【KHR AU】 XanLena and the Varia visit Vietnam on vacation ❤️💜🔥🪷
XanLena Skeb Chibis by Akiko (@/Akiko_141)
Summary:
KHR AU: XanLena and the Varia visit Vietnam on vacation 🌊
Xanxus notices that Selena is starting to get homesick and decides to visit Vietnam on a "business trip" ✈️
Everyone in the Varia knows what the real reason is (because Xanxus noticed Selena was getting homesick)
The Varia visits Hạ Long Bay on a boat cruise ⛰️🌄🌊
The rest of the Varia members start fighting, and the ensuing chaos causes their boats to tip over, and they fall into the water 🌊💦
Hạ Long Bay Boat Cruise and Tourist Caves in Vietnam ⛰️🌄
Intro
Selena in her main outfit and Xanxus wearing áo dài
(Copy pasting rambles that I originally posted for Xanxus' birthday on 10/10. I got the chance to add to my own rambles recently 👍)
Discussion rambles I originally had with my friends Cinna and Snow about a KHR AU scenario of mine where XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) and the rest of the Varia visit Vietnam.
For those who don't know, Selena is my Viet NB assassin KHR OC who joins the Varia as one of their members. She has a calm, aloof, and reserved personality, and likes flowers, gardening, and fashion. In my KHR AU, she is Xanxus' S/O. My lotus themed wife... 💜🪷
I wanted to post this for Xanxus' birthday today! Happy birthday Xanxus! Happy birthday to my fave KHR character ❤️🍷🔥
Xanxus is my favourite KHR character, tied with Hibari. You were born on 10/10 to be a 10/10! ❤️🔥✨
I wanna draw XanLena wearing traditional Viet clothing when I get the chance… 🙏
The Varia visits Vietnam ✨
Selena Neka by BIKOSi (with slight colour edits by me)
KHR: Vol. 39 Cover by Akira Amano
Me: I have a lot of KHR related discussions (including about my KHR AU), which is why I need to start posting more of it here.
I write a lot about Selena's shenanigans with the other Varia members.
I love the Varia... The Vongola family's chaotic funky assassin squad. Assassin kindergarten brawl
Omg this generates ideas in my head of the Varia taking a vacation to Vietnam...
Me: I need a XanLena date in Vietnam ❣️
C: CUTE. The blorboes exploring your home country is peak comfort actually /lh
S: Y e s
Hạ Long Bay
(Not my photos)
Me: The idea I had in my head was so funny. Like I imagined the Varia visiting famous Viet tourist attractions like Hạ Long Bay. The Varia members are going sightseeing in boats.
Xanxus and Selena are sitting together in a separate boat, while Xanxus is sitting all cross legged
The other members (Squalo, Bel, Lussuria, Levi, Mammon) are in separate boats. At one point, they start arguing and fighting. And the ensuing chaos causes their boats to tip over, causing them to all fall into the water
(Mammon most likely jumped over to another boat when the fighting started cuz they didn't want to be involved in this)
Me: And Xanxus continues to sit there with his eyes closed, completely unconcerned/unfazed, and Selena is just like (!?!?!?) when she sees the huge splashes when everyone falls into the water
I imagined him to have these expressions~
KHR: Vol. 40 - Ch. 391
KHR: Vol. 25 - Ch. 227
KHR: Vol. 39 - Ch. 375
Official Art by Akira Amano
C: ONSNCNZNXNDZ
Average day with the Varia
I swear, Vietnam has one acre less of land once the Varia leaves /jk
S: These pics look so pretty
Me: HDAHSHDSHSH
Omg the Varia going sightseeing and exploring Vietnam's caves on a boat cruise would be fun!
I love Hạ Long Bay's emerald waters, rock formations, and caves. They look so pretty.
Me: For the "The Varia members are at Hạ Long Bay" idea I had
I imagine when the Varia members fight and tip each other's boats over (which causes everyone except XanLena to fall into the water), Xanxus is just sitting like this, completely unfazed while chilling in his boat with Selena
Xanxus: (.........)
Selena: ⁉️
C: Truly an average day.
Me: IKR. THIS IS JUST AN AVERAGE DAY WITH THE VARIA
S: WNNISSUVAA
C: LMFAO
XanLena Gummy Chibis by Mo (@/lesbocean)
I remember coming up with a bunch of KHR AU scenarios where the Varia visit Vietnam.
I wanna make more scenarios based on this idea, since it's so fun to imagine the Varia's shenanigans while they're on vacation in Vietnam.
Selena would scold them and tell them to not wreck her home country!!! 💥
I imagine Selena expresses to Xanxus that she feels a little homesick since she's been living with him in Italy but misses going back to see her home country every once in a while, so she wants to take a short trip to Vietnam by herself, if possible, when her work is done.
Xanxus thinks it over in his head... and then decides they'll be going on vacation.
Xanxus announces to the Varia that they're going on vacation.
He tells them that it's for "work" but everyone knows what it's actually for.
Hehehe. Getaway vacation to Vietnam! ✌️
(Read under the cut for more)
Selena asks Xanxus she wants to visit Vietnam 💖
Xanxus and Selena Nekomimi Chibis (YCH) by Hika (@/onigiwi_2namayo)
I imagined the scenario where XanLena first visits Vietnam would start like this.
I feel like the conversation first comes up when Xanxus picks up on Selena's mood changes, because he's very observant.
He asks her what's up, so Selena asks him for his permission to take a small vacation to Vietnam for a bit.
She tells him not to worry too much, since she'll only visit for a couple days before coming back to Italy.
So Selena just intends on visiting Vietnam herself for a couple days, and then coming back (since she doesn't want to be gone for too long)
Xanxus would then pick up on the fact that Selena is feeling homesick since she hasn't gone back home in a while
(Selena made the Varia's headquarters in Italy, her permanent home, in order to stay with Xanxus and live with him)
I imagine that Selena travels a lot, but always comes back home to visit every once in a while, so she hasn't had the chance to visit ever since she started living with the Varia in Italy (as her permanent residence)
Xanxus would pick up on Selena feeling homesick and would want to see Selena's home country
And so, he'd make an excuse for the Varia to go on a trip to Vietnam 🙏
What a caring bf 😌✨
Selena lives with the Varia
I imagine that Selena lives with Xanxus, because she wants to live with her S/O (and also because she's apart of the Varia, so it makes things easier for work too)
And also because she picks up on the fact that Xanxus is generally in a better mood and happier with her there.
Selena lives with Xanxus in the Varia's headquarters, but if she didn't, then Xanxus would want to arrange for his S/O to come live with him.
(This isn't canon to my AU, this is just me thinking, like hypothetically speaking.)
Thankfully, Selena lives with the Varia and also permanently resides in the Varia's headquarters in Italy after joining.
(This is canon to my AU.)
C: OMG YEAH
Cute ;;; Xanxus happier with Selena there
Me: I love thinking about how Xanxus becomes generally happier due to Selena's presence 💗
I feel like the Varia members would pick up on Xanxus' mood temperament changes first, since they've known him the longest.
C: ANYWAYS. Yep that's how I imagine it too. Xanxus couldn't pull off a relationship with even a bit of distance. He has a controlling streak and needs his S/O to be there whenever possible.
Me: Yeah like Xanxus (in most circumstances) could not pull off a long distance relationship (at least in my HCs)
With TYL Xanxus, I feel like if he's built enough trust with his S/O, then he could tolerate longer absences/being apart from them for longer, but yeah, this is how I feel about it too.
XanLena Chibis by Val (@/vaniillamyk)
Me: Yeah the mans is a huge control freak tbh.
Xanxus is an extremely jealous and extremely possessive cat cot 🐈⬛🦁
XanLena's relationship is honestly pretty healthy and fluffy!
Due to the amount of resources he has, Xanxus would fund Selena's gardening and fashion interests and constantly get her gifts (ex. clothes, new flowers and plants for her garden, etc.)
Selena has an interest in fashion, including Viet fashion (ex. traditional clothes, modern clothes, lolita, frilly/ruffled clothes, etc.)
I feel like XanLena has some mild tension, especially at the start of their relationship when Selena first tries getting to know him (since Xanxus is generally extremely emotionally distant and intimidating)
And there'd also be some tension between them because Xanxus keeps everything about his past (irt the Cradle Affair) hidden from her.
Since Selena joins the Varia post-canon (after the Battle of the Rainbow arc), I feel like Xanxus would order his subordinates to never tell her, too.
Selena eventually figures out that Xanxus is keeping secrets, but doesn't want to pry about it unless Xanxus decides to open up to her about them on his own.
Varia's Linguistic Talents
I keep thinking about that one KHR trivia on the KHR fan-wiki that you need to know a minimum of 7 languages to join the Varia.
I haven't found a source for it, but that tidbit has existed on the KHR fan-wiki for YEARS (and I'm not sure if the info originally came from an obscure old magazine or something...)
But I think there's enough basis, considering how in one of the KHR Manga's Lussuria Interviews, Lussuria tries asking Xanxus if "the rumours about Boss knowing 12 languages are true."
Obviously, Xanxus has no interest in answering Lussuria's questions.
7 is INSANE, but 12???
I'm honestly so obsessed with the Varia men wanting to use their linguistic skills to learn their S/O's languages and cultures as a form of love language...
Xanxus would definitely learn Vietnamese to be able to speak with Selena fluently in her native tongue.
He would learn North, South, and Central Viet dialects (since Selena is from Huế, a city in Central Vietnam)
Once he learns it fluently on his own, he just starts speaking to her in Viet out of the blue (just because he wants to impress her and see her reactions when he does)
And Selena is very surprised when he does, and tells him his Viet is very good. She's flattered that he'd go all this way... 🥺
I imagine Selena usually speaks with the other members in Japanese and English (and occasionally Italian)
Misc Rambles
FGO referenced Hạ Long Bay with the Trưng Sisters! Very cool of them. Here's Hạ Long Bay in the Trưng Sisters' Noble Phantasm (NP) background at the end.
The Trưng Sisters in FGO are designed by Takegarou, one of Pokemon's recent character designers/artists.
Trưng Sisters in Fate/Grand Order: Stage/Ascension 1 - 4
Noble Phantasm (NP) Animation
C: Oooh true!!! That's very cool :3
Me: I imagine Selena has a trait where she tips money to children at booths (since kids often help out at their family's stores)
Like in general, she gives tips to people who provide good services, but will give larger amounts to kids.
S: Aw
C: Ohhh cuute. She's a good person fr
Me: Still cannot believe that FGO gave me the first major Viet rep in mainstream media like animanga and games. And they were drawn by Takegarou, one of my fave artists. And they have wonderful designs and colours. Massive W
Cuz it's FGO, which has a horrible reputation with rep, I expected to lose on every front tbh, but I won with this (and I never expected to win)
The outfit designs and colours are gorgeous... Take is such a good character designer and has really diverse body and facial types and skintones.
Take has such a strong aesthetic sense. Her colours are so strong.
I love that the Trưng Sisters have tanner skin like a SEA person would.
It makes me feel so seen since the Trưng Sisters are the first Viet rep in mainstream media in animanga.
Take is one of my fave artists and artist inspos because she is an amazing character designer with a great colour sense. 🥰💗
I used the Trưng Sisters as refs for Selena and Xanxus' skintones (since I HC Xanxus to be mixed Italian)
My good friend Feuri, who is Italian American, said that Southern Italy and especially Sicily tends to have a higher mixed population and more tan/olive skinned folks compared to Northern Italy.
So I HC Xanxus has a very mixed ethnicity (^^)
And it fits with the KHR ani giving him an olive/warmer skin tone compared to his OG manga version.
Xanxus' design literally looks better with darker skin (imo), because it harmonizes better against the black and red colours in his design.
Hạ Long Bay (Tourist Caves)
(Not my photos)
Me: I visited Hạ Long Bay when I was a kid (my family and I went on a huge vacation all over Vietnam when I was 6 ~ 7)
YEA.
Selena is genuinely a good person. She's a sweetie, but she does have an unhinged side when it comes to her work. I really like the character contrast between her and the rest of the Varia.
C: Very true. Since outside of her job, Selena is legit nice af lmao
S: Cool :3
Me: Hạ Long Bay caves! I think I did see the caves as a tourist attraction as a kid.
Oh yeah and the Varia are probably all chilling in Viet clothes while on their vacation
C: Oh those cave pics are fucking gorgeous holy shit.
Awwww
Me:
C: I swear Vietnam has one less acre of land when the Varia leaves
Yeah and I imagine Selena is basically the little sister of the Varia who keeps up a mentally big sister role and tries to keep her chaotic siblings in line
C: POOR SELENA JSJGNDKFKD WORST POSITION EVER HONESTLY
...
Me: Vietnam has elephant riding tourist attractions and the elephants are nice! And there's also ladders that'd lead up to tall wooden houses
C: Cool :3
Misc Rambles
S: (As someone who only knows KHR through the Mutuals/Blorbos osmosis and Sen and Cinna's rambles)
S: I sometimes forget that in KHR's art, they’re like teenagers, and not mid 20s adults.
Me: It depends on the charas! Some are teens, some are mid 20s adults or older
S: Not in a bad way but I just think it’s funny a lot of teenagers in shounen media look like adults cause honestly I have that same problem with my art 🙈
Me: SAME LMAO
Biggest reason why you haven't seen me draw kid charas that much: I usually draw adult charas since I'm more used to them
C: SHONEN CHARACTERS ALWAYS LOOK 5 YEARS YOUNGER OR FIVE YEARS OLDER I SWEAR
S: IT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY
Me: From my own personal experience back when I visited Vietnam, the Xích lô (cyclos) in Vietnam are pretty cheap too.
Basically you pay them and tell them where you wanna go and get driven around in these bikes/cycles. There's a seat for passengers.
It's a common tourist attraction to bring tourists to places.
C: Oh yeah! I think I've heard.
...
Me: Ngl a part of me wants to visit Vietnam again someday... I feel a higher cultural connection to VN culture than most of the younger gen in my family does and the tourist attractions are WAY more exciting than here.
There were even elephant riding tourist attractions and the elephants were nice! And ladders that'd lead to wooden houses (tourist attractions). And a bunch of caverns and such
C: Cool :3
S: Oooooo I see
C: And it'd be a great opportunity to reconnect with your culture up close
Me: I am slowly reconnecting with my culture by getting more VN clothes heehee
I want to reconnect with my culture since I'm Việt Kiều (Viet diaspora), so I want to learn more about Viet culture 💗
XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) Chibi Skeb Commission by Akiko (@/Akiko_141)
Akiko's Carrd: (X)
Akiko's VGen: (X)
Intro
I commissioned Akiko to draw my beloved XanLena 💜❤️🔥🪷
This one's a Skeb/Omakase/Surprise Me Style Commission ^^
My beloved cat wife and her hubby!!! 🐈⬛🦁💞
They are so cute together...... 🥰💗
I was really excited to see XanLena in Akiko's style! Akiko really delivered~ 🥺
I included the original version that Akiko initially drew as the 2nd image. Akiko's VGen Portfolio showcase has the version with the OG colours when the files were first submitted on VGen.
Since Selena is my KHR OC and my wife, XanLena is my go-to ship to commission (also because they have refs that are readily available, which makes things easier for the artists I commission)
I would love to commission Akiko for my other ships in the future 🙏
Rambles
THEIR EXPRESSIONS ARE SO CUTE OH MY GOD???
I LOVE HOW THEIR DETAILS WERE DRAWN WAHHHH
AKIKO'S STYLE IS SO CUTE OMGGG
THE STYLE IS SO SKRUNKLY WAHHHH
I LOVE THE COLOURS THEY CHOSE…
THE STYLIZATION IS SO CUTE OMGGG
SELENAAAAA 😭🥺💗💞💘
The colour palette is so good! I love the lighter colour palette that's used here
These chibis are SOOO cute!! I'm so happy with them 💞🙏
Really glad Akiko is very accommodating with minor colour and design/detail fixes!
I love the warm colour palette that Akiko used!
The art style is so skrunkly and looks so good! I love their chibi style and stylization…
Their hair looks so fluffy!!!
VGen Review
I'm very happy with how my chibis came out! They look SOOO cute in Akiko's style! ❤️💜
Akiko perfectly captured the characters' personalities and vibes! I love how their expressions and poses were drawn~ The colours harmonize very well together too!
Thank you so much for the amazing commission~ I'd love to commission you again in the future! 💖✨
Akiko is very patient and sweet! I'm grateful Akiko was willing to make minor changes even after the final files were sent ☺️
I asked Akiko to update Selena's bow and ribbon and the black seam on her blouse, the white diamond pattern on Selena's stockings, saturate Selena's eyes, and darken Xanxus and Selena's skin tones a bit. Looks amazing! 🥰 🫶
My Message
This was the message I left for Akiko!
Xanxus and Selena look SO cute in your style! ❤️💜
The cutest chibis ever~! 💞 Your chibi style and stylization are amazing! I'm so happy! You captured their vibes perfectly 🥺💗✨
I love how you drew their poses and expressions! I love how you made their hair look so fluffy and the warm colour palette you used. You have a great sense of colour! The colours harmonize so well.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the quick delivery for my commission.
Thank you for being very kind and patient and receptive to feedback too! I really appreciate you being so understanding with minor design and colour/detail fixes (like when I asked to darken their skin tones a bit, and to add Selena's ribbon onto her bow and the black seam and buttons onto her blouse)
Thank you so much! 🥰💖🫶
I'll definitely be back to commission you again in the future! 🙏
Commission Form
This was the commission form I sent! I also sent a Google Drive folder of their refs as usual
KHR AU: Xanxus and Nguyễn Selena (Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên) by Sen (@/stepswordsen) ❤️💜🔥🪷
Xanxus and Selena Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)
Selena Bust-up Commission by Ham (@/exoticham_)
Intro
I wanted to update Selena's Character Profile and Relationships Chart 💜🪷
Decided to remake an old post of mine to include Selena centric rambles and update her usage of pronouns.
Figured it's been a long time since I posted about my nyanbinary wife, Selena~ 🐈⬛🪷
Nguyễn Selena is my KHR OC who is a Vietnamese non-binary assassin. Her Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên.
Her name, Selena, means "moon" 🌙
Her Vietnamese name, Liên, means "lotus flower" in Sino Viet 🪷
In my KHR AU, she joins the Varia as one of their members and lives at their headquarters with the rest of the core Varia members. My wife has NB flag colours~ 💜🖤🤍💛
I mainly ship Selena with Xanxus.
In KHR, Xanxus is the leader of the Varia, an independent assassination squad under the Vongola mafia family. He was initially one of KHR's major antagonists.
You can read more under the cut! 💫
Nguyễn Selena: Relationship Chart 💜
Context
I added context below for my mutuals who don’t know much about KHR, but would still like to tune into my KHR AUs and KHR OC stuff. Feel free to read, only if you want ^^
Vongola Family = The KHR protagonist, Tsuna, is currently training to become the 10th generation boss of the Vongola family. Tsuna and co. are the Vongola family’s 10th generation guardians.
Varia = The Vongola family’s elite independent assassination squad. Their leader is Xanxus.
Source: (X)
Nguyen Selena 💜🪷
About 💐
Selena was born in and grew up in Huế, a major city in Central Vietnam, which was once Vietnam's capital.
Huế (in Central Vietnam) is Selena's birth city. It's a famous tourist spot for its historical monuments like the Purple Forbidden City (紫禁城, Tử cấm thành)
The city served as the Imperial Citadel for the Nguyễn dynasty in the past. The Forbidden Purple City was closed off and reserved only for the nobility.
See the bottom of this post if you wantt to learn more about the Purple Forbidden City 👍
Purple was considered the colour of the nobility. The colour purple was historically seen as the colour of royalty in EA and SEA cultures because it was considered expensive and difficult to make.
“Purple stands for auspice, honor and highest status.”
T: Purple used to be considered a high class color due to the fact that it used to be quite expensive to produce.
(From my friend Tomato)
Selena Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)
Personality (Part 1)
Selena is a Vietnamese non-binary assassin with a soft and earnest personality. She is the protagonist of my KHR AU, which focuses on her daily life after she joined the Varia as one of their members and started living with them. XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) is the main ship.
As a child, she was often seen as unapproachable and emotionally distant and cold, so she "mended" her outer image to appear more approachable to others.
Her personality is gentle and warm, soft and aloof, reserved, calm and collected, sweet, open and thoughtful. Usually seen smiling, friendly. She's the type to get excited around people she's comfortable with, and when talking about her interests.
I associate her with a black cat aesthetic and with plants/flowers: Lotus (her namesake), Wisteria, Hydrangea (beautiful but poisonous purple flowers) 🐈⬛🪷💜✨
She likes "strong people and those who are intelligent at their field of expertise." She has an interest in fashion (cute fashion, lolita, traditional clothes), and is a florist and gardener, and plant/flower enthusiast. Very hardworking and passionate about her interests.
She has semi conscious man-eating plants and poisonous plants that respond to her emotions. They can grow larger in size depending on what they take in. She dips her blades’ tips with poison from poisonous plants. Generally knowledgeable about plants.
She has her own garden and likes taking care of many varieties of flowers, plants. She also likes learning about herbs, medicinal remedies, and poisons. Originally very aloof, shy, and reserved. Secludes herself and becomes more withdrawn if left alone.
Selena Bust-up Commission by Ham (@/exoticham_)
Personality (Part 2)
She's not one to get involved too much in things that don't concern her, and because of that, she mainly keeps to herself, but can get along with others when necessary. Usually calm demeanour.
She's more aloof and wary at first around people she doesn't know/isn't too familiar with, but she slowly gets more comfortable and casual with the Varia members as she gets to know them, and eventually opens up more.
Really likes cute things, so she likes collecting fluffy, frilly clothes, historical fashion (traditional clothes), lolita and cute/girly fashion, and plushies. She gets her clothes personally tailored for her (she has some made by her family members).
A soft and gentle person with a rather modest personality. She gets rambly when talking about her flowers and plants. Interested in her gardening and fashion hobbies.
She tries to keep her emotions in check and keep up a level of pragmatism. And is very deliberate in fights with her fighting style... I feel like everything she does about her work is carefully curated. She's interested in fighting and takes pride in her work ethic.
Selena is friendly, so she tries to befriend the other Varia members, whom she considers her co-workers. A calm/level-headed person who’s hardworking and dedicated to her work.
She doesn't get angry often but if she does, she’d definitely be biting peoples’ heads off for it after (verbally first, but he resorts to violence if she's really mad). She has some degree of control and detachment from her work. She has a tinge of insanity, but she’s in control of herself.
She doesn't really think of things like romance so she's a bit dense. So she won't realize if someone's flirting with her unless they're really pushy and assertive. Generally oblivious to flirting cues unless they’re really obvious. She gets flustered easily when her S/O flirts with her.
She likes "strong, intelligent people, someone skilled in their field of expertise." She considers Xanxus a "splendid, wonderful person." To her, a wonderful person is "someone who is strong, someone who has many strengths, is outstanding in terms of their abilities, charismatic, powerful."
Selena's hostile towards Tsuna, the KHR protag, due to Xanxus' context and the Varia's opinions of him. She doesn't like how irresponsible Tsuna is, and his lack of ambition. She hates his ignorance, and his whole goody goody shtick.
As Cinna said, personality wise, Selena and Tsuna would be ok with each other, but morals wise, they're just way too different so they wouldn't get along. Selena is very capable of desensitizing herself from murder and accepting crime, while Tsuna is very hesitant to do that and holds onto the idea of murder being immoral
I think she's aware of how intimidating Xanxus' personality is, especially at the start, (and with how cold and standoffish and emotionally distant Xanxus is, in general), but since she is a nice and sweet, empathetic person, she'd like to bridge the gap with him, but she's also mindful and worried of how to approach him, so she gives him his personal space and respects his boundaries.
Copy pasted my rambles if it makes things easier to read.
Selena's Name (Part 1) 🖤💜🤍💛🌙☁️☂
I wanted to add to Selena’s info sheets. Since I’m still working on my personal arts for Selena, I used a Neka (CN avatar maker) maker for this along with the arts I commissioned of her. I just edited the colours on the Neka one to be more saturated for personal use.
I’ll just post the name etymologies post I have for Selena.
Her name is Nguyễn Selena, but her alternate Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên. This name describes the lotus flowers under the clouds and moonlight.
The moonlight reflected on the lotus flowers and clouds above. Selena's flame attributes are Cloud and Rain. Purple and blue flames :)
Selena's Vietnamese name, Liên, means “lotus” in Viet. The lotus flower is Vietnam's national flower. It's often called “the flower of the dawn,” and it represents purity and innocence. Lotuses bloom on the surface of water, and shine brightly in light. The lotus flower is Selena's flower, since the symbolism of the lotus flower fits her perfectly.
The lotus flower is a very important sacred flower in Eastern cultures and in Buddhism.
“The lotus grows in muddy water, and yet the dirt and muddy water fall off its leaves and petals, keeping it clean and pure.”
I'm really happy I managed to come up with such a pretty name meaning for Selena~ It fits her perfectly. If you ever want to know how to pronounce my Viet KHR OCs' names, you can ask me! I could probably make a video clip or something.
I’m Viet diaspora, so I’ve been wanting to reconnect with my culture in recent years. Viet names can be really poetic and pretty, so they’re fun to come up with!
Selena’s Name (Part 2) 🖤💜🤍💛🌙☁️☂
Her full name is Nguyễn Selena, but I also wanted to give her a pretty sounding Vietnamese name. I first came up with it around December 2021. Her full Viet name is Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên.
Thankfully it was easy for me to come up with Selena’s name, and Linh’s name, (my other KHR OC).
If I remember correctly, most Viet names and words are pronounced as a single syllable. Some peoples' full Viet names are 2 syllables/words, most tend to be 3 or 4. There's not really any limit in Viet names tbh. I don’t think it’s common, but there are people who have more than 4 syllable names, like 5 or 6.
I think a lot about meanings when I come up with EA/SEA-Asian names for OCs... Selena's name definitely sounds “out there” and unique and irregular.
Selena’s name doesn’t really seem far-fetched to me, since Viet names can be 3 ~ 4 syllables or longer. There's no limit, but it's usually 3, sometimes 4 ~ 5. I think it's fine if her name stands out, given the tradition of Viet names.
From what I understand, Viet names can be almost anything. They’re either super poetic or genuinely funny, like some people have names that are common words. The duality of Viet names LMAO. So it definitely sounds like Selena’s name is plausible and reasonable.
Selena's Abilities 💜💙
Selena is my KHR OC. KHR stands for Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
It’s a shounen that was really popular in EA spaces from the mid to late 2000s.
In KHR, there's the concept of a flame called a “Dying Will Flame” and it literally represents... how strong your dying will, or resolution, is. And in later arcs, it introduces worldbuilding/lore concepts that people have different flame types that each have unique attributes, based on elements found in weather.
I actually love KHR's power system setup, it's very unique. The flame power system is based on elements in weather, which is really neat. And this is exactly why Selena’s stayed as a KHR OC. You can create really interesting powers with this setup. 🥰💞
The power system needs to be fleshed out more tbh (though that’s what I’m here for). KHR's setup gives one of the best environments to make OCs. The different flame types of KHR have a certain “attribute” or “characteristic,” unique to each type. 🔥
Selena is themed with the moon, clouds, and lotuses. This shows in her name. She's also themed with rain and water. Lotuses are aquatic/water flowers, so it makes her having a nice pond to relax by, even more fitting :) 💜🪷🌙☁️
Selena has two different flame attributes. She has Cloud (purple) and Rain (blue) flames. Her main flame attribute is Cloud. 💜☁️
Her secondary flame attribute is Rain. Selena is able to limitedly make rain clouds with her Rain flames. 💙🌧️
Selena could then use her Cloud flames to make her plants grow exponentially out of control. I imagine that when Selena gets mad, her plant weapons just grow giant and grow across the walls and go after people and drain their life force and everything <3
KHR characters use either specialized weapons, or cute Digimons powered by flames.
I still wanna flesh out her powers more since you can come up with all sorts of fun ideas with plant based powers. Anyways, I love my wife. Selena is so wifey wife wife 💜💗💘
(Snippets from the KHR fan-wiki that I figured were relevant)
Source: (X)
Imperial City of Huế, or the Purple Forbidden City, in Vietnam
Source: (X)
Source: (X)
Rambles ✍️
I was debating whether to even tag this at first cuz I haven't finished updating Selena's relationship with the other Varia members on her info sheet... But I figured I should.
I was gonna add more rambles but I'll just put that in a different post.
I love my wifey and my fave KHR meow meow mf sooo much ❤️💜
It's XanLena's 8th year anniversary this year! 🎉 I first made the ship in 2017 💞💘
I originally wrote this all in my Notion docs but I used a combo of screenshots and copy pasting the text.
It feels more fitting to use screenshots for more formatted posts like the info sheets.
Misc Rambles
Sorry but I don't want to retype all this again so I'm just copy pasting these from my Notion doc
Selena's info sheet and character relationship chart was inspired by FGO Materials' character profile formats where it lists a chara's general info, usage of pronouns, quotes, relationships with other charas, etc.
I still need to revamp the quotes with Selena's relationships with the other Varia members so I just posted Xanxus' part for now
I also included my rambles with friends! ⭐
Selena is the type who's calm and gentle but likes to keep to herself regarding matters that don't concern her. She's more aloof when she doesn't know the person well, but eventually opens up to the other Varia members.
I imagine Selena speaks in a really polite and formal way to Xanxus out of respect for him.
Xanxus and Hibari are my no. 1 fave KHR characters (tied) 🥰
Also used textures on my art.
Also I'm just thinking of the recent FGO: Summer 7 event with Douman growing cursed morning glories (vampiric shikigami), flowers that suck blood.
I NEED THIS FOR SELENA
DOUMAN BASED
Selena's man eating plants 🥰💞
Selena is very soft and gentle, but she can be a little unhinged, as a treat!
Selena is a gardener and florist (flower enjoyer and enthusiast)
【KHR AU】 Selena joins the Varia + Xanxus learns Viet for Selena ❤️💜🪷🔥
Xanxus and Selena Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)
Summary:
Selena's Background and Personality (Backstory lore)
Selena lives a generally secluded, lonely life and forms a bond with semi-conscious plants that respond to her emotions
Selena's air of loneliness, and integration into the mafia system
Selena tips blades with poison and experiments with making her plants more deadly
Selena joins the Varia
Varia's Linguistic Talents: Xanxus learns Viet for Selena (and learns more about Viet culture)
Xanxus asks if he should use Selena's birth name, Liên, more
My personal experiences as Viet diaspora
Selena's Background (Backstory Lore) 🪷
KHR AU: Xanxus and Nguyễn Selena (Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên) by Sen (@/stepswordsen) ❤️💜🔥🪷
(Originally wrote these rambles back in February 2025. Updated these recently.)
Selena-centric post, with some XanLena rambles ❤️💜🪷🔥🦁🐈⬛
Focused on Selena, Xanxus' nyanbinary wife, my Viet NB assassin KHR OC who has an interest in gardening and fashion, and specializes in poisons. 💜🪷🐈⬛
Intro post about Selena and XanLena's relationship: (X)
I was coming up with ideas for a Selena backstory, and it goes something like this.
Basically, Selena was born in a middle class (or upper middle class) Viet family who encouraged the village’s rumours that they were seen as “witches” to keep others away from them due to their ties/connections with the mafia.
So, from childhood, Selena generally lives a more secluded life and takes solace in being surrounded by nature and being around plants and animals. 🌱
She’d often go out to nearby forests and gardens to play. 🌳
She then starts to bond with semi-conscious/sentient plants that respond to her emotions.
She gains more synergy with plants (including “monstrous” plants), and generally prefers plants and animals over most people.
Because of this, she’s othered within her own community.
She eventually starts to lash out and hurt other people. And then she finds out she likes inflicting pain on others.
And then this causes the people in her village to fear her as a “monster/witch,” along with her family, who were rumoured to be “witches.”
Selena’s family is more secluded, and also encouraged this view to keep others away (due to their ties to the mafia)
Selena's Personality 💗
Xanxus and Selena Chibi Skeb Commission by Akiko (@/Akiko_141)
I forgot to post these KHR AU rambles before, but I started thinking about how, with the type of air that Selena gives off, and her interests, it can easily lead to her being othered by other people.
I imagine that kid Selena was more shy and reserved, while her older version is still quiet, aloof, and withdrawn, and keeps to herself...
She's now more outgoing with people she's comfortable with. So her default vibes/expression goes from (-.-) to (uvu)
She has a cheery air around people she likes. 🥰💞
Basically, the idea that I had is that Selena grew up in an upper middle class (or possibly upper class) Vietnamese mafia family and grows up into the mafia system from an early age.
(Iirc, Squalo and Dino went to the same mafia school and were school mates back when they were around Tsuna’s age (around 14 or so))
She prefers to play alone in the forest and climb trees, sit close to rivers to listen to the tranquil sounds of nature, and eventually gains a synergy with semi-conscious/sentient plants that respond to her emotions. 🌳🌱🪴🌊
So, Selena is already unable to find kinship with most other people and generally secludes herself.
She's the type that becomes more withdrawn and reclusive and secludes herself when she's left alone.
And I feel like that tendency of hers is only enabled if she's left alone, which is why Viet^6 (her family), and Linh, her childhood friend, often worry about her.
I feel like the kind of view that Selena has is, "Plants and animals are honest, unlike people."
With this kind of view, Selena insinuates that, unlike people, plants and animals are honest and straightforward. They have an honest purity when you treat them with good will.
And with Selena's integration into the mafia system (with how she’s raised into the mafia), her tendencies are only encouraged.
She gains an apathy to other peoples' suffering and also likes hurting/inflicting pain on other people.
She likes experimenting with the deadly side effects of her plants (ex. tipping her blades with poison) to see how people die to them, and starts experimenting to find ways to make her plants even more deadly.
Trend in my fave femme charas
I thought it would be interesting to explore the idea that kid Selena lived in a more sheltered household, and generally had limited social interactions with people.
So, whenever her family or Linh weren't there to play with her, she used her plants (the semi-conscious ones) as substitutes for play mates (and human connection).
So, she has always preferred plants and animals over most people.
I noticed a trend in my fave femme characters. All of my soft empathetic wives (ex. Selena, Ene, Tatsumiya, Ritsuka, Kiara, Kougyoku) deal with some kind of loneliness and/or sense of being othered by society.
Selena has a kind of loneliness that’s similar to, but still distinctly different from Tatsumiya (WATGBS AU), since she has a degree of aloofness.
Selena then started cultivating man-eating plants out of genuine curiosity and interest, and also to aid her assassin work (since she wanted to make her plants more deadly and find new and more creative ways to kill people)
C: Oh yeah that's true. That makes sense honestly. The lonely gals...
Selena tips blades with poison ⚔️💜
Selena tips her blades with poisons gathered from plants.
The thing is, is that plants like Wolfsbane (Torikabuto) have NASTY side effects.
Here are the side effects of Wolfsbane, which is also called by the names, Aconite, Monkshood, and the Queen of Poison.
Selena joins the Varia 🏰
Xanxus and Selena: Inside The Coffin (YCH Commission) by Mire (@/miremiremire) ⚰️💐
Me: Selena becomes desensitized to murder from being raised into the mafia system at a young age, and starts experimenting with her poisons to see how she could make things even more deadly and excruciatingly painful. Though, she will mercy kill some of her victims, since she's not that cruel.
She likes "testing/experimenting" on people, so she has a bit of sadistic bloodlust and an unhinged side. So basically, she comes up with new ways to torture people.
I imagine she's also competitive... Like she competes with the other Varia members on kill counts on missions cuz she thinks of it more like a game
I could imagine incidents of kid Selena eventually gets othered by her community, so she lashes out in response. And then her plants start to attack and maim other people in response to her emotions. The news gets spread around after that. People avoid her out of fear.
When the Varia members first start looking into her (Selena's) history and her family's history by unearthing/digging up information about her, these are the records of her history, that they find.
Squalo seems like the most likely member to do background checks whenever a new member joins. He seems like he’ll be the one to determine which candidates/recruits are suitable to join them, and ofc, these decisions will later be brought to Xanxus.
And then Xanxus will look over and oversee these decisions once Squalo brings the info to him (and discusses with him).
In the Rainbow arc, in Ch. 347, Squalo said that any member that joins them must be able to adapt with them in a fight, otherwise he’d rather not have them with the Varia.
Then later on, when Xanxus starts to get more interested in Selena… I feel like he’d get curious about her history, since he wants to determine her loyalty to him.
I imagine Mammon would also be really good for gathering intel/information (especially if Xanxus asks them (Mammon) to look into her background)
I always wanted to delve into the duality of Selena's soft, earnest personality and general innocence, combined with her tinge of insanity/unhinged side, so this feels perfectly fitting. You really don't get into her position as an assassin, with a naive and ignorant worldview.
But I love how she's seen as angelic while having this kind of hidden darkness...
This sets her apart from my other wives (ex. Ene, Tatsumiya, Ritsuka) who are genuinely soft and empathetic AND want to help people.
So she has a bit of similarities to Kiara (who is a devil in disguise as an angel, outwardly empathetic), but is not an evil monster like Kiara is.
Linh talks with Squalo
Linh Picrew by 龍の角 (with slight edits by me)
Squalo Birthday Art by Akira Amano
I think that kind of nature that she has, is what first starts worrying other people around her like Linh, Selena's childhood friend, my KHR OC that I pair with Squalo.
I feel like Linh eventually admits to Squalo that one of the main reasons why he first came to visit the Varia's headquarters/castle in the first place was because he wanted to check up on her, since she’s his friend.
Linh would admit that, based on what he remembers from their childhood, that Selena is the type to seclude herself even more when left alone.
He worried that, with the kind of environment the Varia has, that she would become more antisocial and withdrawn and that it would only encourage those tendencies.
Especially since the Varia members are not people you can so easily approach and have conversations with, compared to most people.
But then he says that he’s glad to see that Selena was actually able to make friends, and that her being with the Varia ended up being healing for her.
Because she started making an effort to get to know other people and eventually learned how to get along and familarize herself with her co-workers and do small acts of kindness for them too.
Selena joins the Varia
Selena Bust-up Commission by Ham (@/exoticham_)
Since I had more thoughts, I think that Selena initially joined the Varia because she wanted to expand her horizons and insights. So she wanted to learn more about the world and gain more experience within the mafia and her skills too.
Since she was born in Vietnam, I imagine she wanted to see the rest of the world too, so that's why she goes travelling a lot.
And I think that's why she wanted to join the Varia in the first place. She had a feeling that it'd provide valuable insights for her, and that the environment would be good for her.
I imagine that Selena's mafia family is probably a branch family under the Vongola family (which is the most powerful mafia family in Italy, and the one that KHR focuses on)
The Vongola family has worldwide influence, so her family is probably allied with the Vongola.
Selena always stayed with her family (an all girls assassin group) and grew close with them in Vietnam.
She eventually moves to Italy to live with the Varia (whose core members are weirdo mascs/men)
That must've been... SOMETHING, for her, LMFAO.
I feel like if any of the others ask her if she would've changed her occupation, then I think she’d say that she doesn’t have any regrets on being apart of the mafia as an assassin because she chose this path for herself.
If Selena was ever asked why she’s in the mafia as an assassin instead of living a mundane life as a civilian (working in gardening or at a flower shop), I feel like she'd probably say:
Selena: No... Even if the circumstances were different, I don't think I'd choose anything different. It just felt like the most natural option to me. I feel like this is my most authentic self, the one that makes me, really me.
Viet Dialects
There are also other nuances too that could get added onto this: Dialect/accent discrimination
I included videos to explain context, for those interested in watching.
So, Selena was born in Huế, Central Vietnam, and would’ve grown up with the Central Viet dialect.
I’m diaspora Viet, and wasn’t born in Vietnam, so my experience is very different.
Others in the comments note that the Central dialect is not as common to see in TV/media, and that Central folks are often told by others that their dialect is “heavy” sounding and “hard to understand” compared to the Northern dialect.
The Central dialect is the most diversified and distinct, and more similar to the Southern dialect in terms of pronunciation.
Depending on the region, it can sound like a mix of Northern and Southern dialects.
The pronunciation of certain letters is generally the same as the South dialect, but there are differences in vocabulary (ex. grammatical ones).
Selena grew up in Huế, which has a dialect that's perceived as "heavy."
So basically, North dialect has 6 tones and Central and South has 5 tones, and Central lacks the emphasized high pitched tones of the North dialect.
And it’s why the Huế (Hue) Central dialect sounds more high pitched compared to the Hà Nội (Hanoi) Northern accent.
This video explains it
Admittedly, the Central dialect is the one I’m the least exposed to, so I’d like to learn more about it 🙏
And then when you add in the regional AND local dialects, including from smaller villages in Vietnam… There's TONS of variations.
Considering EA/SEA culture and society’s huge emphasis on conformity, I can imagine kid Selena at first trying to fit in with other kids and not stand out too much by excelling at studies.
I feel like kid Selena would get upset after experiencing a form of regional discrimination (being told her accent is “heavy and hard to understand”)
After that, she’d start to learn the other 2 major dialects (and possibly some local ones around Vietnam) to be able to switch dialects seamlessly, depending on who she’s talking to.
Xanxus learns Viet for Selena ✍️
Selena Neka by BIKOSi (with slight edits by me)
KHR: Vol. 39 Cover by Akira Amano
Later, when Xanxus becomes her S/O, he just starts talking to her in perfect, fluent Vietnamese in the Central dialect (because he knows where she was born and grew up in)
She gets super flattered because he learned how to speak Viet for her, chose to learn her regional dialect too, and also speaks it perfectly.
The idea of the Varia men (Xanxus and Squalo) learning Viet for their S/O (Selena and Linh) respectively is so 🥺
There's been this KHR trivia (for the longest time) that says that, in order to join the Varia, you need to know a minimum of 7 languages.
I can’t find the source for this though. I just know it’s always been there ever since I was a kid.
But in one of the KHR omakes, Lussuria tries asking Xanxus “if the rumours about him [Xanxus] knowing how to speak 12 languages are true”
Seven is insane, but TWELVE??? 🤯💥
The Varia members, including Xanxus, are so linguistically talented.
I imagine she gets surprised cuz Xanxus doesn’t tell Selena he’s been learning Viet, just picks it up and starts speaking to her in it perfectly just to see her surprised reactions.
C:
Selena gets surprised at the usage of her Viet birth name
AAAA OMG... Xanxus just smirks like, "Should I use it more then? :]"
Me: She probably hasn't been called by her Viet name Liên in ages, since she always just goes by "Selena" but she probably wrote it down in her official documents when she joined Varia.
And I imagine Selena never really mentioned her real name so that's why she'd be so caught off guard.
Selena’s initial surprise at Xanxus speaking Viet to her… And she's like !!! because Xanxus is using her Viet name, Liên, like an exclusive term of endearment/affection…
Selena: (:O) ‼️
KHR: Ch. 266 - TYL (Ten Years Later) Xanxus vs. Rasiel
I feel like Selena would say that she got really surprised for a moment there when Xanxus just started speaking to her in Viet, but that she also heard from Lussuria that Xanxus knows how to speak a lot of different languages, so I guess it makes a lot of sense.
Cuz Xanxus would've spoken to her in the Central dialect, since it’s where her family was from.
Selena's "I'm most familiar with the Central dialect since my family's from the Central, but I can speak all of them."
And Xanxus knows how to speak all of them, because he is VERY intelligent and linguistically talented. I think Selena can speak and understand all of them.
Me: Xanxus' gaze is so intense so I feel like Selena often gets flustered/shy around him.
C: Oooh yeah.... that's very true.
AAAAA
Selena is taken so off guard.
Me: I imagine that Xanxus is the only one that calls Selena by her Viet name, Liên, especially since Selena got used to using the names she uses whenever she travels abroad.
Note: Selena's Viet name is Liên. Liên (蓮) is the Sino Vietnamese word for "lotus flower," and is usually used as a femme Viet name 🪷
So I was just thinking about Selena getting all surprised (:O) when Xanxus uses her Viet name for the first time to impress her with his Viet skills.
Selena: Your Viet’s very good… Did you learn recently?
Xanxus: You look surprised.
Selena: Oh, I mean, it's been a long time since anyone called me by my Viet name, Liên… But it's a nice name, I love it a lot.
Xanxus: Should I use it more then? :]
Selena: That would be… nice… (//>~<//)
Personal Thoughts
Xanxus and Selena Chibis by Mo (@/lesbocean)
Characters like Gokudera dealt with racism/microaggressions within KHR’s setting (since there's a panel in the Daily Life arc that shows that Gokudera was rejected from mafia families for being mixed Italian and Japanese)
At first, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to write something like that for my own OC, since Selena is Viet NB and lives in Italy.
Though personally, unless it's relevant to the setting, I tend to have my AUs as idealized fantasies, cuz I personally don't want my faves (my own OCs, in this case) to have to deal with that sort of thing.
Viet Dialects
For example, my parents know all 3 major dialects. I was always confused cuz their pronunciation of certain letters is like the South Dialect, but their way of speaking is more like the North dialect, but their vocabulary usage has mixes of both the North and South dialect.
I was told that my family is North Vietnamese. So I was always confused growing up as a kid, when other classmates said that my family was from the South cuz of my vocabulary and how I pronounced certain letters.
I guess it makes sense that, because of my parents’ exposure to all 3, my dialect combines aspects from the Northern and Southern dialects too.
And it’s also what made re-learning Viet a struggle for me in certain regards cuz I’m the most used to how my family speaks at home.
Google Translate and majority of TTS (Text to Speech) have Vietnamese spoken in the Hà Nội (Hanoi) Northern accent, as well.
So when I hear it spoken in the North dialect for certain letters, I go like, “Oh, I need to hear what this sounds like in the Southern dialect.”
But I only found ONE Vietnamese TTS site (with limited usage per day) that can automate sentences in the South Viet dialect.
Rambles with Friends
(Rambles from my friend Snow)
Me: My ideas for a Selena backstory/background context. Though it's pretty long
S: So cool <333 Okay I barely read through everything but awww Selena <33 She’s my girl I love her
It’s okay Selena we go through the reclusive phase at least once
Sorry I had to go through like 50+ @ mentions of my friends telling me my art made them gay LMFAO
Me: I feel like a lot of us had that phase like generally being more angy as a kid (-.-) and then mellowing out more to (:3)
Also no worries LMAO! I love your art sm too
S: We go from “Ugh my interests as a kid were so cringe” to “Guys who wants to go play” we never stop being silly
XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)
Hika's Twitter: (X)
Hika's VGen: (X)
In accordance with Hika's Terms of Service (TOS), editing, using, or reposting these arts, in any way, is prohibited without explicit permission from Hika, and me, the commissioner.
Intro
I commissioned Hika to draw my beloved XanLena ❤️💜🔥🪷
Selena is my beloved KHR OC and wife 💜🪷
Her name is Nguyễn Selena, and her Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên. Her Viet name, Liên, means "lotus" in Sino-Viet 🪷
She is a Viet NB assassin with a calm and aloof personality, who's reserved and mainly keeps to herself, but cheerful around people she's close to. Her design is NB flag colours 💜🖤🤍💛
She has an interest in gardening (collecting flowers, plants, learning about different types of poisons), and fashion (collecting clothes, including traditional clothes) 💐👗
Xanxus/Selena matching cheebs ❤️💜 The little Xanxus and Selena... I'm SOOOO happy!!!
My friend Snow and I used Hika's XanLena chibi icons as matching PFPs on Discord for a bit 🥰 They're just that cute 💘
Rambles
WAHHHH THE XANLENA CHIBI ICONS ❤️💜🫶 OH MY GOD THEY'RE SO CUTEEE MY BABIES!!! 🥺💗
THEY'RE SO CUTE IN HIKA'S STYLE… REALLY ADORABLE OMG I LOVE THEIR EXPRESSIONS 🥰💞💘🫶
Selena's smiley :D and Xanxus' grumpy pouty >:|
The round lines and shapes... OMGGG ✨ I love the colours too!
I love how Hika drew Selena's eyelashes and underlashes with the dots...
I asked Hika to draw TYL Xanxus' design since I felt like his TYL (Ten Years Later) design would be easier to draw.
Hika originally chose a dark blue BG colour for the both of them, but changed it to yellow and red respectively to make them stand out more!
The blue ones were nice, but omg the final versions Hika went with, do reflect their actual colours better. These fit them better! Matching eye colors (plus it makes their hair stand out from the BG more)
Since Selena and Xanxus are toned with blue/purple in Hika's colours, the new BGs have more visual contrast!
Hika was very accommodating with minor colour edits and revisions as well! 🙏
I wanna commission Hika to draw JuAli and IdaTatsu with my headcanon designs of them in the future 🥰💘✨
My Message
This was the message I left for Hika!
The finished commission arts are wonderful! Selena and Xanxus look so cute in your art style ❤️💜🥺 Really adorable~ I'm very happy with how it turned out!
I love their expressions 🥰🫶 The thick round lines and shapes in your chibi style are great. I love how you draw dot eyelashes in your chibi style!
The colours are amazing! The orange~ish red and blue tones you chose for Xanxus has such nice visual contrast!
I love how the background colours you chose match their eye colours too~ It really brings out their designs' overall colour schemes and hair ❤️💛
Thank you for being very quick and accommodating with colour revisions as well! I look forward to commissioning you again sometime in the future! 🙏 👍
Read more under the cut if you're curious!
Misc Rambles
XanLena doodles by Sen (@/stepswordsen)
I feel like the KHR ani style goes for a much more generic art style, compared to Amano's unique art style.
For Xanxus' late manga design (Rainbow arc Xanxus), Amano improves the shape of his hair and makes it more wavy and easier to draw.
Amano has an amazing art style, and really detailed lineart and inking. She's one of the biggest inspirations for me. Her style was honestly very inspirational for me...
I started drawing everyday as a kid (at 11) BECAUSE of KHR, so KHR is very important and personal to me. I first watched KHR and read the manga at 11.
Amano's style is honestly defining to my style - It shows in the way I draw faces and eyes.
I'm not big on the KHR ani's art style, but I do appreciate what it gave us with the chibi interviews, character songs, etc. It's also cuz of the KHR ani that we (somehow) get endless KHR merch.
I prefer the manga designs, but I prefer the ani's colours for the charas because the KHR ani generally gave the KHR cast more skintone variety (when everyone was pasty in the original manga)
The KHR ani did such a great job by giving the KHR charas more skintone variety... Even pale charas in the KHR ani have different skin tones from each other.
Original vs. My Edit
I headcanon Xanxus to have tanner/warmer skin.
Xanxus with darker skin (olive skin in the KHR ani, and either olive or tan skin in certain KHR ani merch arts), literally just looks better from a character design perspective, imo. That's just facts 📠
His design has much better colour contrast with the ani colours. Like the black and red colours in his design contrast better with darker skin. Also against his blood/wine red eyes. It has more colour harmony and cohesiveness in terms of the colours
Xanxus with pale skin has less cohesiveness in terms of the colours
Xanxus, Yamamoto, and Ryouhei's designs just look so much more boring, pale, imo.
For KHR, I go manga design + ani colours + my own take on the ani colours.
Since I have a tendency to saturate colours with my own arts.
As a personal HC, I think Xanxus has a very mixed ethnicity.
My Italian American friend Feuri said Southern Italy and namely Sicily has a more mixed population.
The ani colours provide a good base for me to work off of for me to improve the colours :3
I do colour edits for fun. I like playing around with colours (editing official arts to see how the colours work together) to help guide my arts. I either do colour edits first or just immediately start picking colours for my arts
...
I usually hand artists a Drive folder filled with XanLena's art refs (including my own doodles) and write some notes on their design details since this makes things easier for the artists I'm commissioning.
Selena is Vietnamese/SEAsian with light tanned skin. She has black hair with a long ponytail that goes down to around the same length as her long front hair strands, and wears a white blouse with frills and a black seam with white buttons. She wears a black pleated skirt with a white line near the ends, and black thigh highs with horizontal white diamonds, and black doll-like shoes.
Since Xanxus wears a brown fluffy accessory, red feathers (that may be dyed red -> orange -> yellow), green strings with red beads, I don't mind if the artists I comm simplify these details.
So, whenever I commission artists, I ask for them to draw my HC versions! I'm very glad that all the artists I've commissioned have been very accommodating! 🙏💖
The XanLena chibis Hika made are being used for Hika's Chibi Icon samples 🥺 Wahhhh
...
The modern remakes of old 90s - 2000s animes have such boring and bland dull colours to me.
I seriously fear that if they ever do a KHR remake or reboot, that they're gonna take away the OG KHR ani's better colours and make everyone look pasty pale (just like in the manga) just for "manga authenticity" and "loyalty to the source material" even though everyone looks so much more boring pasty pale!!! 🧍
Doodle WIPs of Xanxus wearing Áo Dài and Selena in her main outfit
Intro Rambles
Nguyễn Selena (Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên) is my Viet NB KHR OC and beloved wifey wife 💜🪷
She's a calm and aloof assassin with a cheery personality who's a flower enthusiast (florist and gardener) with an interest in fashion and collecting traditional clothes, including lolita fashion, girly fashion, and historical fashion.
I mainly pair her with Xanxus, my fave KHR meow meow mf (my no. 1 KHR fave tied with Hibari)
I've been thinking about drawing XanLena for Xanxus' birthday on 10/10. Most of my midterms are after the 1 week break we get during mid October. I'll post it whenever I get started on the sketch. I'll probably post the whole thing on main whenever I get it done
I definitely want to draw XanLena in Việt phục ("Viet traditional clothing"). I'm either gonna go for Xanxus wearing Áo Dài ("Long dress") and Selena wearing Áo Tấc ("Ceremonial dress"), or Selena wearing some kind of Việt phục (Áo Tấc) with a big Nón quai thao.
The big hat is called Nón quai thao ("Wide flat palm hat with fringes/strap tassels"). It can be worn with any Việt Phục. I was thinking of having plants and lotuses on her big hat. Maybe her smol little cloud puppy could be resting on it too… That'd be cute.
Picking flowers for XanLena based on Flower symbolism is easy since Selena is Xanxus' cute florist assassin gf/wifey.
I want gifting flowers (based on their symbolisms in the Hanakotoba, Japanese Floriography, etc.) to be one of their love languages.
Like I imagine it starts with Selena gifting flowers to Xanxus because of her interests, and then he starts getting the servants to gift her bouquets of flowers she likes (and then also hands gifts personally to her himself, too) 🥰💘
I haven't decided on Selena's birthday yet.
Selena is a Central baby who was born in Huế, a city in Central Vietnam. Huế was the former Imperial capital.
I want her birthday to be in the lotus blooming season in Huế.
Selena's Viet name is Liên, which means "Lotus" in Sino-Viet, and the lotus is Vietnam's national flower 🪷
XanLena Art Ideas
I had a couple different art ideas in my head. I usually imagine Xanxus wearing Áo dài ("Long dress") since the shape language of it suits him most. I think he'd also look nice in Áo giao lĩnh ("Cross collared dress"). Since Xanxus has a very masculine presenting appearance and mannerisms.
Examples of Áo giao lĩnh. I love the soft purple colours. Reminds me of Selena 🥰💜🪷
Admittedly Viet men's fashion isn't as diverse as Viet women's fashion so I'll have to think of ways to differentiate my masc meow meow mf faves' outfits from each other
I think GNC masc charas like Douman (FGO), Judar (Magi), Kuroha/Saeru (KagePro) would look nice wearing both masc and femme Viet clothes ^^
Selena's design is NB flag colours 💜🖤🤍💛
I would consider purple, blue, and pink to be her theme colours, but purple is her main one. Her main colour palette and main theme colours make up the NB and Bi flag colours. My Bi NB icon~ 💗
Selena’s main Flame attribute is Cloud (purple flames) ☁️
Her secondary Flame attribute is Rain (blue flames) 💙💧
Soft pastel purple is Selena's main theme colour 💜
Blue and pink are Selena’ secondary theme colours 💙 🩷
I consider pink to be her secondary theme colour since it's also the colour of the lotus flower. She looks great wearing soft pinks 🩷
Idea 1: Couple art with XanLena wearing Việt Phục where Xanxus wears a black Áo dài ("Long dress") with red accents and gold flame shaped earrings with a red gem, and Selena wears a pastel purple Áo Tấc ("Ceremonial Dress") and khăn đóng (purple headwear) with lotuses and flowers on it, while holding a lotus.
Xanxus could also be holding a fan. It’d be super pretty if they were wearing fairy style Áo Tấc with either semi-translucent sleeves, or a semi-translucent sash or outer coat on top...
I’d want Selena to have the flowers on her khăn đóng, or in her hair, because it’d fit her very well!
Idea 2: Selena wearing a purple Việt Phục with a big Nón quai thao ("Wide flat palm hat with fringes/strap tassels") that has lotuses and flowers resting on top of it. Perhaps her cute pom pom (pomeranian) cloud pupper could be lying asleep on top of it as well? Like dog, like owner, they both like falling asleep in random places 🥰
Selena has a tendency to fall asleep in random places like a cat cot, including in her own garden, so Xanxus orders his men to go fetch his cat gf like the overbearing bf he is 🐈⬛🦁 Black cat gf x lion bf. I love the look of the Nón quai thao sm… The hat varies in size!
Idea 3: Selena wearing Áo Nhật Bình ("Square collared dress"). The Áo Nhật Bình is one of my favourite Viet traditional clothings because the patterns are SO gorgeous. The traditional Áo Nhật Bình is usually in red, but there's all types of colours! I recently bought pastel purple and traditional red ones with gorgeous patterns. The pastel purple one has coincidental trans flag stripe colours~ 🏳️⚧️ She'd look so pretty in it!
Iirc, this dress was worn by women of high status/royalty (princesses)
Selena falling asleep in flowers like harvest mice 💐🪷
In my KHR AU, Selena falling asleep in giant flowers is based on harvest mice (field mice) falling asleep in flowers like tulips. Xanxus who goes like (Huffs) whenever Selena loses track of time and falls asleep in her flowers/garden and has to send his men to fetch her
She's like a cat so she can fall asleep even in random places (her giant semi conscious plants will make a plant/flower bed for her). Selena being very eepy is sooo cute. It's always a good time for a nap to her. Xanxus who goes overbearing bf mode whenever Selena falls asleep in random places… It’s his own way of looking after the sleepy gf~~ She’s basically this cat. Snork mimimimi 🐈⬛😴💤
You can read more under the cut!
Old Arts of XanLena
Doodle WIPs I did back in 2023
I drew this Selena wearing Áo Tấc before back in 2023!
I love the colours of this one, especially the purple and pink gradient of the Áo Tấc, but I wanna redraw it to make it consistent with my current style cuz I've improved a lot since then
I also wanna update the old XanLena chibis I drew in 2023 to make it consistent with my art style too.
I did this super messy XanLena sketch back then of Selena giving him a bouquet of flowers 🪷
Trưng Sisters (FGO) by Takegarou
It's based on Takegarou's chibi style, one of the main Pokémon artists for Pokémon Sun and Moon, Sword and Shield, Legends: Arceus, and Scarlet and Violet.
Take is the character artist for the Trưng Sisters, known as Hai Bà Trưng ("Two Ladies [Named] Trưng") in FGO.
I love Take's aesthetic sense. Take's sense for picking colours and designing is fantastic. You can very clearly see the Viet traditional clothing inspirations~
Áo Nhật Bình
I recently got pastel purple and red Áo Nhật Bình. I'd LOVE to wear it sometime. The colours and patterns are so gorgeous!!!
Purple and red are XanLena colours 💜❤️
Art Rambles
When I do an initial sketch, I just focus on making the face + eyes look good so I tend to draw multiple versions of each, and then choose the best one. I refine my doodles many times, making the sketch neater everytime. So I just clean up my sketch. I just realized I hardly get to colour and properly render cuz I need a cleaner sketch to guide my colouring. Hopefully I can change that and get the opportunity to colour more
I remember a bunch of times in 2020 - 2023, my friends had sentiments like "I hardly get to see you colour, but I love your aesthetic sense in picking colours."
I love picking colours! I can try leaning into a messy painting style…
Oh and just if people are curious. I'd call myself Yume (lit. "Dream") and Yumejin (lit. "Dreaming person") since I do Canon/OC content for my KHR AU, and prefer gender neutral terms as someone NB.
Misc KHR Rambles
Just gonna put the context for mutuals who don't know much about KHR but wanna tune into my rambles
Xanxus was named for his flame as a kid (the Flame of Wrath), since he was born on 10/10, so he has two of the Roman numeral X's in his name, and so believed that he'd become Vongola 10th boss.
As my friend Cinna said, "Xanxus' sheer existence was made for rising on top of the mafia. He was born, named, and raised, to be a leader."
Xanxus' name has the roman numeral X for Decimo = 10, having dreamed to be the Vongola 10th (Decimo) since birth. He was named for that very reason. He was also born on 10/10.
Born on 10/10 to be a 10/10~
Easy to remember: Hibari: 5/5, Mukuro: 6/9, Xanxus: 10/10
I'm gonna be real honest like these three are the only KHR birthdays I remember just cuz they're easy to remember. I always find out about others after their birthdays pass like oops 😭
5/5 = Children's Day in Japan
6/9 = His fandom number is 69 (Ro (6) + Kyu (9) = Roku) -> Rokudo Mukuro
10/10 = The man with two X's in his name. Roman numeral X = 10
Mainly JuAli rambles, but some XanLena rambles too, since in chats, I often bring up my fave ships together. Like this convo started off as "This is what I HC my fave ships' earrings and accessories to be"
JuAli is my Magi ship and XanLena is my KHR AU ship (Yume, Canon x OC) 💗💘💞
I was thinking I need to post more of my Magi ramble posts here, but I haven't cleaned them up yet, so here you go! I think I posted the gist of these rambles already on main before? But I'll post my new additions too.
Judar wears hanfu and hanfu earrings in my HC design. I imagined that he would wear gold and red hanfu earrings, and also snowflake/icicle ones! Silver snowflake ones, and glass icicle earrings would be cool... I also want him to have Snowflake, Moon, and Ice Dragon patterns on his hanfu... ❄️🐉🌙
I'm posting this here on side, cuz I haven't updated these arts yet.
Posting this at night but I was just thinking about them earlier this morning and yesterday too. I MISS YOU JUALI… I NEED TO DRAW YOU AGAIN SOON…
I miss drawing JuAli, I wanna draw and write for them again… Also cuz I eventually need refs for my HC designs of them so I can eventually commission them in it <3
I have been thinking of matching couple hanfu for them. Judar in black and red hanfu, and Alibaba in white and gold hanfu.
I've been slowly revamping my old dialogue scripts (writing ideas) of them too. I'll post them when I finish refining them ^^
I think I have some ideas to refine my Judar doodles one. The hanfu ref sheet and the Unfriendly Hater by Meddmia Vocaloid Song crossover parody WIPs are my fave doodles of him :)
Which makes sense since they're also the most recent! I've been meaning to redraw the hair and clothes on these…
Cuz god I love how I drew the eyes on these 🥰
...
My CUTE AMAZING black cat x golden retriever ship... Wahhh... 🐈⬛🐕
I want Alibaba to wear traditional Arabic clothes (white and yellow). I've been looking into it for now, but I wanna draw it soon... I also HC Alibaba to have tanner skin in my HC design
Me: I drew tentative rain drop earrings for now. I was thinking about it but considering Judar is ice magic themed… It'd be cool if he had crystal snowflake and icicle drop shaped earrings too. Judar is an ice magic/lightning magic main. Glass icicle earrings... So I think I may wanna put snowflake/ice and dragon patterns on his hanfu. The silhouette of a Chinese dragon would be rad ❄️🐉
JuAli are Sun/Moon and Fire/Ice themed, so I wanna include their leitmotifs as apart of my headcanon (HC) designs for them… ☀️🌙🔥❄️
Judar wearing black and red hanfu with either snowflake/icicle drop earrings or gold and red hanfu earrings with a Chinese ice dragon pattern and snowflake/icicle patterns on his hanfu. Possibly a moon motif… We'll see. 🐉❄️
Judar and Alibaba wearing hanfu… Perhaps inspired by these… I may need to add more gold onto the 2nd one, though.
White -> gold -> black gradient hanfu with (possibly) sun and flame patterns could be cool! ☀️🔥
I have trouble making light colours stand out on its own without contrast, hence white + gold + black hanfu could be a great solution. But I'll have to think about it, since I want them to match and for their hanfu to be direct opposites of each other for visual/colour contrast reasons
I want to include their motifs on their hanfu, though I also wanna make sure the design doesn't feel too cluttered 👍
C: Valid of you. Gl with that 🥺
Me: Yee thanks! I've been thinking of partially redrawing old doodles too 👍
C: Oooh pretty hanfu!! Nodding
C: Yaaay earrings! Good choices
Judar: Black Sun, Moon and Eclipse Symbolism and the Sun-Eating Dragon 🐉☀️🌙
I've been thinking that I really want to commission arts of JuAli sometime...
I haven't talked about it on my side, but I was thinking of commissioning arts of JuAli and XanLena.
Mire's art style is so gorgeous that I was thinking that I would be ESCTATIC to see JuAli and XanLena in this style, if possible...
As an example, I commissioned Mire to draw my KagePro ship KuroEne here: (X)
It doesn't have to be right away, since I still need to get my HC ref sheets in order first, but I've been brainstorming ideas for JuAli in this exact commission format... Since I want to commission arts of them with my HCs.
Because of course, I need to get my ref sheets in order and decide the details and design elements first. I have their flowers decided (red hydrangea and sunflowers), I just need to decide on the quotes and text and BG elements...
The rambles I have of coming up with ideas aren't ready to post yet since I still have to clean it up.
The summary of these rambles would be:
Since Judar is themed with the Black Sun and Moon, this also makes him Eclipse themed.
My friends Cinna and Jaqui were the ones that brought this up to me
And then when I thought about it, I thought about JuAli as: Black Sun x Sun, Moon x Sun, Eclipse x Sun
Therefore, to me, JuAli is "The Moon (Judar) Eating the Sun (Alibaba)"
I think I'm planning to have "The Moon Eating the Sun" as the tag line... Like I just think it's so perfect for them...
The moon eating the sun... Just like an eclipse :)
Since Judar is CN inspired, I thought about how I would LOVE to have the theme of "An ice dragon devouring the Sun" as a reference to Chinese Eclipse mythologies where it was believed that a Dragon would eat the Sun during a Solar Eclipse.
"Moon/Dragon eating the Sun" works really well for AliHaku too considering their Sun/Moon symbolism as well, but I think it also works really well for JuAli too :)
Considering Judar summons Seeker Ice Dragons in the Judar vs. Aladdin fight in the Kou Empire arc...
JuAli's Fire/Ice duality is very inchresting to think about with this~
Ice Dragon and Sun (Fire)
Judar's Seeker Ice Dragons
(Magi: Kou Empire arc - Ch. 255 Spoilers)
I was rereading the Judar vs. Aladdin fight in the Kou Empire arc and I love how dynamic Ohtaka's art is. I'm in love with the compositions.
Judar's ice dragons and the the last page with Judar being themed with the moon!!! That's so cool!
Judar’s leitmotif is the Black Sun and Moon ☀️🌙
Her art always looks gorgeous, but the last page goes so hard omg...
C: Makes sense! Valid
Yea Ohtaka is brilliant with compositions, perspectives, inking, and dynamic art and expressions.
Judar Earrings HCs
My ideas for Judar's earrings. Something along the lines of these.
Earring ideas for Judar: Snowflake and icicle drop earrings, Gold and red jewel earrings, Ice Dragon earrings, Black Sun and Moon shaped earrings
I thought mainly of snowflake and icicle drop ones.
XanLena Earrings HCs
Me: XanLena doodle WIPs 💜❤️
Me: Gold and red earrings also suits Judar too, but I noticed there was a lot of overlap between my faves since they're all meow meow mfs.
I'll also put the XanLena rambles in its own post too eventually.
Earring ideas for Xanxus: Flame shaped gold and red jewel earrings, red tassel earrings, feather earrings
Me: Like I also imagined Judar to wear gold earrings with a red jewel in the middle. I also gave Xanxus gold and red earrings too. Though tbf they can all have different kinds and multiple types of earrings.
C: Honestly valid. Yeah there's sm earrings there's one for everyone. Like how my favs all have different types of chokers in my HCs lmao
Me: OOO yeah that's valid! I love chokers + belt fashion aesthetics. Basically, I’m a fan of goth + punk fashion aesthetics for my meow meow mf faves
C: Yeee. A lot of my favs have earrings too in my HCs and all of them differently
Me: I imagine that Xanxus while wearing Viet traditional clothes would have gold and red earrings. Gold earrings that are flamed shaped with a red jewel in the middle. I also imagined red tassel earrings with a gold clasp for him.
Xanxus was born with a rare flame called the Flame of Wrath. The special characteristic of this Flame is extreme destructive power that can reduce anything to ashes.
He’s one of the only KHR characters that can manifest a flame in his hands, without the need for rings/weapons, unlike the others.
C: Nodding. Ohh flame shaped is nice... Tassels are great too
Me: I imagined that for Xanxus, gold flame shaped earrings with thin gold ends would be cute...
C: Cute. Aa yes
C: Tassels are great too
Me: Yeah I think tassel earrings and feather earrings (metal shaped feather earrings) also suit Xanxus
【KHR AU】 XanLena Nekomimi Chibi Commission by Hika ❤️💜🔥🪷
XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) Nekomimi YCH Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)
Hika's Twitter: (X)
Hika's VGen: (X)
In accordance with Hika's Terms of Service (TOS), editing, using, or reposting these arts, in any way, is prohibited without explicit permission from Hika, and me, the commissioner.
Intro
I commissioned Hika to draw my beloved XanLena with cat ears and paws! ❤️💜🐈⬛
My beloved XanLena with cats ears~ ₍^. .^₎⟆
Their expressions are so cute!!!
(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) and ✧(•̀-•́)✧
Selena's :3 is so precious and Xanxus looks so cute too 💖💫
I also put my XanLena cat HCs under the cut!
Rambles
MY NEKOMIMI (CAT EARS) XANLENA COMMISSION FROM HIKA ❤️💜🐈⬛
THEY LOOK SO ADORABLE WAHHHHH 🥺🫶✨
GOD THEY LOOK SO PRECIOUS AAAAA 💗💖💞
THE WIDDLE CAT EARS AND CAT PAWS… SNIFFS SNIFFS
Hika has an amazing chibi style and is really diverse with the charas they can draw too.
I eventually want to commission my other OTPs too 💗💘
My Message
Very happy with how the YCH Mimi commissions turned out! I love your art style! They look so adorable and precious! Thank you for taking my cat ears and paws colours into consideration. I love the round lines in your chibi style and the soft colours you chose. Your way of drawing chibi expressions is very expressive 🥰💖
Thank you for the wonderful commission again! The commission turned out amazing as always, and I love your chibi style! Your art style is so visually pleasing. I love the soft colours you use! Their expressions are adorable. I will definitely be back in the future~ Have a nice day! 💖💫
XanLena Cat Headcanons
You can read under the cut for my Cat Coat HCs~
This is how I HC'ed their coats to look
Selena
Selena: Black and white tux cat with white mittens and socks, and gold eyes
Source: (X)
Xanxus
Rusted black cat with reddish-brown fur (multi-coloured coat pattern), and red eyes
Source: (X)
Though I imagine Selena would have a fluffier tail
Selena would look SOOO cute as a cat... Selena is black cat themed to me 🐈⬛
And as suggested by my friend Cinna, Selena would be a black tux cat with a lil' white chest marking and white socks 🥺
Xanxus would be a rusted black cat with a fur coat that turns reddish brown in the sun
Though Selena would probably have a fluffier tail
Cat with red eyes cuz we can take creative liberties in art.
The idea of Xanxus as a rusted black cat in KHR Cat Cot AU seems so cute. The reddish brown black fur pattern really fits him.
Grumpy cat Xanxus would be very cute and big and fluffy~
Cat Selena would be so small and teeny compared to Cat Xanxus LOL
I think a rusted black cat captures Xanxus' vibes perfectly. Feels very Xanxus ❤️🥰
