So was NO ONE gonna tell me that two DIFFERENT people made tweets recommending my current ongoing fic to the entire ship fandom??
One single person called me iconic on a fic I commented on (it was the author) and I was so confused!!! Like how on earth do you know me. I just fire off new chapters when they’re done and try my best
Then DAYS LATER I search part of the fic title on twitter and there are LINKS to my FIC
I’m astonished! I thought so many people read that one because it’s been ongoing for much longer than my usual so it’s really been simmering, plus it’s a very popular ship. I thought that was Just How It Is
Once I finish the final chapter, which is a ways away, I’ll actually start crying 😭 aughhhhh I’m as Not Ready as my readers are for it to be over
Man I WISH I was able to respond to every comment I get on my current fic, I’m so not used to writing something even vaguely popular that I get all these emails and my brain goes “aaaaaaaa so many Responses must be written” since I LOVE replying to comments. But then I get a little busy. And then I get more emails. And my brain goes “we must conjure more Responses.” Then I have to like, sleep, run errands, do my dailies, read interesting things, watch jojo’s, or cook something real tasty, or write the next chapter and whenever I check, my inbox is sitting there like
Inbox (25)
And my brain is suddenly fried! I wanna write 25 Responses to My Lovely Readers but I’m stuck in real life without the time or energy. It sucks big time :(
It’s even sadder when people give those long comments that have me grinning and giggling. I want to respond!!! But fate said “no, you must do other things, you shall not have the energy, the Proper Words will not enter your mind”
I still try though! I love sitting down and responding to comments :D
I don’t know how these authors in popular ships/fandoms do it…
They dropped anaxa’s drip marketing less than an hour ago and I’m honestly too hyped to lay down. Oh my god. I cannot stop screaming from joy
WIND ERUDITION WIND ERUDITION AAAAAAAA I NEED A GOOD WINDY DAMAGE DEALER SO SO SO SO SO BADLY
My feixiao is almost built but I love me some aoe!!! Love aoe to pieces!!! I seem to pull almost nothing but damage dealers and I’m not beating the allegations for a long time it looks like!
I’m screeching with glee. Crying in relief. Gripping the arm rests of my chair. Oh my GOODNESS
Anaxa save me. SAAAAAVE me from the wind weakness enemies PLEASE there are so many of them and I am so tired
I've seen so many people talking about this scene with Phainon and Mydei and making fun of how blatantly obvious Phainon is about his... respect for Mydei's... conspicuous body, but one thing I feel like a lot of people missed (or at least I haven't seen anyone discussing) is that this memory seems to come from very early on in their acquaintance.
Looking at it closely, it's clear that the two aren't particularly familiar with each other yet in this memory sequence. For one, Phainon questions things that he should easily know if he was well-acquainted with Mydei already.
First, very comically: "Do you even bathe, bro?"
And second, Phainon questions why Mydei isn't immune to the black tide:
This suggests that, up to the point of this memory, Phainon had not been in enough battles with Mydei (or at least close enough to Mydei) to see him be affected by the black tide. Apparently, this memory-Phainon-and-Mydei don't have years of rushing into battle side-by-side to defend Okhema yet.
It's also hilariously clear that the Phainon in this memory has absolutely no idea how to talk to Mydei.
Breaking this scene down, it's literally Phainon just trying really hard to strike up conversation, doing his best to try to crack the tough exterior and get Mydei to actually interact with him. He jumps around through topics rapidly--the baths, the black tide, their personal sparring--looking for anything that will catch Mydei's attention.
Meanwhile, we can tell that Mydei is not particularly familiar or comfortable with Phainon yet because his dialogue is so different from any of his other scenes in the game. Although Mydei is obviously not the game's biggest yapper, he does always have full sentences to contribute to other conversations and banters readily with Phainon whenever he's baited into it.
In this memory, he instead starts off polite but also completely aloof:
This is the exact sort of response you'd have to a vague acquaintance coming up and trying to talk to you like you're best friends. Phainon skipped at least four steps of familiarity here, and Mydei is obviously at a loss for why the conversation is even happening.
He responds by blatantly stonewalling, answering Phainon's (slightly pathetic) attempts to start an actual conversation in nothing but single word answers:
You can even see Phainon recognize how bad he's failing half way through the conversation, which prompts him to vocally declare that he's going to make a complete topic switch:
And this time, it works!
When Phainon brings up their personal duel or spar, whichever it was, finally, finally Mydei caves and engages in the conversation with him:
Which prompts Phainon to laugh (in relief? lol) and flat out crow about how he's finally cracked the code and figured out how to get Mydei to notice him:
Poor Mydei, however, did not seem to realize his slight display of interest was going to lead him into a full conversation, and he responds to Phainon's blatant invitation to keep talking with a confused:
Witness Mydei accidentally turning down Phainon's request for a date in real time.
The only thing that complicates the situation is what Phainon says late in the memory: that they've battled "all this time." However, looking at his earlier comments, this last statement may just be in a general sense, as in "two Chrysos Heirs who have been fighting the titans for years," especially as the rest of the line "How do you train? Would you consider teaching me?" once again indicates a lack of close familiarity.
(It's also possible this line is just poorly translated in English, and was actually meant to refer to their legendary ten-day-long duel: "We battled all that time, yet I never saw you fatigued." Given the rest of the lines in the memory, I think "dodgy translation" honestly makes the most sense here, and would also just have really funny implications: Phainon and Mydei didn't fall in love at first sight; they fell in comically-long-duel at first sight. Okay, maybe for Phainon it was both.)
Phainon's earlier statements in the memory make it clear that he isn't very experienced with fighting Mydei specifically, with the overall implication of the dialogue being that they've just had their first duel against each other recently:
So anyway, where I am going with all this?
I know a lot of people got distracted by Phainon's (accidental?) pass at Mydei in the first line, but I think taking a step back and looking at the scene as a whole, in context, makes it even more hilarious and off-the-cuff:
Phainon and Mydei aren't well-acquainted in this scene.
Phainon literally walked up on a guy he barely knows and the first words that fell out of his mouth were "Dan Nicky your bobbies." "I would know that body anywhere."
Even Mydei was weirded out at first!
Like, Phainon has absolute foot-in-mouth syndrome around his new "friend." He spends the whole conversation narrating his own attempts to communicate ("Ah, I see I am unwanted. Instead of leaving, I shall try another tactic. Is it working yet?" and "Yes, yes, yes, it worked!") like this is a remotely normal thing to do around a person you're not even close with yet.
You can see his puppy tail wagging. He wants to be friends with Mydei so bad.
He is actively making up excuses to try to get Mydei to spend time with him here--first the comment about "Yay, you're here!" at the baths like he expects them to bathe together, then the whole "Why don't we go somewhere and have a long conversation about the insights we gained from rolling around in the dirt together?" to finally just flat out asking Mydei to train with him.
It's so charmingly earnest, straightforward, and even a bit awkward that I think this scene is really under-rated by the fans. It's not just another example of Phainon commenting on Mydei's muscles--it's a glimpse into what they were like before they were close and just how much Phainon wanted to connect to Mydei, how willing he was to explore to discover exactly what Mydei would be interested in so that he could seize that common ground between them.
Really a masterclass in showing us fans characterization right on the cusp of changing, and for showcasing both Phainon's charming audacity and Mydei's surprisingly-reserved-around-strangers behavior.
And, since we know the future that memory-Phainon-and-Mydei are headed toward... we also know it worked! Mydei is smiling by the end of the conversation! He and Phainon are going to become vitriolic best buds--er, rivals--and Phainon is going to get all the spars he wants.
I couldn’t find any content about parallels of these dungeons and it’s capture even if those are so obvious and interesting at the same time??
Both Zepar and Belial’s dungeons raised by Judal, both are trials of soul and mind. And both Hakuryuu and Serendine are nobles who have some especial responsibility on their shoulders.
The only difference is that Serendine rise and shine during the dungeon capture, while Hakuryuu become fallen king vessel (still shining tbh). Even though, they have absolutely no hesitation to sacrifice everything in order to protect their own countries, even if it means to become a monster or to fall into depravity.
Catching up with Star Rail since I was too busy at work to start Amphoreus on patch day with everyone else...
I really need a Phaidei fic where Phainon jokingly declares his intention to court Mydei in what just happens to be the most crowded public square in Okhema that day. (It's not really a joke, but if he pretends it is, Mydei might not kill him, right?)
Only for Mydei to seemingly take what was said seriously (as he does) and agree that fine, since the declaration was delivered formally, with due courage and in accordance with the expected customs, he'll give Phainon's proposal the fair consideration it is due: If Phainon can prove himself a worthy pursuer who meets the exceedingly high expectations for Kremnoan royal partners, then Mydei will accept his suit.
(Honestly, this was supposed to be jesting as well--if Phainon's foolish enough to cause a public spectacle just to tease Mydei, might as well let him eat his words instead. Now Savior Boy won't be able to walk his teasing back, and he'll end up embarrassing himself in front of half of Okhema, doubling down on his joke "courtship." After all, there's no way Phainon is actually serious, right, or--or that he'd ever succeed. That upstart doesn't know the first thing about Kremnoan customs, let alone romance. ...And what if he does succeed? Well... hm... that will be a problem for the future's Mydei. Oh no, he's meeting all my standards.)
tl;dr: Mydei thinks he's been challenged to gay chicken and he's not about to lose. Phainon spends the entire fic in a euphoric haze because he can't believe his thinly-veiled-as-a-jest confession scored him actual dates?! Shakespearean level miscommunications, bath hijinks, a planet's worth of second-hand embarrassment, and probably a wedding ensue.
For bonus points, I think at least half the fic should be Outsider POV, from the many innocent and extremely confused Okhemans (and fellow Chrysos Heirs) who are now stuck getting involved in the weirdest courtship in Amphorean history.
I’m a tiger pacing my cage…. Three nights of wanting so badly to write and having zero ideas… I need to hunt down some good prompts or something. I’ve written two fics in the past two weeks! I CAN KEEP GOING
I've told you there's no need for gifts, so what's with this handmade thing? The craftsmanship is... mediocre. Is this how you see me?
Whatever. I've already gotten plenty of unusual stuff from you, so what's one more?
Hmm? Wait, even Durin prepared something?
...Alright, fine. You guys sure come up with plenty of ideas. And look at you, grinning like that. I'm starting to think you're the ones who've been looking forward to this day.
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