#guilding wars with yu

[echowilds]

main posting: outfits

this isn't really an outfit timeline, moreso a bit of rambling & putting my transmogs in a rough estimate

so! up until they were five, hanni lived with their biological parents and their krewe. they wore pretty typical asuran clothing, although focused on durability and often patched. they weren't really enrolled in traditional education and the camp wasn't all that fortified, which left a lot of time and space for exploring the environment and playing in the dirt. few pieces of clothing survived past the first week without a tear or stain.

after their parents' death and getting adopted by their dad, the general cleanliness and condition of their clothes didn't change much (although now with the added stains of motor oil & grease), but they mostly wore whatever was available - which rarely included actual asuran outfits, so far from any major settlement. most of the time the pieces were refitted for them by a neighbor.

they entered college with a fresh new batch of asuran robes, which they eventually switched out for clothes in more human-leaning style, once it became clear that fitting in wasn't going to happen and their peers wouldn't stop being assholes about their human dad.

during their adventuring years they continued the trend of 'just wear whatever's available until it needs to be replaced' - just with more armored clothing. they needed to be replaced very, very often.

adding a readmore for the dash's sake

the war on zhaitan saw them equipped with quality armor (heh)(see screenshot nr.1)(ignore the wings i forgor to turn them off), that got another polish once they became the commander.

the second screenshot is their main outfit and the one they probably wear the most. they picked the coat up fighting the aetherblades. they never specified if they looted the quarters or if it's simply taken off of a corpse. (i don't think anyone particularily wants to know anyway). the original coat has since gotten irreparably damaged, but they've commissioned multiple replacements since.

third one is their Official LookTM for the maguuma campaign. technically it still is their 'professional' outfit for pact pr etc but as you can imagine it doesn't hold the best associations for them.

fourth outfits is vaguely somewhere between HoT and dying in PoF, but also far from their favourite. they aren't entirely sure what they were thinking putting this armor suit together but oh well. at least it works, right? right. (the orange colour scheme is what i like to pass off as foreshadowing)

they pick up the fifth transmog after defeating balthazar, mainly to avoid showing their now orange hair and eyes (before that they had dark brown hair and blue eyes (i took some screens of the tmk preview but i'm too lazy to add them rn. maybe tomorrow)). the wings are schroedinger's canon don't ask me i don't know. they're very pretty tho.

last one is roughly EoD going into SotO. air filtration device was from gyala delve obviously. zojja gave them the coat as a 'souvenir'.

[rosewoodroad]

AU where Scarlet was never a sociopath, is Mai’s girlfriend, joined the Aetherblades on their trip to Cantha and started picking fights with Joon

[fireskarr]

Plot twist: it was a collaboration ;)

[kandismon]

Hooray, hooray, it's Wintersday! With Yao, Joon and Rama coming to visit Divinity's Reach to celebrate with the commander and their friends~ 💚❄

[anarrowthroughtimesideblog]

happy mother's day everyone! to celebrate i decided to draw some of my characters with their own mothers when they were little! (in order: nozomi and onatah, romina and errol and lastly kiryk and his mom, olmakhan stormcaller yara)

[hawkepockets]

discord was talking about which comms approve of joon.

[moth-tea-merchant]

[RE-UPLOADED AS I FORGOT TO TAG CHARACTERS AND COULD NOT EDIT OG POST]

Sooooo doing these isolated line recordings is been pretty fun, so I have a question for ya'll

The lines of the "winning" NPC will be released slowly along side Rama's. But will become more frequent once I am done with Rama's isolated lines!

Reblogs are apricated :D

[anarrowthroughtimesideblog]

I can finally ramble about the only character I created in 2022! Nozomi Yu (she/her) is Onatah’s (my ex-Commander and Aurene’s champion) mother, who adopted her at a really young age. Confident and sassy, she can be best described as a rebellious middle aged woman looking for new experiences and challenges. Her vast thief skills and profound knowledge of mesmer magic allow her to hold her own even against the most experienced fighters. She’s also known to be openly defiant of authorities and has little to no respect for nobles in general. After the events of IBS, tired of her boring and sheltered life in Divinity’s Reach, she begs her daughter to join in her next adventures. Onatah obviously disagrees, hoping to keep her mother out of trouble, but when word got out that the Commander, Onatah and Gorrik were stranded in Cantha, she decides to go against her daughter’s wishes and secretly joins a small group of Crystal Bloom trainees who are collaborating with Magister Ela Makkay at the Power Plant of New Kaineng. During her time in the city she begins to uncover her family true origin as well as opening up to Cantha’s culture and costumes.

Community share post!

It's coming to the end of the year, so let's show off the characters you've made this year! Those that have yet to get their very own Mini Queen Jennah, those just starting on their journey.

Whether you want to post just a picture, or just some blurb, or a 24 page word document detailing their lineage, fashion, and relationships with your other blorbos, go nuts! Share your wonder kids with the community :)

[bovineblogger]

Got an error message when I tried to send this earlier, so just in case it didn't deliver--

Guild Wars 2 has VERY good cows imo. They're everywhere and they come in lots of different colors, and there are a LOT of task regions and events involving them, my favorites being a task region you can complete by doing the right emotes to make a number of upset cows happy (for instance, you /sit with the depressed cow) and the event where you put on a cow disguise and teach them to defend themselves against monsters and pillagers

And that's just the cows!! There are also dolyaks, which are not cows but fill similar roles and have lots of cow charm imo

You can also drop cows on people (and yourself) with a custom finisher and turn yourself into a cow just for fun. I just love how much cow is in this game

GUILD WARS 2

wow!!!! guild wars 2 has a lot of bovine content... if i ever play this game i wuld absolutely beeline for them... but depressed cow makes me :(( it feels kind of silly but i actually get really sad when i see video game cows being sad. i saw a youtube short the other day where someone in RDR2 was running through cows with their horse and i felt bad. anyway at least in this game u can make it better. i love yu.

PERSONAL RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Y'all Hate Teens Tourney Bracket

(Bracket updated through Round 2c)

76 teens who are unfairly treated by the fandom for being teens. Who has it worst?

We tried our best with the matches, but sifting through several unique submissions does get to us... We apologize for any unfavorable matchups.

Please let us know of any name corrections. For Japanese names in particular, we denote long vowels and put given name first.

No guarantees on when the tourney starts, but we'll try to get it started within a week. We'll start by setting up the propaganda posts, which will be separate from the poll posts this time around.

Round 1 and 2 matchups under the cut. Color-coded schedule here; undescribed. Note that the listed order is not the same as the schedule.

Round 1

Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon) vs. Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)

Amy "Panacea" Dallon (Parahumans (Worm/Ward)) vs. Orihime Inoue (Bleach)

Lady Kenna (Reign) vs. Lisa "Tattletale" Wilbourn (Parahumans (Worm/Ward))

Kokichi Ouma (Danganronpa V3) vs. Scott McCall (Teen Wolf (MTV))

Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo) vs. Sophie Foster (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Breezepaw (Warrior Cats) vs. Winter (Wings of Fire)

Gamzee Makara (Homestuck) vs. Yanqing (Honkai Star Rail)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck) vs. Haru (Beastars)

Dirk Strider (Homestuck) vs. Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Wednesday Addams (Wednesday (Netflix)) vs. Sylvester Ashling (Epithet Erased)

Yukine (Noragami) vs. Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Yukio Okumura (Blue Exorcist) vs. Soyo Nagasaki (Bang Dream! Girls Band Party!)

Round 2

Dawn Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs *1

Marcy Wu (Amphibia) vs. Fatespeaker (Wings of Fire)

Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones) vs. Charlotte Pudding (One Piece)

Olly (Game of Thrones) vs. Penny Carson (Bojack Horseman)

Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. *2

Mai (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Peril (Wings of Fire)

Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. *3

Steven Universe (Steven Universe) vs. Gohan (Dragon Ball Z)

Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. *4

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Sakura Haruno (Naruto)

Muu Kusunoki (MILGRAM) vs. Misa Amane (Death Note)

Chloé Bourgeois (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb)

April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)) vs. *5

Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man : Into the Spider-verse) vs. Dovepaw (Warrior Cats)

Damian Wayne (DC) vs. *6

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto) vs. Kyuusaku Yumeno (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. *7

Shuuji Kayama (Digimon) vs. Gon Freecs (Hunter x Hunter)

Asuka Langley Sohryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Youko Nakajima (The Twelve Kingdoms)

Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Uzi Doorman (Murder Drones)

Akito Shinonome (Project Sekai) vs. *8

Ena Shinonome (Project Sekai) vs. Mafuyu Asahina (Project Sekai)

Katsuki Bakugou (My Hero Academia) vs. *9

Yuuma Tsukumo (Yu-Gi-Oh) vs. Megumi Fushiguro (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation) vs. *10

Ezra Bridger (Star Wars: Rebels) vs. Theresa "Scary" Marlowe (Dungeons and Daddies)

Hope Estheim (Final Fantasy XIII) vs. Tohru Honda (Fruit Basket)

Severa (Fire Emblem) vs. Taimi (Guild Wars 2)

Yukari Takeba (Persona 3) vs. *11

Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4) vs. Kotone Shiomi (Persona 3 Portable)

Goro Akechi (Persona 5) vs. *12

Yuuki Mishima (Persona 5) vs. Makoto Niijima (Persona 5)

Phew, that was a lot.

[gluttonygirls]

>5 subs and 14 battle passes to pay for

That just seems like a special brand of degeneracy and it is so hot all by itself-

Everything she does is centered around games, and little else.

As long as she has world of warcraft, guild wars 2, final fantasy 14, fortnite, guilty gear, hearthstone, magic the gathering, yu-gi-oh, and 15 pounds of snacks, she can be happy-

[echowilds]

got bored with sorting through screenshots, have two hanni derps

[antelopunny]

no one tagged me i simply enjoy talking about myself in the absence of actually writing

5 Songs

(opens spotify wrapped)

Slow Bloom - The Home Team

Dancing Demons - Space Weather

Gunners in the Rain - Mili

萬千花蕊慈母悲哀 - 珂拉琪

The Mad Stone - Everything Everything

Questions

1. Three ships you like:

about to self-report on my taste so hard rn

Idira Tlass / Jae Heydari (Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader) - OKAY LOOK. I know people are here because I write that Yrliet fic but listen up. At first I thought of them as perfect besties, which is ALSO a great flavour, but then I began rotating Idira in my mind on full blast like a 900W microwave and I went CRAZY. Like, just, okay, let me try to summarize my thoughts... so Idira, she's brash, she's loud-mouthed, she's talented as FUCK and despite being an unsanctioned psyker has beaten all the millions of odds stacked against her, but pretty soon after meeting her, you can brush past her tough facade and realise she's just aching for someone she can Be Real with. You go deeper and you realise she was raised to be a weapon for warlords to use but then one day a knight in shining armour named Theodora von Valancius busted her out, swept her off her feet and spirited her away into the stars. She wants that back, in the end: someone she can lean on, hug her when shit is rough, stay with her until the inevitability of her gruelling end at the hands of the warp. AND THEN ENTER JAE HEYDARI, a supposed 'princess' of a faraway kingdom who seemingly wants a handsome (and very rich) prince to save her, but pretty quickly you can see past the act and know that Jae is a total freebird who knows that the only person she can count on is herself. But even so, she's fiercely loyal and would happily march into a cold death if that meant saving those she cared for (as many unfortunately found out because of Jae's Act 4 quest bugging). So it's Idira, the 'witch-diviner of fates' with seemingly unbreakable will, a valiant 'dark knight'-type figure holding back horrors unseen all while quietly yearning to be saved, + Jae, the 'runaway princess of Efreet' with unyielding charm and luxurious airs, a beautiful 'blooming rose waiting to be plucked'-type of girl that under the surface is chasing after her destiny all on her own two feet, because who the hell needs a Prince Charming when your name is Jae fucking Heydari? LISTEN. LISTEN OKAY THE ROLE REVERSAL. THE UNEXPECTED INTERTWINING OF THEIR FATES IN OPPOSITE SIDES OF A DANCE. GUYS DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYI

Trahearne / Pact Commander (Guild Wars 2) - Most people haven't played GW2 at all. But a lot of people have played FFXIV. So imagine a Haurchefant-type figure that, if you choose to start as a Sylvari, has been with you having your back the whole tile, sets up the whole We Gonna Save The World organization and trusts in you to be one of his top commanders, takes the lead but in truth is always looking upon you to be his sunlight and shining spear, you are the only one that sees through the brave face he has put up this whole time for the sake of fighting the good fight, you are the one he trusts with who he is, and then the first expansion of the game comes out and he FUCKIGNGEWOI HOGESWHIIO EGIJJiaewhioewh JHAHAhsahifEGHIWHW EIEWGi NOOoOoOO anyway you should play critically acclaimed MMO Guild Wars 2 it's got a free trial all the way up to the first expansion Heart of Thorns, is a 'buy once play forever' type of MMO so you don't have to pay a sub, and is constantly updating with new story PLEASE PLAY IT WITH ME PLEASE

Zheng Chenggong / Zhou Yu (Fate/Samurai Remnant) - Yes, that Ming loyalist guy who exorcised the Dutch from Taiwan + that Romance of the Three Kingdoms twink who dabbed on Cao Cao. I have no excuse for this one. They got that twin souls separated over 1300 years shit with a heavy heaping of 'time is a flat circle and nothing we ever do will matter in the end' on top of it. Zheng Chenggong is also, uh... it gets worse the more I talk about it so I'll just stop here. If you know you know.

2. First ship ever: ...probably N Harmonia / the Pokemon B/W player character. What was it? FerrisWheelShipping??????? I was like 12 years old okay you gotta leave me alone

3. Last song you heard: Persephone in the Garden - Aidoneus. I've had it on loop while writing. It, uh... it's a mood.

4. Favorite Childhood Book: My dad made me read The Little Prince when I was a kid and I regarded it with the blind childlike wonder an idiot 7 year old would, without understanding all the underlying whispers of tragedy. I reread it along with footnotes detailing the author's shit life and the backdrop of the Vichy Regime and I was like. What the fuck father why did you give this to me

5. Currently Reading: The Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Again. Yukio Mishima's ghost constantly possesses me and forces me to reread his 800 page long suicide note

6. Currently Watching: DUNGEON MESHI! OooOooH DUNGEON MESHI (narrator voice)

7. Currently Craving: Sleep. Good fucking night

simply do this if you wish, tag games are simply a tumblr dot com psy-op to make you anxious about bothering people

[queer-starwars-bracket]

Queer Star Wars Characters (Round 1): General Bracket Match 3

Ariole Yu | Identity: mlm | Media: Doctor Aphra comics

Ariole Yu was a lieutenant in the Canto Bight based crime syndicate the Sixth Kin, who had adopted him. When he was younger, he had a romantic relationship with another member of the Sixth Kin- Just Lucky. Lucky later left the Sixth Kin and their relationship, as long as he could keep paying for the debts of his brother. They were forced back together when ordered to kill their mentor, Galin Crae, who had defected to the new Crimson Dawn. 

To assassinate Crae, the two of them traveled to the Vermillion under the cover of the auction for Han Solo (currently frozen in carbonite). They fought Crae, refusing his offer to join Crimson Dawn. After they lost, they were thrown in the brig where they joined Aphra and Sana Starros is escaping. However, Aphra eventually stranded the two. Qi’ra gave her pitch for Crimson Dawn and then let them leave. Back on Canto Bight, the Sixth Kin attempted to bait them into killing each other. They saw through this and decided to take a job from Ronen Tagge to steal the Spark Eternal.

To do this job, they confronted a Spark Eternal possessed Aphra on the Vermillion. But seeing what they were up against, they decided to hit the bricks. As they fled, they ran into Sana Starros’ “Save Aphra” crew, running to confront/save Aphra. Just Lucky ended up convincing Ronen to save Sana’s team after they were defeated and their ship destroyed. Sana convinced Ronen that his only choice was to kill Domina, and that her team would join him to repay their “debt”. They joined Ronen in his Crimson Dawn supported coup for the Tagge Corporation, which turned out to be a trap Domina and Sana set to lure Ronen and his supporters into the open. Sana arranged for all of their debts to the Tagge Corporation to be forgiven, so Ariole and Just Lucky joined her in attempting to save Aphra.

Leox Gyasi | Identity: aro/ace | Media: The High Republic Phase I

Leox Gyasi was the pilot/captain of the ship the Vessel, who ended up entangled in the discovery of the Drengir on the Amaxine station, a diplomatic mission with the Hutts, and the fall of Starlight Beacon, becoming a trusted ally of the Jedi. He was created to be an extreme subversion of the archetypical Han Solo-inspired scoundrel archetype. He’s a space hippie and what you’d get if Yoda wasn’t a Jedi and smoked spice instead.  He crews the Vessel with his found family consisting of the living rock Geode (who does fuck) and the young Affie Hallow- who became the captain of the Vessel after the dissolution of the Bryne Guild. He’s a fun guy with an appearance inspired by 90s Mathew McConaughey.

[yuhengmain]

clear skies over liyue harbor

Present Day

Ganyu opened her eyes to the soft, 7 am daylight peering through her parted curtains. It was dim and ugly, as the sun was filtered through dreadfully dark clouds. Still feeling quite tired, she drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily. She turned her head towards her nightstand, on which sat a digital clock. The top left corner of the screen readSeptember 28th.

She groaned and rolled out of bed, then standing to stretch her shoulders, which had been sore for longer than she could remember.

After getting dressed and hiding her horns with a comically-large hat, she left her apartment for her "office job". It had started to rain outside, but it was nothing an umbrella couldn't fix.

Years ago, when Rex Lapis had perished in the eyes of the public, generations slowly, but surely, lost faith in the Adepti and their abilities to keep the nation of Liyue safe. Similarly, the Qixing also lost power. Without their Archon's infinite wisdom and guidance, they fell into disarray. In the absence of leadership, the Feiyun Commerce Guild stepped in to govern, and they had done quite a good job. The former town of Liyue Harbor was now a massive metropolitan city with skyscrapers and magnificent infrastructure.

With change, comes growth, one might say, but such changes do not always mean the best for everyone.

The idea of an Adeptus was now a myth, which few people believed in. Should anyone see her horns, Ganyu would surely become a spectacle to be kept and presented for all of Teyvat's entertainment.

To keep them safe, Zhongli founded a small consulting company for them to work in. All of the human-like Adepti worked here, with the exception of Madame Ping, who was happily travelling the world as the old woman she appeared to be.

"Good morning, everyone." Ganyu said softly, walking in through the entranceway of their unit. With the door closed securely behind her, she removed her hat, placing it on a hook near the door. 

In the far corner of the room, beside her desk, sat Xiao. The Yaksha could have lived a regular life with a more plain job, as he didn't have strange ears or horns, but he had (for some unknown reason), chosen to stick with them. 

He looked up in acknowledgement but didn't say much.

"Good morning, Ganyu!" Yanfei's bright voice chimed in from one of the side offices. She poked her head out and waved. "How was the commute?"

Ganyu couldn't help but laugh over the mundane question, comparing it to the Archon War from centuries ago. "It was good, thanks Yanfei."

Yanfei disappeared into her office and Ganyu settled into her workstation. She functioned as their company's secretary and accountant, keeping a schedule of their appointments and tracking their finances. On her desk, she found a small bouquet of Qingxin flowers. 

"What's this?"

Xiao said shortly, "They're for you."

"Oh, thanks." She smiled at him, a bit of sadness clouding her eyes.

"Zhongli wanted to talk to you." Xiao mumbled back. He was writing something in a notebook of sorts; he didn't look up as he spoke.

Ganyu stood back up and walked over, not bothering to ask Xiao for more detail. She tapped lightly on the door and swallowed. She already knew what he was going to ask her; she had been avoiding the thought and wanted to continue ignoring the heavy feeling of grief in the pit of her stomach. She rolled her shoulders back to stand up straighter but was only reminded of the ache from the morning.

"Come in, 'Yu."

She pushed the door open, but didn't step in. She said, firmly, "You don't have to worry about me. Today's just another day and I'm perfectly capable of-"

As the two locked eyes, she paused and relaxed, realizing that his expression was not marked by his usual charisma. Zhongli's amber eyes were lit with pain and heartache. He quickly looked down, directing his eyes towards the many papers on his desk.

"Can you organize these files for me in your free time?" He stuck a folder out over the desk but didn't look up. Ganyu rushed forward to take it from his hand and clutched it against her chest. She opened the folder to see it was nothing more than ordinary case files from typical clients. On a typical day, this would be an easy task for Zhongli. He cleared his throat, "Thank you."

In his thousands of years, he had met millions of wonderful people. He was cautious to become too attached, for he always knew that he would eventually outlive them. Everyone in the office shared this same curse. Having gone through it so many times, one might believe that they would become accustomed to it, but the agony of watching friends come and go far exceeds any other torment they have ever had to experience. The grief consumes you and hides evilly in your throat, stealing your breath and your energy until you're left as dead as the one you've lost.

Generally speaking, they were capable of maintaining a strong and resilient disposition, but there would occasionally be reminders of those they had lost. Today was one of them, and you could see clearly how the painful memories had been chiseled in Zhongli's heart through his solemn expression.

September 28th, years ago, was the birthday of a close friend for them all: Keqing, a former member of the Liyue Qixing. She had worked alongside Xiao, Ganyu, and Zhongli, together with another mortal ally, Ningguang. 

They remembered her fondly for her tenacity and ambition. Ganyu, however, remembered her for more.

Long Ago

Rain poured down.

Ganyu waited patiently in Liyue Harbor's garden and courtyard, sitting under the protection of the gazebo, off towards the side. She looked over the lotus flowers in the water as local townspeople ran through, holding umbrellas or bags over their heads. Beside her on the gazebo bench was a small, blue gift box. 

"I'm here!"

She heard the familiar voice of her colleague and dear friend, Keqing, as she ran towards her. She was holding something, out of sight.

Ganyu stood up.

Keqing looked rather disheveled, with her lavender hair out of their usual pigtails and her cheeks flushed a rather bright pink. Her bangs were plastered to her forehead.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Keqing stopped to catch her breath.

There was a slight awkward pause. For years, the two had been extremely close, though recently, there was a sort of tension in the air around them which neither of them could decipher. Rather than discuss it, they both seemed to ignore it as their friendly, after-work hangouts began to edge on becoming loving, intimate dates.

Ganyu fidgeted for a moment before breaking the silence with an alarming shout, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She thrust out the gift box. 

Keqing was alarmed, as Ganyu was a very soft-spoken person. The pink in her cheeks became a bright red as she nodded in acknowledgement. "Th-thanks!" Keqing accepted the gift with her empty hand before adding, "I also got you something."

"Isn't ityourbirthday?"

"I know, but... since I've lived another year, I thought I would recognize the people in my life who bring me joy and who have made living a bit sweeter. I couldn't think of anyone other than you." From behind her back, she produced a (messily organized) bouquet of Qingxin and Glaze Lilies. 

"O-oh, wow! Thank you!"

Keqing continued to ramble a bit, in a desperate attempt to talk away her self-consciousness. "I was originally only going to get Qingxin flowers, and I ordered them from the flower shop, but when I picked up the bouquet, it looked so empty..." She began to mess with the ribbon on the box. "So, when I got here early, I came up with the idea to get Glaze Lilies too, but I had to run around to get them, so that's why I was late." She hadn't been, but she was so used to being early that punctuality meant five minutes before.

"I really love them." Ganyu's aloof expression became aglow with a tender sort of bliss. "You should open your gift!"

Keqing did, her gloved hands fumbling a bit with the lid of the gift box. Inside was a beautiful hairpin, with a lovely flower and purple accents.

"I know you recently lost your hairpin while travelling, so I thought you might like a new one!" Ganyu explained. 

She rushed to pin it in her hair, but struggled to pin it properly. Ganyu quietly laughed at Keqing's vexation with her hair and placed the bouquet of flowers on the bench. She stepped closer, "Allow me," and began to help Keqing pin back her chaotic bangs. After the pin was in place, Keqing thanked her "partner" and sat down on the bench.

Ganyu sat beside her.

They watched the sky clear up. It was starting to become dark; the sky was a beautiful ombre of pink, purple, and blue as the final sliver of the sun behind the mountains and the sea in the far distance. Gray storm clouds seemed to be sprinkled around, though you could tell they were beginning to dissipate.

"I'm not sure I have the words to express to say it."

"Say what?" Ganyu turned her head toward Keqing, whose eyes were fixed on the water.

"How... how much you mean to me." Her blush covertly blended in with the orange, sunset glow from the sky.

Ganyu, clueless as ever, didn't know how to respond and rather, asked, "Did you still want to go to Wanmin for dinner? Aren't you hungry?"

"We can go later." Keqing placed her head on Ganyu's shoulder and touched her hand on the bench. "I like how we are now, so let's just stay like this?"

Ganyu didn't realize that Keqing was referring to more than just how they were sitting and answered with a short, "Okay," before leaning her own head against Keqing and closing her eyes.

And they stayed that way, forever.

Present Day

Recalling the fond memory, Ganyu stood for a moment in the office doorway. Zhongli sat, remembering Ningguang and Hu Tao, who were both alive at the same time as Keqing.

"I... it hurts." Ganyu's earlier strength slipped away and her eyes fell to the frayed carpet on the ground.

"I know." Zhongli's voice cracked, but he was beginning to regain composure.

Her vision was drowned in tears, which fell one-by-one onto the folder in her arms. 

Hundreds of years of "moving on" fell powerless against the undying love she could never erase. She resented the memory for what it reminded her of; that she had always been so  clueless and that she was never sure enough of herself to confess.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, which made her flinch from surprise.

Xiao stood beside her. He took the folder from her hands. "Maybe you should stay home for today. I'll cover for you."

Ganyu nodded in thanks and sighed with relief before ducking out of the room. She overhead Xiao ask Zhongli, "Will she be okay?" On days like today, she was grateful to have a friend like him to spend eternity with, even if he was a bit cold.

She left the office in a rush, not even saying bye to Yanfei. On the way home, she took a longer route to pass by the former Liyue gardens, now known as the Liyue Botanical Pond Center. She didn't want to pay the entry fee, so she instead stood from a distance, hiding puffy eyes from passersby with her umbrella. 

After arriving home, she changed out of her office clothes and tucked herself back into bed, though it was still morning. 

The rain persisted until the late afternoon. By dusk (when Ganyu arose from her bed), the clouds had dissipated to reveal a lavender sky.

[hawkepockets]

@antariies & i replayed joon’s manor today bc @dalennaugw told us we missed the kitchen