(Spoilers for 4.5 Potion event (just in case lol I know I'm late on this))
At this point, I'm really wondering if we're gonna end up getting some payoff in the future for much Paimon absolutely hates Venti for no discernible reason. Because he isn't the only person she's been kinda standoffish with over the years, but he's by far the most consistent. Like, when you consider the fact that Paimon even warmed up to Al-Haitham by the end of Sumeru, it kinda says a lot about her apparent grudge against Venti by comparison. (And I love Al-Haitham to death, but I'm not about to say he's a ray of sunshine compared to Venti.) (Event interaction-related stuff under the cut)
The contrast to how Paimon treated Diona versus how she treated Venti when they came to the potion shop together was like night and day. I've been going around to all of my friends today and describing Paimon's reaction to them as something like "Diona omg hi it's so good to see you it's been forever how have you been!!! .........And Tone-Deaf Bard." which is obviously a comedic exaggeration, but also not entirely off the mark. And all Venti did was... exist? Try to help Diona out with what she was trying to do? Yes, he's going to get free drinks out of it but he also went truly above and beyond to help Diona find a new ingredient all the way from the middle of nowhere in Dragonspine. If he didn't care about Diona's feelings and what she was trying to do, he wouldn't have done that. (But of course, Venti does care because he's a good Archon and a good person and I love him for that.)
There are genuinely very few things that make me believe in the theory that Paimon is some kind of agent from the Heavenly Principles than the fact that she hates Venti so steadfastly. There's so much evidence that connects Mondstadt and specifically Venti/the Thousand Winds to the old civilizations of Teyvat that the Heavenly Principles once destroyed. For Venti to still exist in the world and let his people make their own choices in the way that he does, of course they and by extension Paimon would hate him. Plus, even if her annoyance with him started with his tendency towards being cryptic, why would Paimon care so much about what he knows? Why does one of his voicelines imply that he doesn't want to tell the traveler things with Paimon around?? It's just so incredibly suspicious.
The scene is kinda funny though when you look at how good Venti is with kids (how helpful and kind he is to Diona despite her wanting to get rid of alcohol, which he loves) and yet one of the most childish characters in the entire game absolutely despises him. Every day I wake up and wonder what in the world Paimon's damage is and if we're going to get a justification for it, or if this is sincerely just what the writers think is funny.
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navia + how the spina di rosula operates
okay so this is a meta i wanted to write fairly early on and will become a cornerstone of my portrayal of Navia since she is the Spina and so many of her interactions will revolve around it. i mentioned before that the Spina is, in my opinion, a watered down version of the mafia/mob who, at least in the way that it is presented and led by Navia, wishes to do good ( for the most part ) and acts for the benefit of the ordinary citizens of Fontaine. unlike the mafia, it's an organisation that isn't explicitly criminalised or hunted down by the Maison Gardiennage as far as we know, but the Spina very much operates in the underworld of Fontainian society ( quite literally — the Fleuve Cendre is located beneath the Court of Fontaine, the symbol of Fontaine's opulence and splendor and seemingly huge wealth divide ).
there's also the name — whereas the majority ( though not all ) of the landmarks and areas in Fontaine take inspiration from the French language, Spina di Rosula doesn't look obviously French? it feels Italian ( though while spina translates to thorn in Italian, rosula doesn't mean rose in Italian. nor does it mean rose in French either lmao ), but google translate tells me it's Corsican, which is even more interesting since there was such a thing as the Corsican Mafia, who historically operated both within the French underworld and the Italian Mafia. Corsica also has its own regional language in addition to them being French speakers, which is interesting to me too — obviously hoyo has taken wider inspiration from Western Europe when it comes to Fontaine and therefore different countries are sprinkled in here and there with no obvious connection, but for the Spina quite literally by its etymology to exist in a space between French and Italian is definitely significant.
Navia claims that the Spina is funded by donations and I don't doubt this girl's word, but a common practice of Mafia groups were so-called "protection rackets", essentially guaranteeing businesses and people protection outside of the law in exchange for money. considering that the Spina controls the Fleuve Cendre and have their organisation logo visible and large above their "base of operations" ( the tavern area you meet Navia in during the AQ and see her in at the start of her demo — in her demo you literally see the Spina's symbol before anything else ) in order to signify the fact, I can absolutely see this as a method that the Spina uses. "voluntary" donations to ensure that businesses and individuals are protected from rival factions, since it's sort of hinted at in the AQ that control of the Fleuve Cendre was hard won by Callas, Navia's father, and we know that he had to partner with Marcel and the Confrerie of Cabriere in order to control Poisson. Marcel's organisation is called a "sister organisation" of the Spina, though I am sure there was a time early on in Callas's reign where they were bitter rivals — plus the Mafia does tend to adopt a familial model when it comes to ranks and alliances, so calling it sister is kinda appropriate. you also see in the latest event that a) despite growing up in the Fleuve Cendre, Chevreuse isn't necessarily welcome there considering that she is a part of the Maison Gardiennage, and b) that there are all kinds of unspoken rules she needs to follow in order to navigate the area.
I do think the Spina was much more ruthless and domineering under Callas. it's described in Navia's story quest as the Spina's golden age, and before you find out about Colter's animosity towards Navia, he makes a remark about the "eye for an eye" culture of Callas's Spina di Rosula. we also find out that Callas was "stiff as a board" according to Navia and used to be better at taking counsel from others until Clementine's death, when presumably his stance and willingness to listen to his subordinates hardened quite a bit. but Callas did also partner with both the Court of Fontaine and the Fontaine Research Institute on the Aquabus lines — something which caused a split within the Spina itself, and it's explained that he did this to forge alliances. I think it could also be true that Callas did this in order to gain tacit permission by these institutions, particularly the Palais de Mermonia, to operate without interference from law enforcement ( or at least for them to look the other way concerning some of the Spina's practices ). considering the fail safes that he put in place in order to protect Navia when he was wrongly accused of murder, I think Callas was an incredibly shrewd and ruthless businessman and knew that he needed connections in both the high and the low of Fontainian society.
it's possible he was also able to successfully hide the more shady sides of the Spina's business too: we know that the Maison Gardiennage basically has no jurisdiction over the Fleuve Cendre and leaves it alone for the most part ( which says something about the wealth disparity in Fontaine as a whole imo ). considering that the Spina does do a great deal of good for the ordinary Fontainian and is presumably well-liked by the general populace ( if not so much by the Palais Mermonia ), it would likely be more damaging for the Maison Gardiennage, for example, to attempt to dismantle it and face resistance from the common people than it is to just leave it alone.
considering that Callas's name and reputation were disgraced by being falsely accused, that could also explain why the Spina is struggling more under Navia — perhaps before Callas's murder charge, the powers in Fontaine were more willing to look the other way, whereas once his name was disgraced, it became easier to weaken or suppress the organisation's power and reach.
as far as what this actually means in terms of interacting with Navia and the Spina — unlike in Act 1 of the Fontaine AQ, where Navia literally rocks up outside the Opera Epiclese courtroom with Melus and Silver to offer Paimon and the Traveler help, professionally speaking it would actually be pretty tricky to get an audience with Navia herself since she is at the head of the Spina. personally would be a very different story since we know that Navia is something of a socialite and a celebrity and does have many well-connected friends in Fontaine, but in terms of business, Navia is heavily protected ( despite the number of attempts on her life let's not talk about that ) and it would not be easy to get to her if you're not already known to her or to the Spina.
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Vibrates intensely YOU MENTIONED MENOGIAS AND I GOT INSTANT BRAINROT. You say no angst but LISTEN
So IK is an full-blooded adeptus connected to Menogias somehow. Menogias is a yaksha, a subspecies of adeptus. What is their connection? SIBLINGS. So what does that make IK? A yaksha as well! So the other guardian yaksha are naturally adoptive big siblings.
They were called upon by Rex Lapis during the Archon War. Menogias and the other four Guardian Yaksha take on the task but when IK is so young and personally precious to them it doesn’t feel right to let her join in knowing that it’ll stain her with karmic debt. But since IK is a yaksha and yaksha are naturally given to battle she wants to help the war effort anyway. And because she’s so young the karmic debt accumulates much faster, and ultimately Menogias can’t stand to watch her deteriorate so quickly and begs the adeptus from Mt Hulao (can’t remember which right now LOL) to seal her in amber so as to prevent her from accumulating anymore karmic debt.
But he doesn’t tell anyone that this is what happened because he doesn’t want any of them to unseal IK and bring her back into the battle. He writes it down somewhere secret that will only be discovered in peacetime and doesn’t say antyhing about it but the others are worried sick and eventually what he tells them is that the karmic debt drove IK mad and he had to kill her. And then this is why Bonanus attacks him when her own karmic debt catches up with her in the AU, because off the rage and grief combined with the karma.
Much much later, long after the Archon War has ended and the other yaksha are dead, Xiao finally finds Menogias’s message. He barely dares hope it’s true but when he follows the instructions he finds the piece of amber exactly where it says it is, and when he breaks it open IK really is right there.
Probably some combination of being sealed away + intervention from the other adepti and exorcists n stuff, IK’s karmic debt is already greatly reduced, and with no war to wage she doesn’t accumulate anymore. Lots of angst potential considering Menogias sealed her away against her will and now she’s finally awake again and him and nealry eveyrone she loves is dead. Oof. But Xiao takes her under his wing and they fiercely protect each other from then on and she meets lots of friends from the Harbour and in the Chasm where she gets to laern the truth about Bosacius.
By the time she gets summoned to the Devildom she’s mostly let go of her past (unlike Xiao lol) so the others don’t know about it until she speaks about it. She makes even more best friends and when she eventually figures out how to summon Xiao with adeptus arts he nearly fucking annihilates the demons for kidnapping his little sister
y’all really can’t let my girl catch a break huh (/lh)
this is some good stuff though!! i do also like that ik gets her closure BEFORE being summoned to the devildom, so her exchange year can stay mostly fluff
with her having lost her big brother and other adoptive big siblings but also having been able to recover it, plus her having spent a lot of time observing and trying to help xiao with his own lack of emotional closure, i reckon this whole angsty backstory might even justify her best friendship with belphie even more, since she’s very well equipped to help him let go of lilith
luckily in this au xiao no longer has a real reason to attack the demons (apart from the sort of kidnapping, and i guess lucifer if the underground tomb thing still happens? but ik would be able to defend herself and not be harmed, so it’s fine) - so once they’ve talked things through and established that this ‘conqueror of demons’ doesn’t kill devildom-type demons, xiao might begrudgingly settle in the devildom for a bit, just to keep an eye on ik. though he’d almost definitely return to liyue after some time, since he still considers it his duty to protect it
i feel like this ik would want to return to liyue but also simultaneously considers the devildom a second home? maybe they set something up so that she can somehow jump between them regularly. xiao and the demons share custody essentially lmao
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Explaining WHB devils's kinks(since they all have a scientific names on their character introductions)
I can't belive I became active again just to make this post but yea. Anyway since the game is coming out soon,I wanted to make this post to explain their cannon fetishes(and to also boink everyone,since some of them are pretty.......terrifing)(Also a lot of ophilia words)
Anyway let's cut to the chase!
Starting off with Satan and his devils,we have:
Sitri! He's into cardiophilia-fixation on heartbeats and hearts.(okay pretty tame,would probably love cuddling)
Belial has discophilia-love of record sounds and record music (still quite tame,maybe a bit weird)
Leraye with his keraunophilia-sexual attraction to thunder and/or lightning(kinda weird that he get's aroused by thunder but we don't kink shame)
Astaroth with narratophilia-sexual attraction to words and stories,normally dirty ones(omg he's into dirty talk and fanfictions!Honestly who can blame him)
Zagan coming in with kinesophilia-sexual attraction to movement and exercise(oh so he's into working out and sweat....intresting)
Lastly Paimon with haematophilia-attraction to blood(also yes even tho this looks and sounds like a girl,he's actually a guy. Also I have a feeling he would love period oral)
And we can't forget about the king himself Satan,who's into spanking! Pretty self explanitory. (He's probably an ass guy)
Let's move on to Mammon with his gold diggers(not actully but you get what I mean):
First we have Bimet who has timophilia-arousal from gold or wealth(wow an actual gold digger,must be very happy when he looks at his own feet)
Then there's this cutie! Eligos with his diaphanophilia-Sexual fondness for viewing nudity through diaphanous fabrics such as veils, underwear,baby dolls etc.(.....trust me I'm just as confused as you are about the baby doll part)
Lastly the king of greed Mammon with pygophilia-arousal for buttocks(Oh he's the ass man!)
(Also I found out about Valefor's kink but don't have any images.He's into autoplushophilia-arousal from imagining you're a plush toy(legit he's so knightly and want to be a teddy bear!So cute!!!))
Continuing with Envy's devils!:
First off...Foras who's into scopophilia-attraction to looking at naked bodies or watching others in the act(....he's that shadow you feel when you're changing clothes)
Next this slay,Barbatos with that extra heliophilia-attraction to sunlight(this bitch apperantly wants to photosynthesise)
The man who inspired me to do this...Glasyalabolas with necrophilia-(if you're wondering why that word sounds familliar it's because it's attraction to dead bodies......yea....moving on!)
Lastly the king of envy,Leviathan with that breath control-choking and controling your or his breathing if it wasn't clear enough.(why do all the kings have the normal ones,kinda suprising)
Next on the plate we got Beelzebub with his little mafia bosses!(also what are those skin tight pants that they're wearing?)
The biggest Beel shenanigans supporter Bael who also has olfactophilia-arousal of human smeels and odors(....the only man who doesn't mind if you didn't shower for years. Also he can apperantly even cosplay Beel for you)
Next up Stolas who's into pecattiphila(oh sounds italian)-arousal from an act that one belives is a sin(damn he must really love being a devil then,I have a feeling he's also into virgins)
Next up the dog himself,Naberius who likes autozoophilia-sexual arousal from.....being an animal(yes....he's into pet play apperantly)
Following up is Amon(also nice collar) who likes harmatophilia- sexual arousal from incompetence or mistakes, usually made by a woman(*cough* he would love me cuz I'm useless-*cough*)
Ending this pack of wolves with Beelzebub himself who's into olfactophilia-same as Bael,this man likes smelly humans(also what the heck are those things on his knees?!)
Moving on to the fallen angel Lucifer and all the healers he took!
(bro you okay?) First off we have Morax who apperantly loves stigmatophilia-arousal from piercings and tattoos(understandable,he like that little bad boy/bad girl types)
(oh nice muscle titties) Next up Buer with doraphilia-affection towards fur and skins off animals(damn him and Neu-something would get along nicely)
Moving on to Marbas with that touch of merinthophilia-being tied up....probably into shibari as well
Finishing this batch of bad boys with Lucifer himself! Who also has dacryphilia-arousal from tears and sobbing(oh kinky....but damn kinda evil)
Continuing with the boys that make me the most uncomftrable,Asmodeus's demons(unfortunatelly we don't have any more kings,maybe they will come after the game releases)
The most disturbing one for the start,Ronove with his...acrotomophilia-fetish for....amputees(look I don't kink shame but-)
Next up this disaster of a guy,Dantalian who likes autassassinophilia-sexually aroused by the risk of being killed.(also him x theraphy sounds like a pretty nice ship)
(sir don't look at me like that) Phenix,with his pretty tame morphophilia-interest in sexual partners whose body characteristics (e.g., height, weight, skin and hair color) are different from one's own.(basiclly a size kink but with other versions of it. Also...um...is he always cumming? How are his clothes not damp?)
Next up the last sin on the list,Belphegor's demons(kinda love them actually)
Starting with smarty pants,Gusion and his saphiophilia-romantic attraction based on someone's intelligence(damn it he's into nerds)
Following up with Bathin's hodophilia-someone who loves traveling(don't know how to involve this one into the bedroom....playing beach house?....doing it in a winter jacket?...)
Now for my favorite traumatized boy, Andrealphus with his...god...oculophilia-arousal from eyes and.....licking eyes(god why are you so hot yet have one of the weirdest kinks?! What are you?Jobin?!)
Dang it! I will have to make a part 2 for the angels,since I can only add 30 pictures!
Anyway I hope you enjoyed my little presentation,sorry it's so long!
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