#the one with dan feng

[k9wa]

𑣲 RENEWAL. ft. DAN (F)HENG

⠀ — it is not he that is familiar to you, nor you to him.

⠀ OR

⠀ — time and reincarnation aren’t enough to ever make you truly forget each other.

⚠︎ angst if you squint, fluff, mild hsr spoilers? thank u to the high cloud quintet for having the most heart breaking lore, i listened to memory by toby fox on repeat while writing this.

dan heng wasn’t sure what to feel when his eyes met yours.

familiarity? no, that’s not possible. he’s never met you.

nostalgia? no, that too was not possible. he cannot name one person who your eyes could possibly remind him of.

…what was it? what was it that had left dan heng unable to will his gaze to move somewhere else? surely the intense eye contact was leaving you uncomfortable, even he was beginning to feel squirmy in his own skin as you stared back at him with an equal intensity.

dan heng can feel something in the deepest pit of his mind, leaking down and adding to the tense knot in his gut. 

yet, the feeling isn’t…unwelcome.

it’s warm. it’s akin to a comforting hand on his shoulder, or a small squeeze to his fingers. he could not, no matter how hard he tried, recall a time such a sensation had left him so utterly speechless. 

“dan heng?”

it’s welt’s voice that finally pulled him out of his trance, his eyes blinking rapidly a few times before he turned his head to look at the older man.

“sorry. what was that?”

dan heng shook his head as if to rid himself of the thoughts of you. what was your name again? yukong had just informed him. not that he was really listening, anyway.

the conversation between his crew and the sky-faring commissions helm master continued on, talk of stellarons and something about the cloud knight’s general. dan heng couldn’t seem to focus despite his efforts.

another voice calls out to him just before he can depart alongside caelus and march, however this time it is not the deep and rough voice of his companion, but one that is much sweeter, and seems to strike a chord somewhere within him.

“dan heng?”

he turns around and is once more met with your eyes. dan heng willed himself to blink and nod before he could be entranced by them once more.

“i apologize, but…”

you trailed off before you were able to get the words out of your mouth, and there you found yourself back in the odd silence the two of you had just broken out of.

“…have we met before?”

you asked, and it finally clicked with dan heng where he had seen only snippets and flashes of you before.

my dreams, he thought. the dreams that haunted him night in and night out, but would occasionally grant him just a glance of a peaceful memory.

“no. we haven’t.”

you’re an amicassador of the sky-fairing commission, one brought on board long after he was banned from the ship that you called home. your meeting at any point before now would have been impossible.

yet, his mind drifts to the occasional memory he has only when deep in slumber.

“yingxing gifted me this.”

he looks down at you, head in his lap as you pull a small jade coin out of your pocket, a fine “永” carefully carved into the surface.

“he has too much time on his hands now that jing yuan is growing.”

your chuckle is soothing to his ears, the sound like a balm applied directly to his soul.

your face is unclear, almost as if his eyes are unfocused. yet your voice is unmistakable.

“i don’t disagree.”

is all he responds, fingers idly pushing a few stray hairs behind your ear as he looks down at you. although he can’t see it, he can feel the grass he and you reside on, smell the pollen off the fresh flowers the breeze blows towards him, can feel the sun on his skin.

“you’re sure?” you question again, voice just as calming as he was sure he’d imagined until now.

“you just—“ you chuckle a bit, almost awkwardly. “—seem so familiar, is all.”

you try to approach the topic subtly, but you truly did know him. from your own dreams, the ones you had that woke you in a cold sweat from just how real and jarring they felt, regardless of whether they were mild or sweet in nature. they conjured such emotion in you.

“baiheng was telling me of reincarnation.”

you muse to him, sitting with one hand on the ground just over his crossed legs, leaving you leaning across him.

“do you believe in such a thing?”

“of course.”

he nods, hand naturally finding it’s place on your waist.

“don’t you?”

“i don’t think so.”

you reach your free hand out to play mindlessly with the silver trim of his robes.

“it’s a nice thought, though.”

dan feng can only hum quietly.

“some day,” he began, drawing your attention back up to his face. “after i reach my end, i’ll come back to find you.”

the small tug of his lips could only be described as a smirk, but it felt softer than that.

“to prove it to you.”

you tilt your head teasingly, brow cocked.

“how will you recognize me?” “I would know you blind.”

he can feel his chest warm as you smile at him.

“i’ll hold you to that.”

“sorry.” dan heng bowed his head lightly. 

“but we haven’t met before.”

he was being truthful, you hadn’t. it was your past lives that you two had been acquainted, had formed a bond so strong that it appeared to have transcended death itself.

dan heng did not wish to have dan feng’s deeds or past haunt him any more than they already do. the urge he felt to sit and talk with you, to perhaps hold your hand or touch your face would surely only lead him down a path he’d apparently gone down centuries ago.

“right.”

you nod at him, bowing yourself.

“sorry to keep you, it was nice to meet you.”

dan heng was released and regrouped with his crew, march and caelus bickering about something or the other and walking ahead of him. he decided to stay a bit further behind with welt.

his decision quickly regretted when welt gave him a knowing look, the lines on the older man’s forehead deepening as his eyebrows pushed together.

“you know them.”

“i know who they used to be. that’s all.”

welt can read the room well enough to know to end the topic there. dan heng had never enjoyed or been keen on talking of dan feng, and being back on the xianzhou alone had already left him with an unusual tension in his shoulders.

even as he walked away, moving up to engage in conversation with the sillier two of the quadrant, dan heng couldn’t shake you from his head. your smile, the way you held yourself as yukong introduced you, the small laugh that he had not expected would weave itself so deeply in his chest.

he kept walking on anyway. dan heng was not him.

⠀ 𑣲 MASTERLIST / GOT A REQUEST ?

[lsain]

Here's to those happier days!

[sharknark]

⭐xingyue brainrots from twitter🌙

(+ progress steps below ✍️)

yaaayy gay men yaaay omg yaaay

[moshaeu]

some misc doodles

[topaz-witch-tea]

Dragons are possessive creatures and Dan Heng is no different. He’s protective of his friends and family, and especially his boyfriends. He knows they’re attractive and it’s obvious they would garner the attention of others but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. He makes it known that Jing Yuan and Blade are his, whether it be gifting them wearable trinkets, commissioning them jade amulets, or using his powers to cast protective spells. If they are in public with crowds, he’s unconsciously holding their hands or his tail is wrapped around their ankle. Most of the time, he doesn’t realize that he’s doing it but the dragon part of his brain screams “THEY ARE MINE. EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW THEY ARE MINE. IF PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THEY ARE MINE, THEY WILL TAKE THEM FROM ME. IF YOU TAKE THEM FROM ME, I WILL KILL YOU AND DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU LOVE.”

What Dan Heng didn’t expect was how protective he would be over Yanqing. When he started dating, Yanqing was always Jing Yuan’s kid. Jing Yuan took care of his education, health, training, etc. At some point in the relationship, Dan Heng started taking part in it too whether it be scouring the archives to help with a research project or picking up medicine for a cold. He also started casting protective spells on Yanqing as well and was always close by when the kid had a mission on the Luofu. Somewhere in his dragon-brain, it had come up with “Yanqing = tiny child. Tiny child lives in my home = My tiny child. MUST PROTECT MY CHILD AT ALL COST.”

This leads to Dan Heng spoiling him with whatever he wants, whether it be a sword from the market or a priceless sheath from a nearby planet, Dan Heng becomes increasingly doting, but he also becomes increasingly agitated when Yanqing is threatened or hurt. One time, Yanqing ended up with a broken arm after a mission, a result of an untimely fall off a floating platform. When word reached Dan Heng, he quickly returned from his travels with the Astral Express to check up on him. Where he spent a week by the kid’s bedside cutting up fruit for him and fetching him anything he needed.

[itsredpaint]

"fish how many times are u going to remake ur tgcf au" yes

[noxiousr0se]

I feel like a fun idea for hsr would be dan heng and dan feng fighting for control over dan heng’s body. Like say DF just like wakes up in DH’s body one day after DH like takes a massive hit and almost dies and the express crew being oblivious bc DF is a magnificent actor and they just assume DH is on edge after almost dying. The real kicker is that like the High Could Quintet (Jing Yuan, Blade, Jingliu) are the only ones who know/suspect it.

Another point could be that DF and DH fighting styles are different so Trailblazer is confused as to why Dan Heng is suddenly so carefree in the middle of a battle not even bothering to bring out his spear and just using cloud hymm magic like it’s no big deal and putting on these extravagant attacks, meanwhile DF is in control and like internally sighing bc this is such a boring fight compared to when he and the high cloud quintet “insert insane achievement here”

Think of like Dan Heng’s hair growing out and Dan Feng REFUSING to let him cut it or like Dan Feng constantly walking around in Imbibitor Lunae form bc he can’t deal with the fact Dan Heng keeps his hair short. Or seeing Dan Heng’s short hair get like styled differently or his clothing style change bc Dan Feng refuses to let him keep dressing like a shut in.

March being simultaneously excited and confused seeing Dan Heng actually looking like a person who cares about his appearance rather than someone who just rolled out of bed and was unfortunately pretty

Even better better whenever one Dan is in control they can actively hear the other one in their heads and like DH now has to deal with Dan Feng judging every single thing he does. Like “are you sure you want to put such a noxious substance in our body” or “I feel as though my plan was superior but do as you please I suppose.”

Bonus points: Is that Blade’s mara stops flaring when DH is in control and only flares when DF is in control so DF is religiously telling DH to like get closer to Blade and like flirt with him bc when he tries to Blade goes into attack mode and won’t listen.

[daily-imbibitorlunae]

drawing Imbibitor Lunae (🌙Dan Feng) everyday part 16:

i hc that dan feng is just an old man lizard who drinks tea

thank you to the anon that suggested imbibitor lunae drinking tea!!! <3

[wodimewoahtime]

i just KNOW that bladie is getting spoiled more than dan heng.

danny H has his "women (march 7th, specifically. the other girls don't really care that much) hate how little it takes for me to be happy" bum ass setup and meanwhile bladie is getting his shopping done by kafka (only buys luxury)

Blankets on floor vs silk california king size mattress march would be SO pissed

[lynxacratic]

I will TRULY never get over this eidolon. Especially since E6 is supposed to be the character in their most vulnerable, or peaceful (I’ve seen both interpretations ^^) state😭😭😭

I tend to interpret the E6 art as the character in their most vulnerable state, so this just… It makes sense, considering he’s in the egg™️ and has no way to defend himself + he’s literally a baby LMFAO

But it also makes me remember that in his character stories he was dreaming about his past life while he was in the egg (“In the dim abyss devoid of light, he seemed to have returned to the insides of a Vidyadhara egg, being ceaselessly churned in tumultuous waves and elusive dreams”) ☹️ really just stabs me in the heart. I don’t blame him for running from his past— even though running is never the best way to deal with things

@ HYV let’s tone down the angst for my man and give him so happiness… that sounds good… no more suffering…

BUT is we ever get another Dan Heng form (wether it be like M7 Hunt or a full-fledged playable Dan Feng…) I wonder what his E6 art for that will be🤔

For Dan Feng, I think it would be interesting to have his hands covering his face, alluding to his appearance being that of the first high elder’s + his overall theme of identity ^^

[devotedlystrangewizard]

renheng is arguably too delicious for the average hoyoverse fan because when i found out one of the main characters is haunted by a spectre of his past who hates him so much entirely because he once loved and trusted him. and they watched the stars together. and they have matching bracers that they can sense each other through. and they were closer than any other two in their old friend group. and

[atalante241]

Why do people want Dan Heng to be Dan Feng. Like actually, where does this come from.

The molting rebirth is literally a person going in an egg, incubating for a while and basically de-aging and coming out as another person.

And if you want to bring up the whole thing of Dan Heng’s molting rebirth being all wonky that still doesn’t take away from the fact that that’s a whole different person.

It’s the whole thing with amnesia plot lines all over again. It’s the persons choice of what they want to do, if they can’t or don’t want to be the person they were before they don’t have to be. Yes others might get sad, but that’s a person with autonomy and shit.

From what I’ve seen and remember from HSR canon, vidyadhara regard reincarnations as new people and the old incarnation/version as having died. Literally just listening to how Bailu reacts to learning that the-nice-lady reincarnated is enough to get this. And yes, some leave instructions for their next reincarnations like taking care of certain things or getting to know people. But that isn’t the same as being the same goddamn person.

And doesn’t the fact that Dan Feng got forced to do a molting rebirth basically mean that he was executed for the (frankly confusing) crimes he did?

I just, for some reason it annoys me when I see it: it feels like you’re reducing Dan Heng to just being Dan Feng with amnesia and not a whole different person with different life experiences and a whole ass found family.

[anyacad0]

Hoyo could do a funny and say “oh no Dan Feng is the same height as Dan Heng he just looks taller in the animated short because Dan Heng perceived him as someone intimidating” and all of our fanfic would be wrong

[itsredpaint]

the high elder and his 2 beloveds he turned into vidyadhara (highly illegal)

[59suno]

danfeng doodle ^_^

[feroluce]

Boothill doesn't pull his hair back very often. Dan Heng can count the times he's seen him do it on one hand. The man's right eye is gone completely but his left is a cybernetic, and it means Boothill can "see" whether his hair is in his face or not, so there's simply never much need for it.

So it surprises him when Boothill asks if he can put his hair up for him Xianzhou-style.

"Do you even own a hairpin?"

"Ya got chopsticks around here, don't ya?"

Which is how they end up awkwardly sat on the floor of the archives, Boothill sitting criss-cross and Dan Heng knelt behind him to make up for the differences in their height. Boothill doesn't say why he wants this done, but Dan Heng can guess: long life species are rarely allowed to leave the Xianzhou ships. It's not as rare as running into an actual, real-life Galaxy Ranger, but it's still pretty uncommon. Boothill is just trying to indulge his curiosity about little cultural things like this while he's able. Dan Heng can never say no to that kind of curiosity.

When his own hair was long, he never put it up. But there are memories, just little bits of things that nip at Dan Heng's ankles in the night when he's alone in the dark. And he remembers something like this, something similar. Dan Feng's hands with a hairpin, long hair grayed with age flowing in rivers between his fingers, quick and easy practiced motions revealing ears and nape and soot from the forge.

Boothill hands him a chopstick when he asks for it, because Dan Heng finds he needs both hands to keep his hair in place. He's not quick enough the first time, and the bun unravels, and the second attempt is better but it's messy and held so loosely that he goes at it for a third.

Boothill doesn't comment on it. Instead he just sits there and admires the picture of it that Dan Heng shows him on his phone, chatters a bit about what he knows of Xianzhou culture, how he'd met a Foxian woman not too long before Penacony with elaborate decorations done up in her hair and he'd wondered how anyone could even do that. A hairpin maybe would have been easier, but really the chopsticks probably fit him better, pretty little things like that don't suit me, anyhow.

Dan Heng catches like. Half of it. He's too busy staring at his hands.

Dan Feng had been good at doing other people's hair for them. He'd had a lot of practice. Dan Heng had seen it. But in the molting rebirth, his body had reset. The simple knowledge could be inherited. The experience could not.

That skill, that muscle memory, belongs to Dan Feng, and to Dan Feng only.

There is no mourning, no sense of loss with this realization, just relief. An extra confirmation of something he had already known.

But Dan Heng looks up at Boothill, who is running his curious fingers over the back of his own head, and he thinks about how there are some things he can have just for himself, too.