#rhine character study

[gold-rhine]

kazuha moodboard

I was reminded that “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver exists and was immediately possessed by a cursed sword to make this 

[rhineposting]

What do you think of Lilith? Do you think she got redeemed too fast, or do you think her development was fine?

I was really looking forward to seeing someone ask about her again, so I'm more than happy to answer!

Per usual, more below the cut.

From the beginning I rather enjoyed Lilith as a character, both design, personality and writing wise as she proved to be a fun mix of both a very powerful and intelligent sorceress and a nerdy older sister.

As opposed to some people, I consider her arc to be rather well written, when you look at in retrospect. Her story is of that coming to terms with her individuality, self worth and even at some point, her faith.

(NOTE : Since I already discussed most of her trauma related to her being a former cult member in my first post about her, as well as parts of her family related trauma in another post, I will focus on other aspects of her character in this one.)

From when we first see her in Covention, we see that she's ridden with guilt upon seeing her sister in a fragile state - believing it was her fault. Which technically was, it was just that at this very moment Eda was playing dumb. In that guilt, to every opportunity of getting Eda to join her cause and in turn cured, she immediately broke her Covenhead persona - the one she built up for years and practically wears as her face. If that makes sense.

Right then and there, I had a feeling that she would join the main cast later on. So I wouldn't say it was done too quickly? It was hinted for a good while, in my opinion.

As for the other things...

The crew did incredible when portraying her. Their use of combined tropes in her character were executed delightfully! Instead of appearing obnoxious, like with Odalia and Boscha, they blended together into a very cohesive charaterization of a nerdy, older sibling character - without making her look like a complete joke. Even though throughout the show her excitement in history and alike is often a base for jokes, it's never actually made fun of.

She is almost never shamed for her interests nor how she approaches them. However, when it does happen it's either her sister, or another character who is clearly depicted as being in the wrong. It's a small thing, but to people who grew up being ridiculed for their hobbies, it probably means the world.

Most importantly, her being the scholarly type is never her whole character - it's just a puzzle piece that makes the picture of who she is. She's also very perceptive, determined person who learns very quickly and is ready to put herself before her family.

Personally, I also liked how the show portrayed her struggles at the very beginning of season 2.

On top of still feeling guilty over essentially rendering her sister disabled for the rest of her life, she had to also deal with the baggage that came with being a cult survivor that for years was deprived of her true identity, stripped of her self worth as an individual and led to believe her self worth was determined by whether or not she was devoting herself to serving a higher power or goal.

All of that combined eventually lead to her initially seeking full independence and refusing any help, which is actually quite realistic, as finding balance is probably the hardest part in recovering and healing. Been there myself.

Though, even almost at the very end of seaon 2, we still see her struggle. This time, with faith. After being used to having a figure of absolute authority all her life, she immediately latches onto the idea of King being a god, once again indirectly trying to reduce herself to a faithful servant.

It's actually one of my favourite aspects of her arc. Progress and healing is not linear, and so there will be moments of returning to old ways of thinking and acting - which is what happened to Lilith, and there is nothing wrong about it. No one tried to shame her for it, or viewed her as crazy.

In fact, precisely the opposite happens! In that same episode, we see a character portrayed as being at peace with himself admit that he had gone through something similar and offered advice based on his own experience! And King simply told her that he's seeing a "pattern" in her behaviour, reminding her that what she was doing was unhealthy to her, first and foremost - not that she was weird or wrong for it. Just misguided.

In the end, all of that built up for a very satisfying conclusion - she made a best friend, came to terms with her disability and made peace with it, reconnected with her family after being separated from them for years, started working in her actual desired field of interests and actually grew into the person she wanted to be, surrounded by people who respect and love her for who she is.

Just how am I not supposed to love her as well? It's literally impossible. Per my best friend and soulmate's words, who said it best :

10/10

Hilarious. Magnificent. Incredible. She's the dream.

[oathofkaslana]

i think a super self indulgent and idealistic event for them would focus on family. thinking. a precursor to rhine's first appearance and albedo's curse is getting worse so he wants to make sure klee has at least one super super fun memory with him before things go to hell. ofc it starts in mondstadt and klee's packing some things but albedo had to get something from his dragonspine lab real quick so she asks the traveler to escort her up to meet him there. the traveler agrees and we see albedo in his lab. idk maybe a meaningless fetch quest here as albedo looks out at the bones of durin w a very pensive look on his face before klee calls him and he turns towards her w a smile. and we kinda just join them on a lil roadtrip as they make their way through teyvat. and like maybe they stop by an inn or sm where alice is waiting for them bc she wanted to surprise them and she joins in too.........

I just think that we should get another albedo and klee event.

[arkiwii]

ARKNIGHTS Rhine Lab AU - Role Swap

A Role Swap AU is an Alternative Universe were the characters roles are swapped! It can be just swapping the roles around, or two characters roles with each other, while keeping their personalities. In the case of this AU, I did the second, finding it way more interesting in the context of Rhine Lab. So I'll present the characters swapped, and what they became!

Saria <--> Silence

Saria now takes the role of the new and basic researcher of the Structural Department. She is now Infected - which does not have much relevance outside of the fact that her Arts are much stronger -, and joined Rhine Lab with the goal to seek a cure for Oripathy. A born leader who seeks to help and protect the weaks, she is much more colder as she has spent the most of her life alone.

[Gameplay] Saria would be a 6* Dualist Defender, with a move pool moreso based on healing and buffing herself, as well as debuffing the enemies.

_____________

On her side, Silence became the co-funder of Rhine Lab, as well as the Director of the Structural Department. She is very appreciated by the company for her optimistic behavior and love of science, although she may appear naive. Uninfected, she is more lively, and possesses strong Arts that she uses with the mean of her drones.

[Gameplay] Silence would be a 5* Mech-Accord Caster, with the unique ability of being able to heal with the drones she unleashes during her skills.

Ifrit <--> Rosmontis

Ifrit has became the subject of Williams Loken's experiment, with the goal to recreate a Diablo with the shard of their remains. It caused the Loken Watertank incident, where Ifrit destroyed the laboratory and was found by the Maylander Foundation. Sent to Rhodes Island for treatment, she became an Elite Operator for her dangerous fire Arts, as well as a very close friend of Amiya and Blaze with her strong personality.

[Gameplay] Ifrit is now a 6* Phalanx Caster, with the talent to lower the resistance of all enemies in her range when off-skill, and to cause destructive Arts damage when using her skills.

_____________

Rosmontis is now the child of Parvis' experiment, with the goal to create a Chimera. The experiment gone horribly wrong, Rosmontis has destroyed the Haydn Laboratory, and was found by the Columbian Military, before being sent to Rhine Lab where she will be under the care of Saria and Silence. Amnesiac, Rosmontis's strong post traumatic stress disorder has caused her to lock her emotions and to show little to no emotional responses, unless when stressed, where her destructive powers show up.

[Gameplay] Rosmontis is now a 6* Arts Guard, her playstyle taking a lot of inspiration from Saria, her powers allows her to debuff and deal enormous amount of damage to enemies.

Magallan <--> Mayer

The member of the Engineering Section Magallan is a simple researcher with the dream to explore the world, but the unfortunate fate of being constantly busy. Her most prided creations are drones taking inspiration on the fauna from places she has dreamed to visit when she was younger, with quite some freedom in their appearence.

[Gameplay] A 5* Summoner Supporter, Magallan can summon drones that will debuff and give invisibility periodically to nearby units, making her a really good support.

_____________

Mayer is considered a mystery by most employees of Rhine Lab, and it's mostly due to her weird explorations to Iberia and its surroundings... Very praised explored, Mayer specializes in submarine explorations, and studies the Seaborns as well as their biology very closely, feeding particularly interesting data to Rhine Lab. She posseses robots, courtesy of Magallan, her close friend, who are more opted for battle and protecting her against the Seaborns.

[Gameplay] 6* Summoner Supporter, Mayer possesses melee summons who can deal significant damages, especially against Seaborns type of enemies, as well with their auto destruct when defeated.

Ho'olheyak <--> Muelsyse

The last member of the Kul'kuk'an has joined Rhine Lab with the hope to find the answers behind her race and achieve truth. Throughout the extensive knowledge of her ancestors, particularly on the subject of stars and constellations, she became a very close assistant of Kristen and a strong asset for her to achieve her dream. Director of the History of Sciences Section, she learns about the story of Terra as a whole to gain knowledge.

[Gameplay] Ho'olheyak became a 6* Mystic Caster, who can apply weightless and Levitation based on the amount of stored attacks, with skills that emplified these abilities.

_____________

Muelsyse was one, if maybe not the only friend Saria had during college. An Elf with a cheerful attitude, her search of her race as well as engagement for children's protection, herself an orphan, as led her to meet and be recruited for the Maylander Foundation. Her ability to sneak around, spy, create clones and harvest previous information make her an extremely good asset, and she has been able to help many cases, as well as discovering the projects Rhine Lab has been hiding.

[Gameplay] Muelsyse is now a 6* Ambusher, with the fun ability of being able to place a clone of herself on the battlefield, with skills tuned to this one.

Astesia <--> Astgenne

Opposite to her sister, Astesia decided to follow the paths of science to discover the truth behind the stars and most of all, behind the false sky. She is a calm, elegant woman who joined the Originium Arts section under Dorothy Franks, with who she became a close friend. However, her unprompted Infection after a failed experiment had caused Astesia to lose faith in her researches, and she had become more reserved, but thankful for her sister and her friend for supporting her no matter what. Astesia left her family after these ones rejected her views, and has found her new place at Rhine Lab.

[Gameplay] Astesia is a 5* Splash Caster, using her Arts to attack the enemies. Her attacks have a light chance on stunning the opponents, and her skills will cause great crowd control AOE damages.

_____________

Astgenne followed the path of her family's heritage by learning their traditional sword techniques with the usage of the astro globe. Energetic, full of promises, she has an optimistic faith and belief in the stars and astrology, as opposite to her sister with who she might often debate. But both cares a lot about each other, and after Astesia got infected, which infected Astgenne as well due to their nature of twins, Astgenne has gave a lot of support to her sister, and places her hopes in her, believing that the stars will save them. She currently manage an occult society around the stars, in collaboration with Rhine Lab.

[Gameplay] A 5* Lord Guard, Astgenne will use her Arts to launch ranged attacks at the opponents. Her melee attacks turn into Arts damage upon the activation of her skill, and will stun everyone in her range the moment her skill is activated, her damage emplified on stunned enemies.

Robin <--> Kafka

Desesperate after her dad's company, BlackCloud Trade, went bankrupt from a competition against Simon Co., Robin seeked for help everywhere to make money and pay the medical bills for her father. When the situation seemed lost and Robin was close to give up, she met with Saria, who were able to bring her back on the tracks and give her a reason to fight. When Saria found out about the involvement she had with Simon Co., she proposed a deal with Robin; to help her infiltrate Mansfield's Jail and save Anthony Simon, the man Robin despise the most, so Robin can see if he's a good person who deserves to be forgiven, or someone who should be guilty for his family's actions.

[Gameplay] Robin is a 5* Agent Vanguard, able to use ranged attacks with her throwing knives. One of her skills will boost her attack on deployment, while the second will place mines around her, dealing damages while generating a good amount of DP upon explosion.

_____________

An orphan from Columbia, Kafka always had lived in criminality and gang battles. While she is not entirely found of this life, she made herself a reputation in the grey zone of Columbia, despite her claims to be a simple gardener. When Anthony Simon's head was given a price, many criminals went to try and kill him, unsuccessful. Kafka would had not paid interest if Jesselton did not employed her to help him kill Anthony. Kafka accepted, the price of his request being a non neglectible one, but had no actual intentions on killing Anthony on her own, but rather try to pocket the promised money with no harm involved.

[Gameplay] After joining Rhodes Island, Kafka applied to become a 5* Dreadnought Guard, with the talent to become invisible when unblocking enemies for enough time. Her skill causes Arts damages, hitting everyone in range with her large shredders.

Unchanged roles

Kristen remains the founder of Rhine Lab, and still pursue her dream to carry on her parents' goal, with the strong support of Silence. Both have lost contact with their time at Rhine Lab, but they keep good terms... Until Silence finds out the horrifying projects she agreed on, that is.

Ptilopsis is still a subject of Dellareed's experiment, which has failed, but without any care from the Structural Department, she has been deeply conditioned to behave and act close to an artificial intelligence. While Silence deeply wishes to give her proper care, her busy schedule rarely allows her to, and it's as an assistant of Parvis that Ptilopsis found her role, under the trust of Silence. Thankfully for her, Saria disagreed deeply with the views Parvis had on his "assistant", and brought her to Rhodes Island for help. Silence feels deeply guilty for not having noticed it sooner.

Dorothy remains the Director of the Originium Arts section. Daughter of two pioneers who lost their lives in a Catastrophe, Dorothy strives to create an ideal world where everyone can live in equality, and where she can protect the pioneers. Helped by Astesia, she gives value to her assistance, and hope to help her as well with a dreamed world where infection would not exist anymore.

Parvis is now a simple assistant of Silence at the Structural Department, who acts more as an executive assistant than anything. Silence being horribly busy, she entrusts him for most cases, which turned being a horrible idea when Parvis saw this as an opportunity to carry his researches on the chimera project. He took on the role of Director when Silence left.

Jara, Nasti, Ferdinand, Justin Jr., Loken, Tin Man, Jesselton, Domma and Mountain have no noticeable change in their characters.

Summary of the timeline

At the young age of 10, Kristen Wright learned the horrible news of her parents' death in a flight incident, which led to the dishonor of her family to the scientific community. Helped by Jara, she continued her education and met the young Olivia Silence during high school. The two young women had originally nothing in common, but their love of science and search for the truth. It did not took long for the two of them to become best friends, and for Olivia to turn into an important person for Kristen; dreaming of achieving what her parents had failed to achieve back then, she found hope to continue to go forward with Olivia's optimistic nature and support.

After both graduated and finished their studies at Trimounts' Institute of Technology, they decided to found Rhine Lab together, a promising future for the two rising stars of the scientific community. While the first year was rough between the struggles against concurrence and the little financial help they had, they got nonetheless joined by bright minds like Ferdinand Clooney, Ho'olheyak and Dorothy Franks.

As time went on, Rhine Lab has became one, if not the biggest scientific company in the span of ten years. However, Silence, who became the Director of the Structural Department, and Kristen, as the CEO, both fell apart of each other with their busy schedule. It's until Silence got to hear about an incident happening at a nearby laboratory, and got the sole survivor transfered to Rhine Lab with the help of the DOD, that things got a turn. The young surviving girl, named Narcissa, has been deeply infected and bear heavy traumas, and with the help of Saria, a Rhine Lab researcher who agreed to help her, she gradually unpacked her locked memories. Silence, trying her hardest to be there for the girl, also insisted on investigating the truth behind the event, with the help of Ho'olheyak.

She soon disvovers the horrible reality, and how Narcissa happened to be the subject of a human experiment, and that Ho'olheyak was sent with her to make sure none of the secrets would be undiscovered. Silence fought her way out of it, with the help of the Maylander Foundation, and tried to warn Saria about it. However, she arrives too late, and Narcissa lost control in yet another treatment phase. Saria manages to calm her down, but blames Silence, herself having learned the truth and realizing that Silence has been part of it, maybe even hiding it from Saria to continue the experiment, and she leaves Rhine Lab with Narcissa.

Silence tried to face Kristen, and swear to stop her, leaving Rhine Lab. She finally joins Rhodes Island, to seek help from them, but soon meets with Saria and Narcissa, now codenamed Rosmontis. Saria, scared that Silence followed them, refuses to have her approach her or Rosmontis, firmly keeping her distances. Silence struggles to hide her fear, and is left alone to fix her own mistakes.

I couuulld say more but, hey, I am cooking! All the events that follow, so Mansfield's Break, Dorothy's Vision, Lone Trail, they will greatly change and I could give a quick summary, but hey, surprise!! (I'm lazy)

I will eventually make designs of the swapped versions, but I'd love to explore the characters' new dynamics. Like how Saria's hard nature ends up having a negative effect on Rosmontis, how Silence tries to help her and bring Saria to realize what she's doing, while also struggling with her own powerlessness. Or about Ptilopsis, how this one is struggling more deeply with her issues, but tries to help Saria and take care of Rosmontis a lot, both relating to each other. I could also talk about Ifrit, now an Elite Operator, with all the shenanigans she has with Blaze and how cool she is, but also how she will try to help Rosmontis later! Or even this absolutely cool Mayer who would be an amazing character for IS3, cause hell yea deep sea horrors!!

Anywayyy, it's a lot lot, I sometimes think about this new timeline and I think there can be something really cool to be done with it, maybe a series of fics, who knows! It's just a project for fun, simply playing around with the characters, there might be a lot of flaws and things missing, I'll try my best to make everything make sense.

So hum, yay! feel free to give me opinions, for fun :]

[dlartistanon]

Do we know much about Muelsyse's history, outside of being the first to join Rhine?

She has a degree in Ecological Studies, was among the founding members and has known Saria and Kristen for like 20+ years, but the game is really bad (read: inconsistent) when it comes to her backstory because what was originally established in Dorothy's Vision was that she had been alive long enough to witness the landscape change over hundreds of years.

Mountains crumbling--assuming nothing else disturbs them--can take millions of years to happen. I don't think Mumu is that old, but she is old. If we take into consideration rapid industrialization and environmental pollution, it's more plausible that this can be shorted to centuries instead of millennia.

In the same scene, it mentions her vividly remembering her mother speaking to her. But in LT, she says she grew up in an orphanage and "never knew her parents". Which is... directly contradicting the above screenshot. She could've lost her parents when she was a little older, sure. But I just disagree with her having lived as an orphan because the DV scene has her alone with her thoughts, with no one else around to see or hear her. And that would be the "realest" Muelsyse. You're your true self in isolation if you don't have to put on some kind of curated act in front of other people.

Instead of keeping it consistent, Lone Trail decides to go with "nah, she's quite young, actually! She was underage when Kristen and Saria filed to start up Rhine Lab!"

I just can't see her being young as real, especially because some people have bent over backwards trying to explain this inconsistency like "well young people can be sad and lonely and depressed, have you seen today's kids?" or claiming her supposed youth explains her "naivete" in some ways regarding Kristen and Saria and that’s how she gets along so well with Ifrit, and I'm just??? Maybe some adults are just Good with kids? Mumu doesn’t have to have a “stunted” development to treat and/or understand Iffy well. Stop infantilizing this Elf.

And I can just as easily say it’s because Elves are reclusive and she only fairly recently moved to Columbia/a more urban area and, despite living for a long time, hasn’t gotten used to dealing with a lifestyle so drastically different from what she knows. Her inherent nature means she wasn't suited for the cutthroat Columbian politics/culture and not even other characters understood Saristen well, so it's not like Muelsyse is unique in that regard, even for as long as they've known each other. And you can even include that while Saria and Kristen knew each other, they didn't know each other.

There are some parts of Muelsyse's backstory introduced post-DV that I like, such as there being a mass gravesite for Elves and that's where her parents are, and Elves being related to Feranmut. However, it can't be argued, nor any more apparent, that they just retconned parts of her history in order to give her a bigger sob story to make her more "palatable" and "waifuable".

[fawnforgold]

| August |

Rhinedottir x Oc!August | Minors do not interact

Warnings: Oc x Canon, Female Original Character, Angst, Blood & Injury, Needles, Medical Talk, Medical Instruments, Stitches, Nightmares, Trauma, August has PTSD, Talk of Death, 1.8k words.

A/n: This took a little over a month to write but it was so worth it.

Summary: Although August finds herself safe and sound after tragedy struck her, she begins to realize that there are some things that someone cannot be freed of even in sleep.

It was approximately sunrise when August awoke in a cold sweat. The hair on her body stood at attention as she clutched at her chest. She counted down from a hundred, a method she’d used successfully all throughout her childhood, but sadly that method had been failing her as of late. August waited until her breathing slowed to a somewhat normal pace before attempting to crawl out of bed.

August winced the moment she stood up, wrapping an arm around her waist while she whimpered in pain. Carefully and quietly opening her bedroom door she looked around to make sure she was indeed alone before journeying out.

Lights are all off. Perfect, she’s still asleep.

August limped towards the kitchen and kept her eyes trained on the front door. She was nearly there, just a few more steps and she could make a quiet escape for some fresh air. After everything August had gone through she indeed needed the comfort of nature most of all, and it was nearly in her grasp. Just one more step, her hand on the knob and..

“Where are you going?” A voice called out in the darkness.

August cursed under her breath. She could already feel the eyes of a certain woman fixed on her hunched form.

“Going for a walk. I need.. fresh.. air.” August could barely get her words out due to the extent of her pain, practically pushing out every word by sheer force.

“You can barely fuckin’ walk.” Rhinedottir spat. “Did you actually think I couldn’t hear you?”

August turned her head to glare at Rhine who had suddenly appeared beside her. “Yes.”

Rhinedottir couldn’t help but chuckle, completely unbothered by August’s dirty looks. Tears ran down August’s face as she realized she looked like a damn fool. Just as stupid and naive as the day Rhine found her.

“I’m glad you find my pain funny.” She grit through her teeth.

Rhinedottir hummed as she grabbed August’s face to inspect it, tilting it side to side to study it fully, then letting it go gently upon seeing a few tears fall from her eyes. “When’s the last time you slept?”

August turned her head away, still firmly standing her ground by the front door. “Last night.”

Rhinedottir turned around to switch on the light to the kitchen. “How long?”

August moved her body so that she could face Rhine, but in the process she ended up hurting herself and whimpered. “Long enough.”

As she wrapped an arm around her waist again she hissed in pain as she felt a sharp stab on her side, and instantly fell to her knees on the floor.

Rhine was quick to rush to her side. “God damn it.”

Rhinedottir lifted up August’s shirt but not before August weakly grabbed her wrist. “N-No.”

Rhine scoffed and ripped August’s hand off of her wrist before forcing the cloth of her shirt up to expose her wound that had been reopened, obvious by her bandages that had now been soaked with blood.

“Fuck me, I have to redo your stitches.” Rhine groaned in frustration while August writhed underneath her.

For as weak and vulnerable as August felt she sure fought like hell against Rhinedottir, who worked tirelessly to restrain her. After lifting up the bandages and inspecting it she deduced that August indeed would have to be restitched and in the state she was in that was a recipe for disaster. Rhinedottir tried to lift up August into her arms but she was quick to push Rhine away, crying harder with every move Rhine made to restrain her. Which was no doubt making the situation all the more worse for August’s wound.

Rhine did the only thing she knew to do and pinned her down by her wrists, forcing August’s eyes on her’s in the process. “Look, I have to restitch your wound and I know it hurts but if you keep fighting me I will strap you onto the table myself.”

August stopped suddenly with a look of fear now spilling into her eyes.

“Got it?” Rhine asked in a stern voice.

August nodded with tears rolling down her face as her bottom lip trembled. Mentally she began to prepare for what was to come, balling her hands into fists at her side as intense anxiety washed over her. Rhine very carefully picked up August and walked to the nearby vivisection table. Already August had several questions rushing inside her head, but she ignored them for now. Once Rhine had comfortably situated August onto the table, she quickly gathered the necessary supplies, rushing back to August’s side as quickly as possible. She felt queasy and lightheaded upon watching Rhine sort through the tools, her eyes widened each time she looked at one of the intimidating instruments. Already she was dying to escape.

Rhine had begun to fill a syringe with a clear liquid, and afterwards she turned her attention to August. The poor fawn looked at Rhine with pleading eyes, ear pulled back while looking at her with a fearful expression , terrified of what she was about to endure.

“W-What’s that?” August started to sweat from panic.

“Hold still. This’ll numb you up.” Rhine replied as she injected the first shot.

Rhinedottir made sure to get at the very edge of the wound, wanting to ensure that she caused the most relief for August as she could. For a moment she pondered whether the numbing agent would be enough to relax August. First and foremost Rhine had to be quick, and if she couldn’t manage that then her and August would both be in for a very rough time. It wasn’t until after the second injection was administered that Rhine finally saw August’s face begin to relax. Afterwards, she started to carefully pierce the thread through her skin.

She’s going to need at least 10 stitches, Rhine thought.

————

For the most part August had held strong through the entirety of the process, nearly falling dozing off when Rhine had tied off the final knot. Rhine inspected it a couple times before finally letting August know that she was in the clear, wanting to be completely sure she has finished everything when she eventually told August. She couldn’t afford a fuck up like that especially in the state August was in.

Rhine gently nudged August’s hand to get her attention. “I’ve finished your stitches.”

She had to say it a few more times for her words to truly sink into August’s mind, but she eventually got the idea. August winced as she attempted to sit upright. She nearly fell back onto the table, but thankfully Rhine was quick to grab her and lift her up.

“You need to be more careful.” She warned.

Finally August was able to sit up and catch her breath. Rhine watched August while she washed her hands of the blood and filth. She took internal notes of August’s behavior and how her breathing became more labored.

Hopefully that will pass soon, Rhine thought.

She made a few more mental notes of the symptoms August was exhibiting and what she would do in the unfortunate scenario that her situation worsened. Thankfully, Rhine could relax, even if only momentarily.

“How long was I asleep?” August asked, pressing a palm to her forehead.

Rhine dried off her hands and moved to stand beside August. “Not that long.” Her eyes met August’s and could immediately see how tired she was. “Regardless, you should try to sleep.”

August averted her gaze and furrowed her brows. The words she wanted to say had quickly died on her tongue. What was it she truly wanted to say?

“I’ll help you back into bed.” Rhine offered a hand towards August but she leaned away from her.

August could not see Rhine’s angry expression but she did indeed feel a cold sensation spread across her body when she was met with her silence. August had learned quickly that Rhine was not someone she wanted to piss off, but that did not make it any less possible to do so.

“I wasn’t asking.” Rhine warned.

August’s body stiffened up before she let out a heavy sigh and ultimately grabbed on to Rhine’s hand. The walk to the bedroom was too quiet and August didn’t dare say a word. When they finally reached the door August just stood there quietly. She dreaded crawling underneath the comfortable blankets only to have more nightmares. She wanted more than anything to tell Rhine about the nightmares. She wished Rhine understood. It just wasn’t that easy, though.

“Okay, I’ll let you get some sleep.” Rhine said, her voice surprisingly soft.

With a sad expression August watched as Rhine turned her back to her and shut the door behind her as she left. Once that door had closed and the darkness rapidly enveloped August she began to cry. It was quiet at first, a path of tears were left on her cheeks as the ache in her chest grew, but eventually they became hushed whines. Her hands trembled as she reached for the hem of her dress and clenched it in her fists.

As much as she tried to stifle her cries she simply couldn’t. Not when she saw their faces twisted in an unnatural fashion, something she should’ve never been alive to witness. She remembered- No, she was unable to scrub the sight of their burning bodies from her mind. It was a torment that even sleep could not free her from. She felt a shriek looming inside her throat, and her hands itched to tear her skin clean off, rip the fur from her body, but that would solve nothing. Punishing herself would not bring her family back, no matter how hard she wanted it to.

Stuffing herself underneath the blankets she squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth with both hands as she allowed herself to let it all out. At some point she would need to truly open up about that night, and August hoped that Rhine could’ve been that person, but there was nothing but regret and anguish between the both of them. Maybe if things had been different, perhaps if Rhine had left her to die things could’ve been different.

The thought stung August. Had Rhine not saved August that night then maybe she would’ve been reunited with her family. Instead she was forced to live and learn to survive, neither of which August knew a damn thing about. She missed them, so dearly she wanted to feel their warmth again, but such a thing was a mere fantasy now. August wanted to laugh with her brother and sister again. She yearned to feel the love of her mother and the guidance of her father, again. Instead she would have to settle for the harshness of Rhine and hope to the archons that it would be enough.

[eternal-moss]

its fanservice when women, super important when its men is ur takeaway from the summer event

Help the way I got one singular like and one hate comment for that post 😭 it’s fanservice when it’s fanservice dude. I found Scara’s behaviour annoying and cliché (“hehe ur kinda cute” [please leave me alone]), as well as laying on Nilou’s lap.

(The rest of this isn’t really me responding to you but just rambling about Alice, Rhine & the Hexenzirkel because it’s midnight rn and witches yeaag)

I’m a massive Hexenzirkel fan! I’m just annoyed that still after so long we haven’t gotten a single bit of reference to what Alice looks like so I can’t draw fanart of her. Like seriously, are we going to have to wait until Snezhnaya to finally see her?? I’m happy for any kind of Alice content but I’m always sad it’s mainly crumbs.

She’s an incredible inventor, she literally made both the gramophone & telephone. I want her to be super super overpowered, her strength is already alluded to by her seeming to have comparable power to Venti (changing Mondstadt’s landscape) but I want it to be m o r e.

More about Alice bc I love her. I love writing her into fics (especially crossover ones because she CANONICALLY TRAVELS WORLDS. WHY IS THIS NEVER BROUGHT UP.) and just one-shotting the antagonists with the full force of the sun lol. I really want to learn more about the Genshin ‘elves’ too because they’re just thrown in there without much explanation. (Layla literally never mentions it, or Nahida…)

RHINE TIME!!! I love Rhinedottr & all her fucked up children (although I wish we knew more about her past). I love how her motivation genuinely seems to be joy in her creations, and it ‘just so happens’ that most of them turn out to be catastrophic in some way 😭. I hope she’s more cold and reserved, but secretly a bit insane like Alice. I also really like the two of them romantically paired together, shout out to the 7 other Rhinealice shippers out there.

I like daydreaming about them going to magic school together or some kind of study (a la Farcille. Thank you Farcille for existing to fulfill my Rhinealice fantasies), and how they’d respond to Khaenri’ah’s fallout? Are they still in contact? Does Alice know if Rhine is alive? When was Albedo given to her? HOW OLD IS ALICE BRO 😭😭

In terms of physical features, I see both of them as being greying & looking in their 50s (only partially to spite the fact that 90% of the Genshin cast appear in their early 20s or younger. Xianyun’s the closest thing we have to an older woman. Playable Madame Ping when⁉️)

The Hexenzirkel is genuinely one of my favourite parts of the Genshin lore and I really hope they do it well. I enjoyed their teaser so much, and I hope we get to see more of that, as well as Venti’s allyship with them, something that was referenced as far back as the first summer event where Venti leant (lol) Dvalin for Klee to travel, presumably because he and Alice are friendly with each other.

I’m obviously interested in the other members of the Hexenzirkel (and other witches!!!! Like Lisa and Rosalyne!!!!) but we really don’t know that much about them, aside information from Mona who I don’t have.

Alice & Rhine are basically my OCs at this point, and when their designs are inevitably very different from my imagined versions of them, I might as well make them OCs lol.

So no, my takeaway is not men=interesting women=boring. My favourite Genshin character is Kokomi and I’m extremely sad they’ve given her little to no allusion to her lore for the past 3 years 🥲

I think it’s a bit rude of you to come into my asks saying something like that on anon, but I won’t deny I found the first 3 parts of the event excruciatingly boring, as someone who is slightly interested in Sumeru, and barely interested in Fontaine. I’ve always loved Mondstadt and Liyue the most, so of course I was interested for Mondstadt lore. AND DRAGONS. I LOVE DRAGONS DUDE.PLEASE CAN SOMEONE LET KOKOMI HAVE HER DRAGON LORE I BEG.

[mybeingthere]

Charles Donker (1940) was trained in monumental art at the Koninklijke Academie voor Kunst en Vormgeving (Art school) of Den Bosch, where he produced paintings and mosaics during his studies from 1956 to1961. As of the 1960s his focussed exclusively on engraving, and from the 1970s nature became the principal subject of his work. During this period he became the principal etcher of the Utrecht surroundings.

In keeping with the tradition of Rembrandt, Seghers and other 17th century Dutch etchers, Donker is inspired by his surroundings. His landscapes, rich in shadings, are instantly recognizable because of his technical mastery and subtle use of complex traits.

During the 1990 the artist was inspired by the forests in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park and the landscape on the edge of the Rhine, Meuse and Waal. He drew compositions from nature, directly transposed into etchings. These are etchings made between 1990 and 2012 form the core of the exhibition at the Galerie Documents 15. The use of aquatint, 'gives his forest landscapes an unusually dramatic and sometimes almost abstract character' (Jan Piet Kok Filedt).

Donker's legendary technique and exceptionally refined execution range his work among the best available today from the Netherlands, in the field of graphic art.

https://www.galeriedocuments15.com/.../33.../biography/

[totallyuseless-ugh]

Sticky Note on the Dashboard

I know, it's a random thought. But the translation of DMWR got me wondering "What would change if my characters were German instead of American?" So now you have to suffer like I had through the same thoughts my brain has made up so far, simply because you gave me the idea.

***

CJ Ackermann was born on August 16, 2002 near Cologne, North Rhine-Westfalia. Their parents Christoffer and Johanna were beyond proud to have them as part of the new family. Though they were officially assigned female at birth, making their name an acronym of their legal name Charlie Josephine. But it was merely for legal reasons, as Johanna and Christoffer did their best to just call them CJ and raise them without forcing any sort of stereotypes onto them. Due to their legally assigned gender however, CJ was unintentionally pushed to grow up more feminine identifying once they started school.

Their brother Aaron, later sister Marie Ackermann was born December 22, 2007, and Henry on April 18, 2013. Shortly after his birth however, the parents broke up and got divorced after Johanna had confronted Christoffer about about cheating on her with one of his colleagues. In the divorce, she was given the house. But she couldn't bear living in it for much longer, so she sold it and moved with her children up north to her mother Helena Schmidt in Lower Saxony.

After finishing their abitur, CJ went to university to study and become a pharmacist.

[ao3feed-hashimada]

ao3feed-hashimada

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ozR9Mpx

by rhinee

Short take on Hashirama's and Madara's last conversation through Madara's eyes.

Words: 751, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Naruto

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Major Character Death

Categories: M/M

Characters: Uchiha Madara, Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Izuna

Relationships: Senju Hashirama/Uchiha Madara

Additional Tags: angst but not really, Uchiha Madara Has Issues, Uchiha Madara Needs a Hug, Not Actually Unrequited Love, they are both old and tired and so am i, discussion of regrets and losses and love, okay maybe this is angst, Character Study, Canon Dialogue

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ozR9Mpx

[gold-rhine]

kaeya moodboard

[monards]

checking the rhinealice and rhinedottir tags on ao3 because maybe if I check enough we’ll get something centric on them

[rhineposting]

I can't stop thinking about Lilith saying that Gwendolyn hasn't visited her at all. She doesn't say that the Emperor forbids members of his coven to see their relatives. On the contrary, she talks about it as if Gwendolyn deliberately did not visit her own daughter, although she could.

She says she hasn't seen her mom in forever and is surprised that she regularly visits Eda. By the way, I'm shocked at how Gwendolyne just shrugs off Lilith, whom she hasn't seen for thirty years.

And I literally don't know what to say about Hunter's words that it is necessary to leave the family forever in order to be in the Emperor's Coven. Because the two ideas contradict each other and I do not know what to believe.

I mentioned it in my previous post regarding Lilith's relationship with the Emperor's Coven, and after further re-watching and thinking it through, I came to a conclusion that Lilith not seeing her mom for so long was a result of three or four different factors combined.

More below the cut, as always.

So, let's start with...

Cult Mentality.

The Emperor's Coven is your run of the mill cult - and the main thing cults expect from their members is resigning from their individuality for the sake of pleasing some higher figure, that usually being the cult leader. So, what do you do when you want to strip someone of their individuality?

Easy. You separate them from things that make them unique and multifaceted - which of course, means the things that shaped their personality to begin with. Family, friends, hobbies, even a particular way of dressing. All of it has to go away.

Notice how almost everyone in the Emperor's Coven wears a mask. Them being the military aside, concealing one's individuality by enforcing a uniform on them is just one of many cult tactics.

In that case, why do Lilith and Kikimora get to have their faces uncovered? Two reasons.

One, Lilith up until a certain point was the poster face of the Emperor's Coven - and that was only after years of having to be a scout just like any other. In Hunter's own words, in the Coven even chances have to be earned. I imagine it's the same with identity.

Even then, she was forced to straighten her hair and dye it black - depriving her of a symbol of her connection to the Clawthorne family - wild, unruly and messy hair. Really speaks volumes, in my opinion.

Workplace Mentality

On top of the Emperor's Coven being a cult, it's also the second worst thing possible - a toxic workplace.

You know how sometimes people brag about not spending time with their family because they're "on that grind"? I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of mentality was rewarded, too.

Like, seeing your family isn't entirely banned, but if you keep choosing them over the Emperor, you will never get a promotion and you will be stuck being a Scout forever. And we know Scouts are essentially cannon fodder and meat-shields. At best.

So, of course some more ambitious individuals would be more than happy to skip the birth of their child, if it means that they won't have to be sent to their death from a bird-tube-worm out in the woods. And as we know, Lilith is very, very ambitious.

Basically, she was on that thirty years long hardcore grind.

Family Misunderstandings

As Gwendolyn herself said, she thought Lilith was self sufficient and that she didn't need as much attention as Eda - which wasn't the case.

As it happens, my younger sister is neurodivergent and from very, very early on my mother had to pay her more attention as her future functioning in society depended on it. So, I tried to be self sufficient and not as occupying, believing that otherwise I would be a burden to my mother.

In result, for many years I shut myself away from her and tried to resolve my issues on my own, while simultaneously resenting her for not realising just how much I actually needed her. At the same time, she was somewhat unaware of it and thought I was just being difficult.

Fortunately, we both stepped out to one another and we're now healing, making up for all the things we missed as mother and daughter.

But you didn't come here to listen to talk about my self improvement or my past traumas, so I'll end it here.

I believe that their situation was similar to as described : Lilith moved away from the family believing that she would burden them with her issues, and Gwendolyn thought her daughter simply didn't need her anymore - so she didn't reach out, believing that's what her daughter wanted which unfortunately lead to a thirty years long separation neither of them truly wanted.

Which of course, Lilith being in the Emperor's Coven made only worse. Wouldn't want to bother your daughter when she's a government official!

So that's about it, as I think I had gone over all points important. Though if I missed anything, I'd be happy to know.

And, also, let me let you in on a secret.

I am still not a therapist or a licensed professional in psychology. Everything I said is based on personal experiences and observations of both real life and fiction so I may have made some mistakes here and there.

Thank you for reading!

[oathofkaslana]

ALBEDO FOR THE ASKS PLEASE

YAYYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYA MY GIRL<333

First impression:

god i really liked his hair and by being my first 5* character he held a special place in my heart by default yk. then i learned abt him and klee and THE END LINE TO HIS STORYQUEST <- guy not normal abt fictional martyrdom................ and he shot up on my genshin blorbo leaderboards :3

Impression now:

i hate her i hope she Dies!!!!!!!!! dear god she makes me sick in the head i've spent so long analyzing every lil thing about her and her character stories and her relationship w her family and humanity as a whole. in some way i think the love she possesses is more of a statement about humanity than the statement about love as a force yk and i appreciate that a lot. i think she's suuuch an interesting character w so much potential and i really really hope they do her justice bc her story could be so satisfying..... i also really appreciate the fact that her story is entire family centric. youtube title. albedo saves genshin impact. <- real adn true.

Favorite moment:

theres a lot of lil moments im not sure i can pick.. it's somewhere between the moment in their character story 5 where he muses about whether or not their last mission is just rhine's way of tgetting them to live a fulfilling life or them actively telling klee that they could probably bounce jumpty dumptys off of alice's beach chairs without breaking them and then jean making them sign an agreement to not pull pranks w anything from the gaa island kasbdjhdbad.

Idea for a story:

character study of her first days in the KOF. i just think it'd be amusing to see her slowly realize that she and klee have genuinly become a family instead of feeling like klee and alice are his host family yk? :) also. klee calling her gege.

Favorite relationship:

... albedo and klee yeah whatever whatever who even saw that coming theyre the siblings ever Sorry. after that probably him and rhine... or durin.................................

Favorite headcanon:

fuck it have three. they chose to set up camp overlooking durin's bones partially because they felt weirdly drawn to it and when they needed to take a break sometimes they would start sketching the bones. after his arrival in mond, alice's house has been littered w drawings both from albedo and from klee. genderqueer (any pronouns) and bi. :]

[arkiwii]

Kristen Arknights is giving me brainworms this cannot continue

Before Lone Trail, I was really convinced that "ah yeah so she's really evil", like what, she approved and conducted the Diabolic Experiment? She approved the experiment at Site #359 and was probably looking at the giant Hub from her window, presumably while eating popcorns, and when Saria arrived to scream at her "WHAT THE FUCK" Kristen just replied "Oh hey I knew you would solve it"? She also funded Loken's Watertank and collected his data on children experiments after he got arrested??

Any sane person would be calling her an egoist, a betrayer, a seeker, a loner

And yet, she was a pioneer.

Lone Trail dropped and now, I don't even know what to think anymore of this character. Like I don't approve what she has done, but also, I don't hate her. She put me into a state of mind I can't think straight anymore. This dog is TRULY fucked up.

She was obsessed, truly obsessed by her dream. She wanted to achieve what her parents had failed to do. She wanted to honor her family, to prove something to the world. To find the truth. To break the sky.

And she fucking did it. She absolutely did. She achieved it, she had done what nobody has ever done before. Regardless of the methods, regardless of morals and ethics, what she did was HUGE. That night, everyone on Terra looked up at the sky. She made a huge step forward, she revolutioned and changed things. The moment she pierced the starpod, a page in the history of the world had been turned, a new era has started. This event was major. And countless scientists will look up upon her, and for ages, her name will be praised.

And she did at what cost? Everything. Her own life, her friends.

I can't stop thinking about how much she tried to keep Saria away from her. I thought that Kristen was using Saria, that she didn't care about her, but actually it's... Something else. She does care about Saria, but it's Saria who was completely obsessed with Kristen. It's Saria who refused to let go. Of course, Saria devoted her life to protect Kristen, she wanted to stay with her until the very end. Kristen did not wanted it, she wanted Saria to continue to live on. It's her dream, and she's ready to die to achieve it. Not Saria's. Nor Muelsyse's.

I can't stop thinking about how she tried EVERYTHING to stop Saria. She studied her Arts, found ways to supress them, created Power Armors to neutralize them, she showed coldness to Saria to keep her away. But god, Saria was clingy as hell. If Kristen had to get to install a trap door in her spaceship SPECIFICALLY for Saria, that's to say how much Saria did not want to let go.

Saria was ready to die for Kristen, she was ready to stay with her until the very end. But Kristen always had in mind to go alone.

And in the end, she had to show Saria that she deserves to live, to continue, that there's still people who need her. Rhine Lab needs her. Ifrit needs her. Silence needs her. Rhodes Island needs her. She can't join Kristen like that. She can't die yet.

Even if Kristen was obsessed by her dream, she was still able to care enough for Saria and the people around her.

And god fucking damn I'm crying

Kristen is absolutely the best antagonist of all Arknights there's absolutely no way we can't do better, I'm standing on my ground

[dreamyghostie]

Tag game!

Thank you, @caromitpunkt :) slowly coming back from some really heavy days, ill try to go ahead with this now ^^

1. Are you named after anyone?

tbh i dont know but i dont think i am. my second name has been passed down to me, though

2. When was the last time you cried?

yesterday, but from joy this time. :)

3. Do you have kids?

nope, and dont want any as far as i can think

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

if i know and trust people a reasonable amount, then yes. :D

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

i played football when i was very small and once almost scored a goal, but then i quit soon after that. ^^ also i did karate for some years as a teenager until i quit that as well. im not the sports type, but i enjoy some swimming and cycling when there is time for that, it just should still be fun and not too exhausting. :)

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

that depends on the occasion, i suppose. here on the internet i tend to get a quick grasp of the general character of someone, while out in the wild it is more the outward appearance and maybe the interactions with their environment which i notice first. im not really sure about that all though, as i tend to analyse everthing heavily including other people :D

7. What's your eyes colour?

brown

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings :)

9. Any special talents?

as i said above, i analyse everything. and im quite good at finding information even with not much given to start, so i suppose i could be a pretty good stalker if i wasnt so concerned about bothering other people (:

10. Where were you born?

right in post-industrial wasteland north rhine-westphalia. :D

11. What are your hobbies?

i wrote that somewhere on my about page, so ill just cite it from there ^^ "i like to be outside on walks, cycling or swimming, enjoy music, reading, cooking and baking, sometimes play video games. oh and i also run a japan-themed sideblog (fun fact: i actually have a scientific background in japanese studies)"

12. Do you have any pets?

no, but my family have and i see them sometimes. :)

13. How tall are you?

very tall. you can always message me to challenge if you think you are taller than me :D

14. Favorite subject in school?

none really, i started to like what i was studying when i finally left school to study what i like. ^^

15. Dream job?

now this is a difficult one, but id go with scientific researcher, somewhere in the field of environmental sociology, environmental studies or sth similar. but without all the distressing things about science and academia, id like to be a passionate environmental scientist living out my passion and interests while at the same time helping to make the world better, to put it like that. :)

No-pressure tags to, lets see ... @chronicleofwastedtime @dreamyberry @just-a-got-otaku @quiltedcottage @mrs-bingley take your time and only do this if you want, but id really like to read this if you do. 😊