writerkatsblog

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Lyrics from a song I think fit Chase and his POV a bit for a specific thing in my head

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*after Omi gets lost in the city*

Raimundo: I've abandoned my boy! I've abandoned my boy!!!

Kimiko: Raimundo he can kick holes in solid rock. Im sure he can take care of himself for a few hours until we find him.

Raimundo: But it's Omi!!! Hes so trusting, who knows what could happen to him?! He could get into gangs. Or drugs. Or drugs that do gangs!!!

Clay: ... Don't you mean-

Raimundo: Look we have the Omi to English translator on 24/7, don't act like that's the most confusing mixup you've ever heard.

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How many ways must we see this grown-ass man disrespect this child

Master Fung + flicking Omi away

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My personal headcanon is that Omi was taught to meditate in quiet a lot because as a baby to younger child his water powers manifested fairly early. So it was easy for tantrums or crying fits to whip up storms that could damage the temple. So he was told to quietly meditate and read more to teach him how to quell his emotions and temper. Which means he didn't get much practice talking to the monks who raised him until he was older.

Part of my hc too is that he learned to read and write more than was taught to speak. And when you learn a language in writing more than in speaking it your phrasing and pronunciation can be kind of stilted and off. Clearly he can understand other people just fine. But while by the time the other three meet Omi he's clearly able to speak reasonably well, but he's not doing it very smoothly or with a lot of variance.

Gotta say, coming back to Xiaolin Showdown as an adult and seeing the fandom had some consistently active blog was a pleasent surprise!

Unpleasent surprise was rewatching the show and realizing that a lot (if not all) of Omi's flaws stem back to how he was raised

(Like maybe he wouldn't have had such an ego if he actually was hugged and cherished growing up)

So that brings me to my question,

In a hypothetical situation where someone realizes how much Master Fung (and the rest of the temple) dropped the ball in raising Omi and chews Master Fung out,

Who do you think it would be?

I personally would want it to be Raimundo, taking his leadership role more seriously and seeing the vast differences between how he was raised (loved with a ton of family) vs how Omi was raised (treated more as a student than a child)

I think you would enjoy Fragile Things by @writerkatsblog! Particularly chapter 18.

A lot of the character exploration and interactions in both this story and its prequel work will be right up your ally, both directly relating to how Raimundo and Master Fung navigate their current discussions and opinions after Raimundo's promotion and in Omi as a character!

Although I personally enjoy Omi's confidence. The fact that he sees himself as destined for greatness but also sees himself as a tool for the Xiaolin way who needs to earn his right to exist is exist at all because no one wants him and fame is the closest he think he can ever get to a love he's never known and always dreamed of is the most interesting internal character conflict I see in the show.

Omi earnestly thinks he's the bee's knees and the greatest dragon ever, and he also earnestly thinks his eyes are too lowly and wretch to be worthy to even look at Dashi and that if Omi falls short of perfection then he needs to "go on a long walk of no return" immediately. And that double consciousness is very fascinating!

Omi's depth and everything that entails what made me come back to the show after all these years. That smugness he and Chase both wear like armor is a lot of fun.

It's heavily implied that alternate timeline Omi that knew good Chase Young growing up had some major personality differences compared to the main one due to different factors in his childhood, and I'd love to explore those. (Hence why they thought he had a concussion from the way he was acting, and why Kimiko expected him to cheer up if she pinched his cheek.)

But I don't think a lack of confidence is one of them-- then again, with Chase still being Omi's number one hype man like he already is in the main series, that wasn't about to be a world where Omi didn't still match Chase Young arrogance anyway. It's still one of the things that tie them together.

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Alright, who’s ready for my possibly old-hat theory about what the Shen Gong Wu actually are, and how exactly Dashi made them.

Now, we don’t exactly know HOW Dashi makes the Shen Gong Wu. Or how he would get them to operate the way they do. But there are Two objects we have seen at work in the way I think Dashi does with everything else.

Wuya’s puzzle box prison, and the Mosaic Scale that kept Sibini sealed up. While Sibini seems to have been kept whole and physical when trapped in the Mosaic Scale, Wuya was trapped in the Puzzle Box as a spirit torn away from her physical body.

My running theory is, this is what makes up the basis of all Shen Gong Wu! Each one is a sort of “puzzle box” in and of itself, meant to trap various spirits, demons, and other monsters and Heylin forces that Dashi encountered over his lifetime. He creates specially made objects that are meant to seal in the being he’s faced, and depending on how they’re made, they can be used to trap, or even utilize the power of the things he had made containers for. Based on varying factors such as how powerful, dangerous, or malevolent they are.

For powerful and outright evil beings such as Wuya, the Sapphire Dragon, or Sibini, the best he can do is create objects which he can seal them in and keep them from wreaking havoc. And even then there’s always a chance these things can get out via their containers being solved, cleaned, or broken.

For less dangerous but still powerful beings, you might still get more useful Shen Gong Wu like the Sands of Time, the Emperor Scorpion, Moby Morpher, etc. Which really tells you that Dashi probably made himself a good name as a monster hunter in his time as well as building up his stash of Shen Gong Wu as he defeated each foe. And also perhaps goes a way to explain some of the really silly ones like the Ants In The Pants or Sweet Baby Among Us. Just Dashi couldn’t figure out how else to contain them, or was in a rush, or they were earlier on in his learning process and he was winging it.

But, you may ask, how does this account for how some of the Shen Gong Wu seem connected with each other? Like Sibini and the Monarch Wings, or Mala Mala Jong being made up of all sorts of different Shen Gong Wu put together.

Well that’s simple. Dashi split them up. For beings that he couldn’t seal as easily into a single Shen Gong Wu, Dashi managed to split apart their spirits and seal different aspects and powers of them into different objects. To whittle them down and make it harder for them to cause more trouble. The Heart of Jong in particular could be the very core of Mala Mala Jong, cause it was made solely to seal away the primary component that was the being’s spirit. Even it’s ability to absorb other Shen Gong Wu into its form could be seen as another part of its original powers. In a lot of Chinese legends there’s a lot of talk about demons and monsters planning to eat other things in order to gain some sort of power from what they ate. Being in similar situations as the other Shen Gong Wu, absorbing them into it’s body could be Jong’s way of “eating” other sealed spirits and taking their power into itself.

If you go by the theory that Dashi was the original Dragon of Air, I think it fits too! The idea of 氣 “Qi”, translates to “breath”, “air” and “vital energy”, and could be described as something or someone’s life force. By manipulating their spirits and energy into new material “bodies”, Dashi could all at once remove dangerous monsters and spirits from the physical world and also gain something to fight off others.

It could also go a ways to explain why beings like Wuya and Dojo are capable of sensing out the Shen Gong Wu. Dragons are very powerful beings in basically any Chinese legends you look at. And are often associated with spirits and the spirit world. And Wuya herself is a Heylin Witch, and Witches and spirits/demons usually go together like peanut butter and chocolate. So with both of them connected to spirits in general, it makes some amount of sense when Shen Gong Wu, containing spiritual forms of powerful beings in this context, activating gains their attention.

Even the context of Shen Gong Wu “activating” could be something like the spirits inside of them having been put to “sleep” when Dashi hid them all, and when they wake up they send out a strong signal. Either because they’re doing their best to get out of their prisons on their own, or they want to be noticed and found by someone else. Which might also explain why some of them are found in some random places. They weren’t necessarily hidden there to begin with, but after waking up, they use what energy they have in them to make their way to places where they were likely to be found and claimed. Or just going hog wild trying to break out.

As for the Xiaolin Showdowns themselves, this one’s a bit fun. Because the Showdowns themselves might actually be a form of taking ownership and making a contract! Usually it’s first come first served, so if you grab a Shen Gong Wu and claim it, it makes one automatically. But if two people try to claim it and no one steps back, the Xiaolin Showdown itself could be considered a built-in safety mechanism! If you want to claim ownership over something with that kind of power but have someone else going for the same thing, the Showdown could ensure it goes to whoever is either the strongest or the cleverest person, depending on the game being played. Because obviously you want the most qualified person to have control over an imprisoned spirit. And even though they’re made by Dashi, the objects don’t necessarily have to serve under the Xiaolin order. Because the imprisoned spirits will have no allegiance and will bow to the person who has proven themself by either capturing or winning their vessels.

In summary: Dashi is a reverse exorcist who seals spirits and monsters inside physical vessels.

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Crappy MSPaint comic about Chase’s early time serving under Bean.

Inspiration comic found here.

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"i don't comment on ao3 because i don't wanna be annoying or weird" skill issue + you greatly underestimate the power dynamic here, writing multi paragraph comments is like feeding a bunch of deeply insane and possibly starved ducks at the park and watch them go completely mad over having received a piece of bread

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Land of the Dead by Voltaire

Come Wayward Souls by The Blasting Company

The Nowhere King by Toby Chu

Unwed Henry by American Murder Song

As promised for this interlude week, here's a little something special. One of two other Playlists that will be developed alongside the Masked Stranger's! So the playlists will be rotated in how they update.

This one is about someone who hasn't come out into the open yet, but has everything to do with what's been going on.

Murder by American Murder Song

Edward by American Murder Song

I Can't Decide by Scissor Sisters

I'm Always Walking As Somebody Else by American Murder Song

And, as a bonus song, one that isn't directly in the Playlist, but one that I think fits this character on a very deep level.

From A Place Of Love by Mili

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Aw, glad to see my fic is being hyped here! Greatly appreciated, I do have fun writing the complexities of Omi.

I think it's often said that wanting to be seen as mature is one of the greatest signs of immaturity. And I think that shows well with Omi throughout the series. He wants to be seen as a mature Xiaolin Dragon and taken seriously, which is why he gets made the butt of a joke or knocked down a peg fairly often. He gets brought down to level and reminded he's still a child who makes mistakes and isn't all powerful on his own.

Which is a good lesson. But one wholly contrary to his upbringing where Master Fung apparently saw fit to raise Omi with this sense of grand karmic destiny and responsibility, but then left it to the other Dragons (who by all rights Fung never should've expected that they'd ever need or want to find, let alone meet) to teach Omi how to bond with others and do teamwork and socialize.

Heck, you could even say there's some level of neglect just by looking at Omi's speech patterns. Master Fung is very clearly pretty eloquent in the way he speaks, and Dojo is a fast talker and is up on modern slang that the kids who were raised in the world beyond the temple would be. Even Omi's personal eccentricities aside, it feels odd that he ended up with both such a sheltered view of concepts in the outside world and not even an understanding of common slang and turns of phrase that the people who raised him are apparently privy to.

Even if he clearly loves the people who raised him, I think he himself has yet to realize that the environment they gave him wasn't really the best one.

Gotta say, coming back to Xiaolin Showdown as an adult and seeing the fandom had some consistently active blog was a pleasent surprise!

Unpleasent surprise was rewatching the show and realizing that a lot (if not all) of Omi's flaws stem back to how he was raised

(Like maybe he wouldn't have had such an ego if he actually was hugged and cherished growing up)

So that brings me to my question,

In a hypothetical situation where someone realizes how much Master Fung (and the rest of the temple) dropped the ball in raising Omi and chews Master Fung out,

Who do you think it would be?

I personally would want it to be Raimundo, taking his leadership role more seriously and seeing the vast differences between how he was raised (loved with a ton of family) vs how Omi was raised (treated more as a student than a child)

I think you would enjoy Fragile Things by @writerkatsblog! Particularly chapter 18.

A lot of the character exploration and interactions in both this story and its prequel work will be right up your ally, both directly relating to how Raimundo and Master Fung navigate their current discussions and opinions after Raimundo's promotion and in Omi as a character!

Although I personally enjoy Omi's confidence. The fact that he sees himself as destined for greatness but also sees himself as a tool for the Xiaolin way who needs to earn his right to exist is exist at all because no one wants him and fame is the closest he think he can ever get to a love he's never known and always dreamed of is the most interesting internal character conflict I see in the show.

Omi earnestly thinks he's the bee's knees and the greatest dragon ever, and he also earnestly thinks his eyes are too lowly and wretch to be worthy to even look at Dashi and that if Omi falls short of perfection then he needs to "go on a long walk of no return" immediately. And that double consciousness is very fascinating!

Omi's depth and everything that entails what made me come back to the show after all these years. That smugness he and Chase both wear like armor is a lot of fun.

It's heavily implied that alternate timeline Omi that knew good Chase Young growing up had some major personality differences compared to the main one due to different factors in his childhood, and I'd love to explore those. (Hence why they thought he had a concussion from the way he was acting, and why Kimiko expected him to cheer up if she pinched his cheek.)

But I don't think a lack of confidence is one of them-- then again, with Chase still being Omi's number one hype man like he already is in the main series, that wasn't about to be a world where Omi didn't still match Chase Young arrogance anyway. It's still one of the things that tie them together.

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Another important call-in has arrived.

Last Year's "Non-Profit Killer" bill, HR 9495, is now being brought back not as an individual bill, but as an amendment that House Republicans are trying to shove into their budget reconciliation bill. To the detriment of all. This hidden section would hand over the power to remove nonprofit status from Any organization the administration doesn't agree with.

YES. THAT EVEN INCLUDES WEBSITES LIKE AO3.

You can use this website to send a written message to your Senator AND House Congressperson. And you can use the script that comes with it to call your reps too. Please do so as soon as possible, as this is a matter of grave importance. They want to do these things in secret and rush them so we don't have time to react. This is and has always been their strategy. So please help this now if you can.

You can pare down the script from the above link for a call script. So please help by calling as well if you can. Thank you.

"As your constituent, I urge you to reject the inclusion of Section 112209 in the House Ways and Means Committee's budget reconciliation package — a dangerous provision known as the “Nonprofit Killer Bill.”

This proposed law would grant the incoming administration’s Secretary of the Treasury unchecked power to revoke the tax-exempt status of religious, charitable, and advocacy organizations based on vague allegations and even classified evidence that groups cannot challenge. It would undermine the First Amendment, violate due process, and open the door to politically motivated targeting of nonprofits — including those that speak out against U.S. foreign policy or advocate for Palestinian human rights.

This legislation follows other recent attacks on free speech, such as the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the Anti-Boycott IGO Act, which would suppress student activism and Americans’ right to boycott human rights abuses. Congress must stop this growing wave of unconstitutional overreach.

I urge you to:

1) Support any amendment to strike Section 112209;

2) Vote NO on any reconciliation package that includes this provision.

Publicly oppose efforts to silence protected advocacy and dissent. Please stand up for the First Amendment and nonprofit independence!"

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Hai was a very fun character to write! And her sense of protectiveness and motherhood for Omi was very fun to develop, too!

my favorite moment was when omi's mom literally withstood something that would knock out absolutely anyone else because she refused to pass out before she was certain that omi would be okay

i think that was just as badass as omi's dad fighting the plant zombies, if not more

Omi comes from a very strong family. Not strictly in the combat sense but in the sense of willpower and inner strength. A loving mother who would withstand the tricks of an evil Heylin warlord if only to make certain of her baby's safety and a father who's willing to go against his own personal inclinations and raise his hand against the things that look like his family in order to protect his wife and child.

Strength comes in many forms. And the one formed by love is its own special brand.

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I will say that in writing You're Okay, one of the things I had the most fun with was fleshing out the backstory behind Chase talking to Omi's mother. You see that all the way back near the beginning. You know Chase has talked to Omi's mother and likely his father and knew them in some capacity but you don't know How.

Then you follow Chase as he goes through three weeks of coming to know this small family. And then the great big family all around Them. Learning how much weight is behind the words and Chase's promise. And how much ended up happening that made Chase keep that promise in the end, no matter how much he wanted to alter history in his own favor.

These are the people who made Chase Young keep a promise it seems like he would have never intended to actually hold to, and you get to see why he would do so.

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Dashi: Now, how to deal with the bandits that have been causing trouble in the nearby villages.

Chase: *raises hand*

Dashi: No, we are not going to cause an avalanche that will smother them all in snow.

Chase: *lowers hand* ... *raises hand again*

Dashi: We're not going to drown them in the river either!!!

Chase: *lowers hand again*

Guan: *starts to raise hand-

Dashi: One more word about rockslides out of you and I am turning this dragon around!!!!!

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Sorry for the lack of updates and such! I hope to get something out soon!

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Chase: Where is Omi?

Wuya: He's safe. He's with Bean.

Chase: THOSE TWO SENTENCES DO NOT GO TOGETHER!!!

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Raimundo: Bet you're real proud of yourself, huh?

Omi: If I'm not, who will be?

Raimundo: ... Do you need to talk or-