#apho 3 when

[acdelmnort]

my take on seele and lyles reunion [full on cope mode]

[meeowna]

last years adam and lyle 🎬

[cyto-kinin]

My Roommate is a Househusband

As a daily adamlyle worshipper we r starving for more content so here have a domestic adamlyle fic i wrote awhile ago! Story follows Adam as he moves in to Lyle’s apartment (if he even has one but anyways) Hope u enjoy~

Out of all the places Adam could choose to live in, his best friend Lyle offered to stay in his apartment. What could possibly go wrong?

Adam set foot on the front door of his best friend’s apartment. He scanned the hallways, looked at the door up and down. It was a simple complex anyways, not too fancy, but not too bad either. Though the walls looked like they could use some polishing,

“Ahem.” Lyle attempted to break the silence, waiting for a response yet Adam looked back in his ‘default’ stoic expression.

Lyle smiled and shrugged it off anyways. He reached for the door and began opening it. The sound of clicking keys lasted for a while but soon they were greeted with a loud creek from the door,

“Tadaa! Welcome to collodeez apartment!”

“What’s collodeez?”

“Collodeez nu-“

“No-“

The both stood in awkward silence, exchanging looks. Lyle proceeded to pat Adam’s shoulder lightly and pulled him to the room. ‘Lyle as cheeky as always but I like him that way’ Adam thought as he dragged in his luggage.

 The room was quite big, right in front of the door was the living room and a bean bag near the TV, the kitchen and table were just next to it, there were two bedrooms and one bathroom. There was also this one room, only it was locked. 

The only thing that bothered Adam was the amount of rubbish scattered across the entire room. Some leftover instant noodles on the table, snack crumbs on the sofas and floor, and stained shoe tracks. The peculiar smell was the cherry on top which made his nose scrunch instinctively.

‘What kind of person wouldn’t take their shoes off?’ The first thing that caught Adam’s attention was the soiled floor. Adam has always had cleanliness on top priority. Back during prep school, Adam would scold Lyle for wearing shoes in their dorm. He followed it thoroughly but look at him now. 

“Okay allow me give a quick tour, dear frien-“

“No we have to clean.”

Lyle only expected Adam to clean certain areas of the apartment, though it was just too big for some man to clean it up, but he was wrong. He’s cleaning the whole apartment spotless. 

Gloves, check. Mop, check. 2 Buckets of soap water, check. Everything except sterility, check. First, Adam took the trash bag near Lyle’s door and shoved all the snack crumbs, noodle leftovers, and rubbish in. He finished in less than 5 minutes which made Lyle question his new roommate’s hidden abilities.

In Lyle’s eye, Adam has always been a diligent student and a strong fighter but he doesn’t seem to have any other interesting talents. Adam was a shy boy with no specific hobbies anyways.

Adam dipped a handkerchief into the bucket, pulled it out, and gave it a squeeze,  letting out a floral scent. 

“Can you help wipe the countertop? I’ll do the rest.” Adam reached out his hand that was holding the handkerchief to Lyle, 

“Okay, but wouldn’t it be too tiring for you?” 

“I’ll be fine”, Adam reassured the other with a small smile which made Lyle grin as a response. It’s rare to see Adam smile, even if it was just a small smile it still counts!

Lyle snatched the handkerchief as Adam dipped another one and went to wipe the rest. Eventually, both finished at the same time. Next is to mop the floors. 

Adam proceeded to dunk the mop into the other bucket and began mopping each 

and every tile spotless. He tasked Lyle to wait on the entrance until the floor was dry. Adam walked back and forth with the bucket to every room. 

The finishing touch was the perfume he sprayed on every corner of the apartment to make sure the smell disappeared.

Lyle noticed how the floor quickly dried with no stains. Right about the time he was about to step into the living room area, Adam held his wrist and the mop on the other. Lyle confusedly looked into the brunette’s strict eyes. 

“Take off your shoes and don’t wear them here”, Adam ordered as a sigh of frustration trailed,

“You are a real husband material.”

The words unknowingly fell off Lyle’s lips. Hearing his friend's compliment (?) instantly reddened his ears and loosened his grip. His mouth was left agaped, he tried speaking but the right words won’t come out. Lyle had the same expression except he was more mesmerized.

“I mean it.” Lyle continued

“…” His ears visibly redder now

“Fine, I’ll take off my shoes only because I get to see your ears blush for once~”

“Do you know what it feels like to be hit with a sandal?” Adam spoke directly and had his stare petrify the other.

‘Curse Adam and his sandal technique! Though he won’t actually hit me with it’ (He would literally hit him with it) Lyle’s brain whispered as he began taking his shoes off out of fear. Adam left the moment Lyle bent to untie his shoes, and started washing the tools. 

As a token of pity, Lyle will now sleep in the guest room and Adam gets the main bedroom where Lyle used to sleep in. Eventually, the two started chatting again up until night. The next morning a questioned popped into Lyle’s mind,

“So who’s cooking?”

———————————————-

That’s a wrap of part 1(?) if I ever continue it idk tho but I hope y’all like it! Also if there r any feedbacks pls don’t hesitate i don’t even know if I’m continuing this lol

[e17omm]

Ranting about the ending of chapter 42

How does Honkai both have the best characters and the worst writers for the characters and antagonists?

We killed Sa. Just like that? Or, if we didn't kill her, we incapitated her for tens of thousands of years?

Just like that?

Did I miss anything, or did Kiana snipe Sa in the Sea of Quanta and Vita then took most of her power?

Did I miss anything there, or is that really what happened?

WHAT THE FUCK IS PART 2 GOING TO BE ABOUT?!

NO ANTAGONIST HAS HAD A VICTORY SINCE OTTO IN CHAPTER 28!

WHAT IS PART 2 GOING TO INTRODUCE THAT NO ONE WE ALREADY KNOW CANT TAKE CARE OF??

APHO. How is ANYTHING in APHO a problem? Isn't Sa the origin of the Sky People? How is Sa's underlings somehow a bigger problem that spans over several years?

Why can't Kiana take care of the Sky People? The theory was that she was still busy and out of commission until her work with Finality was done, and thats why she couldn't help in APHO.

BUT SHE JUST SNIPED SA ON THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

WHAT IS THE WRITERS DOING??

YOu cant just write a story like this where the good guys wins again and again and again and nothing ends up being a threat at all. That's not interesting that's not engaging.

The Rebels cant destroy the Death Star before the Death Star has shown what it's capable of - thats not engaging, its not interesting.

Right now, with Sa, we have destroyed the Death Star before it has destroyed Alderaan. WHY THE FUCK would we be worried about Death Star II?

At least the character of Sa was incredible.

Unless part 2 is fucking amazing, I might aswell make part 1.5 of Snippets AU just be part 2. Have Sa as the villain, have her actually be a threat. She is so good that I do not need to replace her with the backup antagonist I introduced in chapter 72: Kcolc that was there incase Sa was disappointing. Sa completely outdoes that imaginary being (maybe they'll show up for part 3?)

Sa is that good. She works so well as an antagonist we did not even know about in part 1.

All that needed to happen was that she wasn't completely defeated in part 1.5

So why the fuck was she completely defeated in part 1.5?

No main character even needs to die. Just have her succeed in retreating and destroying Phospherus. That would set the stage for part 2 to have this looming threat in the background - like what Otto and the Old Project Stigma was in part 1. (Because New Project Stigma wasn't foreshadowed or built up to at all)

But from part 1.5, what do we have to tie the two main parts together story wise? We have no villain, we have no problems, we have no looming threat.

What is part 1.5 for? Why do we have this? It introduces a new villain, Sa, and then we defeat her.

Its barely even cleanup from part 1. It abandoned that thread really early on to focus on Sa. So part 1.5 became the setup for Sa. But then we defeat Sa.

So what is part 1.5 for? Padding? What a way to waste 7 chapters and almost a year of storytelling.

Sa and Vita are great characters. They absolutely deserve to be in the story, they add a lot to it by themselves.

But fuck, the story treats them so wastefully.

The writers was doing everything right. EVERYTHING. Sa is set up. With her in the background of part 2, you constantly have tension because Sa is still out there, and then that threat comes to bloom in APHO when she attacks Earth. They just need to show how powerful she is, that even when everyone present throws all they have at her, The Vitas give their authority to Griseo, Fu Hua Meta-Morphs, Misteln jumps in, and even Vita risks her life to assist, and all they manage to do to Sa is make her feel that this fight isnt worth it and she needs to retreat and gather more power.

But instead we defeat her.

How did they throw this away like that...?

I'm almost crying at this actually.

Part 1.5 was mediocre to decent in terms of setting the story up for part 2. And then in chapter 42 they stomped the gas and had everything ready and good to go for the start of part 2.

And then they threw it away.

Cant sacrifice phospherus for the story. think of the cute vitas. dont we all want cute vitas over an antagonist theyve set up the last 6+ chapters and go into part 2 with no setup from part 1.5? the cute vitas are more important

im pretty sad right now. i think ive had enough gaming for today and its not even lunchtime yet.

at least the music was good

sa's teleporting sounds was sick

[kurogane2512]

I miss momma Mei. I've recently started going back to HI3rd just for her (and Mobius as well but still). It feels weird seeing Ei and Acheron act the way they do with how their archetype acts. Like sure, Mei had her angsty phase but she grew past it.

Hoping people start flooding your asks for domestic fluff with Mei, I certainly will;)

Omg yes exactly that anon you get me 😭😭

Mei always had a sad backstory but she rose above that with Kiana's help and became a strong pillar of support for everyone, mommy-like or caring onee-san was always her trope. Even with HoT arc she still was kind as depicted by some side content, like her making a cake for Kiana's birthday and her interactions with Raven, then how she tried to look for Himeko in sea of quanta when Kevin sent her and with the whole Elysian Realm cast she remained very humanly just more cautious and reserved (which was reasonable).

And as I said Apho Mei is the perfect culmination of all her phases. I left HI3 last year after Part 1 finale and I'm not really interested to come back for part 2, but I would 100% come back for apho 3 and hopefully Apho Mei finally gets released as a proper battlesuit then. Also YESSS PLS SEND ME MEI REQUESTS I CRAVE IT DSFOUWBEFOUWOIEWF

[herrscherofmagic]

A look at the past & future of Honkai design: Simplicity vs. Complexity (Part 1)

Link to the YouTube channel of the person whose thumbnail I yoinked off of Google Images for this; it was the best image of the new Hyperion that I could easily find which is why I used it for this.

TL;DR:

Original Honkai Impact 3rd designs tended towards large, simply shapes that gave battlesuits (and other stuff) a strong "mecha" vibe. Many newer designs are trending towards more complex designs that do away with these simple and recognizable shapes, instead using more overlapping textures and ornamentation to create detail. Some designs balance the two, using large and relatively simple shapes that still carry enough detail to stand out as newer while still keeping the original vibes.

Because of this, I think there's gonna be a very clear visual split between Part 1 designs and the APHO+Part 2 designs because of this split between simplicity & complexity, and some Part 1 designs feel off because they stray too far from the original design motifs, making them feel out of place even if they're still good designs on their own.

~

I've been thinking a lot about the design philosophy of Honkai Impact 3rd for quite a while now. As someone interested in concept art and illustration and who's played video games for more than 3/4ths of their whole lifespan.

And obviously I'm not alone in this, given how often I've seen discussion of Honkai's character design. Whether it was the march of the pastel battlesuits or the techwear of the part 2 cast or the upcoming Garuda Fu Hua battlesuit, many people have had many opinions both positive and negative.

But I've wanted to do a sort of "deep-dive" for a while now, because I think HI3rd is a really interesting case where we can see the co-existence of (sometimes drastically) different designs made years apart from one another. It's normal for the style of a franchise to grow and change with time- my personal example is Halo, with obvious differences between Halo CE, Halo 3, and Halo 4 in mind. But typically that has been done over the release of different games over many years, not so much in consecutive releases within the same game. HI3rd's not alone in this regard, of course :)

I don't want to label anything as "bad" or "good". I can like or dislike something, and that's my personal opinion. Of course I COULD try to label designs as bad or good, but I'd want to back that up with serious analysis and get the opinions of other players, and that's way too much effort for a reddit post. Instead, I want to present some different designs in Honkai and share my thoughts, so others can feel free to agree, disagree, elaborate, etc. More of a matter of casual discussion rather than trying to present some solid theory, I guess you could say?

What I will say is I intend to label designs based on whether (or how) they fit into HI3rd's aesthetic(s), so that's the main point- not so much whether an individual design is good or not.

To start with, I'd like to talk about the simplicity vs. complexity of Honkai designs because I personally feel like this is the biggest problem I have with HI3rd, outside of story issues that is. Not because of designs being "good" or "bad", but because I feel like Mihoyo has been moving towards a new design philosophy that's different from what I loved most about HI3rd when I first started.

I opened with the comparison of Hyperion because I think it's a perfect example of this concept, and if we can understand what the difference is with Hyperion then I think it'd be more apparent with battlesuits as well. I also have another image that highlights some of the biggest differences between the two models:

I had mixed feelings about the reveal of the "new and upgraded" Hyperion during the moon arc. It's a neat design I'll admit, but I felt like it deviated a lot from the original Hyperion, not as a difference in fidelity and detail but rather as a difference in the fundamental design of the ship.

What I like so much about the original Hyperion is, as you might have guessed by now: its simplicity. Hyperion was comprised of much larger, blockier shapes with more clear silhouettes. It's actually the same reason I love the design of Halo's UNSC frigates, funnily enough. I'm a huge sci-fi fan and I absolutely adore spacecraft and vehicle design, so I really appreciated the design of Hyperion cause to me it felt very original.

The new Hyperion retains most of the same characteristics, and it's still recognizable as a version of Hyperion. But it bothers me just how much the design was changed. Many of the simple shapes of the design were broken up into smaller parts or almost totally changed, like the cannon going from a sleek polygonal barrel to a spikey... thing.

To me, it feels like Hyperion was redesigned with the idea of trying to make it more "futuristic" or "tech-y", or perhaps it was even designed with some retro anime motifs in mind like the Space Battleship Yamato. But it seems as though this was done by adding many objects that broke up the original silhouette, as well as inventing lots of new detail instead of adding details to complement what was already there. The shape of the winglets was greatly changed; the vent-like structures were totally changed; the barrel was completely changed; most noticeably, the bridge was drastically changed.

The new Hyperion model is technically "better" in terms of fidelity and the amount of detail it has, no doubt about it. But I think changing the fundamental shapes of Hyperion so much really hurts the charm of the original design, to the point that I was actually quite disappointed to see that Mihoyo used the new Hyperion design in the CG of the Captainverse Hyperion farm event. It seems as though Mihoyo wants to consider this as the new default impression of Hyperion, and not a special one-off thing from the moon arc.

I think this can be seen across other aspects of the game, too. In general Mihoyo has moved away from simple designs and towards complex designs, and I think there's been a lot of hits and a lot of misses with this.

For instance, I'd like to compare the three Herrscher Kiana battlesuits: HoV, HoFS, and HoFi.

There's a clear trend of an increase in complexity across the three battlesuits. HoV's design uses fewer and larger shapes, HoFS adds more and smaller shapes, and then HoFi is almost totally devoid of any large clear shapes.

To me, this is what distinguishes a battlesuit that "feels like Honkai" from one that doesn't.

Everyone starts the game in Chapter 1, and most long-time players have spent more time with older battlesuits than newer ones simply because they were playing the game before these newer battlesuits were even released. I think it's safe to say that even though HoFi is the grand "Kiana in her greatest form" battlesuit, most players will still have seen HoV's design more often because of the years that it's been around, and its prevalence in story content.

Most of those older designs were rooted more heavily in the mecha vibes early Honkai had. For instance, even though HoV is obviously not wearing a mecha battlesuit, the large blocky shapes are still reminiscent of armor, two examples being the large frames on her wings and the large white pad-things(?) on her sides. There's other obvious cases like White Comet being a skin-tight battlesuit which used glowy energy bits for its attacks, but I use the example of HoV because it shows that HI3rd was fully capable of creating battlesuits within the mecha theme without being limited to literal "mecha" designs. HoV's battlesuit is far from mecha in its nature, yet still fits perfectly with that aesthetic.

HoFi has pretty much none of that, though. It's a pretty design for sure, but it's also nearly completely divorced from that original aesthetic. There's few easily-recognizable shapes on her design, with the (very little) clothing she wears being almost entirely detail and ornamentation. It definitely fits the "Princess Kiana" or "Goddess Kiana" theme in isolation, but I don't think it delivers on that theme in the context of Honkai Impact 3rd.

Yet look at HoFS. HoFS definitely has more detail than HoV. Yet there are still lots of large blank areas that define clear forms; for instance, the armor on HoFS' waist. It's reminiscent of that of HoV while still adding more detail. This gives that same effect of a slight mecha vibe. It's still an appealing design and it still feels more modern than HoV, but it also manages to retain much of the same design language.

That being said, I have to admit I ADORE the Honkai wings that HoFi has, though I wish they were a little higher in the air. That's one thing that I think Mihoyo absolutely nailed with HoFi, and I wish more of that aesthetic was kept in the rest of her design.

What's also interesting is that (in my opinion) neither of the other two main Herrscher Trio designs suffer from this. For instance, consider Mei's battlesuits:

I've included Lighting Empress as a reminder that old =/= good. I'd like to make it clear that just because it's an "original" battlesuit doesn't mean it's a good one. I said before that I didn't want to label stuff as good or bad but this is a clear exception and I hope y'all can understand why, lol

We can certainly argue about whether HoO Mei's design really fits the image of Raiden Mei. It's a vast departure from her other battlesuits when it comes to her palette, for better or for worse. I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me, and I think part of that is because of that concept of simplicity vs. complexity.

HoO has way, way more detail than the other two Herrscher Mei battlesuits, no doubt about it. But it also retains many large and recognizable shapes. Nothing on this battlesuit is bulky like HoT or other older battlesuits, but it still gives off the feeling of being armor despite being so thin. Much of the detail is created not by overlapping layers of ornamentation and texture, but rather by using intricate shapes with clear silhouettes and light detail inside that outline.

And HoTr is obviously a mecha design, so I don't think we need to elaborate on that one :)

The point is that it's absolutely possible to make detailed and beautiful battlesuits without getting rid of the original shape language that HI3rd was built on. HoFS is a bit dated now but still much newer than HoV, yet it keeps the vibes. HoO is also far newer, yet it still fits the theme of battlesuit. HoFi, though... not so much.

Finally, I want to talk about the elephant in the room: the Part 2 character designs.

Once again, here's the link to the YouTube video by Matt Is Playing, where I pulled this image from!

Much like HoFi, there's very little trace of the OG Honkai mecha aesthetic in these battlesuits. It's not to say that they are inherently bad because of that* , but it doesn't quite feel like "Honkai Impact 3rd".

*except Dream Seeker, I'm sorry but what the heck is going on there???

But the thing is that this design philosophy isn't even new. In fact, it's years old by now... because we see this in APHO.

For a long time now, APHO has had battlesuits that tip-toe on the very edge of the original Honkai aesthetic. So the designs of Part 2 aren't actually some new and drastic shift in Mihoyo's design philosophy- rather, it's reinforcing a design philosophy that was introduced with APHO.

These new characters all feel out of place if we compare them to the original battlesuits. They don't use the same simple forms, instead using dense and overlapping details. But if we compare them to the APHO cast, they fit right in. We can argue about the merits of the new character designs in other terms, but I think these discussions have to keep in mind this context.

I'd say the APHO designs work well in the setting of APHO because they're following the same aesthetic. As we enter Part 2 and once we see more of the story and setting of Part 2, it's very possible that these new character designs will feel more natural and more like "Honkai Impact 3rd".

But it's a different Honkai Impact 3rd.

This is why I think the idea of "simplicity vs. complexity" is so important to understanding Honkai Impact 3rd's designs. I think Mihoyo might be trying to emphasize two different phases of Honkai through this design philosophy. These are going to be two very different halves to the same game, with the designs of Part 2 possibly becoming as distant from Part 1's designs as Part 1 is from HSR.

You have the OG mecha action vibes from the good ole St. Freya days, and we have the sleek tech-wear of the era of exploring Mars, world-hopping in the Sea of Quanta, and fighting literal aliens.

For better or for worse? Only time will tell.

As a bonus, I'd like to include some extra comparisons, though I won't be adding any more analysis. It's more about having extra examples to keep in mind. Also, I think these ideas can apply to enemies and weapons as well, but that's a larger discussion I'm not yet ready for so that will come in a follow-up later on!

[danaelea0332]

If APHO 3 doesn't involve a traumatized Kiana coming back from the moon, completely overwhelmed by being with people again, then I don't want it 😒

Nah but fr if you've spent so much time alone in the fucking dark on the fucking moon then you have some serious issues with adjusting back to earth. Like everyone knows this feeling when you've been in a dark room for some time and suddenly the light gets turned on. Now imagine that but you've been in that dark room for 8+ years. Alone. Knowing that all the people you love can keep on living their lives while yours basically gets paused for 8+ years for a greater good.

Im telling you Kiana is gonna be so damn traumatized when she comes back.

I better see some angsty kiamei fanfics about this.

[oathofkaslana]

tis’ i, crepe.. with a very, very, definitely important ask.!!!!!!!!

I was thinking about your bronya & tsaritsa posts earlier today,, and I was wondering if there’s any other characters you think may end up being (or. already are) hi3 expys too? lore/arc wise, or just by design :3

ohhhhhhh you opened up a large can of worms w this one.. ii start visibly vibrating w excitement

general criteria are like. matching voice actors, very similar designs, some overlapping similarities. ie: mei and ei both having things to do with origin, time-fuckery (kinda), having similar designs, both being named raiden, being associated w lightning, sword users, etc. mostly we look at lore for talking about alts :3

lore-wise/confirmed (ordered by nation):

sustainer of heavenly principles -> kiana kaslana (herrscher of the void) of course mhy couldnt go a game without mentioning their favorite child. both share voice actors and similar designs. i also think its really interesting knowing that sirin (whos basically kiana's herrscher persona atp) was the first herrscher of the current era that actively abided by the will of the honkai (this being that exists outside of the honkai universe) and how the sustainer of heavenly principles is likely apart of the primordial one's four shades <- which again. the primordial one and the heavenly principles are pretty certainly NOT from teyvat. images below (note: the upwards pointing ahoge, the eye colors, the yellow powers, the red color schemes between kiana's herrscher of flamescion battlesuit, etc. in order: hi3 kiana HoF, genshin, hi3 kiana HoV, genshin)

venti -> wendy obvious one their names are similar (in chinese the first character of their name is the same and related to weather). they both have some control over the wind w venti being the archon of anemo and wendy being the herrscher of the wind. their designs are also similar if you look at their archon/herrscher forms. wendy's actually from ggz but i dont know enough about hr ggz counterpart to talk about her :( which sucks bc i heard shes written better and w more depth there. visual similarities below (take note: hair, wings, color scheme. in order: hi3, ggz, and genshin)

lore-wise i do think its interesting how HI3 wendy struggles with a lack of freedom while venti is the archon of freedom. (wendy: is wheel-chair bound due to a procedure/experiment gone wrong because of her being a literal child soldier. + being kidnapped by both schicksal and ae + being a narrative parallel to bronya who notoriously struggles with freedom especially in the chapter we meet wendy in)

raiden ei and raiden makoto -> raiden mei also obvious. i dont know where to even begin here. their surnames being the same; both being associated to lightning and thunder; mei and ei being sword-users; even lil things about ei like the fact that she cant cook whlie mei can because mei has a kiana to cook for and ei doesnt!; mei being the herrscher of origin and raiden shogun's auto attacks being named origin; mei having a line about reforging kiana's swords when it breaks as a symbol of strength and raiden shogun's passive being related to leveling swords and polearms. even like story-wise, while i think they did a shitty job w ei, i can see the bits of mei they were going for! the divided identities w mei (the real gentle and compassionate her being represented w makoto, a cold and cruel facade of hers being the raiden shogun, and the in-between version of her that just tries so hard to maintain eternity and change fate as a means of grief being represented with ei). and see. did not include GGZ mei heree bc i dont know enough about her. visuals below (take note the eye color, hair, the red accents in ei's clothing. in order: HI3 mei HoT, HI3 APHO mei, genshin makoto, and genshin ei.)

yae miko -> yae sakura also obvious w their names and designs asjdbjb. also both being mikos, narukami shrine being heavily associated w sakura blossoms, the fox and kitsune inspirations. and!! the medicine-food kiss in one of miko's books literally being something sakura did to kallen. they dont act similarly at all but i think thats part of what makes miko a successful expy. ei acts more like sakura than miko does! and the fact that their stories with losing their sisters and that spurring such intense grief within them is soooooo oughh.... i love eimiko from a multiverse perspective bc i think with it, it allows miko and sakura to be so so linked while also not being very similar, meaning we get more from miko's character if we know sakura but we dont need to know sakura to know about miko!!!! i also of course have to mention the grand narukami sakura tree and yae sakura's connection w sakura trees and grief.. the way the grand narukami's tree is a symbol of ei's grief for makoto AND the site where miko sends off the spirits of the youkai to rest :]. iirc, sakura's GGZ and HI3 lore are similar enough. images below (note: their hair, color palette, ears. in order: HI3, GGZ, genshin)

nahida -> theresa the whitewashing w this one is so ugly it makes me so mad bc story-wise i actually think nahida is a successful theresa alt. i just hate that they used it as an excuse to whitewash her. like. theresa being a clone of kallen whos physical body can only age to 13 and nahida being a small splintered part of rukkhadevata..... nahida being locked up by the sages because they didnt respect her and otto keeping theresa cooped up both because he cared about her and didnt wnat her to get in his way......... nahida being the archon of wisdom and theresa being the principal of st freya......... EVEN LIKE. THE TIME BETWEEN RUKKHADEVATA & NAHIDA BEUNG THE SAME AS KALLEN & THERESA (500 YEARS).. and, of course, nahida's attempts at addressing the discrimination/inequality between the two sumeru regions being akin to theresa's attempts to right otto's wrongs after she becomes schicksal's overseer. also the religious imagery w theresa and kallen veing christian and nahida and rukkhadevata and both being underestimated for their young appearances. not including ggz theresa here. (below is theresa's verdant sky skin, the first battlesuit of hers we see, and nahida. after is kallen and then rukkhadevata. take note the color schemes, braids vs ponytails, height)

al haitham -> su same as nahida it pisses me off so so much they whitewashed al haitham for this. but looking aside from the obvious visual similarities for a sec ok listen hear me out. su's buddhism and association w honkai's realm sumeru AND al haitham, of course, being from sumeru which is a nation heavily inspired by buddhism.... al haitham having connections to mirrors and light.. su literally keeping his eyes closed for the majority of the time......... both being rather quiet...... they do not act similarly though which i think serves them both well :] something abt su having such strong morals and convictions and literally being a fucking hero and carrying a lot of guilt in part because hes a healer who's lost so many while al haitham has a seemingly "uncaring" demeanor (not actually uncaring btw) which is something imparted onto him by his grandma.. visuals below (in order: HI3 su, genshin haitham)

design-wise:

heres a few people have suggested but i just dont agree or theyre only linked through design.

lisa -> rita (fallen rosemary battlesuit especially)

jean -> durandal/bianka

kazuha -> jingwei fu hua

young shenhe, xianyun -> azure empyrea fu hua i do not. get this one tbhes.

theres also welt yang/joachim and zhongli but while i think theyre very fun to think about in tandem from a lore perspective, i really dont think zhonglis inspired by joachim. FUCK I CANT ADD ANY MORE PHOTOS.

[nazorneku]

So whomst is Void Archives?

This is how Void Archives (VA) actually looks. And before you ask, yes, it is a semi-transparent golden cube. It's the 1st Divine Key - a piece of Previous Era technology, made using the Herrscher of Reason Core. It can recreate anything, as long as it understands the concept. In doing so, it can mimic the other Divine Keys as well. However, these mimicries are much weaker. Void Archives is an artificial intelligence and was intended to contain knowledge and information from the Previous Era from 50 000 years ago.

This is the "Library", a place that hosts the knowledge and where each book is a separate archive of information from the Previous Era. It can only be accessed via medium, as it's a virtual reality space, or if VA willingly invites someone's consciousness in. Which is another of its abilities - to allow someone to transfer their mind to another body or vessel.

This is also Void Archives during post-hi3 APHO chapters in the game and Alien Space manga, after it stole appropriated Otto's Soulium avatar body, when the latter died. It customized the hairstyle and outfit. Aside from wearing a glove on the right hand, it also covered the face with a mask. But these latter modifications were temporary (reasons: spoiler).

Then we have these fake ass blond dudes.

Otto Apokalpse, the bishop of Schicksal in Houkai Gakuen 2 (or Guns Girl Z). And from where it all begun.

Otto Apocalypse, the evil Overseer of Schicksal in Honkai Impact 3.

Otto Apocalypse from visual novel Seven Swords, who is called "Raksha" by the locals. Also carries a coffin. Also befriended Sushang.

Otto Apocalypse in Honkai Star Rail, admits using the name "Luocha" (AKA "Raksha") only within Xianzhou Luofu.

Back to our problematic cube—

In APHO chapters, Welt easily recognized that the person in front of him was not Otto, even if VA attempted to pretend to be him.

And this is where real Void Archives with its opinion towards Otto comes out. Its' voice is loud and is saturated with unadulterated resentment.

In Alien Space manga, which is the preface to Star Rail, Void Archives and Welt travel to another universe, where they currently reside.

You also can see Void Archives in Welt's splash art as well— And it does look like a parting theme.

Which brings another mention of VA within the Star Rail.

Where to? I will make Headcanon post 'bout what the danger cube is up to later and until hoyo will provide us with leaks or info what VA is doing, that would remain the canon to my blog.

Later in Star Rail companion quest, Welt has flashbacks from when VA abducts takes him on a new adventure (insert spoilers of APHO and Alien Space manga here), and also along with a voice line recognizes that Luocha is actually Otto, not Void Archives.

Void Archives may be in possession of a soulium avatar, crafted in the image of Otto, but ultimately they are not the same people. Void Archives exists since Previous Era for 50 000 years, and Otto (in HI3 universe) managed to hit 500 years thanks to VA powers and knowledge. Nor Void Archives is Luocha. If you see a man who looks like he never used a brush in his entire life - that is Void Archives. Luocha is Otto Apocalypse. And it was also directly pointed by Jing Yuan as well, who said that his real name is a mouthful.

[lucyhasnoidea]

just watched the new honkai pt2 trailer, and i have uh... mixed feelings. I havent played hi3 for a month or 2 now, although my blogs full of it (mostly im still attached to the og cast) but i have a basic idea of whats happending before ch 40.

Anb basically, i started playing during kolosten, but theres a huge contrast in pre-kolosten and post-kolosten stories, a feeling i got from just playing through old stories.

Anyway, the thing is that its starting to feel more and more like genshin. Personally I dislike genshin, its not my thing (although it WAS my first gacha game).

Now, it feels like hoyo decidet to "unite" their branding and have the same style over all their games. And I think most players dont wasnt their game to look like hsr/genshin, because theyd play HSR/GI if they wanted to?? It feels like they tried to do this ever since kolosten finishied.

Personally, I loved APHO. It was fun and stuff, and even with new mechanics, it felt clearly honkai. I could take a look at the environment and tell its honkai (hi3 and hsr have some subtle differences in ow style, i like hi3s more). But this?? It feels like they finally got the perfect chance to finish "uniting" their brand into a single recognizable style and took it. Whenever that's bad or good depends on liking genshin/hsr. I think with the whole turning a new page thing, they want to attract players of those two games.

As my closing note... whats the deal with giving every non-loli woman a large bust??? Like, every single woman since "new Flame-Chasers" has a large bust?? First it was Himeko (and kinda mei) of the old cast, but now its everyone exept the lolis?? (Using loli as cover word for both kids and kid-short adults like Theresa.) Like, I am not against it, but on every single character it becomes boring. Give me some variation, please?? Even genshin has more veriety in body types (read: bust sizes) and genshin sucks at that?? Are we just going to have the 3 same models plastered with different hair and outfits????? Sorry, this has nust been bothering me a lot.

As I said, I havent played HI3 in some and never spent money so I dont think they really ever care for people like me. Ive "took a break" playing, but after this I think Ill neeet to quit for good. It was nice when it lasted. (To clarify, I took a break because I got bored and it felt tedious to play.)

[busghost]

Mind if i ask why in your opinion APHO is trash for Kiamei?

If you’ve heard my opinion before you can skip. Otherwise.

BUCKLE YOUR BRITCHES BITCHES IT FUCKING TIME FOR

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖆𝖓𝖙

(personal opinion time, don't kick my penis inside out if you disagree I'm not presenting this as if this is_** the correct way **_to think of APHO)

Not only is APHO bad for KiaMei it's a garbage ending for the entire story, which is far, far more important.

Let's just get right into the thick of it with the most important detail. When talking about Carole Mei says to Adam,

"I used to know somebody just like her",

Mei gazes sadly at the Moon,

there is a blue light on the Honkai-consumed red Moon. (note: we are told this one time and it never is visible so this one is kinda bad)

The point is Kiana is either dead, or people theorize sealed all the Honkai on the Moon with herself. Or rather 95% of the Honkai so she didn’t really save the whole world entirely. Especially with the way Mei and Theresa talk like we don't know who and what they are talking about. For all intents and purposes, Kiana is gone, implied to have sacrificed herself. Let's take a look back at Kiana's ENTIRE character arc. OH YEAH, unlearning her suicidal self-sacrificial tendencies, to the point where she won't let Hua heroically sacrifice herself. Kiana's whole speech at the end of Everlasting Flames. Finding their path back home? You get my point by now. It entirely negates Kiana's character development.

Some people tell me that it's supposed to be punishment for Mei joining World Serpent. Let me get this straight. Mei's karmic punishment for her own choices was for somebody else to fuckin die/ never see her loved ones ever again? What kinda bullshit is that? And let's say that APHO ends with Kiana unsealed from the Moon, what reason was there to wait 8 years for a "happy" ending?

APHO is a time-skip, 8 years to be exact. That puts 3 years left in the main story which doesn't add up because it's 2017 in main story and Herrschers are appearing at an accelerated rate and it’s 2028 in APHO but shhhhh. After a timeskip you don't really know the characters anymore, that's not a bug it's a feature. It's a chance to get to know them again. So how come the only thing we learn about Mei is "girlfriend gone, big sad for 8 years". Bronya was out there following her dreams, left the fighting behind her, and she's the only character in APHO that seems to have done ANYTHING different. Welt adopts a kid and makes more anime than he was before. Why be time-skip at all? To sell big boob version of the main characters.

Honestly all of this wouldn't bother me if they wouldn't be so flip-floppy about if it's canon or not. As a bubble universe/alt universe scenario I actually thought APHO was great until they started doing that. It wasn't, then it definitely was, then it wasn't, eventually they settled on it being part of the same worldline which is word nobody understands. If it is canon then they are basically spoiling the ending to their own game for what reason? To get to Honkai Star Rail already? "Quit playing the old game and play our new one"! BUT Honkai Star Rail IS a sequel to APHO because the Star Rail Trailer “Reburn 2″ has Carole, Welt, and a fucked up Moon in it. Usually you make a sequel to the main story? Although they didn't do that with GGZ and Honkai Impact.

If we could just be CERTAIN that it was canon or not I could know to give up caring on Honkai Impact cause the character development won't matter in the end.

(On every post that I make about this people send me a “you can just make/read fix-it fic” I think you’re really missing the point. I won’t want to read any fix-it fics if it ends so terriibly)

[aeonophagic]

Okay, last anon convinced me to be brave — chronic Twitter/Tumblr lurker usually too scared to speak here who wants to say your posts have been so fun and helpful for this Honkai initiate. Guilty of starting with HSR but at least I’m doing research. (read: was sent Alien Space by a friend and went down the rabbit hole) I have. Many thoughts. (read: is also reviewing APHO voicelines and picking out stuff lost in translation) And many thanks for you and your art because hello, serotonin?? I’m smiling even at the stuff I don’t understand yet, your energy is simply that infectious, it’s great. I’d love to talk brainrot sometime but I’m probably being awkward now, so I’m just gonna leave some good vibes and well-wishes ^.^

ahh this is so awesome to hear! with my analysis-esque threads I always hope I can help people have a better understanding of the characters and/or their story. Picking up stuff lost in translation (as ive been trying to do as well) is honestly something I really hope people will point out because I really want to see what I’ve missed due to me only speaking english&italian(which isn’t even available in hi3).

if you need any help going down the rabbit hole I’m always willing to help. When I started playing I read the comics in a sort of timeline-chronological order beforehand but sometimes it doesn’t work with comics like Alien space that are a sequel to in-game events

I’m glad my silly little comics have an infectious energy!!! I love making them and I always love the positive feedback to them. This is not awkward at all I love being reassured that my work well.. works!! Thank you so much :3

[lalarawr]

ohhh im still so mad VA isnt in hsr like where my nonbinary gay whore babygirl at ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️ and tbh when seeing luocha welt shouldve gotten flashbacks to the vn and otto killing his dad and whatever not apho stuff </3 i still think its so fucking funny that he just left joey behind to hop universes .. Hsr/gnsn onlies dontknow welt is canonically a dilf 😭😭😭😭😭😭 they dont know welts name is joachim nokianvirtanen 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[kalpasio]

A Post Kalpas Odyssey

Welcome To The Ruins

A Kalpas x Reader fic taking place in APHO Chapter 3 below!

Carys and Bronya seemed to agree with your decision to stay away from the Carousel. Mei praised you all for finding more information on the aliens, and you were about to head home when she asked you to stay back.

“It’s about Kalpas,” she spoke once Sunita was out of earshot. “I—has he been at all violent? Maniacal laughing? Setting things on fire?” What the hell was she talking about?

“No?” you gave Mei a funny look and she seemed to realize how crazy she sounded. Shaking her head, she explained.

“Several years ago, I…learned about some people from the previous era,” you nodded for her to continue. “The thirteen Flame Chasers were heroes of their time and lead the fight against Honkai.” Mei sighed; this was only making things more confusing for you.

“One of the thirteen was prone to violence, and he was sure to go insane if he didn’t get himself killed first. His name was Kalpas. And he looked just like this Kalpas, wore the same mask, fought the same way, the only difference I can see is that this Kalpas hasn’t had the surgery that drove the previous one mad.”

“You seem to know that Kalpas pretty well,” you narrowed your eyes slightly. Mei didn’t even acknowledge your accusation.

“There are plenty of people from the previous era, like y—” she stopped herself and cleared her throat. “I’m just worried that this Kalpas will grow in the same way and since you’re sharing a house with him, I wanted to be sure you’re safe.”

“I’m fine,” you stood from the couch. “I appreciate your concern,” you did your best to sound polite. “But, maybe next time, you should ask Kalpas himself.” With that, you left the base and started the short walk home.

As soon as you opened the door, you could hear your roommates arguing, but you ignored the yelling and went straight to your room. For some reason, Mei’s words were stuck repeating in your mind. If that Kalpas had gone crazy, did you need to worry about this Kalpas being like that? He’d been in your nightmares more times than you’d like to admit, and you never made it out of them alive.

Sure, he started arguments, or picked fights any chance he got, but he had never even made a move to hurt any of you after that initial fight. Even when someone got under his skin, flames might flare from his hands, but he would walk away before anything happened.

A knock at your door pulled your attention to the worried face of Sunita peaking though. “Is squad leader Mei really mad with you?” she asked while sitting on the edge of your bed.

“No,” you closed your eyes and contemplated how to explain what you had learned.

“Are you tired of us arguing?”

“Yes, but that’s not why I’m upset,” you laughed a little. “Mei just gave me some things to think about.”

“Like things you’re in trouble for?”

“Why are you so ready for me to be in trouble?” you shot her a playful glare. Sunita just smiled and shrugged.

“I know you’re secretly a rebel,” she gave a wink that made you give a short laugh. Slowly your frown returned, and you covered your face with your arm.

“She thinks Kalpas is the reincarnation of some crazy guy from the previous era.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” you sighed. “What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

“I mean, it’s not like she’s told you anything new,” Sunita grinned and laughed when you smacked her shoulder.

“Like he really lost it, went around killing everything.”

“Look, I argue with the guy enough to know he would’ve killed me by now if he were like that,” she held your hand reassuringly. “Mei was just being cautious, don’t stress about it so much,” you nodded and squeezed her hand.

“Thanks—”

“If you two don’t finish ‘bonding,’ food’s gonna get cold.” Kalpas stood leaning against your doorway with his arms crossed tightly over his chest per usual.

Sunita nodded, “we’ll be down in a minute.” Kalpas didn’t move and the three of you stayed staring at each other. “That was your cue to leave,” she tried again with no effect.

“We were basically done anyway,” you groaned while sitting up and swinging your legs off the bed to stand. Sunita stepped past Kalpas first and headed downstairs, but you were stopped when you tried to pass. Kalpas grabbed your arm, though the grip was hardly tight enough to really stop you, the scowl he sent was what made you stand still.

“I have a problem with someone, I tell them,” he spoke in a low tone. You just gave him a confused look. If this was his way of saying he was mad at you, it wasn’t very direct. “I expect you to do the same.”

“Right,” you nodded, then looked him dead in the eye. “I’m hungry and you’re in my way.”

“Good.” He let go of your arm, apparently satisfied, and you both went to eat.

Normally, you wouldn’t be part of the team exploring the ruins; Timido’s skating was a necessity, and Carys’ accuracy almost always gave the team an edge. This time, however, there were some gaps that only you could cross with your scythes, so you had been brough ton.

And Kalpas threw a fit.

He didn’t want you going and that pissed you off. Sure, he was a better fighter than you, but you were hardly a pushover, and could easily pull your own weight in a fight. You had been planning on going on the mission before, but now you were determined to go and prove you deserved to be on the team.

“Quit acting like I’m useless in a fight!” you were yelling, but you really couldn’t care less about what the others though right now. “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself! You don’t need to treat me like a D-rank Valkyrie just because you can punch things better than I can!”

“I’m treating you like a D-rank Valkyrie because you’re just as weak as one,” he snarled in your face. “You have yet to kill a single enemy on your own—”

“Because you won’t let me!”

“—and you’d be dead if you tried!”

You were seeing red at this point. Knuckles white with the grip you had on your scythes and breath coming out in huffs. Mei was about to step in, but you ended the argument first.

“Go fuck yourself,” you growled and roughly rammed his shoulder with your own on your way to the gate. “Fucking asshat,” you mumbled to yourself on the other side. You hardly got a second to yourself before Carys placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Breathe, kid,” she said it in a nice way, but you knew she just didn’t want to put up with your drama.

“I know,” you took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Let’s just get through here.” Carys nodded and Timido stepped through a moment later, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Most of the ruins were just a test of mobility. Between Timido skating up walls, you swinging across broken platforms, and Carys shooting any switches, you were able to reach the end easily. Unsurprisingly, there was a final fight; an Empress and Demon appearing not even a second after you touched the floor.

Timido and Carys focused on The Empress, while you stuck with The Demon, dodging the oversized bird with ease. Your chain gave you the space to slash at it without being in range of its talons, and you finished the fight without a scratch. Carys landed the killing blow on The Empress shortly after, and the three of you exited the ruins perfectly unharmed.

Kalpas was staring at you as you walked out, but you pretended not to notice. Right now, you just needed space. Given enough time, you would cool down, but if he spoke to you too soon, you’d blow up again. You went to the other house for dinner and let Timido tell everyone how the mission had gone. That story turned into several more, and it was past midnight by the time Carole and Adam walked you home.

The next morning, you were feeling much calmer, but you still got up extra early to avoid Kalpas. Grabbing a quick snack, you were the first one to the base, where you ate and played some mindless game on your phone. When it came time for your daily missions, it was the squad leader’s turn, so you weren’t sent out, and you managed to find a corner by yourself to eat lunch.

It wasn’t until dinner that you were forced to talk to Kalpas. While the others all stood to head home for dinner, he grabbed your arm in a grip you didn’t even think about fighting. Sunita placed herself in front of you with a disapproving look that was emphasized by the impatient tap of her foot, and the angry scowl on her face.

“We’re going home,” she said. And that was that. You didn’t even get to say ‘ok’ before she was heading out and Kalpas was dragging you along behind her.

At the front door, she held it open and glared daggers while you were pulled past her. Kalpas only let go when you were shoved to sit on the couch. He then moved to stand in front of you while your friend perched on the edge of the other couch. Both had irritation coming off of them in waves and you rolled your eyes at them while leaning back in your seat.

“We finally agreed on something,” Sunita broke the silence, but you stubbornly refused to look at her. “We both think you’re acting like a child having a temper tantrum.”

“Sunita, you intentionally let someone get hurt the last time they refused to thank you for your healing, and you think I’m a child for being pissed after what he said?” your voice remained calm for the most part, but you doubted it would stay that way for long.

“I think we’re on a mission that’s way too serious for you to be acting like this. We don’t know that much about this place, and we need to work as a team.”

“Clearly we don’t need a team, we have the almighty Kalpas!” you stood from your seat. “I’m just dead weight! I really don’t see why you’re so upset when I’m obviously useless in a fight,” you scoffed.

The callback to Kalpas’ comment didn’t go unnoticed, and Sunita flinched at its mention, but you weren’t done. “If it weren’t for the two of you, I wouldn’t even be here!” Turning on your heel, you stormed up to your room, hoping they heard every stomp you made.

There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that you were being a bit overdramatic, but until your door slammed shut, you couldn’t find it in you to care. More angry, not-quite-shouting came from downstairs, but it was too muffled to understand. Your heart was still racing from the argument, and you felt some tears in your eyes from the sudden addition of more emotions than you would like.

A sharp bang at the door had you freezing in the middle of wiping away a tear. Kalpas could be heard on the other side of the door, demanding that you open up. He said something like Sunita’s approach not working, ad you didn’t want to stick around to find out his approach.

Sliding open your window, you slipped out and scaled the side of the house to pull yourself onto the roof. Wandering False Bay alone was still dangerous, so you decided to stay where you were, rather than going somewhere else like you would at St. Freya’s. A minute or so later, you heard loud swearing, and some aggressive attempts at calming someone down that clearly weren’t working. Your roommates must’ve gone into your empty room.

At school, sneaking out of the dorms was such a common occurrence for you, it was almost expected that you would disappear, so you doubted Sunita was bothered by your absence. Kalpas had made it clear that he thought the team was better off without you, so it seemed more likely his angry shouts were calling you a coward for running and not calling out in concern for you.

You watched the sun set and listened to the occasional metallic scraping of distant monsters. Slowly, lights in the houses flipped on as it got dark, and then back off as everyone went to bed. Thinking about what had happened today was just a little too much for you right now. Instead, you watched the world move and thought about what you would do when you got out of False Bay.

When the last light in your house went out, you snuck back down the roof and back into your room. Pressing against the door, you listened, just to be sure the other two were really asleep. Exhaustion was pulling at your own body, but you were too hungry to go to bed. Just a quick snack, and then you’d be right back to your room, and no one would know.

Silently, you swung open the door and crept down the hall. For once, you were thankful for the houses’ eerie silence; there were no squeaky floorboards, or creaky stairs, and with the practice you had, the entire trip was made without a sound. Once you were in the kitchen, you saw a plate on the counter with a little note on it. Sometimes Sunita would write reminders about the day’s tasks for everyone and leave it on the counter or table so you could read it as you each woke up.

Picking up the note, you realized it had been addressed specifically to you. It was too dark in the kitchen to read, and you couldn’t turn the lights on for fear of waking someone, so you stepped over to a window and used the light from the streetlamps.

Kalpas didn’t mean what he said, you huffed under your breath and nearly threw away the note then and there. If he didn’t mean it, he shouldn’t have said it. He was just worried about you going somewhere he couldn’t help you. If you clenched your jaw anymore, you would snap a tooth, but you kept reading.

He’s been worried about you the whole time you’ve been gone. If you’re safe, if you’re getting food, if you have a place to sleep. He worries so much it’s stressing me out. I know you’re mad at him, but, there was a line that had been scratched out so you couldn’t read it. Skipping ahead, it continued, we both just want to know you’re alright.

Sunita’s beautiful signature ended the note and you let out a long breath of air when you finished reading. There was also a short sentence saying the food on the plate was for you. Picking up a pen, you turned the note over and wrote one line.

If that’s how Kalpas feels, Kalpas can tell me himself.

You signed your own name at the bottom and switched the pen out for a fork and started eating. The food was cold, but there was no way you could get away with using the microwave, and the food didn’t taste half bad as it was. Once you finished eating, you slid your dishes into the sink (Sunita wouldn’t even let you load the dishwasher unless it was a spoon) and went back upstairs.

When you squinted your eyes open, it took you a second to realize that you were, in fact, awake. A quick glance at the—somewhat blurry—clock told you that it was almost an hour before you normally woke up. Furrowing your brows, you wondered why you had woken up so early, but decided to roll over and enjoy your extra hour. Until you heard someone jiggling your doorknob.

Instantly, you were up, adrenaline clearing any sleep from your mind. One too many pranks at school meant you developed a habit of sleeping with the door locked, but you weren’t going to sit there and wait for the person on the other side to find a way in. At the next rattle of your door, you slipped out of bed and picked up your scythes, cursing mentally when their chains clanked against each other. There wasn’t exactly a peephole on your bedroom door, so your best bet was to get the jump on whoever was on the other side.

In one move, you unlocked the door and yanked it open, while jumping at your would-be attacker. You had him pinned on the other side of the hall with your scythes crossed one over the other, so the blades curved tightly around his neck. Kalpas—of course it was Kalpas—waited a moment for you to recognize him, and let him go, but when you didn’t move, he grew frustrated.

“Get off,” his voice rumbled low in his chest, and you could feel it in every part of you that kept him pinned to the wall. Still you didn’t move to let him go, only adjusting your stance to better keep him where he was. With a snarl, he reached up and wrapped his hand around the blade of one of your scythes and pulled it away.

“What are you doing?!” you nearly shouted in shock, and your eyes were as wide as they could go as you pulled away. One scythe came freely, but the other Kalpas continued to hold in front of him, and you worried the razor-sharp edges would cut further into his fingers if you tried to move.

“You think you can get away with that?” Kalpas was close enough that you could see his eyes through the mask, and with the rage in his stare, you wished you couldn’t. Narrowing your own eyes, you tried not to show how nervous he was making you.

“We’ve already established you don’t think I can do much of anything.” Kalpas’ glare got worse, and you looked away, unable to keep up with the intensity. The moment your eyes left his, he yanked on the scythe in his grasp, immediately bringing your eyes back for fear he would hurt himself.

“I want you…to be safe,” he growled, practically in your face to keep eye contact with you. “You can’t be safe when you’re dead.”

“I’m not some weak—”

“I know!” Kalpas shouted and any courage you might have mustered up was snuffed out. “There’s a reason I only work with you, the others aren’t worth my time,” he scoffed. “You’re a better fighter than any of them.”

“You called me a ‘D-rank Valkyrie,’” you raised an eyebrow, and when he didn’t argue you kept going. “You called me useless and said I couldn’t be left to fight on my own or I’d get myself killed.” Looking down at the ground, you saw the small puddle of blood that was dripping steadily from his hand. “Do you think you could let go—”

“No.” You stared at him in shock for a moment, waiting for any sort of explanation. Slowly, Kalpas’ other hand came up and pulled away his mask. Even though you could see his eyes through the mask, they looked completely different now, and you couldn’t stop yourself from staring.

They were a stunning green, but beyond that, there was just so much emotion in them. Anger mixed with passion and devotion that lead to frustration and rage and concern, and just everything that made Kalpas.

And then his eyes slid closed. It took you a second to realize why. He was kissing you. When your brain caught up with the feeling of lips stiffly pressed against your own, you breathed in a short gasp and Kalpas started to pull away.

With a sad ‘no’ that only you could hear, you pushed back towards him and kissed him again. The still lips you felt last time suddenly came to life, and all the emotion you saw in his eyes was poured into the kiss and you eagerly accepted it all.

A polite cough grabbed your attention and you pulled away—or as far as you could with Kalpas’ good hand keeping a tight grip on your waist.

“I wanted you to make up, not make out.” Sunita grumbled from the doorway to her room. “Now I’m gonna have to clean the wall,” she continued muttering under her breath while turning to go back to her room. As soon as the door closed, you were laughing into Kalpas’ chest.

“She’s more concerned about the cooties we might leave on the wall than the blood on the floor,” you wheezed out and Kalpas gave a chuckle you could feel through all of his chest. When you stopped laughing, he pulled you away slightly and gave a very serious look.

“Breakfast.”

“Oh!” you had completely forgotten how early it was. “I’ll, uh, clean up here. You go see Sunita about your hand,” you pulled away and Kalpas slid his mask into place from where it had been sitting on top of his head. He hardly even made it a step before Sunita was stomping towards you bot, holding cleaning supplies and still grumbling.

“You,” she pointed at Kalpas, “had better make me the best breakfast ever,” she gave him her worst glare, though it seemed to scare you more than him. “And you,” she pointed at you now and you blanched. “Kissing doesn’t just magically fix everything. You two are going to have a nice chat while I eat my perfect breakfast,” she gave your resident chef a pointed look while she started patching him up. When she was done, he left, and you started helping her clean.

“I’m glad you’re back,” she was practically whispering, but you could tell she had been worried.

“I just really missed you,” you spoke in a teasing tone, but changed your tune when you saw the girl pout. “I’m happy to be back with you both.” The cleaning supplies were suddenly much more interesting than the person you were actually talking to. “And thank you for your note and trying to talk to me yesterday.”

“If I had known you just needed a kiss I would’ve fixed this ages ago,” Sunita lamented, and you both laughed.

“I don’t think it will work, but you’re welcome to try in the future.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

You both gave each other exaggerated winks and broke into laughter again.

oh the "make up not make out" joke was horrible, someone please take away my writers license.

No one cares but there was a bug in my room and that's why I posted the ao3 chapters so much earlier than the tumblr chapters lol

[nameification]

🌈💞💌 for the fic writer asks?

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

this one applies to both polaroids and the taken fic but like. for the taken one specifically I am so disappointed bc. I only did the chapter for ren and I really wanted to add the grian chapter but I just couldn't bring myself to do it and there's an entire scene where I use my knowledge abt 19th century clockworks and also what I've been told abt menory illnesses and just 19th century knowledge but I cannot bring myself to work on it no matter what. I also remember planning the etho chapter because I had Ideas for that. for polaroids I had like. a sort of corkboard in my mind abt just what to do and I wanna rewrite it and then ALSO This Place Is Not A Place Of Honor and I have like. one chapter written and a few illustrations already when I just. gave up

💞what's the most important part of the story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammer etc), the figurative language

OKAY SO when reading, it is always to me character and/or grammar. I've clicked off so many fics i thought would be interesting bc the characters were just Wrong. I can excuse grammar sometimes and if I can tell a fic will just have shit grammar I might click on it out of morbid curiosity (ahem that one time I liveblogged a fic in class) but I've built up enough resilience against subpar grammar to be. fine with it as a reader

as a writer, what I said above but also the figurative language because there's something about using a metaphor that hits just right for that specific character in that specific moment that feels so satisfying. when writing characters you don't want them to feel Off in a way that would make a reader unsatisfied and its okay to have a few grammar errors in fic (especially common ones, fic is free and beta readers are hard to come by) but just. be careful

💌share something about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited

OKAY so I actually have plans for some star rail fics but they're not fully realized yet and they're going to be infinitely more planned than what I have planned as fics for poor alhaitham but for now I wanna do clara & svarog fics where its just slice of life (and then a fic of when clara is grown up bc I write angst for a reason. robodad and his human child give me so much joy I love them So Much), a luocha and welt fic, a welt and void archives fic (copius amounts of Gay. old men yaoi. I have to finish apho 2 before this one because I still haven't done that) and also a fic with kafka (and maybe elio) in it (the heavens knows I'll be able to finish... one of those. maybe two)

anyways here's some snippets from wips wherein I hurt alhaitham the one on the left like. half-scrapped but only half-scrapped cause I still wanna work on it. it'll just take A While to do so

(I actually really like the writing style I chose for the one on the left cause its like. dottore's thought process and inner mind and. actually I want to show more I love how I wrote the first part so much and technically I can call it done but it would be injustice to the hurt part of hurt/comfort if I just stopped there)

I need to write in this style mor. it works best when the character is acting-to the beat of my vocabulary-Out There and Wild but a "softer" scene has been laid out by past me and I think I can utilize the way I write him to turn him into a threat even if 3rd person limited only limits us to outsider reactions of his character

actually just. about this fic in general is that I plan for it to have 3 really long chapters with the third being the longest (because thats where all the comfort will take place) and the first two are gonna be strictly in third person limited while the third one will also probs be 3pl except I change which character that perspective belongs to but I'm gonna try to limit myself to as few pov shifts as possible

oh god its 130am here. I like to ramble don't I. If I feel it I might ramble in the morning

[charlie-boyfriend]

need to get back to honkai because i would kill myself for kiana kaslana and i miss her very badly and and and and she is Here apparently also kiamei yup need the kiamei reunion theyre too good .. . . Ive seen the cgs but i hvae no idea wat goes on anyway the whole hoyoussy (Sorry i cant think of a better phrasae) was put into kiana and kiana alone and theyll never write a character so fun and interesitng and cool and nice and amazing and aweosme than Her ever again not in honkai not in genshin not EVER u hear me she is the foreevr forever.Yay.Though i kinda want them to separate Again.Cos im mean.And i wan them to find other people bcs no appeal in first loves to my brain..(i guess i dont know when escape from nagazora was like: how old they were but im under the impression that they were Pretty Fuckign Young so no way theres any past lovers beforehand) But: I am happy htat theure together again i dont know how canon apho is (or obviously yes canon but is it the same bubble universe as the main story thats a lil unclear NOthing to indicate that it isnt i just. Well! I DONTK WNO!) i rmbr at first being mad at them being apart again (mostly cos kiana just Wasnt ANd Isnt Aroudn ANd shes my fave so bleergh) (plus adam is the shittest protagonist ever HOW did they go from THE miss kiana to THAT. I dont hate him like on a personal level hes Alright his design is Alright but he is so BORING sorrryyyyy I love lyle n timido though they kept me going..) ANYWAY point being: when apho 3 (abt kiana apparently) happens . if kiamei stays separate I dont rly mind I think it would be great, actually, better for their arcs and all ...Hm. I need to play the new chapters anyway cos i never diD apparently sentis there im obsessed w sentis design see if hoyo will never have a character writing moment like kiana then theyll never have a peak character kit slash playstyle moment that is SENTI most fun shit ever gawd Someday ill go back to the game n get her someday someday