#cw hsr spoilers

[blehbet-arts]

would anyone like some hsr horror au :3?

[stagehunt]

are we ready to admit that he was right now btw

[ilstar]

i think it's quite apparent to robin now that she could take over sunday's duties, and do a good job of it at that ; whether or not her own desire to spread harmony outwith penacony is still selfless in the face of what her brother has endured and the guidance that penacony itself needs ( especially now with ipc influence and the events of the charmony festival shaking the family ) is still something to be weighed up.

however. the existence of dreamflux reef and their resistance against family interference in this quest leads her to believe that maybe, now it's time for them both to step back, let someone else take the reign, and fade from the spotlight at least in terms of political control. it might be the right thing to do. and perhaps she would rather continue doing what she's doing to help the people in dreamflux reef autonomously, taking their own wishes into account and not trying to impose the family's authority or acting as a representative with something to prove. if you've played the checking out world quest that becomes available at the end of the main penacony arc, she mentions wanting to take some time out for herself and leaves penacony in a hurry which i've honestly been thinking about A LOT because this quest seems to have... brushed that off in a way that discredits a lot of the conclusions i'd come to at the time, and now i wonder what the importance of it was. but maybe this is part of it.

[catcze]

// HSR spoilers

Aha. My camera roll rn.

[electricb00]

dream is over

[sunfudge]

[sxcchxrine]

contains hints to leaks

you could feel dan heng’s (IL) tail tightening around you as his warm breath hits your neck sending chills down your spine. he couldn’t help it but to keep you so close. your scent drove him up a wall. how much he wants to devour you whole, but he can’t do that. he desperately wants to but if he did then he can’t hold you like this. he couldn’t savor your sweet taste or mewls of pleasure when it came down to that. or he couldn’t watch over you and bask in your warmth. to him, you’re so intoxicating it’s unbearable for him. one day he might not have the strength to keep himself from devouring you even so, he knows your blood will taste delicious.

[eatingfireflies]

I want to talk about this thing

And I have a proposal:

The name of Dr Ratio's warp event is connected to this and, incidentally, Aventurine

Disclaimer: 1) I'm not normal or rational about Dr Ratio. 2) The conclusion is supported only by the English translation as far as I know. 3) Maybe the conclusion is a bit of a leap but I'm serious about everything else.

Let's go!

The conversation Aventurine and Acheron had towards the end is probably up there with End of Evangelion for me in terms of comforting. There's something comforting about Acheron's Nihility because there's still a drop of colour in there and she thinks it's enough. It's the kind of emptiness that accepts anything and don't we all need a little black hole to chuck all our worries into? 🥲

Before the 'grand finale', Aventurine says that sleep is a rehearsal of death. After his death, Acheron agrees and adds that we sleep in order to prepare for the real thing.

And then Aventurine asks her a question:

And Acheron's answer is: this isn't true and Aventurine knows this himself. We don't get born to die. There's no reason for being born, just like there is no meaning in life.

(There's only chance. In stories, things happen for a reason but life isn't story-shaped.)

So: there is no meaning in life. But the way we live our lives gives meaning to our deaths.

Then she tells him to look at his pocket because his friend has already given him the answer.

And I was like 'Finally !! I've been waiting for this reveal!' because what can be said at this moment that could help Aventurine?

There are 2 phases in his plan:

1) Prove that death is possible in the dreamland. Since all the visitors in Penacony are protected by Harmony, this is pretty hard to do but not impossible. We know other people have done it before. Aventurine uses Acheron the emanator of Nihility to cut through the Harmony protection and finish him off.

And Aventurine wins his wager! But the plan doesn’t end there.

2) Move forward to the Real Penacony somehow and investigate the truth about the Watchmaker. And then figure out how to come back. Which honestly sounds like a tall order, but what else can Aventurine do?

Well, he can stop at phase 1.

Acheron says that the conclusion of phase 1 is a win-win situation for the IPC, which is true. Aventurine's death will give the IPC a reason to investigate Penacony and the Family. We know Jade and the others aren't even allowed to go into the dreamscape, but with the death of the IPC envoy, they'll have the right to make some demands from the Family.

If Aventurine stops here, he still would have won.

We know from his conversation with his future self that he's tired and ready to stop. He wants to come home and be with his family.

Aventurine is pretty much a mess: he's a child blessed by Gaiathra Triclops, which gives him godly luck. This luck has prevented him from dying countless times before (even the times when he was actually fine with it). He wants to die but also he's terrified of... dying?

Truly embodying the 'Why is it so hard to die, so impossible to live?'* vibe.

(*From Tanith Lee's The Secret Books of Paradys 1, if you're interested)

Or maybe more accurately, he's terrified of losing everything just like he did in Sigonia. You can look at it in 2 ways: without Mama Fenge's blessing, Kakavasha would have died with the rest of the Avgin. Or Kakavasha's luck came at the expense of literally everything he holds dear.

With Acheron's help, he has finally achieved the death his own luck has been protecting him from. So why should he move forward?

Well, let's see what Acheron meant when she said Aventurine's friend has the answer.

And I... have no idea.

The underlying message here is easy enough to understand: Acheron has already answered Aventurine's question. He can move forward and keep living because that's what will give his eventual death more meaning. But hearing this from Acheron is a bit of a cold comfort: she accepts everything and also views everything impartially.

Ratio's note is a reminder to Aventurine that someone in the waking world is personally invested in Aventurine's well-being. Not because of what Aventurine can do for the IPC (as a consultant, I assume Ratio gets paid whether Aventurine succeeds or not, but also Aventurine has already succeeded with Phase 1).

And not because Ratio gets anything out of it... well, the Stellaron files maybe? But he already has that. Or whatever it is he went to Penacony for, because the two of them are being cagey about it.

Whatever it is, Ratio has already gotten what he wanted. This note is an extra then, something that he gave Aventurine because he wanted to.

I'll come back to what I think he meant, but I need to talk about the Jp translation (sorry I know I should check the original Cn instead but I don't know Cn at all 😭 it's hard enough for me to catch the nuance in Jp let alone a language I can't parse at all), because the word used is different and this is why I'm unsure.

Post by a Jp user about Ratio's note. I can't post a screencap because there's no more space 🥹 But here's the text:

「処方箋」

夢の中で不可能なのは「死」ぬことではなく、「熟睡」することだ。 生きろ。幸運を祈る。

In this note, Ratio uses 熟睡 (jukusui), which means deep sleep. This is deep uninterrupted sleep, the kind that you wake up from feeling refreshed. Or the kind that you have when you take sleep meds. Or the kind that you have when you're contented with your life and not burdened with ambition or anxieties or curiosity.

I don't know.

We know that it's possible to sleep in the dreamscape because Ratio wakes Aventurine up in the beginning of the quest. At the very least, he seemed to be dreaming so I assume he was asleep? And they seem to be in the dreamscape because there's an origami bird tail behind him... except Dr Blues also appears in reality so maybe we can't rule anything out just yet.

I'm not 100% sure what Ratio means about 熟睡. But what about 'Dormancy'?

This is easier. The disclaimer here is I'm not a big fan of the English translation in general (especially the way Dr Ratio was translated in English) but I'll let myself have this.

Dormancy is (thank you wiki) a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. It's also connected to 'deep sleep'. Hey, we're getting somewhere!

Basically, hibernation. Ratio seems to be confirming what we already know: the dream is falling apart because everything in the universe will succumb to Nihility in the end. Maybe the dream was created to preserve a memory (just like how the IPC was preserving Chadwick's memory in Penacony), but the dream is also starting to crumble.

Maybe this isn't the most comforting thing to tell Aventurine, but it does confirm what he probably already suspected (about the truth behind Penacony) and it also tells him that change is constant. Moving forward means he could potentially get out of a situation he doesn't like.

And he does move forward. He tells his past self that there will come a time in the future when he'll come home to his family, but not now. For now he can keep changing and making his own meaning.

Dr Ratio's warp banner is called Panta rhei. 'Everything flows', which says that things are always in a state of flux (change). For example, you can't step into the same river twice because the water is moving and is constantly getting replaced (thanks again, wiki). This is the same about humans: we are always changing both physically and mentally. We both are and are not (wiki again).

Doesn’t it sound like what he said in his doctor's prescription?

[hehothrowawayfae]

HSR 2.5 spoilers here

PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE, LITERALLY ANYONE TO WRITE ABOUT HOW A YANDERE JIAO QUI AND HOW HE WOULD DEAL WITH AN ALREADY KIDNAPPED BEFORE THIS INCIDENT DARLING!!!

[myfriendthedictionary]

hello WATT fandom happy new year

[coreylemons]

Sorry not sorry i like making my blorbos suffer :3

[stagehunt]

some  quick  and  rambling  thoughts  about  2.2  that  are  actually  timely  for  once  yippee      *  only  talking  about  aven  centric  things  here  but  100%  come  scream  and  cry  with  me  about  everything + everyone  else  bc  i  am  still  totally  reeling 

getting  my  biggest  concern  out  of  the  way  first,     aven’s  current  standing  with  the  ipc.  i  was  working  with  the  assumption  that  while  most  of  what  aven  did  in  penacony   ( his  scheming  in  order  to  smuggle  jade’s  cornerstone  into  the  family’s  territory  +  keep  his  own  on  his  person,   making  some  light  attempts  at  negotiation  with  the  family  to  ensure  there  was  not  a  simpler  course  of  action  that  the  ipc  could  take  before  things  started  to  get  chaotic,   messing  with  the  auctioned  items  &  econ  etc )   all  went  very  smoothly  in  accordance  with  a  pre-approved  plan,   but  that  luring  acheron  out  to  confront  him  was  a  decision  he  made  on  the  fly  that  only  ratio  was  fully  aware  of  /  alternatively  figured  out  on  his  own  before  it  actually  happened     —    what  with  her  presence  in  penacony  being  uninvited  and  his  comment  about  ratio  catching  on  quickly.  however.  i  do  think  that  the  strategic  investment  dept  at  least  predicted  that  he  would  use  the  penacony  assignment  as  an  opportunity  to  find  an  “out”  for  himself  and  in  the  aftermath,   most  definitely  understood  what  he  had  tried  to  accomplish.  they  let  him  believe  that  freedom  might  just  be  attainable,   whether  to  test  him  or  simply  torment  him  i  don’t  know,   but  he  has  very  evidently  not  escaped  the  ipc  and  they  were  never  going  to  let  it  happen. 

almost  funny  how  reminiscent  this  is  of  the  conversation  between  topaz  and  aven  when  he  was  first  teased  in  game.  i  believe  jade  is  most  definitely  rubbing  it  in  his  face  here  that  his  only  gains  were  for  the  company’s  sake  and  not  anything  personal  or  meaningful    –   there’s  a  quiet  apprehension  that  she  does  know  exactly  what  he’d  been  thinking  he  may  be  able  to  achieve  with  his  grand  death  in  play,   and  also  that  he  has  a  little  more  to  answer  for  than  simply  breaking  the  cornerstone  and  tapping  into  the  emanators  power.  it  will  go  punished,   he’s  already  evidently  been  pulled  from  the  assignment,   but  i  don’t  think  that  this  will  be  a  reason  for  them  to  use  their  power  and  have  him  executed.  if  only  because  jade   ( and diamond )   isn’t  very  likely  to  act  on  that  threat  until  her  “investment”  in  aventurine  has  turned  all  of  the  profit  that  it  can,   or  he  steps  too  blatantly  out  of  line.

found  this  dialogue  very  interesting  too.  naturally,   aven  isn’t  interested  in  high - risk  low - reward  bets  and  he  knows  that  almost  anything  he  puts  on  the  line  right  now  would  be  inconsequential.  the  ipc  will  not  elinquish  control  of  him  nor  alter  the  agreement  he  made  with  jade     —    it  feels  like  him  being  subtly  put  back  in  his  place  beneath  all  of  the  pretenses  of  their  conversation.  noting  that  he  hasn’t  forgotten  jade  holds  that  power  to  have  him  killed  when  she  pleases,   betting  his  life  in  the  very  next  breath  regardless,   all  the  while  they  are  not  using  the  voice  changers  we’ve  seen  in  official  meetings  before:   jade  doesn’t  have  full  control  over  what  happens  to  him  in  regards  to  the  cornerstone,  but  this  is  purely  between  she  and  him.

*     i’ll  probably  still  write  up  an  au  verse  in  which  aven  did  successfully  fake  his  death  at  that  point  in  2.1  since  a  fair  bit  of  plotting  has   revolved  around  this  general  assumption  that  he’s  won  his  freedom  already,   so  dw  about  that

anyway  moving  onto  more  assorted  things:

argenti  and  aven    …     if  we  don’t  get  any  additional  information  about  them   ( which  i’m  certain  we  will )   i  am  begging  for  plots  +  dynamics  because  i  love  the  energy  of  their little  throwaway  comments  about  each  other  and  i  just ???  think  they  could  be  a  really  fun  duo  to  play  around  with.  what  was  that  about.

boothill and aven … i sincerely sincerely hope we get to see them actually teaming up now and while i’m assuming that would take the form of aven fulfilling the role of an informant to him while still returning to pier point with the ipc, i’m also living for the idea of him going mia and hunting down oswaldo with boothill starting immediately fdgkjh something i was talking to layla about just before the update dropped was how aven speaks of wanting to make his family proud of him before they can be reunited — in his mind he has a lot to reconcile himself with, a lot that he has to make up to them. there are many different ways he could go about doing so and revenge is not the best one but i can see him believing that taking oswaldo out would be a good start, as well as one of the first things he can do for himself in a long, long time. i for one think he MORE THAN deserves to take revenge anyway.

ena.   this  is  more  of  an  interesting  little  observation  than  a  solid  take  on  anything  because  i’m  frankly  too  eepy  to  keep  rambling  for  much  longer  but  trust  i’ll  touch  back  on  the  subject  again  later   dfkjghd   anyway.   given  the  implications  that  sigonia  was  likely  a  planet  under  ena’s  gaze  despite  not  acknowledging  the  aeons   (  what  looks  like  the  planet  being  seen  in  their  art,  sigonia’s  history  lining  up  somewhat  well  with     “the ancient planets that once fervently worshiped order would shine briefly before their total collapse...  perhaps this is the "path" of these planets.”    and  most  obviously  their  eye  being  a  mirror  image  of  the  avgin’s )   AND  thinking  back  to  sunday’s  question  to  aven  about  whether  or  not  he  had  the  ability  to  read  /  tamper  with  or  manipulate  people’s  minds     …     i  just  find  it  very  interesting  that  when  the  puppets  emotional  dials  were  locked  under  the  influence  of  the  order,  that  was  represented  with  ena’s  eyes ??? yeah idk where i'm going with this one either but stay tuned

[ilstar]

caelus u are the light of my life

cae breaking their fall with his face while going 🤘🤘🤘🤘 was my favourite part of this entire quest actually

[draconicfool]

Beloved by the Abundance. Your Blessing is Your Curse

So I'm going to be putting this under a read more due to some of it being stuff we see more recently to avoid spoilers but I have some very big thoughts that I kind of want to put under a central post as opposed to everything being spread out the way it has been.

So we're going to talk about Eros' 'condition' that is, as a reminder for everyone, the 'Blessing of Abundance' that was given to him from the very early stages of his incarnations even before the Vidyadhara joined the Xianzhou Alliance. Let's run a refresher course, as I am wont to do in these bigger headcanon posts. From the very early reincarnations of what I'll call the Lài line, a descendent of the Terrestrial Dragon, and the eventual Mons Grandis of the Yuque, ponderer of the Congealed Silence and bound to watch over the Fallow Earth.

It is important to note that our 'original' Lài we'll be talking about is the original inheritor of the curse specifically, not the first incarnation of this line as a whole. Lài Chao-Xing was a dedicated healer who sought the best ways to cure ailments and afflictions of those around her. She would stop at nothing to find the right herbs, the right applications and the right processes that could save lives, even as a long-lived species who had very little reason to care, she even took in and cared for those who lived much, much shorter lifespans than her. As time went on, she began to wish that there were a way she could truly heal those she came across. That someway, somehow, she could get rid of that which plagued people.

This plea and this constant prayer and a want to tread the path more closely is what drew the attention of Yaoshi to her. And thusly, was the first incarnation of what was originally seen as a Blessing. This was where Lài Chao-Xing more or less doomed their part of the line to be unwillingly Touched by Abundance, sleeping so sweetly beneath the soil that would eventually nurture the blossom for much, much bigger things down the line.

It is important to note that Terrahymn magic, practiced by the descendants of the Terrestrial Dragon were used both for combat and for healing, though it was rarer to see the latter. Those gifted with this skill were what would later be used to determine who was the Successor of Mons Grandis. And there were none who were more skilled with this application of Terrahymn than what would become what we're calling the Lài line, and that is because of this Blessing. A simple little thing, really. A simple, earnest gift with such a little consequence. For if Chao-Xing truly wished to rid people of what ailed them, then she could use her magic to do so. And all it would cost? A hunger. A hunger that any time she used it would flare up within her. Though what that hunger was, was not originally told in its entirety to Chao-Xing. At first, the craving was easy to ignore. It was such a little gnawing. Such a little issue. But as time went on...as she continued to ignore it...she would grow ravenous and within her there grew bloodlust.

The first massacre of Lài Chao-Xing was a tiny station where not many people had even lived, let alone knew existed. A place she had originally come in homes of healing the people of their aches and pains. And instead, she became their very end. After this, Chao-Xing would not use her gifts the way she had been. Even the smallest application of Terrahymn had her terrified of those consequences rearing their ugly head. And she though, perhaps, the next cycle, it would go away.

But it didn't.

And it got worse. And worse. Like a rose bush that bloomed and slowly infested a garden.

Each reincarnation would be given the gift. And each reincarnation would thusly be approached by the Plagues Author. Each given the tale of their gift. Of how they could use their gifts. But at a cost. And as they tried to ignore their gift, those consequences would become worse. And they would become worse. That Blessing just as ruinous as it was helpful. For they would itch to help others. They would be desperate at the plight of people around them.

And when they hungered...they would lose all control of themselves. And when they lost control, they would paralyze those around them with something rather similar to Lupitoxins. And over time, the line evolve in a way. Their claws larger than other Vidyadharan people. Their teeth jagged and shark-like. In rows meant to join claws for the ripping and tearing of flesh.

And eventually, though THEY would still watch over the line, they would stop speaking of the consequences. As surely when their beloved child knew of the consequences, they wouldn't very well want to use their gift. And what a waste such a thing was.

This would eventually be what let the Lài line, when was their reincarnation's turn to play at the High Elder, to be responsible for executions aboard the Yuque. For a perfect predator was the ultimate punishment. Unable to eat other Denizens of the Abundance, but of course nobody knew they were technically one as well. That their form had been altered and tampered with by Yaoshi in such subtle ways. That while Vidyadharan, they were touched by the Abundance and would forever be entangled by THEM. They were simply blessed to be able to care for others the way they did. And that blessing of healing came with that terrible hunger. And really...something had to be done about it. So the Lài line became the Yuque's bird in a cage, their own personal dog on a leash. The ultimate punishment.

And reincarnation after reincarnation would live this life. Terrified of what they did not know they were. Terrified of the havoc wreaked by the Denizens of Abundance. Terrified of the things that the Plagues Author could do.

And terrified of themselves.

[macabresymphonies]

(Honkai Star Rail 1.2 Xianzhou story quest HEAVY SPOILERS)

My headcanon for as to why Phantylia didn’t actually kill Tingyun and instead stashed her away somewhere is that, despite being an incorporeal bodysnacher that leaves her proxies for death, she  felt kinship with Tingyun over their mutual fear of death.

We can assume that the playable Tingyun is the “true” one, since none of her interactions say otherwise, then we have this line:

Tingyun’s worst fear is death, to the point that she expects to die every time she ventures out and is deathly scared of getting injured (which comes of as a sort off damsely mannerism).

Now Phantylia is a Lord Ravager, which would imply that she became one willingly, but in the “List of Archenemies” chapter on the Lords we can read:

You can be twisted and evil being from the start when becoming a Lord Ravager, but there are often ones that become one simply to delay the destruction of their world or themselves and their values only get twisted when they get “Blessed by The Destruction”.

Even then, how would we know if Phantylia used to be one of those unwilling subjects to Nanook? Well there is the description from Regret of Infinite Ochema:

Phantylia is scared of death too, one could argue everyone is scared of death, but there is “being scared of death” and there is straight up thanatophobia. Ultimately she does not care about destruction and spreading Nanooks will, she only wants an immortal vessel so she can be free of this fear of hers.

I like to think this kinship in mutual fear is what allowed Tingyun to be spared in the end. Phantylia, despite years of inflicting pain and suffering, couldn’t kill somebody who reminded her so much of herself.

[vision-bound-muse]

:: Luka :: SPOILERS

Hero complex with passion. I don’t think he is as hot headed as he presents himself. His ‘training’ was not something irrational.

He isn’t an idiot despite his lax way of speaking. This boy has street smarts for days. I love this.

Carefree to an extent. There is an edge of responsibility there that I can’t ignore, but he does like to have fun and inspire others. Which is where a lot of his silly bravado and arrogance comes from as his unlockable story, he admits he doesn’t like fighting, but carries on with it because of this and because he seeks to protect the weak.

Somethings, just never change and there will always be bad people.

So why Nihility? All of the above is anything, but nihilistic behavior.

All of that soldiering and it was (soldiering, policing would simply be too hollow given the events), loss and just the general sense of misery in the underworld would cause anyone to shut down. Crime, poverty, and monsters and everyday occurrence to add to it being walled in and forced to stay.

He's seen a lot and when one has nowhere to flee, what happens then?

Dissociation breeds nihilism and it’s a normal defense mechanism, psychologically speaking. Absence of emotion and drive, a general sense of just going through the motions. A ghost without care, there are hints at recognition and some references to anxiety, but it would have been hedging. As he would have likely been flat and numb, maybe a touch of PTSD... Maybe. Hence Nihility.

That flashpoint for change, the loss of limb, and saving that girl which allowed things to trickle back in. Find that will to protect and hope, but what really burned was Margie. Yeah, that was a deep fucking cut. She didn’t make it, so he fulfilled that wish for her. Fskfhgskfhskg What will he become; I wonder.