#//Nilou’s is so pretty; but I don’t have a Nilou myself

[dutybcrne]

Okay, saw the summer event preview and aaaaaaAAAAA

[starz222]

surprise!

synopsis: planning nilou's birthday, your assigned baking partner, alhaitham, blurts out something unexpected

contains: gender neutral reader, not proofread w/c: 1443 (not on purpose i swear)

a/n: characters may be ooc, prompt shown at the end! part 2 here !

Zubayr theater is planning a surprise party for Nilou. She’s been working extremely hard for the theater and has made tons of contributions aswell. Ever since the festival, the group stayed in contact.

The people of Zubayr theater thought it would be great to ask help from the group, though busy, they would make time for a friend. They had asked the traveller to contact everyone in order to get the arrangements done. They called you, Alhaitham, Dehya, Tighnari, Cyno, and Dunyarzad. Of course, they did think that these were super important people, and extremely busy at that, but they’ve saved Teyvat together. Surely, they would be able to make time and help out. (Traveler also invited Nahida but they were gonna keep that a surprise.)

Without Nilou incharge of the arrangements, the situation was utterly messy. 

“Okay, soo.. Dunyarzad is in charge of keeping Nilou distracted, Alhaitham and [Name] are in charge of baking,  Cyno and Tighnari help out with the decorations, and Dehya in charge of the gifts and supervising with us!” Paimon announced.

“One question.” Cyno crossed his arms. “You sure that the mighty scribe knows how to bake?” 

“I know how to. And, why don’t you go and focus on the pretty little decorations? Isn’t that your job?” Alhaitham bites back.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. We should all get to work soon if we want this to be done quickly.” Tighnari stopped the two from arguing. 

You and Dehya share a look, even without words, you both know what you’re thinking. They’re fighting like kids.

“Ahem… Okay! Let’s get to work!” Paimon clapped. Everyone went to their designated stations, and you head to the little station set up for baking. 

You see Alhaitham carrying a box of baking supplies, along with the Traveler. Sure, he had muscles for days. But god, you never really paid attention. He sets the box on the table and helps get out the tools. You get the necessary ingredients and you begin to whip up the batter. Cracking a few eggs, pouring in the flour and the milk. 

“Give it to me, I’ll put it in the mixer.” Alhaitham offers. He knows that he doesn’t know how, but the mixer came with a manual. He thought it would be easy to use the mixer. You watch him as he carefully reads the instructions. “It’s pretty simple.” He concludes, putting the manual down. “Haitham, are you sure you’ve got this?” you tease. “As always.” He grabs the bowl of batter and places it onto the mixer then presses the button. It begins to spin, “I told you.” he says with a proud grin. Suddenly, it accelerates. It becomes so fast, the batter starts to fly out of the bowl.

“HAITHAM-” you cover your face with your arm. “TURN IT OFF!” you scream.

“I’m working on it, genius.” The batter flies to his face, causing him to miss the button of the mixer. He reaches out and finally turns it off. You hand him a towel (well, you throw it to his face). He pauses before he grabs it from his face. “I was the one that turned it off, you know.” He wipes the batter off of his neck and clothes. “You were also the one that started it.” You retort, “So many ingredients wasted, we’ll have to start from scratch again.” You sigh and wipe your forehead.

He looks at you and laughs, “I’ve never seen anyone look so cute and ridiculous at the same time”. 

“You.. think I'm cute?”

“....Forget I said anything.” He turns away and his bangs fall, covering his face. You wish you could see his face right now. 

Fuck, why’d I say that? How did I even mess up with the mixer? I’m embarrassing myself. I can’t even focus. Why do I keep on messing up now that they’re around? 

earlier that day ... alhaitham's pov

“Alhaitham! We’re planning a surprise party for Nilou and we were wondering if you wanted to come and help out!” Paimon looks at Alhaitham. “It’s okay if you can’t though. But, we did call the rest of the group! Wellll, so far, only [name], but they said they’re going-” 

“It’s going to be held at the Zubayr Theater, right?” Paimon nods, “Let’s not keep them waiting if we want to celebrate now.” 

assigning the jobs ... al haitham's pov

Alhaitham is more than unaware of his feelings for you, rather, in denial.. All he knows is that when you’re around, his heart paces. When you’re around, he’s more conscious. When you’re around, he doesn’t know what to do. 

“Okay, soo.. Dunyarzad is in charge of keeping Nilou distracted, Alhaitham and [Name] are in charge of baking,  Cyno and Tighnari help out with the decorations, and Dehya in charge of the gifts and supervising with us!” Paimon announced.

Of all people, it just had to be you. Why you? Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, he thinks. But he knows that he won’t be able to react so rationally towards you. You're always on his mind, and he doesn’t know what he would do without you.

back 2 the present ...

“Hey! How is it over-” Paimon sees the mess.“..here.” She shares a concerning look with Traveler and Dehya, they see Alhaitham cleaning up the mixer and batter, and you mixing up a new batch.. “What happened?” Dehya turns to you. “A little mishap, I accidentally changed the setting to the highest”. You force a laugh. “Umm, good luck with the rest!” They begin to walk away and check up on the others.

You hear Tighnari in the distance, “Cyno, PLEASE. For the love of god, stop it with your jokes!”. He begs as he stands on a ladder that’s being held stable by Cyno. “What? I’m thinking of more as my gift to Nilou.”

“Don’t even–” Tighnari sighs, “Dehya’s taking care of the gifts already.”

Poor Nilou, you think. (IM KIDDING CYNO I LOVE YOU)

You’re lost in your thoughts, meanwhile Alhaitham is confused, why did you cover for him? You had no reason to. The faucet is still running, and the cold water continues to hit his skin. What do I do next? He thinks.  He always knew what to do next, it wasn’t that much of a problem for him. He always knew the answer, or found another way. Now, he doesn’t know what to do. He’s.. stuck.

... “I’ve never seen someone look so cute and ridiculous at the same time.”

“You think I’m cute?”  .....

You replay the conversation in your head, little did you know, he was doing the same. 

What should I say? It’s so… awkward now.

You dealt with the silence while baking and helping each other, you notice your hands lingering on his longer than it should have. You stare at him, lost in your thoughts, thinking: "When did he become so damn pretty?” Meanwhile, Alhaitham feels your stare. His grip on the piping bag changes, and he fixes his posture. He clears his throat, “Are you gonna help or what?” You snap back to reality and help him with the cake.

You both manage to bake a cake together in these conditions. It was too awkward for the both of you, at this point you were begging to the archons that someone else would come and break the ice. And the archons answered your prayers. 

“I smell something yummy!” Paimon exclaims as she floats towards you and Alhaitham’s station. “Oooh. I can’t wait to dig in!” She kicks her feet in the air. “Hands off, Paimon. You’ll get to eat lots later.” Traveler stops her, and of course, she begins to sulk.

“It looks great, you two. I’m surprised you even managed to bake a cake successfully.” Dehya praises, of course, managing to say some passive-aggressive shit to Alhaitham. Weirdly, Alhaitham stays silent instead of coming up with a witty retort. “That’s weird.” They nod in unison. “Did something happen between you two?” Dehya asks.

“It’s nothing.” You gulp, “Anywho, is everyone else done? I haven’t gotten the chance to look around, but it looks gorgeous! Nilou’s going to love this.” you state. “Speaking of which, where’s the birthday girl?” Paimon asks, you all turn towards Dehya. “Dunyarzad said that she’s having trouble keeping her away from the theatre, y’know, it being a home to her and all that. But now that we’re done with the preparations, we can give Dunyarzad the clear and let her come now.” 

“Okay! Sounds great!” Paimon says.

You look at Alhaitham, but he was already looking at you. Your cheeks feel hot again, but he was quick to turn away.

How are you going to go through the party feeling this tension?

a/n: might make a part 2 about how the party went!! (if this gets a few likes)

prompt: "I've never seen someone look so cute and ridiculous at the same time"

[it-happened-one-fic]

Dancing With Visions - Do The Hustle - The Hustle - Cyno

Author Notes: The third fic for my "Dancing With Visions" fic series for Genshin Impact! The Hustle is typically a sort of line dance, but for this fic I used a variation that is referred to as a 'Tango Hustle' that largely came about because the film "Saturday Night Fever." This performance is based on the dance from the very same film that is done to the BeeGee's song "More Than a Woman." This fic was also written while I listened to that song. Just like the rest of this series, reader is female. I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to read more of this series, the fics can be found here: Dancing with Visions Masterlist.

Type: Female reader/ Implied romantic/ fluff/ dance/ sfw

Word Count: 1666

I admit that when I had considered my future, I had never seen myself doing the hustle, of all things, with Cyno, of all people.

But when Cyno had heard about the hustle dance competition and how its reward was a limited-time specialty Invocation TCG card, that was all that had mattered to him. He’d been at my doorstep in moments, a worryingly serious expression on his face as I opened the door.

I’d honestly expected some drastic news regarding someone’s health or something to do Mahamatra business, but instead the first thing he’d said was: “I need you to do the hustle with me.”

He’d said it with such graveness, like it was a life-or-death situation. And I suppose, to him, it practically was one. But he’d caught me so off-guard that I’d hardly known what to do other than invite him inside so that he could explain.

And explain he did, with that same seriousness, before he finished, in a very Cyno like fashion, by saying: “We have to hustle our way to the finish and win.”

I’d shaken my head, at long last learning what it felt like to be in Tighnari’s shoes, “Can’t you just join in a large group and do the line dance? It isn’t like a couple versions of the hustle are especially common.”

He’d merely nodded, peering at me from under his hat, “Exactly. Not many people will do the partner dance version of the hustle. Being unique will increase our chances of winning.”

It had been a good argument, but I’d still found myself shaking my head with a half-fond smile, “You don’t want to have me as a dance partner, Cyno. Someone like Nilou would be better.”

Unmoved by my argument, he’d shaken his head, “No, Nilou is a professional, so dancing with her would be cheating.”

When I’d remained silent, he’d leaned forward, pushing the issue, “If you won’t be my partner, I’ll be like a skeleton at a dance party Y/n.” He’d paused, and I’d felt myself tensing for whatever was going to come next.

And then, with an unmoved expression, he’d delivered the punchline, “I’ll have nobody to dance with.”

That was when I’d relented, if nothing else to stop him from telling anymore jokes, and agreed to dance with him. But now that I was on the light-up floor under the flashing lights that I was pretty sure had been installed especially for this competition, I had some regrets.

Cyno was a surprisingly good dancer, but he fully intended to win this competition and had no doubt put countless hours into learning how to do the hustle. He’d also gotten Nilou to tutor both me and him as well as put together our choreography.

The music choice and surprisingly delicate vein to the dance showed her mark on our performance for a hustle that didn’t look like the speedy dance I’d been expecting, and she’d been a wonderful teacher, but I swallowed thickly as the dancers just before us exited the floor. 

They no doubt were here for the monetary reward, which they would split amongst themselves, but that didn’t change the fact that they had been very good.

In fact, for this competition to be happening in a country where dancing had once been practically outlawed, there were a lot of really good dancers who’d apparently been very keen to show off their moves.

And then there were me and Cyno. The determined Mahamatra and his nervous partner.

I felt myself tense as the announcer called our names and the polite applause occurred. Nilou, Collei, and Tighnari had come to support us, as had Kaveh, who’d dragged Alhaitham out of his house, and I could feel all of their eyes on us as we walked hand in hand out onto the floor.

I spun to face Cyno as the dreamy yet undeniably disco song started up and the lights dimmed in an almost condemning fashion. 

“Ready?” His voice was surprisingly soft as his gaze held mine, almost like he realized that the nerves had already kicked in for me, but I nodded. At the very least, I couldn’t disappoint him or our friends after we’d put this much effort into this. 

It was as if my nod were a cue since we immediately joined hands, with him leaning me into a careful dip where I had one arm carefully outstretched so that it reached past my head as I looked up at him. Trusting him to hold me up as I made myself focus on him rather than letting panic take over.

After I returned to an upright position, our motions began very quickly, with two steps to the side and then two steps back before he spun me out. 

Looking towards each other, we returned to one another again, this time side by side, with his arm crossing over my back to reach my hand as my other arm crossed his front to reach his free hand. 

We spiraled like that before freeing one another and reentering a closed hold, but the crowd had already gone totally quiet. 

What had been a hushed clamor of whispers about how the General Mahamatra himself was in the competition had already withered away to stunned silence as everyone stared at us. 

We repeated our interlocked spinning once more before slowly dancing in the middle, focusing on one another rather than the crowd.

At the very least, I didn’t have to be worried about the steps since Nilou had grilled us on memorizing the steps until we could do the entire sequence of motions with absolutely no difficulty at all.

He spun me with my arms reaching back over my head so that he could spin himself before spinning me yet again as soon as he finished in a smooth rolling motion that interconnected seamlessly. Underarm turns were what Nilou had giddily called them when she’d put them into our choreography.

The smooth motions led to a steady dip where Cyno only barely leaned me backwards before quickly pulling me back upright. Sparing me from gazing up into his far too steady gaze yet again.

But Nilou had told us, even during our earliest practices, that our connection and eye contact would be the strongest parts of our performance. Because, according to her, even the best dancers in the world could not fake a connection.

I was relieved that I’d recalled her words at a period when Cyno was carefully leading me across the floor into a side-by-side position where I didn't have to hold eye contact with him. I wasn’t sure I could do so while recalling her words without flushing slightly.

But it was true; being with Cyno was easy to be with and I was always relaxed when I was with him. It was probably the only reason I was able to dance with him, period. And that was even accounting for the strange shyness that came from dancing with him that I never experienced when we were just talking.

With that said, though, I could tell the very instant he looked my way, mere seconds before spinning me so that my back was to him, where we did the same simple step motions that Nilou had taught us. Except this time with Cyno carefully holding me in front of him.

His grip tightened slightly on my hand that he held outstretched before he spun me outwards before we looked towards each other, a smile working its way onto my face as we did the one hand motion that we’d joked was so similar to raising the roof.

The idle smile stayed on my face as we separated and practically strutted our way around the dancefloor before, inevitably, returning to one another.

As soon as our arms wrapped around one another’s torso and we began to spin with our other arms outstretched, applause began. I found myself looking towards him once more, holding eye contact as I smiled slightly.

If nothing else, it sounded like Cyno had a good chance of winning his card. But what I saw in his eyes was not victory. Instead, it was a uniquely soft gaze filled with a quiet sort of awe that had the smile slipping from my face as I inhaled slightly in quiet surprise. 

I twisted, though, reentering a more formal dance hold as he walked me across the dance floor, pausing slightly to lean back with me in an almost exaggerated motion. 

Our motions slowed though as he led me back to the center of the floor, twirling me twice as if I were a dancer that was just as fluid as Nilou before he stopped me just as I had my back to him.

I inhaled slightly, bracing myself as I leaned back against him, and he lifted me carefully as he spun, which had another round of applause starting up as I exhaled. Relieved that we’d managed what was probably the most difficult move in our choreography while also not knowing what to think.

He sat me down, and I spun out, my hands finding his as I faced him before he twirled me and leaned me down into a dip. Far lower than either of the past ones, as our dance ended and the song faded out so that we were surrounded, for at least a brief moment, by silence.

But then, as he pulled me back up, the applause began with the announcer all but bellowing that he did believe we’d found our winner, even as Cyno’s eyes stayed on mine. 

I didn’t know which one of us smiled first, but soon both of us were smiling at each other as people cheered around us.

I may not have ever seen myself doing the hustle with Cyno in my future, but I could certainly say that I was glad it had happened. And I could definitely see it happening again. Perhaps even sooner than one might expect.

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[yioh]

I'm south asian and it infuriates me that I actually like the sumeru characters 😭 I feel like I'm betraying my own identity and it genuinely pains me to think abt their designs for too long

Tighnari is the worst for me bc he became my favorite character in the whole game personality-of and I've grown to love his design because of it but???? I just feel so guilty for it bc I know it's just not. Correct???? And on top of that the english voice actors being told to pronounce the characters names wrong deliberately to make it easier is just so gross ughhhh. And I feel like I'm a bad person for continuing to play the game and indirectly supporting hyv's colorism as a result but I'm so attached to this game and these characters and im :'(((

omg bro don’t worry at all askdbdjdb ur absolutely allowed to enjoy the game, that’s exactly why we play it in the first place right🥺 like sure genshin gets a lot of stuff wrong but there’s also a lot that it does beautifully e.g. the entire world building in sumeru and the environment design is one of my favourites in the whole game !! for me, i just have lower tolerance and can’t stand hyv’s colourism as well as orientalism

but like… as long as you can acknowledge that the issues exists and don’t pretend like sumeru is just some cutesy exotic place (as i’ve seen a lot of people do 😭) it’s really honestly fine imo

like i agree that tighnari has a very interesting personality, also i’ve seen a lot of people complain abt his design but honestly i think the amazigh inspiration is one of the most obvious in the game and think it’s so wonderful that amazigh people get to be represented through such a cool character🥺 not to mention how much i myself learned abt all these cultures that are usually never talked about in other media, it’s really really cool !!! i also think his design in general is actually very pretty lol i really adore the mesh of colours and how it’s an obvious reference to amazigh clothing,

there’s really no correct and incorrect way to think about it because everything is so meshed together and weirdly structured, we can definitely agree that the colourism and orientalism is very much an issue (as seen with dori and nahida mostly), treating many brown cultures as interchangeable is also really annoying in general because of how much it already has been done in mainstream western media and the effect it already has is amplified, (abt the english translation i don’t even play in english because 💀 i never liked how they translated stuff in general to english tbh even before sumeru)

but at the same time, hyv brought light to so so many under represented cultures and stories, even the music !!! them using actual instruments we hear in our own music like the sitar is so amazing !!!!

don’t feel bad at all for enjoying the game, i always play it to destress and will continue in the future, it’s not like the company will ever listen to complaints or critisisms by boycotting the game anyways so there’s rly no point and u might as well enjoy what u like yknow😭 i only rly have a bone to pick when people are able to just . mindlessly enjoy the game as if it doesn’t have valid issues (which clearly does not apply to you hdfjbdkdf)

i talk too much but also i just wanna mention that… as a southasian the colourism bothers me the most but i feel like a lot of my disappointment in sumeru mostly comes from an aesthetics pov😭 i think in general i just had a different vision for the type of characters we’d be seeing, seeing cultural references in clothing has always w spiked specific joy in me because the history behind all the clothing just makes everything feel much more real and impactful ??? whereas other then tighnari, nilou, kind of layla, candace and maybe cyno (i haven’t read much on his design) everything just looks as if it’s been inspired by some generic anime rpg isekai fantasy game🥲 like kaveh, nahida, dori etc etc ,,, so rather then sumeru being ‘wrong’ moreso what hurts me is the potential is what it could’ve been ?? i think that’s why it bothers me when everyone gets so excited abt kaveh’s design or whatever when i’m just here like wow… another blonde white boy with a feather in his hair 😭😭😭😭 they can use sanskrit language and panipuri as food but not have the southasian inspired archon with hindu motifs wear cultural clothing or have even slightly darker skin as a lot of southasian people do 🤨 ok this is just me venting again LOL but basically . don’t stress at all it’s really really fine to like the characters you do (i can’t support positive opinions abt nahida and dori tho MDBSKXND i may be petty) but u Defo don’t have to feel guilty abt enjoying the game 🥺 most of sumeru characters aren’t even southasian so you’re not betraying ur identity at all !! merely enjoying new cultures :’) just make sure to remain critical and be observant of how the people of those cultures being shown feel abt these things and don’t let your opinions be dictated by whether it’s ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ often times in these situations it’s never that clear cut 😭

[ornyange]

my persona. fursona. twst s/i. genshin s/i. much to think about!!!

my twst si is in pomefiore. it’s just who i am… i vibe with maleficent’s motivations as a villain (and self ship with malleus hehe) but i align with pomefiore the most. i tend to align with Protagonists and Bubbly Characters personality-wise, but twst is about Disney Villain-inspired characters. rsa is but a distant academic rival. kalim is a canon exception. i don’t relate to any power-motivated characters, i don’t relate to greedy or vain characters, but i do relate to the jealous and obsessive ones <3

does tinker bell count as a villain in the peter pan movie. she’s just like me

i Kin lady from lady and the tramp, so i guess she can be my twst rsa si. abbreviations galore!! te kā/te fiti is a very reasonable “villain,” but she’s too ingrained in a culture that i am Not Part Of for me to feel comfy making a self insert after her. i respect the queen of hearts for killing anyone who embarrasses her (& i selfship with riddle :3).

but i can also have a si that isn’t based on any particular disney character, as jack and ortho and epel and sebek are. i didn’t realize that there were a handful of characters that are original to twst until i listed them out just now

shrugs. i’ll keep thinking

my genshin self insert is Very Likely a cryo vision haver.. a lot of the elements have overlapping traits + i relate to different aspects of the characters w each elemental vision. i kin two hydro users, one geo, one electro, one dendro, one cryo, technically one anemo, and one unknown but possibly pyro. i identify with cryo a lot but hydro is also a good contender. i relate w some aspects of pyro + dendro but not so much geo or electro. i’m not really sure abt anemo… i don’t think Right Now i’m at the point where i / my si would get an anemo vision but it’s also possible….

i can have multiple <3 which i do. but i like sorting myself into categories

hydro for my si would be Healing, like w barbara and nilou. i don’t care much for morals or “justice” & i especially don’t care for being the one enacting “justice” according to my own morals. while hydro is the element of justice, it’s also the element of Responsibility and Duty, as shown with every hydro character in the game (unclear abt tartaglia. why isn’t he electro or pyro? who knows). now that i’m typing it out i don’t think i relate to hydro much at all actually!

cryo is obvious to me. identity issues, feelings of alienation and not having a Place with people and within the world but carving out a place anyway, hiding behind a mask. it feels a bit too revealing but it really is just that blatant

there are characters who don’t follow the “standard” traits of their peers (in my opinion, like fischl and charlotte and tartaglia and thoma and others), but there are pretty common traits between vision holders of each element. i could have a visionless si or a si with powers like the traveler (which i do, indeed, have) but once again: i love sorting myself into categories

a vision for myself is more difficult to determine than a twst dorm because visions are about The Personality as well as The Ideals while the dorm is just about the ideals and i know what my ideals are!!

dendro is one that i’m kind of unsure about applying to me, because i do like learning (on my own terms) and i am curious, i don’t like to challenge myself (especially academically) and i don’t think i’m dedicated enough for it. learning and knowledge and Wisdom isn’t my strong suit or my passion in life & is more of a hobby than anything i’d like to persue

pyro is Passion but also Fighting Spirit, which doesn’t fit me even a little bit. pyro users tend to have excitable personalities (minus a few) + i relate to that, but i don’t relate to the traits that pyro vision holders have. their determination, their passion, their dedication. like dendro users, they like to challenge themselves, and i Don’t Like To Do That. especially because pryo users learn towards physically challenging themselves and i would rather do literally anything else

geo and electro are the elements that i struggle to understand, because the characters vary in personality and ideals so much. i understand that geo is Duty and Responsibility to a person or people. dedication to People differentiates geo from electro, which is more dedication to A Cause or A Goal than to a person or people. raiden ei is half an exception and so is yae miko, but for the most part electro characters fall into those ideals

i understand anemo even better now that wanderer had his story arc, but i don’t think that i’ve “completed” my “arc” yet, so i don’t feel like my si would be eligible for an anemo vision. anemo does fit my personality and ideals, like cryo, and i fit in with the Grief aspect that’s common in anemo vision holders, but i’m not over that grief + that’s a huge part of a lot of anemo characters’ vision stories (see: wanderer, heizou, kazuha, venti)

sigh. i’m definitely cryo, aren’t i?

for my sona.. i made some concepts in a picrew here and they’re accurate enough!! kitty puppy ouppy dog in orange and yellow and green and purple :3 halloween colors for the halloween critter!!!!

i’ve made a few posts about my fursona and i still don’t know what species my “main” fursona would be. i think i’m too much of a shapeshifter chimera hybrid creature to have one solid design & i want to have multiple fursonas… but it’s still hard to pin down One design and harder to pin down multiple

thinking abt my sonas and self inserts…

[razorblade180]

It finally happened

Nilou:So I should consider the decisions for my teammates?

Aether:Pretty much. No pressure or anything. Leading a team is pretty relax, and I’m not just saying that because I’m on it.

Collei:We’ll practice hard!

Kokomi:I can help you go over certain battle tactics to find what works?

Nilou:Thanks. I’m sure you know by now blooms are messy. Our power will definitely be a team effort. Soooo I’m allowed to make an executive decision for the betterment of the group?

Aether:You’re the boss-

Nilou reaches into the materials bag and puts Hero’s Wit into Aether’s hand, giving him the missing ten levels.

Lvl90 Aether:…..

The entire teapot:…..

Nilou:Did I…do something wrong?

Aether:Huh, oh no. It’s just…never really thought of the day where it felt meaningful to take these for myself.

Nilou:How long have you been lvl80

Aether:Two years.

Nilou:You never skimmed a few wits over time!?

Aether:I prioritize others!

Nilou:Well, so am I. You were my priority. *smiles* Don’t let me down.

Aether:This feels so odd.

Collei and Kokomi:Now you know how we felt.

Aether:Aahh… *smiles*I’ll do my best!

[adventures-in-teyvat]

about ships on this blog

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑. i may enjoy these ships, but im not a diehard fan of them. it doesn’t upset me to see different ships or people who disagree with me! these are fictional characters after all. i just enjoy the dynamics that some of them have or like to imagine how they would interact, but by no means do i think that ships are the most important thing in genshin. most of these are just soft comfort ships for me, so i hope you can respect that, and i will absolutely respect you! <3 thank you!

p.s. i’m honestly a huge multishipper; just because these are on the list of my favorites doesn’t mean i don’t like other pairings :3 i love thinking about tons of different pairings and dynamics and yeah

𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧-𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞:

▫︎ cylou

▫︎ alberose

▫︎ bennefischl

▫︎ thomayaka

▫︎ xiaoyu

▫︎ jeanluc

▫︎ chilumi

▫︎ scarazan

▫︎ kazumiya

▫︎ chongling

𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

▫︎ beigguang (ningguang & beidou)

▫︎ wildsong (razor & barbara)

▫︎ huxiao (hu tao & xiao)

▫︎ xingtao (xingqiu & hu tao)

▫︎ kazumi (kazuha & kokomi)

▫︎ kazuyaka (kazuha & ayaka)

▫︎ benbara (bennett & barbara)

▫︎ yoitto (yoimiya & itto)

▫︎ ittosara (itto & sara)

▫︎ niloutham (nilou & alhaitham)

▫︎ wanderlou (scara & nilou)

i would put more but i’m so open to shipping that it would get even more ridiculously long. im just out here having fun with headcanons n stuff n being delusional as hell about characters that have never met

i just want to be clear about what’s on this blog so that people don’t have to interact with things they don’t want to see! everyone has ships that make them happy or comfort them, and i don’t see the need for people to argue over that, so let’s all respect each other :D

also if you look at the list and see all straight ships except for one it’s because im straight lol, shipping (at least for me) is largely projecting onto one or both of the characters. im a straight girl, so the ships i like will almost always involve female characters paired with male characters, either because i see myself in her or i’m attracted to his type or both. ykyk i just wanted to say this in case anyone gets mad at me for shipping pretty much only straight ships😭 edit actually i might be bi😭😭idk im figuring it out😭😭bewbs…..

lastly: the only ships i can say i actually dislike as of now are xingyun, cynari, kavetham, and neuvithesley, purely because they’ve been forced down my throat and treated like canon. i dont have hard feelings towards anyone who ships them, please do not think that!! this is just my opinion and the way i feel because of past experience with specific people, please dont take it personally🧚🏻‍♀️

[rapifessor]

I think I might be skipping a Genshin Impact character for the first time since Albedo’s initial run close to when I first started playing the game.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s pretty much impossible to be a completionist in this game without a substantial increase in expenditure. And I’ve already spent far too much money on this game, like really. I don’t mind giving you the figure. It’s over $5000.

I can afford the cost. I’m not like a super wealthy person but I’m not a pauper either. I’m more fortunate than the vast majority of folks on this planet. But it bothers me to have spent so much on this one game, even if it’s my “hobby.”

And it’s constantly asking for more. The game is pretty much set up so that perfection is never feasibly obtainable unless you spend an exorbitant amount of money on it. Not just to get characters, but extra resources so you can grind and max out your characters. It’s just not realistic for the average person to “complete” Genshin Impact.

It took me a while to come to my senses (and to break away from the sunk cost fallacy), but I think I’ll be a lot more selective with who I pull for in the future. I’m skipping Nilou now because pulling for Cyno didn’t go super well and also I genuinely don’t give a shit about her. Sorry, Nilou fans. She’s pretty and that’s about it. I otherwise have zero investment in her character.

I’ll still spend money on Genshin Impact, mostly on the Battle Pass and Blessing of the Welkin Moon because they’re great value for the money. Maybe I’ll allow myself to purchase Genesis Crystals with the initial top-up bonuses. But other than that, I’m putting a stop to it.

[itsdiamondeyesuniverse]

Maxis sofas and addons with legs subset repositoried to Craftmeister Boockcase from BG.

This was a long time coming thing i wanted to do and the last of the object defaults i have for now. You know those CEPs by NixNivis? It all started with them, when i first saw them i wanted all custom addons to use the same system, but was lazy to do that. Then at some point later i stumbled on this Maxis Couch Overhaul by Joy Anne O'Connor (here’s a SFS link to JAO’s set if you want to have the original version) but it didn’t cover all of the addons i had stored so i had to wait untill i was in a mood to work on updating them and recently that time has come. But while i was at it i thought that it’s cool to have second subset for legs, but it’s not cool if i have to actually recolor them to make use of it. I only had/ever seen recolors for Satinistics legs and no way i would make all others, then it hit me that i could just repository them all to something that already has recolors and that something is Craftmeister Bookcase from Base Game that already has 5 colors, which means that all those objects you see in pictures will have instant 5 legs colors, not just one (yes, i’ve made previews with different legs colors on purpose, to demonstrate the difference) Then i’ve added HA’s Futonesque CEP to the mix as, again, it needed to be recolored before. Then made legs subsets for Maxis Club, Really Distressed and CheapEzeee. Also recolors for said boockcase, one of the armchairs and a texture default.

First things first, note that i’m using default texture replacement of said bookcase, it’s Pirate Woods by Shasta, avaliable here.

1.Sofas and addons

For the most part i’ve used as a base packages from JAO so they are renamed too for consistency/easy navigation, but in my way. All the credits for this download to people involved and mentioned, some at this post and others, such as addon creators are credited in the filenames, i ask no credit. As i mentioned before not all the things that i had stored away were in JAO’s overhaul so i’ve added them myself and this is why some things might be repetative/similar, i’m a hoarder myself so a small difference is enough for me to keep a thing, but if you’re not it never hurts to have options to choose from, right? The Satanistics by DOT weren’t in overhaul, the difference is that they are a little slimmer than other ones, esp arms. Luxuairy King is confusing one, i had a folder by the name of Becks but inside the game description says by Moune so i’ve no idea what to make of that, mb it was some kind of collab or smthn, anyway the ottomans are pretty much the same, other things are different enough. Another thing to mention is that i’ve edited meshes of Satinistics and one Luxuairy King recliner to be lower since i’ve noticed that arms of sims would clip into them when seating, other recliners don’t have that problem i think. I’ve remapped all the legs of meshes to bookcase’s txtr, so they’re not just sloppily repositoried to it or anything.

Info: Remove any of those CEPs mentioned in this post for the things you choose to use (both Documents and PF, but esp Documents, PF ones won’t hurt, but they won’t do anything) and if you had any of the original addons or the addons from JAO’s overhaul replace them with those, those are all defaults/overrides. And those are all “self-sustained” objects, no extra CEPs required, you can pick and choose whatever you wish since they all use same ingame resources, not any extra added stuff from CEPs.

Those work well enough in your regular Downloads folder, so no need to put them in CEPs folder. The archive has two subfolders with defaults (Maxis stuff) and addons (custom stuff)

Download edited meshes

2.Recolors and defaults

Download default textures from the Cheap Ezeee preview picture - textures are by Nilou originally.

Then i’ve noticed that apart from those 5 original colors i only have one retexture set stored away for this boockase, so i’ve decided to do them in Anna’s colors for the colorful purposes, also note that it’s very easy to recolor, texture is not complex at all, so making new legs colors should be easy enough. I’ve used texture from texture default by Shasta i mentioned earlier (i assume the retexture was made by Shasta as well) so it’s in the Pirate Woods (but not colors) i’ve also excluded black, white and off white colors as they were too similar.

Download Craftmeister Boockase in Anna’s colors

Then i’ve made some simple recolors of the Luxuairy King armchair, it’s not any specific palette, just some colors i felt like. Keep in mind that i’m pretty bad at recolors, like bookcases turned out good enough, but some of the chairs textures looked worse in quiality than others, personally i’ll keep them since there’s no alternative that i know of. Here’s a swatch to give better idea of the colors.

Download Luxuairy King armchair recolors

[razorblade180]

Going for it

[Bazaar]

Nilou: *talking to people*

Aether:…..

Dehya:….She doesn’t bite ya know.

Aether:Gah! When did you- I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Dehya:Mmhmm, okay. Look, the worst she could do is say no. Shoot your shot.

Aether:Then why don’t you ask Dunyarzad on a date?

Dehya:Pfft, what!? Why would-

Aether:Dehya, I’ve met many people. I’ve seen countless interactions, so trust me when I say you are absolutely the gayest woman I’ve ever seen. You are a mess.

Dehya:Shut your face. *shakes him* Don’t act like you can read me like a book!

Aether:As your new friend for three months now-

Dehya:I’ve known you for like a week.

Aether:Technically you’re right, but terribly wrong because time here lis visceral. Anyways, what are you scared of? She’s into you! All you two ever do is look fondly, banter, give piggyback rides…

Dehya:It’s in the job description.

Aether:Now say that again but believe it.

Dehya:*red* ….You’re lucky we’re friends. *let’s go* ……What if she says no!?

Aether:All y’all ever do is act cute around each other. Who the heck is saying no!? Not Dunyarzad! Dehya, you are a badass with a good heart.

Dehya:Heh, I try. *smirks*

Aether:Good, now take that energy and walk ten feet. *points*

Dunyarzad: *buying peaches*

Dehya:….One condition, you have to shoot your shot with Nilou no matter what.

Aether:……Fine. Only when you’re done though.

Dehya:Bet!

She starts walking over to Dunyarzad with confidence. It’s short lived however as the beautiful and devoted follower of Kusanali notices Dehya, smiling warmly.

Dehya:(Oh boy…) Milady.

Dunyarzad:Hi Dehya! Are you enjoying yourself? I don’t want to be taking up too much of your time.

Dehya:Please, you’re my priority first and foremost. I’m enjoying myself plenty. However….

Dunyarzad:??? What is it?

Dehya:Well…things here will eventually settle down. Your parents will get worried if you’re out long but that’s nothing new, so seeing how you’re in no rush to go back, and we can’t stay here forever…If you wanted to go somewhere later on tonight or wouldn’t mind accompanying me to-

Dunyarzad:Yes!

Dehya:Huh?

Dunyarzad:*red* Umm, I meant…I’m fine doing something you want to do. You can take me anywhere and…I’ll be happy. It’s you.

Dehya:….

Dunyarzad:…..*covers face* I’m sorry, that was a lot!

Dehya:No that was perfect! I needed to hear that!

Dunyarzad:!? You did?

Dehya:…Yes. Yes I did. It…put me at ease.

Dunyarzad:*smiles* Good, I’m glad.

Both are incredibly flustered with themselves but the message is pretty clear.

Aether:(My work here is done.)

Dehya:Hey Nilou! The traveler wants to talk to you!

Aether:(Fuck…)

Dunyarzad:Ya know I did see him loot at her quite a bit. I can see why.

Dehya:Shhh, let’s see how this goes.

Paimon: *floats by them* Oh is my favorite show finally on? This should be good.

Aether sits on the bench anxiously as Nilou comes walking towards him. Too late to back out. Why’d he make this deal!? He knew Dunyarzad was gonna say yes! Nilou waved and sat down with a welcoming smile on her face.

Nilou:Yes?

Aether:Oh, um, how are things?

Nilou:Things are looking up. What about you though? Enjoying Sumeru, except for ya know…?

Aether:Hehe, it’s definitely lively. That’s for sure. Hotter than Inazuma but I like it. Especially down here.

Nilou:That’s wonderful to hear. I’m sure an adventure like yourself has seen countless wonders. I’m glad a place like this can still surprise you. I never did get your opinion on my performance.

Aether:Oh you were stunning!

Nilou:*smiles*…..

Aether:….!? I mean it was stunning! Not to say you weren’t or anything. It just…I liked it. *rubs head* (Aaaaah!)

Nilou:That means a lot, though I definitely had help. It would be embarrassing if I couldn’t impress with a literal out of body experience. Which reminds me, I wanted to ask you something if you don’t mind?

Aether:Sure, fire away.

Nilou:Is this your first time trying to talk to me, Aether?

His face turns red and she does her best to suppress a giggle.

Aether:This might be…one of several attempts.

Nilou:Judging by that look, I’d say you’re happy I forgot?

Aether:I might’ve tripped a couple times or completely fumbled for one reason or another.

Nilou:Awe, well that’s too bad. I think fumbles are cute.

Aether:Yeah you never seemed embarrassed like myself. Frankly this might be our longest conversation.

Nilou:Is that so? Well you know, I would love for you to tell me all about them some time? Maybe over a meal?

Aether:I…have no dinner plans tonight.

Nilou:That can work. Just the two of us?

Aether:Yeah I can do that!

Paimon:What about-*mouth covered*

Dehya:Sshhh, be supportive.

Paimon: (He is so lucky Collei will feed me if I ask!)

Nilou:It’s a date then. Hate to cut this short but I did promise to teach some little ones a few dances.

Aether:That actually sounds interesting.

Nilou:*wide eyed* Wanna come? I’m sure they’ll love to see an adventure. Plus if you look silly then they’ll feel better about their improvements.

Aether:Wow!

Nilou:Hehehe. Never fear. I’m a patient teacher. We’ll go step by step!

Aether gets his hand taken and he’s dragged off by the happy dancer. He briefly looks back at Dehya who’s pointing proudly at him. He points back.

Dunyarzad:Good for them. Honestly I didn’t realize Nilou was that bold.

Dehya:Honestly, she’s not typically. Guess today she’s feeling extra confident. Still, she really drove that conversation.

Paimon:Yeah…like she knew what to say.

Dunyarzad:Something wrong?

Paimon:No. Paimon is just thinking to myself. (There’s no way she remembers his other attempts, right? No one remembers all the dream loops. Unless…)

Dunyarzad:Hey do you want a peach? I bought too many.

Paimon:Do I!? *happily grabs peach*

xxxxx

Nahida:Zzzzz