#hsr for blacklist

[pipwife]

“I missed being with you like this,” for 1+5? :3

i guess this an au where himeko and kafka have a background? xD thank you for the prompt!

"I missed being with you like this," she murmurs above Himeko's head, her usually wry voice surprisingly gentle. Himeko hears the noise of it rumble through Kafka's chest, just under her ear. "Just like old times, huh?"

Himeko doesn't look up. Shame fills her, hot and bitter, and so she looks down, eyes focused on the ground of her small compartment. "Yeah," she whispers. "Just like old times." There's no cheer and mirth in the sound, just like Kafka's voice is missing her playful edge.

Kafka plays with her hair, scarlet against her pale skin, and does not speak again.

[b1adie]

[feroluce]

For some weird reason, I've always been fascinated by how wildly different Sampo operates in the Underground vs the Overworld.

Sampo is present in both places and even in official sources, he's not really counted as one side or the other- now that the theory has been confirmed in-game, he's generally just lumped in with the Masked Fools.

But there really is a big difference!

Probably the most obvious and well known instance of Sampo's...business practices *cough burglary and fraud COUGH* in the Overworld is from the Belobog Museum event. In it, you don't find out Sampo is the main culprit until near the end, because Pela has to set up a sting just to catch him in the act. And that sting is necessary all because the initial suspect they arrested, Norbert, had pretty much no idea of his partner's identity. Sampo wouldn't even speak to him face-to-face.

And whereas Sampo is normally very pleasant and friendly with the trailblazer...when he thinks he's talking to Norbert here, he straight up says that they are NOT friends. Like he really shuts that shit DOWN.

There's also an Overworld NPC, Chavez, who heads the "Dark Blue Scam Support Group." And he. Really really really does not like Sampo fjkdasjklfdj

Chavez clearly wants Sampo caught, and has literally no positive feelings about him. So. Why call it the Dark Blue Scam? Why not just out him by name? Chavez obviously doesn't give a single shit about Sampo's dignity or privacy. But he never once refers to him as "Sampo," and even the pamphlets he passes out make no mention of it. No one in the entire support group seems to know how to identify him or how to refer to him except by his hair color. If the trailblazer says his name, Chavez reacts as though he's never heard it before.

(I've seen people say this means Sampo Koski is an alias and not his real name? But Ray pointed this out, and honestly I agree; even the Fools call him Sampo, after all. I think it's just that Chavez never knew Sampo's name in the first place, and given his immense distrust, immediately assumes it's an alias.)

And then there's his characters stories, where he proceeds to pull off a heist in the Overworld while in disguise as Brughel Poisson the entire time. Literally his own stories don't mention Sampo's name even once.

So anyway, all this shows that when he's up in the Overworld working cons, Sampo is incredibly slippery and secretive about his identity. The only people who seem to know him are Pela, Serval, and Gepard. He doesn't get close to anyone else, and is even surprisingly unfriendly. Nobody knows his name. No one knows his face. He has zero qualms about backstabbing or double-crossing, and even plans for it in some cases.

Meanwhile, down in the Underground, I'm pretty sure literally the worst thing we hear of him doing is scalping tickets in front of the Fight Club. Which isn't even illegal in a lot of places (although it's certainly a dick move).

In Hook's companion quest, a vagrant miner steals Fersman's equipment and tries to sell it to Sampo. Even before the trailblazer and Hook jump in and out the vagrant as a thief, Sampo hesitates to buy it because it sounds like stolen goods, which he doesn't want any part of.

Even knowing that a geomarrow detector is rare and incredibly valuable in the mines, Sampo makes no attempt to double-cross Hook or profit off of her loss, and even tells her who to go to to get it fixed.

And my favorite example of Sampo in the Underground is the Survival Wisdom adventure mission. In it, Sampo starts up a business with Peak, another miner. And like. In wild contrast to all the cons he pulls above ground, Sampo is actually super nice and helpful here.

Just the same as with Hook's quest, Sampo talks to Peak face-to-face, with no disguises or barriers. When the trailblazer finds them, they're just in the Great Mine, no secretive meeting places. Peak knows Sampo, is familiar with him, and calls him by name. It's not even a con! There's nothing illegal going on; it really is just a business partnership. Peak is more than happy with their deal, he's even pretty enthusiastic about it, because thanks to Sampo he can now make enough money to get by while also accommodating his chronic fatigue.

The only person Sampo lies to in this whole ordeal is the trailblazer, who he manipulates into getting Peak's mining equipment back from the vagrants that stole it in the first place. And when it's done, he rewards them with a legit treasure map.

So when he's working in the Underground, Sampo is MUCH more upright and lawful. Part of this is probably to do with his "business" model- Sampo only takes advantage of the wealthy, and poverty runs rampant in the Underground. When he charges Peak an extra 30% (the same percentage he charges Norbert as a consultation fee in the museum heists- Sampo seems to go by percentage instead of a flat rate, which means his prices are more fair for lower incomes) for carelessly losing their supply, Peak literally starts counting out pocket change.

Dude's working for pennies and good will down there dknsmdmd

And you can twist this into a Robin Hood thing if you want- Sampo IS technically working to feed orphans and heal the sick. He says himself he's more than happy to make up the shortfall between the greedy and the marginalized- I mean he says it in the shadiest way possible, but I doubt the people benefiting from his work really care that he's a slimeball if it means they can survive another day. Even the two heists he pulls in his character stories are literally just him stealing absurd amounts of food.

Personally though I think it is solely because of Natasha, and Sampo is hilariously well-behaved specifically for her, because she keeps him on a short leash JSKZJMSMSKS

[insertsomthinawesome]

Made a comparison and took massive psychic damage from four year old trauma in a different game.

Final Fantasy XV quote x Honkai Star rail

[mandrakeboo]

ggrrrrrr hoyoverse and their subtle but deniable queercoding and hidden flags.... it hurts sooo fucking bad!!!! reddit would never understand how transgender silver wolf is!!! hoyolab won't admit robin is a lesbian!!! aarrrghhhh....

DID YOU KNOW I HATE THEM!!! AGHHH?????

[chadesapo]

[creepfactors]

loved this tag bc ur right i do, but it immediately put images in my mind and i apologize for how unwholesome one of them is

[hedonicghost]

i'm obsessed with this guy (derogatory).

[pipwife]

she can't keep getting away with this

[0fps]

btw this will definitely be a very wuwa-centric blog for the forseeable future. i'm gonna wait a bit to decide if i want to commit to a sideblog for it but yeah if that's not your thing no hard feelings for any unfollows/blocks

[gonguji]

btw! please properly tag your spoilers of any kind. otherwise I will unfollow.

[mandrakeboo]

ok I can't figure out anymore if ratio actually betrayed aventurine. some people think it was their smug plan all along and others are saying there's secret meanings in their conversation and I just thought the chat after talking to sunday was aventurine trying to grasp at straws and convince himself it was the plan. to say I am confused would be an understatement

[pinkfoxpriestess]

"as untamed and hubris-imbued as the one who forged it" "the arrogant craftsman" "toothy grin" and that huge ass sword description literally the only things rotating in my mind like a microwave for the past 24 hours

[kitwing-moving]

do you ponies think ill be able to get welt with my free pulls

[taconafide2]

kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[shenyaanigans]

the h/s/r juggernaut has been solidified not only as uninteresting but actively a notp for me. thank GOD