#the fatui

[dead-boys-club]

†  a seat : the fatui.

❥ scenario: their s/o decides to take up residence on their lap --- during a meeting. ❥ no triggers ❥ i don't have any beta readers - you get what you get. ❥ requested.

❥ la signora.

she wouldn't give much of a reaction, her eyebrow raising and a barely noticeable hint of amusement to her gaze. open affection isn't something she's keen to show, especially in a professional setting but she wouldn't make you move. if anything, she would just shift in her spot and adjust her posture to make sure you were comfortable, though her movements wouldn't be big enough to draw attention. she would enjoy your closeness but would remain as cold and composed as always. after the meeting is a different story. while she may not show too much emotion, she wouldn't try to hide the smirk as she approached you. 'you certainly know how to make a statement, don't you, darling?' she asked, reaching out to gently tip your chin up with her pointer finger, 'don't think you can distract me so easily.. you'll have to do better than that.' there was a clear affection and appreciation in her gaze, despite the words, honestly enjoying your boldness.

❥ scaramouche.

at first, he genuinely wouldn't even know how to respond, frozen for a split second before brushing it off, not wanting anyone to notice. he'd look at you, eyes flickering as if looking for an answer to your sudden actions. scara isn't one for such open displays of affection, or any at all, especially in such a formal setting - he would fight between irritation and silent, frustrated acceptance; he didn't want to cause a scene. 'what do you think you're doing?' he would hiss under his breath, leaning close to your ear, enough though he wasn't actually trying to remove you. he would be annoyed for the duration of the meeting, though just accepting your bold statement that he, quite honestly, didn't understand. oh boy, he'd be so fast to corner you, arms crossed and staring you down. 'what was that all about?' he demanded, though something was off - his tone didn't hold the same hate soaked bite it usually did; even his s/o had to deal with that. you could see the ghost of a blush on his features but you knew he'd never admit to being embarrassed. 'you're lucky no one said anything,' he muttered, the tiniest hint of softness forming in his gaze. he wasn't as upset as he wanted to seem.

❥ childe.

it shouldn't come as a surprise that he would be the most openly and unashamedly amused, of course, having no complaints. as soon as you took your place, a grin would form and he'd offer your head a soft nudge with his nose. 'comfortable?' he'd ask in a whisper, teasing as always but still loving. his arms found their own place around you, keeping you close. to childe, holding onto you came easy, automatically knowing how to shift so you were comfortable. he wouldn't be concerned a single bit about the others, the glances only making him grin further. he enjoyed showing off the relationship you had. he'd be pretty excited once the meeting ended, the grin never leaving his features, though softening into a smile once he approached you. 'you made it pretty hard for me to concentrate in there.. that was an important meeting,' he teased, arms wrapping around you once more to pull you closer; if you were honest, neither of you had heard a single word that was said. 'i'm not complaining, though,' he'd chuckled, pressing a kiss to your temple. he was just happy to have someone who was so open to show him affection.

❥ dottore.

as annoyed as he'd be, he'd also be curious. were you testing him? were you crazy? had you.. taken something? he'd really be at a loss, especially as someone who wasn't exactly one for public displays of affection - meeting or otherwise. he would view your actions as a distraction and wonder just what kind of statement you were trying to make. 'this better be worth the interruption,' he muttered, adjusting his posture to accommodate you, shifting his focus back to the meeting. he would occasionally glance to you, jaw clenching as he tried figuring you out. once the meeting was over and you dismissed yourself, only to be closely followed by him. 'what exactly were you trying to achieve?' he asked, hand taking hold of your jaw to lift your head, though his touch wasn't as rough as you expected it to be. you only blinked and shook your head. there was a shift to his usual demeanor, something a little softer, letting you know he wasn't as displeased as you thought. 'you should know better than to disrupt my focus,' he added, leaning closer to you, eyes searching your own, 'you truly are a strange little creature..'

❥ arlecchino.

she would spare you a glance, expression unreadable as it always was. you taking a place on her lap wouldn't cause even the slightest of budge to her composed nature - you would have to do a lot more for that to happen. she does, however, rest a possessive hand on your hip, making sure to keep you close. there would be no open acknowledgement of your actions but she would make sure you were comfortable, attention never leaving the meeting. all you really needed though were her actions; the quiet protectiveness, even in such a formal place. once the meeting ended, you wouldn't be leaving your spot, held steady by her. she would wait for everyone to leave before speaking, 'that was quite bold,' she spoke quietly, a hint of approval to her tone, 'but you should know others may not be so understanding.' as she spoke, she got closer to your ear, offering your hip a gentle squeeze. arle knew very well how to stake her claim and the last thing she needed was for someone to misunderstand your easy show of affection.

❥ columbina.

like childe, she would have no issues with your gesture, even allowed a soft smile to grace her features. the two of you were known to play your little games and would see this as a simple, easy thing on your part. there would be no words but a soft hum of acknowledgement in the back of her throat. columbina would have no concerns when it came to the others, her attention easily balanced between the meeting and your presence. as she listened, she may let her arms loosely rest around you, head resting on your shoulder. once the meeting ended, she'd just tilt her head to nose gently at your shoulder. 'could you not have waited until after the meeting?' she mused, tone light. she wasn't one to make a big deal of anything, being considerably nonchalant about most things, brushing them off. 'next time, let's save the affection for when we're alone, yes?' she wasn't upset or bothered at all, she enjoyed the question affection, but she preferred keeping gentle, intimate moments to be in the privacy of your rooms.

❥ pantalone.

being the master of maintaining appearances, it came as no surprise that panta would remain composed, his expression calm and pleasant. not many things managed to crack his image, even you and your risky gestures. he continued to participate in the meeting with ease, a hand sliding to settle at your lower back, pulling you closer. 'how reckless of you,' he whispered, the brief show of a smirk evident against the shell of your ear, tone amused. he would enjoy the moment, all while keeping up his perfect little facade. there would be an amused glint to his eyes as he approached you after saying his farewell to the others. 'you realize the kind of attention such actions might draw, don't you?' he questioned, his tone giving no indication of being upset or annoyed with you. 'not that i mind, of course.. it certainly keeps things interesting.' panta was aways aware of appearances and his surroundings, as well as those around him. he would never openly express displeasure with your affection to him, but he'd make sure you understood. 'just be careful, my love.. not everyone will be as forgiving.'

❥ il capitano.

words are not something capitano needs to use often, his imposing presence often speaking for him. even with a mask on, his expression wouldn't change as you silently settled onto his lap - he also knew no one else would make the mistake of saying something to him about it. he wouldn't push you away or show signs of disapproval, he would actually rest a hand on your side, adjusting to accommodate you. he isn't one for grand gestures or openly displaying affection and his hold on you simply sat as a protective claim, however, him allowing you to keep your place during such a time would speak volumes of the trust he shares with you. he would continue as if you'd always been there, his grip on you tightening and loosening upon the subject shifts of the meeting. you didn't bother to move when the meeting ended, knowing he wouldn't let you slip away so easily. once everyone was gone, he spoke, tone low and calm. 'what was all this for?' he asked, though no annoyance or accusation to his words. he was genuinely asking. you knew a head shake wasn't exactly an answer but he accepted it, watching you closely. 'just be mindful of the setting next time,' he commented, this time soft yet firm, letting you knew the actions weren't unwanted but the timing wasn't proper. he was considerably reserved in nature but he appreciated your little moments of affection.

[tiredlinty]

I'm just waiting for a Sumeru event where Lyney, Lynette and Freminet visit and they're like "haha we're just here on vacation!" but really Arlecchino send them to spy on Hat guy, so the whole event is just Hat guy (and maybe Nahida) messing with them, while they try to get information on him.

[0wliee]

Something I don't get is why so many genshin fans struggle to acknowledge Diluc theories in the way they do Kaeya's

I know Kaeya is obviously one of the most lore important characters, we know that for sure now but before a lot of his stuff was confirmed it was speculation, similar to Diluc's position in theories right now, yet I notice the way evidence is treated is very different from Kaeya to Diluc. People will outright deny evidence that Diluc could be connected to the Hexenzirkel, or that his father may be connected to the Fatui. I've also seen Diluc theories treated as if they're a threat to Kaeya being special before.

Overall in my experience unless someone is already a Diluc fan i find it's hard to find people that want to hear the theories and don't just chalk it up to a coincidence.

[beelzilla]

Liking what I’m hearing of Sandrone so far

[medusabluete]

Found something from a while ago. Have comfy Doctor to calm down from the stream, Dottonation !!! 🩵

[genshin-side-piece]

Okay so i’ve been chewing on the 6.3 archon quest for a while now and the more i think about it, the more i’m convinced something is… off. Not in a “plot hole” way, in a very intentional, hoyo-is-being-weird-on-purpose way.

What if after the final confrontation, Dottore didn’t actually lose, he shifted the traveler into an alternate reality to keep us out of the real endgame?

Because once you start looking at the post-quest world through that lens a lot of things feel suspiciously curated.

Right at the start, he isolates us in a controlled environment tailored to our psychology. He builds a world meant to appeal to our sense of justice and order and tries to convince us to stay there.

Canon says these are experimental realms / constructs, not full timelines. Sure. But the question becomes: If he can make a small fake reality, why couldn’t he scale it up?

What if “beating” him just transitions us into a more stable version of the same trick? One that’s based on what he knows about us and those around us.This is supported by Wanderer’s ending in the quest. 

Dottore doesn’t recognize Wanderer for who he actually is. Which means his understanding of Wanderer is already incomplete and flawed.

Because Dottore is not omnipresent or at least, he doesn’t admit to being that way, he likely doesn’t know Wanderer’s core was removed to run Sandrone’s extrapolations. Which means at the end, when Wanderer is leaving for Sumeru, the core being returned never gets addressed in dialogue. The same thing goes for the curse Dottore places on everyone after we raid his lab. Since he was busy with us, he wouldn’t have known Sandrone found it. 

If we’re in a Dottore-built reality, both the curse and Wanderer being “stable” without explanation makes sense. Because from Dottore’s perspective, nothing was wrong in the first place. He was too distracted with other things, like possibly altering Teyvat’s history, to notice.

Another thing that sticks out is how we’re told certain conversations happened, but we never see them. In the past, Hoyo has been consistent in showing us the traveler’s important character interactions.

One explanation is we don’t see it due to pacing. That’s totally possible. Another explanation is that we’re being given reconstructed memories to smooth over narrative seams.

It creates this lingering feeling that something happened in the gaps, and we’re only seeing the edited version. Much like we did when Dottore had us in the initial alternate space. He only let us see what he wanted and not the truth. We see this in how everything wraps up in one of the alternate endings. Nod-Krai moves toward unity in a way that feels extremely convenient. People who were deeply divided start aligning faster than you’d expect. Is that character growth? Yes, absolutely. But through the theory lens, it looks like we’re living inside the exact type of world Dottore tried to design for us.

It’s funny how Columbina’s “one chance” dialogue echoes Dottore’s earlier rhetoric almost beat for beat. It could be a coincidence, but it’s enough to feel like the world is speaking in his narrative voice.

When we meet with her on the moon, Columbina gives us info on our sibling, she shows us our lost ship, and she unlocks more of our powers. Aka the exact information Dottore promised us earlier. Again, this is a totally normal quest resolution, if that was the true resolution. We know the ending on the Moon is one of two. Who is to say which one is real? Who can say either is real?

Another part of the story that’s been bothering me is the whole “rogue harbinger” thing. What if that’s theater, or at least not as out-of-control as it looks?

Because here’s the part that keeps nagging at me: the Dottore we actually meet is probably a segment, and not necessarily acting independently the whole time. We already know the real Dottore can control his segments remotely, which means there’s almost certainly some kind of oversight or fail safe built into the system. Additionally, the Jester would know that on some level, Dottore is a liability. It’s hard to believe the Fauti would just let him run wild with zero contingency. 

Then there’s the physical side of things. The amount of energy being channeled through Dottore’s body during the quest is absurd. The kind of power that should realistically kill or destabilize a normal human. So that raises two possibilities: The “real” Dottore isn’t human anymore (or hasn’t been for a long time) or he engineered a specific segment designed to withstand god-level power, essentially a disposable vessel meant for ascension attempts. 

We see proof of this in Sumeru, where Dottore tries to engineer a false god using Scaramouche. He collected the data from that experiment, made improvements based on that data, and applied it to what we see in Nod Krai.

This becomes extra interesting when you remember that Wanderer is the basis for Dottore’s segment research in the first place. Dottore improved on Scaramouche’s flaws, creating a vessel fit for god-hood.

So if the segment we fight is being piloted or guided at key moments, and a fail safe exists somewhere in the system, and the Fatui never trigger it… Then the question becomes, if he truly betrayed them, why not just shut him down?

Instead the Tsaritsa gives specific orders to Sandrone and Arlecchino to exercise lethal force if need be to stop Dottore. This causes the whole thing to turn into a very public, very chaotic confrontation. Which feels less like damage control and more like a staged conflict. Very similar to what happened in Liyue with Childe. That makes me wonder if the mess was the point.

Because from a strategy angle, it accomplishes a lot:

The traveler gets occupied or potentially sidelined, possibly permanently. Since we’re the protagonist, we are a threat to the Tsaritsa’s plan. From the onset, the Fauti have been hesitant to kill us. If anything, they’ve been using us through different tasks through the Adventurer’s Guild to reach their goals. If we didn’t serve a higher purpose to them, they would have offed us long ago. To keep us out of trouble until we’re needed, Dottore tucks us away in a world that he or the Fatui can control. An alternate theory could be that the Jester and the Abyss sibling are working together. The Jester wishes to kill the gods and burn away the old world, while the Abyss sibling is looking to restore Khaenri'ah. The two could have reached a deal where we’re kept safe until the plan is realized. This is accomplished by dropping us into an alternate timeline that echos the main one. Once the plan is realized the sibling or the Jester may let us out, or they may keep us there. For all we know, the plan could have been realized long ago and at the end of this cycle, we wake up in the “new world.”

Harbingers like Sandrone, Arlecchino, and Columbina could no longer be necessary to the main plan. Since they are not 100% loyal to the Fauti or the Tsaritsa, they are a liability. The Fauti can’t just get rid of them. If, however, they're lost in the fight to Dottore, so be it. Given the lack of the reaction to other character deaths *coughs CAPITANO coughs* No one will question the narrative. BTW, I’m not suggesting Dottore is 100% loyal. He’s not, but since he can wield the power of the Trilune, he is useful.

A “rogue harbinger” narrative gives everyone plausible deniability while the real plan keeps moving behind the scenes. It’s worth noting that prior to 6.3 Columbina was being rejected by the world. That means whatever she gave the Tsaritsa wasn’t complete. The false moon being replaced by the real moon restores Columbina’s power; Completing whatever she gave to the Tsaritsa. Since we don’t know what Dottore was up to in between the time we escape and when we confront him again. He could have been moving the plan forward as well. He doesn’t view us as a threat, and while we aren’t in his line of sight, he does have us trapped. While we’re distracted trying to stop him, he can do other things.

So maybe the Dottore we saw wasn’t a traitor, just a specialized segment playing the villain role, while the real architect stayed somewhere far away, pulling the strings. Kind of like Lygus from HSR.

6.3 leans hard into surreal environments, perception manipulation, and morally curated outcomes. Everything feels slightly too tidy after a quest that was otherwise chaotic and psychologically intense.

And if there’s one thing Dottore believes in, it’s this: Control what people perceive, and you control the reality they accept. 

So maybe we won, or maybe we just got moved somewhere we can’t interfere anymore. Maybe we’ve been there the whole time and we’ve just been in a loop. That could be why we have virtually no memories at the start. Dottore is our version of Lygus and he keeps running us through different cycles to see how many different outcomes he can achieve before he’s through. 

[wintearflower]

it's a shame we never got to see the top 3 fatui harbingers' dynamic outside of the traveller's presence/influence. i feel they really captured the essence of the organisation. all 3 wear a mask, really playing into the concept where "The Fatui often face the world from behind their masks and it is said that this is because all they once were mean nothing once they become Fatui, and thus must they forsake their true names and face alike..." (as stated in La Signora's trophy "Funerary Mask")

all three were an enigma in their own way. Capitano held this air of intimidation and strength from his appearance and title alone, Dottore encapsulated this controlled madness, and Columbina displayed this eerie juxtaposition of a small and gentle woman with angelic motifs yet holding a high seat in a notoriously antagonistic organisation.

for me, i was most excited to see Dottore and Columbina's dynamic, especially after their little exchange in Winter's Night Lazzo (also can i say that, if we take her current lore into consideration, Dottore was one of the few people she made the effort to open her eyes for. or she's just ragebaiting lol). with Capitano, you could tell from the jump he's the strongest combat wise, so when it came to Dottore and Columbina, they don't look like fighters, nor does it appear to be their skill of choice. where their power stemmed from, to get them to their rankings was so intriguing and was honestly scarier than knowing that they were actually capable of.

alas, it's a shame the fatui harbingers aren't an organised stronghold of antagonists in the end. i don't necessarily have a problem with it as i believe the fatui is meant to have their nuances, even amongst the harbingers, but i feel there's been a loss in balance in their antagonist choices and display of humanity or complex motives and psyche. there more questions than answers as to why and how the fatui are operational at all. but that's just me, idk. i like a good antagonistic group