#than jumping to play F.urina's SQ

[reginrokkr]

Eventually I cheated and opted for playing one SQ first, namely Wriothesley's (shame on me for not having it played sooner tbh) and I have to say that it was sublime.

✦ As always I adore Wrio's brilliant mind and his no chill attitude despite being actually cautious most of the time to set an example for the others in the Fortress. Sadly I don't have much more to say about this but it's self-explanatory enough and I reaffirm what I said some time ago that he's hands down one of my favorite characters of the entire cast of Genshin thus far.

✧ I love that each time the script of the stories is getting darker and that it masks better this Traveler harem syndrome that I abhor. Putting the latter aside, I loved the level of detail of how sickeningly manipulative Dougier is and how everything played out keeping me on my toes at all times.

✦ As it is customary to this blog, that black stone caught my attention and so did the thorn method and the Aqua Doloris. I might write a more thorough addendum or headcanon about this in the future once I have ruminated more on this concept. What I'm going to say is that I have no doubts that its substance stems from the Abyss as it is well-established by now that it heightens negative feelings and fear is one such feeling. The fact that it actually awakens bad memories give me some food for thinking, but it also makes me wonder something: if someone were to have a certain degree of expertise to isolate whatever negative feeling and the means to reach to it into a substance and be able to implant it into other people's brains, it could be other things that aren't solely fear. And things that aren't entirely negative in the eyes of others. If you haven't guessed where I'm going with this yet, I'll give you a small hint: Khaenri'ah.

✧ Lastly (but not least), what I've been awaiting for the whole quest to learn as I have already read bits and pieces about this before and been talked to about this: children trading in black market and Wriothesley's experience as both a victim and executioner of two despicable adults partaking into this. In a way it is nothing new to me as I still remember that the webtoon, placed just a few years before the beginning of Genshin's story (further back in time too if we count the flashbacks, but that isn't relevant to this), already mentioned that the Fatui are actively seeking kids to take to Snezhnaya and most likely be dumped into the House of Hearth and pretty much cultivate them to become Fatui.

I particularly like the placement of this shred of light about his own personal story, as going through everything else that was happening in the Fortress only to culminate into learning about that gives more sense to what exactly drove Wriothesley to take the actions he took and to act the way he did with Dougier (the mfer deserved even more, but it's a good thing that Wrio has plans and freedom to make the most of his punishments).

Now, as a more portrayal-oriented thing and how Dain would view this... it is very rare to find characters that in one way or another he can see himself reflected on to some degree, but I can say positively that Wriothesley just joined the small gang. As for what Dain would see himself reflected exactly, that is Wrio's drive to fight for others' freedom. Just as he did for his "family" back then, and just as he did for the Fortress of Meropide in his particular SQ and will continue to do in order to ensure that his new family has a chance for rebirth. Dain would find great respect in this, as someone who is on the same boat himself no matter if in a greater scale, in his pursuit for humanity's freedom from the looming danger the Abyss Order will suppose for them as part of their revenge and obsessions, but also freedom from the ugly schemes of the higher gods above the Archons that still remain unknown, but looking into the Vision's workings alone there is something highly suspicious to me that I can't shake off.