A post explaining how I came to ship Cyno with Xiao
So you may be wondering how on earth did I come up with these two who never met?
Well, Cyno's been my favorite character since the Genshin comic, and I wanted to pair him up with someone when he became playable, since I never really shipped a character like this in Genshin. I tried getting into his popular ships but, it just wasn't for me.
So I wondered "who can I pair up a spear wielding general of a nation who wears a mask (during ult) and is tied to being a deity and possession?"
And then I was like oh that's just a description for Xiao ain't it-
I tried looking up if anything of them existed online, such as ship arts/posts. I was curious, but there were mostly stuff like Xiao vs cyno or cyno is Xiao 2.0. So I went on hoyolab and asked people what they'd think about it and the only comments I received were "cyno belongs to tighnari" "Xiao is only for lumine/aether" and "it would be the most boring and bland pair to exist". So with these over-positive comments, I was like damn, time to get to work <3
The only content of them that was ship related back then, was this one fanfiction that was written in 2020 (which would make it one of cyno's first ever rarepairs/ships in general) and I loved it so much that I used it as a base to branch out my own AU/headcanons.
Since it was gonna be its own AU and most likely being the only main artist for Cyxiao, I decided to go full out and started off with updating their designs first:
For Cyno:
After his second story quest, when he gets the other half of the Ba fragments from sethos, I headcanon him becoming an actual Anubis humanoid, hence I gave him ears and tail and his hair becoming more wild like a 'wolf mane'. His ears and tail color swap between black and white. White is default, black is when he's experiencing strong emotions or his powers are activated, cuz an Anubis/jackal is a black dog. I draw his ears laid flat as default since he's in the desert a lot and the sand can get in his ears. And now that he's an Anubis, I made him immortal. So Xiao won't have to worry about him outliving cyno or watching someone he loves die.
For Xiao
I made his colors more vibrant and warm. Since he's like a bird in the game, I took it from male birds being the more vibrant and beautiful in nature, but instead of 'attracting mates' his color changes for when he's happy. So even when he doesn't want to admit it, his appearance gives it away. Also making his finger nails like talons when using his abilities
I've had many people tell me that canonically they cannot make sense and that they have nothing in common or cannot benefit each other, making it a bad ship. Well, I would like to also point out that cyno can CANONICALLY temporarily seal away Xiao's biggest problem, that is his Karma. This makes CyXiao one of the only small selection of Xiao ships that can help Xiao with his mental and physical degradation, also helping him sleep for once with less nightmares.
Time to explain their relationship a little:
-Now as for their relationship. It's gonna be something very timid, not a romantic type relationship 90% of the time. It took a while before Xiao could get used to any form of physical affection. They don't hug, kiss or hold hands or say 'I love you' . They show their affection through the actions of giving gifts. Cyno's a bit more romantic but he never pushes Xiao to something he doesn't want, he will let Xiao always initiate contact first before he follows along, even if it's as simple as holding hands. All Xiao knows is war and battle, he's not gonna think about romance. Cyno pretends to be stoic when Xiao is showing him any signs of affection, but his tail betrays him from wagging.
-They're both busy Generals, so they can't just see each other everyday. Xiao is canonically too attached to Liyue (with his duty to protect it). Cyno respects that and he takes trips almost every month to Liyue to be with xiao. And when they're together, they spend time alone away from people, in the mountains, exploring and enjoying each other's company. Since they're both spear users, I see Xiao being way more experienced than cyno since he's been fighting in wars for millennia. So when cyno comes over, Xiao teaches him new tricks to improve, so they're also training buddies.
-in 80% of ships, Xiao is portrayed as the edgy dominant. When in reality he's just sad, lonely and distant. So for this relationship, he's neither a top or bottom, he's just a guy that needs to be taken care of and someone who needs a break and reassurance. Since he is very inexperienced with relationships, Cyno takes the lead in most romantic things.
-Of course xiao gets confused with cyno's jokes sometimes but he likes to hear about them and how he came up with them, even if they take long to explain. listener x talker trope, especially when it comes to his passion for TCG cards. The main reason Cyno makes jokes is because people see him as intimidating and unapproachable, but now his jokes just drive people away faster. So when he's around Xiao he doesn't have to make jokes to seem less intimidating because they're both intimidating looking, so Xiao understands the struggle and Cyno won't have to feel judged all the time for being himself. But he'd still enjoy Cyno being playful and making his horrible jokes when he wants to. I also like to think that Cyno couldn't have much of a healthy childhood since he was experimented on as a child, so now his inner child shows in his love for cards and Xiao will not judge him.
Next few parts are more personal ideas i made for them:
-Ever since they got into a relationship, Cyno has been trying to make Xiao new kinds of food, especially combined with Sumeru's specialities, hoping he can help Xiao find another comfort food other than just tofu. He always ends up cutting his fingers or burning himself.
-They often use each other's titles: 'Alatus, Yaksha, Anubis, Mahamatra' as a way of flirting or teasing each other.
-Xiao visits merchants who come from abroad, hiding in a cloak, checking if they have any TCG cards for sale. He still doesn't understand their value and why some would cost 50 mora but others 50k mora. No matter the price, he would end up getting them all, just in case Cyno is missing one.
-Xiao sometimes forgets about his duties and zones out at sumeru's border, wishing Cyno's shift would end sooner. Everyday he inches closer into Sumeru just to have a closer look, thinking he'd see Cyno, not knowing how far the desert would be. He keeps giving Tighnari heart attacks from just appearing from the trees.
-Since they're not Native to each other's Nation, they didn't understand each other at first since Xiao speaks Liyuen and Cyno speaks Sumerian. They communicated using sign language until they learned each other's language day by day. Xiao would always surprise Cyno with how fast he could learn. In the end they ended up communicating in Sumerian, but Cyno is still learning Liyuen.
-At rare moments, when they sleep together, Xiao subconsciously eats Cyno's dreams even when he didn't mean to and then wakes up feeling extremely guilty. Xiao often gets nightmares when he manages to sleep, causing his Karma to flare up. Cyno ends up using his abilities to nullify his negative energy, giving him more peaceful naps, causing Xiao to become comfortable to the point where he ends up snoring and even drooling.
-When cyno visits liyue with other people and xiao doesnt want to appear infront of strangers or hurt people because of his karma, he uses his anemo abilities to blow a breeze through Cyno's hair to let him know he's near or greeting him from afar. Cyno can always tell if its Xiao since his breeze carries a jingle that only Cyno's ears can pick up.
-most of the time, if they're busy in their own nations, Xiao leaves a Qingxin flower at the borders of Sumeru, while Cyno leaves a Padisarah at the borders of Liyue, so if either of them makes it there during the day, they'll find it there knowing that the other misses them or is thinking of them.
-Lastly I have met for the first time during the Lantern rite, so I turned every lantern rite into their anniversary in game, so I take mandatory pictures every lantern rite with my friends.
They feel like such a comfort/soft couple to me, regarding their status and that's why I love them so much. I'll keep making art of them until my wrist falls off. Props to you if you've made it this far.