Crin

Benkei:

Earthbender

Has spent all his childhood in the colonies, until his dad got drafted and his mom got killed in a village raid

Found a few kids who managed to survive and just kind of stuck with them? And then they found some more kids who also stuck around? And then some more? They very slowly built up Face Freedom Hunters and Benkei became a de facto leader, partially because he was really good at taking care of everyone and partially because his meerbull (a mix of a meerkat and a bull) became essential for their survival, always transporting the food to their hideous in the trees

They are pretty much ready to attack and steal from anyone at all times [same as in mfb :’)]; which is why his (and the rest of the FH’s) clothes are a mix of all nations and always in a need for patching up

[pushing Jet’s backstory and Freedom Fighters lore onto Face Hunters <3]

He also implements a rule that all bending FH need to know how to wield a weapon or fight without the elements; just in case something goes wrong ((his weapon of choice being a hammer that he regularly uses alongside his bending [think of that earthbender during Zuko Alone episode for example]))

This arrangement functions nicely for years and then Kyoya decides to stumble into their forest and blow things up <3

Kyoya:

Airbender from the Northern Air Temple

Very much did not agree with the monks and their pacifist lifestyle, especially once the Northern temple decided to double down on isolating from the outside world, in hopes of preserving neutrality

Escaped Left the temple before he could become an airbending master and got his tattoos

Found his way to the Colonies where he came across Benkei&FH -> which led to a bending match with Benkei-> which led to more matches-> and more-> and Kyoya ending up leading FH [same as in mfb :’)]

Finds Leone (a lionwasp) in the forest along the way and they just kind of *click*, pretty much ending up bonded for life <3 ((which is awesome, bc the skybisons really didn’t like him all that much back at the temple, so finally having a partner means a lot to him))

He finds Benkei’s idea of using weapons with bending revolutionary and learns how to use throwing knives alongside airbending

(which is absolutely terrifying to me ngl.. someone throwing knives is already scary but imagine them also being able to control the speed and the path of said knives?? essentially being able to chase you down with them???? Kyoya is genuinely one of the most terrifying characters in this AU, and all of that is before Doji gets a hold of him)

Speaking of Doji. He eventually hears of the airbender who uses some pretty unique techniques and scouts him out, promising to make him a better fighter if he goes with him + giving them a nice sum of money that FH desperately need

Kyoya, who is way too ambitious for his own good (but also not a complete asshole (yet), who actually cares about FH in this AU), decides to go with him

And it goes downhill from here

He learns how to use bending for suffocation, extreme thermal regulations, eardrums raptures via sound manipulation, intense air pressures etcetc; essentially being trained into becoming a killing machine. Which. listen he might not always agree with the monks, but when ordered to actually kill someone for no reason, he draws a line and decides to escape leave

During his Dark Nebula time he also learns how to bend tornados, which at the time is an unknown technique, and therefore gets him his master tattoos… his master tattoos that get carved into him <3; very gruesome, very not fun <3 (they scar ofc, always there to remind him he became a master at a very great cost<3)

Anyways, sufficiently traumatized, he gets back to Freedom Hunters, disbands them and leaves [same as mfb :’)]

They very much do not want that obviously, which leads to Kyoya losing his temper and silencing everyone via scary airbending… Noone argues against the disbandment after that :’)

Benkei, who sees that something is very clearly WRONG with Kyoya, decided to go with him [and so does Demure, but more on him some other time]

But because Doji is very much set on getting Kyoya back under his thumb for reasons (not telling you yet❤️), they are essentially being hunted down -> leading to them deciding to go to Ba Sing Se in hopes of getting Dark Nebula of their track + a promise of a better life

[This post was brought to you by @ladyryukyo implanting a silly little AU in my head and me proceeding to absolutely loose it… resulting in my notebook being filled with character lore, multiple storylines and tear stains over figuring out the political climate… in other words, im now committed to this AU and you should expect bajilion parts in the future <3]

Also a bonus family portrait, to give you a feel for how tiny leone and kyoya are how huge is Bull next to a person of average height (bc benkei, who is tall af, is a deceiver):

Kenta:

Fuck you *baldefies your Kenta*

Anyyways. Yeah the poor fella is the avatar

From the Southern Air Temple

Has known from a very young age (practically since day 1 of becoming the avatar) that ending The War will fall on his shoulders [lowkey the whole world has been waiting for Kenta to reveal himself, so someone can finally stop it (because there is nothing quite like kids preventing world ending events, amirite?) (but also because world peace is kind of the avatar’s job and the peace negotiations aren’t going well (read: they are not going at all)] and has subsequently been trained in that direction

Little does he know the war will be the last of his worries <333

His tattoos are Raava shaped (OF COURSE THEY ARE. you won’t be able to pry raava shaped tattoos out of my hands even when i’m dead.)

Becomes the airbending master at around 14 ((im aging all of them up for this au)) and gets shipped off to the South Pole so he can start his waterbending training

He has an animal guide: a golden langurbug (a mix of golden langur and a ladybug) named Claw [yes, after his special move(s)] and a spirit guide (Sagittario) in the spirit world [this is also my best attempt at making Sag seem like it’s not from this world]

[i originally drew Claw as Sagittario, but making (half)human into a monkey made me feel some type of way and it didn’t make sense for a langurbug to be that big anyway, so i ended up seperating them in two different creatures, because there is no such thing as Kenta having too many friends and i honestly like this change a lot more… but also this is only for Kenta lol, the rest of the characters will only have animal companions (including the ones with human based beys)]

Anyways, he moves to the South Pole and his adventure begins (yay!! 🚬🥃🫩)

Gingka:

Prodigy waterbender

When he was a little kid he found out the new avatar is just a few years younger than him and promptly decided that HE was gonna be his bending teacher when the time comes

Lo and behold, he was right (well. partly. There was an internal agreement that BOTH the best Southern and Northern waterbending masters will teach Kenta. So once he is done here; he will have to go to the North Pole too)

[That way Gingka&the South get to be involved (considering they literally offered first), while the North (snobs that they are) see this as a nice way to make an actual master out of Kenta without having to loose their time on basics. Also they all want to be included in the war efforts lol]

Anyways. Gingka offers himself as the Southern teacher, considering he is literally the best bender in the South (Ryo, as the war chief, is currently fighting and therefore Does Not Have The Time (and their (adult) waterbenders are mostly with him too)), so Gingka really is their best option here

but also. Kid is mad talented lmao. He definitely deserves that place

Becomes friends with Kenta really fast

He has a bajilion hair beads in his hair; all of them representing people closest to him

the left braid is the most sacred one, dedicated to his family (his parents, Hyoma and Pegasus) and Hokuto (more on him some other time tho)

The right one is dedicated to his fellow villagers and the core “team avatar” ((that’s a pretty loose concept in this au tbf but you know what i mean-> the team that travels with Kenta))

and the ones in the back are dedicated to all the friends they make along the way bc this is gingka we are talking about (feel free to guess who is who)

He is about 17 in this one