#peables-hcs

[peablesart]

god okay inazuma is out and i had to add thomaluc to this post cause of the insane serotonin they're giving me rn like.......... they're also in love your honour

my favourite bit of canon diluc lore is that families literally line their daughters up at any event so that they can score him for a son-in-law. like as someone who sees him as almost exclusively attracted to men can you imagine the hottest bachelor in mondstadt one day just has a ring on his finger and it belongs to one (or all) of:

a) literally a fatui harbinger who goes anywhere and leaves a trail of bloodied corpses in his wake and the two are always at each other's throats

b) the drunkard that has been harassing him for months now and it totally seems like he is one step from smiting him every time

c) an equally attractive man with such a gentle presence but who just won't shut up about liyue seriously is this all he knows wtf any and all topics lead to liyue

can you imagine the field day kaeya would have just laughing at diluc over the rumours and gossip ???????

also think about the rarepairs..... albeluc, xiaoluc...... kazuluc........ the introversion factor is so high here everyone would just wonder when tf any of them ever interacted

[peablesart]

Diluc and Kaeya: A Character Study

One of my favorite things to do is analyze the true anti-parallel nature of Diluc and Kaeya’s lives. In my eye, they are so similar but exist as inverted images of each other. 

DISCLAIMER : I see Diluc and Kaeya as siblings and this will not change, so anything I post about them is purely familial and platonic. If you ship kaeluc please do NOT interact with this post.

So I since I started Genshin for Kaeya, and then pulled Diluc and fell in love with him, it’s really only natural that they are two of my favorite characters in the game so far (and probably for the rest of it too). Kaeya’s story has alaways been fascinating to me, and this was just exemplified by the Dainsleif quests that revealed more about Khaneri’ah and the Abyss. When I started getting more invested in Genshin, I started reading the manga, and around the same time I got Diluc and started friendship farming like I never had before. I literally devoured his character stories and enjoy fitting his canon with the stories of others.

But yes, as my favorite characters who actually have canon connections (in surplus in fact), I often think about how similar their stories are, but that they run in opposite directions to each other. I see this so clearly in how they are in canon and what I think they were like in childhood.

On one hand, we have Diluc, the only child of one of Mondstadt’s beloved noble families. He comes from a line of highly respected individuals, the descendent of one of the leaders who freed Mondstadt from the tyranny of Decarabian. Although his mother died young, he grew up in a nurturing and loving family with his father. From the manga, we can tell that his personality was somewhere along the lines of Amber and Klee when he was younger, and I think he was probably a brash and jovial kid who caused problems but was earnest in everything he did.

On the other hand we have Kaeya. Here is where a lot of my headcanons come into play, because there’s very little on his family. I strongly believe in Kaeya as Khaneri’ahn royalty (a descendent at the very least), and that he belongs to the Eclipse Dynasty bloodline. It’s unclear the type of rule of the dynasty, but my thoughts are that it was not cruel but definitely cold. Kaeya likely did not grow up with much affection, respected but not loved. He entered the story with the destiny of a kingdom on his shoulders, and was left to fulfill it on his own. As such, I see him as a guarded, probably extremely introverted kid, especially when he’s first taken in by the Ragnvindrs.

Obviously, this contrasts with their in-game personalities. I still think Kaeya is a true introvert but acts extraverted to come off as more open and trustworthy in order to get what he wants. This is clear in how almost every quest or event interaction with him has some sort of “ulterior” motive. His story quest was him testing the waters with the traveler to see how trustworthy they were, the Windblume Festival was very likely an easter egg conversation for a later quest, and he definitely lied abut the reason for coming to the Golden Apple Archipelago. In short, all these interactions are only half-truths at best.

I similarly think the opposite happened to Diluc, his grief and vengeance stifling the unbridled joy from his youth. I wouldn’t say he’s still a people-person, but his voice-lines make it so clear how affectionate and warm he is to everyone; he worries about Jean and the Traveller, openly admires Lisa’s skills, etc. His 18th birthday and his four-year journey exposed him to the world at its rawest, away from the tinted lens of the Knights, and he likely saw and dealt out more death than he thought he’d ever have to.

After Crepus’ death, the brothers reconciled with the events by changing their nature - at least, how they presented themselves to others. While not mirrors, they definitely took on parts of the other’s childhood self, with Kaeya becoming more verbal and Diluc becoming more skeptical. 

As much as I want it to happen, I don’t think we’ll get a reconciliation of the brothers until one of their last moments. Mihoyo has made it clear they don’t intend to shy away from major character deaths, dropping red flags in abundance for multiple characters. Kaeya is definitely one of them, and my thinking is that he’ll die by Diluc’s hands in an effort to save Mondstadt. Either that, or they’ll be on the cusp of progress before plummeting into the worst-case scenario.

And be- cause I’m a sucker not just for angst but for sucker punch and then a stab to the gut - I’ll put this here as well: although they clearly aren’t exactly on the best terms right now, I truly believe they have both forgiven each other but don’t believe the other has forgiven them yet. Their voice-lines about each other don’t seem honest, and their easy banter at the Golden Apple Archipelago shows so much familiarity. Their relationship is still uneasy, clearly seen in Venti’s story quest, but it is entirely salvageable. Kaeya is ready to atone for abandoning DIluc to his grief and compounding it with a secret too large to stay hidden forever. Diluc is ready to repent for driving Kaeya to death and casting him out form a place he’d felt was the closest to home he could let himself be.

(Would love for a happy ending too, but I don’t trust Mihoyo to give me happy Diluc and happy Kaeya for any lasting duration rip.)

It’s clear that the two are meant to be foils to each other. I could go on and on about smaller things, like Kaeya feeling inadequate filling Diluc’s prodigious shoes, Diluc finding his first true friend in Kaeya, the both of them defending each other behind their backs. I could also go into how other characters perceive their relationship, especially Jean since she’s known them since childhood as well. But at the end of the day, they are simply two men with a broken past that cannot be restored, but can be fixed. Them making up would ease so much off both of their shoulders, and they could fight side by side like I’m certain they did when they were younger.

TL;DR, I love both Diluc and Kaeya with my whole heart and want them both to find happiness. There’s more steps to be done before they can call each other “brother” with sincerity again (and I tend to ill those steps with various ships ik ik) but it’s a start towards healing.

[peablesart]

Eyepatch and Vision: More Diluc and Kaeya Thoughts

Hello it’s me again, here to dump more bittersweet brainrot headcanons for my two favorite Genshin Boys.

I have drawn a lot of art relating to Kaeya’s Vision acquistion, and thought for many unreasonable hours about what lies under his eyepatch, since his story is as real as Venti’s vision. This post is jus a hopefully coherent conflation of those ideas. 

If you want to see my deliciously angsty art for these headcanons, you can find them here, here, and here (TW // blood for the art)! I also have a cute little Ragnvindr family thing for relief that you can find here <3

DISCLAIMER : I see Diluc and Kaeya as siblings and this will not change, so anything I post about them is purely familial and platonic. If you ship kaeluc please do NOT interact with this post. 

When Crepus first finds Kaeya, he does not wear an eyepatch. The two different iris colors look like simple heterochromia, and while Crepus notes the strange star shape of his pupils, this doesn't startle him all that much. after all, there are many types of people in Teyvat (Hu Tao's flower pupils and how the royal Mondstadt clans have eccentric hair are prime examples). Also, he - like almost everyone else in Teyvat - cannot remember the extinction of Khaneri'ah, and therefore has no real reference for what their people look like.

As Kaeya grew older, however, his right eye started to corrupt. The iris would glow when his emotions ran high, and his sclera started developing dark purple veins. When it started getting more noticeable, Crepus gave him his first eyepatch. He told Kaeya that he didn't have to tell him anything about his part of his condition, but to lean on him when he needed help and that he'd be there for him when he was ready.

Kaeya fabricated a story for the eye patch, saying that it was his grandfather's that he'd found on one of his travels with the Ragnvindrs. He put an air of sentimentality to the accessory in the hopes that no one would ever ask him to remove it. At the same time, the corruption got worse, and by the time of Crepus' death, his sclera was completely black and his right eye was a swirl of gold and purple that shimmered in black light.

The sad part was that after Diluc's birthday, Kaeya had planned to come clean to both of them. he had decided to choose Mondstadt and risk exile for the family he had found. But he was too late. He did grieve for Crepus but decided that Diluc had to know, or he would be doing his adoptive father an injustice by withholding truths. He had planned to wait to tell him his secret, but Diluc's grief was hotter than he'd thought it would be. His brother’s flames had started to burn at ever memory in the mansion, and so Kaeya decided to create a schism between him and the person he considered his closest friend.

He chose to take the brunt of Diluc's anger and resentment, and that's why he was given his Vision. Even at his best, his skills had not been a match for Diluc., and in his brothers frenzy, he was broken down. Blooming from his broken form, the his Vision started to heal him. He saw Diluc stay his hand in that final fatal blow, and watched him walk away. He didn't see him again for four years, and when he returned, the both of them had changed so much that the chasm between them had only grown wider.

When Diluc sees him again after his travel, he sees the eyepatch and is filed instantly with fury. But the look in Kaeya's eye that simply screams guilt and sorrow is what keeps Diluc from acting on his anger. He tolerates Kaeya for the sake of his father, but finds that even though he had burned what they once had, Kaeya would still be his brother, the boy he shared all his secrets with. 

I personally feel that as they are right now, it’s clear that they still have a lot of tension to work through, but that both of them would go to any lengths for the other (as long as the other doesn’t know). This is clear, cause we know that Diluc knows Kaeya’s truth, that despite all the masks and the facades, he is the only person in Mondstadt (bar Albedo and Alice, perhaps) who knows him completely. And this truth that Diluc keeps is a secret that is an inherent detriment to his goal of protecting Mondstadt.

That alone makes me think that his four-year journey wasn’t just a search for truths. Yes during that time he learned about Delusions and their origins, but I feel like a part of it was to atone for what he likely thinks are his two biggest sins: not saving his father, and casting his brother out. Because let’s be honest, if Kaeya had confessed on any other day, at any other moment, Diluc would have given him his unwavering support, putting aside his goals to become Grandmaster to keep Kaeya safe. But the compounding anger from losing his father to the Knight’s betrayal caused him to lash out, and Kaeya’s eyepatch and Vision remain a stark reminder of this.

That’s probably why Diluc can’t get himself to mend the relationship he can have with Kaeya: there is tangible evidence of the destruction he wrought on someone he cherished. In a similar vein, I feel like Kaeya’s reluctance stems from uncertainty. He still considers Diluc family and the way he jabs at him is so fond and familar (he pesters him the same way I bother my sibling and cousins), yet he hesitates because he has not exactly been welcomed back.

Either way, I feel like Kaeya’s eyepatch and his Vision are important to both his and Diluc’s story. They still consider each other family, but cannot go back to the way things were simply because the two have changed so much. Yet there is still space for them to make amends and grow to trust each other again.

[peablesart]

my favourite bit of canon diluc lore is that families literally line their daughters up at any event so that they can score him for a son-in-law. like as someone who sees him as almost exclusively attracted to men can you imagine the hottest bachelor in mondstadt one day just has a ring on his finger and it belongs to one (or all) of:

a) literally a fatui harbinger who goes anywhere and leaves a trail of bloodied corpses in his wake and the two are always at each other's throats

b) the drunkard that has been harassing him for months now and it totally seems like he is one step from smiting him every time

c) an equally attractive man with such a gentle presence but who just won't shut up about liyue seriously is this all he knows wtf any and all topics lead to liyue

can you imagine the field day kaeya would have just laughing at diluc over the rumours and gossip ???????

also think about the rarepairs..... albeluc, xiaoluc...... kazuluc........ the introversion factor is so high here everyone would just wonder when tf any of them ever interacted

[peablesart]

@terriblysheepish AH YES THANK YOU FOR HAVING INTEREST IN THIS AND LETTING ME BRAINROT DUMP

so my hc is actually violinist albedo and ex-violinist/ current violist kaeya cause he dropped playing after the fallout with diluc (a pianist)!! my au is very family oriented so kaeyas past plays a lot into him being drawn to play with albedo but the violin being attached so strongly to the brother he lost so he picks up the viola to support him.

and albedo actually inherited his interest from his mother rhinedottir..... but it's kinda something he had no passion for and is just doing it to further her legacy but finds love for it with kaeya !!!!!! he's prodigious and my idea is that they meet at one of those prestigious competitions hosted by the nobles

but artist x violinist is so good too and has so much potential !!!!!! multiple aus exist in my head and you've just added this one too my roster!!

I came up with the au cause of my personally fraught relationship with violins and competitions and such but !!!!!!!!!!! love this

(if u go through the "music au" tag on my blog you'll find scant art for this I've drawn!! there's one in the albedo tag that just isn't showing up too so you can find that just scrolling if you wanna....I will draw more for this =>.<=)

went into the kaebedo tag and was reminded i have a violinist au I have to.... ya know..... create for................*cries in having no plan*

[daddy-chiluc]

Yes.

my favourite bit of canon diluc lore is that families literally line their daughters up at any event so that they can score him for a son-in-law. like as someone who sees him as almost exclusively attracted to men can you imagine the hottest bachelor in mondstadt one day just has a ring on his finger and it belongs to one (or all) of:

a) literally a fatui harbinger who goes anywhere and leaves a trail of bloodied corpses in his wake and the two are always at each other's throats

b) the drunkard that has been harassing him for months now and it totally seems like he is one step from smiting him every time

c) an equally attractive man with such a gentle presence but who just won't shut up about liyue seriously is this all he knows wtf any and all topics lead to liyue

can you imagine the field day kaeya would have just laughing at diluc over the rumours and gossip ???????

also think about the rarepairs..... albeluc, xiaoluc...... kazuluc........ the introversion factor is so high here everyone would just wonder when tf any of them ever interacted