#zhongneuv

[bladesandstars]

Tell me more about your favorite Genshin ships. Tell me more about your favorite dynamics. Tell me about your favorite characters. Tell me about the stories you've got stuck in your head, waiting for an outlet. TELL ME. 0u0

Okay, this got so INCREDIBLY long. Thank you so much for asking! I'm gonna keep this post to everyone's favorite rock grandpa, though I do love many other characters and ships. Here we go:

Zhongli

I am probably the most excited about him as a character. He's sweet and funny and angsty and complex and potentially terrifying based on his past. I love him. I want to write him all the things. Details below. Spoilers abound, up through Fontaine and including Zhongli's character quest.

- the concept of erosion is so good from a writing perspective. I particularly like this juxtaposed with Neuvillette, who is supposed to be gaining information and serving as a memory for humanity. But I also love it with Baizhu, who is eroding in his own way and presumably much faster.

- war god Zhongli is wonderful. I envision writing him with Xiao here, because their canon interactions are so good. There's also Azhdaha, who breaks my heart every time I think about it. The flavor of writing that ship before and up until Zhongli does what he needs to do? Delicious. But also Guizhong? Canon is ambiguous but I do hc him as smitten and in love with her - the plains bear their ship name and I'm emo about it. (She tops. Lmao. I'm still getting used to the fierce t/b tagging in this fandom - I do my best to be polite, but my brain loves to switch everyone so it's hard.) 

- flashes of former war god with Childe is sucha  delicious concept as well. Something about their contrasts - I can see why they have the fandom in a chokehold. I'm there too. Zhongli's ancient presence, having experienced so many things, slow to anger but so powerful in his anger - next to young hothead Childe who wants to Fight Everyone but still has that "what happened to you in the Abyss, son" mystery and Foul Legacy complexity to him. And he's a good af fighter and I love an ancient being surprised by a relative newcomer.

- Ningguang. My favorite ship for her is Beidou, but Zhongli having a deep, quiet respect for her that grows into something more is so good. He thanks her for taking such good care of the city, she shows him around his human body a lil....it's good. If the Jade Chamber is a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'.

- this doesn't even include the age-old Venti shenanigans or how I think the old man would deal with someone like Kaeya or Alhaitham, both very funny in different ways.