#maybe he's from natlan who knows man

[insurged]

until hoyo gives us more info on capitano, for now, i really like the theory that he could be the bloodstained knight who pledges himself to the abyss order of khaenri'ah...

[kujiba]

【Go on and Love Me】

୨୧ — ꒰ male!reader | he/his prounouns | Sagau | Genshinimpact

୨୧ — ꒰ Streamer!Reader who gets sidetracked by people's donations/chats making the genshin characters feel jealous

Ft. Xiao, Wanderer, Kinich, Traveler

A/n: inspired by la2yn0va hsr fic

X I A O

(Name) happily smiled at another donation sent to him after recently completing a natlan quest

"Thanks for the 20 bits donation!"

He thanked the chat with a wide smile, the chat which was filled with people commenting every second flooding the entire screen making (Name) shift his focus to answer their questions about himself.

This cute interaction made (Name) feel warm and lovely in the inside, being able to interact with fans who admired him.

You know who wasn't happy? A dark headed male inside a screen wasn't that happy unlike (Name). Why were these people gifting you so low? Most of all why was (Name)'s attention not on him anymore?

He had to pull alot of strings to make his own crit rise up since (Name)'s luck on the Vermilion domain was absolutely dog shit.

(Name) — Hm? My favorite character in genshin?

Xiao — You called?

Xiao unintentionally blurted that out without any thoughts whatsoever, but when he did realize and saw (Name)'s confused face along with the chat going wild.

Without any choice Xiao did his idle animation to hide his face away from you, he used his mask so that Xiao won't face you for a while since he was in a very vulnerable state

(Name) — New mail? Sweet 300 primos!

(Chat) — Fr? I didn't get any new mail from hoyo yet.

(Name) — Well.. Free primos is free primos

If (Name)'s happy then he'll rest easy today. Hopefully no rumors circulate about what happened earlier.. Self aware fanfics are crazy these days.

W A N D E R E R

Wanderer stared at (Name) blankly, he was too busy thanking people with countless of donations to even realize they were still in a boss fight farming material's for upcoming characters.

Wanderer became (Name)'s fan ever since he saw him at that temporary event named 'Unreconciled Stars Event Quest The Crisis Deepens'.

Smug mf since he made (Name) hit hard pity for him. But was kind enough to give you his c1 after 140 wishes

(Chat) — Why don't you change your main (Streamer Name)?

An irk mark appears on Wanderer's face but wasn't that visible on screen.

Is this swine telling (Name) to replace him with someone else? Hard pass. He was already stolen from (Name)'s attention and now these nobody's are trying to persuade him into maining some other weak random than him.

Just so happen that (Name) spotted a chest nearby and happily went over to open it, Wanderer took this opportunity immediately

(Wanderer) — Unnecessary.

(Chat) — Is it just me or is his voice rougher than usual?

Damn right it's rougher since he just wanted to vent his anger out on any enemies on sight

The chat won't know but what he had said was directly targeted at them, if only he could say every insult known to man right now

So (Name), keep your eyes on him only and no one else, then maybe he'll make his attacks stronger if you comply

(Name) — Well to answer your question earlier chat, no I don't think I'll be changing my main anytime soon. Wanderer's pretty fun to play with.

After (Name) finished talking he took a closer look at Wanderer's face, but his eyes swore Wanderer had a tad bit of pink on his cheeks

His eyes must've been starting to break with the amount of streaming his doing

T R A V E L E R

(Name) had just began to prep for his stream of the week and now he was currently adjusting the Traveler's artifacts to try out a new build

You know what's crazy though? His builds are pretty shitty.

He has the absolute worst luck in artifacts plus in leveling up pieces, most of which usually goes to defense or HP%

But he still hits about 800k regularly with the Traveler! How could he do such thing with only 44.6% Crit rate!?

(Chat) — 1 MILLION?? (Name) are you doing hacks?

(Name) — What? No! Guess my Traveler's just really op

The Traveler is a smug motherfucker

Of course the Traveler wouldn't hit such high numbers without using a...slight adjustment to the system

Sure their pieces are pretty bad but they'll accept anything (Name) had given them! How could they just shake off his hard work on griding for their ascension and talents?

Whenever the Traveler sees (Name)'s shocked expression during the massive crit's appearing on his screen they are damn right happy and overjoyed they managed to satisfy their grace!

(Chat) — Your builds are bad af tho lolol

(Chat) — Why main the Traveler? They're a pretty bad character to main, you should go for Nuevillete or Alhaitham.

The Traveler's good mood immediately faded into dust once he saw the chats text

Are those no lifers saying that they're not fit to be (Name)'s vessel? They're the most perfect one!

What could Nuevillete or whatever character have that they don't? Could they switch elements? Don't think so

If they wanted bigger numbers, the Traveler will show them big numbers all right, if you want them to hit 10 million they're gonna make it happen with just one click

(Name) — Thanks for the suggestion chat but I'm going to stick with the Traveler, I'm already wayyy too attached

The Traveler's mood once again took a 360 and smiled softly at what (Name) said to them, their stomachs fluttering with delight

(Name) is attached to them? No other compliment or praise could ever reach what the Traveler was feeling at the very moment

Their grace! Oh their grace... If only they could just grab onto you and drag you here where you rightfully belong

K I N I C H

Kinich is an upcoming playable character but many in the genshin community have fallen head over heels for him

Yet he couldn't careless about them, after all just being near (Name)'s presence even though it's just by the Traveler's vessel already makes him nice and comfortable

(Name) — Day 10 of saving up for Kinich let's goo

(Chat) — Woah already 200 wishes? You're quick man

(Name) — Can't help it lmao, Kinich seems fun to play and he's really pretty!

(Chat) — He seem's boring though

(Chat) — Dude the dialouge is slightly glitching wtf

The dialouge's glitching is caused by Kinich's embarrassment and rage, he was previously just about to talk till he heard (Name) sing praises about him! How could he not accidentally stutter and mess up the dialouge!?

But on the other hand, the hell did that person meant by he was boring? He wasn't even released yet! This caused Kinich to panic mentally if whether or not you'll change your mind about pulling for him

He stared at you from the screen, clenching his fists tighter by the second. Just a small bit more... Just one more step and he'll be released, then he could really be by your side now.

(Name) — Aw man, hold on chat I gotta pause the stream to fix this glitching

(Name) eventually had to exit the game to try and see what the problem was with his device or if it was overheating again

Meanwhile Kinich was still standing there re-adjusting his thoughts about what just happened. His feelings were all a mixed bag at this point, he sighed rubbing his temples slowly

Ajaw eventually came to his side while looking at him weirdly like he had done something wrong

(Ajaw) — Wow.. Just wow

(Kinich) — Shut up...

To rightfully apologized the system eventually sent 10 wishes in (Name)'s game mail which he was confused at first but eh, more wishes for c6 knich!

Once he becomes playable Kinich would definitely spoil (Name) with high numbers and crit's. He would just have to deal with Ajaw's yapping in the meantime..

So don't get distracted over what those 'Chat' people say about him!

A/n: likes and reblogs are appreciated! Have a nice day(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

[theoryofthemultiverse]

How likely the Fatui harbingers are to cuddle you

(as their fellow harbinger)

When you are sick 🛌

An: I am sick so we have to make the best of it :( also included wanderer before his glow up and la signora because I like my harbingers all together, but since I feel like I cannot say anything about Pulcinella, Columbina and Sandrone I left them out, I still hope you’ll like it!

Pierro:

1/10

I feel like he would look at you and tell you to go and rest, but that’s about it. Maybe you get a pat on your head or shoulder in sympathy.

Il Dottore:

3.5-4?/10

When you��re like, nearly dead? and come to him into his lab in the hopes he can give you medicine. He thinks the sight is pathetic :(

Would help you though and tell you to sit down while gets you some poisonous looking medicine (it probably unfairly works tho). But you’re still burning up so you crave a bit more of a hug. It annoys him (but if you persist in staying annoying to him) he might give you a segment of him that you can use as a plushie for your own comfort if not himself.

Arlecchino:

7/10

I mean hello? Father?

This woman would take her time for you. If you tell her you really need someone to cuddle you, she will agree, why not after all?

Only one condition, she might want to do some work in the meantime which could be anything from reading, to writing and commanding fatui agents, as well as her children around.

But if you commit to laying on the couch next to her not bothering her too much, mommy/father is gonna take care of you while laying by the fireplace. :>

Scaramouche:

5/10

Would also be annoyed.

„Why don’t you get lost in your room and rest there? You’re a drag when you’re sick.“ But you don’t want to go to your room you want affection.

So after long minutes of persuading, he might give in, depending on if he likes you or not.

If he gives in and lets you cuddle him, he’s going to make comments about being annoyed, (all while that man‘s got the joker, puppets surely won’t catch a cold) Yet you don’t care and let him talk because you know that behind all the complaints, he likes it a bit.

La signora:

5/10

This one is tricky, I feel like she would be a little like Scaramouche, also saying she doesn’t want to, but should she give in she might find it slightly pleasant and let’s it play a bit into her Ego, other than Scara who would feel it in affection mostly.

Pantalone:

7/10

If you ask him and he is not out for business, I wouldn’t see what keeps him from it. Especially if you’d be at home with him in that luxurious house. He’d at least stay with you until you’re asleep before heading back to his desk to deal with some contracts. Maybe he’ll send someone to fetch him a soup or anything he would know makes you feel better so when you wake up and want to cuddle again, he could also give you something he knows you like to make you feel better.

Tartaglia:

10/10

This man…, you want cuddles, you’re sick? He’s got your back. Just call him up and he’ll try to finish business as fast as possible to come over and help you get better again. Honestly a sweetheart :(

Il Capitano:

2/10

I believe he wouldn’t cuddle you because he is more into battling something somewhere (maybe Natlan). But on the other hand he wouldn’t be too opposed to making you feel a bit better and comforting you so he would ask you if you wanna come along to Natlan and watch him there!

I mean might not be what you asked for but at least it’s gonna be warmer than Snezhnaya. :)

[sku11s1asher]

hi! i loved what you wrote for my request 😭 it was so cute, i didn't really specify it bc i forgot but yeah u did it amazing <33

and yeah u can totally make a part 2! actually i was thinking about it bc i can imagine a meeting between furina and the natlan archon while neuvi and reader are just giving glances to eachother 😭 reader looking like a total meanace but in his mind like "damn he's handsome" almost burning his cheeks and the seat lmao

neuvillette x m! reader (part 1)

note: ngl i feel like i do good at posting then smth with school pops up and i don’t post for like a month.. sorry y’all. also please tell me im not the only one who’s been on and off sick for the past month, rn i have a runny nose and a sore throat AGAIN. i just got over that like, barely 2 weeks ago.

tw: y/n is a bit of a weirdo with his thoughts since he doesn’t understand anything w/ love, internal homophobia (not really but kinda?), y/n is all over the place

After centuries of fighting, killing, and not showing emotions to anyone, all that can end because of a guy with beautiful long hair. The more y/n thinks about it, the more embarrassed he gets. He’s known for being a fearless and intimidating warrior, just for that whole facade to disappear just over a man out of all things.

This whole scenario came into place because his nation archon just had to have a meeting with Fontaine's archon, Furina, at least y/n thinks that’s her name. The meeting consisted of figuring out how to make the justice system within Natlan better and a way to make transportation easier between the two nations. y/n didn’t pay attention to the little details, he was only there to ‘protect’ his archon and make sure things went smoothly.

However, he didn’t realize that the other archon would be bringing a guest with her until a day before the meeting. It did tick y/n off a little bit that he would get notified so late but does it really matter? All y/n is doing is protecting and making sure everything doesn’t go south.

Well, it did go a bit south, as soon as Furina's guest arrived, y/n's mouth went dry. That man did things to him that he didn’t even know could happen. Maybe it was the long hair on the other man that made y/n feel warm inside, it definitely couldn’t have been the slight scent he had. No, definitely not.

Okay, y/n takes that back, he feels like he’s getting intoxicated by the proximity of the other male. It wasn’t hard to figure out that the guest, was a dragon, all it took was a quick look and a secret deep breath to figure it out. He had it figured out, his body wasn’t used to being by another dragon, and he hadn’t seen one in what, centuries? This feeling would go away in maybe 20 minutes, hopefully.

20 minutes later and y/n feels like he’s going to light the whole place on fire. His whole body feels like it’s melting, and to no one’s surprise, it’s all due to the long-haired man in front of him. The stranger might genuinely be the hottest person y/n has ever seen in his entire life. That long hair makes y/n want to run his fingers through it, maybe brush it, but that might be a bit too much to think about.

Once y/n saw the man look at him, he quickly looked away, how embarrassing.. he got caught staring hardcore. He took a deep breath before listening back into the conversation, “Ah, yes, I suppose it would do both nations good to do something like that. Maybe combining a bit of power.” the lovey talk of archons, always talking about power; like it’s the only thing that matters to them.

Power is important though, y/n is in the position he’s in right now because of how powerful he is. In complete honesty, he’s probably too powerful for his own good, only knowing how to use it to protect his nation from people deemed as enemies; even if they aren’t in the public eye. Power rules everything at the end of the day, nothing can function without power.

The more he listens into the conversation, the more he realizes he was glad he was never born as an archon; he’s been around one most of his life and it’s always been boring. Listening in did provide small details though, like the mysterious man’s name.

While y/n was somewhat able to keep his focus off of the other dragon in the room, he managed to not burn anything. But, he had a feeling his archon caught on as they gave him a questionable look; it was a very subtle one that only he could catch onto but it was obvious they knew something. Nothing is going on though, right? The man can’t help it if he gets a bit flustered whenever he remembers Neuvillette is near him.

Gosh, y/n probably looks like a blushed teenager who just confessed to his crush. Well, he at least thought he did. To everyone else though, he looked like he was on guard and was going to fight anyone who even took a step too close to his and the Natlan archon's bubble. y/ns hand accidentally gazed at the chair near him, which caused the leather to burn where his touch was. Good thing no one was looking, right?

y/n couldn’t wait any longer for this meeting to be over, his brain was thinking too many things while he was focusing on every single move everyone else did. It would be overwhelming for anyone who wasn’t trained and as skilled as he was, but that tiny overwhelming feeling didn’t compare to how fast his heart was beating. y/n hoped the other male couldn’t pick up how he was feeling, thankfully Fontaine's archon seemed to be happy with the deal she and the other archon came up with.

In Neuvillette's mind, he could tell that the fire dragon was on edge. He could also tell how much the dragon was staring at him, it was a little nerve-racking. Once Neuvillette caught a glance at the chair that was touched, it made him a bit surprised but he didn’t show it. Maybe he would talk to the other male after the meeting, for work-related things of course!

[mareeyeahh]

Maybe it wasn't meant to be, unless?

Diluc x reader, reader implied as a female.

Trigger warning: mentions of alcohol and cheating

P. S. I'm not a writer. But let me know what you found inconsistent, confusing and just straight did not make sense.

Hope you like it ♡

The sickening scent of alcohol would drown the average person but for someone as wasted as you were, it wasn't a problem. Angel's Share on its peak hours was a can of sardines drenched in the forbidden liquid and you'd usually stay away from it but tonight was an exception.

You were one with the wine and sadness. Your friend and tonight's companion, Venti decided to whisk you away for the night to wash away your broken heart with drinks. At first, it seemed to work. A couple drinks in and you were singing with the famous bard that had everyone in the tavern clapping and singing along as well. But after a few more drinks, considering the lightweight that you are, you just started sobbing and cursing the man who broke your poor little heart.

Venti, being the culprit that he is for getting you into that state, tried to comfort you. But you told him you wanted some alone time and settled on to a corner in the tavern where no one would disturb you.

A chuckle filled with irony escaped your lips. You were ecstatic earlier as soon as you heard that there was a letter from your dearly beloved. He is one of the Knights of Favonius who was handpicked by the Grandmaster Varka himself to join him on an expedition to which had no end in sight. After months of not hearing from him, days when you were awaiting for his return and nights when you were sick with worry of not knowing his well being, a letter finally came. You knew that time was going to be the test to your love for the man. But you were willing to wait as he promised to marry you the time he comes back.

But the letter that you received that day did not convey words of love nor bear any gifts, neither did he mention when he would been coming back. You were taken aback by how formal the letter felt, cold and dead.

But the most shocking part of all, is that he says he had fallen in love with a female knight that was a part of the expedition crew and they were expecting a child. He and the woman withdrew from the expedition a few months ago and are settling somewhere in Natlan due to the circumstances. In the letter, he apologized and wished you well.

You didnt know how cruel the man you thought you loved could be. The pain in your heart felt as if you were struck by lightning over and over. He threw away the promise of marriage to you like it was nothing. All the time you spent wondering about his return, worrying about his safety made you feel stupid. All this time he was with someone in Natlan and potentially raising a family together whilst you were here waiting a word from him. The apology at the end of the letter was a band-aid to a stab wound. You never felt so little before.

Neither have you felt so drunk before. It was bad enough that you were miserable but drunk miserable is not a good combination. After all that drinking, singing and sobbing, your throat was as dry as the desert of Sumeru. You lifted your head to ask Charles for a glass of water but he was not in sight.

Instead, a man clad in black that only emphasized his fiery red locks sat where Charles usually was. You were no stranger to who he was. Despite being newly acquainted to wine, you knew the very man whose name is uttered across regions of Teyvat because of the wine industry. The very same business tycoon asking if you were alright and needed anything.

You snapped back to reality when you realized you were gawking.

"Miss?" Diluc's piercing red eyes glowed with concern.

"I-I'm sorry. Very sorry. Very much, yes." You composed your drunk self but your words slurred. "May I trouble you for a glass of water?"

"Coming right up." The gentleman shuffled around to fulfill your request. He came back with a pitcher of water on one hand and a glass on the other. He poured water onto the glass and gently placed it in front of you. You thanked him and drank it.

"Do you feel alright?" He asked.

"Oh yes, yes, yes, thanks to you." You wiped the tear stains from your cheeks. He gave you a small smile before attending to a couple of drunk customers, one whose right eye is covered with an eye patch.

The water seemed to sober you up a little bit and you realized the time. It must have already been past midnight as some of the patrons in the tavern headed home. Unfortunately, you're not sober enough to make it out of the door without stumbling. You got worried how you were going to get home but remembered that Venti might walk you back.

You stood up from your chair, gripping onto the bar counter for support or else you'll fall. You searched your surroundings for the bard, wondering if he ventured onto the upper floor of the tavern. But you saw his familiar turquoise cape laid on top of him like a blanket as he slept peacefully on a long wooden chair at the back of the tavern. You should've known better. Your only way home was asleep.

Unbeknowst to you, the man from earlier watched as you sigh in defeat when you saw the bard drifting off to dreamland, ignoring the responsibility of taking you home. Kaeya, the man beside Diluc nudged his shoulder with a smirk on his face. "It appears we have a damsel in distress on our hands."

"Don't phrase it like that." The woman beside him, Rosaria, chimed in. "You make it sound like she's some sort of prey."

"I implied none of the sort. I only thought that the streets of Mondstadt may be dangerous for an intoxicated woman to wander about." The one-eyed man spoke in a matter-of-fact tone before sipping wine from his glass. "I think it would be best if Master Diluc here walked her home."

Rosaria turned her head towards Kaeya in confusion, expecting an answer but Kaeya only gave her a knowing glance before looking back at Diluc who was already out of earshot. The drunken woman had reached for the door in an attempt to leave the tavern but almost spectacularly stumbled if not for Diluc catching her mid-fall.

Kaeya stifled a laugh seeing how cheesy the scene was. His brother, the embodiment of seriousness trapped in his arms a woman whose middle name must be clumsy, with their gazes locked upon each other to register each other's presence- he swears this must be something out of a novel. Kaeya simply shook his head in amusement as the two stepped outside and shut the door behind them.

You were almost out of the tavern when you reached for the door but failed to support your weight onto the wall and missed it by an inch. You braced for impact of the fall but instead you were embraced by two strong arms that stopped your momentum. You looked up to see who it was and it was Diluc. Your face heated up and must've been the same shade of his red hair from the embarrassment.

"Are you alright?"

"Alright, yes. Very alright. Thank you, M-Master Diluc." You finished, your words slurring from your mouth. He helped you stand up and stabilized your stance by putting your arm around his shoulder.

"Were you heading out? It's dangerous to go alone, especially when you're drunk."

"Oh yes, yes, yes." You repeat your words like a broken record. "Venti was the one who dragged me here. But he's..." You pause, finding the right words, "He's, he's out like a log? Light? Yes, light."

Diluc turned his head towards the familiar sight he'd rather not see and shook his head with an exasperated look on his face.

"Seeing as the bard, whom you came with, is asleep I think it's best that I walk you home."

It seems you were really that wasted for someone as important as Diluc to be escorting you home. You grew conscious of being a nuisance at the bar earlier with all that singing and now, bothering him to escort you. That weighed on your mind, even more so that his face was a few inches from you.

"Oh, oh, no, no, no. Master Diluc, I can't possibly impose on you. The- uhh, the Knights of Favo-"

"Just Diluc is fine," he cut you off. "And it's no trouble. It would bring me peace of mind if I escort you personally."

His grip on your body tightened a bit, conveying that he won't take no for an answer. He opened the door and let you walk slowly as he supported your balance. You mentally sighed in defeat. "If you insist."

The cool night breeze blew against the both of you the minute you were out of the tavern. It was refreshing at first but you didn't realize how cold the air could be at night.

"Here, sit down for a moment." Diluc gently sat you down on a chair not too far from outside the tavern. He stripped himself of his coat and placed it upon your shoulders. At this point you couldnt refuse as he wrapped it snuggly around you. It wasn't prominent but you caught a whiff of the scent his coat. It had a fragrance reminiscent of the grape vineyard at Dawn Winery that you pass by sometimes.

"Smells like grapes," You blurt out, louder than you anticipated.

"Why, thank you." The redhead didn't know if it was a compliment. It didn't sound offensive in anyway so maybe it was.

Diluc sensed the surroundings for anything or anyone suspicious. When he concluded that the vicinity was safe, he helped you up and supported your balance with your arm around his shoulder once more. The both of you started to walk slowly but steadily.

"Do, do you like grapes, Master Diluc?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"So you, you like alcohol as well, Master Diluc?"

"I do not."

"But you like grapes?" Diluc furrowed his eyebrows as he did not where this conversation was going.

"Yes, I do." He decided to humor you a little.

On the way, you argued that it was impossible for him to dislike wine because it was made from grapes. He thought you made a fair point but he also said he'd rather have grape juice than wine. Diluc had learned first hand with Kaeya that one will never win an argument against a drunk person. But surprisingly, you were more reasonable to argue with.

"I now know that you, Master Diluc, know how to handle a drunk person." You say, also tripping yourself up the stairs of your porch. "But you've never been drunk yourself."

"It's part of the job description. But i've dealt with more stubborn people. Your bard friend is certainly one of them."

You suddenly remember how rowdy the both of you were earlier in the tavern. "Ah, I apologize."

"Whatever for?" Diluc let go of your weight and had you hold the railings of your porvh for support.

"For," Your grip tightened as you feel your knees buckle a little, "causing trouble in the tavern."

"A noisy tavern is not unusual for me. I prefer it that way, if i'm being frank. But seeing you sing earlier is definitely a novelty."

"Me?"

"Yes." His eyes that glowed like embers in the dark stared right back at yours. "Like a nightingale amongst a murder of crows."

As if it wasn't already, your face grew hotter and you evaded his piercing gaze, embarrassed from the sudden flattery. "Thank you, Master-"

"You may call me Diluc. I'm sure I've told you that earlier."

"Thank you, Diluc. For the kind words." You shuffled on your feet, trying to find a way out of the silence. "Ah, my door! I'm home now. Thank you for going out of your way to walk me home." You grab hold of your door knob before saying, "I bid you... good night."

Just as you were about to step in and free yourself from the torment of awkwardness, "Before I depart, may I ask you something?"

You turned around, alert all of a sudden. "You may."

"If it's all right with you, do you want to..." He seemed to pause for a dramatic effect, "have lunch together if time allows it?"

You blinked, his words seemed far away that you couldn't understand. Your heart raced and the pit in your stomach is back. It wasn't giddiness. The most eligible bachelor in Mondstadt himself asked you to have lunch with him but all you felt was anxiety. Suddenly, all those memories that you have shared with your former lover and the pain finding out that he was with another woman now suddenly hit you like a sumpter beast. You have never wanted to be more drunk in this moment.

"I-I... Thank you, Master Diluc for inviting me to a meal together but I'm sorry. I can't."

"I see." Diluc seemed to have taken the refusal well. "It's alright. I'm glad you let me know."

"I'm sorry."

He gave you a soft smile. "There's nothing to be sorry for. Well, I'll be heading off. Good night, Y/N."

You watched as he lightly waved his hand and walked off, his red hair reflected the moonlight making visible even from afar.

****

Before you come at me, yes there'll be a part two. It's literally 12AM and i just wanted to finish this i hope my brain lets me sleep. I was tryna proofread but my eyes are like nope huhu

[hopeless-5-foot-2-spiderlily]

Ayoooo! Genshin Fans!! Y'all need to archondamn read!!

Mavuika is not like Furina! Yes true both are humans BUT Furina is CURSED and WAS A GOD remember FOCALORS/FURINA basically divided herself into two, human(Furina) and divine (Focalors).

IF YOU WHO CLAIMS AS GENSHIN FAN WHO FAILS TO UNDERSTAND THE LORE OF FURINA/FOCALORS imagine this Venti sacrificing his godhood he separates his power becoming the no memory human Venti and the divine Barbatos with 100 Memory—essentially a one person with two names who separated themselves with different attributes. (ALSO VENTI IS JUST AN EXAMPLE HE IS STILL A FULL ARCHON)

ANYWAY back to Mavuika

SPOILERS!!

Natlan according to her has no species called gods, the first archon, was but a mortal man who ascended to the archon throne and from there borrowed the power of the heavens BASICALLY CELESTIA BECAUSE GNOSES IS AN OBJECT THAT DRAWS POWER FROM CELESTIA. So, yes, MAVUIKA IS A MORTAL, AND THAT MEANS MAVUIKA IS THE PYRO ARCHON, like her predecessor

If she was the pyro archon from 500 years ago, how is she still alive? She's like furi--!! NO, SHE IS NOT LIKE FURINA

Mavuika as she said sacrificed herself to the sacred flame 🔥. "EMBEDDED HER SOUL IN THE SACRED FLAME TO BE REAWAKENED 500 YEARS LATER" and that means she hasn't lived through those 500 years. She was reawakened and entered the pilgrimage and became the pyro archon once again—what hwr physical body's age is also her mental age—she died young in her previous life. OKAY IN SIMPLER THOUGHTS THINK PHOENIX die burning and reawakened from ghe ashes.

Question: why is pyro traveller not available?

I in fact don't know but from what we know we can assume that the Pyro Archon has no elemental dominion over well fire. The pyro archon draws power from the heavens but that was probably used to make the rules they currently have in Natlan which is why they can bring people back to life—specific requirements in certain areas. Like what IL CAPITANO mentioned "what is the use of the gnoses in your hands blah blah then it's up to me to make new rules for Natlan" so I concur that the sacred flame and the rules of the nation is the mortal archon's borrowed power from the heavens.

It might also be because the pyro archon is mortal and therefore their body can't withstand the entirety of the elemental dominion. Formidable but not in equal to a god in Barbatos, Moral, Baal/Beelzebub, Buer, Focalors caliber.

This is just my theory for now but it would also not explain why there are allogenes of Pyro, if the case was this to explain non pyro traveller. However, we are descenders who have elemental resonance to every element and the gnoses was made by the dragon's sovereign and the third descenders' remains and thus maybe the power is not enough to give to traveller because we're not really allogenes.

ALSO COULD ABYSS TWIN HAVE ALREADY DIED???? AND THAT'S WHY IRMINSUL COUNTED THEM AS PART OF THIS WORLD??? WHAT IF THEY DIED SOMEHOW IN NATLAN??? MAYBE THEY HAD A FORGED ANCIENT NAME LIKE WHAT MAVUIKA OFFERED TRAVELLER??? RIGHT???? IDK BUT THAT'S BEEN WEIGHING IN MY MIND SINCE NATLAN TRAILER AND I JUST FORGOT TO RANT ABOUT THAT HERE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'M GOING 🤣 CRAZY!!

[thebluester2020]

The Stranger [Pt.1]

Summary: You were a citizen of Natlan. In the nation of the Pyro Archon, you were constantly greeted by bloodshed and violence. A life that kept the finely tuned forces of the nation in balance until it completely shattered with the arrival of the Fatui. And you had the newly arrived Harbinger to thank for that...but, one fateful night it seems, you just happened to stumble upon a man who could possibly throw the Fatui out of your homeland entirely.

Warning(s): Wholesomeness sprinkled around, Il Capitano is a bit of a liar here, eventual smut, Imagined Natlan(?) (Obviously the nation isn't out yet so I'm using my imagination as to how things are + how the people function lol), good ol' angst at the end.

Note(s): I adore fics where the Fatui are kinda shady so I decided to add my two cents in. I didn't want to risk making this too long so I'll make a part 2 to this eventually! (Im also trying to get back into the swing of fanfic-writing so excuse any errors y'all!)

MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DNI

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ

"You don't belong here."

Those were the first words you said to the imposing figure whom you had found hidden away in the depths of a charred forest in Natlan. A nation where the earth pulsed with the lava that flowed just underneath the surface and volcanos oozed lava just about everyone one could see. Symbols of Natlan's fiery beating heart that those from other nations were too fearful to touch much less come close to at least...aside from the Fatui.

They arrived in your homeland about four months ago, led by a mysterious leader who was said to have been a monster in battle. Who wielded his weapon as easily as his own limb and tore through the battlefield as fiercely as a rampaging Fire Bull. It was the Fatui's 4th strongest Harbinger, Il Capitano, and you wouldn't deny that hearing the best warriors of Natlan describe him like that...it sent a fearful shiver down your spine.

If there was anything this nation prided itself on, it was the chaotic change and the delicate art that could be found in war.

An outsider mastering that art better than the residents of your own nation? You weren't much of a fighter yourself, you could just about swing a sword but you weren't on the leagues of those who were renowned fighters or those who regularly participated in duals, but...with the arrival of the Fatui and hearing how they've ransacked and pillaged villages?

Tearing apart families and using people's weaknesses to the cold against them.

You wanted to help.

This is how you found yourself in the present now, peeking out just a little from behind a tree as you watched the stranger practice his swordsmanship now suddenly regretting the words that escaped your lips recklessly. Although, it seemed like the stranger hadn't paid you any mind.

You stepped out from your hiding spot a little more, your eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You don't belong here." You repeated.

It was then that the stranger ceased his practice, the act of him plunging his sword into the rocky soil making you jump a little. You expected him to say something back to you, maybe some words of trying to shoo you away or that you were interrupting his practice but...as you shifted a little underneath the awkward silence. You took the opportunity to look the stranger over.

The stranger was tall, big enough to give the large bulls of this land a scare. He had broad shoulders like a great oak and wore rather simple clothing despite training with a weapon, a black button-up with some black pants, his outfit similarly colored to his otherwise dark navy hair before...it was all topped off with that strange mask he wore on his head, one that didn't reveal his features and made it seem like his face was nothing but an empty black void.

You cleared your throat. "Who are you?" You finally asked.

You could've sworn you heard a shocked gasp from the man before his head slowly tilted to the side. "...You don't know who I am?"

You raised your brow. "Am I supposed to?" To which the stranger cleared his throat but he shook his head.

"No," He answered before he plucked his weapon from the ground and went back to battling one of the trees.

His swordplay was magnificent, his weapon was about as big as he was yet he wielded it as efficiently as a thief would a knife! You pitied the poor soul who had the unfortunate luck of coming across the stranger in battle. "You wield your weapon well." You complimented.

No response.

"Graceful, effective. You should be a part of Natlan's warriors rather than fighting against a tree, you could possibly thwart the invading Fatui."

Once again, he stopped, sparing you a glance. "The Fatui won't leave."

"Not with that attitude and you fighting in a dead forest."

The stranger let out a heavy sigh as he plunged his sword into the ground once more. "The Fatui are mightier than you think, they've bested Natlan's best warriors with ease."

"And you could help stop them!"

The stranger scoffed, shaking his head. You were certain that he may have thought of you as a too-hopeful fool but, what else was there in be in these times of strife? Where Fatui were spreading further and further out? You were just lucky enough that they hadn't happened upon your village yet! But...it was only a matter of time, and quite frankly? With your village being composed of nothing more than elderly folk with their grandchildren. You were searching for any way possible to be able to try and protect your village.

You sighed. "Look, we- we don't have time to lose ourselves to hopelessness. Everyone who is a skilled fighter-"

"Needs to help?" The stranger finished for you, crossing his arms. "If you believe helping or thwarting the Fatui is the right thing to do then you forget one of the teachings of the Pyro Archon."

Your jaw dropped a little. You weren't a devout priest but you understood her words well enough! "Okay Mister Know-It-All, what am I forgetting?"

"The Principles of Change." He said. "Chaos who begets fire and war. For she is the instructor of the two as to how to best enact her will."

You flushed as one of the teachings came to mind all of a sudden. But...although change was indeed chaotic. That didn't mean that it had to be at the loss of countless lives and the awakening threat of your people possibly being turned into nothing but slaves for the Fatui! You'd rather die than see that reality happen.

You dared to place a gentle hand on the man's forearm. "Chaos working to forward change doesn't have to bring needless death. Please." You begged. "You could help, save countless people even!" You felt any semblance of hope for keeping your village safe shatter when the stranger walked away from you, the rest of your words catching in your throat before you looked at your feet, gulping down a round of tears that threatened to surface.

You sighed. "...Alright then," You said, looking back up to see the man tearing his sword from the ground before he began to walk off. "I-If you change your mind, come find this forest again and head west! You'll find my village!"

You were certain your words fell on deaf ears.

.

.

.

It had been a few days since you had last visited the forest. On some nights, you were certain you could hear the faint sound of a sword colliding with a tree but you never went to investigate. Instead of focusing your efforts on trying to make sure that your village was as safe as possible when you'd go out for food and supplies, you'd always take a more confusing path back just in case someone was following you. When you talked at the market about your village, you simply said that you lived a solitary life in the mountains in hopes that, if someone did check, they'd be met with disappointment.

It seemed to be working so far.

Things were as peaceful as could be- "Hm?" You hummed aloud at the sound of someone knocking at your door.

As you walked through your house, you grabbed a dagger off of a nearby weapons rack, holding a hand behind you as you went to the door. "Who is it?!"

"Me," A familiar voice that you thought you'd never heard. You nearly dropped your weapon as you rushed to open the door.

At the sight of the stranger, you nearly beamed ear-to-ear. "Y-You're here! You came."

"Simply because I need a place to rest my feet for a while, your village was the closest." The stranger said as he had to bend down a considerable amount just to fit through your door. Thankfully, he left his weapon at the front door as he wandered through your home, the sight of such a large man trying to maneuver and avoid bumping into things could have almost been considered comedic had it not been for the-

"Blood?" You wondered aloud when you spotted it on the back of his cape.

"...Fatui enemies."

You smiled. "Ah, well, seeing as there's only a little. I'm certain you handled yourself quite well." When the stranger had finally taken a seat in your living room, on one of the larger pillows, he had quickly taken off his cape before he folded it.

"Hopefully you would have considered my offer? Of trying to push back the Fatui?"

"No," He said. "Besides, the forces of Natlan's warriors are weakening. No matter how strong you may think I am. I won't be able to change anything on my own."

"Well...then what if I help?"

You pouted when he chuckled. "Absolutely not, you couldn't even sneak up on me. What could you do against an army?"

"I never said I had to fight them front and center! I could learn to use a bow-" Suddenly, the stranger pulled you closer by your arm, staring you down before he looked you over. You couldn't pinpoint why but...whatever made you begin to blush by him looking you over, you didn't exactly dislike it.

"I think...you're better off here. Keeping your house warm and village safe, there's not many safe places. The last thing I'd want is for my one safe place to disappear."

You gently shook your arm from his grip as you looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh please, I'm not some housewife...besides, I don't even know your name."

"That's because my name isn't important. It's a shameful name that...I wouldn't dare curse you to hear." You raised your brow, not important? You wondered why. "But, I would like to know the name of the beautiful person who owns this place."

"Oh!" Your eyes widened, a soft smile gracing your features. "Y/N...but, it really isn't a shame that I can't know your name. Much less see whose behind the mask."

"I've done a lot of things but the last thing I'd do to you is defile your eyes by my face."

You crouched down beside him, chuckling a little. "You have a bit of an attitude but, I doubt whatever you look like could scare me."

He looked away "How flattering."

A comfortable silence fell between you two. You were still curious about the stranger who currently sat in your house, who had managed to find your village despite only meeting him once a few days ago. But...you supposed it was fairly easy to overlook things. After all, it was rather easy to become lonely in a house that you shared all on your lonesome.

.

.

.

"So...where are we going?"

"Foraging."

"Foraging for what?"

"Things,"

"Things like what?"

A smirk crept onto your lips when the stranger only groaned in response to your endless questions. Yet, you found no malice in it. The two of you had been growing closer as of late, at the start of every day. He'd leave for a few hours to train in the forest, commanding you not to follow him while assuring you that he would be back later. So far, he hasn't failed to live up to his words.

But...as of recently, the three days or so, he'd been coming home with gits. Sometimes it was flowers, other time money for you to buy things that you've been eyeing for a while or food! When he'd come back from his training, the two of you would talk about the day and what you'd both experienced. You'd have dinner prepared and he'd have a gift for you, as well as a story to "keep you entertained" as he'd like to put it.

It was rather domestic.

Each time the man brought you a gift, the foreign warm and full feeling in your chest would only grow.

"Do not be so nosy," He said, gently nudging you with his own body. "You'll enjoy foraging these flowers, I think they'd look nice in your home."

"Our." You corrected, causing him to slow down a little before he looked down at you.

"Our?"

You nodded your head. "Technically, right? You always return back there, did you even have a home before you met me?" You teased.

Immediately, the man looked away again with a grumble. "I did and do...but your home is closer. I...like it." From that comment alone, you could've sworn that the warm feeling in your chest...as well as your fondness for the man who you didn't even have a name to put to yet, the feeling grew just a little bit more.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ

Link to Part 2

[lyss-sketchbox]

Have you played through Natlan a little bit yet? Because I love it except for one thing. Does the Archon quest feel...off to you? At least the first act. Specifically the character introductions and character acting?

Funny thing actually i JUST finished it last night!

Well uh spoilers ahead

I think its... alright-ish? Act 1 basically sets you up with the basics, the characters, the culture, the traditions, and lore so we know whats up. Cool. We are literally being fed information because we are tourists and i can excuse that.

Idk how to feel about traveller and paimon literally going 'ah look, an opportunity has arised, its time to do our thing and help with this major event'. I mean yes thats how its always been but mentioning it doesnt... help... it just points out a flaw.

The characters are fine enough imo. I really expected Mualani to have this super hyper attitude and squeaky voice we usually get from an 'everyone loves me' character but shes suprisingly mellow and i appreciate that alot. (May change with Citlali though and im not looking forward to it)

I do not like how it is very Tell not Show. Because you know what keeps being shown? The fact that Kachina is A CHILD. Maybe she's not an actual child who knows but hyv is clearly infantilizing her. Case in point:

The chief of the tribe literally asked you for ID because you are strangers hanging out around her. He literally said 'a good feeling isnt gonna be enough for your parents to trust these people'

After the chief knew who the traveller is, he said he could trust Kachina to go to the Stadium to sign up and not get into trouble. She HAS to participate because she has an Ancient Name and you can barely trust her to go to the stadium???

Kachina mentioning how she can't keep excusing her age for being a bad warrior. So she KNOWS shes young and either she or other people in the past has excused her for her performance because of her age.

The genuine actual side by side of her first match up. You know a child vs a massive buff man. Maybe it's just me but her kit is clearly not made to DPS and hyv making us fight these opponents with only her kinda makes it feel so much like a drag.

Everyone around her keeps saying oh shes actually really good, she almost made it last time, shes super powerful just lacking confidence. Well we dont really... see it. When the tournament started and we play as mualani and kachina all i can think about it 'yeah mualani is gonna do all the fighting here' and it adds to the idea that kachina literally did the bare minimum. But then suddenly we get a really cool cutscene of her defeating a 3 times winning veteran. It is not believable to me.

Also now that she's won we are literally sending her off to fight the abyss where she has a REAL CHANCE OF DYING but we gotta be ok with it because she can get resurrected? Are we not supposed to be concerned that we are sending a child to war with a real chance of her dying?

It is such a tonal shock and the traveller or paimon barely says anything about it so WE are supposed to be fine with it too? It probably is culture shock but like... SOME people still sees Clorinde as a killer despite doing her job as a duelist, how do you think those people will think seeing THIS tradition.

As for the bit where we go with mualani while we wait for kachina to come back from war, it was... alright i think. But the manufactured 'chillness' is there, like you can tell theyre trying their hardest to potray this tribe as the chill surfers one. Its also obvious they want us to like Atea. While she looks a lil overbearing i appreciate that they were being subtle about her 'my life isnt gonna last long so i am doing this dangerous task', they had to explain it anyway for mualani but i think them not stating out right at first that 'woah you werent going here because you can use the hotsprings again!' is a good choice, that is a good show not tell i think.

For now though the entire thing simply feels off because i feel like there's no stake at all for us. If kachina loses? Then she doesn't get sent to the war, thats kind of a good thing seeing how she did ended up 'dying'. We've met the archon but for some reason hasn't asked about our siblings or anything and the only reason we are staying is because its the right thing to do. Thats it. I think it's just... alot offered to us but none with actual value to the traveller personally.

While you can argue that fontaine is exactly like that, that we only stayed to help lyney with his trial and everything else because its the right thing to do. Lyney is fatui. Neuvillette is a dragon. And furina is an absent archon. Theres an air of mystery around how fontaine works and these people have MASSIVE connections. You almost want to stay to see how it'll turn up, what information will show up.

Natlan on the other hand revealed basically everything to us in the first 2 acts. Natlan gets abyss attacks because they dont have strong leyline connections. The fatui wants the gnosis and literally will just fight the archon for it. The archon is chill and kind and is the reincarnation of the original archon because we were told that. The facking traitor from night-wind is obviously the Ororon guy lmao. So what IS left to speculate? To look out for?

Like wow she's gonna carve us an Ancient Name? Why lmao. What for? We can purify the abyss we are not dying in the Night Kingdom.

Shrugs idk feel free to fight me on this. I am just a lil jaded because i literally cannot take the archon seriously when shes literally just called 'Archon' with no special title or anything

[bluemoondust]

So, uh, the first two acts of Natlan's Archon Quest dropped and no spoilers but-

Capitano seems like, in contrast to his immense strength, the most gentle giant yandere you could ask for.

Because I love extreme contrasts, imagining him with a short, chubby, and fragile darling is just hvsjheucxjtshxty makes me feral

He'd be so gentle 😭 carrying them like the most precious treasure in all of Teyvat, treating them like glass no matter what mood he's in, wrapping them up in his cloak and silently going nuts over how big it looks on them

He would be so, SO down bad and just wanna squish and knead their curves but he's terrified of hurting them, so he just traces them very lightly instead, maybe even tickling them accidentally and losing his mind over how precious their giggles are 💞

Anyway, um... Sorry, just had to blab to my fave yandere writer for a bit. Thanks for reading and happy Natlan exploration!

VCFBFHBK- FIRST OF ALL (also I am currently gonna get into the archon Quest so :D)

Love when you all come here to gush over characters. It's fun to read and heartwarming.

AND YES!

I absolutely love the big, intimidating-looking person who turns out to be a softie (especially for the person they hold dearly) trope. Personal fave because sometimes you just wanna be held in the arms of someone oh so strong. This also ties in with the trope of the character only being so soft around their beloved. Also, he gives off 'devoted knight' (in a twisted way) trope just from a glance.

I have heard about people writing Capitano being so devoted to his beloved (us) and it makes me ill (/pos); banging my fists on the walls. Because of that, I have had this image in my head of the dynamic:

Love me that size difference- Like,,, imagine how big his hands are. I know they're probably cold BUT NO LISTEN! Just imagine him placing his big cold hands on your soft tummy/plush skin for warmth. His fingers are splayed out and he is oh so gentle when handling you. The man could probably crush someone's skull with those hands, but they also tenderly stroke your face.

[hellobitchlet]

Thoughts on Natlan act 3 and 4:

Act 3-

- there is seriously no point to giving Traveler an ancient name. They're very obviously just being given one bc the writers want to show off how amazing they are at everything again. If the whole point of ancient names is that it's solely a Natlan thing, then there's no point in Traveler getting one. Why were they and Paimon scrambling to get one? You're already being praised and given new abilities constantly, you don't fucking need it.

- that aside, Xilonen gave a decent explanation of how ancient names and the night kingdom work. I didn't feel like act 1 or 2 explained anything properly beyond "it sure exists and is important to the super special archon's plans", but Xilonen explaining that deeds have to happen inside of Natlan and be recorded and acknowledged by the Wayob (who will only acknowledge ppl from Natlan) was easy to understand and made perfect sense. My only problem here is that it should've been explained this cleanly back in act 1, before we started using ancient names for drama. Because, you know, maybe I would've cared more about it then?

- the Ororon stuff would've been much more interesting and tense if it wasn't introduced by... being randomly told to you. In the middle of an unrelated plotline. And then spending the whole fucking time assuring you that he's a great person while you follow a trail. And doing nothing else except experience Citlali's inner thoughts. That was literally the entire build up to meeting him.

- despite it being handled in the most boring way possible (and god, do I want to emphasize that they handled it in a boring way), I do like the plotline between Citlali, Ororon, and Capitano. It's a lot more interesting than the basic ass saving Natlan plot, which is about as much of a stereotypical hero plot as they could've made it. I honestly adore Citlali and Ororon now, they're definitely my favorites of the Natlan cast. Like, they had actual on screen conflict with one another for a few minutes! They care sooo much about each other and it was shown through their actions and interactions with each other instead of just monologuing it to Traveler. The bar is below the fucking ground...

- I especially enjoyed seeing Citlali getting drunk and accidentally spilling about her problems. However... it's funny (read: annoying) to think about how long it's taken for this to actually fucking happen when Kaeya and Venti have been here since the beginning, and about how much Kaeya and Venti have been shit on for being alcoholics. It was probably one of the best character building moments I have ever seen from Genshin, but man, a newly introduced Natlan character should not have been the first one to do this.

- "we've only known each other for a few days, right? What would you think of me if I were to start dumping all my complaints on you after we've only just met?" Oh thank god she has some actual self awareness. I wish other characters (playable and npc) would stop infodumping their entire backstories the moment they're introduced. Ultimately, the awkward telepathy moment that they're probably never going to explain served the same purpose. But that wasn't something she was doing on purpose, so I'm willing to forgive her for it and pin it on the writers instead.

-it really sucks that they're being so confusing about Citlali's age. You know it's because of Hoyo's refusal to make playable characters that aren't 1000% conventionally attractive. They're seriously trying to give us a teacher/student relationship in which the teacher is supposed to be significantly older than the student and NOT give her a single wrinkle. She also kept saying stuff that implied she would age to be hundreds of years old, so I want to be interested in that, but it just got caught up in the confusion of "wtf is her age?!"

- I got increasingly annoyed every time Traveler shared the Capitano stuff with others. You fucking idiot!!! He specifically told you not to do that!!! You barely even doubted Mavuika even though you barely know her and she's mostly just been standing around going "trust me on this bc I know what I'm doing" this whole time!!! Are you sure you even care about what he had to say?! Because he specifically said he would tell you if you actually fucking listened to him, which you are going out of your way to NOT do!!! Just a few real life months ago you were acting all buddy-buddy with Arlecchino!!! Can you be consistent about your opinions on the Fatui for one second!!!

- they were really trying super hard to make Capitano wanting to save Natlan mysterious, and make him have ulterior motives (like literally every other harbinger since Scara), but like... First off, this is the last gnosis the Fatui doesn't have, and second, he directly said that Mavuika failing would be bad for the rest of Teyvat as well. He already had perfectly good reasons. You don't need to make yet another harbinger have ulterior motives.

- I almost liked the Chasca and Chuychu moment. But I say almost because... there was no fucking point to it except to tell you that the Fatui found an ancient relic. You were just stuck in dialogue box hell that made a weak attempt at pretending there was gameplay by putting a timer on single dialogue options (not even being given multiple options? really?). That whole thing should've been a sneaking sequence with Traveler. There's literally no reason why it wasn't one. It wouldn't even require good writing to add that. Just have Mavuika say that someone found a large Fatui camp, and have Traveler volunteer to sneak in to check it out. Then, you could've had Traveler finding the relic, and maybe finding Capitano and Ororon and follow them to the domain while they discuss their plan. There you go. That would've saved you a lot of time stuck in dialogue boxes, by removing this sequence and the Ororon memory sequence and replacing it with an extended period of gameplay.

-However, the role reversal and the actually showing how good the sisters are at working together improved their characters a lot for me. Chasca doesn't feel as much like a Shenhe copycat when fighting with Chuychu. But even then, it was very annoying when it turned into "don't worry, we don't actually mean what we say! We're just stubborn!" immediately after their sequence. I could fucking tell, Genshin. I'm not a child.

Act 4-

- ...in theory, initially fighting with Capitano and eventually convincing him to help us is an okay storyline. But none of this felt like fighting him! We literally spent the whole fucking time following him and his troops around and debating what his intentions are! And no, a single fancy cutscene unrelated to Traveler doesn't count! We never got to hear his side of the story until after he failed, and he just had a 10 second spat with Mavuika, revealed that he's from Khaenri'ah, and reluctantly agreed to Mavuika's plan within 5 minutes.

- also, after Fontaine offloaded the majority of Furina's backstory onto an inner monologue in act 5 that just reiterated what we already knew about her, I am not a fan of poor Ororon getting a similar treatment in the end. It's not as bad bc it served a purpose in the story besides "look at how sad he is!", but suddenly becoming one of the special heroes his super special archon wanted and having no objections was a really boring ending to what started off as the first on screen playable ch vs playable ch conflict we've had since like... Childe in Liyue I think? Hoyo is lucky that it has cultivated fandoms that see monologues and sudden info dumps as good writing.

-I'm glad that seelies are finally confirmed to be angels, and that we're getting more proper Celestia lore, but once again, Hoyo is lucky that it has cultivated fandoms that see monologues and sudden info dumps as good writing.

- I have mixed feelings about Capitano's backstory and intentions. On one hand, I like that he's from Khaenri'ah, and I'm very glad that he knows the abyss sibling and Dain. I really like the Khaenri'ah related parts. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of the Natlan parts of his backstory. As I've said before, I'm really fed up with Genshin tailoring harbinger backstories so that they're part of the lore of the nation they show up in, instead of Snezhnaya. And I'm even more fed up with them making every harbinger have different goals that are unrelated to the Fatui. I've talked about this before in this post.

-going back to the point about his goals, his backstory can still perfectly serve as an explanation for why he's helping the Tsaritsa, with or without the Natlan part. You still didn't need to pull any of the special motives stuff. It would've made perfect sense to say that Capitano (+ Tsaritsa as well maybe) was afraid that the destruction of Natlan could interfere with their plan, so Tsaritsa has been sending him and some troops to deal with the situation and try to get the gnosis in the process. But, of course, Mavuika would fight back and be a powerful opponent, so this mini war between them has been going on for a while, which would tie back to Varka's letter from Weinleslfest first mentioning him going to Natlan 2 years ago.

-...oh, wait. That Weinleslfest moment and Mika's backstory was probably just to remind you that he and Varka existed and foreshadow him being in Natlan and didn't actually mean anything. I know this isn't related to Natlan at all, I just felt like saying it. We don't talk about Mika enough, okay?

- with all that being said, after how much I hated Arlecchino, and Dottore being used as a scapegoat to make playable harbingers look better, I had little interest in Capitano initially. But I do actually like him now. Maybe even just as much as I like Citlali and Ororon?

- speaking of the Fatui, I have to mention how weird it is that the pyro gnosis being the last gnosis the Fatui doesn't have isn't treated like a big deal at all. The idea of Capitano even bringing the gnosis to the Tsaritsa is barely even mentioned. We're literally going to Snezhnaya next, and the Fatui screen time is STILL not focused on the Tsaritsa's plans?! There is no worry about what will happen if he succeeds in getting the gnosis? No talk about what the Tsaritsa's plans could be? No talk about what it could mean for Natlan or the rest of Teyvat? No connecting this story to the overarching plot beyond a few lore reveals? Nothing??

- Genshin is seriously bad at stakes. THAT WASN'T A FUCKING WAR, THAT WAS A SINGLE BATTLE! It just... suddenly sprung up, and it took about 10 minutes, but I almost started feeling tense. There were actual corpses all over the place, and I was fighting non stop instead of being stuck in a dialogue box, even if the mobs themselves were fairly boring, and then... Chasca suddenly became one of the special heroes and everything was over. All of that was like... half an act of fighting? Literally any other game would have at least finished the 'war' at... the end of the story? Obviously? We couldn't have at least waited to finish this in act 5?? Seriously?? This whole thing was just a vehicle to quickly make Chasca one of the heroes, finish the 6 heroes plot point, and then show a hint of the false sky??

- gameplay wise, why did the handle the 'war' like that? What was with the slow ass hot air balloon I was forced to use 3 times- but was allowed to teleport to places the rest of the time? Why was I forced into a situation where I couldn't leave, when I was literally just in Natlan and not a domain? Why did we suddenly switch to a different dialogue box just for a few minutes?? Someone PLEASE explain to Hoyo that adding new stuff doesn't automatically make it good. Or, I guess 'novel', as their surveys put it.

- Chuychu was the closest I've ever come to actually being sad for an npc's death. Probably because I actually saw someone react to it, instead of Genshin just expecting you to care because Paimon is telling you to. Because of the Chuychu stuff, I'm actually starting to like Chasca, and I'm glad for it. Liking a character in theory despite canon is much better for rewriting stories than disliking them entirely and not knowing what to do with them (*glances at Fontaine*).

- I'm starting to see that the 6 heroes plot is probably just their current ploy to place the focus on the characters who have come out this update, or are coming out next update. Act 2 has Mualani becoming a Special Hero, because her first banner was up at the time. Then act 3 and 4 had Ororon and Chasca becoming Special Heroes, because Xilonen already is one and they're coming out next update.

- that being said- I feel bad for Kachina and Mualani. Kachina was the obvious 'main character' of act 1, with Mualani and Kinich as supporting characters. But then in act 2, the focus was shifted over to Mualani, because she's a 5 star and her first banner is happening, so they need to convince people to like her. And in the process, Kachina was screwed over in what should've been her plotline, becoming a supporting character whose role is to prove how good at The Power of Friendship Mualani is and introduce us to the 6 heroes stuff. ...and then both are screwed over in the very next update because they're already out and don't have anything else to do.

- I know that she'll presumably get more screen time when she comes out, but it's greatly worrying me (for reasons that should be obvious) that Iansan is barely being given any screen time. I am so worried that they're trying to pull a Xinyan or a Candace with her, because of course they would.

- literally what response are you expecting me to have to Xilonen slowly dying for Traveler to get an ancient name when it's revealed in the randomist and calmest way possible?? It's obviously supposed to be cheap emotional fuel, but both Xilonen and Citlali are being so calm about this random reveal that I didn't end up caring either. I don't care so much that I almost forgot to mention it in this post.

Overall, not impressed at all, but there are a few tiny gems in here that will be good for when I eventually have to get to it in my rewrite lol.

[baeshijima]

so... i finished the new natlan aqs...

spoilers utc w/ very long rambles haha... mainly abt capitano—

first off, wow. i actually did not know what to expect going into this version's aqs, but good lord they were so well-written?? i genuinely cried and sobbed at some parts, namely ororon's realisation where he wants to live for himself and fights to retain his soul and chuychu's death with chasca grieving over her... there were so many amazing aspects in acts 3 & 4, with the fights and cutscenes being so, so well done, the lore bombs (seelies being confirmed to be /past/ angels) and the music??? ohh the osts were so good... and the theme that came up in the capitano scenes.... ourhgghg...

speaking of capitano, may i just say: wow. what a man. i genuinely love his character so much and the writers did him so much justice?? like, he has his own goals and ideals but doesn't let that get in the way of being kind and caring and upholding his honour, and isn't beneath apologising and admitting his mistakes when proven wrong...

another thing i love is his relationship with his subordinates !! like, the concern he showed for them on several occasions and the concern & admiration they have for him is just... so nice to see? idk it just feels so refreshing to see a mutually appreciative dynamic with the fatui especially ;w;; and then his progressive relationship with our main natlan cast... him saving xilonen, not once, but twice (that should've been me—), how he went from being dismissive of ororon to caring for his well-being, his growing respect for mavuika and hers for him, and how he decided to ditch his plan in the end to help be part of mavuika's one.... i am so unwell...

and not to mention that last scene with him???? like sir wdym ronova sent u and u know that mavuika has to pay a debt with her death and that u have a bone to pick with that final for which means u are more than likely to also join us both into the night kingdom for the final fight with the abyss which may or may not lead to u sacrificing urself in mavuika's stead so she doesn't have to die and—

oh lord i am not ready for the future story with him...

ALSO HE IS FROM KHAENRI'AH DURING THE CATACLYSM AND WAS A COMMANDER????

sobbing the pain in his voice when he was relaying how he lost his comrades, family and nation, fleeing to natlan with his remaining platoon once realising khaenri'ah couldn't be saved despite his attempts in hopes of escaping the carnage and giving what was left of himself and his comrades some reprieve only to face the abyss invasion again in natlan...

but oh my god when he was saying how the chief of the masters of the night-wind, ayizu, and how he didn't treat capitano any differently despite being from khaenri'ah and most ppl believing khaenri'ah and its inhabitants to be the cause of the tragedy, thus making himself duty-bound to help natlan ;w;

AND TSARITSA MENTION??? HER ALLOWING THE HARBINGERS THE FREEDOM TO DISCOVER THEIR OWN MEANING AND FOR IT TO TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER HER ORDERS IF THE TIME CALLS FOR IT??? we stan a homie !!

ALSO DAIN MENTION RAAHHHHH

"he carries a degree of pain and hatred that far surpasses my own" oh. so we're going down that route, huh. i see how it is. but also the way he also calls him "dain" ;w;; ueueue also rotting corpse/flesh... i wonder if this is in the literal sense or an abyssal rot/erosion like dain's arm? hm...

okay but now i really want to see how dain reacts to us mentioning capitano, and if he would instantly know who we are referring to since dain knows a lot despite his deteriorating memory, and maybe we might get a capitano name reveal...? also is this us being one step closer to seeing dain in an actual main story aq?? ALSO THE ABYSS SIBLING BEING KHAENRI'AHN ROYALTY CONFIRMATION RAAHHH

anyway before moving on to the heavier parts of the quest have some capitano mavuika interactions bc i love them and their old married couple-esque bickering :((

(also ororon just standing in the middle of them during their squabble like a son and going "can i say something?" 😭)

++ kinich and ajaw being... well... kinich and ajaw.

okay. haha. the war. :)

genuinely was not expecting it to be depicted so... dark? like, i know it's war and that natlan is the nation of war, but with genshin's streak of not going in depth to explicitly show death and the like (though they have been bolder in recent updates, namely fontaine), i wasn't expecting to see literal corpses of the npcs and saurians strewn on the ground after the abyss got stronger, and that whichever area we picked over another would have consequences... the devastation i felt when realising the other area i could have helped was completely wiped out... gosh...

our choices actually having consequences and changing what happens during the war + depending on how long u take to defeat the enemies also heavily impacts the death count??? LIKE WHAT

and then paimon becoming progressively distressed the longer it went on and the more found dead genuinely broke my heart like 😭

and oh god... chuychu's death... chasca momentarily losing control of the abyssal contamination due to grief only to rein it in a moment later.... and then chasca becoming recognised by the ancient name due to it and becoming the final awakened hero... ourgh....

and when walking around the stadium to talk with those who made it back and there's this one baby saurian waiting for its person and saurian friends/family to come back...

LIKE STOP THIS HYV DO U WANT ME TO END IT ALL???? WHY WOULD U INCLUDE THIS BITBKSAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

BUT OMG THE CUTSCENE WHERE ALL THE AWAKENED HEROES + MAVUIKA FORMED THE CIRCLE WITH THEIR POWERS GOING TO MAVUIKA AS SHE MAINTAINS THE SUN-LIKE POWER IN THE SKY??? ONLY TO THEN LATER DEAL THE FINAL BLOW TO THE ABYSS STRUCTURE AND PIERCE THROUGH IT AND REVEAL THE FAKE FUCKING SKY????

WHAT THE FUCK????? CONFIRMATION THE SKY IS FAKE AND THAT SCARA ALL THE WAY BACK IN 1.0/1 DURING THE STARS EVENT WAS RIGHT AND THAT POST ACT 4 U CAN STILL SEE MOON FRAGMENTS IN THE SKY????

man. got chills from the war depictions. got chills from the cutscenes. got chills from the fake sky confirmation.

also this was such a cute scene with everyone + mavuika in the distant background that i had to take a screenshot ;w;

but ourgh... the amount of sacrifices we witnessed and were too late to help prevent just really set it in stone just how devastating and powerless it can make u feel... it's only 5.1 and it's gotten this dark just how much darker are u going to take it with the abyss final showdown hyv 😭😭

also capitano feeling admiration for everyone who stood up and fought the abyss...

i am unwell i love him...

now. mavuika.

sobbing i love, love, love her so much !! she was mothering so hard as always like??? taking care of us, being the one to being the light that pulled ororon out of the darkness so he could find his way out (pls don't touch me i sobbed so hard during that entire scene where he realised he didn't want to self-sacrifice anymore but instead live for himself and for those who care for him, thus awakening as one of the heroes... holds him gently...), showing how much she cared for her people...

but it also really puts into perspective just how much she chose to sacrifice and put behind her (her loved ones and her then life) for a chance to be able to finally put an end to the war with the abyss and free natlan...

she was so radiant like the sun that she became one :')

but also...

they brought back the seeing past loved ones mindscape scene... sobs i don't wanna see what happens in the next update bc of mavuika's debt death and capitano's potential sacrifice intervention but at the same time i do 😭😭 (also she was so stunning here i had to take a screenshot aha)

BUT GENUINELY I GREW TO LOVE THE NATLAN CAST SO MUCH??? xilonen, citlali and ororon especially with them being new and i wasn't sure how much i would like them, but oh god i love how they were written and how real they felt with strengths and flaws ;w;;

but also with the drop that paimon will be staying behind while us and mavuika go to the night kingdom for the final battle, her separation anxiety is going to go through the fucking roof good lord... i also predict we will die and get resurrected at some point in our time down their bc... ain't no way are they giving us an ancient name for it to not be used for resurrection in the night kingdom...

anyway it's 4am and i spent like. 2 hours typing this up and i have so much more i could talk about but then this would be neverending so um. haha.

if u read to the end (here) then

1) thank you for reading my nonsensical rambles and cries <33

2) why would u put urself through this?

3) have four cookies for the time spent on this post 🍪🍪🍪🍪

[graythefae]

My thoughts on Nathan characters’ designs

Disclaimer: guys I dont know shit about anything, especially lore. These are just my personal thoughts on how the characters look. If you disagree, that’s chill. I’m just saying things

Mualani

Honestly? I hate her design. If you like it then no judgment, but it’s just not for me. The braids and long bob are a nice combo, but something about it is just off to me. Her gloves are cute and I like the bows on her waist and back, but overall it feels really skimpy and sexualized, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in Genshin character designs. Another being how whitewashed everyone is, and I’m gonna be complaining about the lack of melanin for every Nathan character on this list. Mualani actually looks a bit darker than most of the Genshin characters, but that’s not really saying anything and if you compare her to real-life people, she still has the same skin tone as some of the whitest people I’ve met. Also her tattoos (I think they’re tattoos?) kinda just look like really weird tan lines to me. She really looks like she has the personality of a girl written by a man who’s never interacted with a woman who wasn’t his mother, and as much as I want to like her, I’m just really saddened by how she looks. 1/10

Kachina

She’s pretty cute; I like her ears and ponytail together, and the little braids on the sides of her face are fun. I didn’t like her visor/hat thing at first, but it’s growing on me. I always love scarves and her mittens are cute. The bandaids she has are a nice touch; kids running around are always gonna get scraped up. Still not a fan of how much skin girls always have to show in this game, especially since she seems to be a little kid. The orange and green combo is off-putting, but she aaaalmost pulls it off? Her palette legitimately looks like it was designed for her to have darker skin, but then they just made her white at the end for no reason. Also I know Genshin characters always have unrealistic hair and eye colors but blonde and blue-eyed? Really? 5/10

Kinich

I am very conflicted about him. At first glance, he looks cool, but if I think about it, I’m not so sure. He kinda looks like if Xiao and Chongyun were combined into the same person and made slightly less cool. His hair is nice, and I like his headband and how it has ribbons that trail behind him, but his puffy pants and the coat/wrap thingy around his waist make him feel really visually unbalanced to me. I think he could do with just one or the other, like the puffy pants with a simple belt and some ribbons, instead of the weird coat thing. I do like his earrings and the geometric shapes on his collar. As for the skin tone, I’ve seen all the edits of him with darker skin tones, and he looks really, really good. Making him pale did him so few favors, it’s not even funny. Like I think I would be so much less conflicted about him if he wasn’t so whitewashed. Also he’s like. fully clothed. So clearly, it’s not just an environment thing to be wearing lighter clothing in Natlan. So why. Do all the girls. Dress like they were designed by men who just want to stare at them? 5/10

Citlali

Okay I LOVE her hair. Like a LOT. The pink and purple feather-like accessories are pretty, and her sandals paired with that cute wrap skirt, gloves, and bracelets is actually a really nice combination. Her legs being almost completely bare, her shoulders being bare, and the weirdly placed boob and stomach windows make me sad though. Honestly, if it was just one or maybe even two of those I wouldn’t really think it was that much of a big deal, but all three of them together is just too much. And once again, she is paler than every white person I know. 7/10

Xilonen

OKAY I ACTUALLY LOVE HER. SHE’S LITERALLY SO PRETTY AND HER HEART-SHAPED NECKLACE WITH HER VISION??? <3<3 LITERALLY LOVE HER SHE’S THE ONLY ONE I’LL PULL FOR <3 Her color palette is actually lovely (aside from how desaturated she is); I love the orange and earthy tones with the turquoise highlights. Her outfit is gorgeous, but again on the skimpy side; I think the crop top and shorts could have worked if she was wearing like an actual shirt instead of a fancy bra. Remember kids, there’s a difference between confident women wearing what they like and women designed for the male gaze! And say it with me; STOP WHITEWASHING, IT DOESNT EVEN LOOK GOOD! I’VE SEEN THE EDITS! SHE IS 100% MORE GORGEOUS WHEN SHE ISN’T BLATANTLY WHITEWASHED! HOYO. HOYO PLS

9/10

Chasca

First off, her purple tips on the red hair is really pretty. I think she’s terrified of the ball, cause why else would she be as white as a sheet of paper? Her hat and bandana give off cowboy vibes, which got me really, really excited at first. The boots add to that too, but from there it just… fizzles out, like they decided they wanted her to be a cowgirl halfway through designing her and just slapped on some accessories and called it a day. I’m always a fan of long and flowy so I like her train thing but WHAT IS WITH THE SINGULAR PANT LEG??? I— I just— why? Was the top that looks like it’s a vest that was supposed to have a collared shirt underneath it not skimpy enough? Is there some sort of showing-skin quota that she didn’t meet so they just deleted half her pants? Over-sexualization aside, it’s not even visually appealing. I’m a huge fan of artistic asymmetry but asymmetry still needs to be balanced. She’s literally just got one half of her body that has way less clothes than the other. They didn’t even put the longer glove on the same side as the missing pant leg! Her design legitimately feels unfinished; it’s pretty much a bodysuit with large chunks cut out and a few accessories added. My dreams for a cool Genshin cowgirl have been crushed. 1/10

Iansan

First things first, due to the yellow/black/purple/white color scheme, I am immediately headcannoning them as non-binary. Objectively, their outfit is actually pretty cool, but they seem to have the little kid model, which makes the teeny-tiny crop top not really sit right with me. I hope they’re just a tiny adult like Dori but like… :/ All the accessories are cool though; the feathers, the necklace, and especially the skull on their headband! And they’ve actually got some melanin(though it’s like, the bare minimum), which is a really nice look with the white hair! Love me some color contrast! 7/10

Mavuika

I literally screamed “No!” upon seeing her. The leather bodysuit is an absolute tradgedy. Hoyo popped off with Furina only to be followed up by her?? Her outfit is really, really disappointing and boring. There are so many beautiful things to take inspiration from in the cultures Natlan is supposedly inspired by, and they just. put her in a “sexy” leather outfit? I’ve seen people say she looks like a cool biker, and no hate if you do, but honestly, I don’t think she even reaches that level. It’s so dull; there’s not even a fun silhouette because it’s all just form-fitting black with red accents. On the flip side, she herself is absolutely beautiful. Her hair is stunning. I really like the sharp bangs, the sunset fade, and the fact that her hair gives her some form of a silhouette. Her sunglasses are cool, and her eyes are gorgeous; I love the sun shapes in them! If I focus on the shot that’s just her face, then I can imagine her outfit looks just as amazing as she does. Hoyo did her so dirty with that bodysuit and her milk-pale skin. 2/10

Olorun/Ororon

Okay so first off I don’t know anything about anything so formal apology for everything I get wrong; but I’ve seen people say that he’s based off a Nigerian deity named Olorun, which is a MUCH better name than Ororon. What was even the thought process there. Anyway if he’s based off a Nigerian deity… why does he look white? I know literally nothing about this mythology but I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the original Olorun doesn’t look like that. Complaints aside, I do really like his outfit. The scarf and cape are to die for, and I love the peacock feather(?) design on the end of his scarf. I don’t get the like leather straps on his pants but his gloves and tattoos are neat. The whole outfit feels a little simple compared to other Genshin characters, but it’s nice to look at. The vibes are vibing. 8/10 on looks alone but Hoyo why

Tldr: Why are all the women so sexualized and why is everybody whitewashed

[kumiaku]

Okay so just a quick theory on how we might team up with each of the harbingers/how they will be playable.

Unlike Hoyo's other games, namely Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd, the characters in Genshin seem to have the need of two things currently - being alive, and being on 'good' terms with the Traveler. And of course being able to control elemental energy.

In order,

Pierro - unlikely to be playable imo, but if so we'd team up to take down celestia and likely convince him to be better in the future / maybe see eye to eye (haha pun)

Capitano - also feel unlikely to be playable (due to mask + rank + build) but am personally hoping he's playable. but likely a mutual understanding via honor / natlan abyss expansion or smth he is released at the same time and works with us in this expedition.

Dottore - unlikely dottore dottore is playable. feel like he'd get a super satisfying death scene w/ collei/diluc/scara/arle involved somehow. most likely diluc imo. but i think one of his segements will be playable, and will be one that defects from the rest and betrays them, more likely a younger segment.

Columbina - unlikely to be playable for a while, but if so i hope she doesn't have one of the seven elements in teyvat and has like a light/imaginary/dark/quantam element, or is pure physical damage somehow. I do think she will be playable, but maybe in later patches of natlan, likely to be very strange and off putting but perhaps never directly against us or for us? maybe also linked to a potential abyssal or dark sea region?

(if hoyo does release both capitano and columbina in the same patch i will cry.)

Arlecchino - Acquired. Will likely have future content in Snezhnaya/Khaenri'ah bcuz of foreshadowing. Also hoping to get more HOTH members in the future.

Pulcinella - feel like he'd be unlikely to be playable, but he also was in the travail trailer. can't imagine him getting along w traveler too well mainly cuz of his actions w the chasm, scara's line, arle's line, n what we've seen of him so far. but maybe, common interest would make him come to our side? he seems very rational - to the point of not being sympathetic at all imo, so maybe?

Scaramouche - Acquired, obv. Hopefully will have more development/roles in the future especially against the fatui. I want to find out if they had some way to bypass the irminsul deletion of his existence.

Sandrone - Okay, going out on a limb here real quick (its not quick). Bcuz all of the Fatui Harbinger's secondary titles (in this case, the marionette) Sandrone is not the feminine looking doll, but rather someone piloting the mech. Imo I think Sandrone is Alain Guillotine who is inside the ruin guard like mech and who made the kathryne's and the doll the mech carries around. I think this also lines up w Childe's voice line of Sandrone bcuz Alain Guillotine is envious of his relationship w his siblings since they are alive (unlike Mary Ann, who looks a suspiciously lot like the doll) and I think Sandrone aka Alain wont be playable but the Doll/Mary Ann will be and her story will be one of her breaking free of Sandrone. Maybe. This could also line up with Scara and Arle's VO's cuz it's stated Sandrone doesn't talk much/isn't really open so I think it is possible they don't know that Sandrone is actually not the doll but the man inside the mech or smth. I have more to this theory, but I might do this later.

Sandrone TLDR - Sandrone Marionette playable, the feminine doll, not the mech. Maybe mech in her attacks, but not the actually character.

La Signora - Look I'm a La Signora hopium believer, have been since the minute she died in 2021 - only way for her to be playable is for her to have a redesign and resurrection in natlan. 🙏 I'm not religious but I am praying for this. To any god who will listen. If not maybe when we 'reweave the threads of all fate' or whatever, we will get the chance to go back in time/partner with her. Maybe we will go back in time to the actual cataclysm - and actually wait there is the pierro and possible capitano connection too.

Pantalone - Due to popularity and build I want to say I feel like he'll be playable. Don't think he's loyal to the Fatui, very much leaning toward him being loyal to himself. Don't think he'd get a vision though, so I'm not sure. Maybe he'll be one who canonically uses a delusion/recieves a vision on screen/or even modified his body w Dottore's help to make him able to use elemental powers. I'd say either Geo or Hydro if so. Geo just fits idk man. As for him partnering with the traveler, I could see it being in snezhnaya as a way to take down the fatui, maybe he will partner w the HOTH or smth and put full support there. Idk he kinda gives me Adventurine vibes w in terms of gambling to get a win. Esp since every voice line mentions he's very ambitious, and arle said he isn't very rational.

Tenth Seat - Currently unknown and being theorized on. Imo most likely to be either a hexenzirkle member, previous seat of our sibling (with the name innamorati, while traditionally as lovers, in this case perhaps referring to platonic love for sibling? or the usual irony in that not loving romantically? so love but not love.) or the Tsaritsa going undercover as the 'Tenth Fatui Harbinger' and still being the Lover since she is pretty likely to be the Goddess of Love.

Tartaglia - Literally came in 1.1, will continue to be relevant in Snezhnaya. His second story quest will feature his family and be all cutesy in the beginning then bring area of the abyss connected to Snezhnaya, maybe. See Skirk too, maybe? Leads into her story quest and event with the region similar to Albedo and Dragonspine events? Maybe Skirk will be released with Hurricane Torilla's second story quest?

Anyway those are some of my convoluted thoughts, gotta go and get ready for work, any comments/reblogs/tags are appreciated bcuz i'd love hear other people's thoughts for future genshin lore theories/speculation.

[astranne]

— i love you to eternity but you never will.

fandom. genshin impact

pairing. kaedehara kazuha x fem!reader

content warnings. angstish, unrequited love, reader is younger!sister of alhaitham, written several months ago, not edited nor proofread because i’m lazy

word count. 726 words

notes. scrolled through my tumblr drafts and found this. idk why it was never posted, i completely forgot about it… yeah, have this and maybe i will return back to genshin

As the younger sister of Alhaitham, many expectations were demanded from you. Your brother was smart, shouldn’t you be too? Your brother was a student and scholar of the most esteemed Akademiya in whole Teyvat, shouldn’t you be too?

And you were. But you weren’t exactly happy with it. You wanted to be an adventurer, someone who wandered from one nation to the other, taking commissions to get food on the table and just enjoy life, being free of all responsibility. 

For the longest time, it seemed nothing but a dream. This is why you decided to take up the sword, but even there Alhaitham bested you. So you choose to learn the bow, then the spear, and in the end, you finally mastered the Claymore. And still… it seemed nothing but a dream.

Until you've received a vision. An electro vision- a vision, people haven't received for a long time. Why were you the honored one, why did you receive one?

Ambition and drive filled your heart again, you were determined to master your vision and maybe, maybe you could finally do whatever you wanted. Be free of your brother's shadow and the expectations of your family.

But you still went to Alhaitham to ask him for guidance. He owned a vision after all, and this much longer than you. And he knew how to use said vision with a sword, something you thought would be the best for an electro vision.

And the moment you mastered your vision, you left. You left everything behind, with nothing but a small note to your family, with your packed things in a bag swung across your back, leaving everything you've known your whole life behind.

Everything you dreamed yourself together in a life of adventurer was true and yet you weren’t prepared. Most commissions you took were easily done, but some of them were the most ridiculous things you’ve ever heard. Still, you completed them without any complaints and earned your money. 

And so you traveled from nation to nation, from Sumeru to Natlan, then a short stop in Snezhnaya only to leave for Mondstadt and then Liyue. 

Years passed, you collected scars and memories alike, hardening yourself as a true adventurer and even creating a name for yourself. And while sometimes were hard, money just barely enough to buy food and shelter, you were finally free and happy. 

You made friends with merchants, simple people, soldiers and sellswords, creating memories and stories with them. It was a simple life you lived, but it was a fulfilling one. 

When you heard concerning rumors about Inazuma, you first wanted to travel to the islands. But getting there was already complicated and by the time you finally made it to Liyue Harbor, the nation was already in a Civil War. 

It made you worry and nervous. You didn’t know what to do with yourself and so you just took commissions in Liyue Harbor, trying to get the news always at the closest source. 

Captain Beidou. The fellow electro vision owner was a fearsome woman and travelled with her ship and crew to the Nation of Eternity more often than enough. 

But she brought back nothing but bad news and only a few fleeing people. The war continued and Beidou was once again weeks away, until she finally returned back to Liyue Harbor. 

This time with another vision holder, a man you met and lost your heart to the first time you saw him. Kaedehara Kazuha. 

He was somber, silent and yet full of poetic words, carrying himself with an elegance unknown to most. His way with words and his sword was something would’ve never encountered. He fascinated you, kept you in a magic spell with his sad looking eyes and soft hair. 

You never told him how you felt, how you lost your heart to him, how you fell hard and fast for him. Instead, you cherished his presence, his stories and poems, and got to know him better as a friend. 

Now it was a common sight seeing Kazuha with you, the two of you wandering around in Liyue Harbor and beyond. Side by side but not truly together as you wished. But it was alright, even if it pained you, because you were together with him, just not as near enough as you dreamed it to be.

taglist. @keyz-writes , @obsidianjewel , @keqism , @stellumi , @wanderersbell , @k-zu

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ASTRANNE 2023

[mareeyeahh]

Maybe it wasn't meant to be, unless...? Part 2

Diluc x reader, reader is implied as female

Part 1 here

I'm not a writer periodt. (Okay then so why write?) I just wrote this for funsies. If you found it weird or inconsistent let me know~

The last few rays of the sun painted the leaves and trees golden as it completely set, marking the end of another fruitful day at Dawn Winery. The farmers that have spent the day harvesting bounties from the vineyard have already headed home weary yet feeling fulfilled. The maids that may or may not have wasted their time gossiping hurried inside the manor to assist the chefs in preparing dinner.

This day was another one of those days when Kaeya pays a visit and dines with his brother, Diluc. After Weinlesefest, the two brothers have made an unspoken promise to accommodate each other when time allows it and it was always in the presence of food and drinks (non-alcohol). The two of them may just be tolerating each other's company, but nobody could ever be at peace more than Elzer and Adelinde, the two people who have closely watched the Ragvindr brothers grow up.

Kaeya arrives just before dark and the maids greet him, as Elzer led him to the dining hall where Diluc has sat down in his usual spot. The clattering of the plates and silverware echoed through the room as they dined.

"Grandmaster Varka's recent letter has been quite the talk of the city." Kaeya said in between bites. "Two knights have withdrawn from the expedition and he couldn't be more disappointed."

Diluc gave him a questioning look before swallowing his food. "I think it's unrefined for the Cavalry Captain to be gossiping about your coworker's circumstances."

"I do not engage in gossip." Kaeya scoffs. "I'm merely gathering intel."

Diluc mentally rolled his eyes at Kaeya's nonsense but just decided to humor him. "And what, pray tell, is this intel that you speak of?"

As one of the Knights of Favonius, Kaeya had to experience the secondhand embarrassment that he felt towards the two knights who resigned from their positions in the ongoing expedition. Grandmaster Varka was enraged that the Knights compromised their responsibilities in order to engage in frivolous acts. Diluc, known for his disdain and criticism towards the Knights, was not really fazed by all this.

"Grandmaster Varka is rightfully disappointed." Diluc says, cleaning up the last bits of food off his plate. "But what of the two Knights? Have they returned?"

"They reside now in Natlan as their actions bore fruit. If they didn't come clean and somehow got caught in a perilous predicament whilst on expedition, there would be greater losses." Kaeya said as he shook his head at the idea of bloodshed.

"Are you personally acquainted with them?"

"The woman used to be under the Reconnaisance company before Grandmaster Varka appointed her as one of the knights to join the expedition while the man..." Kaeya trailed off.

The drunken hand reaching for the tavern door, the fall that was anything but graceful, and the red haired man that heroically saved the poor woman, all of these played in Kaeya's mind before disclosing the information that he has.

"Apparently, the male Knight was Y/N's old lover." Kaeya wiped his mouth with a napkin. "He promised her he'd marry her if he ever came back safely from the expedition. Poor girl. No wonder she looked so gloomy that night."

Kaeya eyed Diluc for any sort of reaction, but the redhead was as stoic as a statue. Despite not knowing what the man was thinking, Kaeya understood that something must've happened the night they met. His mind was clearly racing, his eyes seemed lost but his face was stern.

"Have you seen her these days?" Kaeya asked, which brought Diluc back from his wandering thoughts.

"No." Diluc replied calmly. Now that he knows vital information about you, it made more sense why he was worried. He tried knocking on your door a few days after that night, wanting to check up on you. But your home was always empty.

He didn't want to pester you with these misplaced feelings of worry. After you graciously turned down his invitation for a meal together, he kept his distance in respect of your feelings. The last thing a woman like you needs is a man bothering her when she already said no.

But he couldn't forget that splendid figure of you that night, singing like there was no tomorrow. Your voice echoed in his mind, despite only hearing you sing once. The rich yet sweet melody that escaped your lips captivated him in a way he never thought was possible.

He shook his head in disbelief, what a fool he has become. He did not fully comprehend it but he constantly dreamt of you. There in his mind played a montage of memories that has certainly never happened in his life before. He hears you singing while out with him harvesting in the grape vineyard. Your sweet yet wordless hums fill the kitchen as you hand cooked a meal for him. The relaxing lullabies that you would sing him to sleep after a night of warm embrace. The sweet nothings you whispered into his ear as the sunshine greeted you in the morning. The laughter and melodies that was swept by the breeze as you held his child in your arms. He thought he had gone mad. Why did you tug at his heartstrings so strongly?

"You never checked up on her?" Kaeya's voice broke Diluc's train of delusional thoughts.

"I tried to but it seems that she's been away since."

Kaeya's eyes narrowed at the redhead. Diluc wasn't dodging the questions but Kaeya couldn't shake the feeling that something really must've happened between him and the woman. He scavenged for the right words to say but then thought it would be better to ask him straight.

"Did you do something to make her run off like that?" Kaeya really didn't mince his words, implied that Diluc scared the woman.

Diluc glared at the man. "No." But then he thought about it carefully. Inviting her that time may have seemed a little disrespectful now that he knows she was going through a rough breakup. It also may have come out as a man taking advantage of her intoxication to do whatever he wants.

Diluc felt bad about that. Maybe Kaeya was right. Maybe he really did scare her off.

"I did invite her out to a meal together." Diluc sighed, facepalming himself in his head. "But it must've been insensitive of me to ask her."

"You what?" Kaeya said, the words of his brother not registering in his brain. He must've heard it wrong that Diluc, the embodiment of a lone wolf and a successful yet intimidating business owner, asked a woman out to a meal.

"I invited her to have a meal together." Diluc deadpanned.

Kaeya clapped his hands over his mouth, and Adelinde who had overheard their conversation, did the same. Diluc pinched the space between his eyebrows at their dramatic reactions. He didn't want to tell anybody that he was interested in a woman because he was turned down after all and the target of his affections was nowhere to be seen. It was pointless in the end.

The dinner ended that night where Kaeya was teasing Diluc of finally experiencing puberty and Adelinde exclaiming that spring has finally come for their young Master.

***

The passage marking the end of Liyue and the start of a journey back to Mondstadt was surprisingly peaceful. You gave yourself a pat on the back for deciding to leave for Mondstadt at dawn. Monsters did not dare lurk around in broad daylight but some hilichurls were being quite a nuisance to some travelers.

It has a been almost a month since you joined the Adventurer's Guild. To be honest, you were skeptical about it at first because of how dangerous the commissions could be. You've gotten all kinds of commissions since you started, from collecting fresh slime condensate, killing and bringing back the meat of a wild boar in Dragonspine (and accidentally running into an angry Great Snowboar King), to climbing the heights of Qingyun Peak to get the freshest Qingxin flower adorned with morning dewdrops.

You didn't know how to wield any type of weapon or much less stepped out of Mondstadt so it was though you were living with your life at stake. But the dangers of today outweighed the dull life you had when you stayed at home and patiently waited for your lover who never came back.

You shake your head, memories of your past lover suddenly flooding your mind. Ever since you've started to travel, explore, meet new people and run into dangerous creatures in the wild, you finally understood why you were so depressed. You made him, the man who casually broke your heart, your world instead making him a small part of it. Looking at the vast seas and wondrous landscapes felt like your problems were only a speck of existence. The world you used to have only sheltered him and your fantasies that you two would be happily married. But now, all of that was simply a memory.

The concrete land masses that reached far as the eyes could see turned into lush green forests that brought about a familiar soothing breeze that was only known to Mondstadt greeted you as you finally reached the end of Stone Gate. A week away from home didn't seem very long but to anyone who misses it, it felt like a year. You remember having met someone who was a native of Mondstadt but now lives in Liyue during your commissions. They said it would be nice to go back but they couldn't leave the lights, the crowds, the prosperous city life in Liyue.

But as a born and bred Mondstater you were more suited to the ambience that your hometown gives. Peaceful, quiet, and relaxing. The familiar surroundings of Mondstadt was enough to calm your senses.

The horizon morphed into a fiery color a little after you reached the perimeters of Dawn Winery, signaling the end of the day.

Despite being in a relatively safe area, monsters still lurked dangerously near the territory, especially at night. You heard that riftwolves that were commonly found in the islands of Inazuma started appearing in Wolvendom and you were glad not to have taken that route. Instead, you walked the road by the lake that was connected to Dragonspine. It definitely made the trip back to Mondstadt longer, but a detour wouldn't hurt would it?

Your eyes reach the top of Skyfrost Nail, reminiscing the cold and merciless trips you had to do for commissions. At another angle you see the Dawn Winery's manor, that was visually warmer compared to the view of Dragonspine. The sunset made the scenery even more warmer, the skies reminding you of a certain red haired man.

Being drunk didn't stop you from remembering what had happened that night. After all, a man as brilliant as the business owner asking you out to dinner was something that happens once every few lifetimes. It didn't sit quite well with you if you accepted his invitation while you were still depressed about your ex.

If it was any other time, you would have accepted in a heartbeat. A man such as Diluc did not deserve lukewarm appreciation, to be treated second best, a mere rebound to a failed first love. If your heart wasn't in such a messy place, you would've been having meals with him.

Daydreaming about Diluc has led you to the corner of the lake where the road splits in two, one that circles around Dawn Winery and one that leads you further to Dragonspine. You snapped back to reality and spun on your feet, leaving a trail of footprints on the sand.

What you did not notice was a group of Cryo Slimes following you. Only until they shoot icicles at your feet did you notice their presence and thankfully you didn't get hit. Even though you clutched your sword and swung it against the slimes, it did not faze them. So you only did the next best thing you were good at; running for your life.

The sky grew darker as you ran and the slimes were deadset on chasing you. The largest one managed to hit your leg with its icicles and it slowed you down, the ice began to form on your hind leg. You couldn't afford to stop so you limped, your leg starting to feel heavy due to the freezing. The feeling was brutal, while your muscles still struggled to move the ice crept in and froze them in place, completely immobilizing you. The numbing pain worsened rapidly, it felt as if your muscles would rip through your skin.

The slimes quickly caught up to you as the ice reached your upper body, surrounding you. You swung your sword to scare them away but you were outnumbered. The slimes emitted cold air as they circled around you, aiding the frost that crept into your upper limbs making you drop your weapon. In an unforgiving circumstance, you were left to accept that this was your death bed.

But suddenly a large bird with its wings adorned with flames swooped in and defeated the cryo slimes one by one. Holding onto your consciousness, you see from the corner of your eye a man who expertly swung his claymore, almost gracefully like the bird you saw earlier.

The cryo slimes melted like ice on his greatsword. The leader of the pack was harder to tackle with its shield as it shot icicles at the man. It was emitting cold air, physically slowing the man's movements. Diluc sprang on his feet and jumped mid air, attacking the slime from above by suprise and successfully breaking the shield. This provided Diluc an opening and summoned his Phoenix which finally killed the slime.

"Diluc!" Another man's voice shouted from behind you. He knelt down and frantically examined your frozen state. Your consciousness was slipping as the frost reached your brain, inducing a painful brain freeze.

"No, do not use your vision." The man with an eyepatch warned the other. "You'll injure her body more."

"What am I supposed to do, let her freeze to death?"

"It would be better to gradually warm her up. We should bring her..." The voices were slowly fading away as you succumb to the pain that you felt.

***

"Prepare the fireplace at once." Diluc ordered a group of maids as he carried you in his arms with coat wrapped tightly around you.

"A warm bath would be better, brother." Kaeya suggested, instructing Adelinde as he went. "Let the ice thaw slowly to avoid startling her body with immediate changes in temperature."

Diluc inhaled deeply, calming himself as he glanced at the woman in his arms. He was in no position to argue and panicking would not help either. But your unresponsive state left him anxious. You felt like a block of ice in his arms and he feared that the frost was no longer the cause of it.

Kaeya has experienced similar situations like these considering the element that he wields and is grateful they weren't life threatening. Diluc thought it was best he let Kaeya handle it. His current composure might not stop him from doing something that could harm you further.

The maids forbade the men to come into the bath to check up on you. But with clear instructions from Kaeya, the frost from your body thawed safely. Your body was back to its original temperature and your muscles weren't rigid like steel.

But you were yet to regain consciousness. Diluc had ordered the maids to arrange a makeshift bed a safe distance from the fireplace to keep your body warm until it was able to regulate its temperature again. He never left your side, even holding your hand and using his Pyro vision to keep you warm.

He looked at your face. Your complexion was no longer pale indicating that your blood was circulating normally. Your lips that had turned deep violet due to the frost had regained its reddish color. While you were still in a deep sleep state with no signs of waking up, the man's worries subsided a little. All that matters is that you're safe now.

Still, Diluc contemplated that if he arrived a second earlier then you wouldn't be silently battling for your life like this. He inhaled sharply. If he had been a second too late to save you...

Diluc shook those thoughts out of his head. It would be for the better not to dwell on something that hadn't happened. He held your hand tighter, controlling the amount of Pyro Vision that your body absorbed. You were going to be okay. He knows it.

"Master Diluc," Elzer called him from behind, careful not to startle him. "You must rest."

"I'm fine, Elzer." Diluc replied not looking back at him.

"I can see it in my eyes, my boy. You are tired."

"You're right. But compared to what she's going through," Diluc glanced at your peaceful face. "This is nothing. I'll be fine, Elzer."

Elzer sighed in defeat. But if that's what the young master wants then he can only comply. "Please don't exert yourself too much." He said before leaving the two of you alone.

The night grew cold as the fire started to burn dimmer and dimmer. Wanting to tend the fire, Diluc released your hand, gently placing it on top of your chest before standing up. Just as he was about to walk towards the fireplace, he heard a loud gasp from you.

You shot up from the makeshift bed, your body continuing the line of action it was doing before it had gone frozen. But the sudden movement made you wince and clutched your head. The brain freeze hadn't completely gone away yet.

"W-where am I? The slimes..." You slowly looked around your surroundings, trying not to overwhelm your brain.

"Calm down." A deep voice said. You turn your head to see a man whose hair shone like flames. "You are in my manor."

"M-Master Diluc?" You sat upright, trying to look presentable in your disheveled state.

"Do not exert yourself." He crouched down and implored you to sit comfortably. "It isn't wise to immediately rise after a deep slumber."

"Archons," You took in a deep breath, racking your brain as you try to remember what had happened. The slimes surrounding you, the fear of being incapable, the pain, you couldn't help but sob. "I thought I was going to..." You clapped your hands onto your face as you trailed off.

The man beside placed his hand on your back and rubbed it in an attempt to calm you. "I'm glad we made it in time."

From your sobbing, you looked up at him. "Thank you, Master Diluc." You sniffled.

Diluc only gave you a small smile, letting you cry it out until you had enough. The warmth of his hand that stroked your back was warmer than what was perceived normal body temperature. But you figured it might've been because of his Pyro vision. It felt soothing, the warmth hitting all the right places as if it was thawing the ice in your body that was left over from the bath. Thanks to that, it didn't take long for you to calm down.

"But what were doing at the edge of the winery?" Diluc asked as he was afraid you got lost.

"I was on my home from Liyue."

Diluc did not press further as to why you were in Liyue but he understood why your home was always empty everytime he knocked on your door. He also knew you didn't want to be scolded by a stranger about the dangers that wander in the bewilderness.

He took a good look at your face and knew that the heartbroken woman who almost stumbled spectularly was no more. Despite the tears that stained your cheeks, he saw the glint in your eyes. A fierce one at that. You may have not been able to defeat the slimes but something about you told Diluc that you were willing to fight even without knowing how. Right then and there, he was in awe of you.

"I am eternally grateful to you for saving my life. If there's anything I can do to repay you-"

"You needn't do that. It is my duty to protect citizens of Mondstadt." Diluc cut you off, knowing full well what you were going to say as he has heard many times already from the mouth of others.

The pain of being shut down immediately stung quite a bit. Did you somehow hurt his feelings when he asked you out that night? Hopefully not. You cleared your throat. "It does not change the fact that I will not be here today if it weren't for you."

Escaping one's death by merely a hair's breadth was certainly not something anyone should look over upon. You still shook with fear but you tried your best to give Diluc a smile of gratitude.

"Well," Diluc mirroring your smile, something probably no one has ever seen before, "If you are so eager to repay me, I would be delighted to get to know you more?" He paused to hear your response but quickly added, "As long as it's alright with you."

Your eyes almost faltered at the sight, the beating of your heart quickened seeing his grin. "I-It would be my pleasure, Master Diluc."

"Please, call me Diluc." His chuckle emphasized the deepness of his voice, tickling your ears. "I believe this must be the third time I've said that."

***

AHHHHHH I dont know where i was going with this im sorry i said id cook but it turned out raw and bland lmao. Also, I feel like i write like I'm AI or smth lmao Istg I don't use AI to write this up. I squeezed my brain for this and this is the best I can do I guess.

Smol taglist: @ruttteerr

[udretlnea]

Chapter 2: Escape!

Words: 2.5 k

Cara and co. runaway from the new player only to run into trouble, yet the worst is yet to come.

Razor yelled defiantly and swung Wolf’s Gravestone at the attacker; the blow connected and he was batted away before crashing into a bookshelf. The momentum made it tip over and knock another one, which knocked over another until several dozen books and bookshelves fell onto him. The chain reaction that ensued made Cara cringe; even though she didn’t care about Lisa finding out about them snooping around, she could imagine how bothersome having to clean this up.

“We need to move,” Kaeya stated. Everyone silently agreed and ran towards the exit, Cara was behind Kaeya and Razor with Bennett behind her. They were ten steps away from the exit when an explosion sounded off behind them; 

“Watch out!” The pyro user cried. Suddenly Cara and the others were pushed down, their bodies hitting the floor just as a fireball sailed over them and hit the exit doors; they blew up and scattered small pieces of debris everywhere. She looked over her shoulder and saw the being known as Váli stomping towards them; in the background, a fire had started and the ancient tomes-somewhat dry and brittle already-was rapidly feeding it until smoke began to eke out of the room and towards the exit.

Váli pointed a finger at Cara. “Caratrice…! Stop hiding inside of that human and face me like the god protector you are!”

“I’m not-Woah!”

“Come on!” Kaeya pulled Cara to her feet and in front of them. The four of them ran out of the restricted section; they practically dashed up the stairs and out of the Library. Kaeya shut the door behind them. They raced onwards, only to crash into something and fall on top of it.

“Ow!” “Woah!” “Hey” “Guh!” “Who the-!” 

Soon enough there was much chaos in trying to get out of the pile. Cara placed her hand on the floor and, with a sudden bout of strength, pushed herself off of the person that was on top of her. “Guys, are you o…kay…!” 

“Ugh, what’s the big idea-oh, would you look at what I caught?”

Lying down on the floor with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes was the Librarian. Cara’s world froze as the edges of Lisa’s pupils were tinged with red; she grabbed her wrist and Cara felt the Electro energy beginning to accumulate. 

Before the Librarian could do whatever she was about to do to Cara, Razor rushed in and, using the pommel of Wolf’s Gravestone, slammed it into Lisa’s face. Her grip went slack, releasing Cara. 

“Thanks, Razor.” The wolf boy nodded.

“Come on everyone, this way-!” Kaeya made a beeline toward the KoF door. They followed him as they heard a door being kicked in; Cara turned her head and saw Váli’s mask just as the doors closed.

“Can anyone explain to me who the fuck was that?!” Cara barked out as they sprinted towards the direction of the side gate that they had used to sneak in through Mondstadt.

“I don’t know! He’s using fire though. M-maybe he’s someone from Natlan?” Bennett speculated as he ran alongside her.

“What’s a Natlander doing all the way out in Mondstadt?” Cara asked, but the question fell as everyone realized there was no answer to that. 

“I’m worried about Teacher. What if the Fire Man hurt her?” Razor barked out.

“I don’t think he would…” Cara said reassuringly. She looked at Kaeya when she felt a tug of guilt. The operation had failed, hadn’t it? They couldn’t find what they were looking for, any chance of finding evidence was now up in literal flames, and worst of all the knights would expand their search area after this. This all failed because they wanted to help her, a young woman who couldn’t even hold a sword on her own.

“This isn’t your fault Cara,” Kaeya responded as if he had read her thoughts.

“Yes it is…” she muttered, but Kaeya heard her anyway.

“The fact that the chest was unlocked means that someone beat us to it. That means that someone is watching us, someone within the knights that could’ve had access to the restriction section.”

“But I thought only Lisa had access to it?”

“It’s possible she gave the key to somebody she completely trusts, like Jean. The Acting Grandmaster is more dedicated to the impostor, if ever slightly. More importantly, you must retreat to Springvale and hide there. I’ll do some digging on my own and try to find some clues.”

It was a spur-of-the-moment plan, but Cara couldn’t wrap her head around it; the stranger’s words from before rang in her head, threatening to drag her into a spiral of thoughts, one that she couldn’t afford to be lost in.

Not when she and her friends were running for their lives.

Finally, after running for some time they made it to the side gate. Guy was still nowhere to be found.

“We’ve made it! We’re gonna be alright!” Bennett cried. Cara was about to retort when she heard it.

A small whistling sound in the air quickly grew closer. 

Faster than her mind could react, her body dove into the Pyro user and knocked him to the ground just as an arrow shot past where his head was. 

“Halt! In the name of the Almother!” They shot their heads toward a familiar young woman’s voice. There, perched above the gate and in a sitting position, was Amber. Another arrow was already knocked into her bow and the drawstring was pulled.

A dozen or so knights rushed out of the gate with their weapons drawn. They quickly surrounded the four of them; Kaeya grimaced when he saw a thing of red hair tied back in a ponytail. 

“Why am I not surprised? Of course, you would be the one to betray Mondstadt to the imposter.” Diluc glared at his adopted brother. 

“If only you knew the truth, Diluc,” Kaeya stepped in front of Cara protectively. “The Caratrice that sits on the throne at the Crossroads is an impostor. Surely you’ve realized how odd it is for her to single out this one person when there have been others like her.”

“I won’t listen to those foolish enough to believe the words of a heretic,” Diluc said accusingly.

Kaeya turned to look at Cara and gave a shrug that said Well, I tried.

“What are YOU doing here? I thought you disliked the Knights of Favonius.” Cara pointed an accusing finger at him.

“In situations such as these, a joint operation between the knights and I was the only optimal solution in handling the imposter.”

“Cara, stay in the middle. The three of us will protect you,” Bennett declared as he and Razor summoned their weapons.

The two groups stood there unmoving and sized each other up. No one dared to breathe; the wind began to blow somewhat harshly. 

Then a barrel clattered to the ground, and the moment was broken.

WIth a might roar, the knights engaged the three defenders of the true Almother. 

The sound of steel clashing against steel made strange music to Cara’s ears, but she focused on dodging the knights’ swords and Amber’s arrows; whenever it seemed like one of her friends would get stabbed, she would purposefully trip or push them onto the floor. 

Kaeya ducked under a swing aimed for his head and then hit the pommel of his blade into the the knights’ face.

Bennett parried a knights’ sword before activating his vision. He swung the blade of fire in front of him, hitting several knights and knocking them off their feet.

Razor blocked a strike from a knight and pushed them off; the wolf boy gathered Electro energy in his hand in then released it at them.

Amber took shots at them, trying to aim for any vital areas

The battle had yet to be decided.

That’s when a flash of crimson appeared.

Bennett staggered back when his sense of balance was thrown off by the weight of Diluc’s claymore; he dodged another strike and thrust his sword at him, but he dodged it effortlessly. Razor saw the older Pyro user and immediately rushed to his side, a claw made out of Electro already formed. The wolf boy swiped at Diluc, but he brought up his claymore-still on fire-right in the path of the Electro claw. Razor had a second to gasp before he and Bennett were blown backwards by the resulting Overload reaction. They landed on their backs; the knights were on them immediately, knocking them both out and cuffing them.

Seeing this, Cara and Kaeya backed into each other; the knights slowly encircled them; expressions of disgust and hateful determination were written on their faces. Above them, Amber aimed her bow at them.

“What do we do?” Cara whispered somewhat anxiously. When she didn’t get an answer she looked up at Kaeya and saw that his face was knit in concentration; a bright white light blinked out of the corner of her eye and she looked down at his Cryo Vision. It was blinking intensely, a sign that Kaeya’s Elemental Burst was ready, but then Cara sensed the incredible amount of Cryo energy emanating from it. 

“Stay close to me,” uttered Kaeya. He crouched down and placed his fingers on the ground. The knights drew ever closer, pointing their swords at them; Kaeya closed his eyes as he felt a warmth emanating within his chest.

Then, that warmth receded and left a cold void. Ice quickly spread from him and shot towards the knights. Their adversaries realized too late that they were baited, yet still tried to run away. The sound of ice tearing through steel and fabric danced in Cara’s ears, and then came the screams. They died off soon, thankfully, letting Cara observe what Kaeya did.

Surrounding them was now a ring of sharp icicles, preventing the knights from getting them; Kaeya’s legs wobbled, but before he could fall Cara caught him. He gave her a smile of thanks, to which she returned with a nod. Something clicked between them in that intimate moment and a sense of warmth enveloped the two.

Then Diluc smashed through the ice with his now on-fire claymore and leapt towards the duo. Kaeya pushed Cara away and blocked his step-brother’s attack with all his might, sparks flying from their weapons. He headbutted Diluc, causing the Pyro user to stumble back; a whistling sound snapped Kaeya to attention and he deflected another arrow from Amber. 

Diluc growled as he clutched his forehead. “You’ll pay for that traitor.”

Kaeya spat at the ground. “Oh ho~, you’ve no idea how much that word means…”

They stared each other down, neither one blinking. Then they raised their weapons and ran towards each other. The two Vision Holders duked it out, Cryo vs. Pyro. Although Kaeya’s stamina was practically empty after his earlier stunt, he still fought with as much grace a cornered peacock could muster; he parried and struck at Diluc’s weakspots. The Darknight Hero on the other hand kept up his assault, trying to tire Kaeya out before his step-brother could get the better of him. Neither said a word as unpleasant memories flashed inside their minds, one of that day where the two had fought and Kaeya had earned his Vision. Surely this was the work of fate…

However, that’s when Diluc’s eyes glowed red. 

“Kaeya!” Cara reached a hand to him, but quickly retracted it before an arrow nearly lodged in her palm.

“I tire of this child’s play,” It said. Then Diluc became a blur, appearing behind Kaeya and slamming the pommel of his claymore on the back of his head. The Cavalry Captain fell on his knees before slumping on the ground, groaning in pain.

“Pathetic, but now you’ve no one to protect you, imposter.” The voice said. 

Cara’s mind went into overdrive at how familiar it sounded; she had to concentrate to stop her hands from shaking.

Standing before her was that thing that possessed Jean on her first visit to Mondstadt now possessed Diluc-the true imposter.

This was it, this was the end.

Behind her, another explosion rang out, but she didn’t register it until the sound of something zooming got closer.

Everything that happened next occurred in the blink of an eye.

Something collided with Diluc, sending him careening into the stone wall. He crashed unceremoniously and an expression of pain was on his face.

Everybody froze to look at who had sent the former Captain of the Knights flying, including Cara and her gang. 

A figure with a spiky mask and white-gray hair stood in front of Cara; his right arm was outstretched and ended in a fist. 

“What the-what is that?”

“It’s some sort of monster from the Abyss!”

“Master Diluc!”

Amber’s jaw dropped at the newcomer and forgot about Cara in front of her.

Váli tsked and spat at the ground.

All at once, the knights turned their attention to this new and powerful player and rushed him all at once. Amber aimed her bow at him and loosened an arrow.

“Enough of this NONSENSE!” Váli shouted and, with a blood-curdling roar, almost immediately began to glow. It intensified until it consumed his entire body and Cara had to shield their eyes. 

The knights and Amber began screaming, only for it to get drowned out by…something else. It was like the ground was being torn apart, steel was being ripped into shreds, and flames were being thrown around. Then, silence.

The heat died, as did the glow.

When they uncovered their eyes they couldn’t believe what they saw.

Around him were the fallen bodies of the knights and Amber slumped over the railing; a closer look told Cara they were unconscious. Nobody dared to say a word. 

Until he turned around, locking eyes with Cara.

“You.” Váli pointed at Cara’s chest. “Give me Caratrice. Now. I know she’s in there, Vessel.”

“I-I don’t know…” Cara whispered in fear. “I don't know how.”

Váli made a displeased noise and moved toward her. “Then, allow me.” 

Cara’s mind screamed at her to move, to get away from this dangerous individual.

But she couldn’t.

Then Váli paused and looked down to his feet to find Kaeya grasping his left ankle. He shook his leg but found that it was stuck. He tsked and kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

Cara. Move. Now! A voice in her head commanded her.

“No,” said Váli. “This is where your story ends Caratrice. Let its people live in peace without your meddling.  

Váli touched her clavicle and Cara could only gasp when his hand phased through it. It was cold as ice and the feeling spread as he grasped around inside her body. What passed as seconds felt like hours of agonizing torture.

Finally, she felt his fingers brush against something warm and solid. Cara cried out in alarm when he closed his fingers around it.

“N-no!” Cara grabbed onto his wrist and weakly tried to pull him off of her. Váli simply tightened his grip and tensed.

With one great tug, he yanked a glowing light yellow orb out of Cara. 

The young woman had a couple of seconds to process this before she closed her eyes-

-and sank into the depths of her unconsciousness.

A/N: WOOPS I FORGOT TO POST IT HERE after I posted it on ao3! *chuckles* Chapter 3′s already finished and polished-I just need to proofread it...!