#finally got around to finishing the fontaine archon quest

[sparkofapple]

water guy

[lavenderchqn]

"COMFORT OF MUNDANENESS"

synopsis — you finally return to fontaine after a long time of being away from fontaine... and things are most certainly not as they were when you left pairing — furina x reader (can be read both as platonic and romantic relationship) warnings — hurt/comfort (on furina's part); the story is set closely after the events of 4.2 archon quest; reader is referred to as [y/n], written in 2nd person requested? — requested by anon! notes — this piece took a long long time, I'm so sorry for the wait dearest furina anon... hope you enjoy it nevertheless!

The difference in air could already be felt as you entered the elevator at the bottom of Romaritime Harbor. The humidity in Fontaine was much more pleasing to your throat compared to the dryness that the dryness prominent in Sumeru. 

Say what you’re gonna say - the healthcare provided by the nation of dendro might be stellar, albeit there’s nothing like home… and it’s a good thing that you can finally return to where you feel like you truly belong.

“Do my eyes deceive me? Hello, Mx. [Y/N]!” A high-pitched voice greeted you, as soon as you stepped onto the aquabus. 

“It most certainly has been a while, hasn’t it, Aeval?“ You answered cheerfully, having taken your place in one of the seats. “How’s life been treating you?”

Upon your question, the Melusine proceeded to ramble regarding all the experiences she’s had while you’ve been away from the land of hydro. You barely noticed how quickly time flew in her company, You could’ve sworn you only just got onto the boat, and yet now it has arrived at its destination. 

“Thank you for the safe trip. As always, your service is worthy of five stars.” At your comment all Aeval could do, was mutter embarrassed thanks, as you left the station. 

There’s much you could do as of that time — for starters, you could visit the Palais Mermonia to schedule a meeting with the Iudex. Although, he no longer was regarded as your boss… there’d be no harm in trying to maintain a cordial relation with Chief Justice. 

On the other hand there would be nothing wrong with taking a simple stroll around the city beforehand to reacquaint yourself with the beauty that is the Court of Fontaine. Deciding to procrastinate the inevitable, you’ve taken the longest possible route, spotting familiar establishments and people you’ve been acquainted with well before your injury…

The buildings have also remained the same, with the noticeable showing of water damage — as if a flood has happened pretty recently. Said thought reminded you of that old prophecy, one that had most definitely kept your dearest Archon awake for many nights. While Furina had never said anything regarding her thoughts on the matter… you knew it must’ve been difficult to live with said fate dangling in front of her day-by-day. 

In the blink of an eye, you found yourself in front of the administrative office, pushing its door to get inside. Dearest archons, it’s been … how many years? This place always smelled the same… as if the cleanest of waters had been mixed with the scent of old paper and coffee. You’ve swiftly made your way to the front desk, politely greeting Sedene. 

“Good afternoon Ms. Sedene.” Your voice was hushed, not wanting to disturb people working.

“Hello, hello. What brings you to Palais Mermonia, Mx. [Y/N]?” She asked, flipping papers containing the schedules of everyone in said office.

“I’ve returned to Fontaine just today and felt it would be appropriate to say hello to the Iudex in person. Although, if not possible, please don’t worry… I’ll have multiple opportunities to speak with him again.”

Once you finish speaking, as if on cue, the Melusine excused herself, making her way to Chief’s Justice office. There was quite the possibility, that she was trying to slot you in the soonest possible spot. Which made you a tad bit uncomfortable… Your position as a past Champion Duelist shouldn’t allow you to skip lines like that…

“The Iudex is ready to meet you, Mx. [Y/N]” Sedene kept the door slightly opened, gesturing you to go inside. Here it goes, you thought to yourself. 

“Good afternoon, Chief Justice.” You bowed politely, abiding by all the rules you had to learn as a Duelist. Amusing how not even years spent in the Land of Dendro made you forget them. 

“Good afternoon to you as well. Please have a seat.” Mr. Neuvillette proceeded to keep up his authoritary persona, although it was quite noticeable that you’ve been treated in a different way compared to a regular Fontainian… 

To be quite honest, in all the years you’ve spent as designated guard of the Hydro Archon, you had never gotten closer with the Iudex. It’s inevitable, given his upholding of the law — not even cordial relationships could meddle with his views of justice. Admirable.

The conversation the two of you had was surprisingly long, multiple glasses of water shared between the two of you. You’ve learned that the prophecy had indeed come to life, but was managed efficiently by the shared effort of all people of Fontaine. You’ve been starting to get ready to leave, when the Iudex started jotting something down on a small piece of paper.

“Mx. [Y/N]” He stood up. “This is the address of Ms. Furina’s current place of residence. While I’m unsure whether you’ll find her there tonight, I’m certain your appearance will bring her much needed joy.” 

You nodded quietly relieved that you didn’t have to ask Sedene personally for Furina’s schedule. Having thanked Neuvillette for his time and the lovely conversation, you left his office with a quiet shut of the door. 

You may have gotten yourself into quite a dilemma. Comparing your location to the given address… you were almost there. And yet there was quite the worry you had bubbling inside your mind. 

It’s been years since you had seen her. Not only was she the star of Fontaine… but over the years she must’ve had multiple different Champion Duelists protecting her back. Who knows, if she even remembered you… Dear archons, you must’ve looked as if you just lost your mind — muttering to yourself and pacing back and forth in a circle. 

You’ve stuck yourself into this cycle of temporary negative thoughts… and the chain was broken by none other than Furina de Fontaine herself. 

“Are you serious…?!” Her high pitched voice followed the sound of a bag ripping and a bunch of produce falling out. She did her best to pick anything in close proximity to her, looking around for anything she might’ve missed. Some of which has rolled into your direction. Might as well make yourself known. 

“You look as if you could use a hand.” You said quietly, bringing over the remaining food, sharing a soft smile in her direction. The gasp that answered didn’t shock you in the slightest… if anything, you’ve been quite certain she might’ve attacked you for addressing the biggest star of Fontaine with a lack of politeness. 

“Oh. Uhm…” Furina couldn’t bring herself to say a singular word… That’s the worst situation you could’ve find her in — an absolute mess. “Would you be so kind, as to help me carry it all inside?” 

“Lead the way.” 

The apartment Furina resides in seems to match her persona at least partially — grand and elegant on the outside and yet small and cozy on the inside. While it might be a bit cluttered up, you don’t bring it up in order to not stress her further.

“Thank you so much, [Y/N].” She says as you place the remaining groceries in her kitchen, followed by a small sigh. “That is most certainly not the way I expected to meet you again.”

You finally get the opportunity to take a good look at your old friend. The grandiose Archon hasn’t changed all that much… the shorter hair being the most noticeable of a difference. “You’ve cut your hair.” 

“That’s the first thing you pay attention to?” She looks at you, laughing partially. “That’s so [Y/N] of you!” Furina has to be right… During the years of your collaboration, you had never been the one to bring attention to the unimportant in your eyes. Noticing the hidden details had always been your specialty.

“Well, it’s something about you… obviously, I pay attention to that!” 

Her laughter fades into a gentle smile, and she shakes her head slightly as if reminiscing about old times. "You always did have a knack for the details, didn’t you?" She pauses, her eyes softening. "I suppose that's why it felt different with you as my bodyguard. You saw beyond the surface, to the heart of things." She gestures to the cluttered table, inviting you to sit. “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll get things ready in a minute. Can I interest you in a drink?” 

“A glass of water will do just fine, thank you.” 

In a second, a cup makes it right under your nose, while Furina starts preparing lunch. 

“When did you return to Fontaine? Must be pretty recently, since I haven’t seen anything about the previous Champion Duelist in the Steambird.”

“Just today. I left Sumeru as soon as I got the pass from the doctor. The air was quite literally killing my throat.” You gesticulate dramatically as you speak, raking in another laugh from her. “How are you, then?” 

At your question, she looks quite uncomfortable, trying to distract herself with cooking. “Different, I suppose. Getting used to living on my own and all that…” She sighs. 

It’s quite easy for you to pick up the tension. You instinctively decide to uphold your past profession by protecting Furina using a distraction. Even if you have to protect her in this moment… from herself. 

“Would you like to hear about the performances I watched while in Sumeru?” 

“Oh— Of course!” 

The conversation once again returns to a joyous one, as you continue to talk about the magic in dance performances you got to witness.

“I’m telling you… It’s such a blessing the theatre stage was quite close to the medical facility… Otherwise, the doctors would never allow me to go there as frequently as I did.”

“But isn’t movement a crucial part of physical therapy?” Furina ponders. “It’s just weird for me… that they would be against more exercise.” 

“I asked them the same thing… got some very complicated answer mentioning the nervous system and other medical blabber. I’m certain they were saying all that, to have me drop the topic.” She nods whenever you speak, finally sitting down opposite you — two plates of food in her hands. 

Surprisingly, the meal Furina made was quite delicious. You had known that your archon had been a master of anything sweet, but making savory dishes was - according to her own words - not her forte. 

“[Y/N]… Could I ask you something?” She asks, her body showing signs of being a nervous wreck. 

“Of course? Do you need any help cleaning the table or?” 

“No, no… Silly. Proper etiquette would never allow me to ask that of you.” She rolls her eyes at your question, but it seems to ease her mind a bit. Good. “It’s just that…” 

“Aren’t you curious in the slightest as to why I’m living here and not at Palais Mermonia? Not to mention other things.”

By her own, sheer curiosity, she put herself on an uncomfortable pedestal. Each second of silence adding more and more negative thoughts into her head.

“Not particularly? It’s a decision that you had made yourself… It’s not my place to pry, especially if you’re feeling uncomfortable. I’d care more about you being healthy rather than where you reside.” As soon as you finish the sentence… you realise one thing.

Furina’s eyes are full of tears. 

You scramble off your chair to get to the girl to try and comfort her in any way possible, praying on the inside that it’s not your indifference that has made her upset.

“I’m sorry— I don’t even know why I’m—“ Furina keeps on wiping her face from tears, breathing heavily. Maybe she wasn’t expecting you to be different from so many Fontainians, who have done nothing but ask her all the unwanted questions and give their suggestions on going forward.

“Furina, can I hug you?” You collect her into your arms, as soon as she nods in agreement. Swaying back and forth, you wipe away any tears that still lingered on her cheeks.

“You… have no idea how much I needed that.” She whispers into your shirt. “For someone to just hold me and not ask questions…” 

“And I’m here to do it again, if you ever find the need for it… My beloved star.” 

date of posting — july 4th 2024

[albed-hoe]

i have finally arrived 🤭🤭

OKAY I’LL GIVE U A FEW SCENARIOS I GOT IN MIND AND YOU’RE FREE TO EXPAND ON WHICHEVER ONE YOU WANT TO (idm gender neutral reader but was hoping for male :D )

REVERSE COMFORT: m!reader comforting poor lyney after the most recent 4.1 archon quest. (SPOILERS: after freminet has been moved the the medical area)

so lyney is really worried for his brother (it takes place before he’s fully up) and we’re jus hugging him and reassuring him that he’ll be okay bc we’re husband material like that 💪🏻

˚₊‧꒰ა💉໒꒱ ‧₊

FLUFF: i was thinking maybe the m!reader is a popular fontainian singer/popstar/dancer or anything that gains him popularity, and hence builds up a mass fanclub of ladiessss (if yk where i’m goin w this🤭)

so maybe we could get some jealous lyney up in here and m!reader feels bad for him so after the performance he takes lyney up on stage and gives a smooch on the cheek 😭

˚₊‧꒰ა💉໒꒱ ‧₊

ANGST (with comfort bc my heart cannot physically take angst with no comfort): OKAY KINDA INSPIRED BY SOMEONE ELSES IDEA BUT KINDA DIFFERENT!

m!reader got those richly rich strict ass parents who don’t approve of him dating someone as low as a magician (he’s also a guy but i’m taking this down a different root) and they aren’t abusive but they are pretty neglectful and strict on him.

reader finally had enough of their bs tho and him and lyney (with lynette & freminet ofc) run away to snezhnaya and have the reader work for the house of the hearth w them.

AND (bc i never shut up) then a few years pass when lyney finally takes over for the knave they waltz back into fontaine together with m!reader being his 2nd in command (once again, alongside freminet and lynette bc wherever he goes they go)

˚₊‧꒰ა💉໒꒱ ‧₊

PERSONAL FAVOURITE (i think abt this idea a LOT)

FOUND FAMILY /W COMFORT (heavily with freminet bc i love him sm HSNFEMCJEM)

basically m!reader went for a lil dive to get lyney some new flowers for his magic show later and he runs into freminet crying under the water

and ofc big brother instincts kick in 💪🏻 and we take him above shore and coddle him like how lyney would to freminet

AND THEN WE TAKE HIM HOME AND WE MEET UP W LYNEY AND HES JUS LIKE “OMG IF THIS MAN DOESNT PUT A RING ON MY FINGER RN IMMA LOOSE MY SHIT” because he adores the way m!reader looks out for his siblings the way he would.

(I HAVE ANOTHER VERSION OF THIS RQ WITH LYNETTE IF YOU EVER WANNA HEAR IT BTW)

˚₊‧꒰ა💉໒꒱ ‧₊

SPICY 😏😏😏:

i actually don’t have anything to much for this category but some simple spicy hc’s with a sub!lyney would be great (let’s be real this man isn’t dominating anyone). (he also has a breeding kink GOODBYE)

Found Family (Freminet ver.)

Characters: Freminet & Lyney x M!Reader

Summary: After bringing his younger brother home, Lyney thinks he’s found his husband for life

Warnings: Slight angst to comfort, Freminet crying, Lyney being hopelessly in love and shyyyy

Word count: 767

A/n: Okay first of all I’m so sorry for disappearing for like a year and a half… I totally lost motivation and finished university in the meantime and now I’m looking for a job but no one is hiring me so yay? TYSM FOR THIS REQUEST LY LOTS🤩 I might write some of the other ones too? Might make a poll for which one to do next cuz I’m undecided… Anyways THIS ONE GOES OUT TO THE MALE READER COMMUNITY!!! I fell in love with Lyney and still (I think?) have yet to come across a Lyney x male reader fic😫 So here is my contribution! I ALSO HAVE REQUESTS OPEN SO FEEL FREE TO REQUEST LYNEY X M!READER STUFF PLS AND TYYYYY

It was a warm afternoon as you got your scuba gear on, preparing to dive in the depths of Fontaine on a mission to look for flowers for your beloved boyfriend, Lyney’s, magic show tonight. You latched in your helmet and dove below the surface, sighing in satisfaction at the cool water enveloping your body after having been sweating all day. The fish danced around you happily and the rays flapped their wings gracefully on their way to find places to float around.

You reached the seabed, swimming around and beginning to collect the flowers that your boyfriend had requested. You stop after a few seconds to listen to a sound you could not initially identify. Listening closely, you follow the sounds of what seem to be sniffles over a ridge of sand. Peeking over the edge, you see a little blue form with a diving helmet on, balled up with his head in the pit of his elbow.

“Freminet?” You swam up to the form, recognizing Lyney’s younger brother, a sad expression on the screen of your diving helmet. You begin to rub circles into his back as he sniffles, embarrassed to have been found crying alone. “What happened?” You offer him a warm smile, encouraging him to confide in you.

“*Sniff* I- I made a fool of myself in the Court of Fontaine today… I- *sniff* I fell and dropped a whole basket of peaches…” Taking pity on him, you ask him if he wants a hug, then you pull him into your arms and rub comforting circles on his back.

“Wanna go back up? I’ll walk you home.” The boy nods and you swim back up with him in your arms.

Arriving on the beach, you take off his diving helmet and reveal his red, puffy eyes. You internally coo at how cute he looks but remember that he is in a vulnerable state and mentioning what he looks like would likely not be appropriate at the moment. So, after cupping a comforting hand on his cheek, you take his hand and walk him home.

Arriving at the triplets’ door (I know they aren’t all related, but for simplicity’s sake…), you knock and wait for the light pads from inside to reach you. The door swings open to reveal Lyney in his pajamas with a surprised expression.

“Y-Y/n! And Freminet!” He blushes slightly at having noticed you before his own younger brother and at having been seen in pajamas by someone he has been trying to impress. You gently push Freminet in front of you, handing him over to Lyney who hugs him shortly, ruffles his hair, then passes him on to Lynette who takes his hand, nods at you thankfully, then takes him into the home. Lyney steps out onto the porch and closes the door behind him.

“Uh… Thanks for taking my brother home. He can disappear better than myself, sometimes…” He rubs the back of his neck, a little embarrassed at the situation. You had only declared each other officially boyfriends about a month prior, so the whole relationship thing was a new concept to the ‘suave’ Lyney the public knew. It pleasantly surprised you to discover that he was actually very easy to fluster, making for a very cute boyfriend to tease occasionally.

“Yeah, no problem. I found him on the seabed crying while I was looking for your flowers, so I comforted him and brought him here. Oh, here you go by the way.” You hand him the flowers he needed for his show while smiling warmly at him. The tips of his ears immediately reddened, both at his immediate thoughts of marriage and at what the offer of flowers looked like. He knew this was not a love confession or anything of the sort, but the current situation could have fooled an outside observer.

He stepped forward and threw his arms around you, sandwiching the flowers between the two of you. He buried his face in your neck in an attempt to hide his face exploding with heat.

“… I love you…” That was all he managed to say after a few moments. You laughed, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

“I love you too, but… Watch the flowers.” He pulled himself away from you immediately, realizing he was damaging his precious show flowers.

“AH! Sorry! Uhm… Did you wanna come inside for a bit?” He looked into your eyes with a shy smile on his face, his cheeks and ears still red from before.

“I’d love to.” You said, your eyes locked on his.

Aur my gawdddd this was my first fic in a loooong time I’m so sorry if it was ass… THIS WAS CUTE AND I LOVE FREMINET TOO, PLS LEMME HEAR THE LYNETTE VERSION OF THIS😎

[qserasera]

I just realized Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail are different games, and since I just realized they're free, which of them would you suggest I try out? (And how bad/tempting is the gacha system?)

MY FRIEND!!!! :DDDD i'm so glad you realized these are different games, and my years of ACADEMY TRAINING HAVE PREPARED ME FOR THIS

okay i'm going to do a general breakdown of the high/low points of each, with some mentions of their gacha system also before jumping into my personal onions about them

genshin impact basic premise in a non-spoilery way: your twin is kidnapped/whisked away by a mysterious deity, and you are left exploring the world of tevyat while running around different places and unraveling mysteries behind certain archons (gods) of different locations. there's also hints about a previous ruined kingdom khaenri'ah, which was known to follow no archons. there's also a wintry country called snezhnaya which runs a mysterious organization called the Fatui (like spies/assassins/agents), with top agents known as Harbingers (like Tartaglia (Childe)). characters: there are a lot of fun characters to meet and interact with, with a decent mix of personalities and foibles. there are some general issues where the female characters don't necessarily have their full range of powers/agency shown as taking center stage, and also have been hearing some (rightful) general criticism around the way the natlan character designs have been handled. storylines: i myself was drawn into playing it from what i heard about the liyue storyline (involving zhongli) and iT DID have almost everything i believed it should be in a cdrama general intrigues secret identities and some betrayal kind of way. i played through the mondstadt story quest, liyue storyline (my favorite), inazuma story quests (which was okay), and sumeru story quests (which were quite good). i never made my way into finishing fontaine.

the storytelling can feel a little uneven at parts, but when it is REALLY good with specific character stories, it is absolutely amazing. one time i played through a specific character quest and wrote a whole fic for that particular character like a month later ease of play: it's sort of like. real time battling in an open world kind of play. you need to physically switch between using characters in a team of four. the maps of story quests areas can be really large, and there were a Lot of collectibles that you needed to get if you leveled up everything. some world puzzles can be especially frustrating. i know when i was playing on a laptop, occasional internet issues would make battling hard sometimes. i'm not especially good at video games, but i still managed okay. other downsides--grinding for the right materials to level up your characters can Take a significant chunk of time time needed: a lot ; w ; but at my peak of playing it, i was averaging anywhere between 40 minutes to 1.5 hours on average days, which was enough to go through a lot of it gacha system: i was always a f2p player, and i think the pity system and the way they let you get materials for the gacha pulls is pretty reasonable! i've had some friends spend more to get copies of characters of course, but i never really felt the need to do that. i think at last count, i had like 8 or 9 five-star characters through just using f2p, and if there's a character you like, you can spend some time saving up the materials for pulls. i got at least four of the characters i wanted to pull for through just saving up from general daily quests and stuff like that

other fun things you might like to see if you were considering genshin: guides for building up characters, a zhongli character trailer in CN, a childe CN trailer, a Fantastic childe fanvid, my (spoilery) genshin tag.

final onions on genshin: you might like it, but the time cost required to get through the game may be a Lot. parts of the materials gathering and world exploration parts can get tedious, with controls for battling sometimes veering into clunky. i do Love certain character stories very much once playing through them. i also usually play it in original CN dub with english subs since i prefer the voices that way. different types of fun characters to like, with plenty of shipping material for certain couples (some with more canonical details to work with than others) i may recommend seeing if u want to watch a playthrough of the mondstadt archon quests, and the liyue archon quests (plus zhongli character quests), before deciding on playing

i think im breaking the limits of an ask reply right now, so please stay tuned as i jump into honkai star rail in a bit when i reblog this :''))

[aritsukemo]

My Abandoned WIP Works #1

Warnings: Spoilers to the Fontaine Archon Quest up ahead!!!

Summary: Just some works I'll ( most likely ) never finish because I lost motivation, didn't know how to end it, found the plot boring and didn't know how to spice it up, or similar problems like that.

Not what was expected | Mikey S. ( Problem: Lost motivation/Couldn't find a way to wrap everything up )

"So what do you think she looks like?" Chifuyu asked the captains and vice captains as he sat on one of the steps that led to the shrine; The place majority, if not all, of Toman meetings took place.

"Who?" Takemichi—better known in the gang as 'Takemitchy'—asked.

"Oh, you talkin' about her." Ken—more commonly known as 'Draken'—said as he finally connected the dots, "Well actually she's—"

"Bet she has a nice ass," Smiley interrupts, having no shame as he continues, "Or maybe a great set on her. 'Doubt boss would date some pancake."

"Huh?" Takemichi blurted out, feeling dumbfounded as he rapidly turned his head, hastily glancing at each one of them with a mixed look of astonishment and confusion which gets a small chuckle out of Mitsuya.

"They're talking about Mikey's partner. Y'know, the person we're supposed to be meeting today?" Mitsuya clarifies.

"Why else do you think only the captains were summoned?" Chifuyu added with an unnecessary roll of his eyes. Takemichi shoots him a him.

"Well if only the captains are supposed to be here, why are you here?" Takemichi retorts.

"I go wherever you go because you're too much of an idiot to be left alone," Chifuyu explained, earning a loud 'Hey!' from his best friend, "Plus, I got the okay from Mikey before I came. All of us did. Why else do you think only we're here and not everyone?"

Upon saying that, Takemichi looks around and finally takes notice of all the members who actually came. Besides the ones who spoke up, there was only Angry, who was standing off to the side next to his twin. No sight of anyone from the fifth division or any of the other vice captains to be seen.

"I hope she's not an asshole at least.." Angry mumbled after a while. His tone soft despite the scrunched, angry expression that gives off a completely different vibe.

"Actually—" Draken attempts to speak up only to be cut off again, this time by Takemichi.

"I've never heard of Mikey talk about any girls before," He said before murmuring in a lower tone, "I didn't think he'd be interested in dating at all.."

"Apparently they've been dating for a while," Chifuyu spoke up, "Or at least, that's what I assume. I don't think he'd put so much effort into us meeting them otherwise."

"They're pretty close," Draken confirms, "But I think you guys have the wrong idea. Mikey isn't—"

Before the words could leave his lips, the familiar engine of Mikey's CB250T steals everyone's attention. And as the sound grows louder, Mikey quickly comes into view with..

..a guy. Wait, what?

"Hey guys," Mikey greeted nonchalantly despite the multiple reactions of surprise he's met with. Behind him, his partner, a small—even shorter than Mikey—rather thin male cautiously steps off the bike and cautiously walks closer.

"Uhm.. Hi, I'm Y/n, Manjiro's..uh.. You probably already know.." The boy spoke softly, scratching the back of his head, "I- I've heard so much about you guys so I'm glad we finally have the chance to meet. Although I feel a little bad about Manjiro making you guys come all the way out here just for introductions sake.."

Silence.

Baking Disaster | Chifuyu M. and Kazutora H. ( Problem: Didn't think anyone would like the idea and eventually lost motivation all together )

"So, do either of you mind telling me why what just happened...happened?"

Silence. Chifuyu sighs, his eyes involuntarily drifting to the counter where an entire tray—of what he can only assume were cookies—sits atop a towel, the smell it's producing tingling his nose the more it invades it. He looks back over at the two people in front of him, his two partners, both of which covered in flour, batter, and bearing crestfallen expressions. He sighs again.

"It was my fault," Y/n is the one who ends up saying something first, speaking softly as they stare at their feet. And at the sound of their confession, the black and yellow-haired male beside them looks over at them.

"No it's not," He retorts before glancing back over at Chifuyu only to immediately look away as soon as their eyes lock, "It was all my fault. I wasn't paying attention like I should've and now the kitchen's a mess.."

"'Tora's lying," Y/n speaks up again, this time more firmly, "I was the one who set the temperature on the stove too high and burned the cookies. You should blame me."

"I was the one who pour too much butter into them which made them catch fire like that. I'm at fault here," Kazutora says, his guilt-filled eyes locking with his lover.

"We don't know if that's for sure what caused it. I accidentally spilled a bunch of flour into the bowl when you weren't looking and didn't tell you. Not only that, but I completely froze when I realized the fire. You don't have to take the blame for my sake."

"I'm only taking the blame because I'm the one who caused it, love."

"I was the one who caused the fire though, I should be blamed for this." Y/n retorts.

"You wouldn't have made any mistakes if it weren't for me dragging you to the kitchen instead of letting you rest. You've been swamped with assignments ever since your break ended and the moment you finally had a little free time to sleep, I came and bothered you."

"Now you know that isn't true. I offered to help you out since you said you were going to make Chifuyu something."

"Wait, wait, wait," Chifuyu interrupts, his words thrown out rather hastily as his hand waves on beat to his voice, "Those over there.. They're for me?" He questions.

"Well, they were for you, yeah.." Y/n says, voice growing quiet more towards the end of their sentence as they stare at the charred pastries from afar.

"You could say I- er..we wanted to show our appreciation by surprising you," Kazutora says, sounding more dejected as he adds, "But because of me, that didn't happen.."

"Why would you go through all of this trouble anyways?" Chifuyu asks, raising his eyebrow. Not expecting the look of bewilderment he got from the two of them.

"Are you seriously asking us that?" Y/n questions, "Yeah, are you serious?" Kazutora adds, "You do so much for us. You always try to help Y/n with her assignments even though you have no knowledge or experience on the material."

"You did everything you could to cheer up Kazutora when he lost his job at that convenience store a little while back. Hell, you even took on a second job to buy us those expensive ass gifts for Valentine's Day last week," Y/n adds, rolling their eyes as they ask, "The real question is, why didn't we do this sooner?"

Chifuyu chuckles, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his head, "Well all this meant so much to you two, I should thank you guys for your efforts.." Without any further hints, Chifuyu walks over to the counter, both Y/n and Kazutora's eyes widening behind him as he pries one of the black, cindered cookies off the damaged tray, "..It's only right that I give it a taste, right?"

"Chifuyu, wait/No, you shouldn't—" Before either of them could stop him, Chifuyu bites down. He struggles to chew the piece he bit off which cause Y/n to cringe, but it does little to stop him chomping through and swallowing it.

"Wow," He drawls, "This tastes as horrible as I thought it would, maybe even worse.."

"We tried to warn you.." Kazutora says, now feeling even more embarrassed and remorseful about the outcome. To his surprise, Chifuyu takes another bite.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm enjoying my snack." Chifuyu replies, voice muffled as he gnaws at the cookie

"You just said it tasted awful," Y/n says.

An Utterly Devoted Familiar | Furina ( Problem: Didn't know how to wrap things up in the way I wanted to and eventually gave up )

Knocks vibrate throughout the apartment, soft and simple only to become loud and incessant after a while without being acknowledged. The owner of the apartment—who had been so rudely awoken by the noise—arose from her bed with a sour look on her face. Her heterochromic, ocean-like eyes burning with fire as she scans her room for her slippers.

"Coming, coming..! Gosh.." She shouts in a rather grumpy manner when the knocking continued. Understandably so. It was the middle of the night and someone, who clearly has no mind for other people's sleep, was banging on her door like some madman. Anyone in her shoes would've been pissed.

Honestly, do people have no respect these days? To just disrupt someone's sleep without a care in the world what could possibly be so important?

After finally finding her slippers, Furina practically stomped out of her room and up to her door. She was planning on giving whoever was on the other side a piece of her mind for waking her up and then go back to bed when she cooled down, but as the door swings open and Furina is met with the perpetrator, all her anger is washed away like a seashell against a water current.

There, standing before her with their fluffy ears twitching eagerly atop their head and pastries in hand, was the Hydro Archon's—Furina's former companion, you.

"You finally answered, my lady!" You chirped, "I'm so glad! Heh, for a second there, I thought I had the wrong address.."

She was at a lost for words. Why were you here? And why did you seem so happy? After everything came to light and Fontaine found out she was a sham, she was sure she'd never see you again..

So why in the world are you standing at her doorstep?

"Y/n.." She mumbled out in disbelief, but you seemed rather pleased nonetheless. Your name always sounded so lovely whenever it came from her lips.

"May I come in, my lady?" You ask after a while of her staring at you as if she'd seen a ghost, "If not, I don't mind standing here."

"Oh! Uh- No! Come in!" What is she saying? She should be shooing you away, not welcoming you in! "Sit wherever you'd like!" She continues anyway, stepping aside.

Obviously pleased, a smile graces your face and you walked in without hesitation, marveling in awe at her home as if it was made of gold or something.

"This place is so cute! You've decorated well, my lady!" You praise and she has to resist visibly cringing in response to your praise. In all honesty, her place wasn't much to look at. In fact, the place was quite barren since she hadn't gotten around to decorating it yet..

"Thank you.." She forces out, avoiding your piercing gaze as it falls on her. She turns on her heel, showing her back to you as she slowly, hesitantly closes the door.

"So..uhm, what brings you here at this hour?" She finally asks after taking her time to lock her door and turn to you; silently gulping when she locks eyes with your slited ones. Your eyes were always so intimidating to her for some reason.

"I wanted to see you of course!" You gleefully say, "But I've been so busy with running errands for Monsieur Neuvillette lately so I hadn't had the time."

You look so happy. So excited to see her again and here she stands, surprised, looking almost petrified as guilt bubbles in her chest.

She can barely force a smile on her lips and when she does, Furina is almost positive of how crinkled it probably looks, but it'll have to do for now, "I see..so that's your reason.. Well, you've seen me now so you can go and—"

"I stopped by Café Lutece earlier today," You mindlessly rambled, "I cleared out my morning so that I could get your favorite cake.." A small sigh leaves your lips as you continue, "Unfortunately, by the time I got there all sixteen slices had already been sold out..but, I should've expected that. After all, my lady has great taste in dessert, it's no wonder they always sell so fast!"

You shake your head, your ears wiggling as a result of your attempt at physically clearing your head, "Anyways, I'm sorry I couldn't get your favorite cake, but I bought everything else you see here to make up for my blunder so I hope this can earn your forgiveness," While you spoke, Furina's eyes watched your every movement, narrowing in on the pile of small boxes of sweets as you stretched your hands out to dump the pile into her arms.

As she staggered to catch the boxes that threatened to slip through her grasp and splatter all over the floor, her eyes widened at the realization of the mere size of the pile. This variety of sweets isn't at all small. There were so many that even she would take at least a week or two to get through the majority of this. Just how much time and money did it take you to get all of this for her? Furina's heart sinks at the mere thought of you spending even a dime on her..

"H- Hey, how much was all of this exactly?" The question hesitantly, almost fearfully escapes her. Your ears perk up and your rambling comes to an abrupt stop. Nevertheless, your face easily gives away how you feel towards the question; genuine confusion.

"Why the sudden ask, my lady? Whenever I used to buy you sweets before, you'd never care to ask about the prices.."

"Well, you of all people know that..I'm not.." She couldn't even get the words out. To put it simply, the mere thought of the incidents occurred makes her shudder. Everything was so embarrassing it makes her want to lock herself in this home for five hundred years..

Hm, but with that curse lifted, thankfully she's not able to live that long anymore.

Dividers were made by me, pictures used are from Pinterest, post formatting is inspired by @xxsabitoxx

[dottores]

allow me to give u all my life update:

i got thru day 1 orientation today, it went rlly well actually!! everyone i met was super chill & i even met a girl whose worked in publishing for 5 years in my section AND we share the same bday like what are the chances of that?? but i got rlly good vibes from everyone i met. tho tomorrow is gonna start all of the hard stuff with the orientation classes🥲 am not looking forward to QM1.

(fontaine spoilers) i also got back to my appt and finished the archon quests 😎 i have a lot to say ab it, not all good but not all bad. i don’t rlly like the way they took the fontaine plot or some of their world building for it 😭 but in their defense, my expectations were thru the roof. i was rlly hoping for some 1700s french rev type stuff and i do love focalors but i wish they made her a bit more like ?? menacing 😭 like girl fail, yes, but a girl fail that ppl are scared of bc she’s unstable and conviction-happy. idk, i rlly wanted fontaine to feel more like darker & oppressive i suppose, ppl hanging around but with like a heavy gloom of anxiety over them. and i wish the overall plot would have been a political upheaval/reformation instead of the prophecy — ig inazuma kind of did. this but it was poorly executed imo.

but on a lighter note. i rlly love neuvillette and navia, they were my favorite introduced characters of 4.0 i think. i wish it would’ve been focalors but i’m just so 🥲 over how i pictured her vs how she was. clorinde’s cutscene was SICK and i’m so bummed i have to skip her. but the real star of the show 4 me was childe 🥹 i missed him sm, his final cutscene was done so in well in the court house. altho i am very worried bc some of the comments made were rlly foreboding 🥲 i think that’s all childe > navia & neuvillette > everyone else. ALSO THE TWO NPCS WITH NAVIA!!! i loved them

spoilers over but anyway now i have a fever 🥲 and tomorrow is the first big big day so i’m bummed. 🥲 but i had to update u before i passed out

[mochiwrites]

Ahhhh Mochi

I see you got into Neuvulette×Furina

Can't judge you THEY ARE FREAKING AWESOME AND CUTE AND I THINK THEY NEED TO CUDDLE AFTER EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED

Thanks for all the rebloged tasty stuff

I’M SO…..

I finished the fontaine archon quest a few days ago and I’m shaking these two around so fast. furina is Easily my favorite genshin character. Easily. neuvillette’s reaction to hearing the truth about furina’s role in everything??? how he realized how much pain she was in. for 500 years. rolling into the ocean and sobbing. he holds her in such high regards, and you can see how fond he is of her ;w; he just wants the best for furina

and then??? furina??? thinking that neuvillette is happy she’s out of his hair, that he doesn’t have to put up with her anymore??? when that couldn’t be MORE wrong. I am hugging her so tightly fr. she’s got a horrible case of self loathing and a Giant case of identity crisis ;-;

I think they need an extremely long cuddle and some space and quiet ;w; furina sitting with neuvillette and hugging him while they talk — no secrets between them anymore. and maybe :(( neuvillette offering this lil apology for not seeing how much pain furina was in for so long, and offering to shoulder some of whatever is left :((( and maybe that makes furina cry, as she realizes she can finally lean on someone. that she doesn’t have to be alone anymore

I’m holding them so gently in my hands

[anantaru]

soooo... 🤭 i finished the sumeru archon quest and this was hands down the best archon quest so far, like they really put all their badussy into this one. I love seeing the development in both their cutscenes and story writing as well, whoever wrote the sumeru archon quest give them a raise!👺 i wasn't this emotional in a long time, literally the last time i had tears in my eyes because of a game was when i finished the flame chaser arc in honkai🥹🌸

other than that tho, i like how everyone played their part and how there was actually character development taking place, not to mention that the way they explained everything was nice too so there weren't any plotholes and ??? moments. BY THE WAY 🤭 LISTEN 🤭 al-haitham is my little meow meow, oh my god i have the hots for him so badly heizou look away, he's such a little bitch with his little smirk in the end (also im sorry but his acting skills ??? this man has it figured out, if he doesn't want to be a scribe anymore he can become the best actor in all of teyvat fr) + dottore did it for me as well AND KAVEH OH MY GOD I CAN‘T CHOOSE, al-haitham, kaveh and dottore all stole my heart in this archon quest, they're amazing and i like dottore as a villain too. 🙇🏻‍♀️

nilou's cutscene was low-key funny when the guards watched her instead of doing something at first, also she really dodged a bullet there 💀! scaramouche's cutscene broke me it was so fucking sad, i never heard him say 'please' before or beg for something, that just shows how much he depended on the gnosis and that it was the only reason for him to continue living -> as seen when nahida took it and he just plopped on the floor with his eyes loosing the light in it. In the end though, when nahida deleted rukkha, WHAT IF THAT WAS MY LAST STRAW LIKE DAMN SUMERU BE HAPPY FOR ONCE PLEASE!!!! the lore dump we got had me speechless too, the whole descender thing is very interesting and also how nahida was the first archon to finally tell us useful information instead of dancing around the things we actually wanted to know.

i can't wait for focalors in fontaine, the name sounds amazing (buer sounded so badass too) also since they most likely will base it off france I'm hoping they include lots of the negative aspects of france as well in the story, (i'm part french and born there!) so fontaine was always my number one most anticipated region!!!! all in all 100/10 archon quest, i can't wait to see dainsleif come back too!!! 💗

[shyvioletlife]

After spending five and a half months deep in my Genshin hyper fixation, I think I can safely say that Sumeru is my favorite region so far in terms of writing, story, and pure overworld design (I’ve been to Fontaine functionally for resource gathering but avoided any story like the plague- though I have at least been broadly spoiled for the biggest beats). I have spent a pure month just doing quests here in Sumeru, exploring the overworld,and slowly making my way through the archon quest (currently on chapter 3 act 5!) and I’ve loved truly every moment of it. I’ve worked endlessly on and completed the aranara quest, I’ve been playing through the character story quests as I unlock them - something I completely failed to do for all previous regions. Just this week I finally progressed the main story and set out to actually explore the desert and I’ve been adoring that atmosphere too - the sheer amount of ancient ruins is deeply tickling an anthropological glee, especially since you can actually eventually explore these guys where in liyue they’re all superficial design.

I’ve admittedly been a little biased in wanting to learn about Sumeru because Nahida was the first five star I ever pulled earlier this year and I’ve been maining her ever since, so im very invested in her story, but I do also think that Sumeru is just overall much better and more comprehensively written in terms of what is still available in game. I’ve watched people talk about previous regions having experienced them as they happened, and it really shows in the current game just how much character and story was locked behind timed events in a lot of the early game - especially surrounding Inazuma. I knew before I even started playing about the balladeer - he well and truly broke containment when inazuma was happening so I saw so much talk about him and hype over his character. Imagine my surprise when playing through inazuma - the first time I ever interacted with his character in game was when I went through a domain quest trying to shut down the delusion factory and suddenly the balladeer is there, talking to me as though we’ve met before and the traveller and Paimon acting as though he’s been a massive thorn in their sides, and then we fight, I lose, he bounces with the gnosis off screen. It’s so bizarre and obviously missing context that it’s kind of hilarious. There are a lot of good story moments and I did genuinely really like playing through inazuma while I was in it, but there’s a stilted aspect to it from the missing story beats. Meanwhile in Sumeru, it feels like they got their act together around not putting important story behind limited events for the most part, because it actually feels like I’ve been through the story from start to finish with a connection to all the moving parts and a sense of buildup as more and more of the truth is revealed.

[kyogre-blue]

For the last couple weeks, I've been on a big grinding kick in Genshin again... it's been something, that's for sure. But I got a lot done (for some reason).

On alt:

Obtained Baizhu C2

Obtained Ayato

triple crowned Diluc, Kaeya and Zhongli, with also enough books for Childe to be triple crowned whenever I finally get him

Did the Narzissen quest line and explored a good chunk of Fontaine

...bought some cute wings...

I'm more or less finished off the Mond book domain. There's only Anemo Traveler left at 6/6/6, but since swirl scales from EM anyway, the talent levels aren't important enough for me to do another 114 gold books right now (for context, that's two weeks or so of doing the mond book domain every single day).

I did buy Welkin, so I'm going to keep logging in for the next few weeks, but I'm going to take it easy otherwise. My only current plan is to mess around in the teapot. I've finished another of the farming achievements, so I'll take the opportunity to rearrange the second area of Emerald Peak (since I can remove those fields). That should complete it, since I finally furnished the fourth area, and I've got some plans for Floating Abode next.

For future grinding, I should do artifacts (Deepwood/Gilded, then Emblem) and also the slow march to triple crown the next batch (Baizhu, Qiqi, Ayato). For future pulls, my priority will be Itto, Childe, and Neuvillette (for his kit lol), but since I don't care about the 4 stars now that I have C4 Thoma, it's just a matter of dumping everything I have into whoever comes around first and whether I get them or not isn't really pressing. The pity will carry over anyway. (Alhaitham and Wriothesley will be skips for now.)

On main:

prefarmed Navia levelling stuff (no artifacts or weapon for now, pending what the build guides will say)

obtained Kirara, currently finishing her last ascension

done most of Fontaine exploration, with every area except the Court at 100%

finished all world quests that aren't gated by the archon quest

finished all achievements except the commission and archon quest ones

Man, Genshin exploration is so... you just turn your brain off, and then suddenly it's six hours later. Repeatedly. Still kinda fun seeing the numbers go up though. Hopefully, the final region will be pretty small and easy to complete... But I'm 8 hydroculi short, which is not a good sign, since I can't get the resonance stone formula (no archon quests = no reputation).

The world quests this time were kind of a mixed bag, but mostly a miss. I liked the stuff about the Melusines and Elynas, very uh Durin-style. Generally, the Melusines kind of grew on me, though I still don't like their design, especially the bottom half. I liked the Pahsiv quest too, and unexpectedly the final little quest with Lanoire. (The handling of the camera on the small interactions at the very end?? Dang, who knew Genshin could do that kind of fine detail.) However, I really did not care about the Narzissenkreuz at all, or the Fontaine Research Institute stuff. The Narzissen fiasco was especially very tedious and convoluted. I know it's setting up Sandrome, but like... a perfect example of the issues with Genshin's lore and how it negatively warps the current day storyline, plus the worst of their excesses.

I'm going to be rolling for Navia in 4.3 because she is Geo (easy guarantee to get her, with 150 saved wishes, 10 pity, and 22K primos), and I'm considering the weapon banner. I think it'll come down to what the 4 stars will be (I really want Akuoumaru refines, so I might decide based on which half it's on). I did also fish for Kirara on the Ayato banner, and I did get her within 20 pulls, so that was great. She was the last pre-Fontaine 4 star I was missing, and I wanted to go ahead and build her. I'm not taking the Fontaine 4 stars past lv20, and now the only "backlog" character I am missing is Dehya.

I also... got Qiqi C1 in those twenty or so pulls. So hey, guarantee on Navia, which will put me quite a bit over budget. I can save for supposedly-Geo Chiori and Arlecchino, who has actual pants, holy shit. (That said, where's my Mond boy, Mihoyo??)

This 4.2 patch and the upcoming 4.3 one have some nice QoL updates, which bring some much needed minor conveniences. For me, the most impactful was probably the ability to quickstart weekly bosses. (Farming Apep on my alt to finally get some Dendro crystals, god...) But shout out to being able to unlock but not start story quests, and being able to replace daily commissions with exploration or events.

For next patch, we'll be able to one-click collect and resend expeditions and start at the key when doing a domain multiple times. Tiny things but holy shit, they're finally actually updating something. Man, if I drag this out enough, maybe they'll let you quickstart reputation too. And maybe even a goddamn skip button one day... we can dream.

But I gotta say the most exciting thing for next patch is probably the annual Lost Riches rerun with the new water-capable mini seelie. Really want that for my alt, where I have almost no pets.

[ohnogachaverse]

On world quests and exploration

Finally finished Narzissenkreuz and it was great and felt like a breath of fresh air after Sumeru. Actually, the exploration in Fontaine as a whole was much more fun than Sumeru and don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike Sumeru but you know what was exhausting by the end of 3.x versions?

The fucking world quests. For me they are the biggest problem with the region and I think I know why

To put it short: they are too long for their purpose (let you explore the new area)

To put it less short:

(maybe very light spoilers ahead for the Aranyaka, Tsurumi and the Narzissenkreuz storylines? I don't talk about the plot much, mostly just the mechanics)

(it's also somehow a very long text)

(Keep in mind that it's been a while since I finished most of these quests so feel free to correct me about the details)

So, if I remember correctly, the first big world quests that were necessary for the exploration are Tatara Tales, Tsurumi and Seirai in Inazuma. I won't talk about Seirai because it was pretty short compared to the others and finishing Tatara Tales isn't necessary for entering the area, it's enough to complete just the first part to break the barrier. But I'm gonna talk about Tsurumi, which basically roadblocked us from exploring the new island because you need a new gadget which you get I think somewhere halfway through the quest. Also there is the mist. But we'll get back to Tsurumi in a bit, just keep it in mind.

(Edit in the process of the writing: I just remembered about the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual but I think it's about 3-5 hours (and you get the gadget necessary for exploration pretty early) compared to Tsurumi's 3 days and Aranyaka's 10 hours so I'm not sure if you can count it as big, but it's definitely important for unlocking parts of the world)

Because here comes Sumeru and with 3.0 comes the absolute MONSTER of a quest. The Aranyaka.

Let me tell you a bit about my experience: I came to Sumeru, and on my way to the archon quest I saw a cave. I went to explore the cave, but it was locked and I saw the elemental monument on the other side of the vines where I couldn't reach it. I went around the rock and I found another entrance, also locked, no monument in sight. Okay, fine, maybe I need some gadget for that. So I marked the cave on the map and went exploring further. And then I stumbled on another cave, once again locked but with different mechanism. And than another locked cave. And then a locked door. And I kept stumbling on them all across the region. And then there is a part of the map which is clearly open but Paimon kept turning me back. I tried to explore Sumeru but I couldn't because so much was locked behind something.

And then I started Aranyaka and got the gadget and I thought "cool! The world is open once again!". Except it's not, not really until you finish a specific quest (which is a part of Aranyaka) related to the area to open the new mechanic, and than you go to the next area and there is another new unlockable mechanic and there is like 5 of them and I think half of the region is locked behind those mechanics.

And here is the problem with Aranyaka: it's long but it's not just long, it's continuously long. You start one quest, and right after you finish it there is another one and you start the quest thinking that it's gonna be quick except it keeps going and than turns out that to finish THIS quest you need to finish ANOTHER quest and then there is a finale quest and it just keeps going on and on.

Let get back to Tsurumi because it's also long and it's also a quest after quest after quest except you know what makes it better than Aranyaka? A new quest, the next part of the story is time gated. You are FORCED to take a break between each part of the story. And it's important, it's a great decision on the game devs' part because: 1) it builds anticipation and 2) player isn't fatigued from the quest

Which is what happens with Aranyaka: there is no visible breaks in the story, you don't know how long each part is going to take you so you keep going and going until you have to take a break sometimes quite awkwardly in the middle of a quest. That's when I started to appreciate the portable waypoint - you can place it in a middle of a new cave you are going through during the quest and then just. Leave to do commissions, farm, another quest - just to take a break from Aranyaka.

Each world quest is a continuous storyline and Aranyaka is no exception. So you start it and you are probably planning to do that in one go - except you physically can't (playing for 10 hours straight is insane, please don't do that). And you don't know that you can't because it has never happened before. Sure, Tsurumi and Tatara Tales are impossible to finish in one sitting, but these quests are designed with breaks in mind, they tell you when you need to stop and breath. Aranyaka doesn't. There are no breathers during the story, it's just keeps going.

It took me 3 days to finish the Aranyaka so i could FINALLY explore the region. Except here is the thing: exploration is something you do on your own. There is a special joy in finding new places and just stumbling across things (when you can actually go futher than the locked door). And Aranyaka takes a huge part of this joy away because with each new quest related to the new area your new Aranara friend basically takes your hand and gives you a personal tour through the place. There are some secrets along the way, but not much. And that's it. For me it didn't feel like actual exploration because each new cave and each new ruins I was basically led through.

Compare that to Tsurumi where there is an underwater area which is not related to the big world quest. Sure, you need the new gadget, but after that? You are free to go through the entire thing on your own. And I remember how incredible it was to discover this place and just. Explore. On my own. Find my way through.

So there is Aranyaka in 3.0. And then there is a new area in 3.1 and history repeats itself: a huge part of the region is locked behind the new gadget, and to get the gadget and unlock new mechanics necessary for the exploration you need to do the new world quest. And you can't just go through the quest until you get the gadget and then go and explore, no, you need to finish most of it. And once again it's long and continuous (through unlike the Aranyaka it's just one quest so finding good points for taking breaks is easier) and once again the quest guides you through a huge part of the area you unlock.

And it's the same for the rest of the Sumeru region: huge parts of gameplay, areas and exploration are locked behind those world quest. And while I can't deny that the storylines are mostly good, I hate the whole principle of this. I want to explore freely, without stumbling on the locked doors, strange mechanisms with no explanation (until you play the quest and unlock the new mechanic) and without being led through the most of the region.

And then there is Fontaine and Narzissenkreuz. Most of Fontaine is explorable right from the start. There is no special gadget you need to get (at least up to 4.1, I have yet to explore most of the new 4.2 areas). No unlockable mechanics expect for one in the Merusea village (and even about that I'm not sure, I can't remember if you can trigger the tutorial outside of the quest).

And the Narzissenkreuz itself - it's not really a quest, it's a storyline. And this storyline consists of different world quests which you pick up in different areas and which are not connected up until the end. You can't imagine how delighted I was when I found this out. I just finished Ann's story and was going through the Institute of Natural Philosophy when I found the documents mentioning the same names I've seen before and I was surprised because nothing told me beforehand that those quests are connected.

Here's another bonus point for Narzissenkreuz: all the quests start and finish in their respectable unlockable areas. Remember my Sumeru experience? I ran into an area which is locked by the quest long before I ran into the quest itself. And I kept running into those areas before realising that to unlock them I need to actually progress that one single quest (which turned out to be not-so-single). It was frustrating.

Narzissenkreuz is a bunch of quests necessary to explore small areas (except for Cater's i think) with different storylines that are connected and then culminate in one single three parts quest which you can finish in one sitting (it took me less than 3 hours I think, i didn't time it). Compare that to Aranyaka: a single 10 hours quest which in the middle is broken down into a bunch of parallel quests with different lengths all across the region and all of them are necessary to explore most of the underground and a part of the region you are straight up locked from until the quest finale. AND after finishing the Aranyaka there is 76 Aranaras to find in the forest to get all the rewards. And this is the tendency all across Sumeru: you need to finish the long world quest to explore all of each new area (and to explore the desert of Hadramaveth you need to finish the previous area's quest to unlock the quest for this area). And there is not much of exploring left because the quest basically leads you through most of the new caves and ruins and the area in general. Do you see the problem?

To sum it up, here are the problems with Sumeru exploration which I'm very glad weren't carried over to Fontaine:

It's locked behind huge story quests

There are no clean breaks for the player during most of these quests, no breathers

It's not really an exploration when you get a personal tour through most of the area

[kreideprinzalby]

Genshin 4.0 Thoughts

So I finished the Chapter IV Archon Quests (And some of the major World Quests) for 4.0 a while back and like very other long-time Genshin fan whose been playing since it's launch in 2020, it's been a joy just going through the new nation and for the first time in so long I finally felt like I'm having fun in Genshin again. To the point me, someone who will admit never 100% completed any Genshin area or region, 100% COMPLETED THE FONTAINE 4.0 AREA IN A WEEK, it think that says something about how far we've come from the early days.

There will be talk of 4.0 spoilers under the cut so be warned!!

Funny enough, I've never made a post like this since 2021 when Inazuma went live. Mostly for a lot of personal reasons (college courses, moving away from home, etc.) and how i felt about the game post-Inazuma / pre-Sumeru wasn't exactly positive. Plus the initial backlash Sumeru had soured my mood to the point i was just playing through the game just for the sake of it. But that was before the Archon quest finished, and while I'm not going to talk about Sumeru's exploration aspect (no one mention tunnels in the desert to me ever again), The Archon quest was a MASSIVE improvement and showed how the story of Genshin can be good when they take their time. It did make me hope the next region would take a page from how Sumeru handles it's characters. Besides that tangent, So what is it about Fontaine that's making it so fun?

Well for starters, the water exploration is VERY fun. Even without Fontaine characters the atmosphere and just overall game-play feels smooth and easy to control. I found myself mindlessly swimming around just taking it all in. It's probably also why I felt motivated to 100% the area since 4.0's area is small and feasible to do.

Surprising no one, Genshin's soundtrack for Fontaine is fantastic as always. I could pinpoint some songs the 4.0 livestream played but the rest are still beautiful to listen too. Especially the vocals in the underwater tracks or even just the songs that play in Fontaine's countryside.

Staking a page out of Sumeru's Archon Quest, the first two acts of Chapter 4 really set a new high bar. Mostly because they mystery of why the Nation of Justice treats trials like a spectacle plus the the looming threat of the entire nation being flooded and dissolved away with only Focalors remaining makes for a chilling mystery.

As a fan of Ace Attorney (and Danganronpa unfortunately/lh) the trials section are so much fun to play thru. The way we get to piece it all together, granted with not much penalty, felt like we were uncovering a case before our eyes. And hey! the traveler got to talk some more! also shoutout to Paimon's Groucho glasses staying for that 1st half.

Even though Genshin is no strangers to killing off NPC's at this point, something about how the methods of murder are done here feel eerie. From the jumpscare of the Box being crushed with someone inside to the fact PEOPLE IN FONTIANE JUST, DISSOLVE? so there was a Serial Killer going out murdering girls in a way that leaves nothing behind is very scary to think about even with the lack of blood and gore onscreen.

Of course the real stars of the show are the Fontaine characters we have already met. It's nice to finally see Lyney & Lynette after the Teyvat Trailer showed them nearly 3 years ago, and their dynamic is so nice to see (even if Lyney is rizzing us up lmao). I also love the direction they're going with Navia, Clorinde, and even Neuvillette with how they came across from the teasers.

As the 5th Archon we've met, I already love Furina's personality and dynamic she's got with the traveler. We haven't had an Archon whose been an outright rival to us since they've either been helpful to us from the get-go (Venti, Zhongli, & Nahida) or or straight up tried to kill us for exisiting (Raiden Shogun / Ei). Furina not only is committed to acting al high and mighty every chance she gets, but also really seems to want to show off how grand she is. I also love how we get to see a lil' bit into her psyche and how underneath that bravado she's really just scared her people will judge her if she didn't act like a god fit for the land of Justice. which makes me really excited how were going to convince her to devolve info about the traveler's twin.

Less serious but i love that Arlecchino is called the "Father" and is King in her home we love a GNC queen <3. That being said I am a bit excited to how they portray her since the way Lyney and Lynette talk of her is very much rose-colored since she saved them from horrific circumstances and they trust her with their life, but that remains to be seen

But if that's what I think is good, whats some stuff I think could have been better?

Even though the water exploration is fun, I wouldn't say the puzzles and some of the underwater power are balanced. The Bullet Barnacles took me way to long to figure out before i took too much damage and since underwater you done have access to hearing other than specific areas your characters are just dead until you revive them. Plus the Sonar you get from the Seals feels weaker to use then say the Crab or Manta Ray power-ups. Plus the time trials and such are just your normal fair for genshin 'secrets'

The Pneuma and Ousia mechanic for the Meka enemies feels a little janky in combat. Maybe because from the start we only have Lyney & Lynette (and the Hydro Traveler) that can use this system right now make be why, but the targeting on certain Meka enemies looks like they hit them with the correct energy but doesn't stun them. Maybe it'll get better once we have more Fontaine characters but for now it's just another combat mechanic.

This is more of a nitpick, but there's one story moment that has one of the worse timing in Genshin. You've prob seen how people reacted to the Traveler seemingly random hostility towards finding out Lyney & Lynette are Fatui (or at least part of a Fatui household since House of Hearth raises Fatuus Soldiers), and normally that would make sense since they spent an entire trial trying to defend them but that omission of crucial info almost cost them the case. BUT, from the players perspective not only hours before were they JUST friendly to Childe, a Fatui Harbringer that despite being friends they are still wary of and now suddenly is willing to treat him like any old friend now in Fontaine makes it come across as cruel to the twins and weird in context. Why would the traveler, whose a twin themselves, show a lack of compassion two twins that opened their heart about their (surprisingly dark) backstory? It's not a horrible choice but it's definitely a weird writing choice in this instance. Especially since you have to finish Act's I & II to seen Lyney's Story Quest, and the traveler is somehow okay with them now? It's just weirdly timed is all.

I need more Freminet PLEASE I JUST WANNA SEE THE BOY!!

That's pretty much all I got. Hopefully I'm more hopeful of Fontaine's hype to the end, especially with how great Sumeru's story quest went. So we'll just have to wait & see what 4.1 and 4.2 gives us!