#if thats how FURINA started going

[monards]

i know hoyo is setting up rhine to have good intent and whatever in her trying to 'save' khaneri'ah or whatever; but i REALLY hope they stay with the cruel persona thats been built up for her. because it would be so wonderful to see a character who had good intent in the beginning just get absolutely corrupted; with the inability to ever go back to that prior state purely because of what had happened. also because there is NO way in her turning back after all that shit

[lovesickeros]

☆ de fontaine

{☆} characters furina {☆} notes cult au, imposter au, drabble, gender neutral reader {☆} warnings angst, suicidal thoughts, hurt / no comfort {☆} word count 1.4k

This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair!

She thought, for one moment, she could put the mask down and breathe – for one moment of daydreaming, she thought she could just be Furina. She thought she would finally get to live the live she should've had in the first place, the life she threw away to play God to an audience who saw her as nothing but a circus animal, dancing to their whims. Furina just wanted to be selfish for one brief and fleeting moment..and it was gone before she could even grasp it in her hand. A comet soaring past far out of her reach.

She can barely keep her hands from violently shaking as she looks down at them – broken and bloody and more a corpse then a person – and she feels so numb she can't even feel the rain pelting against her back. None of this is fair, she wants to scream, why is it always me? But her voice is silent beneath the torrent of rain. She wonders if the ocean would take her if she sank into it's depths – just for a moment, she wonders how it would feel to finally be able to sleep at ease.

Furina is tired.

But Furina is nothing if not useful, isn't she?

So she forces her feet to move, dragging against the stone beneath her heels, and drags their bloodied body into the nearest empty building, letting the rain do the work of washing away the smeared blood following her path. The smell makes her feel sick, the feeling of it sticking to her hands and gloves makes her lightheaded, but she persists. Because Furina is useful, because Furina won't let them die out in the rain, because Furina won't stand by and just let them rot on the streets like some..pest.

Furina wants to go home. She wants to sleep and she isn't she if she wants to wake up, this time. But she keeps going anyway.

Because it's all she's ever done, and the habit sticks.

An Archon she may not be, not anymore, but the expectations of five hundred years still linger like eyes on the inside of her skull. They watch her, pry and prod at her thoughts, mocking laughter and judging eyes following her as she forces herself to dance to the song they weave with glee. Furina never stepped off that stage – she's still there, she thinks, watching the crowd stare at her in disdain as the curtain call looms above her like a guillotine. She still hears Neuvillette deliver her damnation and salvation with a trembling voice, still feels her hair stand on end when electro crackled like the crack of the whip, Clorinde's blade aimed at her like a loaded gun.

She's trapped on that stage and she never left, not really.

She hates it. She thinks she hates them, but it's not their fault. They didn't ask for this, didn't ask for everyone to turn against them, didn't ask for her to save them. Neither did she..yet here they are, she thinks.

She tries to tell herself she's in control this time, though. She can stop performing her part in this horrible, bloody play any time she wants. It makes her feel better, just for a little while, if she convinces herself she's still Furina, painfully human.

And Furina has always been good at lying.

It's the believing that's the hard part.

There isn't time for her to wallow in her own self pity, though. They're still bleeding out onto the dusty, creaky floorboards of some random, broken down house and she's just standing there as the blood stains the wood. She can fix it – she's good at fixing things. She's done nothing but fix things – try to, anyway – for five hundred years. She can fix a little wound, how hard could it be? Her hands are clenched so tight they ache as she kneels down, wincing at the creak of the floorboards beneath her heels– she hesitates just long enough to wonder if she's making a mistake before she peels away just enough of the outer layer of their clothes to see the deep, bloody gash across their chest. She tries not to think about it – it's deep, too deep, and she feels dizzy just looking at it, but she's handled worse, right?

Furina can fix it. That's what she's good at.

She doesn't feel so confident when she tries to wrack her brain for..something. Five hundred years, and a little wound stumps her? No, she had to have learned something, right? She's decidedly not trying to buy time because she's panicking, parsing through hundreds of years of memories like flipping through a book. Furina isn't made for this, not really – she's running on nothing but adrenaline and she's really not sure what she's doing, but she's trying. And just like before, it won't be enough, will it?

She'll fall short again – she'll be too late to fix it before she's alone again.

Furina was an Archon..used to be. What use would she have for that sort of knowledge? Which makes her predicament all the more harrowing and bleak. What was she supposed to do?

Furina had heard it first hand, that vitriol in Neuvillette's voice. She isn't sure she's ever heard him that..angry before. She's not sure he would listen to her if she tried, either. And that scares her more then anything. All of Fontaine was up in arms about this..imposter, yet here she was, staring down at them bleeding out in front of her, and she was trying to save them.

Why? Why is she throwing away her only chance at normalcy for a fraud? Why didn't she just turn them in?

They were dying – that should've been a good thing, shouldn't it? So why didn't it feel like it?

"Why you?" Her voice breaks as she speaks in harsh tones, grabbing the front of their shirt in trembling, bloodied hands. "Why now?" She wants to scream, to demand answers they can't give, to claw back the reprieve she was promised after five hundred years of agony..and all she can do is sob into their chest, pleading for an answer that will not come. "Why me?"

Silence is their answer, and it hangs heavy on her trembling shoulders as she cries.

Of course they don't, she thinks bitterly, no one has ever answered her pleas spoken in hushed sobs. Not her other self and certainly not them.

Furina has always been alone. Furina will always be alone.

Because Furina never left that stage, never left that moment when she looked at herself in the mirror and took up a mantle too heavy for her to bear. She always finds her way back eventually. There's no one on the other side anymore – she stands alone on a stage, waiting for an inevitable end she isn't sure will come.

"Please," She pleads through tears and choked sobs, clinging to them like they are all that keeps her from sinking. "Please don't leave me, too." The words burn on her tongue – how pathetic is she that she craves companionship from the bloodied body of the imposter? Perhaps she's truly lost her mind after all these years..perhaps she's finally gone mad. She must have.

But their presence is like the first feeling of gentle warmth upon her skin as the sun crests the horizon, like the gentle lap of tides along her heels, the sway of branches and leaves as the wind blows through them like an instrument all it's own. They are the soothing sound of rain against the window as she watches the dreary skies in fond longing, the first bloom of spring as color blooms upon the landscape like paint had been spilled across the hills and valleys.

They are like the faint spark she carefully nurtures and stokes, so fragile even the smallest wind could blow it out like a candle. She cradles it within her palms, pleads with whoever will listen – prays that someone finally listens, because if not for her, then for them.

She's failed to protect too much already, let too many people with so much trust in her fall between the cracks of her fingers like grains of sand. She won't let them go – she can't.

If nothing else, if she couldn't be saved when she begged for salvation from that five hundred year long agony, even if she never got that chance..

Furina will make sure they do.

[hoyotournament]

Semifinals: Collei vs Furina

(Propaganda under the cut)

Collei:

MY DEADALIVEGIRL!!!!!!!!!! i genuinely don't even know where to start. collei is such a beautiful beautiful character who's entire story revolves around a girl who's been dehumanized and exploited for her entire life, healing through compassion and a recognition of her own humanity. first of all, when we meet collei in the genshin manhua, she is full of vitriolic anger and hate at both the world and herself. she's been dehumanized over and over and over again and because its a repetitive experience, she fully believes that her lack of worth is something innately true. this only changes when someone (amber) shows her unrelenting compassion and trust. amber goes against everything that collei believed about herself. amber tells her that she is not only capable of good, but she is good. amber reinforces this novel idea that collei deserves goodness. and that realization is the moment that collei begins recognizing her own humanity, and thus, recognizing her own potential to grow, heal, and be the good person that amber knows she is. every moment thus forth is a demonstration of her attempts to grow and be kind!!!! she decides to go through with cyno's sealing ritual even with its conditions! she asks lisa to help her write a letter at the end of the manhua! she mends amber's tattered clothes like she promised! she decides to go to sumeru, a land of wisdom! it's so pertinent to her character that she gains her vision (representative of her ambition) during a show of compassion (protecting a child during a dangerous storm)! it's even in her symbolism with the way she's constantly referred to as a sproutling. NOT EVEN MENTIONING HOW THE REBIRTH METAPHOR THATS APPLIED TO HER CHARACTER (re: sprout of rebirth, revived serval, cyno and anubis and their ritual) IS SO DEEPLY CONNECTED TO SUMERU (her being the first sumeru character we know of and having that rebirth metaphor hinted at in the manhua! that rebirth metaphor carrying over to the actual sumeru plot w nahida! the rebirth metaphor tying in with the snake and cat symbolism that she and the archon residue complete!!!!!!) she's just such a loaded character!! AND collei's one of the few genshin characters with canonical cptsd who has identifiable and realistically common triggers. most importantly, the game acknowledges that its there and in spite of that, shows her resilience in still trying and healing!!!! my disabled deadalive mummygirl i love her so bad.

Furina:

the girl who saved fontaine. condemned herself to a life of silent pain and suffering without any warning or preparation. she could confide in no one, seek out help from no one, all while bearing the weight of her entire nation on her shoulders. not only did her willpower save everyone in fontaine, but after the prophecy was averted, she was finally allowed to live a normal life.

[meowlod]

furina x fem!reader | comforting your girlfriend.

(angst + alot of comfort, fluff, hugs and kisses) god i think im going to cry again.

“Ma chérie, where are you?“ You yell out to Furina, whos nowhere to be seen in the pretty house she lives in recently. Looking around and trying your best to find your girlfriend, you see her hat on the ground, and a bunch of pieces of her hair next to it, making you even more concerned. You run outside at the dark night to search for her, because there is a chance she could be outside. No birds chipping, no human talking, no one is outside as you walk around. Until you stop to hear a couple of familiar quiet whimpers and sobs nearby, possibly Furina crying. You run to the place where you hear the sad noises, only to see Furina sitting on the grass alone, her hair short from cutting them, darker clothes, hugging her own knees as she doesn't notice you until from your concerned voice. “H-huh…?“ You run towards her to crouch down, sitting next to her and giving her a tight hug, making her sobs quiet down, but not stopping as she slowly wraps her own arms around your body, burying her messy face into your shoulder, continuing to sob. “F-furina..! Why are you— are you okay? please don't cry, you know i hate seeing you cry..just, please..its okay, everything is okay..“ You tell her, patting her head and caressing her hair, trying everything to calm her down. “I'm sorry..i'm sorry…i don't want you to see me like this..“ she mumbles into your shoulder, making your heart break while you're slowly starting to tear up yourself. “Shh..shh..tout va bien…it's okay..i'm here for you, i love you, and you should remember that.“ Your own tears falling down from your eyes, you hug Furina more tighter, rubbing her back gently back and forth to comfort her. “R-really..?“ “Really. And it's a promise. I will never leave you, even if i'm on the edge of dying.“ From the answer she got, her eyes widen, making her eyes water once again. “No! No, no..don't say you will die! You will live with me, forever..please…“ Hearing her voice break, you sigh and let out a small laugh, giving her a kiss on the cheek a couple times. “I'm sorry, so sorry, really. I won't die, i will live forever with you, live a happy life and it's a promise.“ “…Promise?“ she looks at you with those pretty puppy eyes of hers, making your heart melt from the cuteness. “Pinky promise. Now, do you wanna make some macarons with me? Hah..i remember when we both tried, but the kitchen was so messy..“ She wipes her tears away and smiles, scoffing playfully. “…Hmph, but it was your fault, you couldn't cook!” You laugh at her pretty face, giving her a kiss on the lips to show her more affection. “Oh, really? But i saw you accidentally dropping the bowl of the egg whites we were gonna use for the macarons, making the floor all mes—“ “TCH. Thats not true! Are you seriously saying all this only to make me feel ashamed?! Oh come on, please, just spare me some sympathy..“ She whines and playfully slaps your shoulder. ”Pff— pfft..fine. Then we should just stick to buying macarons, and go shopping together, even get your favourite desserts, okay? We will try again in 2 days.“ She smiles and kisses your lips before standing up, taking your hand and running through Fontaine, to her house. “Tomorrow, you're gonna buy me all the desserts and macarons, my love..oh, i've been thinking about so much…we should get married someday.” “Is my lovely Furina already thinking of a marriage? How cute.“ “Tsk..no- well, maybe- but- ugh, stop messing with me! …yes, yes! I want to marry you, okay?! I just love you alot, you take care of me, help me with my insecurities..i've never had such a sweet and pretty person such like you care for me. I trust you so much.“ “Flirty now, are we? Haha, i love you too, my sweet.“ “…Hehe. I love you too, ma chérie. Now, can we go home and cuddle together? Yawn…huh…i feel so tired.“ She clings onto your arm as you both walk home together, to cuddle with eachother and start a new day tomorrow.

[ironnumber1fanboy]

How Childes trial made no sense and forced him into being a plot device(From a Childe nr1 stan)

As my goats(Iron) fan, i have to yap just like her I want to start off by saying that seeing the 4.0 trailer i was the happiest man to have ever lived, seeing Childe being involved and finally seeing him since 2.2 However, this all came crashing down at the end of 4.0-4.2. If this gets any positive reception ill yap about the whole fontaine plot and why its so bad in relation to Childe. THE COURT TRIAL

As we can see in the entire conversation, Childe is very well aware of how the court rules go beforehand, yet he only asks to challenge Clorinde in the middle of the trial. Childe is not a dumb idiot, he obviously would have asked her to duel in character.

You might say he wanted to participate in the trial and clear his name but we know thats not what happens. In fact, Childe doesnt listen to Neuvilette, doesnt care about the incident he is accused of and just challenges Furina and Clorinde to spar. But it doesnt stop there. No you see, the second and the biggest problem is the verdict at the end

Guilty Foxtaru(look at this cute loser)

There are SO many problems but lets go over them one by one 1)Neuvilette even at the end of goddamn 4.2 has no answers!

Something that Mihoyo has an issue with definetely is apparent in Childes character-and thats setting up lore that you dont fulfill or leave ambiguous.Even after us as players waited 2 whole patches for an answer- we didnt get one and we CANT get one cause Focalor is dead.

2) and 3)Neuvilettes hypotheticals that he makes at the end

2)Focalor isnt dumb to just make the first call so i wont even bother elaborating why that assumption Neuv made cant be right 3)Is the juicy one, but also with more plotholes. Let me elaborate

-It makes no sense Focalor would somehow know Childe is gonna fight the whale(especially for that long) in the first place, at best its a guessing game

-Childes connection to the whale is something she shouldnt have any knowledge on

-Her being able to foresee all that, yet Celestia or Verdafonyr or hell even Skirk were NOT able to see/know him fighting the Narvhal in fontaine and changing Fontaines destiny. If Focalor had such level of insight and power that scales above all these characters, there would be no need for a diversion

Closing thoughts I hope i explained well why the trial never made any sense- From Childe acting out of character to Focalor being omniscient and knowing more than Celestia,Visionary and Skirk about Childe. It was merely just writers not knowing how to write him being in the Fortress and meeting the whale.

[gold-rhine]

i'm really indecisive, so i'm wondering which character i should pull for - mavuika or xiao? for mavuika i've got kinich (and emilie) and clorinde (with C6 chevy) but i don't have xilonen if i wanted to use her as main dps down the line. for xiao i've got jade spear, xianyun, and c6 faruzan

i like both mavuika and xiao so that's why i'm feeling conflicted, so i'm wondering which you would pick:)

i mean, there are a lot of things to consider

point blank, from meta perspective mavuika is just much stronger character than xiao, not just for personal damage, but for versatility bc she can work as off field pyro in almost any team where xiangling works, which is a lot of teams. i dont know who else you have on account, but she synergizes with navia, cryo melt carries like rizzley, vape teams with like ayato or neuvi, even plunge with xianyun. so as you pick up more characters with time, you will get more teams with her.

as for playing her as main dps, if you get ororon you can do it in chev team like in her trial. and if you decide to pick up another natlan support down the line, like xilonen who is really good in many teams, not just mavuika's, citlali, or some new natlan character they release

meanwhile xiao has one team with one type of gameplay and thats it. its perfectly fine to like it, but i hope you've already tried him in trials and know for sure that you like it.

also, you have most of xiao's best team except furina, so he should not have problems clearing, BUT you will need to get him very good build. bc its a hypercarry team, hes the only one doing damage, so his build should be really good. in a team of like kinich emilie mavuika you have 3 dps all doing damage at the same time, so they can afford to have kinda mediocre builds and still clear.

thats meta perspective, from pull economy perspective, chronicled wish is kind of a trap bc you dont keep pity or guarantee, so its best to pull if you have enough wishes to go to pity 2 times, so like 140 plus we'll get 20 free in lantern rite. bc like if you get unlucky and you lost first 50-50 and then keep pulling and like do another 60 pulls but dont get a 5 star, then when the banner ends, all these pulls are just gone and you get NOTHING and on next banner you start with 0 and no guarantee.

BUT, from pookie perspective, if you want them both, mavuika is an archon who will with like 95% chance have rerun in 4 patches, bc they did it on every archon release. meanwhile xiao will probably not show up for another year at least. so like question is how much you like him, is he your absolute fav you want just bc hes ur pookie and you're ready to invest heavily into artifact mines, or you're just like "i guess itd be nice:)"

tldr xiao is much riskier pull and harder artifact investment and hes weaker meta wise. only go for him if he's your waifu and you're ready to put a ring on it and really commit to him. otherwise he will be mid and gathering dust, hes not a character you get bc you kinda felt like it like idk emilie.

[sophiethewitch1]

I'm so glad to see people point out how bad genshin has gotten. we have had 2 (TWO) male characters this whole region. and they just killed off the captain??? I'm PISSED!!! all the female characters suck too. they power creep existing characters and mechanics, their designs are so weird and out of place from genshin, their characters are so shallow etc.

I'm genuinely so surprised to see older players stick around. their hard earned artifacts, weapons, and attention to detail feels like it was ran over by mauvikas motorcycle. let's talk abt muavika, she's an expensive xiangling replacement. usually new archons shake up the game, she doesn't. yea she can fly, so can wanderer, chasca, kinich, etc, she can ride on water, most cryo units can too, and furina and mualani and Mona kinda, she has ok Pyro application, so does Thoma, xiangling, dehya, u get what I'm saying?

THE FANSERVICE OMG. if honkai has hot men, genshin is the other side of the spectrum. mualani has the weakest excuse for clothes, xilonens and citlalis jiggle physics gotcha ogling, chasca is wearing... that... and muavika has a zipper going up her cooch 😭😬 it's not hard to see how sexualixed all of them are.

I find it hard to believe that they can't make any more dudes. both guys we do have look too much like teens. I don't even wanna get into the race problem cuz 😬😬 everything that can be said already has been.

meta has been better, we have a geo kazuha now. yay. everyone else has been a main dps, subdps for nightsoul or a niche support. other than xilonen, I wouldn't pull for anyone else metawise. we desperately needed a better shielder, we got a wonky 5 star Layla. zhongli has been needing a buff desperately, if hoyo thinks he is the ceiling for shield strength. maulani, kinich, and chasca are all main dps, I don't even know what ororon and kachina do.

exploration is fine, there are chests everywhere, maybe to distract the players who find the dragons mechanics to be chunky and annoying. the region really wants you to have natlan characters though, and if you don't, you struggle a bit more. it looks pretty though, the art direction and landscapes are beautiful. plenty screenshots to squeeze in with the 5000000 gb game. I don't wanna get into the story, this ask has gotten wayyy too long

anyways, thanks for coming to my Ted talk. hopefully they do shneznaya justice.

get it

just(ice)

ha ha ha I'm so funni

oh my god you're literally so correct about everything and im so mad about it. like the racial issues first and foremost made me immediately go 'well guess im not spending anymore' which i havent since because the only character like you said thats been interesting at all has been xilonen. she, kachina, and mualani were the only characters in natlan i actually liked the designs of (well other than the captain but hes not even actually from natlan). and even then LIKE BRO MY SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF BRUH!!!!!! like people are like 'oh it makes sense lore wise oh its ancient dragon tech' WELL IT DOESNT FUCKING LOOK LIKE IT!!! WHY DOES MAVUIKA HAVE A YAMAHA!!!! WHY DOES EVEN MY FAV XILONEN HAVE A TURN TABLE LIKE I CANT DO THIS AAAAHH. The exploration and world is amazing because it always is and I saw this poster the other day who fuckin. GRINDED my gears over on reddit who was like 'people hated this regions story?' and then posted a bunch of beautiful natlan screenshots like BRO YOU AND YOUR STRAWMAN ARGUMENTS YOU COME HERE!!!

I think if I personally talk about the fanservice I'll pop a blood vessel. Anon if you have not seen the leaks for 5.4 you are in for a TERRIBLE surprise when they show the next character and I am so so SO sorry for the misery you will endure

Snezhnaya... Give me Dottore. Give me Panatalone. Give me the fucking short old man hoyo or I will start sending thousands of dollars of manure to your offices to be dropped off. God help us all

[bluelizze]

I DECIDED TO MAKE A POST ABOUT MY GENERINE REACTIONS TO ACCIDENTAL BF PT 4 (omg pls read this series it’s a gem by the wonderful @tenkover)

also i was just causally looping this edit while i was doing this

"You reach up and fix his crooked septum. He blushes. That damn thing."

SINCE WHEN DID TOMURA HAD A SEPTUM (ngl I actually looked up what it was bc idk what it was and I WAS SHOCKED MY JAW DROPPED)

“Why would I want to,” Tomura smiles and kisses the top of your head. He wants to absorb you… you can crawl into his ribcage any day and make yourself at home."

HEAD KISSES >>>>

“The Izuku thing, for example, like, we started off as friends just getting to know each other and out of the blue he gets handsy. It felt like all the friendship building was just… fake– and it was. His entire personality changed when I told him I won't be with him. I've had that happen before. It makes me feel… so alone. Or just generally talking to men. If you're nice you are flirting and they feel entitled to your… well, body. It hurts. And if you aren't nice… you put yourself in danger. My dad taught me to always be polite– well, too much because…. I was nice to my stalker. It's dumb– I am. That's also why I always do what people want… it is the path of least resistance.”

OH SHIT IZUKU LORE WITH READER

also reader being real here bc I always feel like I have to put on a mask around certain people so I sometimes have identity crisis (that’s why I relate to furina and mafuyu A LOT)

“He's always late!” Himiko sighs. “I'd never let you wait, (Y/N)-chan! If Tomura ever lets you wait– just text me, kay?”

HIMIKO BEING READER’S NEW BESTIE

“Really? Voice changer? Cmon, man,” Tomura says and pinches his nose.

OMG DABI BEING MYSTERIOUS BY USING A VOICE CHANGER XDDDD (I know who you are dabi LOLOL)

“Is it because… your friend who got a girlfriend?” He sobs.

OMG????? Does touya love reader?!?! (I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case)

“Y-Yes. Sorry. I… I wanted to ask if I can soft launch you on Instagram?”

SOFT LANUGH 🥹🥹🥹🥹

“When I'm back… can we maybe go on a date? Get Boba and sit in the park?

BOBA DATE BOBA DATE BOBA DATE (I’m drinking one rn)

“Please just leave… go to your boyfriend.” You frown and a lump grows steadily in your throat. You look at the back of his head. His light hair looks badly tangled. “Touya… is that the problem?” “Yep.”

OH I AM RIGHT!!! (not but surprised but STILL THE REVEAL 😤😤😤)

Yes. Thank… you. Hey, one more thing… you're not a serial killer?” “When does it become serial?” “After 5?” “Oh no then we're good.”

OMG I SEE YOU USED THE REFERENCE IM SO HAPPY HDHROWCHOAFNNQ

“During semester break he showed up here and introduced himself as my boyfriend to my dad. I don’t know if you know how charming Izuku can be… my dad loved him. And… I had to play along because if my dad knew that I have a stalker he would never let me go back to uni. So… when he finally pissed off I tried to do damage control and told my dad that I was planning to break up with him– this is so stupid.”

IZUKU you mother fucker 🙃

He snorts. “Talk later… honey..?”

HE CALLS US HONEY 🥹🥹🥹 (I love nicknames like those)

Toshinori wraps his arms around you, almost smothering you with the intensity of his embrace. “Kid, you don’t ever need to justify coming home.”

HOW COME IM SURPRISE THAT ITS TOSHINORI (FOR SOME REASON I THOUGHT IT WAS SOMEONE DIFFERENT BUT I SHOULDVE EXPECTED IT DAMN)

“You love him,” Toshinori chuckles and wipes his hands on a kitchen towel before starting to chop up some tomatoes. “You should see how your eyes are sparkling right now.”

TOSHINORI BEING A BEST DAD 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭😭😭

“You are Dabi!” You wave the phone.

OMG THE REVEAL DABI AND TOUYA R THE SAME PERSON (but not surprised bc cmon)

“Holy shit. Now I get what you were saying– Tomura is the guy you have a crush on."

OH SHIT WAIT HOLD UP WHAT A FUCKING PLOT TWIST WHAT WHAT WHAT IDURJDJDJGOMG

OMG YOU HAVE TWISTED THE PLOT EVEN MORE BY HAVING TOUYA CRUSHING ON TOMURA INSTEAD OMG THATS PRETTY REFRESHING I LOVE IT OMG

omg first spinner and now touya. everyone having a crush on tomura on this fic and honstly, that's valid

"Dude, I thought you were confessing TO ME!”

I THOUGHT SO TOO

“No– did you just forget I am gay or what?! Be for real.”

YES I DID FORGET OR I MISREAD IT SOMEHOW

Tenko doesn't remember and Tomura can't face the truth.

OMG WHY U GOTTA END IT LIKE THIS OFRMC EQOJVCUOWDVIPQEBPIBCWDPI

[enden-k]

I haven't watched the Livestream (don't thave the brain capacity right now) but there was smth about inadzuma characters making an appearance? what's that about? is event going to be somehow connected to them?

mostly asking about ayaka because she's cute and I like seeing her (reminds me of a friend tbh so I have a lot of warm feelings for her by association). feel free to ignore this if you haven't watched the stream yourself and stuff, obv, theres probably somewhere else I can look this up as well I'm just not braining good right now

i like ayaka too <3 and ayato, the kamisato siblings have a special place in my heart fr

ill jsut use this ask to briefly sum up the livestream. did skip through it just now

WIFE NAMEDROPPED i thought he was dead

anyway:

main event is the fontinalia film festival set in fontaine featuring navia, furina, chiori (new inazuma character), chevreuse (new fontaine character), kamisato siblings, yoimiya, ofc our buddy xavier from inazuma. basically, we (and furina) are making a commercial for chioris boutique

banners: 1st half navia (5star geo claymore ousia aligned) + ayaka rerun 2nd half raiden shogun rerun + yoimiya rerun + chevreuse (4star pyro polearm ousia aligned)

quests: navia story quest

events: -well the main event in fontaine which gives us a free 4star claymore and several mini games all around film making -ittos beetle battle event returns, this time in liyue bc shinobu (and itto and the lil kid he fought last time) join....plus some liyue character is gonna join but wasnt named -the lost riches (pet seelie) event returns!!! also set in fontaine. the newest color this time is light blue-ish?

-some combat event. also set in fontaine. -marvelous merchandise - liben is back <3

other: -2 new artifact sets. no info on them tho -fontaine realm will be added to the teapot -fontaine card challenges and fontaine designs will be unlocked in tcg -new tcg character/monster cards: lyney, lynette, layla, signora, azhdaha, dvalin, some eremites, 💕💕al-haitham💕💕

cant wait to fucking beat him up in a card game idc about

system optimizations: -we will be able to view recommended sets in the artifacts menu -artifact filter system where you can automatically lock specific artifacts when farming and they get added to inventory -increased the amount of stuff u can put in for artifact enhancement similar how it is with weapons -removed the pop up windows when you level characters/weapons -refining weapons now allows you to add several mats and not one by one -when farming domains, when repeating the challenge we will now be teleported right to the center and not at the beginning to save us all the walking -the chasm archon quest ("in the depths, an unexpected reunion") is no longer locked behind two other world quests now. new players can now directly start -we can now claim all expedition rewards with one click and dispatch all of them without the pain of picking character and time again. its gonna be similar to honkai star rail now -processed ingredients can also be now claimed with one click

thats all i got, was honestly just skipping through the stream so no more details on the mini games or stuff as i usually did. just the important things ig

also, in under an hour the codes will expire so quickly claim them if u can:

RS99D5LVTM6V

UBRQC4MCT4PZ

8BQ9CMMVS5PM

[avemstella]

so that archon quest, huh. Would be absolutely thrilled to hear what u have to say about fontaine act V :] i love all your takes on furina & neuvillette & fontaine as a whole, and of course childe [pretty much an honorary fontanian with how he unintentionally got wrapped up in everything whoops]

Oh boy, I have so many thoughts. To start with some non-spoilerly stuff: I loved it so much. I'm not sure if I'll say it's my favorite Archon Quest yet (I think I would have to go through some of the older ones), but I think it's safe to say Fontaine overall as an arc is my favorite. Even its weakest part (the prison stuff, tbh it was a pacing issue) was still really solid and the ending, while not perfect, really landed. Genshin continued the trend from Sumeru of having the playable characters really take the stage and god there were some great standouts (Navia/Neuvi/Furina to name my favs, but I also loved my fatui and there really isn't anyone I've disliked). And well, the quest (and Furina's chara quest) made me cry like a baby, so that's a win.

Tbh, I think my biggest issue, wasn't even really an issue with the story but just a case of I had a very clear idea of what I wanted out of it (the woes of writing speculative fic pfft) and when it wasn't that I'm like "awww darn". Thats on me, and I genuinely really loved what we got, but it do be like that sometimes haha.

Spoilers below, oh boy (also my Furina fic spoilers too lol).

Eldritch abomination Furina I'll mourn u forever. I can't complain because Furina splitting herself in two to go fuck u to the heavens is such a boss ass move I can't haha. Okay, but I will say, even if I'm probably the only one, I do wish they brought some Remuria stuff up in the main quest. They had the perfect set up with Ajax being there with his Greek myth references and just ahhhh, one can hope they do something with it later. But yes, just know it's my silly headcanon that Focalors just lied about being an Oceanid to Neuvi and is one of King Remus's fucked up Primordial Sea experiments that maybe caused the Abyss rift at the fall of Remuria.

But yes, Furina, Furina, I'm crying. She really destroyed the girl failure accusations in the most glorious way possible. She literally didn't fail once (either of her), she plotted out a plan to trick the heavens, give back what was stolen, and save her people and she did it perfectly. As you're probably well aware, I'm a big fuck u Celestia gal, so it was just so satisfying to see her just obliterate the throne (even when I was crying haha). And honestly, super relevant to the state of the real world, but her giving back sovereignty to Neuvi in my mind is a very clear decolonization metaphor. Ages past descenders came to Teyvat, killed the dragons and created their own order, and now Focalors is returning that power back to said dragon (or well, the dragon's heir, it's a bit vague if Neuvi's literally the old dragon's soul reincarnated or just the body).

The entire scene between Neuvi and Focalors was great, though I will admit I have one issue with it (and even then I go back and forth on it haha). Neuvi in that scene doesn't have a big attachment to Focalors. What I mean is that ultimately Neuvi only ever knew Furina (which side note I'll get into this next, but I do view them as the same person, but still), and with Focalors' 'death' he's not technically losing anything, the person he's sad over will still be there. Like don't get me wrong, he's very empathetic and can be sad over this person who is dying for them, but I feel like it could have been even more heartbreaking if he had met Furina/Focalors before the split, or he had interacted with Focalors somehow in the past, and so in this moment he wasn't just watching Furina's sacrifice, but the sacrifice of someone he shares memories with. But that's me being picky haha and not really a critique on the writing.

But yes, Furina! Focalors! As I previewed before, I'm going to come out swinging with a possibly hot take. They are, and always were the same person. Yes, Focalors is the divinity, but as we see after Furina is allowed to rest her persona, Furina is also super mature and knowledgeable. In Neuvi's flashback quotes of Furina, it's her softly giving important advice about living with humanity, which is what Focalors was all about. And much like Furina, Focalors loves preforming, she loves humans, she gets all excited about Furina and her future, and is sad she won't get to experience it.

Not to remotely downplay Furina's suffering (because holy shit my poor girl), but Focalors too played her role. Unlike Furina who had Neuvillette and all her friends post this, Focalors was all alone in the Oratrice, waiting for the day she had to kill herself. Furina, has the promise of a future, despite all the suffering she endured to get there. She gets the reward of a happy life as a human surrounded by people who love her, and while it was touch a go for a bit, she was told one day her play would end. In contrast, while Focalors didn't have the same anxiety that Furina had, Focalors knew from the beginning she would never get to see her people saved. Technically she, like Furina, didn't even know if it would even happen. She put her faith in Neuvillette to follow through, and while she had the utmost faith in him, she could never know for certain. But much like her mirror Furina, Focalors weighed her suffering over the people of Fontaine's, and never once faltered. Furina was willing to possibly kill herself via primordial seawater in order to keep up her ruse, whose to say Focalors wasn't the same. Smiling at Neuvillette until the last moment because she couldn't risk him interfering, hiding away her anxieties and sorrow, so he wouldn't look so sad. Furina's performance ended, Focalors' never will.

Focalors was so certain she couldn't be human, but as we see from the Oceanids it was totally possible. And even more vitally, we see from the other Archons it's possible. They might fumble around a bit (some more than others, looking at u Ei), but they are learning and immersing themselves with their people. While not an Archon, it's the same with Neuvillette. Focalors should have had the same opportunities as Furina and the rest (mostly because she is Furina), but the world isn't kind, and that's why her sacrifice hurts.

If u can't tell I have a lot of feelings about Focalors/Furina and while I can appreciate a joke about Focalors giving Furina anxiety, I'm also like, they are literally the same person working together, she deserves the world (all of her).

But yes, I can go on and on about Furina, but for now I'll move onto our boy Childe. To get it out of the way, a little disappointed that we really got no answers about him. Poor guy didn't really have any lines. Also, not big on Skirk's design, mostly the outfit. Putting her next to Dain and uh, yeah (like don't get me wrong don't mind the color scheme and all, but could she not have gotten some kind of armor. Or look more like Foul Legacy or something idk).

But onto more happier notes, I'm so happy to see Childe finally getting to do well in a fight. I know it's a meme for him to get beaten up, but my dude is the Vanguard, let him win sometimes (he doesn't technically win here, but he was fighting an eldritch whale monster for ages and helped save Fontaine, I'm giving it to him). And Skirk, while her design is mostly less to be desired, I'm winning on guessing her hair and eye color haha. Also, while I'll always love my version, I'm liking her personality so far. Her yeeting Childe, while I admit took me out a bit (I thought she threw him farther into the Abyss and was like, "uh guys, yall worried about my poor boy here???" and then was a bit baffled at them saying he was fine) was so fucking funny. It's cool to learn "Foul Legacy" refers to a literal person, and I found the fact that Skirk's relationship with Foul is basically the same as her relationship with Childe very amusing. And it seems she's Khaenri'ahn, maybe? Also, I thought she was listing off her master's other names at first, so when she said Gold I got super hyped that I guessed correctly about the narwhal being Rhine's in my fic, but then they were like nope pfft. I'll take it as a win.

Sidenote, Alice and Rhine where are yoooouuuuuu.

Ultimately, while I enjoyed the Childe and Skirk stuff, it really just feels like a set-up for later stuff. Which isn't really a problem, but I was hoping we'd get something a bit more concrete. Like, I thought we were going to get answers about the "it" that Skirk saw in him, and it would have to do with the Narwhal, but now it seems those were mostly unrelated??? While I did find baby Ajax accidentally waking up a big world eating monster up kind of hilarious, it did feel a little incidental, if that makes any sense. Like, Fontaine's doom was an accident and not the result of anyone's choices. But that might just be a me thing. (and the quest needed more Arle, where was she??? my not really based on anything theory is that whenever we get Furina (or maybe Nevui's) 2nd character quest, Arle will be the boss fight. A reverse of the normal final Harb boss fight during the Archon quest)

Okay, because I really don't want to end on a downer (as I said uptop, I genuinely adored this quest haha), here are some minor spoilers from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quest that have me by a chokehold.

I wasn't ready for a sudden Ajax. What does this mean??????

And this one just makes me laugh. Whichever Ordo member wrote this, I vehemently disagree with u and am on Khaenri'ah's side with this one. I'd much rather have bread then some higher power nonsense. In my fic I tend to write Khaenri'ah more akin to a modern nation than a fantasy one, and its nice to see me vindicated pfft.

Other random notes, enjoyed that the Fatui weren't just cartoonishly evil in both the main and world quests. I like some nuance. I saw that Sandrone hint, that was fun. Though it makes me wonder when we'll get Columbina lore (especially because if the theory about Harbinger boss fight order based on the Constellation circle is true, she should be showing up soon. Though also I half think that order will break because if it doesn't, it means Sandrone will probably be the final Harb boss which is an odd choice.) As revealed on Furina's weapon, Egeria being around during Remuria raises so many questions around the timeline of events. Genshin pls tell me when the Archon war takes place in all this pls (if they tell us in some lore I haven't read yet, whoops). (also on egeria, I mourn my version but hey, she exists in my heart and in my fics pfft. I can't wait to write her in smfwtwd and venti fic, though she's getting a new name for confusion and better symbolsism)

the contrast between Neuvi and Furina after the quest is so funny and sad. Neuvi "Furina is the best, I want her to be happy". Furina, "Everyone hates me, Neuvillette most of all, I can never face him again." And the other Archons, they are all like Furina, wow u are so cool (which just highlights Neuvi's utter disdain for them other than Nahida haha).

And most vitally, Furina and Venti should be best friends. Musically inclined performers who definitely aren't plotting to overthrow the heavens. I think they are neat (they also both have Latin names!).

[kaletalecowboy]

The list of incorrect quotes in my notepad got too long

Focalors: I’d die for you idiots Furina: I’d die for you first Neuvillette, from across the room: NO ONE HERE IS DYING

Navia: Chlorinde… Chlorinde: Oh no, 'Chlorinde' in b-flat. Chlorinde: You're disappointed.

Arlecchino: Lyney, you are old enough now, I think it is time we have the talk. Lyney: Father, no! I already know where kids come from we really do not have do this Arlecchino: Arlecchino: Oh, no I do not mean that kind of talk. I mean the “a lot of people in your family are actually criminals” talk. It all started with our great great successor who-

Al Haitham: At my age, do you know how I’m statistically most likely to die? Kaveh: At the hands of your roommate? Al Haitham: An accident. Kaveh: That’s how I’m going to make it look.

Lyney: In my defense, I was left unsupervised. Freminet: Wasn't Lynette with you? Lynette: In my defense, I was also left unsupervised.

Lyney: We need to get through this locked door. Neuvillette, give me your credit card. Neuvillette: Here. Lyney, pocketing it: Thanks. Lynette, kick down the door.

Charlotte: What’s the neighbour’s name again? Lynette: Their cat’s name is Mittens. Charlotte: That’s not what I asked. Lynette: That’s what I know.

Freminet: The moon is really pretty tonight! Lynette: we should tell him thats a tortilla you threw at the window Lyney: please dont

Neuvillette: Physically, yes, I could fight a bird. But emotionally? Imagine the toll.

[lyss-butterscotch]

btw im obsessed over furina too shes literally just me and if you by aaany chance wanna ramble about her feel free to, tis an invitation. if not thats fine too! boop

Omg kiki hi!!! You have no idea that i just like buried my face to a pillow cuz oh gee golly gosh oh sovereigns above this girl. THIS GIRL.

[Obvious spoilers for fontaine archon quests and furinas story quest]

Literally abnormal about her she deserves all in the world. We have hands to give furina pats on the head we can speak so we can tell furina she did it i am so jdhdjsyshjsjsjsn waaaaaaaaa

I love how they paced her characterization throughout each patch, idk i just feel like its well paced. The first patch shows that shes all bark and no bite. All the flare all the drama with neuvillette being the one truly working the system (you can see it in the patch art too!). I just couldnt understand how she is oh so shamelessly show offy when she literally has nothing to show for but her title like damn i felt bad for neuvillette for dealing with her. But the way she falters and hesitates, just makes you think theres something else going on. But i still felt like she HAS a bite, she just for some reason doesnt use it so i was just expecting her to break and show power later on.

Then act two. Man i never wanted to punch a character so bad like arlecchino LEAVE HER ALONE MAN SHE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS SLANDER. Its when i start to think shes not the god after all. She keeps saying she has plans but its 'secret', as much as i wanna defend her arlecchino was right. She has nothing to show for, she has no plan, no act to help fontaine so what is there to defend? But she CLEARLY cares for the prophecy so WHY ISNT SHE DOING ANYTHING. Arlecchino saying that furina might not be a god after all just makes me even more insane about the plot. Like okay theres no way the gnosis isnt in the oratrice and neuvillette is the sovereign so what the hell is going on with furina???

Then the final patch. Omg oh god oh golly oh my lords above. I hate how even as she got duped into a trial she is still trying to keep up her bark. The way she says 'THE TRIAL OF THE HYDRO ARCHON SHALL NOW BEGIN' with so much fervour like she is STILL trying. It made me think shes gonna reveal some super important bg plot shes been working on to make us go 'wow she really is a great archon'. BUT THEN. BUT THEN SHE GETS OUTED FOR NOT KNOWING WHY THE ORATRICE LET OUT A WRONH VERDICT, NOT WANTING TO SHOW OFF HER HYDRO POWERS, AND BEING AFFECTED BY PRIMORDIAL SEA WATER???

Like at that point i think furina youre done. Its over. But the way she cried and begged for people to believe her still WAAAAAAAA. LIKE GIRL WHY ARE YOU STILL TRYING STOP THIS HURTS TO WATCH. Then she goes full catatonic once the trial is over urgh bby no :(

AND THEN THE WHOLE FOCALORS LORE DROPPED AND LITERALLY EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE, ALL HER DRAMA AND BARK MAKES SENSE. AND THE WAY IT REVEALS THAT NOT ONLY DID FURINA ***NOT*** KNOW FOCALORS' PLAN, IT ALSO MEANS SHE THOUGHT THAT HER FAILING THE TRIAL MEANS ***SHE*** WAS GONNA BE THE REASON FONTAINE WAS GONNA DROWN. AAAAAAAGAFAFDAADFAGAAGSHS

I hate how focalors specified that furina had to act like 'how people think gods act' and not just 'act like a god'. I hate it. I hate how she was trying to be nice but in fear that itll blow her cover she had to shine brighter to blind the people, when there was nothing to show underneath it. Dies dies dies!!!!!!!!!

As much as i hate that they didnt really show furina moving out of the palais mermonia. I think its fitting. How shes so tired of all the flair she has to put up she really just... wanted to leave. Be done with it. No flare just slips away silently.

Im glad that she and neuvillette is still in good terms, i think atleast after 500 years of putting an act together + neuvi finding out the shit she had to go through, he'd atleast have some form of camaraderie or respect for her. The fact that he is supportive of her being involved in a performance after she moved out is so waaaaaa she deserves it!!!! I think its clear that despite her needing a break, performing what she wants is something she likes to do and im glad she has something thats entirely her own going on for her :)

Also also la vaguelette is the song ever. I hope hyv is happy that they made a song that can make me cry 1 second in. Literally best song after yunjins opera song. They did not hold back and my heart weeps everyday.

Also the fact that now she just eats macaroni everyday is a mood. Boop

[meowlod]

furina x fem!reader | truth or dare?

(nsfw) warnings: slight gore, blood, death (your friends), slight angst, comfort, slight fluff, vampire, biting, fingering, nipple play, oral, etc.

It‘s night. Nobody is outside, no birds are chirping, nothing. But you‘re walking in a forest, because you played truth or dare with your friends.

Earlier…

”Truth or dare?“

Your friend asked you with a smirk, and you take time to think..until you had your answer.

”..Dare.“

”Go into the scary forest and take a nap there for 24 hours alone!“

..And this is how you ended up here. In the forest, where nobody wants to go, because there is a mystery that a vampire lives here, stalking humans and drinking their precious blood with no hesitation. You couldn‘t sleep for a day after your friend explained that to you! A vampire..? Those are just mysteries, right?

Your heart beats fast from anxiety as you walk around the dark forest. You jump and your heart skips a beat as you hear a noise in a bush. Is it a vampire? What is it? You walk to the source of the noise, only to see that its a baby fox quickly running away. You sigh in relief.

You walk towards a spot where you can build your tent. As you start to prepare the tent, you hear footsteps somewhere coming towards you. You look around to see where it came from. But nobody is there. It‘s so dark..how did you even accept this dare?

Footsteps come closer to your tent, and you see two mismatched glowing blue eyes staring at you as the person comes closer to you. Your friend told you that the vampire has blue eyes, white-blue hair, a blue outfit with white shorts and might seem sweet and friendly, but she could kill you quickly. Her name is ”Furina“ they said.

You look at the blue eyes before you quickly run away, leaving your tent on the ground. You run and run, trying your best to run as fast as you can, but the person is unfortunately faster than you and catches up with you.

“Hey! Why are you running away? I don‘t bite, you know!“

The woman had said so sweetly, but you don‘t believe her lies and continue running. Who knows? The lady with blue eyes might be acting to get you closer to her just to bite into your sweet neck. That‘s what you thought. You think that‘s the dangerous vampire everybody talks about.

You suddenly trip over wood, falling down to the ground as you struggle to crawl away. The woman is behind you and crawls on top of your body, her face right next to your neck.

Struggling to escape, you ask the lady fearfully. ”W-who are you?!“

The lady smirks against your neck and grips your hair to pull your head so you can see her face from the side.

”Hmm..who am i? Oh dear human, i‘m Furina! I‘m just a innocent girl who ended up in the forest alone..you wouldn‘t mind being my companion, would you?“

Your eyes widen. Furina? Isn‘t that the name of the vampire?

“F-furina?!..a-aren‘t you the vampire everybody talks about? P-please, don‘t kill me..“

Shit. You‘ve been always scared of vampires. Now you have met a real one in real life? Now thats even worser, what if you die right now? Nobody would know.

”Hmmm? A vampire? What are you talking about? I don‘t drink blood..“

There we go, lies again. She stands up from your back and holds her hand out for you to take. You look at the hand with a fearful expression before deciding to take it.

“R..really? But..a lot of people said it's a woman with blue eyes, white blue hair with a blue outfit and a par of white shorts…and you have everything..“

She smiles at your scared voice, her smile forming into a mischievous smirk. You step back just incase you don't quickly get attacked, but she takes a step closer to you every step you take back.

”Fineee, fine..tch. You caught me. But come on, do I really look like a scary vampire to you? That sounds like a insult you know.“

She looks at you with a curious face with her hands on her hips. You look her up and down and most of the fear leaves your body as you look back at your face, but you still feel scared.

”I..i mean…maybe? You do look scary with fangs.“

”Ohh, tch…! That hurt, you know?! I look like a innocent girl! And you didn‘t even see my fangs..yet.“

Furina opens her mouth with a confident expression, revealing her sharp fangs. They look perfect for a vampire and for sucking a persons blood. Fear comes back to you, and you take another step back, preparing to run. But she quickly takes your arm and pulls you back to her, other hand around your waist as her fangs are suddenly near your neck.

”You will let me drink the sweet blood of a girl, will you?“ Her fangs are already touching your neck, which can pierce quickly through it in any second.

You let out a scared yelp, trying to pull away, but fail as her hands are strongly around your body, keeping you in place as she gets ready to drink your blood.

“N-no! Please! Don‘t kill me..please…“

You plead, hoping she will let you go safely.

“Hmm..nope. But can i please drink your blood, pretty please?“

Your eyes widen from the sudden question. Is she seriously begging you? A vampire who can kill you in any time? She stares at you with a sweet smile, but you stare back at her with a terrified face. Shit. This pretty girl is making you let her drink your blood.

”I..okay..but please only once..and don‘t be so rough..“

Her smile widens and she happily pierces her fangs onto your neck, getting you to whimper from the pain. You grip her shoulders tightly as she sucks blood out of your body, a couple of drops dripping down from your neck to your back. You grip her shoulders firmly from the pain on your neck.

After a minute, Furina licks your wound and pulls back from your neck, mouth covered in blood dripping down to her chin.

”Mmh..mm..mm~! That was the tastiest blood i‘ve ever tasted! You should be happy that i didn‘t kill you,“ she chuckles. ”you should come back tomorrow. I would be happy to see you again, missy~“

You cover your neck and shakingly sigh in relief before running out of the forest, to your house. You couldn‘t do this challenge anymore. Your friends are so cruel for this! ”Fuck, i‘d rather eat something rotten than coming back here..“ you mumble to yourself, still scared from the stuff that all happened today.

..Next day, you wake up in your bed, eyes still half closed. Walking to the bathroom to brush your teeth, you see the bite that Furina had given you yesterday. Maybe it‘s best that you put a bandage on it in case your friends see it.

After you‘ve put on a bandage on the wound, you decide it‘s best to visit your friends again and tell them that you couldn‘t finish the challenge because it was too horrifying.

As you arrive at your friends house, where you all are supposed to meet, nobody answers. Theres a note on the door saying something that took you in shock.

”Hey, (name)! If you think that we are waiting for you, then go back to your house! We only wanted you in the forest because we want you dead! You‘re seriously a dickhead we all just talked with! Haha, i bet you‘re reading this right now and probably failed the challenge! The vampire should just kill you…How stupid..we aren‘t friends! So just go jump off the roof like the bitch you are, alright?“

Eyes tearing up, you rip off the letter and sob quietly to yourself. What have you done wrong? Did they seriously want you dead? Well, fuck them all. You will go back to the forest and stay there for 24 hours straight.

A couple of days later, you prepared and packed all the safety items with other stuff then went out. You walk and walk, until you arrive at the forest you desperately hated and despised. Walking through the woods before you hear familiar footsteps in the night.

“Yoo-hoo~! Miss me? I certainly did miss you, pretty girl.“

Looking behind, only to see Furina with your friends bodies on the ground, their blood spurting out everywhere, her outfit aswell her face covered in blood. Eyes widen at the disgusting sight, your heart beating faster as your body starts to shake.

“w..w-what..?..w-what did you— what— no..“ you stutter out, scared to go even near the woman as you take steps back, your eyes widen in shock and panic.

You run away deeper into the forest, hoping to never see Furina again. Knowing that shes running after you, you run faster and faster, ignoring the weak feeling in your legs. The image of your dead ex-friends are stuck in your head, for at least a couple of days.

”Hey, come back! I was only saving you, you know?! They wanted to poison you!“

You stop at your tracks and face her with a angry gaze.

”Poison ME?! I will NOT believe a word that comes out of your fucking mouth! They w—would never do tha—“

She quickly shushes your mouth and takes out the bottle of poison from your friends, showing it infront of you. It even has the name of your ex-friend on the bottle, showing that it belongs to them. Your eyes began watering up again.

“But..but why? Why..i..“

You began sobbing, and Furina takes you into her arms, not even bothering to suck your neck as she wants to comfort you at the moment.

”The truth sucks, really, i know.“

She pats your back and lets you sob into her shoulder, trying her best not to suddenly suck your precious blood out of your neck. To lighten your mood up, she grins and tickles you. That certainly caught you off guard.

”H-hey…hey…nnh— stop— stop!“

You chuckle out as you try to push her away, only failing as she continues to tickle you. You sigh and smile slightly as you take out a bottle of blood that you wanted to gift Furina for her to not bite your neck.

”Here, this is for you..um..please don‘t bite me, I’m terrified of vampires.“

Furina grins and takes the bottle in her hand, opening the bottle before taking a big sip.

“Mmh..mm..this blood is certainly worser. I wanted yours, but oh well.“ she talks with her mouth full of blood. Disgusting!

”Oh, uh..sorry. It‘s from a dead animal.“

”Ew! I prefer human blood. Ugh, seriously?!“ she groans and tugs on your hair, making you hiss. You pull her hand from your hair away, getting her to roll her eyes in annoyance from your move.

“Where the hell am i supposed to find human blood?! Do you seriously want me to get arrested? I‘m a human, you know! It‘s not normal! And I am not giving you mine.“ You shout out with annoyance. It‘s true, where the hell are you supposed to get human blood if you don‘t want to give yours? ”You literally drank my friends blood, be grateful.“

”Tch, fine! Anyways, you wouldn‘t mind if I did a couple of inappropriate things to you, right? You‘re pretty, girl. Never seen such a pretty human like you before. In fact, i think you would be also a great drinking bag for me.“

Her question caught you off guard. What does she possibly mean by that? Inappropriate things? You are pretty horny sometimes, but not today. Yet that woman is too pretty to resist.

”Uh..no..I mean— I- Okay…“

That was the answer she wanted. She quickly threw you on the ground against a tree, climbing on top of you and takes off your shirt, making you let out a noise of surprise. “F-fuck— slow down!“ you yelp out. Furina quickly unbuttoned the buttons of your bra and threw it away somewhere in the bushes.

”Jolis seins, mon amour..“ she happily mumbled out before grabbing both of your breasts, taking one of your nipples into her mouth, twirling her tongue around it before biting down.

You let out a cry, gripping her hair to pull her back. ”Ngh— oww! That hurt—!“

Ignoring your plea, she unzips your jeans and pulls the garment down, putting it on the side. Furina slips her hand under your panties to feel your wetness, making you groan.

”Wet for a vampire, hmmm? God, you‘re better than any human i‘ve ever seen.“ she growls out, making you ache more for her touch.

You bury your head into her neck as she spreads your folds before shoving a finger inside your tight walls, pumping it in and out in a slow pace. She gains a couple of whimpers from your mouth.

”Fucking‘ slut..god, tu es si serré..you wouldn‘t mind if I slide another finger in, yeah? my pretty girl can take two, hmm?“

She slides another finger inside your cunt, making you groan out of pleasure. Your back arches as you hold onto her back desperately, keeping your legs spread open for her.

”M—more- please…“ you plead for furina, who gets amused. You feel like you‘re having the best dream of your life right now, even though it is real, which is even better.

“More? Is my whore so desperate for my touch? I didn‘t know a vampire hater is now so submissive infront of one.“

She pumps in and out faster and faster, hitting your sweet spots until you squirt all over her fingers, getting them messy with your cum. She takes them out of you and takes them inside her mouth, cleaning her fingers seductively in front of you with a smirk for you to see.

“p-please..‘need more..you feel so good..“

She then takes off her jacket and puts it on the ground for you to lay down on. After you laid down, Furina spreads your legs once again, and lays down on her stomach between your legs, hot breath right hitting your wet pussy.

”So messy..I should clean you up then get you messy again, right? You wouldn‘t mind.“

Furina then presses her face against your cunt and please coursed through your veins as she swirled her tongue against your folds, holding your thighs spread open with her hands. ”F-furina— nnh— ah!“ Your moans only get her more excited and on. Her tongue licked a slow line up against your folds, flicking your clit and swirling it against the swollen nub. Her bottom half of her face is already messy of your slick and juices.

“F—furina- i‘m gonna cum- please..“ You moan out, letting out a yelp as you feel her tongue assail your cunt faster. The fast movement of her tongue going in and out of your cunt while her thumb circles against your clit bringing you closer to cum gets you seeing stars.

”Be patient, mon amour.“

Your body is shaking and you throw your head back, letting out a moan, thighs tightly around her head as she groaned. Her hands move to your hips, to the side of your ass as she continues her assault on your cunt like a vampire who didn‘t have any blood in days.

After minutes, you came all over her, letting out something similar to a scream. As your juices gushed out, she is already lapping it all up, not wasting any drop. Your legs are shaking and you‘re a whole mess between your legs.

“Hah..you did you good, ma belle..“ she pants out, pulling up from your messy pussy to get her face close to your neck once again, piercing her fangs into you once again, drinking the precious blood out of you.

You grip her shoulders firmly, letting her drink your blood. ”C—careful..nnh—!“ She pulls back, licking her lips before helping you stand up, getting the shirt and your jeans she had thrown to the ground. Furina watched as you weakly put on all your clothes back on, putting on your bag around your bag too.

”Make sure you come back to me here so I won‘t have to miss you, yeah? Or maybe you‘ll let me into your house, hmm?“

Ah shit, that smirk again. You sigh shakily and nod “You— you can come to my house any time.“ waving at her, you nod again with a smile before walking away. You haven‘t even noticed that its already almost morning.

A sudden pull on your shirt caught you off guard. You look to your side only to see Furina following you with a sweet smile, her arm around yours. ”You said I can come, so I am coming. I‘ll help cleaning you up once we arrived.“

Your lips form into a smile, and you nod. I mean, the vampire isn‘t that bad than the people talked about, right?

“Of course. You can live in my house if you want. It‘s too boring in there.“

“Ohhh, you‘re too friendly! I‘ll accept. Don‘t worry, if anyone else lives in your house, I will not drink their blood.“

[mlmneuvifuri]

hello ^^ huge neuvifuri fan here who has been shipping them since leaks came out tbh, here to infodump why i, personally, enjoy them as much as i do :3

(heed this warning; i do headcanon furina/focalors as a trans man so if you see me use he/him pronouns that is why, be not confused, jus my personal thing)

first off as soon as the very first fontaine trailer was released we see them together in the end shot! that small short scene alone sets up an amazing dynamic, even platonically. "Ugh boring!" "please refrain from levity in the court" sets us up with some assumptions already, that these two characters will have some interesting interactions, that these two know each other, and that they work together in some form or capacity, also furi is burning a piece of paper, this never got explained but god i loved it anyways

after that we play through the archon quest, we meet furina first as dramatic and loud as he was acting as he did, and neuvi second, a polite lurker in the shadows, confirming part of what we saw in the first fontaine trailer, further along this same quest we see them interact for the first time in the court; neuvi predicts furina is about to walks off and calls him out on it, confirming another part of the trailer; that they know each other /well/

and even further down the line we find out neuvi is the hydro dragon sovreign, meaning hes been around for possibly however long furina has, if not longer, making him ( in my opinion) hard to ship with anyone who isnt an archon and thats not because of age or anything its mostly like, Vibes, he has the old man vibe who doesnt understand memes and would call them "me-me"s or something, akin to zhongli, but not the point-- the point is neuvi is dragon, ageless, furina is archon, somewhat ageless as well, even after act V

when the traveler gets to go to the fortress of meropide as the ploy Tee Ehm, neuvi purposefully uses furinas cake, and maybe furina let him, who knows but the fact that he was comfortable enough to not get yelled at by furina for eating or giving away his treats is inexplicably soulmate-behavior to me

which brings me to my next point; focalors, focalors in the quest as we see him is immediately like "hello ^w^ im going to die now have your dragon powers back thank you neuvi" neuvi, having lived alongside and closely at that (remember that one scene furina was almost In His lap? that proves this in my view), with furi, just witnesses his other half Dissolve in front of his eyes, it was at that moment he realised he'd have a much darker life without furina, hence his extreame emotion with the following cutscene, hence the heavy heavy rain

in my opinion, and this part is all theory here, focalors made furina as human as he /could/ this does not mean furi no longer has any divinity at all because well, ,, if an archon makes a human clone of themselves can they really be rid of all divinity within that human? i think not, i think furina has always has like .5% divinity in him at all times, this is what keeps him alive this is his "curse" focalors gave him, this is why he is the only fontainian diver who sparkles when he jumps out of the water

furthermore, i think neuvi knew this and was genuinely confused at furina's court trial, he didnt know about focalors' deception, but he knew furina, very well, he knows furina couldnt be human because of how long hes lived but he knew furina was a little too frail as an archon, he's always seen through furina's theatrics, even at the start (i do not remember exactly where it was but that one scene where he tells the traveler furina is up in the vip seats in the courthouse and will get embarrassed if you ignore him for too long)

jumping a little ahead to the present fontaine now; Furina's Vision. what is the deal with furina's vision? why did he get a vision? why does his vision casing have teeth? fangs? on it?? and if theres no fontainian hydro divinity, no gnosis no connection to celestia well who gave him this vision in the first place?

Neuvillette.

the dragon power, the power hidden within every single archon gnoses, was given back to the hydro dragon, cutting off all hydro ties to celestia, dragon power thieves, focalors was anti-celestia, neuvi is anti-celestia, the whole of fontaine hates celestia ( a little on accident ) because of the prophecy in the first place !

Neuvillette, finally having whats rightfully his, decided to give his first and only vision (so far) to /furina/ of all people in teyvat, he was watching furina's play, he was noticing furina's own broken promise, he was loving every thing about furina in that moment and that is why he gave furi a vision

i am very normal about them :>

Neuvifuri nation I forgot to tell y'all that I did Furina's SQ with the intent of seeing what all the Neuvifuri hubbub was about, and I regret to inform you all that I still don't get it. 😔 I tried. In my head they feel more like two halves of the same person to me than anything else. They don't feel like friends, they don't feel familial, and they don't feel romantic. They're a secret fourth thing (darn secret nth thing syndrome >:/).

I actually genuinely wanna understand because in fanart and stuff it's such a pretty pairing and I wish I got it like y'all did but I just don't see it.

Anyway, what about it is appealing to y'all? I don't mean this sarcastically. I mean it genuinely. Tell me all about it! Infodump as much as you want! I'm a Neuvia fan, but I love analyzing character interactions and behaviors and I'd really enjoy discussing this, so feel free!

[gold-rhine]

i thought Neuvillette and Navia would be a more popular ship bc their scene at Callas' graves gave huge Jane Austen/period drama vibes but now i feel he's more paternal toward her than anything. i can't see him with Furina either if i'm being honest.. but i always look forward to your insights bc you always have such smart and interesting observations <3

thank you! :3 their confrontation with navia was very dramatic and emotionally charged, yeah, but like you gotta remember context in the narrative. like, their scenes were about critiquing failures of the justice system, with neuvi being a representative of it as the high judge. like navia is literally the victim of failures of fountaine court that followed the letter of the law and let her father die, yelling at the authority who allowed that to happen. if this authority figure then somehow had expressed any interest\attraction to said victim, that would be like beyond fucked up. like navia's role in the plot is to be representation of common ppl suffering from the negligence of the rulers, neuvi as a ruler can only stand there and nod sadly as she yells at him, there cannot be any chemistry, come on adfgjk

and this ties to the "paternal" vibes like come on, not everything has to be family coded. neuvi is a sovereign\god of life, a lot of his interactions is immediately taking responsibility\care of weaker people\people in need. if we start calling this "paternal" every time its gonna get ridiculous. and also like he is canonically a single dad of 400+ daughters, we do have example of how him being paternal looks like. so like, does he look like that when interacting with a character? no? then mb lets not assign him a dad for said character. seriously, i think there is a very distinct difference in how he lights up and interacts with melusines, who are actually vishaps and part of his bloodline, compared to him being benevolent ruler interactions

with furina specifically i don't like the paternal angle bc like it infantilizes her a bit, like they are the same age first of all. but also it erases interesting dynamic of archon and dragon i was talking about before, because yeah, she IS the one actually in charge, even if he's more powerful and ppl can tell. She pulls the rank on him ALL THE TIME, and she's in precarious situation where the rank is all she has, she cannot force him to do smth and it throws her off when he confronts her about it, like when she assumed he would go cover her in meeting with arlecchino without even asking him, he was like "thats not my job tho:\" and she lost her shit panicking, and pulled rank on IM THE GOD TRUST ME even harder. like there is a lot of interesting power play between them, even not touching colonialism specifically, where she is the puppet-ruler in power just bc his usurper took that power, and trying to force it into family box erases it

[moonilit]

IM ON MY WAYY IM COMING IM COMIN BESTIE!!! omg its here! Chapter (two of ?) ????? 👀

ok lets see lets read im SO EXCITED FOR THIS 👀❤️‍🔥

Im laughing so hard because, This chapter started like:

wrio pov:

Meanwhile Neuvi pov:

fvhdcbyfcb he is so confused huygni. when your human companion start emitting strange smell and do weird actions and you are not sure why? And luckily you DO speak the same language! But you have to do a ritualistic dance of words first that will take you like 30 min to help him open up-

then ended with Neuvi’s finger in Wrio’s mouth hdbhsbsjsk

“Are you absolutely sure you’re fine? I can’t help but notice you have a new streak of gray in your hair”

FOUL 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 jendkemlsos ok but Wrio you do have gray hair sir its ok at least it makes you look nice and grizzly ✨

Neuvillette watched Wriothesley drink, too quickly, like it was life saving. It didn’t make sense. He could sense the stench of poison in both cups. Why would he poison his own cup and then drink it so, not even waiting for the Iudex

Im fucking dead jxbsjsbalak i mean obviously Neuvi will know, he is the hydro sovereign and 500 year old, i just didn’t expect the switch to his pov and at that moment im crying tbjtdbj

Wrio i know you are having a life crisis but u look so stupid from the other side 

Wriothesley kept smiling, though the pain emanating from him was more suitable for a lethal wound and not a cut hand. Humans made absolutely no sense

Thats the smell of a man dying on the inside and nothing in his life fucking matter anymore Neuvi, write it down.

Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale

“She knew only Hydro Sovereign at full power could save fontanians. And she truly believed herself a god of justice. A just decision was to return the authority to the one it was stolen from. For that, she put her human part, Furina, on the throne, and hid her divinity in the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, accumulating energy from the trials, for it would take much to destroy the Archon’s throne.”

Spoil the plot on Wrio neuvillette, he didn’t fucking play the archon quest! 

Wriothesley swallowed, frowning. If this was truth It would mean he saved fontanians for no reason other than mercy. Despite his grief, despite the resentment anyone else would feel towards people who replaced his own. It felt wrong to continue pushing the dragon, but he had to.

(He actually took the words of a guy he only met once, and doesn’t know his true form head look like a red sharpie pen, like that's hilarious. then he just accepted Neuvillette words just because he poisoned both of them as a fail safe, Wrio is all over the place and im like tbjgdbjktdvji) 

“It’s a liquid. I’m a Hydro Sovereign,” Neuvillette said slowly, like he was talking to an idiot.

HE IS. thank you!! Rock poisoning next time got it, next time we try to position Zhongli with uranium lets go! rcjrcbjyg

Wriothesley? You are in pain, what happened? Were you attacked?

“I… The poison is gonna kick in in a few minutes?” “I already told you I’ve removed it.” He turned his head, finally looking up at Neuvillette. “Even from my goblet?”

“Of course I can,” Neuvillette said, with immediate certainty of stating an absolute fact and not an opinion. “What else are the gods for?”

“Don’t give up on us,” he said quietly. “At least on everyone else. Please.” The dragon was silent for some time, looking away, his face unmoving, unreadable. “This is the first time you’ve asked anything of me directly,” he said finally. “I’ll  remember.” 

“Ah. I should have realized that the emotions I’ve felt from the tea were far too strong for an unthinking plant,” Neuvillette’s fingers stopped moving, lingered for a moment and then slowly circled Wriothesley’s palm in a gesture he’d read as caress if it wasn’t so unthinkable. “It was your yearning that amplified the taste. A dream of rain for a lifetime raised in a drought.”

THIS ONE KILLED MEEEE 😭😭😭 Rhine HOW COULD YOU HOW DARE YOU IM ALL OVER THE PLACE WITH THIS CALL BACK 😭😭 HSBJSNSJSKS IM FLIPPING GEBDHNS IM!, SI)EJ IT WAS HIMM SUBDUSNSJSKS PUT ME IN THE COFFIN ALREADYYYY IT WAS HIMMM

Enjou would be “awww this is so wholesome! the hardship almost tore them apart but it brought them closer than ever 🥹❤️❤️❤️. k time to skedaddle out of here lmaoo” 

Enjou out of the country: 

What else the gods are for

Continuation of Chapter 1, doesn't make sense without it

Genre: angst, misinformation campaign and religious homoeroticsm of nonbeliever interacting with god of alien species

Characters: Neuvillette\Wriothesley

Warnings: sfw in a sense that nothing explicitly sexy happens, but there is dissociation, ptsd episode, mentions of self-harm and implied suicidal ideation.

Chapters: 2 out of ?. Wordcount: ~7k

The Palais was quiet and almost empty at this night hour, all bureaucrats long gone save for a single intern with bleak eyes at the table covered in papers. Wriothesley made sure to catch his line of sight and nod, he needed witnesses who could testify to him being here. 

He slowed pace before the doors of Neuvillette’s office, but before he could knock, a melusine materialized in front of him, blocking the way.

“Hello! Please state your business.”

Sedene was bright blue and still somehow he didn’t see her coming. And she was not a veteran fatui agent. She was a receptionist. How melusines could have the most obnoxious colorings, and still be able to sneak up on anyone better than assassins with decades of training was beyond him. 

“I’m here to see the Chief Justice.”

She frowned.

“The office hours are over. I can schedule you an appointment in the next two days.”

Normally he would never antagonize a melusine, let alone Neuvillette’s secretary, but tonight his own future stopped mattering. 

“I’m the Duke of Meropide,” pulling the rank was technically not the low blow, but it was certainly not the most graceful move.  

She held his gaze without flinching, hands on hips.

“I’m aware. This is why I’m offering an appointment in the next two days, and not months.”

Well, time for actually dirty moves.

“Sigewinne said to pass her greetings.”

Sedene sighed, gave him reproachful glare, but turned and knocked on the door. 

“Yes?” Neuvillette’s surprised voice asked. Sedene slid inside and closed the door without giving  Wriothesley a chance to follow, but he was close enough to hear the conversation.

“Sedene? I told you to leave for today hours ago.”

“Well, apparently it’s good that I didn’t. You have a visitor, Monsieur.”

“At this time? Is there an emergency?”

“Doesn’t seem so. It’s just the Duke. Shall I schedule him an appointment for tomorrow’s afternoon?”

Despite the inconvenience, he couldn’t help but respect her dedication. 

“He must have an important reason for a visit at such an hour. Let him in.”

“As you wish, Monsieur,” she relented with a sigh.

The door barely moved as she materialized before  Wriothesley, looking displeased.

“He will see you now.”

He took a deep breath and walked in, plastering a practiced smile over his face.

“Monsieur, apologies for such a late…”

Neuvillette caught his eyes and his expression changed from mild surprise to an alarmed frown. He rose from his seat sharply and for a moment Wriothesley thought he was done for.

“Wriothesley? You are in pain, what happened? Were you attacked?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing. I’m fine. Cut up my palm a bit by accident, that’s all,” he waved his conveniently sliced up hand, which he took time to bandage beforehand to stop the bleeding. His usual black bandages were especially good for this, because even if blood went through, it wouldn’t be visible. 

Neuvillette didn’t look too convinced.

“You are also… poisoned?”

“Drunk,” Wriothesley clarified. 

“Ah. I see.”

It was good that Iudex brought this up himself. Surely he must know humans are prone to spontaneous and stupid decisions when drunk, a lot of crimes are committed while intoxicated. This should give Wriothesley a sizable leeway in how unusual he acted.

“What is… the purpose of your visit?”

“I think it was quite rude of you to leave like that today, wasn’t it?” he was still keeping up a lopsided grin, slowly walking forward. “I know my company must be horribly drab in comparison to the fancy balls of the *real* nobility you’re used to, but even so.”

“It’s not the reason why I’d le…”

“After so many years of snubbing my invitations to offer a visit yourself and then leave so abruptly is a grave offense even for you, Monsieur.”

He cut Neuvillette off, for the first time in all these years. Years of trying to subtly encourage something more than just polite formalities, of cherishing every time the strict posture was even slightly dropped, every random tangent Iudex would slip into and then profusely apologize, until there were less and less of apologies and more and more of actual talking. He knew it was the night to burn every bridge, but still it felt like tearing out a fragile tree sapling he spent years raising just when it only started to bloom. 

“Cruel to toy with me like that, don’t you think? I trusted you and I didn’t trust anyone since my trial.”

He really *was* drunk, huh. He let the edge of real bitterness slip into his voice. Still, even this could be used, the glimpse of sincerity could sell everything else better.

“My apologies. It was unacceptably rude of me. Perhaps if we could arrange another date…”

“No, my honor demands immediate satisfaction,” he slipped into a mock posh speech pattern. “But don’t worry, I won’t subject you to the tea that so displeased you. The famous water tasting by Iudex will assuage my pride.”

Neuvillette studied him with an incredulous look, head tilted slightly in what now seemed distinctly inhuman manner. Long silver thread of hair swayed, showing more of the blue underside, the same thread Wriothesley wanted to catch between his fingers for so long.

“Well, water should be good for you in this state.”

Neuvillette looked unconvinced, but clearly decided that trying to talk to him rationally was useless right now. He clicked his fingers to summon two silver encrusted with gems goblets to the table. He started to move away from the table, but hesitated and turned to look Wriothesley in the eyes, his own looking so straightforward, clear translucent lilacs and blues and sharp whiteness.

“Are you absolutely sure you’re fine? I can’t help but notice you have a new streak of gray in your hair.”

It was a knife under the ribs, so sharp it took a moment for the pain to even register. By all the gods, human or dragon, why would he even fucking notice. 

For a long, torturous moment he wanted to let it go. He still could have dropped it, in personal matters Neuvillette was lenient to the point of indulgence, he would let this weirdness slide. It would be so easy to let himself drown in these eyes, turn this into a joke, arrange another tea tasting, smooth it over. And the worst part was that deep down, horribly, he knew that if it was only archon blood, he could’ve let it go. Between the god who’s never answered his prayers even when he was still trying to pray and the one who did, it was not much of a stretch. But… “foe of humanity”, Fontaine thrown into war against the heavens… Even if he personally was kept safe, he couldn’t ignore it. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied and stretched his lips into a smile. Not his best work, but should be enough for a non-human who had trouble reading human expressions. That dagger under his ribs felt so real that subconsciously, he smiled with closed lips to not show blood that surely must have been on his teeth. That was not the wound you could hope to survive. 

Neuvillette studied him for a moment longer, hesitant, but eventually turned and walked to the wall cabinet. Wriothesley slipped the vial out of his jacket’s inner pocket and stepped up to the goblets on the table. The poison had no color or smell, and, allegedly, required a mere drop to take effect, so it should be able to go unnoticed in the silvery shadows of the cup.

“Waters of Mondstadt’s Springvale are notable for their crisp and focusing clarity of…” Neuvillette was walking back with a crystal decanter, but stopped abruptly a step away, looking at the goblets. 

“Great, focusing clarity is exactly what I need right now,” Wriothesley struggled to keep his lopsided, shattered grin on as Neuvillette silently looked at him. He closed his fist, nails digging into a sliced up palm. Iudex knew, somehow he could tell, it was over.

Still without a word, Neuvillette closed the rest of the distance to the table and filled goblets with water from the decanter. Wriothesley immediately picked up his cup and downed it in one gulp.

Neuvillette watched him with a frown. Wriothesley didn’t have it in him to bullshit anymore, each word twisting the knife under his own ribs, and the silence stretched, only raindrops beating against the window in a frantic heartbeat. 

________

Neuvillette watched Wriothesley drink, too quickly, like it was life saving. It didn’t make sense. He could sense the stench of poison in both cups. Why would he poison his own cup and then drink it so, not even waiting for the Iudex?

Wriothesley kept smiling, though the pain emanating from him was more suitable for a lethal wound and not a cut hand. Humans made absolutely no sense. Just as the dragon started to think he was getting some understanding, just as he thought there was a human he could find trustworthy after hundreds of years among them… He couldn’t help, but think of Vautrin. A human he trusted, a human he thought he knew... Who turned on him so drastically. But betrayal he could understand, no matter how it pained him. And yet hundreds of years later to learn it was not a betrayal, but a pretense devised by Vautrin to benefit the Iudex… That he was loyal to Neuvillette in the prison the dragon sentenced him to, without ever saying a word to him, leaving him to be eaten by sorrow for all this time?

He didn’t want to live another half a thousand years in doubt, relying on blind luck to finally learn some truth. He needed answers, now. 

He circled around the table and closed the distance with the Duke in a couple of steps. Wriothesley took an instinctive step back and drew a breath through his teeth, unfitting smile finally dropping, his fists clenching with icy aura wisping over his fingers.

It wouldn’t matter. A simple vision was no match against a Sovereign.

Neuvillette raised his hand and could sense Wriothesley’s quickened heartbeat, yet he didn’t step back again.

But the Iudex knew humans were pathologically incapable of communicating openly, even for the most mundane topics. They are offended if you don’t say “Greetings” and “How are you?”, even if they never intended to tell you the truth of it. But you need to make ritualistic steps to let them do their own “Hello, thank you, I’m fine, and you?”, so you could tell them “I’m very well, thank you,” because they don’t expect sincerity for the question either. No, they abhor sincerity. But if the dance steps are taken correctly, no matter how nonsensical, then you might hope to have some meaningful communication after. 

If you didn’t do the rituals humans wanted, they would simply refuse to tell you anything of the matter. He could crush the Warden in one move, but it would not bring him answers he desired. Whatever this ridiculous game was, he needed to pretend to play, at least for a time.

And so, still keeping his gaze on the determined, infuriatingly stubborn grey-blue eyes, still standing right against him, Neuvillette picked up the remaining goblet and drank out of it.

“Will you now explain the meaning of this or do you plan on dragging on this farce?” he said after, placing the goblet down on the table. He couldn’t help but sound resentful.

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“Yeah, so, the poison I put into our drinks has an antidote. I’ve hidden it in a safe place, which I can reach within ten minutes. Otherwise the poison will start working after half an hour. Answer my questions, and if you explain yourself, I will get the antidote.”

He took a conch out of his pocket and placed it on the table, and the conch suddenly made a sound.

“Now that I have reclaimed one of the Seven Authorities from the hands of the usurpers, I have regained my true form. I am now a fully fledged dragon, powerful enough to judge the rest of the gods. My final destiny is to judge the Usurper-King in the heavens above.”

“Are these your words?” Wriothesley asked quietly when the recording stopped.

“Yes”, Neuvillette said after a pause, because they were. He watched the light flicker and die in the human’s eyes, the way he only ever saw at the moment of the especially harsh trial sentence. 

“Wow,” the Duke said hoarsely and chuckled, though even the dragon could tell it was utterly humorless. “You’re just going to admit it like that, huh.”

“I do not lie.”

“Ha! So direct lying is the line you decided to draw? Turning oceans upside down and lies by omission are fine?”

“Lies by omission? I do not owe humans disclosure of my personal identity,” Neuvillette titled his head, examining the Duke, incensed at the audacity. “What do you think you even know? Humans are not of Teyvat. This land belonged to the dragons, the elements of it were attuned to us. We are the blood and flesh of this world. Foreign invaders came and waged war on us, destroyed the natural order of the world, re-shaped the land itself to suit themselves. *They* brought you here, to take the place they carved from *us*.”

 Wriothesley drew in a sharp breath, clearly taken aback, looking away for a moment, but then he raised his eyes again, still stubborn.

“So you’re waging the war back?”

“You expect me to forget how the usurpers wiped out most of my people and killed me? How they stole a part of me and gave it to their own false god of life?” He was aware that his eyes started glowing, an outward sign of power accumulating, but he didn’t care to hide it now. “Yes, I will wage war on them. Some debts could only be paid in blood. I’d thought you of all humans would understand that.”

“I’ve never harmed an innocent,”  Wriothesley spit out. “Or do humans not count as such? What are we to you? Invasive pests?”

For the first time, the Iudex averted his gaze.

“At first, yes,” he said finally. “Or maybe more accurately… pets of my enemy. But even while it was my primary understanding, I did not let it affect my judgment as Chief Justice. You cannot accuse me of breaking my word.” 

Wriothesley took another step forward, the closest they’ve ever been, the closest any human dared to approach him.

“Breaking your word is the last fucking thing I’d care about, with everything you’ve done to us! With what…”

“Silence,” Neuvillette struck his cane in between them. Wriothesley visibly choked on a word, anger and hurt emanating from him in heated waves, but he kept silent as the Iudex continued.“If you have accusations, state them. I will not tolerate baseless insults.”

Wriothesley looked away, took a deep breath and then met his eyes squarely.

“You’ve plotted to destroy Focalors and took over Fontaine to use in a war against heavens.”

It took Neuvillette a second to process this, and then he couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.

“No, I did not. Preposterous!” How could anyone believe this was incomprehensible, clearly a flimsy excuse for the conspiracy Wriothesley himself told him before.

“Oh, that’s funny to you? That’s all you have to say?”

“Of course. What would a word of… what was it?” Neuvillette narrowed his eyes, and stretched his lips in a grin that showed the fangs he spent so many centuries hiding. “Ah, “evil monster”, mean to you?”

To his surprise, Wriothesley didn’t flinch, didn’t falter, his eyes steady, resolute.

“No, don’t try this. I was… I could tell you were not human for a long time. I would’ve stood by you, water spirit, dragon or a fucking demon from the depths of the Abyss.”

Despite the icy wisps around his hands, his emotions burned white-hot bright, angry and sincere. He seemed to really believe this, and yet, he still felt betrayed by the Iudex. Neuvillette paused, thrown aback. It was so hard without being able to communicate the thoughts directly like the vishaps did. But this… There must have been another reason for what he did then.

“If my true nature is really not the cause of your hatred…” he took a step back himself, closing his hands on the handle of his cane. “Name concrete actions you believe I’ve performed. I cannot prove a negative.”

____________

Wriothesley watched Neuvillette step back, an eerie glow in his eyes softening to his usual translucent lilacs.

“Was it you who turned fontanians from oceanids into humans who can’t be dissolved by the Primordial Sea?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you do it before? In all five hundred years?”

“Such a feat requires a full authority of the Hydro Sovereign, power of the original god of life. Large part of this power was in possession of Hydro Archon, so I could not do it, even if I wanted.”

“Hydro Archon could not do it?”

“No. The Sovereign has control over the Primordial Sea, the Archon doesn’t.”

“Did you blackmail Focalors to orchestrate her death and get that power back? Because it’s the only way to save humans?”

“No,” the Iudex said with a dismissive huff. “How would I even blackmail her? I was not in control of the prophecy. You cannot possibly think me complicit with the usurpers in the heavens.”

“You had control over the Primordial Sea, though. If not complete, then considerable. You stopped the flood in the Meripode all by yourself. And so your seal was the only thing controlling the gates to the Sea,”  Wriothesley narrowed his eyes. “And you made sure you will be the one called for when the flood comes to the Fortress so you could create that seal, did you not? You made me the Duke to ensure my loyalty, to know you will be the one I called when the time comes.”

“Is this what you think I am? This is what you think we…” Neuvillette looked at him with what seemed genuine surprise and sadness. “No, I did not plan it. And no, this is not why I petitioned for your title.”

After a moment Iudex’s surprise turned into incredulity.

“What purpose would it even serve? Tell me, if I did not fight for your title… No, even if I explicitly was the one who denied you. Would you then not call for me first anyway?”

Wriothesley exhaled slowly. It was true, there was no one else he would ask. Neuvillette was the most powerful being in Fountaine, raw strength and authority both, his word often more influential than that of the Archon, and demonstrably much more effective decision-wise. Even if Furina was the one who gave him the title and Neuvillette was against him, he’d step over his pride when there were so many lives on the line.

“Okay. How did you become the Iudex then?”

“Focalors sent me a letter of invitation.”

“Why? Why would she invite a mortal enemy to become Chief Justice?”

“You are asking me to answer for the actions of another. At least state the entire crime you think I’m guilty of.”

“That first, you’ve forced Focalors to made you Iudex to have a high seat in human society, then spent centuries waiting and building our trust. Then when the prophecy was finally about to strike, you put Furina on a trial to discredit her and secretly offered a deal to save the humans in exchange for her death and return of your power.”

“I see,” Neuvillette said after a pause. “This is not a plan a dragon would come up with, but I suppose it sounds plausible to someone scared of our kind. Fine. I will tell you what happened from my own perspective.”

“At the time I had no idea why she summoned me. She only explained herself right before the prophecy struck, at the very end of Furina’s trial.”

“She knew only Hydro Sovereign at full power could save fontanians. And she truly believed herself a god of justice. A just decision was to return the authority to the one it was stolen from. For that, she put her human part, Furina, on the throne, and hid her divinity in the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, accumulating energy from the trials, for it would take much to destroy the Archon’s throne.”

“At the same time, she invited me to serve as the Iudex, so that I would come to sympathize with the humans after living among them for so long. I was not aware of her intent.”

“In the end, she destroyed the Archon throne, which meant both her own death and Hydro authority returning to me.”

 Wriothesley swallowed, frowning. If this was true… It would mean he saved fontanians for no reason other than mercy. Despite his grief, despite the resentment anyone else would feel towards people who replaced his own. It felt wrong to continue pushing the dragon, but he had to.

“If you did not know that she planned to return your power… Why would you agree to come? To serve the “false god” who has your stolen power?”

Neuvillette looked away. He was silent for a long time, and when he spoke up, it was obviously through a struggle.

“I was trying to find a purpose,” he finally said, with quiet and raw grief. “My people were long gone, I had nothing to apply myself to. And I was born in this form, there had to be some reason for it. I just tried to find a meaning for my existence.”

It was horrible to hear him say it like this, private, deep pain gutted against his wish. Despite Iudex’s solemn and dignified manner, it was always obvious to the Duke that he carried a lot of sorrow in his heart. Wriothesley spent all his years as the Warden evading noisy journalists who demanded to learn people’s deepest secrets, and having to do this to Neuvillette left him feeling sick. 

“I’m sorry. I truly am.”

Neuvillette looked at him with his piercing illuminated eyes.

“The next logical question for your interrogation should be why I decided to save the people of Fountaine.”

 Wriothesley couldn’t stand it anymore.

“No, don’t. If all said to this point is true, I already know it. You’re far too kind to condemn all the people you’ve lived among for centuries. Even if you saw us as pets of your enemy.”

“I didn’t,” the Iudex said after a pause, almost softly. “Not at the end.”

“I believe you,”  Wriothesley said with sincerity that he knew wouldn’t be trusted.

The dragon gave him a long, measuring look, head tilted to the side, guarded in a way Wriothesley was used to seeing only turned to other people. He opened a gloved palm, showing a shimmering drop of water hovering over it.

“I can show you my memories of meeting Focalors as proof.”

Wriothesley’s first instinct demanded to see that “proof”, but he realized it was his own paranoia gnawing at him, just as it was his self-loathing that told him Neuvillette couldn’t give him title without ulterior motive. It felt like looking at moonlight through the dirty windows, and he didn’t want this to be the last thing he saw in the lilac eyes..

“No. I believe you.”

Neuvillette held his eyes for another long moment and then sighed, closing his palm. “I truly do not understand you humans.”

It wasn’t over yet.  Wriothesley forced himself to keep talking.

“Even with this all being true… There’s still a matter of war with the heavens.”

“What of it? You cannot tell me that Fontaine still holds loyalty to the Usurpers. Frankly, it baffles me that it ever did,” Neuvillette’s voice took on sarcastic notes that normally could never be heard from him. “Perhaps this is why they called us “primitive”, but in our kind you punished people who disobeyed you and not their children several generations later. And no vishap would be expected to meekly follow a god that gave them nothing but a death sentence for a crime of their ancestors.”

“It’s not a question of loyalty, it’s a question of casualties that a war like that would take.”

“Casualties? Do you imagine I plan to march humans to the flying island? This is *my* war, not Fontaine’s.”

“Fontaine is *your* country now, like it or not. It will answer for your actions.”

Neuvillette seemed briefly taken off-guard.

“You have a point. Perhaps I’m still too steeped in the notion of considering myself an outsider… But even so. Firstly, I do not plan to leave Fontaine for some time, until I’ve reformed it and could be sure it will stand on it’s own, which could take hundreds of years.”

 Wriothesley breathed out slowly, but Neuvillette held his eyes.

“Second, if you’re concerned with repercussions for my actions, be sure that Focalors signed you a death sentence thrice over. Not only subverting a prophecy, tricking the Usurper, but also destroying the Archon’s Throne to return the authority to the Sovereign? A clear sign the usurpers are slumbering or at least are in weakened state, or they would already bring down the retribution for a sin much greater than Egeria’s.”

“At this point, I *am* the only protection Fontaine could hope for,” Neuvillette’s fingers tightened on the cane, as he looked at  Wriothesley. “Unless you plan to offer them my head on the platter. It would probably work, I admit. The Usurpers are known to be partial to the convenient sacrifices as deals.”

Wriothesley swallowed a bitter chuckle.

“Yeah, after tonight, it’s fair if that’s how you think of me,” he turned, moving to the door. “I’m gonna get an antidote.”

“No need,” Neuvillette said calmly and Wriothesley froze in the middle of the room, mid-step, turning around. “Whoever told you that this… “poison” has an antidote, lied. It does not.”

“What?” his heart fell, the dagger that was lodged under his ribs suddenly sliding down to gut him open.

“This is not a poison at all. It’s a concentrated essence of the Abyss. Any poisonous effects are secondary to the corruption. A human it will kill, sure, and then the body would most likely become a possessed, shambling corpse, driven by the dark urge. A god… a lesser god it might also kill, yes, but for stronger ones it’s meant to corrupt.”

An open wound under Wriothesley’s ribcage turned into an aching fearful whirlpool, cold and black and gnawing.

“An abyss corruption doesn’t kill Sovereigns, but drives us to madness,” Neuvillette continued calmly. “Which could risk contamination of the Primordial Sea if I do eventually die while still corrupted.”

“There must be a way to stop it,” Wriothesley said hoarsely, hearing himself as if from behind a glass wall, numb and petrified. “No. No, it’s can’t be, no, listen, I…” he tried to come up with a plan and couldn’t. He was never so terrified in his life. This couldn’t happen, he could not allow it. Healers seemed useless, if it’s the Abyss curse and not poison, besides, if Neuvillette was the god of life he’d know better, wouldn’t he? But…

“I sense you’re scared. Why?” Neuvillette said suddenly, frowning. “Obviously since I’ve sensed the poison, I’ve removed it beforehand.”

“Removed?”

“It’s a liquid. I’m a Hydro Sovereign,” Neuvillette said slowly, like he was talking to an idiot. “Next time you want to kill me, maybe try something not in my direct control.”

“Fuck,” relief kicked  Wriothesley under the knees and behind the eyes at the same time, leaving his head empty and legs weak. Which left him wide open for the alcohol, tiredness and general shitshow of this night to finally make a strike, now that he knew both Fontaine and Neuvillette were safe. Now he could afford to lose focus.

He stumbled blindly to the side and crashed into the sofa, crumbling to the floor. He managed to sit up and lean against the sofa instead of just sprawling prone, which at this point counted as victory. He was too dizzy to track time, but after some moments, he registered Neuvillette walking up to stop a few steps away and hover awkwardly.

“I did not mean to mislead you like this.”

“It’s fine, you’ve been doing it for years. It was just never with fear before.”

He shouldn’t have said that. But then again, what did it matter? The dragon wouldn’t get it, and  Wriothesley was going to be dead in a few minutes anyway. It would probably be more polite to get out of here before he did, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. He was so fucking tired and, frankly, selfishly would want to die next to Neuvillette than alone. Even if the immortal dragon was going to remember him as a betrayer who ruined his carpet in death. Oh well, luckily, humans didn’t reincarnate, so he wouldn’t have to face it later.

“You’ve put the poison into both of our cups, but there was only one portion of an antidote,” Neuvillette said after a pause. “Why?”

He shrugged, not looking up.

“Well, either you really were a plotting tyrant, and then I don’t want to live in the world where for so many years I’ve… trusted you. Or you were not, and then I do not want to live in a world where I did this to you.”

He heard Neuvillette sigh, with slow and heavy exasperation, and then the dragon sat down on the sofa. Wriothesley could see his crossed legs and hands closing on the handle of the cane from the corner of his eye.

“Absolutely nothing could be simple with you humans, could it?”

“I’m sorry, if it would even mean anything to you,” he wanted to explain himself, but the apologies from someone who betrayed him were probably the last thing the Iudex wanted to hear right now.  Wriothesley could still be useful though. “I think you should seriously look into the conspiracy. The initial thread I got was from the prisoner named Jacque, but the real…”

“I think we should postpone this discussion until you’re no longer drunk and falling in pieces on my floor.”

Wriothesley blinked.

“I… The poison is gonna kick in in a few minutes?”

“I already told you I’ve removed it.”

He turned his head, finally looking up at Neuvillette.

“Even from my goblet?”

“Obviously,” the Iudex looked briefly scandalized. “Why would I leave it?”

“...Because I tried to poison you?”

“That’d be barbaric.”

“That’d be a fitting sentence,” Wriothesley chuckled, looking away. “Oh, sorry, of course. You’ll have me on the trial then.”

The dragon was silent for a long time.

“No,” he said finally.

“What? Why?”

“This situation is largely my own fault,” Neuvillette said, melancholic and very tired, but his voice was still firm. “I should have seen this change of power as a weak point to attract the opportunist piranhas. And as my true identity is kept secret, I’ve only made it easier for them to exploit both the existing prejudices and the insecurities of this turbulent time.”

“You can’t take responsibility for that.”

“Of course I can,” Neuvillette said, with immediate certainty of stating an absolute fact and not an opinion. “What else are the gods for?”

Wriothesley chuckled roughly. Historically, the gods were for watching humans suffer and judging how boring the spectacle is. 

“Fortunately, I am not bound by the laws of either humans or heavens. I can afford the luxury of mercy.”

 Wriothesley looked up. Of course. He decided to forgive and save his foes, what else could you expect.

“Don’t pity me. I am a poor place to bestow divine mercy. I knew what I was doing, and it’s what I expected to die for, not live with.”

“You will have to,” Neuvillette said, meeting his eyes, strict and solemn. ”You are needed by your people.”

 Wriothesley ran his fingers through his hair and buried face in his hands, fighting an urge to lean against the Iudex’ legs. “I had always failed the ones who needed me the most, didn’t I? From all these years ago, it hasn't changed.”

“That’s not true. What you said about your title…” Neuvillette said suddenly. “Even with the worst assumptions about my plotting, I had no way of knowing when the Usurpers’ prophecy would finally strike, and that you will be the Meropide’s Warden at that time. There were Wardens more financially successful or the ones whose loyalty could really be bought with such a favor, but I’ve never petitioned for a title to the Warden before. That title was recognition that you brought fairness to the Fortress, a real option for people to start anew. I thought we had an unspoken understanding of that.”

He thought he reached the far end of how painful it could feel, but now he took a ragged breath and it sliced his throat down to the collarbones.

“I know, I thought so too. I thought… Listen, I’m sorry. No matter how much you despise me now, believe me, I hate myself much more.”

“I don’t despise you,” Neuvillette said, almost with a surprise, turning his head to catch  Wriothesley’s eyes, which he desperately avoided. “I would, if I could suspect you of selfishness in this. But I believe you did what you thought was to protect your people, and I can’t despise that, even if I find the method distasteful.”

 Wriothesley couldn’t bring himself to talk, even breathing was painful and shaky through a lump in his throat.

“Maybe it’s just the clearest sign that I do not belong here after all,” Neuvillette said with resignation after a beat. “At that recent investigation, you were the one who convinced me I was accepted by Fontaine, even had an influence in shaping it. If even you came to stop believing that…”

“No. I didn’t, I…” he finally managed to speak up and willed himself to concentrate through the dizziness and despair. “In my office, I left a signed confession of attempting to kill you. For personal vendetta. Your death would have been seen as a tragedy, your influence solidified even more.”

“You would let your own memory be tainted to preserve my image, even if it was false?”

“Well, I already have a pretty sordid history, don’t I? Not much to ruin and not hard to believe I would do it. Of course it’d be worth preserving your legacy. The fairness, the trial is the only place where the wealthy and the poor, strong and weak would be treated equally,” he shrugged helplessly, struggling to spell this out. “I would have still believed in what you represented even if I could no longer believe you.”

He finally looked up to see Neuvillette looking at him thoughtfully.  

“Don’t give up on us,” he said quietly. “At least on everyone else. Please.”

The dragon was silent for some time, looking away, his face unmoving, unreadable. 

“This is the first time you’ve asked anything of me directly,” he said finally. “I’ll  remember.”

He looked back at Wriothesley, frowning.

“But you’re in such sharp pain, it should be treated. How badly was your hand wounded? Show me.”

“It’s fine. It’s nothing.”

But Neuvillette already extended an open hand and leveled him an expecting glare, so Wriothesley had no choice but to reluctantly place his own into the gloved palm.

“You still have little glass shards there.”

“It’s fine, don’t bother. I’ve dealt with worse.”

But the Iudex was already untangling the bandages, loop after loop, methodically, carefully, and Wriothesley willed himself to keep still, to keep breathing evenly, looking up from where he was sitting on the floor, his treacherous fingers twitching, his heartbeat echoing in his ears. Neuvillette got rid of the last of black damp strips of cloth and looked down, frowning, before swiping a thumb over Wriothesley’s palm. His wounds prickled as the tiny glistening shards were forced out of his flesh and his hand shuddered, mostly from surprise.

“Apologies.”

“It’s fine.”

It was not fine, but for completely different reasons. Neuvillette’s thumb slid over his palm again, his touch feeling light and cool, and too, too gentle, and the slices closed with no scars left. Almost numbly, Wriothesley watched gloved fingertips become stained with his blood, and it felt wrong, almost obscene to dirty the impeccable attire like that. But then even through the obedient haze the thought struck him. If Neuvillette could sense emotions just by being nearby and he could read the entire lifespan of the tea bush by tasting a cup, then what could touching blood tell him?..

“Ah. I should have realized that the emotions I’ve felt from the tea were far too strong for an unthinking plant,” Neuvillette’s fingers stopped moving, lingered for a moment and then slowly circled Wriothesley’s palm in a gesture he’d read as caress if it wasn’t so unthinkable. “It was your yearning that amplified the taste. A dream of rain for a lifetime raised in a drought.”

He couldn’t bring himself to look up, all thoughts scattered, eyes fixed on the gloved fingers on his palm, until they finally started to move away, and then instinctively, he closed his hand and caught them. For a moment he waited for a divine retribution to strike him down for the audacity, and when it didn’t happen, he finally met Neuvillette’s eyes, and they were soft lilacs, not radiant anger. 

“You are misguided, I’m afraid,” he said, and it sounded patient and just a little sad. “We are of different worlds. No matter how much I might look like a human, I’m not and I’ll never be one.”

 Wriothesley held his gaze and carefully, slowly tagged the glove off. Neuvillette’s brows shot up, but he didn’t move. His hand would be the epitome of what was usually described as aristocratic - narrow, with long, elegant fingers, pale and soft, making  Wriothesley’s hand look even more dark and rough by contrast. But there *was* something out of ordinary - the dusting of pearly blue scales at his knuckles. And with every second of being free of the glove, the scales spread, a gentle shimmer of the waves licking farther into the sand of the coast, and the short nails started darkening and elongating. 

 Wriothesley smiled and, holding Neuvillette’s eyes, pressed his lips against the scales on the dragon’s knuckles. “I wouldn’t want something you are not.”

He couldn’t believe his own audacity, but, well, what did he have to lose after tonight? 

“I don’t think you realize how far the differences run.”

“I don’t think you realize how strong human desires run,” he said, lips still against Neuvillette’s knuckles, but then breathed out and forced himself to let go of the Iudex’ hand.. “But it doesn’t matter if you don’t care.”

Suddenly, instead of moving away, Neuvillette’s fingers moved to catch  Wriothesley’s chin, and the human froze, holding his breath.

“If I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t even let you into my office so late,” the dragon said calmly, slowly moving his thumb over  Wriothesley’s lower lip, long dark claw pressing just on the verge of drawing blood. “You think I would indulge anyone else in playing this pretend poison game?”

This hit Wriothesley harder than alcohol. He opened his mouth to let Neuvillette’s thumb in, pointedly holding his eyes. Iudex’ face stayed calm, but narrow white pupils pulsed, flaring up, making for a moment anything seem possible, and  Wriothesley grinned, taking more of the dragon’s thumb in.

After a heartbeat, Neuvillette moved his arm, letting go of  Wriothesley and folding his hands on the handle of the cane in a familiar gesture. But now, the orderly gloved fingers intertwined with bare fingers, with deep blue and black scales covering almost all of visible skin, dark claws settling against expensive cloth, gold embellishments on one hand and gold ridges growing on the knuckles Wriothesley just kissed on the other hand, maddeningly tempting.

“This is not a conversation we should have when you’re in drunken shock.”

“Listen, I’ve never been more sure of anyth…”  Wriothesley managed to get out, but Neuvillette raised black-blue, scaly, storm-swirled, golden-ridged hand and snapped the clawed fingers and the world went dark.