#and that's always beautiful

[xstarlightxstarbrightx]

thoughts on how the Inazuma Archon quest went [4]

Lumi and Kaeya prep for their travel to Inazuma, and are waiting for Beidou's intel. They talk to their old friends in Liyue, they visit Zhongli one last time, and I always saw this as a little tense in terms of goodbyes.

I mean, Lumine just recently learned about Aether's position in the Abyss Order, and she's currently grappling with that and the thought that the Raiden Shogun might be the Unknown God (i mean, Paimon made a brief connection, i don't doubt that she's been thinking about it.) Lumine feels like the sort of person who always maintains a cheery disposition no matter what if she can help it, but Kaeya and Zhongli know. They can feel it.

My personal headcanon is that Zhongli offers them words of ease before they leave to ask Katheryne about their intel. I already have written abt this in personal stuff, but I will share any mini fics I write later on (probably will put it on AO3 eventually, but it's also optional. i just really like these idiots and am considering sharing some of the writing i've already done for them lmao).

Anyway, Kaeya and Lumi have to go to Inazuma!!! (and subsequently suffer in an electric HELL)

Thoma, upon arrival: well if it isn't the Traveler from afar and-- Thoma: Kaeya: Lumine: ? Paimon: ?? Thoma: aaaaaaaaaaanyway. proceeds to yap

the entire intro quest to Inazuma was kinda interesting since it touched on how blatantly fucked up the Ritou situation was to outlanders. Lumine also throwing shade at Zhongli's relationship with Mora made me giggle.

I also liked the part where we got to reflect on Mondstadt and Liyue by reminding that one Werner guy about the places he'd come from. I feel like Kaeya would be the one to really get into him about Mondstadt, and Lumine handles Liyue incredibly well.

Unfortunately, the intro quest to Inazuma also holds one of the things I disliked most about Inazuma; and that is the almost cruel refusal to help when Thoma inevitably asks Lumine for assistance. In the actual game, the way the responses are short and incredibly stiff made me genuinely feel... gross? Like it doesn't feel like something Lumine specifically would say (I can't vouch for Aether players, but I'm sure there have been times where the dialogue options have been off for them, too.) I don't hate the dialogue options we got, especially if people perceive her or Aether as more reluctant and unwilling—my main issue has always been that we never had the option to react ever so slightly differently; even if it was just a way to rephrase a refusal.

So, in my interpretation of Inazuma, I opted for a more hesitant reluctance when Thoma inevitably asks for Lumine's help (something that, I feel, makes FAR more sense, and falls in line with the rest of the Archon quests in Nations after).

Thoma: so... with your help... even the Vision Hunt Decree— Lumine: hold on. Lumine: ... I... didn't really offer to help with that, you know. Lumine: I'm in Inazuma to talk to the Raiden Shogun, after all... Thoma: ... Ah. Yes, of course. I'll do my best to set that up for you.

GAHHH I really should write more about Inazuma and reworking it into something I have more of an interest in. The potential of this story really haunts me, I was just so put off by the approach. I genuinely have envisioned many a discussion between Kaeya and Lumine about this reluctance—I'm of the sound mind that Kaeya's surprised by her reluctance, but at the same time they both know this is just a flimsy attempt to try and focus on meeting Raiden.

I just don't think she would deny it so quickly and coldly; it feels like she would find ways to compromise, rather than shut people down. Something I desperately wish we got, because it feels more compassionate than what we did get. (and not to mention that this is the ONLY time the Traveler shows such a vicious reluctance to helping people. Like in Sumeru, there was VERY little reluctance to help people from what I remember, and Fontaine??? FONTAINE??? Yeah.)

Like, for example, when she goes to Hiiragi Shinsuke, he quite notably points out "One other thing I heard about you is your great zeal for helping other people." It is constantly noted how the Traveler is willing to help others; even if she, herself, sees it as merely a normal and proper thing to do. AHGHH the characterization of the Traveler in Inazuma killed me guys.

Anyway, we all know that Lumine and Kaeya help out Chisato b/c ofc they would (something I feel like is brought up between her and Kaeya when discussing the reluctance to assist with the Decree), and they head off to Narukami Island.

Thoma: sorry about that other little "test" haha Lumi: riight... so, how'd we do? Thoma: I'm guessing you've always been skirting the rules from the very beginning, haven't you? Kaeya: yep. Lumi: yep. Paimon: yep.

also, again; we're learning about the selfishness of the Vision Hunt Decree, and I feel like Lumine hearing the voices of everyone's ambitions would likely be what starts her attempt to compromise. Also "a Vision symbolizes ambition, and not power" is so interesting. i'm kinda obsessed with it—also Lumine 1000% looking to Kaeya as she sort of has this realization, and her just being like "no, I have to at least compromise. I can't deny them assistance."

Ayaka: Traveler, lend us your power, and we can— Lumine: I must meet the Raiden Shogun. Lumine: that is, first and foremost, why I am here. Kaeya: ... Lumine: ... but... once that is done, I don't doubt that I could still help. Ayaka: Oh... Thoma: I told you.

THIS is how I wanted this conversation to go. A compromise; to meet the Raiden and then offer to help after. A completion of a goal and a promise to help. Because it never felt right to me that it was just so cold and harsh. Let there be compromise, plEASE. It still makes it such an interesting story, and it also shows so much more of the compassion that the Traveler has, and just makes it feel more connected when the Traveler meets and develops relationships with other characters in the game, whether NPC or Playable, canon or fanon.

Anyway, Ayaka still offers to get them to meet the Raiden Shogun, but she still has them do the three wishes thing; which completely breaks Lumine. After already showing willingness to help after, Lumine just accepts that she can't watch these people suffer—what if that was Kaeya? what if it was her brother? Show us the trepidation beginning to fade. Show us the wall cracking. Show us Lumine crumbling before she breaks, I'm begging.

I'll be continuing this later, again, dw! I do have a few other things I'm excited to touch on now that I've finally been able to put my disdain for Inazuma into words. Rereading this quest really has reminded me of how fascinating I found some of the points they brought up—like the Visions being physical representations of ambition and what life is like to lose your ambition and memory of it. It has so much potential, and I'm definitely wondering if I should write on it some...

[zelkams-art]

in all timelines in all possibilities only you can show me this

[stimmingandstruggling]

more good news from tiktok: they’ve started blocking celebrities.

they’re calling it block party 2024. just blocking and ignoring countless celebrities who havent said shit about palestine. influencers, actors, anyone who went to the met gala, whatever, they’re getting blocked. and people keep talking about how cathartic it is, how good it feels, how they never realized they could DO that. there was some kind of subconscious law against blocking famous people, but it’s broken, and people are LOVING it. and it’s WORKING. a social media/digital advertising coordinator was talking about how ad companies are PANICKING, because they can’t accurately target anymore. so many big influencers, including fucking LIZZO started talking about palestine the MOMENT their follower counts started going down. and the best part? no one is forgiving them. lizzo posted a tiktok asking people to donate to palestinian families, and all the comments just said you’re a multimillionaire. put your money where your mouth is. blocked.

i feel like i’m witnessing the downfall of celebrity culture, right here right now. people are waking up.

[goldensunset]

advice i think we should tell children is that when adults say stuff like ‘now that i’m an adult i get really excited about stuff like coffee tables and bathrooms and rugs etc’ they don’t mean ‘and now i don’t care about blorbo and squimbus from my childhood tv shows anymore’ bc your average adult still loves all the same pop culture stuff they always did; they just have a greater appreciation for the mundane as well. growing up just means you can enjoy life twice as much now. you can get really excited about a new stuffed animal AND about a new kitchen sponge. peace and love

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The math just adds up!

[redpapercraness]

to lose you

[enii]

🌸🌺🥀🌼💕

[sunlitsoil]

there is always tomorrow

[chloesimaginationthings]

I love Michael Afton's story in FNAF..

[pokimoko]

I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.

[autumn-may]

Mostly spoiler free summary of my viewing experience

[foreverfearlessred]

my favourite genre of post-race Charles Leclerc win is Charles finding Arthur at the barrier, seeing Arthur looking at him with such joy in his eyes and then Charles messing up his hair

[mejkosmos]

so funny how the whole gravity falls fandom immediately went from "bill cipher-all interdimensional being hot tumblr sexy man" to "bill cipher- lame loser pathetic fumbler toxic skrunkly sad ex" in a matter of seconds as SOON as the rise of billford came about

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x01 - “Heavy is the Crown”

[bizarrelittlemew]

i can't wait to be 30+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 40+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 50+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 60+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 70+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 80+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 90+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to look back on my life and know that i loved things deeply and passionately and was inspired to create and was part of communities with incredible people from all over the world brought together by the stories that touched us

[loriache]

"I've been waiting for ages for somebody to unmask them."

This moment tends to elicit negative reactions in a first read through, and I've got some opinions about why where Kabru is coming from here actually makes a lot of logical sense. So I thought I'd elaborate on that.

I think people hear this and go, "He thinks they must be hiding something because they gave money to someone? What a cynic." Or "he dislikes them because they did charity?? What's wrong with this guy!". And obviously, a lot, a lot is wrong with him. But I think this makes more sense than it seems at first glance! What people evaluating this judgement miss is why Kabru is paying attention to Laios and co to begin with.

Kabru knows of the Touden siblings because (he's a little bit of a stalker-) he is keeping an eye on all the relevant parties in events developing on the island, in order to be able to guide them to his preferred outcome. This includes adventurers because they are the ones actually exploring the dungeon! He's well aware that something as minor as internal tensions between party members could be key to the historical events that are developing. (He would love the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.)

His desired outcome is that whatever the rewards are of breaking the dungeon's curse, whether that's kingship or the ancient elven secrets of dungeons, are claimed by:

A) a short lived person

B) Someone who will be a good, effective leader and/or use those secrets and the power they carry wisely, with foresight, and to establish a political bloc for short lived people.

The person he can best trust to do this is, of course, himself. But due to his PTSD regarding dungeons and monsters, he's not able to develop the necessary skills to conquer the dungeon. Once he realises this, he starts looking for someone else who he can support to that end.

But most of the adventurers don't have any intentions of conquering the dungeon, don't have the skills, or are unsuitable in other ways. In fact, it seems like some potentially suitable people are the Toudens. There are a lot of good rumours about them going around - they actually seem to have a very positive reputation! That's what Kabru means when he says "unmask".

So when Kabru is observing something like them giving money to an old comrade from their gold-peeling days, he doesn't consider it a problem because "they're giving money to this person who doesn't actually need it" or because they must have some dark secret if they act superficially nice. I think he actually understands this situation and what it implies about Laios (in particular) perfectly well.

Laios and Falin gave money to an old comrade who got injured and couldn't work. That person then healed up but kept taking their money. Then he used the money to start smuggling illicit goods to the island.

The key is that for Kabru, the problem here is the same as with the corpse retrievers - people using the dungeon's resources to fuel dangerous, selfish, or violent pursuits cause problems for the island, attract more criminals and people with motives other than breaking the curse, and increase the chances of the whole situation ending in tragedy.

Kabru is willing to work with the Shadow Lord of the island if it gets him to his goal - he isn't scrupulous - but the criminal element of the island increasing is something he sees as a major issue.

Also, when you're evaluating someone as a candidate for power, riches, secrets, potentially kingship - then being curious about how the money you give to people is going to be used is kind of a relevant trait!

Interpersonally, Kabru's actually very easygoing - I mean, Mickbell isn't exactly an upstanding guy, is he! But Kabru likes him and they get along well. These traits wouldn't be a problem at all in a friend, or a comrade, or someone Kabru was confident he could use. But he can't get a handle on Laios, and Laios is someone who has the potential to be a major player!

On Laios' end, this is the same as with the marriage seeker who joined their party. She kept asking for things and he gave them to her, because he tries to be nice to others. He even gives her money! It's the exact same thing.

That's fine, but it became a problem because he basically wasn't interested in her motives, didn't notice she was trying to manipulate him, and it also didn't occur to him that the other party members would notice or be affected. We can assume the situation with the gold peeler is the same. When Kabru says that "It's not that they're bad people, they just aren't interested in humans," he isn't wrong.

The extent to which this is true of Laios is linked to his autism imo, (because it isn't just disinterest - he genuinely isn't able to notice nonverbal cues that people are lying to him or have ulterior motives) but to a greater or lesser extent I think it's a very common trait. Most people aren't actually that interested in other people who aren't close to them. Kabru is the weird one here. It isn't an issue except as a leader - which is why we see an immediate comparison to the Island's Lord, because that's how Kabru is evaluating them.

And disinterest in/lack of ability with people to the extent Laios exhibits it, it does, actually, make him a worse leader... it's just that as we see in the story, people can help him out. The rest of the party tell him the marriage seeker is taking advantage of him so he tells her he can't give her special treatment anymore. They're pissed and it's a crisis point - he couldn't have recovered their trust without Marcille and Falin - but that's exactly the point. With Marcille and Falin, he was able to recover their trust.

And he has other good traits that make up for it, such as his intelligence, strategic knowledge, open-mindedness and sense of fairplay.

Kabru doesn't disqualify Laios as a candidate based on what he sees about him from afar, though - he still tries very hard to get close to him, obviously hoping that if he manages he can steer Laios to defeat the dungeon and make up for his lack of people-skills in the aftermath. (Which... he does eventually achieve that goal!) He completely fails until the events of the story, so... definitely I think "They just aren't interested in humans" could also partially be a stung reaction to Laios' complete disinterest in him.

Anyway, that's my read on what exactly Kabru's "issue" with Laios is. Obviously, once he does find out what Laios' true nature is like - about his love for monsters - he develops an entirely new set of fears about Laios' priorities. But since Laios kept that a secret until the start of the story, he has no idea of that yet.

Given all that, I think it's interesting that he says that he doesn't think that the Toudens are suitable to defeat the dungeon, and that he's hoping they'll turn out to be the thieves. As some of his few potential candidates, people who he thinks may play a big role in the island's future, you'd think he'd hope they would be good people!

I suppose it's better, in his eyes, because it means that he's involved in something "interesting". They haven't just had their stuff stolen by regular criminals (boring, puts them further away from his goal) - they've been caught up in the beginning stages of "a historic event". The desperate and dwindling group forgetting morals in their quest to retrieve their lost comrade probably appeals to his sense of melodrama. Because he also just... loves drama.

Despite it being "uglier than anything he was expecting", he still pursues Laios as the person he wants to conquer the dungeon pretty much as soon as it becomes clear that he won't be able to do it himself and they are out of time. That's because... well, to be fair, there aren't any other options. And he fits standard A: he's short-lived!

and Kabru still hopes he can fit standard B, too, and be persuaded to use the power he wins for good. No matter how many nightmares he has about Laios, or whether he thinks about killing him. He doubts him, but ultimately he puts his faith in him and seems happy after the manga's ending that he made the right decision.