#moras back to solo time )

[tidesfate]

IND.SEL.PRIV Hermaeus Mora from The Elder Scrolls, crafted with a lot of theories and headcanons built off existent lore. Blog is 18+, Mun is 26. Please read caard on pinned post for any info. Written by JACKALOPE.

[jhuzen]

a game of chase [m.reader]

i told myself i’d never get caught dead doing a solo childe fic bc my friends and i hate him. well. i’m not dead yet. ahdijsidmv. jk i’m just taking a break from a fic i’m writing so have this one-shot :D. idk why but when i thought of this, childe fits for some reason. and when i brought this up with my friend, they only said “yeah, the attention whore checks out”.

𖦹 i have no idea what genre this is, childe pining for you like mad, my indulgent hc of ekaterina being so done with her boss, a little bit of some characters x you

For every unfortunate soul out there that Childe would have the pleasure of coming across, he made a personal ranking of just how good that first meet was. Of course, it didn’t happen until halfway through he realized how much fun it was to catch some opponents off guard. And on times that he has to go and personally fight to collect certain debts for the bank, he always liked the absolute fear he instilled in every person.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t an ambush he created to be the one sitting at the top rank. Rather, it was his meeting with the traveler. It’s not everyday you see someone with a little flying child getting chased by the Millelith the moment they’ve stepped foot in Liyue. It was hilarious, really. And their meet was nothing short of pure amusement.

And yet, even rankings change.

Especially with the way you barged into his not-so-quaint little life.

A quiet stroll through the harbor — that’s all Chile ever needed and he knew he’d be set to sit on his chair for hours on end, doing boring old paperwork and reports to submit to The Jester. It was nothing to exciting, hence his innate need to get out and go for some fresh air. Take it as a preparation for this grueling boredom that he’s about to face. Though his subordinate preferred he start work now, he still was the one who has the last say.

And so here he was.

Children that reminded him of his little siblings loitered around, playing with huge smiles on their faces. It warmed his heart as he thought about his cold motherland where his family was. He ought to head back as soon as he finishes his reports for now. Just a few days with his family will do the trick.

Vendors by their stalls beckoned to him. He is the facilitator of the Northland Bank in Liyue’s Branch. It’s not too odd to be pulled aside constantly to be offered certain goods. They were only doing business, and as someone who has a sizable mora to spare, it wasn’t surprising to be solicited by them.

With a quick wave to the vendors, he rounded the corner. It was the relatively quiet part of the harbor — not often populated by any vendors as it wasn’t quite in the middle of the bustling crowd where anyone could see. It was quiet. And for someone like him who craved the noise of every clanging blades in a spar, the pained grunts of opponents, and the sound of a blunt impact from every landed punch, Childe enjoyed this part.

A subtle pout came onto his features as he realized that it wouldn’t be long before he has to go back and face the music of the cumbersome paperworks.

Well, that would have happened until his keen ears heard hurried footsteps hitting the pavement. He looked over his shoulder only to see someone hellbent on running. His mind quickly deduced the way you ran — calculative in steps and yet still on a hurry.

Is this guy running away from someone?

Hiding away from them too, in fact, as you booked it to his direction, and before Childe could even react, you had a hand on his wrist that not even he can tear away from. Your head snapped towards an alleyway and shoved him in it, with you following after as you caged him in this tight squeeze of a gap.

Childe blinked. And while he had many questions, your tensed silence was enough for him to clamp his mouth shut, with only your short ragged breaths filling the quiet space.

It didn’t take long though before a portion of his hypothesis was quickly answered as he heard dozens of heavy footsteps and clamoring armor heading to the direction where you and him were in. While you were a tad bit taller, he managed to see over your shoulder a couple of Millelith soldiers all in hot pursuit of you, no doubt. His dull eyes looked up at you, and even with the heavy shadow, he could faintly make out your relieved face when the soldiers came to pass.

You both waited for yet another excruciating minute until the soldier’s clanking armors finally drowned out in distance. A sigh of relief escaped your lips as you finally shimmied your way out of that tight gap, hand already pulling the little harbinger by the wrist once more.

“Sorry about that,” you finally spoke and Childe had to nod. For once, he was less chattier as he slowly rode out the mild thrill in his system. “I had to leave no witnesses.”

He quickly regained his footing in the conversation and chuckled, “Yeah? And I don’t suppose I’m your only witness?” He asked, adjusting his clothing from all the ruckus of being shoved in a dark corner.

“I ran out of luck hiding. So, yeah. You’re the only witness. And besides, if I move anymore while wearing this, I’m bound to attract more than what I intend — which is none,” You shifted around in your clothing, which now Childe took note of. You were dressed in the finest robes, patterned with the most graceful looking snakes and dragons that were no doubt handwoven by skilled artisans in Liyue.

Childe also happened to look up at your visage, cleaned up nice and well, hair done neatly aside from the little stray hairs that went out of place from what he assumed was your little chase with the Millelith. His brain quickly noticed the incongruence. You looked like an important figure and yet… you were being chased around by the people meant to protect figures that are deemed important.

He cocked an eyebrow, sizing you up and down, and you almost laughed at how hard he concentrated. You kept quiet as you waited for his little guess.

“A politician?” He tried and you quickly shot it down. Though, if Childe was being honest, with that Adeptus working in the Qixing as well as that scary fellow hydro vision and bow user lady, there was no room for corruption in the position of power. And besides, there would have been news around, even through rumors, knowing how well informed Liyue citizens could be.

Childe took a step back before he realized just what in Teyvat you were wearing. Those robes were no ordinary ones — they were a traditional Liyue garment used in ceremonies.

Your grin was evident as he locked in his final answer with a flabbergasted look;

“A runaway groom.”

“Bingo.”

“Well, I’ve heard of brides being whisked away before. But I’ve never heard of a runaway groom.” Childe laughed a little, but even in his dull eyes, a flash of pity and curiosity shone through which did not escape you. “What happened to you, man?”

You waved him off with a charming grin, “Nothing you should concern yourself over, my good friend. I just happened to be the unfortunate son who had to be pawned off to a lovely lady to expand our clan’s horizons.”

“That’s insane.”

“It is. Such is the life of a nobleman. Well, no, not always — just some special nutcases who can’t live without power.”

That was how Childe met you. Through a chase. A chase that decided the path of a good portion of your life.

How ironic was it that now he was trying to determine a certain part of his life through a chase.

Perhaps the fact that you were being chased when he met you was an omen of some sort of how his tumultuous love would end up. Childe wasn’t always superstitious, he only believes in the palpable results, the successes in his every mission, and the triumph that gives him high in every victorious ending in fights. But now, the thought of it was slowly questioning his radically logical mind.

Because now, he was chasing after you. Despite the fact that you’ve settled over your marital affairs, you risked your connections being severed from your family when you refused to marry the woman that waited for you by the ceremonial altar. And when you did, you proved everyone wrong by living a far more comfortable life at the edge of the harbor, managing a little teahouse that Childe had funded in capital for you.

In hindsight, the harbinger’s claims of generating more profit should have been an obvious forefront of how his emotions truly manifested. It was a hulking passionate love that towered over everyone but somehow it could never reach the peak where you sat in peace, making tea and indulging the bliss of your freedom.

Though Childe, despite the rationality that he claims he possesses, can be an unreliable narrator. He lies to protect his family, so it’s not a surprise to say that although true, his imaginative descriptions of his love for you is anything but tragic and complicated.

Simply put — he loves you but you were so, so dense.

Always just a foot away no matter how much he ran to catch up to you. No matter how many times he dropped by your shop that he proudly invested in, bringing you lavish gifts to woo you, all you had to do was smile gratefully, make him tea and it felt like all his efforts in winning your affections reversed into your favor — wooing him instead.

“Boss, have you tried… confronting the bull head on?” Ekaterina sipped on her tea as she looked at her boss with mild disdain, which is justifiable, considering that Andrei would always pass him off to her in his heartbroken rants about you.

A resounding groan left Childe’s lips as he slumped over the table with a lack of grace. He looked up at the bank’s receptionist and glared at her, “Mind your words. He is not a bull.” He said in defense of you, completely missing his subordinate’s point. “He’s more like a… a stallion that I would ri—”

“I will turn in my resignation if you continue that sentence, boss.” Ekaterina says with much defiance. The determination to just resign and perhaps get hired by you instead sounds lovely. Granted, she’d still see Childe and his insufferable pining soul, but she would be busy enough tending to other people to notice him… not to be the catch basin of this man-child’s flooding love troubles.

His blue eyes flitted from corner to corner, eyes narrowing at any unsuspecting man or woman that dared to make a move on you. He was always on the guard, but if anything, if he took Ekaterina’s little piece of advice, he would’ve had no worries. You would reject people with that kind smile of yours and politely tell them off with a claim that you finally have someone else.

Ugh. And you would look so cute with his family too! Teucer made another unprecedented excursion two months ago and was relatively surprised that his big brother made an investment on a teahouse. The way you tended to his little brother like a good big brother or even a father made him feel weak in the knees. Though it wasn’t as fun when Teucer had to be convinced to head back to their motherland, it endeared Childe to see a side of you that rarely comes out unless in the company of the little ones.

The way you acted now was a stark contrast compared to when you and him met. You were mischievous and playful on the first few months in his company, but it was the surface that he was slowly chipping away at — only appreciating your much deeper layers when he saw you fight for your freedom against an undesired matrimony that was being pushed on you. You worked with persistence and diligence in your name and Childe could not get more hot and bothered.

You were so inexplicably interesting. It was no wonder he was just one of the many people who were hoping to have a shot with you — that quiet teahouse owner in the outskirts of the harbor. Hell, even he had to meet that fellow hydro vision and bow user lady twice as she convinced you to come down and work in her establishment.

Childe’s eyes narrowed at the thought of her luring you into her web. Though he knows she means it as a literal job offer at the teahouse and nothing more, he couldn’t shake off the way your eyes seemed to soften around her, growing relatively fond of her appearance.

The harbinger decides that the day Yelan starts to bring in gifts, is the day he urges a business relocation. Maybe somewhere in Wuwang Hill. Anywhere but here.

It also didn’t help that one of your regulars was the charming former archon. He either came alone or brought his tiny superior with him. And on the off chance that Childe comes to pass by, he could see the way you seemed so engaged with the old man, leaning closer as he told his life stories from a thousand years ago, meriting him a melodious laugh that Childe couldn’t hear from the outside.

And while he adored the traveler, he also didn’t like that they’ve been trying to nestle themselves into your cozy abode like a love tick. And it drove him over the edge when you, ever the generous man that you are, would treat them to a cup of tea, free of charge. Like, that was a lost revenue, you annoyingly attractive and scrumptious airhead! That could have been profit!

You are denser than the muscles Childe would subtly feel out in his tight hugs with you. It was annoying. You’re annoying. It’s annoying. He hates it.

He hates you.

“Oh dear, you don’t look too good, Ajax.”

His eyes snapped open as he felt your hands raking through his ginger hair. He almost sobbed at your gentle touch, just going through with ease. He looked ahead to see Ekaterina missing, and from his peripherals, he could see her pouring herself another fresh pot of tea. Ah. Now that he noticed, the teahouse is now quiet, completely void of customers. He supposed it’s already your closing time.

“Had a tough day at work.” He mumbled.

“No, he didn’t.” Ekaterina’s voice echoed from and Childe only huffed.

Laughter rumbled from somewhere deep in your chest and Childe had to restrain himself from just ambushing you with something that he deems as the deciding moment of your relationship. He’s normally impatient, often just wanting to go at it bare hands. Heck, if stated otherwise in a mission, he would directly make contact and fight off the opponent.

But this isn’t a fight. It’s love. It’s raw attraction towards you and for once, Childe who had the boyish charm that could make everyone drop to their knees was at loss.

“Go back to the bank, Ekaterina,” Childe grumbled as he finally sat up from his seat, looking at his subordinate with a pout. “Andrei would scold you.”

“Andrei pays me double to stay with you.”

“I wish Andrei would also pay me double for putting up with him,” you sighed and he almost choked on his own spit, hitting your torso with a glare. You may be dense to his advances, but you still displayed a teasing disposition that no one is safe from. Not even poor him.

He huffed, crossing his arms, “I can just as easily pull out as this teahouse’s investor, y’know? Watch your words, [Name].” His threat was light and empty, and you knew as well — much to his chagrin. “I mean it,” he added for extra measure.

You only gave him a light hum and nodded along, “Of course you do,” your words were in agreement, and yet it only served to invalidate his empty threat towards you. “So, would you like a refill?” You asked, cocking your head in Ekaterina’s direction, who still had a hand on the pot. You were sure she’s gone through about half of it already since the moment she got a hand on it.

Childe’s breath suddenly got caught in his throat as he watched the setting sun’s rays illuminate through your form from the window. You looked absolutely breathtaking and suddenly, the moment felt right. You were only a few inches away, but as his foot moved to take a step, he felt restricted, bound by the chains of uncertainty as he watched you take a step away, your distance growing by a foot. Again, you were a foot away. After he hesitated when he was so close to just… claim you right there.

He coughed before nodding, “Yeah. Sure,” his voice, painfully stiff and strained.

The harbinger was quick to blame it on the fact that Ekaterina didn’t leave you two alone for some space.

But he knows that she was hardly the reason, not when his heart thudded with regret as he watched you walk over to his subordinate and wrestle the pot away from her. Not when his heart continued to hammer against his chest as his emotions went into another overdrive of absolute adoration.

Not when he can finally feel the chains loosen against his heart when he finally, absolutely without a doubt realized you truly were the one.

[putschki1969]

“Sono Saki e” Random Thoughts (Review?)

Please be sure to ❗SUPPORT Wakana❗ in any way you can! Especially if you decided not to order any physical copies. You can purchase and stream Wakana’s 3rd original studio album “Sono Saki e” on various sites (mora, iTunes etc) and streaming platforms (Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, etc). • ————— ¤ ♫ ¤ ————— • BUY the album on mora (TUTORIAL here) BUY it in your local iTunes store • ————— ¤ ♫ ¤ ————— •  

Phew, this post is long-overdue. I’ve actually had this “review” sitting around in my drafts since May 30 but I wanted to wait till my physical copies arrived (unfortunately, my package took forever T_T). We have had multiple opportunities to listen to the tracks (or at least snippets of them) and of course I also listened to the digital album as soon as it became available. I’ll be honest with you, my initial reaction to the snippets and later the full tracks was rather lukewarm but in the past couple of weeks, most of the album has grown on me. So far my TOP 5 in order of their track listing are “Rapa Nui”, “標 (Shirushi)”, “希望(Kibou)”,“明日を夢見て歌う(Asu wo Yume Mite Utau)” and “Flag”.  Here are some random thoughts on the album as a whole and the individual songs ┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)→

Vocals: I’m not gonna write an analysis on Wakana’s vocals since I obviously lack the technical knowledge for that sort of stuff but I would still like to vent a little. In recent times, Wakana has talked a lot about how she is constantly refining her skills, working with a vocal coach and discovering new ways to use her voice, however, I fail to hear any real results of those efforts. I have to wonder if her vocal coach (or Takebe in his role as producer) are even giving any sort of effective advice because it certainly doesn’t seem like they do. The Japanese mindset probably keeps them from providing proper constructive criticism. This has always been an issue in the Japanese music industry but I am noticing it more now that Wakana, Keiko and Hikaru can no longer compensate for each other’s weaknesses. I don’t mean to bash or anything, you know I would never do that. I can still appreciate their solo vocals and for the most part I definitely enjoy Wakana’s vocals in this album but sometimes I get frustrated when it’s clear that the girls are not reaching their full potential or are using styles that are absolutely unflattering. I mean, who is telling Wakana (and Keiko for that matter) it’s a good idea to over-affect her voice or to sing in a register that is simply too high? Pretty sure this stuff is up to her so I guess it is a conscious choice and no one is guiding her in a better direction. I know for a fact that Wakana is capable of using a fuller, steadier voice but for some reason she often falls back on singing styles that don’t do anything for her and make her sound quite generic or borderline amateurish. It’s a shame...Rant over.

Visuals: The botanical and watery backgrounds/colours fit Wakana’s image perfectly. I wouldn’t say it’s a good match for the theme of the album but I don’t really mind. These are probably not my favourite looks for her but there are still some super lovely shots included in the photobook and lyric booklets. I originally thought all those light spots were a filter but they really used strings of light for the shoot. Not sure yet if I am a fan of the finished look.Something about it doesn’t really work for me.

Bonus material: No idea why they decided to add a DVD instead of a Blu-ray but I am just grateful we got footage from the Christmas live. It’s a solid concert with many good performances so I am happy there’s official footage. Too bad they cut the Christmas songs though, I remember enjoying them a lot. The audio tracks are a nice addition but I think instrumental versions of the album tracks would have been a nicer bonus. The exclusive fan club track is nothing to write home about, wish they had included footage from the after-talk instead or maybe the Christmas tracks.

Editions: As always, I appreciate that we get different booklets for every single edition. Makes it so much more fun and worthwhile to collect different editions. Overall I would day that all versions were reasonably priced for the content we got. And I am glad they once again decided to go for an LP-sized package with a big photobook. They look so good on my Kalafina showcase/shrine. Small nitpick: The quality of the large photobook isn’t what it used to be, it’s much thinner paper now T_T Makes it easier to scan though so I guess it’s not that bad.

Promotion: As far as the promotional campaign is concerned, I would say it’s sufficiently wide-spread on the media front but it feels a little lackluster in terms of in-store presence. Many Japanese fans have complained that the store promo for Wakana’s “Sono Saki e” wasn’t up to par with all the displays that were prepared for Keiko’s “Cutlery”. Thankfully we got the release events which added a bit of hype. Altogether, her performance in the Oricon Charts wasn’t too shabby either (#28) so the marketing team must have done something right. On a side note, I still very much appreciate the relatively high production value of Wakana’s solo works (especially compared to Hikaru’s and Keiko’s stuff). It’s clear that a lot of money is still invested in Wakana so YAY for that.

Overall thoughts: "Sono Saki e” has been a long time in the making so despite my best efforts, certain expectations have been building up. I know of course that getting my hopes up too high is a stupid thing to do because it will inevitably set me up for disappointment but I am only human and after three years of waiting, I was in a serious Wakana drought. However, now that the album is finally here, I feel a surprising sense of indifference (?) towards it. My reaction to Keiko’s latest album should have been indication enough but I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that I am suffering from a serious case of Kalafina-solo fatigue. It seems like I am steadily falling out of love with their solo music which makes me incredibly sad but I guess it was bound to happen at some point. I am not even saying that I dislike the album but there is just a lack of sparks I guess? Objectively speaking, I would say that Wakana’s 3rd album is quite good, I thoroughly enjoy around 60% of it and I’ve been listening to a lot of the songs on repeat. But I am just not as invested as I would like to be. On a side note, is it just me or does the album feel a little too rushed (despite its long production period)? I would have wanted the album to reflect the three years worth of thought and effort that were supposedly put into it but that’s honestly not the vibe I am getting here. I mean, they decided to include an instrumental of one of the tracks AND a literal copy-paste version of a previous album track, that just screams last minute decision to me. I guess it’s because the actual production didn’t start until much later so ultimately, there was a lot of rushing involved but still, it’s a shame.

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M1. Butterfly Dream: I feel like everything has already been said about this. It’s fun with the visuals of the PV but without those, the song loses a lot of its charm for me. Even though it’s the leading track of the album, I find it a bit underwhelming, maybe because the melody isn’t really resonating with me? Also, not a huge fan of how Wakana seems to over-affect (if that’s the right word?) her voice during quite a few parts of the song (especially during the chorus) to sound cute/innocent. She sometimes does this for certain types of anisong covers but it’s honestly not the most flattering singing style in my opinion. I guess the outward “cuteness” of the vocals appeals to a wider audience so it’s not a bad thing per se. I mean, there must be a reason why they picked this as promo track for the album (Rating: 2.5/5) M2. Rapa Nui: Definitely the most exciting and refreshing track on the album. The Celtic(?) sound matches Wakana’s voice perfectly. Kinda sounds like something you would hear at a medieval festival. Reminds me a bit of Kalafina’s “Moonfesta” or Hikaru’s “Fili”. Based on the title, I would have expected the song to sound totally different but I am honestly not mad about how it turned out. It’s great that they used the Rapa Nui language for some lines, spices up the whole thing. I initially believed that the song could have benefited from a stronger chorus but by now I’m literally obsessed with it, can’t get the melody out of my head :P Some of those ultra-high notes don’t sound pleasant to my ears but it’s not on a level where it takes away from my enjoyment. Contemplated taking half a point off for it but at the end of the day, it’s not worth it. It’s such a superb track (Rating: 5/5) M3. 標 (Shirushi): Sometimes this song doesn’t really affect me all that much and other times it makes me cry like a baby (especially when Wakana sings “この先も力に歌うから”). In many ways, it reminds me of “Ai no Hana” which has a similar theme and is one of my favourite tracks from Wakana’s first album but I need to hear it live to get the full experience. The same is the case for “Shirushi”. And I also have to be in the right mood for it. I am not 100% sold on the melody but Wakana’s vocals are gorgeous and the emotion she puts into her singing is just out of this world. On top of that, we have beautiful lyrics and a precious backstory, I can’t help but give this song a high rating (Rating: 4/5) M4. 希望 (Kibou): With the exception of “Rapa Nui” this is probably the only track that instantly clicked with me. Even when we just got a snippet of it, I immediately fell in love. The melody is just the right amount of cheesy in a good way, it hits me right in the feels. I think it comes closest to a standard power ballad or a 90s pop ballad. I am a huge sucker for those and it is obviously the type of song I love to hear from Wakana. Is it just me though or could Wakana have used a more flattering singing style for the chorus? She is going very high and it tends to sound a bit strained. For me, this is on the very edge of sounding screechy, a little higher, a little flatter and I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it. It’s clearly a challenging track but not necessarily something that Wakana can’t handle imo. Really curious how she will be handling those parts during a live performance. Hopefully she can tweak her style a bit to make it more suitable for the song. Another tiny nitpick is the bland bridge, I wish it had a little more oomph, it’s neither here nor there but oh well, I am so smitten with this song that I can’t really focus on any of the negative aspects (Rating: 4.5/5) M5. 殻 (Kara): Who thought it was a good idea to do a “Tsubasa 2.0.”? I really wish they would have come up with something else. They had more than enough time to look into other options. I understand the intention of course, “Tsubasa” is solid and highlights some of the grittier parts of Wakana’s voice but that doesn’t warrant a blatant rip-off. Enough complaining though, I feel like I am way too harsh on “Kara”. On its own merits, it’s actually quite fun and yeah, just like its predecessor it works flawlessly to highlight Wakana’s voice in a different way, I like her more feisty singing style. Objectively speaking, I really can’t fault this song but it still doesn’t quite hit the spot for me. Thankfully, Wakana’s singing makes up for it (Rating: 3.5/5) M6. そのさきへ(Sono Saki e)～Interlude～: The melody is not striking enough. I am usually a sucker for a good instrumental piece but this one falls a little flat unfortunately. Wakana keeps saying that she cried when she first listened to the demo but I really wonder why...However, I will have to say that the gorgeous piano playing of this interlude does appeal to me more than the melody in the normal version of the song (Rating: 2.5/5) M7. KEMONO feat.清塚信也: I’ve said it before and I will say it again, every cell in my body is rejecting this type of song. I know that’s a me-problem and I feel horrible judging Wakana’s work based on such a personal preference.This reminds me way too much of some of Keiko’s city-pop (or whatever) tracks. The singing is too fast, there is no proper flow, the melody is all over the place, it’s just outright chaotic. I am sure there are people who can appreciate this new experimental style but I am unfortunately not one of them. I generally don’t like giving low ratings but it is how it is, please know that this is purely subjective (Rating: 1/5) M8. 明日を夢見て歌う(Asu wo Yume Mite Utau): The melody right at the beginning and sprinkled in-between the verses is what initially attracted me to the song, so pretty. However, the rest of the song didn’t leave a huge impression when I first heard it during the Christmas concert. I remember I compared it to “Boku Dake no Stage” because it was also composed by Takebe and I thought it was similarly bland. I realise now that this was a very unfair comparison because those songs have absolutely nothing in common. “Asu wo Yume Mite Utau” is much better imo and aligns more with my preferences in terms of music style. Maybe a comparison to “Toki wo Koeru Yoru ni” would have been better even though Takebe didn’t compose that one... Anyways, after letting the song marinate for a while, I’ve surprisingly come to love “Asu wo Yume Mite Utau”. I’d even go as far as to say it has become one of my favourite tracks from the album. The arrangement is lovely and so are the lyrics. Also adore Wakana’s singing here (Rating: 4/5) M9. Flag: This is probably the most Kalafina/FictionJunction-esque track on the entire album so I understand why it is so popular among YK/Kalafina fans. Personally, I have never been the biggest fan of YK’s more generic anisongs so this track initially didn’t impress me all that much, it was just okay for me, nothing too outstanding. But after hearing it performed live multiple times, it has significantly grown on me. It’s a really solid song and it works perfectly with Wakana’s voice. Even though it might not be the type of music I naturally gravitate towards, it’s still a banger. Especially when you take the Kalafina nostalgia into account. Fun fact, the most recent version with Sakurada has made me add 0.5 points to my initial rating, it was just so good (Rating: 4/5).  M10. そのさきへ (Sono Saki e): Ughhh, I really wanted to love this song but so far my attempts have all failed. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to get into it. I mean, there must be something to love about it when I hear Wakana rave about the demo tape as if it were the best thing since sliced bread. What exactly is it about the melody that made her cry so much? It still baffles me that this was written by the same person who was responsible for “Kinmokusei” which I absolutely adore. There are some tiny similarities but all in all, “Sono Saki e” feels rather uninspired in comparison to “Kinmokusei”, at least in my opinion. Hearing it live during the release event has also not done anything to make me appreciate the song more. I am afraid it is a lost cause... (Rating: 2/5) M11. あとひとつ (Ato Hitotsu): Nothing much to say here aside from the fact that I adore this song and I am really glad that it’s finally included in an official release. I prefer to hear it live but the studio recording is surprisingly touching too. So understated and yet so charming. I like how Wakana keeps referring to it as prayer, it’s a fitting description. Perfect delivery, as always (Rating: 5/5)

[andyislistening]

since the latest developments of argentinian politics, besides being grieving the future of our country these past few days, I've been thinking of how many great live music I've managed to experience this year and how grateful I am for that.

this list of my favorite ones is not exhaustive and not in any particular order. there are many indie acts i can't remember the name of, but here's a few:

Barbi Recanati in #1, i saw her 4 times this year and was in the top 5 people in my soundtrack this year.

Marilina Bertoldi

Los Besos

Lucy Patané (solo this time, want to see her with the full band)

Mujer Cebra

Barullo (duet)

Tototomás

Gala (with band)

Fraxu

Mora y los Metegoles

Feik Taxi

Viktoria Jáuregui

Marina Fages

Burdas

💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫

also, a moment of silence for those artists I couldn't see this year and I probably won't be able to see in the future (international who probably won't be back in latam soon, or just expensive at that time):

Rosalía (I saw her during the El Mal Querer tour, and it was incredible, but I really wanted to see her during the Motomami era)

Tove Lo (her latest album made me a fan)

100 Gecs

Kali Uchis (I can't stress enough how important this woman was in my life during the Isolation era, she never misses in her releases)

Fred Again.. (well technically didn't know the guy when he played here, but I wish I would've stumbled upon him there)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Nenagenix (def will try to see them next year if I'm not completely broke)

Paramore (I especially regret not going to this one, but I was too broke at the time, and getting in debt to see them wasn't the best idea)

Black Midi

Dorian Electra

Weyes Blood

Domi and JD Beck

Lesbian Drama

Miranda! (this one pisses me off bc I bought a ticket for the end of the year months in advance, but I had another event come up that was impossible to cancel, so I sold it. later I found out that the other event is probably going to be rescheduled !!! and now I feel like dying)

💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

I wish in the future there are smaller festivals for international artists because megafestivals like Lollapalooza or Primavera Sound are incredibly expensive for people who like only a few bands that won't play in other venues. I know it's pretty impossible bc of monopoly and capitalism and our economy being so fragile, also it's a huge risk for artists to go on tour anywhere.

for the time being, I'm very happy I took one of my friends' advice and went to see more local music. if you are a music fan, I'm sure you'll enjoy going to local venues and finding out some new music. always support local artists!

if you want to share some of your favorite music shows this year, add them in the replies, I'm always open to new recommendations

finally, a huge hug to my fellow argies out there. dark times are incoming for us, community is more important than ever, and culture and art are a huge part of it. we'll be out on the streets to defend our access to education and culture (and many many other rights which are about to be chopped). if for any reason you can't go out, remember we can always chat, and I'll be out there with my friends for all of us.

talk to you soon! - Andy ＼(^^)／

[myjustice]

@heavenlyprinciples ( yanfei ) / the scents of liyue were truly ones to behold. furina found herself quite taken by their wide array of perfumes, they are so different compared to the ones in fontaine. she was one easily swayed by whimsical self-indulgent purchases. in her prime, or so she thought the time as such, she often overindulged in such things at an inflated sort to distract herself from her incompetence & her solo performance, shackled by her ankles on the stage, the blinding & blaring lights always upon her face threatening to burn off her pristine & perfectly practiced mask. it was an escape, an unhealthy one now that she could look back on it ... but a mercy to herself. a small mercy with big consequences - it weighed heavy now that she was at ground zero.

for a moment voices grew so distant, echoes in the spaces of her head until the whiff of the sampled perfume she had sprayed on her wrist mercilessly got snagged by her sense of smell & she was once more here again, light returned 'pon her mismatched eyes. it smelled of nature, of valleys & bamboo & furina found herself seduced by its scent.

' hm ' she hummed quite pleased, her reaction not unnoticed by the fine lady trying to sell her more than one perfume. ying'er was her name, if furina's recollection had mercy on her. ' it smells quite exquisite. ' furina admitted & held out the sample for her to take in return. ' i'm assuming you have deals for these? with lantern rite going on? ' she approached her display of interest carefully, she knew that with the way she was dressed she was often assumed one drowning in mora when she was not.

the price left some to be desired.

' ah, a fair price. ' furina argued it could be negotiable should the other be opened to it. ' i'll spare it some thought. ' she smiled.

[sleepymarmot]

I have finally beaten the first boss of Scrivener's Hall solo! And finished the dungeon with the help of others.

A day or two ago he killed me many times. After improving my build a bit, I returned. My many attempts at killing him with a two bar Pale Order build were unsuccessful. At first I tried to do the mechanics, but it was too hard to keep track of where the books were shooting their lights, so I was overwhelmed. Then I tried to burn him down, but got swarmed by the mechanics. But I was improving: last time I kept dying around 70-80%, maybe 50-60%, and now my best attempts were around 30-40%. A big help was that early in the fight today I finally figured out I should swap Azandar from tank to healer, and he went from dying within the first thirty seconds to staying alive throughout the entire fight.

Then I realized that 1) in the middle of the fight I was neglecting the back bar because I had no time to swap; 2) I could really use a bonus to stamina and magicka recovery. So I changed to my solo Oakensoul build, edited it a bit... And managed to defeat the boss on first try!

Here's what we were using:

(Me: Chakram of Destiny; Pragmatic Fatecarver; Cephaliarch's Flail; Inspired Scholarship; Spiteward of the Lucid Mind; Sanctum of the Abyssal Sea. Azandar: Abor's Augmented Ward; Triptych Physic; Ritual of Salvation; Shields of Erudition; Crimson Font)

Unfortunately, that was not nearly enough for the second boss. I could survive the poison vomit once or twice in a row, but that only got me to around 80%. I tried several times, but it was obviously hopeless with the gear and skills I currently have. So I had to call for help in the group finder, and I had a full team in approximately 5-10 minutes and cleared the rest of the dungeon in the blink of an eye.

This was actually my second completion of the dungeon; earlier the same day I asked in group finder to run it in "story mode", but the team who assembled ran through the dungeon pretty fast and also didn't hunt the scamps, and I didn't feel comfortable stopping to admire the scenery or ask them how the scamps work. So I was unsatisfied with that as Jarcanist's one canonical chance at this quest, and returned to try again solo — and that's how I ended up spending approximately two more hours on a single clear.

I have to say: going through the dungeon alone and discovering it for yourself is significantly more fun than blindly running after strangers from the queue who already know everything. It feels like a real adventure! I wish this way of doing dungeons were more accessible — I'm not even talking about the kind of story mode in which every enemy dies from a light tap on the shoulder, but something that might pose a challenge, but still a challenge that is solvable without having extremely specific gear and skills at hand. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to the people who come to my rescue, and playing with other humans is its own kind of fun, but I wish it were an option instead of a necessity.

And now, I'm going to run it a bunch of times again. Need that Velothi lead asap! So far I've killed only one scamp (during that solo run), and of course wasn't lucky enough to get the lead in the very first chest. Oh, and give me those sweet, super expensive Glass Eyes of Mora too.

Btw: shout out to this video of the dungeon's full content that I used as one of the guides.

After this, doing the Runemaster Xiomara boss in Apocrypha even one competent partner, let alone with a group, is pleasantly familiar! I visited him on a whim, just to check how the boss feels after beating his dungeon equivalent, and ended up in a group in which we quickly did a Bastion Nymic and two other bosses I needed for the Defender of Necrom achievement. Did the Runemaster three times, and still no lead...

As you can see from the long post, this was all pretty exciting! I'd been looking forward to this dungeon for the entire year, it's relevant to the character I'm playing, has cool design, and rewards I'm interested in — so I'm happy to finally get around to doing it.

[bluemantics]

DID SOMEONE SAY FIC RECS? (Somewhat) niche, canonverse fics below as requested! I tried to stay under 10K hits, so y'all please make sure to give these fics some extra love. Though I will say that some of these are written by pretty well known klance authors!

1. Who Won? by sleapea

Pining | G | 2K

Lance grips his bayard, and it transforms into a long, Altean broadsword. A sword.

Keith gapes, and Lance smirks, advancing on him with a low laugh and a swing of his bayard. The swing is steady and practiced, and Keith thanks the stars for muscle memory as he manages to block in time. He falters slightly, still stunned, and Lance hums.

“Surprised?” Lance grins at him, and a violent blush spreads up Keith’s neck.

2. hey mom, i met a boy by disasteralex

Post-Canon | T+ | 16.5K

“Do you think you can love two people at once?”

“I think you can love different people for different reasons but in equal ways. But that doesn’t mean any of those loves are lesser than the rest.”

The war was hard. Its end is even harder. But when Lance breaks, Keith and the others are there to help him heal.

Somewhere along the way, Keith finds his place in the universe, Shiro gets his happy ending, and Lance learns to fall in love again.

3. Ruby Heart by infinitesongbird

Pining | T+ | 12.2K

While on a mission to the planet Mora, Lance and Keith find themselves in an alarming predicament when Lance touches an alien flower. The predicament in question: They can hear each other's thoughts now - every thought, no matter how passing or involuntary, broadcasted for the other to hear. And the real kicker? It's irreversible.

Will this bond bring them closer together, or will it be the thing to finally destroy their already strained relationship?

4. running with your eyes closed by perfchan

Post S5 | M | 36.5K

Being lost versus feeling lost. Remembering versus imagining. Time

When a solo mission for the Blade takes an unexpected turn, Keith is left stranded. When Voltron’s alliance with Lotor and Shiro’s strange behavior have mixed everything up, Lance is left wondering where he fits into this new team dynamic. This is a complicated story about time and space and fighting and persevering, and the simplicity of connection.

5. Stay, Don't be Busy by Cakepopple

Post-Canon | T+ | 2.2K

Keith's back on Earth after a mission with the Blades, and Lance half expects him not to visit. But of course he does. He always does.

6. you mark everything i do by orphan_account

Established Relationship | T+ | 6K

Some people do ridiculous things when they're in love, like trip over nothing and faceplant into the pie they're holding, or get tattoos of each other's names in tacky hearts on their arms.

Lance and Keith get each other's paladin symbols tattooed over their hearts.

7. Two Truths and One Lie by miraculousstorytelling

Implied Relationship | G | 2.2K

While half of the team is out on a supply run, Lance suggests the remaining team play a game to pass the time.

8. Through Time and Space by Hidden_Pineapple

Comfort | G | 4.4K

We all know Lance is homesick. But what happens when Pidge figures out how to make an accurate calendar of earth? Lance realizes just how much he’s missed. And even then, its only the tip of the iceberg. (...)

9. scattered stars by Crawlingthroughashes

Pining | Not Rated | 1.7K

Lance wore his heart on his threadbare sleeve, visible for the perusal of wandering eyes.

Keith, on the other hand, kept his heart carefully concealed beneath skin that was stretched too tight and bones that felt too heavy for his body.

10. Into the Shadows by iybms

RP/BP dynamics | T+ | 712

A joint BoM/Voltron mission has gone just a little bit wrong, leaving Keith and Lance alone, hiding.

Hope you like some of these op & anyone else looking for niche recs!

need kl fic recs…. Oouugghh

[anxiefics]

special guest.

: ̗̀➛ ft. scaramouche x reader

: ̗̀➛ cw: none i think

: ̗̀➛ a/n: IDOL SCARAMOUCHE'S BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD I NEED MOREE

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

kunikuzushi. better known as his stage name, scaramouche. a new solo artist with a rapidly increasing amount of fans.

being the ultimate pretty boy he is, you couldn't help your little celebrity crush on him. those amethyst eyes, and those outfits that showed off his lean muscle, and his indigo hair always tousled to perfection, and—

"y/n! snap out of it!"

you blinked back to reality, a concerned-looking amber greeting you. "you alright there? i called your name three times!"

"yeah, i'm fine. what were you saying?" you smiled sheepishly.

"i said that i got us tickets to 5wirl's concert! gotta support venti and the guys, you know? and apparently, they're having a special guest tomorrow!" amber babbled excitedly.

a special guest? who could it be? you thought. surely not...

"anyways, hu tao and i are going shopping for outfits to the event, wanna come?"

thinking back to your rather bleak wardrobe, you decided on, "sure!"

⋆ ★

"y/n, y/n! try this on!" hu tao giggled, holding up a stylish black and red shirt.

you sighed. "my feet hurt. this better be the last one, okay?" you hadn't realized that they would be dragging you around the entire mall, stopping at every store.

"hm, one more 'fit after this and then we can head out!" amber bargained, eyes shimmering with glee.

"fine, fine. hand it over."

"yay!" the two shouted in delighted unison.

⋆ ★

"huh? where's venti?" amber asked aether, looking for her friend.

"ah, he's uh.." aether stuttered, unsure of how to word it correctly.

"he's... doing something. you should go now, it'll get crowded soon." xiao grimaced, not sounding too fond of what venti was doing.

"alright, bye xiao!" hu tao called out while walking, then whipping her phone out to take a selfie of you three. "aren't you guys glad we got vip tickets? perks of knowing the guys performing, am i right?"

"you mean i got us vip tickets. you practically begged me for them. and don't you have more mora than me? you better pay me back later!" amber huffed, hands on her hips.

"but those are for my coffin advertisement funds!" hu tao whined. "and zhongli keeps making me pay for him. something about childe refusing to be his 'human wallet'?"

"surely he didn't spend that much? after all, it is coming from your own pocket."

"trust me, amber, you do not know how much he can spend."

⋆ ★

“guys! it’s starting!” you held your breath in anticipation.

a wave of cheers rippled through the crowd as the spotlights flickered on, pointing at the middle of the stage. there, in all his glory, was none other than…

“i-is that venti?” amber gasped, shock evident on her face.

“holy shit, i think it is!” hu tao pulled her phone out, snapping a picture.

“um, why is he dressed like ei? don’t tell me he’s our ‘special guest.’” you mumbled the last part, trying not to let your disappointment show.

“yo, is he doing her signature move? but with a wine bottle?” someone said, voice echoing out through the shocked silence.

seconds later, whistles and applause rang through the night, as people laughed at the sight before them.

venti grinned, wielding his empty wine bottle like a mic. “thank you, thank you! but now, for our real guest…” he paused for dramatic effect.

“scaramouche!” the five band members yelled together.

the said man swaggered upstage, backlit with an assortment of purple and red lights, for more dramatic effect (you know, like the drama king he is). the fans went wild— you included.

“no fucking way!” you gaped in astonishment.

he met your wide-eyed gaze with a wink, smirking as if he heard you. head ducked away in embarrassment, you felt warmth crept up your face.

xiao donned his electric guitar, moving to stand next to scaramouche. he grabbed the mic off the stand as the teal-haired man plucked a few notes. the two shared a glance before turning to face the ever-enthusiastic crowd.

heizou rapped the wooden sticks onto the drums, while kazuha strummed the bass. aether and venti harmonized the backing vocals, as scaramouche sang the first few lines.

"指切りげんまん ホラでも吹いたら 針でもなんでも 飲ませていただき monday" (i pinky swear, if i do tell a lie I'm willing to swallow needles, or whatever, on a Monday)

"it doesn't matter if it's sunday!" everyone joined in.

xiao sang the next few lines, leaning into his own mic.

"鏡よ鏡よ この世で1番 変わることのない 愛をくれるのは だれ" (Mirror, mirror on the wall, Who in the world can give me unconditional love?)

"No need to ask cause it's my darling." they sang in synchrony, and you could've sworn scaramouche was staring at you, but perhaps it was your wishful thinking.

⋆ ★

"I'll always stick with ya, my baby."

"oh my~ he's totally looking at you y/n!" hu tao elbowed you, knocking you out of your music-induced trance.

you had no time to answer as the sounds of whoops and cheers drowned your voice— not that you knew how to respond. you clapped as well, thinking that it was the best concert you've been to (because of the song. not your crush. at least that's what you told yourself.)

as people filtered out and the smoke thinned, the three of you went backstage to your other friends.

"xiao! you never told me you knew scaramouche!" you accused, jabbing a finger at him.

he shrugged. "i didn't think you needed to know."

you grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. "you know how much i listen to him! i have his cds, his merch, what do you mean i didn't need to know!?"

hu tao pulled you off of an undisturbed xiao, laughing. "i think you forgot that he's right behind you."

you whirled around, face-to-face with the scaramouche. seeing him gave you butterflies, and better yet, he was smirking at you. is this heaven? you thought. or hell? i mean, i basically told him i was a die-hard fan. so much for playing it cool.

you opened your mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"oh? i assume you want my autograph?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "or a photo, if that's more your style."

"i-uh." you internally berated yourself for not being able to speak properly.

"hm? what was that?" he leaned forward, wearing the most shit-eating grin you've ever seen.

"could you sign my ass?"

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

: ̗̀➛ a/n pt. 2: song is titled "shinunoga e-wa" by fuji kaze! (think of this as a rock cover of it) lyrics are from lyrics-letra and tatatan on yt!

[stanshizuku]

“Let’s collect flowers..”

Qiqi x Sibling!Figure!Reader

Genre: Fluff

About: You and Qiqi collect flowers !!

Listening to while writing:

PURELY PLATONIC

You were heading to Bubu Pharmacy to give Qiqi some milk for the day, you really only visit her to give her some milk for the day but you also like to hangout with her. But today, you in fact ran into Qiqi while you were going to Bubu Pharmacy.

She was jogging over to Bubu Pharmacy, but she wasn’t paying a whole bunch of attention.. you also couldn’t see her as she was to short and out of your view, so you both ran into each other.

Qiqi slowly locked up, she says in a calm voice “Qiqi is sorry..” you looked down as you thought that voice was quite familiar to you, you looked down to see if you would remember that calm voice, you in fact did. (We’re gonna pretend that Qiqi said her name in a really low whisper but you heard the rest of what she said 😭)

“Qiqi, it’s alright, next time try to pay more attention, mk?” You said while handing over to her milk “Qiqi says thank you (name)..” she says to you, “Can we go pick out some flowers today (name)?” Qiqi asked

“Ah,alright Qiqi, any specific pla-” you cut yourself off, remembering that you would have to ask Bazihu first “Qiqi, we will have to ask Bazihu if you can go out today first, alright?”

“Okay, Qiqi will follow you” Bubu Pharmacy was so far from where you guys were, Qiqi actually just left Bubu Pharmacy before bumping into you, so you weren’t really that far, you started to finish the walk to Bubu Pharmacy, you went up the stairs and saw Bazihu with his snake around his neck.

“Hello, Bazihu, is it fine if I take Qiqi out to pick flowers?”

“Alright, but please be back before night time.” Bazihu gave you permission to take her so you didn’t wait any more time and grabbed Qiqi softly by her hands, they were actually colder than you thought they would be!

“How about we pick out some Silk Flowers? There are some around here anyways!” You said while happily skipping to the flowers

“Qiqi thinks that sounds nice..”

Time Change [7:00 pm]

“Qiqi, it’s getting late I think we should be reporting back to Bazihu now” You said as you were nearing back to Liyue Harbor. Qiqi looked up to you, you can’t tell but she seems happy “Qiqi also thinks we should go back to Bubu Pharmacy..” she said in a soft tone, but it sounds a little happier than her resting voice.. a little higher?

You and Qiqi were walking at a slow pace, you knew she was fast but you hardly came to visit Liyue Harbor so you wanted to admire the area around you.

“Hey, Qiqi, I think we have enough time to get a quick snack, if you’re hungry”

“Qiqi would like to have a snack”

“Tasty Chop Suey!” You heard from the lady at the stand

“Hello miss, may I get one?” You ask while looking down at Qiqi with a smile

“Of course you can get one, 1000 mora!” The lady said

You grabbed your wallet and grabbed the 1000 mora.

You handed the mora to her while she grabbed the plate with Chop Suey. You looked at Qiqi who seemed like she got happier than she was when with you picking flowers. You handed Qiqi the plate of Chop Suey while you were telling her to be careful and not drop it.

30 minutes later

Qiqi finished her Chop Suey and she handed you the plate, you gave it back to the lady and you both started to walk to Bubu Pharmacy! When you got there, it seemed like Qiqi had a gift for you.

She handed you a box that has Silk Flowers in it, she also said:

“Qiqi says thank you.. today was fun, I will make sure to write it in my notebook..”

A/N: Im sick

[nientedenada]

Thanks for the added context. So Vanus having gone on solo travels for a while wasn't just left in Origins of the Mage Guild but copied into a new text for ESO. That makes it clearer he actually did leave and come back pre Planemeld and this isn't a Hermaeus Mora time-traveling book scenario.

On Reddit, Fort Star Moth just pointed out another source that backs your take:

In the book https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Guild_Memo_on_Soul-TrappingVanus Galerion is referred to as the Archmagister Emeritus, with ‘emeritus’ defined as (according to google - “adjective (of the former holder of an office, especially a college professor) having retired but allowed to retain their title as an honor.” To me this has suggested that Galerion departed from the mages guild at some point before the Planemeld crisis, and potentially only returned to a position of active leadership during the Three Banners War when the Mages Guild was suffering a crisis during which it was threatened with fracturing as it was divided across the territories of the Three Banners without a central headquarters on account of the expulsion from the Imperial City.

Meanwhile, discussion on Teslore is ongoing and there's a new development questioning whether Mannimarco actually made Vanus' body a thrall or if we have all been misreading that line in Oblivion

Exciting times for Vanus Galerion fans and haters alike.

Mages Guild Morass: A Mix-Up over Vanus Galerion's Final Fate

Also posted on r/teslore. A couple months ago, my friend @akaviri-dovah asked a question about Vanus Galerion's timeline.

Ok so I’m reading up on Vanus uesp page again and apparently there was a point wherein he abandoned his guild and left Tamriel?? […] "Over time, Galerion grew bitterly disillusioned with the contrived hierarchies and sinister political environment that the Mages Guild had become. He grew regretful for establishing the guild in the first place, as it had become monster of its own, and was too late for him to fix. After denouncing the guild, Galerion elected to leave Tamriel entirely to travel to other lands. For many years Galerion wandered around Nirn. Eventually, after long his abandonment of the Mages Guild, Galerion claimed that he had found the virtue of magic in his solitary travels." [This description] probably wouldn’t line up with how he still managed to gather so many mages and Lamp Knights (guild specific) in his battle against Manni right?

This question completely confuddled me at first, because it turned out I didn't know my Vanus Galerion lore very well at all. But now I know a lot more and I am here to share a very niche lore puzzle with you all.

I think we're all aware that when the devs imported lore books into ESO, they didn't always make certain the books' contents fit into the previously established timeline. Sometimes that can be explained by Hermaeus Mora moving books about through time, but often books are edited for ESO but some detail is overlooked. This is what appears to have happened with Vanus Galerion.

Origin of the Mages Guild, written by Ted Peterson, has been in every big TES game since Daggerfall except Skyrim. It’s been edited for different games, but the last paragraph is the same in all versions.

One need not be a member of the Mages Guild to know that this carefully contrived hierarchy is often nothing more than a chimera. As Vanus Galerion himself said bitterly, leaving Tamriel to travel to other lands, "The Guild has become nothing more than an intricate morass of political infighting."

In Daggerfall and Morrowind, that is the last heard of Vanus Galerion. This version is backed up by a role-playing thread from 2001 in which Ted Peterson, posting as Tedders, has an exchange with Vanus Galerion (also played by himself)

Tedders: Thank Mara for Vanus Galerion for freeing the Old Ways and founding the Mages Guild. Vanus Galerion: For many long years I did regret that very deed, as it seems I created just another monster of sinister politics. The virtue of magic I found in my solitary travels, many years after I abandoned the Mages Guild and ventured on my own. Tedders: Poor Trechtus. It's too late now.

Oblivion, though, adds a new version of Vanus Galerion’s fate. In Mannimarco, King of Worms, it’s explained that Vanus never did peace out on the Mages Guild. He actually died leading Mages Guild Lamp Knights against Mannimarco.

They say Galerion left the Guild, calling it 'a morass,' But untruth is a powerful stream, polluting the river of time. Galerion beheld Mannimarco's rise through powers sublime, To his mages and Lamp Knights, 'Before my last breath, Face I must the tyranny of worms, and kill at last, undeath.' He led them north to cursed lands, to a mountain pass.

(Short interlude: this is not quite as bad as Mannimarco's own poetry, but it ain't good)

In this text, Vanus Galerion is killed in the fight against Mannimarco

A thousand good and evil perished then, history confirms. Among, alas, Vanus Galerion, he who showed the way,

This version is supported by Mannimarco’s claim in Oblivion that he had Galerion’s corpse in his possession.

I must say, I expected Arch-Mage Traven, rather than his star pupil. I am disappointed to see that he could not face me himself. I have met so many of his predecessors over the years. I developed a particular fondness for Galerion, ill-preserved though he may be.

So, depending on whose version you believe, Vanus either left the guild calling it a morass or led the guild in a final battle against Mannimarco.

In comes ESO to complicate matters.

The ESO Devs did not include Mannimarco, King of Worms in the game, since Vanus Galerion is still alive in ESO. But they didn’t ignore the text. A lot of the details of Vanus and Mannimarco’s early life from Mannimarco King of Worms are fleshed out in the Summerset expansion via. Vanus’ ESO autobiography: Artaeum Lost, as well as in ESO flashbacks to their time with the Psijics.

However, base game ESO stumbled with their version of Origin of the Mages Guild, which still ends

One need not be a member of the Mages Guild to know that this carefully contrived hierarchy is often nothing more than a chimera. As Vanus Galerion himself said bitterly, leaving Tamriel to travel to other lands, "The Guild has become nothing more than an intricate morass of political infighting."

When you bring this book into ESO, you get the implication that Vanus got into a snit at the Mages Guild, left Tamriel to travel other lands, AND THEN came back from abroad for the events of ESO where he’s very involved in Mages Guild business again.

So to sum it up

Version 1: Daggerfall to Morrowind: Vanus is said to have called the guild a morass and left Tamriel at some unspecified date. That is the last mention of him.

Version 2: Oblivion to Skyrim: It's suggested that story is untrue and he actually died leading the Mages guild in a fight against Mannimarco but many believe he instead left Tamriel after calling the Guild a morass.

Version 3: ESO: Doesn't go into Vanus' death because it's not happened yet but keeps details from that Oblivion/Skyrim Version about his earlier life with Mannimarco. ESO devs miss the detail of the morass line referring to Vanus Galerion's permanent disappearance in both Versions 1 and 2.

I think if we go with Version 3, which is the most up-to-date, we would conclude that he did get into an earlier snit with his subordinates, went globetrotting, and then came back to guide the Mages Guild. Centuries later, someone misattributed the morass remark from the earlier situation to the latter disappearance.

Or you could go with time-travelling books.

Or you could just shrug your shoulders and ignore the obvious developer error and continue with the timeline established by the previous games.

UESP has cobbled all these sources into one timeline: ESO Events -> Morass Remark and Exit from Mages Guild -> Leading the Mages Guild against Mannimarco/ Death. But unless we go with the time-travelling books theory, this doesn’t seem possible.

End of Morass Gate.

[sagau-my-beloved]

Gonna ask you something I ask all the tumblr venti simps; What’s your opinion on La Signora? Personally, I’m not doing her weekly battle until I get venti, then I’m gonna solo him.

I have two conflicting opinions

On one hand I was super pissed about how she treated Venti in comparison with Zhongli

Like there she was, making a dignified exchange where both parties benefitted, allowing Zhongli the leeway to go running all around Liyue and plan this extravagant funeral, costing the Fatui a good bit of time and Mora

And then, in contrast, her experience with Venti was the equivalent of beating him up in a back alley and robbing him—

I understand that respoponse was likely the result of her at least partly blaming him for the death of her lover during the cataclysm and all that went along with that, but I just really don't see it as justified in any context because I can't see Venti having anything directly to do with that particular death

And in the moment where she actually took his Gnosis I was so annoyed that Venti didn't fight back to the extent you are lead to believe he's capable of, the entire thing just felt very unfair and I was left with a heavy sense of wanting to get revenge on her for that moment

But on the other hand...

Oh my god she's so hot wtf

I know the enemies are always made to be the most attractive characters but goddamn

The hair, the outfit, the confidence, she easily fits in my top ten hottest Genshin characters, probably even top five but I haven't thought about it that heavily

I wasn't particularly cut up about her death or anything, I'm glad she got what was coming to her, but yeah I'm not going to apologize for having eyes

But a Venti solo for that doesn't sound like a bad idea 🤔, I have yet to replay that entire thing too so maybe I'll follow in your footsteps

[thehallstara]

will be posting these all individually but!! @blaseballzinejam is today and i submitted to a total of 12?? zines???? something wild like that and i wanted to round them up! what a beautiful and busy month!!!

first off, my two solo zines!!! celestial cartography is a zine about the parallels between edric tosser, morrow doyle, val games, and pedro davids!! and then the burn with me b-sides is my very hefty baby (45 pages!)– 6 different 12x100s about betsy trombone, york silk, nerd pacheco, nic mora, cedric gonzalez, and spears taylor!

square roots is a short and sweet little zine i wrote with my bestie @tigerquoii about betsy trombone, jessica telephone, mickey woods, and bright zimmerman having a chat at the end of the world and it honestly might be my favourite thing i made the whole jam.

wip amnesty is the last zine i personally organized, and it’s pretty much what it says on the tin! bunch of wips people made, including myself.

one minute to midnight is a very fun exquisite corpse done with some friends (put together by @waveridden!) about the dale and it’s such a fun read!!

speaking of hayden, also ended up in two pieces in their season one zine (the good old days) by accident lol??? shoutout to @glassgob for using my texts for a tosser cousin moment and @lokrow for collabing with me on a tylandry piece!!!

lights, camera, action is such a special little zine about fics and the love for each other’s work organized by @fourteenfifteen that made me cry several times and i’m very glad i got to be a part of it and honoured to have my work mentioned too.

did a tiny little thing for zine of zines, a cute little zine about zines that never happened!

did a little collage entry for dasy’s alt take zine letters from the rumour mill and made a golem mordecai kingbird smile

did a little little wedding invite for to the hall and back!!!

radio immateria by @charaznablescanontoyota honestly probably has my favourite thing besides my solo stuff?? getting to do something about bright and haruta was so fun and i had a blast putting it all together.

and finally last but certainly not least, i did three different piece’s for blink and hayden’s speedjam, the end, about s24!!!! there’s 113 pages in here, and i managed to do a collage of a bunch of ways i’ve described s24, a ficlet about ex ffs scattered across the map, and a silly little one off about haruta byrd!!

i’ve helped run my fair share of blaseball events, but this truly has to be one of my favourites and i couldn’t be more thrilled with how everything turned out and how much fun folks had!!!

[lilacsandamethysts]

A pair of Idiots

Pairing: Thoma x fem!Reader (she/her pronouns)

Summary: How did these two end up guarding a princess again?

Warnings: mention of sexy times, mentions of alcohol and being tipsy, hickey

A/n: I played the first part of the archon quest in Inazuma today and least I can say is that I'm in love with half the newly introduced characters and especially Thoma. today I initially wanted to write for Kazuha but oh well Thoma won me over.

Ayaka was admirable. Ayaka was a noble, a princess if you must. Ayaka was respected across Inazuma and anyone would expect her to have the best of the best as her loyal guards; people who would never waver nor be led astray. Both samurai and mages had applied for the two empty spots on her sides and instead of choosing one of the skilled fighters she chose those two. Whenever you wanted to track them down all you had to do was follow the noise. They were loud, obnoxious, idiotically brave and above all menaces. They couldn’t possibly be separated even if someone tried by force and they made each other stronger, sharing a connection no one could seem to break.

The two idiots in question were merely a couple; friends since childhood and lovers in adulthood withstanding any misfortune cast their way with interlocked hands. Ayaka herself admired their dedication to one another. She sometimes wondered what would happen if she were to send one of the two on a solo mission; not that she needed to but she had to get back at Thoma in some way after the stunt he pulled on her. Her hair still smells of jueyun chilies. Chuckling at the memory she walked into the teahouse, the laughs of her “guards” echoing through the shop.

“Who is laughing so loud?” Paimon, the floating companion of her newest ally, questions jumping back as another cry of laughter pierced the air.

“Truthfully?” She shook her head once, before letting out a subtle laugh of her own. “You can’t really tell with Thoma’s squealing.” Motioning once with her head she led the Traveller through the teahouse and towards the source of the uncontrollable snorting. The sliding frames were closed but their shadows could still be seen through the thin screen. They were obviously a little tipsy judging by their giggles and one was straddling the other. “I’m betting 50 mora that Thoma is the one pinned down”

Without hesitation she slid open the door, stepping inside casting down her gaze at the human pile that were her bodyguards. They both peaked behind them, eyes widening as they met Ayaka and the Traveller. Thoma was holding onto his lover’s waist, fingers clearly digging into her sides in an attempt to tickle her off of him while she had her fingers wrapped around his wrists, a bottle of Mondstadt’s wine lay empty a few feet away. She scrambled off of him, buttoning up her shirt and straightening the rest of her clothes, failing miserably to hide the very evident hickey on the side of her neck. Thoma on the other hand still lay on the floor, arm over his eyes shielding him from their uninvited guests, his blush matching the vision strapped to his hip. She nudged him twice with her knee, a small “get up” leaving her lips. He, of course, remained on the floor. Ayaka merely rolled her eyes at the sight.

“I trust you’re having a pleasant evening?” She asked, enjoying how her protector and dear friend squirmed in her seat.

“Yes milady, although I’m afraid we had a little too much to drink.” Her eyes remained glued to the horns on Thoma’s head, avoiding both her friend’s gaze and the Traveller’s. She bit her lip, barely managing to keep her laughter in at the sight of Thoma’s trousers being unbuttoned and the almost purple mark under his collarbone which was now visible due to his shirt being almost ripped open. She prayed to all the archons, her own included, to shield her from the shame of being found out like this. Sure, they may have been caught giggling on top of each other but that was just the aftermath of their previous…. activities. Heavens forbid lady Ayaka learn what they used their private tea room for.

“I am well aware.” Ayaka’s eyes shone with amusement, her features trying desperately to stay neutral at this hilarious predicament. “I expect you both to be on your best behavior when we meet you at the manor in an hour’s time. We have important matters to discuss.” With that she turned her back to them, hand gently clasping the Traveller’s shoulder who was gawking at the sight in front of them.

They both collectively let out a relieved sigh, eyes closing in gratitude for the end of their suffering. She slumped in front, her forehead coming to rest atop of Thoma’s as he carded his fingers gently through her hair. He placed a kiss on her hairline, chuckling as she groaned.

“Oh and Thoma,” They both jumped at the sound of Ayaka’s voice, this time both sitting up. “Do keep your trousers buttoned.”

[ceciliablossoms]

sazerac with zhongli, diluc, and kaeya? congrats on 100 followers!! 💕

Thank you so much! 💞💞

Sazerac: “I don’t… feel very….-”

TW: Mentions of Alcohol Consumption and Intoxication (Diluc), Mentions of Injury (Kaeya), Mentions of Illness (Zhongli)

-------

Zhongli

It was little before midday when they met up for their daily luncheon. Zhongli was already sitting at a table on the restaurant patio waiting for them, already having ordered their beverages as they both always got the same thing every time without fail. They were running a tad bit late, however, he paid no mind since he knew they were quite busy.

He drank from his small teacup as he waited, and it wasn't until they called his name that he looked up. They were jogging in his direction, dominant hand up in the air in an exaggerated wave. With a chuckle, he returned the wave, albeit more proper. He knew though, that something was wrong the moment that they sat across from him.

They had a sweaty sheen to their skin despite it being chilly out and sported a tired look on their face. At first, he chalked it up to the word they had been doing but the lack of appetite the food was served confirmed some suspicions. They hardly touched any of their food despite it being such a small portion and he eyed them with worry.

After the meal, he had proposed that they go home and rest a while but they happy insisted on walking with him back to the funeral parlour before doing so. But the walk was a struggle for them. Their movements were sluggish and they had trouble keeping up with him.

They grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it gently to grab his attention. He glanced over at them, his expression turning to one of surprise when he saw how much worse they had looked now than they did earlier.

“I don’t… feel very….-”, They promptly fell over.

He was quick on the draw and caught them before they hit the ground. He scooped them up gently as to not jostle them too much and touched his forehead to theirs. It was very clear that they had a fever but when he felt how warm their skin was, he realized how bad the fever actually was.

With great care, he carried them home and lied them down in their bedroom then immediately set out to speak with Baizhu about getting them some medicine. He also alerted Hu Tao to the predicament which she allowed him to take care of.

When they awoke, Zhongli was at their bedside, with a novel in hand. They looked around and took in their surroundings, relaxing when they realized that it was just their bedroom. The moment they made a move to sit up, the book in his hand was closed on the bedside table and he was gently pushing them to lie back down.

"Now, now, you mustn't overexert yourself. You will only feel worse if you do not rest. Stay put." He left the room only to return with a small bowl of water, a clean towel, and the medication Baizhu had prescribed earlier. He propped them up so on their pillows so they could take their medicine then immediately lied them back down.

They watched as he dampened the towel in the bowl before wringing it out. A soft sigh escaped their lips as he placed it over their forehead. The cold water did wonders to cool them down. He returned to his seat at their bedside.

"If there is anything at all you need please do not hesitate to let me know."

They smiled. "Thank you, Zhongli."

-

Diluc

The evening was in full swing, all the usual customers in their usual seats ordering their usual drinks. It was Diluc's turn behind the bar tonight, and as irritated as he was by the drunkards that didn't compare to the irritating he felt when the bard walked in with them on his heels.

Diluc heaved a sigh as the two took their usual seats at the bar, unknowing that this would turn out how it always did when Charles was present. They would tag along to make sure Venti wouldn't drain Diluc's entire stock of wine and pay for whatever the bard couldn't, so DIluc wouldn't be mad. Then Venti would persuade them to drink with him, and they were such a lightweight that they would end up getting so drunk they blacked out.

He rubbed his temple as Venti ordered his usual favourite but served him nonetheless. They noticed how annoyed he was already and tried to spark up a conversation with him to ease his nerves.

He visibly relaxed, mostly doing the listening as he never was one for talking more than he had to. Occasionally, Venti would interrupt to tease them or order a refill, and every time he did they would hand Diluc more Mora to which he would roll his eyes.

"You should be making the bard pay for his own indulgences." He commented after Venti's 9th refill. At this point, they were getting tipsy too, as the bard would occasionally offer them a drink of his alcohol.

"It... It's fine. I don't... mind." He could tell that they were trying their hardest not to slur their words

He had hit his 13th a while ago and was even more giggly than normal but otherwise still relatively sober. They, on the other hand, were rather inebriated, their sentences completely incoherent. Diluc had long since cut Venti off, highly irritated that he continued to share his booze with them.

Their voice was quiet when they spoke, “I don’t… feel very….-” The faceplanted onto the counter, the noise of their head hitting the bar startling both men. That was when Diluc closed the bar, forcing everyone to leave immediately and with gentle hands scoops them up and carries them back to the winery.

The next morning, the headache they had was the worst one they think they've ever had, and they held their head in their hands. The curtains were still closed to limit the light exposure as post hangover sensitivity can be an issue and on the nightstand were pain killers and a glass of iced water. They downed both needily and stayed in bed not quite trusting their legs just yet.

Not longer after Diluc came in with a small tray in hand, figuring having the maids do it would be strange to them, "Do you think you can eat?" He kept his voice down so any loudness wouldn't make the migraine worse.

With a hesitant nod, they gave him the okay and he set the tray of food in their lap. The portions were small so it wouldn't make them ill. Their stomach churned but they ate nonetheless, albeit extremely slowly.

They thanked him quietly and he sat on the foot of the bed with a nod. "You needn't let that bard talk you into drinking if you can't handle it."

With a sigh, they nodded slowly, already knowing that Charles had told him of the previous encounters. They took a slow sip of water. "I know..."

He waited until they were finished before taking the tray from them and setting it on a dresser near the door. "Is there anything you need?"

They patted the spot next to them, "Will you stay until this headache subsides?"

He nodded again, sitting next to them, wrapping an arm around them as they curled up against his torso.

-

Kaeya

The task was simple. Just the normal routine of clearing out some hilichurl camps with Amber then report back to the Headquarters. The two slip up, Amber took everything to the right of the bridge and they took everything to the left.

The Whispering Woods were relatively empty but beyond that was a different story. There was a large gathering of hilichurls and it seemed as though multiple tribes had converged into one. They watched for a bit from the bushes before deciding to clear out the massive group.

Having dealt with many hilichurls in their time they didn't think that solo clearing the camp would have been that big of a deal. What they expect, however, was to be completely and utterly overwhelmed. The smaller hilichurls and samachurls was no issue, but the sheer amount of mitachurls began to cause problems.

There were many at a time, swinging in sync from different angles in an attempt to cut them down where they stood. Adrenaline pumped through their veins as they fought with vigour. Mitachurl after mitachurl was slain and even after Amber had come to aid them they were still slaying the beasts.

Amber was worried, to say the least with the amount of dirt and grime that coated their clothes. They insisted, however, that they weren't injured as they felt no pain. The two went back to the town together, and they had said they would take care of reporting to Kaeya as Amber had stated she was hungry. The duo parted ways.

They found the walk to the headquarters to be more burdensome than normal, movements usually more sluggish. They ignored the worried glances from passersby and continued on their way. By the time they had entered Kaeya's office, their skin was significantly paler, all of its colour drained.

They called his name as they entered, ready to give the report when a sharp pain made them gasp. Kaeya looked up from his desk, expression changing to one of shock. They had been unaware that they had been bleeding through their clothing. He quickly stood and caught them as they fell forward.

“I don’t… feel very….-”

He keeps forces a smile and keeps his tone level, "Stay awake, hm?" but it all crumbles the moment they fall unconscious.

He called for either Wyratt or Wood down the hall as he placed his hands on their injury to staunch the bleeding. The blood was seeping from a gash on their side that he was assuming they didn't feel because of adrenaline. The two knights ran in and he demanded they fetch one of the sisters immediately. The two jumped at the tone of his voice, scrambling to the church.

He didn't know if he was angry with them for being reckless or the mitachurl that gave them the injury but regardless he was. Scooping them up with one hand he applied pressure with the other, deciding that he would at least try to meet them halfway as other Knights ushered away any prying eyes.

When the sisters got their hands on them, they were in shock, namely Barbara who was very clearly stressed out by the look of their injury. They were sweating and their skin was clammy. She worked diligently to clean and take care of the injury as best she could to get them into a state where they could be taken back to the church.

It took a while but she succeeded, stabilizing them and carrying them as carefully as possible to the infirmary in the back for the cathedral. Hours passed before they awoke and their pain was unbearable. Kaeya sat next to them, feet kicked up on the foot of the bed. He stood the instant he noticed them wake up.

The relief in his eye showed exactly how he felt despite not showing it outwardly, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." Their voice sounded weak and they were still very pale.

He grabbed their hand gently, placing a kiss over their knuckles with a light chuckle, "You gave us all quite the scare." He flashed his usual smile but it was also noticeably relieved. The report could wait. Their recovery was more important.

[mrpenguinpants]

I was serious when I said I was a complete Xiao Simp.

Since people have been asking about it. Here are my Xiao Guide/Stats/Build. 

First post: I was serious when I said I was going to 90 him on day one.

All Xiao Emotes and Poses: pictures

Xiao’s Name and Chinese Voicelines Translations: TBA

Sorry about my horrible quality and weird crops. Tumblr hates it when I try and upload a full screen screenshot. I keep getting an error and I’m too tired to deal with it. 

@127aliciia​ 

Lvl 90

I know it’s up to luck what drops you get but I find that when you solo the boss, more often than not, you get 3 juvenile jades instead of 2. Don’t worry about exp paper or mora since on the 02/26 there’s going to be a double leyline event. You basically get 3 opportunities to get double drops using 20 original resin. 

I’d say you should prioritize this way:

1. Artifact [just aim for a good main stat. You can artifact grind later.]

2. Mora [only if you are a struggling zhongli wallet like me. ]

3. Talent Books

4. Exp paper 

The new events will give you a ton of exp materials. You can level Xiao’s talents to 6 and you’re good. You can level up later. 

Ascension cost: 420,000 mora

Exp materials: 414 Hero's Wit, 13 Adventurer's Experience, 17 Wanderer's Advice 

Exp cost: 1,672,000 mora

Skill cost: 4,950,000 mora

Total: 7,042,000 mora

Weapon

I got his 5 star spear when I first started the game so I’ve just been using that. But the bp spear “Deathmatch” is not a bad option. My friend gifted my bp but I’ll probably stick with jade spear haha. If you’re f2p then you can use the prototype spears. I think prototype starglitter is better than crescent pike since most of your damage is going to be anemo. 

Prototype Starglitter

Deathmatch

Artifacts

Flower

Feather

Timepiece

Goblet

Circlet

I’m running 2 glad + 2 viridescent set bonus on him. To be honest, my artifacts are actually garbage besides my flower haha.

I would say:

Flower and Feather: You must have crit damage and crit rate. These are the easiest to farm since you can get glad pieces from weekly bosses. I just got unlucky. 

Timepiece: Atk% 

Goblet: Anemo bonus damage

Circuit: Crit damage 

Prioritize crit damage and crit rate for your sub stats. Atk% is fine. Use your energy recharge artifacts for support characters (but it’s not awful to have on Xiao). 

Talents

I’m a complete zhongli wallet and getting talent 9 to 10 costs 7000000 mora. I can 10 all his talents, I’m just broke. 

If you have anything under c6 xiao: Normal attack, elemental burst, elemental skill

If you have c6 xiao: Elemental burst, elemental skill, normal attack. 

C6 xiao is literally ult -> plunge attack -> eee -> plunge attack -> eee. Wash rinse and repeat. 

Stats

Team

This is the team I’m running with now. I still need to experiment a bit but Xiao is my main dps, Childe is my secondary, Zhongli is my shield, and Jean is my healer. I want to put bennet in just because bennet is stupid broken but I’m not sure. 99% why childe and zhongli are together with Xiao is for the meme. Jean is just there for the anemo bonus and to heal haha. 

I might also try Xiao, Venti, Zhongli, and Qiqi/Bennet. That seems like fun. 

Small gameplay notes

Xiao elemental burst ignores wooden shields.

I cancel my last normal attack auto with a charged attack (the spear vault). My preferred method is na -> na ->  na-> ca. I feel like that’s the fastest and easiest to do. 

E -> E then before the energy particles come back to you, use your elemental burst (q), so when they come back it fills up your bar. By the time your first burst ends, you can burst again. 

Elemental burst: plunge -> normal atk/charged to cancel -> plunge. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Xiao takes no falling damage only if you’re plunging. 

Xiao’s feet don’t touch the ground when you sit. This doesn’t mean anything in gameplay. It’s just cute.

---

The man took all my fragile resin, time, mora, and books. And you know what? I would let him do it again. I’m a serious hoarder of materials so I had 40 fragile resin to do this. Let’s be clear. DO NOT DO THIS. IT’S NOT WORTH IT. I’M JUST AN IDIOT. 

Honestly, the biggest accomplishment of this year so far is making my pretty team. Childe, Zhongli, Diluc, and Xiao now. My team name went from “Waiting for Xiao” to “Xiao is home”. 

[elleonmybeloved]

For the city of song, wind, and wine, it was a regular occurrence every other month to hold a music competition. Onlookers would gather around the large open space surrounding the statue of Barbatos and anybody above the age of thirteen could compete as follows: perform three songs, one of which had to be an original composition, solo in front of the audience. There was no limit to the number of instruments one could use, but since the rule was for solo performance only, it was unusual to see the use of more than one instrument.

The prize was 10,000 mora, 3 free meals from Good Hunter, and a commemorative feather artifact meant to honor the wind archon. There was of course, clout associated with the victory however, so naturally all the bards in the city of Mondstadt competed fiercely for the victory.

Lumine had the pleasure of finding out about the competition as a result of trying to buy some mint and honey and being told by Blanche that she would likely be out of stock by eight a.m. every day for the next week and a half. Mint tea with honey was one of the best ways to soothe the throat, so the city’s bards were snatching it off the shelves and shutting themselves in to compose and practice their songs without risking anybody hearing and ruining the impact of their performance.

For the young woman, it meant no sticky honey roast, radish veggie soup, calla lily seafood soup... unless she felt like picking it herself or going to Liyue just to buy some. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to attempt finding and messing with a bee hive in the wild. Unintentionally acquired powers of wind or not.

At the moment though, Amber was taking it harder than she was.

“Ugh I totally forgot that the Good Hunter doesn’t sell sticky honey roast this week because of the competition... I was totally looking forward to a nice hot plate of sweet ham after all the hilichurls I had to chase off the roads today too.”

“Why not have a sweet madame instead?” Lumine suggested. “It’s basically the same thing.”

Amber gawks at her. “How can you say that? See, this is what makes it so obvious you’re not from around here. Everybody knows the taste of those two dishes are not even remotely similar to each other.”

She’s teasing, it’s obvious from the exaggerated shock and pout of her lip, but something about what she said makes the neutral smile slip from Lumine’s face.

“Hey, if you think about it, she’s right you know!” Paimon comes to Lumine’s defense. “One ingredient is sugar, and the other is meat!”

“You eat slimes.” Amber says. “On purpose. Sorry but that automatically disqualifies you from giving culinary advice.”

“Wait a minute. On purpose? That implies a story I think I’d very much like to hear.” She turns to see Kaeya walking up behind them, a bag of something in his hands. It seems he had been shopping. And eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Oh no, there’s nothing like that.” Amber waves her hand in a nonchalant motion that would be convincing if she could lie with her face as well.

“Mmhm, sure.” He says with that smirk that never seems to leave his face.

“I should get going.” Lumine says, cutting off Amber’s reply before she can open her mouth. Once these two get started they can really argue, and she doesn’t have the time or energy to stick around for that. Especially when Charles made a deal with her to probe customers for info on her brother if she could find and bring back all of the lost business records that had been spewed from the tavern during the storm.

“Okay, see ya later!” Amber says with a salute.

“Yes, run along now.” Kaeya makes a shooing gesture.

The sun is setting by the time she is looking for the last one, hasty now that the natural light is fading. She had found some on the roof of all places, and she had all but scoured the ground, so here she was looking down dusty chimneys and clinging to the roof tiles like a squirrel every time the wind made her spook.

“Gotta be around here somewhere.” She mumbles to herself. Paimon had since gotten hungry and was presumably out eating, or looking for something to eat.

It’s a bit of a habit to use her elemental sight when searching for something, even though there wouldn’t be any traces she knows of on the documents. That’s how she ends up seeing it. At the top of the windmill, bright teal anemo energy, leaking out from the door and window in a slow trickle. Above the window, papers, caught in the gear that connects the wooden support to the spinning white blades of the mill.

“Aha.” Those must be the documents. Lumine gets a running start off the roof of the house and launches herself in the air. Thank the stars for the wind crystal Venti gave her- with a whoosh it pushes her up and gives her the altitude necessary to skip what would’ve been a sketchy climb up the curved wooden wall of the mill. Below her, she sees a young woman at the base of the mill reading and writing something in a notebook, and prays she doesn’t look up. Sure she has her license but it would still be embarrassing to be seen. Or asked questions of.

Landing with a modicum of grace, she very carefully steps across the roof tiles over to where the papers are stuck. It takes a bit of gentle wiggling but they come loose, and she puts them in her pack.

No sooner had she buttoned the flap than had the door to the balcony below her slammed open, and a “Who’s there?!” startle the absolute daylights out of her.

Lumine looses her footing.

She doesn’t hear the “oh crap” someone says because she is falling with a panicked shout, but before she can even open her glider wings, she’s being gently floated through the air. Wind carries her back up and places her gently down on the floor of the balcony. Standing above her with a distressed look on his face, Venti abandons his lyre to rush over and pat her in several places, checking for injuries.

“Oh no, are you okay? I swear I didn’t mean to make you fall!”

“I’m fine.” She says breathlessly. Behind them the door is open and there’s a small room filled with straw, crates, and some random items strewn about.

“I’m so sorry.” He says, hands still patting at her, blue eyes wide. “I didn’t even know it was you, traveler.”

“I’m okay.” She gets to her feet. In the room there is paper strewn about everywhere like a tornado hit. “...What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He casts a glance down and behind her. “But not out here.”

He scoots back inside the room and motions at her to come in. Curious, she does so. He closes and locks the door behind him.

“So...” She prompts.

“So,” He says, “You found me! Good job. How’d you do it?”

“Uh, what do you mean found you? I wasn’t looking for you.”

“You weren’t?” He looks genuinely surprised to hear this.

“I was looking for some tavern documents blown away in the storm, I found them on the roof.” She explains. “Why would I be looking for you?”

“Heheh.” Venti laughs nervously instead of answering. “Oh! I see!”

“What’s with all the papers?” They are seriously everywhere. Lumine knows him well enough to know he’s not the scholarly type.

“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

“... Okay. Never mind then.”

“Just kidding!” He’s quick to quip when she doesn’t get the joke. “But it is a secret so if you want to know you have to swear you won’t tell a soul!”

“I swear.” She says curiously. “Aren’t I already keeping one of your secrets well?”

“That you are.” He nods. “Very well. I’m in the middle of composing a new song. And practicing my other one.”

He announces it with a lot of weight, like it’s something super important and not exactly the type of thing she would expect a bard to say.

“And that’s a secret because?”

“A new song to use in the upcoming music competition. Surely you’ve heard of it? It’s a new tradition most people in Mondstadt know about.”

“Oh, that. Yeah I have heard. It’s why I can’t buy any mint or honey for the next week or so.”

“That’s right! I have some though, do you want some?”

“No, it’s okay.” Seemed like he needed it more anyways. “Is it going okay though?” She refers to the papers strewn willy nilly.

“Sort of.” He says, absentmindedly plucking at his lyre. “I’ve got my first song down, it’s one of the old ones from a few hundred years ago called Lion Heart, a ballad about the bravery of the great hero Venessa.”

“Who?”

Venti’s eyes go wide. “Who’s Venessa? You mean you haven’t heard of her? She’s the most famous hero in Mondstadt’s history.”

“... Not from around here.” She says. “Not really familiar with history yet.”

“Wanna hear the story? I have several songs you can choose from that tell it.”

“Hmm. Will it cost me?”

“Ahahaha! Of course not. For you Lumine, my performances are always free.”

“Okay then.” His enthusiastic smile is contagious, and although Lumine has no interest in Teyvat’s history beyond what could be relevant in finding Aether, she can’t help returning it with one of her own as she takes a seat on the floor.

The next hour is spent regaling her of the tales of a young woman whom she could not forget was a redhead even if she tried. Venti’s voice is beautiful, and he sings with such reverence and fervent adoration of this hero that she almost suspects a deeper relationship existed than that of the sung supporting role of Barbatos in this historic rebellion.

“You must really admire Venessa.” She says after clapping and giving a small smile at his formal bow.

“Everybody does.” He says with a shrug. “She was something special.”

Something squeezes hollowly in her chest.

“Now that I think of it, she’s the one Jean mentioned when she got sick from overworking and I had to help out.” Lumine pulls forward the relevant memory, blocking out the strange aching feeling. “She must have been a force to be reckoned with to make Jean feel inferior.”

“I could sing her praises forever.” A rare seriousness passes over Venti’s face. “So brave. Fiery hair like a flame that would never die out.”

Lumine has never seen a woman with red hair. It must be rare in Teyvat. It must be considered very beautiful.

“What about the other song?”

“Ehe, right, the other song. That is, the one that I’m composing. Well I’m not having much luck. But I think you could help me.”

“Me?” She asks. “What can I do?”

“Tell me about your most recent adventures.” He replies. “For inspiration.”

Lumine is flattered. “Wait, you’re writing a song about me- my adventures?” It’s kind of embarrassing to say from the pure self importance it assumes but she is sure she hasn’t misunderstood him.

“Heheh. Would you like that?” He’s rubbing the back of his neck. Lumine forgets about redheads.

“It’s a little embarrassing.” She claps her hands together in her lap, feeling warm. “What are you going to say?”

“Nothing weird, don’t worry!” He’s quick to say. “Nothing private either.” He’s probably talking about the unknown god and the loss of her powers.

“It’s fine with me.” Lumine acquiesces. “Just don’t get carried away. I don’t want a bad reputation.”

“It’s not that kind of song.” Venti is quick to assure her. “It’s uhhh... well, you’ll find out.”

“You’re not going to tell me?”

“And ruin the surprise? Heheh, nah, you’re just going to have to wait and hear it when everybody else does.”

Before she can say anything in response, she covers a yawn. It must be well into the night by now.

“Oh, you must be getting tired. Sorry for keeping you so long. Didn’t you need to go do something? I totally forgot about that.”

So had she.

“It’s okay. I do need to get going now though.” She says it with a sigh, getting up to leave. “Good night... and good luck with your song.”

Venti beams like the sun. “Thanks! I have a feeling it’s going to go just swimmingly now. Good night!”

Leaving the room feels like re-entering the world as the lights and sounds of the city surround her once more. Funny, despite the music, it had felt so quiet in there. Like they were the only two people for miles.

Weird.