Gaelan: ok so, don't say no just yet, but i have a plan
Magda: i'm listening
Gaelan: ✨murder✨
translating the s2 barbie route for the wiki and i was so wrong about gaelan, he's the funniest bitch in the game
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[ID: Two full colored official digital drawings of Peerless Beauty Theater Event partners from the Chinese mobile game Helix Waltz.
In the first image Gaelan Bavlenka is very loosely wearing a gold robe, his black outer robe - silk with elaborate gold patterns of clouds - is also largely hanging off his body, leaving his chest bare and revealing he is not wearing shoes. There is a plush black fur falling off his shoulder, and his tasseled crown is crooked. He is covered in strings of colorful beads and golden dragon motifs decorate his crown, eye-patch, and the fur hanging from his shoulder. There is a heavy etched sword tied to his sash, and he holds a bunch of grapes in one hand while he spills wine from his jue - an ancient Chinese vessel for drinking wine during ceremonies - in the other.
The second image is of Magda Ellenstein, dressed as a humanoid kitsune. She is wearing an elaborate blue and gold layered dress that floats about unnaturally. There are gold chains, beads, silk ribbons, and tassels decorating the dress, as well as magical wisps rising off the fabric in the shape of swirls and fox heads. Her blonde hair is partly done up in a complicated style with several loops and pinned in place with a large gold and glass ornamental hairpiece, also dripping with gemstones. Her nails are long and sharpened into claws and her eyes are a striking pale gold color, emphasized by the bright red lines painted around her eyes and the large red flower shaped huadian - decorative makeup - on the middle of her forehead.
/End ID]
King Zhou of Shang invaded Yousu and took Daji as his prize, quickly becoming infatuated with the beautiful woman and promoting her to Queen from consort. He began neglecting state affairs, increasing taxes to pay for the absurdly extravagant gifts he would lavish upon her, increased corporal punishment to entertain Daji's strange and cruel fascination with torture, began taking only her advice, and largely ignored the growing rebellion outside the palace doors. This would lead to the collapse of the dynasty, after which both Daji and King Zhou were killed, and Daji was blamed for corrupting the king and causing the Shang dynasty’s fall. From at least as far back as the Tang dynasty, she has been fictionalized as a malevolent fox spirit, and is now well known as a classic Chinese femme fatale.
In truth, Daji was retroactively blamed for the actions of the king, including the power-hungry warmongering that brought them together and the unstable political field inside and outside of the palace that had long been festering. It is unclear how much of her alleged sadism was a work of slander and fiction demonizing a woman from the losing side that had the misfortune of attracting the attention of a king, and how much was really the corruption and greed of someone who had suddenly gained absolute power.
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