#biankaposting

[lostacelonnie]

basically

[lostacelonnie]

what was i talking about? ah, right. another thing is, i see people- sometimes, very rarely, but still sometimes- portraying otto as someone who was cold, or unnecessarily cruel, towards bianka. i think this is a shame. otto was very warm towards bianka, in the same way he was warm towards theresa, which we all know is not a great thing. removing this aspect makes it all so much more boring. otto is so, so very fond of bianka, on the surface at least!!! this is in the game!!!!! and it makes it so much worse because, well, she knows who otto really is. after a certain point. she knows it's not selfless, the way he straightened her collar when she was a child, or brushed out a knot in her hair, before he picked out rita for her. or even the very fact that he picked out rita for her. but he still did them. no one else did.

[lostacelonnie]

canon always makes bianka's relationship with kiana, with siegfried, with theresa, a soft and funny and sweet one; cute, but for me, a bit boring. and a bit unrealistic.

bianka ataegina, patron saint of the ostracized, never quite kaslana, always just a bit too much apocalypse for everyone's liking; her own included. she joins the family too late. that much is fact, and it manifests in more ways than one; they all know each other. they have all hurt each other yes, but at least they had the chance to. they all love each other, and they love her too- and she loves them, too- but this love is tense, well-meaning but awkward. there's no interests to discuss or stories from childhoods to recount. kiana raised herself on the streets, but at least, saint freya eventually came around.

everyone can tell who bianka was raised by. they don't blame her, because why would they?, but they can tell; she walks like him, looks at her enemies like him. she swirls her water glass, not even thinking about it, and it's uncanny. bianka hates otto apocalypse. bianka hates otto apocalypse so, so very much, she hates him just as much as her family does. kiana remembers, sometimes, the laboratories. so does theresa, and siegfried, siegfried remembers the last time he saw cecilia. bianka remembers training rooms, and hospitals, and ultimatums given. she remembers how he braided her hair, too. she remembers standing over the sea. she remembers standing over the sea often, very often, because in retrospect- he knew it all, didn't he? otto always knew what would happen. bianka turning against him included.

she mends things with her family. of course. they care about her. she cares about them. she had still joined them too late.

[lostacelonnie]

while i'm thinking about characters with weird relationships to otto apocalypse, it's time i talk about bianka "durandal" ataegina because mihoyo was COOKING with whatever was going on there but it goes unnoticed a lot and that. hurts me. cause like

the only reason she even EXISTS is because otto decided that it would be beneficial for his plans. he's the reason she lost her mother, why she was brought up as an orphan, why she learned literally anything about herself far too late. he treated her like his little niece. he almost made her lose her life. he saved her life. he brought her up with the intention that one day, she will kill him. she fulfilled that wish. he was her boss. he was her friend. she hated him. she cared about him. schicksal made her lose everything she could've had. without schicksal, she wouldn't have anything she has now.

at the end of the day, all that temporarily bound them together was a few inherently apathetic factors- his mission, her duty. they were both aware that the other isn't exactly what they need to fulfill their goals, and that something will go wrong eventually, but they held onto their cooperation as long as they could

[lostacelonnie]

and here's the exchange i keep referencing. GOD. i don't even know what to think about it. even that little act of "freedom", of defiance, of finally ending his reign over her was something that otto foresaw. planned. UGH.

[lostacelonnie]

AND ALSO that bianka & the kaslanas love each other an incredible amount but they will never truly understand each other. and that rita will always understand bianka better than bianka's family does.

[lostacelonnie]

like. MY GOD. this is the first time she really.... registers it, really. (this is from before she starts listening to rita, after all.) but i don't think she understands, yet... that the reason the overseer is so nice to her isn't at all because he likes her- or, rather, because he likes her as a person, but because he likes her as an... asset. she's useful to have. it just wouldn't do for her to learn the truth too soon, hm?

[lostacelonnie]

despite never thinking of him as such, there was exactly one time that bianka called otto apocalypse "dad".

little bianka- and she was just "bianka" back then, not even durandal- was once fourteen; or, as she [with her missing memories] would say, twelve, about to embark on the very mission in the sea of quanta which would grant her the aforementioned title... getting lectured by the overseer about what to do, how to do it, what is safe and what isn't.

and bianka [in what, years later, she would realize was one of the last traces of "kaslana" left in her at the time], scoffed and, in that voice that only rebellious preteens use, went "yeah, thanks, dad," unaware of how jarring it'd be, were anyone else to see the conversation ,that she'd dared to address the overseer like that. well, and he laughed, in that way that only parents dealing with rebellious preteens do, maybe ruffled her hair deciding to play along, earning a grumble.

she did not think of it at the time, of course, beyond it being a mild annoyance. she was still an irritable and fiery child back then, perhaps a child she would've remained were she not bianka ataegina nor durandal nor schicksal's strongest valkyrie. she did think of it, however, said years later; she did think of it, and recalled how easy and how natural the remark was, even if meant to mock. since then, she never quite manage to call someone "dad" so easily. or "sister", for that matter.