sunnyshiloh

[sunnyshiloh]

Fleeting

Because they are short lived, which makes them all the more beautiful

[sunnyshiloh]

For Nari birthday ♥

[sunnyshiloh]

i hope that in 2025 u get to take more walks, read more books, connect with more people whom u love and who love u, achieve ur goals (even if ur goals are having no goals and just living in the moment), exercise fun hobbies, move from a place of self-direction, and weave together a beguiling assortment of beautiful little moments. remember that no feeling lasts forever. love u

[sunnyshiloh]

Starting the new year off right by getting Kazuha's echo and Heizou's thespian trick. Sleep? Never heard of her 🌼💚

[sunnyshiloh]

just caught myself thinking “nooo i cant post that they’ll think i’m uncool” like brother you are on www.tumblr.com/dashboard

[sunnyshiloh]

Shilohhh 🩷 I was sick earlier and didn't manage to send you an ask on Tighnari's birthday TwT

How was it this time? Did you do anything nice?

In any case, I hope you have an absolutely wonderful New Year ahead to look forward to! 🩷🩷

Yukiiiiii 💙💜

Oh no! Are you still recovering? I hope you will feel better soon if you are~ 🌼

This year, I actually didn't do very much except watch HoyoFair and play Genshin as Tighnari with my friend! I always do that with all of my favorite characters~

But if you mean in a selfship way, I just imagined we did what he mentioned in his letter, which was taking him around Natlan as the forest ranger and we talked about the plants and animals together. He asked me very detailed questions about the environment and certain conditions in which they thrive, about their unique characteristics, and any related species and somehow I was able to answer them. He was so pleased that he said that I should think about studying things in Natlan further so that I could perhaps give a lecture about it back in Sumeru. As much as I hate speaking in public, I felt so proud of myself. It meant that he had taught me how to approach these things as a scholar very well 💚

Man, I rambled so much. Sorry about that, Yukiii!

Thank you for the New Year's wishes! I look forward to how this year will be different. Somehow I feel like things will go in a better direction and I will finally have an answer to certain questions I've had inside 🌼

Thank you so much for the ask!! I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

[sunnyshiloh]

Happy New Year, lovely friends~ May this new year be ever so kind to you. 🌻💚

[sunnyshiloh]

Happy New Year for when it comes, Shiloh! I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but it really means a lot seeing the notes you leave on my silly posts and comments on fics, so thank you for that!

Here’s to the best for you (and Kazuha, Tighnari, Heizou…) in 2025!

R!! 💚💚 Thank you so so much and I hope you have a wonderful New Year as well with Heizou, Jing Yuan, and all of your favorites in 2025~ You are most welcome~ Your stories and thoughts are most interesting and I can't help but interact! Thank you for sharing them and working so hard on them! 🌼💚

[sunnyshiloh]

…𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: In which replying to a mysterious letter leads you back to the one place (and person) you could never quite forget. …𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Childhood friends to lovers. …𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: None. …𝙻𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑: 2,255 words. …𝙰𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: Gender-neutral reader; renga is a collaborative form of Japanese poetry which consists of a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable scheme; Heizou Hasegawa is a character from the novel series Onihei Hankachō by Shōtarō Ikenami, who acted as possible inspiration for Shikanoin Heizou, who was inspired by a real figure—an interesting and more comprehensive explanation of this can be found here. Reblogs and comments are appreciated.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

𝙰 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙱𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚂𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚛𝚊.

It is a letter which appears under your door, written in an elegant hand on a plain slip of paper, left unsigned. You are addressed by pen-name at the top; the rest reads as follows:

I have heard countless tales of your famed verse, and read many of your novels on my travels—no, I will be honest; I confess that I’ve read all of them. I cannot help myself. Such wit and mastery of words as you possess is simply astounding. In particular your most recent tale, A Thousand Boughs of Sakura, was exceptionally engaging in how you utilised verse to leave hints in the text towards the true identity of the culprit; and I must say that you almost fooled me with the shocking conclusion! 

In the spirit of your skill, and my current being in town—entertain a poor soul with a game of renga, will you? I’ll start:

—Secrets tossed on wind

The rest of the paper is blank, as if the author already anticipates your acceptance of the proposal with complete confidence. 

The fact of the letter’s arrival is nothing out of the ordinary: you often receive such messages from fans, offering praise, questions and comments regarding your publications. It is, however, one of the rare occasions where the subject of interest has been yourself, rather than your work, and the first where a request has so specifically, not to mention so directly, been made of you.

Indeed, from the request to the manner of writing, the letter initially strikes you as entitled, and you have the mind to simply toss it away and forget about it—but, skimming your eyes over the message again, you hesitate. 

Despite the novel being released a few weeks ago, this is the only letter you have received to pick up your technique of using differences in the pronunciation of kanji to suggest alternative meanings to the phrase; implying hidden messages through synonyms which, though identical in meaning, contain different radicals to the alternative word. Whoever the sender of the message is, they must have an acute eye for detail—a quality you can respect. Perhaps this mystery reader of yours is worth a moment or two.

You walk to your desk and unthinkingly pen another verse:

—All one must do is listen

You hardly know where to leave the reply—it is not as if your messenger has indicated their whereabouts, beyond ‘currently being in town’—yet somehow you trust that it will find its intended recipient. You pin it in a corner of the local noticeboard, and think no more of it for the rest of the day.

——————

—To hear the rustle.

Penned in the same elegant handwriting, this is the new line which has joined the previous verse when you pass by the noticeboard on the following day. You remove the letter and take it back to your home, where you spend a few moments considering how to respond. 

Your reply, as you pin it back up, reads thus:

—Verses penned by unknown hand 

The next day, another line:

—Anonymity’s respite.

And so is your first complete stanza concluded. You thumb the edge of the translucent paper, considering how next to proceed. 

Of course, the first thought to arise is that there is no need to ‘proceed’ with this game whatsoever: you have fulfilled this reader’s request at no great benefit to yourself, and there is no obligation which ties you to elaborating upon it further. You could end this playful exchange now and feel hardly the worse for it. 

And yet, that peculiar hook, on which your career and passions are founded—that irresistible inclination named ‘curiosity’—has taken hold somewhere within you, is tugging you gently in the direction of the mystery. You wish to know more of this enigmatic admirer of yours; you wish to know why something about him (you feel, somehow, that it is a ‘him’) feels almost familiar. If nothing else, you enjoy the interplay. 

You raise your brush to the page, and continue the poem. 

—Where is respite found?

—Asks the cowering sinner

You read over the line once, twice. Something, a niggling feeling in the deeper recesses of your mind, is beckoning to you, inviting you to wonder at this choice of words.

It feels like your partner is hinting at you, playing with you much in the same way you do with your own audience. You wonder what the clue may be, return to the previous lines you have composed together, come to a tentative hypothesis. 

You think you know the direction in which to guide this inquiry. 

—Shed of virtue’s mask

—Like young blossoms in summer

—Trembling in fear of cyclones.

You return the letter to the noticeboard. Over a week has passed already; what began as a favour on a whim has grown into a routine, even a commitment. 

There is room yet remaining for one more stanza; one final chance to crack the code, to solve the puzzle laid out for you. This method itself, you acknowledge, is a clue. 

You feel much like Hasegawa, the protagonist of A Thousand Boughs of Sakura; reading between the lines and hunting down scant hints to identify the criminal before it is too late. (In your novel, the criminal turns out to be an old acquaintance.)

The difference is that you are no detective; merely an author, a poet. Your skills reside in capturing the immaterial, not assimilating the real. 

Even so, the opening line of the final stanza gives you confidence that you are on the right track.

—What is a cyclone?

—But that which intuits vice 

—Wielding intellect 

—Catching arrows with bare hands

—Leaving no buds to fester.

My, what a beautiful poem we have composed! Our hearts must truly beat in harmony with one another. Your intellect is as sharp as I remember. 

Midnight, tonight. I will see you at the usual spot.

——————

The letter does not specify where you are to meet, nor does it need to. Since childhood, there has only been one location you frequented enough for its significance to become instinctual. You head toward the coastline, where there grows a certain sakura tree overlooking the shore, identified by its gnarled trunk which is twisted with age. 

There is a reclining silhouette already outlined against the tree in sunset scarlet when you arrive. Perhaps the details have changed here and there—the height, the clothing—but the figure itself, you could not mistake for the world. 

In unmarked silence, you join Shikanoin Heizou beneath the sakura tree. 

For a time, neither of you speak. What is there to say? You have not seen each other in years. Circumstances, not to mention your own selves, have altered within the rift of time you have spent apart. The last time you met was in the early moments of adulthood, when he took on the mantle of a detective and your aptitude for writing began to raise you into company higher than anticipated. 

Thinking back on it now, you never said a proper goodbye; he simply had to leave one day, and subsequently you drifted out of each other’s lives through no devices of your own, as a cloud disperses into smaller fragments and is scattered on the wind. You never received any letters from him, either; it did not occur to you to send one of your own (and if you had, how were you to know where to send it?). But you never forgot him—Archons, never. 

The fact that he is here now gives you hope that he did not forget about you, either. 

The silence grows, deepens, becomes uncomfortable. Somebody will have to take the first step; and this time, it is your turn. You run your tongue over dry lips. 

“What a surprise it is to see you here, Heizou.”

For all of your usual eloquence, any skill with words has abandoned you now. You feel exposed and frightfully inexperienced, like you are sitting at an empty page in your father’s study, wondering how to compose your first haiku. 

He smiles, and the world is stable again. “Not much of a surprise, I’m afraid. You figured me out.”

“You wanted me to,” you reply, and you find yourself falling into a rhythm of effortless exchange similar to the renga game—except this time, you are not separated by ink and paper, but face to face. It feels easy, like the rift of time between you is nothing at all. 

You ask, “What were your reasons for approaching me through letters, rather than directly? Diverting as your puzzles were, surely it should have been far simpler to greet me in person, not wait until now.”

“I couldn’t risk speaking with you any earlier, for both of our sakes. Until recently I was part of an undercover investigation, and had I been recognised, the confidentiality of the case may be compromised. And on your end, I figured it would be embarrassing for somebody of such high standing as yourself to be seen hanging around somebody like me.”

Something is off. His explanation is sound, but there’s a matter he hasn’t addressed. “A letter signed with one’s name alone ought to be privacy enough—yet it was your choice to remain anonymous,” you point out.

Another smile lifts the corner of his mouth, this time a touch meek. His eyelashes lower as he glances downwards. “Would you rather the honest answer, or the one which will flatter me?”

“Offer me first the flattery,” you propose, “and only the honesty if I fail to decipher the truth myself.”

“My intention was to test your discernment. I remember our childhood battles of wits fondly, but after such a long time, I wasn’t sure how your character held up. So much time spent in high society can change somebody; I wanted to know whether you were still the same person I knew before taking any action to introduce myself.”

“Am I still the same person?” you ask out of interest. 

“Of course you are.” The reply is so quick, comes so naturally, that it warms you. 

So, that is the flattery. 

You scrutinise the man in front of you; his posture (the way he leans against the tree trunk, yet drums his fingers on the wood), his expression (how his eyes glance between you and the floor, like he’s just as shy and skittish as you are, perhaps even more so), his explanation (which is obviously false—he read your works, meaning he must have been aware at least to an extent of your personal development).

“And the truth,” you conclude after a careful period of reflection, “is that you were afraid. Afraid that, after all this time, I would hold towards you feelings of contempt for leaving so abruptly. You did not sign your name in fear that my knowing your identity would provoke me to be hostile, or to rebuke your advances.”

“And would you have done so?” 

“I never thought ill of you, Heizou,” you say. When you say his name, his eyes widen by a touch, brighten a little. “Not once, even if I tried to. And…” You sigh, leaning back against the tree beside him. “You may comfort yourself with the fact that I was afraid, too.”

Heizou looks away, in thought. Silence settles upon you once more. This time, you are comfortable in it. Yes; there is comfort in having Heizou standing beside you once again, close enough that, should you wish, you could…

(He flexes his hand, and you know you are thinking of the same thing. Neither of you act. It’s still too soon, too hasty, to go there yet. You want to get to know him again, from the beginning, before going there.) 

“Is it really true, that you read all of my novels?” you blurt. 

“Every single one,” he replies in earnest. 

You scratch your neck. “Was it… ahem, was it obvious that Hasegawa was based on you?”

“I did notice some similarities, yes,” Heizou admits with a chuckle. “In fact,” he continues, a smirk beginning to creep onto his face, “if my memory serves me correctly, you describe him as handsome no less than seven times.”

Heat rushes to your face. You cough into your first, and Heizou laughs again, the sound full and bright and everything you’ve missed in the last few years of your life. 

“Don’t worry—you were subtle in every other part of the story. I wasn’t exaggerating in my initial praise, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such attention to detail in the narration as well as the plot itself. It really was incredible.” 

You’re accustomed to receiving praise from fan letters and colleagues, but getting it from Heizou feels different, somehow; it feels more valuable, more real. “Thank you,” you smile, suddenly all bashful and self-conscious again. He smiles back. You have to look away.

“What do you plan to do now, then?” you ask, changing the subject to something less involved with yourself. “I assume your incredibly-confidential, undercover-agent case is over.”

“I’ve been considering staying here for a while—until another case comes up, at least.” Now he’s the one to look away. A slight hint of red dusts his cheeks, a shyness reveals itself in the upturned corners of his lips, and his voice takes on a softer, more self-conscious note. “This might be a little presumptuous of me, but… I was thinking that I could stay with you. If you’d have me.” 

Your reply is so quick, comes so naturally, that it warms you. 

[sunnyshiloh]

More Harumasa!

Also the more I see him pouting, the more he looks like an irritated cat-

[sunnyshiloh]

So I tend to play Hoyo games in Korean because that is my preferred language to play them in besides English and OMG are you kidding me? Apparently Harumasa shares a voice actor with Tighnari?? No wonder he sounds so familiar~ 🌼💚

[sunnyshiloh]

Happy birthday to Tighnari, who is still the prettiest, most scholarly fox I know~ 🌼💚💚 It would be such a treat to take him to Natlan and be the forest ranger for once for his birthday. We could gather plant samples and talk about the properties of different flora and fauna just as we did back in Sumeru. Such warm memories~

[sunnyshiloh]

SHILOHH SHILOHH SHILOHH SHILOHHH Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ ❤🌷💕💖💗💙💚💛💜💝💞

i fall asleep while writing this to you few days ago but MERRY CHRISTMAS!! i hope you had an amazing holiday and christmas this year :)) i've rewrite everything again and add something new, sorry for being late ehehe...＼(;´□｀)/

how are you doing? is everything okay? what have you baked or cooked this year that you're happily proud of? i want to hear everything!! (/^▽^)/✨ also, happy tighnari birthday!! i rushed to tumblr as soon as i saw his birthday art on twitter. hope you're having a good time ❤🎀

also also also i managed to claim all birthday emails from all the games i played this year!! usually i would have missed one or two and just prioritised the game i played the most, but this year, i managed to claim from every game that i remember!! i'm so happy just for that. the difference is significant, as a lot of things have happened this year, and sadly now i've lost the majority of my friend. the old me would have been sad for not having anyone sending me birthday wishes, thinking i was alone in this world. But now that i only focus on good things that i have right now and appreciate everything no matter big or small, nothing else matters! (≧∇≦)/🎉 that being said, hope you have an amazing day shilohh!! 🌻💚

Cynthiaaaaaaa! 💚💚💚💚 Awwww! Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you too! I hope your Christmas was a good one! As for me, some family members came over and we baked sugar cookies and snickerdoodles together. They turned out pretty good when fresh out of the oven, but then they got hard when they cooled down, even in an airtight container. Definitely finding a new recipe next year! As far as presents go, I got the Kazuha scarf from his clothing line. It is wider than I thought it would be. When I showed a picture of it to my friend, she thought it was a blanket, hehe~ but it's soft and warm, and I can't wait to wear it somewhere. 🍁 This year, probably the only thing of note that I made was gyuudon (beef bowl), but with a faux meat that I buy sometimes. In January though, I will be transitioning back into eating meat, so there will be more possibilities! One dish I want to try is enoki beef rolls. I bet Tighnari would love that. He would probably even recommend different kinds of mushrooms to wrap the sliced beef around~ 🌼 Speaking of which, thank you for sending me a message on Tighnari Day! Thank you for thinking of me~! I did have a good day. My friend and I watched HoyoFair together and it was pretty good stuff (needs more Heizou though because what is a detective themed HoyoFair without their detective?). 🌼💚 I'm so happy for you when it comes to collecting the birthday mail! Was it your birthday recently? If so, happy birthday, my friend! I'm so glad to hear that things weren't sad for you. I hope that this next year will be full of happiness and sweetness for you, and that good friends will come into your life, like a surprise gift~ 🎁 Thank you so much for your asks Cynthia! You always bring so much positivity into my life, hehe 🌻💚

[sunnyshiloh]

Happy Birthday, Tighnari!

The Forest Rangers always bring me a variety of thoughtful gifts around this time each year, so I like to use my free moments to prepare simple gifts for them in return.

For instance, I'll press plant specimens into bookmarks and include them with thank-you notes. It's also a nice way to help them review what we've covered before.

Those who doze off in my lectures like those Fungi in the wild might want to brace themselves.

What about you? Care to join me in picking some out?

[sunnyshiloh]

Genshin Impact | 2024 Birthday Pictures: Tighnari

Text:

December 29, Sunday

Happy Birthday, Tighnari!

"Agh! Don't touch my ears! Or my tail!" "Hm...is it because the Hydro Fungi are here that you've managed to become the best-growing tree in the area?"

Download Link (Google Drive)

[sunnyshiloh]

Genshin Impact | 2024 Birthday Artworks & Character Shorts: Tighnari

Download Link (Google Drive)

[sunnyshiloh]

Tighnari