#wrio's story quest was good but this???? wow

[miyuskye]

she's the goat

[lyss-sketchbox]

Why do you ship wriothesley and Neuvillette? Im making a joke presentation on these goobers, and i need some good ideas

Okay heres my reasons :

"Wow~" shamelessly checks Neuvi out

The umbrella scene is literally straight out of a kdrama (i know. Ive seen it. Theyve done it.)

Theyre so old married couple core fight me

Their color palette is so opposite but also complementary

Theyre both LITERALLY OPPOSITES OF EACH OTHER. Be it aesthetics, color, behavior, background, position, PHYSICAL LOCATION.

Like fr Palais Mermonia is on the TOP FLOOR of the Court. Neuvi's throne is ELEVATED so high above the stage. While Wrio's office is literally in the bottom of the ocean. THEYRE PHYSICALLY LOCATED ON BOTH EXTREME ENDS OF THE MAP VERTICALLY.

Which makes them visiting each other more sweeter because of how willing they are to cross that massive gap to see each other. AND WE SEE THEM ACTUALLY VISITING EACH OTHER (Neuv's story quest, Sigewinne's teaser trailer, that one Lantern Rite scene)

Even so theyre both so... understanding of each other, like take some time themselves to understand each other.

Theyre both badass. They both had cool fully animated cutscenes in the plot.

The expression 'it's lonely at the top' because they are both outcasts from society in a way. They both have extremely high social standings and is responsible for many lives. They are both at the top of their respective jurisdiction. But its lonely at the top.

But its okay they can be lonely together.

[narwhalandchill]

uhhh anyway. so like yesterday was my first time ever doing story day 1 and i have many Thoughts about the AQ. mostly positive unfortunately my major gripes do relate to the childe/narwhal situation which kinda dampens the overall experience more than any other part being underwhelming would given (gestures in general direction of self). like we all know the multitude of diseases i have on the subject 💀

dunno how much of a complete nonsense rambley writeup thisll be i think i might take some time to sort out my overall thoughts and write sth more coherent specifically on childe/narwhal stuff, maybe leave out some other aspects i have more pointed thoughts on as well so this wont get mega long but eh lets see. this just all kinds of thoughts i have for now And its a mess so Beware

anyway. firstly. as scarred as i am by melus and silver. Its also just. holy shit man theyre truly just straight up tapdancing on teppeis grave like THIS is how you write NPC deaths in an actually emotionally impactful way. dunyarzad was a massive glow up already in terms of NPC writing in general but she didnt die so. but like the way their characters and bond to both callas and navia is built up and how the writers actually managed to make them feel like such dynamic people even if their roles are ultimately quite straightforward made their fates just... genuinely heartbreaking like what the fuck 😭😭😭 AND THE WAY THEY STILL SAVED NAVIA FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE AND SAID THEIR FAREWELLS I JUST. I CANT. i just teared up thinking about it again

idk what could be said about navia that hasnt been said a gigabillion times before like. Wow. she is just. Truly the moment. like she fucking blindsided my ass in 4.0 bc i wasnt expecting anything like how dynamic and compelling and complex her arc and characterization has been like. everything about navia her resolve her grit her experiences and her bravery and stubbornness just feels so incredibly human and raw and she is just? a wonderful character i never foresaw falling in love with her this much like truly. and she delivered JUST as hard in 4.2 too like if it werent for navia being the conduit through which we first experience the devastation of poisson i dont think it wouldve ever hit as hard as it did. i just wanna comfort her shes already been thru so much yet i also admire her insistence to keep going and keep living like man 😭😭😭 give her a happy story quest hoyo idgaf if it gets called shallow or some bs she deserves a break!!!!!

i think some ppl are disappointed by arles relative lack of presence in fontaine overall and while i get that i can genuinely say that its been so fucking refreshing to have an AQ centering on a conflict thats not entirely or mostly fatui based. its not like the weight or intimidation factor of arlecchinos presence has been any lesser just bc shes been largely on the same side as us. like personally i just Really enjoyed seeing her characterization throughout. the way shes been just so reasonable thus far makes me extra excited for whenever she might actually snap (at least hopefully she will). like both childe and scara think shes fucking insane?????? but yea. i also really enjoy arles dynamic with the HoH kids too like. i do think she genuinely cares for them in a way but i highly doubt thats all there is to it. and thats really neat. goes for things like her help to spina di rosula and poisson too; theres definitely strings attached to that aid lmao. even if arle has no particularly malicious designs in mind, shes a harbinger. like cmon. and i really like that!!

i dont have like. that extensive thoughts abt what i call the . uhhh. this is mean but extended cast of act 5 JKJKDWJKDJKAJK like HoH gang, clorinde, sigewinne, wrio. tho i do very much appreciate that clorinde dodged the sara allegations for good like. it was looking a little bit unfortunate in 4.0. her role wasnt super major but i love her english VA and this kind of grounded sort of character she ultimately is. also sigewinne jumpscare during furinas trial i love her so much.

mona n nicoles thing was unfortunately mostly a whateverburger for me bc. im sorry im not that interested in hexenzirkel lmao i feel like such an outlier in any lore discussion circles bc im just not that hype about them (gold is an icon however) idk why. it was neat, it happened, didnt bring any mega hype. what i liked the most was honestly just the talk with mona about destiny and fighting against it and all. she really felt like a friend trying to help us navigate our thoughts on this insane horrible situation going on!!

in terms of plot things uhhh i went in mostly blind? as to the actual events. i had spoiled myself a bit on some specific aspects (my own fault) but ultimately most had no effect on how much i enjoyed everything. also lowering my expectations on the. ahem. worries i had abt childe that unfortunately came true so i was less let down on the spot wjjkajkwdjkwd. my biggest issue was actually that i had to progress lyneys story quest TWO FUCKING TIMES by a pretty notable amount bc it was blocking locations. and that dumbass office drama world quest like i was morbing.

a particular standout moment (beyond the Obvious. i need not name it THE LAUGH THE FUCKING THUMBS DOWN also singed FL can kinda lowkey 100% absolutely get it) for me was when i was so invested in our conversation with furina in poisson and in the magic box that i actually fucking forgor about the whole trap scheme thing even existing and then the box fell open and i was like WAIT WHAT THE FUCK and started laughing for like a solid 5 minutes i was caught so off guard. what an incredible moment. bc like. when the thing we were hiding in w furina started shaking i was just hell yeah narwhal modcheck? narwhal modcheck? bc obviously i would. and didnt question for a second that it could be something else. like the trap we were LITERALLY plotting to set up just a bit earlier it actually killed me. altho the fact that one of the cursed lyney quest situations were in between the scheming scene and the poisson segment prolly had to do with it. anyway it was just really funny

i think this post is gonna take me 287382 years to finish if im gonna go into the like furina character arc situation and her trial and focalors and all that shit super in depth (+ narwhal/skirk things) but like. BELIEVE me i fucking loved it so much like its so awful and painful and horrible and just. best written archon easily. zhongli n venti i think r very well written but theyre p static characters bc oldies so its a bit different. raiden is. inazuma moment no comment needed. nahida is good but tbh i never truly reconciled with the way rukkha getting irminsuled sorta just erased the central conflict behind her inferiority complex so it somewhat ruined her character arc for me even if it did make me cry and i do love her chara overall. but furina i think they executed the whole setup and reveals and everything so incredibly well its insane like. god. 500 years........ and like. the way furinas arc just flops everything uve known about her and the interactions uve had with her sideways and turns it upside down realizing the predicament shes been in and what shes been grappling with. its just incredible man. harrowing but incredible like they truly delivered on that one. like that portion of the finale was just really well done

anyway not all thoughts i have by any means but whatever. ive just been Thinking. overall had a great time with the AQ n cutscenes in particular are only getting better and better, i thiiiiink this one tops sumeru for me? but like its sorta unfair bc i was never a scara stan whereas. even a narratively mishandled narwhal is a fucking world-devouring narwhal. unfair advantage. childe being there at all even if i have my gripes is too much points in favor KJWJKWJKDWDJKJK. theres things that make me really hopeful for the future writing but also things that concern me. so its an interesting situation rn. but im glad it went as ambitious as it did even if my fave got arguably sidelined the most. just hoping they actually do sth more with childe sooner than later if they want to leave all those loose ends unaddressed in 4.2. interlude rights PLEASE

[petorahs]

Hello! Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of the way you draw Wrioney, so very tender and cute 🥺 Your artstyle is overall quite nice to look at as well!

Also, seeing how the dynamic you set up for them in your art is somewhat different to how they interact canonically, I was curious if you could share how you felt ab them after 4.1? Did their "bickering" discourage or inspire you with new, fresh ideas?

hey there! thanks so much for liking my art of them :") it means a lot! and also thanks for wanting to know my opinion of the ship itself and not just the art, too! warms my heart.

short answer: the 4.1 archon quest did leave a bad taste in my mouth, yes, but i got over it and realized wow. i love wrioney so much and i would rather have this than any other cookie cutter "perfect/wholesome" dynamic

long answer/explanation under cut!

first off, pre-4.1 wrioney's setup was just too good for me to pass up and hit all my fav points. cat (chat noir) + dog (cerberus) dynamic??? criminal x prison warden???? wriothesley's tareme eyes to lyney's upturned ones? cute! not to mention i liked how their color palette matched more than the other popular ships. they seemed like they were made for eachother. we also had 0 crumbs for wrio's personality at that point so i assumed he'd be the serious to lyn's playful flirt.

shipping in this game to me has always been a bit on the shallower side, and thats fine! some of these characters never get to "grow" with dynamic character arcs really and remain "static" to have their profiles make sense when you pull for them. they can never be directly antagonistic to the player and have to be "redeemed" in some way. 76++ characters and not all of them get time in the spotlight, either. thats fine too.

that all changed when fontaine came out. and even more when 4.1 did.

wriothesley's personality was a joy. i love morally dubious and fun characters like him, the kinds that dont really fit into a "box" or trope!! genshin's good at making characters like that, just as they are good at the tropey ones. i also didnt mind that he canonically isnt above torturing, too. heck, i mean i love kamisato ayato who is basically what the game sets up as the male version of arlecchino + diluc burning an abyss mage and kazuha's tongue branding comment were one of my favorite moments. i thought wrio being cruel was very much in line for a prison warden. it made sense. what didn't make sense was the way the game needed to show this.

i loved lyney the moment i saw him in the travail trailer. his thing with his family another one of the best things to come out of genshin. fucked up orphans and found family who are villains? actually so good. but because they are what the game wants us to see as "unequivocable villains", they also get... disrespected in the story a lot?

the way i saw it, the game wanted us to see wrio as the "cool/badass hero!!!! wow your grace you're actually so kind for not killing them!!! see guys he just looks cruel and antagonistic but he's actually so morally good!!!also here's like 3 cutscenes of wrio looking cool ^_^" while lyney's treated like an "overemotional kid" really rubbed me off the wrong way. everything else was fine. i just got tired of the game insisting that the fatui are so bad no matter what and the rest are ""good"" when their whole thing in fontaine was doing away with the black and white morality. the devs seek to promote greyness but they cant even write that right?

what wrio did to them truly probably wasnt even the worst lyney and his siblings have been through, i know this for a fact. honestly wrio could have killed freminet and it'd have been like. reasonable for him. but he's a big softie who has a thing for lyney i think which is why he thought a lot about them not coming to physical harm.

but after once again accepting that midhoyo just wastes a lot of potential and reconciling the dynamic of past wrioney i had in mind (also uh. writing a fic of them for closure when i've never done anything of the sort before)... i realized theyre the best thing ever actually

enemies to lovers isnt always my cup of tea, but for context i shipped shuake before this so i feel like that primed me for this genshin ship in a way LMAO.. i actually must thank wrio for showing this new side of lyney, the viciously overprotective of his family side that i thought would never be shown, only alluded to. its mesmerizing.

and the thought that lyney, mr. masks and fake-smiles-that-dont-reach-his-eyes wouldnt bother to keep up pretenses with wriothesley anymore since he coaxed that darker side of him effortlessly? really nice.

even traveler who lyney notoriously charms and flirts with gets the mask immediately after the confrontation at the duke's office, the second lyney recharges with his siblings by his side. the beautiful thing about lyney's character is that he is always fake.

but with the duke? i wouldn't be so sure. maybe his real side, claws and bared teeth, comes to light with him and him only.

and that... goes back to the "character going through dynamic arcs" thing i mentioned in the beginning that genshin lacked. now i may be reaching for crumbs here, but i'm pretty sure this ship is the closest thing we'd get for lyney ever going through a character arc. wrio too. when i say they were "made for eachother" i think i realized that it's because they both have parallel backstories. i wont spoil too much for wrio's stories and voicelines, but it's safe to say wrio also has trouble with trusting others easily. something him and lyney can relate on lol. not to mention the orphan thing... ok i wont say more.

i love that their personalities clash so catastrophically. i love that i can never predict what genshin will do next with them. this all makes shipping them so fun. i have literally never had as much fun with shipping for this game since.... ever! really. as the game evolves, the character writing and by extension their interactions with eachother do too. and i'd say it's an improvement. i'm hopeful for the future :]

@untildarknesscomes

[torawro]

*appears like the cheshire cat* hiiii sosaaaaaa~~~<3 I HAVENT TALKED TO YOU IN FOREVERR!!! HOW ARE YOU DOINGGG MY MOOTIE CUTIE PATOOTIE?!?💕🩷

On my end I FINISHED THE 4.1 ARCHON QUEST RAAAHH ITS SO GOOD FONTAINE GOES CRAAAZZYY SOSA🤩🤩🤩

Worcestershire sauce Wriothesley is SUPER COOL and I love his voice!! I thought he was cool at the beginning but now after I played the end of it i have a confession to make that I might have the teeniest tiniest crush on Wriothesley 🫣 AGJKJFJAHAKLJ I LOVE HIS PERSONALITY AND HOW SARCASTIC HE IS

I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE OTHER GENSHIN MEN WERE NICE BUT I ONLY REALLY LIKED ONE AND THATS MY POOKIE ITTO💕 I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD FALL FOR ANOTHER GENSHIN MAN BUT IT MIGHT BE HAPPENING (my dumb little big boy pookie Itto will always be my number one tho</3)

why HEELLOOOO THERE dearest <3 it has been quite a while since we spoke hasn’t it😇😇😇 i’m doing my best here trying to get through one….excruciatingly stressful and exhausting…day at a time :))))) NENSWN HOW ARE U THOUGH???

and omg wow congratulations!!!!! im so embarrassingly and pathetically behind in the genshin archon quests ( started playing too late + i don’t play enough ) it’s hard to fathom someone so far ahead of me 😭😭 i know it looks SOOOO fun and just gorgeous based off the demos and videos ive seen and im excited to get there myself! and i see you’ve found a new hyperfixation to drool and froth at the mouth about and it’s one of my favorite enforcers of the law 🙈🙈🙈 ugh YESSSSSSSS he is so sexy i got big big heart eyes when i first saw his lil character poster thing and i knew then and there i wanted him. i couldn’t possibly decide between him and neuvi so i will have them both !!!! already have neuvillette now i shall bide my time for daddy handcuffs 😩😩😩😩 honestly i agree his personality is definitely one of my favorites ever. like. ever. SNWJWJQQK . he for sure talks u through it 😉

& LMAOOO we’re the exact opposite bc damn near e every man of age catches my eye in one way or another and too be truthful, i only started playing this game bc the men were hot and i ended up enjoying the story and the lore along the way 😭 i can’t even say i love one genshin man bc then ima start naming off a whole list…..but ofc neuvi and wrio are apart of my harem 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵