Felt like I was floating all the time, nearly passed out a lot. Think I did pass out a few times. Remember dreaming about everything being upside-down or something... Where was I?" Dorji touched her thumb to her forehead. "Right, your father. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he busted out of prison and assassinated the Fire Lord or some of his generals, or simply razed their capitol to the ground. He can take care of himself. Now eat."

Dorji nodded and started eating again, ignoring Aang, Katara's bewildered stares from what Tsering had said about her son.

oOoOo

"Goodbye, everyone!" Lhamo said with a wave as Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Dorji boarded Appa. "It was nice meeting you all! Take care of Dorji!"

"Goodbye, Lhamo," Dorji said.

"Thanks for the pie!" Sokka shouted.

"Speaking of pie," Tsering said as she walked into the clearing, followed by a few workers bearing a box, a few sacks, and a few tubes. "I have a few gifts for you all." Despite not moving her hands from where they were clasped behind her back, the packages started floating in bubbles of air and were loaded onto Appa. "One of those is the rest of the pie from last night. Eat it before it goes bad. Those bags contain some of our produce, freshly picked." She smiled and stroked Appa's fur. "I'm sure between the sky bison and the three growing teenagers, you'll need them."

"Thanks!" Aang said. "We'll be sure to use them."

Tsering chuckled. "That's not even the thing I figured you'd like the most. The scroll tubes contain, among other things, copies of genuine Air Nomad scrolls."

Aang's eyes widened. He grabbed one of the tubes, one with the Air Nomad sigil on it, and with shaking hands carefully opened it. He reverentially pulled out a pristine scroll that also had the Air Nomad sigil on it. He unfurled it, revealing instructions for advanced airbending techniques. His eyes welled with tears and he quickly rolled the scroll up and put it back before wiping his eyes. "Y-you..."

The old woman smirked at him. "Figured you'd like that. I may not have been too cut out for the whole monk life, but I'm still an Air Nomad. I decided a while back to preserve as much of Air Nomad culture as I could, hopefully for future generations but at the very least to preserve records of my people." She chuckled. "Made a bit of name for myself in the field of anthropology as a result."

"And you're just giving these to me?" Aang asked.

She shrugged. "As I said, they're copies. I made sure to put the originals in safe hands, so don't worry too much if you lose them."

"What are the other scrolls?" Katara asked.

"I also wrote down some techniques Wangchuck and I made that Dorji might want to refresh herself on. And you might want to learn some of those, Aang." Aang looked a little uncomfortable when she said that. "Just a suggestion, kid. There's also some stuff on Air Nomad culture in there that I thought you might like, plus some recipes in case you want something from home. Aside from that, there are a few scrolls on bending the other elements that I've managed to obtain. Figured that as the Avatar you might have more use for those than me. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much more than theory for fire and water, especially because Wangchuck never fucking told me where he put his scrolls, but it's better than nothing, huh?" She smiled at Katara. "Plus I figure you might appreciate it too, Katara. You are a waterbender, are you not?"

Katara nodded. "Thank you."

"I also managed to find a scroll on healing with waterbending. It's not anything you can use in a fight but, well..." Tsering rolled up her sleeve, revealing a faded but still slightly visible burn scar. "Let's just say I speak from experience when I say that healers are the kind of thing that are always great to have around. I'll try to find practical waterbending scrolls to get to you."

Katara bowed. "You've already given us a lot. I'll try to work with what you've given me already."

Tsering shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I've got enough connections that I should be able to get you a few scrolls eventually."

"That stuff's cool and all, I guess, but I don't suppose you have anything I can use?" Sokka asked.

She nodded. "Fair enough. It might not be quite your fighting style, but there are also a few scrolls on chi blocking in there. The art was originally developed by nonbenders to give them an edge against benders. Dorji can teach the basics to you, if you want. And finally, I added in a few scrolls on Earth Kingdom Sign Language."

"Is that that weird hand thing Dorji was doing earlier?" Sokka asked.

Dorji winced and Katara glared at Sokka.

Tsering stared at him flatly. "Little rude to phrase it like that, but yeah. It's good for sneaking around because you have to be pretty fucking bad at it to make noise while doing it. And while it's not my place to tell you why, Dorji sometimes prefers talking in it so it'd be for the best if at least one of you learned enough of it to hold a conversation."

"Thank you, Grandmother," Dorji muttered shyly.

"Right, you all should leave now. Goodbye, Dorji and Aang." She waved them off with a smile.

"What about us?" Sokka asked as Appa started to rise.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you too." Despite being far away from them at this point and not speaking up at all, her voice traveled perfectly to them.

oOoOo

Aang touched Appa down in a large forest clearing so they could rest for the night. He patted Appa on the head before jumping back onto the saddle. "All right, buddy. Let's see what Tsering got you." He was a little woozy from lack of sleep, but hopefully they'd be sleeping soon so he didn't say anything about it.

Dorji jumped off of Appa and pointed at the ground by his side, making a small circle with her pointing finger. A small cloud of dust kicked up where she pointed. "I'll cushion your fall," she offered.

"Thanks!" Sokka said, then jumped down. When he hit the dust cloud his fall slowed and he fell on his ass with a yelp.

"Sorry," Dorji muttered. She moved her hand to the right slightly, and the dust cloud moved to where she was pointing. She widened her circles, causing the dust cloud to grow larger and wider. "This one should be better, hopefully."

Katara jumped. She also lost her balance when she hit the cloud, but Dorji quickly stepped forward and caught her.

"Thank you," Katara said.

"Y-you're welcome," Dorji said, blushing slightly. She immediately let go of her and stepped back a bit.

"Thanks for catching me, too," Sokka deadpanned as he got up.

"You're welcome," Dorji said.

He looked at her flatly.

Dorji tilted her head and blinked. "Was that sarcasm?" she asked.

Sokka sighed. "Yes, that was sarcasm," he said exasperatedly.

"Ah," she said. She looked a little nervous for some reason. "I'm sorry, I... have trouble with detecting tone, sometimes."

Katara glared at Sokka yet again. "How was I supposed to know that!?" Sokka snapped at Katara.

Katara sighed. "Sorry, you do have a point there. Is there anything else we should be aware of, Dorji?"

Dorji eyes widened. She blushed and gave Katara a very appreciative smile. "I... Sometimes I have... problems processing sounds. It's not too bad anymore, I hope anyway, but please be patient if I need you to repeat things," she muttered.

Katara nodded. "Okay. Is that why your grandmother said you sometimes prefer to use sign language?"

She bit her lip. "It's... part of it. I would also prefer if you faced me while speaking to me, for similar reasons. I can read lips, in case I'm having trouble with hearing."

"How do you read lips?" Sokka asked.

"Lots of practice. Start by looking at lips."

Sokka shrugged. "Fair enough."

Aang jumped off of Appa's saddle after putting the bag of apples he was feeding Appa back. "What're you guys talking about?" he asked.

Katara gave Dorji a look, as if asking her if it was okay to tell him. Dorji nodded to her. "Dorji was telling us about how she has a few... issues with hearing."

"Oh, is that what the sign language was for?" he asked.

Dorji nodded. "I can hear, but I have trouble processing sounds sometimes, if that makes sense," she clarified.

Aang nodded. "I remember one of the boys I grew up with, Dema, had an issue like that too." His face fell. "Dema..."

"I apologize," Dorji said.

"For what?"

Dorji fidgeted. "I... brought up a memory. One that must be painful for you."

Aang shook his head. "No, you didn't even know that'd remind me of Dema."

"Would... would you like something to take your mind off of it?" she offered.

"Thanks!" He smiled at her. "What do you have in mind?"

"If you're going to be fighting the Fire Nation, you need combat skills. Traditional airbending may have had martial arts, but they were mostly restricted to evasion, disengaging, and defense," she explained. She unsheathed one of her daggers and swiped it at a tree off to her side, not even breaking her gaze with Aang. A blade of wind rushed from her blade, slicing a deep gash in the ground as it kicked up a large cloud of dust and slicing the tree almost in half vertically when it hit it. "All of that is good, but you might be a bit lacking in your offensive capabilities, decisively ending a fight." She spun her dagger, then sheathed it. "Shall we begin?"

"I don't feel comfortable with that," Aang said nervously.

"Why not?"

Aang clenched his hands, a sour expression on his face. "That's... That's not airbending."

"Um... Aang?" Sokka put his hand on his shoulder. "Maybe..."

Aang forced his hand off. "No. That's not airbending."

"It is, though," Dorji rebutted. "Well, some of the moves I intend to teach you don't need airbending, but for the one I just showed you? Doing it requires you to stream air along a thin surface, like my daggers or your staff. It might be a little hard at first if you haven't done anything like that, but-"

"That's not what I mean!" Aang shouted. "You're doing it all wrong!"

Dorji sighed. "It's not wrong. Just... different. I understand that it might be upsetting to see such a different style from what you're used to, but... it's not wrong."

"It goes against all of airbending culture!" Aang shouted.

"Aang..." Katara said.

Dorji frowned slightly. "I see. You know, I had always been fascinated with grandmother's scrolls and books about the Air Nomads. Part of it was just that reading was... nice... for me, I will admit, but..." She turned away from Aang and walked a few steps away from him. She stood there for a few seconds, then sniffled and wiped her face. When she turned back around her eyes were a little red. "For a while, I wanted to be like them. They were my people, my ancestors. But at the same time, I was always worried a true Air Nomad would despise me, as I am still my father's daughter, and my father was not a traditional Air Nomad. Thank you for confirming it for me. I told you before, the pacifistic monks of the past died out a century ago. I'm not an Air Nomad. I was never an Air Nomad." She touched one of the green highlights of her clothing. "I was born of the Earth Kingdom. I was raised by the Earth Kingdom. Why should I call myself an Air Nomad?"

Aang's face contorted in anger, then softened slightly. "Fine." He turned around and walked away.

"Fine," Dorji echoed. She pulled the two halves of her father's staff from her belt and started walking towards a large rock.

Sokka and Katara sighed at the same time. "I'll talk to Aang, do you want to talk to Dorji?" Sokka asked.

"That sounds good," Katara agreed.

"Cool." Sokka started climbing back onto Appa, struggling a bit. "Let me just... get something... real quick."

While Sokka was doing that, Katara walked over to Dorji. Wielding the two halves of her father's staff like dual swords due to how long they were compared to her, Dorji swung at the rock with one segment. A wide gash appeared in it despite the fact that the staff never made contact with it. She swung with the other segment, creating a second gash. Next she slashed both, deepening and widening both of the gouges she'd made. She quickly put the two halves of the staff together and started twirling it with insane speed. The wind in the area picked up, and dust clouds flowed towards her staff. She jumped back and threw the staff at the boulder. The spinning staff cut cleanly through the boulder, grinding it in half with little resistance. After it was on the other side Dorji held her hand out to it. The staff shot back, pulverizing the upper half to smaller rocks with pure windy force. Dorji caught the staff and swung it, blowing all the rocks and dust away. She used the momentum of the swing to turn around, jabbing the end of the staff a few inches away from Katara's throat. Tears streamed down the shorter girl's face, and her hands were trembling. The air stilled again.

Katara slowly put her hand on Dorji's shoulder. The airbender stiffened a little, but didn't resist. Katara smiled at her and slowly lowered Dorji's staff with her other hand before pulling her in for a hug. Dorji dropped the staff and started sobbing. "W-why?" she asked. Katara let her go, and she rubbed her eyes. "Why can't I go a day without crying?"

Katara sat down on the remaining part of the boulder, which had conveniently been cut and smoothed into a serviceable, if a little tall, bench by Dorji's practice. She patted a spot next to her and smiled at Dorji, inviting her to sit next to her. Dorji hesitated, but slowly sat down. She tilted her head slightly to Katara, staring at her.

"When my mother died... It was hard on all of us. And the first few days were the hardest. But... it does get easier. And I'm sure I speak for Sokka as well as myself when I say that we will both be here for you when you need a shoulder to cry on." She sighed. "And I'd have hoped that I could say the same of Aang, but now I'm not sure..."

Dorji whimpered.

Katara scowled. "To be honest, I didn't think Aang would blow up like that. I mean, he was a little touchy when he saw what happened to his old temple, but I thought that that was just from seeing the remains of someone he knew..."

Dorji winced. "Did I... some of the things I told Aang must have hurt him. I should apologize." She tried to get up, but Katara put her hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. I think he should apologize first. He's hurting, yes, but he has no right to take that out on you."

Dorji leaned on Katara. She didn't say anything else, but Katara hugged her.

oOoOo

Aang sighed. He sat at the edge of a small lake near where they had landed, prodding at the water with some attempts at waterbending. "Maybe I shouldn't have..."

Sokka slapped him on the back of his head, then sat down next to him. "Yeah, you really shouldn't have." His tone was annoyed.

"I'm so-"

Sokka slung his arm around Aang's back, clamping his hand on his shoulder. "No. You're gonna listen. You lost your people and found out the world crumbled after you left. I can't even imagine how horrible that feels. But." He tightened his grip. "If you even begin to think that gives you a right to dump all that out on a girl you just met, who recently lost her father, that's unforgiveable. Imagine if some old friend of that one monk guy you were fond of... Gyatso, I think, came out of nowhere and told you that you weren't fit to be the Avatar, or even an Air Nomad. That's what you just did to Dorji."

Aang sighed. "You're right. I should never have said that. I... I'm sorry."

Sokka patted his shoulder. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, buddy. And first... maybe we should talk a bit. You've got a few issues to work out, clearly."

Aang looked down. "I... I miss them."

"Yeah, that's pretty natural. But what made you lash out at Dorji like that?"

He sighed. "I guess... I'm sure she's not trying to, but she always seems to... remind me they're gone. That I was gone for a hundred years, and my people are long gone." He sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "But... I should never have taken it out on her."

Sokka patted his back. "You know, I know I always complained about the lack of meat and everything, but... If you want to make a traditional Air Nomad dish or something, I'd totally be willing to help." He grinned. "And I'm sure Dorji would, too. But first you gotta apologize to her." He pulled out a scroll. "And I have an idea of something you can do for that."

oOoOo

Dorji had fallen asleep, resting with her head on Katara's shoulder. Katara smiled and stroked her hair gently, as not to wake her. Sokka walked up to her, Aang trailing sheepishly behind.

"I hope you're here to apologize," Katara glared at Aang.

Aang shrank back slightly. "Yeah, I... Shouldn't have taken my feelings out on Dorji." He got out from behind Sokka and faced Dorji. "Dorji, I want to apologize to you," he said, raising his voice to try to wake her up. "My suffering was no excuse for what I said to you. And I was wrong, you may be other things, but you are an Air Nomad, too!"

Dorji, perhaps due to her hearing impairment that she had yet to fully explain to the others, did not react at all to this.

"Maybe you should wait until she wakes up, Aang?" Sokka said.

He nodded. "Right, sorry. Should... should we wake her up or..."

Dorji stirred, then sat up and started rubbing her eyes. "Sorry, did someone try to wake me? You'll need to shake me awake, shouting won't work..." She noticed Aang and stiffened slightly. "R-right. Y-you..." She bit her lip.

Aang placed his hand, a loose fist, on his chest and made a small circular motion with it. The sign, as best he understood the EKSL scroll, for 'sorry.' "I'm sorry," he said, as sincere and contrite as possible. "You reminded me of what I've lost, and I couldn't take that and lashed out at you. But that's not an excuse for how I acted towards you. I understand if you don't forgive me. For what it's worth, you are a real airbender." He smiled. "You are airbending culture, as much as I am. And you have every right to call yourself an Air Nomad."

Dorji sniffed. She rubbed her face, but a few tears fell onto her shirt still. "Th-thank you. And... f-for what it's worth... I'm sorry for hurting you, even if it was unintentional. I'll... I'll try to be more mindful of what I say in the future."

Aang smiled at her. "Thanks. If you want, you could show me that one airbending move. I don't think I'll ever use it on a person, but if I need to cut down a lot of trees really fast I could use it for that?"

She smiled slightly. "Actually... I think I know another move that my grandmother made that might... suit your tastes slightly better. When used on a trained warrior, especially a firebender due to how firebenders train their lungs, it will never cause any lasting damage. And at the same time, it will temporarily disable the person you use it on, especially if they are a firebender."

Aang hugged her. "That sounds great! And later, I can show you some airbending moves of my own!"

Dorji backed up nodded when Aang released her. "I'd like that. But first..." She got into a fighting stance and took a deep breath. "The best way to explain this is with a demonstration. And the best way for you to learn how to do it is to experience it yourself. But I will not do it without your permission, as it can feel... unpleasant."

"Um, is this a good idea?" Sokka asked.

Aang nodded. "Do it. Is there anything I should be paying attention to?"

"Your breath." In a blur, Dorji was suddenly standing inches away from Aang. She paused for just long enough for Aang to focus on her, a rush of wind punctuating her stop, then jabbed him in the solar plexus with two fingers. The amount of force she put into the physical movement was negligible, but Aang still toppled backwards as he felt his lungs empty against his will. He struggled on the ground for a few seconds, finding it hard to regain his stolen breath. Eventually he coughed and shakily took the hand that Dorji had offered him at some point.

"Are you okay, Aang?" Katara asked.

"Gimme... a minute..." he said between pants, a pained grimace on his face as his breathing slowly returned to normal.

"Sorry, I should've mentioned it can be... unpleasant." Dorji said, taking a few steps away from Aang and the others. She looked nervous again.

"No, it's fine," Aang assured her. He chuckled. "I probably should've guessed it wouldn't feel too good, anyway. Still, I can see what you were getting at. And you're sure it doesn't hurt people you use it on?"

She nodded. "Unless you use it on the same person multiple times in a row without letting them breathe, or use it on someone with weak lungs. But a trained soldier should be fine, and the technique will let you take them out of a fight for a few seconds at least, as well as open them up to a finishing move. And most notably, it temporarily disables firebending."

"It disables firebending!?" Sokka parroted, incredulous.

Dorji nodded. "Grandmother made the technique with some principals involved in chi blocking, after performing some... research on firebending." She breathed deeply, in and out, and when she exhaled her breath was very warm. "In fact, she learned that the breathing techniques the Air Nomads used to keep themselves warm in even the coldest of weather were originally based on knowledge given to them by firebenders. Firebending does not come from muscles, but rather the breath. So a technique that disrupts a firebender's ability to breathe..."

"Also disrupts firebending," Sokka finished. "That's... that's amazing!"

"It only lasts a minute or so at best, but it will still throw a firebender off," Dorji continued explaining. "And a master of it can do it from a distance, or even without moving at all, or at least my father and grandmother can. If you need more guidance to learn it, Aang, ask me. But..." Dorji turned to Sokka. "Perhaps you would like to learn chi blocking? You seemed pleased with the concept of disrupting firebending. And it can do more than just disable bending for a few seconds."

He grinned. "That sounds awesome!"

She nodded. "Then let us begin." She collapsed, but still somehow managed to hit the ground lightly. "Tomorrow. I'm tired." She closed her eyes, already asleep.

#fanfiction #avatar the last airbender fanfiction #Avatar The Last Airbender #A Black Wind Howls #ABWH CH3

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joh-gaming · 6 years

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Accidental Storytelling

I wasn’t going to talk about this , especially in this blog, because the one known evidence I have, keeps getting ignored by certain groups and it isn’t video game related anyways. But this time it is.

youtube

I will try my best to provide visual evidence of what I’m talking about, but I may just be reading too much into the short. If you’re interested, please continue to read, if not, then just enjoy that amazing short.

The short starts with the Shooting Star show praising JUST D.Va, they don’t even talk about the others. Mind you, these scenes used amazing 2D art to showcase the battle, aftermath and press conference. It is there where we can clearly see some type of animosity.

D.Va is hugging all the attention, D.Mon looks fed up as if that’s how things usually go. It is interesting to see a character that the community has built up just as much as the development team, get a short showcasing her personality traits. I don’t want to say we were wrong in our assumptions, I mean the whole Dorito Gremlin and Hana being kind of trollish seem part of her “kit”, but you know who she reminded me of in this short? Futaba from Persona 5. I honestly realized that if I were to use arcanas to define Hana, I would pick The Hermit.

Sounds contradictory to what the arcana itself represents right. I mean Hana is the one that gets the biggest spotlight, she’s the one they use for all the marketing and everything, when the hermit tends to avoid the spotlight. But as the short goes on we see her alone. Yea there’s that guy with her who’s name I can’t even remember (Dae-Hyun) but he is nothing but a plot device in this short. Sure you can write your own story about him, I mean it’s not like he’s an empty slate, he clearly wants to be part of the glamour media showcases while Hana calls it overrated. The short is meant to say that even the greatest need help, but did she? She did it alone, the whole thing. And I’m OK with this, except this wasn’t intentional.

youtube

When you listen to the director’s commentary, you can tell they were going for "lesson of the day” but it failed because the character took over. One thing needs to be clear about Hana, she’s a prodigy even after the retcon (however minor it was). That and the fact that there are no models for the rest of the team, but just like we saw them in 2D we could have gotten something on that vein at the end, instead she was back at base alone, while media kept spinning the results making her look even more badass. I think she prefers it like that because it paints a target on her, leaving her team “mostly” safe.

I wouldn’t even blame the rest of the team for being jealous of Hana (I wouldn’t unless she got credit for something I did) but to leave her alone after that close call? They really don’t care about her and it seems like she knows. Another thing that makes her comparable to Futaba is the headset. I’ve seen plenty of Futaba fanart with a majority using the headset for music, in context she uses it to block everyone out. Another thing is her commitment, her drive is another shared trait.

If I were to have a character be a catalyst for change (to Hana’s personality of taking the responsibility all by herself) I would use Mei, Tracer or even Soldier 76. Those three sound like people she would actually listen to, we already have the in game talk between Mei and Hana anyways.Tracer remaining positive regardless of what she’s been through and Mei herself as well.. to a degree. (no pun intended) and Jack having failed already and trying to do things alone again (until he ran into Ana) could also help Hana realize she can’t do it alone forever.

The point of this post is not the “flaws” of the short, I don’t think it has any. My point is to highlight the importance of character building, a good character can take over the narrative you’ve created for them. I know this because I make characters, I write stories and not every character I’ve designed for a particular purpose goes and executes it, they usually do something else. I did mention I wanted to talk about accidental storytelling before but the character wasn’t a video game character, well that character is Asami Sato.

She was conceived and designed to be a spy, a villain no less. Just look at her visual design, she does give those vibes and they even started working on that but here’s the interesting part, the delivery of the lines by Seychelle Gabriel more than anything else, changed the tone of what was going on in the scenes. While the intention might have been to get close to Korra in one way, she ended up getting closer to Korra in a whole different way. Many groups say this was forced, but I don’t think it was. It was accidental and when they saw the fan reaction (the positive one) they just went with it but didn’t commit to it in the show.

It’s interesting ‘cause many point to season 3 as the starting point of their relationship while I point to season 2. Sure Asami was having her own problems in season 2 but one thing started to become clear. Asami always supported Korra while Mako had trouble saying yes. Mako had different views on just about everything Korra did, this might have also been accidental. Of the two, Mako was a far more defined character. His background had way more nuances while Korra was a bit controlled since they protected her most of her life. So when you have the idealistic Korra clashing with the realistic Mako, it makes sense but it was portrayed so often that it kind of backfired I think.

I’m getting sidetracked here, this was supposed to be mostly about D.Va’s short, but the case remains. Accidental storytelling exists and it is usually for the better. Nevertheless, it doesn’t come from one person, in the case of Overwatch, the community makes the game way better than it actually is (I think its gameplay is competent, but most of the hero kits are poorly designed and terribly balanced, not to mention the game shouldn’t exist on consoles and they even managed to make loot boxes popular in mainstream games) and the voice actors brought a lot to the characters.

Honestly I hated Sombra when I finally saw her, all the build up for THAT? I was very disappointed. (The short was great though) but then Carolina’s lines gave her a particular personality, she actually is a troll. Then the fans started doing some fun stories with her and the talon crew and she’s currently one of my favorites. Anyway, this is just my opinion, hope you find it at least somewhat interesting and if you have examples of accidental storytelling, feel free to reply.

P.S.

I do get the whole Evangelion vibe/inspiration with the Shinji and Rei types next to Hana, Hana herself being kinda like Mari I assume (only saw the first Evangelion series without Mari) and D.Mon being Asuka.

#Overwatch #Hana Song #Shooting Star #Persona 5 #Futaba #asami sato #legend of korra #Accidental Storytelling #personal thoughts #personal opinion

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ladyloveandjustice · 6 years

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How common are Sailor Moon names in Anime I’ve watched? Also bonus name meanings and character types.

While I was waiting for a potential tenant for my house to show up, I did thise stupid long post that got completely out of control, clearly. She never showed up, but at least I now...have a super useless post. Great.

You know, Sailor Moon was the first anime I watched where I bothered to really remember the character’s names. So it was basically my introduction to Japanese first names, especially those common in Anime. Whenever I see a character that shares a name with a Sailor Moon character, I automatically think about that.

SO LET’S DO SOMETHING COMPLETELY ARBITRARY AND RANK THE SENSHI AND TUXEDO MASK’S NAMES BY HOW MANY TIMES IVE SEEN THEM IN ANIME (and sometimes video games). Keep in mind according to an mal graph, I’ve only seen 2% of all anime so it’s not a definitive thing. I don’t know what the correlation to how popular these names are in irl Japan is, though I imagine there’s a slight one, since that’s true for our media. And I’m gonna avoid naming specific anime because i don’t want a million replies going "omg you missed this one” I am well aware I don’t know all the anime. This is just personal.

most popular: MAKOTO. OH MY GOD, There are SO MANY fucking Makotos, both boys and girls, CHRIST. And most of them are sweet and pure and determined and have brown hair. The fact Makotos are generally earnest, devoted, likable characters is probably due to the fact that as a noun, Makoto means “truth” and “sincerity.” So if ya name your character Makoto, you probably want them to reflect that. Don’t know what the brown hair thing is though (though reflecting on it, brown haired characters in anime tend to be “down to earth” haha pun). The most major exception I can think of to this rule is the main character of School Days. I haven’t watched the anime, but god, I’ve HEARD things.

Next up is Rei and Haruka, both of which I see pop up fairly often for male and female characters.

Reis seem to tend towards black hair. I’m guessing it’s because they tend to name intelligent, strict and often somewhat mysterious characters Rei- which is probably down to name meaning again.”Rei” can be written with characters for “elegance”, “clever”, “honor”, “rule/order”, “spirit/ghost” and “wise” among other things (like “cake”, funnily)-and those types usually have black hair in anime. And well, there’s the fact the name can be written with “dark, black”

The Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion was actually an homage to Sailor Mars, it was done to lure Ikuhara to animate some stuff, since Mars was his favorite. Hilariously, it worked.

Haruka is very common one too- I don’t see any real correlation in character type, though a lot of the ones I can think of are determined and passionate with a pure heart, but that like. describes a lot of anime characters. Haruka can be written as “distance” and also “spring”. Hilariously the wikipedia article for Haruka lists her as a “tomboy lesbian”. YOU CAN SAY BUTCH, IT’S OKAY.

I’ve seen Hotaru a good amount. Not just in anime, but as a name in Tale of Gengi. There’s a part that is all “HOTARU MEANS FIREFLY” and high school me was like “Haha, I already knew that cause of Sailor Moon!.

Then there’s Ami and Mamoru, which I’ve seen a few times.

Mamoru is a dude name only, the verb version of it is “protect”, so. Pretty straightfoward there. Weirdly, I see a LOT MORE creators and voice actors with that name than characters. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t show up top often- it’s potentially troublesome to name characters after people you know

I’ve seen Ami a couple times. One Ami I can think of was probably an deliberate reference to Sailor Mercury, since one of the characters straight up says about her “She thinks she’s great because she has the same name as a Sailor Senshi!” Judging from that, Ami must not be a SUPER common name, at least when that anime came out. Fun trivia, Ami is apparently always written with the character for “Asia”. The second character can be “sea”, “truth”, “beauty”, “satisfy” and “fascination.

I’ve also only heard of Michiru two other times, and one was ALSO from that magical girl franchise that likes to ref Sailor Moon, so likely an homage. The other one was also a magical girl show! The wiki page for Michiru lists a few more, and her character is actually not the first fictional result when you google “Michiru”, it’s some other anime girl I don’t even recognize. I am super offended by this. They’re both below a sushi place in Houston though. “Beauty”, “intellect” and “journey” are characters used in Michiru.

I’ve only seen Setsuna one other time I can recall- and it was in that magical girl franchise that often references Sailor Moon, so it might be a deliberate homage. I adore that Setsuna. Both Setsunas actually. All Setsunas are valid. However, judging from the wikipedia entry, there are actually a good amount of Setsunas in anime and video games, just ones I haven’t watched or played. So it would be near the top if this wasn’t a ranking about MY personal experience. Setsuna means “a moment, an instant”. it actually originated in India.

I’ve only seen Minako one other time! Y’all probably know what anime. Wikipedia seems to bear that out, there are only three characters listed (it’s more common among celebrities). “Ko” of course means “child”, and the first character can be written as “beauty", “truth” and “holy”. Both Minako characters I know are flamboyant and kinda childish..

At the bottom we have Usagi. Never seen another, which is doubtless due to the fact it’s not actually a name and literally just means “rabbit”. Wikipedia bears this out, the only other one listed is the main character of Usagi Yojimbo, which is a Dark Horse comic and not a manga, technically. Also this character is literally a rabbit, so.

I think Naoko named Usagi something so weird not just for the moon rabbit pun, but because she wanted something unusual that would stay in people’s minds.

So there we go! This totally useless biased ranking. I hope it at least impressed on you how dedicated Naoko was to Significant Names.

In fact here’s a bonus- SURNAMES!

It’s been said most Senshi don’t have real last names! They’re puns, for instance, “Tsukino” coupled with Usagi’s name means “of the moon” so Usagi’s name is literally rabbit of the moon.

However, this might not completely true if google and Wikipedia are to be believed- there’s one or two people with the last name Hino (of fire/fire field) listed if ya google, same with Kino, (of wood) (also, there’s one other anime character i know of with the last name Hino, but that’s definitely an homage, she was from that franchise and also fire wielding magical girl)

Aino (of love) and Tsukino seemingly are not happenin’ in real life though. Despite this, there is another anime character I know of with the surname Aino! She’s, you guessed it, from the franchise that loves to ref Sailor Moon

Mizuno (of water) is a more common last name. I’ve seen it in other anime a few times. Same with Chiba, which refers to earth, though as a name the kanji is “a thousand leaves”. Also apparently Chiba is slang for cannabis too, the more you know. Someone should draw a stoner Tuxedo Mask.

Kaioh/Kaio/Kaiou, which is a ref to the Japanese word for Neptune and means the kanji reads as “sea king”, and it is apparently the FIRST name of a couple shonen manly men, including a villain, so says Google. There’s also a sumo wrestler with the name but he had his name legally changed to it.

Tenoh/Tenou/Teno (ref to Uranus, kanji is Sky King) brings zero non-Haruka results in the front page of google. Same for Meioh (you guessed it, ref to Pluto. This means the kanji is DARK KING. Wow.)

Tomoe is a name shared by many a anime character. A magical girl from another very popular show shares the surname.. It means “hoping” or “wishing”. OUCH. It can be written as symbol that resembles a magatama.

#sailor moon #anime #name meanings #anime names #usagi tsukino #rei hino #ami mizuno #makoto kino #minako aino #haruka tenoh #michiru kaioh #setsuna meioh #hotaru tomoe #chibiusa tsukino #long post #to think i could have been doing something productive and i did this instead

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