#this will just focus on Hu Tao and Zhongli

[mielwriting]

Wangsheng Found Family

Hu Tao realizes something about Zhongli, and worries he’ll leave if he finds out she knows. She doesn’t want him to, but struggles to admit to herself how much Zhongli means to her.

Zhongli has noticed his adopted daughter (boss) is becoming increasingly anxious about something, and tries to coax her into confiding in him without her feeling forced into it.

***

Hu Tao figures out Zhongli is Rex Lapis. This is the immediate aftermath of that realization.

Featuring Hu Tao being a bit lonely because so many people think she’s weird.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Hi!!! poppin in to say hey. guess who reread your stories again. me. i did for like the thirtieth time. i love them so much, they’re gorgeous. you glorious creature <333

anyway, i read the gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun manga. i saw your chapter 19 note on ‘i think youre so good.’ do you, perchance, have any notes or ideas you’d be willing to share abt what you’d write in a zhongchi gsnk au??? people don’t talk enough about that series and god the idea of that au is already brewing comedy across my mind. Love you(r writing and art), hope you had a great christmas and new year!!! <3

well obviously it'd have to be nozaki = zhongli and mikoshiba = childe. i'm very tempted to say it would then be sakura = lumine? aether? aether would be funnier. of course we'd completely ditch sakura's massive crush on nozaki and focus on whatever the fuck nozaki and mikoshiba got going on there. the rest of the characters i don't have a clear "this one would be this one" idea, so it could be whatever.

but i think instead of being a gsnk au it'd be more like.... a gsnk-inspired modern au. so like i said in the notes, the premise would be zhongli is a romance novel writer who goes under a woman's pseud bc he's fluid like that, and his pseud is hailed as like this marvellous writer, the spokeperson for women's hearts and all that – half the fanbase have giant crushes on him/her and generally portray him as like this all-knowing poet woman. zhongli-jiejie is what i'm saying. and the only one who knows zhongli is the author behind that pseud would be his editor, which i'm so tempted to say would be hu tao bc it'd be hilarious; but idk that hu tao would be able to keep such a funny detail private among her own friend group? so maybe it could be literally anyone else. ningguang idk why i feel like it'd fit. i think editor ningguang would be funny. so the only other person who'd know besides ningguang would be beidou, who CAN keep it a secret.

anyway- other than that, the main Funny of the au would be that most of the main characters in his famous ongoing novels would be genderbent versions of the people around him. main character soft dainty delicate heroine would be childe, sweet overworked nice young man would be ganyu, strict responsible workaholic boyfriend of previous nice overworked man would be keqing, scarred quiet serious Complex(tm) young woman would be xiao, beautiful gentle mildly-menacing doctor lady would be baizhu, etc.

we would need a sakura for this though, which is why i think we'd have to have like- someone else beyond beidou and ningguang find out that zhongli is the author. maybe we could pull a ysmms and like- make it someone entirely random. like- xiangling. or yunjin. and have the entire thing be an outsider's pov on the whole mess. maybe we could have it be xingqiu, and instead of it being a 'sakura has a crush on nozaki and tries to confess' situation, it could be a 'xingqiu is a fanboy of zhongli's pseud and started writing because of him/her' and ends up finding out via the writing world or smth.

idk it was just a mess of thoughts i had back then but it was too funny an idea not to point it out. not sure i'd ever write it though, unlikely.

but it is pretty funny to think about so thank you!! i hope that was interesting;,,

[royal-ruin]

other genshin fic recs here genshin fic recs by pairing here personal favorites are starred, by the way. everything is complete unless stated otherwise.

misc. genshin romantic fics

kujou sara / yoimiya

daylight star by Anonymous (~5k)

a hand around her vision / a hand around her throat

Yoimiya breaks into a prison. It begins there.

hu tao / yanfei

*plum blossoms in winter by arsonide (~15k)

“I just think she’s beautiful,” Hu Tao stated certainly.

“The most alluring flowers tend to have the deepest thorns, Hu Tao,” Zhongli warned, though his voice was still light.

Hu Tao wasn’t listening to him. She waved at him lightly, dispelling whatever lecture he had for her on his tongue. Yanfei was stunning, that much was true, and her grandfather had always told her to appreciate anything she found half as beautiful.

Or, Hu Tao thought that the flowers she threw up paled in comparison to the way Yanfei made her feel.

hanahaki au. one of the best genshin fics i’ve read

kojou sara / kokomi

*kin-mokusei (where it is sweeter) by daiicraaa (~10k)

In battle, you cannot hesitate. Sara knows this as well as she knows her own name, engrained into the fibers of her soul. But then, when the time is finally right to strike down her enemy, she hesitates, and Sangonomiya Kokomi smiles back at her.

She is beautiful.

Do not tell the Shogun; I am a traitor.

it’s so good. enemies to lovers.

amber / eula

but i can’t help, falling in love with you by doriangraysbitch (~5k)

“What do you mean?” Lisa asks, spinning around, face bewildered. “You and Amber aren’t dating?”

Eula clears her throat, feeling heat on her cheeks. She lowers her eyes to the floor so her blush won’t be so noticeable. “No,” she says. “We aren’t.”

There is such a long stretch of silence that Eula looks back up at Lisa in confusion and a little bit of challenge. “…Oh,” Lisa says finally. “I’m sorry, dear, I just assumed.”

And Eula would gladly leave that topic alone forever, but there’s something bothering her about how Lisa says it, how certain she was that she was right.

“Does everyone think that?” she asks, fighting to keep her voice level, even though her heart is racing and she feels slightly faint.

Lisa hesitates just long enough to confirm Eula’s fears.

“Oh, archons,” she says, absolutely horrified. “Oh, no.”

or, everyone thinks eula and amber are dating. gay panic ensues.

kamisato ayaka / kujou sara

*colour me by sambharsobs (~8k)

[It is symbolic. From the nine sips of sake to the political weight of their alliance, all of it is symbolic. And, perhaps most important of all, is the meaning behind Ayaka’s white wedding kimono.

She is a blank canvas, chaste and pure, for her future spouse to colour as she deems fit.

But Sara has not looked at her once since the ceremony began.]

OR: The Kujou Clan’s adopted daughter and Kamisato Clan’s second sibling are wed in a desperate attempt to salvage political images, and Ayaka does not know how to reach for Sara.

wow, just wow. i absolutely loved this fic.

albedo / venti

Of Wind and Chalk by sparklinglabyrinth (~15k)

Albedo suspects a certain bard is more than meets the eye. Numerous developments occur that only continue to fuel his suspicion until the truth is inevitably disclosed. (Or Albedo musing on multiple in game events related to Venti, Mondstadt and Durin)

arataki itto / gorou

bringing a bouquet to battle by wormkinnie (~7k)

Arataki Itto is a lot of things: Very strong, very fast, very handsome, cunning, charming, talented, good at fighting— hey, you’re getting all this, right?

He is not, however, that good with dogs (or guys who have the features of dogs. or guys at all).

[Excerpt from That’s Life Issue #107 (Note: For the anonymity of the asker and Ms. Hina, personal details may be removed or edited.)

Ms. Hina! How do I block my mind from someone?! When I talk to this person they seem to be finding my weaknesses! It makes my head feel very strange. This is bad! I can’t let my focus fail me, because then I will be bested in competition, and this is unthinkable. Reply soon. Your biggest fan.]

something a bit more lighthearted for a change.

Commission: Who Is Ms. Hina Dating? by underthethousandstars (~3k)

[“You want us to find out who Ms. Hina is dating?” Paimon cried, bringing Lumine back to reality.

“Why is this a commission?” Lumine asked, raising a brow in suspicion.

“Her fans have noticed a change in quality concerning her love advice and have come to the conclusion that she must be dating someone.”]

Lumine is commissioned to find out who Ms. Hina is dating.

diluc ragnvindr / zhongli | morax

*what cannot be said (will be wept) by muichirou (~15k; Warning: MCD)

[When he spotted red hair — much like flames, blaring and vibrant — amidst grassland, only punctuated by the lone glaze lilies, he felt intrigued. The human’s red locks were falling out of his dark hood, barely hidden, like a tempered storm.

It was bewitching.

Rex Lapis wondered what someone like him was doing in Liyue— someone as entrancing as him.]

(or: zhongli and diluc have met before, many moons ago.)

zhongli | morax / venti | barbatos

the anemo archon is dead (long live the anemo archon) by heavymoons (~6k)

The Tyrant of the Winds, Decarabian is no more. As the newly minted Anemo Archon, Barbatos wishes he had read the fine print before crossing paths with the implacable God of Contracts.

(In which, Venti accidentally trespasses, gets arrested, and tries to broker the grandest alliance in all of Teyvat, in that order.)

[“I owe you an apology,” is what Morax says, unexpectedly.

“An apology?” Venti parrots, his gaze unconsciously drifting down to his shackled hands and then to the thick bars on his cell. He wonders if the people of Liyue just have very strange ways of apologizing.]

*such impossible bliss by nyabatos (~2.5k)

[there’s a breath of warm air against his cheek, a huff of laughter, “you know, you don’t have to look at me like that.”

morax blinks. “like what?”

“like you’ve never seen a winged god before.”]

takes place when the original seven were alive.

diluc ragnvindr / venti | barbatos

pointing at the moon by ohwickedsoul (~2.5k)

[“Do you still love the crystalflies?” Venti asks, runs a finger around edge of his wine.

Diluc goes very still. “What?”

“They haunt your vines,” Venti says, smiles into his glass, soft and a little melancholic. “I thought you liked them?]

ganyu / keqing

*heartbeat of the world by Sephirron (~7k)

To Ganyu, a thousand years isn’t very long at all. She watches Liyue rise and fall, build and rebuild. But never in all her years has she met anyone like Keqing, the single mortal that didn’t believe in gods.

But Keqing cares about others, that much is clear. They stand worlds apart and Keqing barely looks her way. Ganyu is convinced she is the one human that Keqing didn’t care about. Her fingers brush against her horns. Or maybe, she is convinced that Keqing could never care for a god, even if it was human.

[yunarise]

⭐️

MULTIMUSE MEME: Send a " ⭐ " and I will list muses I would be interested in throwing at yours. If you like any of the suggested combinations, you are welcome to come plot or start interactions with them.

Sorry for the wait on this! I decided to focus only on Genshin muses for now, but I'm happy to consider crossovers as well (so long as I know the other fandom).

Lynette & Freminet. - Sibling fun! Also, angst.

Bonanus & Bosacius. - We have a thread with them, and I'm excited to see where it will go. Yaksha interactions are a treat.

Xiao & Bosacius. - They deserve some proper sibling time.

Zhongli & Bosacius. - We already wrote a bit with them, and I found it very enjoyable and am always eager for more!

Zhongli & Hu Tao. - I love them.

Xiao & Hu Tao. - The chaos. Also, Xiao learning to be a bit more outgoing by further developing whatever is going on in canon between these two.

Kaeya & Diluc. - Kaeya is a selective muse for me. When it comes to these two, there's a wide range of different lines along which to develop them, but I'm always down to explore them! I might need some plotting first though.

Lumine & Diluc. - I don't have a reason for this other than Lumine respects Diluc greatly, and Diluc needs some more friends.

Fischl & Bennett. - Fischl is a muse that's very come and go for me, but I'd be curious to explore her with Bennett. Two kids, just doing their best, both suffering while putting on a brave face.

[th3-royalty]

Xiao My Beloved

Part 3 (Woo y'all waited a while for this one now at the very least I have some clue on what I would like to do for this story)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 You're here

Okay ok okay, time to cool down not like I just met the love of my life or anything, nope not at all. Except yes! I just did! He was the one and only adeptus XIAO, the sole yaksha, conqueror of demons, protector of Liyue!! Ugh my heart hurts welp time to focus can’t just go off into fantasy land (even if I technically am in a fantasy land how does that work actually…) not the point. I need to figure out a to-do list of things since I am now stranded here and can’t rely on Aether’s kindness forever. 

Get some clothes that actually fit -do I need to have multiple sets or does cartoon logic work here? better not ask and just look-

Meet with Zhongli -wait should that be first??- figure out my situation and try to get some answers though I doubt he has any

Find a job, probably something relatively easy like clerical work, I can do that. Probably not joining the adventurer's guild. I can't stand being outdoors for too long and don’t know how to fight.

Make some friends! Good options would be Yun Jin, Xiangling, Hu Tao, and Xinyan; approach Xiangling or Hu Tao first, most likely to introduce me to the others.

Make XIAO FALL MADLY IN LOVE  maybe leave that one out for now:

For now that list should work oh wait Aethers calling me. “Hey why’d you slow down” “Oh just got a bit too into my thoughts, sorry about that.” “No worries we’re here by the way”. Wow I didn’t even notice did we really walk that far I thought we would have to camp, guess video game logic saves the day again. 

“Hey you hungry?”Aether questions “I know a place to grab a bite”, “Yeah I haven’t really eaten anything since I got here so that’d be nice” sweet if this works he may introduce me to Xiangling then I make friends in Liyue number 1. 

“Come on you two slowpokes Paimon is starving” we both rush forward, rushing past the Milleth guarding Liyue’s gates. After catching up with Paimon we start walking over to what I can only assume is Wanmin Restaurant. As we walk I take this time to look around, Liyue is just as gorgeous in person as it is in the game. I see beautiful buildings with intricate wooden designs, silk flowers and glaze lilies blooming. The sun is setting over the horizon across the sea as you can hear people chattering and the crashing of waves. The Crux seems to be docked. Beidou must be here to see Ninnuang, maybe we will meet Kazuha.  …oh we’re here

“Wanmin restaurant Paimon thinks it may be the best restaurant in Liyue!” “Maybe that hurts Paimon after all we’ve been through” Xiangling walks out of the front door there’s an actual indoor seating area, huh that’s new. “ Hello Aether, Paimon, and oh who is this?” Xiangling asks curiously. “ Hi, I’m (y/n) pleased to meet you” “Oh a new face it’s nice to meet you two”. Aether responds saying “ Ya they're new to Liyue so I decided to show them around” smooth Aether. “OH I’d love to introduce you to some new foods! Have you ever tried Liyuen cuisine?” “No I haven’t�� I politely respond to Xiangling, I don’t think Chinese food counts. “Well then obviously you have to! Since you're here and all, sit down, I'll whip up something real quick for you” Xiangling rushes to the kitchen. 

After a while we finished eating “Wow that was delicious thank you Xiangling” I smiled up at her, “oh it was no trouble at all anything for a new friend! A friend of the traveler’s is a friend of mine”Xiangling quickly responds back. “I think we should head home now thanks for the meal Xiangling,” Aether says. “Anytime come back soon okay!” We wave goodbye to Xiangling as we start walking away. 

“So where are you planning to go, Aether?” I obviously know it’s the teapot but I can’t let him know that. “Oh we have a place to stay since we travel all the time, here take this talisman you’ll need it to get it.” After stating that we are all immediately transported to the teapot. It’s so beautiful inside, I gasp just taking in the wonder of it all. “Sorry for the suddenness of it. Anyway, we can stay here for the night and then meet up with a friend of mine who may have some knowledge on your situation. There’s a bedroom right over there you can stay in for the night.” I’m pretty tired so I’m gonna head to bed good night (y/n).” “Goodnight Aether, goodnight Paimon.” I start walking over to the room thinking about everything that happened today, I don’t think this is ever how I would have thought my first day in Teyvat would go. Welp time to sleep.

(A/N sorry for the lack of Xiao in this chapter I really just wanted to set up the next part, so this is really just filler, it's going somewhere I swear)

Taglist: @swivy123, (If you wish to be added to my taglist lemme know!)

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

I’m so blessed I got Neuvillette, that was much deserved after I missed getting Zhonglis shield and Tartaglia again, not to mention missing out on the Wanderer earlier this year and probably missing Hu Tao AGAIN. I’d be quite happy if I just got another decent 5 star weapon now, rather than more characters though, as I have about 50 now, and I’d rather focus on levelling up my teams and creating a variety of strong builds that are different to my mains I’ve kept for awhile.

I’ve got a bunch of 5 stars I still haven’t levelled up and honestly, I would certainly benefit by doing more of that but I’ll still roll anyway but my main goal is building characters I either haven’t played in awhile or haven’t been able to use use due to them being low level still.

My plan was to collect as many as possible initially so once I had them, I could then work on building rather than missing their drop times, and since I’ve reached full world level and top adventure rank for a few months now, it’s much more fun building as it’s easier and not such a ball ache nor as time consuming with not much reward like when you’re low rank.

I’m proud to celebrate 3 years of Genshin! I started playing about 5 months after release and I play nearly every single day aside from one month where I didn’t much as I was hyper focusing on something else, which is pretty good considering I also read every single day now. I’ve come very far in the past few years from where I was, doing things I thought I’d not enjoy again, or couldn’t enjoy, and this game has helped many times when nothing else would. I’ve been almost 1000 days active and received that achievement! When I felt like I hadn’t achieved much else in a day, I could know I achieve a lot on this! And the peaceful atmosphere in game was a very good place for me to go instead of entertaining depression unwillingly. A total comfort game.

[https-furina]

archon, venti, vision, freedom, delusion, adventurers guild, guizhong, rex lapis, barbara, sakura blooms, lantern rite, ganyu and dainsleaf <3

aaaa love of my lifeee<3

archon; "which nation's known 'ideal do you like the most: freedom, contracts, eternity, wisdom, justice, or war?" this isn't fontaine bias at all but !! justice !! but if you know me well enough, you know that i have a degree in criminology (and explains it) but it's just coincidence that justice happens to be fontaine shshs

venti; "which character(s) do you think you'd get actually get along with if you were to meet in person and who do you think you'd actually dislike interacting with?" on the list of people i'd get along with: zhongli, childe, hu tao, beidou, kaveh, nilou, candace, kaeya & venti (together, pls take me drinking /hj), amber, heizou, ayaka, yoimiya, itto and thoma!! on the dislike list, i actually don't think i'd get along too well with bennett? (cries), ningguang (intimidating) and miko (also intimidating, i'd be very much like gorou)

vision; "if you were visionless, how would you compensate for the lack of elemental boost? pure skill and wit or would you invest in some premium fatui-made delusions..." i highkey think i'd pull a diluc with a delusion, go on a 4 year murder spree and become banned in snezhnaya and act like it never happened /j. but i think i'd genuinely be like heizou with wit and intuition? instead of martial arts (although i did karate shshsh) i'd make up for it with archery though <3

freedom; "if you were blessed with a vision, which one would you want to have (and which one do you think you'd actually get?)" i'd want a hydro vision !! but i'm fairly certain i'd end up with an anemo vision oopsie...

delusion; "what are your genshin unpopular opinions?" following metas is boring ): if you wanna focus on builds and teams that make sense and have good compositions, fair enough!! but also you don't have to do that, you can make teams out of whatever the hell you want. don't want to put an artifact set everyone recommends onto someone? don't! want to make someone a main dps who isn't typically one? do it! i'm a mix of both but like it's so annoying when people comment on others' teams. if it works for someone and they enjoy it, why the hell not <3 another one (which is gonna be controversial i apologise) but the community leans heavily towards mlm ships and seem to dislike wlw ships more and more. lyney x scaramouche is currently a ship but i saw people shunning clorinde x navia ???

adventurer's guild; "which genshin group would you align yourself with?" okay so i'm not 100% on the groups but perhaps 4ggravate? (i'm like someone put all four of them in an afab body) and also the losers who like books (alhaitham, xingqiu, lisa)

guizhong; "which characters have your favourite aesthetic and/or design?" alhaitham (aesthetic, if you've seen my bedroom + phone it's literally his colours), lyney (aesthetic + design), kirara (design), kokomi (design + aesthetic) <3

rex lapis; "what's your favourite cultural aspect of each of the released nations?" hmm okay, does windblume count for mondstadt? because i hecking adore windblume so badly - liyue would be the architecture !! inazuma is the shrines and their torii gates, sumeru is their attire and fontaine is food <3 if they all count shshshsh

barbara; "you're a tourist traveling teyvat, which locations in the game would you want to visit in person?" windrise, guyun stone forest, wuwang hill, dragonspine !! the grand narukami shrine + tenshukaku, serpent's head, watatsumi (all of it hehe), pardis dhyai, devantaka mountain, mawtiyima forest, opera epiclese and elynas !!

sakura blooms; "what is/are your favourite world quest(s) you've done?" the heckin melusines !!! and also neko at the asase shrine <3

lantern rite; "what is your favourite cutscene in the game so far?" i have too many favourites aaaa !! possibly the parade of providence event cutscene though <3

ganyu; "which character's rerun are you waiting for desperately?" albedo. hoyo. hand him over. (:

dainsleif; "what theory do you have about the lore and the archon's involvement with the destruction of khaenri'ah?" my current fave theory is celestia clearly destroyed khaenri'ah because khaenri'ah didn't believe in them? and i believe that khaenri'ah was possibly a very technologically advanced country - maybe so advanced that it scared celestia into using the archons to do their bidding. obviously we may not know because of his contract but i like to theorise that zhongli doesn't like khaenri'ah's blood on his hands but he made a contract with celestia to not tell the truth as to what happened.

[twilightstarr-zinnia]

zhongli, kuki shinobu! (zhongscara)

Zhongli

The Easy Button Support Build. Black tassel. Four piece tenacity of the mililith with a focus on HP.

He's a mainstay in the Funeral Parlycule with Hu Tao, Xingqiu and Albedo. (Not romantically involved, just there to guide and protect them.)

He's also in the aggravate team I'm working on with Lisa, dendro Aether, and Ei. Lisa and Zhongli have never met, but they should. They would have wonderful relaxing nerdy conversations over tea.

But Zhongli can also be a temporary teammate in any difficult situation where I want a bubble of invincibility.

Shinonu

I'm only using her The Nerds team currently, so she's completely geared towards hyperblooming. Toukabou Shigure. Four piece flower of paradise with all the EM she can get.

[milkstoner]

ooooo tell me more about zhongjin!

Sweetie you’re reawakening the crazy zhongli stan from 2021 are you sure you want to go through with that… LOL

Okay, I never really thought of it in depth, and I am not updated on lore re: yunjin… or zhongli, for that matter, so this might be absolutely busted. 🛐

Anyway, I see liyue citizen era zhongli as a gentle, sophisticated man who’s a bit… greedy and perverted. Being old as he is, he inevitably likes them young. Not because the young are gullible or easy, but because he sees himself as hardened and he likes a breath of fresh air. He’s liyue community dick because he charms everybody around him. He just pulls you into his eyes and it compels you to do everything he asks of you (he doesn’t abuse that ability—unless it’s to borrow money). Anyway, to go back to the community dick part, that means he’s not into closed relationships. He’s a whore. But also, I like the idea of that worshipped god giving his body back, your god being your lover. They’re worshipping him in bed. He said himself he’s a man of leisure (2022 lantern festival that line fucking killed me), so obviously he takes things slow… he likes lounging, thinking… he likes the softer, more refined things, such as yunjin.

Now we’re lucky because zhongli is canonically a fan of yunjin. He likes her voice, her delicate demeanour, her pretty face… it soothes. She’s all pretty and wrapped in ribbons. He’d like to hold her close and take in her scent.

Yunjin, like everybody in liyue, is charmed. She appreciates the support from a refined man such as zhongli. (He’s wfp’s guest and that’s like, widely known—zhongli is widely respected as some sort of elder who has a vast knowledge of things) He gives her advice, he listens to her concerns, treats her at hu tao’s expense, tells her she’s beautiful, and gradually, they develop a close relationship.

He takes yunjin’s first. She likes that he’s older, that he has an unreal vibe around him… he’s a charming mystery. She would like for them to be exclusive, but she gets played… although zhongli plays with her a lot. Hmm… yes, he’s playing around. In intimacy zhongli is very gentle and devoted. He has plenty of love to give. He’s patient with his newer conquests. Eases them into it, that’s how he unknowingly gets them to fall in love, if they aren’t already (he’s their god so ofc they love him). Yunjin is eager to please but she likes being a pillow princess more. Zhongli doesn’t mind and gives her all she needs—really, in doing so, he takes from her… because he’ll overstimulate the poor girl. Mentally it takes a toll on her.

Yunjin to me would be a girl who wants to marry. It makes her sad that zhongli can’t/won’t marry her despite the fact he has her flower. She knows she can’t act lovey dovey with him in public bc of their atrocious age gap and… the fact they’re not official. She keeps coming back however because that man has a spell on his people. The sight of him watching her perform makes her anxious. She’s afraid she might have been defiled (when really she’s been literally blessed) by letting an older man touch her. She would like to focus on her career and craft… it’s proving to be difficult. And yet in intimacy, zhongli always tells her her singing to him is exquisite…

This is what I have for now thank you for this ask!!!

[ticklystuff]

hallooo hope you are doing well!

for the "top 5" ask thing, id like to ask for your top 5 favorite genshin characters 👀

ask me top 5 anything!

hewwo anon! this one was hard *sobs* i love a lot of them so much

childe: surprise surprise! i actually didn’t care too much for him when he first showed up and only liked him for shipping with zhongli. that changed when he became playable (i adore daggers) and saw how unhinged he is and all of his trauma so now i must bully him for eternity

zhongli: surprise surprise pt 2! i had initially planned to take this game very slow and casual so i was taking my time through monstadt until my sister sent me a pic of him and i ended up rushing through the storyline just to meet him LOL

hu tao: hot take but she’s the best written character in this game. she’s fun but her story quest also did a good job at portraying her as incredibly mature and i don’t think people in the fandom focus on that side of her enough. i rolled for her after her story quest HAHAHA

thoma: he is precious and i like to think of him as childe without trauma lol honestly it’s pretty cool he enjoys things most people would find mundane and he takes pride in it too which is pretty admirable ngl ALSO HES GOOD WITH ANIMALS I LOVE HIM

yae miko: SHE IS EVERYTHING I WANT TO BE so smug so intelligent so fun i’ve loved all of her appearances so far and it saddens me that I STILL DONT HAVE HER

honorable mention goes to albedo bc i had to flip a coin for him or miko and the coin chose miko lol but i love him he’s a smug little bastard

[genericwizard]

For the ask meme, Zhongli and Jean!

Oh good, characters I don't ramble enough about, lets do this;

Zhongli

How I feel about this character I like Zhongli a lot, I feel really grateful he came home easily because he makes maining Diluc possible for me, even with an honestly pretty lazy build (hp focus) I still get a lot out of him as a character. Just as capable of mischief as Venti but way more coy about it. Every time I get to see him again it's nice to be reunited with him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character I don't actually have that much. I mentioned I like exes ZhongVen but my otp is ZhongXiao.... For the record though I have never once considered Xiao to be his son. I don't know where that headcanon came from but I hate it so might as well get that out there. I was a fire emblem fan so I know the appeal of knight + lord ships. That said I think they have the slowest burn of all time in that Xiao seems demiromantic at best, and Zhongli seems content to wait as long as it takes for Xiao to realize that Zhongli cares for him. I think a lot about their little aside at the end of lantern rite 2023 where Zhongli coyly insists that he's just a normal citizen, and he respects the adepti like anyone else. And the way he pretends he didn't save Xiao during perilous trail for no reason!!! Dude let him know !!!

My non-romantic OTP for this character Maybe with Hu Tao... I really enjoy their dynamic. That barely 20 something woman is working the geo archon hard as her part timer, good for her. Despite everything still love friends ZhongVen too, they have a lot of animosity and history, but I was still losing it during their little charade during lantern rite 2023.

My unpopular opinion about this character He's not Xiao's dad. Besides that I don't have a lot of contrary opinions on Zhongli I feel like.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. Soooo bummed he hid like a coward from Neuvi during lantern rite 2024 bonus. I wanna know what his relationship to the ancient dragons is so bad. I headcanon that maybe he was a geo dragon, but not the authority, and betrayed his kind to form allegiances with the other primordial beings (adepti) to win the archon war, but I'd love to know what really happened. Also want to see some of his other forms, since he's apparently taken many.

Jean

How I feel about this character Underappreciated girly. Always doing the most and doesn't let herself have fun enough and that makes me sad for her. That said I respect that she seems to thrive in a leadership environment overall. She's also trans to me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character I am a basic JeanLisa binch for the most part; it is critical that Lisa is older than Jean because doesn't she deserve to have a hot older witchy gf? I think Lisa makes a good anchor to Jean's type A personality, understands why work is so important to her and will help when she can, but can also be the reassuring voice that says its ok if she has to walk away from it all sometimes.

I would say I like JeanLuc but I'd be a liar, I just think Jean's a lesbian but probably had feelings for Diluc while growing up. He still thinks he has a shot because he still has feelings for her, but Jean's vastly moved on with her life and still probably pretty angry about the way Diluc left.

Have seen a couple JeanRosa's before that I could be down with, but it's not my first preference for either character.

My non-romantic OTP for this character Kaeya + Jean relationship is my lifeblood actually. I can't ship them romantically at all because I think they have more of a familial bond, though I like the idea of Kaeya also having crushed on Jean at some point. I think a lot about how Jean had to be the one who took care of Kaeya after everything that happened between him and Diluc. Treating his wounds on her couch, watching him lifelessly recover around her apartment and slowly, slowly, come back out of his shell a completely new person. She's hard on him because she can't lose him too, but Kaeya equally values Jean in his life as someone who was there for him when no one else was. She definitely has yelled at Diluc in Kaeya's defense imo.

I'd like for her to get to know Venti better, but I think her own hang ups make it really hard for her to be able to see him as an individual.

My unpopular opinion about this character God are there any popular opinions on Jean? I feel like not many people think about her deeply if at all anyway. One more time, trans Jean. Also. Girl why do you have cross earrings? That's not in your religion at all.....

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. I might get smacked but... I kinda hope if we do meet Varka he dies and doesn't become playable. Purely because I think narratively he's not important to the player but Jean is, and as of the potion event Jean seems to confirm that the skeleton crew KOF has grown tremendously in their roles. I think in light of a potential Mond revival (summertime scales and tales has given me new hope) Jean ascending to the role of Grand Master would be really rewarding for her. (and I'd get Second in Command Kaeya hahahahahahaaaaa)

[chinarle]

cold take but the 4.1 event was such a letdown

as usual i was looking forward to the venti/hu tao/zhongli interaction and as expected, those were my absolutely favourite parts of the event! i especially loved the shot of venti & zhongli looking at their people 🥺 i also really loved all the xiao/aether interactions, xiao's development over the years is such a great thing to see <3

everything else though... kind of meh. as usual i liked xingqiu's shenanigans, but the rest of the cast wasn't particularly interesting. i feel neutral towards chongyun & noelle but they had their moments! mika and diona were the worst characters in the cast BY FAR. diona keeps showing her 1 character trait and it gets really tiring after a while and mika is just one of the flattest characters in gnsn. also i'll never understand why the en va was directed to voice him like this, it makes every line he has unnecessarily grating (and he has A LOT of lines).

and of course, the npc taking the spotlight. i thought hyv had finally stopped doing that, but i guess not... don't get me wrong, I'm one of the few people who actually read in full heart of clear springs and i liked it well enough, i just don’t find it interesting enough to steal the spotlight form the playable characters. ALSO this is a mondstadt/liyue event, why the hell did we focus on a fontainian/monstader relationship 😭😭

overall a huge disappointment, it didn't feel like an event fit for an ANNIVERSARY. i'm steadily losing interest/faith in gnsn flagship events, the last one i actually liked was parade of providence back in 3.6 :/ i enjoyed act 2 at least...

[ac-liveblogs]

This event wasn't bad, I think it's one of Liyue's stronger showings overall. I appreciated the attention to Liyue's supernatural side, even if the very "informed attribute" aspect of the issue left the actual threat fairly abstract.

Standard Genshin "they did okay here but" applies; they try to cash in on relationships that aren't very well defined, so the whole thing feels a bit hollow. I'm not invested in Hu Tao's very vague friendships with Xiangling and Yun Jin, and her relationship with Zhongli was never very well fleshed out, so nice scenes are undercut by their shaky foundations.

More than that, I felt this event lacked any real punch? I liked the focus on Hu Tao's feelings about her father and her responsibilities, but defying reality to save Hu Tao specifically, a character largely defined by her mature acceptance of death, from a fate she was largely fine with, with no real emotional catharsis at the end beyond a general "thanks for saving me!" just seems odd. Making Traveller the emotional linchpin in a scene like this isn't great, bc Traveller doesn't ever have much to say and their relationships are poorly defined.

Like, I'm glad she's not dead and all, it just felt like not much was really accomplished here wrt her. I did like her characterisation here though, it was cute. Liked the new animations.

Other notes:

Xiao is extremely protective of the Traveller this time around, to the point I think he barely did anything except worry about them. Xiao endgame, what can I say. More seriously, though I don't like Yelan I do like that Xiao is apparently still friends with her and they got to hang out. Also, the Witness Sigil thing... is that... still there? Is Xiao/Traveller a different genre than I thought?

I liked Zhongli this time. I don't generally have many feelings about him, but I think he played his role here pretty well as someone that lets humanity take care of itself outside of selfishly saving one person he cares about.

On the flipside, I really don't like how Ningguang's Age of Man keeps getting undercut by "and this wouldn't be possible without the Adepti!" Cloud Retainer is always secretly the MVP, I swear. If this was more "moving on without Rex Lapis" instead of "moving on without the Adepti" I'd mind less, but as is... (we'll never see her in crane form again huh)

Surprisingly didn't dislike Lan Yan! She did both more and less than I thought she would - she was more involved in a serious storyline than I expected, but she bowed out pretty quickly.

Kinda feel this event should be canon, but hey. It is what it is.

i am SO GOOD at immortal combat this shit needs ranked STAT

For someone that isn't going to die, Hu Tao sure is flying a lot of death flags right now.

[c6jpg]

on one hand i like that we get to see everyone during lantern rite but on the other hand i’m. sooooo not into the fact that everything is just a narrative foil used for keqing to learn how to take a fucking break like we haven’t done this trope 824930483204 times before

[latinokaeya-moving]

once my second account hits ar59 it’s being abandoned i think i cannot keep this up LMAO

[genshins1mpact]

watching hu tao go from 20k hp to 14k in one use of her skill (e) in horror 👁👄👁

xiao's hp gives me more than enough anxiety, rngesus rly thought it'd be funny to watch me try and manage both huh..

and see.. this is exactly why i had to start building shield/healer characters like diona and zhongli, bc Anxiety Prime™

anyway im redebating if to go for noblesse instead of blizzard strayer for chongyun but also bc im getting a crap ton of the knight (phys) set from noblesse domain anyway so... e u l a <3