#kaeya lore so deep

[paw-padss]

kaeya headcannons just bc i can ^^;

horseback riding date.

flirtatious little bastard. whenever or wherever he always seems to find away to tease and mess with you. gravitating closer to you, gently brushing hair out your face, his techniques straight out of a cheesy romcom it’s ridiculous

likes to decorate you with little kisses, best believe that when you leave the house your lips will be puffy

occasionally takes you on fancy dinner dates. 3 course meals, fancy dresses, extravagant gifts, expensive drinks, the whole 9 yards.

let’s you play with his hair. braid it, curl it, straighten it, decorate it, whatever it is he’ll let you do it. doesn’t mind being your test dummy!

the type of guy who swears he will get you that giant plushie from the rigged stand at the carnival, blows a whole bunch of money and still doesn’t win it so he just ends up buying it off the guy at the stand.

SUPERRRR cheesey like a whole dairy aisle worth cheese, no elaboration.

acts of service, loves to help you out and do things for you. also gift giving just because

[torgawl]

talking about deaths. i need genshin to give us main cast deaths!!! it would spice things up so much

[huiyi07]

hey so do you guys ever think about how often Diluc is referred to as the ‘uncrowned king of Mondstadt’ since he’s like the only male heir to the noble families and like it or not, where Jean is the authority of the nation, he’s pretty much the symbolic face of Mondstadt and the values the nation projects— and despite his temperament, Diluc has learned to embrace it wholeheartedly. He’s charismatic, extremely righteous, and he blazes bright and gives the people of Mondstadt a fire that guides them in the dark, quite literally. Like he’s literally Bruce Wayne lmao

But he doesn’t want this, no, and here’s the proof- maybe he did, once upon a time, before everything happened— but he doesn’t really care about wine, he only cares about the winery because of the people in it and his father. He’s righteous but doesn’t give a damn about the rules and the knights of favonius. After what happened to him, he’s clearly a rebel at heart now, not some charming superhero who does everything expected of him, unlike before. In summary, Diluc was someone who was quite literally ready to become an (uncrowned) prince, pretty much royalty in every way except title- and on surface level, he still is, but he throws that mantle away in secret whenever he can.

And then look at Kaeya, his brother who’s always lived in his shadow. It’s easy to see that now, people don’t really project Mondstadt’s values onto Kaeya the same way they do onto Diluc, since lots of people hardly even remember that they’re brothers. And yeah people still think kaeya is reliable and nice, but also because of how Kaeya built his image after Diluc left— an excessively over the top personality that pretends to be sadistic, mean, and at the same time dripping with false charm. So despite that people still find him approachable and nice as expected of a knight, hardly anyone would call him befitting of a prince.

But Kaeya is actually so painfully and authentically ‘princely’ and kind, deep down— the way he deals with children, his fierce loyalty and willingness to protect people at all costs, his self sacrificial tendencies that most often appear for Diluc’s sake. Even the tidbits of lore we get about him scream aristocracy- his ‘ceremonial’ bladework, Alberich family secrets that reveal just how central they are to the kingdom of khaenriah. This is kinda obvious to any player who’s bothered to learn anything about kaeya, but to the characters in game, there are very few that know that side of him.

And whereas Diluc is forcibly projected the title of royalty and secretly rejects it, Kaeya was actually born into it- his family is very important to Khaenriah, and much like how he does with anything related to his past and heritage, he loudly and outwardly rejects anything to do with ‘royalty’. Diluc outwardly rejects what Kaeya shows (a darker, more ‘means justify the end’ nature), and Kaeya tries to hide what Diluc projects (a sophisticated and aristocratic upbringing).

Honestly? It’s as if they were swapped at birth. Kaeya’s real hidden nature, even after everything that happened to him, remains to be so unwavering and people-oriented, while Diluc’s true personality changed drastically over time. Not that Diluc isn’t unwavering or whatever, but Diluc mostly actively rejects relationships and prefers to do everything alone, obsessed with the idea that he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, whereas Kaeya always, always yearns for companionship and for people to be by his side- solidarity.

Diluc is the poster image of royalty, but his brother who hides in the shadows is a real king. They complete each other, balance each other out, represent the parts that the other hides. I don’t know if hoyoverse always meant them to be that way, but damn they basically represent each other’s parts of themselves that they lost. Yin and Yang, two halves of the same whole.

[amarisrosalette]

Hey, don’t you think it’s a coincidence that this year’s Father’s Day is in correlation with Venti’s birthday? Look.

Let me rant.

The fact that it’s also Venti’s birthday is no coincidence to me, because Venti is technically a “father” in a sense.

I would like to add more photos where Venti was actively playing his role as an archon but the sources are a little difficult to find again because they’re mostly statements and quotes from the game.

Although not a “father” in a literal sense, we can safely say that he is a dedicated god to Mondstadt, and looks after them in a way a father would. He dotes on them regularly, as seen many times in various events and quests such as with the case of Klee or Sister Grace in Kaeya’s hangout event. He thinks of Mondstadt as his children and actively does what he can to help from the sidelines, and bring about little changes of hope.

He also values his children’s wishes and never tries to dilute or shame them for it, regardless of how “childish” it might look as seen in Klee’s case, showing that he viewed them as growing individuals, not people deserving to be punished. Speaking of such things, Venti was also betrayed several times by his children like the Lawrence clan straying from their oath to freedom and rise to tyranny, and from Signora despising him and outright disrespecting him while stealing his Gnosis. Yet, he had so much graciousness to still consider them children of Mondstadt, and that takes a lot of strength than people might think. His love is unconditional and flows in everything he does for his people.

There were so many times when Venti had treated Mondstadt and the Traveler with nothing but kindness, but gets repayed and portrayed by the fandom as nothing more than a lazy drunkard or a “useless” archon. Venti is such an underrated character but gets awfully mischaracterized by the fandom and his character is understood as nothing outside of his alcoholism.

People can come at me for this but I partially blame Paimon for misleading people with the drunken bard jokes, and for the rest of the fandom for having NO media literacy to even scour for the actual lore of his character. I swear some people can be so dense-minded when it comes to characterization.

Going back to my point, I’m saying that if we just remove the close-mindedness to his character and look deep enough, we’ll see that Venti truly is a wonderfully written character on the inside and deserves much more than the treatment he’s getting.

Venti’s done so much for his people, and for that he truly deserves to be recognized as a father in this special day. I’m waiting for people to recognize this and maybe write or draw more content of him being a father figure to his children in Mondstadt.

Venti deserves the title of a father because he loves his children like one.

People I wanna tag just because: @ventisslut @carmendeiact2whenplz @windcarvedlyre @lanternlightss (feel free to share your thoughts in the tags!)

[valberryventi]

all metaphors fall away when diluc ragnvindr becomes a little tipsy.

the winery's business party starts off seamlessly. no one was drinking excessively just yet (except for that bard, of course). as host, he wanted to stay sober. he knew every drink by heart, every scent, every measurement. surely, in this party, he wouldn't drink. he's always known to keep his hands off the alcohol, so why now?

it takes a rosy-cheeked smile from you from the other side of the banquet hall, and diluc absentmindedly takes a drink with firewater, bulle fruit, and zatyun peaches. diluc first thinks it was juice, that is, until, the light buzz of alcohol gets to his head. kaeya's gotten too good at mixing drinks, damn him.

you were a painter. you were his go-to artist when it came to commissioning moments he'd like to keep in the brushstrokes. you had frequent interaction with him leading up to this event, and, well, he's gotten quite fond of you.

with a bit of the cocktail flowing through his system, he takes another look at you and thinks archons, you're amazing. breathtaking. stunning. he wanted to take your hand and kiss the back of it. he wanted to have you in ways a gentleman would disprove of. he wanted to be selfish—a word he despises, yet inserted itself in his vocabulary at the thought of you.

your hands brush against his as you make your way through the crowd. you give him another smile as pink dusts your cheeks ever-so slightly, but diluc doesn't miss it.

"diluc," you shake him out of his reverie as you catch him stare. "are you alright?"

he absolutely wanted your lips on his at that very moment. he manages to make eye contact with you, taking your hand in his gently. he almost doesn't notice the way your blush deepens despite the dim lighting.

"of course i'm alright." he says. the liquid courage hits him in that split second, now that he had your hand in his. he takes a deep breath.

"i would like to request you be with me for the rest of the evening."

you raise an eyebrow, trying to keep your heart from beating too loudly. "and what does my presence have to do with anything?"

he smiles back at you this time, thumb rubbing circles over your hand, hoping he conveyed it properly through his tipsy state. "i like having you with me... that is, if you do not m—"

"i don't mind." you step closer to him. "i've been waiting for you to say that all night."

diluc's eyes sparkle with mirth. "then we have no problem."

all metaphors fall away when diluc ragnvindr becomes a little tipsy. but, perhaps, it was you who made him remove all the unnecessary flowery musings and thoughts. after all, you were already the poetry and the art he wanted in his life.

hi guys! it's been a while hehe. i wrote this in an actual tipsy state and i was being very direct so. uh. why not project on my beloved fictional man

if you guys want to read more of this, let me know via asks! i've been meaning to do an x reader / character / lore analysis but i am too Afraid. anyway have this hehe

[egoistrin]

letters from the past

DILUC RAGVINDR X FEM!READER

[🐰] angst. female reader. use of the word y/n. hurt no comfort. mentions of diluc's past/lore. may contain typos and grammatical errors. this is cross-posted on my ao3 account. likes and reblogs are very much appreciated!

Dear Diluc,

I heard from the knights that you had left Mondstadt and went on your way to pursue people who had given your father the delusion. I assume you are on your way to Snezhnaya? The Fatui are mighty and I hope you know that but I know I cannot change your mind as you are as stubborn as ever. You are doing this to give justice to your father's death, Mr. Crepus was a good man and he didn't deserve to be disrespected by Mr. Eroch. I truly understand your decision. However, these are just my thoughts as a knight. I hope you do not mind me babbling about my feelings as someone who holds you dear to my heart.

I cannot accept the news that you had left Mondstadt. I hate it as it was the first thing that I heard in the morning. You know me well enough to know that I do not want to hear this information. So, why? I could always help you, Diluc. Why did not you consult me? I thought you trusted me? We have gone through so many talks about this already. Did you not promise me? I understand your grieving but I do not understand your rash decisions to leave the city and go risk your life hunting the Fatuis. It will not go well as Snezhnaya has the most powerful military in all of Teyvat. Why do you have to be stubborn? Why can you not just let Grand Master Varka and Jean handle the situation? At the end of the day, Mr. Crepus is already dead. A mere person like me cannot change the hard-headed Diluc Ragnvindr. If this letter finds you, you are not obligated to reply. Safe travels, Diluc.

From, Y/n

No matter how many times Diluc had read this letter, he always felt the twinge of pain in his chest. He finds himself thinking of the answers he can give Y/n in her letter but he chose to be quiet. It is better this way. He is not sure if his answer would suffice to cover all her questions or not. He would rather feel miserable than face her again.

After all, is it not a bit scandalous to talk to a married woman in his manor?

Diluc puts the letter down and his eyes roam at the table. He was about to organize the papers when he saw the other letter written by Y/n. Compared to the first letter, this one appears the latest and less crumpled than the other one. He took a deep breath before opening the letter, preparing himself not to breakdown as he already knows the content of the letter like the back of his hand.

Diluc finds himself questioning if he is a masochist or not. I mean, why would you even read the letter your ex-girlfriend sent you? Finally, he opened the paper, and beautiful handwriting greets Diluc's eyes.

To Diluc Ragnvindr,

I hope you are having a good day Mr. Diluc. I have heard from Lisa that you came back from your adventure yesterday. I am disappointed as I cannot greet you in person as I was busy dealing with work. It has been four years since you left Mondstadt. I assume you had your questions answered now? I assume yes, 4 years' worth of traveling and not even a single clue? Impossible, you are a well-capable man, Mr. Diluc. Kaeya told me you left your vision.... I do not know what to say, I deduced that you used your father's delusion to survive. That is dangerous but never mind, the fact that you are home now puts my mind at ease.

This is probably not the right time to say this but I am now married. My parents decided to put me into an arranged marriage as they could not stand the sight of me waiting for a man whose return is unknown. I tried to oppose them, insisting on waiting for you but as time goes by I can no longer hold on. This is not your fault Diluc, I have come to accept my fate. I am just a mere woman compared to your father. I understand that you would choose to avenge your father's death than fulfill a stupid promise to marry me. I hope that one day, you can let go of your past and decide to move on from all of the things that happened. In that way, you can find your happiness and find someone you love. I have faith in you, I will forever cherish you and our memories together.

From, Y/n L/n

Words cannot describe how Diluc wants to hold you in his arms and apologize for being away from you the whole time. Yes, he needs to search for clues behind his father's death but he cannot stand letting you go. He finds himself wishing for another chance to makeup the time that he missed with you, a chance to redo his mistake, and a chance to spend time with his family again. He cannot help thinking that this is all his fault, from his father's death, his and Kaeya's fight, and to your marriage to another man. But alas, he cannot turn back time. Yet he still holds that prayer tight, If Barbatos is listening to him right now he just hopes that He will give Diluc a chance to live his life again.

He holds your letter tight to his chest as tears sprung down from his eyes. Someone walking on him crying is not his concern right now, he can easily order them to forget what they saw.

Who would have expected that Diluc Ragnvindr can cry from just a single letter? But Diluc has always been emotional, he just tries his best not to show any emotion as he claims himself not the same anymore. Most people see Diluc as grumpy but he is not. He is just reserved, a fragile person, that is. A single letter from his past is sufficient for Diluc to show emotions.

[🐰]. i miss diluc so much for real 😭 i need more of his lore !!! hoyoverse give us more diluc crumbs !!! i miss my man !!! i still remember the time that i rlly wanted diluc so much... sighsss... good times fr. reblogs guys plss!

[soft-cristobalite]

Tbf I feel like it's mostly the fandom's fault, because Kaeya's hangout was, like, super foreshadow-y??? We basically get a monologue about his repationship with his father, K'haenria, possibly Dain. He let's us decide on the play, throws us the prop, hinting at our role in his future (or, maybe, that he's still unsure about his choice, and rather let somebody —anybody— else make it for him??). Adelinde tells us about his childhood with Diluc, confirming that Diluc was a little menace and Kaeya was 'a gentle child'. Also there's this little moment with Venti that is mostly telling about his character than Kaeya's, but is still endearing.

Also I heard about Kaeya changing how he refers to Crepus in CN yet again, but I'm not the one to talk about it.

sigh i think it’s telling that the only discussions i saw of the recent kaeya hangout are the usual mistranslation battles, and from what i saw there was absolutely nothing new about those either i was considering going back to genshin to play just kaeya’s thing but… at this point it doesn’t seem like the writers are interested in providing anything new or exciting, as if there’s a complete moratorium on developing older plotlines and characters 

[thatdeadaquarius]

m thinkin abt the “blunt vs flowery” language thing and…… in the year of our lord 2023, i don't even want to imagine how far back we'd have to go in genshins timeline until we see ‘hey shawty' written on a cave wall-

you try to be better about it, sometimes, using only the fanciest words and the most floral of tones, but all you ever succeed in doing is giving zhongli flashbacks to the archon war-

in the same vein: modern humor. would literally make them think "is this some sort of divine joke im too mortal to understand?" except even the archons need to cite sources on why a piece of bread falling over would be funny- maybe you slip sometimes, but you only ever get halfway through like “i’m neurodivergent and a minor” before you realize they don’t know what that means— “what if i had blue hair and pronouns” but they’re just sitting there like… doesn’t everybody have pronouns….? and kaeya has blue hair- are you implying he’s divine? what about chongyun?? xingqiu??????

anyway um. this is me bringing up my unfortunate (but very funny) habit of saying “i’ll boil you like soup” whenever i’m mildly inconvenienced and hoping it triggers Thoughts about the casual/slang threats we make and how they cope

sorry if this reads incoherently it’s 1am for me rn— also i’m debating becoming a regular anon here, are your applications open? 👉👈

SORRY IF I RAN U OFF BY NOT REPLYING QUICKLY!! BUT I’D LOVE TO HAVE LABELLED ANONS! I’ve already added some taken name I could see in my mailbox so check the pinned post and choose whatever isn’t taken! phrase or emoji, etc.! :)

this isnt super long bc ur stuff seemed chill on its own/idk what I could add! So I just focused on one aspect

gif is literally everyone reacting to you trying to speak “flowery” like them lol

ALSO u guys probably dont remember bc I took so long but I’m still writing/going to post that Blunt Lang. AU Fanfic One-Shot! so here’s some quick headcanons ill add on ive got anon!!

No TWs/Content Warnings. SFW.

so this was gonna be chill but-

BESDIES RANDOM SHIT LIKE MEME REFERENCES

THAT WONT MAKE SENSE TO THEM BC INHERENT INTERNET/DIGITAL UNDERSTANDING NEEDED

WHAT IF ALL UR JOKES OR REFERENCES ARE QUITE LITERALLY, ANCIENT??

like anon said about even the archons having to pull out sources/cite your stuff to understand it, like finding really old tablets/scrolls/carved wall words 😭

u giving Zhongli a history lesson/brush up LMAO

If ur annoyed at them u just need to make more jokes, leave em scrambling for their pocket notes LOL

I like to think since you sound the OLDEST

that the ancient shit like Phanes/Four Shades/Seven Sovereigns are the closest in speech

(look theyre all alive and shit for my genshin, goddamit i still gotta tell u guys abt my genshin fill-in lore au)

and they’re closer to the “beginning of history” in teyvat so theyd get more references

theyd literally understand u the best and they like, all in the Abyss or like deep in Teyvat,

so u just casually strolling up to Azdaha’s place instead like

“How’s your day been Azhy?”

“Same as the days many before, my lord. How are thee?”

“Good enough, hey, why don’t I bring some food from my old world by that I’ve made for you to try out? Something new, y’know?”

camera pan left to see Zhongli looking up, then back down as he scribbles notes trying to better understand, Xiao has crossed his arms and is squinting, Ganyu is behind Zhongli and is trying to peek over his shoulder, Cloud Retainer and other adepti have like hidden nearby to overhear lol

♤

FLASHBACKS FOR ZHONGLI-

HE’S OVER HERE LIKE

“Please do not disturb your countenance my Wànsuìyé, the vernacular is pleasant to mine ears and sufficient for speech.”

“I shall, uh, try my best Zhongli, thought I know ye have- wait- thy have? Whatever, accepted it, I shall keep attempting to better match thee!”

HIS FACE-

He’s literally just → 😰😣💀

(flashback to at least 1 really ancient/old god he had to fight for his life against, they were the hardest battle he’s ever faced, and Azhdaha was helping him by that point too, so it wasn’t even like he won alone… rip zhongli got ptsd)

He keeps trying to subtly stop you from practicing it, he also desperately discourages others from helping you 😭

(Zhongli was about to be called Rex Lapis again when Venti was trying to get on his last nerve by constantly encouraging you to speak fancier, but in the incorrect way, at dinner with them one time)

Like that last content with them pretending not to kow each other but 5x the tension and Venti is fooling around even more so than usual lol

THANKS FOR SENDING IN YOUR IDEAS!! I FUCKING LOVE HEARING OTHER PPLS BRAINROTS OVER STUFF!! AND SORRY AGAIN IT TOOK FOREVER!! ITS BEEN A ROUGH YEAR OF UNI FOR ME/IM GRADUATING!! <333 TYSM ANON!!

Safe Travels,

💀 ♒

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonderss / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylazaa / @genshin-impacts-mee / @wholesomey-artistt / @thedevioussmirk

[ikimaru]

other than scaramouche and childe, who would you say is your favorite genshin character? play wise or lore/story wise?

lore wise def Kaeya is an early game fav, also Dain, whenever he's an update there's some interesting lore revealed hmm

Nahida, Tighnari and Collei and other Sumeru characters (I'm biased towards Sumeru bc it's the region that got me into playing lmao) like even Layla and Faruzan, I have them on my teams so often, team bias hahah

but there's so many characters in the game so def more from other regions too, also in general there's a bunch of characters that I want to look more into but bc their storylines aren't within the main story and I have to do a deep dive for info in past events and just scattered around I haven't taken the time to yet 💀

like I did that for Scara bc he's my fav and so I looked for aaall the info I could find, there might be more stuff I haven't even found yet (I mean some of his lore is in an artifact set description of all places)

[genshincreatorau]

CreatorAU Headcanons Part 1

【summary】 — some general headcannons on the subject of this AU and then my idea of how your visit to mondstadt would go.

【contains】 — clingy genshin men . flirting?

【characters】 — Venti . Diluc . Kaeya

this is just some general knowledge about my version of the CreatorAU that I follow for my writing.

The Reader wakes up in Teyvat after the events of the game, meaning the traveler and their twin is nowhere to be found. having already left.

The Reader and the Creator are not exactly the same thing, while the Reader is from our world, as they are just you. the Creator is a consciousness that shares your body.

The creator is so deeply interwoven with your own mind that it might as well just be the memories of a previous life. one that you've now returned to!

The Reader has seen everything just like how we see it in the game all the way up to the Fontaine quest. before they got isekai'd and wake up sometime after the end of the game.

Now the only pressing matter left in Teyvat is the arrival of their one and only Creator. (that's you!)

the worship of the creator is not as wide spread as you'd think. it's different with each region.

it all depends on how much power and influence your acolytes hold in their nation.

now that all the boring lore stuff is out of the way, onto the character Headcanons!

Mondstadt

the people of mondstadt generally don't know much about you as the creator, nor is it really that deep into your worship.

however the same can not be said for those you've shared a connection with via the intertwined fates.

each of your acolytes expresses their devotion in different ways and the ones in mondstadt tend to take it a bit more lightly then say the ones in Inazuma.

Venti

Venti is the first to greet you when you arrived.

when you come to visit the land of freedom he is quick to show his face.

greeting you with a bow and a cheeky line about how he'd been wondering when you'd pay him a visit.

you in your current state aren't able to manipulate any of the elements so he is happy to help you move around more freely.

he'll give you a tour of the city, this bard is at your service, entertaining you with songs that tell tales of his people.

After you get approached by Jean and Diluc, your attention wanes off of him and he might just have whisk you into the air. gently placing you both in the arms of his statue. a fitting place for you if he does say so himself.

you fit so perfectly in his arms. don't worry, he let go.

you won't get a straight answer as to why he brought you here but its not hard to guess.

he'll redirect your attention to all the points of interests across Mondstadt. an arm not so subtly wrapping around your waist as he points out the places he could take you to.

Diluc

his first attempt to approach you was cut short by the bards childish whims to have you to himself.

he had come to speak with you about your stay in Mondstadt, ready to offer you lodgings at his Manor.

it was only fitting that someone as important as you were to stay with him, a noble of high esteem.

not to mention the fact that he did not trust the Knights of Favonius with your safety. especially with the fatui still lurking around.

that's why he'd approached you when he noticed you speaking with Jean. unfortunately, he did not get the chance to bring up his offer.

no matter, if he knew Venti (and he did) then he'd be by angel's share come evening.

so he stayed in town, taking a shift at the bar and giving Charles the night off.

and just as he'd thought the infamous bard was quick to show his face, hand in hand with you and insisting you try the dandelion wine.

The drinks were on the house that night, if only so that he could have enough time to make a proper introduction. without Venti taking the spot light.

Diluc made sure not to waste any of your time. getting straight to the question at hand on where it is you were planning to stay during your time in Mondstadt.

it didn't matter if you had plans to stay somewhere or not, he'd still make his offer for you to stay at the winery.

Whether you'd accept his offer was up to you.

but keep in mind, your decision would determine whether he'd get to sleep at home that night or if he'd stay up patrolling the streets of Mondstadt.

Diluc would stay with you until it was time to close, either escorting you to the Winery where there would be a proper meal and a bed waiting for you.

or he'd simply escort you to where ever else you'd decided to stay for the night.

this gesture, while genuine, also served to let him know exactly where he'd need to be patrolling that night.

he'd spotted the fatui following you around.

he didn't care if they we're simply watching you to reporting back on your well being, or if their intentions we're to steal you away.

he'd be rid of them either way.

they had no business being there.

at least at the Dawn Winery he could rest easy knowing you we're safe, resting in the room just next door.

...

he could still feel where your hands had rested on his arm while he escorted you.

Diluc hoped he'd be able to take a nice long walk with you around his Manor the next morning. you were pleasant company.

Kaeya

now Kaeya has a special place for you in his heart.

and no one else in mondstadt would ever truly understand why.

because his knowledge of you went further then most of your followers.

because back in Khaenri'ah, they didn't worship any of the Seven Archons. They worshiped you.

and although you might not remember the sacrifice you had made, and no one cared to inform you about what had happened. he'd still show his gratitude in any way he could.

he'd known that getting some time with you would be difficult when everybody would be vying for your attention.

so he had decided to postpone his introduction until the evening of your arrival.

suggesting to Jean that offering you a place to stay at the Favonius headquarters was the best course of action.

hence his disappointment when she returned with the news that she had been unsuccessful.

but apparently they weren't the only ones to make the offer. his brother was doing the exact same thing.

so, when he caught wind that you had indeed stayed at the dawn winery, he'd made his way back home.

he thoroughly enjoyed the look he'd gotten from his brother when he interrupted your stroll around the garden.

Diluc seemed so agitated. it was so amusing.

he stayed there the entire time. making conversation and putting on the charm.

though it wasn't until you walked back inside the manor that he took the time to properly greet you.

holding his hand out to you as if to shake it, only to plant a kiss on the back of your hand.

he had lingered just long enough for you to question if he was truly just being polite, it seemed almost purposeful.

as if to savor it.

this didn't go unnoticed by Diluc, and it seemed to burn up whatever patience he had left.

they didn't get into a physical fight, but the tension was palpable and you'd decided to take your leave before anyone got hurt.

heading back towards Mondstadt to continue your exploits in the city.

【notes】 — this got pretty out of hand, i only meant to write something short for each nation but instead you got Mondstadt and three of its people. well! if anyone's reading this and would like to request specific characters or scenario then go for it!

[certainempatheticturkeymuffin]

Funny Genshin Headcanons Based Off of my In-Game Teams!

Super long post, but I had fun with this!

Please note that I don't know all the lore perfectly, so some of these may be out of character. It's also colored a lot by my experiences playing them, especially the adventuring teams ♡

-

(General Traveling Team) Venti, Kokomi, Bennett, Kazuha

Kokomi has saved everyone at least once and will make everyone stand next to the jellyfish after a fight whether or not they're injured.

She also constantly freezes herself and her teammates, but her healing means they can't really get mad at her. She can certainly get mad at herself though.

Venti and Kazuha have a rivalry and often compare poetry in moments of repose.

Kazuha will use a leaf to play backing music to Venti's lullabies at night. He always falls asleep before the end of the song.

Venti and Kazuha also get into stupid competitions while climbing mountains. Venti frequently runs out of stamina, and Kazuha frequently slides all the way back down after misjudging the angle of the slope.

Bennett is beloved by the group. Venti is the most frequent victim of his bad luck.

Meaning: Venti is frequently set on fire and hit by enemies that really shouldn't have been able to hit him.

Most of the time it was in a genuine effort to protect Bennett.

The rest of the time it is Bennett accidentally burning the grass and causing Venti to suffer.

Venti is the one to most frequently need a Statue of the Seven. Kokomi normally has everyone else covered.

Despite his luck, Bennett is the only one to have never needed a Statue of the Seven... yet.

Kokomi takes hits that she doesn't think the others will survive. There's about a quarter of a chance that she just ends up dying herself.

Kazuha frequently takes risks while gliding. He hasn't died yet.

Kokomi does lecture him for it. It doesn't stop him.

Kazuha is the go-to miner because of his easy plunge attacks. This does not make the process quick.

Despite Kokomi's passive, everyone has drowned at least once.

Kazuha has drowned the most.

When no one wants to fight they have Venti plop himself on a vantage point and snipe at enemies from afar. It's a time-consuming process, but they've done it a few times.

Venti has scored the most critical hits, but Bennett has scored the most kills.

Most of those kills have been Venti. Via Burning.

Lawachurls and vishaps in particular take great joy in ramming Bennett off cliffs, but he's either tanky enough to survive or lucky enough to land in deep water.

If someone else tries to take the hit they always die and have to be brought to a statue.

All in all, they like hanging out with each other and are pretty good friends. Kokomi is unfortunately the responsible one, but Bennett doesn't exactly cause trouble on purpose.

(Freeze Team) Kaeya, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Kazuha

Since Chongyun and Xingqiu are stuck to the hip, Kaeya hangs out more with Kazuha than the other two. They're friendly but not exactly friends.

Kaeya thinks Kazuha is sus but won't say it.

Kazuha thinks Kaeya is sus bc his vibes are off.

Xingqiu thinks Kaeya is sus, but Kazuha's cool because Beidou trusts him.

Chongyun thinks they're both cool but that Kaeya takes too much joy in teasing him.

Kaeya also has... unorthodox methods that no one likes. They're effective... but also likely to give heart attacks and grey hairs.

Xingqiu does most of the talking.

Chongyun occasionally overheats, Kaeya takes great pleasure in throwing cryo at him. No one's quite sure if he's being mocking or genuinely helpful. Either way, it gives them enough time to make him an emergency popsicle.

When they lack the means to make a popsicle, they have actually just straight up run to Dragonspine. Kaeya usually ends up as the one carrying him, even though he's the DPS and really should have his sword hand free.

Kazuha appreciates Chongyun because he doesn't have to mine with plunges.

There isn't really a healer, so if they're injured after a fight and too far from a Statue, they just have Xingqiu use his Rain Swords and very slowly heal each of them up to full health.

It usually isn't that bad because they don't often fight things that can't be frozen. That doesn't mean the enemy won't get in a few hits before they freeze though.

Kaeya and Chongyun working together means ice-bridging is very fast.

That doesn't mean Xingqiu hasn't slipped off a few times.

Xingqiu and Kaeya can both cook. Chongyun trusts neither of them to do so and usually ends up eating whatever fruit Kazuha foraged instead.

Cryo slimes are their mortal enemies.

All in all, they're mostly friendly, but Kaeya causes some friction with Chongyun and Kazuha in particular. (This man woke up a ruin guard to help out in a fight. He can and will use dangerous methods to get the job done.)

(DPS Venti) Venti, Layla, Bennett, Faruzan

Faruzan really likes them, because Bennett and Venti always call her Madam.

Layla sometimes forgets but she gets a pass because she's constantly sleep deprived.

Layla's only job is to provide them (or at least Venti) a shield. They don't make her do anything else because she deserves a nap. She will sometimes set up her Celestial Dreamsphere for them though!

Since Bennett is the only healer, they make occasional trips to a statue of the seven to avoid wasting his burst.

Faruzan actually ran the numbers to see how much stronger she and Bennett were making Venti... and promptly threw them away.

(No one needs to know how powerful that bard actually is.)

Faruzan and Venti will exchange archery tips, alongside general information about the study of language. Since Venti is always listening and participating, Faruzan has decided he's her friend for life.

And also his views on language through a bard's lens are extremely inreresting.

(And sometimes a bit too well-informed)

Bennett understands exactly zero of what anyone is talking about, but is happy enough to act as Layla's pillow (he's warm) or Faruzan's captive audience (she knows he doesn't understand, but by the archons she will find a way to teach him.)

Venti thinks Faruzan is a nice change of pace; Mondstadt doesn't have many die-hard academics like her, and her area of study is definitely something any bard would take even a mild interest in.

Layla likes that they don't try to make her participate. Sometimes Venti even helps her with her studies, and points her in the right direction if she needs it.

(She won't question why the bard is so informed. She heard there was an astrologist in Mondstadt. That's good enough for her.)

Bennett is like a little brother, and he's warm. She sometimes can't help just falling asleep on him.

Though occasionally there's a rude awakening when a tree branch nearly falls on them or a slime decides to attack.

Venti plays them lullabies every night, to ensure peaceful dreams and restful sleep. Those are the best sleeps they've ever had.

All in all, they're very good friends. Venti and Faruzan are besties, and Layla and Bennett are the little siblings they drag around.

(Aggravate) Tighnari, Fischl, Lisa, Baizhu

Tighnari and Lisa have a mutual respect for each other, given that they both told the Akademiya to fuck off.

Baizhu is an honorary member, because even though he was never part of the Akademiya (i think), he's still researching new medicines outside of the Akademiya's influence. And he's extremely good at it.

Baizhu finds Fischl interesting and somewhat annoying, but only in the way that all teenagers are a bit annoying.

Changsheng and Oz are good friends and like snarking each other. Oz is more polite about it than Changsheng, so she's determined to get him to be outright rude to her.

Lisa is a very lazy person and often just sets up her burst and lets everyone else do the work. Changsheng can respect this, Tighnari and Baizhu find this annoying.

Tighnari will pay attention to all of them during fights, but only really ends up giving Fischl tips afterwards since the other two won't really care (Baizhu because he's a healer, and Lisa because she won't put more effort in.)

Fischl appreciates the archery sessions, but Tighnari is now her scariest teacher.

The Guild has noticed a sharp improvement in her fighting skills though. Especially since she's had the honor of helping Reckless Pallad out a few times.

Lisa is protective of Fischl in a hands-off way. Early on, if either Baizhu or Tighnari got too close she called their attention to herself. After a few weeks she decided she could trust them not to hurt her.

Baizhu and Tighnari have a mild sort of rivalry, and both are glad to be learning more about plants from other regions. They've both learned from each other, and both have new plants to look into that might help with certain ailments.

Fischl thinks Baizhu is alright, but not someone she'd seek out for a chat unless she was sick.

Tighnari intimidates her, but he feels trustworthy. And he's always willing to teach her new things.

Lisa gets on Tighnari's nerves, but she thinks he's alright. Definitely the sort of friend that Cyno needs.

Baizhu doesn't care much for Lisa, but she and Changsheng get along, so he thinks she can't be too bad.

All in all, they can work together, but they aren't close.

(Burgeon) Ayato, Thoma, Aether, Kokomi

Thoma and Aether are the sweetest beans that make sure the group runs smoothly

Not that Ayato or Kokomi would cause many problems, as both are pretty levelheaded.

Kokomi is no longer the sole responsible one, as Thoma has joined her as the Mom Friend, and Aether does his best but is also occasionally reckless.

Ayato is the gremlin that can and will hide his troublemaking tendencies only so you have plausible deniability.

With Thoma and Aether, this group never goes hungry.

Ayato appreciates Kokomi's strategic mind and thinks she's a valuable ally, perhaps even a friend.

Kokomi likewise appreciates Ayato's willingness to get his hands dirty and how he always puts his family above others.

Aether thinks Kokomi and Ayato can get a bit intense when playing... literally anything, but he's glad they're getting along.

Thoma notices that Kokomi has a small social battery and makes sure to organize time where he takes Ayato and Paimon off to explore while Aether stays behind to watch camp.

This works because Kokomi knows that Aether knows about her introversion, so she allows herself to take breaks and naps.

Ayato and Kokomi do occasionally get into political arguments, but Thoma and Aether both do their best to smother any fires before they start.

Ayato is the one to most frequently get injured, as setting up his burst takes a few very valuable seconds.

Thoma's shields can only block so much, and adding Aether's crystallize shields doesn't do much.

Thankfully Kokomi is more than willing to assist.

Thoma spends his evenings helping Aether brush up on his sewing while Ayato and Kokomi talk politics and play shogi.

All in all, they're a close-knit group that have a mutual respect and care for each other. Given time, they'll all be very good friends.

(Physical) Freminet, Xingqiu, Beidou, Mika

Beidou does her best to bring Mika and Freminet out of their shells. It only works half the time.

Beidou can respect Freminet's skill in battle though. He's impressive.

Xingqiu makes it his mission to befriend the two most timid people he's ever met, and they REALLY aren't having it.

Ironically, Freminet and Mika become pretty good friends because of Xingqiu's... socializing.

Beidou suddenly has to become the responsible adult, and it's a miracle no one's died doing something reckless yet.

Mika respects Beidou and Freminet's battle prowess and maritime intelligence. He also admires Xingqiu's dedication.

That doesn't mean he wants to socialize with him.

Freminet thinks Beidou is respectable and that Mika is considerate and intelligent. Both have valuable skill sets, and Mika is quiet enough that they can coexist comfortably without socializing.

Freminet dislikes Xingqiu and finds him annoying.

Mika keeps a map everywhere they go. If no one's paying attention, he'll run off to finish drawing the mountain or lake.

This is worse because he's the worst fighter of their group. He can heal, and that's the only thing keeping Beidou from tying a leash to him.

Likewise, Freminet will occasionally just,,,, dip. If he doesn't want to socialize, he can and will dive into the nearest body of water.

Beidou's the only one that can follow him and drag him back out.

But she doesn't have a scuba helmet so there's only so much she can do.

Xingqiu is annoyed that Mika and Freminet are so guarded around him, but he acknowledges that it took him months to befriend Chongyun

He isn't giving up.

He also thinks Beidou is super cool, and those two do most of the talking.

All in all, Beidou has her work cut out for her, especially since Xingqiu doesn't realize he's the reason Freminet keeps diving into the deepest bodies of water he can find lol.

They can work together decently well, due to Beidou's leadership, but she's about to punt all three of them into the sea for being idiots.

(Electro-Charged) Heizou, Beidou, Fischl, Barbara

Rip Barbara. She has patience, but not enough of it for Beidou, Heizou, AND Fischl.

Beidou and Heizou are terrible influences.

Barbara cursed for the first time because of Beidou and nearly gave Rosaria a heart attack.

Fischl finds Heizou to be pretty cool, but finds his intelligent gaze to be a bit unnerving. She's not sure she wants to know what conclusion he's come to about her.

Heizou's still trying to figure out if she's actually a reincarnator, since the Traveler proved the existence of other worlds. He's been asking pointed questions to Oz, who's having none of his shit and being purposely obtuse. Fischl is less opaque, but speaks in riddles that he isn't always certain he's solved perfectly.

Otherwise, he thinks she's pleasantly odd.

Oz is just having fun annoying him.

(He doesn't want to know what conclusion Heizou comes to. Either his life is a lie, or his Prinzessin's world is gone. Neither is ideal.)

Beidou thinks Heizou's a cool drinking buddy. She doesn't care what he thinks about her, or that he thinks he's got her all figured out. She's just herself, no need to stress over what others know.

Heizou respects Beidou. She's a hardworking and extremely intelligent woman that's willing to bend the rules to help people. He'll still arrest her if he has to, but he'll probably argue for a lighter sentence if that ever happens.

If that does ever happen, the chase itself would be payment enough for such a small favor. A woman as intelligent as she wouldn't make an investigation easy.

Barbara likes Heizou well enough, but thinks that perhaps one can be too smart for their own good. As one blessed with the power of Anemo, Barbara is sure Lord Barbatos is watching over him.

Heizou thinks Barbara's a nice girl, if a bit too nice. Her faith in Barbatos is admirable, it almost makes him want to go and pray himself, but he won't. As someone so kind, he decides to look out for her where he can. She'd be too easy to take advantage of.

He's also aware that she has at least two other guardian angels, but adding a third won't hurt. Such busy people can't be everywhere, affer all.

Beidou likes telling Fischl and Barbara stories in their downtime, and attempts to get Barbara to sing sea shanties.

She doesn't shout them at the top of her lungs, she adds melody where a rhythm is enough, but her voice is pretty so Beidou doesn't mind.

Barbara is often inspired by them to write songs, her favorite is of the girl who lost everything and rebuilt herself under Barbatos's watchful eye.

She doesn't know if Fischl's tales are true. It doesn't matter, she's still a child of Mondstadt regardless.

Beidou and Heizou occasionally clash over tactics, they're right and wrong about an equal amount of the time. More frequently, they're both right. It makes fighting alongside them an interesting experience.

Barbara is very careful to heal everyone, especially knowing that all three are under Barbatos's protection. A child of Mondstadt, a child of Anemo, and a sailor who prays for steady winds, she'll treat them equally.

Even if they weren't, she'd treat them, but an extra incentive to be kind never hurt.

None of them are especially reckless, and Heizou and Beidou's leadership wouldn't let them be anyway, so any mission they go on together is completed with efficiency.

All in all, a bit eccentric, but they all like each other and work together well.

Honorable Mentions!

Though not frequent teammates, they team up often enough to deserve a mention. Most of them are Abyss Teams!

(Inazuma Exploration) Venti, Kokomi, Fischl, Kazuha

Kokomi dislikes being on a team with these three (four?) She can't compete with their poetry and frankly doesn't want to. Oz is the only other sane one.

Fischl brings out the worst in Venti and Kazuha. Venti takes her presence as permission to rhyme every line, and Kazuha always decides to start bouncing haiku ideas off of them about half an hour in.

This team often only meets in Inazuma, and they have terrible luck.

Every. Single. One of them has gotten struck by lightning.

Kokomi is working overtime on this team, and yet everyone is usually half-dead regardless because Inazuma is extremely unfriendly.

All of them are socially exhausted when they part ways, but Kokomi is the only one that actually shows it.

Throughout all this, Venti and Kazuha are still at it with their mountain climbing rivalry. Kokomi's had to drag them both to a statue of the seven after they got struck by lightning mid climb.

Kokomi actually finds Fischl mostly pleasant when Venti and Kazuha are off doing their own thing.

(Sumeru Exploration) Venti, Tighnari, Fischl, Kazuha

Usually meet for foraging missions in Sumeru. The lack of a healer is noticeable.

Tighnari has patience, but he usually wants to bash his head in with a rock because they won't. shut. up.

Kazuha is the most tolerable of the three to him.

He leads them into withering zones on purpose sometimes.

Tighnari does let Oz sit on his shoulder or head sometimes, because even he needs the occasional break from Fischl and Venti's combined word-vomit.

(Burning) Tighnari, Bennett, Baizhu, Kazuha

Usually only team up in the abyss, but are a surprisingly good team.

Tighnari is usually the one to trigger self-burning and is thus Baizhu's least favorite patient.

Bennett and Baizhu make for a wonderful team, and Changsheng lets him pat her head.

Tighnari has a mostly good time around this team, since Baizhu and Kazuha combine to form a rather calming pair.

Bennett reminds him of Collei. No one will know if he sneaks extra bandages into the kid's pack when they part ways.

Baizhu and Tighnari frequently get into passive aggressive snark matches. It never gets heated, and Changsheng seems to find it funny.

Baizhu gives them all a top up when they part ways. If they ever need actual medicine he'll drag them back to Liyue and figure out who to bill for the medicine later.

(Melt) Kaeya, Chongyun, Bennett, Kazuha

Again, usually an Abyss team, but surprisingly good at working together.

Half the time Chongyun forgets to switch off his Noblesse pieces, which means him and Bennett are both fighting over the buff and lowering the team's overall DPS.

Kaeya also forgets to switch off his Blizzard Strayer half the time, and thus usually has an abysmal crit rate and worse EM

Kazuha has an easy enough job as the grouper, he just lets his burst off when Bennett's field is active so he swirls pyro

Bennett has the hardest job as both the only healer and the only one with energy issues. No one really dies, but they usually aren't at high health going into the next chamber.

Bennett and Kaeya usually do a coinflip to decide who gets to use the Mistsplitter.

If Beidou isn't on the second side, she'll let Chongyun fight her so he can use the Wolf's Gravestone. Kazuha is always impressed when he actually comes back with it. If he loses, or Beidou's using it, he has to use the Sac Greatsword.

They all get along rather well, with Bennett being the only energetic one. Sometimes Kaeya and Chongyun clash, but Kazuha is always quick to mediate. When all else fails, Bennett getting involved makes them both feel guilty.

When they part ways Kaeya likes spraying Chongyun with Cryo. None of them can tell if it's supposed to be helpful or mocking.

(Bloom) Venti, Xingqiu, Aether, Kokomi

Usually a Floor 11 team, and very good at protecting the monolith.

Venti's normal attacks do impressive damage, and adding Xingqiu to it only makes them more so.

Aether's blooms do incredible damage. He's nearly killed himself and Venti on multiple occasions, but Kokomi is there for a reason.

Aether has ER issues, so he sometimes sacrifices EM to go 2pc Guilded 2pc Emblem if they're stuggling to clear.

They might take a while to clear, but the Monolith has never gone below 95% in their care.

Xingqiu gets along very well with both Venti and Kokomi, and the Traveler is there as their mutual friend.

Aether is more talkative on this team than on others, owed mostly to Venti being sure to include him.

(Jadeplume Terrorshroom Killers) Keqing, Fischl, Beidou, Kazuha

Their only purpose is to kill the Dendro Chicken as quickly as possible. Are they all usually on life support by the end? Yes. But they kill the Dendro Chicken Very Fast.

Thankfully Keqing and Beidou are both capable of counteracting Fischl's influence on Kazuha.

Beidou's starting to think Venti is the bad influence, because she actually thinks Fischl's pretty cool.

Oz thinks Keqing is his favorite person, after his Prinzessin, of course.

Keqing just wants to get the job done so she can get back to being productive. She's usually the one to make off with the lower grade artifacts that the Traveler doesn't care about.

Beidou always drags Kazuha over for a meal and a chat afterwards, so they can catch up on what his travels have been like.

(Sunfire: Burning Edition) Tighnari, Jean, Bennett, Kazuha

The team pulled out when Sunfire is needed for anything.

Jean is usually on Clam, since Kazuha has VV covered.

Are two healers enough to keep Tighnari alive? The answer to that is: sometimes!

Jean thinks Bennett is Mondstadt incarnate, the picture of everything she strives to protect. And also that he's a disaster magnet that she should probably protect regardless.

Bennett thinks Jean is super cool and is honestly fanboying most of the time because she's always in her office! He actually gets to see her!

Tighnari respects Jean's levelheadedness and is impressed that she's quite a bit kinder than him despite being just as strict.

He's also gone from irritated to mildly impressed at how many disasters Bennett manages to find himself in.

Normally he'd chew out an adventurer for being stupid, but with Bennett it is a genuine coincidence.

A fascinating thing to witness, Tighnari's started making notes every time they meet outside the Abyss.

Kazuha finds them all to be pleasant company, but is curious that someone with an anemo vision could be so disciplined.

Other than his mild curiosity, he respects her, and puts in a good word for her with Beidou just in case they decide to trade.

[skulgore]

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭

follow up post to Best to Let Go

i don't like revenge fics, so have a series about forgiveness and healing

@iruiji

No matter where you scrolled on your phone- hell, even at movie theaters. You keep being reminded of what you consider hell. You remember being chased and killed by the people who were supposed to be kind, spewing something about an Almighty Creator. Never once have you read it in the lore, nor have you seen anyone talk about them.. besides things you found on Tumblr.

You weren't sure how to express these strong emotions you felt, and it's slowly eating you at the seams. Nobody understood what you had gone through, sure there is people who see it as a silly little story- but they don't ACTUALLY understand what it feels like to be in your shoes.

You don't want revenge, but you can't help but feel like you deserve that. Some sort of justice for what happened to you. Just being able to forgive them and have somebody not call what you went through a lie. No matter how much you searched for someone, they would all call you delusional. I mean, who is supposed to believe a random stranger on a fanfiction website? Your feelings are being totally disregarded by everyone. Now, where have you seen this before?

You don't have a safe haven anymore, nobody to go to for advice. Nobody to hear you out. They wouldn't understand how you feel, even if they did try. So why don't you go to somewhere you'll be appreciated at?

When you got home and comfortable in your own bed, your mind can't possibly focus knowing that there were people who were out to get you and could still be lurking around the corner. Your mind is mixed with fiction and reality, constantly trying to figure out which one to believe in.

You know that you can feel like whole again just by a click off the button. Running back exactly to what hurt you just for some sense of comfort. Going onto the app store, spotting the Genshin Impact title.

Something is calling you back. The people are calling you back. They want you back. They need you back. You hit the download button.

Taking a deep breath in, not even sure if it's gonna work. You clutched your chest tightly. Waiting for it to finish. Nothing will beat the thrill-craze and the adrenaline rush you had over it. Your heart beat aches for some sort of relief from the loneliness you've felt.

As soon as you opened the app, then the mysterious door on the title screen. It was like a huge wave of nausea washed over you, wiping you out with it.

Waking up, you were blinded by bright lights, immediately noticeable as the ones from the cathedral.. in the back? After rubbing your eyes and sitting up, your breath hitched.

You pushed yourself off the uncomfortable sheet with a bit of struggle. As you were getting up, Barbara walked into the room and gasped, nearly dropping the tray of needles she was holding. After setting the tray down, she ran out the room to alert the others of your awakening.

With a deep sigh, you couldn't help but feel like a weight had been lifted off your chest. She didn't immediately try killing you this time. A smile grew on your face. You tried getting off the the bed but your arms are far too weak to pick you up. Not fighting back, you just slumped back down on the uncomfortable hospital-like mattress.

Not soon later, the group from Mondstadt walks in: Jean, Venti, Diluc, Kaeya, Amber. Them all expressing sad faces, all except one, Venti. You sat back up again, letting the silence run across the room. Jean was the first one to speak up. “M'lord,” she bowed down on her knees- everyone else mimicked her, you cringed. “Thank you for blessing Teyvat with your awakening. We are terribly sorry.”

You don't know either to scoff or make fun of them, but you just keep quiet. “Please give Mondstadt any sort of judgement you see fit,” Jean continued. Which caused Venti to give her an odd look.

“No, no, no. Your grace, Jean has it all wrong,” Venti was the first one to stand up and look you in the eye. Which you couldn't help but be thankful for. “After you left, Teyvat fell into shambles,” he talked with his hands. “I didn't show up to the execution, however since I wasn't going to help hunt you down, the Cr- Imposter took away my powers.”

You cleared your throat, it being rough and honestly stinging. “Ah.. can you all stand up?” They all shoot you a confused look, but comply nonetheless. “I see, but just don't understand why all of this happened,” you gripped the sheets a bit.

“Because, the Imposter was a tyrant.” Diluc stated, arms crossed.

“Well- no shit,” you deadpan. “I'm talking about like- why me?”

“We aren't quite sure, but aren't we glad to have you back, M'lord!” Amber chirped, a hand on her hip.

Telling them to stop calling you that would be like peeling ginger. You sighed with exasperation. At least people care and understand you in Teyvat. You look towards Kaeya, the only person who hasn't talked yet. “How do you feel about this?”

“Solely sticking to the facts here? I am quite relieved.” Kaeya nods, “as Barbatoes said, Teyvat fell into shambles; wars and just death broke out across the world.”

“I feel like I should explain this, Kaeya,” Jean gives him a look of sympathy, knowing his pain and exhaustion from the fighting around them. “Specifically Sumeru, Snezhnya, and Mondstadt allied, since we were the only nations whose archons didn't show up for your public execution.” She explained, pacing herself back and forth. “Everyone set their targets on the Imposter first, and then started pointing fingers at each other. Liyue had it the worst.”

“But I'm here now, so will the wars stop?”

“The wars ended a long time ago.” Venti cuts in, “archons were simply publicly humiliated. And in the nations with gods as rulers, their powers in the government has been brought down by lots.”

“This is too complicated, why couldn't I be brought into soft AU?”

“Excuse me, M'lord?” Amber meeks out, “I think I speak for the entirety of Teyvat when I say we're happy to have you back.” It warmed your heart to hear that.

Now with all the sappy feelings out the way, “so what now?” You questioned.

“Up to you. Bring punishment, rule, or anything.” Jean says, “just know, no matter what, the city of freedom has your back.”

“How about no ruling, but instead a celebration?” A smile was plastered on your face as you asked. “In two days would be the best.”

“As you wish M'lord,” Venti bows. They all began to leave the room one by one.

Well that wasn't so bad, was it? Now you gotta prepare! It feel great to be back.

[anotherferalrat]

Late Night Musings Pt.1

Indulge me for a moment.

As a preface, I would like to remind chat I am still very early in the story so no spoilers pls, I literally just made it to Inazuma and I've done like no character story quests

So I could be entirely wrong; I know Kaeya-Diluc-Crepus lore seems to be fairly up in the air. But the way I understand the timeline is Crepus dies during the day -> ragbros fight that night -> sometime before the morning, Diluc leaves to do hot girl shit (revenge)

In light of that...

Do you think Kaeya had to handle the funeral arrangements by himself :)

Of course Adelinde and the staff help where they can but as the only person of the household people can find, a lot falls to him.

That's actually how he finds out Diluc left. Adelinde comes to him in town as he's living in the barracks to invite him to the winery to talk plans. Having been yelled at not even hours ago to never set foot there again, he's like what if we do it here in the city instead and after a sec follows it up with why me, i thought Diluc would be in charge as the true heir.

Hesitantly, she shows him the letter the young mas- the new master of the house left, only saying he was looking for answers and couldn't return until he found them and that he's sorry. Nowhere did Diluc mention him but he knows he's part of the reason.

The two work out a meeting place, somewhere that's halfway for both of them but *not* the winery.

Anyways point is, how do you think he felt writing the eulogy, several bottles deep, thinking he shouldn't- doesn't deserve to be the main speaker? That he's once again alone in this world, partially from his own doing? That he was too slow to save the man who cared for him and "drove away" his sworn brother?

Just. Fun thoughts :))

[dandelion-wings]

Dendro Delusion AU. spill.

Ahahaha that's a small (but important! for the porn!) part of a larger AU that @theabysscomeshome and I first came up with... years ago when Inazuma first came out, which I mention mostly because some of the lore/worldbuilding premises have been jossed and we have not updated them. XD;; (In particular I actually wrote fragments of the initial Jean-Diluc-Kaeya meeting that are now thoroughly upturned re: both the Abyss and hilichurl biology, and I'm sad about both.) @theabysscomeshome describes it occasionally as a "sexy evil mirrorverse au," and it is, but I also think of it as a double role-swap AU: Jean and Childe, and Venti and the Tsaritsa.

See, the aforementioned Jean-Diluc-Kaeya meeting happens when Jean and Diluc end up in the Abyss (initially they fell in by accident, we've since revised it to "they plunged in to rescue Barbara from something" and thus Barbara ends up there too), and meet a Kaeya whose father was taking him to Mondstadt via the Abyss and fell afoul of monsters before they could get there. Diluc's Vision, in this premise, protects him from the corrupting effects of the Abyss, but Kaeya (due to the Abyss effects + the curse) is at this point at least 10%, maybe 20% a little samachurl, and Jean ends up Childeified! (Barbara to some extent too, in the revision.) Kaeya leads them to an exit from the Abyss and gets them out, but they are all Forever Changed to greater or lesser extents.

And the Venti-Tsaritsa end occurs because Venti, in this AU, does not get any of his canonical naps. This is very bad for him and essentially sends him off the deep end and leaves him conceiving some very bad and sleep-deprived plans to storm Celestia. So when he shows up in Mondstadt with those plans in hand and finds 16-ish-year-old Jean Gunnhildr working on body disposal because she, Diluc, and Kaeya just finished ~interrogating~ Eroch for Suspicious Behavior (IDK who he's spying for in this universe. It might still be the Tsaritsa and her subordinates, who've we've kind of put into a role as Venti's main opposition, but left vague because we Know Nothing about her yet), he looks at this Gunnhildr who is a lot more willing to do violent murders than he's accustomed to and is like. Perfect. He's just found his foremost assistant :> and the other two look great, too, he'll keep them also. A wonderful start to what turns into an off-the-rails aggressively martial theocracy.

Anyway this includes Delusion development and research (there's a whole side-thing where Crepus is put in charge of that because he's totally willing to use his family funds for that in exchange for acknowledgement from Barbatos Himself, then dies while personally testing an early model--possibly because he has a useful subordinate named Zendik--and it's not the only reason Diluc eventually ragequits but it's a major factor), and Venti ends up with Harbingers but not Fatui because "Jean Gunnhildr, 1st Harbinger of the Knights of Favonius" sounds badass and rolls nicely off the tongue. The "sexy evil mirrorverse" part comes in because between the Abyss influences we imagined and the Delusion-caused mental influences we imagined, almost everyone's moral compass has been turned roughly upside down. There is a lot of torture, war crimes, summary execution, etc. going on here. Lisa's vines are useful for restraining Jean at Jean's request both in and out of the bedroom (sometimes Jean is overwhelmed by the urge to kill when she rationally knows she needs to not be killing), but they are also useful for holding one of Kaeya's interrogation subjects still while he flays them alive. :> They're besties engaging in fun friendship activities together~!

A few people have not had their moral compasses turned upside down here, which provides some extra fun. I love writing Fredrica so she is present and ends up gathering up other Knights who have had issues with all of this and allying with Diluc and Lumine in our imagined endgame as they take Jean and Venti down. (A lot of Diluc's motivation in teaming up with Lumine in the first place is that he wants an ally strong enough to face them but who is willing to let Jean and Kaeya live, which is hard to find in a Teyvat that has suffered a lot from the KoF trampling both national and ethical boundaries all over the place in pursuit of Venti's goals.*) Klee is still as innocent as ever, she's just encouraged to set off her bombs in places that canon Jean would have a heart attack about. Amber is Kaeya's best spy and secret agent because she's just so fucking cheerful and sincere. A nice little bit of juxtaposition for what is mostly Knights of Favonius: War Crimes Edition.

*Except for Watatsumi, which got full, non-just-for-our-own-goals support from militarized Mondstadt for their rebellion and thus did not just get a peace treaty but full-out won their war in this universe. Jean successfully killing Ei (and uuuuh Yae Miko and Kujou Sara in the process. rip) did not hurt.

And, yeah, Jean and Lisa and Kaeya have so, so much extremely kinky and often deeply problematic sex. :>

[sheep-from-rad]

Genshin Characters as Sky COTL players Notes: Not an ‘x-reader’ for once? That’s new. X-readers will be back in a few business days and I will be writing for Twisted Wonderland and Tears of Themis. I have been playing a lot of Sky COTL lately after I found my veteran acc. Login so I thought why not make a headcanon post. So far we have few one shots and 3 series in the ‘currently’ writing. I should probably plan things and make notes so I won’t lose anymore ideas and drafts oof.  [Grand masterlist]

The Musicians - These players probably have a huge collection of instruments ranging from the local spirits to seasonal spirits. They might also probably own a musical instrument that is no longer available because of an ultimate gift. It’s not unusual to see them playing at places like above the pipes at the graveyard or at the second floor of the vault because the music key they needed are located there. They also probably strayed for days in the Harmony  hall when the season of performance got released.  ---Kazuha (this guy is prolly always straying either in Prairie or the forest), Xinyan, Venti

The explorers - These players know where the winged lights were located in each realm starting from the easiest to get to the hardest ones. Need help in locating spirits? They can go with you and lead you. These guys have probably come across one or two bugs while exploring and like oob exploring too and makes easy routes for others to use. Sometimes they travel alone and sometimes in groups, they might also pair up with oobers from time to time. If you have time to listen they have the compiled theorized lore for them to tell you too. ---Mika, Aloy, Lumine and Aether, Kazuha, Kirara, Tighnari, Zhongli, Beidou

The Loners / Solo Flyers  - Either they leave the game once one of their in-game friends go online or they immediately hop to another map when they hear the online notification. These players take their sweet time exploring alone and they might also go ninja mode from time to time just to avoid other players. Inventories either have several instant recharge spells or they carry an item that helps them charge. Given that they fly solo, they know just how to converse their flight power and know where every campfire and lamps are located. These players might also help you if you need help but after that they will just disappear and you might never see them again. Ps, they never get to finish those quests like holding a friend’s hand or following a friend. ---Diluc, Rosaria, Wanderer, Shenhe, Xiao 

The Ikemen/Ikejou -They get followed by moths. They get followed by chibis. They either get flirted on or they flirt. Pretty chill players from time to time and most of them are flexing their seasonal or cosmetics that are not obtainable anymore. If their followers are unavoidable, they’ll light up, bow and then maybe an emote or two, and then leave. Might be tiktokers.  ---Kaeya, Ayato, Lyney, Heizou, Childe, Yun Jin, Dehya

The uncoordinated players  -Hits wind barrier. Gets trapped inside the Prairie cloud tunnel. Gets trapped like clothing inside a washing machine in Wind Path cloud tunnels. Runs out of flight power mid-air. Randomly losses flight control and goes crazy mid-air. Gets kidnapped by mantas at Prairie villages. Gets hit by a krill. Gets hit by a crab. Gets hit by players randomly passing by. Land on dark water after losing flight power. Land under acid rain after losing flight power. Land on, wait, did you just land in the middle of the graveyard without flight power?  ---Benneth, Razor, Collei, and surprisingly, Chongyun (someone tell him that krills can’t be exorcised) 

The helpful ones - Normally holding the hand of a moth or two that they randomly adopted at the lobbies. Deep calls to recharge players that they come across or those we find on random places with high density of dark waters and enemies. Initiates plant burning and makes sure crabs won’t touch their adopted moths. They carry lighting props as well if deep calls are not enough or if there’s a lot of people in the group. They usually travel in groups and most of the time if they are not winged light running or collecting spirits, they are finishing quests from past seasons. It’s rare to see them alone and their friend list is so long.  ---Thoma, Amber, Jean, Candace, Aether, Lumine, Noelle 

The krill chasers - They are beauty. They are grace. They love the krill’s warning light on their face. If they are not saving other random players from krill attacks by making them the krill targets and then they are just randomly flying around messing around with krills. They have the map of the wasteland memorized at the back of their hand and they are the players to stay on the battlefield once the gates open. They also collect crabs from time to time but nothing tops the thrill of dodging krills. If the wasteland krills are unavailable or if there are innocent players around that might become collateral damage, they can always go play fetch with the krill at the forgotten ark.  ---Hu Tao, Childe

[glacialheart]

so. ebg lore, huh?

for starters, it was kinda here and there— i'll have to attribute that to the fact that it was my first time doing something like this, and my execution wasn't as good as i wanted it to be, but it is what it is! i tried, and tbf i think it was a decent attempt.

it was pretty simple to understand most of it, i think, but there were some details i couldn't convey so, without further ado, here's the plot. be warned, it is a very, very long post.

mika and kaeya were in a cave on the border of sumeru and mondstadt to investigate the strange happenings in and around it as a favor to a merchant who said he'd guide them to chenyu vale in return (they were on their way there from sumeru for a vacation, and from there, they'd head to fontaine.)

they walk into the cave and find a very suspicious glowing purple stone. obviously, huge red flag, right? so kaeya tells mika not to touch it, and walks over to examine the surrounding rock formations.

mika, however, being mika, trips over a goddamn rock, and ends up stumbling till the wall to find something to hold on to. (classic, isn't it? hjsjsj)

she ends up dislodging the stone while kaeya's back is turned, and after hearing the sound, he turns to see her fainted on the ground.

here's the thing, the stone, as i'm sure you've guessed, held an ancient spirit which had only recently reawakened.

when mika touched it, the spirit, desperate for a host, planted itself in her mind.

so when kaeya sees her fainted on the ground, he runs over. now the stone, being a trapping spirits kind of stone, is empty and is ready to absorb something. poor kaeya gets absorbed when his hand accidentally brushes against it, and stays in the stone. (don't worry, he's unharmed. he's just in very deep slumber.)

and soon enough, baizhu finds mika on the ground, a stone in her hand. this stone, in the midst of all these shenanigans, left some residue in the air (which baizhu inhales for a little while, and which mika's been inhaling all this time, which is why baizhu is a little more self aware than mika is.)

this dust, ended up causing memory warping in both of them, making baizhu think he's in love with her, and essentially making mika misremember who she is. (before this, mika and baizhu were friends of sorts, because of vi being in love with him. baivi for the win, btw. the 'homewrecking' ended me, I CAN'T—)

(now from this part on you'd need a little bit of background info about me, but i think everyone managed to guess this stuff just fine lmao)

she's no longer clumsy (mainly due to the spirit in her head controlling part of her movements)

she's no longer studying architecture (this is, in part, due to the memory warp, where she thought that medicine was her career path, and the spirit's manipulation. *insert bad word* that guy hsjjshj)

she doesn't pick up a paint brush or a pencil to sketch (she forgets about her artistic and creative side, and the spirit doesn't encourage it either. it's one of them ancient ones that, unfortunately, doesn't respect art.)

and so on.

baizhu thinks she's just suffering from a bout of amnesia, and attempts to treat it with the medicine that, in theory, should have helped. he doesn't say a word about it though, because he tried once, and mika got a headache so intense she blacked out. therefore, he's mostly passive because he's trying not to jostle her with too much memory.

but all these little inconsistencies, the whole 'acting different', the backtracking, and apparent memory loss start to make baizhu suspicious, because, like i said, he knew her before. he starts suspecting a 'who' controlling mika somehow, but only suspects that it's in her mind much later.

(the effects of the dust wear off soon enough, and he eventually returns back to normal.)

mika, after a series of events, get suspicious herself about the conflict in her head and the contradiction between the things she's sure about and the words of the thing in her head. she visits the cave again because she can't stand not knowing, and finds the stone.

she touches it again, and after much drama and fuss from the ancient spirit fellow, the stone spits out kaeya and takes in the spirit.

and bada bing bada boom, kaeya's out of the stone, he explains stuff to mika, the spirit's gone, the dust wears off, mika's memories set themselves right eventually and everyone's happy <3

(they end up going to chenyu vale on their own later after a month or so, though. rip mika and kaeya's vacation days for the year.)