#the only ones who seem to care about her are the oceanids. what the fuck

[cantarella]

Actually losing my mind bc someone said that reading Furina and Neuvillette as father & daughter infantilizes her character and I’m??? Genuinely what? I’ve been trying to understand what romance these ppl are gleaning from their interactions/dynamic… it also seems like viewing their relationship through a romantic lense is what actually lends its hand to infantilizing her. But it’s such a popular pairing; I feel like ppl would have my head for simply saying they *look* related on purpose

"I’ve been trying to understand what romance these ppl are gleaning from their interactions/dynamic" you and I both my man I've been feeling like I'm in the fucking twilight zone for the past month. their shooters say they're coded, like how the "the little oceanid" play in her sq would be a parallel for their relationship and like that's... just inaccurate in so many ways. like 1. that's not how any of it went down are they hallucinating 2. IF it was a parallel then it'd be one to focalors specifically and that's another character 3. why on god's green earth would hyv have to use coding for a m/f pairing. do they even know what that shit is for? why would a chinese company need to use that? ofc they don't I forgot 90% of the fans are homophobes they don't care. anyway

you've got it exactly right, viewing their whole dynamic as romantic is the infantilization here actually. you can't deny what happens on screen, and furina acts quite literally like if you put fischl, or any theater kid you can think of, in charge of an entire nation with no guidance. she is overwhelmed and scared of the fact everyone would die if she fails at her task, and by pretending to be someone else she was in stasis for 500 years, never allowed to live her own life and grow up as a person. so in a situation far beyond her she seeks protection from the only person always in her life, who is an older looking man who has his shit genuinely just more put together than her despite everything about him, and has the power to actually protect their people

if you read this as meant to evoke a familial dynamic then it's easy to see how this is a coming of age narrative, of a young adult who has been going through a lot of pain (hello metaphor for adolescence in the form of 500 years of repetitive torture labyrinth. does anyone here like utena) breaking free of the life that chained her and starting to live her own, while learning to not depend anymore on her guardian who still supports her from a distance, but aknowledges her growth through gifting her the last push for full independence (the vision)

if you look at it romantically... well what is there exactly. you have to deny furina is mentally meant to be young to not be gross, so you have to deny the 500 years being stasis so she presumably grew, so she's a deeply emotionally unstable woman seeking protection from her stronger male partner bc she's too damaged to be competent at her job. great fucking dynamic you got there, I think my parents put on a less heteronormative display during their marriage than this. not to mention how it disregards all the pain furina went through with her lack of sense of self and inability to form emotional ties, and neuvi's own arc of isolation from everyone around him. 2 hit mischaracterization combo

also yeah you essentially get hunted for sport if you say it but they literally look related lol. everyone forgot about what visual storytelling is overnight bc the cishet demons possessed them

[ac-liveblogs]

@anaie-russie I've been playing genshin for 2,5 months and im positively starving for character interactions and coherent writing. And the game gets way less immersive when I have to talk to NPCs or otherwise go through quests instead of just running around collecting mint and killing everything that moves. And that feels like SUCH and ACC0MPLISHMENT on hoyo's part! It takes REAL SKILL to make a game THIS BIG and THIS LONG so. Freakin. BORING. …Everywhere you look in genshin you can clearly see a problem that could've been easily solved if the development team just gave a single fuck about doing so.

Oh yeah. And what especially hurts is that while HSR is better writing (like, nothing exceptional, but better) - it's capable of that. A lot of sidequests incorporate playable characters. One world in particular, Belobog, is very good at it and I don't believe I've found many quests that DON'T incorporate at least one.

So they CAN do it! They just don't care to here!

I am sympathetic to the 6 week patch cycle probably putting a huge strain on devs because Genshin can put out a lot of content, but it feels wildly mismanaged when you just get worlds that feel empty and unlived in and characters you barely talk to. HSR does less better. Genshin just set itself up for problems.

Also, didn't Neuvilette turn Oceanid humans into just regular ol' humans? Truly a meaningless plot point. They could've just made it something like "egeria made herself her own normal boring humans, that angered Celestia and so it placed a curse on them to dissolve into seafoam if they ever touch primordial waters", idk even. Because "not being human" is NOT something literally everyone will brush off!!! Maybe some of them would WANT to turn back into oceanids, ya know.

What gets me about that is like. Furina's quest centers a play in which the main storyline is about an Oceanid that pretends to be human. It's not even that people were like "I guess the Oceanid thing doesn't matter", it's that it LITERALLY didn't come up in the most relevant place it possibly could have - the storyline is more concerned with the serial disappearing women case. The play is used as allegory both for the lives of Furina and the director who died, but… come on.

Though this is the same quest that goes "oh, why doesn't Furina have any Archon powers? Bc she turned them into Indemnitium, remember, we learnt that in her trial?" AKA the lie Furina told in court that was immediately disproven along with establishing everyone's an Oceanid. That is some HELLISHLY selective memory. But then so is treating Navia's bodyguards like they're actually dead when… didn't they just return to Oceanid form? They're still alive, right? Like they're in a weird hivemind but they're not /dead/ can we not help them in some way…?

You know, I'm pretty convinced all the humans having secretly been Oceanids once was a last minute plot twist that wasn't properly incorporated because the game sure struggles to handle it. And oh boy, there are OTHER logistical questions that raises, huh.

I've been meditating on how that twist could've been handled better - Celestia's anger seems unreasonable in canon even if they… I mean, historically, don't they usually drop nails… not curses…? - and I keep coming back to the dual themes of 'performance/masks/duality' and 'justice' and how Fontaine should tie into it. You obviously get Furina pretending to be the Archon for the sake of her people (confusingly and badly explained why it was necessary), and you could theoretically expand on Arlecchino, Lyney(+sibs to a lesser extent) and even/especially Childe with those themes in some way…

I keep thinking the reason Fontaine's (alleged) culture around courts/justice being the way it is SHOULD relate to Oceanids originally only play-acting at being human before Becoming The Mask themselves, but that's still messy and I'd need to really sit down and think about how to tie it all together outside of Furina and Furina exclusively.

Atp it's my favorite pastime to imagine how genshin could've been better. Yoimiya and Nilou could've been actually interesting characters instead of very nice and kind cardboards! There could've been actual drama in AQs (and not just the cutscenes)! It could've been great!!!

SAME I have a whole account just dedicated to figuring out how I could rewrite it as I go ;-; This game COULD work with uhhh a lot of elbow grease and a really big eraser.

I think genshin will never get good, it has dug itself too far up its own ass to ever get out. If they suddenly invent Traveler some actual personality in Natlan, make the AQ have actual logic behind it and have natlan characters go through ARCS… so what? The other terrible regions still exist as-is and they easily make up more than half of the game. There is no turning back and so, no point in improving.

Yeah. And like, it succeeds as is and every time they make a marginal improvement that still doesn't fix anything everyone's like. WOW best writing EVER so what incentive do they actually have to really try to fix things?

Greetings! Can I share my woes with you, fellow stranger? I... honestly cannot believe that a game like genshin could possibly exist. I'm almost done with the Fountain AQ and lemme just say that... This dumbfuck journey through the nations made me fear for my own sanity. There is almost NEVER any logical progression between the stages of the quests and literally only 2,5 people in the whole fandom ever talk about this! Half the time you cannot tell why the characters are doing what they are doing and even when you can see the logic behind their actions the actions themselves are usually stupid af. And then there are world quests that are written as if they exist in some entirely different worlds! Like how the Meropide from the AQ and from the Unfinished Comedy are two completely different prisons, because NO WAY are they run by the same Duke guy. So, I've been very troubled by this. Have I lost my last braincells and this is why I can't comprehend the very good writing of the very good hoyo? Is everyone else just playing a different genshin that ACTUALLY makes sense?? Am I insane or is it the world around me that has gone mad???

Salutations, kind stranger, please take a seat!

To risk sounding very unkind, my general impression behind a lot of the discussion surrounding Genshin's story and character writing boils roughly down to this post;

Because I do get the general sense that what sticks with most people are the big dramatic moments and the general SHAPE of what you expect this all to mean or look like, not what it actually is or says. Which is FINE, praise fanon because god knows this game needs it, but my eye will start aggressively twitching when I see people praising Scaramouche's deep emotionally charged writing (HYV avoided writing as much of his story as possible though) or how meaningful a character Neuvillette is (confusing role in the narrative at best, actively detrimental to the world-building at worst).

And maybe if you're willing to accept lore dumps, explanations that character arcs happened off-screen, character bios, flashback sequences, telling not showing and animated trailers as substitutes for actual writing... then maybe it does seem like a lot is accomplished, even if you do have to bridge the gap with fanon. Like, there's so much lore! And they wrote so many words! It must be smart!!

I did chat to a colleague at work (anime fan; writing a book) who played Genshin and dropped it very early on. I asked "so what did you think of the writing" and without missing a beat he said "embarrassingly bad". So I'm going to say that most of the people that recognise it just dropped it immediately and the majority of the remainders are people that are willing to accept this. And suckers like us who sit open mouthed watching the trainwreck unfold.

Or, there's a secret version of this game I failed to download twice, and you clearly didn't get it, in which case I think we need to find the correct person to complain to about it.

Though speaking of the Fortress of Meropide, I was really amused when 'this is a DARK PRISON' collided with 'this is a GREAT prison and Wrio's so cool' in Wriothesely's quest, where the writers struggled with giving him a dramatic storyline tied to his own location so much they made him accidentally endorse a torture cult without realising how much that clashed with Wrio's previous characterisation of 'I know everything in the Fortress, including that you three are Fatui agents, to the point that I can quiz the Traveller on weird conspiracy theories about this place'.

Or like, "oh I'm really observant, I did notice this weird and suspicious/worrying thing, I just haven't done anything about it" x2 because he can't look ignorant, he's gotta know what's up, but like, think about that a second more and that's worse. Wrio. That's worse, you have to investigate those things. There is a torture cult in the basement and the entire prison almost flooded with people dissolving water, Wrio, we could have avoided these problems!

My current conspiracy theory is this place sucks like the AQ implies, but everyone just lies to Wrio and pretends everything is great and he's doing such a good job running the joint and he just believes them. The bubble almost pops in his character quest, but not quite.

Although, I hate the Fortress in it's entirety and all, but the thing that's sticking with me despite everything that Fontaine did is still.... "these people used to be oceanids but just forgot". Who forgot? Hoyoverse, apparently. Furina's quest sure didn't engage with 90% of the writing surrounding both that and her trial, huh. What a stupid meaningless twist that meant nothing and had no impact whatsoever. Why even do it.

this game is punishment for something and i'm not sure what

[sexysilverstrider]

Thawed Heart (Kaelumi)

  He doesn’t deserve to be loved.

  “You’re not my brother!!”

  Those words ring clear in his mind no matter how many times he tries to shake it off.

  A twisted smile curls the corners of his mouth. How pitiful it feels, to know that the grim memory will always plague him no matter the amount of alcohol, no matter the amount of knight work he has drowned himself in. The brutal reminder that he was at fault—he is, still. The sickening images of him clashing steels against the young boy whose innocence he has killed. The cruel slap of reality that he felt no guilt, but instead satisfaction at the death of the man who took him in.

  He doesn’t deserve to be happy.

  “Kaeya?”

  And yet, happiness is what mocks him at arm’s reach.

  Crystal blue eye gazes at the young woman next to him. “Yes, my fair hero?” he responds, simple and sweet, just as the smile that he so craftly curls due to years and years of practice.

  It seems to pass right through her.

  “It’s getting dark.” She simply states. Her head cocks upwards, amber eyes gazing at the orange hue. “Let’s find a place to camp out.” Her voice is as cold as ice, yet laced with gentle sternness that radiates her entire being. Giving her head a turn to the left, she spots Paimon and Razor eyeing a couple of wild hogs not far from where they are standing.

  Judging by the glazed looks and drooling mouths, Lumine stands firm on her suggestion.

  “Let’s go hunt for dinner and then I’ll ask Amber to build a campfire.” Not waiting for the knight captain’s response, she finally brings her gaze back to him.

  She always seems as if she is looking past the mask he so deliberately wears.

  And yet, “Your orders, Ms Lumine.” His smile remains in place.

---

  Moonstadt doesn’t have seasons as far as he remembers, but the weathers can differ between long months. And as luck pushes it, their little quest together is brought upon a season that is warmer than usual. Thankfully, they are shrouded in a land filled with thick trees, but even that brings sweat and fatigue faster than usual for the group.

  Amber doesn’t seem to mind, though, but Kaeya figures it must be the vision in her that makes her adapt to the hot weather.

  The crackle of fire soothes their sights. After a hearty dinner, both Amber and Paimon are knocked out for the day. The pyro-user snuggles with her doll, all while huddling into a sleeping bag that Lumine assumes has thinner material considering the low heat for tonight. Paimon is sprawled next to Amber, tiny arms and legs spread apart as if she is making a dirt angel on the grass beneath her. Razor remains awake as he stands on a nearby cliff, keeping night-watch as usual despite Lumine’s disapproval.  

  “I keep Lupical safe.” He merely answered when she insisted that he should rest before their journey for tomorrow. Before Lumine could retort further, Razor simply ran away and kept watch at a distance so that she wasn’t able to lecture him.

  Smart boy, Kaeya thinks back with a twitch of a smile.

  “Are you not sleeping?”

  Her voice, soothing as it is, brings him back to reality. “Ah,” he replies, head turns to the left, “maybe in the next hour? I do want to enjoy these precious moments with the most famous hero in Moonstadt.” There it is again with her sugar-coated words, with the perfect curve of a masked smile.

  It always goes through her.

  “You don’t have to push yourself.” Amber eyes are fixated in the flickering flames. “I saw that you fought your hardest when we faced that Oceanid. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think we were able to face those stupid water creatures without slowing them down.” God, she still feels the ache on her lower back every time she thinks back about the water crab. Stretching her legs forward, Lumine sighs slowly.

  Her actions somewhat tickle his throat.

  “It was all thanks to your brilliant planning.” Though he was at shock when she told him that they were going to face the dreaded Cyro creature today, Kaeya was—in rare cases—at lost for words at the amount of times they faced the Oceanid today. As calm as she looks, the knight captain oftentimes forgets how…ruthless the mysterious traveller can be.

  Well, they all survive, so that’s what really matters.

  “So,” he eyes the abundance of materials piled up next to Amber and Paimon, “what’s the occasion? I don’t think you wanting to annihilate that Oceanid 5 times per day is some sort of new dangerous hobby?”

  He sees her shift.

  “It’s…” Hesitance bites her tongue, “for a friend.”

  Crack.

  He ignores the slight twitch in the corner of his good eye.

  “Ahhh…” A simple reply and a single nod. Curiosity clouds his mind. An emotion he does not wish to acknowledge flicks his heart. “And dare I assume that this friend didn’t actually request all of those materials?” Legs crossed, Kaeya leans further to get a closer look. The light of the fire allows him to see the shape of her face, the shape of her body. Though legs are bent and brought closer to her chest, he can see the tiny frown that tugs the corners of her mouth.

  She looks absolutely adorable.

  “No.” She shakes her head. “It’s more of a gift. He helped me a lot back in Liyue and I figured all these materials will help repay him for his cooperation.” Slender arms hug her knees. “Besides, he did show me around in Liyue, so all the more reason I should repay him for all the kind deeds he did for me.”

  Crack. Crack.

  Kaeya ignores it as best as he can.

  “I see.” His tone dips quietly. “That’s a shame. And here I thought I showed you a great time in Moonstadt despite the lack of rewards.” His words are masked with a smile. His words are hiding the aching vibrations in his chest.

  He sees her eyes roll.

  “I did pay you back. Remember that time we fought that Cryo Regisvine?” Oh, she especially does not want to remember that, either. “I couldn’t feel my fingers for a few days after fighting it. Amber almost had half a mind to shoot an arrow of fire at me if it means I get to feel warm.”

  Oh, he definitely remembers her gifts, alright. That was one of the days where it actually brought a sense of surprise from the knight captain.

  It seems that he is…unnerved that he isn’t the only one with the special treatment.

  “Ah, but I joined that fight too, remember? So it felt less like a surprise and more like a task.” Beautiful lips curve to a playful frown. The action brings back another roll of her eyes. Cute.

  “Are you suggesting you don’t want to join me in those quests then?”

  His eye widens. “Now how did you conclude to that idea?”

  Her head lowers until her chin rests on her knees. “Because it sounds like one.”

  Fuck, his rapid heartbeat is betraying him.

  His mouth holds back a smirk. “Now, now, Lumine.” Slowly he slides closer, itching to feel her warmth that soothes his traitorous heart. “Don’t sulk, my dear. I was merely teasing.” The light of the fire illuminates the curve of her nose, the glint in her eyes. Strands of blonde locks cascade down the side of her head, and his fingers itch to gently brush it to the back of her ear.

  He wonders if she feels the throbbing in her chest too.

  “Hmm…” Either lazy or tired to respond properly, Lumine looks back at the fire. Despite night has blanketed the sky, she still feels trickles of sweat on her neck and chest. Discomfort causes a tiny growl that bubbles behind gritted teeth. Legs once again stretched forward, Lumine wipes away the sweat on her neck.

  “Uncomfortable?”

  Her palm moves to her collarbone. His eye follows her movement.

  “A bit.” She isn’t a fan of hot weathers, anyways. Her other hand fans the open spots on her chest.

  Crystal blue eye remains silently on the place she is fanning.

  Emotions hidden behind the dim light of the fire, Kaeya then opens his mouth, “Do you want me to cool you off?”

  That ceases her wiping and fanning. “I’m sorry?” Quickly she looks to the side, amber eyes finally meeting a single glint of such mesmerizing azure.

  He should stop himself. He should brush it off again as a joke.

  “I’m a Cryo user.” Instead, he continues. “My body basically radiates cool.” Lost between the fine line of jest and seriousness, Kaeya spreads his arms open. “See? I’m not even sweating.” A smile he so proudly wears beams next to the dancing fire. “If you need to cool off, your personal cooler is right here.”

  He stops. Finally. He should have stopped at her quizzical response. He should have stopped before he could even breathe the first question out loud. As much as many Kaeya is also famous for his flirtatious advances, he should know that Lumine, of all people, would ignore—or in some rare cases, tease back—his shameless teasing—

  His heart thumps the hardest when he feels something—someone—moving closer to him.

  Immediately his eye opens, widens, at the petite figure that huddles closer to his chest. A fluff of blonde fills his vision. A flow of warmth caresses his stiff body.

  “You’re right,” she peeps, meek and softer than usual, “you are cool.” Slim fingers flinch and curl into small fists, Lumine bents her legs closer to her chest. He was taller than her, her head barely reaching his neck as she lightly bumps her cheek against his chest. She is careful as to not hit his bare chest, afraid and nervous that she is invading his privacy even more than she already is.

  Her body welcomes the soothing breeze. A sigh slurs unwarily to feel such cooling comfort seeping into her skin. Momentarily forgetting about her invasion of space, Lumine finally feels fatigue enveloping her.

  Her heart continues to thump madly, to scream in shame at her thoughtless action. A part of her was taking vengeance in all the constant teasing he had given her. Another part jumps to the invitation, despite knowing it was just Kaeya being Kaeya with his playfully empty words.

  She wants nothing more than to look at him now, to gauge his reaction. But the deed has been done, and Lumine knows she will be in deep shit if she were to pull back now after her foolish action.

  So with arms tight around her legs, Lumine hides her face on his chest.

  Her nuzzling merely causes a single flinch from him.

  She’s warm. The only thought occupies his mind like a beacon in a dark storm. Arms still spread apart, Kaeya gawks at the tiny hero on his chest. He wonders if she can hear his screaming heart. He wonders if she can feel the heat that starts to melt the ice within.

  He then suddenly hears a small snore.

  “Lumine…?” Her name feels so right on his tongue. Arms slowly dropped to the sides, Kaeya casts a peek. Shock continues to intensify to see her finally succumbing to slumber. He cannot believe it. To know, to feel, to see that she has put so much trust in him to be this vulnerable, Kaeya almost feels a laugh rumbling out of him.

  He doesn’t deserve to feel this happy.

  His smile wavers. His eye dims under the faint light. “Oh dear…” Feeling sluggish, defeated by the beautiful warrior so close to him, Kaeya slowly wraps his arms around her. One arm caresses the side of her waist. The other brushes her shoulder until his hand pats the back of her head.

  She feels so warm.

  “How dare you!!!”

  How cruel, he thinks, that the grim memory starts to play in his mind right now.

  She looks so innocent, so content with her dreams. The furrow in her brows is gone, revealing a creaseless forehead that entices him. The curve of her nose catches his eye, observing, memorizing the perfect shape until it rids the one memory he so deeply wishes to forget. Her breathing is gentle, even, caressing the open space in his chest, causing prickles in his skin until he forces a sigh.

  His eye then stops at the sight of her lips, pink, full, hypnotizing him with a desire that burns deep into the pit of his stomach.

  He wets his suddenly dry lips.

  Finally, Kaeya sighs, feeling tired as ever. Though his vision has prevented him from having a proper body heat, he finds it ironic how to feel hot from top to bottom.

  He doesn’t deserve this at all.

  His muscles feel sore. His heart aches terribly in his chest. The memory keeps playing on and on, taunting him as long as he walks on this very earth.

  And yet, his smile softens to a genuine curve at the sight of her.

  “Goodnight, Lumine…” He doesn’t deserve her. Any of this. He knows. “Sweet dreams…” So he decides to be selfish, decides to be foolish as he lowers his head.

  Chup… His lips meet her forehead, then lingers for a few seconds longer so that he can memorize the soft taste of her skin.

  Before succumbing to the screams of his past, Kaeya tightens his embrace and closes his eye.

  He wonders if this temporary happiness can stay forever.

END

[hiraemy]

Lumine and the Goblet of Fire [part 2]

[part one]

word count: 2.7k

Act Two: Lumine and the stupid rumors

For some reason, it seems like Hogwarts students liked to gossip. A lot.

Really. It hadn’t passed a single week since the champion announcement, but it seemed like they had already traced a rough profile on all three competitors. 

According to rumors, Albedo was the incredible handsome prefect of Ravenclaw. He was nothing but polite to teachers and creatures that lived in the school, however, he didn’t seem to be interested in anything that didn’t catch his attention, and liked to keep himself at a safe distance from other people. He did have a little sister named Klee, a Gryffindor first-year infamous for her pranks and for being at detention constantly. Also, some people claimed that Albedo was secretly Miss Lisa and Miss Jean’s secret love child(?)

In contrast, the rumors surrounding Childe were more… Disturbing, per say. Everywhere he went he attracted a bunch of girls who thought that could stalk him without anyone noticing— including the guy himself. Those girls, in turn, were the responsible for telling the whole school that Childe had some scars in his arms and back and trained his body a lot (not the magical kind of training though), and that he was part of a delinquent gang. Also, he apparently had at least three siblings, all of them taking their studies in Durmstrang and visiting Hogwarts for the time-being. When asking other students from their academy, it was confirmed that Childe’s best subject was the Dark Arts. Not the classic Defense of the Dark Arts, the one that was teached in Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, but the Dark Arts itself. 

How reassuring. 

However, when it came to rumors about herself, Lumine was lowkey salty. Not that she wanted to have a bunch of creepy stalkers following her into the Beauxbatons chambers, like Albedo and Childe probably had to deal with, but it was some kind of disappointing that the only thing that people could gather about her was her name, Paimon and Aether’s names, the fact that Aether was her twin and that Paimon was a half-fairy. Not even her favourite subject was discovered! How... disappointing.

“As cute as you are when you’re upset, stop pouting.” Aether shoved a finger in her cheek playfully, a teasing smirk gracing his lips. 

“I’m not pouting!” Lumine glared at him, pretending to bite at the offending finger pettily.

“Yes, you are,” Paimon chipped on her twin’s other side, stuffing her mouth with the delicious breakfast offered by the school. “Shouldn’t you be more upset? Paimon is really glad that you’re not angry about the Tournament anymore, but—”

“And who said I’m not angry?” Lumine bickered, narrowing her eyes and chewing the bread with a pissed look. She gathered all the sarcasm she had in her body to rant. “I’m the only one in this group that has the brain cells to actually know that getting angry with you two will take me nowhere, especially that now I need to beat down god-knows-what fucking creature because certain someone made me enter this shitty competition and now I need to win against the genius of the century, which coincidentally, comes from the Hogwarts house that is clearly known for being full of prodigious geniuses, not to mention the smiling psychopath that comes from a school who teaches the uses of Dark Magic and also specializes in that same art, so the chances that he could curse me to the point that I drop dead in the blink of an eye makes me really confident that nothing could ever go wrong—”

Aether shoves another loaf of bread into her mouth, interrupting the stressed rant and earning himself a hateful glare from the blonde. 

“Just go and say that you’re jealous” He said nonchalantly, Paimon nodding along. Lumine felt her cheeks flare up in anger, her eyebrows shooting upwards

“What? No! I’m not upset about that! Why the hell should I be mad about not getting enough attention for my skills?” Immediately after the words escaped her mouth she regretted them, Aether sending his best deadpan look.

"There you go. See? Wasn’t that hard, was it?”

Lumine sighed.

Two weeks passed in a blink. Really. At some point, Lumine learned that she was terrible at controlling her thoughts— even more when she went to sleep. It was like a switch was flicked on her head, allowing her brain to go downhill with each possible way things could go wrong. An Abyss Mage invading her exam and burning her to death, a Whooperflower blooming out of nowhere and killing her with ice spikes or the air currents suddenly blowing her off her broomstick while in air. She felt like she woke up breathless too many times in those last weeks.

A bit too soon for her liking, the day of the first trial came. 

The three Champions were led into a tent at the back of the arena with Mr. Alberich. No visitors were allowed, meaning that Lumine didn’t have Aether or Paimon to soothe her nerves— even if outside her face was still as stone, she felt like screaming on the inside. Albedo and Childe didn’t seem nervous, although she could notice Albedo messing with his fingers like a nervous tick. The Durmstrang student, however, seemed more bored than anything else. 

At some point, there was a reporter trying to make her give a statement about how she felt about the tournament and what she did think about her peers— no, no way in hell she would ever admit being intimidated by them, thank you—, but her quiet answers probably made her quickly uninterested, so she went to snoop on Childe and Albedo. Did she feel guilty? No, they had seen it coming. That’s on them for being attractive, right?

“Enough talking, let’s take our draws for now.” Mr. Alberich interrupted the woman with a sigh, saving Albedo from his torture and showing a dust bag in front of Childe. “We’re going in the order decided by the Goblet—so, Mr. Childe, then Mr. Albedo and then Miss Lumine.” 

The reporter left the tent after being shoed away and Childe put his hand on the bag. The way Kaeya held it made it impossible to see what was inside. His arm went deep until his elbows, and then he pulled something in his closed fist. Opening his fingers dramatically, it revealed a pretty heart-shaped crystal that was slightly transparent as water itself.

“Mr. Childe, your opponent is going to be Rhodeia of Loch, also known as Oceanid of Qingce. I’m expecting a good demonstration from you” He stated with a slight smirk, moving quickly so he was in front of Albedo. Lumine didn’t miss the satisfied look from Childe, but she preferred to not overthink too much.

Albedo repeated the same action from the ginger boy, pulling a dark blue fang from the bag. Kaeya’s eyes darkened slightly, before announcing, his shoulder tensing slightly.

“Mr. Albedo, you drew the Wolf of the North, Andrius. While I wouldn’t underestimate your abilities, I must warn you that this one is a particular feral beast. Wish you the best of luck” Lumine furrowed her eyebrows. The difference between Childe and Albedo’s speeches were so strikingly obvious that she knew that besides the magical abilities, the trial had a luck factor. She wasn’t happy with that. 

Her luck nowadays was... Abysmal. 

“Miss Lumine,” Mr. Alberich stood in front of her with the bag open, and she nodded, not wasting any time before shoving her arm down. 

Her fingers brushed at the bottom, her mind providing that the bag probably was enhanced by a space spell, and she could feel various objects at the fingerprints, but wasn’t able to recognise any of them. Deciding to rely completely on her luck, she pulled the southwest one, rectrating her arm with a light-blue feather on it. Mr.Alberich’s eyes went wide at the sight before quickly recomposing himself, his shoulders heavy and lips pressed.

“This… Miss Lumine, this is Dvalin’s plume. Your opponent will be the dragon Dvalin, also popularly known as Stormterror, the Erstwhile King of the Skies. Good luck”

She shivered. Luck was never on her side, wasn’t it? Kaeya shifted, making the bag disappear from his hands with a flick of his wand, properly turning so he could address all of them with a professional tone.

“The goal in this first test is simple. You need to obtain those objects you drew from your opponent. It could be easily achieved when the beasts are dead or unconscious.” He explained, face stern. “Any questions?"

"Is it really necessary to defeat them?" Albedo asked, receiving a raised eyebrow from almost everyone in the tent.

"Not exactly, but I wouldn't count on that. I really doubt you convince the Wolf of the North to give you a fang, genius or not.  However, if you can manage to collect, the trial will be considered a success even if you don’t take Andrius down. Is that all, Mr. Albedo?" When he didn’t protest any further, Kaeya proceeded, nodding to himself. "Okay. Now, we will shortly begin the preparations. There will be a screen on here so you can watch each other’s performances, but you won’t be allowed to leave the tent until the last champion completes her test, understood?”

“Yes!”

“Great. Now, give me a second. I’ll come fetch Mr.Childe shortly.”

"Hey, girlie" 

Lumine flinched. A loud laugh came from behind her and she felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment, immediately correcting her posture so she could at least pretend that she wasn't daydreaming. Yeah, it didn’t fool anyone, but who cares?

"Calm down a bit, wont'ya?" The man, who she registered a bit too late as Childe, shot her a teasing smirk. "You look like a scared rabbit trying to gather their guts. It makes me uneasy, like I’m throwing you into the fire pitch or something,"

"Shut it!" Lumine glared at him, making the ginger haired man let out a laugh. From that angle, she almost could forget that he exhaled some dark vibes. Almost. She liked to think that she was a rational woman, not one to be allured by some good looks, and she trusted her gut enough to suspect when things were shady, even if it came from a pretty boy like him. 

Yeah. She wasn’t going to be charmed by a smirk. Even if Childe was handsome. 

Yeah, no way. 

"You shouldn’t worry too much." He continued, obviously ignoring how Lumine glared at him.

"And why do you say that?" She crossed her arms in her chest, her hand palming the wand hidden in her clothes. Just by precaution. 

"Because I heard of you, Lumine. I know who you are, a rough profile of your brother and your strange fairy. I also know a lot about your habits, the subjects you like the most, your strengths and weaknesses, the things you’re allergic to, and even some psychological analysis."

"...you realize how disturbing that sounds, right…?"

"I'm a kind of a bad guy, but I won’t give you that kind of trouble" He laughed again, ignoring the way she squinted her eyes.

"So you admit you're suspicious." Lumine deadpanned.

"Let's say that I just happen to have a really good network. Naturally I know a lot of things, especially from you and from that other Hogwarts champion." Childe dismissed smoothly, waving his hand.

"That doesn't help at all"

“Hm… What about this? It seems like Albedo has something like a girlfriend. Or not. Everyone knows that they like each other, but for some reason, they aren’t together yet. Also, his little sister is a little terrorist who goes around the castle bombing everything, so the teachers are pleading for him to do something about her—” He mindlessly rambled with a shit-eating grin, making Lumine raise her eyebrow in confusion.

“And why you’re telling me that?” She interrupted Childe before he could go on something more personal about the blonde boy.

“If I prove myself to not be interested in you in a creepy way, just a professional, rival-like way, would you cut me some slack? I mean, you always look at me like I’m going to cut your head or something, so—”

“Can you blame me? This is the first time we’re talking and you admit you have been stalking me— or at least you made someone do it for you. That’s not a good first impression”

"Well, I—"

"Not to mention that you probably sent someone after Albedo's little sister. Isn't she in her first year? Yikes…"

"Now you're just making me feel bad…"

"Yeah, you should—"

"Mr. Childe, it's time to go." Mr. Alberich entered the tent, interrupting Lumine. She sent Childe a look, expecting him to just turn and go, but he stood there with a glint in his eyes. She raised her eyebrow questionably. 

"Aren't you going to wish me good luck?" He tilted his head, smirking. 

"Why should I? You're my opponent." Lumine pressed her lips stubbornly. 

"You got me there" Childe giggled unaffected by her dismissal, turning around and giving her a lazy wave.

"You probably don't need it anyway." Lumine muttered, not expecting him to hear it. The ginger haired man smiled.

A sincere one.

"What is this…?" Lumine frowned, looking at the suspicious looking vase. Kaeya gave her an amused look, raising his visible eyebrow.

"Never seen an abode portkey before?" He smirked, standing in front of the vase. "It's an adeptus technology, Miss Lumine. It allows the existence of a pocket size alternative dimension, with different laws regarding time and physics. We can watch you from the outside, but you can't see us from the inside. The ministry provided these portkeys exclusively for the Tournament, so each Trial could be held safely, without any risks for the viewers and reducing the collateral damage."

"That's lowkey terrifying." She deadpanned, earning a laugh from the older wizard. "So, how do I use it?"

"Touch the vase and you'll be pulled into it. The abode will reveal it's exit once you defeat Stormterror and collect his plume. Worst-case scenario, you'll be teleported outside if you forfeit the challenge." He explained cooly, crossing his arms above his chest.

"And what if I can't forfeit?" It was Lumine's turn to tilt her head, golden eyes analysing carefully the older man's face. He narrowed his eyes and his lips pressed together.

"Let's hope it doesn't reach that point, right? As stated in the Triwizard Tournament's rules, outside interferences are not allowed, even if it is to guarantee the Champion's safety. So, unless you give us the go to rescue you, there's nothing we can do about the trial."

"... got it." She grimaced, ignoring the mental images the warning gave her. Kaeya gestured to touch the ceramic, guiding her hand so her fingertips touched the ceramic.

"Good luck, Miss Lumine."

She opened her mouth to thank him, when everything spun. She felt her hand glue itself into the vase, the sheer force of it sucking her limbs into a dark hole until all of her body parts folded into each other and flew into oblivion. Lumine felt her insides shake, wanting to puke her lunch, but as fast as it came, the sensation left. 

When Lumine finally felt her toes touch the ground, she builded the courage to open her eyes(when did she close them?). Instead of the tent she was before, now she stood on a stone platform that seemed that it could be destroyed with a few hits. She couldn't see the ground from there, a lot of clouds and fog covering her view from how high it was. The winds blew aggressively, making her hair whip in her face leaving a bit of a sting in her cheeks, and her clothes couldn't be tamed on her body. She was suddenly glad that she chose a more practical outfit for this trial instead of the blue skirt from Beauxbatons uniform. 

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a roar. A loud, excruciating cry that echoed in every bone she had in her body. She couldn't exactly place it, but somehow… It was familiar. A painful and lonely sound that fell deaf to the void. From the deep bottom of the abode, Stormterror charged upwards, his wings cutting through the clouds and leaving behind harsh currents of pure power. Lumine covered her eyes with her arm, but even so, it was impossible to ignore the sheer beauty of the King of the Skies. 

Fuck. She had to fight it.

[hiraemy]

Lumine and the Goblet of Fire [part 3]

[Part One] [Part Two]

Word count: 2k

Notes: I’m sorry for the delay! I actually planned to have this part posted last week, but there were a few things that got me troubled so I had to postpone it a bit. This part is almost 100% action, and I’m not sure myself if I could write it in a way that’s interesting and easy to imagine, so... Yeah. I would spent more time trying to make it work, but I thought I had already delayed it enough. Anyways, thank you for the support and enjoy your reading!

Act three: Lumine and the stupid First Trial

To everyone who had the rare luxury of getting closer to the twins, there were a few obvious things that came to light, like how Aether and Lumine were complete polar opposites but still managed to understand each other with a simple glance.

Lumine was the most guarded of the two— almost bordering on paranoia, but we don't talk about that—, probably a result of her constant worrying. She wasn't one to openly talk about her feelings, even to Aether, and it took a lot of insistence from Paimon to even befriend her. 

Aether was too aware of this. He knew Lumine had a lot on her mind, and he also knew not to push some things because it was both painful and cruel to do it to her. Still, when he heard about the Triwizard Tournament, he felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that they couldn't miss. 

It was good for her to be pushed out of her shell once in a while. Aether felt like one day or another Lumine had to learn to not let her fears keep her from doing risky things. Better sooner than later, right?

That being said, it wasn't like he was a heartless monster. Watching Lumine's eyes glistening with anxiety from the screen— even if no one else could spot it in her stoic expression— made his heart clench, a grimace forming on his lips. 

He had full faith in his twin. But that didn't stop him from worrying.

Lumine learned too late that watching someone almost being crushed by a legendary beast and actually being the person almost crushed by a legendary beast were two entirely different experiences. 

While she felt her breath caught in her throat too many times watching Childe and Albedo defeat their opponents earlier, she felt like if she didn't breathe enough in her own trial she would be toast in no time at all.

Dvalin lunged, his entire body crashing in the stone and leaving behind a trail of destruction, eyes narrowed on her figure. Lumine ran until the end of the platform, gulping when she saw the dead end. Fuck. There was another rock pillar, but it was too far. The dragon was closing on her and she had to think fast. She had three options here: learn how to fly out of nowhere, fall to her death or to try to outsmart the Great Dragon Dvalin. 

Yeah, no fucking way.

So, flying it is.

Broomsticks were out. First of all, she didn’t even bring her broom from Beauxbatons, because she didn’t think she would need it in the first place. Besides, this was a pocket dimension, so, unless she knew how to teleport things from outside, that was also out of the question. Right. In the end, it was do or die. Great.

Lumine was going to kill Aether. Was it bad that she could only think of how she could be the most petty and annoying to her brother after this? Oh, if she survived, of course. Not to jinx or anything.

She gathered all the courage of a lifetime in her chest and took a deep breath. She didn’t dare to look behind her or even below and jumped off the still, safe ground. Her hair whipped in all directions and invaded her mouth and she almost let her grip on her wand slide. Lumine was sure both Paimon and Aether would kill her later for being so reckless, but she convinced herself that they couldn't kill her if she was already dead in the first place.

Free falling was extremely unsettling, with no other words being enough to describe the feeling. Her stomach was spinning and all her senses were screaming for her to do something, but her logical mind overruled everything, making sure she got the timing right. When she felt the tickly sensation of passing by the clouds, she finally let out the breath she was holding.

“Arresto momentum!” She stopped falling. Literally. Ignoring the chills in her spine when she noticed that she couldn’t see the ground when she fell at least a hundred meters from the platform, she stabilized herself in a good position mid-air before casting the next spell “Ascendio!”

Lumine was shot up upwards, but this time, she had full control of her movements in plain air. It was almost as if she had a pair of wings on her back, allowing her to have a fair combat in the skies with Stormterror. The rational part of her mind asked herself how the fuck was she supposed to do attack and defend when she was already distracted with maintaining the Ascendio charm. She didn’t even know before jumping if her trick was going to work, so everything she could accomplish after was already great.

Dvalin roared again, his entire body convulsing, almost as if he was in pain. Lumine narrowed her eyes at the strange behavior, but decided to take the advantage of not being noticed by the beast yet. 

“Confringo!” She yelled, aiming directly for his head. Dvalin took the direct hit and roared again, his scales scorched, but mostly unaffected despite the lethal force used behind the curse. “Expulso!” Lumine tried again, merely blasting the dragon a few inches off course in air. The beast seemed more annoyed than damaged by her attacks, blindly clawing as someone who tried to shoo bugs away. The witch had a hard time avoiding his attacks, almost being hit once or twice. 

However, in these attempts, she noticed something. No matter what spells she threw at Dvalin, the dragon wouldn’t attack her with the intent to kill. He had a few too close tries, but he never aimed directly to take her down. It was almost as if he was distracted with another thing— Or he simply didn’t want to attack her. It roared a lot, each time sounding more painful than the last. Was he cursed, or something…? 

Not a single spell she casted had a great effect on his defenses, no matter how strong her firepower was. She didn’t doubt her combat abilities, having full confidence in her DADA and Charms scores from Beauxbatons, but it was painfully clear she wasn’t going anywhere with this full offensive plan. Before, Tartaglia managed to beat the Oceanid sorely in combat, but Albedo took a rather different strategy to encase Andrius in wines and stop it from moving. What the hell would she do with an opponent who was tankier than both of the other beasts, and at the same time, could kill her with a single swipe?

As if a light was shoved into her brain, she noticed a purple crystal hanging from Dvalin’s neck. It was almost as if it was forcefully implanted into his skin, corruption growing between his scales and rooting the gem in its place. Not a single book that covered the biology of the world’s magical beasts mentioned a purple gem on the dragon, so maybe… Was it safe to guess that it didn’t belong there originally?

Another attack brought Lumine from her thoughts, her left arm suffering a deep gash from the shoulder to her elbows for lack of attention. It stung like a bitch and she bit her lips harshly to stop the pitiful scream from escaping. If she wanted to take a closer look to that crystal, she had to be better than this. 

“Diminuendo,” She cast the spell on herself, feeling her figure shrink until she was twenty centimeters tall. In this state, Dvalin’s crazed eyes were unable to track her, so she had an easier time flying until she was at the dragon’s neck. She casted the countercharm to grow back into her full height and used Relashio, removing the crystal’s roots from his neck. The crystal let a purple smoke that Lumine didn't inhale by instinct and clattered to the ground. The blonde quickly blew the gem to dust, watching as it released a lot of elemental energy into the air.

The dragon seized as if it had suffered a great shock, his uncontrollable spasms sending her flying towards the stone platform like a pathetic bug, the ground around her gaining a huge crash landsite from the pure strength of the throw. Her back gave a pitiful noise— it wasn't broken… hopefully— and the air was expelled from her lungs, leaving her gasping for air.

She didn’t even have the time to properly feel the pain, because in a blink of an eye, Dvalin was also falling— Right on her. Lumine propelled herself by the elbows, tripping on her feet one or two times before being able to drag herself away from the gigantic dragon, and escaping by a hair thread. Her adrenaline rush lasted a few seconds before she collapsed on her feet, right arm(the good one) crutching her ribs rather tight. 

“Is it over…?” Lumine muttered, tired and feeling like she could sleep for months. As if she had jinxed it, Dvalin groaned again, but the only body part he could move was his head. His mouth was half-open, showing the sharp fangs and the strange coloration on his tongue— It had a nasty stain, looking like rotten flesh. But the thing that caught her attention were his eyes. The pupils were grey, hazed and unfocused, even if the irised sustained an angry looking red with a tiny purple circle spinning around the pupil as if it was actively sustaining a curse. 

Lumine still had to take that Plume. However, there was something off about his whole demeanor that made her extremely unsettled. 

With tiny, careful steps, she dared to get closer to him. The dragon hissed, growling in a threatening tone that screamed ‘Get Away!’, but she ignored it for the sake of her instincts. Suddenly, his head dragged on the floor, aiming to bite her.

Her hand shot up automatically, wand long forgotten meters away, on the ground where she fell before. She didn’t know how— or why— she did that, but rather than questioning her own sanity, she felt the energy channeling on her veins into a not-exactly-shield made of pure magic. And instead of crashing directly on it, Dvalin simply stopped mid-track, eyes changing coloration and suddenly clearer. His pupils slowly regained focus, clear and a dark black coloration again, the circle around it long gone. 

Dvalin shook his head slowly, regaining his senses. 

It stood up on full fours, wings opening in a magnificent beast deserving of the title King of the Skies. It gave another roar that sounded even… happy? At least, as far as happy roars could go, she guessed. Anyway, it didn’t want to claw her eyes out, so she was taking it as a win.

Ah. Right, the plume—!

“Mr. Dvalin!” She screamed when the winds began to pick up again, signaling that the dragon was almost leaving the platform for good. She ignored the dumb feeling of calling Stormterror by ‘Mister’ and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Please, could you give me a plume? It's really important…!”

It sailed off. Lumine tried to not let her disappointment show on her face— God, who the fuck was dumb enough to try to chat with a dragon—?!

Wait. 

On the stone platform, hidden by the cracks. Lying there was a single dark blue plume. 

The cheers were loud. So loud that Lumine first thought she was going to be deaf. Still, with Dvalin's plume on her raised fist, she didn't have in her to let the screams affect the adrenaline of beating the goddamn trial with flying scores. Literally. 

She quickly scanned the crowd for her brother and Paimon, searching for approval in her most

 precious people in the world, just to see Paimon almost flying off the benches. As for Aether… well.

Seeing the grin on his sister's face caused a wave of pride to take over his system in a heartbeat. All the tension accumulated on his muscles left him all of sudden, making him flop tiredly into the chair(when did he stand up anyway?).

A part of Aether's worries were soothed. Lumine was strong. Even if she didn't notice, she was letting herself grow into a beautiful flower despite all the harsh currents that tried to take her down.

"...you're crying"

"...n-no, I'm not… Stop laughing, Paimon!"