#and huohuo (GIVE! ME! HELIOBI! THOUGHTS!)

[elegyofthemoon]

for some reason i thought huohuo was a 4* and i was like ????? are we getting a rerun of banners now???

but no she is actually 5* im kinda shocked hanya is a 4*....she seemed like she'd be the 5*

[shadowcatzone]

Thinking of angsty RenHeng things.

Like the Preceptors and Sanctus Medicus catching on to Dan Heng carrying Blade’s child.

At least with the Preceptors, Huohuo gives the heads-up that as long as the child is born on the Express and nowhere on any Xianzhou ship, they will be officially recognized as an outsider even if one parent originated from Xianzhou. So, the Preceptors literally will not be able to do anything to the child without provoking enmity from the Astral Express Crew, who are recognized as allies of Xianzhou. Doing so would bring down on them not only the Astral Express and the Cloud Knights because the former helped with the Stellaron Crisis, but also the Ten-Lords Commission because TB helped with recapturing the escaped heliobi. Plus, Hanya mentions in a letter to someone that the suspects among the Preceptors have already revealed themselves (though not to us the audience, unfortunately) so lifting even a finger towards the child would drop them in boiling hot water.

Sanctus Medicus on the other hand… They would certainly take an interest in both Dan Heng and the child—and they attack the train when the Crew visits and everybody else is off visiting friends on the Luofu.

Elio of course foresaw this and sent help and Pom-Pom recalled everybody back to the train, but they’re unlucky enough (“bad RNG” as Silver Wolf calls it) to get delayed and Blade arrives just in time to see several dead Mara-Struck soldiers. And Dan Heng is in Vidyadhara form and in…very bad condition, utterly maimed and slumped in front of a door (like that first episode of Oshi no Ko) with one last Sanctus Medicus agent looming over him, having done to Dan Heng what was done to Dan Feng in the Shackling Prison.

And all the while, Dan Heng was doing his damnedest to make sure that Sanctus Medicus did not get past him and further into the train where his child could be hiding in any of the rooms.

The only thing laughable about this would be that even though, for once, the Preceptors actually had nothing to do this incident (a genuine moment of “it wasn’t me/us this time”) they still get heavily scrutinized because of suspicions of them colluding with Sanctus Medicus.

That's fair bc the preceptors are always somehow at fault, no matter what happens.

Yeah sure i guess they're giving birth on the express. An actual trailblaze baby! Hopefully they don't learn any behaviour from caelus/stelle!

Considering the sanctus medicus, well there are vidyadhara among them too. Imagine you're just minding your own business, doing heinous abomination abundance things, suddenly some lotus peony or whatever guy bursts in yelling about your former high elder, imbibitor lunae, being pregnant? Vidyadhara are barren though? Has he found a way to conceive and suddenly every vidyadhara sanctus medicus wants to get their hands on the child to find out how they too! Can get pregnant! The audacity!

I think blade would show up sooner though bc 1.elio and 2.tHREE MUST PAY THE PRICE and HOW DARE YOU TRY TO DIE WITHOUT ME!!! As in i don't think elio would miss the timing. Like, not elio, he might send blade ahead of ttime, sending him there in advance.

Recalling an older post i made, the preceptors would probably only think to mention renheng child ONCE to Dan heng bc honestly, nobody wants the post, he wants the child to grow up "normal" (at least more normal than his or dan fengs childhood)

Also, i lost my train of thought bc i kept going back and forth on this post xD so it may be a bit messy.

[huorror]

interview

“...A visitor?”

It is not unusual to see visitors in the Parlor Car of the Astral Express. No, that’s not the unusual part. What is unusual is the morose young Foxian girl sitting on one of the couches, legs dangling off the side. Her dark eyebags hardly suit her otherwise youthful countenance and she seems to be mumbling to herself.

Ah, no use beating around the bush! The poor girl’s tail is on fire and she hardly seems to notice, much less care! It might not be burning the seat and there’s no smell of burning flesh, but surely it must hurt tremendously!

“Excuse me,” the hapless crew member can’t help but attempt to offer their assistance. “Do you perhaps need—”

The girl jolts out of her seat at the approach, ears and cowlick flopping as she bows deeply. The hat atop her head begins to slide off until she hurriedly puts it back in place.Standing up suddenly, her knees tremble like a newborn fawn. Her tail flicks (a sign of annoyance in Foxians, at odds with her timid demeanor), but the flame remains burning ever bright.

Her voice pitches upward, “I-I’m sorry, I’m in your way, aren’t I?! It’s just so relaxing here… b-but I can go back if you need me to!”

Oh dear.

The deep commanding voice of a man with no clear source resounds through the car, “Stand up for yourself, you spineless girl! You were here first! Don’t let a mere human push you around!”

“B-but Tail…” The girl mumbles, wringing her hands.

Oh… oh dear. She’s talking to her tail, which is on fire. A bona fide weirdo, this one. Whatever is going on here is far outside the scope of an average crew member, but they’ve already initiated the conversation. They’d never hear the end of it if they just left a visitor in trouble, especially when they can feel the Conductor glaring daggers.

An awkward customer service smile rises to the crew member’s face. For the sake of their paycheck, they must follow through…!

“Are you perhaps… having trouble relaxing in your daily life? Is there something you’re not content with, Miss…?”

“Oh!” The girl seems to realize she has neglected to give her name, tired eyes widening. “H-Huohuo! I’m Huohuo and this” —she gestures to her tail, who huffs in response— “is Tail. And um, to tell you the truth, I’ve actually… been trying to quit my job.” “Trying?” Tail scoffs. “Her resignation letter never gets anywhere even close to the desk! Can you even call that trying?”

“Your job? Where do you work?”

Looking so ragged for one so young, it definitely has to be retail.

“I—I’m a newbie judge of the Ten-Lords Commission. My job is subduing evil spirits.”

The crew member’s eyes nearly bulge out of their skull. She’s not just some weird kid with a talking tail, but one of the judges! A sudden rush of relief washes over them that they had not voiced their thoughts of her looking like a helpless child or that they found her tail quite unnerving.

 “Ten-Lords?! You must be very strong, Miss Huohuo!”

Huohuo waves her hands frantically, “N-No, not at all! I’m not cut out for the job at all! I’m afraid of evil spirits, but they still make me go out and catch heliobi anyway! I’m sure they just promoted me by accident! Besides, Madam Hanya and Madam Xueyi are always helping me out… I wish I was even half as brave as them…”

“Bah!” Tail spits. “Forget them, this wimp is always crying for my help! You should hear her, always crying, ‘Save me, save me!’ Without a powerful heliobus like me by her side, she would have been consumed by some weaker spirit long ago. I keep her out of trouble!”

“N-no, you’re the one who gets me into trouble! Every time I try to run away, you just send me right back towards the enemies!” Huohuo sighs and puts her head in her hands. “I’m probably going to spend the rest of my life as the Ten-Lords Commission’s resident scaredy-cat… There goes Huohuo, cursed one and chicken extraordinaire… None of the movies I’ve been watching have helped at all, either. I really should resign, after all.”

“Bahahaha! You really think those are gonna help you develop some guts?! Experience is what you need! And that means fighting!”

The host and parasite comedy duo continue bickering between themselves, crew member entirely forgotten. Taking advantage of the chance, they slip away quietly. Paycheck be damned, dealing with a Ten-Lords judge and her pet heliobus is way above their paygrade! If someone else wants to step in, by all means, be their guest!

By the time they’re several cars over, an anguished cry can be heard in the distance.

“Ahhh! My vacation time is over! I-I don’t wanna go back to work…”