There’s a way I like to write Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal that makes me absolutely SICK and I’ll explain the headcanon using the following:
• In Crisis Core, there’s that SOLDIER who mentions to Zack how it’s rumored Angeal’s mother was a scientist at Shinra. I like to imagine that rumor reached Sephiroth’s ears, that he asked Angeal about it once (but Angeal denied it because his mother’s always been so private about her past and he’s never pried). There’s also the fact that in the only photo Sephiroth has of Lucrecia (Jenova, in his mind), she’s wearing a lab coat in what’s clearly a laboratory background. Which is why I assume he suspected his own mother was a scientist too.
• Then First SOLDIER shows us Angeal harbors some buried feelings of envy toward Genesis from childhood—since his dream of a perfect fantasy life was essentially him inventing Banora White juice, him bringing glory to the village, the villagers praising him, him having enough money to take his parents on holiday, etc.
• And then there’s the “Genesis envies Sephiroth” hc. Where, even if you discard the subtext of Genesis’ jealousy, there’s still that line in the original Japanese about how Sephiroth’s fame should’ve been his. So the envy is canonical in some way shape or form.
Which gives us the great jealousy triangle™:
Sephiroth looks at Angeal and sees someone who got to live his dream. What do you mean Angeal had a normal, healthy childhood with two parents who loved him? A mother who was rumored to be a scientist but left to raise a family? While Sephiroth got Hojo and a mother whose work may as well have killed her? Angeal is so normal, comfortable with the world, with people, with himself. He grew up with a best friend he’s kept since childhood, everyone loves him because he’s genuine and easy. His father loved him so much he forged him a sword with his own hands, while Sephiroth had to fight tooth and nail for his. Angeal had everything Sephiroth didn’t know he was allowed to want, and it makes him feel so fundamentally, grotesquely wrong by comparison.
Angeal looks at Genesis and sees someone who never had to work for anything. Genesis grew up wealthy—full meals, nice clothes, a guaranteed future in his parents’ orchard business. He didn’t even need to join SOLDIER for the financial opportunity. But of course he’s so brilliant, so well-read, so admired by everyone in Banora. And now he’s invented apple juice, and his parents could afford the machinery to make it real. Naturally he’s joining SOLDIER now too, carrying an expensive sword no parent died paying for. Perfect Genesis. Genesis, who never had to choose between pride and poverty.
Genesis looks at Sephiroth and feels guilty for the envy, because Sephiroth—aloof and socially inept as he is, goddess above—didn’t ask for any of it. But that’s exactly what makes it worse. Sephiroth never had to fight for recognition. Never had to study obsessively, experiment endlessly, dress impeccably, perform perfectly just to be seen as heroic, as attractive, as worthy, as someone worth remembering like the heroes from Loveless. Sephiroth simply existed and the world worshipped him for it. Genesis hates that he resents someone who never even wanted what was handed to him freely.
Sephiroth craves normalcy and love. Angeal craves security and ease. Genesis craves effortless glory. And each of them stares at the others and sees exactly what they were denied, handed freely to someone else who can’t even appreciate it properly. They’re all starving, but they can only see each other’s plates. None of them can see that the others are just as empty, just as convinced they drew the shortest straw.
I had ingredients I needed to use up, so I attempted to make a cake. It's a purple sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting, fondant, and sprinkles.
As you can probably tell, I've never decorated a cake before, but also WHY DID IT TURN GRAY. PURPLE SWEET POTATO WHERE. THE BATTER WAS PURPLE WHEN I PUT IT IN THE OVEN. It tasted good though.
💬 1 🔁 11 ❤️ 69 · Sorry I was absent for a couple days but listen
New AU ideas….(Venom AU)
What if Ao Bing was an symbiotic alien that to
Ao Guang was also a symbiote that managed to escape with the many others, and in search of his son, decided to take Li Jing as his host.
His power is similar to Ao Bing’s regarding hardening, but rather than forming strong scales, Ao Guang can harden his claws to use as his weapon.
His hair can also be hardened and be used as a makeshift weapon if he pleases to.
I find it funny asf that all of the Li boys in this household all has gotten a symbiote living rent free inside of them 😭 poor lady yin meanwhile is totally oblivious to it all (mainly because none of them wanted her to be concerned-).
*And yes, Jinzha and Muzha both also have symbiote s attached to them (being Ao Jie and Ao Yi).
They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die.
What happens then, if the life you see isn't yours, but is instead what it could've been?
Anyways, doomed Shangmei oubing my beloved 🫶 I definitely like to sprinkle some psychological horror as much as the next shangmei enjoyer, but I definitely lean more towards them being doomed,,, they're like Jinx and Ekko in the way that I see their world as one where everyone picked the worst possible option they could've taken,,,
So uhh,,, I hope u heard Waymond's theme when u read the last line haha 🫶
Woke up one day and decided to make Oubing more monstrous cause why not (hope you enjoy my rambling; very long post)
Nezha, nobody was willing to accept him. Although his parents do love and support him, over the years he built up a the mentality that he IS the monster.
He haunts the neighborhood by terrorizing local houses and set thing on fire regularly. Everybody fears him which only ever worsens his bottled up frustrations.
AoBing, the beautiful spirit that lives in the waters of the ocean. Occasionally you'd spot him lying near the rocky surfaces near the shore. His majestic beauty is irresistible to anyone that so happens to glaze at him.
Once one has met upon those eyes are hypnotized as if staring at celestial beauty. They'd be drawn into moving towards the creature just to never return again.
One day, Nezha met aobing while strolling at the coast. Though his demonic powers prevented him from getting possessed by those luring eyes, he was still charmed by what he's seeing.
AoBing noticed that nezha isn't as easy to manipulate than others of which it intrigues him. Unknowingly, this interest turned into excitement everytime aobing rises to hunt. Sometimes just imagining him coming by makes him forget he was ever hungry.
(+bonus art) simple drawing of them being sappy
And... ... oh god.
OH GOD WHAT IN THE LIVING HELL HAVE I CREATED WITY MY BARRE HANDSsS
WAGH, THE MAFIAxGANGLEADER AU PIECE IS FINALLY DONE GOOD GOD, DESIGNING NEZHA AND AO BING PUT ME THROUGH THE WRINGER
Anyways! Hope you guys like these designs! Might draw more of the other characters (The rest of the Loong family + SGB, or the rest of Nezha's gang) one of these days lmao
Some design notes:
Ao Bing
The thing over his shoulders is a hanfu-styled jacket, with it's inner having a dragon pattern in the style of those blue porcelain pieces
The lapels of his vest and the hem of his pants have the same print as the fabric of his hanfu and robes in his canon design
The hairpin that keeps his hair up is supposed to mimic his horns in canon, though I don't know how clear that is 😭
His hair is incredibly well-maintained, especially since he dyes it often
It's not pictured, but he has ice burn scars that crawl up from his palms to a little above his wrists
This is what he wears on the job/when going outside. Otherwise, he dresses pretty casually, defaulting to a light sweater vest, sweater, or cardigan over a white button-up (like the one fit his irl mascot wore lmao)
Again, unseen, but he has a large tattoo of his dragon form from the original movies! I still haven't decided if I want it on his arm or on his back yet tho lmao
That uniform has been through a lot. A lot of his wardrobe comes in white or light blues, which is a biiiit of problem when you're the son of a mafia kingpin and you're occasionally tasked with "helping" people "swim with the fishes".
Nezha
All of his clothes are thrifted. All of them. Especially the red cropped jacket
Speaking of which, has lots of lotus motifs (inspired by this design by snowscapism) and the yellow lining the lapels calls back to the vest lil Nezha has in canon
That crop top used to be a normal, black crop top before Nezha absolutely shredded it (probably in some accident) and painted over it to make it "cooler". He also painted over the cargo pants he's wearing.
ANOTHER jacket tied to his waist as another callback to the yellow ribbon in Nezha's canon design
A lot of his jewelry were gifted to him by mama Yin when she saw he took interest in some of her own pieces when he was younger. The only ones that weren't were his helix piercings which he got without telling anyone in his family lmao
He also does his own makeup and face paint. The red, flame-like markings are a symbol of their gang, and every member has the mark, often done by Nezha himself
HENNNAAAAA!!! I GAVE HIM HENNA ON HIS HANDS :))) I LOVE HENNAAAAAAA!! They have a lotus design on them, but they aren't exactly that noticeable 😭
Something that I was talking about with a friend another day was how Nezha defies social rules, but AoBing defies social roles.
NeZha obviously breaks social rules, with his constant casual manners and he doesn’t seem to be courteous at all. However, from my perspective as a western audience, I felt like NeZha’s fear of showing weakness is indicative of his relationship with his own identity of being a boy, or being masculine. The way that he was afraid to show affection for his mother at the beginning of NeZha 2 because he’s embarrassed by what onlookers might think might also stem from his want to appear strong. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood in while flying to Lady ShiJi’s mountain because he was so hurt by the destruction he saw in Chengtang Pass that he masks it with anger.
AoBing on the other hand adheres to social rules, and he’s known for being a gentle, well-mannered figure who’s much more respectful compared to NeZha. However, something I’d like to mention is that he doesn’t care as much to present himself as strong or masculine as NeZha does, and he expresses his moments of weakness much more honestly than NeZha. He’s not afraid to cry, and he willingly expresses his love to his father, in comparison to how NeZha tries to act tough all the time, even around his own parents at the beginning of the film.
Whenever I read fanfiction of them, I usually like when they’re written with this contrast: where NeZha might be egotistical, he’s actually quite insecure in himself, and where AoBing seems more gentle and humble, he’s actually more confident in his own identity. Just because AoBing seems less masculine compared to NeZha, does not actually make him more meek or unconfident.
jacobvanloon
izzy806
yousharknotpass
vaporwave
baratheonpilled
