HOW DID RAPPA AND BOOTHILL END UP BEING SO SWEET???
Before 2.6 even dropped, they were being cute! In Rappa's Keeping Up With Star Rail, Boothill describes Rappa's creations as "high-tech ninjutsu" rather than equipment, or machines, or anything else that someone would have normally defaulted to. This is something Rappa is very proud of and insistent about in her work, and he respects that!
Even with those party join lines, he refers to her not as a Galaxy Ranger, but by her chosen title!
Rappa seems to get a lot of shit for how she talks, too, with people throughout the patch accusing her of playing around or not taking anything seriously. Boothill though is swift to correct that, that even if it sounds like nonsense, Rappa is someone to be respected and a force to be reckoned with. He seems to really admire her resolve, and especially her intellect! He has nothing but praise for her, it's so so sweet.
And the way she talks about him, too! Like there are. A lot of things you can say about a man like Boothill fjkdlsajk but she always speaks so admirably of him?
There's also the difference in nicknames- Rappa refers to every other person as "Ninja." And most of them are descriptions that you can pick up at a glance, or without knowing a person too deeply. Singer for Robin is obvious, everyone knows who she is. Gama for Reca means "toad," which is a reference to the assistant director he always has with him. Baseball Bat for the trailblazer is also obvious. Ruri for March 7th means "lapis lazuli" which is probably a reference to her Six Phase Ice, or even her appearance since she looks like if a Stellar Jade became human. Hiryu for Dan Heng is actually "flying dragon" but it's also a famous video game reference so I'm only willing to put so much stock into that one fjkdsjakd and besides, she could have easily heard about March 7th and Dan Heng from Boothill, since he talks about the dango trio to Rappa, too.
But Boothill! Rappa refers to Boothill as "Silvergun Shura," with Shura being a reference to Asura, a demigod of war. It's a name used to describe someone fighting a relentless, inhumane war and desperately seeking victory. It also refers to a level of hell, governed by anger and pain. Both interpretations suit him strongly. It's not really a title you could give just looking at someone. It's something you'd have to know them at least a little more deeply for.
Boothill also very distinctly lacks the common ninja title- instead, in the EN translation, Rappa calls him Lord. It's a highly respectable title even in the original Chinese, apparently akin to addressing reigning royalty.
She just. Seems to respect and admire him so much? It's so so sweet?
And despite how often it's stated that Galaxy Rangers tend to work and travel alone, it seems these two are at least fairly familiar with each other, which makes me really happy! In an instance of beautiful timing, just today Hoyo released a new text convo, and! When she wants someone to hang out with, Boothill was one of the first people Rappa thought of!
Rappa knew Dan Heng because Boothill talked about him. She knew about Clockwork. Boothill has spoken with her often enough and long enough to know how deeply her hatred ran, and to be upset for her when Primon got away.
They both speak so positively of each other, even when one is out of of earshot. They openly show a ton of respect and admiration for one another, and the way they talk about each other is more than just two people who happen to be part of the same faction. They know each other more closely than that. Boothill is only in Penacony at all because of Rappa, and Rappa trusted Boothill enough to seek him out for this.
My favorite, though? The part I considered the cutest?
Rappa literally went all the way to the Luofu just to watch Boothill fight in the Luminary Wardance.
i couldn't find an official eng translation for the lyrics in the other language, and all the translations i found differed wildly :c.. so i took it as, like, "you made them lose their minds? i'm gonna step on you-- don't forget to grind!" but sincere apologies if my interpretation doesn't work with the actual lyrics !!!
I gotta admit, I like Rappahill. I don't really see them as father and daughter like at all. Is that weird? Maybe with a very slight older brother-little sister dynamic but even then it's like....TINY. Or maybe they have the kind of pining for each other where they're worried the other thinks of them only as found family platonically and not romantically, so they don't want to ruin it by confessing.
I could see Boothill being especially soft and gentle with her when it comes to.....intimacy. It's hard to imagine those two getting up to the freaky shit I write for my Reader insert fics lmao
That being said, 2.6 is out in only a few hours now so this is very possibly going to change. Maybe I won't actually see a ship dynamic with them. I'm just going off the bits I've seen.
Watched Rappa's Keeping Up With Star Rail this morning while 2.6 updated, and. How am I supposed to go about my day. How am I supposed to deal with this.
BOOTHILL IS SO SWEET ABOUT HER, LOOK AT THE WAY HE CHEERS HER ON
While I have my own set of hcs about how the loss of Boothill's human body, and the fact that Rappa probably didn't even know what a hug was until her late teens, informs how physically affectionate they are or are not together, I also believe they should be fuckbuddies purely for the comedy factor, because dear lord, can you imagine.
Most godawful, yappiest sex ever, and none of the dirty talk is even any good BSMZKMSMD
Anyway Rappa and Boothill are both people with a lot of anger and hatred in their revenge-dedicated lives and they're also both wild and rowdy and used to being handled roughly, so they have an Understanding in each other about that anger, that it is nothing personal and nothing to be afraid of or worried about, and will use that understanding to fuck each other stupid as stress relief when they're pissed off. ☆
