#(i have a very specific idea for this... it's bc of Celestia)

[invisiblesketches]

Thinking about my reincarnation/modern au for genshin again

[lyss-sketchbox]

Ok coming off anon because I'm trying to conquer the constant social anxiety lmao (same person who sent you Longass Thoughts on Natlan AQ) - SO YEAH personally I like Ei's character but foaming a bit at the mouth because I feel like my favorite parts of her character (namely she was NOT ready to be the archon when makoto kicked the bucket, she's got that good ol' warrior-weapon mindset knocking around in there- having her actually confront the ugly truth of the consequences of her actions was such a missed opportunity. it would've been SO good to see her actually get confronted personally without any sugarcoating. i think her learning to be less of a shitty archon would've been so much better then)

also like. im sure there were a lot of ways to improve Inazuma's story but personally i thought it would've been cooler if kokomi was a bit more. morally grey lmao. like willing to do not-so-nice things to fight god because that's what they're doing. mortals attempting to defy the god that holds dominion over their land (bc the electro archon isn't really Watatsumi's god specifically!! bc uh lmao ei killed him lol)

but yea for real in natlan every "serious problem" was severely undercut by "actually it's all good now" like "kachina is totally fine after being chased by the abyss in the afterlife, she was protected by the wayob so it's all good and she's also mentally ok" and it's like what. what are you talking about.

AND THE ARchON thing i feel like im the only one who has a gripe. tbf the story is not done yet BUT MY QUESTION IS CELESTIA ALLOWED A HUMAN (MULTIPLE EVEN) TO ASCend to the divine throne???? Like what??? IT feels like it runs counter to everything-

and like uh feels like we got really really far away from like. when you talk about the archon war in liyue it was a literal bloodbath. sacrifices upon sacrifices were made, the modern day liyue was built upon the corpses of friend and foe alike because there was no other choice. you couldn't abstain, you would die.

but in natlan???? no gods??? what???? im just losing it more than a bit over here that natlan is trying simultaneously to be a grim land of constant war but also sunshine friendship and rainbows.

at this point im prepared to be disappointed and just crossing my fingers the good writing comes back for snezhnaya's AQ bc if they fuck up snezhnaya i will literally never forgive them

Its all good man, youre so welcome to debate and talk off anon, we may disagree but never hate.

Im putting all my ramblings under cut since its gonna be as equally long and spoilery hdjsnsn

About Ei

I completely forgot about how Ei was originally a kagemusha, a weapon for her sister, her sister did all the archon work while Ei simply stood by her side. Its makes perfect sense that after the death of her sister, she would make very bad not thought out decisions and because she is an archon now, those bad decisions has really really bad aftermaths.

I personally do not have any gripes about her being basically clueless about the outside world. Grief manifests in different ways and locking yourself away and justifying it as a twisted way to gain enlightment of eternity the way your sister did, it can make sense. It is a consequence!! She is clueless of how to be an archon and what is going on in her nation, her SQ could have been used to show her trying to understand and emphatize with her people to be a better archon. NOT A REASON TO MAKE HER AN uwu sad defenseless waifu cant cook and doesnt know anything. Brother she fucking killed people and almost destroyed her nation.

About Kokomi

I like the idea of morally grey kokomi actually. It makes alot of sense. Kokomi and the watatsumi people might have some vishap descendance but they are still humans, even less so with visions. Theyre also lacking the supplies and expertise needed to continue a war with an entire nation and its archon. It would make sense that she would accept the fatuis help since they share the sentiment of 'getting to inazuma and its archon'.

But it was shown she wasnt even aware who the anonymous donor is, hell she wasnt aware people where using delusions until people starts dying. And for a girl who wrote an entire guide book with 100 different alternate plans, HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THIS COMING...............

About Natlan's system

Yeah they really brushed off the dying part and potentially being stuck in genshin limbo if you dont get out in time too casually. The tiny child you retrieved from limbo also is... very chill and not mentally scarred or anything, she wasnt putting up a brave face, she was simply unaffected?????? One on kachina's voiceovers is gonna talk about her death but im not friendship 4 with her yet. I hope it explains SOMETHING.

Yeah the first time i heard that the archon was human and has been replaced multiple times had me gawking too, i can excuse that Celestia has been strangely inactive FOR NOW.

I wanted to bring up how the hydro archon throne being broken and Neuvi regaining his sovernity didnt even call Celestia to action but GUESS WHAT??? I DONT KNOW IF NATLAN HAPPENED BEFORE OR AFTER FONTAINE BECAUSE THEY DECIDE TO LOWER THE REQUIREMENTS TO DO NATLAN AQ!!!!!!! But well if it happened after (since Neuvis end dialogue told us to go to Natlan next), well... Celestia isnt called either so theyve just been inactive for 500 years of Natlans weird system ig.

About the """Nation of War"""

Yeah man. Sacrifices and war was dealt better in liyue. Same as Natlan, it is a nation built of war. There was war in the past, sacrifices were made to built the liyue we know now. But the sacrifices in liyue was not brushed off or belittled, those sacrifices had meaning and the people of liyue hold very high regards for the fallen. In Natlan? Its treated like some sort of sick hunger games event, they made war into entertainment.

Oh but they need the tournaments to keep the natlan fire alive. THEN RUN A SEPERATE FUCKING TOURNEY?????? MAKE EVERYONE WHO HAS AN ANCIENT NAME HAVE PROPER TRAINING AND GO TO WAR IN ARMIES PROPER???? THIS SHIT DOESNT NEED TO BE ENTERTAINMENT AND YET YOU DID. Maybe the flames are small BECAUSE YOU PICK ONLY 5 PEOPLE EVERYTIME WHEN THERES LITERALLY NO REASON VETERANS LIKE KINICH AND MUALANI TO SIT IT OUT JUST BECAUSE THEY LOST.

Oh but the ode of resurrection only works on limited people THEN SEND OUT THE BEST PEOPLE THEN???????? MUALANI, A 3 TIMES VETERAN, LOST TO KACHINA. CLEARLY THE TOURNEYS ARENT RELIABLE TO PICK WHO TO SEND.

While i can understand that while Liyue is past war and Natlan is still in war, this is... not how people in war act. The entertainment the happiness the hospitality. Its not efforts to keep morale high its literally just... happy people, sometimes they get attacked by abyss monsters yeah cool but otherwise theyre completely happy just living like that. Thats why the Nation of War thing isnt working at all, these people are not how people STILL IN WAR act. Theres no anxiety no uncertainty no worry at all, not even a smidget. These people live like happy prospering people.

You know what happened to people tryna be happy prospering people while still in war in liyue? Havria.

I hope they bring back the high AR requirement for snezhnaya so snezhnaya can be chronologically correct. I hope they take snezhnaya seriously. I hope Natlan atleast wont pull an inazuma and tripped at the very end

NONE OF THAT POWER OF FRIENDSHIP BS EITHER I didnt believe it when mualani fucking knocked it over our heads over and over and over again and its not gonna work now.

[princess-of-the-corner]

I also have an idea as to why Twilight and/or Sunset didn't try to just steal the crown!

I always got the impression that the fake crown Sunset brought to Canterlot was the actual Fall Formal crown, and that she used her influence in the school to ensure the crown looked like the Element crown (I have my own hc's on how native Equestrians retain some magic even in the Human world and how Sunset was using that to catch glimpses of how things were going in Equestria, idk if that works with how you have things work) specifically so she could switch the crowns to buy time until the portal closed.

Originally the crown wasn't kept very secure, maybe even on display in the open to get people excited for the Fall Formal, also possibly thanks to Sunsets influence to make things easier on her, but bc the crown was stolen and later found in a bush, Principal Celestia was worried it would be stolen again and locked it up more securely. It wouldn't be impossible for either unicorn to steal it, they're both smart enough, but any plan they could come up with without any real magic would take too long, leaving actually winning the crown as the only option

That could work in theory I suppose.

I have a.... VERY fucking convoluted way for how Sunset got info from Equestria.

Which is just that the In Between of Dimensions and the Dream Realm are real close so sometimes Dreamers can catch glimpses into their Counterpart's lives.

Flash Sentry is one of the people this happens to often for some reason. And Sunset found out about that which is one of the reasons she got close to him. So he could just vent about 'hey i had this WEIRD fucking dream!' and she'd have some sort of information.

(Pinkie also does this, but as she's a Lucid Dreamer, she's 100% aware and able to communicate with her Counterpart)

tbh that wouldn't really help her with the crown. But ya know.

[pizzapasta23045]

Ok last. Ask before I like pass out for the night but what are your thoughts on how Mondstadt culture affects Kaeya's self perception bc I think about it a lot

ooooh, good one, good one.

well, I'd think it's very conflicting and all. Because, on the one hand, most people in mondstadt don't seem to hate Khaeri'ah and all that, they seem to just... Idk, have forgotten about it? not care?

The king of khaeri'ah's also mentioned positively by Jean, though it seems like a farytale more than anything. So i don't think he'd have experienced racism at the hands of the people, had he told people, nor would he have heard people insult his homeland in front of him, which can be even more painful than straight up racism.

So there's that.

But also... They really really like barbatos. And while we have no idea how complicit he was with the fall of it, Kaeya would know and that could skew things two completely different ways. I like to think Barbatos respects Khaeri'ah and doesn't blame them for going against celestia, a place he doesn't even seem to like.

As an archon, he's probably the safest to talk to if you're Khaeri'ahn (excluding the tsaritsa who's on one side of the conflict and so it could be dangerous for Kaeya's faction specifically, and Nahida, who wasn't even alive then). He's also the archon of freedom and revolution and Khaenri'ahns are fundamentally revolutionaries.

But, on the other hand, the church of Barbatos seems to be much more "conservative" than Barbatos himself and that could bother Kaeya deeply. Because the church believes in sin and Khaenri'ah are fundamentally seen as sinners and punished for no reason, which would create a lot of guiilt.

Also, he's a young child lying to his benafactors, who wouldn't feel like a sinner in his conditions? That could reenforce a lot of generational trauma he most definetely has.

I feel like, more than most from mondstadt, Kaeya would really understand the irony of an archon of freedom and revolution. Because, fundamentally, people in Teyvat can never be free, they are bound by fate, the heavenly principals and the only revolutions that seem to succeed are the ones celestia allows.

Because Barbatos wasn't free to be an archon, he didn't choose the life. In fact, he seemed to avoid the conflict for most of the archon war, untill his conscience won out and he helped the humans overthrow the tyrants.

I feel like Kaeya is such a beutiful parallel to Old modstadt moreso than new mondstadt and barbatos himself when he joined and won the archon war. Because they both have a choice, to be happy or to be "good", to make a moral choice.

Barbatos doesn't want to be archon but "[his] children deserve[s] the joy of songs and dance, and the rights to overthrow vile tyrants."

And what is celestia, if not vile tyrants?

Also, their conception of family is surpisingly wide, wider than in most countries today. We saw that with Weinlesafest, and it was definetely hearwarming... But...

As rosaria said, sometimes family can be a twisted thing and not as straight forward as it may seem.

It says a lot, just how loyal Kaeya is to his adoptive family vut I do fell that he considers that as a duty also, not just as a choice like most people claim. In Mondstadt, adoptive family is the same as biological, and it's cool that they don't even seem to disregard heritage since that's fundamentally razor's journey.

He's fine, he's got a lot of people who care for him and he still wants to figure how how his bio parents were, not because they're his "real" family but because he's curious and wants to know. And nobody faults him for that or tells him to be grateful of the family he has and not care about his origins.

And while I think that's very very nice and a good thing we should aspire to, socially, i think it made his confict worse. Because they are both his families, that's the culture in Mondstadt, and so there is no "easy way out", either way he's bretray his "real" family.

(i don't think either part of his family is "fake" or should be dismissed but there is no better language in our society)

[rhine-gold-archive]

Visions: Cryo and Hydro

The question of why people receive a specific vision has been bothering me for some time, because for some elements the correlation is very obvious and consistent, like for cryo and hydro, and for others it seemingly doesn’t make any sense. But after mulling over it, I think I finally managed to make a system.

Edit: part two: Pyro      Part three: Geo     Part four: Anemo

My thesis is that vision users are not grouped into elements by their innate characteristics or attributes, but by their *Perception* of themselves and the world.   

For example, Cryo users see themselves as being isolated, and isolated on a profound level because of something they had no control over. They feel like they are stuck between two conflicting worlds, without being able to belong in either of them, and very often they feel burdened by a lifelong struggle that the outside world will not understand or even will be opposed to.

Kaeya, who was sent to Mondstadt as a child to be a spy for Khaenri'ah, and was rejected by his closest person when he tried to open up

Eula rejects the supremacist ideals of her family, but is simultaneously judged for her heritage by the people of Mondstadt, so she belongs to neither

Diona wages a self-proclaimed war against drinking while being a bartender in a nation known for it’s alcohol, while also carrying responsibility for her alcoholic middle aged catboy father (seriously, someone pls call child protection services for Diona)

Aloy is a literal outsider from another world

Ganyu has an entire storyquest dedicated to how lonely she feels, not belonging to either the mortal society or Adepti.

Shenhe has the same conflict as Ganyu, but like. More homicidal.

Qiqi is a literal zombie among the living who has no memories

Rosaria who was hardened by the life of a criminal, and now feels like she’s a black widow who needs to get her hands dirty to protect the naive innocents of Mondstadt, without ever actually connecting with them

Chongyun who is disconnected from the normal people because he dedicated his life to being an exorcist, while at the same time feeling like he doesn’t belong with the “real” exorcists, bc ghosts are afraid of his natural energy and not the traditional exorcist techniques.

Ayaka has an entire storyline about how she feels isolated from the people of Inazuma by the virtue of having to represent Yashiro commision, to the point where she thinks she can’t go to the festival that her own family organised

And finally, from what we know of Tsaritsa, who was kind and sweet before the cataclysm, and after that dedicated her life to the unseen crusade against Celestia, alone in her hidden war for what she believes to be a greater good, she represents the culmination of this idea

Now Hydro. Ummm, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this, but the power of water is its ability to take any shape. Hydro users are mimics, who feel pressured to shape themselves into a some specific role and present this illusion to the world. Btw, mark my words, Hydro archon is gonna be such a fake bitch.

Barbara feels obligated to pretend to always be happy and welcoming for her fans, while being like. Perpetually depressed and hiding from the most aggressive of them.

Childe’s entire storyquest is about him keeping up an image of a toy salesman for his little brother, at the more and more escalating costs to both his work and his health

Mona’s entire storyquest is about pretending to be self-sufficient and dignified astrologist, while being broke and confused on what to do

Xingqiu keeps up separate personas of a book nerd hellbent on gallantry and the industrious son of a wealthy mongrel, and he might let you know of his heritage if he already trusts you as a book nerd, but he’s terrified of his father finding out he’s an author of utena light novels, as shown at the Irodori festival

Kokomi’s storyline is about her being exhausted and feeling inadequate to be the high priestess, so she has a literal energy bar for how long she can keep up the appearances

Ayato is all about showing a presentable image of a commision head as a bait and striking from behind it

Yelan is not out yet, but all we know about her is that she’s a spy, which fits the theme of mimics to a t 

Now, speaking of the spies, a natural question may arise. Why is Kaeya, who was forced to be a spy from childhood, a literal Spy Kid, if you will, is not a Hydro? He shares so many character beats with Ayato, it’s interesting to consider why they have different visions.

Like, hello? “Forced a burden of responsibility due to his heritage from a young age, had to survive in a hostile situation. Hides the fact that he’s a ruthless, calculating strategist behind an amicable facade. Runs an intelligence network and prefers to stay on the sidelines, leaving the clues for someone else to find and act upon, instead of taking credit himself”.  

Ayato received his vision when he realised he’ll soon be the only one who can protect Ayaka and that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish it by being a spoiled princeling that he was at the moment. His dying father literally called him in to say “You gotta carry this burden, space cowboy”. Hydro users always have positive reasons for keeping up the illusions, they do it for the benefit of someone they love - their family, their teacher, their nation.

Kaeya received his vision at the moment when he realised he has no one left to connect in his life. He never really maintained the shape of something else, he just hid the parts of himself, but that’s different from Hydro's mimicking the specific role. And he tried to open up, but the moment when he was almost killed by the closest person he had left crystalised the perception that no matter what he does, no matter how much he helps, he’ll always be an enemy to anyone who finds out the truth of his origins. 

(And that’s not Diluc-blaming btw, obviously both of the bitches were Going Through IT at the moment, and most of the pyro section is going to be a Diluc character study, so don’t @ me)

But Kaeya is not really connected to his heritage either. In his voice lines about Khaenri'ah he says that it’s gone and only the sinners are left, and Mona says that he “thinks that he’s made a clean break with the past, but one day fate will catch up with him. When it does, he will have a major decision to make”. 

So Kaeya is a coin still flipping in the air, disconnected from both sides, with the world holding it’s breath to see where it lands, and this profound isolation is why he’s Cryo and not Hydro.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

when ur spouse says “i love you” but Ajax Tartaglia Childe 11th Harbinger of the Fatui quite literally:

met the love of his life in another reality, decided he didn’t want him to suffer or see his pseudo-sister/best friend die so he hatched a plan to prevent an eon long war thatd kill thousands of gods, MULTIPLE of which were Moraxs allies, successfully entered the abyss and found his master in another reality and recruited her to the cause, fought of a shade, held hands with morax after that (just a touch of affection for a treat), saved zhihao from the dream evil god guy, saved moraxs future son xiao which is now ajax and moraxs son that i guess they co parent with guizhong, then ajax proceeds to travel to snezhnaya and beat the shit out of celestial gods and get ANOTHER child and three random siblings that are actually his in another universe, bring them back to morax, make morax (unknowingly) fall in love with him, obtain cryo powers, then RETURN to snezhnaya with a kiss on the forehead, make it up to celestia after zephar threw a fit, get stuck up there, start a riot, then the Avengers of Teyvat come back him up (including his soon to be husband and basically sister in law (wait i cant remember if gui was there or not), as well as his kinda master), and they win that battle. AND MIGHT I ADD AFTER THAT, they then travel back to ajax’s own world to prevent Celestias attack on his world and inevitably the archon war as well, HE THEN REUNITWS WITH HIS REAL MASTER, TSARITSA, COWORKERS AND HIS BITCHADD FAMILY AND PROCEEDS TO KILL GOD,??? and then they all go back home.

and he does all this so morax doesn’t have to suffer the emotional turmoil of losing his friends. ajax did this for what he knew as a FICTIONAL character in a video game. bruh stopped an armageddon for his husband and didn’t think morax was gonna fall in love with him this man is denser than a metal ball i cannttttt 😭😭😭

anywYs super good chapter!!! i always laugh about this specific fic bc compared to the soulmate chili fic u posted it took like nearly 400k words to get them to realize they’re in love with eachother but it took like 130k ish in the soulmate one 💀💀 i’m so stoked for the next chapter. can’t wait for what ur cooking up!!!

you're right lmao 😭

i think the reason why things went so comparatively faster in itysg is bc zhongli was already 6000+ and childe was kind of faced with the idea that zhongli might want to marry him like- straight-up from the first couple of chapters, so like,,,,,,, coupled with the fact they know they're soulmates from the get-go, i think that kind of expedites his crisis to the next step hahah;;

and also bc in cyanide they spend most of the fic doing literally anything else so there's no time to question feelings lmao

but it's still very funny indeed;; i think cyanide is the longest i could possibly write it bc of all the shit they have to do that keeps them from thinking about it. you'd have to have an even longer plot or start their relationship from scratch (no interesting first impressions and no 'i know you from the game' ordeal, or even have them start as like- enemies, and slowly worky your way to friendship and then love)

but i really don't plan to write that, cyanide is i think on the longest spectrum of what i'm willing to go 💀

(catch me writing 600k next time, given my track record of not controlling what i write)

aaaa anyway thank you!! happy you're enjoying it!

[wattpadscapcons]

Character List (Will/Won't Write)

This was made at the very beginning of my blog and it's very difficult to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find it and edit it so I'mma just bring it to the front again.

=

Will Write

Danganronpa

- Shuichi Saihara (Pregame & Ingame)

- Murkuro Ikusaba

- Makoto Naegi

- Nagito Komaeda (Remnant & normal)

- Izuru Kamakura (only for after an attachment has been made on the reader, (After he has begun a relationship with him))

- Tsumugi Shirogane (Ingame and Pregame)

- Angie Yonaga (Pregame and Ingame) (keep it wholesome for Ingame bc her scenes ingame still freak me out a little)

- Gonta Gokuhara (will attempt Ingame & Pregame)

- Kokichi Ouma/Oma (Ingame & Pregame)

- Kyoko Kirigiri

- Hajime Hinata

- Mikan Tsumiki

- Maki Harukawa 

- Ryota Mitarai (I'll try)

- Kazuichi Soda

- Chiaki Nanami

- Toko Fukawa

=

DRA

- Utsuro/ “Yuuki Maeda”

- Akane Taria (Will Attempt)

- Mikako Kurokawa (Will Attempt)

- Kinji Uehara

- Kiyoka Maki (Will Attempt)

- Kanata Inori

- Tsurugi Kinjo

- Teruya Ōtori 

-  Yamato Kisaragi

- Kakeru Yamaguchi (Will Attempt)

- Haruhiko Kobashikawa (Will Attempt)

=

SDRA2

- Yuki Maeda (with or without Sora's body) (Basically high school kid or traumatized adult with the power of Devine luck)

- Yuri Kagarin (Even though his Jojo form terrifies me, I would be writing him differently to change that specifically)

- Shinji Kasai

- Hibiki Otonokoji (Kanade will be referenced in everything you ask due to her constant pestering in her sister’s personal life)

- Sora (will attempt)

- Syobai/Shobai Hashimoto

- Hajime Makunouchi

- Yoruko Kabuya (will attempt) (only with female or GN! Reader though, I respect her canonically being gay)

- Utsuro

- Tsurugi Kinjo (Will attempt both with his current personality, and an alternate more calmed personality similar to his younger self)

- Teruya Otori (will attempt)

=

Won't Write (Due to zero or misunderstood data/ Uncomfortable With Writing For)

(Danganronpa 1-3)

- Remnants of Despair (There are only a few characters I’d even attempt writing for this, but the despair au makes me extremely uncomfortable) (excluding Komaeda)

- Teruteru Hanamura

- Hiyoko Saionji

- Gundham Tanaka (Stopped writing for him bc I forgot how I originally wrote him)

- Celestia Lundenberg (don't know how to write for her)

- Ibuki Mioda (Stopped writing for)

- Byakyua Togami

- Yasuhiro Hakakure

- Kiyotaka Ishimaru

- Chihiro Fujisaki

- Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu (Stopped writing for him)

- Kirumi Tojo

- Sayaka Maizono (I stopped writing for her a while ago)

- Korekiyo Shinguji 

- Ryoma Hoshi (can’t figure out his character, or come up with a set of pregame headcanons that I’d be able to base off of)

- Leon Kuwata

- Himiko Yumeno

- Tenko Chabashira

- Rantaro Amami (Don't know how to write for him outside of pregame and I stopped writing pregame Rantaro a while ago)

- Kiibo/ K1-B0

- Kaito Momota

- Mahiru Koizumi (I have no idea how to write for her)

-J*nko End*sh*m* (I'd just make her too ooc, plus I hate her sm for hurting people)

- Hifumi Yamada

- Monokuma (Obvious Reasons)

- Monokids

- H*iji T*wa (Don't need to explain why)

- Shirokuma & Kurokuma

- M*u Ir*m* (trigger, please block out letters when talking about her)

- K**de Ak*m*tsu (major trigger, please block out letters when talking about her)

- Korekiyo Shinguji

- Sakura Ogami (Have no idea how to write for them)

- Mondo Owada (I just can’t like....write him without him seeming too ooc)

- Twogami/Ultimate Imposter (I don’t know enough about their character to write for them)

- Nekomaru Neidi (I don’t know how to write for this character!)

=

DRA

- Rei Mekaru (She’s mean in every context of the word)

- Kizuna Tomori (mean mean mean two-faced character)

- Mitsuhiro Higa (His attitude in game disgusts me)

- Satsuki Iranami (like her, just can’t write her)

=

SDRA2

- Alter Ego Mikado ( I hate him so so so so so so very much for trying to lay a hand on Utsuro, and what he had done to Yuki)

- Rei Mekaru

- Setsuka Chiebukuro (I don’t understand how to write for her)

- Monocrow (he’s a bird, and is the one sending people to their executions)

- Iroha (makes me uncomfortable)

- Kokoro Mitsume (her existence violates one of my rules)

- Kanade (Lets be honest I don’t need to explain this one)

- Nikei Yomiuri (Chapter 4, I don’t think I have to elaborate further)

=

[ask-de-writer]

THE TAIL OF THE GHOST : Tales to Read AFTER the Lights Are OUT! : (1 part)

Return to the Master Story Index Return to MLP Fan Fiction Return to TALES TO READ AFTER THE LIGHTS ARE OUT!

THE TAIL OF THE GHOST

by De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

2317 words

© 2016 by Glen Ten-Eyck Writing begun 10/30/16

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author. ////////////// Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

He awoke to the almost feathery sensation of tail hairs flirting softly across his face.  Again.  The soft, sweet voice of the young mare offered, “Up, Old Warrior!  It is time for us to battle another night away!”

Opening one eye, the Old Warrior beheld two things.  One, the young mare was right.  The sun was setting.  Time for him to get up and fry a few hay twists for breakfast.

The other was a bit more awkward to see.  The young mare herself.  Other than the fact that her mane and tail were darker than the fur that covered the rest of her, there was simply not much to be seen.  Her outlines were slightly hazy and he could see the wall mount with his old battle honors and medals right through her.

Years ago, needing to reduce the size of a peacetime army, Master Sargent Warrin had been mustered out for his age and infirmity.  Some Infirmity.  True, he was missing the tip joint of his right wing.  That had failed to slow him down any.  Only dumb headquarters brass saw it as an infirmity.

When mustered out, Master Sargent Warrin had got from his forward post in the forest to Fort Everfree Edge faster than the overweight but “fit” pegasus Lieutenant that had delivered his Orders.  The scene that followed had got “insolence” added to his mustering out Orders.

All that he had done, after all, was point out to Base Commander Morrgripe that the UNFIT pony that they were mustering out could out run, out fly and carry a heavier battle pack in the air or on foot than ANY officer in the Fort.  That might have been bad enough, but the 950 golden bits that he had won while proving it, including a bet from the BC, had earned him the insolent tag.

Then the Prance border heated up a few years later.  For the fourth time!  They tried to get him to sign a forced reenlistment.

He had taken great pleasure in rubbing the Infirmity Muster Out in their faces!  At that time he was employed flying express post for Princess Luna’s Royal Road Commission.  AND had racked up SIX commendations for his swift deliveries!

He was smiling as he looked up at his second wall mount.  The commendations for swift post and two of Luna’s Crescents for gallantry in dealing with deadly civil emergencies were in it.

The sweet little mare poked her head through the wall near the stove where he was seasoning his frying hay twists with assorted dried flower tops.

With not a care in the world, she walked on into the kitchen, hooves about 10 cm above the floor.  “Smells lovely, Old Warrior.  I wish that I could eat some along with you.  That is something that I miss a lot.

“Until you came, ponies that stayed here at this old chateau were afraid of me.  I just saw you smiling.  Was it remembering your Insolence or was it the Fast Post Service that you were remembering?”

He looked up and offered her a small plate of his seasoned hay twist.  “It was a little of all three things, Sweetie.  The third being you, of course.  Mostly you.

“Here, this plate is yours for now.  If you cannot eat what I cooked for you, at least you can smell it and share breakfast with me that way.”

Her eyes twinkling, the little mare, Sweetie, sat.  On the air.  And sniffed appreciatively.  He poured her a small cup of the strong Rom black tea that he favored.  She smelled that too, a blissfully happy expression on her face.

He watched in fascination as she reached out a hoof and the day’s mail appeared in the same ghostly form as herself.  When she took back her hoof, all of his day’s mail was solidly there on the table.  She seemed to be pleased at his expression.

He sorted his mail and made a sour expression when he opened one with the Army Retirement Board seal on it.  He brightened considerably at the contents of a different envelope  It bore the seal of Chancery Court of Princess Luna’s Royal Road Commission.

“I have to go down to Everfree Town, Sweetie.  I wish that you could come with me.  I enjoy your company.”

She smiled like a conjurer doing a clever slight of hoof trick.  “I can.  I have followed you to your garden that is in the glen.  Because it was daylight, you could not see me but I was there.  I am hard to see in bright lamplight too.  That does not stop me from seeing you, only you from seeing me.”

“I thought that you were haunting this chateau.”

“I was.  Then you came.  You were not afraid of me.  You even started waking at sunset and spending the night awake, just so that you could see me and talk to me.

“It took some time for me to learn how to talk to you so that you could hear me.  Nobody else can hear me at all.  I love being able to talk to you.  The stories that you tell me of your adventures are endlessly fascinating.  I especially like the one about your meeting Princess Luna on the Prance frontier.”

The ex Master Sargent Warrin grinned!  “You learned how to move real things and that led you to writing too!  I must say that I admire your determination.  I would have loved to have you in a platoon of mine!

“Now, let’s go to Equesrian National Bank and try to settle this business!”

Sweetie smiled happily, “I love going out with you!  What is Equestrian National Bank?”

Bemused, the old warrior paused in the doorway and looked over at Sweetie, who was simply strolling through the wall of the chateau.  There was no porch under her but she did not seem to notice that.

He mused, “Forgot how long ago you died, Sweetie.  A bank is a business that takes money from many ponies and then loans it out to businesses, farms and home buyers.  They make money off of the loans and then share some of what they make with the ponies they got the money from.

“Usually, everypony sort of wins.  While they hold my money, they keep track of how much I have and add on my share of what they earn with it.”

Sweetie had no wings but she easily kept pace with him, seeming to trot along like a pegasus on a well made cloud.  Except, of course, there was no cloud!

With a luminous smile she explained, “I have managed to change from haunting the chateau to haunting YOU!  That means that I HAVE to stay close!  That makes it easy to keep up.  The magic of haunting and all of that.”

He flew with happy strokes of powerful wings.  She trotted ahead and flirted her ghostly tail in his face sometimes!  It made him get a goofy smile on his face every time that she did it.  He spiraled down to the Equestrian National Bank and walked in.

He requested a meeting with Mister Horshiz, the branch Vice President of Operations.  Instead of having to wait, Mister Horshiz, a really sour gray maned red pony, demanded, “There you are, Warrin!  Why are you six days late on the rent for the Royalmont Chateau?  You owe us 1500 golden bits plus six days of penalties!”

Warrin looked askance at him.  “Not possible.  I was PURCHASING the chateau from Princess Luna, who owned it.  There is a title deed transfer that my agent told me has been delayed.  My making the purchase was the Princess’ idea.”

“I have the DEED right here!”

Horshiz held out a blue scrolled edge document.  Warrin’s battle trained reflexes snatched it faster that Horshiz could pull it back.  His eyebrows rose at what he saw.

In a saccharine voice he asked, “Where is the original?  This is a Chancery Copy and it has been altered.  The Royal Seal is a copy, not an original, as required by Crowns Law.”

“That is a trivial detail!  Pay the past due rent and penalties or be evicted at once!” Horshiz demanded.

Sweetie’s voice caught Warrin’s attention.  “Keep him talking love of mine.  I see some very interesting things in this file on his desk!”

Warrin grinned like a shark seeing a helpless swimmer.  “When Princess Luna’s personal property deed was so severely delayed in transfer, I wrote to her.”

He held up his envelope with the seal of the Royal Road Chancery Court on it.  He read, “Dear Master Sargent (Ret.) Warrin:  It is with great pleasure that I enclose your latest Royal Road Fast Post Commendation for assistance in the recent Dappleton Grist Mill dam failure.

“In spite of your Retirement from our Postal Service, your heroic over flight in thunderstorm weather and precise damage assessments made all of the difference for some hundreds of our subjects.

“In response to your request for an audit of the title problem concerning the Royalmont Chateau, I have disturbing news.  The Title Deed was sent to the Everfree Town branch of Equestrian National Bank to have the deed transfer to you notarized and the transfer registered.

“Celestia and I jointly agreed, after the Dappleton disaster, to gift the Chateau to you for your many services to our Realm.  Along with the deed, all needful fees and a full refund of all the monies that you have paid were sent to the Bank.

“The deed, fees and refund were directly stolen.  A Royal Audit has shown other irregularities concerning your accounts at the Everfree EQNB.  Among these, your retirement payments from both Our Army and the Royal Road Post System have subverted.  The direct golden transfers on the Royal Treasury are being made to Everfree EQNB.  They are issuing DRAFTS, which they fail to pay until thirty days have passed, giving them unlawful access to the use of your honorable retirement funds.

“The whole scheme has been directly traced to General  Morrgripe of Fort Everfree, who appears to have a grudge against you concerning how your took your Muster Out.  Something about losing a bet.

“I may add that due to My personal friendship, stemming from your heroic shielding of my person with your body during a surprise attack by Prance forces, it was my request that you be kept in our Royal Armored Pegassi.  However, in the end, such decisions do properly belong to the Base Commander.  Then Colonel Morrgripe ordered you Mustered Out.

“I will never forget that you lost your right wing tip when protecting me during the Third Prance Incursion.  

“Both General Morrgripe and Branch Vice President Horshiz have been summoned to Our Royal Court to answer charges Under Our Royal Wing, concerning the theft of My personal property and gift.  They must also face the subversion of our Royal Retirement System.

“Please find enclosed a fully transferred Title Deed formally Sealed by both my sister Celestia and I.  This Deed supersedes any previous documents and is already Registered in all of the appropriate Courts of Law.

“I remain your loyal friend, Princess Luna.”

While Warrin was reading, he noticed with amusement that he could, just barely, see Sweetie.  She was laying her hoof on documents from the file on Horshiz’s desk.  Like when she picked up his mail at home, the documents faded slowly away while Sweetie grinned.

For his ears alone, she said, “We called them Sharing Associations when I was alive.  Losing needed documents is still a favorite ploy, I see.  He is losing some that he will wish that he still had!”

Warrin grinned even more widely.  He held up his copy of the Chateau’s deed.  “You are effectively dead, except that you will be working on the Royal Roads!  This one is ALREADY registered by the direct order of BOTH Princesses.

“I was coming to let you know that both the payment by draft and the Deed issues had been taken care of.  I was going to let you off the hook on all of this and shaft General Morrgripe, whom I do detest.

“Unfortunately, you just had to try to extort a rent from me for a property that I own outright as a Royal gift.”

Sweetie strolled through Horshiz’s desk and laid her hoof just above Warrin’s lap.  A number of documents faded into existence in his lap.

She hugged him, which felt like being surrounded by the softest of feathers.

Whispering in Warrin’s ear, she said, “Come, my love, let us go to our home and leave this pony to his fate.”

Agreeing, Warrin stood, folding the documents into his shoulder pouch.  He turned to the stunned Horshiz, “I would love to see you try to claim either rent or eviction.  The first thing that the court will do is look to see who owns the property.  The Registry will show that it is ME.  That will make you prima facie guilty of fraud.  You know it, too.

“A pleasant evening to you.”

He stopped by the Police Station and delivered the documents that Sweetie had purloined.  He explained, “These are part of the evidence in a case Under the Royal Wing.”

He produced his letter from Princess Luna.  The desk pony checked his Wants, Warrants, and Summonses file to confirm the Royal Summons and took the documents, saying, “I will be see to getting these forwarded to the Royal Road Chancery Court.”  Shaking his head in disbelief he added, “Stealing from Princess Luna?  Not a wise thing to do!”

Warrin’s flight home to the Chateau was in no way hindered by Sweetie getting in front of him and flirting her tail in his face from time to time.

~THE END~

Return to the Master Story Index Return to MLP Fan Fiction Return to TALES TO READ AFTER THE LIGHTS ARE OUT!

[lilyandthegenshinbrainrot]

Enkanomiya has me by the throat at all given times, so here's the bare bones of it:

when The Primordial One came to Teyvat, it killed the seven dragonlords as one being and THEN made four shades of itself, taking up the name Phanes as the original. It's in this time that it recreated the laws of nature for Teyvat, by symbolically breaking its own body/shelter "eggshell" to separate their space and then a different space for "its creations which it cherished most".

Celestia. Teyvat. Celestia is the works directly of Phanes' ideal of heavens. Presumably, now run by the remaining 3 Shades and Phanes itself. I can and will talk about the irl allegorical themes of this damn book, but for now, I digress.

(So specifically, they left Enkanomiya to die bc they didn't care about "microcosm" and considered them inconsequential, but Istaroth went back for them. Only leaving when they took up Orabashi as a god, who learned that the Primordial One was not naturally of their world.)

So in this way, Istaroth being able to affect Celestia would either be a result of her relationship to Irminsul as the world's literal timeline or it would be akin to when the body's cells begin to work against the better good for the body as a whole, almost in a cancerous sickness except the "sickness" is Istaroth thinking separately from the other Shades and that which she is a Shade of. Which could increase in frequency and severity over the span of time of these loops !!

Forbidden knowledge is my bread and butter, and I wholeheartedly believe that as descenders, the laws of the land do not affect the Traveler nearly as much. (Which might actually bring us all the way back to Albedo's first story quest.)

The Traveler is able to withstand the Withering and Abyssal corruption on a level that allogenes and citizens alike have called unnatural. It takes much more, more longer, to have a similar affect as a natural being of Teyvat. I think it's actually part of the Traveler's purification powers that allows the holistic healing of Withering Zones to happen on the scale it does, bc they are a result of the Land knowing the forbidden knowledge. "The trees learned that one day, all things come to an end, and they were very sad."

So. Basically this entire AU would be playing on the idea of who is and isn't directly a result of Phanes rewriting the nature of Teyvat, so as Istaroth is part of the body so too is Venti. Say... a Shade of a Shade if you like the technical terms. So the Shades are aware, so too are the Descenders. And it all becomes a massive fight between the truth and the lovely lie, who truly is in charge of the game all of Teyvat plays.

We've talked about Venti's love vs Istaroth's and how they parallel one another

But what about the traveller? What about the exception to teyvat's laws? (Also them being an exception to the whole neverending loop of twin/doppelganger deaths maybe lol)

Something something the power of love gets me so what if the unforseen factor is the traveller's love. For teyvat, for their sibling, for their friends.

I mentioned how venti's own love may have sentenced him to his fate. But what if it's the traveller's love that saves him?

Who would be better to bend fate than one who exists outside of it?

[rhine-gold-archive]

Hi! In a light of your post about ley lines and memories, have you seen the video by Ashikai on youtube, it's called "Khaenri'ah did nothing wrong". I like your posts about Khaenri'ah and would love to hear your opinion, if you're interested of course. Thank you and have a nice day!

Ok, anon, i know i’m answering like 2 days late but I hope you see this post bc I did in fact went to see this video for you and boy, do i have some thoughts. To summarize, the thesis of that video is that despite Khaenri’ah’ titan robots being found in Sumeru, they were not there as aggressors against Sumeru, but to fight the abyss. And that also, Khaenri’ah’ main goal was always to fight the abyss, they and Celestia were chill actually, the cataclysm was an unfortunate Chernobyl-like incident and that Celestia just had to nuke Khaenri’ah to save others. Let’s go through points, shall we.

1.I do agree that Khaenri’ah was not invading other nations, like the battle log on one of the robots straight up says they were here fighting “Dark beasts”. And also, if Khaenri’ah were trying to conquer other countries, we’d hear about it already FROM these nations. Like, Xiao would be bitching about robots as well as demons.

2.Where I start to disagree is the idea that Khaenri’ah and Celestia had no beef. Khaenri’ah 500% had beef against Celestia. Their envoys were in Enkanomiya stealing, killing, just generally Manipulate-Manwhore-Mansplaining to get “Before Sun and Moon” book. The same book that the abyss order so desperately wants to get too. Like, Enjou’s main goal of all his bullshit in Enka was to get this book. 

And it’s all couldn’t be just for pure science or smth, because we know that Celestia is ready to destroy nations because of this book. Orobashi had to make a deal with Celestia to save the people of Enkanomiya after he read that book, and he had to die as a part of that deal. Just bc he read it. So like, the only reason you’d want to get this book so badly is if you plan to actively use it against Celestia and not afraid of them retaliating. 

3. Why Khaenri’ah would have beef against Celestia? Well, there’s another huge theme of genshin that this video is not mentioning, and it’s Destiny. Also known as Fate. As we know, astrology in genshin is not just bullshit, but hard science, stars are not real stars, but rocks - constellations that literally spell out the destiny of every single person. You cannot change your pre-written destiny.

Mona literally spelled this all out in her domain in the recent Golden Archipelago event. People cannot change their destiny, and if they try, it ends up very badly for them, which is why Mona tries to tell them the “correct” way to live in accordance with their preordained fate, so they follow their destiny closely and live happy lives. And she uses an interesting turn of phrase, I don’t remember the exact quote, but she says that she’s “no hero” to try and change how destiny works. It stuck in my mind specifically bc “hero” implies the presence of a villain, an active power that enforces destiny and there would need to be a hero to fight against it.

Rhine, how the fuck is this relevant for Khaenri’ah, you might ask. Well, the video says that the abyss’ goal is restoration of Khaenri’ah, but that’s actually their side-goal. In “We will be reunited”, abyss sibling spells out what really drives them:

“Until the Abyss has engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end.”

They are at war with DESTINY. And the throne? “Before Sun and Moon” calls Celestia “The Second Throne.” => You need to conquer Celestia to break free from destiny.

also like, let's not forget, not only Celestia forced Orobashi to die bc he READ A BOOK, they also run a full on God's Battle Royale aka The Archon War, turning Teyvat into a bloodbath, so Celestia 100% have their own agenda that is clearly not just so benevolent as "They only dropped Celestial Nails to cleanse ley lines:( They had no choice:("

4. I must mention that yes, abyss order’s goals do not automatically mean that Khaenri’ah had the same goals, BUT. First of all, let's remember that Khaenri’ah’ whole thing was being a nation that refused to bow before the gods. I doubt they’d be thrilled that all of their fates are controlled by Celestia’s constellations.

Second. In the “Travail” trailer, Dainsleif says in Khaenri’ah section that is called “The Dream Yet to Be Dreamed”: 

“In the perpetual meantime of the sheltered eternity, most are content to live and not to dream. But in the hidden corners where the gods’ gaze does not fall, there are those who dream of dreaming. Some say a few are chosen and the rest are dregs, but I say we humans have our humanity. We will defy this world with a power from beyond.”

First sentence is literally what Mona talks about, just following your destiny and not daring to change it. Because how can you truly dream in a world, where your destiny is decided long ago and you cannot change it? “Dreaming to dream” is wanting to be able to break your fate, to have a dream that is not pre-written for you in the stars.   

Khaenri’ah, so focused on the power of humanity without reliance on gods, wanted to break from the shackles of Fate, and for that they had to go against Celestia. 

I in fact think from “We will defy this world with a power from beyond” that Khaenri’ah actually tried to tame the power of Abyss (Rhinedottir was the one who created\summoned riftwolves and they are heavily abyss-associated, not to mention poor Durin who was just a pure mass of abyss corruption, and mb she tried to make creatures made out of abyss, but under her control and failed the control part), but royally fucked up, unleashed the abyss and Celestia used this time of exposure and weakness to nuke them. But that’s speculation, there’s not enough info at this point.