Thinking about how there's a lot more ghosts wandering Mondstadt in the Archon Dvalin AU than usual because Venti is usually the one sending off spirits into the afterlife and well. he's kinda stuck on that side post-Cataclysm
At first there weren't any because they just followed Venti, but afterwards there were some that still lingered and the number just kept piling up over the centuries. Many did eventually go on their own, but there's just more that didn't want to or simply couldn't
Dvalin doesn't know how to send them off, no one really showed him how and he doubts that even if he knew, he probably couldn't. Still, whenever a spirit decides to show themself, he stays with them for a bit, just to alleviate their burdens even a little and maybe help them find enough peace
It's probably another thing that eats at him alive because he couldn't even help those that he failed to protect, no matter how much most of them say it isn't his fault
And then, after the whole reconciliation with Celio thing, one of the lingering spirits asks him for a song. Before, he might've gently turned down the request, but after everything, he decided he might as well
Dvalin starts singing an old song he loved. Singing it had been painful, once, considering it was made as a duet and having to listen to the silent answer just brought him nothing but grief. Now, there's a sort of peace to how the breeze and the sound of nature fill in the gaps and pauses.
Over the course of the song, more and more ghosts come to listen. By the end of it, Dvalin opens his eyes to see most of them disappear, not in terms of hiding away like usual but rather beginning to dissolve into light as they finally move on
The last one to leave was the one who requested a song. She turns to smile at him. "I suppose I can finally tell that bard how much you've grown," she says before finally dissipating into the wind
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I think what hurts the most about Jiang Yanli's death is that she truly did want to understand her a-xian. She never gave up on him, even when everyone believed her husband's death to be wwx's fault. Even if she herself might have believed it, to some extent, she still wanted him to see her son. Upon hearing that he was at the conference after the death of the Wens, she put herself in the middle of the battle for a chance at reaching him one last time. Hell, when he first started showing signs of the "demonic cultivation" hurting him, she confronted LWJ (who wasn't even on talking terms with WWX at that point) about just how serious this would be on WWX and how to help. It was never about how "evil" WWX is now, how these methods could hurt the cultivation world. Rather, she just wanted to keep her little brother safe. She so desperately wanted to understand him, consulting the person she knew understood wwx best, the only one she could trust to simply want the best for wwx without judging him so fast. She really did want to try. She just never got the chance to tell her a-xian that.
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on my hands and knees begging u to say your words about xiaolumi… i want to hear them… i’ll pay you back in art i prommy—
WHY WOULD YOU ENABLE ME LIKE THIS no need for art i literally owe you my fucking Life just for that one piece like oh my god. ohhhh my god. the amount of times i have linked that to my friends and waxed poetic and maybe cried a little. ANYWAYS. i am about to be So Silly And So Disorganized
so here's the thing right?? it depends SO heavily on how you interpret lumine. the traveler definitely has their own personality and agenda ingame but there's still SO much wiggle room in terms of what you do with that. if i really wanted to i could probably make it a Lot More Accurate by focusing on the traveler in canon and going from there however i will in fact be completely ignoring that and focusing on my interpretation of lumi specifically light and love <3 <- thats my little disclaimer ANYWAYS
they are So Similar in a lot of ways. young adults who are also centuries old. stubborn bastards who would give their lives protecting those around them even if they got absolutely nothing in return. so quick to throw themselves into the line of fire for the sake of friends and strangers alike. such a strong instinct to protect. not mortal, not by a long shot, but not quite gods either, something uniquely inhuman and in between. a centuries worth of weight on their shoulders. reaching their breaking points and pushing further still, refusing to let themselves crumble. and, even with very close companions, i think they're very lonely. there's no one quite like xiao in teyvat, no one quite like lumine without aether there by her side- maybe no one quite like lumine at all, anymore.
i think its about sharing. i think they'd find it easy to talk with and be around one another, even though they're typically so slow and so careful with trust. i think fighting together comes as easily as breathing, that their urge to protect lines up perfectly with the others and leads to them doing so much for those around them as well as each other. they will not let the other fall. they share the weight on their shoulders, share the centuries of bloodshed and horrors seen and caused alike, share in the unique brand of loneliness that comes with knowing that where someone was once by your side there's no one like you left.
vulnerability does not come easily to any of them. they can always push themselves further, always be a little stronger, always run a little faster. but its exactly that, i think, the recognition of someone so like themselves that makes it easier for them to trust in one another. lumine can call xiao's name when she needs him, xiao can find lumine if he needs her. i think that for all they would shoulder the world on their own and know the other would do the same in a heartbeat, they trust one another to come to them when they need help. it would be so, so easy to ignore it, to press forward, to remain alone. but they made a promise, and they intend to keep it.
i like to imagine that lumine's presence has a purifying effect on xiao. something she could control and channel should she realize, but for now something small, just enough to ease that weight. just enough to make sure he won't succumb.
i think a big part of it is about learning how to live again. they both carry that weight, that stubborn mindset, but wanting to see the other happy helps. knowing the other understands helps. when it hurts they can breathe together, and the type of pain they feel may never truly go away but they dont have to experience it alone.
every snowflake, every sunrise, every flower is just a little bit different from the rest. xiao's favorite quiet places are nicer with her there. they live so very differently but lumine's teapot is always there and xiao is no longer bound by his contract, learning ever so slowly how to let himself go. they have spent so, so long surviving. now, though, they remember to taste the fresh air, learn to indulge in the smallest things. lumine experiments with recipes until her almond tofu is catered to xiao's tastes exactly, the perfect texture. at night in liyue xiao tells her stories of the constellations and she remembers every word, at night in the teapot lumine will lift a hand and the sky will match her memories, her turn to tell stories about stars he's never seen.
they are both so, so tired. and i think that they would trust the other enough to let themselves rest. you can put your strength down. im sitting here with you at the kitchen table. you dont need to say anything. <- that quote is so them for real its shared silences mutual understanding and comfort always having each other's backs its twin moons twin stars two beings caught in each other's orbit and choosing every day to stay. sitting side by side on the mountaintop, hands entwined, lumine's head on his shoulder. breathing. loving. living.
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Hi yes I am looking at "to see the sky and sea" please elaborate 👀
shsjsjdkrkdlsk your wish is my command!
thank you for enabling me u_u
under the cut because i’m gonna ramble a Lot XD godbless the read more option
okay okay so first off: this all starts when nameless bard is Still Recovering from his Life-Threatening injuries. (actually, BOTH amos and and nb are recovering!)
so now when rag and gunnhildr get into a fight that venti cannot mediate they just 😦✌️to nb’s tent. rag always ends up dragging them back to Wherever the crew has set up shop but somehow venti always ends up back at nb’s side…..
trying to remember what i named nb in this au. it might’ve been cecil again……. hmm……..
actually vito (alive, life) would be so fucking funny—especially since nb and amos nearly die at one point during recovery.
anyways! got off topic a little! back on track….
so. so. ragnvindr has Many Many issues with venti taking vito’s form—most notably, he believes that vito does not want to be an image of worship.
(which. vito Doesn’t want to be, yeah. but, like, he’s never told rag that. a lot of misunderstandings come from rag assuming vito is going to die and putting words into his mouth.
he tries to do something of the same with amos, but stops soon after, because. amos would absolutely try to kick his ass. why he thinks vito won’t, who knows….
venti is very upset about that, because they are vito’s bestie and they know much more about him than anyone else does. ragnvindr hasn’t seen vito have countless breakdowns over the what-ifs and should-beens, he hasn’t seen vito at any low or high of his life up until this point. why does—why does he get ANY say in this matter?
but they keep that to themself, because the group is already so close to falling apart, and they don’t. they don’t want to lose any of them.
they can’t.)
to add insult to injury ragnvindr hardly ever visits amos or vito during their recovery. but when he Does, he’s strangely silent throughout it all. during visits to vito, he keeps an intense watch on venti the entire time, even waking up out of a dead sleep so he can continue watching.
it’s like he’s scared of venti.
it…. well, that doesn’t feel good, for one.
venti and gunnhildr are the ones to visit the most, and while gunnhildr visits amos the most, venti tries to give them both equal amounts of attention. they still, ah, do end up coming by vito’s tent more often XD.
mostly to sleep by them. (they can’t go to sleep without vito…)
because of this, venti is actually the first to see when vito awakes. they wake up to a hand running through their hair!
(and then they alert everyone by uprooting every flora in vicinity through the power of unbridled joy—)
so now vito is awake! and when he learns of what the hell has been going on with the other three, he’s very very pissed off!
he has quite a talk with ragnvindr (and a little talk with gunnhildr XD), and they manage to settle things…….. only for an absolute shit-fest to occur when ragnvindr keeps finding problems with venti taking vito’s form.
(also venti once entertained vito by taking many different forms and when vito asked them if they could look exactly the same, they kinda maybe completely forgot to change back—
um. yeah. that did not go well…….)
anyways so gunnhildr worships barbatos, vito is okay with barbatos because of the fact that venti is his friend, and ragnvindr does not like barbatos. (amos is still fighting for her life. tfw ur god lover took all the air out your lungs and fucked up your veins and nerves trying to take you out with him.)
but, as vito once puts it: “would you rather it be someone else, say, another decarabian? i imagine that andrius fellow would’ve made such an Amazing god, huh.”
hm. then again, ragnvindr tells vito he better be prepared to kill venti if they ever start to become like decarabian.
ah, such a pity, though.
vito could never lay a hand on venti.
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