#★ taiyang xiao long || headcanon ★ gonna need a spark to ignite

[unlockthestars]

Tai deals with severe depression, which would likely be classified as MDD (major depressive disorder). It's something he's struggled with pretty much all of his life, but by far the worst two periods were after Raven left and after Summer died.

In both instances, he went practically catatonic, not moving or speaking, barely doing the minimum needed in order to keep himself alive, and only that because there were other people around.

Summer and Qrow helped take care of baby Yang…., and then after Summer died…., Tai knows that he dropped the ball, that Yang, young as she was, had to pick up the pieces.

The day that Qrow saved Yang and Ruby from a Grimm attack was something of a wake-up call for Tai, and he started actively working on managing his depression. He started therapy, and working through things.

That's also where Zwei comes in. He's more than just a pet; he's Tai's service dog. Zwei helps to keep him calm as needed, and he's also trained to pick up objects and bring them to Tai, as well. Additionally, he'll alert if Tai starts to exhibit any dangerous or harmful behaviour, for example.

Tai's doing a lot better, but he's still aware of just how bad he can get, and he's doing his best not to allow himself to get that bad again.

[unlockthestars]

Tai has always been polyamorous. He didn't really have a word to put to how he felt until learning more about pretty much everything at Beacon, but when he heard someone mention that they were polyam, something clicked for him. With a word that actually felt right, he was able to do some research and figure out that, yeah, "polyamorous" described him really well, as did bisexual.

That part had been easy to figure out; he knew he was attracted to pretty much anyone, regardless, and bi just feels right for him.

(For my personal portrayal and headcanon, I lean towards various iterations of poly-strq: poly STR / STQ at different times, which is why things can end up so jumbled sometimes.)

[unlockthestars]

@flightofaqrow asked: What class(es) did Qrow teach at Signal? Tai can answer this too please!

I like to think that all of the teachers teach some form of combat, so that students can see different fighting styles, different ways to go about figuring out their own, that sort of thing. So while Qrow definitely teaches combat (because he's ridiculously good at it), he also taught History, along with basic survival skills.

While Signal is a primary combat school, it's also not huge, considering it's located on Patch, so some of the teachers doubling up what they taught wasn't that unusual at all.

The way that Qrow taught history was very much not just "You sit here and you learn about the things that came before;" it was almost as though he was weaving stories together, so that the kids could almost experience what came before, and hopefully learn from it.

So it ended up becoming sort of a …. "more than just what history books tell you" sort of class, with a lot of the various stories and histories he collected as he traveled.

Additionally, every Huntsman should know the basics of how to survive in the wild, especially in the more remote areas. How to build a fire, how to hunt, how to field dress what you caught, that sort of thing.

And while it wasn't his main focus, sometimes he'd help out with weapon design, especially in the forges (because all good combat schools should have a forge).

As for Tai, one of his classes was hand-to-hand combat, usually for upper-level students, after they'd already built and learned to rely on their weapons. (Which is why Ruby's hand-to-hand isn't as good; she didn't get to the point where she would have taken his class.) Part of Tai's whole thing was while it's great to be able to rely on your weapon, and it should feel like an extension of your body, you also need to know how to use your body itself.

One of his other classes was similar to Qrow's survival skills, but focused much more on plants: which were safe to eat, how certain plants could be used medicinally, etc. And while using poisons wasn't necessarily a big part of the curriculum, he definitely still touched on making sure everyone knew which plants were toxic and/or poisonous, so that they had that knowledge. Which means that Tai and Qrow taught a couple of joint classes.

One of Tai's other focuses not exactly meditation, but centering yourself, focusing on clearing your mind as much as possible so negative emotions while (or even after) fighting off an attack wouldn't draw more Grimm.

He also taught basic self-defence classes, which were for anyone, not just Signal students.

[unlockthestars]

Send a 🍁, ask a question // Accepting

@corvidkins asked: Send 🍁 + Any question ( tai ) : does he miss raven at all? in any sense .

Does he miss Raven? Does the sun rise in the east and set in the west? Is the moon shattered? Are the Grimm drawn to negative emotions?

It's one of those questions that's barely even a question with how simple the answer is.

But it's also not simple at all. Then again, his relationship with Raven never had been. It had been one of those things that no one had expected to work as much as it did, least of all the two of them.

Taiyang has loved Raven Branwen for decades, at this point, and he still misses her, even now, after everything that has happened, after everything they've been through. And he knows that part of him always will. He'd built this house for them, thinking that they'd spend the rest of their lives together, coming back home after missions, raising Yang, building a life.

And she'd just…..left. And it had broken something in him.

But damn him, yes, he still missed her.

"I'm always gonna miss Raven," he finally says. "I would be lying if I said there's not some hurt there, but….I still love her. That's not gonna change…., and neither is missing her."

Would they be able to just…..pick back up where they left off if she came through that door right now? Absolutely not. But that didn't change how he felt.

[unlockthestars]

Send a 🍁, ask a question // Accepting

@eiiskonigin asked: 🍁 + Tai, when did you realize you were in love with Raven? And when did you realize you were in love with Summer?

Ah, this question again. It's one of those things that's hard to answer because there wasn't really any one moment he could pinpoint, with either of them, especially when it all overlapped so much. He'd just….loved them. Still did, truth be told.

Both of them had been out of his life for more than a decade, but he still loved them. Probably always would. It was one of the reasons he was still on his own; he just couldn't go through that again. And who would want someone still grieving the loss of his previous partners, even if he was perfectly capable of loving more than one person?

"It just….kinda happened," he finally says, shrugging one shoulder. "We were partners…., and then we were more." He'd already been in love with her when Raven had essentially declared that he was hers, and there had been some feelings for Summer there, too, and there had just been…..love.

[unlockthestars]

Learn about my muses' physical features! // Accepting

@sunguns asked: Hair for Yang, but also for Taiyang. And also for Neptune. 💙

[hair]: length, colour, texture, whether it grows quickly or slowly, how manageable it is, whether it requires lots of styling, do they leave stray hairs everywhere, is it present on their face, is it present on the rest of their body, etc.

It is no secret that Yang Xiao Long's pride and joy is her long, blonde hair. It goes down to the small of her back, and it is thick. Which is one of the reasons she doesn't wear it up that much: it is thick, and it is easier to wear it down than to attempt to pull it back into a ponytail.

Her hair grows pretty quickly, which is one of the reasons she ended up leaving it long from a pretty young age: it was easier to just let it go than to try to wrangle her for a hair cut. Because she does not like for people to touch her hair. It's one of things she was the most fussy about when she was younger, and that has continued into adulthood. Only a select few people are allowed to touch her hair, and that's honestly one of the best ways to know if she trusts you: if she lets you touch her hair.

She takes good care of her hair: when she has the time, she'll absolutely do a full hair-care routine, from the best shampoo, conditioner, hair masks, and she brushes it as carefully as she can.

Thankfully, it doesn't require a lot of styling; it just kind of stays out of her face, for the most part.

As for body hair, it's an even softer blonde than the hair on her head, but she keeps her underarms and legs fairly regularly shaved, and her pubic hair trimmed.

Tai's hair is a lighter blonde than his daughter's, but it is no less thick. He keeps it pretty short, but leaves enough that it can be played with, both in a styling sense, and for someone else to be able to run their fingers through it, to grab onto it if they want to.

It grows pretty quickly, so he has to get it cut to keep it relatively the same length. It has been longer, but since that's usually as a result of his depression, keeping it shorter shows that he's doing better, and he's actually trying to take care of himself.

He usually has some form of a light beard on his face, along with a thicker tuft on his chin. This is partly because he doesn't like shaving every day, partly because he likes how it looks.

The hair on the rest of his body is about the same colour as the hair on his head, though it tends to be finer. The hair on his chest thins out as it goes further south, but there is a noticeable trail below his bellybutton further down, which is fairly natural.

Neptune is the kind of person to cultivate a very carefully crafted "Oh, this didn't take me much effort at all" while in reality, he does actually spend time on his appearance, specifically his hair.

He keeps the undercut because he likes how it both looks and feels, and it keeps things more manageable, overall. It's something that he can touch up himself, get one of his teammates to help him with, or he can just drop into wherever instead of having any sort of standard appointment. Which means that the undercut is usually soft and fluffy, and very pleasant to touch.

Wearing the goggles helps keep it out of his face, but there's usually enough product in it that it would stay out of his face anyway. But even though there is a lot of product in his hair, he uses stuff that is still touchable, at the very least. It's not hard or super sticky; it just helps him keep the style he wants.

The rest of his body hair isn't as bright blue as that on his head; it's darker, especially the light dusting down his stomach. He also keeps his pubic hair trimmed pretty neatly, for the most part.