#2.2 hsr spoilers

[akuzdoesart]

Sunday didn't come out unscathed but thankfully a certain doctor is watching after him

Touch-starved Sunday for the soul. He's never been personally cared for and looked after on a personal level without ulterior motive

[ultimate-blorbo-collector]

Now I kind of want to write an elation reader/character shipped with Sunday who's one of those faith healers (preachers that do those sermons where people think the preacher heals them and fall over because they feel god).

Like the reader/character is a conman and is just doing it bc it's fun, and they maybe got Sunday out of Penacony or something. I could imagine Robin and the Express being supportive too lmao, like this is healthier than what he was doing earlier.

It'd definitely be an opposites attract kind of thing where Sunday hates you at first and is forced to be around you but warms up to it.

[a-vivid-dreamer]

Snippets (1) - Ticking Samsara AU

Disclaimer: contains some 2.2 lore spoilers

“Where are you heading to at this hour?”

Yanqing didn’t even flinch at the familiar voice at his doorway. He merely continued to toss his outer robe on. “Investigating. I’d appreciate it if you kept this quiet. Especially, from Mikhail.”

Gallagher huffed, arms crossing as he leaned his weight against the doorframe. “Well, now I know that this is a big deal. You practically never keep things hidden from him.”

“All I have are some suspicions — nothing concrete, unfortunately.” Yanqing sighs wearily, and it’s during such moments that his increasingly-old age shines most. If it weren’t for the current conversation, Gallagher would gladly offer to share his flask with the Nameless swordsman. “Until I’m certain of some things, I don’t wish to bother him with this when it could be nothing.”

Gallagher raised a knowing brow. “Lemme guess, you’re getting all worked up cause of a gut feeling?”

“Yes.”

“…You do know that your gut feelings have yet to lead any of us astray?”

“I know. But, for once, I hope I’m wrong.” Yanqing pauses for a moment before quickly tying up his hair. For a brief moment, he couldn’t help but reminisce as he recalled the pure excitement Mikhail had on his face when showing off drafts for the story of Clockie and friends. “…Because if I’m right again, then we are likely going to find ourselves fighting another battle.”

“…That bad, huh.”

“You’re starting to realize it too, aren’t you? The Stellaron… They went behind our backs to use it and thanks to it, there’s a beautiful dreamscape. …But there is always a price for power and “perfection”. And the results of a Stellaron fulfilling a wish is far from an exception.”

Yanqing grabs his sheathed sword before heading out, not even giving Gallagher a glance as he passed by. “…If it’s a false alarm, it’s a false alarm. If it’s not…then let Mikhail enjoy himself for just a little bit longer before things begin to crash again.”

Gallagher stared at the nearby wall before sighing deeply as he gave in. These Nameless are going to give him grey hairs. “Fine, my lips are sealed. Go and do what you need to. But you owe me a drink, and it better be damn good quality too.”

“Ha. I wouldn’t dare to hand you a bottle that isn’t the finest.”

[End]

—

(Hello, everyone. I’m going to be slowing down in art for a bit so I can focus more on actually writing the plots/stories for my AUs. And that’ll include some occasional snippets of various scenes. Some that will end up canon to its AU storyline and some that will be more lighthearted/less plot significant just to give a better idea of some dynamics or moods.)

[bouncybrain]

I don't interact with the HSR community so I'm just going to put the 2.2 spoilers here just in case because I'm so mad. I'm genuinely upset with the story. This is why I've had to take breaks going through Penacony it makes me feel like my brain is leaking and I need to rant about this at ass-o'clock

We got on Penacony and they were like "well nobody really knows all that much about the Watchmaker so like lol go find out" and then they took forever to get there.

I walked onto Penacony, looked straight at Misha, and went "what are you talking about I'm done I've found him what else do you want from me, can Dan Heng come back and play yet" because you're telling me they finally dropped us on Penacony with a storyline about "The Watchmaker's Legacy" and also just a guy with a pocket watch we hang out with in a weird dream place and thought they were being subtle? Why do I have to sit through all of this. Give us a skip button.

Repeatedly hammering information into the dialogue doesn't make for a good story, a good twist, a good hint, or even good character development/backstory reveals. There is no subtlety here. The only "mysteries" we have are just plot threads that they haven't given us any information about. Like "WOW WHAT'S THIS DEATH THING WOAHHHHHH" and then doing nothing about it until they're like "WHOOPS HAHA GALLAGHER DID IT??? WOW WHAT A SHOCK!" and then they're like "WOAH THAT'S SAM?????? CRAZY! I WONDER WHAT ELSE" and then dropping "SIKE THAT'S FIREFLY!" and now they're like "HEY REMEMBER MISHA HE WAS THE WATCHMAKER ALL ALONG ISN'T THAT WILD!" Where did the Gallagher-Death team come from? Why? There were no hints. Where did Sam being Firefly come from? Sure, having a Stellaron Hunter present makes sense, but what the fuck does this have to do with anything? I don't care. (Seeing Blade in a suit driving a car was nice though.) And, as stated, I already knew Misha was the fucking Watchmaker from the goddamn start.

Honkai: Star Rail's story could be so much better. Actually going through the story could be so much better. I am, surprisingly, capable of getting sucked into a game's story even when it has less intense gameplay than HSR. (I played "In Other Waters" around this time last year and it was fantastic! I enjoyed it a lot! Here's the link to the game on Steam if you're curious.) There's so much more to crafting a long, ongoing story with moving parts than simply dumping all relevant info in massive clumps while repeating said relevant info at any possible moment. I could critique a lot of the recent choices they make with their storytelling. I've been writing this rant while waiting TO FUCKING MOVE AGAIN. I already figured out everything they're telling me!

Just give me my new hat. And I want this next adventure to be with Dan Heng, please. Please. He pays attention and I don't have to explain something I figured out months ago.

[fictionfixations]

penacony boss fight spoilers

so. i shared my strategy with what i did for aventurine

so while im at sunday im gonna talk about it here

i thought it was gonna be so much harder but it was literally only round 1 and 2 that screwed me over (i had to restart at round 2 cause lynx died LOL)

yes im rocking like double harmony but my robins not bad

and so my strategy

prioritize healing at all costs

i ended up keeping both robin adn lynx's ult's up as often as i can

because with robin i can give everyone (minus her) an extra turn so i can get in an extra heal that way besides the full heal ult if im in a desperate situation (aka if enemies are attacking soon while im low and lynxs turn isnt close by)

the thing is is is that round 3 gives you so much shield and the train takes down so much of the shield on sunday so like

once you get into it you can just kinda tank big attacks

i forgot the timeline has it just been 48 hours since. we entered penacony?? is that how long its been? in canon?

anyway things to note that people have noticed but putting it here in case ur seeing it for the first time

(remember sunday's servant is like the birds i think)

ahhh im scared of whats in 2.3 i havent seen ANYTHING related to it at all (unless the trailer counts but LMFAO)

[hitokiri-izou]

I'm sorry but ena the order is NOT beating the gaiathra triclops allegations

[evercelle]

i have walked the path i should have walked

[121231212i]

Honkai: Star rail | Sunday

"Is darkness equal to daylight? Are sinners equal to the righteous? If you are born weak, which god should you turn to for solace?"

[viva-uwu]

discord

[nobnobussythe3rd]

Hoyoverse PLEASE free him

[akuzdoesart]

My verdict after the 2.2 story:

Holy shit does Sunday need therapy.

Spoilers under the cut

Also I still do not understand as to why the Dreammaster was labeled as "Sundays Servant" in the end credits. If anything Gopher Wood was already a follower of the order and was able to manipulate and shape Sunday to his whim, making Sunday the servant not him. Robin got out but Sunday didn't. That Mister Wood manipulated Sunday to do his whim and when the time came to enact his plan he k!lled himself (?) still not clear on that one but it felt like it.

Anyway you could just smell that Sunday never received love growing up (besides their mother because she ruled, gone too soon </3)

I also have the running theory that Sunday wanted to be stopped. That he hoped he would be stopped by Robin and the others. Which is why he even went head to head with Gopher when he said that Robin should be the chosen one, not Sunday. And he protected Robin and everyone else. I believe that truly in his heart he never believed in the principles as deeply as they were ingrained into him and Robin by Gopher. Aka Gopher is an abusive piece of shit dad and it's canon and he deserved what happened to him

[ultimate-blorbo-collector]

Guys I'm doing the 2.2 quest and spoilers ig (it won't make sense without context), and I CAN'T take Sunday seriously.

It's giving "And you know what they got me? Malibu Barbie!"

Like, originally my point was the random backstory, but now that I've rewatched it it's too similar.

[seventh-district]

Making Incorrect H:SR Quotes Until I Run Out of (hopefully) Original Ideas - Pt. 5 - I Finally Finished the 2.2 Main Quest Edition

[Pt. 1] [Pt. 2] [Pt. 3] [Pt. 4] [Pt. 6]

[uruwashi-no-nightingale]

update was literally devastating

[hispringsbye]

[ironunderstands]

These Aventurine, Topaz and Jade comparisons are getting out of hand…

As much as I adore both of them, I think it’s very disingenuous to compare Aventurine and Topaz’s lore and be like “but they are the same!!!! If people like Aventurine and dislike Topaz that’s just misogyny!!! and like… no?

Topaz’s whole thing is that she doesn’t know the extent of the IPC’s evil, and believes that what she’s doing is genuinely the right thing to do. Even if she never had a choice in joining the IPC, she (incorrectly) believes what they did to her and her planet is justified, logical and moral, and for those reasons she stands with them. Part of this is likely IPC brainwashing, as she was probably very young when she became an indentured servant to them, and someone living on a planet on the brink of destruction would likely view anyone who stepped up to save them as heroes (imo the IPC likely waited for the point of no return to establish contact so her people had no other choice to except).

However Topaz got best end of the proverbial stick, her planet and its people were deemed useful by the IPC, and didn’t fight back, even if in the end they were still exploited.

Unfortunately, we have seen through Boothill, Belabog and Aventurine what happens when that isn’t the case.

Boothill’s planet got bombed and people genocided because they had a resource useful to the IPC, but were unwilling to cooperate with them or hand over their home, so the IPC decided to eradicate them.

Belabog had a debt owed to the IPC that was ridiculously high and very unfair to expect them to pay back, and had Topaz not convinced the higher ups to give them some time (which she got demoted for), the IPC would have taken Belabog by force

That leaves us with Aventurine, whose story is in no way on the same level of bad as Topaz’s. Unlike her, he has witnessed and experienced firsthand the truly awful shit the IPC can do.

They took custody of Sigonia and promised to offer the Avgin aid in their fight against the Katacans, at the very least protect them from harm. (Sidenote, since the IPC held control over Sigonia, they should have stopped the fighting in the first place). However, they simply stood by and did nothing, resulting in the deaths of around 6,000 Avgin, with around 3,000 went missing (or injured, I don’t remember, either way it’s bad).

But wait! It gets worse! Aventurine when he was still known as Kakavasha referred to the IPC as “the men in black/the men in black suits”, and his first master says he bought Aventurine from “the men in black/the men in black suits”, likely mocking the way he referred to them. Therefore THE IPC TOOK PART AND LIKELY EVEN CREATED A FUCKING SLAVE TRADE IN SIGONIA

Look being made into an indentured servant isn’t fun, but idk personally I’d take that any day of the week OVER BEING ENSLAVED

That’s not even to mention how horrible of a reputation Sigonian’s have in the galaxy, one likely spread by/resulting from the IPC themselves, as at least on Aventurines planet they do not have the mobility to make a name for themselves. (Honestly it’s a mini theory of mine that Aventurines scam is what partly contributed to this reputation, and his status as a slave is something the IPC conveniently left out in their broadcast about it-)

But, you might be saying, didn’t Aventurine have a choice to join the masked fools and leave the IPC, isn’t he free now? And to that I say, it’s complicated.

Considering the amount of suicidal shit Aventurine has done while being part of the IPC, he clearly hasn’t been having a fun time as a member of one, so why does he stick around, especially with the Fools invite? Even if he was a slave, does that absolve him of the crimes he’s committing now? What could justify his actions?

Revenge, plan and simple.

This is going to delve into some spoiler territory for the end of the Penacony 2.2 quest, something which I didn’t feel like mentioning earlier because I’m sorry but everyone and their mother already knows Boothill’s lore. Now, let’s get into it.

Aventurine accepts Jades offer to join the IPC, and when he becomes a Stoneheart, the first thing he asks about is the fate of the Avgin, to which he then learns that besides him, they are all dead. You see, from birth Kakavasha was pushed onto a pedestal as the savior of the Avgin, but now that there are no more Avgin to save, his primary motivator in becoming a Stoneheart (beyond not being enslaved anymore) is gone.

So what does he do now?

Simple, try to kill the motherfuckers behind it.

That’s why he takes on such risky gambles still, and why he wagers and wants Diamond to promote him to rank p46. The higher Aventurine gets the closer he gets to his goal of taking down the IPC for good.

Which is why his meeting with Boothill is so meaningful. I think Boothill is going to “kidnap” him and together they are gonna take down the wicked bitch that is Oswaldo Schneider for his literal crimes against humanity.

Mark my words, an IPC downfall is going to happen, and I think Topaz, Aventurine, Boothill and Ratio are going to be at the forefront of it.

However, Topaz and Ratio (and by extension the rest of the galaxy) have to learn/realize the true horrors of the IPC (although I can sense Ratio doesn’t really like them, and he’s learned a lot from Aventurine, I doubt he knows the full extent of the situation or is in any way happy about it). Therefore? Topaz mental breakdown arc? Ratio lore? PLEASE??!? The IP3 compliment one another so well and god I can’t wait for that to come to fruition.

I really want to see a Topaz and Ratio centered story leading up to an IPC smackdown, and I think we are gonna learn a lot more about how shitty they are in the later half of 2.2 and in 2.3 when the interlude and Jades release arrive.

As for the aforementioned Jade, she’s gonna need a Aventurine squared amount of trauma or reasoning behind her actions to seem in any way sympathetic, because right now she just seems like an evil bitch (in a semi good way, I will always respect the commitment to the bit) who loves her job and would make Machiavelli weep over how hard her ends are trying to justify her means.