HE  HAD  A  VERY,  VERY  LONG  DREAM...         ind.  priv.   durin  of  genshin  impact,  originally  est.  2021.   canon  divergent  &  heavily  headcanon  based.

a  study  in…       reality over dreams, being abandoned by your creator, having no place in the world, finding oneself. soaring  alongside…      @resolutepath,  @daybreakrising.

he  dreamed  that  he  and  everyone  else  had  gone  on  a  long,  long  journey, into  a  land  where  green  grass  grew,  and  where  soulful  songs  were  sung. he  dreamed  that  he  sang  along  with  the  gentle  people  of  this  land, and  danced  in  the  skies  with  a  dragon  as  beauteous  as  a  jewel.

carrd (wip).

the body is an adult, it's modeled to be of similar "age" to albedo so i'd put him in his mid-late 20s, roughly. dragonspine durin, the host, is also an adult, he has been conscious for over 500 years, though only alive for maybe 20. simulanka durin isn't exactly a child, but he's much younger, probably mentally in his teens-ish. he fronts less often than ds durin, as he's much more timid, but he'll front when the body is addressed by certain people—namely wanderer. it is difficult to tell exactly which of these two are fronting given their similar dispositions, but ds durin will generally give it away by talking about his history with mondstadt or bringing up khaenri'ah.

don't stress about it... how? when everyone's seemingly in on some insider knowledge and code-words you couldn't even begin to fathom, what is there to not stress about? then again, if he overthinks everything, it'll just take him forever to respond to any one thing, and then he...

and then...

... he's doing it right now, isn't he? standing and staring at the person before him like some kind of idiot. this sucks.

❛ r... right, sorry, you're right, ❜ don't stress about it. just don't stress about it. ❛ if you don't get it either, at least we know there's nothing to think too hard about when we talk to each other. that's nice. i'm glad for that. ❜

i don't have too many thoughts other than that lauri will begin coughing in 3 days. also small things

captain obvious is here.

it'll all be okay.

i don't understand anything.

durin's hands fidget and fuss with themselves, fingers picking at the fabric of the white gloves that cover up thickly-scaled hands beneath. his head hurts. everything hurts, actually, but not in a way he can meaningfully place or articulate.

❛ it... is, but... i just don't understand... why they called me an evil dragon, but brought me back anyway. ❜ there's no way for varka to have an answer for that, but the question falls past his lips before he could catch it. more idle musings than an honest question. ❛ and the world has changed so much. i don't understand at all. i don't belong here. ❜

he never did. but that's neither here nor there. he knows now that the grassy-green paradise he dreamed of was nothing but a farce; that his dance with dvalin was indeed one of needless destruction and not a tragedy of two ill-fated lovers destined to die together; and that the only truth he ever knew was the vague memories of khaenri'ah before his mother sent him on his rampage. so how is he supposed to live in this new, modern day, in a world that loathes him? dragon of calamity, how do you survive in a world you destroy with your every move?

there's a naïve voice in his head that tells him that there's always space to make new memories. it doesn't sound like him at all.

❛ ...you are friends with that bard, are you not? can you tell me if he is well? does he speak of me? ❜