devxoid

[devxoid]

Here have a little flower 🌻

kyaa thank you..! a flower for you too 🌼

#ask dev things

[devxoid]

let's play a game, doctor~

#o wow this rendering is so pretty #ratiorine #hsr #art

[devxoid]

#kyaa love this artstyle theyre so spoinkly #ratiorine #hsr #art

[devxoid]

#ouran was the first one i actually watched in full but the first one i came in contact with was vampire knight #it was on tv at like 9pm once when i was a child at home alone and it freaked the shit out of me hahahahahahah

[devxoid]

somewhere in an alternate universe

#or not. they could just be roleplaying whatever floats your boat #aventurine #dr ratio #ratiorine #honkai star rail #hsr #devxdraws

[devxoid]

I love your merman aventurine au! it activates my marine biology enthusiast neurons in the best way.

if possible, could we perhaps see what a merman ratio would look like? if it's okay for me to ask ^^

Mermen ratiorine it is!!

brought to you by little gay merman with little gay dreams

#oh ijm obsessed with them #ratiorine #hsr #art

[devxoid]

hey hey hey

Assigning you a song that makes white people go nuts (from experience)

#weezer say it aint so #not a white guy but i fucking love that song

[devxoid]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

#smiling really big and non threateningly

[devxoid]

note from blogrunner: yes, we've definitely had a poll like this before, but enough time has passed and there's a lot more people following this blog now

#i named myself after the company that my favourite character is the heir to 😃

[devxoid]

Sunday is having a great time in 2.1

#yeah #hsr

[devxoid]

i looked at your art on the aventio chinese dialogue post and i went like "hhhh they drew ratio like a chinese man" im so sorry it just feel like a chinese man to me

please do not apologise this ask made me so happy. ratio is absolutely chinese to me you can rip this hc out of my cold dead hands. im glad it shows in my art bc every time i draw him i am mentally channeling 1000% of my chineseness into him

#(BANGING POTS AND PANS TOGETHER) CHINESE RATIO AGENDA #hsr #ask dev things

[devxoid]

I made my own OC meme! :] The goal is to encourage people to think about their characters' word choices in written/spoken dialogue. Blank under the cut!

(the second one is transparent) Feel free to modify and redistribute any way you'd like, just be honest about the source if asked lol

#wah super cool :-) #oc meme

[devxoid]

happy bday awakening!!!!!

#bwaaauh such a pretty style #fe13 #art

[devxoid]

#yeah #ratiorine #hsr

[devxoid]

Interpreting Aventurine's Situation

(HSR 2.1 spoilers, watch out!) I think one of my favorite things to come out of Penacony is that the plot has left us with two completely opposite but equally valid interpretations of Aventurine's character. Is he a chosen child or just a "lucky" dog? The story leaves the door wide open for both possibilities.

Under a read more for space:

One Interpretation: Unfortunately for Him, Aventurine is Actually Blessed by an Aeon

If you work from the assumption that the Avgin mythology is correct, and Gaiathra Triclops is actually real (possibly a minor aeon of an unknown path or Ena, if you're on that train), then it's entirely possible, in game, that Aventurine has been blessed by a goddess to the point that he functionally cannot lose any gamble he makes. The odds are, literally, ever in his favor. In this interpretation, it doesn't matter how many gambles he takes with his life as the chip because he will always succeed. Despite how risky his behavior looks to everyone else, he's actually been perfectly safe all along.

But this is especially tragic because it means that, despite his mother's and sister's belief that his blessing will help everyone in their tribe, Aventurine's blessing has only ever extended to himself. He's not an omen of good fortune for his people. His luck was never going to protect his parents, sister, or friends. The goddess of the Avgin chose just one person and left the rest of her people to die.

This is where Aventurine's doubts stem from. He asks repeatedly: If the goddess can bless people, then why is life so miserable for the Avgin? Why do they have to live in pain, suffering, fear, and abject poverty if she could make them lucky enough to thrive? Why do people live if it's just going to be horrible?

(To be honest, I don't think this is out of line for the behavior we've seen of aeons so far. Even with aeons like Yaoshi, described as gentle and benevolent, with no intention to cause harm, their gifts often create horror in the human world.)

Aventurine's hands still tremble when he bets. He doesn't really believe he's blessed and still expects his own downfall at every turn--but it's never going to come because he is one of the few human beings in the entire universe with the direct favor of an aeon. Even Ratio, a skeptical, evidence-based genius, seems to think this might be the case.

(Choosing the Chinese because the text is a little clearer than the English, but basically: "This guy always has a way of dragging himself up out of the abyss, which can't be explained by just 'good luck.' Everyone is waiting to see him fail... Maybe even he's waiting too. But as time passed, I couldn't help but wonder: Will that day really come?")

This means Aventurine has lived a life of fear and uncertainty for nothing. He's spent his entire life awaiting a failure and painful death that will never come. He can't recognize the love of his own goddess nor trust in the faith of his own family.

The central question of this interpretation becomes "What does it mean for a single human to be favored by an aeon?" Can Aventurine really be called lucky after losing every single thing that has meaning in his life--all because an aeon chose him and only him? Should that be called a blessing or a curse?

The Opposite Interpretation: Aventurine Isn't Lucky At All, He's Just Skilled

On the other hand, the story leaves the door open to interpret Aventurine's situation in the complete opposite manner too. If, as the IPC seems to think, Gaiathra Triclops isn't real and Aventurine isn't blessed at all, then that means every single risk Aventurine has taken has actually been life-threatening--and that every single achievement he's reached has been by his own merits alone.

If Gaiathra's blessing isn't real, then Aventurine's life becomes one long self-run psyop: Everyone tells him he's blessed, he's lucky, he's favored--so young Kakavasha starts gambling early. Banking on this idea that he's favored, that he's chosen, he starts paying attention, he learns the tricks of the trade, figures out how to slip cards up his sleeves, how to word things just right so people will take his bait--he practices, practices, practices, until he can spot winning odds a mile away, until he can predict every possible outcome, until he's seen it all before.

In this situation, every single gamble he's ever made or will make carries a very, very real risk of failure--but Aventurine continues to succeed because he's just that quick-witted, just that aware, just that good at reading people. (He's been doing it for so much longer than everyone else he meets, after all.) He is the gambler extraordinaire, the archetypal charming rogue who can squirm his way out of any tight spot he gets into, time and time again.

He fears every gamble he makes because he has good reason to--there's literally never any guarantee that he will succeed, and he's constantly just flipping a coin to see what outcome he'll get. His personal skill and quick wit continue to turn things in his favor, but it's inevitable that one day he'll meet a situation that outwits him, a gamble where only a supernatural force could have saved him. And if you take this second interpretation, Gaiathra isn't real, so there won't be one.

This story choice would be interesting because it implies a greater degree of responsibility for everything that happens. If it's Aventurine's own quick wit and skill that continually save him, shouldn't he be able to help others with that skill? Shouldn't he have been able to help himself? How was he able to save himself from death but not from slavery? If it was skill, not luck, all along, then who do you blame for all the misery he still experienced?

This interpretation leads to greater questions of self-doubt and anxiety: Is it actual skill or just sheer dumb luck? Does Aventurine have what it takes mentally, psychologically, emotionally, and even physically to always come out on top by his own merits, or is he just the benefit of the wheel of fortune--statistically speaking, a one in a million chance still has to come through for that one, right? And when it all comes crumbling down eventually, will he have only himself to blame?

A Life of Uncertainty

The story doesn't actually give us any firm indication whether Gaiathra is real or not, or--even if she is real--if Aventurine is actually genuinely blessed. We just don't know, as players.

And Aventurine doesn't know either.

His faith in the goddess of the Avgin is shaky. He seems to want to believe and hold on to his people's mythology, but he has valid doubts that a goddess would choose to bless one person while leaving everyone else to suffer.

Is he the chosen of an aeon? And if he isn't chosen, then what meaning does any of it have? Is he just unbelievably skilled? Has he merely been lucky up to now? When will this blessing or luck or skill finally fail him?

Aventurine's most defining character trait is the extreme uncertainty that has plagued his whole life. What is true? What should he believe? Is he blessed or cursed? Does he have the talent to back up his massive boasts? Should others put any faith in him--should he put any faith in himself? Should he cling to his people's beliefs or reject the goddess that left him the sole survivor of a cultural extinction?

He can't trust anything. He can't trust his family's faith; he can't trust that he's actually a "chosen one" (because how could he chosen and his family be left to die?). He can't even trust that he's lucky because maybe it was just the years of suffering practice he put in. Then again, he can't trust in his own skill because maybe he's just blessed?

Which is it? Which is it? Which is it?

Nothing is certain. Nothing can be taken for granted. Nothing can be proven empirically true or false. There are no guarantees for Aventurine.

Every single thing in his life is a gamble, and none of that is his fault.

What an amazing character. What a great story. Thank you for the treat, Hoyo!

#cried and threw up and fell to my knees he is everything #i rly love how ambiguous they left it #in a world where aeons exist and can directly influence people's lives it wouldn't be strange for aven to really be blessed #but leaving it open to interpretation gives so much room for doubt. for us and for him #this is worded so well thank you op #hsr

[devxoid]

wdym aventurine requested for ratio to personally talk about him because he understood him best? wdym ratio considers aventurine outstanding to his standards? wdym aventurine KNEW ratio would deny understanding the way he works? wdym ratio smiles when perceiving the ridiculous gambler's thought process? wdym ratio cares about what aventurine thinks of him to a mutual standing? wdym ratio's a flaming tsundere? wdym ratio gets flustered when confronted with the fact that aventurine knows he understands him?

what's the deal between them? owlbert my guy, the deal between them is a glaring rainbow flag thats what.

#i’m actually so sick. #ratio calling aven partner in chinese I FUCKING KNOW WHAT YOU ARE #ratiorine #hsr

[devxoid]

come home to me

#MANIFESTING AVEN LIKE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT #4 hours left im shakign #aventurine #dr ratio #ratiorine #honkai star rail #hsr #devxdraws