You can call me Styx | she/her | Aromantic | Shower thoughts, headcanons, and memes | You will hear from me in either one week or ten years | header by velinxi on twitter
Hello, my name sooad Muhammad, I am a 61-year-old mother and former school teacher from Gaza💔
After the army entered the city, we went out to Rafah under the attack of planes and missiles.And the bullets that spare no one, we lived in torn tents that did not protect from the heat, the cold, or the rain. All the words in the world cannot describe what we have lived through. All I want is for you to look at me and my family with a merciful heart and help me.
Before October 7th, I lived a humble life, dedicated to teaching and raising my children. But everything changed. Since that day, my family and I have been living in unimaginable conditions—without electricity, without clean water, without safety.
Our home was destroyed, and we now sleep in a torn tent, exposed to the freezing cold. My children cry from hunger and fear. The markets are empty or unaffordable. Bread is now a luxury—I knead pasta just to make something to fill their stomachs
Please open your heart and stand with us in this time of despair.
We are not asking for much—just a chance to survive. A blanket for the cold. A piece of bread. A roof that does not leak. A moment of peace for my children
I am humbly asking for your help. Your donation, no matter how small, can give us warmth, food, and hope. It can help us survive these dark days and rebuild a life with dignity.
Your support means the world to me and my family.
Please donate 🙏
All the destruction that you see, we live every day a hundred times, and we live hunger, death, and a life that has no taste of life
⚠️‼️ DON’T IGNORE THIS – A FAMILY NEEDS YOU NOW ‼️⚠️
This was our home… now it’s gone
We have collected $20,137 raised of $30,000 !🇵🇸
Verified by : @nabulsi
Click here to make donation👉 gofundme
Even $20 will make a big difference and save us!
🔗 🔗 Gofundme link for donations 👇👇👇👇🔗 🔗
Hello everyone,
We are the Anas family, a fam… ANAS MOHESEN needs your support for ANAS family from Gaza,Help Us Rebuild Wha
🇵🇸 save family lost their home ,dreams and everything in Gaza 🇵🇸
This is my home before the war and after the war how it became💔💔💔
Before: After:
💔 I never thought I’d write something like this…
But we’ve truly lost everything.
We had a simple home — nothing fancy — but it was ours.
Filled with laughter, memories, and years of hard work.
Then, in one moment, it was all gone.
Our home was bombed. Reduced to rubble.
Since then, we’ve been moving from place to place.
No stability. No privacy. No safety.
Just trying to survive each day.
We also lost our jobs. Our source of income. Our sense of normal life.
We’re not living — we’re barely getting by.
This isn’t easy to share.
But we’re asking, with all humility, for your help.
We are asking you with all shame to support and stand by us in these difficult circumstances that everyone knows because we lost our home, our work and any stable source of income. Thank you all.
We have been through many wars before, but this war was not like the ones before it. Our lives were turned upside down. We became displaced from one place to another. We are the Anas family, residents of northern Gaza, specifically in the Shujaiya area. In the first week of the war, we fled our home because everyone considered our home to be in a dangerous area. We moved to the Rimal area, specifically in the middle of Gaza. There, we received the news that our home, which contained all our beautiful memories, was bombed. Suddenly, it was gone!!! Just thinking that your home, which you worked hard on and built from scratch and took a lot of your life, was gone in less than a second ! After a while, we left the sands to the Al-Zawaida area because of the heavy shelling. We stayed there for about two weeks, and then the terrorist army asked us to go to Rafah. We actually fled for the fourth time to Rafah and stayed there for two months, some of the most difficult days of our lives, as there was no way or means to live a normal life. 😔😔
Please, we are in dire need of you and your support. If you cannot donate, you can share☹️❤️🥹
Qi Fengge fucked up his family so badly that I want a sequel just to see the childhood days of the Qi Fengge disciples. How did he not notice that he was fucking up with Tan Yuanchun so much that the entire mountain would be thrown into chaos because of it. How is Yu Ai so indecisive and easily influenced when his other siblings aren't. Why the fuck are Gu Hengbo and Yuan Ying so disconnected from Qi Fengge that they view Shen Qiao as an older brother/father figure. Why was Shen Qiao both the middle child and the favorite somehow. Everything is wrong with them.
Person: *breaking down under the weight of everything they've done and have had happened to them, emotionally and irrationally lashing out, could really use some comfort, reassurance and stability*
Shen Qiao, internally: ... that's rough. Nothing I can really do about that, I suppose. It's up to people to fix their own lives, why should I give advice that wouldn't be used? Did they mention me? What do I have to do with this?
As I was rereading Thousand Autumns, I collected all of Shen Qiao's sarcastic thoughts he keeps to himself:
"Did Sect Leader Yan rent a courtyard with only one bedroom?" Shen Qiao asked.
Yan Wushi was completely unruffled. "Of course not. But I rented the courtyard, so I can sit wherever I please. You've been unconscious for days, and I've taken care of you for the entire journey. But instead of thanking me, you've been acting all evasive. Was the sect leader of Xuandu Mountain brought up with such rude manners?"
Shen Qiao thought to himself, My manner is evasive because yours is abnormal.
Ruyan Kehui smiled minutely... "The northern kingdoms are vast and abundant, but the southern kingdom is no less so. Once he's tasted Linchuan Academy's tea, perhaps this honored guest will find it unbearable to leave, even without his host imploring him to stay?"
With a claim like that, did the Linchuan Academy drug all their visitors, and that's why they couldn't bear to leave? Shen Qiao couldn't help it and burst out with a chuckle.
Yan Wushi was all smiles. "My A-Qiao is so clever!"
Shen Qiao's face grew dark. Who's your A-Qiao?
"... I suffered some serious injuries, and it took everything I had to escape. Ever since then, I've been too frightened to rashly provoke that guy anymore. A great and honorable grandmaster like him, splitting hairs with a weak woman like me? How petty and unbecoming of him."
You're not a weak woman, thought Shen Qiao. Furthermore, you were the one who snuck into someone else's territory. If they let you come and go as you wish, what's the point of Linchuan Academy's gates? Might as well let people barge in every day.
Shen Qiao placed the lamb soup and flatbread in front of Yan Wushi. "Are you hungry? Eat."
Yan Wushi glanced at Shen Qiao, then quickly dropped his head and mumbled, "Feed me."
Shen Qiao fell silent.
After a long time with no reply, Yan Wushi raised his head to look at Shen Qiao, then said hesitantly, "Like last time... Kis..."
If I knock him unconscious right now, will he wake up with a more normal personality? Shen Qiao contemplated this with all seriousness.
"A-Qiao, why are you ignoring me?"
Because right now I'm contemplating whether to knock you out before we keep going, Shen Qiao thought.
"She's my younger sister," said Shen Qiao.
"Wife," said Yan Wushi.
Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi's eyes met.
Shen Qiao guessed that Yan Wushi had done it on purpose due to his dissatisfaction at being made to dress up like a woman, but he couldn't say too much in front of an outsider. He could only give a light cough and throw in a belated explanation: "This is my cousin. She's a bit immature, so please don't take offense."
It would have been better if he hadn't explained. The moment he did, the peddler instantly imagined a story about a pair of cousins in forbidden love eloping to a faraway land. He quickly nodded repeatedly. "I understand! I understand!"
Shen Qiao was completely baffled. What do you understand? Even I don't understand.
"If you're going to use a disguise, make it a good one. Most women have long fingernails, and even if they don't, they'll paint them. Otherwise, the moment an observant person sees how prominent my knuckles are, they'll immediately know that I'm a man disguised as a woman."
The corner of Shen Qiao's mouth twitched as he thought, How am I supposed to know something like that? I've never disguised myself as one before.
Yan Wushi sputtered a laugh. "All right, all right. Don't be so mad!... Like you said, my martial arts have yet to recover, and my reappearance would be far too ostentatious ... You won't be able to protect me with your current abilities."
And whose fault is that? thought Shen Qiao. You have enemies everywhere, and that's not something everyone can pull off. If not for my concern over the big picture, which prevents me from picking a bone with you, I, too, would have joined the ranks of people trying to kill you.
Yan Wushi peeled off a piece of bark from somewhere, then placed the roasted sparrows on top.
As Shen Qiao looked at them, he immediately found it difficult to keep his mouth from twitching.
Upon that piece of bark, six sparrows were neatly laid out, with one in the center and five arranged evenly around it.
"This dish is called 'Plum Blossom Sparrows.'"
Shen Qiao bit his tongue. You came up with the name yourself, didn't you?
Yan Wushi sighed. "A-Qiao, you're not stupid But your tender heart holds you back. You're always so optimistic when it comes to interpersonal matters, and you never suspect a dark side to them. What would you do if I weren't here?"
If you weren't here, my days would definitely go a hundred times more smoothly! Shen Qiao almost blurted out.
"A-Qiao, you're shivering," Yan Wushi said, mouth against his ear. "Are you wearing too little?" Laughter laced his tone, and he had almost trapped Shen Qiao within his arms.
I'll stop shivering if you let go! Shen Qiao raged internally.
"First, my venerable self doesn't want Guang Lingsan to know that we're close," Yan Wushi replied leisurely. "This is to keep you safe, so you should thank me."
How are you and I close? Shen Qiao thought to himself, but he played along. "I'm grateful for Sect Leader Yan's care."
Yan Wushi's gaze swept over Shen Qiao and Yuwen Song, whose expressions were equally speechless. He casually threw in another line: "I heard that there's a peerless beauty at Bixia Sect, whose name is Yue Kunchi."
Shen Qiao was stunned. "That's the sect leader's shixiong, and...and he's a man. You actually...?"
"That sect leader should be a woman?"
"That's right..."
"Then let me try again," said Yan Wushi. "I heard that the Bixia Sect Leader is a peerless beauty, whose appearance surpasses even Yuan Xiuxiu's. My venerable self has admired her for a long time, so I wish to meet her."
Shen Qiao stared at him.
You don't sound like you've admired her for very long at all.
"A-Qiao, you're words are far too distant considering our current relationship."
What current relationship? Shen Qiao's mouth twitched as he forced himself once again to endure an irrelevant remark from Yan Wushi.
Shen Qiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I never wanted to be the alliance leader!"
Yu Shengyan was confused. "Shizun ordered me to come and help you. If you don't want to be alliance leader, why did he instruct me to do so?"
Shen Qiao thought to himself, Your shizun just does as he pleases, and his actions and words couldn't be further from a normal person's. How am I supposed to know what he's thinking?
Yan Wushi even consoled him. "It's not your fault. I already told you that Hehuan Sect is full of bad people, and that's why you shouldn't mingle with that trash. Like those demonesses, Yuan Xiuxiu and Bai Rong; just stay away when you see them in the future. My A-Qiao is a pure and spirited beauty. How can I let them tarnish you?"
Not like the reputation of your Huanyue Sect is any better than that of Hehuan Sect.
Also, what do you mean, "my A-Qiao"? Who's your A-Qiao?!
The innkeeper couldn’t help but smile and say, “The two gentlemen here are brothers, correct? You’re very close.”
“We’re not brothers,” said Yan Wushi.
“Ah,” said the innkeeper as he hesitated a little. “Then…father and son?”
Yan Wushi didn’t say anything, only smiled suggestively at him. Then he glanced at Shen Qiao, before smiling again at the innkeeper.
The shopkeeper had seen all types of people before, and dawning realization soon surfaced on his face.
“It can’t be helped,” Yan Wushi said. “He’s been difficult the past few days, and we haven’t been getting along.”
The innkeeper was incredibly adaptable. “They all say, with ten years of virtue, you’ll share the same ship of destiny, with a hundred years of virtue you’ll…you know.12 As the two of you are dragons and phoenixes among men, your friendship is likely extraordinary as well. Since you already have this shared destiny, you should make some concessions to each other. You know what they say: amiability is the key to prosperity!”
Shen Qiao was silent. What do you mean, “you know?” Say it clearly!
The words he wanted to say turned in his stomach a few times, and just as he was about to say them, he heard a slight sound coming from Yan Wushi’s table. He couldn’t help but raise his head, just in time to see Yan Wushi’s head drop low as he coughed up blood.
Shen Qiao’s face contorted in horror. All else flew from his mind as he hurriedly leapt up to support him. “What’s wrong? Was the wine poisoned?!”
As Shen Qiao hadn’t touched the jug of wine, he immediately thought that the wine was the issue.
And because this reminded him of his own experience with Joyful Reunion, his complexion looked even worse than Yan Wushi’s.
But then, Yan Wushi suddenly smiled and pulled him into his arms. “Your panic reveals your concern. A-Qiao, your words truly don’t match your heart!”
Shen Qiao stared at him. “You…you weren’t poisoned?”
Yan Wushi wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his lips and said, “I accidentally bit my lip while chewing. I might have been too agitated.”
Agitated to the point of vomiting blood?
To hell with your lies!
Yan Wushi added, “Yuwen Xian was weak, but he was skilled with military administration, as well as an excellent commander. Even if he couldn’t have inherited Yuwen Yong’s legacy, he wouldn’t have squandered the family’s wealth entirely. Unfortunately, Yuwen Yong couldn’t break free from the shackles of tradition and insisted on his son inheriting the throne. His vision was far too narrow and shallow. He labored his entire life and ended up being killed by his son, and all his hard work has come to nothing. Such misfortune he brought upon himself!”
He showed little respect for the previous emperor, his criticisms flowing forth the moment he opened his mouth. Anyone else hearing this would have been terrified out of their wits, but Shen Qiao couldn’t help but internally roll his eyes. He thought, Didn’t you get ambushed by those martial experts in the capital of Tuyuhun? You even ended up with a crack in your skull and almost lost your life. You call Yuwen Yong shallow, but where was your foresight then?
Yan Wushi didn’t even turn back as he joked, “A-Qiao, I didn’t expect you, an upright gentleman, to develop the bad habit of silently cursing someone behind his back. That’s not good!”
Yan Wushi smiled and said, "If you dislike them, I naturally dislike them as well. Considering our relationship, if we don't present a united front, people will misunderstand, won't they?"
What relationship? And people won't misunderstand if you say it like this? Shen Qiao was stunned by Yan Wushi's ability to argue black into white. "Sect Leader Yan worries too much," he said. "This humble Daoist isn't a member of Huanyue Sect. Even if Sect Leader Yan and I don't have a united front, no one will misunderstand."
“That’s fine,” said Yan Wushi. “It’s about time, anyway. With your current martial prowess, you might not be able to chop Yu Ai into eight pieces, but stabbing a sword through his heart should be doable.”
Shen Qiao was left almost speechless. “Just because I’m going doesn’t mean I have to kill someone!”
Can you not spout such bloodthirsty words all the time?
Yan Wushi's smile widened. "A-Qiao, are you worried about me?"
"No," said Shen Qiao.
"You're lying," said Yan Wushi.
Shen Qiao said nothing. Then why did you even ask?
“That’s why you’re special,” said Yan Wushi. “These things are truly worldly possessions that you see as external to you. I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I couldn’t think of anything that I can repay you with, so I can only repay you with myself. What do you say?”
Of course not! Shen Qiao was dumbfounded. When he saw Yan Wushi about to lower his head, he slammed a palm into his chest without hesitation.
Shen Qiao glanced over at Yan Wushi. His eyes were still closed; it looked like he’d fallen asleep.
With Shen Qiao’s character, he’d never do a thing like shaking someone awake, but hurt suddenly burst inside his heart: You were the one who kept provoking me, but now you’re going to ignore me instead?
Of course, Shen Qiao’s thoughts weren’t this straightforward, but this was the general idea.
Yan Wushi didn’t put up any resistance and let Shen Qiao drag him there. However, his face grew a little bit colder. “I helped extricate you from a predicament in the palace,” he said. “This is how Daoist Master Shen repays me?”
What do you mean, extricate?! It’s obvious that you wanted to enter the palace to watch the show yourself!
“Do you know what I currently regret the most?” Yan Wushi suddenly asked.
Shen Qiao looked back at him in confusion. His thoughts seemed to have been churned into paste by an invisible hand; even his gaze overflowed with bewilderment, and his hair was mussed from all the fondling. He was the perfect picture of an innocent, guileless little creature, just waiting for some evil-intentioned person to ravage him.
“If I’d known this would happen,” Yan Wushi said, “I’d have bought all the residences within this alley.”
What does buying residences have to do with regret? Shen Qiao wondered in a daze.
Yan Wushi’s tongue took the opportunity to invade even more deeply. Even the skin around his collarbone was stained with a dark blush. His breaths came in heaves, beyond his control.
Yan Wushi didn’t forget to tease him. “If it’d been someone else who was full of malice, they’d never let you off so easily.”
The person with the most malice is you!
Yan Wushi placed the pears back into the basket. “What should we bet this time? And Sect Leader Shen shouldn’t be too stingy.”
Shen Qiao shook his head. “I’m not betting this time.”
“Afraid now?”
Shen Qiao thought, I’m afraid that you’ll come up with some new method to retaliate against me even harder if you lose. With how vengeful you are, Sect Leader Yan, you’re always able to concoct twisted ideas that no one else can, so there’s no way to guard against you.
But ultimately, these words were too difficult for him to say because if he enraged or embarrassed Yan Wushi, the unfortunate one would always end up being Shen Qiao.
So my trainer’s bf cheated on her. She broke up with him. He’s holding her stuff hostage until she agrees to talk with him. Which she refuses.
She trains; for free mind you; three college linebackers, a college wrestler, two martial artists, a body builder, and… wait for it…. a Navy seal. We’re gonna go get her shit for her.
So everyone who commented on this being like the avengers, you are absolutely right. That’s what all of us had in our heads as we were rolling over to dude’s house. But I’m very proud to say, this ended without violence.
Arrival:
So the super friends all jumped into one of the linebacker’s explorer and headed over to dude’s house. Ok the squad: you all know me, but the other martial artist is a little wirey hapkido guy, the linebackers are all giants (an estimated combined weight of I’d say 750-800lbs), the wrestler looks like an escaped gorilla, then the navy seal looks like your average guy but something about him is unsettling. Really unsettling. Unfortunately, the body builder had to work. Anyway, we send the Hapkido guy and the wrestler to the door first and dude answers, screams at them, and then slams the door in their face. Then the giant linebackers head over and they ring the door bell again. Lo and behold, he was much more polite, but still denied access. Finally, me and the seal join the fray. I casually make my way towards the front of the group, but the seal decides to CLIMB THE BANISTER. We all just turned and started at him completely shocked when dude answers the door. He looks at this weird mismatched group of relatively threatening individuals and one guy perched on his banister like batman. He was like “FINE. Go take what you’re looking for.”
Retrieval:
So we’re all walking through the house gathering what we think are her things and putting them into two boxes. Mind you. We are completely guessing. We didn’t even tell her we were coming, therefore we had no list of items.The only one really being productive was Hapkido, who was legitimately looking for stuff. The linebackers were just randomly picking up furniture, turning it over, and putting it back down. Just showing off how strong they were. In case the numbers game wasn’t enough, I guess they were letting him know they could break him if they wanted to. The seal was just shadowing dude in his own house. Walking behind him, not saying much, just being creepy. Then there’s me. Who was causing general mischief…. He said to take what I was looking for, that’s what I was looking for. Ahaha and the wrestler made a fricken sandwich. Because “you guys look like you have it under control, and I’m a sucker for egg salad.” We were in and out in 15 minutes.
Delivery:
So the autobots rolled out and headed towards homegirl’s spot. She was conveniently outside when we rolled up. We got out and she was like, how do you all even know each other. The truth is, we don’t. She sent us all an email once and didn’t blind copy us all. She vented to all of us about dude holding onto her stuff and we started emailing and that was that. We told her that we went to see her ex. “OMG what did you say to him?” Nothing. We’re not messenger boys. We’re delivery boys. And we gave her her boxes of stuff. She went through the first box and said that was most of her stuff. Then she got to my box and asked “Wtf is all that shit.” So I explained that I took all the batteries out of his remote controls, his deodorant, the light bulb out of his master closet, every pair of dress socks that I could find, the laces out of his running shoes, and all the toilet paper in the house. The guys just looked at me and kind of nodded like they were impressed. She then unexpectedly started CRYING and thanked us. So you have this group of meat heads all standing awkwardly with this weeping trainer. It was quiet for a second when the seal was like “So…. chipoltle?” And we all got burrito bowls.
What Yu Ai, Chen Gong, and even Yan Wushi have in common is that they all objectified Shen Qiao, or rather narrowed down his entire self into a superficial facade that made it easier to swallow his existence.
They all believed him to be naive and ignorant of people's true nature. They justified their own actions of harming him by claiming that his own morals and values (basically, his entire self) got him into the situation they created. They blamed him for being blind to the world, when in reality, he saw the world through a perspective different than theirs but no less nuanced.
Because, no, you're not clever for figuring out that everyone in the world sucks and not to expect kindness from anyone. You're just as biased as the people who believe otherwise, that everyone in the world is good and to expect kindness wherever you go. And every one of them thought Shen Qiao was the latter kind.
Shen Qiao understands that the world is cruel. He knew the tragedy of war since he was a child. He knew Mu Tipo was lying even before Chen Gong did, so he's not unfamiliar with deception. He killed Huo Xijing and Kunye, so he's not someone who believes in mercy for all, especially when that mercy could lead to harm for others. This is actually a mistake Qi Fengge made that the novel acknowledges, leaving an enemy alive even though it would allow for more bloodshed, just not your own. Shen Qiao killing people by his own judgement and not by coercion adds to the fact that he's not some soft-hearted naive angel who gets corrupted, and it draws a pretty clear line between him and Qi Fengge.
The thing is, Shen Qiao is a kind person. He's also a calm and rational person. Kindness, like evil, is a choice, and no one embodies this concept more than Shen Qiao. He understands that the world is harsh. He knows that people can be cruel. He chooses to be kind anyway.
Yu Ai hated him for being naive and apolitical, which, yes, Shen Qiao was apolitical until he learned he has a role in changing society for the better and using Xuandushan to support a good leader is a great way of doing so. What Yu Ai was mistaken about was Shen Qiao's naivety, that Shen Qiao was incapable of learning about civic responsibility. We easily see his mistake here because Shen Qiao realizes this very early on in the novel, so imagine if he'd been encouraged to go down the mountain more pre-series?
Chen Gong hates Shen Qiao for seemingly deeming Chen Gong as beneath him for his methods. Shen Qiao's response to this is one of my favorites because everything he tells Chen Gong is something that everyone in the story should hear. Shen Qiao is mature enough to accept that people have different ways of rising to the top or gaining power. He doesn't look down on them for it and knows that their lives are very different and his own standards and morals shouldn't be the metric everyone else lives by. People like Yu Ai and Chen Gong resent him because they end up internally comparing themselves to Shen Qiao, blaming him for being "better" than themselves. They put him up as a standard to compare themselves to and every time they fall short, the resentment festers.
See, Shen Qiao's response is so amazing because he's telling Chen Gong to stop using Shen Qiao as some perfect, morally upright standard to measure himself by. He's telling Chen Gong what everyone else should hear: Shen Qiao isn't someone to be objectified and placed on a pedestal and blamed for the negativity and self-worth issues others have. He's not perfect. He never asked to be seen as flawless. He does not aspire to be this perfect standard that people have assigned to him. He does not want people to want to be like him.
Even Yan Wushi makes the mistake of viewing Shen Qiao as some goody two shoes who needed a wake-up call. Shen Qiao never needed a wake-up call to reality because he's always been aware. Shen Qiao didn't change after the encounter with Sang Jingxing because he didn't have to. Choosing kindness has always been his way from the very start.
Honestly, I wish people would explore the side of Shen Qiao that's frustrated with people always misunderstanding him or viewing him as flawless. I wish we got more of Shen Qiao's exhaustion with being used as an outlet for people to deal with their own personal issues.
Angry again over the ATLA fandom's treatment of Ursa, one of the biggest victims in the entire series of the FN Royal Family.
People treat the Royal Family like it's just another abusive household, which results in the overly harsh treatment of Ursa, who was the most powerless person in that entire family by political standards. She was a lowborn, engaged to the younger prince as a test to merge the bloodlines of the Royal Family with that of an Avatar's. She was basically forced into an experimental arranged marriage to a disposable heir, cut off from her family, and thrown into a pit of vipers AKA the Royal Palace.
Imagine being in her shoes. Imagine having virtually no support or standing in an unfamiliar place where even the slightest mistake could result in either humiliation at best or death at worst. She is married to a horrible man who despises the fact that he doesn't even get a noble for a wife, that he is being ridiculed by being married off to a lowborn and basically being told that it was impossible for him to ever be the Fire Lord, since if he had a fair shot wouldn't they have ensured a better marriage prospect? He gains no supporters or additional backing through his wife, which he should have had as a prince, and doesn't that just sting? He's discredited in Azulon's eyes, and in the eyes of the nobility, so what chance does he have to rise above his station now?
Who do you think took the brunt of his shame and anger at his situation? Who would have suffered most at the hands of an angry young man who had no qualms with burning his own thirteen-year-old son for just daring to speak up unasked?
People claim Ursa had let go of Azula because she thought Azula was a monster and that she only helped Zuko because he was kind. Zuko was allowed to be kind because he was deemed weak, and Ozai didn't want to pay attention to him. He is only kind because of his mother's influence, which he wouldn't have had if he was up to Ozai's standards. If he had been, Ozai would have kept Ursa and Zuko separate to better control Zuko and ensure his son's loyalty. He wanted his heir to be a child that he could paint entirely in his own image to cover up the fact that their other parent was a peasant, which would cast further doubts on his rights and position within the palace.
People make it out to be like Ursa CHOSE to save Zuko, laughably assuming that this woman had the ability to CHOOSE anything, much less ANY sort of power within the palace. Even her own children outranked her in the nobles' eyes by virtue of having royal blood. She lived in the place where her husband worked and where all the servants answered to either him or his father, so she was never truly free to move or act. Every move was watched. Every interaction was noted.
Ursa was able to influence and help Zuko by showing him a form of kindness, but notice how she never said a bad word about Ozai or the Royal Family? She couldn't. She never twisted Zuko away or tried to outright call her husband wrong—she even defended some of his actions despite knowing otherwise. She could not act or speak freely. She knew she was being watched. She couldn't even pull Zuko away completely from Ozai—that's how utterly powerless she was. Her children loved a monster, and she could do nothing to stop them.
We are shown in canon that Ursa and Zuko spend time together, but that's just it. Ursa never tries to turn Zuko "good" or convince him Ozai is terrible because she CAN'T. She does her best by being stern and setting examples, and Zuko is desperate enough for love to internalize every moment with her, but the pond scene shows how Ursa was only able to do just that—play the role of a stern, kind mother.
And the thing is—if given the chance, she'd save them both. She loved them both, even if Azula reminded her too much of the monster that she married. If she had ever had the opportunity, she would have left with both. Except she couldn't because once Ozai had his prodigy, she was never going to be able to go near her child ever again. Ursa would try, through Zuko as we see in the flashback, to reach her daughter somehow, but it never worked. If she truly always thought of Azula as a "monster", would she let her "perfect son" go play with her? She could have shut Azula out completely and discourage her from ever coming close, Azula is young enough to still listen to her Mom, but we see both Azula and Zuko at her side reading the letter. Ursa doesn't lean away from her daughter. We see her hesitate but never flinch away when she is near Azula.
Ursa only spent time with Zuko because he was the only one she COULD have paid attention to, not because she CHOSE to. Ozai paid him no interest, so she was ALLOWED to spend her time with Zuko. If she had the chance, the allowance, to spend time with Azula she would have done it in a fucking heartbeat. People paint her as "saving" the one "who could be saved" or "throwing Azula to the wolves to focus on Zuko" as if she had any fucking choice, as if she didn't took what crumbs she could get to be close to her children. She didn't toss Azula aside, Ozai KEPT THEM APART. I REPEAT, HE KEPT THEM APART. He did NOT want his lowborn wife influencing his prized heir with her ways, so he kept them apart, READ THAT AGAIN.
It was never Ursa "choosing" which of her kids to save and protect. It was always her doing her best to use her limited, almost non-existent freedom of movement to reach her children in any way, and Zuko just happened to be free. If anyone was doing the whole "focusing on one kid and tossing aside the other" it. Was. Ozai.
I like to think Shen Qiao's eyesight never fully recovered, and in a few years his vision starts to deteriorate again. It's not total blindness at least, but he does get glasses.
All of a sudden, Xuandushan disciples become very diligent and obedient, the elders are agreeable, and merchants keep giving him free stuff. His negotiations with other sects go very smoothly, although for some reason Li Qingyu becomes unintelligible at times and keeps leaving in a hurry. He'd visit Yan Wushi's disciples in Chang'an and witness Yu Shengyan, normally agile enough to cartwheel on walls, trip and fall several times during these visits.
He sort of understands what's going on when he and Bai Rong meet at an inn and she asks him, after an hour of silence and blatant stares, if he keeps the glasses on during sex. Seeing as Yan Wushi won't be home for another two weeks, he answers that he hasn't tried, which prompts a round of propositions that were more eager than the last.
He finally makes sense of the situation when his husband gets home, takes one look at him, and carries him to bed in one second. In the following weeks, Yan Wushi, known as the most mercurial contrarian in the country, follows all of Shen Qiao's whims and eagerly fulfills even the slightest requests.
Hello friends, supporters, and EveryTumblr,
Today I have tragic news I want to share with you. We started our day with new evacuation orders for our displacement area 💔
This will be the 13th time of evacuating and fleeing from a real danger with my family, and everytime is harder than the previous one
I almost can take my breaths, to bear a new displacement!!!
Even the tents are worn out and cannot be dismantled and installed in a new place!!
I really feel suffocated from this situation, and need your support to start over in a new place
I appeal to the whole world to hear my and my family's mournful cry in Gaza. We need the helping hand that reaches out to wipe our tears and build a bridge to safety
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