#honkai breakdown

[candycorncrave]

So. Let's talk about Penacony and birds.

-Spoilers for the 2.1 quest (and possibly some of 2.2 if my theories and findings are correct)

Hey all! I'm not too good at starting these essay type things, so we're just gonna dive right in. Disclaimer, these are all just theories complied from random (not very in depth) research I did, and my own thoughts, so take it all with a grain of salt. I just wanted to put this out here for funsies!

With that out of the way, let's dive in!

From very early on into the Penacony quests, there was something that just kept nagging at me. Robin's name, (mixed with the fact that shes a singer.) The family's crest being a Nightingale. Aventurine's design very clearly representing a peacock. Ratio's owls.

There were just too many bird references for this all to be a coincidence, so I decided to do some research on bird symbolism and meaning.

And here are some very interesting things I found!

Now a lot of this is quite clear cut, so I won't go into alot of explanation, but I do find the "rebirth" part quite interesting, especially since it is hinted during the 2.1 quest that she came back from "death".

Let's start with Robin, since she's one of the more obvious ones: "Above all, the robin red-breast is a symbol of spring song and good fortune. Additionally, it also symbolises passion, a new beginning, and re-birth. Therefore, if the bird flies into your life you will be blessed with happiness and joy. Subsequently, most of the symbolism of robins is centred on their spiritual meaning which is believed to be a symbol of divine sacrifice." In native American culture, Robins also have strong ties with family and "heart centered connections."

Next up are Owls: Now this one is also pretty obvious. Dr Ratio's design has very heavy Greek inspiration, and owls in Greek mythology are very clearly tied with Athena, knowledge, and wisdom.

The thing I found interesting about this was all over Sunday's mansion, there are owls decorating a lot of the furniture. Could this have been foreshadowing for his "betrayal" and assisting Sunday? I'm not sure. In my opinion, that seems like quite a length to go to mislead players- especially since it's such a niche detail that most people probably won't think twice about. Maybe it will have more meaning in 2.2. Guess we'll wait and see!

3rd, Another obvious one, Black Swan: They symbolize the opposite of what the white swan does, naturally, so death, danger, destruction, suffering, chaos, mystery, etc.

Even more than that though, "The black swan theory of events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight."

Another one I don't feel the need to dig that deep into. It all pretty much checks out with what we've seen of her character and the events of the story so far. Black Swan is a scary lady....

4th, Let's talk about Peacocks: Now we all know peacocks are commonly associated with general wealth, pride, and flamboyance. I thought that was all there really was to it being such a big contributor to Aventurine's design. But I decided to dig a little deeper and. Oh boy.

Peacocks can also symbolize both death, and life. Now at face value this is quite contrasting, but when you apply it to Adventurine's character- it makes quite a lot of sense. A single coin flip between life and death that keeps landing face up, and yet, it's a gamble he never hesitates to make. Moreso, peacocks can symbolize the freedom and liberation of the soul. (OUCH)

And Let's finish off the doozy. Nightingales: The symbol of the family and the bird constantly following Sunday around and watching everything the entire quest without a sound.

"Nightingales are symbolic of beauty, melody, creativity, purity, and the expression of oneself freely. They are also symbolic of darkness, mysticism, spiritual awakening, and renewal."

Now I found that the latter is often meant when you see a nightingale in your dreams. It is also mentioned if they do not speak back to you in a dream you will soon be betrayed.

,,,, How intriguing.

Also intriguing, Bloodhounds are very well known to be hunting dogs, and birds are prey for dogs.

And speaking of prey,,, are fish not considered birds' prey? And Sparkle, who we see fish around every time she shows up, was the "victim" in Black Swan's quest.

Anyways. I could be grasping at straws with that last part, but I do feel there is alot of stuff going on here with animal symbolism, especially more to dig into with Gallagher and Sparkle. It's all very intriguing

If you read all this here's a cookie! 🍪 Thanks for your time :) I hope you enjoyed the ramblings of a madman. Please feel free to add anything or comment your thoughts! I'd love to discuss

[ohnogodpls]

Mini-golf on the express

[marragurl]

Not the first to say it, but damn can’t believe Galladay really went from toxic yaoi to doomed tragic yaoi.

Alright fellow Galladay trash, where’s the modern AU fix-it fics?

I need to see Gallagher single dad with Misha plus their dog/cat Sleepie falling for entertainment company CEO Sunday. Don’t ask me how they met, fuck it, throw in bodyguard AU Gallagher who works part-time at a bar, boom there that’s how they meet, idk I’m making this up on 3 hours of sleep.

You’ve heard of slow burns, now get ready for Galladay blaze it.

They’re speedrunning the relationship from hate -> annoyance -> mild disgruntlement -> weirdly vibing -> ok wow never knew I needed that in my life -> Sunday is way too ok with spoiling Misha -> ok so we got married -> alright we’re dismantling the government now -> Sunday went to jail for 5 minutes for attempting “peaceful” world domination, don’t worry we (Gallagher) forgave him -> Sunday’s stepping down as CEO to run a coffeeshop idk look someone get him some therapy -> Robin is president now while she still goes on tours -> Misha won an engineering competition while this was all going on

Bottom line: Robin is out living her best life while Sunday is in the back somehow having the most insane week of his life. I have no other notes for her here except that she is happy, and successful, and is Sunday’s last remaining brain cell. She and Misha are having some fun Aunt/Nephew bonding times while Galladay are accidentally-on-purpose committing multiple war crimes.

No, we don’t have time to unpack 2.2 and all its trauma, we cope with modern AU :)

[sporadicallyelated]

[jackroach-does-theories]

so we all agree that misha is almost certainly mikhail's grandson, yes?

they're probably gonna confirm that in 2.2 update, like there's no way he isn't, there's just too much there to ignore. But what if I take this a step further. what if i went a little insane over what might just be a tiny insignificant coincidence and created the craziest bullshit ever

i don't know how to explain this one but something something honkaiverse imaginary tree and stellarons are basically just star rail's version of honkai energy, welt keeps being haunted by ghosts of his past so why not einsla next, and also this is connected to genshin lore somehow idk how exactly but it is, maybe watchmaker is the second descender or something maybe teyvat is a dreamscape like penacony is idk idegaf nothing is real anymore . TLDR einstein is misha's mom (Real and not copium)

[st4rrth0ughts]

OAMHAAH AVEN'S TRAILER IS TOMMOROW I AM SO FUCKIN HYPED AGAJHJAHJAJAHJ

[woohookafka]

SPOILER WARNING

//based on 1.6 event leaks

Mr. Yang becomes a grandfather!?

Extra:

[kayoi1234]

I’ve been playing around with a Trailblazer who can shapeshift into any number of animals as I like, mostly for two reasons:

1) the joke of March 7th telling them that only raccoons go through garbage, only for them to immediately shift into a Raccoon and getting right back in there.

2) the visual of a battle where in the middle of it, the person with the bat suddenly disappears, and suddenly a giant grey wolf with golden eyes is tearing the throat out of an enemy, and there is gore still dripping from their muzzle as they shift back.

I dunno. I just think it’d be neat.

[e17omm]

Does anyone else dislike that the new stage-based chapters are "2 acts + cg" and not "3 acts with cg at the end"?

Im splitting up ch35's 2 acts into three pieces, because like in Kolosten, having the cg happen a week after I fought the boss just doesnt feel right.

Imagine if Kiana vs Senti had a 1 week break between the fight and Shattered Samsara.

[gierosajie]

Sometimes I remember Honkai's Taixuan Dream arc and go insane

[godisasimp]

I had a mental breakdowns at around 2am because of the honkai story :

Ai Hyperion being present as well as the player being canon just fucks everything up.

See, in the event that came with her release, Ai Hyperion told us to set a "key" a password of sort, that she later used to defeat the virus, it was already known that she would appear in the main story chapter due to a CG being spoiled/leaked, this wasn't an issue at the time because she was just there to explain some things to Ai-chan, and she seemed to be a different Ai Hyperion than the one we met in the event.

But then came along chapter 35 and, lô and behold, the "key" we set up in the event, months ago, is used and the player appears. Now we have an issue.

Because in the event's universe, Honkai Impact 3rd is a game and Ai Hyperion is fully self aware of it all, BUT, in the main story it was never even hinted at.

So now, we have this Ai Hyperion as well as the player in the main story.

What do we do ?

Is the main story happening in the same universe as the Ai Hyperion event universe ?

- If yes : it would mean that we were always playing a game from the beginning, the characters in universe aren't real, the story isn't, and basically nothing is because we were always playing a game and not watching a story, the player was always canon it was just never shown or hinted at.

- If no : it would mean that Ai Hyperion somehow brought the player along with her, accidentally or not, in the main story which isn't a game, and it would get so much worse to explain because, the player is a being that technically doesn't exist in the main story universe and yet they're here, they had the ability to talk to AI Hyperion during chapter 35 and knew things she didn't (such as the correct directions) and could just talk to her like that, so the player has extra knowledge isn't physically present and can still influence the story, TL;DR : the player is basically an omnipotent GOD. Also the player technically exist outside of the fucking universe and can still interact with it DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW FUCKING COMPLICATED THAT SHIT IS ???? DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY MENTAL BREAKDOWN ???? MIHOYO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY DID YOU MADE THE PLAYER CANON ???

[silver-leviet]

It took me times, but I finally did it 😭 please the Abudance Blessing is so op and too good for me since I didn't level up my Natasha.

I was almost giving up on world 6 since I can only bring her down into the last phase before all of my team died, and then my friend told me that Cocolia has wind resist and I-, I always use Dan Heng for the boss fight.

At least I nailed her instantly with Qingque.

[salty-dracon]

Honkai Star Rail 2.1 Liveblog

Link to my 2.0 Liveblog here!

I'm having too much fun with these. They're a great, low-cost substitute to running streams on Twitch.

Before we begin...

A Quick Recap of HSR 2.0:

The Express landed in Penacony, though not without the Trailblazer accidentally getting absorbed into Acheron's dreamscape for a bit. We were greeted quietly by Misha the bellboy. Then we had some check-in troubles that were quickly resolved by the IPC's Aventurine, in which he gave us his room, and met Sunday of the Family and the slightly hoarse Robin, at which point that Himeko and Welt began to suspect that something was seriously afoot. They discuss these concerns with March and the Trailblazer, stating that they believe that a former Nameless sent them a distress call. Inside our room, Aventurine points out that he knows what the Traiblazer is (gay a Stellaron) and wants his new "friend" to repay him somehow, but he's stopped by Acheron.

After sinking into the dreamscape for the first time, we Yamcha'd onto the ground and got acclimated to the place thanks to the angel siblings, then met Firefly being cornered by the Bloodhound Family. Gallagher chased them off, and we decided to go on a fun personal tour/date with Firefly. In the middle of our tour, we met Sampo (actually Sparkle in disguise) who got us into weirder trouble, involving sending us into a dream where we had to save a bunch of trash cans from a giant Sampo. Sampo left us a warning about Firefly and Penacony's dreamscape before disappearing when we went to console Firefly about her lies to us. A Clockie meme came to us asking for help, after which we followed it to rescue Misha and Acheron who were being cornered by more, uh, I think they were more Bloodhound Family. We then followed Firefly to a beautiful outlook in an area under construction in the dream, where we took a cute selfie together and learned about Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome condition.

After attempting to exit the dream at the behest of the Nameless family, we meet Sampo (actually Sparkle in disguise) who un-Sampos herself and KO's the Trailblazer. The Trailblazer and Firefly find themselves in the Primal Dreamscape, where we hear strange and creepy voices about a hide-and-seek game with someone named Mikhail and someone who desperately needs help. However, we're then attacked by Something Unto Death and then rescued by Black Swan. After beating up Death together, she sends us back to the real world and meets up with the Nameless, stating she wants to ally with them in this crazy chess game between factions. It's also possible that whoever sent the distress call to the Astral Express opposes the Family and desires our involvement. Welt shares the location of the anomalies in the Dreamscape Reverie Hotel (information received from Silver Wolf) and we hop back in alongside Black Swan. While in the Dreamscape Reverie, we meet Acheron and travel alongside her. Black Swan realizes that Firefly is also in the same area and is in danger. We try to rescue her, but Something Unto Death appears and stabs her. (can't wait to go back to the express and tell dan heng that "my first girlfriend was taken by death" and for him to go "that's rough, buddy")

After like 0 time to mourn, Black Swan helps us retrace Firefly's steps, at which point we learn that she may have been working with someone and was betrayed by them. We find numerous charred monsters, and find Stellaron Hunter Sam, who battles the Trailblazer, Black Swan, and Acheron. While Acheron goes ham against Sam, Black Swan teleports us elsewhere, where we find Aventurine again. After briefly thinking that Black Swan betrayed us, Aventurine and Black Swan explain that they actually wanted to rescue Trailblazer from Acheron. Acheron is an Emanator (they're not sure of what, but I think it's Nihility) and she killed the boss of the Destruction-following Ever-Flame Mansion and stole their invitation. According to them, she can't be trusted. Aventurine then takes us to the "truth" in the dreamscape, which is Robin's dead body lying in a dreampool.

Several other cutscenes happen away from the Trailblazer's notice. First, Dr. Ratio who came with Aventurine asks what the hell his plan is, before disappearing. In another, Sparkle uses Space Racism and asks Aventurine how an executive of the IPC, Penacony's original owner and possible enemy, managed to get on the Family's good side long enough to get an invitation. In a third, Sparkle tries to ally with Sunday, who learned his sister died, but Sunday brushes her off and says he intends to kill whoever is responsible for killing his sister.

Some theories:

There might be more to Misha than meets the eye. First, the person visible in the "Mikhail" cutscenes wasn't Firefly, it looked fairly close to Misha. Second, I'm not quite sure why, but Misha might be invisible to almost everyone in the Dreamscape. Trailblazer was the only one who could see the memetic entity Clockie, and that Clockie was the only one who ever mentioned that Misha needed help. When you went to rescue him, the scene could have appeared as though Acheron was the one being surrounded by the gang if Misha weren't around. And besides that, neither Firefly nor Acheron could see Misha, though Acheron claimed that she could sense something next to her- while it could have been Clockie, there's a good chance it was Misha if he was a memetic entity. There's other evidence, like the fact that the Bloodhound Family's target was a "lad with silver hair" which roughly matches Misha's description (very roughly) and the hints that Misha's grandfather may have been an adventurer aboard the Astral Express.

Are Sam and Firefly the same person or alter egos in one body? There's a possibility. Firefly implies that she might be the Trailblazer's enemy on account of hunting down the Watchmaker's Legacy, but why would she say that? Could it be because she's part of the only true enemy faction to the Nameless that's on Penacony? Furthermore, in Sam's boss fight, he starts fighting the Trailblazer but tells them to tell other people in the real world about who defeated them. That lightly implies that people cannot die in the dream world if they're stabbed, for example. At the same time, the official report that explains what happened to Firefly and Robin was "Death has taken them", not "they were killed". And that's actually part of the mechanics of Something Unto Death- it can actually capture your party members, keeping them alive but unable to fight until you free them. Third, Firefly claims that she was stuck in a hospital room with a chronic illness, while Sam is a genetically engineered warrior. Genetic engineering and a robot suit sounds like a perfect cure for chronic illness in this high-tech universe. Fourth, Firefly's color scheme is white and black with some green accents and an orange-and-yellow cross-shaped tie on her chest. That perfectly describes Sam! Fifth, MHY is seriously allergic to giving us characters that don't jive with the Five Standard Humanoid Models, and their solution for robot characters like Svarog is to attach them to a humanoid model like Clara. Firefly has shown herself to be incapable in a fight in the main story so far- it's possible her true abilities lie with Sam. That could be true! Or I could be totally wrong. Possibly sixth, the group chat I'm in has had three separate arguments about mistranslations, and one of them said that Gallagher actually said the Bloodhound family was searching for a "silver man", not a "man with silver hair". If Sam is Firefly, he could have reverted to his Firefly form to evade capture.

Aventurine is lying about something. I find it a little weird how the Trailblazer was grilled so hard over not having RSVP'd by name, but according to Aventurine, Acheron got in just by giving the front desk a stolen music box. That wouldn't be possible if the security procedures were so tight that the Trailblazer couldn't enter even with all three of the other Nameless guests vouching for them. One of those has to be a setup. Furthermore, even though she's one of the galaxy's most powerful thief clowns, how did Sparkle get in if security was really that tight? Basically, there's something wrong with that statement. Either Acheron really did get in with just a music box, meaning that the front desk troubles were a setup (to put the Trailblazer in Aventurine's debt?) or something is wrong with Aventurine's story about how Acheron obtained her invitation. It's also important that the IPC has motivations to mess with Penacony's affairs, given that Penacony itself is basically a colony that broke free of the IPC's control.

What's up with the secret ending? There is so much weird stuff with the secret ending. First, it's implied that no one is who they say they are. Question marks exist for every single Penacony character mentioned except for Sparkle. We know from the rules of the Dreamscape that it is, in fact, possible to disguise yourself as someone else or impersonate someone within the dream. The logistics of doing so are unknown, but based on the "don't enter the Dreampool naked" clause (yes i'm actually making it relevant here) it probably just involves disguising yourself physically as the target. Second, the IPC is mentioned to be plotting something, and is the ill-intentioned party here. Third, "special thanks" go to Robin and Sunday- they aren't "actors" like the others- are they sponsors, hosts, supporters? And Robin is mentioned too- since Acheron mentioned that even dead people can manifest in the dream, does Robin only stay alive as a living memory? Finally, after all is said and done, it's implied that the Astral Express crew never leaves Penacony, and stays in the dream forever. That means that learning the truth (that Robin has been taken by Death- I'm not sure if she's actually dead) is the only way we can keep on going. By the contrarian principle, we'll only uncover the truth if we aid the IPC- which will be kinda shitty of us. Either way, I only foresee future political tangles.

Robin and Firefly aren't dead. I promise this isn't copium. A good part of my evidence is that "death has taken them" was used to describe both of the ways they died, that Something Unto Death incapacitates your party members but never outright kills them, and the fact that Sam hints that dying in the dream world won't necessarily kill you in the real world. There's also a line (was it from Sunday or Black Swan?) that stated that a person's soul can be snuffed out in the dream world to kill a person in real life. What role this will play in the future, I'm not sure of. But I do have some theories. First, Something Unto Death is just hunting indiscriminately, and happened to attack both Robin and Firefly. That would be boring, though. Second, Something Unto Death is akin to an attack dog hunting specific targets at the whims of a mastermind. That would be slightly less boring, and leave the question of who the mastermind is up in the air. I have no answer to that one, I'm afraid. But if it's a good illusion of death, it could be used to push forward an agenda.

Who is the real mastermind? It could be anyone! AAAAGH! Metatextually, I actually suspect The Family- Robin and Sunday working together. I mean, when's the last time angels lost a battle against mere mortals, especially when they're really good at warping narratives in this instance? I've never seen a piece of media where the characters symbolized with angels weren't very good at staying on top of every situation. There aren't even any demons around like in Bayonetta. Otherwise, it could be the obvious choice of the IPC (*Benoit Blanc voice* "The IPC are not idiots." /ffw/ "The IPC are idiots!"), maybe Acheron who is named after one of the rivers of death, literally maybe an Emanator of death. Maybe it's Black Swan but I kind of doubt it. Maybe it's Sparkle looking for a spot of fun. It's not Misha. Misha is a precious bean. Although that rule kind of bit me in the ass the last time I picked up a Danganronpalike. It's not Gallagher either. They never give masterminds facial hair. Could it be Firefly herself? That would be so funny and so tragic that I kind of hope it is now. My theory is, it's either the IPC itself, Sunday and Robin working together to deceive everyone, or the Watchmaker acting through Misha.

My fucked-up-angel enjoying self is being well-fed. I cannot wait to watch Sunday cook.

That's all for now. Let's begin.

Beginning of Liveblog

*sigh* Oh right, Robin's dead body!

??? So that vision of Robin is supposedly just a memory. She's not actually lying dead in that dreampool. But she is dead, supposedly- has been for a long time. And Aventurine believes someone killed her because only someone incredibly powerful could have broken past the Family's security systems. (I'm not sure if that's the case, as I stated before, because my number one suspect is someone in the Family!)

I was joking before the splash art for Harmony Trailblazer was leaked that they'd better not have all of the Penacony characters fighting together with a weapon like they had for the Preservation Trailblazer splash art. Because these bitches weren't fighting together, they were at each others' throats the entire time.

I mean I'm not sure if I should trust Black Swan (the memokeepers keep antagonizing my found family sister!!!) but she is the most trustworthy person here. If she trusts Aventurine I trust him a little bit more.

... what did I just FUCKING tell you. What the fuck else could Aventurine be here for. That's right, he wants to take back this freed prison for the IPC. And he'd better not give us any SHIT about- oh, yup, he's like "it's because of the murder" bitch you work for space amazon, shut your mouth, you'd be obsessed over target's forensic department and the clever way they manage to prosecute shoplifters

Well, I do agree with trying to figure out who killed Robin and my girlfriend. Well, "killed". They're putting many quotations around "Death". Like I said in my theory section I think Robin isn't dead.

yeee bribes

Black Swan: That sounded like an enticing deal, right?

Trailblazer: Yeah, sure?

Black Swan: I'm sure you remember what Topaz tried to pull on Belobog?

Trailblazer: Can the people in this conflict stop switching sides for FIVE MINUTES?!

"she is the most special guest at this banquet" says the lady who had a big gay dance with her

"it's best to keep your distance from her" says the lady who had a big gay dance with her with lots of black and red and predator/prey symbolism where she was the prey

I do NOT think acheron is the mastermind. Acheron may be purple like Something Unto Death, but she has more flower and black-and-white death symbolism than eye symbolism. Like I said before, I think it's the Family- Robin and Sunday working together.

A card that can guide you! ... this is some tears of themis shit. actually no wait i'm pretty sure the playing card guy isn't the one with spy gadgets...

"Then... I've something private to take care of regarding that Galaxy Ranger." you mean another big gay dance?

"Help" that single word broke my heart. march i am SO sorry for worrying you, you precious bean.

AWWW even dan heng's worried!!! awww even grandpa!!! AUUUU

THEY'RE ALL HAPPY IM OKAY 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

MOM DAD BESTIES ILYYYY

"A Family representative". My first thought was "oh shit i want to meet them, do all of the family reps have wings?". My second thought was "oh shit is it sunday?".

A flashback???

"Do you still dream, hunter?"

*jokes about ifrit's potentially badly animated skull in the group chat again*

Why is Acheron being nice to Ifrit? Or questioning his morality or some shit? I sorta thought she came in like a wrecking ball, pulled a Yusuke/Ann Showtime on everyone inside, snatched the box, and disappeared in a matter of moments.

Duke Inferno: please stop stalling. i'm old. just kill me. i follow the path of destruction, do you think i have a retirement plan? please just kill me

(number of times i've made a joke about a retirement plan while liveblogging a hoyo game... 2.)

"May death be the end of your boundless dream, guiding you back to the waking world." Shit, who said that? Someone said that before. Who said that?

Oh? Oh here it is? Is it here? Is Sam finally going to take the armor off and reveal himself as Firefly? How will it look? Is the helmet just going to come off and it'll be like that picture of Reinhardt Overwatch's body that's supposedly inside his armor?

Oh. Ohhhhhh. Alliances. Looks like Sam and Acheron have a bit of an understanding now. Even though Acheron wants to help Sam, knowing who is under that armor, Sam says no. But he does tell Acheron that the Family is responsible for everything. (Was anyone really surprised?)

"Get all of the Astral Express to track down the grand legacy" *soft gasp* we're dragging dan heng out of that train and taking him to interstellar fantasy las vegas with us.

I never put this theory down, but sometimes Acheron's text appears in red. I'm now convinced that Acheron is referring to a different self when that red appears.

*four Nameless standing in a circle with sad eyes* this is the closest we'll get to a group hug

Himeko's right that the two murders appear to be different in nature. Robin's feels straight up targeted.

*soft gasp* mystery solving time with the found family i LOVE mystery games so so so much. Anyway play AI The Somnium Files and its sequel, then consider picking up the Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney which is the series at its best and most stylish.

footnote: if i say family assume it's mom, dad, sister, brother, bnuuy, and galactic baseballer raccoon. if i say Family assume it's the Family who's ruling over Penacony.

Himeko and Welt: *discussing politics*

March: I don't know my way around any of this, do you, Stelle?

Stelle: I just hit anyone who tries to hit me.

awww march loves me :3

ITS COOL YOU CAN BULLY ME WHENEVER HAHAHAHA

THAT'S A LOTTA MONEY HAHHAHAHHAHHA

Soooo, let's unweave this. Aventurine says (says.) that he's after nothing except reclaiming Penacony for the IPC. He's now teamed up with the Trailblazers, who he's tasked with finding the truth about Robin's death for the sake of leverage. He thinks (or says he thinks) Acheron is the real enemy here, which I don't fully agree with at this point. Acheron and Sam now have a bit of an alliance going.

Once again, everyone is suspicious, and March, thank you for bringing up the possibility that Robin isn't dead. Although if Taylor Swift died the world would feel the same. That she can't be dead, how can she be dead?

THANK YOU, HIMEKO. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT IF YOU DIE IN A DREAM YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE. ALSO IF ROBIN HAS BEEN DEAD FOR QUITE SOME TIME, THEN WHO'S THE ROBIN WE MET IN THE LOUNGE

WHAT. Now that's a plot twist. Acheron... knows Welt?

bitch, welt straight up said "i will chuck your body into a black hole and spaghettify you if you don't tell me who you are and what you're up to right now"

Now even Acheron's allying with us, or offering us information. Even she thinks that the Family is behind all of it. And that the truth is closely tied to the Trailblaze- like how Misha's grandfather was a former Trailblazer, and is possibly the founder of Penacony?

"Wake the Heck Up" is a great drink name LMAO

hearing all these pretty english voices saying "wake the heck up" is funny

time for aventurine lore! i love corporate propergander

oh this ain't corporate propergander this is just SAD

oh dr ratio hasn't fucked off completely. and he... actually gets along well enough with other people.

confirmation: if you die in a dream you do not die in real life! you just wake up! wait does that mean that since trailblazer didn't wake up after getting yamcha'd, that they could actually survive a 30 story drop?

or, in so many words, something has been weird about robin for a while. according to sparkle, robin (who actually sings through telepathy) is a "mute", but aventurine actually saw her die, and was suspected for it. and now sunday wants to see him again. but aventurine will just roll with the punches because he's got the mentality of uhhhhh some guy who manages to find the best side to every situation.

uh.

wait. this is sunday's mansion? aventurine, this is the mansion of the most powerful man in penacony, where the families meet to discuss plans for penacony. and you're walking in there, on the invitation of the leader, to meet him, ALONE. while you're being tentatively blamed for his sister's murder. while you want to question him about something he's desperate to cover up. i've watched playthroughs of several different yakuza games. i didn't like them, but that's how i know, AVENTURINE YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE.

*soft gasp* they're pulling a 13 sentinels

(guy who's only ever played 13 sentinels) getting a lot of 13 sentinels vibes from this

(play 13 sentinels, it's fantastic and the main theme sounds like this)

LMAO these two friends bantering over an extremely obvious hint to the puzzle downstairs

somehow this moment is reminding me of a time I was in elementary school and we were playing apples to apples (cards against humanity for kids) and someone put down "ants" on a "big" card or vice versa and loudly proclaimed "ants are very big" and a teacher chewed them out for not taking the game seriously. and then i got upset and i said ants are big compared to a molecule or something (i knew many big words as a kid lol. anyway if you're a public school teacher know that i will either love you forever or i will actually fight you over the shit you put me and my classmates through)

I know it's ridiculous to apply my own angel-related tropes (I'm a writer, and in all of my source material, angels are evil. Literally almost always. To the point where a character who has wings is usually really fucked up.) but I was thinking. Everyone is insisting that Robin died against her will, except for March. March may be good at foreshadowing unintentionally, but I think it's also a possibility that Sunday was willing to sacrifice his own sister for his greater good. I mean that literally happens in one of my works, The City of Hands, where an angel sacrifices his sister...

the moment i saw that zoom effect i KNEW. i fucking KNEW

HAHAHAHA NOW WHO'S THE GIANT SAMPO NOW- it's ratio

oh my god there are little robot dudes LOL

all i want to be, is someone is gets to see, a giant ratio

dr ratio, britishly: my learned friend wouldn't quit his blathering

in line with everything being gay in penacony, "the view here (of ratio's giant body) is breathtaking"

"it's a pity you made it out of the sandpit alive" glad to see you too buddy

"Are you prepared?" bitch are we about to FIGHT HIM??? That was like third on my list of things that would happen. I was sure it would be either a smooth talk or Sunday pulls out a gun and shoots Aventurine.

Sunday: Stop using your doctor to cheat my puzzles.

Aventurine: Stop using your puzzles to cheat me out of an audience!

Random, but my favorite genre of Sunday fanart is "covered in blood and gore and/or turned into some kind of rpgmaker horror monster". I like it when angels kill people. It validates me somehow.

oh right they stole his fucking cornerstone

Sunday expelled A 2nd-level spell shot to cast Zone of Truth!

OH SHIT HE'S EVOKING THE CAPITALIZED PRONOUNS. IN CHRISTIANITY THOSE ARE THE BIG GUNS

bord

oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit he's GOING IN

oh my god damn, this scary angel

SYSTEM HOURS AGO??

DR RATIO???

Wait. WAIT. THEY KNOW ABOUT THE STELLARON??? THEY HAVE INFORMATION???? DO THEY KNOW THAT THERE IS A STELLARON HIDDEN INSIDE THE BASEBALL BABY'S BODY

Didn't Aventurine say he brought more than one Cornerstone?

oh. OH. OHHHHH. THATS A TOPAZ NOT AN AVENTURINE.

i'm enjoying watching sunday cook. this is fantastic

oh my god. sunday decided he's putting aventurine in his very own psychological saw trap he has 17 hours to live as himself because he's either going to lose his head or lose his life unless he maybe possibly gets good information and oh my god damn sunday is KILLING IT

can we start murdering space amazon now

oh hey topaz

OH. the two bloodhound kids weren't after sam or firefly, but topaz? did they know she would be coming?

HUNGWY

aaaaaaand my found family proceeds to learn that i've basically punched every single guard, robot, weird fakey gangster, and meme in penacony before they even got back to me

aaaaand my found family proceeds to be horrified at my clockwork power. himeko, march, i am SO sorry this is how you had to find out.

... Oh my god.

Okay. Here's the funny thing. I've always been like "if there's a character themed after the colors red or green with brown hair, who wears a suit, and is an office worker, and has a little girl as a subordinate, there's a really good chance they're either the mastermind or Supremely Fucked Up. I call this the Sosuke Aizen Crack Prediction Rule and it's almost never failed me. It doesn't even fail me when the subject is a woman. And if there's no character that matches that stat set exactly, it's always the one closest to that description. So, literally Gallagher. And in the hidden ending, even Gallagher was given question marks. If he is ACTUALLY the traitor to the Family, I am PISSED at myself for not seeing this coming because "this is a gacha game and normal rules don't apply".

welt and acheron!!!

acheron: this place sucks. this place fucking sucks. everyone is sad and lonely and they hide it under a veneer of glitz and glamour. time has stopped and it should be going

hi3rd lore. i don't know anything about hi3rd.

so i know acheron is an expy of raiden mei (?) from hi3rd, so does that mean that this one shares her memories or something? also who was the spiritual adam, does he have an expy in this game?

black swan

he said BULLETS. IT'S THE CYBORG SPACE COWBOY

Aventurine: Dream capitalism is trying to kill me! ... It's time to pull out my ultimate weapon... dream socialism.

aventurine? you good buddy? you look like you snorted too much god

unexplained coma. yup, that's when you die in the dream in literally every other thing ever! you coma in real life. the fact that this guy ended up waking up later makes me think that his "soul" was replaced with someone else.

Oh Love Is A Woman? Well Death Is A Monster Covered In Eyes That Stabs You In The Gut. (Costs $49.99 at Dr. Edward's.)

this capitalist is becoming a christian by force LMAO. thanks sunday you're feeding my love for evil, fucked up angels very very well

oh right soulglad is alcoholic. well that's bullshit! i was hoping it tasted like tractor soft drink peach beverage! or sweet tea!

aventurine is slowly dying and the filter around his face is getting worse~

i've never met elon musk in my life, or jeff bezos, or steve jobs, but i know all three of them would hate to die slowly watching their own mind slip away painfully

hi sparkle, don't be racist this time lol

there are two mutes- so two telepaths. the other one is a "he". so, sunday? NO, IT'S MISHA! MISHA CAN'T BE HEARD BY ANYONE AND HE'S BEEN SPEAKING TO THE TRAILBLAZER THIS WHOLE TIME!

My theory now is that the Family has been growing and maintaining its ranks by taking the souls of people who go in, replacing them with impostors of some sort, and either killing or putting to work the people inside. That's what they mean by "people whose voices aren't heard".

YAY SPACE SLAVERY D:

i'm so glad gallagher has eye candy for lesbians at his bar too

oh, she's (they're?) halovian, like the angel twins, but minus the wings.

yeah she's just as cool as serval :D

definitely not a gender i want (i'm not into bright pink and checkerboard patterns) but someone out there is losing their minds at this banger of a gender

either march is a big lesbian or she thinks it's the highest of compliments when a girl compliments her.

bartenders waxing poetic about bartending is always really funny to me. i've never had a good drink in my life ever except for either white or red wine, and the few times i've been very drunk i've done some really stupid things.

some of the greatest joys of this game are just running around with your silly siblings doing silly things like "playing with kids" and "going in a fighting ring" and "chasing a dog around" and "being in a bar for the first time"

siobhan keeps pulling lesbians that's how you know it's real

amiky keeps saying "this is a run down bar" like girl i've SEEN a run-down bar. okay i haven't but i KNOW what they look like

*generic yakuza karaoke companion clapping animation while gallagher is mixing drinks*

MIKHAIL. i wonder if that appears with the other options too...

dad you're spilling all the tea :) you're the best dad ever

you know it just hit me that re: the crack prediction rule, siobhan is gallagher's subordinate. anyway it seems he's selling out the family so uhhhhh whatever i guess he hasn't like, killed anyone or something. usually even if a crack prediction rule character isn't the mastermind, they've usually done something that would make anyone who went to jail for murder terrified of them

the family and the watchmaker aren't aligned. so that means that the end of patch 2.0, where sunday says "i'm going to do something fucking crazy, yada yada yada, and i will deliver this news to you personally, watchmaker" wasn't a promise to a godlike figure he serves, but a THREAT.

well, i mean, everyone predicted that mikhail was the watchmaker, but a shameful stain on its history and the betrayer of the family???

dad you're the best for taking us to a theme park :) other dad is the best too but he's somewhere else right now

as a writer it doesn't surprise me that the clockie cartoon characters are based on real people. hanu and clockie were freedom fighters. i mentioned in my last post that boss stone was likely an expy for the ipc, and origami bird, hamster ball racer, i'm not sure

IM THIRTEEN

so, to summarize, in a past adventure, it's likely that mikhail, an old trailblazer, helped free penacony and then settled here. gallagher was one of his "children", whatever that means (probably in a more adoptive sense, like how families work here). the oak family (the one sunday leads) set them up for something. the bloodhound family left. that's how you get a bloodhound family that's still loyal to the watchmaker, and an oak family (and every other family) that hates him. Someone has inherited the watchmaker's title (likely Misha)

auuuugh keeping track of what everyone knows is a hassle

Meanwhile, Grandpa and Acheron have broken into Sunday's mansion Yakuza style and beat up everyone inside-

did sunday murder his own sister or something

Notes on murder victims in Sunday's study.

AAAAAA THE LIGHT CONE OF HIM WATCHING ROBIN PUT ON A SHOW WHEN THEY WERE LITTLE AAAAA THATS SO CUTE

Robin herself was investigating Death??? Bro, Sunday fucking killed her. The only other important Family character here is Gallagher. No one else is not an NPC. No one else we know of has that much power to even mess with Robin's telepathic voice. Sunday fucking killed her.

Oh Okay, so Aventurine's in the theme park.

HELLO MOMMY- wow, rich people suck universally.

You know, every time we hear about this elusive Diamond, I just imagine White Diamond from Steven Universe. T-posing. Big. White.

THEY'RE KILLING AND REPLACING. AAAAAAA

really great that aventurine has never once forgotten that sunday is the one doing this to him

the words

watching aventurine suffer is equal parts morbid and fun

who would win? The Head of the Family, A Powerful Halovian Who Holds The Power of Harmony In His Palm, Obsessed With Control, or 1 green stoney counterfeit boi

that's smart, he actually smuggled in both of the green stones, he just left the jade one intact so sunday would find it and think it was aventurine.

"whew you are nuts" whew he is nuts

aventurine: i'm running from this newborn seed of uhhhhh idk whatever sunday put in me (this is NOT mpreg i swear) while arguing with it about my past while it tries to take over my body and the only way to escape (i think) is by. turning into a cartoon character and acquiring a rocket launcher

what exactly is his plan? it sounds like he's planning to sacrifice something big, maybe even himself, to give the ipc something they're going to need or want in exchange for his freedom. he needs the trailblazer (stellaron) and an emanator (acheron) to clash to get it. but someone will die. who knows who

isn't there like one random bauble or trinket description that states that the family's greeting place is a stage or something

back to the trailblazer, yay, we're meeting up with acheron and WOW she's short compared to welt

i love how they're like "where could aventurine be?" and aventurine's like "hellooooooo i'm at this specific place"

Welt: The hour of trailblazing is upon us.

Trailblazer: 420 Trailblaze It

Welt: What

Trailblazer: What

THIS MUSICS BANGIN'

"Mommy, look, I'm on TV!" Mommy is right behind you. She's also on TV.

Trailblazer can't kill their mom, grandpa, and bestie! They just can't do that! If they do, the only person left is the guy who hates talking!

WEAPONS: SUMMONED. SPOTLIGHTS: ON. DODECAHEDRONS: OUT...? CUNT: SERVED.

himeko's orbital cannon works in the dream world???

what the hell is he about to do

oh no acheron's about to pull out the big guns

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

DID SHE JUST KILL HIM. DID SHE JUST ACTUALLY KILL HIM

my head hurts trying to comprehend all of these somewhat heavy philosophical concepts.

aventune's precious bean of a past self

wait so is he dead? i don't know. i can't tell

hi sam

yup. there it is. sam and firefly are the same person

gallagher, walking through sunday's mansion: wow what the hell is wrong with the guy that owns this place amirite

if i'm right that sunday is the killer, he's going to die. like i know aventurine didn't but he's going to die. sunday has every reason to kill him.

wHAT did i just fUCKING say

... are you fucking serious

literally i would have had gallagher clocked as the killer based on the fact that he has the character design of a killer but i was like "nahhhh there's no way it's probably something unrelated" but ARE YOU SERIOUS HE'S ACTUALLY THE KILLER

WHAT

WHO DIED???

Post-Liveblog Thoughts

someone wanna explain to me what the fuck just happened

no for real what the fuck just happened.

uhhhhhh i'll be back in a bit

First, it has been a hilarious trend with me that the character whose design I love for no reason, whose gender I need for no reason, who I find really, really cool for absolutely no reason, turns out to be a serial killer. It has happened in almost every game I've played with a serial killer. Even the ones that don't follow the Crack Prediction Rule. Like, note to friends reading this- if i ever like a character with brown hair or think they're cool or lowkey Would, they're probably a serial killer. Or a serial kidnapper. Or they love torturing people. Or something equally fucked up. Literally at this point if I say I like a character but never elaborate, they've killed several people. Oh my god why does this keep happening.

If Sunday's dead, wow I did not expect that. Sunday implied that "Gallagher" wasn't real- he was actually someone or something else using a collection of traits as a disguise. So, what is he? Is he a meme? Is he the Watchmaker? Or is he a different person entirely? If Gallagher's dead, there's something else and someone else at work that was just eliminating him for the sake of covering up evidence. I still think there's some kind of actual thinking, feeling mastermind at work and it's not just some monster or bad phenomenon. As for what the next arc is going to be, we know that the Express crew hasn't found who the killer is yet. That's probably the next step once the Trailblazer returns to reality- especially since now, we as the player are very, very close to chasing down the killer ourselves.

I joked before that "it would be really funny if Sunday unleashed these threats against whoever killed his sister and then did absolutely nothing" and that joke was actually half right- he never succeeded in cathartically annihilating his sister's killer. Though he did do that incredibly fucked up stuff to Aventurine (Zone of Truthed him and also literally put a time limit on his life while torturing him with visions of his past and future), so I'm still satisfied.

Also, Firefly is not dead! Firefly, who got gutted by Death, is not dead! That opens up the possibility that Robin and whoever else just got gutted is also not dead!

I'd love to know what happened to Aventurine. It seems to me that he decided to give up on his ambitions after risking it all to basically destroy any semblance that the people of Penacony had that death was impossible within the Dreamscape. So, is HE dead now? Because it looks to me like Acheron never intended to kill him in the first place, and if he is dead, he made that choice himself.

Sparkle is Sparkle.

No Misha this patch, even though he's definitely relevant to the story. He's probably return for 2.2, when we try to actually figure out what the Watchmaker's Legacy is while tracking down the killer. Since he's very clearly related to the Watchmaker.

We'll be getting Boothill next patch. I need to see how this cowboy's introduced. Please let it be as funny as Trailblazer getting Yamcha'd. And maybe Black Swan will be working with him. Also, it turns out that Constance, Dubra, Akash, and Katarina are still relevant in part. There's a possibility we might see them in future worlds.

[nerice]

shoutout 2 the genshin ytbers i still followed for making star rails vids bc that's annoying enough for me to finally unfollow them <3

[enihk-writes]

[someone older]

pairing: older!multi-fandom men x gn!they/them!reader

reader is written to be in their early twenties, under twenty-five and fresh out of uni with their first degree and no corporate work experience.

summary: shorts about old men and a younger beau to-be

content warning: big age-gap relationships // superior-subordinate power imbalance // possible infantilization // some form of saviour-complex // (some unintentional) manipulation

characters: zhongli (genshin impact) // neuvilette (genshin impact) // jing yuan (honkai star rail) // tang gunak (return of the blossoming blade) // dokgo (return of the mad demon) // chongyue (arknights) // shamane (RE:1999) // hiromi higuruma (jujutsu kaisen) // ryū (gokurakugai)

author's note: my lovely oomfs i need yall to look away and pretend im doing okay,,, the demons and the little voices in my head have won and taken over..... i have to make that middle-aged man pregnant so so so so bad it's terminal... (head in hands)... OUGHHHHKKKGSHHH (coughs blood and straight up dies)..... looking at the list here i really have a type huh....

[PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRIGGERS CAUSED BEYOND THIS LINE]

ZHONGLI who had lived for long enough to have seen and experienced almost everything one could see, was still taken aback when he felt a familiar throb in his heart as he conversed with the new face of the artisan's alley. a fledgling who had just left their nest and was beginning to make their way into the world — your naivety much unlike your more seasoned neighbours who knew how to set the prices of their goods to gain the maximum profit. you were often tricked and scammed out of selling your wares at their proper price, too scared to stand your ground and disrespect your older customers. the former archon couldn't bear to see a budding talent, such as yourself, sell themselves short out of expected social courtesy. he often found himself buying your highest-priced works even if he had to empty his entire wallet. you were beyond grateful for his patronage, even offering a commission, free of charge. that's just how bad business was before he stepped in. oh you poor thing, now that he knows how easy it was to get you dancing in his palm, how could he let you meet better opportunities? he was your lifeline, the only way you were going to make it in this career you chose. and you better not forget that.

NEUVILETTE knew that he shouldn't be so enamoured with the new hire. really. a being who had been alive for as long as he falling in love with someone thousands of years their junior? he wanted to rip his hair out. the chief justice approached this predicament as he would with almost anything he deemed annoying — avoidance. sending you out on errands that kept you out of the office for the whole day, giving days off to everyone if there was nothing on the agenda, having you go sort out documents in the filing room, and a whole host of other things that made sure you and him wouldn't cross paths. once he had a clearer mind to sit down and think, he is immediately riddled with guilt. weren't his actions akin to that of a black company employer? you on the other hand, could not be happier to hit the jackpot. good pay, regular days off, responsibilities that didn't require you to rack your brain too much. this was everything an energy-saving adult like you could ever want. it must be nice to frolic around and stay blissfully unaware while your boss was in the middle of a mental breakdown alone in his office.

JING YUAN was a calculating man, despite the commonly held belief that he never really took things too seriously. he kept a rather consistent air of nonchalance so impenetrable that it annoyed you whenever you couldn't discern what was on his mind at that moment. your after-hours hobby these days was to drop by the community starchess club and play a few rounds with the people there. and who else was waiting there at your seat every day? your damned boss. the elders who were there swooned over the handsome general, remarking about how you and him made a great pair — much to your chagrin. the man would always send a blinding smile in your way as you got closer, even going so far as to help you settle down. the routine was always the same each night. you would play against him for at least five rounds consecutively, lose against him in almost every single match, play against the other club members, gather your things and go home for the day. the general would also coincidentally be done with his activities. he offered to walk you to your front door, you've learnt from the one time you refused that the general was unusually talented in pulling an extremely sad, pathetic, wet and kicked puppy face. unfortunately, you were too nice to reject him further. ah, but now that he knew of that weakness of yours, you'd better expect that he would be pulling the same trick again soon.

TANG GUNAK felt that he was far too geriatric to be feeling this way. especially when he had adult children of his own. the youngest of whom was only a few years older than you were. a talented person, emerging at the top of your class in the academy meant that the world was your oyster. so why had you decided to come down to sichuan and work as an aide in this family? the patriarch had no clue, and he certainly didn't know how to even bring up the question. at first, he had hoped that perhaps you and one of his children would be wed but as time passed, it became increasingly obvious you were not interested in them at all, rather you had set your sights on the patriarch himself. him? the widower? the poor man who had only felt the touch of his dead wife? he was very scandalised that the young aide of his house was so open about their attraction to him. however, it seemed nobody in the household was on his side. not even his own flesh and blood. though for all that forwardness, he never expected that you would be so hesitant and shy when you were alone with him. it was endearing how you became more diligent whenever that happened, how you would engross yourself in your work just to pretend he wasn't there with you. the next time he looked up from what he was doing, you were passed out on your desk. he moved over to carry you back to your quarters — it was deep into the night right now anyways, so nobody would see him with you in his arms. he tucked you into bed, leaving as quickly as he came. the glimpse of his own flushed face in the reflection of the window never left his mind the rest of that week.

DOKGO had agreed to follow his disciple to town only because said disciple was going to throw a tantrum in his courtyard and the older man was not in the mood to deal with the adult child. the master pretended to not be acquainted with his own disciple when the man began to flirt with the women passing by. he walked on and sat down at a vacant bench in front of a teahouse. his troublesome disciple eventually shook off the girls clinging onto him and joined his master at the table, a string of apologies falling out his mouth when he caught sight of the older man's disapproving glare. only when the younger man offered to pay did the old master's hardened expression fall softer — fine, he said with a grunt. the second headache of the day came in the shape of you, a wandering merchant, or so you said. you slipped in to sit next to the master after the disciple had graciously allowed you to. not like the older man could oppose when there weren't any empty seats in the vicinity. while the conversation was lively as you talked with the disciple about your travels, he could only focus solely on the callouses of your palms, something a merchant who says they are not a martial artist shouldn't have. you had noticed his scrutinising gaze, throwing him a quick grin as you continued the chat with his disciple. oh? he could only wonder what that was about. shame that his dull, blockheaded disciple had let that slip past him. the master wonders if he should up the training regime when they get back.

CHONGYUE was up and early, as he usually does, leading the daily morning exercise with the other operators. the doctor not being there was somewhat expected, but you going missing? that was a first. when the morning exercise was over, he headed up to your room to check on you, finding the door slightly ajar. cautiously, he walked into the dark room, you had a bag of junk near the entry, from the looks of it you were living off cup noodles and soda, again. no wonder you were now curled up in bed all sick. he might have to give you an earful later, but for now, he puts aside your laundry and took out the trash. he goes down to the canteen, ordering some warm chicken porridge and even stopping by the nurse's office to pick up whatever he thinks you might need. this time, you were now somewhat awake. grumbling and muttering complaints under your breath from the disturbance, he helped you sit up. you insisted on feeding yourself, but he would have none of it. you could only comply and open your mouth wide every time he brought the spoon to your lips. you finished the food and even took the medicine obediently, earning praise from the man himself. before he left, he rubbed some medicinal balm on your stomach, layering warm blankets and patted you back to sleep, reciting an abbot's chants as he did so. the nostalgic feeling was comforting. you should thank him when you got better — maybe he might be interested in a popular classic novel from your home country, or should you try your luck with the lacquer pots instead?

SHAMANE spotted a figure hunched over the running stream near his hut as he was out collecting the fresh water he would need for the day. when they didn't answer his calls, he walked over, not too worried about whether the figure was a dangerous critter or not. the snap of a twig had them spin their head in his direction — that's when he met your eyes. you both stared at the other, sizing each other up. when he decided that you were not a threat, he introduced himself with his signature smile. you did the same, albeit quieter, still a little peeved from seeing a large bearded man in the middle of nowhere. friendly as ever, he kept the conversation going. he talked about himself, he asked about you, and so on and so forth until you finally admitted to him that you had gotten lost in the mountains, also you had twisted your ankles. he pointed to his hut and asked if you wanted to rest in there until you got better, how could you say no? the month when you lived under the same roof as him passed by quickly, and soon enough it was time for you to go back down the mountain. when you both parted ways at the entrance of the village, there was an air of reluctance in saying goodbye. you promised to write to him, maybe even visit him. he only laughed you off, not expecting much to come out of that. though when he received his sister's letter not long after, he thought about taking you with him to his hometown. but ah, isn't visiting each other hometowns a thing expectant newlyweds do? well, he could always pretend he didn't know about these things, couldn't he?

HIGURUMA was pretty friendly with the tenants renting out the office space next door. all of whom were fresh design school graduates trying to start a business together. you were the one he's grown the most familiar with, the unofficial boss of the company and the one who was single-handedly juggling your own practice along with other administrative duties. he helped you where he could, the doors to his own law office always open to you — even in the wee hours of the night. you would sit cross-legged on the big swivel chair as both of you engrossed yourselves in your respective work with the boxes of takeout splayed all over his table. when it was late enough that you missed the last train, he drove you back to your apartment. and everytime you sat in the passenger seat, he would reach over to pull the seatbelt on for you. you could have done it yourself but how were you supposed to pass up the chance to have him come this close? enough to even catch a whiff of his cologne? the lawyer himself knew that you were capable enough to do something this simple, but he couldn't help but enjoy the way you tried not to look at him as he did this each time. the ride back was quiet and serene, your tired body sank into the plush of his car seats and soon you were knocked out cold. even when you were both already parked outside your residence, you still wouldn't rouse. he clicks the seatbelt off you, even going so far as to push the seat back so you were lying more comfortably. you've done this enough times where he has a blanket to cover you with as he waited for you to wake up. which you would, and feel so ashamed. he thinks about how cute you were babbling out your apologies and thanks, all while scrambling to pull yourself together and out his car. only to repeat this whole song and dance the very next night.

RYŪ was a bit of a recluse. never really leaving his room unless it was for a really good reason. which was rare, and by rare it was almost never. but a human had to eat, shit and get clean — which was where you came in. as the designated errand runner for the organisation, you were the one that ended up having to take care of that guy's day-to-day needs. you might have hated him at first, with how picky he was with his food, even the brand of his necessities had to be the exact right one. doesn't matter if the stock ran out, you had to go out there and haunt for a place that still has it or else he wouldn't even entertain your presence. the one good thing you had going about you was that you were adaptable, learned things quick and was light on your feet. if things went south, you always had a backup, and a backup for the backup, you get the idea. the man, mayhaps out of the other's insistence, but you liked to think that he had warmed up to you, started to initiate conversations. at some point whenever you brought him his meals, he would make you sit and watch him eat. at first, you didn't know what to talk about, but then you also started bringing your own lunchboxes to eat alongside him, and you talked his ear off about what you made that day. over time, you both fell into a routine and on days when he's kept you a little too long with him, you'd stay over and crash on his couch. and after more time had passed, he's already got some of your clothes together with his in the wardrobe. hell, he even bought a bigger sofa just so you could sleep better whenever you stayed over. give it more time and who knows, you might end up moving in completely, not that this old hack would mind too much.

[latenuitrambles]

hello, can I make a Hurt/comfort request for Honkai Star Rail please? (Tw, Self Harm, Religious Trauma)

Jing Yuan finding reader walking around outside in the snow in the middle of the night, only wearing a white shirt, shorts and a large blanket scarf. (The shirt has specks of red, due to self harm).

Reader has had multiple breakdowns back-to-back in secret due to reliving religious trauma (ie. Being forced to pray and participate in services of the church that hurt them for the sake of work) and since they've had their major mental breakdown (self harm) are now out of it (kinda sad-yet-giggly mood in the self destructive way, thinking that they don't deserve good things and will never be 'clean' despite showering repetively (catholic guilt x100)) and now playing with the snow with their bare hands.

(If your not comfy, feel free to decline since it's pretty heavy, If you do the request thank you very much!)

✒️

Note: Thank you for the request! I wrote this in a bullet point style instead of an actual fic because that felt better. Also I didn't focus too much on the religious trauma as I have had very little interactions with Christianity and was not brought up catholic so I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject and I didn't want to misrepresent a heavy issue! I used more vague religious trauma, hope you like it!!! Also whoever requested this if you ever need to talk you can always talk to me!! take care of your mental health!

Not proof read!!

TW: This is a heavy piece. Warnings for self-harm, depression, mental breakdowns, religious trauma, blood. Please do not read if you think this might trigger you or make you relapse. Your health comes first, take care of yourself <

Jing Yuan found you wandering alone at night in the cold, your white shirt covered with specks of blood, eyes lifeless.

He said nothing as he gently carried you inside the house you guys shared, putting you down on the bed as he went out to get the first aid kit

He gently and expertly cleaned and dressed your scars and gave you some medication.

As a soldier he was no stranger to blood or wounds, so I think he would be very calm. At least, on the outside. On the inside he would be panicked and worried for you, but he understands that it would help you more right now if he was calm and gentle.

He has dealt with soldiers who have depressive episodes and trauma breakdowns so he would be very good at gently calming you down, making sure he doesn't trigger you more, continuously asking you if what he was doing was comfortable with you.

He would be very patient if you want to talk about it. And when you do open up to him about your religious trauma, he would be very patient as you tell him everything. He wishes he could go in the past and stop all these things from happening to you but for now he will assure it will never happen again. He will personally be your bodyguard and prevent anyone from your past who hurt you from reaching you again. You don't have to be religious any longer, he will respect your choice, encourage it even and if anyone dares to question your decision they will have to face the wrath of the general of the Cloud Knights.

He is mad at himself for not noticing the signs of your breakdowns sooner, and he tells you in the future you can come to him whenever you think it's getting bad again. He might even offer to help you use some kind of physical training as another outlet whenever you feel the urge to self harm creep up on you again, after all, he understands it's not as simple as just asking you to stop. 

If you share with him about you feeling self destructive and feeling as if you don't deserve good things, he will give you constant reassurances all the time about how much he adores you and how much you mean to him. Even if you sometimes become self sabotaging, Jing Yuan is prepared to fight for you until you give up and finally accept that you are good enough. And he is not a general who likes losing, mind you.

He would reassure you that you have not done anything bad and that you are not “dirty” or anything. Most of what religion brands as sinful is just normal human behavior, so he will slowly help you overcome your guilt and feel better !!

Overall, Jing Yuan would be extremely patient, calm and gentle with you. He understands healing is a long process, so good thing he has all the time in the universe, being long lived and all. He will help you every step in your journey and will always be there for you !

End note: Thank you so much for requesting! Also feel free to request heavy topics. I know a lot of writers feel uncomfortable by them but as a person who has had their fair share of mental health struggles I would always love to write comfort fics! It makes me incredibly happy if my fic helps someone through a episode, as even I have had fics like that for myself in the past!!