Maybe a hot take, but I don't think the Traveler was being inconsistent or out of character in the last archon quest at all. People are getting upset at their reaction to Lyney and Lynette's behavior from the perspective of players, with meta knowledge of the story that the Traveler, the character, doesn't have.
The players know, for example, that because they're playable characters, Lyney and Lynette are ultimately friendly and on "our" side, and we can also trust that what they told us about their backstory is true. The Traveler does not have that knowledge.
TO BE CLEAR this post is talking about my thoughts on the TRAVELER'S thought process. If we want to talk about how I personally would have reacted to the situation, I'm an overly trusting bleeding-heart who would absolutely get scammed and probably murdered by Fatui in this universe.
(Also characters, even main characters who you normally like, can do things you disagree with and that doesn't mean they're badly written. I mean, sometimes they are, but I don't think that's true in this particular case)
But think about it! Looking at the entire situation from an in-universe, in-character POV, it's a really bad look for Lyney and Lynette overall, because here are the facts as the Traveler is aware of them:
Lyney and Lynette are not only members of the Fatui, the primary antagonistic force in this story, but are specifically members of the House of the Hearth, which is known to specialize in espionage, subterfuge, and sabotage.
Both of them also work in a field that would further require them to be masters of misdirection, audience manipulation, and drama.
They "coincidentally" ran into the Traveler right as they arrived in Fontaine and immediately began to do them favors and be very friendly, including saving them from Furina, bringing them to meet their family, and gifting them VIP tickets to Lyney's show.
During the trial, the twins withheld key information, and not just about their identities (and listen, I get it, I fully empathize with why they did it, I get the reasoning, but it's still a bad look when it gets figured out) but also about what they were doing in the tunnel.
They admitted that the entire magic show was a ruse to do, guess what? espionage! To break into the room with the Oratrice's core and find out how it works. To, through subterfuge, obtain Fontaine's secrets about the nation's most important mechanism and central source of power.
The Traveler has known these people for like, a day total.
So what conclusions might the Traveler draw from these facts? When the evidence shows that Lyney and Lynette have a record of misdirection and obfuscation for their own ends? When the Traveler has no way of knowing if even their initial meeting was orchestrated for an ulterior purpose? How are they supposed to know if the tragic backstory is even true, or if that's just Lyney trying to win back some favor and sympathy? In my opinion, at that moment, they don't. Hence the coldness.
My interpretation of events is that the Traveler does like the twins, and wanted to keep liking them, but was struggling to reconcile their initial impression of two friendly magicians with the realization that these two friendly magicians were dishonest with them for most of the time they'd known each other, so they needed to have some space to figure that out.
And for those saying the Traveler is inconsistent, here's the thing: they still helped Lyney. They still acted as his attorney, investigated thoroughly, won the case, and cleared his name. They've done similar for other Fatui members in their acquaintance—they helped Childe with Teucer, they helped Scaramouche/Wanderer with getting his memories back, they helped that other member of the House of the Hearth fake her death and escape the organization—whether or not they fully trusted them, and generally they didn't.
As for the Traveler's supposed hypocrisy, my view of their relationship with Childe is that it's only improved because, despite Childe trying to nuke Liyue in the past, the Traveler knows that
a. They can handle him if it comes down to a fight again;
b. He likes them, regardless of if the feeling is mutual or not, and is indeed aggressively friendly to the point where it's easier to just be civil;
c. Childe is generally upfront and honest about his actions and will strike from the front, not stab them in the back; and
d. He's worked together with them before when they had a common goal (for example, the labyrinth they went through with Xinyan).
They know how his mind works and what motivates him. Childe is a known quantity, the twins are not, and it took in-story time and shared experiences for the Traveler to get to even this point of neutrality; they were openly suspicious of him during his story quest.
As for holding his Vision for him, the Traveler didn't exactly volunteer for the job, Childe literally threw it at them with no warning and peaced out. What do you expect them to do, drop it in the sea? That would be inconsistent with their characterization.
Wanderer's whole situation is even weirder, since the Traveler was able to experience his actual memories and emotions and therefore has good reason to trust that he's had a genuine change of heart. Not to mention that they're not friends, I'd argue they're in that same nebulous "neutral" zone, and that only because Nahida usually functions as a buffer (and also because, again, the Traveler knows that they can handle Wanderer in a fight, and Wanderer also tends to be blunt and honest).
Also, in Lyney's story quest it seems like everyone got over their problems pretty fast and they're all chummy now, so you can all rest easy that the twins' feelings weren't too hurt about it.
Anyways if you disagree go ham, refute my points, whatever, just keep things civil.
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<<TW SELF HARM AND CHILD ABUSE MENTION>>
both ena and akito sh, akito cuts and ena bites herself. akito cuts because its more precise and he can hide it better, ena started biting as a nervous tic and realized she liked how it vented her anger.
akito is deathly afraid of shinodad finding out since hes convinced he'll get yelled at for "being dramatic". ena sort of wants shinodad to find out so maybe he could understand how much he hurt her.
(neither of them know the other hurts themself)
(akito has only told an, toya, and ken, but mizuki can tell. ena hasnt told anyone but airi way back when, niigo knows anyway.)
(also they both wish in the back of their minds the other will find out on accident someday and start doting on them out of pity)
(don't worry they work through this eventually)
-🚆
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gn!reader x top!gaz
Soft, loving sex with Gaz - not after a difficult mission, not because someone said something that pissed either of you off; simply because you both wanted to.
It's not tearful or desperate or longing. It's calming and comforting, your bodies as physically close as possible. Warm skin on warm skin.
You're kissing him but it's delicate, tender; each touch of your lips together is passionate yet not messy, eyes flickered closed peacefully.
He's above you, and still you wouldn't feel overpowered even for a second. You're holding him up just as much as he's supporting his own weight, laying on top of you but not in a way to pin you down.
Your hands run along his body, memorising each new crevice and scar under your fingertips, your prints reciting the ones you already know. He caresses your face, thumbs stroking your cheeks, gentle and adoring.
Light conversation in whispers, telling each other you love them, quiet groans and hitched breath from both you and him as he fucks you slowly.
You curl up together afterwards, putting on a DVD and falling asleep to it, cuddled in a fluffy blanket, legs entwined and heads resting on each other's.
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Okay yeah no I need to yell abt Valentino's behavior during Stayed Gone and the scenes surrounding it some more because it makes me rEALLY FUCKING FRUSTRATED-
First of all: Val is partially the reason Stayed Gone even happens in the first place. While I do believe Vox would've done something similar had he figured out Al was at the hotel some other way, Val still encouraged Vox to react the way he did. The smiles, the teasing, the way he subtly reminds Vox why he hates Alastor in the first place... it's all very intentional. He is purposefully trying to get Vox pissed off. He wants a show. A show that he KNOWS is going to cause damage to the Vees image, which he also knows is very important to Vox. He also ABSOLUTELY could've told Vox this information sooner! He probably heard about Alastor being at the hotel from Angel, and we know that episode one takes place like a week after the pilot. Val probably knew Alastor was there for at most a week before he told Vox. He was saving that information(for some fucking reason idfk). And like to be fair I don't think just randomly bringing that up to Vox would be a very good idea, but like. Val also picked a really weird time to tell him anyway so. There was probably some kind of ulterior motive there. Also I've seen a couple people saying this so I'm just gonna get it out of the way right now: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SAME THING AS VOX SUBTLY MANIPULATING VAL TO GET HIM TO CALM DOWN. Vox did that as a way to prevent Val from shooting up a fucking building, one that also happened to contain the LITERAL PRINCESS OF HELL!!! There was no waiting for Val to calm down in that scenario, he had to get him to stop. Val was also literally throwing shit at him??? Fuck I'm surprised Vox didn't pull the manipulation card sooner. I've gone into it in depth before but for the sake of this post I'm going to reiterate: FIGHTING BACK AGAINST SOMEBODY WHO HAS BEEN THROWING SHIT AT YOU AND IS ACTIVELY THREATENING TO DO SOMETHING LIKE SHOOT UP A BUILDING WITH THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL BEING IN HELL INSIDE IS NOT ABUSE!!!!!!!!!! LIKE HOLY FUCK I SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE TO SAY THIS IT'S NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE TO ABUSE YALL NEED TO STOP SAYING THIS SHIT!!!!!!!! Vox was trying to prevent Val from doing something OBSCENELY stupid, Val was actively encouraging Vox to do the dumbest fucking thing possible. These actions are not the same. They do not carry the same weight.
*ahem* Anyways, that brings us to the singing portion of Stayed Gone, which to be fair Val isn't really in all that much. But when he IS, boy howdy is he NOT acting like somebody who was very clearly trying to get this reaction literally 30 seconds ago. He shows up like. 3 times. And every time he looks put off by Vox's behavior. BITCH YOU WANTED THIS THE FUCK!?!?!?!? This is the part that makes me really mad. I don't even know WHY it's so upsetting to me- the manipulation is shitty yeah but to have the fucking GAUL to act like you weren't TRYING TO GET THIS REACTION afterwards is just. What. No! What???? That's. What the fuck???? You are not allowed to encourage somebody to make a public fool of themself and then be embarrassed when they make a public fool of themself. It is simply against the rules. Also his complete disinterest during the meeting scene... like okay, lets contrast this with Velvette's behavior for a second, right? She also looks upset during Stayed Gone, but she didn't egg Vox on the way Val did, in fact she probably had no idea what was going on until the song started, so she gets a pass. Then, during the meeting scene, she. She actually participates. She gives genuine suggestions and actually pays attention to what Vox & Val are saying. I'm on the fence over wether this should be considered bare minimum or not because, while Al forming an alliance with Charlie WOULD be a big deal, we don't actually know how much this would effect specifically the Vees so. Idk. But still she's doing more than fucking Val!!! Valentino "someone who owes us much more than money" HazbinHotel is just sitting there, bedazzling his gun, giving weird vague suggestions that barely even apply to the situation. Velvette wins this interaction, gold star for her, because LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK VAL-
Anyways, in conclusion, Val's behavior in this scene makes me really mad and is thus far completely unjustified by the narrative. Vox never does anything even REMOTELY similar to him, at least not that we know of, and Velvette, the person who is MUCH LESS INVOLVED IN VOX AND ALASTOR'S BULLSHIT THEN VAL IS, is still somehow taking the situation more seriously then Val, who is, once again, LITERALLY THE ONE WHO ENCOURAGED THIS BULLSHIT!!!! The bar was on the floor and yet Val somehow managed to limbo his way under it. I hate it here.
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