#still pulling for venti on main obviously

[rubys-domain]

... i think i'm gonna pull for arlecchino actually...

[1010ninetynine]

venti and lyney are very similar characters. i'm going to talk about sales tmrw but today. i'm going to talk about them in terms of character.

Now obviously they're different people. Venti's arguably the more interesting of the two in terms of lore (not story, i mean like celestia lore) - but people will probably like Lyney more, not just because he's a main dps and a support, and Venti's lost his CC king title, but because he's fontainian. He's connected to a better archon quest and his penchant for the traveler is made very clear from the word go. It would have felt like heaven to me if I'd liked lyney more (and I'll get into my experience with him).

I want to first talk about Venti and what I think defines his character. For me, it's that sense of just wanting to be some guy. Venti's never wanted to be this Anemo Archon of The Seven, and it doesn't show in any place best than when he gave his little speech to us as the Anemo Archon and it was...him telling us to get to know teyvat, rather than speedrun it, a value he cares deeply about, and the immediately after went back to silly goofball. It's what I love about him. He's wise, because thousands of years have left him with a lot of time for thought, but he doesn't seek to be this imposing figure. He seeks to be someone who's not revered, but respected. Like, if someone who saw his heroism personally was like 'you're pretty cool you drunkard' i think that's the ideal scenario for him.

I mean hell, one of his lines when he opens a chest is "Thank Barbatos...wait a minute-" so like. He's really gunning for it.

Compare that to his polar opposite, Zhongli, who liked leading and all but just got tired of it. He didn't actually tire of being revered, he doesn't try to mingle with people as an equal, he's just tired of taking care of every problem Liyue deals with. He still wants to be their dad archon, just a retired one.

Lyney, on the other hand, I think is defined by seeking validation, or more accurately, trying to get paid, whether that be in adoration which means more people coming to his show, or in just straight up mora. So naturally, he has reasons to pretend to be someone he's not, in comparison to Venti, who is naturally charming and sociable, but often has to force himself to be because grief took a bit of a toll.

Call it intuition but i was suspicious of Lyney's socialness being a bit fake when he said that things would be quiet if he and lynette were alone on an aquabus. I, for one, know something. If you are genuinely close to your sibling (as Lyney is to Lynette, by all counts), and as social as you seem, then hanging out with your sibling is a time of great joy. My sister is social, and with me, becomes even more so. I'm not very social, but even so, my sister makes me want to talk.

then he came out and his voiceline literally said "yeah im not actually this social naturally" and i was like FUCKING KNEW IT YOU LIL MAGIC MAN

*ahem* anyway point is he's developed a skill of being charming to survive and also is very pretty and by all counts, I should have fucking adored him.

but here's why i didn't - the ayaka and ei effect

*dramatic pause*

Now, one thing I have very little patience for in gacha games is being explicitly "pandered" to (except when I'm deep into them, like I was with Arlecchino and for a bit, Kokomi) Ayaka's story quest is a prime example of this.

Ayaka's lack of friends, journey to discover her mother's desire for freedom, and all of this leading her to love the traveler, but accepting she cannot leave Inazuma...and all this while I could still pull for her...it was so immersion breaking. And it felt kind of pandery the whole time to me. Like, they're pandering to a male audience with female charas like her obviously, and it's so fucking similar to every other overworked waifu in this game that while her being lowk trapped is a new dimension, it's not one that makes me feel any sort of way cuz uhh i could literally pull for her, and she'd go wherever I'd want her to, and it was so obvious that they were trying to sell her.

Same with Ei's story quest, it was just a shopping date, and while I mean I love evil women more than sane women so I was willing to ignore a lot of the pandery stuff, but what I couldn't ignore was the fact she'd literally tried to kill us right before the beginning of the story quest, and thus the whole quest made very little sense in the grand scheme of things. It was frustrating. I chose to ignore canon and pretend me and ei worked out shit over 4 months or so.

Now, I know what you all are thinking "but lyney's a well written character! his motivations for liking the traveler are well explained (imo no and ill get to that), and he's not a boring snowflake nor a poorly written villain." ok well consider this. I've already had two story quests somewhat dulled for me by the gacha system/poor placement and the supposed romance im supposed to be feeling has been soured, then lyney spends so much of his screentime flirting with the traveler, and I do self insert as the traveler btw, and I wanted his father, and I don't get why they don't just leave the rizz lines to the teapot. Least you can decide who gets to rizz you up then.

Second of all actually, no, I don't get why Lyney cares so much about our trust. Ayaka's reasons made sense, we kind of represented freedom to her, plus she's canonically into good sword skills, Lyney's reasons actually felt more like spontaneous attraction to anything.

And nothing's directly wrong with that, just, he's a fucking fatui member. Soon to be harbinger (supposedly). The traveler is not, in fact, famous for their favorable dealings with the fatui. We kind of caused La Signora's death, we regularly farm fatui insignias for some weird alchemical ritual, oh not to mention, we got on Dottore's bad side too. Childe's adoration for us makes sense, all he cares about is a good fight, he's not entirely in support of the Tsaritsa's actions per say - but his morals take second place to his desire for good fights so he rolls with it. Leaves it up to the players. So he sees a friendship with us as not a big deal.

Lyney on the other hand? Just straight up IGNORES all the implications of flirting with the traveler, at least, so far. And sure, it's nothing serious yes, just a rainbow rose and some on the edge lines but that's the thing, that means he knows he likes us, or he does this with everyone which is its own brand of annoying.

And his fucking magic show. The tricks were cool. But the goddamn dig at amateur magicians...call me a prick who cares too much abt stupid shit but like cmon. we know all mistakes are staged in this show. why are u speaking as if that's something that could organically go wrong. second of all, i don't like someone saying "hurr durr im not an amateur hehe im so fucking cool" like goddammit least favorite behavior.

And it's not like I think Lyney's a worse character than Ayaya or Ei, if anything, he's probably more developed than Ei at the very least. Im just like...specifically annoyed at him for minor details no one really cares about.

Another thing - the fact we decided to serve as an attorney during the archon quest despite no experience was kinda ehh to me. Like Fontaine's laws, known to be complex and silly, and some foreign traveler's gonna be the attorney? I wish we just offered to help gather evidence or smthn it was silly to me.

if you got this far and you liked lyney, uh, i commend you for being open to alternative takes but uh...mind the tags if that wasn't the case, for future reference.

[kanonavi]

hewwo tis hua on main :33 lettuce see 9, 17, 23, 31, 45, n 46 for the fic questions~

Hi Hua we are now hanging out on my blog! :3

(Hi it's me from the future crying because this is so long I can no longer justify not putting a Read More what have you done to me :sob:)

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

How can you ask me that when we’re in the Genshin fandom rn lol Jokes aside, I think that the size of the Genshin fandom is its blessing just as much as it’s its curse. Obviously it’s going to have all of the main problems that big fandoms tend to have, but the sheer number of people also means that there’s basically a guarantee that there will be other people that are creating the exact flavor of fanworks that I want to see and to create myself.

I’ve gone through highs and lows of how much fic I read for a fandom over time and I think Genshin is one of my all-time highs, but I’m pretty sure I’ve also found the most fics in Genshin that have just felt transcendent in some way to me. For a piece of media that I enjoy as much as I enjoy Genshin, I’d gladly take a large fandom that’s a bit of a clusterfuck over a tiny fandom where my thoughts and ideas don’t resonate with anything everyone else is doing. Even if it means I’m mostly off in my corner trying my best to remain blind to greater fandom trends, I’m happy in my tiny sandbox with the few friends that I share this experience with.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favorite?

My first OTP for Genshin was xingyun! I ended up pulling both of them very early on, and even before I read their voicelines and realized that they’re basically a textbook example of friends to lovers, I was impressed by how well they worked together in a team and based purely on that I wondered as a joke if people shipped them. So naturally I checked AO3 and Learned.

They’ve been deposed as my favorites at this point by xiaoven, but they’re still very high on my otp list, placed lovingly in my S+ tier alongside xiaoven and kazuscara. I think that I would have ended up shipping them regardless of if I pulled them both early, but I like to think they started my taste off on the right foot.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

The thing about all of my fics is that they're either for a fandom/ship that I'm kinda divorced from at this point or they were written when I was 14 in the AO3 editing box and there is little to no in between. Which then leaves my Genshin fics... of which there are only 3, since most of my writing is done for me and my friends rather than the public.

Still, if I had to pick one, it would be When Suikou Met a Little Bird, a fic that was written in a pure, brainrotted haze but still kind of escalated to more than I ever expected it to be. It was honestly kind of an experiment for me, since I wrote it in a perspective I wasn't used to (that being Xiao rather than Venti) and the story just kind of came easily in a way that writing usually doesn't for me. For that, I was really proud of how it came out and just really happy with it overall.

That, and I also based it on one of the most Mentally Ill screenshots I've ever taken in-game, which I will include for your viewing pleasure:

31. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing?

I got a comment a few months ago on A Brief Respite from Lantern's Light, which was the fic I wrote in a brainrot haze after the Endless Suffering trailer ended my entire existence, which said that my portrayal of Xiao and Venti was the closest to canon they had ever read and that the way I "captured the essence of their love is nothing short of perfection". Needless to say, I kinda ascended thanks to that.

The way that I write characters is something that I guess I could say I'm insecure about, since characters are often the vessels for humanity to be brought forth in a work of fiction, even if the characters aren't human themselves. I hold characters in very high esteem in works of fiction, but because I spend so much time thinking about my favorite characters, I'm constantly worried that they're kinda turning to mush in my brain and becoming what I see them as rather than what they really are. Headcanons are fun and I indulge in them plenty myself, but when I never want to lose sight of who those characters are in the story they were written for when I'm creating my own stories for them.

That's kind of why the xiaoven scene in the Endless Suffering trailer was Everything to me. Their first canon interaction, and it consisted of an exchange that was comfortable, especially when compared to Xiao's interactions with other characters in the past and even in the rest of that same trailer. Then, that says nothing of the tender gazes that Venti was giving Xiao the entire time. The entire scene just proved to me that whether or not they're in love, Xiao and Venti are comfortable with each other and that much is real.

So after I took that scene and built off of it into my own thought of how the scene could continue if Xiao and Venti were lovers, and to have someone say that it matched their interaction in the trailer and that I was able to capture that essence? It means everything to me, to this day.

i feel like a narcissist to have answered that question at such length but oh well lol

45. What is your all time favorite fanfic?

There are plenty of Genshin fics which have had an impact on me (oh haha impact that wasn't even on purpose), but I feel like I have to give this to what's probably the first truly transcendent fic I ever read. It was a Persona 5 fic called Black Star, I'm pretty sure it's still one of the most read P5 fics today, which it totally deserves.

It was a kind of epilogue to the original P5 before Royal or Strikers or whatever the fuck X is supposed to be were ever conceived, and in my honest opinion Black Star did it better than any of them ever have and ever will. It's a fic that says what it means to, nothing more and nothing less, and as I look back over the past 5 years of Atlus milking the life out of this story that used to have meaning, it's so goddamn refreshing to have this author who rolled up, wrote a perfect epilogue for P5 and then nothing else for the fandom. Wherever they are, I hope they're living their best possible life.

Black Star fixed the main thing that the original P5 fucked up, which was Goro Akechi. Akechi barely had a character arc in the original, even by the standards of P5 writing, but in this fic he was able to gain redemption as well as a resolution on his complicated feelings towards Joker in a way that I don't even think Royal did as well. Full disclosure, I used to be a hardcore shuake shipper and Black Star is a gen fic, but there are plenty of fics which give Akechi resolution in a way that incorporates romantic feelings towards Joker which I also love. However, I just think Black Star is able to surpass them in certain regards because of how it actualizes Akechi in his own personhood independent of anyone else. At this point in my life cycle as a goroboy, I really just think that when Akechi is at his lowest like he is in this fic, he just needed anything, even the faintest glimmer of trust in him from someone in his life that he's able to do good even after all the wrong he's done in order for him to at least want to try. That can be given to him regardless of any kind of romance, and Black Star has always done it best.

I also just love the way it builds off of P5's world with Paranoia Syndrome and the Dead Sea in which Mementos rots. Again, it's like I said before, no official continuation of Persona 5 has ever and will ever do it better than Black Star. ...i should read it again at some point.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

I am once again being made to choose between one of my three entire Genshin fics lol. But for this question I honestly feel like I have to go with A Brief Respite from Lantern's Light. It's short, but also out of my three fics I think it best demonstrates my mental state and how xiaoven exists in my brain, being rotated like a rotisserie chicken. In a way it could be kinda like my mission statement? Or like. My conceit? OH ITS LIKE MY XV COVER LETTER. i hate that metaphor, god lol

But yeah, we end with a simple answer: if you come to me for xiaoven, the xiaoven in that fic is what you're signing up for <3

[sagau-my-beloved]

oh im so glad u got him,, i thought u lost everything 😭

and as for your question, imo itd be better to get elegy vs cons, bc he's already great at c0! his cons are just extra flashy stuff for him imo

ofc it's still your choice, so congrats on finally being a venti haver too 😌🎉

Ha like I was going to leave getting him completely up to chance, although I am slightly confused—

I mean, obviously I don't have a lot of experience with pulling, but I was under the assumption that it would take like 70-90 pulls to get a 5 star, then I got Jean after 20 with I believe it was 17 pity, and then Venti after 40- oh and the three other boosted characters in between (sayu literally 4 times wth)

If that's the norm I might start being a little more loose with who I pull for 😅

Also that's a pretty good point, I think now the main problem is pulling for the bow or saving up for future characters, because there's a lot of them I wouldn't mind having—

But I'll have a better idea of that when I start actually doing stuff with Venti and seeing how the current bow I've given him holds up

And thank you very much, it's good to be here 😎

[archived-kin]

back from the dead!

note from kin: the gif for this one’s probably my favourite one so far, but i just know that the quality is going to get nerfed because everyone’s so small

also, just in case it wasn’t obvious, the prompt here is that that you ‘died’ one way or another but then you come back because (plot twist) you didn’t actually die - though it’s a bit different in albedo’s case

fandom: genshin impact

character(s): gn! reader, diluc, kaeya, childe, zhongli, xiao, venti, albedo, a couple of other mentioned characters

pairing(s): diluc/reader, kaeya/reader, childe/reader, zhongli/reader, xiao/reader, venti/reader, albedo/reader

warning(s): death (obviously), blood/injury, implied suicidal thoughts

genre: angst

diluc:

diluc has many feelings about this situation, the main one being: why

why would you do this to him? do you enjoy torturing him? is that it?

no, that’s not fair... he knows you didn’t mean to make everyone think you’d up and died on them

but still. two weeks. two ENTIRE weeks he’d thought you were gone

it had been a simple trek to dragonspine, and you’d reassured him that you’d be fine without him, so he’d stayed behind to deal with business, while you put up a request for some volunteers from the adventurer’s guild to come with you

in the end, a team of five left mondstadt city. only four came back.

three days after you left, diluc opened the door of dawn winery to see those four ghostly, stricken faces staring back at him. not a word was said for a good minute, but in that moment, he already knew what news they were about to deliver

he stopped them before they could recount the details of your inability to outrun the avalanche and subsequent fall. his mind had already laid out every agonising moment for him, from your last thoughts to your last breath - did you think of him? did you call for him, hoping against all hope that he would save you? did you die waiting for a hero that never came?

the next day, he joined the volunteers who set out to recover your body. if any of them noticed the lonely figure trailing behind them, head lowered and dragging his feet as if the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulder, they didn’t say a word

he dug first with his weapon, igniting the metal with his pyro vision so that it cut through the snow easily, and when that became too heavy for his grief-exhausted arms to bear, he dropped it and dug with his hands instead, refusing to give up, even when the cold seeped through his gloves and bit into his hands until the skin began to crack and bleed

but, in the end, they could only bury an empty casket. despite all of his efforts, they couldn’t find your body.

he chooses a quiet place by the vineyards of dawn winery and marks the grave with a simple headstone, vowing that he’ll come by every day to polish it - even when he’s old and grey, and the flowers have stopped springing up in the grass

and, of course, THAT’S when you finally decide to show up

“what’s with the long face?”

there you stand, in the flesh, perfectly healthy if not a little malnourished, still dressed in the now rather tattered clothes that you set out in, and, most importantly, alive

he can hardly believe it. in fact, he doesn’t believe it for a good moment or two; he turns away, blinking hard as frustrated tears threaten to running down his face. surely he can’t be so grief-stricken that he’s started hallucinating?

but then you walk up to him and set a hand on his arm, a comforting and wonderfully solid hand, and the warmth in your voice as you ask him what’s wrong is too true to life, too inimitable to be an illusion. it’s you, and you’re alive!

he saves the questions for later and wastes no time in pulling you to himself, sinking to the ground as his legs finally give out beneath him. you wrap your arms around him, and he’s dimly aware of you speaking, but he’s so awash with his own relief and unadulterated joy that he can’t hear anything but the ecstatic thumping of his own heart

these two weeks without you have been absolute hell. he never wants to feel as he did again. he never wants to lose you again - he can’t lose you again

because this time, at least, you came back. if you hadn’t, and if in the future, you don’t… well, diluc doesn’t know what he’d become

for now, though, he holds you close. he’ll worry about it tomorrow - and tomorrow can wait. it owes him this much.

kaeya:

when you suddenly show up, dripping wet and looking remarkably like you’ve spending the past few days being pickled in brine, to your own graveside wake, kaeya is absolutely beside himself

he’d rather been under the impression that you were dead. deceased. completely gone from this mortal coil.

after all, who could survive being dragged into the waters of qingce by an oceanid? who could suddenly resurface perfectly intact after being trapped under the surface of the water for over four hours?

you, apparently. and kaeya isn’t sure whether he should be throwing himself at you in joy, weeping out of pure relief, or giving you the hardest punch he can for scaring him like that

five hours he’d waited by the lake’s edge, freezing paths over the dark water in hopes that he might catch sight of you in those depths if he went further out, wandering all the way around the lake’s border and then back again, hoping against all hope that you might have washed up on the shore

he knew, though, deep down, that there was no point. you were doomed as soon as he let you slip under the surface.

he’d stayed in the area for the next few days, always finding himself wandering back to the lake, no matter how much he tried to focus on exploring the new landscapes, hoping against all hope that he might see you again

but, of course, he didn’t, and so he returned to mondstadt with a piece of himself missing - a piece of himself that, though he denied it, died as soon as he watched you disappear into the water

no one was willing to dive into that lake to retrieve your body - if there was even a body to retrieve. kaeya tried to return to qingce to do it himself, but jean wouldn’t even let him out of the city.

“i can’t let you go,” she’d said impassively, steeling herself against kaeya’s pathetic, pleading gaze. “it’s suicide.”

kaeya had stared back at her, and his reaction would stay with her for the rest of her life.

“so what?”

in the end, kaeya hadn’t been allowed to journey back to qingce, and the funeral was held without a body

at which point you suddenly walked right up to the morose procession and enquired, loudly, as to whose funeral it was

the brief silence that follows is so palpable that you could probably smash it with a hammer

kaeya's completely frozen on the spot, mouth opening and closing soundlessly as your other friends converge on you, and you disappear under a multitude of tearful hugs for the next five minutes. he stays there, unmoving.

it’s only once the two of you are alone in that deathly-quiet graveyard that kaeya finally lets himself break down. his entire body is trembling as he sinks to his knees right there on the grass, hands reaching up and tangling in his hair as he attempts to come to terms with the tumultuous feelings threatening to overflow from inside him

you kneel in front of him, opening your arms silently, and he can only fall forward into your embrace, burying his face in your shoulder and unable to stifle a sob of pure relief that you’re here, you’re alive, he didn't fail you after all

he tries to apologise for not being able to stop you from going under in the first place, for not being able to save you, for not going back for you, but you refuse to let him apologise for something that wasn’t under his control. you just hug him tighter and promise in whisper that he did all he could, and that you’ll never leave him like that again

eventually, the two of you will have to separate, but right now kaeya can’t bring himself to let him go - not when, mere hours ago, he’d thought he’d never be able to hold you like this again

how much time do you pass like this? neither you nor kaeya know. only the gravestones surrounding you like stone sentinels do - and only they will ever know.

childe:

it’s something he’s heard stories about plenty of times: a lover goes out to war, or to call on a relative, or to sell vegetables at a market in the city, and never returns. but that’s all it’s been to him - a story. he’d always thought of it as something that happened to other people, never something that could happen to him

but it has, and now he thinks he understands why, even in old age, those people’s faces still seem haunted by that loss - indeed, the moment he found your abandoned sword half-buried on one of the beaches of guyun stone forest is one that’ll probably be burnt into his memory forever

a tiny part of him had still clung to the hope that you were alive out there somewhere, but it had already been days since you were first pronounced missing, and you’d never leave your weapon behind - after all, you were visionless. you had no way of defending yourself properly without it.

childe stayed on that beach for a long time. he still doesn’t know how long exactly, but it was long enough for the sun to dip beneath the horizon and for the waves to start lapping impatiently at his boots.

when he did leave, he took your sword with him. but he didn’t bury it just yet - because he refused to let go of that shred of hope

he employed himself for the next few days with looking for any sign of you - day and night, with barely any time to eat or sleep, chasing every lead he could find, no matter how small

but he found nothing, despite pulling out every single desperate tactic he could think of. he began to think that maybe he never would.

eventually, he set off for your favourite spot on mount tianheng, beneath a tree on one of the peaks, but he still couldn’t bring himself to bury your sword there

so, instead, he stabbed the blade into the ground, anchoring it firmly in the dirt - and, after a moment, stabbed one of his own arrows into the ground beside it. he told himself that this arrow would protect your sword as he should have protected you in the first place.

now, five days later, however, when he arrives at that spot to have a quiet moment to himself, the sword is gone. so is the arrow. all that remains of them are two neat little slots in the ground where they’d been stuck

his first thought is that they’ve been stolen, and he feels an immeasurable kind of rage begin to bubble at the pit of stomach - but then he hears a sharp little whizz, and the arrow he’d stuck beneath your sword comes flying out of nowhere and buries itself in the dirt by his feet.

he looks up, and there you are. sitting on a lower branch of the tree, sword at your hip where it always is, wearing that smile that he adores so much.

you hop down, and he stares at you in sheer shock for a moment. finally, he takes two, deliberate steps forward, and pulls you into a silent embrace.

there are no words, no tears, barely even a sound, but the way that his body trembles in your arms tells you all that you need to know.

a long while later, the two of you finally pull apart, and he sniffs bravely, then says with some of his usual bravado, “well, you have to tell me all about what happened now.”

and that’s the end of that - or so you think

for weeks afterwards, childe finds himself lying awake into the small hours of the morning, unable to go to sleep. he’s scared - no, terrified that, if he closes his eyes, you won’t be there when he opens them again

it’s almost funny, to be honest - first, you taught him love, and now you’ve taught him fear

but, in a way, he’s grateful that he’s learned to feel it - because, as long as this fear persists, he’ll be able to protect you with all he’s got.

zhongli:

it must have happened during osial’s attack, but he didn’t find out until an entire week after the fact

zhongli hadn’t dwelt on the incident for long, selfishly indulging in the freedom of a life free of an archon’s responsibilities, completely unaware of what had happened to you

he did of course wonder why you hadn’t come to see him, feeling almost a little hurt, but he reassured himself with the thought that you were probably busy helping out around the city - becuase, despite the traveller, adepti, and qixing’s best efforts, liyue harbour did sustain a fair bit of damage from the whole ordeal

but then he’d spotted a poster pinned up beside one asking after the traveller’s missing twin - a poster that, somehow, he’d completely missed for the past few days (or was he simply refusing to see it?)

your face smiles at him from the yellowing paper, and the single word stamped above your head seems to echo around him

how had he not realised that you were missing for an entire week? had he really been so idiotic as to think it wasn’t odd that he hadn’t seen you on the streets at all?

or did he realise the truth when you didn’t return to him as soon as the battle was over? was he simply refusing to accept it until this moment?

he doesn’t know. to be honest, he doesn’t care.

two days later, your posters start disappearing. no announcement comes, but the absence says two words loud and clear - ‘presumed dead’.

he finds it impossible to enjoy his freedom now, when every smiling face on liyue harbour reminds him of you in the most damning way possible

the reflection of his eyes in the tea in the bottom of his cup seems to warp into your own eyes, glaring back at him accusingly, asking, why did you let me die?

because - and this is the worst part of it all - zhongli only has himself to blame for all of this

none of this would have happened if he hadn’t made that deal with the fatui. osial only rose again because zhongli allowed those harbingers to do what they did.

he lingers for a long while over this, but in the end, there are only two things he can do. everything is over; he can either continue to regret, or move on.

he decides to light some incense for you, and sets out to buy some from a local merchant

and it’s there, as he attempts to make sense of the multitude of numbers being thrown at him, that he suddenly sees your face amidst the crowd milling around the harbour

that isn’t anything out of the ordinary anymore, but then he blinks and looks again, and you don’t swim out of view or fade away; you’re still very much there, wearing a faintly annoyed expression as the crowd around you continues to buffet you back and forth

zhongli makes a decision in a split second, abandoning the incense in the surprise merchant’s hands and charging after you, calling your name with barely-disguised desperation - and you barely have time to turn around before he’s crashing into you at such a speed that the two of you go toppling clean over

the people around scatter, some simply shaking their heads at the disturbance and others standing in shock at the sight of such a man behaving like this, but zhongli can’t be bothered to keep up his image at a moment like this

“you’re alive,” he whispers, indescribable joy rising in his chest when you laugh in reply. he didn’t think he’d hear that sound ever again.

the two of you must be a sight, tangled together and half-lying in the middle in th middle of the street. it’s the sort of behaviour that one would associate with lovesick teens, not the refined gentleman of a god that he is

then again, he can’t really help it. this is just the sort of thing you do to him - and he’s absolutely fine with it

xiao:

he should've known better than to let you see him in the first place, let alone get attached enough to keep allowing you to meet him over and over again

bad luck follows xiao around like a shadow, and it isn’t picky about who it affects

still, he did it anyway - he continued appearing to you whenever you asked him to

it was idiocy - though others might have called it love. for xiao, there isn’t really a difference - because only a fool would think they were deserving of love after committing the crimes that he had.

at first, you were never in danger when you called his name. he came anyway, of course - but then, one day, you were in danger, and he didn’t, not until it was already too late

the two of you hadn’t even been that far apart - he had perched atop one of the stone pillars in huaguang stone forest, and you’d been nearby on mount hulao. if only he’d responded as soon as you’d called, he would’ve gotten there on time.

but he was selfish, and chose to stay there on the pillar for a few moments longer, wanting just another minute to quiet contemplation before he joined you on the mountain

and, as the most damning torture of all, fate had you fall just as he landed on the mountain. he could only watch as you disappeared under the geovishap’s gargantuan claws

the minutes after that are unclear. all he remembered afterwards was the sure weight of his spear in his hands, the wind whipping against his face as he moved faster than he ever had before, the burn of tears in his eyes

xiao had thought that he’d long since lost the ability to cry. how cruel it was that this was how he learnt that he hadn’t.

when he became fully conscious of his surroundings again, the geovishap was stone dead, and you were nowhere to be seen.

still delirious (with grief or anger he didn’t know), xiao fled from the mountain, leaving behind the geovishap’s corpse, and a lump of amber that hadn't been there before

he didn’t know where he was going, only that he was running - and maybe, if he ran fast and hard enough, he’d be able to run straight out of his nightmare, and wake to find you alive on the other side

but, of course, he wasn’t dreaming, and he couldn’t wake up if he wasn’t asleep in the first place

which brings us to now. the last days since the incident have passed in a grey blur, and the fog is finally starting to lift enough from xiao’s mind for him to make a realisation

the amber on mount hulao - would it be too presumptuous to hope that his fellow adepti knew of his bond with you, and protected you where he couldn’t? he almost dares not to hope, but…

he moves faster than the wind itself, and he’s touching down at the spot before he’s even fully aware of it, the geovishap’s body has already melted away into the grass, leaving only the lump of amber that he’d somehow not taken account when he left all those days ago

breath held in anticipation, he raises his spear, and strikes the amber with the sharp edge of the blade. several shards splinter away; he spots something familiar within the orange resin

he works feverishly, and soon enough the last of the amber falls away, revealing you, in perfect health, and a little annoyed by the fact that he took this long to get you out

you can’t really stay mad at him for long, though, not with him looking at you like that, eyes wide and almost wondering

xiao surprises both you and himself by abruptly throwing his arms around you. he’s never initiated contact with you before, and you yourself have never gone beyond just patting his arm

it feels nice, he decides. he can only thank the universe - and his fellow adepti - for the fact that he’s able to lose himself in your embrace like this.

venti:

he heard the news one late afternoon, as he stood playing through his usual repertoire beneath the statue outside the cathedral

he’d picked up on your name amidst a conversation between two people passing by, and while his outward demeanour didn’t give anything away, he was listening intently almost immediately

“...don’t know what happened, but they found their boat by starsnatch cliff this morning. no body or anything, though.”

“talk about unlucky… they must have gotten caught in a storm or something.”

that was all venti managed hear before the two move out of earshot, but it was enough to shake him right to the core. his fingers stumbled on the strings of his lyre, so tense that he accidentally snapped a string

the crowd started murmuring amongst each other as he slowly lowered the instrument, face frozen and eyes wide. then he suddenly turned and sprinted in the direction of the knights of favonius’s headquarters, ignoring the loud complaints coming from his audience

he burst into the building without bothering to wait for approval from the guards outside, and they probably would have arrested him if lisa hadn’t walked out of the library at that moment and stopped them

venti practically dropped to her feet, begging her to tell him what happened - surely what he heard wasn’t true?

but lisa only shook her head and offered to bring venti to the site of your wrecked ship. she didn’t know either

the knights escorting the librarian to starsnatch cliff didn’t say anything about the bard following them, but the pitying looks they shot him said it all. they didn’t think there was a chance that you had survived.

in the end, venti couldn’t bring himself to face the wreckage - because he knew he would lose all hope if he did

he spends the next five days sitting at the precipice of starsnatch cliff, gazing out across the endless seas, desperately wishing that he might see the shape of a raft or a boat riding the distant waves. several times he falls asleep and dreams that your figure was sailing back to him from the fog, only to wake to see nothing but empty horizons again, and no amount of wind can swipe away his bitter tears then

then, on the evening of the fifth day, he suddenly sees something - a lone figure seemingly stumbling across the surface of the water itself, lurching every now and then

it’s been a long time since he’s used his powers like this, and his abilities have waned since the loss of his gnosis, but now he’s able to spur himself to his feet, gathering masses of winds beneath him, and he flies straight for the figure with wild abandon

and - joy of all joys - it’s you!

ice crackles from your feet with each, heaving step you take, and he realises that you’re clutching a blue-glowing stone in one hand

in that moment, venti forgets all enmity between him and tsaritsa, and thanks her with all his heart for granting you a vision

he swoops down and catches you in his arms, and the wind follows in his sheer joy, sending the two of you tumbling this way and that, before finally depositing you gently on the shore, mere metres away from your wrecked ship

venti doesn’t even speak for a good while, just clings to you desperately and refuses to let go for even a moment, and somehow that’s even worse than if he’d been in floods of tears instead

you just hold him in return, trying to catch your breath, and the two of you end up falling asleep right there and then, despite how uncomfortable it is there in the sand

venti’s been all cried-out for hours now, and your limbs are so heavy with fatigue that you can barely move, so there the two of you stay, huddled together like children

venti has already loved and lost once before, and that had been enough to think he would never love again. then you came along, and he loved, and lost again, but this time you came back to him, and for that he will always be endlessly grateful

albedo:

the two of you had been out on an impromptu resource-gathering expedition (read: secret date) on wuwang hill. it was your first time in liyue, so you were practically buzzing with excitement, and albedo felt more content than ever with watching your face light up at every new thing you saw

but the evening had quickly soured when the two of you came across a gang of treasure hoarders taunting an injured fox

albedo attempted to calm you down, wanting to deal with the situation as diplomatically as possible, but you’d been positively beside yourself, and flew forwards, aiming a punch at the leader of the group

somehow you managed to punch him hard enough to knock several teeth out of his mouth, and as he stumbled backwards with a yell of agony, the rest of the treasure hoarders turned on you as well

albedo couldn’t very well leave you to fight them off on your own (and, to be honest, he didn’t think very highly of the hoarders’ behaviour thus far), and so the two of you stood back to back, fending off all sorts of projectiles and punches being aimed at you

but neither of you were fighting to kill, only to defend and possibly incapacitate, so the things the two of you could do were limited. albedo imprisoned a decent number of them in geo-produced prisons, but they just kept coming - it was like two arrived to replace each one you knocked down

soon enough the two of you were cornered right on the edge of the hill, and, noting the dizzying fall behind, albedo turned to tell you that the two of you should retreat

everything that happened next seemed to be in slow motion. you turned to look at him, stance wavering for just the briefest of seconds - and a stray thrown blade struck you directly in the chest

in that moment, as you teetered on the edge, eyes wide and seemingly staring directly into his, everything around him seemed to drop into darkness

everything came to a standstill as you fell. the treasure hoarder that threw the blade stood there in shock, and as albedo stood there, frozen in horrified disbelief, his friends quickly seized him by the arm and ran for it

a wise choice - because, if they’d still been there when albedo suddenly came to, they probably wouldn’t have survived the encounter

instead, with no one around to take his anger out on, albedo could only hurry to find you down below on the rocks, using his geo vision to create steps along the steep cliff face

you aren’t breathing when he finally gets to you.

time seems to slow down. he sits there beside you for what feels like an eternity, until the sun has gone down and the blue sky is replaced with a carpet of darkness and stars

it’s beautiful, but he can’t bring himself to look at it. as far as he's concerned, the stars went out the moment he watched you fall, and he has no interest in looking at a dead sky

then, suddenly, he realises something. he doesn’t have medical training, now has he ever learnt to heal… but that doesn’t mean he can’t fix you in other ways

he knows that he doesn’t have the strength to carry you all the way to his laboratory in dragonspine, but he brings plenty of things everywhere with him - and there are plenty of other methods he can employ as well

taboo things, maybe, things that he never would have even thought to try on any other occasion - but he’s desperate, and there is no such thing as too far when it comes to you

he works with almost maniacal fervour, trying one thing after another and another, refusing to let himself rest for even a moment - because each passing minute marks even more distance between the two of you, and he cannot, will not let you drift out of his reach

hours later, the stars have disappeared again, and you open your eyes to see albedo gazing down at you with a faint smile.

[primofate]

Shortfic: Pretend boyfriend

Scenario: You’re being badgered by someone who is obviously interested in you. You’ve turned them down time and time again but they’re WAY too persistent.

Characters: Kazuha x fem! reader

Warnings: not proofread, innuendo if you squint

Read the other versions: (Scaramouche, Kaeya, Venti) (Itto, Zhongli)

Kazuha

“I-I do have someone!” You insist, tugging your hand back from the young man who was still happily smiling your way. “Awe, come on Y/N, I’ve never seen you go out with anyone at all. You’re always alone in the streets of Mondstadt,” 

You slightly glare at the playful tone the guy was giving you. Despite already saying for the 1298473972nd time that you did have a boyfriend. “Well, he’s not here right now... He’s busy...” The guy just laughs and steps closer to you. “Well if he is then what’s stopping you from spending some time with me?”

Just as you thought your problems wouldn’t stop you see a familiar form enter the gates of Mondstadt. Your eyes perk up at the sight of Kazuha. The two of you had been good friends for a while, and you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t desperate. “He’s here!” You half-shout and point at the young samurai. The guy running after you turns to look at Kazuha.

Kazuha still hasn’t spotted you and the guy scoffs. “He doesn’t look like he’s looking for you at all,” At this point you start waving at Kazuha, who finally spots the two of you. “What seems to be the matt-” he’s cut off on the way to you by your sudden latching on to his arm. “S-See? He’s just been away on a trip but he’s back now so...” 

The young man laughs at you and then looks at Kazuha. “Nice try Y/N. He looks just as lost as you,” Kazuha isn’t stupid. He catches on quite quickly and he smiles, oh so sweetly as his hand snakes around your waist to pull your flush against his side. “As I was saying,” he talks again. “What seems to be the matter, dear?” turns his head to you, tender look on his face and presses a kiss on your forehead. “I apologize for being away for so long, but I assure you I’ve had nothing but you on my mind out at sea,” he smiles and you, slightly astounded, blink up at him.

“Oh. Th-That’s alright... I missed you too,” He doesn’t stop his show there, the young man pining after you is now just watching the two of you with a confused look on his face. “Has this man been bothering you?” He doesn’t wait for an answer but instead stares meaningfully at the young man. “...I and Y/N do have some...catching up to do,” Kazuha says, chuckling after the words and the way he says ‘catching up’ has you blushing a deep red. “So if there isn’t anything else we will be taking our leave,” his hand on your waist pulls you away, just as the young man scoffs “I-I was about to leave anyway!” and turns to stomp away.

You watch as the man disappears and your shoulders slump in relief, mouth heaving out a sigh before grinning up at Kazuha. “Thanks Kazu-kun...I’m sorry for bothering you,” but his hand on your waist doesn’t snake away and you curiously look into his eyes that are shrouded by something mysterious. “...It’s not a problem,” he starts, the hand on your waist somehow tightens its grip. “...But I wasn’t lying when I said you’ve been on my mind for the whole voyage,” your cheeks dust a slight pink, earning a chuckle from him.

“Would you do me the honour of letting me accompany you the rest of the day? Perhaps we could do something you enjoy,” 

“...So...a date?”

“Yes, precisely,” 

taglist:  @larkspyrr @outlet-0 @rim0na @sweeti-pie @yamsthegod @reaped-winnower @hai-q-haikyuu @tkshoki @fanfictionenthusiast @skatercashew @leefletter @kimbapsana  @hentaje @marginmaster87 @tempehlust @rinnesy @hallohun @softlybeloved @ssalamanderr @ben6ett

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[smeard-butter]

Genshin character as animals, and little things about them.

SFW, fluff, mentions of angst (but not a lot)

Mentions of abuse, alcohol, a kidnapper, being stalked, sexual, blood, finger being bit off, injury, hunting season, mentioned of being robbed, someone breaking in, mentions of someone almost getting k*lled, one ran away, another for separating anxiety.

This was inspired by my besties and some of the scenarios in the fanfic was also written by them. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ both males and females, you live in a house for this (not an apartment or something)

Master list here

Amber - Bunny

She always runs circles around your feet whenever you come home from work, it's been a long day of dealing with the 'babysitter' all she want to do is to play with you! But don't worry you will have fun

Kaeya - Tuxedo Cat

He is the type to push things off the countertop, he is like "oh this glass right beside me, now it's on the floor"(obviously meowing what he is saying) but he won't if he sees you had a bad day at work, so instead you get tackled with the purring

Lisa - Macaw

She figured out that you had a bookshelf in the living room, and now she spends most of her time there, sometime she makes you read to her or she tryed to read to you (yeah that usally never works) but she now reads bed time story's to the kids every night.

Barbara - Canary

Every Sunday there is this choir that's always sings and Barbara started to tweet to the song they were singing, she knows the song word from word and what time it exactly starts and finishes. She started waking you up just for you to turn on the tv so she can sing to the other animals, sometimes Yun Jin and venti joins in and maybe even xingyan

Razor - Husky

This boy HOWLS when taking a bath, like full on barks and tries to get away to the point Bennett and fischl needs to be in the bath with him so he is calmer and plays with them long enough to get the shampoo out of his fluff

Fischl - Leopard Gecko

She always spends time with Bennett and razor, she is also one who will act out scenarios with Bennett and razor, like fighting bandits or fighting mutated plants, but always puts their game on pause just for lunch then when done immediately start playing where they left off.

Bennett - Lop Earred Bunny

He absolutely loves it when you play with his floppy ears, like putting a bow on it or just lifting them up and down, it's nice to know that you're enjoying time with the bunny and how his bad luck doesn't affect you or anyone in the house!! So there is more opportunities to play with the others

Noelle - Golden Retriever

Evey Morning you see her carrying all the children on her back then bringing them to there spots to be fed, she just to so nice that alot the kids could just sleep on her and she wouldn't mind!! She sometime dusts dressers with her tail like it's a feather duster and it works, no more sneezing for anyone.

Sucrose - Bunny

Once you took her to a strawberry farm and you picked them just to watcher her eat the strawberrys, they were the nice and sweet ones and she loved them so much the you bought one of the plants so now there is a strawberry bush in the house and she always eats from them and shares with the rest of the animals

Jean - German Shepherd

She is always the one to break up fights (mainly Childe vs someone) and is the one to put them in the time out corner or time out box. She is always like mother hen and responsible to the others, she barely gets any sleep at night so you started to bring her to the bed just to make her lay down and get some sleep thinking she didn't like her bed. That wasn't the case but she did finally sleep for once and down that's her main spot

Diluc - Maine Coon Cat

Unlike his brother he is responsible and spends most of his time patrolling outside to make sure no robbers get in at both night and day. But still sometimes you got to pull out the treat trap, (it's just placing down treats then picking him up once he ate them) it worked. And you also just like Jean put him on the bed to sleep the took one of your pillows but now that's covered in fur.

Venti - Cockateil

This bird always got to wake you up at MIDNIGHT just to sing you a song he learned from a book that Lisa read to him, he also takes plastic cups and bang them up and against another one to make noises just to sing to them, the neighbors though it was you and walked over to complain just to see it was venti with plastic cups, also you have him one of those toy drums and he never stops plying with it.

Klee - Pomeranian

She loves bath time, because she not only gets to play with toys but because you introduced bath bombs to her, at first she got disappointed because it wasn't what she thought it was but when it turned all pretty colors and a toy came out she was happy again. Can't take baths without them now

Diona - Calico Cat

You found her one day eating trash out of a garbage bag, she looked so skinny fur was knotted and was full of fleas. You were going to return her to her home but when you found the address you realized it was that abusive toxic house down the street, immediately taking her home with you because you know she would just get worse and no animal or person who didn't do anything wrong deserves that, ever since that (and a whole lot of trips to the vet)she had gotten really healthy and happy.

Albedo - Collie

He is always the one dealing with klee's shenanigans and spends alot of his time painting, you been amazed at his art skills you brought him to an artist studio to show off his work and for other artists to watch him paint, after that he was not only in the news but also some of his art was sent to an art museum with context so now he is an artist celebrity and famous.

Rosaria - the bat that stays in a tree outside

It was a rainy day when someone cough cough diluc found something in the window trying to get into the house, you opened the window to see a soaked bat fly into the house and immediately go to sleep near the fireplace, you are going to get the broom but then realized it was only finding shelter from the rain so you let it stayed, and ever since then you had an extra set of eyes patrolling the house at night.

Eula - Persian Cat

You also saved her from an abusive home, she bites everyone who isn't you trying to pet her and she will draw blood with her bites, but she also acts like she doesn't care for you but right when you give her any sort of affection she is purring and rubbing up and against your legs

Xiangling - Corgi

She always got to be in the kitchen with you, she also helps you by bringing the food to the others and when cooking for yourself she always gets you ingredients in the fridge att her level. It's adorable to see her walking over all happy with a tomato bag in her mouth and she always gets free food (that is good for her) from food trucks.

Beidou - Doberman

She is loved by the children, and I mean loved! She has alot of energy but she is trained enough to go to childrens hospitals and visit sick kids, it make it good with her having barely any fur so if any kid has allergies there wouldn't be any problem! But she is adored by the kids and always loves to make there days better, usally every Wednesday is when you visit with her, even a kid make her a flower crown that she refuses to take off when visiting the kids.

Xingqiu - Cockatoo

He always is hanging around chongyun but never when shenhe is there, but usally he always puts a sheet over his head and scares the daylight out of chongyun, he also flicks the light switch off and on to scare you especially after watching a horror movie. But he always stops once he realized you started crying.

Ningguang - Sieamese Cat

She always swats beidou away, and spends most of her days cleaning her fur, she also Steals your jewelry (if you have any) and wear it, also if you give her any money she will hiss if you try to take it away, you do t know why i guess she just likes money and having it spent on her because the only times she purred it was when you spent over 700 dollars on a pet groomer to wash then trim her fur.

Chongyun - Domestic Short Haired Cat

He always gets scared of little things, he probably only watches the ghost Busters move to see the ghost loose, he also gets really protective when something is happening like the lights flickering on and off (I wonder who was doing that) he also really loves eating with shenhe she always makes sure there is no spice in the food, sometimes shenhe stared you down when making it.

Qiqi - Finch

She always gets attacked by hu tao so you always have Xiao watching her, he became an older brother to her and would refuse to leave her alone to get something, but he does, Qiqi always follows Xiao to where you called him just to sit on ether his or your head. Sometimes she plays with the other kids. She loves milk and always cheeps at you whenever she wants it, she also got the other animals to remember things for her, like when it's time for lunch, breakfast or dinner.

Mona - Axolotl

She shares a bowl with kokomi, and loves to look up at the stars at night time, so much that you take her out with kokomi to look up at them outside, once it was going to be a meteor shower at night so you got a tent on all set up and everything in the backyard and brought her out in the spare fish bowl with you, she was curious at what's going on till you pointed to the sky, she immediately fell in love with the show, she didn't blinked once during it because she didn't want to miss anything, she went to sleep knowing that next time that is going to happen she will be watching it again, and she already can't wait.

Keqing - Sieamese Cat

People always forgets she is even there when visiting so you always are holding her when the kids or your friends visit, she also hangs around Xiangling ningguang and ganyu, that's really it, she is really shy to go near zhongli though, so sometimes you put her food next to his to get her use to him, it worked because now she will go up to him and they will start to talk, she also watches you cook whenever you're cooking golden shrimp balls, to the point where you make them cat friendly and allow her to taste test them. She tends to be more affectionate whenever she gets to eat the golden shrimp balls.

Xinyan - Beagle

She always howls to the radio whenever she is in the car, her favorite genre is rock and heavy metal so you got some on Spotify for her, other people always laughs at the fact she sings to songs that is just screaming but still compliments her when the song ends, some kids are afraid to approach her but one time one of the kids lost there toy and xinyan found it and brought it to them, now she always it there to help kids who lost something at the playground and to sing songs with them and scream whenever they go far up in the swings. You're happy she is made more friends, she also protected a kid from a frog and is still proud to this day.

Zhongli - Bearded Dragon

He might be elderly but do not underestimate him, that what Tartaglia (tries to) tell you evey time you pick up zhongli to get a nice warm spot on the counter so he can sunbathe and relax with the warmth of your hand patting him, then giving tartaglia the stinky eye and sticking out his toungh at him. Once he got down though tartaglia tryed to fight him, and Tartaglia got flung in to the wall by a tail, zhongli was sent to time out for a while, but got out just in time for bed.

Ganyu - Highland Sheep

She loves when the children all play with her, sometimes she gives them rides like she would have the kid settled on her back then, having ahold of her horns then she would slowly walk around the back yard. They always get to help bathe her, brush her and dress her up with bows with bells on them.

Xiao - Screech Owl

Owns number one for patrolling the house, and it the best to respond to his name on any 'ouch' from another room, like one time you were chopping carrots and you cut yourself on accident and before you got out the ouch he was right there with bandaids, and if your in your room he and be downstairs and you whisper his name you can hear aggressive flapping of wings coming closer at the seconds then he emerges from the door and sits down next to you. He gets alot of Pats and forehead kisses.

Hu Tao - a black cat that sometimes watches you sleep

She usually is the one to drink out of kokomi's or Mona's bowl, she is the worse ankle bitter, and she figured out how to use the breaker box so now watching a horror movie she teams up with xingqiu and scares the living daylights out of everyone, the only difference is that unlike xingqiu when you start to cry she won't stop, zhongli is usally the one to fling her with his tail or just smack her over the head with it, they way of saying sorry to to watch your every move when you sleep after that, which makes you cry because all you feel is eyes on you and she is smacked again, she was sleeping in the spare room for a while after that .

Yanfei - Deer

You find her in the back woods with an injured leg during deer hunting season and decided to take her in for safety and for her leg to heal, during this time all the others knew she is going though something traumatic and help her slowly to recover, her leg finished healing by the end of hunting season so you helped her walk around outside with ganyu and aloy, she she was fully ready to go out on her own you feel so happy for her yet sad she left, but the next day she was back with a blueberry bush, apparently she left to get her favorite bush to bring to back as not only a thank you gift but also an 'now I don't have a reason to leave again' . She spend most of her time with the pets who finished fighting over something and figuring how to solve it, like they fought over the bone how about each of you gets a side and share it, it always worked.

Yun Jin - Canary

She love to watch the opera shows on tv, she also can be shy, but would still sing to your friends, they always compliment her on her singing, and the same friends bought you tickets to see Phantom of the opera and you guys might of snuck in Yun Jin with you and told her if she wanted to watch it she needs to stay quiet and she did, by the end of the opera it looked like she was about to burst into tears, she might of also flew off to 'talk' to the actors, it's fine though because they loved her and loves her singing voice of 'music of the night', you guys went home with a happy Yun Jin with some autographs.

Shenhe - Snowy Owl

She broke into your house at night and set off all the animals, you were going to put her outside but all she was going was eating your flowers and immediately chongyun went up to her and she started to pick through his fur and you just couldn't bear the thought of letting her go because chongyun already sucks uo to her like she is his aunt or something, now there is a new addition to the family

Kazuha - Chameleon

He loves the summer breeze on him, that's nice warm sun warming him up when a nice refreshing cool breeze passes by so he doesn't overheat, it's just perfect for him to lie down and take a nap right there, sometimes you'll be sleeping on your head when you're out in the garden, he is so quiet you don't even know he is there until he crawled on your arm to eat a little bit of the veggie plant your harvesting from, he also likes to lay on a maple leafs and take there red colour. You are least got a mini branch with leaves on them for him

Ayaka - Ragdoll Cat

She always stays right beside ayato and Thoma, like she would coward whenever someone approached her, but then she made friends with all the other animals (mainly the cryo's) and now she is more socially she is still scared of some people visiting but that's mainly people she don't like the mail man not your friends or the neighbors kids she is ok with them. And mainly you

Sayu - Hedgehog

She always is watching your friend play Sonic the hedgehog even though she falls asleep in the middle of the gameplay she still wakes up enough time to watch your friend finish the game, she also tends to fall asleep when doing anything, like eating, taking a bath, playing with the others. You put her on a sleep schedule now she sleeps at night and after lunch takes a nap for 2 hours, after a week she wasn't fall asleep where she stood anymore.

Yoimiya - Jack Russell Terrier

She is the the only dog besides klee who loves watching fireworks and not get scared of them, you usally take her out for a walk on nights like this or to bring her to a firework show, whenever you take her to the show all the kids love her and asked to play with her or feed her treats. So usally you have a good 15 kids sitting around you all watching the show with her.

Sara - a bird you sometimes feed

She was just some random crow looking for food so you fed her, and then days of that you started to train her and now you have a pet crow who knows to attack and caw at people when you say "GET OUT" or "LEAVE ME ALONE" it's funny to see some of your friends are scared of the crow, but all in all really friendly and protective, she also gets snacks from the counter to give to Ei.

Ei - "I swear she's around here somewhere, she just doesn't like people" Bob Tailed Cat

One time she went missing for a week and you found her on the street and took her home, the only thing that the next day she returned so you now have 2 of the same cat in your house and one of them is yours you figured out which one was Which because Ei immediately went for Miko but now she isn't allowed to leave for weeks again.

Kokomi - Betta Fish

She spits rocks at you when you are getting stressed, she is also one of the best pets to listen to your worries because she will be there to help to the best of her abilities, gorou also sleeps next to her to make sure no cars drink from the bowl so she always gets protection from you and him, so she has to listen to you in return

Thoma - Orange Tabby

He goes around outside and picks up garbage, it's kind of funny because once there was a elementary school doing the earth day thing and picking up garbage and he joined the kids now evey earth day they draw him as a mascot so you have to bring him to the school.

Gorou - Shiba Inu/Corgi Mix

Gorou loves car rides, whenever you say the words car he is already at the door and tail wagging like a windmill and leash in his mouth. He is allowed to sit in the front seat and allowed the window down unlike some other dogs (itto, klee etc) but whenever you get to a red light there always someone with there phones out recording gorou and babying him, and he loves it

Itto - Rottweiler

One time you brought him to a dog park when there was a kidnapper on the loose, you let him off leash to play with the other dogs, but halfway he jumped the fence and immediately bit someone, apparently that someone was the kidnapper and they were so close to getting a girl in the car, but itto intervened and saved the girl. The police arrived shortly to see the kidnapper being dragged around by a ginormous dog, itto was rewarded by the police for saving a girl from being kidnapped, but also stopping and catching the person. Whenever you visit that park with itto kids play with him when adults take pictures of them, itto is a hero

Miko - Marbled Fox (one of the only foxes you can have as a pet)

She is another prankster and an ankle biter, she hides under the couch just so she can swat or bite at you ankles and it gets you everytime, whenever someone comes over she always chases Ei from her hiding spot and just follow her around, she also pushes the shampoo bottles down whenever you take a shower and it always makes you jump and she just laughs in return, but you still love her so you deal with it

Ayato - Chow Chow

He always manages to piss off Miko alot of the time and sometimes you, like how one time he sat in your spot on the couch (which is right infront of the tv and the table) and refused to move so you had to sit at the other end always reaching over to grab your snack and having to watch the tv in an uncomfortable way, he also would kick the table so you drink spilled all over you and the snack is on the floor, once you had enough you just turned off the tv and went to your room to sleep and he did follow you once he realized he went to far, he did try to apologize which at first you didn't accept so he came back with another snack and drink then you forgave him.

Tartaglia - Orange Tabby

He is always the one getting into fights, wether it's the neighbors cats, there dog, the mailman, the person who jogs past every day, he just does. He spent the most time in the time out corner and killed the most mice out of the cats, he sees everyone as family so he isn't allowing a rat infestation or someone to break in, because he did bite someone's finger off because they made you uncomfortable and then tryed to grab you so he bit them, yes he was rewarded with his favorite meal and alot of kisses for that, but that proves he ain't taking anything happening to his family

Aloy - a bear that broke into your car once

Yeah, the reason she broke in was because she saw someone enter your car with chloroform and a cloth so she followed you from the woods to your house and when the person was about to attack she walked up to it and scared them away and saved you. So now you have a bear living in your backyard, all the other love her because she saved you (instant respect) and so you sleep outside in the summers with her, and whenever the neighbors kids come over you pay a person to train the kids what to do if you encounter a bear in the woods, they always got aloy to do different scenarios and act like different types of bears. So far all the kids now know how to protect themselves from the bad bears and okay with the good ones

Scaramouche - Ball Python

You found him protecting a bleeding kid from thugs in an alleyway, you did steps in and take the kid to a hospital and had to take scaramouche home, now you guys visit the children's hospital with both beidou and scara, when beidou is in the other rooms you visit the kid with scara, the kid loves when you visit because you both saved them, you also visit elderly home with him so the elderly can see and touch a snake that curls up on there laps and allows then to Boop his nose.

Signora - Siberian Cat

She is the cat to randomly enter the house and refuse to leave, she sits on the up of the shelf and ignores everything around her, she has also attacked venti, and refused to go to the corner! So Ei had to watch over her, she did listen and stayed when Ei was there so know you know that signora is scared or Ei for some reason.

Lumine - Australian Shepherd

She once got out of the house and ran into a forest alone, she got lost and then was found by someone who took her in the realization hit them that's she had a collar and there was an address on it, they brought her home a while after that, but since then she really wants to go on another adventure but her brother keeps stoping her, now she just allows him to follow her, she knows how lonely he was so she always stayed near him.

Aether - Border Collie

He always hangs out with lumine and paimon, he seems to have separation anxiety and always needs to be right beside his sister, when you first adopted them both the owner said that one time lumine went missing for a half of a year and then we're going to be came back and he never left her side again. You always make sure there food bowls are next to eachother and to take them both on a walk at the same time.

Paimon - bumblebee

She spend most of her time with aether and lumine but also at the kitchen, she loves to pollinate the flowers in the backyard and the strawberry plant inside the house. You Started having a little bee farm and collected the honey. But she loves the strawberry plant, it gives off the most and sweetest pollen to her,

Dainsleif - Samoyed

He is always the one to look the friendliest but is one of the top 5 dangerous out of them all, he won't ever hesitate to attack if someone broke in or if anyone layed a had on you in a violent or non consensual way, he will not and I mean NOT take any of that, he would have k*lled them if you weren't there to tell him no and what would happen if he did, but once you get home he immediately comforts you, all the other animals even Singora would come to cuddle you but if you wanted space he will tell them to back off and if you wanted to be alone he will gard the door with his life.

Dottore - a weasel that has stolen your car keys once

Yeah that was a fun experience. You were late to work because someone stole your car keys you did find him an hour later though going through your garden and got the car keys back, you just picked him up and placed him in the house. Diluc didn't like him and he still don't trust him, dottore started trying to steal every piece of jewelry in the house but evey time diluc caught him ether in the act or trying to get away, and diluc stoped him each time. When you got home dottore was staring diluc down, you kept him in the house it's just that they are NEVER EVER allowed to be in the same room, he also picks on tartaglia, signora, and scaramouche.

[honey-milk-depresso]

Playing Genshin (TWST Octatrio)

HI IM PROCRASINATING ON XIAO’S PART 3 MUTE FATUI SO LETS DO TWST WONDERLAND INSTEAD CUZ IM INSPIRED *chokes* please don’t kill me-

Jade Leech

This smug heathen

He is smug as hell-

Honestly I cannot understand myself-

Why I think his gacha pull luck is insane-

He pulls three 5 STARS ON THE FIRST PULL

W T F

“Oya oya? I gotten Zhongli, Diluc and...oh! Perfect! A C5 Qiqi! Hmhm~”

Stop flexing-

We get it-

U so lucky

H M P H

Ok but seriously though-

his team set up is   L E G E N D A R Y

It’s made up of the best 5 stars (and one 4 star) you could think of.

He uses Hu Tao as his Main DPS, Zhongli as his support, Qiqi as his healer and Xingqiu as his sub dps.

I want to believe that Xingqiu was his first ever 4 star that led him to become oh so frickin lucky at every other pull-

And he got attached to him, so-

A N Y W A Y S

Co op with him on a date to defeat a Pyro Regisvine while he sits with you on a couch with his head on top of yours,

he slings his arms in front of you and holds his phone, while looking at yours.

He thinks it’s so funny when you pout and complain or just straight up feral rage quit when you lose it about how stupid the pyro regisvines are.

This is now his favorite thing to do after a long day of  chasing idiots down work.

Just relaxing and playing Genshin with his s/o.

So wholesome.

Floyd Leech

He frickin loves this game.

He loves everything about it.

And he wants you to play!

If you already have the app, then he’ll ask you to co op with him!

If you don’t, he’ll ask you to install, and he’ll go into your world to co op with you!

Either way you still play with him-

And I like to think his first 5 star was Klee,

because she’s a cute child that destroys everything

Super fun and chaotic!

And he also uses her as his main dps like Jade does,

just that it doesn’t matter who is good for what role.

So long he likes the character, he puts em on his team

Cmon now Floyd bby

Like-

C’ m o n-

Klee is his main dps, Venti is his support (he took his time to grind up primos for this, if he didn’t get Venti, he would rage quit during Venti’s banner-) (he also like Venti cuz he makes him laugh all the time-), Xiangling as his sub dps (Xiangling cooks, she’s cute, but not as cute as you obviously, and he totally gets her weird nature-) and he uses Xinyan as his other support.

No healer

*inhales* FLOYD-

I STAN XINYAN AND HER COOL GUITAR BUT COME ON

3 PYROS GKGJGTUYG-

Ok but he stills manages to be pretty good and survive well in the game.

He have you lie on your stomach, while he’s beside you lying on his back on his bed just playing Genshin for hours.

Bonus he brings in the s n a c k s

Super fun playing with him and he doesn’t really get all rage quit mode when you’re beside him.

cuz he’s more happy playing when you’re around <3

Azul Ashengrotto

Sorry man

Ironically and unironically has the worse luck amongst the three.

4 stars EVERYTIME-

GKJGBGVJ

Watch him go into a rage quit in his office chair so fcking abruptly.

“FCKING- I DON’T EVEN USE NOELLE-”

Ok but we love wholesome Noelle-

He does too, but-

he just salty

He wants Jade’s luck-

his first 5 star was Zhongli-

And the only 5 star he’ll ever get

He tried getting Xiao but only got a shit ton of Beidous and Noelles.

He tried getting Hu Tao but got a shit ton on Xingqius and Chongyuns

He has to REALLY put thought into his team set up.

Benette is his only healer, he got no other healer character which sucks-

Couldn’t even get Jean our boy is sad-

Zhongli is his support, the only thing he’s proud of, Yanfei as his main dps because he likes Yanfei and Xingqiu and literally just completed his constellation for the number of godamn times he gets him.

Sticks with this team, sometimes he uses the actual main team: Traveller (Anemo), Kaeya, Lisa and Amber for the fun of it.

24 hour grind is real my dude-

When he wants to have genshin dates with you, co op with him, expect to see him ask you to roll for him when his desired banner comes out-

He saved up a shit ton of primogems-

he. will. get. the . 5. star. exclusive. 

Co op with him to raid Geovishap, Oceanid, Stormterror and Childe to hear this man rage quit on his bed with you probably laughing your ass off.

“FCKING CHILDE, DAMNIT I SHOULD’VE PUT FISCHL FOR THIS-”

ok but jk he thinks Childe is cool-

And he really likes Liyue

Aesthetic and “pay your taxes”

[abyssthepansexual]

If I were to make an angst male reader insert story of Ao3 would anyone be interested?

Plot wise reader is the hydro archon who was married to Rex Lapis aka Zhongli. When Zhongli faked his death he never informed his husband of his true intent, he also had somewhat fallen out of love and figured he could also use this as a way to break things off with you without telling you he didn't love you.

Obviously you find out cuz you know reader eventually knows all.

Y'all sexy and smart gods be damned~

Anyway I'm still debating if there's like a rekindling with Zhongli or if I pick a different romantic option for the reader.

There's more plot behind it all but telling you know would spoil it.

Duh

I was debating drawing a humanoid Osiel just to spite Zhongli like the god who tried to destroy your nation just pulls up like.

"Your husband is mine now bitch."

But idk I figured I'd see what others thought.

Also trying to figure out if osiel would be a little white bitch because he lacks sunlight from being below the water all the time or if he's some melatonin infused man who's just trapped away from sun rn. Idk another thing ill take opinions on.

Brain is mush no thought just bitterness with everyone that isn't the traveller and Paimon rn.

Baal is throwing a fit over her eternity.

Zhongli fucked a lot of people up with faking his death.

I've got mixed feelings on Venti.

Dain is cool been the most helpful.

Kinda wanna smack the traveler's sibling.

Kaeya is always cool....

Then again I main him so that's biased.

And now I'm rambling due to tiredness fuck me sideways.

ANYWAY

This would be my first multi chapter reader insert fic in years so bear with me I mainly do drabbles or character stuff.

[skywardscroll]

divine intervention | venti

✧ word count: 2.5k

✧ summary: baring witness to world can become wearisome. venti, though you don’t really know him, wants to help.

✧ warnings: really angsty with some fluff thrown in! the reader has depression / there is self-deprecation. reader is also afab!

✧ a/n: this is so sweet >-< . i’m really proud of this one! also, writing klee is literally the funnest thing ever lol. <3 hope you guys enjoy!!

Teyvat, as you’d come to learn through your years, was a dangerous, merciless world. Every day, people lost their fathers, sisters, friends, and lovers. The world was full of greedy bandits and vicious monsters, and it only seemed to be getting worse as the days went by.

This last adventure out to Liyue had really taken the optimism out of you; Growing weary from traveling, you returned to your home in Mondstadt quite exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. Was there any other facet of you that could be exhausted? Because you were sure that it would also be stricken with strife.

You told the Adventurer’s Guild that you were temporarily retiring from your work to take a well-overdue vacation from fighting and the ever-arising political strain you witnessed every time you left the City of Freedom. You just wanted to enjoy your safe corner of the world, at least for the summer.

The (admittedly strange) way you decided to do this was by staying indoors with your books, sometimes going entire days without once stepping into the sunlight. It was a pleasant way to spend the time, but you knew it was unhealthy.

Your books, when the main characters shared similar habits to you, called this behavior ‘depression.’ Though, you willfully ignored this, pretending that this was normal of someone with a heavy heart (just a heavy heart. Not all the other symptoms that you were falsely denying you had, like an aversion to engagements with friends, or a neglect of hydration.)

It was one of the hottest days in July, you remembered, when you heard a knock on your door. You contemplated answering it, thinking that maybe the Adventurer’s Guild would want you back to work prematurely. This was quickly disproven, though, when a small voice called from outside the door:

“Miss Y/N? Oh, Miss Y/N~! Please come out!”

Klee’s sweet voice seemed to somehow wrap itself around your heart and pull you towards the door.

“Miss Y/N?”

You hesitated, knowing that once you saw that endearing child’s round eyes, you would be forced to play outside with her for as long as she wanted you to. You loved Klee dearly, and would do anything for her, even if you didn’t necessarily wish to go along with it. But you really didn’t feel like leaving your house, knowing that the Freedom Festival was currently in full swing.

“Y/N? Are you in there?” You recognize a second voice to belong to Grandmaster Jean.

Inhaling deeply, you opened the door to see Klee’s face light up as she excitedly pulled on Jean’s hand.

“She opened the door! She did! I told you Y/N would open the door!”

“Y/N!” Jean said, obviously surprised by your appearance. “It’s so good to see you’re well.”

“It’s good to see you two, as well.” You said with full honesty. You hadn’t realized it until you saw them before you, but you had certainly missed seeing your friends.

“Y/N! I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the Freedom festival with us! There’ll be food, and music, and I overheard Rosaria saying something to Kaeya about special drinks!”

“Oh… I don’t know…”

“Come on! It’ll be fun! They have this game, and it has a prize that looks like a biiiig dodoco! I want it but if you come you can have it!” Klee’s excitement makes a smile appear on your face.

“You should come, Y/N. It would be good for you, I think.”

You sighed a little, looking back at your book which sat with the pages down against the cushion of your reading chair, waiting to be returned to. But as if by design, the wind carried the smell of food into your door and your stomach rumbled. Besides, Klee’s eyes were bearing into your heart just as you predicted, and you could see Jean’s hand clasp onto Klee’s a little tighter in hopes that she wouldn’t be disappointed.

“Alright, I’ll come.”

If you were to be frank, you had no idea what the difference between the Windblume Festival and the Freedom Festival was. To you, it just seemed like another concocted excuse to party. Which, in your youth, you never complained about, and you weren’t inclined to complain now, either, as Sara handed you a particularly delicious-looking chicken and mushroom skewer. You hadn’t eaten something like this in a month, and it was very welcome in your stomach.

“Over there! It’s Venti! Venti!” Klee went running ahead of you and Jean, who were idly speaking to one another as you finished off your food and threw the stick away.

“Klee! Don’t run off!” Jean called out, running after the young girl while you walked a bit behind, enjoying the scenery of Mondstadt decorated in flowers and it’s streets lined with vendors.

“Hi Klee!” You looked up and saw a man hug Klee tightly (a boy? He was quite short, but you were pretty sure he was an adult.) It was hard not to notice the golden lyre in his hand and how the strings seemed to be luminescent. You’d never seen anything like it before, and accidentally stared at it in clear awe.

“Do you play?” He asked, a smile that seemed to lift your heart was directed to you after the question left his lips.

“No… Not anymore. I tried to learn when I was a child but…”

“That’s alright. It takes a lot of practice, yeah?”

You let out a breathy laugh and nod, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Jean scooped up Klee into her arms before she could run off again. “You two haven’t met before?”

“Sadly no.” Venti said, placing his hand over his heart. “I would’ve remembered such a beautiful face, surely.”

Bard’s and their sweet words. You thought to yourself. Out of kindness, you only laughed in response to his compliment.

“I’m Y/N.”

“Ahh! I’ve heard of you! The exceptional adventurer!”

Why does this guy say everything so enthusiastically? Is this what you used to sound like? His way of speaking, though you felt guilty for it because you knew he couldn’t help it, grated against your nerves. You weren’t in the right mindset for his optimism. Or, perhaps, it was that you were jealous that he still had a hold on his, and so easily too, while it had been so long since you were excited about anything.

When you didn’t say anything, there was a small look in Venti’s eyes that told you he could see right through you, or that he was at least aware that something was wrong with you.

“Well, I ought to be on my way back home.” You said, causing Klee to whine out.

“Y/N~! You can’t go yet! What about the giant dodoco?”

You frowned, feeling guilty for letting Klee down, but feeling too exhausted for any more socialization.

“At least stay for a song, Y/N?” Venti offered with a quieter tone of voice, pointing to a chair that was left unoccupied by the gathering crowd around him.

“Yeah! Just one song~?” Klee pleaded.

You bit the inside of your cheek before eventually nodding and sitting in the chair. Klee let out a cheer of celebration as Jean sat down beside you, letting Klee sit in her lap. You noticed how Jean had been particularly silent throughout this. Did she feel bad for you? Or did she, too, want you to stay for some reason?

“I’ll sing a very special song for a new friend!” Venti announced to the audience, to which you blushed a little at the attention and rolled your eyes. Though, once Venti’s fingers started gracing the strings of his harp, all feelings of discomfort and irritation floated away.

“Sit here closely, let me tell,

of the young maiden’s heart who one day swelled.

The once frozen walls, the once salty tears,

Now gone with a kiss that she wished had lasted years.

In the times of old, long before the gods were bold,

there was no remedy for a heart gone cold.

The young maiden wandered, hoping for peace

from the heartache and unrest the world did unleash.

Did she find it, you ask? Did she find it? I’ll tell.

She found it in freedom, from freedom it fell.

For Barbatos did bless her, from under the Windrise tree,

She only had to meet him in the morning at three.

The warmth she had searched for, that unlike she had ever known

was hers, finally, to own.”

The crowd clapped for Venti as he finished his short song, one that was unfamiliar to you and unsettled you to no end.

What was his motive?

You weren’t stupid. You’d read enough of your books in the last month and been on enough adventures with a multitude of twists and turns to know that he had just come up with that song for you. As beautiful as it was, you felt uncomfortable with the stranger being able to see through you so well.

Yet, when he flashed you a cheeky smile while he reveled in the applause, you felt that he had good intentions. In fact, you wondered if he could do any wrong. He just didn’t seem like the type to do anything evil… Ever.

“Did you like it, Klee?” Venti asked, bending down to talk to the girl who wriggled excitedly in Jean’s lap.

“Yes! It was sooooo pretty! I’ve never heard it before!” She gushed.

“A very lovely song, indeed, Venti.”

“Thanks Jean!” Venti flashed her a confident grin.

“Well, Y/N! Thanks for staying for the show!” He said, standing back up and turning to you. “I hope I can see you again soon!”

“Yeah. See you soon.” You replied with a half-hearted tone.

You were entirely conflicted. Your mind was telling you no; You shouldn’t go out there tonight. It was dangerous and you were significantly out of shape to be dealing with slimes and hilichurls. Besides, it was just a song… What if you were reading too much into it? And what if… You just wanted him to be singing about you and him?

Your heart wanted that to be true. It’d be like the books you’ve been reading, where the prince comes up with some elaborate way of asking the maiden to meet him in secret. You were, no matter how hardened you became, a hopeless romantic at heart. Something about Venti made your heart soar from the pits of depression you had fallen into. You… Trusted him.

You could do with a late-night walk, you supposed.

It took longer than usual because of the festivities, but the city eventually fell silent as everyone either rested in their beds or in a tavern. You found walking in the empty city strangely comforting. Rather than being shut away from the world out of fear of pestering others, you could now walk freely without a single care, if you so pleased.

You took your time walking out of the city, smiling at every stray cat and even stopping for a moment at the bridge to admire the water. You missed how, when you were a young girl, you used to look at the lake and dream about visiting all the other lakes in the world. You’d seen a lot of them, now, but this one still held a special place in your heart.

Windrise, though it had been years since you visited the Archon Statue, was as beautiful as ever. The tree looked even more alive in the moonlight, if it were possible.

You were raised to believe that you were under the protection of Barbatos, though you never would call yourself devout. That title belonged to the sisters of the church, who were truly faithful to Barbatos. But you would feel comfortable saying you were a believer. You liked that Barbatos was so just, and his famous story of his liberation of old Mondstadt was a tale you frankly would never tire of.

Regardless, as you sat in front of the statue, you saw no signs of the charming bard from before. You wondered if he memorized that tale of Barbatos; A part of you wanted to hear him tell it.

“I’m a fool, aren’t I?” You said, talking to the statue (not talking to yourself.) “A silly, odd, hermit of a fool. One who shuts themselves away and avoids all their problems. How cowardly can I be?”

A peculiar phenomenon began: The words started pouring out like an uncontrollable waterfall. Once the self-deprecation started, it didn’t seem to want to end.

“My family was so proud to hear I was a part of the guild. They said that you – that Barbatos – had blessed me with the life of an adventurer – a life of freedom. Am I selfish to despise it? I don’t feel free. I feel heavy with all the troubles of the world. Outside Mondstadt it’s… Well, you’re a god, you know how it is.”

You hadn’t spoken much to anyone in over a month. You didn’t even know if anyone was listening. Was he listening? Did he see the tears starting to run down your face and did he hear the cracking in your voice?

“I feel like a joke. A witness to trouble without the power to make things right. It’s so… Frustrating. I hate myself because I hate the world. I’m so useless… So useless.”

And you cried, your head leant against the statue of Barbatos. The months of pain finally bubbled over and bared itself for the world and the gods to see. You were ashamed, and angry at yourself, but you let yourself cry. You cried up to the heavens, to Celestia. Was he watching? Listening?

“Y/N?” A voice softly spoke your name, but your sobs turned into wails immediately following and you couldn’t make yourself stop even if you wanted to.  You felt a pair of arms wrap around you and you hugged Venti back, breathing in his scent of Cecilia. He was so warm compared to the cool summer breeze that blew through the leaves above.

“I’m sorry.” You cried against his shirt; the words muffled but still understandable. There were so many apologies you were making with the single phrase: Sorry for crying, sorry for being rude. Sorry for shutting everyone who cares about me out. I’m sorry for being ungrateful. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

“You don’t have to hide your tears from me, okay?” His voice was so soft and gentle as he pulled your head away from his chest and wiped away your ever-flowing tears from your cheeks.

This went on for a while, him running his thumbs over your cheeks every few minutes and catching the tears. You felt so awful that he was witnessing you like this, he barely knew you. But something in you was saying that this was right. Trust him, this is where you’re meant to be.

You calmed down enough about an hour later that he felt he could speak.

“Everything will be alright, Y/N.”

You let out a jagged exhale. At this point, your jaw was numb, and you were developing a headache. Still, being in Venti’s arms brought you comfort unlike anything you’d ever experienced. It was… Divine.

“Do you think he heard me? That he’s watching over me?”

Venti gave you the most assured, comforting smile you think is humanly possible. Brushing your hair from your face, he replied.

“I’ve never been so certain of anything.”

[rubys-domain]

fuck, what if the reason i'm winning my 50/50's is because hoyo doesn't want me to have tighnari

[kuroken-lovechild]

How haikyuu characters would play genshin impact:

//featuring me nerding out about mbti types 😔

Karasuno

Hinata

As an ESFP he would probably choose his main based on who feels good to use

Quick movements, lots of jumping, strong = XIAO MAIN (probably finds the flashiness and edginess cool and enjoys the button mashing too)

would aggressively compete with kageyama on who can beat spiral abyss the fastest and with the shortest time

unfortunately they’re both not very good (initially because kenma helps him out after)

Would try to follows the plot but dialogue goes over his head

Does not understand stats other than attack at first

Wish impulse is real and never has any primos

would attempt to talk to every npc

Kageyama

META SLAVE

Has no idea what wishing/gacha is at first and builds his starters really well

Then he found out and currently mains Ganyu, Zhongli, Hutao for the big numbers

gloats about his first 5 star to hinata

Does not talk to NPCs at all and barely digs into the story

only there for spiral abyss and to make his characters stronger

Tsukishima

Didn’t wanna play until yamaguchi dragged him in to have someone to co op with

Appreciates the story and lore more than the gameplay aspect

Eula, razor (cv uchiyama kouki) main—easy to build, easy to use

Doesn’t care about wishing either

Got Eula by accident and now holds it over kageyama’s head

Has really good artifact RNG that it infuriates kagehina (gloats about it to fan the flame 😚)

Yamaguchi

he’s infp he chooses based on characters he likes 🥺

Diluc, albedo, ayaka main

(i can’t explain why I think he’d like those three, it just Makes Sense)

Co ops with tsukki and yachi, plays both dps and support

Spiral abyss makes him anxious but he pushes through anyway!!

Daichi

Starter team king 😩

Feels bad about switching his regular team out FJDFJDJJDDJ DAICHI

Probably a casual player though

Plays to coop with suga and tanaka but they carry him through domains

he’s trying his best

Suga

Mains based on whoever’s fun to play too!!

but enjoys more of a challenge

Childe main

Waiting for Scaramouche to drop hAha 🥲 and harbingers in general

Appreciates the plot and is very interested in lore!!

Diligently does spiral abyss

Doesn’t quite wish on impulse, but if theres a character he likes he’ll spend everything on their banner

Asahi

Does not play, got too scared (see: haikyuu ova)

Nishinoya

Rolls VERY much on impulse

Similar to hinata in that he also likes playing playstyles that feel good

Xiao and/or yoimiya main

(xiao because he’s short jk)

Probably raised Rosaria and planned to use her

Plot who???? we only care about world exploration and fighting in this house

Tanaka

wished for all the women, raised all the women, uses all the women

valid

Primarily mains Rosaria, ningguang and Lisa though

sorry beidou you remind him of his sister too much

waiting for signora like many of us are

Coops with noya and has INSANELY bad rng luck

Yachi

Also chooses based on characters’ personalities

gay, mains sucrose and jean

isfj child and probably feels bad about the underrated characters :(

uses amber, xinyan and qiqi too!

Raises all characters but hasn’t raised anyone to 90

Coops with yamaguchi and uses jean (as healer, support, damage dealer)

Talks to NPCs and sympathizes with their sad backstories

Gets too anxious to do spiral floors 9-12 too (mood)

Seijoh

Oikawa

Oh boy

this ENFJ 3w2 guy? you KNOW he’s gonna be the best

As long as it doesn’t clash with volleyball of course

Very VERY competitive in abyss

Has one character hed get attached to but doesn’t limit himself to using them only

Incredibly focused on team synergy, carefully crafts teams to bring out the best in each character

Tests best damage output too

But also he’d probably use meta characters and secretly raise the ones he actually likes?

Current fave: Yoimiya

Uses strong characters for coop but uses his faves for single player domains (or coop with iwaizumi)

Likes characters but surprisingly wouldnt be too invested in the plot

does not whale out of pride

Iwaizumi

Geo user

Uses characters he finds respectable in the storyline + hard hitters

Razor, klee, jean main but unaware of the family relationship

Sometimes uses beidou although her burst takes too long sometimes

Pretty casual player, only started because of Oikawa

Hanamaki

obviously he and matsukawa would make zhongli pillar dick jokes

Kaeya and beidou main (he thinks they’re cool)

Not that impatient to wait for bursts to charge or has a lot of energy recharge

whale

Matsukawa

……. Hutao main

funeral home

Would use qiqi and hutao together for the meme then grows to genuinely like qiqi

Saves up for a really long time then spends it all at once

Kindaichi

Doesn’t play much tbh

Offline for a week, comes back to do commissions for one day, leaves

Kunimi

Hed be pretty good

but lazy and forget to do dailies

then buy welkin moon instead

Focuses more on the story too rather than gameplay and points out loopholes

Mains whoever he has in his team with good synergy (like chongyun xingqiu xiangling)

Kyoutani

Rage quits 5 minutes in after hearing paimon’s voice 😔

Throws his phone at the wall

Yahaba

Simps for jean

Mains jean

Dedicated to dailies and spiral abyss

But doesn’t wish that much

Was the one who tried getting kyoutani into it and suffered the consequences

Nekoma

Kuroo

ENTP king raises a whole arsenal of characters for spiral abyss

I cant see him really getting attached to one in particular ?

makes zhongli pillar dick jokes every chance he can get

but also uses him for utility

Wants to try using a whole bunch of characters and wishes on every banner

But uses the meta ones with good team comps

sparks twitter debates with ….. interesting takes

“_____ is completely shit”

Kenma

OH BOY HES A GAMER GAMER

Whale whale whale whale

He’s tony to

Best synergy teams, understands the value of elemental mastery, REALLY values good supports, calculates possible damage numbers

Kazuha, zhongli, bennett, venti are a staple in his teams

Helps hinata and kuroo until kuroo teases too much by deliberately playing horribly

mildom and youtube streamer like murase ayumu

Appreciates story and lore very much too

Yaku

he’d LOVE the children

Probably would use characters that remind him of family members and friends

Klee, diona, qiqi, chongyun, xingqiu, razor, bennett

does spiral abyss but not obsessively

Lev

KENMA-SAN!!! LETS PLAY TOGETHER!!!

I’m sorry he would not know how the game works

Doesn’t do the ascension quests and gets stuck at AR 26 with 500k extra points

Thinks he’s amazing but it’s because he’s stuck at world level 1

I’m sorry lev ily but ……. its the truth

Tries pulling for everyone too and mains the first 5 star he got

(childe because he’s russian AKSHDKDHSKSHS /j)

Wants diluc and xiao because they look cool but gets Mona instead (doesnt understand how to use her)

Yamamoto

Also raises the women like tanaka but + kaeya

Lev complained to him about getting Mona while he’s wanted Mona for months

Not really a dedicated intense gamer EXCEPT for during those battle events

Fukurodani

Bokuto

WANTS THE STRONG AND COOL LOOKING 5 STARS

Eula, zhongli, diluc, xiao

but doesn’t know how to build either

doesn’t understand stats

would feel really bad for qiqi

Wouldn’t like signora for hurting venti :(

Wouldn’t like childe too :( until he plays the story quest and sees the ruin guard cutscene

then starts sobbing because of what a good brother he is

“AKAAAASSHI I wanna do that too!!!” then he dies

Tries to use childe but doesn’t understand the cool down management

Mispronounces and misspells tartaglia (タルタリア)

for more info on how bokuto plays genshin see Kimura ryohei’s YouTube channel ✨

Akaashi

the true childe main (just like me)

Uses characters based on utility

but mains whoever reminds him of bokuto FJDHFJFJDKSJ

Very good supports but unlike Kenma, he chooses and builds supports around his main

also uses very good supports so people won’t realize he’s using childe for the cv kimura ryohei (everyone knows anyway)

Literature nerd appreciates the plot, writing and deep lore too

Konoha

Tries pulling for everyone but has REALLY bad luck

Has really good characters but never the one he wants

loses all 50/50s and has a c4 qiqi

Ends up maining qiqi as dps

sorry konoha i didn’t mean to slander you

Shiratorizawa

Ushijima

does not know how to play or build

Uses whoever he has (aka starters)

Only plays because tendou downloaded and made an account for him

Doesn’t know how to ascend characters or farm

Forgets about talents (me)

Weirdly good RNG and doesn’t realize it 😩

“Let me look at your account wakatoshi-kun”

“Sure”

“You didn’t tell me you had 6 of jean’s Stella fortuna???”

“What’s that?”

Tendou

this man pulls for the seiyuus

Mains childe, hutao, mona for 5 stars

childe and hutao’s instinct based quickswap playstyle works so well for him!

jokes about cosplaying mona then actually does

Knows how to build, grinds, and manages ushijima’s account for him

Probably whales too

Shirabu

Meta meta meta meta

But f2p meta

Loves setting up reactions

More into the lore too and researches theories

Remembers actual names of boss drops

Semi: so how many of those buttplugs do you have again

Shirabu: 💢stop calling them buttplugs, they have actual names 💢

VERY diligent with battle pass, dailies, achievements and spiral abyss full stars

Until he //SPOILERS gets into med school and has no time for shit

Inarizaki

Atsumu

Would have a crush on a character I just know it

Invests heavily on his faves and is great at utilizing each of them

fussy . complains about a certain unit and how they can improve

or complains about how the game can improve to osamu

Osamu: yer just saying that cuz you couldn’t get a high score

Archons main (already saving for the tsaritsa)

Wouldn’t have a main dps but several hard hitting supports

Whale and falls victim to the weapon banner

Osamu

More casual player than Atsumu but still tries to get higher than him in events and spiral abyss

If atsumu’s a whale, osamu’s a dolphin

Great at dodging

Catalyst user!!

Mains ningguang, klee, yanfei + other catalyst supports

Also uses keqing

Kita

the man appreciates routine aka VERY diligent with dailies, battle pass, farming

“if you do things properly results will follow” or whatever quote he said ✨

Starter team but raises other characters for abyss

Reads dialogue and appreciates the plot

Barely gachas

Aran

will defend TO THE DEATH the underappreciated characters

Has empathy for noelle 🥺🥺

Noelle, Barbara, xinyan, bennett, children user 🥺

Talks to every NPC and loves the backstories and lore

also would feel really bad for qiqi

Suna

Uses the tall men and women and builds them all as dps (childe zhongli diluc kaeya beidou ningguang jean lisa rosaria eula)

He’d probably make a support character a dps tbh

Disregards team synergy for the shits but somehow manages to do domains and abyss

Itachiyama

Sakusa

c6 everyone

leaves

[restlessfandoming]

“the president and the troublemaker” (part 11) (chilumi fic)

“Lumine is the student council president and Childe is the school’s number one troublemaker. They cross paths more than they’d like. Especially when Childe finds out Lumine’s big secret. Highschool AU à la Kaichou wa Maid-sama.”

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10]

[Fic Masterlist] // [AO3 Link] // [Main AO3]

my brain is struggling to produce serotonin :) 

* * *

the president and the troublemaker (part 11)

Lumine felt like a mountain had been lifted off her shoulders the second she saw the large charter buses pull up to the school. The class trip to Liyue was moments from starting.

Amber let out a huge yawn next to her. “Finally, the hard part is over,” she said. “Time to relax.”

Noelle handed each of the girls a paper coffee cup. “I hear Liyue is a beautiful city.” 

Lumine took a grateful sip of her drink, the early morning air crisp in her senses. It was tranquil: the low purr of the vehicles with the muted murmur of the students loading into the buses was almost pleasant enough to put her back to sleep. 

It had been a stressful (sleepless) few nights leading up to today. Lumine was thankful the bus ride was long enough for her to catch up on some much needed rest. 

“LuLu~!” 

Lumine started to turn around. “Hello, Venti—”

Immediately, the bard hugged her with a giggle. “So, where are we sitting?” 

She peeled him off with a raised brow. “You can sit anywhere you want. I’ve got to sit near the front.” 

A cheeky grin. “Then I shall sit at the front as well!” He pulled his ukulele out. “Let’s write a song together!” 

Lumine found herself smiling at Venti. His cheerful disposition definitely put her more at ease, his joy contagious. “Okay, sure,” she agreed. 

“Will Aether be joining us?” Venti asked. 

Lumine shook her head. “All the council members have their own bus to help supervise. He’s with Mr. Zhongli.” She pointed at a few buses over, where Aether waved back at them. 

Venti had gone home with her one day, playing catch up with both her and her brother. Initially, Lumine had been very wary of Venti. But as they recalled old memories together late into the night, she warmed up to him, now remembering their long forgotten bond (though she was still getting used to his...clinginess. And of course the fact he kept reiterating how much he loved her.).

He reminded her of happier times, times when the stress of the world hadn’t been placed on her just yet, and all they had to worry about was what game to play next. 

“LuLu, come on!” Venti said, pulling her onto the bus. He started settling into the seat next to Lumine as the rest of the bus filled up. Lumine settled her belongings as well, in addition to checking off her list of students on the bus, ensuring no student was left behind. 

Just as her finger traced over Childe’s name, there was a loud commotion coming up the stairs. 

“Let go of me, please!” Bennett’s voice. “What did I do wrong?” 

Childe sauntered onto the bus, hand gripping Bennett’s collar and dragging the poor council reporter down the aisle.

Lumine immediately stepped into the aisle, face furrowed. “What the hell are you doing, Childe?” She pried Childe’s hands off Bennett. 

“Making friends,” the tall ginger replied.

Bennett stopped rubbing at his neck, and looked up at Childe, eyes glistening. “Wait, really?” 

“Bennett, go back to your bus,” Lumine ordered. After her reporter dashed off the bus, she turned back to Childe, waiting for an answer. 

He shrugged. “I told you, I was making friends.” A tilt of the head, eyes flickering to Venti. “Too long of a bus ride to spend alone.” 

Lumine glared at him. “Just go find a seat, Childe. You’re one of the last students to arrive.” 

Childe’s eyes lingered on her for a second, before turning around, and making his way to the back of the bus. Lumine only sat back down when she saw him disappear into the seats. She let out a loud sigh. 

“Wow,” Venti said. “He certainly keeps your hands full.”

Lumine gave a strained laugh. “You don’t know the half of it.” She closed her eyes, leaning into her chair and relaxing—

BAM!

Shouts erupted from the back of the bus. 

The muscles in Lumine’s jaw clenched as she slowly opened her eyes and stood up, attention zeroing in on noise. And just as she thought, Childe stood in the aisle, his hands balled into fists, towering over a student on the ground. When he noticed her looking, he smiled. 

Marching to the back, she ignored Childe as she helped the student on the ground, blood seeping through his fingers as he cradled his nose, groaning in pain. 

“Oh my!” a different student exclaimed behind her. Lumine recognized her as Barbara, leader of the music club and occasional volunteer at the nurse’s office. Thank god. 

“Can you help take care of him?” Lumine asked quickly. 

Barbara nodded, gently helping Lumine carry the student to a nearby seat. 

Lumine turned and glared at Childe. “Making friends again?” 

He shrugged, still smiling, and wiped the blood off his knuckles. 

Lumine groaned, rubbing her forehead. “Just...You’re going to sit at the front. With me. So I can make sure you don’t cause anymore trouble.” She shuffled to the front of the bus, Childe in tow behind her. 

“So, what was going on…,” Venti started, sentence trailing off as his gaze landed on Childe. A twitch of a smile. “Aha, him again?”

“Yes,” Lumine said with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Venti; we’ll have to sit together on the way back or something. I’ve got to keep an eye on him.” 

Her friend gave a small smile, a nod of understanding, before scooting out of the seat. As his arm brushed past Childe’s, he stopped and looked at the tall troublemaker, opening his mouth to say something, then closed it. 

“See you later, LuLu,” Venti ended up saying, a sadden edge to his voice. He made his way to the back where Childe’s original seat was. Part of Lumine panged at seeing her friend upset. 

“Well, LuLu?” Childe said, already sitting near the window, legs crossed, head resting on his hands. “Are you going to sit down?”

“So sorry I’m late, dearies!” their faculty chaperone, Lisa—the school’s librarian—said as she walked onto the bus. She smiled at Lumine. “Ah, President Lumine! I trust you’ve accounted for all the students on our bus?”

“Yes, Ms. Lisa,” Lumine responded. “We’re good to go whenever.” 

Lisa nodded, leaning over to tell the bus driver, then plopping herself in the very first row, a few rows ahead of Lumine’s seat. The front of the bus was nearly vacant, with only Lumine, Childe, and Lisa sitting there; the rest of the students congregated towards the middle and back.

The doors to the bus hissed closed, and Lumine finally sat down, facing forward, head turned very obviously away from Childe. 

“Aw, are you mad at me, LuLu?” Childe asked. 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“Oh, but Venti can?” 

“Why did you hit that student?” Lumine crossed her arms as the bus jolted forward. “You were doing good for so long.” 

“So you only like me when I behave?”

“You are acting up way more than usual today. Is someone a little cranky?” Lumine mocked. 

“You look like the cranky one,” Childe said, swiping at the bags under her eyes. 

Lumine pushed his hand away. “I told you. It’s been a busy, stressful time for the council.”

“Well the trip is finally happening, so you can relax now,” he said. “Take a nap, we’ve got a long drive ahead, don’t we?”

Lumine slammed her eyes shut and turned her head away from Childe. “Yes, I was hoping for a quiet, pleasant bus ride to catch up on sleep, then someone decided to start a fight.”

“Had to, Pres. Couldn’t let the new kid sit next to you.” Then, his hand was on the side of her head, and he pulled her head to rest on his shoulder. “Sleep,” he whispered. “I promise I won’t cause any more trouble, okay?”

“What’s wrong with Venti?” Lumine said, heat creeping from Childe’s shoulder to her temple. She didn’t move, however, her body feeling heavier with exhaustion—and Childe made an alright pillow.

Childe gently smoothed out her hair from where his hand still resided. “He loves you.” 

“So do you,” Lumine grumbled, eyes fluttering closed. So tired...

“And that’s the problem, now isn’t it?” Childe muttered. “That makes him my rival.” 

“Don’t be stupid.” “Oh? And whose shoulder would you be sleeping on if I hadn’t gotten in trouble?”

So he’s...jealous? Lumine started to sit up. “You punched that kid just so you could sit next to me?”

Childe pulled her back. “You should sleep before you get sick. Remember how we first met?”

Lumine hummed out a response, eyelids feeling heavier than ever, adjusting her head on Childe’s shoulder without even thinking about it. 

As the sounds of the bus started to drown out of Lumine’s hearing, she felt Childe rest his head atop hers, his cheek pressed against the top of her head. His hand on her head thumbed circles in her hair, while he took his other hand and slipped his fingers through hers. It was a comforting, warm, caring touch—safe.

And she fell asleep in no time. 

* * *

Lumine groggily opened her eyes, moving to stretch her sore muscles. She tried stretching her arms upwards, but realized her fingers were still intertwined with Childe’s. She glanced over at him. 

He was asleep, head leaning against the window. It felt odd to see him like this—so still and quiet. His face was slightly furrowed, as if he was dreaming about something mildly unpleasant. 

His body did look quite uncomfortable, sleeping upright like that, and Lumine felt the cricks in her neck and back from sleeping similarly. It’s probably worse since he’s taller...

Lumine let out a huff of embarrassment as she moved his head to rest on her lap. He immediately adjusted a bit, then visibly relaxed.

Lumine couldn’t help but smile a bit, at him looking so...vulnerable. Usually he was so puffed up with his strength and ego; it was cute to see him sound asleep. 

Her hand moved to soothe out his hair. It was much softer than she had expected, like a cat or fox’s fur, and she found herself running her hand through his hair repeatedly. Each time, his face seemingly relaxed. 

It’s nice. This is...nice. 

The moment didn’t last too long, the bus halting to a stop shortly after. Glancing out the window, Lumine saw they had pulled into a city on the outskirts of Liyue for their lunch stop. 

As she heard the students on the bus starting to gather their things, moving to exit the bus, a small panic formed in Lumine’s gut. She still had Childe in her lap. 

She quickly lifted his head up, pushing him off of her, perhaps a little too forcefully. His limp body smacked against the window with a THUNK! 

Childe jolted awake as Lumine clasped a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. He squinted at her through bleary eyes while rubbing at the side of his head. 

“Did you just hit me?” he asked, confused.

“No. Yes. Sorry, it was an accident,” she answered, still trying to hold back her laughter.

He blinked at her, then reached over, pinching the sides of her face and pulled at her cheeks. “Is this you wanting to start a fight?” He laughed. “I’d be happy to oblige; we never did finish our fight at the beach, did we?” 

“I’d win for sure,” Lumine managed to get out as she tried prying his hands from her cheeks. 

Suddenly, a ukulele descended into her view. She looked up and saw Venti standing behind her, in the aisle, holding the ukulele between her and Childe. 

“LuLu, is this guy giving you trouble?” Venti asked, a fake smile plastered on his face. “I’d be happy to bash a few strings over his head if you want.” 

Childe let go of Lumine’s face, an equally fake smile spreading on his lips. “I’d like to see you try.” 

“Okay!” Lumine interjected, standing up abruptly, and joining Venti in the aisle. “Let’s go eat.” 

“Okay!” Venti echoed, the hostility disappearing from his voice. He took hold of Lumine’s hand, and pulled her towards the exit. “C’mon, LuLu; we’re the last ones off the bus!” 

Before they moved too far, however, Childe clamped a hand down on Lumine’s shoulder, halting them in place. 

“Now, now, Pres—don’t forget your responsibilities,” Childe said, his faux smile still in place. “You’ve got to keep an eye on me, remember? Otherwise, who knows what trouble I’ll stir up?” 

Ah, shit. Lumine bit the side of her cheek, thinking of another innocent student’s bloody nose. “He’s right, Venti,” she said. “I’ve got to keep an eye on him for now.” 

“Oh,” Venti uttered. His face stilled. 

There it is again, that expression…, Lumine thought. What was it? Sadness? Yearning?

Lumine lightly squeezed his hand. “Venti—?”

“Well, the more the merrier, right?” he suddenly exclaimed, his usual, bright demeanor returning. 

And just like when they were younger, Lumine felt the need to look after him. Something was bothering him, and she wanted to patch him up—patch him up like the countless skinned knees she treated for him in their childhood. He was always so optimistic, and it was painful to see him otherwise.  

“Yeah,” Lumine agreed softly. “Why don’t you pick where we eat, Venti?” 

The bard nodded, and started pulling her along again, this time his grip tighter than before. As they walked forward, Lumine felt Childe’s hand on her shoulder slip off, and she glanced back at him. 

He was still following her and Venti, though much further behind now, his hands in his pockets, his eyes cast out the windows. 

She remembered, he was jealous of Venti, though she still didn’t completely understand why. Venti was an old friend, and Childe was...entirely in his own category. 

And yet, somehow, stepping towards one of them left the other in pain. 

What am I going to do?

* * *

The city was bustling with life as students roamed around looking for different restaurants to eat at. They had a few hours break for lunch, and the students were free to walk around after eating until it was time to resume the journey to Liyue Harbor. 

Lumine had texted Aether asking where he was, and he (with the rest of the student council) were already eating elsewhere. So, Venti dragged Lumine and Childe far away until they found a small restaurant near an arcade. “So we can have some fun together after eating, LuLu!” he told her. 

Currently, the three of them sat at a circular table, the waitress setting down their food before them—an almond tofu for Venti, Jueyun chili chicken for Childe, and jade parcels for Lumine. 

“My first time trying Liyue cuisine…,” Venti said, taking in a breath of his food’s aroma. “Smells delicious!” 

The sugary sweet scent of his almond tofu wafted towards Lumine, and she smiled. “Even now, you still have a sweet tooth,” she noted.

Venti returned her smile. “Well, of course! Remember that grape juice you always made for me and Aether? Oh, and those apples your mom used to cut up for us! The ones that looked like little bunnies?” he reminisced as he started to eat his tofu.

Lumine snorted slightly, biting in her jade parcels as well. “I don’t know how we never got sick of that horrid grape juice. It was basically just sugar water.”

“You made it—so of course we had to drink it. It was special,” he replied. “Oh, I remember how cute you were, so diligent and hardworking as a kid. You’ve gotten even more cute over the years~!” 

Lumine’s cheeks warmed. “You’re still the same as ever, blowing off classes whenever you feel like it, just to go off and write songs. I remember when—”

Childe’s foot tapped hers.  

“Ah, sorry about that,” he said, his blue eyes gazing directly into Lumine’s. “Don’t mind me.”

Huh? 

She could only hold his gaze for a brief second, before she averted it, finding it too intense. She chose to look down at his food instead—his completely untouched food.

“Why aren’t you eating?” she asked. Was he on a diet for training?

The corner of his lips twitched, and he mustered a smile. “It seems like chopsticks are harder to use than anticipated.” 

…

“Pffft—” Lumine couldn’t stop herself from laughing. 

“Haha, yes, very funny,” Childe said, his voice bordering on sheepishness. “You seem to have no trouble with it.” 

“No trouble at all,” she said, finger wiping at the corners of her eyes. “Look.” 

She scooted closer to him, showing him how she held her chopsticks in her hand. He mimicked her as best he could, but the positioning of his fingers was still a bit off. 

“Here,” Lumine said, setting her own utensils down. She reached over, her hand over Childe’s, moving his fingers to the correct positioning. “Try to pick up some food.” 

She saw his eyes narrow on a piece of chicken, hand steadily moving towards it like a target, concentration straining his face. She almost burst out laughing again. He’s so serious about it…

He slowly picked up the chicken, hovering it in mid-air, face relaxing in triumph. “Look, Lumi, I got it!” 

She raised her eyebrows, a slight smile on her face. “Wow, yeah you—”

“Hey.” 

The two of them stopped and looked at Venti. His eyes were focused on Childe, his cheerfulness nowhere to be found. 

“Do you like Lumine?” he asked Childe. 

Oh no. Lumine opened her mouth, ready to switch to another subject. But then—

“Yes,” Childe answered, his smile gone as well. He set down his chopsticks. “What are you going to do about it?”

Lumine froze, her jaw still open. Disbelief. Disbelief was the only thing running through her mind as she watched Childe and Venti before her, speechless. 

A sharp laugh. “Well, looks like we’ve got ourselves a good old-fashioned love triangle,” Venti said. “You should know I fought really hard to get back here, to Lumine.”

“And you should know I never lose,” Childe retorted. 

Venti grinned. “There’s a first time for everything.” 

Lumine slammed her hand on the table, hand gripping her chopsticks furiously. “How about we all just be quiet and eat?” Were these two idiots starting to fight over her? 

Anger bubbled in her gut, at Childe for revealing more of their secret. She was also angry at Venti for provoking Childe even further. Not to mention the two seemed to ignore her completely as they quipped at each other.

It was also two people she cared about, now at ends with each other. There is no way this is going to end well...

Childe and Venti sent each other a final glare before returning to their lunch, the rest of the time in silence. As soon as everyone was finished and paid for, Lumine left. 

“Let’s get back to the bus,” she said, not wanting Venti and Childe around each other any longer. 

“Wait!” Venti grabbed her hand, pointing down the road. “We still have an hour; let’s go to that arcade! Please?” 

Lumine looked at her phone. What Venti said was true, and what were they going to do on the bus for an hour? 

“Fine,” she conceded with a sigh. 

“Does Childe have to come too?” Venti asked, eyeing the tall ginger as he walked beside them. 

“Yes, I do,” Childe answered loudly. “I’m under Lumine’s watch, remember?” 

“Is he really?” Venti asked.

“Yes,” Lumine said. “If I don’t keep an eye on him, he’ll throw hands with the first person he sees.”

“Hmph. Sounds like an untrained dog if you ask me.”

Childe scoffed. “You’re the one who’s like an incessant yapping chihuahua.”

Venti blew a raspberry at him as they entered the building. A headache was mounting in Lumine’s head. 

Upon entering, they were instructed to leave their belongings in a locker. After doing so, they entered the arcade where bright neon machines flashed and the electronic noises of games chimed. 

Venti gasped, and started running ahead, forcing Lumine and Childe to follow close behind. He led them to the back, where there was a small archery range set up. 

“LuLu! I actually learned archery while I was away in the countryside,” Venti said excitedly. “Let me show you my amazing skills!”

“Why don’t we make it a little competition?” Childe said, already stepping up to one of the bows, picking it up and turning it over in his hands. 

Venti tilted his head, his eyes gleaming. “Okay,” he agreed, stepping up as well. He was deep in thought as he picked up the other bow. 

Then, Venti smiled, a true Cheshire grin. “The winner gets to go on a date with Lumine.” 

…

Wait. 

WHAT?!

* * *

[part 12]

[merakiui]

What if they manage to either

Pull is in

Or we get isekaied (?) into Teyvat

We can now travel to inazuma! (Or anywhere without limit) but they still retain their memories of when we were playing the traveller. The traveller becomes their own person or we completely replace the traveller.

Now we’re essentially trapped in this world. Do we stay continue our journey to find the seven? Or stay dormant in one place. Do we wish to return to earth? (Capitalist h*ll) what happens if we die? Do we respawn? (Re:Zero style?) what are you thoughts?

-🐙 [ Your blog is like finding a 5 star crit rate artifact ]

:O I love the isekai genre! I read a lot of manga and manhwa with isekai because it’s such a fun concept. 

(cw: mention of death/isekai)

To add some thoughts onto the idea where they manage to pull us in, what if it was a scenario like Childe and how he fell into the Abyss? One day you’re walking and suddenly you’re in this new world, having fallen through a literal crack in the sidewalk. Or maybe you fell asleep after playing Genshin for a while and it prompts a strange dream about your favorite self-aware character. When you wake up you’re out in the open and the scenery looks oddly familiar. Maybe when you wake up your favorite character finds you (all according to their plan, of course) and they promise to help you get home. Obviously you’re excited to be in their world, but you’re not sure if you’ll even be able to return to your world. Maybe you don’t even want to and you’d rather stay in the world of Genshin. 

For the isekai idea, what if you essentially take the place of the Traveler like you wrote, 🐙? Maybe you died in your world and were brought to the world of Genshin in your next life. And you grow up with your sibling, traveling from world to world, and then you’re separated by an Unknown God. Now this is where the game begins and you meet Paimon when you wake up many years later. Wouldn’t it be interesting if you started playing Genshin before you died in your previous life and so you have an understanding of some of the characters and the plot? But you only remember this when you wake up and meet Paimon. So now you’re on this mission to find your sibling while also trying to stay alive as you seek to avoid triggering certain events. 

Maybe you heard about the Childe fight in your past life and want to avoid that, as it could very well lead to your death if you aren’t careful. Perhaps this world isn’t as graceful as it seems and the option of a respawn or a redo is unavailable. You’ve only got one shot and you’re not even sure if you’re immortal like some of the other characters. But if you want to fulfill the game’s purpose and reunite with your sibling, then you’re going to have to meet with all of the characters at some point. At least those who are vital to the main storyline and serve as major antagonists or threats to the protagonist.

Maybe you tested your mortality and found that you weren’t as safe as you once thought. Healing isn’t as automatic as it seems in the game and you really can’t jump from those high places without suffering lots of injuries and possibly succumbing to death. (Luckily, Venti was able to catch you with a wind current when you tried this in Mondstadt.)

I’d like to think it would be more difficult to survive in Genshin if you weren’t allowed a respawn. This means you’ve got to give it your all to smoothly avoid any death flags in the boss fights. It’d be pure madness if the characters you meet were yandere. And on another interesting note, what if you reincarnated as one of the characters in the game and you retain your memories of Genshin from your past life, which allows you to navigate the world more easily? I think that would be cool, too!

[the-travelling-witch]

do you think hoyoverse is going to actually "eliminate" a playable character in the storyline? just something i think about a lot. i mean a lot of players are definitely going to be disappointed and sad - but i think it adds something new and is interesting. if a storyline plays in such a dangerous world and everyone is surviving, it will be after a while a bit boring (??) like u know everyone will be fine anyways.

hmm good question, it’s hard to say but i think they won’t, actually; more of my unprofessional opinion under the cut ✧.*

obviously they can’t erase that character from the roster of playable characters because people have spent money on the banners and invested time in building them and i think running around with a character who’s supposed to be deceased/ eliminated would break the game’s immersion at least a little and hoyoverse is naturally interested in keeping its players engaged, so that they play and spend more (i’m not sure how much of a factor immersion would be but i think it’s definitely there)

also, if you take xiao for example, who is one of the most hyped characters from the game, and permanently erase him from the story, it’ll limit their options to make money off of his popularity in the future; i think just having him on the promotional artwork and in the trailer for the new event boosts interest and playtime for the event, in return increasing time spent in game which is time for possible spendings

last but not least: would an erased character still get banner re-runs? i think it’s safe to say that this is most players’ main reason for spending on the game and cutting back on profits from banners like xiao, zhongli, raiden,… is not really what hoyoverse wants to do right? and even for the less popular characters

there are people who pulled on the first banner and might wait for a re-run for constellations

new players should still be able to pull for older characters

the release of new characters often times affects the play style of those already released (kazuha for example is really valuable now but at first people thought he was just a knock-off venti)

but having a banner for a supposedly “dead” character would be weird, right?

of course there are also arguments to be made for why they could choose to eliminate playable characters from the storyline, some of them were named by you already, but i think hoyoverse would choose marketability and profit over reality in this case

but this is just my (shortened) outside perspective on things, who knows what’s going on in their heads anyway; if they do choose to get rid of someone in the storyline it would crack the door open for already “dead” characters like signora to make a return, although i’m not sure how i’d feel about that

this little analysis (if you can even call my unprofessional opinion that) is what i think hoyoverse as a company would do but is also heavily influenced by how i as a player would feel about this and is in no way, shape or form based on anything ♡

[xiaophobic]

pls im actually planning on pulling for kazuha when i still have to build xiao, jean, venti and sucrose. i basically live in the vv domain now,,, is this a smart idea :sob:

PLEASE UHH i will support any plans involving pulling for kazuha, but i do think it’d be a good idea to focus a bit on the characters you want for your main team for a while. you always need something to fall back on when you’re farming and obviously looking forward ^^