#very venty so there's no point reading this tbh

[paimonial-rage]

My favorite works in no particular order:

Tipsy Tales (Anemo Boys)

Symbiosis (Ayato)

What Destiny Has Brought (Fischl)

Hello How Are You (Gorou)

Follow the Wind II (Kazuha)

Of the Same Coin (Mika)

Songs of the Wind (Venti)

Nothing Lasts Forever (Yae Miko)

Sharing a Drink They Call Loneliness (Zhongli)

Of Hopes and Prayers (Zhongli)

[atsukawolfcat]

Venti's Strength

SO HELLO AGAIN WITH ANOTHER THEORY AND YUP ITS VENTI'S THIS TIME and its a bit of a doozy and I am half alive atm

Spoiler Alert? Genshin Lore and Stuffs, mostly a delulu person blabbering while they can on their phone.

So I can't sleep (its 4AM after an ER visit so hahahaaaaaa nothing major though just a precaution for anyone reading this and wondering) and I was going through TikTok when I saw this little video pop up

I have a theory (a GAME theory lool no jk AHEM). And as some of the comments pointed out (and a bit on the video) here are some facts:

1. Nahida states that an Archon's power derives from "faith" rather than "rule"

2. Venti's Gnosis was the shape of a Queen chesspiece, which is the most powerful piece on the board.

3. Only Venti self proclaimed as the weakest of the Archons

So I will go through each one by one to do a mini "share my thoughts" while I still have em. And a little disclaimer before I go ahead, I not an avid chessplayer and I have yet to finish Sumeru's AQ (still catching up on it, been lazy about tbh but its a WIP) and I don't really remember Nahida saying this on MY game yet so I will just discuss what I have observed. Dang I really do need a refresher on everything

ANYWAY, first is Nahida's comment. There is a LOT going on for this one, much more than the story of "ruling is power". So lets say that being an avid or active ruler of your city is what give you power, then as we know, Venti should definitely be near the end of his life because he DOESN'T rule. He hates the idea of ruling or mainting power over his city, and with his history with rulers I don't blame him. There was a whole war he had participated in after his creation/birth in which he was going against the ruling parties, the nobles and the royal family of that time as an extension. He supported the common folk, in which was his best friend of which he took his appearance after now to live in his memory. Having any rule after that cruel loss is not something I would ever want to take a part of, so he remained as a silent guide and protector of the new Mondstadt. If he did indeed "rule", he would have never had any power. From just his backstory alone, we get the feeling he has not ruled over Mond at all, just guided them and gave the people the tools to be self sufficient, which for old Mond, was sweet freedom. So more support for Nahida's statement, as we all know that the people from his city have VERY strong faith in him still after generations.

Second, his Gnosis. So I am not a chess player and at best, a complete novice. So I goggled what was the most powerful chesspiece.

Clear as day, the Queen chesspiece (which reminder, it is the shape of his Gnosis) IS the most powerful. But what fascinates me more is the wording. "There is something inherently satisfying about giving up the strongest piece on the board in order to checkmate the enemy king"? Hmm, as far as I know, there has been no confirmed King piece Gnosis, and its been theorirzed it may be our Cryo Archon that has it. How convenient that he lost it to one of her people. And since I am leaning towards him being the strongest, I am POSITIVE the statement he said "Without a doubt, I am now the WEAKEST Archon in all of Teyvat" was less for our ears and more for someone else. He has power over wind, which we know he uses to project his voice and other abilities. He's lived among humans for hundreds of years, and no doubt he recognized Signora. Very likely knew their plan, stated that he was the weakest to give the go ahead, and let the gnosis be taken for a bigger chess game in motion.

Now for the last one. As far as my memory goes, NO OTHER ARCHON has claimed or supported that Venti is the weakest of all 7(will double check later once the caffeine hits). We have only heard this from him directly, while others just express their annoyance at his current antics or his habits. Would the Traveller ask them about Venti's strength? Very likely, but knowing Venti and the other (known) Archons, none would speak about current Venti since they haven't A. Seen him in many years or B. Have a possible contract to keep their mouths shut (ahem ZHONGLI) or even C. Met him proper. So heres what I think in total:

Venti spoke that outloud for a fatui operative (likely Signora) to proceed with the plan of taking his Gnosis AND its possible he said that to himself since he could only do so much at helping his dear friend, the Unnamed Bard. Very likely has some sort of survivor guilt (based on how hes moving on with the appearance of his friend), and just can't shake off the fact he wasn't strong enough when his friend needed him. Its also why he's so set in helping people move on from people who have passed on (Stanley's story quest). Its something he can do, so why not do it while he has the chance?

OOOOO this was a long one, but I hope this gives some food for thought. I am a firm believer that Venti is still one of the strongest if not THE strongest of all the Archons in term of raw power. Thank you for coming to my late night/early morning Tedtalk lol now off to sleep with the wolfcat

[yxstxrdrxxm-a]

Omg omg omg the list I had in mind was Heizou, Kazuha, Venti, Lyney, Kaveh, Thoma, Gouro or whom I’ve considered soft/safe yandere

- omg I LOVE BIM I ONXE ACCIDENTALLY PULLED HIM ON THE STANDARD BANNER my first sheild and I loved him!! He saved me SO MUCH until I couldn’t bc I couldn’t farm for his materal bc I was too low ar :( BUT NOW HES C6

- I LOVE THIS AKDJWJD ˚‧*♡ॢ˃̶̤̀◡˂̶̤́♡ॢ*‧˚ I hope he could handle my shopping habits … gonna be a lot of me going “Thoma can you buy this for me 🥹”

- honestly if he’s ever sus I prob wouldn’t even notice what he been rlly quiet?? Pff nah he just minding his business you notice a blood on him??? Is he injured why didn’t you tell me Σ(‘◉⌓◉’)

- I feel he be taken back when my moods switch 😭 smt im like “ ˚‧*♡ॢ˃̶̤̀◡˂̶̤́♡ॢ*‧˚(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))” and then suddnly im “get to the point •-•” to “you ever wonder what goes in the mind of a canninable”

- ik he made sure I ate or drink enough water… I could never get away from not eating for 3 days or not sleeping for 5 nights

- dragging him to shopping and forcing him to match aesthetic and outfits with me ˚‧*♡ॢ˃̶̤̀◡˂̶̤́♡ॢ*‧˚ I make him do that trend where you mé up ur lipstick and you kiss your partner all over their face

- Thoma will deal with the fact that I will deny him of ever seeing my face not washed/hair done like wym you wanna see me in my natural habitat I am! Don’t be delulu be will have to wresle my glasses off me if he wants to see my face without it or see me after a shower for how straight my hair is

- I tackle him to the ground with a hug tbh- rub his knuckles with my fingers- hands on his arm- kiss every random second

- I would so look pass so many things like yeah bring Ayato why not or I tell him every detail of the day I had just bc I have the energy

- I force him alwke to tell him my dreams like “Thoma I had a dream where I was a criminal of a gummy bear kingdom and I was worth 3 pebbles”

Thoma all the way (灬ºωº灬)♡ my first sheild character who rllt was there for me when I needed him the most

- 🌑 anon

Ohhh, honestly I cannot blame you for the list BAHAHAHA, most of them are very nice and chill, but after going through your form I went "Yeah you fit with Thoma".

I will say that reading through these twice (yes, twice) made me very excited because the dynamic is like?? Really fitting for you two??? I do think that in some areas he'd be able to adapt (even if yk, he may fail a few times because he wasn't expecting for you to switch your personalities like that), but you two are going to be one of the best so far BAHAHAHA

(I wont lie, seeing this made me go "ooh, potential ideas... good to know" BAHAHAHAHA)

[kxmikomrade]

oh ho ho

why hello there

I just read through a bunch of the stuff you have about yourself, and now you have to deal with me <3

so first of all: i saw that you really liked blue period, and I was wondering how you'd recommend it? I keep on wanting to watch it but my mind goes "but you have this thing" and "what about the other three animes you're watching" but who cares! It looks really pretty tho. Also me and my partner are going to watch Bungo Stray Dogs together (eventually-) bc it's his favorite anime lol.

ok next point: WATERMELON IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS I LOVE WATERMELON. MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM IS THE BEST. and i agree, winter and autumn are the best seasons. rain. rain is nice :).

third and i think final thing: you're learning japanese, you say? ok, i have a few questions for you. what are you learning it on? (i'm learning it on the demon bird app, aka duolingo). what words have you learned? what do you know about the grammar/word structure? and the scary one: have you started learning the terror that is katakana? (if no, it's just another alphabet with the same order and sounds, except different characters. i hate katakana :,>) because i can't type in japanese on my chromebook, i'll just use the romanji. But expect me to send you random hiragana and have you say what it is!

Kimu-san, yahho! Anata ga kakkoii to karai desu yo! (i promise you it's a compliment <3)

try to tell me what that means, and expect more random japanese in your future :)

anyways have a lovely day byeee <3

when i saw the 'oh ho ho' i heard french venti LMAOOO 💀💀

omg new moot guys NEW MOOT !! u match my vibe so <3

BLUE PERIOD IS SO SHHEHEHEHHE esp if ur an artist like myself, it gives u a different and probably more professional view of art ^^ For wat i like abt it, i'd say da characters and how theyre written. The main character is pretty relatable. Theres another character who has family issues and may be trans (or genderfluid? it isnt confirmed but she was born male, currently dresses feminine and hates it when people uses her dead name). Another one who was born a 'Genius' but doesnt really understand art, hes only doing it bcs its basically wat he can only do. Another character who'm gets compared to her older sister and so on. Even minor characters have well written stories I suggest u watch da anime THEN read da manga from da beginning :>> Sanaol may partner- jkjk ur prob fil but imagien having a partner 😭 my lonely ass could never U SHOULDD WATCH BSD!! I LOVEEE DA ENDINGS ITS SUCH A VIBE AND DA OPS R BANGERS UGH THE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND PLOT I WANNA 👊 ITS INTERESTING BUT I SUGGEST ALSO READING THE MANGA FROM THE BEGINNING SINCE THE ANIME SKIPS ALOT OF THINGS AND IT MIGHT GET U CONFUSED 😭😭 Also, hes so true for that, hes DEF a keeper 💪 unless hes a mori/fukuchi stan then ew no

YESSS WATERMELON AND MINT CHOCO CHIP ICECREAM LOVERSS <333 Honestly, cold weathers >>>>>>

Im currently just memorizing da basics; hiragana and katakana before i continue off where i left off in grammar and vocab (i'll most likely start over since its been arounf half a year and i have goldfish memory 🥲) Ive already memorized hiragana, now im going with katakana but im focusing on art lately since i just got my stylus back so im prob not gonna do it for awhile but i'll try to before may >:DD I currently only use 'Write it Japanese!' app on mobile, its REALLY useful, idk anything to help with grammar but my jp speaking friend recommends da book 'Minna no nihongo'. She used to be my jp study buddy but shes been VERY busy with uni lately so :'''D AND YES BBG (can i call u dat??) LETS PRACTICE TOGETHER <33 tbh it would be better if we use hiragana/katakana/kanji (i literally dont know kanji SOBS) since it helps us learn!! AND DAT WOULD BE FUNN

From just my understanding: 'Kim-san, Yahoo/hello! Youre a cool person [smth smth]'

from google: 'Kimu, Yahoo! It hurts to think you're cool' (pls get ur shit together google 😭😭i couldnt call my friends bitches lovingly bcs of u)

YES I'LL BE EXPECTING THEM <33 I HOPE U HAVE A LOVELY DAY TOO HON

LMAO WAT DO I CALL U?? I WANNA ADD UR MOOT TAG

[rev-feaw]

My Short Review of Honkai: Star Rail after ~2 Weeks

Hi!! This is gonna be my first post here.

If you’re a gacha games observer, Genshin/HI3 player or general Mihoyo enjoyer you are most likely already know that they just released a new game, that is Honkai: Star Rail. I prereg this game and made my account on the first day, and this is my loose review about the game so far. Please note other gacha games I’m currently play daily are Fate/Grand Order and Genshin Impact. I also tried Arknights for some months so maybe there will be comparison to them.

Combat: 7.5/10

I don’t like turn-based system for the God’s sake (looking at you, FGO) but the way they have AUTO really escalated the rate for me. The turn-based here honestly more fun than I thought!

Art: 8/10

OK. As expected

Music: 8/10

What should I critic from Hoyo-Mix

Exploration: 7/10

Please keep in mind this isn’t an exploration-focused game like Genshin. It does, however has funni descriptions about items, reminds me of 2D exploration games (something like Undertale).

Story: 7/10

I’ll be honest I play this just as a ‘gacha addict’ outlet and don’t really pay attention to the story, but imo this one’s harder to digest than Genshin, maybe HI3 player can understand better though.

Characters: 7/10

Not very much attachment too, heheh;; Unlike Genshin where I was very attached to Venti after 3 seconds in the game. But the MC is a menace of society, real rate is THE RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN/10.

Also they have “chatrooms”!! This is very cool, because I think they can keep any character relevant with this.

P. S. They REALLY need to add more battle voicelines. You’ll go crazy listen to “the rules--” everytime you turn up the volume.

Worldbuilding: 7/10

I’m not much a fan of their worldbuilding concept tbh, I think “planet” as a chapter’s setting is too massive, so many aspects about it left unpolished (one nation/planet isn’t very believable to me). But maybe I just don’t understand well.

Grinding: 9/10

AUTO mode is gamechanger. You also can change a relic’s main stat once/patch. Honestly this is the one that can make me linger around longer in this game. GI and FGO both aren’t this forgiving in time spent on farming :’D

Also unlike Arknights, u don’t need three stars or something to start AUTO your way out.

Endgame: 9/10

NGL, this game has better endgame content than Genshin. A LOT. It has something called “Stimulation Universe”. I think it’s similar to Arknights’ Annihilation that reset every week and earn rewards based on points. So rejoice if you’re strategy games enjoyer and like to play around with character builds, this game is good for you.

Gacha: 5/10

Why even bother. Just go with your starter characters.

UI/UX: 7/10

Dear Mihoyo: SKIP and LOG button WHEN??!!

Overall enjoyment: 7.8/10

Yeah weird numbers, but this is my overall, subjective rate. This won’t be my main game but since they’re not as grindy as my other games I think I can keep up by just playing casually. The minimal amount of grind also helped in increasing enjoyment in the overall strategy gameplay.

Unlike when u play Arknights where you have to massively build so many characters with so limited items and pretty hard stages (even for farming for early player) or Genshin with their chaotic artifacts farming..or FGO with their horrendous amount of doing the same 3-turns farming manually. If I had to go through things like that again here, I’ll drop the game immediately.

End Note (if still want to read, or just skip, lol)

If Star Rail was published before Genshin I doubt I’ll ever try it. Back then the only gacha game that can keep me for so long was only FGO (Since 2017, dear God) because I was soooo invested with their story and characters despite I have a massive hatred with their gameplay (lol). 

I often got HI3 ads on Youtube and I thought their visual is cool. But the game itself never interest me, because the playable characters are like 99% waifu so no, I prefer to have pretty balanced amount of dudes and chicks. Then in late 2020 Genshin was released, and I’m like... this is the one... the one I’ve been waiting for!!!!

I may write other long essays about why I was drawn to Genshin very much. And I was right, it was the only game that can pull me out from my FGO exclusivity, and made me realize that HI3 was not just a mere “waifu” game, and they give faith for me about HSR that was still in the beta back then.

Tl;dr Honkai: Star Rail is good. Don’t worry.

[appreciatingtokrev]

that's really nice to heard that you guys managed to turn it around then! hopefully, your friendship will last for many years to come 🙂 i recently had to cut off a friend for 8 years because she went too far since she let bad experiences define her too much and i couldn't do it anymore 😭 it did made me realise that friendship or any general relationship does take work but it won't happen if the other party doesn't listen 😅 i'm a mac user and it's not available for IOS users expect for the iPhones but you can get GI on an iPad but most don't know this. Mac aren't really great for games anymore, you can't download any from steam now. that does make sense and maybe the company just abandoned it since they don't see a need switch version considering the success.

I've heard that the gacha concept is bad for ppl with gambling issues though like some ppl do impulse buy on there a lot. i've gave into playing honaki star because i wanted to be there from the start. which one do you prefer? i like honkai star more, how about you?

you are right, i got a bit lost there and we don't have the high school system on my end so i have to look up fms 😅 are you still in high school then (?) where i live, ppl your age are at university or they're retaking the previous year to get into uni.

i read the manga a while back so i've looked it up and you're correct. that is a good point, koko does seem more likely to change compare to inupi. that's true since even mitusya was still a member in bad toman and mikey disappeared and kisaki's influence. i wonder that cause koko to change that much in the bonten timeline though? because he definitely knew what he was doing then by signing up to it willingly.

it is a bit hard and long 😅 which version of venti do you want to cosplay? that is a shame but more interesting characters will appear where you might want to cosplay them instead and like you said, you could always start now.

tbh, anime merchandise is pretty expensive so if you could order it, it would be a little bit hard to find reasonable prices 😭 there are limited edition perfumes of TR that cost at least 100+ for just ONE, i was talking to someone and she will buy at least more than one but i was like wait, what if you don't like the scent? and then she said i'll just add it to my anime collection then and i went 💀 i would never do that, would you? making his earring must been cool though, does it jingle then? you're almost there then! wouldn't a wig be uncomfortable though? and hot to wear in the summer ? my cousin said the same thing about the hotness and you guys are exactly one month apart from each other, she's 16th of March lol. i'm not telling anyone that i'm cosplaying 😂 i'm just going to wear it as an outfit every once in a while and i'm not buying a wig.

i'm not a makima fan either, i just like her outfit lol. the fanart of her are cool though considering how terrifying/dark they are. why don't you like her? it really was and luckily i managed to get the last one for my size otherwise i've would given up 😭 thanks, it's not perfect, there is a split at the back (at the bottom) but closet i was going to get so i'm happy.

ty!! yeah i hope so too :] oh no,, i’m sorry for you ajdjfkh losing friends you’ve had for so long is very hard but if you believe it’s better that way i’m glad you did it & i hope it doesn’t take too much of a toll on you. a few years ago me and my best friend of 8 years grew apart and well... i was pretty sad about it tbh but i mean that’s life.

hm interesting, didn’t know abt any of the technical genshin stuff bc for my laptops it’s always worked without a problem

i hate to admit it but i’ve spent money on genshin too, though it was a one-time thing and i was still financially stable afterwards (otherwise i wouldn’t have done it). but yeah, it’s definitely a problem for gambling addicts.

ohh personally i prefer genshin, probably bc it’s what got me into gaming on pc and i’ve been playing it for so long lol but i prefer honkai star rail over honkai impact for sure. i do prefer the gi/hi fight mechanics but those in hsr are very fun too and i like that they did something different for once!

yeah i mean it’s not really a highschool here either... i would explain the school system in switzerland to you but it’s a little complicated so ajfjfjhsk tbf i’m a bit older than most people in my class tho it’s not too unusual for someone my age to be where i am bc the fms & gymnasium often have people repeating a bunch of times or similar things. most people actually graduate highschool at abt 18 to 20 where i live, in my specific type of class even half a year later so 19 to 21. and i’ll graduate at 22 so yeah lol. then i’ll probably go to university

i guess koko is just more prone to crime than e.g. inupi or mitsuya? i think it has to do with his trauma relating money because he knew that getting into bonten would secure him good business (if he works well ofc, but he knows he does lol) plus the other people who ended up joining bonten wanted him to be there too so that gives him an easier time making a decision.

i’d love to cospaly just his normal outfit, the one he wears in-game! my hair’s been growing out since and i never dyed it but i actually got pretty much the same haircut as him last summer lol. now idk what i wanna do with my hair and i hate going to the hair dresser so i haven’t cut it since ajdjfkhsk.

yeah, merch is so expensive 😭 i ended up finding a store in the city where my school is at that sells some animanga merch, including tokrev (and gi) stuff, so i now have a tiny takemichi figurine and a little plushie mitsuya keychain hehe, and both weren’t too expensive. i’ve also been planning on crocheting some little tokrev dolls inspired by a silly fic i read lol but my motivation has been so low 😭 ah yeah i’ve seen a bunch of tokrev perfumes too... i mean. if she likes spending money on stuff and has enough money to do it... her choice i guess

it does jingle!! i haven’t worn it yet tho bc i don’t mind the sound but i’m pretty sure the public doesn’t lmao so i might make another that looks the same but doesn’t make any noises so i can wear it.

mhh honestly i don’t think i will care abt wearing a wig too much, it’s not for too long and while i hate tge heat i can tolerate it quite easily so. and i think it will be plenty of fun (and struggle) to style it haha

oh lol, i see i’m collecting people with birthdays similar to mine one way or another lol. that actually makes a lot of sense! her outfit very much is perfect to just wear casually so. omg i love makima fanart, especially when people incorporate a lot of symbolism and/or horror elements. she’s just so pleasing to look at in a way ajdkfjsjh. she gave me bad vibes from the start and well i dislike her for her actions, which should be pretty popular lol. any reason in particular that you dislike her? omg pretty much the same thing happened to me with my valhalla jacket jacket, i’d checked out every store in town and was SO close to giving up when i found one slightly too big (it makes my shoulders look weirdly broad but i have some ideas on shortening the sleeves to fix it) and it looked okay so i bought it.

[streetlights-was-taken]

🌗🌙☀️: character notes ii

I think about this fic idea every day but I don't feel ready to write it yet. however, I can think up more backstories for the other characters!

this might be even more disorganized than the last post. as with all my pre-writing posts, I'm just making things up as I go along and word vomiting ideas. not even sure if I'll use all of them tbh.

btw, I have to preface this post by admitting that, in between the last post and this one, I started reading oshi no ko and have taken huge inspiration from it. thematically, there are some similarities since the conception of this fic idea, though they're still quite different.

but what I like about onk is how the past of the character heavily affects their actions, and the slow revelation of their past to the reader. this is something I want to get better at, so it's actually really great that I'm starting with the backstories right now before actually plotting the fic (which... I honestly don't know at the moment. all I have is the premise, and I think I'll just let the characters do what they want and see where the story goes). anyway.

> timeline

as I was working on the backstories for other characters, I realize that I needed to make a timeline of events to see where everyone was at in their lives relative to each other. as it turns out, I've thought about 13 years' worth of backstory for most of them. the fic starts at around year 14 in the table. numbers in parentheses show the characters' ages in that year.

this isn't set in stone or anything, but it'll be a rough guideline that I'll follow to get an idea of the character's past once the story is set into motion.

> character backstory: albedo, xingqiu, lumine

I've always wanted to make albedo the protagonist because he's the most uninvolved character in the fic's entertainment industry, so it will be easier to world build around his point of view. similarly, he's the outsider who doesn't know these people he's about to meet, what their secrets are, how they're all connected to one another.

however he is a bit of a blank slate since he's the most disconnected to all of the other characters I've already developed in my head. which worried me, for a while, because I do want to give albedo depth beyond just being "the researcher" character, the person who helps aether grow, or the outsider. so I'll just throw ideas into this post and see what will stick.

first, the basics. albedo is a young prodigy who grew up with alice and rhinedottir and all the other witches, most of whom have very loose views on morality, gender, etc. and are all accomplished writers or researchers. as such, albedo hasn't really thought of gender as something that really plays a role in his identity. he also grew up already wanting to work in academia and becoming a scientist. he entered university at the young age of 16 and already started getting involved in research projects at the age of 24. he is two years older than venti and aether.

every child of mondstadt grew up loving music, and albedo is no exception. he doesn't keep up with celebrities, but he does enjoy listening to music when he works. so he's the type of person who casually knows the popular artists like barbara, eula, LUMI, etc. but isn't into idol culture and the like. everything he knows about idol culture is something he learns through osmosis because he's friends with xingqiu.

xingqiu is still the second son to the guild master of the feiyun commerce guild, he's still an author, he still practices guhua arts, he's basically the same as canon xingqiu, but modern. I'm taking fanon drummer chongyun into this fic-verse though. chongyun is a drummer to xinyan's band and xingqiu is very supportive of them. xingqiu is also a LUMI fan.

there are actually some key scenes I already envisioned albedo to be in, but I wasn't sure of when it happens in the story until I started making the timeline above. I figured out that one of those key scenes happens in year 11 of the timeline. LUMI is on tour and albedo is already on his second research project. he accompanies xingqiu to a concert and then to a fanmeet. only xingqiu goes up to LUMI and talks to her, and he comes back to albedo feeling elated and happy. he doesn't tell albedo why, but the reason is because he mentions to LUMI that he related to her music so much because it felt like he was seen through it and that the song validated his experience with his own gender, even though he thinks that might not have been LUMI's intention. LUMI winks at him and lets him in on a secret: that it's exactly why she wrote that song because she's going through a similar experience herself. "but please don't tell anyone! since you shared an intimate secret with me, I'll share mine with you. let's keep each other's secrets until we're both ready, okay?"

--

that's basically what I had in mind for albedo up until the writing of this post. one thing I realized today while creating the timeline is that I think it would benefit the story to develop albedo and lumine's character together.

see, a detail of lumine that I wanted to write but didn't think would affect the story much is that, while aether is pursuing his degree, lumine tried getting into the entertainment industry by auditioning for a children's show. I'm not sure what kind of show yet. but think think hi-5 or the wiggles, or maybe even just voice acting.

this was more of a trivia about her character that shows other ways she tried getting into the entertainment industry, or showcasing her talents in another way before she was on the road to becoming an idol. but I think we can tie this detail to albedo. see, if lumine works in a children's show, it's likely that klee has seen it. she might even be a fan! and maybe that's how albedo first learns about lumine.

maybe he takes klee to a live broadcast of the show and albedo meets lumine for the first time. lumine, who isn't an idol yet but dreams big. lumine, who is charismatic and talented and good with kids. lumine, who works hard and has a brother who just started attending university. lumine, who is good at dancing and has stage presence and has so many creative ideas, but is herself not that great of a singer (yet!). she isn't a music prodigy like her brother, and even though being an idol is more than just music, to lumine the music is the most important thing.

this is the lumine albedo meets for the first time. this lumine is a dreamer, but she thinks her brother is a bigger dreamer than she is and that he'll do many great things in the future. all lumine wants to do is become an idol. but aether? in her eyes, aether could be a scientist, an idol, he can be anything he wants to be! he's so good at so many things! he immediately understands and intuits venti's music process, unlike lumine who has to work harder about it. he got into a good university and is reading all these books and papers that lumine would never read. he lives in two different worlds like it's easy while lumine is struggling to even survive in this one (the entertainment industry). sure she has natural charisma and "star power" but that can only get her so far. aether can learn it, she thinks. aether can go farther.

which is why lumine works extra hard to make up for it. (unbeknownst to her, the more she works hard the more aether thinks he's dragging her down).

anyway, so albedo meets lumine at a tv set where klee is one of the kids in the audience for that episode. maybe this happens a handful of times. during those times, lumine enjoys albedo's company and confides in him that she dreams of becoming an idol. she tells him about her brother, how wonderful he is and how he's going to be a great scientist and idol.

lumine: but the most important thing is that we'll debut together! just you wait, albedo. if klee loves me now, I'm sure she'll love aether. and maybe you will too. maybe you'll even write a paper together. albedo: then I'll look forward to your debut. good luck.

god, imagine his surprise when LUMI debuts as a soloist. where the heck is her mysterious brother? did he end up pursuing academia after all? but albedo is in the same field as he is, and he hasn't heard of him at all. and he would know any graduate of mondstadt university who studied ley line related courses.

I'm still playing around with this idea. it's not thoroughly fleshed out, but I think this would offer a new lens on lumine in the story that aether doesn't provide. and this would also add a new layer to the relationship between albedo and aether.

> character backstory: kunikuzushi, kazuha

I've decided pretty early on that this will be a scaraven fic on the side. I think venti would totally understand scara's whole deal since he's friends with aether, and I think venti needs to grow and not be stuck in his past with lumine and aether as well.

so scara's story is pretty straightforward. I already mentioned (edited) it in the first post, but to summarize: kunikuzushi was named after his aunt who passed away, makoto. he didn't really connect with the name or identity his mother gave him, so he changed his name to kunikuzushi. I am still not sure what his relationship with ei is like... and I'm not sure it matters much in the fic, so I'll probably just decided on it when it comes up in the plot.

kunikuzushi spent two years performing in kabuki theater, where he first meets kazuha. they become close friends as they performed together. later, he decides he wants to become an idol and kazuha decides he wants to become a choreographer. they both leave the theater to pursue their dream.

do you know 1MDS? I'm thinking that beidou's crux fleet is the equivalent of that, and kazuha becomes a choreographer there. he has dance classes, but he eventually also choreographs for artists as well. when aether debuts as Æsir, I'm thinking that kazuha helps with the choreography for his "eclipse" album. kazuha looks similar enough to aether so they can do a lot of fun mirror dancing with aether's sun and moon motifs.

--

kunikuzushi debuts in the FATUI idol group as scaramouche. now, FATUI is kind of a weird idol group. taking inspiration from the commedia dell’arte, it's a group where everyone has a stage name and when the idol for that stage name leaves (for whatever reason) a new idol can take up that stage name and join the group, or choose a new stage name that's part of the commedia dell’arte. those who take up an old stage name will have to learn the choreography and lines of their previous incarnations. in this way, the group will be "forever" and they can make money re-releasing songs with new idols every now and then. but each idol that debuts into FATUI always announces their debut with their own unique solo song.

for example, as a reference to the dottoclones, there have been many idols who took up the "dottore" stage name and there have been songs re-recorded with different idols singing dottore's lines. but all of the dottoclone idols have their own solo debut songs. kunikuzushi is the first to take up the "scaramouche" stage name. FATUI also has some really convoluted subunits and lore in their mvs because of this, but that's exactly what the fans love about them.

basically I want the FATUI group to have their fans creating youtube videos titled "a complete guide to the fatui idol system (all members)" or "FATUI explained (2023 update!)" like some people do for nct. I mean, just look at the chart here. I want FATUI to have a chart like this.

(I... still do not actually understand how nct and their subunits work, so this chart does not make sense to me. sorry.)

anyway, as explained in the first post, kazuha and kunikuzushi meet aether while he's trying to do his disappearing act and they help him get back up on his feet.

now, about their idol careers. it's known in the fan community that scaramouche and LUMI are close friends and everyone is dying for a collab (which never happened in a song, but they do show up in a variety show together and a choreography video with kazuha). scaramouche becomes very popular and is known for his sharp dances, his rapping (which he writes, and he has his own tag/signature in songs to show that), and overall having a cool, can't-be-bothered-but-you-know-I'm-better-than-you / I'm-trouble-but-you-love-trouble stage presence, as is expected from the "scaramouche" stock character from the commedia dell'arte. clever, has villainous traits, gets into trouble, obsessed with one thing. kunikuzushi actually enjoys this work because it really is kinda like theater in a way. he's just playing a role, a mask.

all of this ends, however, over a "scandal" that goes completely out of control before the label can do anything about it in time. what happens is this: aether (as aether, not as lumine, so nobody really even recognizes him), kunikuzushi, and kazuha are hanging out somewhere when someone (a stalker?) starts harrassing them. he recognizes kunikuzushi as ei's child and calls him as such. as makoto. kunikuzushi is rightfully furious and punches the guy in the face. maybe several times.

you can maybe get away with that as a normal celebrity, maybe even as a non-idol singer. but alas, kunikuzushi is an idol, and these kinds of things will kill your career as an idol. videos of the incident goes around the internet and the fans turn on him, saying that he really is like the "scaramouche" mask that he puts on. he really is villainous, he'll assault even his own fan, he was always rude and arrogant!!

even when they clear things up, his reputation has been ruined. and they can't even tell the public the real reason because kunikuzushi, understandably, doesn't want them to know. his career as "scaramouche" is over, and he knows that anything he does after this will not be received well by the fans. he leaves the group and the label over this incident.

this affects aether while he makes his own music after that. this, combined with his own identity issues, is what causes him to go on hiatus just six months after kunikuzushi leaves the FATUI.

--

I am not sure how he meets nahida after this, but it doesn't feel right to write kunikuzushi without getting nahida involved. I'll think about this some more. nahida is involved more with the academia side, so I think she'll be the bridge to how albedo meets kunikuzushi. this is a good time for kunikuzushi to check up on how aether is doing too now that they're both out of the limelight.

eventually, kunikuzushi decides to become an independent artist. he meets venti through aether and they start writing songs together. he'll debut with the stage name "wanderer" and his music from here on out is a fusion of hip-hop and traditional inazuman music, a kind of mesh of influences from his time in kabuki theater and as an idol. a lot of his promotion is probably theater-inspired as well, just like his constellations in the game.

> fic plot

as I mentioned before, I can write extensive backstories but I have no idea what the actual fic plot is lol. that's fine. of course, I can always just change the premise of the fic and write about everything I just said here instead. but... I don't think that's the story I want to tell. these are all just background information I have to guide the fic when I need that guidance on the characters.

but the story I want to tell starts when aether meets albedo as his research assistant, and not a year earlier than that. this, I am very sure of.

edit: oh my god I haven't even touched on dainsleif and diluc in this post............ but I have thought about their backgrounds too, btw. diluc is still the wine industry head and the music company is just something he does on the side. dainsleif was just starting a music company and lumine and aether was supposed to be his first artist, but with the car crash the company just folded and he joined diluc's company instead. so aether seeking him out again was, in a way, dainsleif's second chance as well. but for most of the fic I think he'll just be a stressed idol manager lol.

[masked-disciple]

this is an ask so you can delete all messages :D

All right, Moonie. I've put off answering this long enough. I've... wanted to talk to you, and I've had a hell weekend, and I'm exhausted and drained and really out of joy to find right now and I'd be blackout drunk if there were alcohol to have in the house right now.

So let's talk. About you, and about me, because let's be fucking real here, you never knew nor cared to know anything about me, and you're never coming back and you're not quite dead but I'll be wondering on and off for the rest of my life if a single thing I said to you ever got into that thick skull of yours.

To say you were the worst friend I've ever had would be a lie, because I counted Seth as a friend once, and he was definitely miles worse than you. And that's... not fine but it's fine, because if he hadn't put me through hell and ruined my ability to ever be truly functional again, you would have hurt me a lot more than you did.

It's funny, something Rei said in your server. That they left you because you refused to tell them what was wrong with you on the basis that they'd hate you, but not telling them made them hate you. You never did like talking about yourself, unless you could find some way to use the people around you as razor blades.

Some of us don't like to be self-harm tools. Some of us cared too much about you to mind as much as they should have. Well, I wasn't one of them. I didn't tolerate your bullshit any more than I had to. I didn't block you only because you were pretty good at giving headcanons and being forgiving of me trying to think up how I could make Grian/Impulse both underage and incest without changing their dynamic because I thought it would add to the drama.

To be honest, Moonie, we weren't friends. You never cared enough to know literally anything about me, or to find out, and me tolerating you for fandom purposes doesn't much count either.

And yet.

And yet you went nuclear without so much as an "I need a break from social media" and I walked into your server with one goal, and that was to be the person I never fucking had as a teenager. I went to your server and I told them none of it was their fault, that there were no magical words that would have saved you, that it wasn't your fault either but it was your responsibility to fix.

And then when they understood that they hadn't done anything wrong, I told them that if they wanted to make it better, to go out there and fucking live, because you weren't going to, because maybe if they lead the way by example you'd eventually follow them, and if you didn't then at least they could be sure they wouldn't make your mistakes.

You could have gotten better, Moonie. All of your suffering was, in the end, completely fucking pointless. I get that you were sad! I get that you woke up every damn day wondering why the hell you were still breathing! I get that you didn't have anyone you really trusted and you hated your body and you couldn't understand why anyone would care about you!

And maybe the only reason one of those teenagers in your server didn't commit suicide was because I told them it wasn't their fault, and that the way through was to never, ever be fucking like you. Because you ripped them apart, and I said, "This is the consequence of thinking you don't matter. Moonie believed nobody cared, and look at how upset everyone is. Just because you don't know they love you doesn't mean it isn't true. Don't do to others what she's doing to you. Be better than her, because she won't fucking be."

I wouldn't know. I stepped in and I stepped back out again, and I keep an eye on it, just in case they need me to step in and say the magic words.

You know, after Seth, I've gotten pretty okay at saying the magic words. For a time I thought I was okay, and for a time I thought "wow I might be traumatized", and for a time I thought "I escaped trauma by being too stubborn to let it touch me" and it wasn't until not too long ago that I figured out that not noticing the results of what he did to me doesn't make me any less traumatized, any less paranoid, any less vicious and choosy and convinced that everything is a battle I have to win, because if I don't someone's going to die and their blood's on my hands.

The only thing I knew, after the second or third time you decided to tell me at length how much you hated yourself and launched a battalion of transphobia in my direction in hopes I'd leave you and prove how awful you are, is that nothing I said would ever get through to you until you decided to let it, and whatever happened, you were not my responsibility.

Because Moonie, you're 25. You moved a country away from your family and had a job and a life and you could absolutely have changed your entire situation. Your suffering was pointless, and avoidable, and not a damn thing about it made me sympathetic to you. There were ways out. There were so many ways out I wanted to slap you until you saw them. You shut your eyes and screamed even louder.

All you had to do, Moonie, was go to your fucking doctor and say "Life is pointless and miserable, and I need someone to show me the way so I can see something else for a change."

Nobody could have helped you until you decided you wanted to change. I told you six times that last day we spoke that you needed a doctor and therapy and that it was okay to be transgender. You didn't believe me once.

Moonie, you kept saying how nice it must be to be me, because I've got everything together and I'm confident and I know who I am.

And I don't. I don't! At no point have I ever actually had my life together! I'm a fucking disaster who doesn't recognize his own emotions when they hit him in the face! And you never fucking knew that, because you never fucking asked, and I wasn't stupid enough to tell you because I knew you'd just use it against me!

I am a jealous, territorial asshole who acts like he's got something to prove and the world wants him dead because I do and it does and I am so, so sick of being stepped on and belittled that when people actually give me a lick of fucking respect I walk all over them because I don't know how to deal with being heard. Because nobody's ever let me, and they still don't let me, and I'm so resigned to that never changing that I just walk out of the gate swinging in hopes I land the first punch.

I don't know how to stand down, Moonie, but I did for you, because I wasn't going to get into the splash zone of the fucking mess you made of your life and refused to clean up. Because you weren't anyone's fucking problem but your own, Moonie, and you're gone and I'm tired and wishing I was drunk so here we effing are.

You opened the last conversation we ever had with "if I was a guy, what would I be called?" and I dropped everything for twenty minutes looking for the perfect name. Because I thought you might be finally figuring out that getting better starts with you digging your way out of the hole you made.

I said either Martin, or Merrick. One day, when South and I are up on that stage with the Hermits and being interviewed by the cool people at Minecon, I'm going to get a question from the crowd and I'm going to see a nametag with either one of those names, and I'm going to ask if you were the one who wrote Followers of the False Prophecy and when you say yes, I'm going to smile and say it was nice to see you again after all this time, and I'm going to walk away, and you'll never know where I know you from.

And someone else will ask if I know you and I'll laugh and tell them I gave you your name, and that I'm glad you've gotten better, and I'll be proud of you.

And then I'll never think about you again.

I wanted that server to hear what I wish an adult would have told me when I was seventeen and dysphoric and trying desperately to save people who didn't want to be saved. They heard me, and they said thank you, and I told them if they want to thank me, then when they see the opportunity, pay it forward.

I haven't done much good, in the past couple years. Gods know I think I've gotten significantly worse, in many ways, and fixing what I broke is going to require stabbing myself in the chest several times over for fun, repeatedly, possibly for the rest of my life.

But Moonie, time marches on, and the world keeps turning, and we're left with the ashes of people we could have became if we were better from the start.

The crime isn't in falling apart, not really. The crime is in not getting back up again. I take hits. That's what I do. In a crisis I'm the one you should be trusting, because I can get you out of it alive. Turns out, that mentality isn't so good for being a functional person in normal society, and part of me is always waiting for the gunfire and for someone to put an airship wheel in my hands and tell me to dodge the tornadoes.

Part of me will always be waiting for that. Because it served me well in Lore and it served me well against Seth and it's the only reason losing you didn't hurt as much as it could have.

Because I'm not hurt. I'm honestly not, and that's saying something. I'm angry at you. And because you're gone, there's no consequences to yelling at you. After all, you can't take my words and use them to hurt yourself when you're not here to hear them. Now, I don't have to bite back my words, because there's no one here but me.

I don't hate you, Moonie. I never did. I wanted to see you get better. Now, well. Maybe you left so you could start over. That's the optimistic way of looking at it. If not, well, I told your server you weren't going to die because if you were you'd have thrown a party to say goodbye and none of us would have known. By knowing that you weren't okay, we knew you were okay.

Go on. Ask me how I know that. You won't, because you're gone and you've never cared to learn how I got this far. But I was where you are - part of me still is, part of me still doesn't understand why anyone cares about, part of me knows I'm worthless and part of me fully expects everyone to leave me - and you never heard me out when I said that there's more to life than suffering.

I don't really have a place I was going with this. I just wanted to yell at you, for a while, take my anger out on something I don't care about enough to feel bad about hurting. You can't hurt from this, anyway. You're gone.

Maybe when the anger slips out of me, I'll be able to see clearly, and I'll be able to figure out how to get up and move forward and move on. I don't know. I've been so full of rage my entire life and the only way to deal with it is to not acknowledge it. I try not to, because when I do I can almost taste the blood at the back of my throat.

That's the thing, about being 5'0" and 130lbs soaking wet and the baby of the family. Nobody takes me seriously. That's why I'm so angry. That's why I don't recognize my own emotions. Because I'm never heard, and when I am I don't know how to deal with that.

Well, now you hear me. Now you know what it took to get me this far, and how so very much farther I have to go to be a functional person.

Or at least you would have, if you weren't gone.

[starpros-sunshine]

Do you have any diluc headcanons? I remember you were quite fond of him^^

I just came back from playing the first part of the Mond Event quest so *cracks knuckles* this is very fortunate!! I don't really have a lot cause I'm lacking info on him because the guy refuses to show his face at my doorstep but I'll try to throw the few I do have for him together in a little pot

Aroace Diluc. This isn't a headcanon actually he came to me in a vision of divine precognition and told me so himself.

He doesn't like Summer. (Because a) God if somebody in that godforsaken (affectionate) nation doesn't like summer it's the guy that walks around in a thick fireproof fur coat with a pyro vision that works with fire almost on the daily and b) I hate summer. so he also has to hate summer.)

I like to think he's a morning person bacause of. well his entire deal. It'd match nicely with it is all,,,

The knights (Jean) had him babysit Klee once because nobody else was available and now they both actually get along quite well. He's graduated from ''Weird grumpy adult'' to ''Big brother Diluc'' and he lets her blow up stuff (still making sure it stays within reason of course)

Pyromaniac. (in the distinguished way but still. If he sees a chance to burn something down and get away with it he Will set it on fire)

he can play the Violin (This might actually be canon?? maybe?? not sure but Violin seems like a rich people instrument. Kaeya can play it too but Diluc's better at it)

I think that'd be about all?? I can't really think of any more rn so yeah I suppose that's all of them for now

[ohcrumbz]

The airport ☆

At the airport with Ayato, Childe, Diluc, Venti, Xiao, and Zhongli (in order) Genre: fluff. crack? - gn!reader - modern au

AYATO-- ★

     Ayato probably bought part of the airport tbh. Anyways moving on, lines at the airport would just disappear, he would have first class and top of the line additions onto your trips. You would just walk into the airport and everything would just be open for you. Even then you can’t control the customers who would complain to customer service about this but Ayato would handle it. He would literally give them a refund and kick  them out of the airport on the spot. Security would be very easy, so with that out of the way now you.ve arrived at the gate. I think he would let you shop around and buy snacks for the trip. finally the plane has arrived and now it’s just the wait. The plane trip would be quite nice counting the top of the line seats and service. If you happen to fall asleep I think Ayato would you rest on his should while he reads a book. He’s probably the type of guy to read books about marriage “for educational reasons.” It’s his version of school to figure out how to propose to you. 10/10 trip would do it again as many times as I could.

CHILDE-- ★

oh boy.  💀  Childe would get you guys kicked out of the airport. no doubt about it. The moment you step into the airport there’s a problem. I have a small headcannon the Fatui and the harbingers are a well known mafia in the modern au so I’m going to apply that here as well. Anyways, everybody’s going to be staring at you guys, maybe not at you directly mostly at childe. Then when you finally are about to check your bags they ask the standard questions with a questionable amount of hesitation. “.. A-any weapons, cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal products in any of the bags?” And this man has the audacity to say a simple “no” with a smirk on his face. THERE IS A LITERAL SWITCH BLADE AND A PISTOL IN THERE. Don’t worry he says it’s for “educational and safety purposes” calm down everybody. Security is even worse though, the alarm goes off on his bag so your heading over there after putting your shoes on and you just see multiple police walking towards Childe. At this point you just grab your bag(s) and watch from a distance. Sadly as usual he see’s this as a challenge and fights his way out of it. At least he has the money (hopefully not stolen money) to get you a private jet to your destination. But it’s not going to be comfortable having to talk childe out of having a healthy, safe, and legal airport trips from now on. but I doubt it will work, sorry reader.

DILUC-- ★

Going on a trip with Diluc is quite peaceful actually. He’s already has everything prepared and he has payed transportation to get you guys there already. I think he would probably handle most of the bags for you, and checking in would be quite nice as well. Security is the only issue as the lines are quite long sadly. But either way you take advantage of the time talking and bonding with each other. Thankfully no red flags are raised going through security unlike other (Cough Childe Cough). Diluc probably already has small snacks and treats for you to eat at the airport while you’re waiting. for some reason he wouldn’t want to buy anything from the food court because he believes it’s “unsanitary.” Once you get on the plane I think you and Diluc would take for a little bit until he rest his head on your shoulder and tries to fall asleep. Diluc hates turbulence, so he always tries to sleep though plane flights so he doesn’t have to deal with it. If he wakes up before it’s time to land he might talk to you or try to do paper work for the tavern on a plane. Come on Diluc you should be relaxing please.

VENTI-- ★

Venti hates airports. Not because of the long lines to check in your bag and get through security. Or waiting long dreadful hours in the airport because your flight was delayed. No, he hates them because he’s petty. In the modern au I believe Venti gets a job as a pilot, so if you tell Venti you’re packing for the airport he gets all grumpy. His excuse is “Why go to an airport I could fly you to wherever you need to go! Are you trying to tell me those airport pilots fly better than me??” After long back and fourth arguments, you finally get him to the airport. Venti would try to rush and get everything done as quick as possible so he can just get the flight process over with. He probably gives disappointed looks to the employees out of full spite and jealousy. Once you make it to your gate, Venti going to quickly try to fine a food court to get some snacks for the trip. He would definitely share one large pretzel with you, but you have to buy it. he claims it’s to make up for taking him here. once you finally get on the plane, Venti would talk to you and play little fun games while you there. but once you get in the sky he’s fast asleep. Maybe you get some peace and time to yourself on plane rides.

 XIAO-- ★

Xiao is also another person who hates airports. He doesn’t hate the actual airport himself, he just hates the people. It’s gets him frustrated having to be in a small place for up to many hours with so many people around you. He’s already grumpy the moment your driving there so I hope that’s a sign to you this might not be the best trip. I feel like he would scare other customer and employees? Not as much as Childe but enough for them to hurry up the process. Security takes longer though, with his appearance the guards are very hesitant to let him through. So you’re spending who knows how long at the security checkpoint waiting for Xiao. He would try to find somewhere to buy almond tofu from in the airport. He might use your credit card but at least he shares with you right? Once you make it on the plane, you’re going to have to ignore the passengers giving you both weird stares constantly. If you fall asleep at the plane he would literally just stare at you?? He feels as if he has nothing else to do so he either looks out the window or just stares at you. Fortunately, he finds a book he can read to distract himself for awhile. Lucky you, I guess.

ZHONGLI-- ★

Thankfully, you can actually have a normal flight with Zhongli. He’s the type of person who packs weeks in advance always thinking of any possibility that could happen. I believe he’s also somebody to buy first class in everything just for you guys to have a smooth flight to wherever you plan to go. Checking in your bags are fine and everything is below the weight limit as well. Security is very easy and everything just goes well in general. While he would let you buy things from the food court, he also hesitates like Diluc checking if everything is clean and sanitary. He would probably tell you stories from the past of modern Liyue if your flight was delayed. You might enjoy his stories but its the perfect thing to get you sleepy. Would bring you both to first class and let you rest upon his shoulder. Unlike Xiao he wont stare at you for to long, but he might stare at you once in a while. He’s mostly busy reading. He might fall asleep with you n the flight. At least he’ll wake you up once you arrive.

[nyxyxx]

Despair - Mondstadt

Pt. 2

So I made the mistake of reading a bunch of villain darling AU content and somehow managed to make myself cry with my own ideas so that's something,,,,Ig this isn't really "villain" darling since they never really end up being a villain, it's more so just sad. (also its kinda lengthy so I'll probably split it up into 3 or 4 parts)

Description of reader (just including it as a warning): Hair long enough to cut - and make a significant difference - but the gender is still neutral!

Warnings!: angst; injuries and violence / ab*se; Genshin characters being assholes tbh.

The moment you found yourself in Teyvat, you were beyond ecstatic. You were just so excited to meet the characters you cared so much about; the characters you worked so hard on perfecting to be at their strongest. You were also very intrigued on learning more into the lore of this world, and there was no better way than to be here yourself.

You awoke somewhere in Mondstadt, and since you played so often, you remembered how to get to the city. The thing is, nothing turned out in your favour. Everyone either ignored you or harassed you, even those you thought were very kind people were now all turning on you without any reasonable explanation. They called you an "imposter," they called you a "disgrace." The harassment would never end, the abuse you suffered would never cease.

You thought getting to meet the archons would be fun, that is, until you met Venti. He was absolutely horrid towards you, laughing at you, mocking your appearance and attacking you. He told you that you were a grave sinner, and such a blasphemous transgression would not be taken lightly.

Even if you had thought things couldn't have gotten any worse, you were completely wrong. You were so very hungry, all you asked for was a single piece of food, but everyone refused to sell anything to you. Hell, it wasn't even like you had any mora in the first place to give.

It got so worse to the point where the knights were chasing you down, almost as if they were holding pitchforks and going to burn you on a stake. You fled from the city, tired, filthy, injured and hungry. You no longer remembered how far you ran, but you still could tell where you were. Afterall, you had spent so much time and energy into this game that you were so familiar with different areas and environments.

You hid under a tree somewhere in the Dadaupa Gorge, starving and wishing for just a tiny bit of food. You were exhausted, you didn't know how long it'd been since you last slept. You couldn't sleep even if you wanted to, the paranoia and anxiety haunted your every thought and it was even worse within your dreams.

You stared at your lap, your clothes soiled and dirtied from all of the torture the people of Mondstadt had done to you, and since you couldn't buy any new clothes, these were the only things you had, no matter how disfigured or smeared in dirt they were. You rubbed your hands together and winced, the cuts on your hands burned, and your whole body was aching.

In the corner of your eye you found what might have been your saviour. A light of hope within these dark times. Of course, there was no question that it couldn't be a person. No one would help you, and you would be afraid the moment anyone even came near you. No, your saviour was a mere Sunsettia tree, that bore several delicious fruits.

You plucked one off of the branches, trying to make as little noise as possible, and eventually sat down on the soft grass. It was quite peaceful at the moment, though you knew it would do little to soothe your scarred mind. Looking down to the plump fruit in your hands, you ran your fingers along the intricate details.

Despite how horrible you were being treated in this place, you couldn't help but admire how beautiful everything looked. Unlike you, who was covered in dirt and injuries from head to toe. You almost felt jealous of it, how utterly clean and ripe it looked making you feel bad for taking a bite. It made you feel as if someone like you shouldn't be ruining such a good fruit, even if it was your only hope to surviving.

You ate it rather fast, as you were starving and receiving the food was like having a cup of water after being parched for days on end. It was so much more tasty than you could've imagined while playing the game. It was truly a strange thing, how being in such a state of sadness could make you see how perfect everything was around you.

The world that you were supposed to enjoy, and bask in all of the good things, and maybe some of the bad things but nothing like this. You still remembered your initial dream to explore this place and become good friends with all of the characters you loved so much, that dream had quickly faded, and it hadn't even taken much time.

You grabbed more of the sunsettias, eating as many as it took to satisfy your hunger, while observing the way the leaves blowed in the gentle wind, same with the grass. How the clouds moved up above, and the birds flying high up in the sky. This scenery would have been so relaxing if it hadn't been the very wind to nearly kill you as you walked through Mondstadt. The anemo archon himself wished nothing more than for you to disappear, but how could this place still be so...calm?

You chuckled quietly to yourself, perhaps being miserable made you think more philosophical. Not even just that, but also made you think a lot more depressing thoughts than usual. You reached up towards your shortened hair, remembering the moment so vividly, it made you shiver in fear. The way the acting grand master who you had been so excited to meet had you by the hair, and sliced most of it off.

Everyone around had laughed at you, mocked you, and even proceeded to assault you even more. You decided that you didn't like Mondstadt as much as you thought anymore. Even now, as you wished to move, to do anything but stay in one place, because staying in one place meant you'd be easier to find.

Although you didn't have any intention on going to Liyue, you had one idea that you weren't even sure would work. It wasn't until you stumbled into a hilichurl camp on accident that you had found an answer.

Instead of attacking you like everything else in this world seemed to enjoy doing, they brought you gifts, fruits, vegetables, old clothes that must've been left by wandering adventures, one of the hilichurls even brought you a squirrel - still alive of course.

You found an old cloak, it looked like it would tear so easily, but it was your only option. You put it on, hiding as much of your features as you possibly could, and thanked the hilichurls for being so kind to you. They were the first creatures you'd met to actually help you, rather than despise your existence.

[weirdsht]

Creterion . Prologue - SAGAU

a/n: This is the first time I’m writing a fic, I can’t believe that I got into SAGAU to the point I wrote something lol.

Warnings: hints of soft!yan, tbh i don’t see anything that needs to be warned yet so pls tell me if you see something

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Any form of interaction toward the post is appreciated <333

This is a series but it can be read as a stand alone

prev . next

masterlist

Maybe it was boredom, maybe it was hyper fixation, or maybe it was loneliness slowly but surely creeping onto your life. Nevertheless, you treasure this gacha game in your heart. Every character you get you take great care to build and listen to their stories, every view you see in-game whether immortalized through a picture or not you cherish. Even though you love the game so much to you it’s still just a game, something that just takes some time of your life for at the end of the day you still have duties to society you have to fulfill.

To you that may be the case, but what about for the people on the other side of the screen? You may not know of it but they sing hymns in your name, create festivals and holidays to honor your glory, make offerings in the hopes you’ll bless them. No man or creature in Teyvat doesn’t know about you. How could they not know about a being called “The God of Gods”.

All this worship but they haven’t felt you for such a long time, the Gods and Archons were starting to worry. Everything changed when the traveler finally woke up from their slumber and you used them as your first vessel. The traveler couldn’t be happier to be able to feel you as soon as they woke up as this is a sign you have blessed them and trust them.

Venti, the first archon who met the traveler, immediately recognized your presence when the traveler came to Mondstant. Of course one person can only theorize so much so he seek for Zhongli’s help once the traveler is off to Inazuma.

Vaga Mundo and him confirmed that it was indeed you, using the traveler’s body to see this world. Why would you need to use someone else, much less an outlander, to peer over the world that you have created though? Such questions plague the two oldest archons. Of course they would never question you or your powers but this is very interesting, so with the help of a certain Chief Alchemist they investigated through the records you have left in their world. Maybe this is also in hopes that they can find a way to bring you to Teyvat.

Weeks to months of research and sleepless nights at a hidden laboratory in Dragonspine had been fruitful. Your three loyal acolytes, along with the traveler who joined them after finishing their journey in Inazuma, have discovered things about you as their god and quite possibly a way to bring you. One of the things that they found out was that Teyvat was not created by you, rather it was created for you. Every tree, every person, every creature in this world was created just for you. This new learned fact made them more dedicated in creating a world that you wanted. Another crucial thing they learned is that you are living in another world, another dimension far from them. That's why you can only peer at the world made for you through the help of the outlander.

Fret not for your loyal believers has come up in a way to finally bring you to them. They are already preparing for everything to be in your favor, the place you’ll wake up in, the serenitea pot you’ll reside in, and the other little things you don’t need to worry yourself about. All you have to do is sit tight in your world and wait for them to come get you.

Even if you aren’t aware of any of their plans.

[lunaastoir]

cute things i think the genshin characters would do

characters included: diluc, kaeya, venti, and albedo 

****minor lore spoilers for diluc!****

an: i’m thinking of making this into a series bc this was such an adorable concept to write so lmk if you’re interested 👀 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

diluc 

sorry kind of starting off with something a little sad 

i think diluc would have a habit of rubbing his vision 

ok seems kinda dumb at first but let me elaborate: 

after the death of his father, diluc was quite obviously devastated 

he basically withdrew into himself after letting all the grief, pain, and rage flood his senses

i think during this time of grieving, he would’ve developed this habit of running the pads of his fingers across his vision to calm himself down 

(v similar to katara from atla) 

since his father had always been proud of diluc’s vision, the thought of touching something that reminded him of his father has always been able to bring him some sort of relief no matter how short lived

it serves as a constant memory of his dad and i think being able to have that kind of connection - no matter how small would hold a significance to him 

stressed? you’ll see his fingers dance across his vision as the crease between his eyebrows gradually loosens 

ok here’s a bonus habit (bc the previous one was sad) 

whenever he’s bartending at angel’s share, he always flips the bottles in this cool bartending way before pouring the drinks 

like the whole shabang - flips in the air, shakes it in a way that the drink foams just right 

people are usually v surprised when they see this bc woah mans has got some sKILLS 

but also bc he’s known for being pretty serious and reserved so seeing a “trick” is kind of breaking the stoic image they have of him 

after he’s done pouring the drinks he’s also really precise about closing the bottles 

he makes sure that the caps are on tightly and that nothing is leaking (which ig is another reason why he does flips with them so he can make sure that the bottles are tightly closed) 

yes he’s rich but he also wants to make sure the drinks don’t go bad bc 1) kind of a loss if they do and 2) his customers deserve the best 

sweet man pls protect him <3 

kaeya

when he’s sitting down at his desk, he brings his legs up so he can sit on his chair criss- cross applesauce 

since he’s in his office and the only other person who’s in there with him is jean, he feels like he can drop the suave, charming cavalry captain facade he puts on when he’s in public and just dial it down slightly to who he really is in that moment 

jean doesn’t say a word the entire time even tho she quite obviously notices 

don’t get me wrong, he’s still the smooth talking kaeya but just,,, more relaxed and comfortable?? if that makes sense 

so since he’s a lot more comfortable in his office, he usually folds his legs into his chair bc damn they hurt from walking around all day

this is kinda dumb but i also think he has a lot of ink stains on his hands from writing so whenever he sees a fresh one he just likes to stamp it onto a piece of paper 

usually that piece of paper ends up being an unimportant report that goes to jean 

dw he also has a bunch of pretty small towels in his bottom drawer that he uses to wipe his hands on bc the public can’t see the pretty cavalry captain w ink stains!! the world would end!! 

oH kind of a side note but i also think he would keep a small folded up picture of something klee drew him in his pocket 

he thinks it’s very sweet and he periodically takes it out just to look at it soft for this man 

last one for kaeya but since he wears boots that have the little lip on the bottom (not really a heel but enough to make some noise) he makes sure to always try his best to walk quietly around the streets of mondstadt at night 

if anyone catches him doing it he’ll wave it off and say something like “oh me? i’m just practicing my stealth - it comes in handy when you have to sneak up on enemies you know?” but in reality that’s just bs 

he really just doesn’t wanna risk waking people up <3 

venti

this adorable man is obviously notorious for drinking 

he loves alcohol!! i mean he’s the anemo archon of the city of wine and freedom so is anyone really surprised 💀

anyways venti always jokes abt not having any mora (he really doesn’t he’s not wrong) but he always makes sure to pay his tab at angel’s share 

the only reason diluc lets him drink sm is because at the end of the day, venti always comes through w the mora 

he really is a talented bard so everything he makes in singing and composing music for other people to listen to always goes straight to angel’s share (debatable if that’s for the best or not but i’ll leave that one to you) 

so yeah <3 basically venti pays back his tabs even tho he’s an archon since he doesn’t want people to experience a loss bc of him 

it’s the archon nature coming out but also the venti nature bc he’s a sweet boy 

anyways getting onto the actual habit 🕺

he has a tendency to skip/hop regardless of wherever he’s going 

he uses his anemo elemental skill a lot while doing this just he can feel a light breeze whenever he skips around 

i also think he carries around extra bard strings in his hat bc he thinks it’s a cool party trick to take them out and be like tada i have extra strings no need to worry!!! 

people are usually not that amused but he does it anyway 

also yeah uh those strings sometimes fall out when he’s skipping 💀 

he’ll be hopping and suddenly bOOM they fall out, he loses them, a kitten by the name of prince takes them, and he has to ask for help to find his strings (i believe this is exactly how venti lost his strings to prince during the windblume festival and no i will not take any criticism and if venti says something different he is lying 🔪)

also has a habit of putting his hair into a bun sometimes!!! 

he loves his pigtails but he finds that he gets bored of them occasionally and his hair needs a break from its wavy tresses so he just plops it into a bun instead 

so so cute 10/10 hairstyle he can do my hair 

anyways love this man thanks for coming home <3 

albedo

i had a feeling i would kind of have a hard time w albedo since he is a little hard to read so i hope this is ok LMFAO 

he has paint stains. everywhere. no you cannot change my mind. 

they are subtle tho i will give him that 

you can’t notice that anything is amiss until you really pay attention and then you’ll start to see the pretty pastels and greens of the sunset he was painting up on dragonspine softly smeared across his clothes 

very rarely you’ll see a cute swipe of paint across his cheek or neck and it’s honestly adorable 

he was probably pushing his hair out of his face while he was painting and some excess paint on his finger landed on his cheek :,) 

he doesn’t really care tbh he thinks it’s just a part of him and it really isn’t that noticeable so he just leaves it 

also!!! since he is a big alchemist and he’s constantly working on labs and experiments i think he would accidentally misplace a lot of his written work 

he seems very organized but w someone as intellectual as him w his brain running miles a minute, i’m sure he has definitely forgotten where he’s put stuff away 

so!! in order to help him remember, he has little notes across his lab detailing where everything is 

if he was working on something and he immediately has to put it on hold bc something came up (klee came in demanding attention or sucrose needs help) then he’ll quickly jot down a note and stick it to his desk so he’ll remember when he comes back just in case he forgets 

sucrose as a result has noticed A LOT of notes across the lab and it’s simultaneously funny and endearing 

“started experiment with sweet flowers to try and turn them into a youth elixir: papers --> on the desk right next to klee’s photo” 

final point: he lets klee braid his hair sometimes if she wants to 

she doesn’t really know how given how young she is so she ends up messing up but albedo always walks her patiently through the steps again 

always makes time for klee no matter what bc he really does care a lot abt her :,) 

i love him sm pls 

[n0valey]

I'm big for XiaoVen tbh(maybe slip me in between them... they have two hands you know <3)... xiao is a lot softer than people give him credit for. Hes tortured, yes, but hes also socially awkward since he's an adeptus with little knowledge of how to act in front of humans.

Also Venti can be very suave when he wants to be, I like to imagine them being friends at the very least. Xiao finding Venti to be ridiculous but also surprisingly calming, with his tunes his voice and his actions.

Venti doesn't find it very hard to make Xiao blush, as he isn't used to affection being a creature of war for so long(and still if you ask him). I want him to attempt to let go of his burdens, and try to live for himself at some point.

Venti would be great for helping Xiao find freedom in being himself and living for himself. And venti would find himself happy to deal with the adeptus who finds comfort in his songs... Venti is pretty lonely in his own right, and having someone to keep with him and ground his airy self would do him a world of good I'd think...

Xiaoven <3 I haven't read up on their lore lately, but I still find I have a soft spot for this ship

[guiltycorp]

Playing Genshin for a couple of weeks now and I have some thoughts about Mondstadt, its seeming prosperity, and criminal elements!! Also dunking on Diluc a little bit lol. I'm not even going to touch hilichurls, they're probably the one issue I expect the game to come back to in time! They seem to be an intelligent race that was cursed and so we might get some sad backstory and realize that we've been assholes to them, not 100% sure but hopefully. Other than hilichurls and the Fatui (and yeahhh so fun to make russians into villains, im guessing it's for attracting the american audience or something... at least the characters are interesting enough), there are also Treasure Hoarders, who in the archive are mainly described as workers who lost their jobs or some other manner of poor people who turned to looting and crime out of desperation. And yet the angle is that 'thieving is always morally wrong'. Somebody didn't read Les Mis, I guess! Another note, there seems to be a weird gameplay and story segregation where we as the Traveler do lots of looting and treasure hunting ourselves only to be commended for it. But I digress. My actual point is that interestingly enough those elements of worldbuilding come together pretty well when you look at the city itself!   In Mondstadt it is most difficult to become a small business owner, made all the more obvious when compared to Liyue's wealth of shops, services, and traveling traders (Liyue has its own baggage of problems which tbh seem more serious to me but that's another topic). It's just not the most profitable occupation! Almost everyone we see out on the streets does their own resource supply, production, and service. Naturally, this means that those people don't earn enough to hire their own workers. In turn, that means that there are no jobs to be found in those places. So, where are all the jobs? For that we have the Dawn Winery, the Knights of Favonius, and the option to leave for Springvale to become a hunter or go to a different country altogether. The winery is described as the city's most powerful industry both for local consumption and export, but how does it actually treat its workers? Well, for example there's Patton who accidentally broke a bottle of expensive wine and is now basically an indentured servant to Diluc. He says that even if he worked without any breaks he still would need 48 years to pay off his debt. We can meet his daughter near Venti's statue who has to play by herself because her father is always working. Does that really seem like freedom to you? There's also Guy's father who works at the winery itself and can't afford to rest even when he is heavily sick and old. These are the worst examples for sure but others also have their own smaller problems like Charles who confides in us that he often feels tired and only takes nights off when Diluc is in a mood to tend the bar himself etc.  It is kind of telling that we don't have the option of engaging with their problems and we can't really talk to Diluc about it either. For all that he defends the city each night, he shows no interest in defending his own workers from his business's predatory tactics. To say nothing of the great damage he does to the adult populace of the city, always supplying alcohol and tempting people with deals and sales when there are already too many drunkards even among the named characters. When the opposing tavern (which also only has Diona for a bartender even when her own father has alcohol dependence) chose to present a non-alcoholic beverage during the holiday Angel’s Share doubled down on alcohol. And it doesn't even have snacks? This one bit was probably just for joke purposes, but tbh it's pretty dangerous to drink without any snacks at all, it makes sense why people get so heavily drunk in the first place. Note that Diluc himself doesn’t drink, showing good judgment when it comes to himself. Meanwhile the only person Diluc seemingly has no problem cutting off is Kaeya and it’s not obvious whether that’s out of concern or pettiness. Nobody is cutting off Nimrod who is ruined by his addiction! Now this is probably the core reason why Nimrod turned to crime, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he and his wife are dependant on Kaeya who at the very least knows to appreciate his informants. Kaeya himself is also a gleeful enabler, by the way, which makes sense considering his uh.. everything. And his upbringing at the Dawn Winery didn’t hurt, no surprise why he’s so keen on wine himself. He might be shrewd and oh so clever when it comes to getting information in taverns, but his story details and voice lines confirm that there actually is a problem even if we don’t know the full scope of it.  Now, the Knights of Favonius? Aside from being corrupt in the past they happen to hire minors (we can read that in their handbook) whom they don't even pay. What's that, free labor for the simplest of tasks? Makes sense why some of the adult knights laze about if all the work gets done by minors or the more focused and accomplished senior knights with Visions. That's a wonky structure for sure. Guy tells us that he became a squire at 16 and still has the boring job of guarding the back gates despite repeatedly showing signs of great dissatisfaction. I wouldn't be surprised if he betrays us later or something, honestly. Maybe Kaeya is preparing him for double agent work, who knows. Right now he has no opportunities for climbing the career ladder to take better care of his sick father, stuck in a pointless job for months. And that's a talented and focused young man! what about regular folk? Well. In the end, regular people have several options. They can give up and overwork themselves while spending nights looking for coins in the wishing fountain to try and scrape enough for their sister’s medicine. They can go to the Adventurers' Guild which has highly dangerous commissions with the most profitable ones taken on by Fischl and other professionals, hardly a dependant job for a regular person. There’s also Church which we know very little about. Likely it's dependant on taxes and donations and it’s the one organization that cares about the orphans of the city (no, keeping Klee in solitary doesn’t count as caring, Knights of Favonius!). There’s Springvale for hunters, farmers and chefs, a difficult lifestyle to maintain when the hunting grounds are in one of the Four Winds’ domains with strangely intelligent wolves.  And then there’s the other more accessible and obvious option! You guessed it, it’s crime!!  And there it is, the reason why there's such a big problem with bandits and overworked people in Mondstadt :)  Honestly after writing all that down, if I were to RP a normal person in Mondstadt I’d try to get into the Treasure Hoarders guild at like 5 years old I think. Better than standing around watching random people kill my pigeons anyway. Tbh this is less of a 'makes you think huh!!' take and more of a commendation towards the writers of the game. They obviously have a more conservative outlook if they're so keen on condemning the thieves who have to steal in order to survive, but the world itself makes a lot of sense. It makes the game a lot of fun to explore.

[starlitwishes]

((Okay so the new Archon Quest is a Lot, but I’m trying to think of how the new information we got from it relates to Evan and his abyss-created body. So, here’s me rambling about it--I will put it under a read more for spoilers ofc but idk, you guys can be pretty damn fast about getting the Archon Quest stuff done xD))

((So Evan. I’ve kind of kept his abyss-created body a little vague because--well, there wasn’t much canon to base off of, so now that I have something a little more to work with, I think I can manage talking about it.))

((Evan is probably in a similar position as Dain, though he doesn’t quite know that. The biggest difference is, of course, that Evan’s body was artificially constructed with the Curse of Celestia/the Curse the gods (I’m assuming Celestia ofc) put on Khaenri’ah. He has abyssal powers like Dain and can travel through the abyss portals and teleport points once he figures out how--though tbh he probably was trained to at least use the abyss portalling network, but probably knows he could get “spotted” with that method so doesn’t actively use it once he leaves the Order.))

((Now, for Evan’s creation--it might be better to suggest that instead of being created to kill the gods, that he was created as an alternative method to try and find a way to displace the souls of the Khaenri’ahn people (ala the Hilichurls, abyss mages, ectect) by ending their lives, and placing them into different, man-made bodies. While this is successful, the whole point of this would be to try to break free of the curse, and unfortunately, any man made creature created by the Abyss has this curse by default. So Evan was a random soul they experimented with via this method--only to create a vessel that may or may not reverse the curse back to square one, but not completely erase it, only delaying the inevitable erosion.))

((Still, now they have this immortal human that looks strangely a lot like the Anemo Archon, and when they learn of Evan’s history, they use it to formulate their new plan to manipulate Evan into his assassin training.))

((With that said, I wonder if the hilichurls/Abyss people we fight, like... actually die,  or... if they don’t. Like do they teleport away? Do they disintegrate and reform somewhere safer? Because we know that the Hilichurls were going to the special location in the Chasm to die, implying they couldn’t die any other way. So I’m stuck with an unanswered question: Do we actually kill the Hilichurls we defeat? If not, then that implies that Evan would be immortal and unable to be killed in a similar fashion, only able to die in that final resting place/haven for the Khaenri’ah people. That’s great news for Ventis since it means Evan cannot die now--but Evan also wouldn’t know that, so it could make for some fun drama if he gets severely injured but doesn’t die even though he very well should be dead. It also makes sense as to why he’d be sent off to kill the gods--either they find a way to deal with him or he succeeds due to his strange immortality and the fact he has no corrosion to corrupt his mind. Hmm..))

((Anyway those are my thoughts, curios to know if anyone’s got any ideas or comments on it :’D))