catena opele

Ifa from Genshin Impact affiliated with Gnostic Hymns penned by Ree

[whistledart]

WHISTLEDART | Ifa affiliated with Gnostic Hymns | PINNED

[ Basics ] [ Mun ] [ Headcanons ]

Notes:

Penned by Ree. They/them, 25+ years. I really only join the GH server during events so the best way to contact me is through Tumblr IMs, replies, or Discord DMs. I'm caught up with Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, but what I know about Honkai Impact 3rd has been absorbed through osmosis. I currently also write Boothill and Wriothesley.

ABOUT IFA: As a saurian vet from the Flower Feather Clan, most of Ifa's day-to-day life is filled with visits to his various patients across the whole of Natlan. And when he's not treating saurians, he's running errands for anyone who looks like they need a hand. Despite his breezy, easygoing personality, Ifa seems to always be busy with something, whether it's whipping up a new batch of saurus crackers, seeing that Ororon's vegetable deliveries make it to their rightful destinations, or patching up fences for his neighbors. Wherever he goes, the odd little qucusaurus named Cacucu always seems to follow, but Ifa is quick to correct anyone who calls Cacucu his pet. That's his assistant, and an irreplaceable one, at that.

DUB: I base my characterization and dialogue on Terashima Junta's performance. I should note that since I play in JP, I actually translate some of his catch phrases differently than the English localization does. Most notably "No way, bro!" which is "マジかよ、きょうだい" This line sounds more natural to me as "for real, bro?" or some variation. I'll be developing his voice during his time in Gnostic Hymns.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Maybe animal illness and death, but I don't see that coming up in a thread unless we're explicitly threading about it, in which case I'd already ask my partner if that was a subject they could handle.

TRIGGERS: I have none but will respect my partner's boundaries.

NSFW: Sexual NSFW is a no.

POST FORMATTING: I use small text but nothing else. I don't care how my partner formats their posts as long as it's legible. I'm here to RP so readability > aesthetic

INBOX & PLOTTING: Always open for new things, so hit me up if you have an idea or just want to drop by Ifa's inbox to say hello.

SHIPPING: Naturally, I lean more toward shipping with muns I know well OOC. Communication is absolutely important for things like this and I prefer to have rapport built both OOC and IC before committing to anything. I like writing slow burns that take months, if not years, and usually this goes hand in hand with getting to know my partner better OOC too. Currently: not in a relationship

[thiefstcr]

゛𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗗𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗦, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗢𝗗 ⸝⸝.ᐟ ⋆

#GHRevelation2025⠀∶⠀a different definition of ' hot wings '

[thiefstcr]

SHE DOESN'T THINK SHE'S EVER MET　𑄝　a bird this feisty in her life. she'd tracked it all over the park, from the start of the valley down close to the edge of the beach all the way inland, through woods and over hills. she's not sure where it's going, and honestly, it's not even that she wants to eat it——what, did you think she's a cat or something?——but it's gotta be something rare, she just knows it. her nose knows it by now, with just a single sniff.

"why'd you have to be such a pain in the ass. . . ?" she's almost got it now, though. it's cornered up in this tree and it's obviously tired ; it's been flying lower and slower for the last few hours. ha! there's no competing with the thiefstar's stamina when it comes to chasing and running. "if you'd just come all nice and easy the first time, we wouldn't have had to go through this whole cat-and-mouse, and i wouldn't have wasted half my day."

another foot up the tree. another foot.

she grabs onto a higher branch and hoists herself up soundlessly. the boughs don't even shake ; not a single leaf quivers. her ears flicker, and she lowers her weight slowly down onto her heels, tensed to spring.

one, two. . .

suddenly, the bird looks straight down at her with a stormy, exhausted look in its unpatched eye. "lay off, bro!"

wha——?? did it just talk?! she's so startled that she narrowly loses her footing, grabbing with her whole body onto the branch, now definitely shaking, before she falls off completely.　/　@whistledart

[whistledart]

Not only can the bird talk, but it also has a sense of humor, and a high, squawky kind of noise, unmistakably mimicked laughter, follows the cat thief tumbling back down to the ground. That's one for Cacucu, zero for felines.

It also gives him an opening to make his escape, and he flutters his wings as hard as he can. Only to slump back down on the branch, chest heaving with the effort. He's flown too far today - probably farther than he's ever had to before - and his strength is just about spent. If only Ifa was here with his bag full of goodies, Cacucu thinks, but he's not. He's probably still on the beach, and that means Cacucu's on his own for this one. It's time to prove that he can still be a reliable, self-sufficient assistant without him.

The cat girl is quick though. She's already back on her feet at the base of the tree and peering up through the branches like he might just be her next meal (not that saurians can tell the difference between all the different kinds of desires people have, cat-people included). With a soft chuff, Cacucu leaps up onto the branch above him. It's laden with pinecones that jostle loosely as the bough bounces under his weight, which means he has a whole arsenal of spiny weapons to keep the cat at bay.

"Lay off, bro!" he chirps in warning again before he sets to work pecking loose a bundle of pinecones.

"!!" With a startled whistle, he pitches forward too far, his body not built for the same kind of reach and maneuverability as his kin. But he flaps his wings frantically to scrabble back upright, showering the cat thief below in pink feathers and pinecones.

[seenohearnovishnu]

Interruption of Peace, Quiet, and Calm

#GHRevelation2025 ┆ Kosma & Cacucu (w/ Ifa) ┆ Cryptid Sighting.

[seenohearnovishnu]

There’s a rumor around the resort, far enough where anyone who can reach the parks can hear, that a monster of some kind lurks in the woods at night. The locals call him Largeankle, or so these rumors go. Kosma stays in the resort as per the namecard he received, but he does not stay there very often, or at all if he can help himself. The hotel was nice and cold while the staff did not seem to care enough to ask for an ID that a youth found himself booking alone, and neither did the other guests. At best, he's a stranger or a lone older teen away from his family, and neither nor true, but he doesn't get many batted eyes.

And a time they would have scrutinized him was late into the evening when the setting sun was blazing its final hurrah, when parents are guiding children to their rooms and groups of teens disbursing to head back to their families. They do not stop him—as it's not their place nor their business—but he does catch a few glimpses his way nonetheless. It could be the nets, he reasoned, it's probably the nets in your claws.

Or the claws themselves. Anyways, besides the stares, he finds very little going for Bigshell Eco Park in terms of useful hobbies for his health during the day even with ziplines, picnics, and waterfall jumping. Kosma does need exercise like every normal person but the food from the staff does little to unsettle his stomach and stop his world from spinning. He needs to devour Honkai, even something as fruitless as an Archangel would tide him over, but the heat from the sun was draining his time limit shorter. No matter where he goes except the ocean and beach at night, this place was hot. Too hot. Short of the antarctic falling upon him in such a short amount of time, he's unsure of his fortune going forward. He might have to leave.

That was until he heard of Largeankle, and a fabled little rumor of hearing strange chatter around the park not dissimilar to mimicry.

Now, Kosma knew a place like this was more likely to have a tropical bird capable of mimicry than a Honkai beast—but those beasts were also known to sprout in animals exposed to their energy long enough. Logical thinking would bring him to multiple roadblocks that should stop his actions in their tracks, like: Honkai are not likely to simply rumors when they are quite active and destructive, they are less likely to learn human speech than animalistic growls unless they take over a human host, they are quite noticeable so how are their no descriptions of silicone-based lifeforms about the resort, etc.

He doesn't care in the end, investigating this will lead to many revelations of this supposed nuisance. If it's Honkai it's as good as his and he can rid the island permanently of its problem, his vacation might even be saved as well. If it's not, he'll get the situations flow and handle it.

Stepping into the forest edge, he wraps the netting across his back as he slowly crawls into the tall grass of the brush and foliage surrounding the trails. The footpaths were not exactly as empty as he would like with couples holding hands, rowdy young adults, and groups of ambiguous amounts of people still frequented the stone steps and pathways. When they weren't looking he found himself rustling past them, a quick head turn all they gave his general direction, and it was into the darkened forest he went. None the wiser they were to him except the occasional rustling, he kept an ear to the ground and air both as he passed by wild fauna and people alike.

@whistledart

[whistledart]

At the end of the day, Cacucu is still a wild saurian. A wild saurian who trails a human from place to place, getting food without having to catch it himself and bedding in a nest he didn't have to build, but still a wild saurian. He can take care of himself, in other words, so when he'd separated from his human shortly after lunch that afternoon, he'd done so with the confidence that he'd find his way back before Ifa needed him for anything. After all, it'd only been to try to clamber up to the top of a tall pine for a better look at the waterfalls that spilled over the surrounding cliffs and plunged into the lake basin. He hadn't counted on a hawk's nest to be nestled right there at the top where the last few slender branches forked out from the crown, nor did he expect someone to be home.

A shrill whistle drove Cacucu out from the trees in a flurry of pink and brown feathers, but the territorial hawk had stayed on his tail, taloned feet as big around as his whole body snapping at his back.

Now, there was only one way a qucusaurus of Cacucu's size and stature could have survived this long in the wild, and it wasn't just because he'd managed to get in good with a benevolent human. He was smart, and he'd put those smarts to use throwing off the hawk, which was a much stronger and agile flier, by diving through the canopy again, ducking through tight gaps between branches, weaving through vines, until his assailant eventually gave up.

But now he's far away from where he'd started, and tired. Clumsily catching a limb with undeveloped feet unfit for passerine life, he scrabbles on the bark for a moment. The Tlalocan territory where he'd grown up was a wide open plains, and the qucusaurs who called it home were well-adept at running on two legs and perching on cliff faces, but they were not meant for trees. Still, there's an advantage to being small and not quite the right shape for a qucusaur, and in this instance, it means settling down comfortably on the branch once he finds his balance.

From this new vantage point, he can watch hikers pass beneath him - some going up into the hills, others coming back down - hopeful that one of them might be a familiar face. But the afternoon wears on, and the steady stream slows to a trickle of hikers mostly coming back down from the hills. The park's closing time was drawing near, and still no Ifa.

Reluctant to leave this safe haven he's made for himself, Cacucu begins to mutter phrases: "chill, bro!" "it's all good!" "are you for real?" and other such sounds he's heard his human repeat more than a few dozen times a day. Instinctively, he knows these are like the little chittering cries he would have given to his mother, if she were still alive and happened to be looking for him. In other words, identifying sounds meant solely for the two of them. Ifa would find him in no time. But as he chatters on at odd intervals, sometimes loudly, sometimes softly, he notices the hikers below turn their heads, whisper to one another, and even start running. Yet not a one looks up through the trees.

Evening comes, and eventually so does a hiker going in the direction of the hills. Except he's crawling along through the grass. A peculiar, not-entirely-human-thing with claws and horns coming from his head, and a scent about him that's almost familiar in that deep-rooted, primal sense. He looks like he's hunting something. Cacucu watches him for a while, but those moments pass in long, still, silence.

Until the little saurian takes in a breath:

"What the heck, bro?!"

And violently shatters that silence.

[whistledart]

[HANG TEN] / THE TANNED FELLA STANDING BY THE SHORE IS FAMILIAR IN A WAY THAT ALMOST INSPIRES DÉJÀ VU, the gemstone on his back reminiscent of the Bard he'd met somewhat recently, yet the outfit as far removed as possible. So Siegfried does the only thing that makes sense in the moment, approaches the man carrying a board as the tide begins to promise stronger and stronger waves for them to crest. 

It's simple really, a fleeting thought, an opportunity to expand a list of dwindling hobbies before he became the sort of teacher he promised himself never to become when he took up the post reluctantly. The grip on the board is more suited to holding the oversized claymore he's fobbed off of late as his feet sink into the soft sands, carefully approaching as to ensure that he does not spook the person he suspects is just as adept a fighter as the once knight had been.

"Hey there! Ya' thinking of heading out?" It's easy for Siegfried to lapse back into one of the many faux speaking patterns, to guise himself as little more than a traveller, and yet those eyes before him are sharp, a gunner's gaze always on the prowl. "Where're my manners, My name's Siegfried, Sieg for short, pleasure to meetcha!" An outstretched hand, the one not holding the board reaching out in the universal symbol for a handshake as he tries, and most likely fails, to adopt a so-called surfer bro persona to further his investigations.

"So whatcha say? Rumour has it we're due for some decent waves soon."

Revelation 2025 | still accepting

Ifa had just been thinking about how nice the water looked, how the sun shimmering on the surface gleamed nearly like the crystalline waters around Metztli territory. There was a nice breeze, too, and a clear, bright blue sky. The water wasn't too choppy either, nor was it totally calm. Good for swimming. Maybe even surfing. Snorkeling. Digging around the sandbar. Or just sitting at the edge and letting the foamy surf lap over you. There was a problem with having so many enticing options though, and for Ifa and his indecisiveness, that left him merely standing ankle deep in the water.

He liked to keep his options open, but eventually a wind would come along and blow him in one direction or another. This time, it took the form of a big friendly guy with a board thrown over his shoulders, and his bold, enthusiastic invite.

Turning to take the offered hand, Ifa flashed him a smile that was as relieved to have his decision made for him as it was happy for the company. The guy had a strong grip, too, calloused along the palm. Someone who worked with his hands, no doubt, but likewise a reliable character.

He shook his hand firmly. "Right back atcha, man. Call me Ifa." With a soft laugh, he looked back out at the water and ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. "Actually, I was just thinking about picking up my board. Looks pretty nice out there, huh?"

So nice that he couldn't make up his mind. He'd leave that part unsaid. But now a decision had been made, so he started trudging back up the beach, sloughing off his coat as he went. He deposited it, and his shirt, next to where he'd left his boots and hat, and then snatched up the board he'd rented for the week and trotted back down to join Sieg by the water's edge.

But he didn't stop there. Picking up the pace, he dashed past him until he was taking big, splashing steps through the shallows. Once he'd gotten a few feet out from the shore, he spun around and trudged backwards, laughing.

"Y'comin', bro?" He shouted, hand cupped around his mouth. "Or are ya gonna leave all the good waves for me?"

[whistledart]

Where the Weary Rest

Revelation | S'mores - Ifa & Shenhe

[whistledart]

Nightfall came and swept away the towels, the candy-striped umbrellas, the children splashing in the surf, and the sunbathers, and sent them inland to the city, where they'd dispersed to who-knows-where in search of food and fun. All along the coastline, the blocky silhouettes of restaurants and resorts stood black against the indigo sky, pinpricked by dozens of squares of warm light, so distant that they seemed like another world entirely. The beach could have been the surface of the moon, then, desolate and dark, its pockmocked surface faintly white.

Standing out against the night was one lone bonfire. It cast out its ring of light like a tiny island in the middle of the sea. Whenever the wind changed directions and the crashing waves lulled for a moment, one could catch the bright, down-home chords of an acoustic guitar, strummed in a simple, undulating rhythm. Closer, and it became apparent that a warm baritone accompanied it, meandering over ancient words, dipping occasionally into hums, altogether a performance both private and candid.

The guitarist perched on the log of a petrified palm, eyes closed in surrender to the melody, and the fire crackled over an assembly of sunbaked driftwood, giving the impression that the moment had been gathered on a whim - the right ingredients in the right place at the right time. Beside him, alongside a white, neatly folded coat, sat a ball of pink feathers blinking sleepily at the flames.

Whether it was instinct, the particular turn the song had taken, or something otherworldly, the guitarist suddenly opened his eyes.

"Oh," he startled when he saw the woman in white lurking at the edge of the shadows, and his round feathered companion started from his perch with an alarmed chirp. She looked like a ghost, or the moon incarnate - all silver and pale from hair, to eyes, to face. The melody stumbled over only one bar, however, before finding its way again. Ifa had seen plenty of ghostly visions around Natlan's ley lines, but, ghost or living, he'd treat them all the same: with an easy smile.

"How's it goin', sis? Didja come for a show?" he asked warmly, his feathered companion already on inspection duty. He fluttered around her head, mangling chirps and squawks into some semblance of "all good, bro!"

"Or maybe a snack? Take a seat. I've got plenty to share."

@icyqull

[emetitur]

whirling waltz my beloved

2/100

[whistledart]

IFA at REVELATION

Babysitting Ororon in Fontaine wasn't enough of a vacation, so the elders have sent Ifa off to try again. This time he doesn't intend to get involved in anyone's messes, and he's told Cacucu not to go off on his own either, but there's only so much he can do to resist fate. If trouble's bound to find him, then it will find him one way or another.

The world outside of Natlan is a new and fascinating place, if at times overwhelming. While Ifa might be adept at going with the flow, he knows he's out of his element here. Making friends with some of Empyrea's other, more experienced vacationers is first on his agenda, if for nothing else but to have someone who will answer his questions about the place. The Tlalocan are known to be lonely guards of the sky, but they still hold their community in their hearts. The same is true for Ifa, who'd feel more at ease attached to someone he can trust.

Ifa will not be participating in the guided tours, but he's accepting event asks. Since he's a new muse, I'd like to pick up a few mini threads to sustain him this month, in addition to one-off interactions. I'll be randomizing asks to send throughout the month, but here are a few thread ideas:

[S’MORES] - Ifa's likely to be found around Bigshell Eco Park and Chora Beach. Enjoying good food and camaraderie next to a fire is like a little taste of home, so you're bound to find Ifa strumming a guitar out here. Come have a little chat, or maybe an impromptu therapy session. Maybe even just a few moments of companionable silence. Anything goes against the backdrop of a quiet evening. [BALL TOSS] - The game's already been designed by the lovely GH mods, so this prompt can either be 1v1 or 2v2 depending on interest. [HANG TEN] - Ifa is canonically pretty good at surfing, so if your muse is looking for lessons, he's got you. [CRYPTID SIGHTING] - Except it's just Cacucu. This would be a thread without Ifa, because inevitably Cacucu has flown off somewhere again. What the hell is out here in the woods constantly repeating "chill, bro!" and "the heck are you going on about?" That's for your muse to find out.

Of course, I'm open to additional ideas. These are mostly to help me get a feel for writing Ifa, so either send an ask with the prompt or reach out to me on Discord if you're interested!