the dark side of dawn

sporadic activity / selective / canon-compliant* roleplay blog for diluc ragnvindr of genshin impact

written by eph ! he/they, 21+

* because i’ve been writing diluc since october 2020, he is quite developed as a muse by now and my interpretation may come across as vaguely different than canon. that being said, i do build his portrayal upon canon information as well as i can.

rules || about

blog roll:

@solightary - “tomo” (kazuha’s friend) rp blog

@nb-diluc - genshin posting

              retainer drops their hands, and for a moment, there is a brief feeling of panic -it’s been so long since he was confronted with someone from his past, before his life here, that he forgets parts of it are still relevant. he’s let go of the parts that might hurt him in order to survive. diluc hasn’t seen him since he left mondstadt in search of his father, and neither kept in touch - he can’t fault the man for not knowing. but talking about it feels like the worst way to revisit an old friendship. he doesn’t want to start off negative.

            thoma tries to laugh, but it sounds a little empty. his smile, at least, reaches his eyes, though he doesn’t hold it for long, “we never reconnected, actually,” he doesn’t want to lie, either, that also being a pretty bad way to earn friendship, so he keeps it simple, “i’m not sure if he wanted to be found. but i got very lucky, meeting the kamisato siblings a few months after i got here. they took me in, and i’ve been a part of the clan ever since.”

     we never reconnected, actually. the sentence resonates in his bones and diluc’s heart sinks. a familiar numbness spreads that he has to steel himself to even hear thoma’s next words. an obvious change in demeanor that’s not entirely unlike thoma’s, who’s now lacking his trademark cordial warmth. diluc evidently regrets their question, though not as much as he resents this turn of event. he remembers drifting apart when his friend’s mother fell ill and he wasn’t allowed the time or energy to trouble themself with their situation. he remembers thoma leaving mondstadt after her passing to go find his father. bitterly, he remembers assuming thoma would at least find a supportive loved one in his father.

@gunnhildred​​​ said: ❝ 3374 Mora. ❞ There’s a bag full of coins set down on the bar when the blonde invades the workplace she’s been avoiding since his return. It isn’t so much that she’s been avoiding him per se, she just isn’t entirely sure what she’s supposed to say. It feels like a betrayal still leading the knights, but at the same time, she can’t fix a broken system from the outside. Change demands input; it demands good people to cure the rot before it can set in.

❝I realise it’s very unbecoming of a pillar of justice, but I kept eating the grapes at the winery whenever I found myself asking ‘What would Dilly do?’ ❞ Jean shrugs, sheepish but earnest as she gives the bag a gentle nudge in the wine tycoon’s direction. ❝This is me putting it right. ❞

     it’s not a double, but a triple, and even quadruple take he does within only the first few seconds of this surprise encounter. at first, diluc can’t seem to correlate the person to the place, stricken with the disorienting feeling of being faced with two factors that are familiar individually but never before put together. jean at angel’s share... doesn’t happen. at least, not without a very special occasion to warrant her presence.

     then comes the bag of mora to subserve the confusion. he blinks at it and then at jean, not bothering to hide how much this perplexes them. the gesture brings back distant memories, a glimpse into a past life where friendly bets were exchanged with no real stakes and good humor abounded. he blinks again.

                retainer can’t help but smile at the thought - diluc putting aside his responsibilities to take a boat across the ocean just to see what’s become of thoma in the time away. a hand reaches out for one of diluc’s, shaking it firmly, he even pats his free hand overtop theirs, “nearly a decade now, i think…it’s great to see you, diluc. hey, i think i’m finally a little taller than you.”

     ❝ tch, no surprises there, ❞ diluc laments under his breath at the mention of their compared heights. although he’s not of short stature by any means, just about everyone they knew as a teenager sooner or later outgrew him. thoma being no exception to this rule matches the young master’s expectation. 

              “when we heard dawn winery was sending someone to negotiate wine trades, i was expecting an associate, not master ragnvindr himself!” 

of all the discussion and theories i’ve seen taking place in light of the first two acts, i’ve yet to see anyone talk about this fun fact venti let us in on during the prologue. specifically, how an archon’s power is directly tied to how much their people worship them (hence his belief that he’s currently the weakest archon because he doesn’t rule over mondstadt so the people aren’t compelled to worship him the way people do in other regions where an archon is a lot more involved). obviously by now we can See that venti is not the weakest archon, BUT

my point is, wouldn’t that be the very reason kusanali can’t seem to grow into her role as an archon - the fact that the akademiya is actively dissuading people from believing in her ? is her weakness a side-effect of their disdain that recycles said disdain for her in a vicious cycle, or is it the exact thing they’re aiming for by keeping her under lock and discouraging anyone who wants to even acknowledge her existence ?