#i was just playing the 3.3 update...

[xyourgoddessnyxx]

HOYO JUST LOVES THEIR FUCKING CLIFFHANGERS DON'T THEY???!!! FUCK YOU HOYO

[real-sizzlipede]

Gaaaah ok now I've had time to process and I can finally write out my thoughts on 3.3 so SPOILER WARNING OF COURSE DONT READ UNLESS YOUVE PLAYED IT OR WANT SPOILERS IG

-i gah I didn't think I'd love cipher and hyacine this much but g a h they fr are making me love and lose e v e r y fucking chrysos heir huh 💀💀

- cipher pulling off the grand lie is s u c h a good way to take her character to me I spent the whole time last patch being like "ok she's like pretty useful but like what role does she play in the grand scheme of things" and o u g h i was not disappointed as soon as they mentioned 300 years of light from the daylight device I was like "wait a fucking second" and gah it's such a cool way to use her power for the greater good

-aglaea aglaea aglaea g o d at the beginning of the amphoreus quests I was 50/50 on her but after these few missions gosh I cried when she died and her and ciphers relationship gah

-i cried so many times this update I cried at every death I cried for the whole half hour after it was great and horrifying and gah they're all gone 😭😭 and I am so torn up about it

- phainon??? Gah oh my g o d ok after 3.2 when he gave the speech I was like wow this is like a different guy and i knew it was because he was upset at everything happening but especially after aglaeas passing him having to take up the role of the leader of the chrysos heirs and essentially the whole city which is essentially all of the people in all of amphoreus, he is grieving and upset and hurting so s o badly and trying to keep it together and I think that his writing being so different this patch really reflected that. I understand people not liking it because he seems like a different character than he was and that's because he essentially I s now with everything he's gone/going through. Originally when his drip art came out I went "this seems so out of character but I like it because I know that he puts on a facade all of the time anyways" and after this patch I'm like "oh this is t h i s phainon" this is hurt grieving angry still protecting everyone and holding it together phainon and it just gah it hurts my heart so much

-phaidei (bc what am I if not a fan of yaoi) oh my God "did you forget about me?" "it's a date, mydeimos" the fact that they promised to see each other again instead of saying goodbye just breaks my heart especially when mydei dies and phainon doesn't even know right now and it is killing me from the inside out 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

-ohhhjh the scepter????? Gah the scepter!!! As soon as herta said "a fourth one" I was like "no fucking way they're bringing back the scepters" AND THEY ARE!!!! GAH but also that plus Lord ravager explains all of the chaos and turmoil and the scepter also explains all of the technology that amphoreus has that seems so out of place to me!!! But like I get it now!!! It makes sense!!! I am just worried that it's going to wind up being a "the people of amphoreus aren't real and are all a simulation" but like haha surely that won't happen (I don't know)

-the two amphoreus theories!!! I am really hoping this is true and so we can see all the pookies again but also like I want o u r pookies I want the ones that are dead to not be dead adjfksjdj I don't want other pookies that are but aren't them 🥺🥺 but like I think it's a very good theory and especially with the fact that there's a scepter in amphoreus it can definitely happen.

-ok quick note Abt the 2 amphoreus theories STOP SAYING ITS LIKE 2 SIDES OF A MOBIUS STRIP BECAUSE A MOBIUS STRIP ONLY HAS ONE FUCKING SIDE THATS THE WHOLE POINT ok thank you :)

3.4 LEAKS SPOILERS AHEAD

- oh my God phainon looks so good and also so ough I'm terrified but I love it but I hate that everyone's gone

-thw design??? The longer hair and golden eyes??? Dare I say he looks like mydei (good Lord) and I also want to point out the white and gold color scheme that makes him look like aglaea too which ough 😭😭 he's truly taking over the leadership role but also no one else who is a chrysos heir is even there to lead anymore 😭😭😭

-the moveset looks insane and I saw something where he has a bunch of actions in quick succession?? But like there was a countdown and stuff and like gah

-anyways I am glad I have been saving since drip art release because good fucking God I need him to be on my account

[shanxing-wu]

spoilers for hsr 3.2 story below the cut

my thoughts on some screenshots i saved while playing at 3am

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

phainon, i think everyone was expecting you to be the one to study his body........

mister "that immortal body soaks up damage like a sponge. trust me, i've tested it myself".

mister i was the first to sign up for mydei's keeping up w/ star rail.

ok but his angry face is so cute i forgive him 🥰

if phainon is the one who EVERYONE is relying on to recreate/reincarnate the people of the new world according to his "perfect memories"... would there just be a sudden increase of people who look suspiciously like a certain kremnoan crown prince? who might share similar features or demeanors? and the aforementioned crown prince's reincarnation is a perfect, exact, MIRROR IMAGE replica of the previous cycle. i know this guy does not stop thinking about mydei for a SECOND. we're all doomed.

dan heng's mission log.... "they will be just fine. i sincerely pray so."

thinking about dan heng carrying trailblazer in his arms, desperately doing everything he can to save them. and to think that he inherited all of dan feng's gifts for cloudhymn magic, prowess with a spear– everything. except for healing.

i'm so curious about the full story of the previous cycle and who all those chrysos heirs were! and it's so interesting to me that they left the death coreflame for last, whereas it seems like in our present cycle we're leaving kephale coreflame for last? (or aquila, but i honestly think it will be kephale since it's kind of just... marinating idk...)

also curious about the chrysos heirs that became cerces and mnestia. were they lovers before they became titans? was this a love that transcended lifetimes, broke the chains of the cycle? after learning the story of polyxia saving her sister's life, it wouldn't be the first instance of love being that powerful.

(now i want to write fic about that happening with phainon and mydei. the voices...)

so what if i cried

i like to think, with this extreme close-up framing on his eyes and the way he stares longingly into the distance... the phaidei shipper in me thinks he's talking about phainon when he says "til the miracle descends." that here, at the border of life and death, fighting with everything he has not to give into death, he still trusts that phainon will be the one to deliver the miracle to him and release him from this cycle of endless fighting and deaths.

my first thought was that he's asking if aglaea is dtf here. and i thought: in front of all the dead gods? 😭 i honestly believed we were about to get another "competition in the hot baths" scene.

as a child of divorced parents myself.... this felt like two divorced parents talking about their son 😭

miscellaneous thoughts:

do NOT ask me how many times i had to replay the dialogue when cipher was on screen. i could not stop staring respectfully at her thigh strap. (i was actually really not interested in her design at all until i met her in 3.2. and discovered that i'm weak. so incredibly weak. and gay.)

phainon giving epic, emotional, dramatic speech in front of the entire population of okhema: mem mememem memem mem MYDEI memem mememememem

the casual lore drop that hysilens is dead?? are we not going to talk more about that, castorice??

i loved this story so much. it confirmed so many of my theories but left me with so many questions still???

so many great cameos. mydei and trianne. ACHERON.

THE ENDING WAS INSANE??? CONFIRMATION THAT DESTRUCTION IS THE THIRD PATH? LORD RAVAGER??? WHAT?

in my opinion 3.1 is still my favorite story update (i'm incredibly biased for mydei), but 3.2 was still incredibly fun and jaw-dropping and beautiful. i'm already counting down the days til 3.3.

[cryoculus]

— TRACK 02: ALL YOURS ⟢

the last thing you expect for mydei to do is ask you to help write a song. it could have been out of pity, or a means to distract, but little do you know, those fragmented lyrics will pull you so much closer into each others' orbit.

★ featuring; mydei x f!reader

★ word count; 7.4k words

★ tags; rock band au, found family, hostile acquaintances to friends to lovers, grief/mourning, angst, slow burn, eventual smut

★ notes; i'm cross-posting chapters gradually so i don't end up clogging the tags with my updates LOL 😭 also, i bulldozed through the 3.3 trailblazer quest and was royally pissed off by those 10-second cutscenes lmfao!!!! but i liked the story anyway so here's chapter 2~

★ header art cr; sarhiyu on x & ig

TRACKLIST ✧ READ ON AO3

@TheFlamechasers [📸 Photo Post] “First live charity set with our newest member, #DIANA. Let’s hear it for the cause and the chaos. 🔥” → 🧡 132,940 likes | 💬 View all 9,021 comments

@stagebattles [🎥 Clip: Diana’s solo, crowd screaming in the background] “One show in and she’s already melting faces. Flamechasers just hit reset.” → 🔁 18.2k shares | 💬 “did NOT expect that tone shift. she’s got teeth.”

@lionmouth17 [Tweet] “did she really play Nightingale Static like THAT?? this is why we stan musicians who feel the music.” → 9.2k likes | 2.4k reposts | #Flamechasers #DIANA

@heph_saves_hearts [Fan edit clip of old Hephaestion solos vs. Diana’s live set] 🎧 “i miss him.” 💬 Comments are disabled.

@flamechasers_confessions Anonymous post “I saw Diana once at a show before she joined the band. She was front row, crying during ‘Firestarter.’ I swear it was her.” → 614 likes | 109 comments | 🧊 tagged: “unconfirmed,” “fan theory”

@ cipher [Instagram Story] 🎤🎸 “Our newbie killed it! Whole band was lit tonight. 🔥 #Flamechasers”

@GarmentmakerCH [Photo Post] Image: Diana, still in stagewear, clutching a bouquet Caption: “Operational success.” → 🧡 49.1k likes | 💬 “why do you talk like a cryptid and also make me cry”

Life hasn’t slowed down. If anything, it’s moving faster than ever.

Hyacine keeps your inbox clogged with 4K Ultra HD fancams of every angle of your debut, each one timestamped and over-captioned like she’s running PR. Her support warms your heart, really. But while you do your best to hold on to your tradition of monthly coffee shop catch-ups, even that’s starting to lose its place in your tightly packed schedule. 

Rehearsals blur into fittings, fittings into interviews, interviews into frantic note-taking at midnight when a new riff won’t leave your head.

You should be too busy to feel anything.

And for a while, you are. 

Cipher’s energy barrels through every room, impossible to dodge and secretly comforting. Phainon never forgets your drink order, not even once. Castorice taught you a new tuning last week and gave you a fist bump that landed like quiet approval. Even Anaxa has stopped scowling every time you walk through the door—mostly.

And Mydei… is still Mydei. Distant and watchful, but the silence between you is thinner now. Less like a wall, more like a pause.

It feels like the kind of chaos you used to dream about.

Until it doesn’t.

You only meant to stop by the practice room to pack up your gear, maybe tighten a string or two. Ten minutes. Fifteen, max. Rehearsals finished up late, and you’d rather head back to your apartment before you get caught in the evening rush hour. 

But time slows differently in the quiet.

The rest of the studio is dim, lit only by the soft amber spill from a hallway bulb. Your amp is still warm. The hum of cables left half-wound coils at your feet. Outside, someone laughs, distant and muffled. Inside, it’s just you.

And the space where Erin should be.

Where she would’ve sent a dumb sticker just to make you smile, ask how your songwriting is coming along and offering her own input. She’d probably request a selfie in your stage jacket, too, before cheering you on with You did it. You’re really doing it!

The silence settles too heavily on your shoulders. You sit down, but it doesn’t help.

Your fingers find the pick hanging from your necklace out of habit, but they don’t move. You hold it like a lifeline. Like maybe, if you sit here long enough, your sister will walk through the door. Crack a joke. Roll her eyes. Hug you hard.

But she doesn’t. She never will. 

The ache swells slowly and surely as it drags the air from your chest. Your throat tightens. And then, before you can stop it, the tears come—hot and thick and aching. You don’t sob right away. It’s quieter than that. Breath catching, shoulders curling inward, the sound of something unraveling from the inside out.

You don’t hear the door at first. How the hinges creak softly, and how the air shifts just a bit. You’re too deep in the grief that still curls tightly around your ribs. Your guitar pick is still clenched around your fingers like it’s the only thing keeping you tethered to the ground.

Then—

“…Hm? You’re still here.”

For a second, your heart stutters like maybe you imagined it. But you know that voice, even clipped short like that.

Shit. 

You don’t want to look. You really don’t.

But your head turns anyway like it’s not entirely yours.

Mydei’s standing in the doorway, half-shadowed by the hall light behind him. His blonde hair’s still damp from today’s rehearsal—fiery tresses flattened by sweat and motion, and just a little frizzed at the edges. His jacket’s unzipped, slouched carelessly off one shoulder, like he left in a rush and didn’t bother to fix it.

But it’s his face that lands the hardest.

His usual mask of cool, unreadable nonchalance is gone. There’s no aloof arch to his brow, no smug curve to his mouth. Golden eyes catch on yours, and you expect them to flick away like they always do. But strange enough, they stay.

He looks stunned.

As if he wasn’t prepared to see you like this. Red-eyed and trembling and small in a room that was never meant to feel so empty. He says your name—the real one—like it might be enough to ground you or himself. Maybe it’s the only thing he has to offer.

You scrub at your face, clinging to the hope that if you wipe fast enough, you can pull yourself back together before Mydei speaks again.

But you can still feel him looking.

You sit up straighter. You don’t offer an explanation, and you sure as hell don’t ask for comfort. 

“I’m fine,” you say with more bite than intended. You don’t meet his eyes.

He doesn’t call you out on it.

Instead, there’s a beat of silence, then the sound of heavy combat boots shifting against the floor. He glances over his shoulder at one of the cluttered work tables against the far wall—half-covered in scribbled lyrics and old water bottles.

“…Wanna help me write something?” Mydei asks quietly. “Could use another brain for this one. If you’re up for it.”

The question lingers in the air like he’s offering you a cup of tea instead of an outstretched hand. The shift is so gentle that it takes you a moment to register it. You’d braced yourself for indifference. Maybe a clipped nod before he turned and left. 

But this? This quiet pivot, a small gesture toward something normal and shared—it unsettles you in a different way. 

You risk a glance at him. Mydei’s already walking toward the table, grabbing a pen, and dragging over a chair with one foot like he’s not waiting for your answer.

Like he just assumes you’ll come.

And maybe that’s what does it.

You stand slowly, the heaviness in your limbs not quite gone, but a little easier to carry now. The space between you stretches but doesn’t pull apart. You cross it quietly, your steps careful as if the floor might shift underfoot if you make a single misstep.

The pen moves in his hand, tracing idle loops into the margin of the page. Not really in a rush. He allows the moment to breathe.

But the first lines don’t come easy. Mydei starts one, scratches it out, then hesitates. His gaze constantly flickers toward the corner of the page, where a few lines already sit—half-finished, older ink, not his handwriting.

“These lyrics have been sitting like this for a while now,” he says quietly, as if he noticed where you’re looking. “Felt wrong to just leave them this way.”

The strokes are unfamiliar, but the rhythm is there, off-kilter and aching, like someone left mid-thought. You want to ask whose writing it originally was, but you hold your tongue.

Something tells you it’s better not to ask.

He tries again, careful and deliberate with a softer furrow in his brow. The silence doesn't feel as sharp anymore. It rings more warm and worn at the edges, like an old sweatshirt you haven’t had the heart to throw out.

Mydei taps the pen once, twice, then gives you a sidelong glance.

“Is this too vague?” he asks, and nudges the page a little closer in your direction.

You hesitate. The instinct is to deflect—to say it’s fine and stay in your lane—surfaces in your chest. But his tone isn’t guarded. There’s no challenge in it, only a quiet question, maybe even a thread of trust. So, you lean in, eyes scanning the scribbled lines.

“Maybe,” you murmur, voice still hoarse around the edges. “The image is strong, but it feels…detached. Like it’s circling something it doesn’t want to say.”

He hums low in his throat. Then he tries again, crossing out half a line and rewriting it beneath in smaller, tighter script.

“Better?”

You nod. Less hesitant, more curious.

Just like that, it becomes something else, less about grief and the sharp edges still catching in your chest. More about rhythm, phrasing, and two people hunched over a messy page trying to make sense of feelings without naming them outright. You offer a few lines. Mydei adjusts them without comment, or sometimes just nods, tapping his pen as he reads them back. A small, quiet rhythm begins to settle between you—call and response, edit and listen, breathe and try again.

And in the space where your sorrow had curled in tight and silent, something else begins to take its place.

Not peace. Not yet.

But maybe some sort of reprieve.

It’s a windless afternoon. The kind where the sky is washed-out blue, thin clouds stretched like gauze, and the world feels hushed, like it knows not to speak too loudly.

You don’t come here often.

Not exactly out of guilt, or avoidance. The thought of having to tread the winding paths is just difficult on most days. Like turning the knob on a door that’s never stopped creaking, no matter how many times you oil the hinges.

But today, you seem to tolerate the noise a lot more than usual. 

Hyacine walks beside you with her hands tucked deep into her coat sleeves. She doesn’t say much, just matches your pace with the kind of quiet only someone who’s seen you at your worst knows how to keep. You’re grateful for it. Words feel too loud today.

The cemetery gates groan. Grass crunches under your shoes, soft and brittle from the cold. You know exactly where to turn, even if you haven’t been here since the leaves were green.

Erin’s headstone is simple. All that’s there are her name, the dates, and a single line you still can’t read out loud without your throat closing up.

Bright enough for both of us.

The flowers in your hand are plain and store-bought, wrapped in thin paper. You crouch slowly, knees a little stiff as you brush away a few windblown twigs before laying the bouquet down. The pick at your neck presses warm against your skin where it always sits, strung on that old chain. You catch yourself holding it, rubbing over the faded swirl. You don’t even realize you're doing it until Hyacine speaks.

“You doing okay?”

You nod. Or maybe you shake your head. It’s somewhere in between.

“I didn’t think I could do it,” you murmur. “Join the band. Stand on that stage. It felt wrong. Like I was taking something I didn’t earn.”

She doesn’t rush you, shifting closer to let you know she’s there to listen.

“But… The other night, I stayed late at the studio and Mydei showed up. We ended up working on some lyrics together.” You pause. “It didn’t really fix anything, but it kind of made the air feel lighter. I’m not sure how. Or why.”

You glance at the headstone again, heart squeezing as you picture Erin nodding along to what you’re saying. “I think you'd laugh if you saw us. Me acting like I know what I’m doing. Him pretending he doesn’t care. It’s stupid. But it’s something.”

Hyacine smiles gently. “She’d be proud.”

Your throat tightens, but the tears don’t come this time. You simply press your palm flat to the stone for a moment—steadying, not letting go—and then slowly rise. You’ll be back to tell Erin more stories. When you’re ready.

But for now, you turn toward the path again, the pick resting safely over your heart.

The label’s meeting room is too bright.

Fluorescent lights hum softly overhead, sterile and clinical, bouncing light off a polished table that’s longer than most stages you’ve seen. You’re seated near one end, far enough from the center to feel peripheral, but close enough to know you can’t tune out.

Castorice sits to your left, sketching little spirals in the corner of her notepad like she’s done this a thousand times. Phainon’s on your right with his legs crossed at the ankle and a look on his face that says meetings are just another gig with worse acoustics. Cipher’s across from you, half-asleep behind her sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Mydei is situated somewhere farther down, arms folded with that casualness that always seems to come natural to him. You think he’s distracted, half-absorbed in whatever’s glowing on his phone screen until his amber-eyed gaze catches yours. The eye contact startles you, but you hold your ground, giving a small nod in acknowledgement. 

He nods back. 

You’ve never stepped foot in this room before. But after the glowing response to the last show, the label’s CEO, Caenis, called for a mandatory team huddle. Team, of course, being loosely defined because: 1) Anaxa is nowhere in sight, and 2) Aglaea and Tribbios weren’t invited. In fact, they were explicitly told to stay out of it.

Cipher mentioned once that Caenis might have some long-buried beef with the band’s management. At the time, you filed it under company rumors. But now? It’s starting to feel a little too plausible.

Then the door opens.

Caenis enters like she owns the air you all breathe, wrapped in a white suit with gold accents that look less like fashion and more like ceremonial armor.  Her assistant—an automaton named Lygus—trails behind with a tablet and an efficient silence that somehow amplifies hers.

“So,” Caenis begins, noting how the team is lacking one member. “Where’s Anaxagoras?”

Phainon raises his hand lowly. “We haven’t heard from him all morning. He wasn’t answering our calls.”

That earns a pause. “Okay. We’ll proceed anyway. Let’s talk about the Renascentia performance.”

Lygus taps something on his tablet. A screen lights up at the end of the room, projecting a slow loop of stills from the charity show—sweaty hair, bright lights, screaming crowds.

And there you are. Caught mid-riff, stage jacket thrown back, eyes fierce. Diana. 

Caenis doesn’t comment on the image. She gestures toward it with a nod instead.

“The numbers speak for themselves. Donations spiked. Engagement tripled. Public sentiment’s high. Press is calling it a comeback tour waiting to happen.” She glances at Lygus, who pulls up a calendar as well as a projected map that’s already making your head spin with one glance.

Then: “We agree.”

Your stomach flips. You hear a stream of murmurs from your bandmates, but you can’t make out what they’re saying through the roar of your pulse. 

“We’re prepping for a ten-city run by the first quarter of the following year. Local venues first, then we’ll scale up depending on performance metrics.” She turns back toward the table with a sharp grin—like she’s already projected the profit margins and filed them away. “You’ll have support staff. Stylists. Full PR scaffolding. Any questions?”

None of you answer, as if the news is taking its sweet time to settle. 

Unfortunately, Caenis isn’t a fan of idle silence and immediately levels a perfectly manicured finger at you. “Diana, questions?”

You jolt a little at the sound of your name—stage name, technically, but the way Caenis says it leaves no room for distinction. Every gaze at the table shifts your way. You clear your throat, sit a touch straighter.

“None at the moment,” you manage, voice steadier than you feel. “I'm just...looking forward to everything, I guess.”

You risk a glance down the table.

Mydei doesn’t say anything, but his brow lifts. A flicker of amusement, or maybe approval. It’s hard to tell with him.

Caenis seems satisfied. She nods once and moves on. “Good. Phainon, I want you working closely with Lygus on wardrobe scheduling. Cipher, you’re liaising with the media arm on socials. I don’t want another hashtag mishap this time.”

Cipher snorts but doesn’t argue. Phainon salutes, casually earnest.

Her gaze shifts smoothly across the table. “Castorice, you’ll be looped in with the audio techs and logistics—set maintenance, pedal configurations, all of it. I want clean transitions this time. No surprises.”

Castorice blinks once, then gives a polite, “Understood,” like she’d already prepared for this exact assignment.

“And Mydei…” Her voice pauses here, ever so slightly. “You’re still overseeing final track selections. Diana’s assisting, yes?”

You blink.

“She is,” Mydei answers. 

Just two words. Flat and unfussy. But your ears burn anyway.

Caenis’s eyes flick to you. “Then I expect both of you to have the first phase of the setlist locked in by next month. We’re tight on turnarounds. The second phase can wait after you've all discussed the next album with our producers, but do work on it ASAP.”

“Yes, ma’am,” you murmur.

The rest of the meeting devolves into logistics—tour graphics, merchandising approvals, the usual swarm of numbers and timeframes. You try to keep up, taking a few notes out of habit, but your brain’s still hooked on what Mydei just said.

She is.

Like it’s that simple. Like it’s so obvious.

The impulse to hit him flares up, but you tuck it neatly behind your teeth.

The hallway outside the meeting room feels colder somehow, or maybe it’s just the adrenaline crash setting in. Still, you fall into an easy rhythm. Down one elevator. Past some unfamiliar cubicles. Toward the wing of the building that actually feels like it belongs to all of you.

The studio.

Cipher’s the first to punch in the access code. “Bet Aglaea’s fuming,” she mutters, almost cheerfully.

“She was already fuming before we left,” Phainon adds dryly. “Which means we’re walking into something that’s probably evolved.”

The moment you step inside, you catch the sharp sound of Aglaea’s voice—even muffled behind the closed soundproof door to the main room, it cuts through.

“—again! Do they think I’m just here to hold everyone’s coats?!”

Tribbios’s voice follows in gentle, practiced tones. “It’s not personal, Aggy. You know how Caenis is. You know how these meetings go.”

“That’s the problem. They always go like this.”

You exchange a glance with Castorice, who simply nods, then quietly nudge the door open.

Aglaea’s pacing. Blazer off, hair a little more frazzled than usual. She stops mid-step when she sees all of you. Tribbios waves at you with a smile though her eyes are a touch tired. “Hey, good timing. I think I just barely talked her out of emailing Caenis an itemized list of all the things we’re excluded from.”

Phainon sighs. “We’ve got a tour coming,” he announces like he’s reporting the weather. “Ten cities. Local start. No breathing room. Highly hinted that Caenis is expecting a setlist with songs that haven’t even been written yet.”

“She’s already assigned everyone homework,” Cipher adds, dropping into one of the beanbags. “I get to babysit the hashtag situation. Again.”

Tribbios perks up. “Already? That was fast.”

“It’s Caenis,” Mydei says, settling onto the edge of the low couch. “Fast is slow by her standards.”

Aglaea clicks her tongue. “And she didn’t think it was worth telling the management team?” 

“She thinks of you as management-adjacent,” Cipher offers with mock wisdom. “Somewhere between ‘essential personnel’ and ‘miscellaneous staff.’”

Aglaea looks like she might actually throw a clipboard, and you’re not sure whether you should look away or take cover. “That...witch. She can’t keep icing us out of the strategy loop just because I questioned her about rerouting funds during the last tour—”

“Breathe. Please breathe,” Tribbios pleads, placing a calming hand on her arm. 

Castorice, always the mediator, pipes in softly. “You’re not wrong, Aglaea. But we’ve got the details now. Let’s just work with what we have, okay?”

Despite looking like a ticking time bomb personified, she takes a deep breath to loosen the nerves. Once your manager’s got her wits about her, the room hums with overlapping chatter—discussions of setlists, scheduling conflicts, wardrobe speculations, and whether anyone actually knows where half the venues are.

You’re just starting to feel like this might finally settle into something normal when the door opens again.

Anaxa steps in, three hours late, coffee in hand and not a hint of repentance on his face.

“Did I miss roll call?”

Aglaea glares at him like she’s about to combust. “Nice of you to show up.”

He arches a brow before settling on the sofa next to Phainon. “Sorry. Some of us had a rather…demanding night.”

Aglaea doesn’t respond. She just stares at Anaxa like she’s calculating the precise velocity required to launch a pen through his skull. Before you can think about what his words could possibly mean, Tribbios steers everyone back on track.

“Can we move on, please? We've got lots of ground to cover.”

Cipher snickers under her breath but quickly quiets when Castorice elbows her in the ribs. Phainon flips the page in his notebook like it’s just another day in paradise.

“According to the schedule that witch...I mean, Director Caenis handed out,” Aglaea starts, finally back in her element. “We have a week until the first official planning session for the new album. Which means we need everyone clear on deliverables, expectations, and actual attendance.”

That last part hangs in the air like smoke.

Mydei cuts through the silence with a raise of his hand. “I’ve actually started writing something.”

“Since when did you start early?” Cipher asks, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

His gaze shifts briefly before jamming a thumb in your direction. “Since she started helping.”

Every head turns to you.

You manage a thin smile, but your stomach ties itself into knots.

You weren’t expecting him to mention that night—when he’d shown up unannounced, finding you in a moment when grief felt inescapable. When the rest of the band had already gone and it had just been the two of you, creating something quiet and strange and new. You thought it would stay there.

You look down, muttering, “It wasn’t a big deal.” 

But no one really buys that. Especially with how Mydei treated you during the first few weeks since you joined. Not Cipher, who’s already wearing that grin again. Or Aglaea, who’s giving Mydei a slow, narrowed look that could mean a dozen things.

All this time, you thought things would be easier once the ghost of Hephaestion's presence has all but dissipated, but you're not enjoying...whatever this is any better. 

“That's great,” Tribbios replies—either oblivious to the shift in the room or choosing to ignore it. “Let’s flag that for review in the draft session.”

The conversation moves on. Your face still burns.

And the memory refuses to let you go.

r/TheFlamechasers u/bandforbrainz

Diana vs Hephaestion—When Will It End? Her debut was a hit, but I’m seeing so many fans still comparing Diana to Hephaestion. She played her heart out, and it’s clear that she syncs up well with the band. Why can’t y’all just let her be?

⬆️ 635  ⬇️ 45  💬 137 

 

hephforever • 2h WAKE UP! Diana’s not bad, but there’s no replacing Hephaestion. The band isn’t the same without him. Period.

AnalWithAnaxa • 2h Honestly, it’s so weird that people won't let go of him. He's the one who left without a word, why’s the new girl getting all the heat?

bandforbrainz • 2h ^^ so true, user AnalWithAnaxa

justagrrl • 15m sorry, i’m a new fan. but do we really have no clue why heph just packed up and left?

AnalWithAnaxa • 5m all you’ll dig up here are rumors. the most popular being: he and mydei broke up 🤣

myphaestion • 3m Why call it a rumor if it’s true? 

bandforbrainz • 3m @Admin the rabid shippers are here, pls help

myphaestion • 1m KYS 🖕

 

This thread has been locked by the moderators.

You start to suspect that something’s amiss during your first brainstorming session.

The main studio has been converted into songwriting HQ for a better part of the week. Someone brought snacks, someone else forgot cables, and everyone’s half-tuned and vaguely alert, notebooks and stray riffs scattered across the floor. The label’s producers gave you all creative liberty for the next album, and everyone is, miraculously, locked in. 

You’re perched on the sofa, trying to find the words that go with a chord Anaxa dropped earlier, when you hear them.

“…it’s not like he wanted to leave,” Castorice says softly. “He just—he couldn’t stay.”

Cipher hums. “Yeah, but it was Aglaea who—”

Their voices dip lower.

You weren’t trying to eavesdrop, but they’re just behind you, and there’s no mistaking what you hear:

Hephaestion.

The name itself no longer makes your chest tight with an emotion you can’t name. Several months in, and you’ve more or less found your footing as part of The Flamechasers. Caenis wasn’t lying when she said that public reception of you as the new lead guitarist was mostly positive. But hearing his name again, so casually thrown into a conversation, catches you off guard.

It’s the first time you’ve realized that your bandmates have never mentioned him to your face. Not once.

You know it’s not your place to ask. The label made it clear from the start: the matter was buried, swept away as quickly as possible, and that seemed to be the same story for everyone in the band. But from the way Cipher and Castorice spoke, it made you think that they’re in the know.

About what really pushed Hephaestion to leave.

Part of you thinks, if you were the same person you were a year ago, you’d already be down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. You would scour old interviews, dive into every scrap of gossip and half-whispered rumor you could find. But now that you’re literally sitting in the same room as the people who once called Hephaestion their brother, you learn that some truths don’t come so easily.

You contemplate about asking. Just a casual curiosity. 

But you never do. 

As the seasons change, the silence around Hephaestion’s name grows deeper. No one speaks of him again, and you’ve mastered the art of pretending you never overheard. You smile for every camera, nail each rehearsal like it’s second nature, and pretend everything is perfectly in place—even when all you want to do is scream.

You think you’re fooling everyone. The band, the fans, the media, everyone who expects nothing less than the polished version of Diana. The confident guitarist who’s got it all together, who fits in seamlessly with The Flamechasers like she’s expected to. 

But one quiet evening, something disrupts the rhythm you’ve so carefully rehearsed.

Mydei finds you again when you least expect him. 

You know he has a habit of staying late at the studio, hovering by the mixers, fine-tuning vocals, obsessing over the way sound meets silence. But the tracklist for the new album was finalized days ago. There’s nothing left to fix. No reason for him to be here this late.

Yet, here he is. 

“You up for a few drinks?” Mydei asks, his voice more casual than you’re used to. “There’s a place nearby. Still open.”

“…Now?”

He shrugs, hands in his pockets, as if he hasn’t just disrupted your entire idea of how tonight would go. “Unless you’ve got a better offer. You don’t strike me as someone with cable TV and a bedtime.”

Hesitation shadows your face. “But why me?”

Mydei glances around the empty studio hallway. “Do you see anyone else here?” Then he turns, keys jingling loosely from his finger. “C’mon. I’ll even drive you back. If anything bad happens, Aglaea will personally make sure I die a slow and painful death.”

You’re not afraid—just mildly weirded out. This isn’t the Mydei you’re used to. Sure, things between you have warmed with time, but he’s never been the type to invite people out on a whim. That’s more Cipher’s territory, or even Castorice on a good day. Mydei is more reserved. More deliberate. Yet, here he is, tossing you an offer like it means nothing.

Except it doesn’t feel like nothing.

It feels like déjà vu.

Like the night he found you unraveling in the studio months ago, when instead of pressing or prying, he’d asked if you wanted to help him write something.

You’d thought it was his way of distracting you.

Now, you can’t help but wonder: is that what this is, too?

You sigh, grabbing your jacket off the back of the chair. “You better not make me pay.”

His mouth twitches, almost a smile. “Fine. Just for tonight though.”

You follow him out into the night, the soft hum of the city settling into your bones like a lullaby you hadn’t realized you missed. A dimly lit bar is tucked between a bookstore and a laundromat, the kind of place you’d never look twice at during the day.

Inside, the lights are low, the music soft, and the bartender doesn’t bother carding you when Mydei raises two fingers in a silent order. You settle into a booth near the back while he disappears to grab your drinks, and for a few moments, you're alone again—with your thoughts, your doubts, your heartbeat loud in your ears.

What is this, really?

When Mydei returns and slides a glass toward you, he doesn’t say anything right away. Just sits across from you like he’s been doing it for years, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“So,” he finally says, raising his glass in a lazy toast. “Here’s to the biggest PR gamble of the year. New album and the tour reveal, both dropping at 7 PM tomorrow. Genius or disaster?”

You snort, clinking your glass to his. “Definitely a disaster.”

He grins, eyes crinkling slightly, and your heart stutters just a bit at the sight of it.

You sip your drink, letting the warmth crawl through your chest. For the first time in a while, you see Mydei, not as the cool, distant frontman, but as someone off-center. A little tired, but a little more human.

And then he says it—casually, but not without weight:

“Remember that song we wrote together a few months back? The one that didn’t make the final cut?”

Your fingers still around your glass.

“Yeah,” you say. “I remember.”

Mydei swirls his drink lazily, gaze fixed on the ice clinking against the glass. “I tried to make it work. We all did. The lyrics were solid—hell, the producers begged me to keep it. But every version we laid down? I don’t know. I just…couldn’t feel it.”

You blink. “You?”

He nods, face unreadable again. “It didn’t groove right. Not with me, anyway. Maybe it was the arrangement. Or maybe it just wasn’t meant for me to sing.” Then, softer, almost like an afterthought: “I’m sorry. I know you put your heart into that one. I meant to bring it up earlier, but couldn’t find the right timing.”

You can tell this wasn’t easy for Mydei to say. He doesn’t apologize often, if at all. You take a sip, the bite of the drink grounding you, so when you answer, your voice is steady.

“Then maybe I’ll cook something up myself.”

That gets his attention. His eyes flick to yours, a hint of surprise breaking through the usual calm.

“I mean, if it’s not working for you, doesn’t mean it can’t work for me.” You lean back, tapping your glass. “The lyrics are already written, so I’ll just tweak the rest. Who knows? Maybe it’ll finally groove with someone.”

A beat passes before Mydei laughs, quiet and genuine. “You’re serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“Then here’s to that.” He lifts his glass again, this time in a real toast. “Make it all yours.”

You will. Even if it’s the last thing you did. 

The rest of the night slips past before you know it. Mydei is surprisingly more amicable when he’s got a few glasses in, but he maintains the distance that’s typically there. Not that you mind.

After an hour of exchanging stories and nursing drinks, Mydei pulls up just outside your apartment. You unbuckle your seatbelt, hand already on the door handle, when he says:

“Wait.”

You pause, turning toward him.

He reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out something folded and worn. The corners are already creased, but most of it remains intact.

When Mydei hands it to you, you recognize it instantly: the original lyric sheet. The one the two of you scribbled on months ago, passing it back and forth between verses. Your handwriting all looped and anxious. His, sharp and decisive. Ink smudges where the ideas came too fast to be neat. Even the few lines that some stranger before him wrote still linger in the corner. 

You hadn’t even realized it still existed.

“I almost threw it out,” he admits. “Didn’t see the point in keeping something we weren’t going to use.”

You look down at it, then back at him.

“But you didn’t,” you say.

He shrugs. “It just felt wrong.”

Your fingers tighten slightly around the paper. It smells faintly of his car—coffee, freshener, something electric. A memory, or maybe even a beginning.

“Thanks,” you murmur.

“Don’t let it collect dust,” Mydei replies, his tousled, golden hair catching in the reflection of his headlights. “Do something with it.”

You nod and slip out of the car as his gaze weighs on your shoulders. Mydei doesn’t linger any longer, and speeds back into the empty streets without another word. Even so, the cold brushes your skin like a reset, and you’ve never been more determined for a do-over.

The first show of the tour is nothing short of a triumph.

Okhema turns out in droves—old fans, new fans, the curious, the skeptics—and they roar. From the first chord to the final chorus, it’s electricity. You’re so in the zone, it barely registers when the spotlight hits your face just right, or when Castorice drags out a solo longer than usual just so you can go feral on the outro. Even Mydei, usually cool and clipped offstage, breaks character to grin between verses.

It’s one of those shows where everything clicks. No missed cues, no out-of-sync harmonies. Just rhythm, sweat, and fire.

And you? You burn the brightest.

Afterward, the crew buzzes with high-fives and hoarse laughter. Tribbios starts talking about press clippings before the amps are even unplugged. Phainon calls the entire night “a cleanse.” Cipher insists on a group selfie and, for once, Anaxa doesn’t protest. Even Aglaea allows herself a single relieved nod before getting on the phone with someone probably much more powerful than anyone in this room.

Someone suggests an after-party. Everyone’s already halfway out the door.

Well, everyone except you.

“Not coming?” Castorice asks, already halfway into her glittery jacket.

You shake your head. “I’ve got something I need to work on.”

There’s a general chorus of lame, and booo, and we’re telling the fans you ditched us to do taxes. You flip them off with a smile, which just makes Cipher blow you a kiss in return. But as the group files out, you catch Mydei watching you, recognition simmering in his eyes at some sort of shared secret.

He doesn’t say anything, but he spares you a barely perceptible nod.

You nod back.

When you get home, your apartment smells faintly of sweat and stale confetti. You kick your shoes off at the door, hang your jacket on the back of the nearest chair, and make a beeline for your bedroom-slash-studio. The walls still hum with adrenaline. Your ears are ringing a little, but your fingers feel ready.

You slide the lyric sheet out of its folder, smoothing out the creases with a gentle hand. Mydei’s voice lingers in your head, that clipped softness: “Do something with it.”

You plug in your audio interface, boot up your laptop, and open a new session.

The first thirty minutes are great. You mess around with tempo changes, layer a synth you think is moody but not too moody, and even hum a few melody lines that feel promising. There’s a spark. It’s there.

But then it slips.

Nothing fits.

Everything you lay down fights with itself—either too loud or too hollow. It’s like trying to rebuild a house with someone else’s blueprints and none of the original bricks. You get what Mydei meant now. There’s something evasive about the song. Something emotional that doesn’t translate on command.

But you’re not giving up.

You loop the chorus section. You tweak the pre-chorus. You try a half-tempo bridge and hate it. You drink three cups of water and one of bad espresso. You mutter, “What are you even supposed to be?” to your screen at least five times, and it still doesn't feel right. 

You try again, but your hand slips off the mouse. The screen blurs a little. For a moment, you consider closing your eyes. Only for a few minutes. 

But when you open them again, you’re slumped against your desk, the lyric sheet crumpled beneath your cheek, faintly damp with drool.

The screen of your laptop glows in front of you, frozen on a blank measure.

You rub your eyes, annoyed. With the arrangement, with the interface, with yourself. The melody slips every time you think you’ve got it. The lyrics feel empty even if they felt alive when you wrote them. You’re chasing ghosts in someone else’s song, and none of them are showing their faces.

You stare at the interface until your eyes sting.

Then you grab your phone.

 

Me: Ci

Me: Please tell me you're up 

Cipher: duh

Cipher: i’m still in full concert eyeliner and fear no sleep

Me: ??? It's 9 AM

Cipher: so what? 

Me: At least wash your makeup off 😭

Cipher: are u rly texting me just to tell me off 

Me: No

Me: I'm working on a project Mydei handed over

Me: He already warned me that it was difficult

Me: And now it’s been kicking my ass for WEEKS

Cipher: ohhh? is this the one that didn't make the new album 

Me: Yeah, I'm starting to suspect the lyrics are cursed or something

Cipher: no, sweetie. mydei was just being an idiot and gave up on it too early

Cipher: getting ultra-stumped just means you're halfway there

Me: Halfway to setting my laptop on fire?

Cipher: 🔥🔥🔥 creative process 🔥🔥🔥

Cipher: want me to swing by tomorrow? bring snacks? my expertise as the band's synthesizer?

Me: Yeah that would be great

Me: But I need sleep, so do you

Cipher: true

Cipher: i was trying to get aglaea drunk but got my ass handed to me

Cipher: my vision's still spinning, kinda

Me: Good night, Ci 

Cipher: gn, newbie 🖤

On the promised day, you and Cipher work until something cracks.

It’s not polished. It’s not clean. But it moves—twitching and alive in a way that’s too raw to be careful with. Cipher high-fives you so hard it stings, then collapses backwards onto your floor, laughing breathlessly.

“Okay,” she groans. “I’m done. I’m fried. I’m leaving before I fall in love with a chorus we’ll regret in the morning.”

You snort. “Coward.”

She flips you off from the floor, then drags herself up, throws her jacket on backwards, and stumbles out of your apartment with little ceremony.

You're left in the glow of it. Still wired, and riding the high of something shaped like success. You bounce the track—just a rough cut for now. No title yet, so you type something dumb just to save it quick.

You mean to drop it in your local drafts, but in your sleep-deprived fog, you drag it into the band’s shared cloud instead. You don’t even notice. You’re already shutting your laptop without closing the audio interface. Still buzzing. Still hearing the bones of what you and Cipher made echoing in your skull.

You fall asleep face-first into a pillow with your hoodie still on.

Mydei’s at the studio on a designated day-off.

Not for the sake of productivity, exactly. He just doesn’t sleep much during tour season, and the first show’s adrenaline has yet to leave his system. 

His body’s still buzzing from the gig, but not in a good way. It feels more like residual static. Too many people, too much light, and not enough room in his head. So he took a long stroll from his place until he ended up here. Only the soft hum of the monitors and the familiar chill of over-air-conditioned space offer him company. 

Mydei boots up the console in the producers’ lounge, lets muscle memory guide him. He doesn’t think about it much. Just dragging folders, opening sessions, looking for last show’s harmony stems that Tribbios insisted were “absolutely perfect, don’t lose them.”

He scrolls.

Pauses.

Then, near the top of the shared cloud, Mydei spots a file he doesn’t recognize.

It could be Cipher’s. The title’s chaotic enough to fit her. But it could also be some half-finished garbage file Anaxa dumped in as a joke. He did once upload a mix that was just thirty seconds of dolphin noises over a kick drum. Maybe it’s corrupted. The name doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

But the timestamp stops him from dragging it to the trash bin. Just a few hours ago...

He should be organizing. Or doing literally anything else.

However, curiosity wins, and he plays it anyway.

At first, it’s all wrong. The levels are a mess, the bass clipping, one vocal harmony accidentally doubled and panned entirely left for no reason. It sounds like it was exported in a panic and bounced through a trash compactor.

But then—there.

That melody. His melody. Or at least, it used to be.

Now it’s got teeth. Rougher, louder. It doesn’t tiptoe around its own structure anymore, it kicks straight through the drywall and rebuilds itself mid-bar. Someone dragged this once-desolate song somewhere new, bent it at the joints until it stopped pleading and started fighting.

It’s not just rearranged.

It’s claimed.

The old bones are still there, buried under snarling guitar overlays, flickers of digital grit, and a deliberately broken drum loop that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. At the midpoint, there’s a climb—a sudden rise like a held breath—that breaks into a guitar line so fast and furious it leaves him blinking.

And he knows that hand.

Knows the impulse behind it. That frantic precision. That particular way of saying I’m not sorry with every note.

Yours. 

Mydei leans back, a soft, involuntary laugh escaping before he can stop it. He runs the track again. Eyes closed this time.

Because it isn’t his song anymore. It’s all yours now, stubborn and spit-shined and loud in all the ways he never let it be. And he likes it. More than he thought he would. More than he probably should.

The file ends. The room falls quiet.

He doesn’t move, he simply sits there—slack-jawed and blinking like he’s been hit by a hurricane. The glow of the screen still frames the filename in the corner:

workign title.mp3

God, what a disaster.

Wrong format. No stems, no session file. Just a lumpy, flattened brick of noise. He can’t solo the layers or trace the guitar back to its source. Can’t reverse-engineer the chaos.

All he has is the wreckage, and somehow, it’s perfect.

The quality got decompressed. The reverb's unhinged. The bassline tried to kill itself twice.

But it’s you.

Every note is stained with your persistence, your teeth-gritted drive, your weird timing and weirder decisions. The melody clawed its way out of his hands and into yours, and now it sounds like something that actually wants to live.

Mydei catches himself grinning.

Like a damn idiot.

Then he opens a new folder, drags the file in, and labels it:

workign title (DO NOT DELETE).wav

TRACKLIST ✧ READ ON AO3

© cryoculus | kaientai ✧ all rights reserved. do not repost or translate my work on other platforms.

[another-goblin]

I'm not a fan of how they treat the Intelligentsia Guild.

Their major achievements, like the synesthesia beacon, are implied to either be acquired from Genius Society members at best or just stolen from them at worst. Their supposed good qualities, like having a goal of spreading knowledge or admitting everybody who wants to learn, aren't emphasized at all.

And it's not like this faction is too unimportant for the writers to care about. They kind of dedicated a whole Simulated Universe update to it, right?

But instead, the main goal of the Unknowable Domain, IG-wise, seemed to be to just hammer in the idea of how awesome the GS's members are by showing how worthless the IG is, even despite getting access to the scepters.

That whole story was mostly about their pathetic inner squabbles. And culminated in the revelation that the IG's best mind, with her brainpower multiplied thousands of times by the scepters, wasn't even close to being a match for a genius.

Like yeah, we get it, geniuses are born special, and there is no way for a normal person to get even close no matter what they do. Don't even try. Awesome moral, I love that. But did we even need a whole Simulated Universe update to prove that? (BTW I'm not a big fan of that idea, it undermines both the achievements of the GS member and the struggles of normal people)

GS members are basically immortal demigods with their powers rivaling (if not surpassing) the powers of Aeons (can Nanook or Lan destroy a galaxy like Chadwick did? Can Yaoshi create intelligent life, like Ruan Mei did?) So I'm not surprised that the writers don't even try to compare them to the normies from the IG them in any meaningful way.

So they are kind of worthless as a faction by themselves.

But the IG doesn't even work as a narrative foil for the GS:

We never see them achieving anything through teamwork as opposed to the GS's rugged individualism.

We don't see examples of their willingness to share knowledge or being interested in humans' affairs, as opposed to the GS's dedication to science for science's sake and to Nous personally.

We don't see them doing something useful, as opposed to the GS's members' epic vanity project.

We don't see them achieving things through hard work, as opposed to GS's members just being gifted.

We don't see them showing strength through sheer numbers, as opposed to the GS only having several active members.

So why does it exist at all as a faction?

I mean narratively? They are tainted by their close association with the IPC. But the IPC has a perfectly functioning Technology Department, and the IG currently functions just as its additional external version. They are hardly an independent faction at this point, but rather an appendage of the IPC.

It doesn't work as Dr. Ratio's home faction either. With the exception of a couple of lines in his character stories, nothing would have changed if he was in the GS or wasn't a member of any faction at all (guess who made a whole post about it). I mean him being in the IG might finally play a role in Dr. Ratio's story one day (see below) but what are the chances. I mean we don't even have a "Dr. Ratio story" to begin with.

And one last point. Nobody blames Herta for what Dr. Primitive has done. We understand that the GS is a group of separate individuals.

But the IG is seen as a homogeneous mass to the point of people side-eyeing (or even directly blaming) Dr. Ratio for what the IG did millennia before he was born.

(Small spoiler for 3.3 below, maybe:)

(I wrote this some time ago. I haven't finished 3.2 yet, but I've heard a Scepter is involved in 3.3. But I don't think that would change anything for the IG. Besides, they made the IG so bland and unappealing that I doubt a single person would be excited to see more of them. Even I, as a fan of Dr. Ratio, am only interested in the council of Mundanites, as a small part of the Guild, and only because of him)

[m-inntii]

Phainon study ig

This is an update/redo on my previous analysis post on Phainon lol. As per usual the usual warnings: Spoilers for entirety of Amphorues (which includes 3.3)

This post is both an analysis of Phainon, a dive into his possible mindset, and a review of his relationships. (although it is also jsut a lot of yapping) do not take my words for gospel, i’m not very good analyst I just do this for fun.

as a funny little extra wanting, i’ll also be discussing Phaidei in here!! So if your like homophobic or something. . . well you shouldn’t even be playing hoyo games in the first place actually so

Phainon is really well written character, imo

Before the Flame Chase journey, Phainon was just a boy form the village of Aedes Elysiae. He was happy, fulfilled, and had many friends

And then his village was destroyed by the Flame Reaver. All that joy and peace gone in a second.

He had to watch as his parents sacrificed their own lives so he could live, as he was helpless to save anyone, which then started a continuous cycle of constant self-blame and lack of self-worth.

This probably caused him to have a mirad of issues. For one, he probably has some sort of attachment issues. He knows what it’s like to lose everything in the blink of an eye, so he truly treasures any companions he gets. Yet, he also is so afraid of losing anyone again that he’s willing to give his own life if it means no one get’ hurt.

This was also the main catalyst bad self esteem issues. To Phainon, he was unable to save his village because he was weak (and not becuase he was a child who never could’ve seen this coming. Come on Phainon, you couldn’t have ever expected this.). He was too weak to save anyone, and his own parents even had to sacrifice themselves because he was too weak to save himself.

This also could’ve kickstarted a cycle of needing to helps others to “make up” for his “mistakes”. That he’s made so many mistakes and “caused the deaths” of so many people. he needs sacrifice his life just to make up for it

As a by product of this, he believes he needs to always act strong or look tough, that he can’t ever be allowed to be weak. It’s even a possibility that he thinks he isn’t ALLOWED to be weak, that he isn’t deserving to be vulnerable when there is probably those out there suffering worse.

Even with his companions, people he’s supposed to trust, he’s pretty distant. Even when saying farwell to Mydei, someone who matters DEEPLY to him, he still refuses to ever let himself be vulnerable or show his true feelings, instead putting up a facade or carefreeness to hide it. (Ofc Mydei calls out his bullshit because he they gay like that)

Also SURVIVORS GUILT! good’ol classic. It’s pretty obvious how Phainon could’ve gotten survivors guilt. I mean, he’s the only one in his village who survived and the last remnant of it. And shocker, this can all but adds on to his idea that he’s an unforgivable monster.

He ended up becoming a hollow husk of himself afterwards. It’s made very clear that Phainon holds his origins close to him, that he sees it as part of his identity, so this loss was VERY devastating. To him, he is nothing without his village. He has no purpose anymore, no loved ones, no home, nothing.

Then Agalea invited him to the Flame Chase journey.

Aglaea cements herself as someone important to him by giving him a “purpose” at living. At least when he first starts it, Phainon’s only real reason for joining the Chryso Heirs is because it gives him a reason for existing. As he says in 3.3, Aglaea “saved” him by giving him something that moved him forward.

It is questionable if Algaea saw Phainon as a blank slate she could mould into something for the flame chase journey, but she wanting to help Phainon probably did contribute to her choosing him specifically.

Anyway, back to Phainon.

Phainon. . . grows? Questionable. He definitely gains new companions but he still struggles pretty badly with his issues. It’s even unclear if he actually grows in 3.3 or he’s still hiding his emotions and jsut forcing himself to get through.

During Amphoreus we further see just how badly Phainon is affected by his issues

To further solidly Phainon’s bad self-esteem, the story very clearly shows he tends to place his companions higher then he does himself. This is especially noticeable Mydei of all people, where he says that Mydei could do something so much better/faster or when he constantly thinks of what Mydei would do. It shows just how much Phainon doesn’t believe in himself as being capable of saving anyone, and that most people (that isn’t Caenis) are better then him

And OH BOY HIS SELF ESTEEM ISSUES (again yes i know) COME BACK FULL SWING BABEY!! EXCEPT THIS TIME HE ALSO HAS THE EXPECTATION OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD ON HIM! Pretty obvious how a guy with low self confidence can struggle knowing the fate of the entire world is in his hands. I mean, in his eyes he couldn’t even save his village, how is he supposed to save the world?

Also potential for identity issues!! Phainon holds his hometown, Aedes Elysiae, very close to his identity. So when it burned down, his own identity might as well. Now he’s being given the title of the “Deliver” and his new identity is that of “Saving Amphoreus” in the Flame Chase journey, but how much of the Deliverer is Phainon? Is his kindness actually part of Phainon or is it just his job as a hero?

Oh and I can’t forget the survivors guilt! Hah! If being the last survivor of his village wasn’t enough, NOW HE’S THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF ALL THE CHRYSO HEIRS AND THE ENTIRE PLANET!! Funsiesssss. . . .

Focusing (not really this analysis has been very messy and jsut a lot of me yapping lol) on the events of Amphorues. . .

It’s pretty likely Phainon took his failing in the Strife Trial as another thing to add to the pile of “Why i’m a failure” and insecurities.

A connection can be made that the reason Phainon is so hesitant to leave Mydei both times is because of his earlier stated attachment issues. He doesn’t want to lose another companion. He doesn’t want to have another companion die because of his failure to be there for them.

(No one tell him Mydei died the 2nd time because then he’s gonna take it as indirectly his fault and take it as him being so weak Mydei had to save him and in turn died due to his weakness.)

Another moment I want to point out is when the bracelet with Aglaea falls in the. . . fuck ass gold water. This was probably also be taken as Phainon failing to “save” another companion because he was too slow. (Fuck you Caenis)

Also Phainon has like bad, BAD coping mechanisms, or well specifically in 3.3 where 5 of the Chryso Heirs die back to back. It’s pretty obvious that the deaths of all of them weigh on him (shoutout to Joshua btw he did great). However since he didn’t have enough time left to grieve properly (that or he decided to be stupid), the only way he could cope with those deaths was to numb himself to the pain. He even seemed to tune out the fatc Mydei was also death, probably to avoid having to think about it and then having a mental breakdown or something.

(Can’t wait for when he learns that’s he’s in a loop and that the entire Prophecy was basically a fake so he can realise basically all feelings and connections he had were nothing but an illusion and that he’s stuck to forever hav ego go through the same things over and over again with no end all while learning that the suffering he went through and all the time he devoted to the Flame Chase Journey was pointless because it didn’ even save shit)

(also can’t wait for him to find out that’s he’s a lord ravager and that he wasn’t the hero he thought he was)

my apologies if this is a little one of the worse analysis/study i jsut really felt like tapping. . .

[fictionfixations]

3.3 update (playing through it)

was so scared it was a day earlier because my internet was out for 16 hours but it came back a few hours ago so YIPPEE

i also wouldve probably been late anyway playing games w/ my friend if not for them having a headache so oop

anyway

PHAINON NEXT PATCH LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO also they havent drip marketed whose the other person next patch right?

THERES MULTIPLAYER MODE??

oh its for seal slammers LMAO i was so confused like??? CO OP!?!?!???!

doing hyacines trial rn i think shes cute but i dont think shes really for me (also i like aventurine i dont wanna switch him out even if theres a better alternative for my team. also im saving for phainon)

animations are very very pretty

wait theres only two more coreflames we gotta get? i know people were being like lmao you sure at hyacine in the trailer when shes like the flame chase journey is almost over but like

.....so wait we get the sky titan now, boss for aquila

no idea about kephale but there was that cutscene with phainon at the end

typo

STOP

i never remember how cipher sounds, she has a unique voice imo i just never can remember it when im reading out like her dialogue (shes texting us rn so not voiced ofc)

are we getting flame reaver already???

im unsure but mem said its a familiar presence and to be careful...

NOOO ITS A PIECE OF BLACK FABRIC

WHAT THE FUCK

are you drunk

lmao mem just went 'what.'

??? WHY IS HE MEOWING

ITS CIPHER

girlie dont tempt it hes gonna come after you like bitch how dare you impersonate me im gonna kill you lol (I DID pause during the trailer i SAW THAT ONE SCENE THAT MAKES ME THINK MMMMMMMMMMM CIPHER........)

'couldnt pass the chance to give us a good scare' you do know this is the dude who killed trianne right

also 'reminding us that amphoreus isnt safe' like ah yes remind us of that time we faced off against the flame reaver with us, cas, and trianne, and we hardly stood a chance without anaxa interrupting with the power of a titan. wouldnt say i count the other time too considering mydei who had the power of a titan (after the trial) had interrupted as well

like im sure we're strong in our own right but man..... i dont know man

im taking this too seriously sob

wait but was that cloth actually from the flame reaver or was it a fake??? her dialogue is very vague

also in the first place how the fuck is the flame reaver continuing to lose parts of his cloak like hello ????

sir i really dont think that helps you not be noticed

what if 'petty change' refers to like coins, because im thinking of coins as like cents right and like in small quantities dont really matter

but what if that applies to like cipher's coins? fuck i already forgor but i think she used them to transport us to places. i might be wrong. like what if it gets knocked out of her hands somehow, shes trying to reach for it and she dies before she can?

i wonder if that makes sense. bare with me i might write nonsensical things because im gonna get progressively more tired as i play through it, but i just like playing it all in one sitting its a preference

wtf

lygus you..?!?!?!

youre like the worst kind of neutral the fuck like oh yeah you stay neutral but you also just dont do shit ??? im thinking i was right to have misgivings about you last patch but i worried i was being too mean so i deleted those thoughts

bruh.....

'hope to offer a peaceful solution' you say after people surround dan heng with ill intent like wow. sure.

what do you mean you 'remain neutral'

if you knew that people will ill intent towards someone and you brought them over to where you knew they were in an attempt to convince them to no longer support the flame chase journey, then dont do shit dont even warn us as they come out when we refuse then the fuck you mean youre neutral?

do you think that because you offered to help us leave that that means youre supporting us, and that by not informing us of the other people youre supporting them, and thus you are neutral on both sides?

id rather you not even do anything at all in that case cause that means i just cant trust you. at all.

im actually so pissed off

CUTSCENE????

BUT NOT REALLY

wHAT

?? are you having nightmares about the flame reaver

i wasnt entirely sure but also like that reminds me of the cutscene back when we were fighting flame reaver and he was aiming for mydei's back cause i also paused to take a better look at what was going on in that cutscene

and also because it said we were back to the grove of epiphany and hearing phainon reminded me that he asked us to train with him

so it made no sense for flame reaver to be there. to me at least. especially with what phainon was saying

oh 'battling the phantoms of the past in the river of time' so its like flame reaver but not the real one just a recreation from a past battle

ah so not really a nightmare

AAAAAAAAAAA i cant wait to walk around as phainon. sorry hes my favorite out of all the chrysos heirs

this is only contributing more to the idea that elysia or well cyrene is related to mem in some way (i always remember elysia first and then the hsr name of cyrene)

?? that looks just like you wtf

crazy.

what the fuck are cleaners

how was this not mentioned in the special program tf

wait this is worse

lygus was working with cleaners, who are literally assassins targetting the chrysos heirs??? yeah sure explain to me how thats 'neutral' SUREEE

caenis the fuck happened to your humanity i thought you wanted 'good' for the people of okhema, or at least thats what you claimed

tf

you would harm a child. just because she was kind to a chrysos heir

like excuse me children are young they can learn and you just look at that and think no whats the point, lets just torture her because she happened to meet a chrysos heir

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

'if you were blind, deaf, and mute, would you still be the aglaea of today' yeah bitch id shoot you the middle finger. take my hands away ill spit at you and throw up on you. take that away ill fucking shit on you dont test me ill rebel all i want you mf

sorry i iike have so much pent up anger at caenis but im just trying to speed past any scenes containing her because i just cant give a fuck

anyway all this means is that the people of okhema are gonna hate you now like bitch you so fucking salty you wont even listen to what won in a DEMOCRATIC VOTE???????

?? is this why aglaea is rerunning this patch? (I think)

cifera?

is this the past? aglaea has more emotion in her voice and cipher sounds younger

oh cifera is cipher

whats with all these hints that bartholos might be a fake

'isnt that my' 'isnt that the controller for a hand of zagreus'

thinking i missed lore about who tf bartholos actually is

holy shit so much reading

OKAY uh

its about like. the black tide reaching styxia and like. um. more shit happening but i ngl cant remember what would cause something like that? like its been glowing? ???

i am so confused

IS THAT A FUCKING SCARAB *breathes in and out* sorry i just suddenly remembered genshin searching for scarabs to level up a character (it might not be idk its been awhile since ive seen them)

oh is it like a bug

like an actual bug but also the bug that listens into shit?? damn

hysilens

?? aglaea are you gay for her or is it like a she showed you how to be free and shit like that and you admired her for being able to do that or something something

so aglaea wasnt always blind, it just seems to be a thing that came with her being a demigod and/or being one for a very long time

i cant believe aglaea is saying her last words but her form is a bug like dude..

huh so bartholos is zagreus???

LMAO not her threatening a literal titan

im unhappy that aglaea's dead what do you mean it was the cleaners

like sorry man i hate caenis so much that i cant even accept the explanation

i cant even take the cleaners seriously

im sure it started with good will but well theyre evil assholes now so like whatever

i think i just find it bullshit because 1 its fucking caenis and also the cleaners we heard no mention of beforehand but sure ill accept it

also i dont think i got that attached to aglaea actually so whoops my bad

i just. hadnt really formed much of an opinion of her. so. whoops. at this point im just angry man.

STOPPPPP this might actually get me dude....

sorry you uh your body fell off into the baths right in front of everyone...

i see. so it was planned.

phainon described the flame reaver's sword to chartonus and that was the kind of sword he wanted???

fuck dude

i still havent seen the cutscenes from the trailer and we also havent even gone to fight aquila yet

man it feels like. so much has already happened wtf

its only been like an hour

oh my god theyre disappearing after they say their words in the image

is he.. actually hearing them?

i dont know

im sad.

no its his imagination

im still sad.

MYDEIIIII

he looks more like himself in comparison to the others in the previous one. because hes still here? i mean cas is too technically but uh also kinda not?

GAY

IS THAT CYRENE

she sounds so much like mem

and the change in the background when cyrene comes and when she disappears its still like that instead of the blue sky of before

im using so many screenshots im gonna hit the limit but i like to show all the cgs as well as changes to it

'i cant sing as well as miss hysilens' who is that?

i swear in one of the videos for amphoreus showing the chrysos heirs there was one we still havent met yet right?

i might be wrong

ciphers gonna die isnt she

im so glad this is a good ancestor who isnt like prejudiced or something man

oh theres multiple

DAMN

so hysilen took over the ocean titan

and the mountain dweller. sounds familiar cant remember. was it that one person mydei mentioned way back in.......... im unsure, i think maybe when he and phainon were conversing before mydei did his trial or something like that? i forget.

???!?!?! SEAL SLAMMERS MENTION

tutorial made it seem more complicated but its not that hard i just panic with a lot of text on screen for tutorials cause ilke uh huh ill definitely remember that

sorry i havent been typing much ive been focusing

lmao

me: uses feixiao's technique to go speed past the bridge

aquila: haha no bridge for you

GUYS.............................

my dumbass setting the wrong team going into aquila so just sitting through the story trying to get past it so i can change my team

like do i look like i need two sustains

....maybe

if that sounds off its because my dumbass accidentally deleted what i originally wrote explaining what happened and me trying to type again what i already wrote just gets a downgrade in quality

off topic but i havent been lagging at all during cutscenes LETS GOOO

also so great to make it to phase 2 and immediately have a character die because my dumbass was holding off on using ults until phase 2 for maximum damage

man this would be such a different story if i had cas because global passive LMAOOO

also goddamn phainon

ive really just been lagging when i run too fast and load too much of the map at once

if dan heng is saying anything sorry im not paying attention im trying to focus on the battle

...aglaea.

okay thats aquila down

theres still not the cutscene of dan heng il, flame reaver, cipher uh down, tribbie doll, and the shot of phainon at the end......

im so stressed

I KNEW WE WERE GONNA LOSE HER BRACELET MAN GAHHH

and thats the shot of phainon hitting the ground. i forgot about that until it just happened

also fuck man hearing her voice again recalling her prophecy and yeah she did.

she definitely did.

not the kind of gold we thought. i know some people were theorizing like oh like golden blood

ngl cant remember what the 'gold' down there is, i think its been referred to as like aquila's divinity but also like lava or something?? regardless it is still gold, though perhaps not the golden blood of aglaea's that we thought it was originally

phainon....

oh my god we're fighting again

HOLY SHIT THATS COOL

also cool we were meant to lose there okay LMAO

we got the cutscene of phainon going 'i am the blazing sun, destined to rise' with his sword

but damnn hyacine

that was cool as fuck wth

also vocal music in the background

huh

so glad im not absolutely getting my ass beat in this boss fight but thats also because i have hyacine here otherwise id be fucked, and additionally because of the extra heal story-wise hyacine is giving us (like yknow how in phantylia's boss you can do the thing once it builds to have like dan heng il there and do an attack? idk what the name of it is but its that in this fight but with hyacine healing)

sorry im like not reading whats being said at all oopsie the animations are so cool

okay so that cutscene lagged, cant believe hyacine gets the hella cool cutscenes LMAOOO (i get it though, its like one of the last coreflames we gotta get and kephale i dont think we're fighting??)

also i think i briefly saw dan heng boutta use cloudhymn(?) magic? i forget the name i think its something like that. like uhh the orb he has in dan heng il

oh shit now we gotta see ciphers pov

..........

....is phyton phainon 😭

oh my god im so tired that tripped me up so bad i forgot how to spell phainon and kept spelling phaethon NOO i thought i got over mixing up the names

and its the flame reaver...

not the way cipher is making him seem less like a threat but im also pretty sure she may die so like HMM

i love how ciphers va is doing cipher shes so like.. unhinged

but that also might be the stress and panic of flame reaver being there that she sounds kinda like that like WOO adrenaline pumping

also the fuck is up with the flame reaver's voice?

its like single words or words in parts but like. before bruh was like 'three slashes will be enough' or some shit

???

dude i bet phainon's va was having so much fun (kudos to their performance i really enjoyed it!) LMAO .... the theory that flame reaver is phainon though.... interesting interaction? i mean i know theyve fought before but this is one on one.

'*Dolos profanity*' LMAOOO NOT THE BEEP

LMAO also oh fuck fighting flame reaver

its her in different colors

'slacking cipher. focused cipher. enraged cipher.'

I TOLD YOU

I TOLD YOU!!!!

where the fuck is my prediction about cipher's prophecy idfk i wrote so much oh my god

flame reaver takes her coin 'petty change', she goes back to get it and it leads to her death

AGHHHHHHH

i mean we couldve probably been able to tell considering in that moment she no longer has the upperhand and also shes dead in another cutscene so ..

god.. her eyes. dont have a light anymore.

cipher begging aglaea to say something hurts dude ohh my god you dont need to drag it out this long hoyo please im begging

SHE SAID SOMETHING

ciphers smiling light in her eyes reaching her hand out to grab aglaea's that reached out to her and told her that she saved them all

PLEASE dont cut to her dead PLEASEEEEEE dont cut to her lifeless body im gonna lose it if it does AGHHHHH

FUCK YOU HOYOVERSE

IMUISHFUISHUFAJ

oh god and the bug she saw with the golden tint of aglaea's wasnt her at all it was just a normal bug that happened to be there

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I DONT WANNA BE SAD OVER THEM

anyway sky turned red. thats another part from the trailer. ah. so cipher died so now the lie she made has now become undone with no one to hold it up anymore

................ is amphoreus a simulation

????? ..stares at honkai impact 3rd

stares at honkai star rail

...if its not clear hi3 has simulations. and a lot of people pull from hi3 when talking about hsr specifically amphoreus considering there were also like the flame chasers in hi3

is this a simulation???? why point out the building thats see through and be like ??? never seen that before and then move on

im. so fucking suspicious

especially with what flame reaver was talking about

MYDEIII

i can see how it pains phainon to turn and go instead of fight but he also understands

its still not over.....

'leave this to castorice and me (mydei)'

i cant remember all the shots but we're still missing that one with the tribbie doll

agh.....

chartonus....

DAN HENG?????

...........................god if this is a simulation, everyone dies, us and phainon come back to a reset and its like just-- '..what?'

actually what role does march play in this is my question... cause theres that thing going on with her.. aghh

LETS GOOO DAN HENG IL

PHAINON PLEASE

actually wait what if we both get brought back to the astral express we're like ?? the fuck no we're coming back and we come back and everythings reset

oh thatd be fuckedd

...trinnon..

mydei......

can i stop playing, can i just like. go. read some no trauma au of amphoreus where we're all happy adniusjfhiufh

HERTA

whats an emperor's scepter

i was boutta throw hands worried it was gonna end there but no its ok

what the fuck happened to your name

well i know phainon isnt your real name but..

IS THAT CYRENE

i..

AND THATS WHERE IT ENDS

FUCKKK

OH MY GOD PHAINON LEFT A MESSAGE

my

my heart is breaking

i hit the image limit so im gonna type it all out

bare with me for any typos

---------------

Phainon's Message

"If it was Mydeimos standing here... He would be wiser and more capable than me, right?" - After Aglaea departed, these words wouldn't stop echoing in my head. It was something I couldn't escape from, and also something I absolutely refused to utter. How could I be worthy of my comrades and allies' trust? What right have I to stand upon her shoulders and guide others? These questions remain unanswered. But there is no time for doubt. The first enemy the "Dawnmaker" must vanquish is the hesitation and sorrow that have shadowed me this far. That's why I resolved to aid you during your return. Even if it incomprehensible, even if this means I must impose my will on you, I have to see it done. Because the promise of the Era Nova is unclear, to you, who came from beyond Amphoreus, its influence cannot be predicted... After I cleansed my doubt, I find that this is the right decision, born from the depths of my heart. The prophecy claimed that only one person can reach the final end of the Era Nova. Please forgive me for stealing your chance to witness the miracle. My friend, it's because of the prophecies made by Lady Tribbie that the Chrysos Heirs made it to today... And so, even if we must face the scenes from the promised age, I cannot risk bringing you with me. Thinking back, maybe the only thing I did right in this life is choosing to trust you, and becoming friends with you all. I faintly feel that, perhaps, the greatest miracle of Amphoreus isn't so much the secrets hidden within the Vortex of Genesis... but rather the instant you and Dan Heng descended from the sky. You are the hero of my heart, [Trailblazer]. If the next life comes to pass, no matter what I become... I will make sure the world remembers the miracle of the Trailblaze. But... I mean... If you don't approve of my solitary decision and plans to create a new path with myself, toward a future that no one could imagine... - You'll always find a way to break the rules, right?

----

things to note. 'even if this means i must impose my will on you' and there was that line he said about theres a line between a [something] hero and a tyrant that can be easily passed or something i think prob from aglaea first

i wanted to mention another curious thing but i forgot, ghhh its really late for me

what if i cry

i.....

what do i do now..

it acnt just end there cmon dont be shy give us the next update ill stay up all night if i have to

dude.

i...

oh my god.

[im-tired-a-lot]

Finally finished the most recent Honkai Star Rail update: Verison 3.3 I think?

Tw: spoilers!!!!!!! ⚠️⚠️⚠️

I am in grief, awe, and absolute confusion. Who the fuck is this Cyrene girl (I think that was the name) Why is the flame reaver Phainon. Why is Screwlleum here now. How is March on amphoreus?

I feel like a nuke has just dropped right on my head and has activated like all my senses of lore and emotion at the same time. I don’t know Hoyo expects me to piece together all their lore through tears but it is not happening.

(If it is clear I do not play HI3 do not comment on it)

[entropyvoid]

I feel like I keep seeing other HSR fans — like, ones that actually have good and insightful character analyses to share, so not your usual bog-standard illiterate gacha gamers — complaining about bad writing and characters that were underutilized/done dirty, but then it’ll turn out to be like… a character that was set up with foreshadowing for something later down the line or whose arc is still actively ongoing.

I’ve seen a handful specifically mentioned the imbalance of focus on different characters in the Penacony arc. Some, like Aventurine or Sunday got a whole development arc and a deep exploration of their backstories and motivations, while others were kind of just there. But I don’t really agree with that, because the ones that are “just kind of there” for that arc, like Boothill or Black Swan, are explicitly set up for further arcs down the line that promise more opportunities to explore these things for them. Specifically, Boothill’s plans to do Hot Girl Shit and fuck up Oswaldo Schneider with Aventurine in his quest for revenge, or the Garden of Recollection’s involvement with Amphoreus and it’s internal struggles, and whatever Black Swan’s personal philosophy on Remembrance is likely plays a part in why she dragged us in, and there’s a good chance it’ll be explored more fairly soon. It’s especially bonkers to see anyone saying that about any given Stoneheart or Stellaron Hunter - because in the long run we’re probably more stuck dealing with those factions and their bullshit more than just about any of the other ones - so characters like Firefly or Jade are pretty much guaranteed to come back and different aspects of them will likely expanded upon more later.

Almost every character in Penacony in particular is from a different world and/or faction of some kind, and their introduction to us dangles a new potential plot thread to tuck into later for players down the line. Hell, I’ll stay vague on this since it involves some spoilers from leaks, but the one Penacony character I was probably the *most* disappointed by for not doing a whole lot is supposed to be making a comeback in the next world we go to after Amphoreus. And Star Rail already has a habit of bringing back characters from previous storylines to reuse and expand upon in new ones, so it’s not really reasonable to act like the characters are one and done and will get abandoned whenever we hop into a new area, with only the occasional event cameo to remind us they still exist. Their stories are not “bad” when they are not packaged neatly into a couple updates. We got Ratio and Sampo in Penacony. We have Sunday on the Express. We got Luka at the Wardance Festival on the Luofu. We have Herta and Screwllum on Amphoreus. We get Stellaron Hunters in general all over the damn place. We had a ton of expansion on Yanqing’s character when we went back to the Luofu, and hell, with that onr, even (frankly) unpopular and unimportant 4* characters I never really expected to see again like Yukong, Hanya, and Xueyi, received additional focus that expanded on said characters and their relations with each other!

I even saw someone complain about Aglaea not being done justice and how the ideological differences that cause conflict between her and Anaxa were just kinda thrown by the wayside, but like, Amphoreus isn’t even half done. We are on 3.3. We are at a point in the story where things seem to be pointing towards a reset of the same timeline, given recent events in the story and the fact that characters mentioned to be long dead in-game are now up-and-coming in the release schedule. That means we may get to see more of a young Aglaea — the warm and emotive one we’ve only seen in flashbacks, who’s referred to herself as naïve and struggled to learn to lead people, rather than the cold and calculating modern day Aglaea we get to know up front, whose soul has been slowly stretched thin til her humanity degrades over a thousand years. Her “development” as the player experiences it is a bit like Rose Quartz’s from SU — we start with the revered person she became and work backwards from there. And before we’re able to really dig into the ideological differences between those two, we’d have to actually explore their individual ideologies, you know? And as for Anaxa — Cerces handed him a whole ass prophecy before he left, and he has yet to really fulfill it in a way that entirelymakes sense. It’s clearly not the last we’ll see of him, or any of the other Chrysos Heirs for that matter. Like they are clearly not done cooking those two or whatever their relationship with each other is gonna be.

And of course, I’m just another player in the audience, I can’t make promises about what’ll happen and if the payoff will be good - but I think it’s bonkers to write off characters as badly written or done dirty if they don’t get a full, neatly packaged arc handed to the player right up front. It’s like some people don’t understand the concept of foreshadowing or long term development. Star Rail isn’t Genshin, it doesn’t just go “Ah fuck, we need a new character to sell this month again,” lob a 1-2 hour quest at you and never touch upon them again outside of brief cameos. I think because this is so often what happens with the development cycle of gacha, more long-time gacha players have trouble wrapping their heads around the simple concept of things like character development or plot lines taking time or being set down to be revisited later. But the writers of HSR have pretty consistently shown they like to revisit their characters over turning and burning. It just makes no sense to me to be disappointed in how things have ended when it’s very obviously not done yet.

[pbear]

HSR 3.3 thoughts (big ouch)

I thought this was a great part of the story. It was intense and didn't drag much while also doing some great character building.

First, I'm going to talk about Aglaea. I loved her this update. We've gotten to see her a lot before but these scenes were so impactful to me. The fact that even her death was a pawn in her plans goes to show how smart she is but also how much she has given up for the Flame Chase. And then the scene in the Eye of Twilight where she saves everyone from falling into the golden lava only to have her last remains in the bracelet she gave Phainon fall into it! I knew Aglaea was important, but that was felt even more once she was gone.

Next, Cipher. Ouugghhhh, her story hurt a lot. She believes that she cannot bring anything good to the world because she's a thief and a liar, yet her lie is what let the Flame Chase continue. Her relationship with Aglaea developed both of them so well. Aglaea trusts Cipher even though she knows how good at lying she is, and Cipher can't handle that which is why she runs. Cipher's last moments when she asks Aglaea to say something to her killed me. She really grew on me in just one update.

Hyacine. What can I say? Her development was really good too. She believed in Seliose as this hero who started the Flame Chase, and even when that image was shattered before her eyes, she continued to fight and be kind. She embodied the hope for humanity that Seliose lost. And I thought Seliose's story was really interesting to hear too. Taking on divinity because she was so disillusioned with humanity made sense and was a good foil for Hyacine. (Also, was Little Ica supposed to be descended from Solabis and Lunabis? Because they were hinting at something that wasn't really cleared up.)

Watching everyone die this update made me cry a lot. I can't believe they brought Mydei back for one minute just to have him die the next minute. Also, watching Phainon watch everyone die made me sad.

Cutscenes went insane this update. The Aquila fight was crazy cool, especially with the new song.

Lygus is a bitch and I need him to spill all his secrets.

Herta and Screwllum! I thought Lygus kicked Herta out so it was cool to see them in Amphoreus. They gave some interesting insights into Amphoreus' relationship with the rest of the cosmos. And March 7th might be in Amphoreus somewhere?

Cyrene appearance at the end. I'm wondering how she's still alive, so I can't wait to find that out. Also, Phainon's name getting blanked out when he enters the Vortex of Genesis was interesting. I'm very curious to see what role Cyrene will play in all this.

[beesorcery]

i really liked the design of this shirt but 1) too many dollars 2) i wasn’t about to stand in that merch line for an hour and 3) it’s not on the website anymore??? idk

anyway i have decided to embark on a fun project in which i recreate this design but instead of the city names it’s the 8 ball from that show, which means it won’t be done until april! so i’m gonna post progress updates as i do them. graphic design is my passion or whatever

here is the current draft updated through 3/4:

i’m doing it in illustrator because i have access through my school and also it’s easier to move things around as stuff gets added. i don’t know yet if i’ll try to make it into a shirt or maybe a poster or something once it’s done

my main obstacle to making it really similar to the original is these fucking song titles jesus christ. it took me like 5 hours noodling to get the current composition. slump isn’t even one of their longest like if they play get busy in raleigh i’m cooked. i am having fun though so that’s what matters

finding the fonts is also very time consuming but still fun, there are some i straight up can’t find anywhere (and the image isn’t hq enough to be able to tell exactly what they look like anyway) so for some of them i’m just gonna use the best match and then convert to shapes and fuck around until it looks right; i did it with the 3.3 and 3.4 idk if it’s noticeable

i’ll rb this post with more updates!! hopefully posting will also structure the time i work on it so i don’t end up completely missing schoolwork due to hyperfocusing on this

[idyllwave]

I did like tutoring since it was like an EZ was to make cash while just explaining some key concepts and theories. So it was ez money.

I'm a must eat breakfast person since in college, my classes were in the morning and if I didn't eat, I would basically die ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Though I'm a dinner skipper since I'm usually too tired to eat and too lazy to even cook.

And phainon drip is outttt. The wings really remind me of diabolic Kevin from Hi3. He looks sooo cuteee. I wan him. Sorry not sorry cipher...

Have you played the seal event? The chimera and seals are sooo cute. I saw some merch of the chimera

Also, jy shrine update:

Yes, I brought back the table cloth from my Australian apartment 🤫. I literally removed everything from my apartment and wrapped it up in plastic. Well, except the furniture

Jy key cap, I use as a little stress toy tho. Very fun to tap. Argenti train thingy was from a blind box. I do have jy train set alrdy tho.

Hope the photographer jy fics going well!!! Bery excited. No pressure tho <3

I think I also hurt my arm a little since I haven't been swimming for a long time (つ╥﹏╥)つ. It's soreeeee. I'm also not as strong as I was b4, probably because of my college diet. I remember one time I got diagnosed with fcking scurvy...

I hope your arms are oki after moving all the furniture. Maybe get a moving company? Def way easier. Have a gud dayyy. (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

Easy money is always the best money !!

XD I always skip breakfast and sometimes lunch and dinner too- but I still manage to eat some days!! (Or try to at least lol)

Real. Im skipping all of 3.3 just for a chance to get both phainon and saber. I poved Kevin (and am sad he isn't playable) but now i can hyperfocus on phainon XD pretty sure hoyo is trying to hide/hint that they are basically the same person anyway

I haven't played it yet but it is on my list of things to do 🫡

XD your jy shrine keeps piling up !!! Tbh, I wish I can just focus on one character like that, but I like too many lol

Photography jy is coming along well! I hope to be done with it soon 🙏

I hope your arm feels better!! And scurvy?! 😭

Yeah, my sister hired a moving company two weeks from now, they'll finish moving the heavy stuff but moving that couch was def a pain-

[itzsephig5]

3.6 (B Me)

My Masterlist

This story on Wattpad

Intro - Age of Ultron 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Intro - Civil War 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.3.5 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Intro - B Me 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 Updated Character Info 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 Final Character Info

Y/n's POV:

As Wanda and I pulled up to the building, I saw another car there. I was assuming that was the one my family drove here. I didn't see anyone inside of the car. "They must all be inside." I say. "I'm not shocked if they are to be honest. Especially if they got here a bit before we did." Wanda says. "I'm not either. Lila and Nathaniel probably wanted to get out of the car while they waited." I said. Wanda parked the car, and I undid my seatbelt. "Let's do this." Wanda says before grabbing my hand as we were walking in. I smiled as we got to the door. I opened it up to see that everyone was in fact in the room waiting for us. "Look who finally made it." I hear Clint say. "Yeah, yeah, we're here." I say.  I hear him start to laugh. I felt someone latch onto me. When I looked down, I saw Lila holding onto me. "Hey Lila." I say while hugging her back. "Your belly is big." I hear her say. I laughed slightly and shook my head. "It's because I'm pregnant, having babies." I tell her. "Babies? Like how mom had Nathaniel?" She asked. I nodded my head. "Exactly like that. Except there are two in my belly than when mom had one." I explained. "Two? Twins? Like my friends?" Lila asked. I nodded my head. "Which means that you are going to be an aunt to them." I say. "Like Auntie Nat?" She asked. "Exactly like Auntie Nat, but you'll be Auntie Lila instead." Lila smiles widely. "Do you hear that mom? I'm going to be an aunt!" I looked up to see how Laura was standing slightly to the side. "I hear that honey, that's amazing." Laura says as she walked over to Wanda and I. "Kids, huh?" She asked us. "It wasn't planned to happen." I say. She nodded her head. "Your father said it was two girls?" She asked. "Yeah ma, twin girls." I responded.

She then pulled me into a hug. "I'm excited for you both." She said out loud. "I want to talk to you in a bit. Alone." Laura whispered into my ear. I just nodded my head when she said that. I watch as Clint walks over to us. "So, you're now what eight and a half months?" Clint asked. "Yup. Which means I'm almost done with this." I answered. "Y/n!" I hear a small squeal. I looked over to see that Nathaniel was done playing with his toys and had noticed that I had made it. "Hi bubba." I say. I feel him hug my leg. "I missed you." He said. "I missed you too." I tell him. I see Cooper just nod his head at me slightly from where he was standing behind the rest of our family. "Oh, I wanted to mention something." I say aloud. "What is it?" Clint asked. "We want you guys to be there when the twins are born." Wanda says. "We want mom to be in the room with us while I'm giving birth, but we want all of you to be there." I explained. "Plus, Pietro is going to be there as well. So, he can help Clint out with watching the kids while the twins are being born." Wanda added. "I'd be glad to be in the room with you guys." Laura tells us. "I'm also asking Nat to be in the room too." I say. We all started talking for a while. I sat on the floor while Nathaniel sat with me. We all talked for a while, talking about how Wanda, Pietro and I had been since living alone and how the twins were doing. "We should probably start to head back. It looks like it's time for Nathaniel to take a nap." Clint said while looking at Nathaniel. I had seen that he was starting to doze off. Wanda holds out her hand and I grabbed it so I could stand back up. "Why don't you guys head out a while. I want to talk to Y/n alone for a moment." Laura says. Wanda gave me a look and I just waved it off. "I'll be fine. Go help dad out." I say. "Okay, I'll see you in a few then." Wanda says before kissing my cheek. She picked up Nathaniel who for some reason decided to cling to Wanda.

After they all left, I hear Laura clear her throat. I turned around to face her. "Yes?" I asked. "I saw something on the news the other day that caught my attention." Laura says. "Oh really? What would that be?" I asked. I knew what she was doing. "I'm honestly surprised that your father hasn't put the pieces together. Or anyone on the team for that matter." She says. I crossed my arms. "And what would that be mom? What do you think that you've found out?" I questioned. "I think the criminals disappearing before they are even found is interesting. Into thin air. Sounds like someone with teleportation. And as far as I know, you are the only one with teleportation." She said. "Say it outright mom. Whatever it is that you think you know." I pushed. "Criminals? That's the path you decided to go down. You run away and no one knows where you, Wanda and Pietro have gone. All we know is that you left in the middle of the night, and no one heard from you guys for six months. Turn around to find out that the three of you are well known criminals. What happened? You were on the right side and helping save the world, but now you are one of the people destroying it." I laughed. "We're not destroying anything." I say. "We're helping the world in our own way. Being an Avenger wasn't worth it anymore after the team broke up and some of us, including dad and I got locked up for doing what we believed in." I added. "When you became an Agent of Shield, and then became an Avengers, the world started watching you. History started watching you. And now instead of going down as an Avengers, you plan to go down as a criminal. History has its eyes on you, remember that." Laura says. I just shook my head. "We made a decision, and we are sticking to it. Thankfully you are only the second person to find out. But here's the real question. Are you going to tell dad? Give up what you know and get your daughter, her girlfriend and her girlfriend's brother arrested, especially when your daughter is pregnant and expecting to give birth at truly any moment now?" I asked. It was quiet for a moment. "I didn't plan on telling them. That's something they all need to figure out for themselves." She tells me. "But here you are putting the babies lives at risk for some because you believe in." She adds. "Thier lives would have been at risk either way, whether I was an Avenger or not." I say before turning to leave. "I'll see you soon ma." 

[almea]

I actually finished the 3.1 story before the first banner finished.

I think it's very cute that Mem is slowly starting to say proper words and more people are able to understand her. She spoke a full sentence while not reading someone's memories or something at one point and I was so proud lmao.

God, I looooove that the Reason Titan and the Romance Titan were in love with each other. Like, specifically that it was Reason and Romance who were in love. Like, what a concept.

Also love that Aglaea and Anaxa Do Not Get Along At All, to the point where other characters actively try to keep them apart because there's no time to deal with their bullshit around each other, when they're the demigods of the two Titans who were in love. Another amazing concept. Let me see more of their bullshit together.

Cerces's design is gorgeous and I'm glad they're possessing Anaxa for a while so we can see them for longer.

Hyacine is such a cutie patootie and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her. I assume she's coming out in 3.3 along with Cipher since Phainon feels like he would be one of the last ones. Or maybe they'll start doing single character versions.

Mydei's cutscenes after he became a demigod were all so cool. They really conveyed how much power he gained from that. And I really liked that he's actually kind of a soft boy and his goodbyes were all very sweet. Love that he was like "Castorice, if I die, maybe I can try to get some clues about Thanatos on my way back" and she's just like. No?????

I was like vaguely aware that people were shipping Phainon and Mydei after 3.0, but I gave it zero thoughts until Mydei grabbed Phainon in the trial and said "Found you" and then I was like, oh, I see the vision. Whatever they had going on through the whole story was extremely gay, and then when they said goodbye and Mydei told Phainon he should come visit his library in the next life I was just like. Bitch… that really made me feel something. I truly do not know what it was about that line that made me go "Oh no…"

I didn't have any special attachment to Mydei after 3.0, but by the time he was leaving, I was pretty sad about it. Like, he's not dead or anything, but I'm going to miss having him around. Hopefully he comes back at some point over the next six parts.

They made it pretty clear even in 3.0 that Trianne was going to disappear, but I was still so sad when it happened. They even showed the "Tribbie, see you tomorrow" cutscene in a pre-3.0 trailer but it still somehow hit me so hard??? The cutscenes where she used the Century Gate were so cool though.

Also, I'm currently living in fear with the knowledge that Trinnon is most likely going to disappear before the story is over.

I'm so in love with the CGs of Stelle, Phainon, and Trinnon watching Tribios as she leaves Janusopolis. The almost watercolour effect of the way its coloured just feels so warm and whimsical and magical.

I can't believe they left us with the cliffhanger of March with all that Six-Phased Ice around her last version and then didn't give us any updates on that. How rude. And this was the update that overlapped with her birthday. And also her camera's memory card is full???

The suggestion for Stelle to try the trial for the Time Coreflame really caught me off guard. Like, I guess there is some in-universe logic to it since Oronyx was interested in Stelle, but I already know there are (at least) 13 characters being introduced in Amphoreus so surely one of them is going to be the Time demigod. But also???? She has a Stellaron inside her, is it even a good idea to give her a Coreflame? Are the Coreflames physically inside the demigods the way the Stellaron is physically inside Stelle?

I feel like they're not going to go through with it, or if they do it would be a thing where Stelle is temporarily a demigod before they find the Chrysos Heir who can carry the Time Coreflame, but I'm just going to sit back and watch how it plays out. I'm just like, surely they're not going to make Stelle a demigod for a world she'll eventually need to leave.

Me: I love Castorice. She's my favourite Chrysos Heir. What a sweet, precious girl. The last scene of 3.1: Castorice is going to have such a bad fucking time next version because Stelle's going to fucking die and it's (probably, at least tangentially) her fault.

Like, oh my god, leave my goddess of Death alone!!! This was such a rude way to end this update lmao. I am really excited for 3.2, but I was already excited for it since that's when Castorice is coming out.

I do think it's very funny timing that I ended up being trapped in my Bleach spiral, where Rukia is my favourite character and she is Death in a way none of the other shinigami are, at the same time as the Amphoreus updates where my favourite of the new batch of characters is called the goddess of Death.

[an-animagi]

ill never forget that, as my friend played through the 3.3 update, me, barely knowing anything about genshin at that point because i had just started playing, saw escher at the start of the scene and said "imagine if he's dottore" as a joke.

i guess id been struck by apollo's ball-

[eachuisge-cc]

I FIXED IT

or at least I'm pretty sure I've fixed it

the answer, apparently, is that the WW human rig and blender 3.0+ do NOT play nice. I switched the blender path back to 2.79, exported and re-imported the mesh, and I'm getting no stretching. it will take a hot minute to do that for all the LODs but expect an updated digitigrade human dick that might actually work tonight.

an unfortunate situation since 3.3 is so much easier to work with, but I only have this issue with the ww rig and it's pretty fast to switch between blender versions so I can just add an extra step for nsfw body parts.