#i decided to pull for nilou actually

[rubys-domain]

so... it's been a hot minute

[lenaariewrld]

C.24 — c u tonight (w)

ON THE AIR — childe x reader smau

| SYNOPSIS;; Teyvat University’s popular radio personality, Y/n L/n, has only one gripe with her life. Her classmate, neighbour, and all-around nuisance in her life, Tartaglia. Their rivalry extends just past academics and, to her horror, into her work. He becomes the music director and co-host for her radio show, working alongside her most nights and forcing himself even deeper into her life. But is he really trying to just be friends, or is there an ulterior motive to his actions?

| WC: 2.8k

| WARNINGS: slightly suggestive but nothing actually explicit this chapter lolol

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True to his word, as soon as you finish clocking out and step outside of the little hole in the wall restaurant you work at, you spot Childe’s expensive navy car pulling up outside, the engine idling as he waits for you. You grab your bag and an umbrella from your spot under the back station. “Is your boyfriend picking you up today?” A light and cheery voice greets you as one of your coworkers, Nilou, steps up to grab her things. She giggles at the way your head whips around to look at her.

“He’s just my friend,” You explain, sliding on your rain jacket. Of course to add to your already damper mood, the world had to get grey and sad. A trickling rainstorm having rolled in during the last thirty minutes of your shift. “He offered me a ride. You know how it is with this weather,” You and Nilou share a smile as you hook your purse over your shoulder.

“He’s sweet, then,” She bumps your hip with her own and giggles once more, spotting her approaching car of friends a second later. You waved goodbye to her before heading over to Childe’s car, jogging the short distance and yanking the door open quickly. He greets you with a sweet hello and lets you get buckled in before he drives off.

When he parks the car, he comes around to your side and, after adjusting the grocery bags in his backseat more comfortably on his forearms, slides your hand into his. You smile and urge him to tell you about his day.

And so he does.

The two of you walk into the building and you lean against the back wall of the small elevator. All the while he tells you about the annoying topics in his lectures or the assignments his teachers had posted. He tells you about the weird party plans his friends had, and he tells you about the silly tiktoks he’d seen that he thought you’d find funny. He fills the silence well.

The numbers on the elevator go up, stopping on the number designating your floor.

With a tinny ding, the doors slide open. You unwind your fingers from his, digging into your purse for your keys and unlocking your door as soon as you step up to it.

Childe closes the door behind him, kicking his shoes off while you set your things aside on the unpacked cardboard boxes you’ve been using as an entry table for a couple years now. He makes his way into your kitchen, setting down the grocery bags and beginning to put things away.

“I knew you lived on rations as it was, but seriously, you had no flour before this?” He asks, raising a brow at you. You shrug half-heartedly, and he frowns playfully. “Must’ve been a hard shift,” He murmurs. A small huff signifies your amusement as you cross the small space and find more comfortable clothes to change into. It’s peaceful.

The rain patters on the windows, your heater thrumming in the corner to provide enough warmth for your space to be habitable, and Childe hums as he finishes up.

“Now,” He calls your attention and knocks on your counter. “Tell me about your shift, why’d it suck?” The ginger quirks his brow for just a second. You can’t help the fond smile already on your lips as you slide into one of the cheap stools on the other side of the counter, leaning your elbows on it.

You tell him about your day slowly, cheek in hand as you drone on. You tell him how your morning class sucked because your professor woke up in a shitty mood and decided to make it everyone else’s problem. You tell him about the delayed train that almost made you late for work. You tell him about how when you got there, it was already busy and you barely had clocked in before you were sat with two tables. And it seemed like no matter how centered you tried to make yourself, every annoying aspect of the job was multiplied tenfold today.

Normally you could brush off the tables that were rude or annoying, or the creepy old farts who kept making uncomfortable comments and eyeing you down whenever you were serving other tables. And you could move past the attitude from the bartender whenever you rang in long tickets or heavily modified drinks, or just how many tickets you had to beg the kitchen to remake on the fly for you, but today you just couldn’t.

You slumped lower against the counter as you recounted it all. Your eyes boredly watch as Childe glides around your kitchen like he belongs there, cooking and slicing and prepping things while he cleans whatever he was finished using.

“I’m sorry, pretty,” The man coos in that way that makes your stomach do flips, his accent a little heavier when he said the nickname. He plants a kiss on the top of your head as he sets a plate of food in front of you, sitting next to you with his own plate. “This should make up for it a little, hm?” He nudges your knee and grins when you laugh softly.

“It feels like I’m just full of bad luck today,”

“Maybe so, but that means you’ll have even more good luck in the future,” He says with a shrug, as if speaking a fact that you should’ve already realised. You playfully roll your eyes and dig in.

The food is delicious, of course. It’s warm and filling and comforting and it’s just what you needed to set your mind right. It’s amazing, at least to you, how easily Childe could make dishes that melt your tastebuds with virtually the same ingredients you use to cook dishes that are just alright. Maybe you just don’t have the same flair he does.

You lean against him slightly as you eat, the silence comfortable between the two of you. You aren’t sure when it shifted, but something changed with you and with him. You felt completely at ease with him, craving his touch and the skinship he so easily shared with you like an alcoholic craves liquor or like a rich man craves power. It got twisted up inside you, making you soft and easy to laugh with. It caught you completely off guard.

You aren’t sure when the nicknames he used to call you jokingly became genuine, sweet drops of honey he whispered into your ears when it was just the two of you. When it stirred something in your chest to have his hand tangled with yours, his head tucked in the crook of your neck, or his lips slotting so perfectly against yours.

And you aren’t sure when the ‘friendship’ you had with the man became so… casually romantic. Late nights or conversations being had for the sake of it, not for the sake of sex. Back and forth banter shared over cups of coffee. Domestic rides around the city or to classes. Normal friendly interactions made just a little something more, something unknown and unlabelled, by a few exchanged kisses or sweet promises shared with giggles and knowing smiles.

You aren’t sure when it changed, but it did. And it scared you just slightly.

Childe seems to sense you getting lost in thought, squeezing your knee and humming when you squeeze his hand back.

As soon as you finish eating, he whisks the dishes away and the two of you clean up the rest of the mess. He insists on drying the dishes by himself and shoos you out of the kitchen, claiming you had to ‘rest’ and ‘take it easy’. You sigh loudly and animatedly, dropping onto the foot of your bed and turning on your television.

You’re still scrolling through the catalogue when Childe joins you a minute later, crawling onto the bed with you and laying his head in your lap. His arms circle around your waist. “Pick whatever,” He mumbles. With a smile, you pick a movie, setting the remote aside and adjusting yourself to sit comfortably in the middle of your bed, a couple of your pillows angled to support your back. Childe hums, his fingers drawing shapes on your back. “Are you feeling better?” He asked.

“Hmm,” You pretend to take a moment to ponder, tapping your chin. He looks up at you through his lashes and quirks a brow again, making you giggle at his doubtful look. “Look, you already know my answer,” You say. Your fingers drag through the soft curls on his head, and he responds with a satisfied groan.

“I mean it, I want you to feel better,” He whispers, pressing a featherlight kiss to your tummy. The action doesn’t spark fires and electricity in you like the first few. It doesn’t feel like an exciting hidden secret you indulged in. No guilty pleasure.

It felt warm. Comforting. It felt like home should.

“I do,” You whispered, cupping his cheek and making him look up at you. “I don’t even remember why I was upset,” A smile spreads on your lips when he playfully nips at your wrist, a mess of giggles erupting when Childe takes it as a cue to pepper kisses up your arm. He locks your fingers together, pulling you closer as he shifts upwards, laying the both of you down. He’s smiling, grinning like a fool as you writhe on the sheets, kicking your feet and calling out as his kisses and tickling fingers continue their assault on your skin. “T-taru, please!” You squeal as he tickles your side.

He laughs and tilts your chin with his free hand, his tickling abandoned as he leans down to pull you into a dizzying kiss. Saccharine and slow, he purposely kisses you until you’re out of breath. When he pulls away, you both giggle like school kids, chests heaving and cheeks flushed. If he had any doubts before about feeling in a less sorry state, it was gone now as he stared at your shimmering smile.

You were beautiful.

His thumb caresses the curve of your cheekbone thoughtfully, his eyes searching yours. You lean into his touch, your arms loosely draped around his neck. “You okay?”

“I want you to call me my real name,”” He confesses softly. Your brows pinch together, confusion and curiosity dancing in your eyes. You’re lost on what he means.

“Tartaglia?” You ask.

He chuckles and shakes his head. “No,” He kisses the tip of your nose before taking a deep breath. Childe’s thumb draws circles on your cheek, brushing just under your lips, following the line of your jaw, tracing your features like he was trying to draw a mental picture of you in his mind he could never forget. “My name in my mother tongue,” He explains. “When I moved here, my host family suggested that I choose a name in this language to make it easier to converse… to blend in. Tartaglia was what they gave me, and then I chose Childe as a stage name,” He glances down at the sheets, lost in the floral patterns for a moment.

You can see his thoughts churning in his head. “What do you want me to call you, then?” You ask, reaching up to gingerly brush some hair out of his face, tucking a few strands behind his ear. “Your real name,” You add with a cheeky smile.

He reflects his own smile, boyish and sweet and picture perfect. “Ajax,” He tells you in a whisper. You nod and repeat it just as quietly, getting a feel for it on your tongue. He can’t help the way his smile widens and his eyes glisten. It sounds like heaven and bliss on your lips, like all the sweetest candies and sunniest days. It sounds like the name of a true lover, of a man who deserves the way you melt in his arms and gently touch his skin.

It sounds so wonderful, he almost forgets who he is, and all he can imagine is living a life with you as Ajax. A life without any of the worries and shitty, terrible sins he’s carried since he was a kid.

He kisses you breathless again, his hand finding your hips and pulling you flush against his body. He’s purposeful. The both of you forget the movie playing in the background as he trails his kisses down your body, as your clothes crumple on the floor, and as your brain becomes a jumbled mess of euphoria.

He fucks you slow and tender, easing you through it all and whispering praises while he dives between your legs. He’s practiced as you tug on his hair and scream his name, his real name like a praise and a curse all at once. And in the mess of the sheets, when he rejoins you to steal the air from your lungs and bring stars to your vision, his hand finds yours once more, his palm pressed flat against yours. Your pulses beating as one. His head falls against your chest. He’s muttering under his breath, mostly to himself.

In the mess of his ramblings, which your muddled brain is starting to decipher as noticeably not English, you catch one phrase. “Тебя я люблю.” He repeats it over and over in full sentences that all sound different. But you know that phrase repeats.

It makes your heart stir, though you don’t know what he’s saying. There’s a vulnerability, a slight waver to his voice, whining out the words like a plea. A confession to the gods above to forgive him of sins. And his lips whisper it against your skin. His god, his vice, his safety and forgiver.

He continues to switch between English and Russian well into the night, until your bodies collapse and you pull yourself into his arms, curling up in the safety of the warmth of his body. With your energy spent, you let your eyes fall closed for a moment. He allows you both the reprieve, one arm wrapped securely around your waist as his other hand dances along your spine comfortingly. You listen to his breathing, the both of your heartbeats coming down to a steady drum, a rhythm you can both tolerate. Childe purrs your name. “Sweet girl, you did so well,” He whispers on the crown of your head.

“What were you saying..?” You ask after a few seconds of contemplative silence. You were used to him switching languages around you, something he’d gotten more comfortable doing whenever you were together (and after quite a few times catching you drooling at his accent), but you were getting curious about what he would say to you. “When you were speaking Russian, you kept repeating things.”

You look up at him curiously, your brows lifted a little in silent question. You still reminded him of a cat, albeit a sleepy-looking one with the way you were blinking slowly up at him, sprawled over his body. He hums, stroking your spine again. You watch, and you notice the way his teeth bite his bottom lip in thought, the cogs turning in his head.

“I was just.. Telling you how good you were doing.” He says after a second. “It felt better to say it in a language I had grown up with,” he settles on saying. You have a feeling that there was more to it, something he wasn’t sharing, but you don’t care to press. You were too tired, and you doubted he was saying anything bad. You glance towards the tv, an entirely different movie now playing, though you weren’t sure what it was.

The rest of the night is peaceful as you finish the movie. Childe eventually turns off the tv and ushers you into your small bathroom for a shower and refresh. He kisses your shoulder as he cleans your hair and washes your back, and the two of you drink in each other’s presence with only a few words shared.

When you’re both clean, dry, and properly prepared to go to sleep, you shuffle back to your bed.

You flick off the lamp on your bedside and Childe cuddles into your side, your limbs tangling with his easily. You were too tired to try and stay awake much longer. You vaguely remember the man asking you to attend the party his friends were having later that week and you agreed without much argument. “You have to bring me boba to tomorrow’s recording, though,” You tell him.

He laughs heartily and buries his head against your neck, his breath tickling your skin. “Okay, Милаяm whatever you say,” He mumbles, his voice low in the other language. You feel your cheeks flush, though you’re only half awake. That was definitely more sweet than anything else he called you in English, but you can’t place why. Maybe it felt more real? More genuine when he spoke so freely in the tongue that came more naturally to him? Whatever the case, it floats around in your head as you drift off to sleep, seeping into your dreams and flowing through your bloodstream.

———

A/Ns: the fluff, as promised !! (with absolutely no future repercussions or angst in the future that this. could foreshadow 😝😀) aanyway, likes/reblogs/comments are always loved and stored in my brain so feel free to drop any if u want, and i hope y'all look forward to the upcoming arc hehe <33

TAGLIST: @popiizpops @scaradooche @yourfavoritefreakyhan @neversore @monocerosei @dontmindtheevie @kittywagun @yumidepain @kazumiku @hanilessa @nrviine @wren-art

[gold-rhine]

Nahida banner is going to run soon and i wanted to talk about her and her pros and cons if you're deciding to wish for her or not. i have both heavily invested c2 nahida who is top 8% on field builds on akasha and f2p no cons horrible support build nahida, so i can talk about different levels of investment.

her pros:

best dendro application in the game with 100% uptime.

sharing of up to 250 EM to on field character, which is very good buff to spread or aggravate carries.

she has insane AOE, you can tag entire room of enemies from far away and they will be dying passively, just from nahida's dot, which is very nice for single-target teams like hyperbloom or nilou teams that can't have grouping.

her less known pro is that she can have very good personal damage if well built, like alhaitham is called "top 3 dps" and my nahida does more damage than my alhaitham on field. the reason alhaitham is even viable is bc nahida is a tiny radish with short legs and is very clumsy to run, dash and attack.

but if you don't want her to do personal damage, she is perfectly functional with purely support build too, which is very easy and quick to get, and with 3 star weapon.

her cons are really good, and her c2 makes any dendro team insane

her banner will have xingqiu and kuki, and with nahida this is a ready made hyperbloom core that will clear one side of the abyss with minimum investment. or any content, to be clear, like if you dont care about abyss, this is a boss killer team.

overall, universal dendro support who can slot into almost any dendro team and has considerable to great personal damage.

her cons:

her insane dendro application is actually too thick and it will overrun other elements, which is very relevant for aggravate teams. you can't swirl electro thru nahida's E, so if enemy didn't die in one rotation, then on second rotation you're swirling leaf and your electro dps will not get damage buff.

another con is that she tags specific enemies, so if you kill a wave and the next wave appears, she needs to come back on field to tag them again. this is a problem for characters like cyno who do damage in long infusion state, he cannot switch to nahida without losing that infusion. characters like baizhu would be more comfortable for this.

as i already said, short child model is clumsy to use on field

her alternatives:

for kinich she doesn't do anything at all, he can be either solo dendro or work with emily

for dendro teams with furina, baizhu is preferred as a healer who can quickly stack fanfare

for nilou, she's still best in slot and tbh nilou with nahida and nilou without nahida is very much night and day, but even so, nilou has enough other option that she will be okay without nahida, with like, yao yao, baizhu, dendro traveler, kirara, tho AOE will tank significantly.

overall, in other dendro teams like spread, aggravate, hyperbloom, burgeon, you can use options like baizhu, yao yao, dendro traveler, kirara. they will have less application and AOE will drop to almost single target, but it will be functional

TLDR:

is nahida still meta? YES. she's still the most universal dendro support and the BEST, arguably only true consistent off field AOE dendro applicator who is not reliant on burst.

is she must pull? no, if you don't want to. when she just came out and there were almost no dendro characters, she was, but now we have enough options, both premium and 4 star, to slot into dendro teams instead of nahida and be functional.

get nahida if you like her and you want strongest AOE dendro support that you can use in almost any dendro teams, but don't feel pressured.

EDIT: if u want to vertically invest in nahida, get her cons, as i already said, her c2 is insane. do NOT get her weapon, its mid as fuck. for damage build yae's kagura is her best option, or any dmg oriented catalyst like widsith or lost prayer. for support, 4 star EM sac frags is about as good, and even 3 star magic guide will work.

EDIT2:

yes, you can use it as a support weapon, esp in nilou teams it'll be good. it's not bad support option if you happen to get it, its just not worth going for specifically. about nahida cons, i would advise to first trying your teams with c0 nahida bc this is more than enough. if nilou and nahida team doesnt feel like it doing damage, i would first look into rotations and if you have EM on the correct character, bc in bloom its crucial to know who will be the trigger

[viviennevermillion]

Relationship Headcanons

notes: this was supposed to have 6 more characters but I decided to post it now and do the rest later. Third piece of writing today and I feel like I'm running on gasoline for humans.

contains: character x gn!reader, relationship headcanons

characters included: alhaitham, childe

warnings: none

Alhaitham:

Alhaitham is, unintentionally, hard to get and according to Kaveh even harder to want. Nevertheless, Alhaitham actually makes for a very great partner if you have captured his heart. 

To start with, he’s very upfront with you. He sees no point in concealing the way he feels or dragging out the process of confessing to you to unnecessary lengths. Of course, he’s not going to straight up walk up to you and tell you how he feels, but once he notices he has fallen in love with you, when the next opportunity presents itself he asks you out. 

“Would you like to have dinner with me sometime? As a date?”, he gives you that same warm smile he had when he told you he’d see you at the celebratory banquet that Nilou had organized and his tone stays polite but his care still shows just as much. 

Alhaitham wasn’t particularly nervous. He had known you for a while now and he wouldn’t have fallen for you if he had taken you for someone who’d give him reason to be anxious about what was intended to be a nice evening and the start of something good. He’s also rational and has a good sense of self-care; enough to be able to move on fast if you two wouldn’t work out; knowing it’d be the best for him. However, this also makes him unafraid of doing his best to make your first date as enjoyable for you as possible; hoping you’d stay by his side for a long time. Even if you’re nervous, Alhaitham can handle this and makes sure you warm up to the idea of being on a date with him fast and become more comfortable around him. He’s a calm presence, ready to reassure you that he’s considered you a good friend for quite a while now and that he will continue to do so even if your relationship evolves into something else. 

Alhaitham dresses casually but still elegantly for your first date, handing you a rose when you meet him.

For as much as he never cared about sugar-coating the truth, Alhaitham is very observant and has quite a good amount of emotional intelligence; probably more than people usually give him credit for. So he’s quick to pick up on what pace you’d prefer for the development of your relationship; whether you’re fine with a goodnight kiss after the two of you part or whether you’d like to give things more time. He adapts easily to your preferences and boundaries. 

Alhaitham is very honest with you; if he wants to be in a relationship with you; you’ll know at the latest by the end of your first date.

Dates with Alhaitham are usually spent having dinner or a nice picnic in a place he thought you might enjoy. You discuss all kinds of topics from his research as a scholar to your own passions to the future of Sumeru. Being able to hold a thoughtful and in-depth conversation with you for quite a while is one of the things that made him seek out your company over and over again. 

When he feels like the time is right, Alhaitham asks you if you’d like to be his partner. He’s very straightforward and calm, holding your hand and gently caressing your knuckles with his thumb as he waits for your answer. When you tell him that you’d love to, a smile finds its way onto his face and he gently pulls you in for a kiss.

A relationship with Alhaitham starts off with a long discussion about what’s important to you both, your boundaries and plans for the future. He makes sure not to overwhelm you, but before Alhaitham commits to you he wants to make sure the two of you are compatible and that both of you can expect the relationship to be fulfilling for you.

Alhaitham himself doesn’t need a lot of affection or attention, but he enjoys it whenever he’s on the receiving end. He makes sure to give you the affection and love you need, in the ways that work best for you. 

He never leaves for work without giving you a goodbye kiss and he’s happy to pull you into his arms at the end of a stressful day. 

When he sees things he remembers you liked, he often gets you a little gift to see your smile. 

When looking back on your time together, what makes Alhaitham smile the most are those little idle moments that make him feel like you’ve been together for a century. The way he kisses your forehead gently and pats your head when you achieve something you’re proud of. The times you’ve both spent cooking dinner together in his kitchen, helping each other out and talking about your day. Walking the streets of Sumeru; holding hands as you select groceries to buy or look at the products the vendors are selling; picking up lunch at the tavern on the way. How Alhaitham would be there for all your big moments to support you and you would for him in turn; walking home together at the end of the day as the street lights illuminate Alhaithams fond expression when he looks at you and reminisces about how far you had come together. You don’t even notice the way he’s looking at you as your attention is directed towards the stars in the night sky, wondering what else the future holds in store for both of you.

Loving Alhaitham feels like he’s always somewhat unreachable before you get together; and like you’ve been married for 30 years, but you still consider him your best friend, after you’ve started dating. Loving Alhaitham is a series of idle moments; of knowing another person is your home that you can rest at when the sun sets, no matter what the day throws at you.

You know in Alhaitham you have found a partner who will always support you through hard times, albeit in his own way. What he lacks in emotional support he makes up for with solutions and acts of service. When you need comfort, he simply holds you for as long as you need it and then suggests doing something together to take your mind off things. He’d read a book to you or take a walk with you, hoping you’d feel better soon enough. 

Arguments happen very rarely but when they do, they usually get resolved with civil discussion and compromises, as long as you’re ready to talk things out. Alhaitham remains calm on the outside, focusing on sorting things out with you. 

Alhaitham is an aquired taste but he’s easy to love if you can live with his many quirks and find a way to make it work together. It takes a long time for him to fall in love but when he does, he intends to make it last.

Childe:

When Childe falls in love with you, he becomes quite flirty. He always makes sure not to overstep any lines, though. He doesn’t hold back on the compliments either. If he thinks you look beautiful today or he appreciates your passion for something, he’ll tell you.

You might think he’s just like that because the flirty demeanor fits a lot with his typical laid-back personality and the way he often seems carefree but with time you notice that you’re really the only person he flirts with. And that he genuinely seems to like you.

His first time asking you out is when he challenges you into a fight. Considering he’s in love with you, he goes a little easy on you but he won’t just let you win either. He’s like “the loser has to buy the other dinner” so regardless of who wins the fight, you end up in a small tavern with Childe sitting across from you and it’s starting to dawn on you that this was intended to be a date.

“I quite like you, you know?”, he smiles at you, gently linking his fingers with yours once he notices you seem to be enjoying the date so far. He’ll be honest with you about the fact that he likes you, since he prefers to know the answers to his questions right away and doesn’t want to be left second-guessing about whether he has a shot with you.

Dates with Childe are never boring. Of course he keeps the serious harbinger stuff a secret, but he has no problem telling you about a lot of the funnier moments he experienced while being part of the Fatui. He tells you about the harbinger banquets, about his colleague’s quirks, the fights he had...

He knows he lives quite the dangerous life so he’d understand if you wanted to take a step back but he would always make sure to protect you from harm. 

Once you’re officially together, Childe introduces you to his family. He brings you over for dinner and you learn that he’s already told them all about you. You can tell he’s a little awkward about it, since he doesn’t know how the evening is gonna go but his family loves you and you two often play together with his younger siblings. He sometimes likes to playfully tease them, so they’re delighted when you chuck a snowball at your boyfriend instead, taking their side. Childe acts offended, but enjoys how you’re making his younger siblings laugh. He’s willing to take a few snowball hits for that.

But just as happy as spending time with both you and his family makes him, he’s glad once he gets to be alone with you again as well. He’ll ask you about your impressions of his siblings and is relieved when you enjoyed the day just as much as he did. “They can be quite a handful sometimes, but they’re good kids. I suppose I’m not one to talk either....I was probably the worst”, he chuckles and wraps his arms around your waist as you both look into the mirror. “We’re pretty cute together, don’t you think?”, he smiles and presses a kiss to your cheek, “you’re almost as adorable as me.” This results in you chucking a pillow at him and ends in a playful fight followed up with some exhausted kisses. 

What Childe values most about your relationship is the understanding and acceptance he receives from you. That you know what he’s like, know his past and the uglier parts of his work; and still choose to be with him and love him. In turn, he tries to keep you out of the dangerous waters he thrives in and make your life together as normal as possible.

He’d love to fight anyone who causes trouble for you. If you hold him back, he respects that. Though he always tries to impress you with his fighting skills either way. Whenever he gets stronger, he first looks towards your reaction. He adores when you appreciate him for his battle prowess. 

He’d definitely take you ice-fishing. When you agree to go with him, he’s like “wow, that’s going to be great...just the two of us in the cold night...” He makes sure you’re warm throughout the whole thing. Snezhnaya’s snowy landscapes can be brutal if you’re unprepared and Childe wants you to have fun, not freeze to death. He’ll warm you up himself if necessary. He makes a little campfire for you and befitting for the occasion, the two of you grill the fish he caught last time over the fire. “Just you wait, I’m going to catch us a whole sea-dragon this time!”, he boasts as he prepares the fishing rod, “I’ll wrestle that thing if I have to. I’m getting all fired up just thinking about it.” He hears you laugh. “This is a lake. I doubt you’re going to find a sea-dragon in here.” “Let a man dream, would you!” Of course he lets you try to catch something yourself plenty of times and he gets a little bit pouty if you actually catch a bigger fish than him. But you can soothe him with a soft kiss to his lips. 

As much as Childe tends to get in (and out) of trouble frequently and seems quite enthusiastic and motivated most of the time, in contrast he actually prefers for your affection to be more relaxing and gentle. He loves holding you in his arms whenever he has some spare time and he enjoys kisses without hurry or expectations. His favorite are slow and long kisses, just indulging you for a while and being able to relax and melt into your touch. Though he absolutely does not mind to be surprised with a kiss as well. Catch him off guard and it always manages to make him smile.

Overall, Childe readily accepts you into his family and tries to keep you away from the harbinger business. He values the bond you share a lot. He likes to let loose in battle and on missions and enjoys coming home to you at the end of the day and slow down; relaxing while holding you in his arms. 

[kaneaken]

iii. time to get serious with you

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you know very few things about shikanoin heizou. however, what you did know was that he is extremely perceptive. he must have picked up on your 'character study' by now because you're no ninja.

so, if he was like any sane person you knew, he would not like the idea of being stalked and would've brought up his discomfort.

he would've kept his distance from you or maybe even reported you.

so, why? why is he being so friendly?

the past week or so, it's been:

' y/n, allow me to escort you to class! ' (despite his class being in the complete other direction)

or

' y/n, i heard you have rehearsals today, so here's your favorite drink to keep you hydrated! ' (how does he know that?)

or even

' y/n, let's eat lunch together! ' (his friends are literally side eyeing him as he walks over to you from his place at their table)

it confused you thoroughly. you fidget with your script as you try to rationalize heizou's actions.

maybe you should just give in and admit he maybe, just maybe, like you. you groan as you shake your head.

yeah, right, what did you do to get heizou to like you? itto might've said you were a 'catch,' but he was just being friendly.

" maybe you should just ask him "

you turn your head slightly to see nilou smiling at you. you jump slightly before calming yourself.

" geez, nilou, warn me next time you wanna intrude in on my thoughts "

" you look like you were in an internal battle with your feelings, n/n. i heard about what's been going on with heizou and this whole stalking thing "

" it's a character study, " you mumble

" alright, character study, but n/n, it's just better if you confront the problem "

" your solution is? "

" actually talk to him instead of just mumbling whenever he talks to you. you expect to finish your character study like this? c'mon time to finish it! "

you pause. she's right. you know she is, but talking to heizou seems like a challenge. you know next to nothing about him, so your conversation wouldn't last. also, you get nervous at the idea of being alone with him.

" hey, if you're nervous about talking to him alone, we could go to his next game and find him after? i'll be there, so you can just give me a signal if you wanna escape! "

" but- "

" no more buts, n/n. you've gotta settle this or else it'll weigh on your mind forever. if he's not the kinda guy you wanna be with, then just reject him and move on. if he is, then give him a chance "

and that's how you ended up here at heizou's soccer match on a nice saturday.

nilou sits next to you, watching the game and cheering along with the crowd whenever the team scored.

the match eventually came to a close and the spectators filed out of the bleachers.

" c'mon, n/n, let's go find heizou, so you guys can talk, " nilou says, pulling you along as she heads over to the field

" are we even allowed over here? " you ask nervously.

you've heard that one of the hall monitors is part of the soccer team. if he found out you were out here breaking rules, he could report you!

" don't worry about it! a lotta kids come over to congratulate their friends "

nilou beelines over to heizou as you think about what you should say. after congratulating him, what should you say?

you don't have much time to think it over as you are face to face with heizou in less than a second.

" hi, y/n, didn't expect to see you here! it's a nice surprise though "

" yeah, we had a day off from rehearsals, so we decided to come watch, " you tell him, " you guys were really good out there "

you give him a small smile. you notice his eyes slightly widen and his cheeks warm.

" hehe, thanks. me and the team appreciate all the compliments "

nilou nudges you once a silence falls over you two. you slightly turn to her and she whispers into your ear:

" now ask him if he's free next saturday "

" huh, why? "

" our show's opening is then remember? you saw him at his best. he should too "

you hesitate for a second before nilou whispers again,

" you're the main lead in this one and i know you've been working really hard in this role. worst that can happen is you mess up a line and have to improv. or maybe he just doesn't show up "

you turn completely back to heizou

" uh, you wouldn't happen to be busy next saturday, would you? "

" huh, me? no, nope, i've got an open weekend! "

" well, if you don't mind, not that you have to, but do you want to come to our upcoming show? "

" huh? " you see heizou slightly deflate before he smiles

" i'll be there for sure! i'll bring the boys too "

" we'll see you guys there then "

you bid each other goodbye and nilou pats you on the back once you reach her car

" proud of you, n/n! now we just have to give our all at our show! "

" you really thought they was asking you out on a date? " sacaramouche laughs, holding his stomach

" y/n's invitation is at least a step forward, yes? " kazuha says, patting heizou on the back

" at least one of you knows how to support me, " heizou mumbles

" i didn't even say anything? " xiao says, putting heizou's bag in the car

" so, are you buying y/n flowers for after the show? " kazuha asks, " if so, i believe the flowers you bought last time will work well "

" i'll buy 'em for you the day of them. my neighbor needs some more seeds for her garden, so i'm passing by the shop anyways, " scaramouche says, taking his seat in the car

" i knew you cared about me, scara! "

" uh-huh. "

taglist... @duckyyyx

[defnotbee]

█▓▒░𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮?!░▒▓█

School seemed to have no end... It felt like time was repeating! Especially the last lesson... Was it realy 45 minutes? Because it felt more 45 years!!

But the relief and excitment you felt once you heard the bell was purely amazing~ You finally got to go to promised cafe! And the best thing? You weren't paying for it~ not only that, you went with Scara! Which in question, must've been let out of last class faster because the moment you got out of the classroom, you felt someone immidietly grab you by arm, pulling you to side... just to see Scara grinning at you!

S▹"Seems someone freezed~"

Y/N▹"You be glad I stopped hitting people as reflex to getting scared..."

S▹"Oh c'mon now, don't cause a scene. We both had enough emotions for today... I don't need to hear your moody lines on top of everything..."

Y/N▹"Mean. ......... But relatable."

S▹"See? Now can we go or will we talk here about how shitty life is untill our deaths?"

Y/N▹"Tempting option~"

S▹"Oh shut up."

He immidietly turned around and began walking away. If not the fact you catched a glimpse of his smirk, you'd think his upset... but luckily, you know this guy for quite some time now! So you quickly catched up and followed him to cafe.

To your surprise, only beginning of your conversation focused on complaining about society and how messed up everything is... Later, you turned to being a bit nostalgic~ Remembering the first time you met and how Scara got more softer, as you got more courageful and comfortable around him.

Y/N▹"What can I say? I just love adopting grumpy introverts!"

S▹"Heh~ Was that your first thought about me? Or did you just thought of that nickname on spot?"

Y/N▹"Hm... I guess it kinda was my first thought... What about you? What did you thought of me at first?"

S▹"That you were annoying. And maybe a bit cute while doing so..."

Y/N▹"Sorry what?"

S▹"Heh~ Nothing... you'll discover someday."

Y/N▹"Bullying deaf people I see..."

S▹"Did you expected anything else from me~?"

Y/N▹"I dunno... You could be nicer to pretty people~?"

S▹"Hm~ Maybe. Well my apologies, happy?"

Was he serious?! He had agrin on his face but... is it blush on his cheeks?! It's barely visible and easy to miss but... he's definitely blushing right now! Did he actually meant it? It may be just a little word but you learned to look deeper into Scara's nicer words... You were just opening your mouth to ask and tease him about it, but he was a bit faster at taking the conversation further.

S▹"Just joking. Sit still, I'll go pay to be over with it. I don't want anyone interrupting our conversation."

Y/N▹"Take your time I gues..."

You were still overthinking his earlier words as he got up and came up to the counter... Were you going crazy? Or did he seriously drop something important just now?

Oh well... you decided to leave overthinking for random analizing at 3am and distract yourself by bullying your favorite Nilou fp~

You were already curious about how pissed they're gonna be when they'll read your comment~ What can you say? You just liked spreading mischief here and there~

You finally choosed to publish your little comment, and in that same moment you heard something... it was notification...

[gyuscoquetteribbon]

svt headcanons (them as genshin impact players)

-> warnings: none !!

-> a/n: aaaaa I love writing headcanons sm bear wit me pls </3 also i wanted to save up for baizhu but i really wanted layla and i pulled for her and got mona instead im actually devastated i gotta kiss my baizhu goodbye ;-; I've been waiting for him for two years T^T

-> seungcheol:

his team : zhongli, raiden, ganyu, bennett

absolutely loves lumine over aether.

somehow has the best luck ever and almost never loses 50/50????

however, he also has the worst luck when it comes to artifacts and almost never gets good artifacts at all but he kinda deserves it for all the 50/50s he won >:[

would definitely start rage killing hilichurls, abyss mages, samachurls or literally any enemy that decides to come his way after wasting all his resins on artifacts that he does NOT!! WANT!!

never allows the rest of the boys enter his world (ESPECIALLY JEONGHAN) because they always steal ascension materials that he is in need of.

but, he also has the AUDACITY to whine and sulk if the other members don't let him in their world.

all the children in the game (qiqi and maybe even nahida included) are his own children now idc (i may or may not be projecting here).

"I even got you dinner with my o w n money and you have the audacity to reject my co-op request????"

-> jeonghan:

his team : ayato, ayaka, scaramouche, raiden

definitely put raiden and scaramouche in the same team for shits and giggles given the history the two share

he definitely has venti or childe as his avatar picture or whatever idk he just gives off that vibe.

DEFINITELY CHOSE LUMINE AT THE BEGINNING

enters people's worlds under the pretense of collecting easily available things but ends up stealing stuff like onikabutos.

stands in the sidelines when he feels like he's gonna lose his characters in a co-op fight

BIGGEST PAIMON ANTI EVER !! HE HATES EVERYTHING ABOUT HER !!!

would kill timmie's pigeons just because .

"Hey can I just collect cecilia for my venti real quick?" (those are NOT his real intentions)

-> joshua:

his team : ganyu, nilou, yae miko, xinqui

no.1 aether defender !!

LOVES LOVES LOVES HYDRO CHARACTERS FOR SOME REASON. THEYRE ALL SO PRETTY !!!

has such pretty serenitea layouts fr !! absolutely loves the serenitea pot <3333

spends so much time in making things in his serenitea pot that he doesn't even get the time to build his characters.

almost never plays in co-op mode.

knows where you get what wood and where to mine certain items BY HEART

definitely has a thing for the mirror maiden and the pyro fatui agent. he literally goes heart eyes <3___<3 for them.

"Oh sandbearer wood? You'll find it all around liyue !"

-> jun:

his team: ganyu, xiao, yanfei, razor

you can hear him screaming from across the street, even with the door to your house closed and locked everytime he loses 50/50 and gets qiqi

definitely has c6 qiqi by now. he hasn't even got her past level 1 (he's petty)

was definitely stressed when he was asked to choose between aether and lumine (he chose aether in one server and lumine in the other purely because he couldn't choose who he wanted)

cannot pronounce the mondstadt characters names for the life of him like wtf is a fischl 😐

BIGGEST GANYU LUVER <33333 HE WAS SO ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT BUILDING HER !! she's literally the only triple crowned character.

another paimon hater. he doesn't even give her a chance to speak he's clicking past it in the speed of light.

he loves the lore but hates having to read the voicelines like that takes SO. MUCH. EFFORT.

definitely gave scaramouche a goofy name and had a good giggle about it for 3 mins before he realized this name is final and it can't be changed so now he's stuck with a goofy name for his wanderer :///

"NOOOO I DIDN'T MEAN TO NAME HIM SCARAMUCUS !!!"

-> hoshi:

his team : itto (it just makes sense), childe, venti, xinyan

AETHER LUVER™

definitely cried during the inazuma archon quest. (and the inazuma world quest where they had to do that cleansing ritual)

literally gets past all the quest out of pure luck because he does NOT know how to build his characters for the life of him.

wonwoo would ocassionally help him with artifacts but that's about it.

wouldn't even want a certain character and he'd still pull for them because he likes to collect 5 stars 😧

his quest list is endless because he just never completes them.

has a teeny tiny crush on all the sumeru enemies, men and women alike (I'm most definitely projecting here)

"WHY MUST TEPPEI DIE?? *sniffle* I HATE THIS GAME SO MUCH!"

-> wonwoo:

his team : yae miko, al haitham, hu tao, nahida

probably the only one that knows how to build his characters properly.

definitely chose aether.

NOT an f2p player.

he completed the aranara quest in a single day 😰 (it took him 6.5 hours)

completed the spiral abyss 😧

hasn't opened his serenitea pot. like, at all.

he let's out a guttural scream everytime he gets yunjin in place of a 5 star he wanted (definitely projecting here, I'm not sorry

" Let me help you with your quests since I'm done with mine." (To hoshi, of course)

-> woozi:

his team : raiden, heizou, ayaka, nilou

most of his archon quests were completed by wonwoo.

chose aether in a hurry.

doesn't really pull unless he thinks the playstyle of a character suits his taste.

fought a ruin guard ONE (1) time and decided the game isn't worth it.

HATES HATES HATES DRAGONSPINE !!

only does his ascension quest if wonwoo or jun are around so that he could do the first half and they'd take care of the rest.

actually feels sorry for timmie instead of hatred the way most genshin players do :(

Just pure screams of agony because he's been made to fight a rifthound.

-> minghao:

his team : yelan, fischl, kazuha, kokomi

strictly a f2p player because he thinks it's pure insanity to even pay money for a game that he'd get tired of in two years. moreover, humans shouldn't be so greedy and must also face the downs of life (losing 50/50) and not just the ups.

is actually very interested in the lore and has probably read the genshin comic.

biggest lumine defender !!!

diluc >>>>> kaeya for some reason.

strategically builds his characters. he first builds his main team and the other characters he switches now and then, depending on the enemy he's fighting. he, then, builds the healers that are left and then the shield users that are left before getting to the characters that he personally fancies.

has reached friendship level 10 with most of his characters.

another person who actually takes some time out to build the prettiest layouts in his serenitea pot.

"Luck shouldn't be BOUGHT. It should come your way on its own. So, you getting Al Haitham through welkin doesn't really count as a win, but that's just my opinion 🥰"

-> mingyu:

his team : yae miko, al haitham, yelan, bennett

chose lumine as the traveller in one server and aether as the traveller in another server because they're both so precious to him.

has the BIGGEST, FATTEST crush on the mirror maidens and the oceanid (something about the shit-talking gets him going 😧)

he chose his team based on how hot they are, excluding bennett, of course. he chose bennett because that's his son and he's a healer.

accidentally plunges down where the npcs are walking and scares them.

only buys welkin when he REALLY wants a character (basically, if the character is hot)

is actually pretty good at building his characters, but has a horrible luck when pulling for them. and he's almost always getting yunjin like at this point bro has c6 yunjin please hoyoverse stop this madness 😰😰

only buys welkin when he REALLY wants a character (basically, if the character is hot)

has so many people in his friends list. so much so that, he's actually nearing the limit. HE DOESNT EVEN ENTER SOMEONE'S WORLD MORE THAN ONCE HE JUST HAS STRANGERS IN HIS FRIENDS LIST!!

"Oh, I don't know who deez is; they're just. THERE."

-> dokyeom:

his team : yelan, heizou, layla, fischl

LUMINE IS HIS DAUGHTER.

he's so sweet, he let's jeonghan and other people into his world every single time only for them to steal the things he really needs.

uses raiden's skill and then stands in the sidelines with jeonghan. he is NOT GETTING IN THERE AND DYING >:[

everytime he's fighting outside of co-op mode, you can hear him screaming 3 neighbourhoods away.

uses klee's skill to bomb you up when he gets mad at you.

definitely tried to ice bridge his way to inazuma when he was a low ar player and died by a lightning strike. 5 times. On different ocassions.

actually enjoyed the aranara quest because the aranaras are SO cute !!

(To jeonghan) "So...do you wanna bet who'll die first in this domain among those two?"

-> seungkwan:

his team : tighnari, xinyan, fischl, barbara

he's planning on naming his firstborn lumine.

though barbara doesn't cause a lot of damage he's actually content with the way she heals others.

he's the one fighting for his life in domains while dokyeom and jeonghan are standing in the sidelines, placing bets.

he can't even pause the game to text them in-game, so he just yells from his room.

he isn't very good with bow users but he loves tighnari's character. SO MUCH HE JUST CANT NOT PUT HIM ON HIS TEAM :(((

he refuses to switch tightnari out of his team, no matter what!! he WILL be there.

everytime paimon speaks, he gets into a one-sided conversation (argument) with her. OUT LOUD.

"CAN YOU BOTH S T O P PLACING BETS AND COME HELP ME??? YOU KNOW WE CAN GET THIS OVER WITH QUICKER IF YOU'D JUST COME HERE. IS THIS HOW YOU'RE GONNA BE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN APOCALYPSE TOO???!"

-> vernon:

his team : childe, albedo, dendro traveller, kuki

loves aether so much for an unexplainable reason. like he literally built dendro traveller with so much efforts <3

he's there for the lore.

AVOIDS GOING TO THE CHASM AND DRAGONSPINE LIKE THE PLAGUE.

is the only one that helps seungkwan out in domains.

doesn't get on co-op that often unless it's seungkwan.

takes his own sweet time in completing the archon quests insead of rushing head first into them.

if he can't complete a quest, he'd be on youtube IMMEDIATELY. if he fails the first time you are NOT gonna see him do it on his own the second time without a youtube guide.

"Oh...the chasm? You wanna go to the chasm? Ah...give me a sec, I need to use the bathroom real quick." *vernonline has left your world* (legend has it that he is still in the bathroom)

-> dino:

his team : eula, razor, hu tao, diona

always gets smacked left and right by the ruin hunter before he could dodge its attacks.

he loves lumine so much. He even has a lumine plushie.

loves getting on co-op mode with his members please he just enjoys playing with them so much <3333

he makes headcanons about the characters during his free time and gets so excited when someone asks him about it.

he WON'T stop talking about his headcanons.

sometimes he gets bored of the game but then remembers that he needs to get to the end to see how the story plays out.

anybody can join his world because this silly fool did not choose the ask before joining option. and then, he'll freak out when he sees another person in his world.

"OH MY GOD!?@*! WHO ARE YOU??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??? WHAT????"

[captainadwen]

finally hit the scaramouche cutscene in sumeru. it might have been more impactful if i hadn’t seen it before on youtube, thinking it was just another instance of genshin putting relevant character information not in the main storyline, instead of an actual cutscene from the main storyline

....oops?

anyway jokes aside, my favorite parts of sumeru are 100% when the fatui show up. everything else varies from yikes to boring, - even the dream loop got tiresome after a few repetitions, especially since i had worked out it was nilou’s dream (unspoiled!!!) like 3 whole attempts before the traveler did.

nahida and the traveler come off as SUCH hypocrites when discussing dottore’s mind altering. like, oh she’s so indignant and protective of her people, but it’s fine when she and the traveler torment someone for ‘the greater good’? the discussions about racism and dubiousness of this have already been done so im not gonna comment on it more, but i got kinda pissed off

that said, hypasia getting duped by scaramouche as a god was... good? because what’s stopping him from turning himself into a god, really? not much. he wants to be an archon-type god which is something else, but like... i think it would be interesting to see a god-cult form in real time in genshin, bc it would be a nice contrast from the prior themes of “the time of gods is fading” (ignoring inazuma bc i did not play it all and everyone just conveniently deciding they were okay with their archon again was such a boring take)

ngl, a direction i think this would be really interesting to take would be him doing the god-mind-jump-thingy that nahida does as well and then uh, getting stuck in the body of someone else. rip them but i just think it would be interesting to force scaramouche to co-exist with humans again, in a little human body. (nahida too, but ...)

on that note, as nahida becomes an increasingly one-sided character whose personality is uwu baby my interest in her continues to decrease... they could have taken her character in SO many different angles and they chose the most boring one.

ffs, make this a discussion about the power of gods and the legitimacy of them!!! make it about self-forming gods and what that means in a world where, canonically, the gods are just really powerful being who duked out for chess pieces a couple thousand years ago!!! make it about whether nahida should even be considered a god, since she doesn’t have her gnosis and no one really wants her in any way except “we kinda need an archon to be on the world stage so she fits i guess”...

like, i guess it’s already about those things??? but it also isn’t because genshin’s overarching plot was never examining the dichotomy between gods and humans in a world where divinity is sometimes akin to a political figurehead but can also be the result of cult-like devotion, and to be an archon one does not need to be a god but also just because you’re not an archon doesn’t mean you /can’t/ be a god or revered like one, and the era of archons is actively being pushed away by several of the archons themselves...

anyway nahida should have been selfishly keeping up the timeloop for traveler interactions and she should have accidentally killed dunyazard in the process and that could have served as a catalyst to have her examine her position; not “oh no she is so good :c look at how much she cares for her people :c but they do not love her except for these waifus we also want you to pull U.U”

[wolfiafuntime]

Day 1: Coffee Shop

I've been needing some inspo lately, and decided to take my first dive into the selfshipping pool after finding @strawberrybattt's selfshiptember2023 post! Also inspired by my (now expired) 🧋Shakes Shop🧋 event!

Ft. Diluc Ragnvindr (Genshin Impact) X Lovella (self-insert OC) X Azul Ashengrotto (Twisted Wonderland)

Context: As the top three restauranteurs of The Crux Cruiseline, they regularly meet up to discuss business. This particular meeting creates a new opportunity for two-thirds of the party. I ran out of steam and gave up at the end, though, so sorry for the sudden end!

Published: September 1, 2023

Words: 625

Pages: 2

 "Padisarah Pudding? You usually order hot chocolate and a cake lolipop during our meetings, don't you?" Diluc asks Lovella as they join him and Azul at their regular table in Puspa Café. As usual, he had a blueberry croissant and black coffee in front of him, while Azul had his usual chicken and egg sandwhich and espresso.

 "Yeah... But I still have my hot cocoa!" Lovella says, raising the warm cup with their usual cheery smile. Azul has to resist the urge to roll his eyes at their words- an act of fondness or boredom, he no longer knows.

 "We can see that, Lovella." Azul chimes dully, taking a sip from his espresso. "You're usually not one for change, however. What inspired this? Are you starting another profita-- I mean, profound, creative streak?"

 "Nope! I've just given into my crippling purple addiction." Lovella states, voice and expression completely casual, before taking a bite of their breakfast. And as usual, it brings an unnoticed smile to Diluc's lips, and a hidden one to Azul's.

 "Well, at least it's healthier for you." Diluc says, before taking a bite from his croissant.

 "Is it, though? How much healtheir is pudding when compared to chocolate?" Azul asks.

 "You have a good point. Although, padisarah pudding's probably better than chocolate pudding, at the very least."

 "It is-- my neighbor, Nilou, says it's made using flowers, milk, sugar, gelatin and eggs!" Lovella explains.

 "Sounds cheap to make," Azul immediately notes, eyes becoming calculating. "What does it taste like?" Taking another bite, Lovella's expression becomes focused, and their eyes drift off to nowhere.

 "Like a sweeter vanilla ice cream." They eventually state, opening their eyes. "Not too much, though... It actually reminds me more of strawberries- just a day or so before they're about to go bad."

 "So it reminds you of nearly-expired strawberry ice cream?" Diluc asks, lips pulled back in distaste, and his voice riddled with confusion.

 "No, no! Strawberry ice cream, no matter at what point in it's shelf life, is far too sweet and tart when compared with padisarah pudding. Actual strawberries are much tamer, and they become even sweeter, and even less tarty, when they're about to go bad." Lovella explains, taking a sip from their hot cocoa.

 "Hm. A pleasant taste, then. And the flower decor Puspa Café has given it is on the verge of extravagance. I assume the texture is that of regular pudding?" Azul wonders, leaning forward in his seat.

 "Yup!" Lovella confirms, taking yet another bite from their pudding. Only this time, they freeze. And while Diluc notices it, raising an eyebrow at the sudden lack of movement, it goes flying over Azul's now calculating head.

 "With a fancier cup, and topped with the proper edible floral-oceanic decor, this could be the Mostro Lounge's next hottest dish..!" The merman wispers excitedly.

 "Or!!" Lovella gasps, planting their hands on the table and standing up. The action gathers the attention of a trio of demons on the other side of the room, and Diluc tenses for a moment. But he calms when the group resumes their conversation about... Tea, is it? "We could make padisarah ice cream!"

 "Has that not been done, yet?" Azul asks, voice hopeful as he gazes up at them.

 "Let me look it up," Diluc says, pulling out his phone. His fellow managers eagerly wait for what feels like a minute, when in actuality they're waiting for ten seconds. "Nope, it hasn't."

 "We can corner the market!" Lovella exclaims.

 "Corner it? We'll own it!" Azul replies.

 "Can you really own a market when you only have control over one flavor, though?" Diluc asks.

[buryam-soul]

oh god this turned out long. under read more i guess. warning: pretty unstructured.

When I say AU here, i mean 'a shambling mess of ideas', not a proper story. It all started because of cytham week last year, actually. There was a free day so I thought "I love cytham, i love magical girls, let's smush them together"! The thing ended up being one of my favorite drawings ever, it holds a special place in my heart.

While I was working on it, the AU had already began to expand in my head. Based on precure tropes, I thought Nahida would be a good "fairy/mascot turned magical girl" and Wanderer could be a nice classic "enemy turned good". Nahida was going to be in the cytham week piece, but I couldn't settle on a good composition, sadly.

Turned out to be a good thing though because I decided against the initial idea of her being a Ha-chan esque tiny fairy. Now I want her to be an aranara (Aranahida....) who gets a humanoid form mid-season!

Also, having the quartet as a team sort of worked out because I already gave Cyno and Alhaitham a wing/feather motif -- partially because hiropre was on the mind, but I didn't pull it entirely out of my ass. Alhaitham is obvious (eagle/falcon motif in his name, constellation, cape, etc.), but Cyno has the wings on his headdress and the feather in his character demo. The feather is of course an Anubis association (weighing hearts against ma'at, usually depicted as a feather), but the headdress wings are likely a Hermes thing (winged helmet), since Cyno's spirit is explicitly named Hermanubis.

So me picking Nahida and Wanderer to round out the team fits in pretty well! Nahida has her caged bird theming, her whole thing with that Dusk bird during Act 2, and her playing with projections idle. Wanderer aside from being able to fly has that bird in his character demo; Nahida watching over him, or an "inheritance" from Ei and Miko's idles? Either way, he also slots into the wing theme nicely.

It also fits because they're all the Akademiya bigshots gang, at least in canon. I think this AU will age them down into students (because the designs I do have are close to their canon designs, so it'd be good to have some visual distinction between magical and civilian identities). Nahida and Wanderer have more leeway tho as explicit non humans.

Also. Cyno and Alhaitham have a duo attack early on and in true precure fashion it will be giant beam while holding hands. Aranahida will be involved and of course always says "everyone hold hands! :)" at the start.

And eventually, I decided a few other Sumeru characters might be fun to rope in too, though they're all still very very rough ideas. Started with a 5 star = magical girl, 4 star = fairy/support distinction, but I might bend it around.

Dehya - cool senior magical girl who probably intervenes when cytham have their inevitable Fight Episode

Candace - some type of non-mg fighter/support (ala prince kanata or rosemary), works with Dehya

Tighnari - magical boy primarily dealing with purifying the Withering

Collei - Tighnari's serval fairy and apprentice

Kaveh - one of those types of fairies that don't do anything (can't decide if lion or birb....). he's just. there

Nilou - performer magical girl? i should probably watch smth from the idol mg subgenre before i fully know her deal, but basically she can fight but it isn't her focus

Oh wow this one got away from me. I guess before leaving I'll add on one tiny thought I have regarding the core characters in this AU. You could probably see Cyno and Nahida's justice and kindness and mercy fitting the genre; you could see redemption is a reocurring motif and so Wanderer fits in solidly. What about Alhaitham?

Well. Alhaitham's "I'll do this grandiose god-saving operation because I want to keep my job and peaceful life" mentality feels like close cousins with magical girls having mundane concerns (want to hang out with friends, dinner with family, chocolate on sale today) motivating them to fight and save the world; it's probably one reason why I like that aspect of him so much. In a genre that's about balancing the mundane and the magical, he fits right in!

it is insane about own au hours. what if i ramble about sumeru magical girl au...? i keep wanting to draw them but im struggling with the designs....

[yostresswritinggirl]

I think we can all agree that the grand Sages are all beta males (lowly people) who pick and manipulate people just to inflate their nonexistent ego who have no sense whatsoever and are dispicable (sorry if I wrote that wrong) I hate them. They tried actually tried to close the theater down and when that didn’t work they decided that “Oh let’s trap all of Sumeru city into a dream 😴 To eventually help fuel the power scaramouche to help him rule our already tynernnacal ( wrong spelling sorry) land because we don’t want nahida because she’s not like greater lord rukkhadevata she’s not as wise when she is literally just a shrunken version of her” ( bruh) I am sooo angery at them and now that 3.2 is coming I have 30k saved up as of late because I am very far from pity as I am saving for yoymia and nahida. Sorry this is a long one I just needed to rant. Also who will you be pulling for?

I fuckin wheezed at the "beta males" I didn't expect it to start like that ahhahaha

But so true, actually one of the things I'm quite upset about is the fact that EN Alhaitham didn't sound angry on his trailer line against the grand sage. Every other versions sounds angry, come on, that's how you're supposed to be my guy! They'll definitely get what they deserve - that's not even the worse of what they did!! Don't forget the discrimination against the desert folk and the freaking brainwashing!! They're getting jail time and I hope it's permanent!

And you look like you're well set there! I - ugh, I'm pulling for Nahida but Nilou depleted my funds, I'm desperate for primos

[dourpeep]

Hey this is Cryo!

So I got Cyno at like 48 pity. I also got like 5 sayu's ( I only needed 2) and then I got 2 kuki's. No Candace. This is like the time when I pulled for a single Thoma on Hu tao's banner. She came at 47 pity and I didn't get a Thoma at all till later on. Why won't the water spear mom come home??? I will laugh if I get a Cyno constellation before I get a Candace. 4 stars are supposed to be easy to get.

Also in other news. My friend Pyro got Tighnari during the last few mins of his banner and is now saving for Nilou. Have you ever had the bad luck of not getting a four star you want?

CRYOOOO I hope that you're doing well! Congrats on the early Cyno and to Pyro for that last second Tighnari! He's a ton of fun to play and definitely a favorite of mine now mmhm :DD

But haha, no, 4*s are both statistically and actually more difficult to get than a limited 5* because, although they have rate ups, they're not specifically guaranteed to get (and each banner has 3 different rate-up 4*s as well!). So even though you're guaranteed a 4* every 10 rolls, it can be any 4* for every single one-

I think it's like a 33% chance to get any one of the limited 4*s on a banner, so then it'd be more like a 10% chance each time you get a 4* to get a specific 4*. So while you might do a bunch of rolls, there's a ~90% chance every time you get a 4* that it won't be the 4* you want. Ofc, that's not factoring in a lot of other things like if you get a weapon, you're supposed to get one of the limited characters next (I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong-)

But yes--

On the other hand, limited 5* take a certain amount of rolls to guarantee (either 90 or 180) but no matter what, you're guaranteed to get at least one so long as you have enough rolls to reach hard pity twice. Not to mention the likelihood of having to reach hard pity for the theoretical 2 5*s you'd need (if on 50/50) is pretty low since most people tend to get a 5* around the 78~ roll (just past soft pity). Though, at least within my friends and peeps I know getting characters, the average between us seems to actually sit around 50 rolls to get a 5* since iirc, there's a very very small chance to get a 5* at 3 rolls and then again at like 20-something rolls.

So while it seems like a 4* would be easier to get, they're actually not nodnod.

Ahhh I got carried away.

Either, way, I do hope you can get water mom! I haven't finished the archon quest since I decided to finally buckle up and finish the aranara quests (so many OTL)

mmm as for my own experiences? I've had a pretty good run of getting limited 4*, but my 5* luck is absolute trash. I've only ever won once before the whole Albedo debacle and that was all the way back in 1.2 when rolling for Zhongli! I ended up doing a few more 10 rolls just to see what my next 5* would be and he came home again haha. Pretty much everyone else resulted in me either losing 50/50 (Albedo's debut back in 1.2 ueueue) or having to get pity twice for guarantee (lost Albedo, but gained Xiao-, then I didn't roll until Kazuha and I ended up getting Keqing and then Kazuha)

But with 4*s, the only one who's really given me trouble is Heizou-

I only got 1 copy of him with 80 rolls along with a Diluc, though after he was added to the standard pull, I ended up getting another on a limited banner later on...so I have Heizou at c1.

Ahh man, that was so rough though OTL

It's okay, he's worth it (':

But yesyes, long story short, my track for 5*s is trash (with the one exception of Albedo's 1st rerun-), my 4* luck is pretty decent

[gold-rhine]

@lord-of-mystilts i'm not trying to talk ppl out of pulling xilonen, i think she's going to be great and like, having a second kazuha is really good. like if one side of abyss has a lot of enemies you can put kazuha here, and xilonen on the other side for bosses bc bosses dont need grouping.

my point was more that ppl should understand what situation is xilonen great for, which i listed in that post, but shortly - when you dont need to group, in teams where its hard to swirl both elements and\or dps wants to stay on field for a long time, like mualani vape, and if you play furina in these teams a lot, because xilonen enables her as a healer.

if you decide between her and nahida, think about what teams you want to play. if you want strong dendro teams, nahida is the best option, alhaitham teams, generally hyperbloom, nilou teams, aggravate with anyone (keqing, clorinde, raiden, yae), spread with tighnari, etc. there are some dendro characters who might fit a niche better, for example, emilie is a dendro made for burn\burgeon, but nahida is a generalist who can basically cover all your dendro needs. xilonen will not do anything for dendro teams or for anemo dps like xiao or scara.

but if you play a lot of teams that have two elements which are hard to swirl at the same time, again, mualani or hu tao vape, rizzley melt, stuff like that, ESPECIALLY if you play them with furina, then xilonen might be more valuable.

decision to wait and see actual play results is wise, just keep in mind what teams and what situations people are testing her in, and if these teams are relevant for you personally

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Greetings again!

Nilou is amazingly beautiful girl. She has a great design, and judging by the quest, she is a good person as well. Charming. But, unfortunately, shes a lil.. Not to my liking?

What do you think of another new character Cadance? She looks quite interesting.

And the last question, do you have any characters that especially liked by u?

As for whether I'm waiting for someone, I'm ready to confess. From the very beginning of the game (approximately from version 2.7) I set myself the goal of starting to save up primogems for the banner with Xiao, but I didn’t have time, so I waited further.

And then all of a sudden a banner came out. With Kazuha and the new character Heizou and... Well, I couldn't let it pass me by.

After that, I firmly decided that that was it, it was time to pull myself together and firmly started saving up for Albedo, but then a banner with Tighnari appeared ... The most annoying thing is that when I lost all my twists on him, someone said that hes likely to be included in the next standard banner..

After that, I decided that it’s okay, I’ll still have time, and again I returned to where I started. And here comes the sudden news about a possible banner with Albedo, but...

Cyno! Fate plays with us sometimes, as soon as it can. And now I'm afraid that since I've been primogeming(funny word,does it even exist? ) other legendary characters all this time, Albedo is offended by me.

Well, if you do not take 5 star characters into account, then since the beginning of the game I have been trying to knock out Razor and Yan Fei, because I have been maining them on the previous account for a long time. Plus, you know what? Bennett is waiting for his best friend Razor! I just don't dare to separate them forever.

Best regards. 💐

Yeah, that's fine, not everyone has to be a Nilou simp. I mean, there are more than enough characters to pull, so wasting ur primos on someone you don't *really* like is a bit of a waste, no matter how good they are.

I love Candace design, and while I was absolutely conviced her name was a ligma joke,only to realise that it's her offcial name, I still want to pull her some day. Unfortunately she's on Cyno's banner and I have like 50 pity, so I don't want to waste my guaranteed so close to Nilou's banner.

I don't know if you mean gameplay whise or just their personality, but I think I like most of the characters in game, but if I had to pick a favourite, it would be Yoimiya. Sure, I don't simp for her as much as for Eula/Ganyu/Hu Tao, but she was my first 5 star (other than qiqi, but she doesn't count), so I'm pretty used to using her.

Yeah... Hoyoverse is really good at making you pull for their characters, no matter if you didn't plan to. I hightly respect & fear anyone deciding to save for a character that releases in a few months and actually does it.

Anyway, thanks for writing, and have a nice day/night!

[bunny-rambles]

currently replying to you as i die on my bestie's sofa because of too many spaghetti all'amatriciana in my stomach — can't help overdoing every time i cook my favourite pasta sigh ;; but also ahh, how had i missed talking to you

in light of that, today's word you're getting is an extremely italian specific — it's abbiocco, sometimes also known as "abbiocco post-prandiale", it's the world you use when you feel very sleepy after eating a lot. pretty fitting for a country of food lovers eheh

but also! hydro bedo, cryo bedo, pyro bedo, heck, dendro bedo! albedo is good in every shape or form he might come in. seriously, tho, the cryo albedo doppelganger in the 2.3 event?? a m a z i n g i loved it, if characters ever were to unlock new elements for whatever reasons i wouldn't mind seeing elsa!bedo again

CYNO! oh Lord, cyno. as you (don't) know, i also am a huge egyptian mythology nerd. a greek mythology nerd too. just a mythology nerd in general :3 — also the friend whose house i'm crashing is unironically nicknamed after an egyptian god! not spoiling who tho lol

i actually really love all the sumeru men ;;;;; would love to have them all but as you said, scara is coming, and i sure as HELL am not compromising on getting him. would also love to get at least a con of him just because so ;;;;;; might have to skip someone sigh sigh

also ye i know everything about xingqiu and ayato — heck, i have both of them built and i love them but again i'd love to have someone whose hydro application is not burst related sigh ;;

with this i'll sign off, it's musical night tonight! we're making a musical marathon since like, happy hour (made so many snacks for it we'll reach the end of the night stuffed full sigh. oh well, the cheese nachos were great, highly recommended for something that takes like, 30 seconds of effort to make)

good night my sweet bunny, ti voglio bene!

- 🍓

pasta is always good, my friend - no matter what form it takes

now something similar to that word should definitely be added to the english language, that’s so perfect, abbiocco. I’ll definitely be using this one as much as I can.

Dendro Albedo? Now that’s a concept. He actually really suits it because of his interest in life. His skill is literally a flower;;; but it’s sort of fitting it’s not a real flower, with him being artificial n all. A beautiful creation, perhaps even more magnificent than a real flower, but it could never hope to be real. Hm. Maybe Geo really is the perfect element for him.

That’s amazing !! I’ve recently from a friend of mine, if you were kinda nerdy, you would usually have a mythology or history fixation phase while you were growing up - I was sort of both but Egypt always has a special place in my heart. When I first saw him - oh my god I was so happy. I was like YES SOMETHING INSPIRED BY ANUBIS LETS GO !! And Cyno as well from all the leaks I’ve seen about specifically his personality is shaping up to be one of my favourites in the game. (Don’t even get me started on that kit leak, I would’ve preferred to see it in game but still I’m very excited to play him he looks so fun)

I’m so worried I won’t be able to get Scara if Cyno decides to be stubborn and take up all my pulls to get him. Apparently he really isn’t that far away and I’m a f2p so I am;;; in pain. But even if I don’t get him, these characters will all likely get a rerun because of how short the banners will be. Esp Cyno and Nilou - they’re definitely getting a rerun soon. I’m sad about Tighnari though, I don’t think they should’ve announced he’d be on the standard so quickly. And he’s such a good character too. Sigh. I’ll just have to pray that he’ll ruin my pity at some point or come home in a ten pull with the five star.

It sounds like you had a really good night. I’m happy for you - hopefully one day I can experience something similar. Try not to get down about that - I’m happy reading about your friends so don’t stop talking about them. Still can’t help but feel a little envious though <3 just sounds like it’s very nice

I’m so sorry for the wait I’m just horrible with replying. Even my messages from friends are a few days old at this point. I’ll see you soon hopefully

Ti voglio bene, dearest, hopefully you’ll reply again soon <3